BUREAU B - Forced Exposure

$17.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 12/6/2019

Bureau B present a reissue of Notorische Reflexe's self-titled release, originally released in 1985 on Rebel Records. Mark Reeder on Notorische Reflexe: "I honestly can't remember the first time I saw Notorische Reflexe perform, but I imagine it was probably at some mad avant-garde experimental event in SO36 or Tempodrom, or somewhere, because those days have become a hazy, crazy mixture of drunken, drug-fueled fragments of memories that have become barricaded in the back of my mind. One thing I do remember, is that their performances were always packed with wild and experimental artistic creativity. They were always extremely entertaining to watch, mixing self-made movies and music at a time when it was not the norm . . . Yet, the Notorische Reflexe were not just a band in the traditional sense, they were a collective of artists, each with a unique talent of their own, which they pooled together to create an experimental experience with every performance. You didn't go to a Notorische Reflexe gig to listen to a collection of their greatest hits, you went to a Notorische Reflexe gig to be enlightened and always, challenged. The '80s were a time of creative liberation . . . It was as if they almost expected you to be weird and the weirder you were, the better and without doubt, Notorische Reflexe certainly fitted that bill. I loved watching them live. They were fun and funny. I sometimes got the impression they were trying to force a square peg into a round hole, like mixing disco with dirge, but that was the whole point of their unconventional presentation. They caused you to consider and query. Each performance was a one-off event never to be repeated. The movies mashed with the music, always in a bizarre setting, with piles of electronic junk as their stage scenery, which became their signature. Ok, the Notorische Reflexe might not be as well-known as Einstürzende Neubauten, Die Tödliche Doris, or Malaria!, but they were as equally important in creating what has meanwhile become known as the Berliner Geniale Dillitanten scene, because it was all the other bands like Notorische Reflexe (or my own band Die Unbekannten), who participated in this experiment, and who were an essential part of the pyramid of bands that supported the main feature and helped to create the Berliner Krankheit."

$22.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 12/6/2019

LP version. Bureau B present a reissue of Notorische Reflexe's self-titled release, originally released in 1985 on Rebel Records. Mark Reeder on Notorische Reflexe: "I honestly can't remember the first time I saw Notorische Reflexe perform, but I imagine it was probably at some mad avant-garde experimental event in SO36 or Tempodrom, or somewhere, because those days have become a hazy, crazy mixture of drunken, drug-fueled fragments of memories that have become barricaded in the back of my mind. One thing I do remember, is that their performances were always packed with wild and experimental artistic creativity. They were always extremely entertaining to watch, mixing self-made movies and music at a time when it was not the norm . . . Yet, the Notorische Reflexe were not just a band in the traditional sense, they were a collective of artists, each with a unique talent of their own, which they pooled together to create an experimental experience with every performance. You didn't go to a Notorische Reflexe gig to listen to a collection of their greatest hits, you went to a Notorische Reflexe gig to be enlightened and always, challenged. The '80s were a time of creative liberation . . . It was as if they almost expected you to be weird and the weirder you were, the better and without doubt, Notorische Reflexe certainly fitted that bill. I loved watching them live. They were fun and funny. I sometimes got the impression they were trying to force a square peg into a round hole, like mixing disco with dirge, but that was the whole point of their unconventional presentation. They caused you to consider and query. Each performance was a one-off event never to be repeated. The movies mashed with the music, always in a bizarre setting, with piles of electronic junk as their stage scenery, which became their signature. Ok, the Notorische Reflexe might not be as well-known as Einstürzende Neubauten, Die Tödliche Doris, or Malaria!, but they were as equally important in creating what has meanwhile become known as the Berliner Geniale Dillitanten scene, because it was all the other bands like Notorische Reflexe (or my own band Die Unbekannten), who participated in this experiment, and who were an essential part of the pyramid of bands that supported the main feature and helped to create the Berliner Krankheit."

$25.00 NOT IN STOCK

Bureau B present an expanded reissue of Camouflage's Methods Of Silence, originally released in 1989. Founded in the southern German city of Bietigheim-Bissingen by Heiko Maile, Oliver Kreyssig, and Marcus Meyn in the year 1984, the band Camouflage scored an unexpected international hit with their debut album Voices & Images in 1988. One of the tracks in particular, "The Great Commandment", went on to become a perennial classic of the synth pop genre. Their sophomore album Methods Of Silence, released just a year later, was an even bigger success. The band produced the record in Brussels, working on the songs with Dan Lacksman (Telex). "Love Is A Shield", the first single cut, has endured as a worldwide dancefloor anthem and is even a popular choice at weddings in South America. To mark the 30th anniversary of the album, the band opened up the archives to assemble a special bonus edition including a wealth of rare and unreleased recordings.

$22.00 IN STOCK

LP version. A living room somewhere in southern Germany. Embroidery graces the walls, a veneer side table with little chrome feet stands in front of a beige velour sofa, a minibar awaits. Pride of place goes to the electric organ which majestically occupies the center of the room, flanked by two oversized loudspeakers. Welcome to the world of OTTO. The duo comprising Alexander Arpeggio and Cid Hohner released their debut 12"-single -- Greatest Hits -- on the Dutch label Charlois in 2016. It sounded fresh, with abundant references to old school electronic organ music. The recordings were made in Cid Hohner's home studio with the aid of various dusty electronic keyboard instruments, the most important of which was a home organ from the early 1980s -- with integrated auto bass and rhythm patterns, of course. In 2017, OTTO finally dragged their organs on stage to unleash their live set. A second disc (self-released) soon followed. The cover image of a German allotment garden anti-idyll under grey skies reflects the darker tone of Full Auto, the music driven forwards by a 1960s drum machine. OTTO headed for the grimy bars and stages of Europe to perform their new creations. A third 12" appeared in 2018. Stimmungen was released with the support of Orgaton, the society for the promotion of organ music. The cover could be an advertisement for a debt collection agency. Inside: bewilderingly danceable rap, a beguiling ballad, smooth as silk. Once again, OTTO defined the contours of their own organ-disco genre. And there's no stopping them now: the two-man band are set to release their long-awaited debut album in 2019 on Bureau B. The eight tracks contain familiar OTTO ingredients, from organ sounds and rhythm presets to disco strings and the monophonic waves of a 1970s synthesizer. Arpeggio and Hohner notes add extra sharpness to the proceedings. Classics from their live repertoire sit alongside brand-new numbers, invariably strange synthesizer compositions. Looking at the cover, one might be forgiven for thinking that OTTO have finally achieved their goal of establishing themselves as a renowned wedding dance band. The track titles hint at such reveries: champagne on the red carpet, riding a noble horse, fire-eaters, the delirious morning after -- OTTO offer a bouquet of hits which one cannot refuse. In their own words: "I wish it were just a dream."

