Shelf Life is celebrating the 10th anniversary of Languis‘ EP Other Desert Cities with a re-issue on vinyl. When Languis put out this EP back in 2005, it was a departure and a natural progression the band was making from its experimental electronic music origins towards psych/shoegaze songs. “Paint It” is an unreleased track that didn’t make it to the album but is now offered as part of a digital download with the re-issue. The track is one of the first ones to be written during this period and shows hints of songs from EP that derived from this composition. Get the limited orange vinyl special edition here.

The year 1962: Zen Buddhist Alan Watts releases his self-produced LP, This Is It. A collection of philosophical musings, chanting, piano, percussive bursts, even the marimba and french horn… This Is It opened the door for writers and music makers to dive into psychedelic experimentation. Writer, philosopher, and musician, Alan Watts’ spirit opened the eyes of many, becoming especially influential for the Beat movement. Tune in to This Is It and allow your mind to take you where it will.

After almost 35 years, The Prefab Messiahs return with a new record, Keep Your Stupid Dreams Alive! This energetic release is almost a timeline of The Prefab Messiahs’ personal experiences written out in song. Allow yourself to jump up and down, dance, and sing along to the band’s exciting mix of garage, pop, and psych. Mixed by the band members themselves and finished off by Patrick Haight. Delve into your dreams! This release is coming out on March 10 via Burger and KLYAM Records

The late Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson, former member of Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV, is remembered by Black Mass Rising Label with the release of his 2004 performance at L’Étrange Festival, The Art of Mirrors (homage to Derek Jarman). A master of samples, industrial wizard, renowned visual artist, Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson influenced all. This limited edition LP (500 copies) will take you deep down. Heavy, dark, and otherworldly, this record is sure to bring you towards a trance-like state.

Aby Ngana Diop’s album on Awesome Tapes From Africa is one of the most unique pieces of music we’ve come across. This Senegalese taasukat singer delivers vocals that will rile even the calmest of souls into an explosive fervor. Now the album has been remixed from some of the most interesting sound minds around. In addition to this reworking by our favorite Australian weirdo dance wiz Michael Ozone, the remix EP includes versions by New Zealand’s Orchestra of Spheres and US freaks Black Dice. You can buy the Aby Ngana Diop Remixes on Juno.

LA-based and SF-bred, Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs and Max Foreman have teamed up to form the dreamy pop duo Bouquet. Riggs, visual artist and formerly front woman of The Finches, acts as ethereal lead vocalist and guitar player, while Foreman, cofounder of Tenebre, provides backing vocals, plays keyboard, and mans the synths. This EP, filled with gentle drum beats, crooning vocals, and spacey melodies, comes out on March 10th. Keep an eye out for prints, projections, and sculptures made by the duo as well.

Romanian artist Alexandra Pirici’s talents reach beyond those displayed on the visual/performing field. Under her Adda Kaleh guise, Pirici formulates hyper current musical environments that perfectly balance commentary, melody and space. ‘PSYOP’ is taken off Adda Kaleh’s debut EP ID recently released for free via new online platform InfinitExpansion.

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Eartheater creates a strain of free-associative electronic pop spiked with experiments in the drone and noise traditions. As the frontwoman of the ecstatic avant-psych ensemble Guardian Alien, she dives into extended improvisations in pursuit of the fearless release of emotions and sounds beyond the capacity of premeditation. On her debut solo full-length Metalepsis, Eartheater traces the opposite trajectory: the deliberate distillation of voice, synths, guitar, and studio production techniques into cyborg compositions teeming with crystalline details.

Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst collaborate on Recruit, a new piece commissioned by Cottweiler for the London-based clothing brand’s presentation of their Autumn / Winter 2015 line at the Alison Jacques Gallery. With a new sense of abstraction, a return to deconstruction is taking place in front of our eyes. Re-glitching and soundscapes, 2015 is the year where this may be back. Improvised machinery recoils and reassembles. “Wires emerge from the earth. What intelligence brought us here? What did we sign up for?”

Lali Puna and Korean band Trampauline have come with a blend of pop and electronics that features that always flawless quality Lali Puna is known for. The collaboration is based on a “cultural exchange” between the bands resulting in the release Machines Are Human. Expect a tour covering Munich, Tokyo, Busan and Seoul starting in late January through mid February 2015. We are just now hoping these exchanges keeps producing such beautiful results.

Many of Vlek’s sharp and crispy electronic sounds are now available for your enjoyment. The full 2013/2014 catalogue includes 35 tracks by Lawrence Le Doux, Sagat, Squeaky Lobster, Bepotel, Lowcommittee, and Aymeric de Tapol and is available for download. With a history of provided some of the finest and well crafted releases in electronic music, Vlek defines and defies classifications, with an appreciation for many rhythms and style, and a signature sound that makes you go: What the Vlek???

Another step in the world of guitar experimentation, Yellow6 presents guitar soundscapes that capture the spirit of many styles. On his new record “Closer To The Sea Without Moving” Yellow6 was inspired by the Happisburgh Lighthouse on the north Norfolk coast that is on course to be claimed by the sea. The story of an over 200 year old guardian knowing it’s days are numbered & that it’s glory days are well behind, that it’s only a quaint relic.

