OCTOBER 2020

Reissues from Martin Rev: "See Me Ridin'" and "Strangeworld"

Martin Rev's fourth solo album See Me Ridin', out in 1996 on the New York label Reachout International Records (ROIR), surprised its listeners with keyboard melody sketches and distilled doo-wop compositions. Received by the critics with amazement, it proved to be a watershed moment in his career, and it was also the first solo album to feature Martin Rev on vocals. Strangeworld, released four years later on the cusp of the new millennium, started where its predecessor left off. Melodic passages dissolved into a thicket of fragments and set pieces, coalescing in a celestial shimmer between rhythm loops and Rev's voice, which assumed the role of an additional instrument rather than a standard singing part. The label responsible was Puu, a Finnish imprint belonging to Tommi Grönlund and Mika Vainio's Sähkö Recordings which came to fame in the 1990s on the strength of its uncompromising minimalist sound. "See Me Ridin'" and "Strangeworld" are out now on CD/LP/DL.

Info See Me Ridin': english / german

Info Strangeworld: english / german

Pose Dia debut album "Front View" out now on Bureau B!

Front View is the album debut of film-maker and musician Helena Ratka, alias Pose Dia. A soundtrack and theatre composer, as well as resident DJ at Hamburg's Golden Pudel Club, Ratka emerged onto the scene as one half of Shari Vari (together with Sophia Kennedy). Now all these pathways or winding roads have converged to create Pose Dia and an impressive album of many facets – a self-assured debut.

Info (PDF): english / german

SEPTEMBER 2020

Out now! Schlammpeitziger album "Ein Weltleck in der Echokammer"

"Ein Weltleck in der Echokammer" is the tenth Schlammpeitziger opus and his second album to appear on the Hamburg-based label Bureau B. The first notes of the opening title track Weltleck instantly confirm that this is no run-of-the-mill record. Jo Zimmermann confounds expectations as he wraps the art-electro sound of Schlammpeitziger in otherworldly dub echo loops – a surprising, yet perfectly coherent development. Not that these eight sun-drenched tracks are exclusively in the realm of dub rhythm; they are also sprinkled with disco beats, beguilingly low-flying bass and dreamy, sweeping melodic arcs – everything for which we have come to love Schlammpeitziger. He launches us into outer space before bringing us back down to the prosaic dancefloors of earth. Out now!

Info (PDF): english / german

Tolouse Low Trax' 4th solo album out now on Bureau B!

A 38 minutes exorcism, dionysac sexyness fueled with romanticism, made of mechanical incantations mixed with spectral vocals of forgotten imaginary tribes, words from a physicist (Incomprehensible Image), and mystical breathings... To remind you that music is demanding your soul and body, fully. Tolouse Low Trax's 4th solo album Jumping Dead Leafs is out now on Bureau B.

Info (PDF): english / german

AUGUST 2020

Harmonious Thelonious "Plong"!

Harmonious Thelonious is the solo project of the Düsseldorf musician Stefan Schwander. His works combine American-influenced minimal music with African rhythms and European melodies. "Plong" is his first album on Bureau B, hypnotic, danceable, irresistible. Out now!

Info (PDF): english / german

Schlammpeitziger "Weltleck" video out now!

"Ich hab zu viel an dieser Welt geleckt. Mal hat sie süß mal hat sie sauer geschmeckt." This is the first single "Weltleck" from the upcoming Schlammpeitziger Album "Ein Weltleck in der Echokammer" (out Sept 25). Digitally available everywhere now! Watch the whole video for "Weltleck" here.

First single from upcoming Pose Dia debut album!

Here is first single off Pose Dia's debut album "Front View" which will be out on October 9th. The hypnotizing video comes from Pose Dia alias Helena Ratka herself. Don't miss this caustic trip!

Out now! Sowas von egal 2!

Two years have passed since the successful release of the first "Sowas von egal" compilation. "Sowas von egal" is a collaboration between the Hamburg record label Bureau B and the Hamburg party series Damaged Goods where they present rare, obscure synth & wave discs from the early 1980s which absolutely deserve to heard. It was clear from the outset that "Sowas von egal 2" would need to scale similar heights of excellence as its predecessor, featuring carefully selected, sought-after, danceable tunes. In contrast to the first volume, most of the acts here were only active in the early 1980s and have not released any records since then. The tape artists were particularly invested in the DIY ethic – as is often apparent in their sound aesthetics and the unbridled energy which has lost none of its intensity today. Their art was seldom – if ever – tempered by commercial considerations or sales strategies. A year in the making: "Sowas von egal 2" is a worthy successor to part 1!

Info (PDF): english / german

Conrad Schnitzler releases!

In August we released 3 works devoted to the work of Conrad Schnitzler. Reissues of his albums "Con" and the 12" "Auf dem schwarzen Kanal" as well as the next edition of our "Con-Struct" series, this time from Frank Bretschneider, artist and founder of the "raster-noton" music label. More information and listening samples of these releases are available on our Conrad Schnitzler artist page.