$17.00 IN STOCK

Bureau B present a reissue of Serge Blenner's La Vogue, originally released in 1980. Music for the apocalyptic eighties Deutschland state of mind. When Serge Blenner left his native France for Hamburg, West Germany, neither he nor anyone else could have guessed that he would inadvertently compose a soundtrack for the Cold War. But his dark, monotone synthesizer album La Vogue turned out to be just that. Blenner was born in 1955 in Alsace, the easternmost region of France. He studied composition and harmony at the Conservatoire de Mulhouse. He loved listening to electronic music from the Berlin School: Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel/Manuel Göttsching, whom he got to know when they played in Alsatian churches and chapels. Blenner the proselyte had seen enough to realize: it was time to move to Germany, whence this music came. The year was 1975. He soon began experimenting with electronic music himself and graduated to live performances by 1978 and finally settled in Hamburg in 1979. One of the most important electronic music labels of the period, Sky Records, was based in Hamburg. Within the space of six months, Blenner had recorded the tracks which would become La Vogue and sent them to Sky Records. A deal was done and La Vogue was officially released before the year ended. The record was a resounding success, some tracks even made it onto the radio -- crucially, aired at hours of the day when significant numbers of listeners were tuning in. The longest track on La Vogue by far clocks up to nearly nine minutes, a rarity in Blenner's oeuvre, well outside his usual range of three-to-five minutes. La Vogue is an album of two halves. Through the first four tracks, Blenner still seems to be searching for his own style, beginning with the minimalistic, rather somber fanfare of "Phrase I" built around a single melodic pattern. Next up is the almost poppy, harmonically rich "Phrase II", followed by the spherical "Phrase III" and the crystalline, chiming "Phrase IV". If the first four cuts are linked only by heterogeneity, tracks five to eight are very much of a piece. Together they represent a frosty, menacing soundtrack worthy of the apocalyptic mood which hung over the early 1980s, particularly in West Germany. With Cold War angst at its peak, many people feared a Soviet nuclear attack was imminent.

$22.00 IN STOCK

LP version. Bureau B present a reissue of Serge Blenner's Magazin Frivole, originally released in 1981. Cold, concise analog synthesizer instrumentals -- on his second album Serge Blenner remained true to his style, albeit shifting course slightly towards pop territory. The juxtaposition of dark harmonies and pop structures is what makes this album so appealing. In places, it feels like a blueprint for early Depeche Mode. Having seen his first album La Vogue (BB 324CD/LP) snapped up by the Sky Records and fast-tracked for release in 1980, Blenner delivered his second LP, Magazin Frivole, the following year. Mindful of the success of its predecessor, Blenner added the name of his debut in big letters to the front cover of the new sleeve. Blenner remained faithful to his musical style, albeit adding more of a pop flavor. Magazin Frivole would not look out of place filed alongside Depeche Mode on the record shelf, as a certain resemblance is undeniable. Moreover, Blenner was one of the few proponents of electronic music who preferred to keep his songs concise, in contrast to the meandering odysseys of many of his electronic contemporaries. The far better-known French artist Jean-Michel Jarre adhered to similar principles, yet although Blenner was often compared to his compatriot, he claims only to have heard his music long after La Vogue had appeared. Minor chords dominate his harmonies, the bass performs octave leaps which mirror the zeitgeist. Unexpected key changes abound, adding a restless, almost disquieting quality. Overall, Magazin Frivole is less dark than the preceding album, but a picture of cheerfulness it is not. Nevertheless, a poppy drum computer introduces a lighter note. From the very first track, chord changes pop up at unexpected junctures -- they seem to come in prematurely, before harmonic sequences have run their course. Blenner doesn't have any explanation for this curiosity, other than to note that "most of the music was played by hand, so of course it wasn't all perfect." "I did all I could to avoid being successful -- on a subconscious level, at least. Unpredictable metrics and irregular beats were definitely part of the process," Blenner admits with an enigmatic smile. Juxtaposed with Blenner's more recent works, one can see what he means. His latest album Musique de Chambre (2008) comprises modern classical chamber music, built on digitally sampled real instruments. Besides, Blenner points out, handling all of those analog devices was a convoluted and complex undertaking.

$17.00 IN STOCK

Thomas Klein, Alexander Paulick, Andreas Reihse, and Detlef Weinrich assembled in Düsseldorf in winter of 2018 for recordings, and then continued with further sessions in Berlin. Starting with around a dozen sketches, the band produced eight pieces, including "Flood I-IV" and "Flood V", an ensemble of five songs that -- in LP terms -- fills the entire second side of the album. But let's start from the beginning. Side One -- still speaking in LP terms -- begins pleasantly enough with the gentle roll and slight murmur of "Eurydike". Borrowed from Greek mythology, the title refers to the pretense of affection as a means of abandonment. The wistful saxophone, the bass notes, the slight trembling in the sound all speak of her awakening from disillusion. "Celeration", the second piece, seems to accelerate. But the pace of "Eurydike" is actually maintained. The tone becomes sharper, the rhythm creaky, the rolling more energetic, the sequence calls for a sacrifice. A shimmy, a scuttle, a quarter step: "Nesindano". The voice you hear is Khoes, alias Nesindano Namises; the language we hear is Khoekhoe/Damara. A gong, a CR-78 joins, a clicking, a flicker, words flutter, a bass booms, the voice rises up to the hook line, an FM synthesizer picks up the pieces and carries them along, percussion rattles. Agit-Pop! "Flood I-IV" is not about modesty or humility. It calls for always demanding the maximum --of oneself and for oneself -- which also means to give, and that each may set their own limits while respecting others, accepting them and helping where help is needed. Ricardo Domeneck takes on "Flood II" while looking out over the sea in Brazil, his feet in the sand for a few minutes, recalling a conversation with a geologist. "Flood I-IV" involves synthesizers, strings, rusty percussion, guitars enter into dialogue, a collaborative negotiation, a swelling and descending, a showering in transparent layers, banging on shore, heads are rolling, liquefying hierarchies not structures. "Flood IV" is a dance that flows into "Flood V", taking with it its instrumentation and mood, and moving it into a state between an easy-elegiac thoughtfulness and a concentrated contemplation. Kreidler, this four-headed hydra of a continental pop music that captures Bach, disco, postpunk, club, and krautrock in varying proportions with an elegant lightness. On Flood the band playfully expands its approach with two renowned voices.

