APRIL 2020

BUTZMANN/KAPIELSKI. Album out now!

"WAR PUR WAR" was created in my small studio at 11-13 Erkelenzdamm, on the same floor as the Institut Unzeit, where the Freunde Guter Musik were also based. The record gathers together an incredibly diverse assortment of short pieces with different backstories.
When we had finished recording, Thomas Kapielski and I headed for Hamburg with the two 1/4–inch tapes to master the A and B sides of the LP. The engineer was a really friendly guy. He spotted a phase shift between the channels and I'm eternally grateful to him for correcting it! He wasn’t quite so meticulous when it came to calibrating volume levels for the record.
The three of us – Kapielski, the engineer and I – had a lot of laughs together, but our man didn't take the music particularly seriously and perhaps lacked a little bit of focus. Distribution difficulties meant that only a few copies of the disc made it into the shops when it was released in 1987, ultimately increasing its collectibility as a rare item. The album illuminates the spectrum of differing, even contradictory Butzmann/Kapielski productions, whilst also marking the conclusion of a short epoch which began with punk, post-punk, the Zensor record shop and Genialen Dilletanten in Berlin. It continued through a period of "high cultural relations" before ending in the late 1980s which, by no means coincidentally, is when the duo broke up.

Frieder Butzmann, November 2019

More info: english / german

MARCH 2020

Jimi Tenor retrospective "NY, Hel, Barca" out on Bureau B!

Finnish composer and multi-instrumentalist Jimi Tenor has joined forces with Bureau B to release "NY, Hel, Barca" – a retrospective compilation spanning the years 1994 – 2001. The double LP features early works and selected tracks from his first six albums, long since deleted. The 20 tracks on "NY, Hel, Barca" document key stages of Jimi Tenor's remarkable creative path, underlining the prolific and varied nature of his artistic output. Then as now, he shines like a satellite hovering over the European pop landscape.

More info: english / german

FEBRUARY 2020

Felix Kubin & Hubert Zemler are CEL. Album out now!

The "janus-faced Poltergeist of the retro-futuristic electronic dance music" Felix Kubin and the polish drummer Hubert Zemler, inspired by Jazz, contemporary music and Improv, teamed up together to create this project that convinces with its innovative electronic concept and sounddesign. With Kubin pushing his sound generators to the limits of the frequency spectrum and Zemler playing impulsive and machine-like beats, these two musicians are able to design a beautifully dark soundscape.

More info: english / german

Deux Baleines Blanches avant-pop-reissue out now!

DBB was the name of Stefan Schneider's avant-pop-project who concurrently with his studies of photography at Duesseldorf's Kunstakademie had begun his musical explorations in the early 1980s, which also led him to cofound the bands Kreidler (1994) and To Rococo Rot (1995). "Singende Draehte" showcases some of his early work in the field. The somewhat sketchy and abstract character of these 14 tracks, "Draehte" (wires) is slightly reminiscent of the esthetics of contemporary labels like Les Disques du Crépuscule or early 4AD. yet they sound surprisingly modern even 30 years after they were first released.

More info: english / german

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Three more gems from French synth
prog rock legends HELDON reissued

No 5: Un rêve sans conséquence spéciale" (1976) HELDON was always its own beast and by 1976 it was thriving and roaring like never before. More work was being completed in a proper studio, the Moog helped strengthen the sound and direction, and Pinhas' rotating cast of collaborators was solidifying into something resembling a regular line-up, with François Auger on drums and Patrick Gauthier on synthesizers. The result was a darker, heavier, and more intense sound.

More info: here

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No 6: "Interface" (1977) HELDON was continuing to evolve rapidly. Thanks to the increased presence of drummer François Auger and synth/Moog man Patrick Gauthier, Pinhas' project had solidified into a harder and heavier unit. Despite its often warm and near-funky feel, "Interface" has been cited as an influence on key industrial and noise musicians including Wolf Eyes and Merzbow.

More info: here

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No 7: "Stand by" (1979) With their seventh and final album of the 70s HELDON certainly went out on a high. "Stand By"s mood remains urgent and gripping throughout, fashioned via immense synthesizer sounds, a plethora of interweaving drum patterns, spiralling guitar chops and lurching riffs. It's been likened to krautrock, yet Pinhas never paid attention to the German scene. There are other similarities to parallel innovations that John Carpenter was making in the field of sci-fi/horror soundtracks.

More info: here

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