"Jumping Dead Leafs" video online!

Ready for the weekend: Here comes the title cut from Tolouse Low Trax' upcoming album Jumping Dead Leafs which will be out on September 11th. Video & dancing by Jasmine Mazliska, editing by Romain Ficat.

JULY 2020

Video for Harmonious Thelonious digital single "Geistertrio booking"!

Here comes Harmonious Thelonious' new video "Geistertrio Booking", made by artist Petr Zubek. New album "Plong" will be out on August 28th and is available for preorder.

Gunther Wüsthoff compilation "total digital" out now!

Having completed his military service as a naval radio operator, Gunther Wüsthoff was in the midst of his German and fine art studies when he encountered Rudolf Sosna und Jean-Hervé Peron. It was May 1969 and each of them had a guitar so they decided to make music together. Polydor International headhunter Uwe Nettelbeck tracked them down on 23rd February 1971, prompting them to form the legendary krautrock band Faust with three other Hamburg musicians a few days later. Wüsthoff stayed with the band for five albums and three tours through France and Great Britain before leaving in 1974. In subsequent decades, Wüsthoff had various technical jobs at Studio Hamburg and Filmhaus Hamburg and also studied technical editing so he could work as a freelancer. He continued to play music, introducing electronic instruments and computers into his work at an early stage. This collection spanning the years 1979-2007 offers a clear insight into how he consciously integrated these means of production into the recording process.

More info: english / german

Baal & Mortimer debut album has been released on Bureau B

Since 2014 Baal & Mortimer is the project of Alexandra Grübler, created in Düsseldorf, sonically exploring questions of resistance, autonomy, language and identity. After the release of "Earthrise" on the label HEAVEN in 2018, her debut album "Deixis" has now been released on Bureau B – a granular humming, interspersed with fading voices, caryatids that hold everything together and yet fall.

Info (PDF): english / german

JUNE 2020

40th Anniversary Edition of Harald Grosskopf's "Synthesist" out now

"Synthesist" was the first solo album by Ashra drummer Harald Grosskopf, originally released 1980 on Sky Records. It is one of the classics of German electronic music, comprising eight instrumentals composed in the tradition of the so-called Berlin School. For the 40th anniversary "Synthesist" is released as 2-vinyl and 2-CD with new interpretations by Steve Baltes, Thorsten Quaeschning, Paul Frick, Keidler, Pyrolator, Love-Songs, Stefan Lewin, Camera and Tellavision. Out now!

More info: english / german

MAY 2020

Baal & Mortimer presents video for single "Kingdom Rest"

Here comes Kingdom Rest, the first single off Baal & Mortimer's debut album "Deixis", out on June 26.

Being one of the first pieces written in Düsseldorf, Kingdom Rest reflects the texture of Baal & Mortimer: many voices, many ghosts, chorals, cracks in the kingdom. Shimmering wounds and pearly beats, everything returns as echo, a circulating glow within smoky lines under church towers.

Love-Songs "Nicht Nicht" released.

Hamburg-based Love-Songs' debut album Nicht Nicht continues the band's striving to mesh defined grids with improvisatory snapshots to create their very own take on organic electronica. Since 2012, the electro-acoustic trio were able to explore the possibilities of their free-flowing interplay through the course of several EPs and the mini-album 'Inselbegabung'. Meandering through its seven tracks Nicht Nicht contains the Trios most aerially shimmering tracks to date flanked by tribal bouncers. Form, deform and somewhere in between.

More info: english / german

Lapre collection released on Bureau B.

Rudolf Langer (formerly of Tyndall) and Peter Preuß teamed up to create Lapre as a vehicle for their adventures in sonic experimentation. They set about capturing their nocturnal rehearsal room sessions on tape, Langer on synthesizer and Preuß on guitar. Banzai, the second collection of Lapre recordings, concentrates on their creative output from the years 1985 to 1987. It documents the duo's impressive latter phase, moving on from their earlier cosmic collages into an altogether more playful state of mind.

More info: english / german

APRIL 2020

New Die Wilde Jagd "Haut" out now!

Die Wilde Jagd is the music project of producer and songwriter Sebastian Lee Philipp. With the aid of his co-producer Ralf Beck and various guest musicians, he created a self-titled debut album in 2015 and a highly praised follow-up disc, "Uhrwald Orange", in 2018. The band's third album – "Haut" – is out now on Bureau B. Ethereal voices, deep rhythms and distant noises are calling for you! Fühlst Du die bunten Almosen?

More info: english / german

Elephant Chateau compilation released on Bureau B!

The complete other-worldly beautiful works of Elephant Chateau are now reissued on the new compilation "Pearls and Turtles" which will be out on April 17th via Bureau B. All tracks have been carefully remastered from the original tapes. Including an extentive interview by music journalist Björn Schaeffner and a new artwork by Elephant Chateau's Johannes Vetsch.

More info: english / german

MARCH 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

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

Have a listen




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

Have a listen




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

Have a listen