$22.00 IN STOCK

LP version. Thomas Klein, Alexander Paulick, Andreas Reihse, and Detlef Weinrich assembled in Düsseldorf in winter of 2018 for recordings, and then continued with further sessions in Berlin. Starting with around a dozen sketches, the band produced eight pieces, including "Flood I-IV" and "Flood V", an ensemble of five songs that -- in LP terms -- fills the entire second side of the album. But let's start from the beginning. Side One -- still speaking in LP terms -- begins pleasantly enough with the gentle roll and slight murmur of "Eurydike". Borrowed from Greek mythology, the title refers to the pretense of affection as a means of abandonment. The wistful saxophone, the bass notes, the slight trembling in the sound all speak of her awakening from disillusion. "Celeration", the second piece, seems to accelerate. But the pace of "Eurydike" is actually maintained. The tone becomes sharper, the rhythm creaky, the rolling more energetic, the sequence calls for a sacrifice. A shimmy, a scuttle, a quarter step: "Nesindano". The voice you hear is Khoes, alias Nesindano Namises; the language we hear is Khoekhoe/Damara. A gong, a CR-78 joins, a clicking, a flicker, words flutter, a bass booms, the voice rises up to the hook line, an FM synthesizer picks up the pieces and carries them along, percussion rattles. Agit-Pop! "Flood I-IV" is not about modesty or humility. It calls for always demanding the maximum --of oneself and for oneself -- which also means to give, and that each may set their own limits while respecting others, accepting them and helping where help is needed. Ricardo Domeneck takes on "Flood II" while looking out over the sea in Brazil, his feet in the sand for a few minutes, recalling a conversation with a geologist. "Flood I-IV" involves synthesizers, strings, rusty percussion, guitars enter into dialogue, a collaborative negotiation, a swelling and descending, a showering in transparent layers, banging on shore, heads are rolling, liquefying hierarchies not structures. "Flood IV" is a dance that flows into "Flood V", taking with it its instrumentation and mood, and moving it into a state between an easy-elegiac thoughtfulness and a concentrated contemplation. Kreidler, this four-headed hydra of a continental pop music that captures Bach, disco, postpunk, club, and krautrock in varying proportions with an elegant lightness. On Flood the band playfully expands its approach with two renowned voices.

$17.00 IN STOCK

A living room somewhere in southern Germany. Embroidery graces the walls, a veneer side table with little chrome feet stands in front of a beige velour sofa, a minibar awaits. Pride of place goes to the electric organ which majestically occupies the center of the room, flanked by two oversized loudspeakers. Welcome to the world of OTTO. The duo comprising Alexander Arpeggio and Cid Hohner released their debut 12"-single -- Greatest Hits -- on the Dutch label Charlois in 2016. It sounded fresh, with abundant references to old school electronic organ music. The recordings were made in Cid Hohner's home studio with the aid of various dusty electronic keyboard instruments, the most important of which was a home organ from the early 1980s -- with integrated auto bass and rhythm patterns, of course. In 2017, OTTO finally dragged their organs on stage to unleash their live set. A second disc (self-released) soon followed. The cover image of a German allotment garden anti-idyll under grey skies reflects the darker tone of Full Auto, the music driven forwards by a 1960s drum machine. OTTO headed for the grimy bars and stages of Europe to perform their new creations. A third 12" appeared in 2018. Stimmungen was released with the support of Orgaton, the society for the promotion of organ music. The cover could be an advertisement for a debt collection agency. Inside: bewilderingly danceable rap, a beguiling ballad, smooth as silk. Once again, OTTO defined the contours of their own organ-disco genre. And there's no stopping them now: the two-man band are set to release their long-awaited debut album in 2019 on Bureau B. The eight tracks contain familiar OTTO ingredients, from organ sounds and rhythm presets to disco strings and the monophonic waves of a 1970s synthesizer. Arpeggio and Hohner notes add extra sharpness to the proceedings. Classics from their live repertoire sit alongside brand-new numbers, invariably strange synthesizer compositions. Looking at the cover, one might be forgiven for thinking that OTTO have finally achieved their goal of establishing themselves as a renowned wedding dance band. The track titles hint at such reveries: champagne on the red carpet, riding a noble horse, fire-eaters, the delirious morning after -- OTTO offer a bouquet of hits which one cannot refuse. In their own words: "I wish it were just a dream."

