A-Z
Colin Newman kept busy during Wire’s temporary early 80’s split, releasing three rather interesting solo records. Although in the case of A-Z, some members of Wire were involved in the recording… This feels as lean and sharp-edged as all your favourite Wire, but with some different details in the sound. Released on vinyl and CD, with the CD edition coming with a whole extra disc of demos and the like. On Sentient Sonics.
Not To
Colin Newman’s 3 classic early 80’s solo albums originally released on Beggars Banquet / 4AD re-released on his own new imprint Sentient Sonics. "These albums were recorded and released between 1980 & 1982 in a “post 154” rush of activity. While all the albums bear the name Colin Newman they differ in that A-Z & Not To were recorded as “band” albums with Colin being joined by Wire’s Robert Grey, Mike Thorne (who also produced, as he had the first 3 Wire albums) & Desmond Simmons on A-Z and Rober…
Anterior Space
Holovr is Jimmy Billingham who also records under the alias's Tidal, Venn Rain, Journey of Mind & Holographic Mind - He has released music on Firecracker Records, Opal Tapes and Hooker Vision as well as his own Indole Records Release Information Anterior Space may strike some listeners of a certain age as an echo of the gilded age of "armchair techno" exemplified by Warp Records' Artificial Intelligence comps. There's a similar convergence of the cerebral and the blissful in the four epic compos…
Zero Set
2016 repress. LP version on 180 gram vinyl. In 1983, Dieter Moebius (Cluster) and legendary producer Conny Plankteamed up for the third time, resulting in the Zero Set project, originally released on Sky Records. On this occasion, they were backed up by one of the best drummers on the German rock scene: Mani Neumeier of Guru Guru. Plank, usually more of a background figure as producer, takes an equal share of the limelight alongside the musicians. His supermodern studio is brought into play like…
Strange Music
LP version. Bureau B reissues the first collaborative release by Dieter Moebius and Gerd Beerbohm, originally released by Sky Records in 1982. In the latter half of the 1970s, alongside their Cluster collaboration, Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius embarked almost simultaneously on individual musical journeys. Roedelius focused primarily on solo projects, while Moebius preferred to engage with other musicians on equal terms. Strange Music -- as unimaginative as the title may first appear…
Tonspuren
LP version, pressed on 180 gram vinyl. This is the first solo album by Dieter Moebius, recorded at Conny Plank's studio and originally released in 1983 on Sky Records. By 1969 at the latest, Dieter Moebius was synonymous with the avant-garde electronic music scene in Germany. He and Hans-Joachim Roedelius formed Cluster, a seminal electronic/ambient duo, while Moebius was also a member of the so-called Krautrock supergroup Harmonia (with Michael Rother and Roedelius), as well as collaborating on…
Off the Record
LP version. Well-known as one-quarter of the "classic" Kraftwerk line-up, Karl Bartos' new album is an audio-visual sensation. Lost for many years, some of his early music has been re-conceived and re-contextualized in a thrilling modern setting. Here's the story: during Kraftwerk's heyday, Karl Bartos wrote -- off the record -- a secret acoustic diary. Based on his musical jottings (rhythms, riffs, hooks, sounds, chords, and melodies) this is what he has come up with today -- 12 brand-new, exci…
Fur mich
LP version. Tired of quarreling endlessly with his imperious brother Klaus, Thomas Dinger quit the production of Viva, the second La Düsseldorf album, and promptly set off for the south of France. Frustrated and far away from home, his mind turned to the possibility of a solo album. An album devoted to his own musical ideas, free from domineering voices telling him what to do. Presenting his own vision in the context of a La Düsseldorf LP would have been difficult at the best of times. "I wanted…
Kollektion 05: Conrad Schnitzler Compiled and Assembled by Thoma
LP version. Things come full circle. In 1976 Thomas Fehlmannarrives in Hamburg to study art at the Hamburg University of Fine Arts. In 1979 he attends a guest lecture by Conrad Schnitzler, who demonstrates how the "extended definition of art" established by Joseph Beuys can be applied to music. This proves to be a crucial element in Fehlmann's decision to become a musician. And now, in 2015, over 35 years later, Fehlmann has compiled the fifth installment in Bureau B's Kollektion series, arrangi…
Machines of Desire
LP version. Includes CD. "In October 2014 an idea suddenly came to mind. Although I had spent much of my life performing, recording and producing music, my attention over the immediately preceding years had been focused on the philosophy and psychology of human nature. It was a rewarding exploration, but I missed being more creative -- suddenly I felt the urge to play music again. I built a recording studio in my basement and began writing material for the first time in a long while. In November…
Structures
