HANDS welcomes a catchpenny addition to its band roster: AMBASSADOR21, the Belarusian duo who have brought their digital hardcore sound to electronic and industrial festivals worldwide and look back at a plethora of releases since the turn of the century.
"X" is meant to tie up loose ends, with nine unreleased and seven compilation tracks from the period of 2005-2012 showcasing their arsenal of sound: Hard electronics, samples, heavy guitars and Natasha?s sandpaper vocals are the ingredients of this sonic Molotov cocktail!
In May this year, the Swedish post-punk / shoegaze band Principe Valiente, left the door to their new album a little ajar, allowing a glimpse of the collaboration with producer Niklas Björklund and star producer Ed Buller, who was responsible for mixing and mastering their first single "Take Me With You". "She Never Returned" is now the second single of this collaboration, proving that the band continues to carve out their own path with excellent consistency.
Without sinking into depression, Principe Valiente combine their stylish melancholy with aesthetic sadness once again, offering a loyal companion for the upcoming stormy autumn days and dark winter nights. "She Never Returned" will be available for download on 25.10.2013 through all major online stores and the band's Bandcamp page.
The next album is expected to come out in spring 2014.
Somewhere in the rainy, misty forests of the Pacific Northwest of America, three ladies have the unlikely task of sewing together the packaging for a new album by :zoviet*france:.
:zoviet*france: are releasing ‘The Tables Are Turning’ on compact disc and double LP through Soleilmoon Recordings. The music was composed as the soundtrack to ‘Designer Body’, a dance that toured England from 2008 to 2009. The work explores the transformational relationship between humans and the clothing they wear. Seven dancers, performing on continuously rotating plinths, slowly remove layers of their costumes, revealing the sensuous nude bodies beneath. The music accompanying the dancers is by turns dense and moody, then lyrical and soaring, underlining the mounting vulnerability of the dancers as they undress.
Both formats (CD and double LP) are presented in a deluxe dual-layer green satin bag with fold-over flap. The letters ‘ZF’ are hand-stitched into the flap in white thread, and a two-sided color insert printed on sturdy cardstock completes the package. There are 400 LPs and 600 compact discs in the first edition. The LP, with music on three of the four sides of the records, will go out of print when the initial pressing sells out.
Peek-a-boo Magazine has been chosen by Xiu, aka Oksana Rodionova, the minimal synth project based in Milan, Italy, for the exclusive publication of her brand new track: "Highgate". This track will be part of a Split Xiu/Spatial Relation 7' released in the next few days by Peripheral Minimal, a sub-label of UK-based Peripheral Records.
Xiu will play in Brussels at the "Another Wave II" event on Saturday 19th October, where she will present in 'avant-première' the songs from her forthcoming album, which will be released next year by aufnahme+wiedergabe. Supporting acts: Schonwald (Italy - cold-wave) and Néon Noir (Belgium - dark minimal wave).
Xiu on Soundcloud.
Peripheral Minimal: http://www.peripheralminimal.co.uk
Artoffact Records will release recently-discovered Rational Youth live recordings from 1983 containing complete shows from Winnipeg and Ottawa. Included in the material are live versions of tracks which were never recorded or released. The recordings were found, along with other rare demos, out-takes, and remixes, in a band member's basement, and over three hours of rare material will be released as part of a Rational Youth live + archives collection.
Rational Youth was as Montreal-based New Wave and Synth-pop artist whose Cold War Night Life was one of the most cherished releases of the 80s and one of Canada's best-selling albums when it was released on YUL Records in 1982. The group needs no introduction for fans of New Wave, especially the unique brand of New Wave that came out of Canada in the early-80s. Indeed, culture magazine The Walrus recently called Dancing on the Berlin Wall one of "the ten greatest Canadian synth-pop songs of all time."
In the mid-80s, bootleg tapes of RY's Winnipeg and Ottawa performances began circulating, and even found their way across the Atlantic where they were considered collector's items. Lost for many decades, the original recordings were recently discovered, cleaned, and remastered, and now Artoffact Records presents the definitive Rational Youth 80s live experience thirty years later. This is RY in their truest, rawest form, fresh off international success, young, eager, and unique, and playing to college audiences that ate it up. The collection features all the RY hits and includes several tracks that were never recorded by the band.
As part of the promotion for Live 1983, Rational Youth has reformed as a 5-piece live act and have already confirmed two shows in Sweden in 2014. Reunion shows in Toronto, Montreal, as well as in Norway and Germany are also in the works. Rational Youth members Tracy Howe and Kevin Komoda also recently played NXNE with their re-formed punk band, The Normals.
Rational Youth will release Live 1983 + Magic Box as a 3CD set on Artoffact Records on November 5th.