$17.00 IN STOCK

Bureau B present a reissue of Serge Blenner's Magazin Frivole, originally released in 1981. Cold, concise analog synthesizer instrumentals -- on his second album Serge Blenner remained true to his style, albeit shifting course slightly towards pop territory. The juxtaposition of dark harmonies and pop structures is what makes this album so appealing. In places, it feels like a blueprint for early Depeche Mode. Having seen his first album La Vogue (BB 324CD/LP) snapped up by the Sky Records and fast-tracked for release in 1980, Blenner delivered his second LP, Magazin Frivole, the following year. Mindful of the success of its predecessor, Blenner added the name of his debut in big letters to the front cover of the new sleeve. Blenner remained faithful to his musical style, albeit adding more of a pop flavor. Magazin Frivole would not look out of place filed alongside Depeche Mode on the record shelf, as a certain resemblance is undeniable. Moreover, Blenner was one of the few proponents of electronic music who preferred to keep his songs concise, in contrast to the meandering odysseys of many of his electronic contemporaries. The far better-known French artist Jean-Michel Jarre adhered to similar principles, yet although Blenner was often compared to his compatriot, he claims only to have heard his music long after La Vogue had appeared. Minor chords dominate his harmonies, the bass performs octave leaps which mirror the zeitgeist. Unexpected key changes abound, adding a restless, almost disquieting quality. Overall, Magazin Frivole is less dark than the preceding album, but a picture of cheerfulness it is not. Nevertheless, a poppy drum computer introduces a lighter note. From the very first track, chord changes pop up at unexpected junctures -- they seem to come in prematurely, before harmonic sequences have run their course. Blenner doesn't have any explanation for this curiosity, other than to note that "most of the music was played by hand, so of course it wasn't all perfect." "I did all I could to avoid being successful -- on a subconscious level, at least. Unpredictable metrics and irregular beats were definitely part of the process," Blenner admits with an enigmatic smile. Juxtaposed with Blenner's more recent works, one can see what he means. His latest album Musique de Chambre (2008) comprises modern classical chamber music, built on digitally sampled real instruments. Besides, Blenner points out, handling all of those analog devices was a convoluted and complex undertaking.

$22.00 IN STOCK

LP version. Bureau B present a reissue of Serge Blenner's La Vogue, originally released in 1980. Music for the apocalyptic eighties Deutschland state of mind. When Serge Blenner left his native France for Hamburg, West Germany, neither he nor anyone else could have guessed that he would inadvertently compose a soundtrack for the Cold War. But his dark, monotone synthesizer album La Vogue turned out to be just that. Blenner was born in 1955 in Alsace, the easternmost region of France. He studied composition and harmony at the Conservatoire de Mulhouse. He loved listening to electronic music from the Berlin School: Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel/Manuel Göttsching, whom he got to know when they played in Alsatian churches and chapels. Blenner the proselyte had seen enough to realize: it was time to move to Germany, whence this music came. The year was 1975. He soon began experimenting with electronic music himself and graduated to live performances by 1978 and finally settled in Hamburg in 1979. One of the most important electronic music labels of the period, Sky Records, was based in Hamburg. Within the space of six months, Blenner had recorded the tracks which would become La Vogue and sent them to Sky Records. A deal was done and La Vogue was officially released before the year ended. The record was a resounding success, some tracks even made it onto the radio -- crucially, aired at hours of the day when significant numbers of listeners were tuning in. The longest track on La Vogue by far clocks up to nearly nine minutes, a rarity in Blenner's oeuvre, well outside his usual range of three-to-five minutes. La Vogue is an album of two halves. Through the first four tracks, Blenner still seems to be searching for his own style, beginning with the minimalistic, rather somber fanfare of "Phrase I" built around a single melodic pattern. Next up is the almost poppy, harmonically rich "Phrase II", followed by the spherical "Phrase III" and the crystalline, chiming "Phrase IV". If the first four cuts are linked only by heterogeneity, tracks five to eight are very much of a piece. Together they represent a frosty, menacing soundtrack worthy of the apocalyptic mood which hung over the early 1980s, particularly in West Germany. With Cold War angst at its peak, many people feared a Soviet nuclear attack was imminent.

$22.00 IN STOCK

LP version. Bureau B present a reissue of Martin Rev's Cheyenne, originally released in 1991. The sphere of Martin Rev's influence and the relevance of his music may well be related to the fact that he was one of the first artists who succeeded in grasping the abstraction of electronic music, infusing it with a sense of immediacy built on raw energy. Whilst the likes of La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and Kraftwerk were busy digging in the electronic music garden, Martin Rev found inspiration in the streets of New York. Rev's music is informed by characteristic influences of the city, a place where doo-wop harmonies intermingle with the hiss and hum of the metropolis, dissolving into a collage of noise. So it is that dreamy, chiming melodies blur into ominous whirrs and drones emanating from rhythm machines and layers of distorted synthesizer. This polarity between convergence and alienation describes something deeply American, as reflected in the track names and the cover image of a rodeo rider: "The idea came from the way the tracks sounded as instrumentals. They took on a different visually descriptive dimension, even more so in combination. The visualization was an immediate soundscape of the American landscape. That's where the titles and cover came from." Many of the pieces found on Cheyenne can be traced back to the sessions for the second Suicide album Alan Vega / Martin Rev (1980) which was produced by Ric Ocasek, singer for The Cars. Almost a decade passed before Martin Rev got around to editing and developing the material. "Most of the album was recorded in 1980, but the remaining few tracks from 1988 into the early '90s. The '80s tracks all went under a concerted editing process, to make them work for me even better as instrumentals. I didn't get around to that until there was an offer to release them, which was in the early 90's as well." Indeed, Cheyenne plays out like a rural, yet intense road movie, crossing a landscape rich in beauty and contradictions.

$17.00 IN STOCK

Bureau B present a reissue of Conrad Schnitzler's Conditions of the Gas Giant, originally released on cassette in 1988. The Berlin artist first released these recordings on a small American cassette label. Admirers of the seminal artist Conrad Schnitzler can be found all over the planet, including the USA, of course. Matt Howarth, illustrator and independent comic artist, is one of them. He has been following Schnitzler's music since the early 1970s whilst drawing offbeat science fiction stories. One day Howarth came up with the idea of making Schnitzler a member of a notorious band -- The Bulldaggers -- who featured in one of his comic series. Not wanting to go ahead without permission, he got in touch with Schnitzler who readily embraced the idea. In fact, he posted a pile of photos by return so that the graphic artist could draw him properly. The Bulldaggers popped up repeatedly in the comics and Schnitzler was (repeatedly) delighted. A friendship soon developed between him and Howarth. In 1986, Howarth designed his first cover for a Schnitzler album (Concert) and the following year Schnitzler entrusted him with tapes which Howarth was able to bring to the notice of the small American label Bird O' Pray. Considering the label's predominantly punk and early garage leanings, Howarth and Schnitzler were as surprised as each other to see the album successfully released on cassette. Howarth and Schnitzler came up with the album title together. Conditions of the Gas Giant reflected the atmosphere they associated with the music, clouds of manifold colors, whirling nervously above a gaseous planet. A methane and helium tryst in sonic form -- fireworks, pyrotechnics for the eyes, like the surface of Jupiter, just as Schnitzler's tracks are pyrotechnics for the ears. This is the image conveyed by Matt Howarth in the liner notes for the reissue -- naturally designed by himself -- based on the aborted 1990s CD release. He also called on his friend D.H. Kister for further assistance, the man who first introduced him to Schnitzler's music almost fifty years ago. First CD and vinyl release.