LP version. Latecomers to the krautrock party, Circles created a manifesto of frenzied inertia in the late 1980s, swimming in the same gene pool as Cluster and Popol Vuh. Ambient music for the end of time does not get any more authentic than this. The Structures album is a time capsule unlocked, containing previously unreleased recordings from 1985 to 1989. Music that blends the extremes of end-times foreboding and drifting lightness to beguiling effect. Music that succeeds in sounding more cont…
Elektronische Mythen
CD version. Jürgen Karg began his music career in the 1960s as a bassist for German jazz legend Wolfgang Dauner. It was not until the 1970s that he switched his attention to electronic music, launching himself wholeheartedly into exploring the genre and building up an extensive collection of synthesizers over a five-year period. His efforts culminated in the 1977 Elektronische Mythen LP, a mighty opus of experimental music that reveals new aspects every time it is played. This is its first reiss…
Inselmusik
LP version. Bureau B reissue Rolf Trostel's Inselmusik (1981). Rolf Trostel is a protagonist of the so-called Berliner Schule, or Berlin School (Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze). On his first album Inselmusik, he explores the sonic possibilities of the recently introduced PPG wavetable synthesizer. The music is based on live performances from the late 1970s by Trostel and Krautrock guitarist Günter Schickert. Formally speaking, Inselmusik is a demonstration of the PPG Wave Computer 360, a synthes…
Two Faces
LP version. Bureau B present a reissue of Rolf Trostel's second album Two Faces, originally released in 1982. While Inselmusik(BB 230CD/LP), released the previous year, was intended as a basis for live performance, Trostel composed and produced the five instrumental tracks on Two Faces exclusively for this album. The music is clearly a product of the Berlin School, yet it is more sophisticated and varied than its predecessor. Some new additions to Trostel's instrument collection are audible. Whi…
Electri City
LP version. Bureau B present a reissue of Michael Bundt's Electri City, originally released in 1980. Having played his way through the 1970s in various rock combos (Medusa, Nine Days' Wonder), Michael Bundt embarked on a solo career in the latter part of the decade, releasing three albums which saw him explore the vast potential of electronic music. Delightfully varied and typical of his willingness to experiment, his music orbits around krautrock, Berlin School electronica, space-futurism and s…
Der Prophet
LP version. Bureau B reissue Rolf Trostel's Der Prophet (1982). Electronic pop was the musical goal of the Berlin School musician Rolf Trostel on Der Prophet, which was released in the same year as its predecessor Two Faces. Der Prophet is the culmination of this phase of Trostel's oeuvre, which was tightly coupled to the PPG Wave Computer. As on his previous releases, the sonic peculiarities and clanking sounds of wavetable synthesis are emphasized. Yet here they are obviously more interlinked …
Filmmusik 1
LP version. Bureau B present Filmmusik 1, a selection from Conrad Schnitzler's archive. In Conrad Schnitzler's sprawling archive, there are two tapes marked Filmmusik 1975 A and Filmmusik 1980 B. It is hard to say which videos this music belongs to, particularly as the pieces have been left untitled. Perhaps there isn't really any film material at all. The dates are of no great help either, since the tapes feature the same tracks, albeit in varying degrees of quality. Filmmusik 1 presents an ini…
Con-struct
LP version. Includes CD. Conrad Schnitzler (1937-2011), composer and concept artist, was one of the most important representatives of Germany's electronic music avant-garde. A student of Joseph Beuys, he founded Berlin's legendary Zodiak Free Arts Lab, a subculture club in 1967/68, was a member of Tangerine Dream (with Klaus Schulze and Edgar Froese) and Kluster (with Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius) and also released countless solo albums. Schneider TM (Dirk Dresselhaus) has been invo…
Romance 76
From 1971 to 1977, Peter Baumann was a member of the legendary Berlin band Tangerine Dream. The group were pioneers of the so called Berliner Schule (Berlin School) which had such a profound impact on electronic music. He produced a number of momentous albums at his Paragon Studio (by the likes of Conrad Schnitzler, Cluster, Hans-Joachim Roedelius) and also enjoyed success as a solo artist. His first two solo works are now being reissued with extensive liner notes and rare photographs. The influ…
The Woodcarver
An acousmatic track based on field recordings mainly collected on the mountains of Northern Italy during two different phases of a wood harvest work. "please close your eyes, just close them" Luca Garino (Italy, 1978) is an Italian composer active since 1996 in the fields of electronic and concrete music. He started as self-taught and then continues his research at computer music at LaSDIM (Laboratorio per la sperimentazione e la didattica dell'informatica musicale). Previously active under…