$22.00 IN STOCK

LP version. Bureau B present a reissue of Conrad Schnitzler's Conditions of the Gas Giant, originally released on cassette in 1988. The Berlin artist first released these recordings on a small American cassette label. Admirers of the seminal artist Conrad Schnitzler can be found all over the planet, including the USA, of course. Matt Howarth, illustrator and independent comic artist, is one of them. He has been following Schnitzler's music since the early 1970s whilst drawing offbeat science fiction stories. One day Howarth came up with the idea of making Schnitzler a member of a notorious band -- The Bulldaggers -- who featured in one of his comic series. Not wanting to go ahead without permission, he got in touch with Schnitzler who readily embraced the idea. In fact, he posted a pile of photos by return so that the graphic artist could draw him properly. The Bulldaggers popped up repeatedly in the comics and Schnitzler was (repeatedly) delighted. A friendship soon developed between him and Howarth. In 1986, Howarth designed his first cover for a Schnitzler album (Concert) and the following year Schnitzler entrusted him with tapes which Howarth was able to bring to the notice of the small American label Bird O' Pray. Considering the label's predominantly punk and early garage leanings, Howarth and Schnitzler were as surprised as each other to see the album successfully released on cassette. Howarth and Schnitzler came up with the album title together. Conditions of the Gas Giant reflected the atmosphere they associated with the music, clouds of manifold colors, whirling nervously above a gaseous planet. A methane and helium tryst in sonic form -- fireworks, pyrotechnics for the eyes, like the surface of Jupiter, just as Schnitzler's tracks are pyrotechnics for the ears. This is the image conveyed by Matt Howarth in the liner notes for the reissue -- naturally designed by himself -- based on the aborted 1990s CD release. He also called on his friend D.H. Kister for further assistance, the man who first introduced him to Schnitzler's music almost fifty years ago. First CD and vinyl release.

$17.00 IN STOCK

Bureau B present a reissue of Martin Rev's Cheyenne, originally released in 1991. The sphere of Martin Rev's influence and the relevance of his music may well be related to the fact that he was one of the first artists who succeeded in grasping the abstraction of electronic music, infusing it with a sense of immediacy built on raw energy. Whilst the likes of La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and Kraftwerk were busy digging in the electronic music garden, Martin Rev found inspiration in the streets of New York. Rev's music is informed by characteristic influences of the city, a place where doo-wop harmonies intermingle with the hiss and hum of the metropolis, dissolving into a collage of noise. So it is that dreamy, chiming melodies blur into ominous whirrs and drones emanating from rhythm machines and layers of distorted synthesizer. This polarity between convergence and alienation describes something deeply American, as reflected in the track names and the cover image of a rodeo rider: "The idea came from the way the tracks sounded as instrumentals. They took on a different visually descriptive dimension, even more so in combination. The visualization was an immediate soundscape of the American landscape. That's where the titles and cover came from." Many of the pieces found on Cheyenne can be traced back to the sessions for the second Suicide album Alan Vega / Martin Rev (1980) which was produced by Ric Ocasek, singer for The Cars. Almost a decade passed before Martin Rev got around to editing and developing the material. "Most of the album was recorded in 1980, but the remaining few tracks from 1988 into the early '90s. The '80s tracks all went under a concerted editing process, to make them work for me even better as instrumentals. I didn't get around to that until there was an offer to release them, which was in the early 90's as well." Indeed, Cheyenne plays out like a rural, yet intense road movie, crossing a landscape rich in beauty and contradictions.

$17.00 IN STOCK

Bureau B present a reissue of Martin Rev's Clouds of Glory, originally released in 1985. Martin Rev is best known as one half of the seminal duo Suicide (with Alan Vega). Listening to his solo albums, it becomes clear that Rev was responsible for the group's music. Clouds of Glory, his second solo effort, was released on the French label New Rose in 1985. Suicide mirrored the reductive and radical traits of the contemporaneous punk scene that was in the process of emerging, but their electronic, minimalist form of language was so unique, so innovative, that they would become a major influence on the likes of Daft Punk, Air, and Aphex Twin. Alongside his work with Suicide, Martin Rev continued as a solo artist, releasing his eponymous debut album in 1980 on New York's Infidelity label. Rev's early solo excursions can be traced back to the original ideas which can be found -- in modified form -- in Suicide songs: as instrumental versions which have been texturally enriched, like a familiar figure which has nevertheless taken on a completely new existence. Five years later, in 1985, Martin Rev released his sophomore solo LP on the Parisian label New Rose Records, although the recordings on Clouds of Glory actually dated back to the earlier part of the decade, following on from the Suicide sessions for the duo's second album. Martin Rev remembers: "Clouds of Glory was produced from visual and musical sketches I had in mind which then coincided with an invitation by Marty Thau, previously Suicide's manager, to take advantage of studio time he had accumulated from other projects. The essence of my ideas was then realized in the studio. Clouds was started in 1981 and completed in 1984 when additional studio time was made possible to complete it, based on the offer by New Rose Records." In spite of Clouds of Glory having been recorded with the same equipment as the Alan Vega/Martin Rev Suicide album (1980), it occupies a completely different space, evoking the solemnity of religious music through its underlying meditative tone. "I look now upon the album as part of a personal journey into the frontier of music; a process which is never ending in its revealing of possibilities to satisfy my musical aspirations."

$22.00 IN STOCK

LP version. Bureau B present a reissue of Martin Rev's Clouds of Glory, originally released in 1985. Martin Rev is best known as one half of the seminal duo Suicide (with Alan Vega). Listening to his solo albums, it becomes clear that Rev was responsible for the group's music. Clouds of Glory, his second solo effort, was released on the French label New Rose in 1985. Suicide mirrored the reductive and radical traits of the contemporaneous punk scene that was in the process of emerging, but their electronic, minimalist form of language was so unique, so innovative, that they would become a major influence on the likes of Daft Punk, Air, and Aphex Twin. Alongside his work with Suicide, Martin Rev continued as a solo artist, releasing his eponymous debut album in 1980 on New York's Infidelity label. Rev's early solo excursions can be traced back to the original ideas which can be found -- in modified form -- in Suicide songs: as instrumental versions which have been texturally enriched, like a familiar figure which has nevertheless taken on a completely new existence. Five years later, in 1985, Martin Rev released his sophomore solo LP on the Parisian label New Rose Records, although the recordings on Clouds of Glory actually dated back to the earlier part of the decade, following on from the Suicide sessions for the duo's second album. Martin Rev remembers: "Clouds of Glory was produced from visual and musical sketches I had in mind which then coincided with an invitation by Marty Thau, previously Suicide's manager, to take advantage of studio time he had accumulated from other projects. The essence of my ideas was then realized in the studio. Clouds was started in 1981 and completed in 1984 when additional studio time was made possible to complete it, based on the offer by New Rose Records." In spite of Clouds of Glory having been recorded with the same equipment as the Alan Vega/Martin Rev Suicide album (1980), it occupies a completely different space, evoking the solemnity of religious music through its underlying meditative tone. "I look now upon the album as part of a personal journey into the frontier of music; a process which is never ending in its revealing of possibilities to satisfy my musical aspirations."

$22.00 IN STOCK

LP version. "They say that the avant-garde moves faster than light and therefore has to travel under cover of darkness, flying blind, destination unknown. Little of today's realpolitik-related gloom casts its shadow over Strategies, the new album by restless avant-garde auteur Andreas Spechtl. On the contrary. Whereas the two preceding albums Sleep and Thinking About Tomorrow (And How To Build It) (BB 278CD/LP, 2017) documented quietly intimate, personal journeys along the margins of Europe or Iran, casting a skeptical eye on neoteric political shifts, Strategies is an altogether more explosive affair, buzzing with beats, effervescent with the energy of techno, dance, a celebration of resistance. The sense of unease engendered by global politics has given way to a new sense of self, to new strategies, an eagerness to escape into ecstasy, madness, anarchy. Right from the word go, as the first melodies take shape, as the first lines unfold, even as quiet, intimate moments from prior recordings linger on, a piano fades away, a saxophone passes by and then the beats kick in -- an almost anthemic 'yes, we will change the world/because we've done so/many times before' sets the euphoric tone for the rest of the album. And oh, the voice; following its disappearing act on the previous discs, it returns here on a wave of charming dandyism, dancing, screaming, whispering, moaning, striding unwaveringly, casually, aggressively, through techno, tribal and disco beats, scanning lyrics whose palpable, newly-gained coolness might just be a universal antidote against the world's political vacuum. It is also a voice which suddenly switches to Spanish on 'When We Were Young,' joined by Anna Seghers as a ghostly witness. The album was written in Santiago de Querétaro, not far from Mexico City. It was crafted mostly on a modular system and two synthesizers, without VST or digital equipment, the computer downgraded to the status of a mere multitrack recording device. Andreas Spechtl appears to have arrived at the core of his own self, all new, as if he had rewired himself amongst all the modules -- without having even tried to find himself, yet discovering someone in the circuits who had almost been forgotten or would be forgotten again, someone who only existed right there. With the philosophical and musical activism on Strategies he offers us the clearest, most readable signs pointing into the future." --Thomas Köck, January 2019.

$36.00 IN STOCK

LP version. Limited edition comes in gatefold sleeve and includes LP booklet; 180 gram vinyl. "They say that the avant-garde moves faster than light and therefore has to travel under cover of darkness, flying blind, destination unknown. Little of today's realpolitik-related gloom casts its shadow over Strategies, the new album by restless avant-garde auteur Andreas Spechtl. On the contrary. Whereas the two preceding albums Sleep and Thinking About Tomorrow (And How To Build It) (BB 278CD/LP, 2017) documented quietly intimate, personal journeys along the margins of Europe or Iran, casting a skeptical eye on neoteric political shifts, Strategies is an altogether more explosive affair, buzzing with beats, effervescent with the energy of techno, dance, a celebration of resistance. The sense of unease engendered by global politics has given way to a new sense of self, to new strategies, an eagerness to escape into ecstasy, madness, anarchy. Right from the word go, as the first melodies take shape, as the first lines unfold, even as quiet, intimate moments from prior recordings linger on, a piano fades away, a saxophone passes by and then the beats kick in -- an almost anthemic 'yes, we will change the world/because we've done so/many times before' sets the euphoric tone for the rest of the album. And oh, the voice; following its disappearing act on the previous discs, it returns here on a wave of charming dandyism, dancing, screaming, whispering, moaning, striding unwaveringly, casually, aggressively, through techno, tribal and disco beats, scanning lyrics whose palpable, newly-gained coolness might just be a universal antidote against the world's political vacuum. It is also a voice which suddenly switches to Spanish on 'When We Were Young,' joined by Anna Seghers as a ghostly witness. The album was written in Santiago de Querétaro, not far from Mexico City. It was crafted mostly on a modular system and two synthesizers, without VST or digital equipment, the computer downgraded to the status of a mere multitrack recording device. Andreas Spechtl appears to have arrived at the core of his own self, all new, as if he had rewired himself amongst all the modules -- without having even tried to find himself, yet discovering someone in the circuits who had almost been forgotten or would be forgotten again, someone who only existed right there. With the philosophical and musical activism on Strategies he offers us the clearest, most readable signs pointing into the future." --Thomas Köck, January 2019.

$22.00 IN STOCK

LP version. "It's the terror of knowing what this world is about," David Bowie sang in 1981, backed by Queen. He performed the remarkable feat of taking a song with such lyrics and creating a hit. Von Spar's Under Pressure also knows what this world is about, with its intimidatory posturing, acute social competition and the fight for survival as we enter an age of surveillance capitalism. The music's inherent urgency is in evidence from the very first beat, yet it still appears to float freely, creating space for reflection and self-interrogation. What others call a "band", Von Spar see as a modular system. The creative community of Sebastian Blume, Jan Philipp Janzen, Christopher Marquez, and Phillip Tielsch is in a state of constant flux. Von Spar is an interface, providing access to rediscovery and fresh experience of, to all intents and purposes, the familiar. Under Pressure is their fifth album, not counting their homage to Can (recorded live with Stephen Malkmus). 15 years have passed since their debut Die Uneingeschränkte Freiheit Der Privaten Initiative (2004), five since Streetlife (2014). On closer examination, there is a chameleonesque quality to Von Spar's discography. Their records are the result of continuous metamorphosis, opening wormholes to post punk, krautrock and '80s art pop. The constants: rhythmic refinement and harmonic quantum leaps, swirling synthesizer arpeggios, backwards guitars with no hint of retrogradation. The eight songs on Under Pressure were recorded in Von Spar's Dumbo Studio in Cologne, with various guests from adding noteworthy contributions. As on Streetlife, the formative voice belongs to Chris A. Cummings aka Marker Starling. His distinctive falsetto graces over half of the songs, asking: "Is there a cure for this/Unhappiness, happiness?" On the opening track, Cummings is joined by Eiko Ishibashi (Kafka's Ibiki, Jim O'Rourke, Merzbow) in a Japanese dream sequence exploring where they might get to if the shackles of the flesh are cast off. Punk and reggae professor Vivien Goldman (The Flying Lizards) picks up the thread and liberates herself from the ghosts of the past on "Boyfriends (Dead Or Alive)". Lætitia Sadier (Stereolab) sings on the album's kraut-pop hit "Extend The Song" which could run and run for ever, powered by motoric energy: "If someone would ask me/Could I go on?" Less answers, more questions -- this is the song's greatest leitmotif. It is left to low-fi maverick R. Stevie Moore to pose the question on "Falsetto Giuseppe" "Should I worry?" Of course!" --Arno Raffeiner

$17.00 IN STOCK

"They say that the avant-garde moves faster than light and therefore has to travel under cover of darkness, flying blind, destination unknown. Little of today's realpolitik-related gloom casts its shadow over Strategies, the new album by restless avant-garde auteur Andreas Spechtl. On the contrary. Whereas the two preceding albums Sleep and Thinking About Tomorrow (And How To Build It) (BB 278CD/LP, 2017) documented quietly intimate, personal journeys along the margins of Europe or Iran, casting a skeptical eye on neoteric political shifts, Strategies is an altogether more explosive affair, buzzing with beats, effervescent with the energy of techno, dance, a celebration of resistance. The sense of unease engendered by global politics has given way to a new sense of self, to new strategies, an eagerness to escape into ecstasy, madness, anarchy. Right from the word go, as the first melodies take shape, as the first lines unfold, even as quiet, intimate moments from prior recordings linger on, a piano fades away, a saxophone passes by and then the beats kick in -- an almost anthemic 'yes, we will change the world/because we've done so/many times before' sets the euphoric tone for the rest of the album. And oh, the voice; following its disappearing act on the previous discs, it returns here on a wave of charming dandyism, dancing, screaming, whispering, moaning, striding unwaveringly, casually, aggressively, through techno, tribal and disco beats, scanning lyrics whose palpable, newly-gained coolness might just be a universal antidote against the world's political vacuum. It is also a voice which suddenly switches to Spanish on 'When We Were Young,' joined by Anna Seghers as a ghostly witness. The album was written in Santiago de Querétaro, not far from Mexico City. It was crafted mostly on a modular system and two synthesizers, without VST or digital equipment, the computer downgraded to the status of a mere multitrack recording device. Andreas Spechtl appears to have arrived at the core of his own self, all new, as if he had rewired himself amongst all the modules -- without having even tried to find himself, yet discovering someone in the circuits who had almost been forgotten or would be forgotten again, someone who only existed right there. With the philosophical and musical activism on Strategies he offers us the clearest, most readable signs pointing into the future." --Thomas Köck, January 2019.

$17.00 IN STOCK

"It's the terror of knowing what this world is about," David Bowie sang in 1981, backed by Queen. He performed the remarkable feat of taking a song with such lyrics and creating a hit. Von Spar's Under Pressure also knows what this world is about, with its intimidatory posturing, acute social competition and the fight for survival as we enter an age of surveillance capitalism. The music's inherent urgency is in evidence from the very first beat, yet it still appears to float freely, creating space for reflection and self-interrogation. What others call a "band", Von Spar see as a modular system. The creative community of Sebastian Blume, Jan Philipp Janzen, Christopher Marquez, and Phillip Tielsch is in a state of constant flux. Von Spar is an interface, providing access to rediscovery and fresh experience of, to all intents and purposes, the familiar. Under Pressure is their fifth album, not counting their homage to Can (recorded live with Stephen Malkmus). 15 years have passed since their debut Die Uneingeschränkte Freiheit Der Privaten Initiative (2004), five since Streetlife (2014). On closer examination, there is a chameleonesque quality to Von Spar's discography. Their records are the result of continuous metamorphosis, opening wormholes to post punk, krautrock and '80s art pop. The constants: rhythmic refinement and harmonic quantum leaps, swirling synthesizer arpeggios, backwards guitars with no hint of retrogradation. The eight songs on Under Pressure were recorded in Von Spar's Dumbo Studio in Cologne, with various guests from adding noteworthy contributions. As on Streetlife, the formative voice belongs to Chris A. Cummings aka Marker Starling. His distinctive falsetto graces over half of the songs, asking: "Is there a cure for this/Unhappiness, happiness?" On the opening track, Cummings is joined by Eiko Ishibashi (Kafka's Ibiki, Jim O'Rourke, Merzbow) in a Japanese dream sequence exploring where they might get to if the shackles of the flesh are cast off. Punk and reggae professor Vivien Goldman (The Flying Lizards) picks up the thread and liberates herself from the ghosts of the past on "Boyfriends (Dead Or Alive)". Lætitia Sadier (Stereolab) sings on the album's kraut-pop hit "Extend The Song" which could run and run for ever, powered by motoric energy: "If someone would ask me/Could I go on?" Less answers, more questions -- this is the song's greatest leitmotif. It is left to low-fi maverick R. Stevie Moore to pose the question on "Falsetto Giuseppe" "Should I worry?" Of course!" --Arno Raffeiner

$17.00 IN STOCK

Bureau B present a reissue of Young Scientist's debut album Results, Not Answers, originally released in 1979. When you think of the music to have emerged from Seattle, grunge and Sub Pop are probably the first things that come to mind. But Seattle was already home to a vibrant alternative music scene back in the 1970s. One of the most prominent synthesizer acts of the period was the trio Young Scientist. Influenced by the likes of Cluster, Harmonia, and Tangerine Dream, they released their music exclusively on cassette. the hypnotic-meditative cyclical Results, Not Answers. Young Scientist (Marc Barreca, James Husted, and Roland Barker) -- released four cassettes as 1979 blazed a trail into the 1980s, capturing the electric excitement of their live shows, unwriting the rules with no less fervor than their punk rock neighbors. All three members of Young Scientist played synthesizers. The Results, Not Answers album presents Young Scientist in full flow through four tracks, forty minutes of hypnotic and/or rhythmic soundscapes. Although the band admit that they did not pay much attention to the recording process itself, the selections on Results, Not Answers are crystal clear and have effortlessly stood the test of time. "Brainless" ripples with tension through its fifteen and a half minutes, "Eastern Clouds" swirls with sitars before you loop through "Music For Feet" to the meditative, spiritualized patterns of "Omega". Results, Not Answers shines a light on Seattle at an incredibly creative juncture in the city's musical history. James Husted recalls: "The Seattle scene at the time was very active. There were many bands playing music across the spectrum. Many 'Art', 'Punk', 'Experimental', 'New Wave' etc. bands were forming and reforming all the time then . . . Young Scientist opened for the Dead Kennedys once, that shows how wide the spectrum could be at times. I feel ALL the bands of that time were pioneers in the genres they played. They all pushed boundaries. I think in the electronic music scene, Young Scientist was definitely one of the pioneers and leaders at the time. We played many more shows and different venues than any other electronic music band at the time." First CD release and first vinyl release.

$22.00 IN STOCK

LP version. Bureau B present a reissue of Young Scientist's debut album Results, Not Answers, originally released in 1979. When you think of the music to have emerged from Seattle, grunge and Sub Pop are probably the first things that come to mind. But Seattle was already home to a vibrant alternative music scene back in the 1970s. One of the most prominent synthesizer acts of the period was the trio Young Scientist. Influenced by the likes of Cluster, Harmonia, and Tangerine Dream, they released their music exclusively on cassette. the hypnotic-meditative cyclical Results, Not Answers. Young Scientist (Marc Barreca, James Husted, and Roland Barker) -- released four cassettes as 1979 blazed a trail into the 1980s, capturing the electric excitement of their live shows, unwriting the rules with no less fervor than their punk rock neighbors. All three members of Young Scientist played synthesizers. The Results, Not Answers album presents Young Scientist in full flow through four tracks, forty minutes of hypnotic and/or rhythmic soundscapes. Although the band admit that they did not pay much attention to the recording process itself, the selections on Results, Not Answers are crystal clear and have effortlessly stood the test of time. "Brainless" ripples with tension through its fifteen and a half minutes, "Eastern Clouds" swirls with sitars before you loop through "Music For Feet" to the meditative, spiritualized patterns of "Omega". Results, Not Answers shines a light on Seattle at an incredibly creative juncture in the city's musical history. James Husted recalls: "The Seattle scene at the time was very active. There were many bands playing music across the spectrum. Many 'Art', 'Punk', 'Experimental', 'New Wave' etc. bands were forming and reforming all the time then . . . Young Scientist opened for the Dead Kennedys once, that shows how wide the spectrum could be at times. I feel ALL the bands of that time were pioneers in the genres they played. They all pushed boundaries. I think in the electronic music scene, Young Scientist was definitely one of the pioneers and leaders at the time. We played many more shows and different venues than any other electronic music band at the time." First CD release and first vinyl release.

$17.00 IN STOCK

" 'You can't walk on water/ but you can swim in it/ the coast is clear/ add land from here': A slow, slightly erratic pulse ripples underneath Tellavision's voice as she sings -- evoking the fears which paralyze us, the fears which inspire us. Magnetic fields crackle over a sharply contoured yet dimly lit beat on Add Land, the new Tellavision album. It doesn't take much for her voice to shine . . . Add Land, the fourth Tellavision album, is a rigorous exercise in musical reduction, reaching new levels of intricacy and virtuosity which prove to be warmer and more touching than ever. For a decade, Tellavision has been one of our most exciting sonic inventors, carving out her own inimitable style through her previous three albums, two EPs, and countless tracks. New music abstractions echo against a backdrop of old krautrock mechanical motorik rhythms, allied to the physically gripping immediacy of techno and noise . . .Add Land marks a departure, a shift, a move towards a new horizon, 'the coast is clear/ add land from here'. Tellavision has severed those connections which increasingly felt like constraints to her -- the close link to machines, for example, the way her voice became entangled in electronic sounds. Now, her vocals occupy a clear space in the foreground, whilst she still chooses to add her own choral voice on some songs. The difference is that these choirs no longer blur her subjectivity, instead they serve to magnify or multiply it. No matter the flutters, shivers and doubts in the shadows, there is a new strength in evidence here, a new steadfastness in her music: Add Land is an upbeat, optimistic work, meeting the world head on. Fear may be a leitmotif on Add Land, but the spotlight is directed more towards the love which enables us to overcome our fears: our love for each other, for ourselves . . . Once again, Tellavision has written and recorded all of the songs herself. She was joined on production by Thies Mynther, better known to us as one half of the Phantom/Ghost duo, who met Tellavision through one of her more recent theatrical works . . . Tellavision has never sounded so immediate, so confident, so very much in the moment. This is her finest album to date: 'Drop utopia/ drop dystopia/ it's all here.' " --Jens Balzer (translation Gareth Davies)