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith’s album Euclid is a work of wonder. Her chance encounter with a Buchla 100 synthesizer led to a process of exploration and sonic expansion. We can now all benefit from the symbiotic relationship Kaitlyn has forged with the drifting circuitry of pulsing synthesizers. “Sundry” is a peek into her album that is equal parts buoyant jubilee and meditative floatation. Please seek out Euclid on the Western Vinyl label.

* Disclaimer: Euclid was mastered by dublab’s own Matthewdavid which means it’s infused with the glimmer of great intent and deeply rich in tone!

Panto is the solo project of Pablo Antonietti, from the electro pop argentine band Carmel. This project is more on the electronic experimental side. At times the record explores darker tones that combine soundscapes and electronics. Panto is part of the Estamos Felices family, a label that’s been blasting some of the best sounds coming from Argentina.

Mystery Plays is a London based record label that’s been putting out some the most beautiful hybrid of electronic music. The new series called Singles Club presents music that is at that perfect meeting place where acoustic instrumentation meets laptops and analog synthesizers. The track presented here is a live version of the song that made it to the compilation. Presented here for you exclusively for dublab.

Celebrating the 10th anniversary of this classic Karaoke Kalk release, “The Prepared Piano” was, and still is, a wonderful collection of compositions by Volker Bertelmann. Looking at this, and the moment it was released says a lot both about the label and the musician: clearly influenced by electronic music, is more the timing and tone of the instruments that can be heard as an influence in Hauschka’s music. He walks that delicate line, and has that unusual understanding of classical, electronic, avant garde, minimalism and plain rock music that defines his style in his own way.

Meghan Edwards aka Miss M.E., from Los Angeles, is the force behind many artistic endeavors that happen in the city and beyond. Her Club Top 40 was a sort of marathon like event were dozens of artists participated is this days long happening. The new Miss M.E. Ep “The Unbearable Wetness Of Being” is a collection of six of her mysterious pop songs that are perfect for playing in the dark. Get them here.

A Private Realm is Olivia Arthur & James Sinclair (Pacific Horizons). Their release on Tears of Joy, Excommunication & Withdrawal, is a dark, violent reaction to the realities of many in the world. Made with a variety of old synths, new modulars, noise boxes, oscillators, voices and drum machines, musically the work moves from softer ethereal pieces inspired by the likes of This Mortal Coil through to blasts of electronics inspired by the likes of early SPK & the recently departed noise visionary Zbiegniew Karkowski. Get your hands on this small run edition on vinyl, and make sure to catch the Tears of Joy showcase on Wednesday, January 28th from 10am to 12pm on dublab.com

Berlin electronic duo Driftmachine has composeed music in past within the more traditional/classical method. On their new release, Eis Heauton, they composed the music using self-generating patches and framing technical parameters and subsequently letting their modular system talk in its very own musical language. The self-generating patches recorded here can be understood as a transcript of those machine-produced monologues, as well as artistic research. By evoking a ghostly presence of modular synthesis, the duo find traces of individuality inside their machines. Eis Heauton exhibits a strange and haunting musical cosmos, a signature that is always present within Driftmachine’s live shows.

Miracles do happen and dreams do come true. A combination of two perfect entities have met. Pan American returns with a 3 song EP on Geographic North as part of their cassette series. The result is an elegant release that reflects on the simplicity and sophistication both the label and the artist developed over the years.

Straight from their “Oracle” EP, Calypso seems to be digging for some truth straight from the forgotten record bins in a record store in a small town deep in the Appalachians. As if modern influences never reached Samantha Richman, Sheets Tucker, and Jackson Scott, Calypso seems to be all that, that it was. The stoner attitude, the grunge influence Joy Division probably had on them, and all those across the board references that are so hard to get right. Get the cassette here.

Between 1979 and 1982, The Universal Togetherness Band tracked unearthly portions of their sprawling songbook for bewildered students in Columbia College’s audio engineering program. Storming the gates of Chicago’s premier recording studios, the erudite party band explored permutations of soul, jazz-fusion, new wave, and disco with little regard for studio rates or the availability of magnetic tape. Numero Group unearthed this gem with the usual high quality their re-issues convey.

LA duo inc. offers his fans this track to celebrate the end of 2014 and beginning of 2015. Here are some words from them to you: “Friends,we’re so thankful for you all. Thanks for being with us on this ride. We’re still here, living, learning. We’ll be sharing more music with you in 2015. As a thanks to you, here’s a demo from awhile back (2011).
Dedicated to you all and our friend Francis Starlite.”

Daedelus and Frosty have returned to this Earthly realm after a lengthy journey into deep space. They now proudly present their cosmic journals in sonic form for you. Of Beyond is out now on the newly launched record label Rings. You can find it on Bandcamp, iTunes or in (meta)physical form.

Some of the wonders Adventure Time spotted on their space journey…

– Brave winged captain of tomorrow
– Triplet ghost jellyfish clusters
– An electrical storm within itself
– Bellows of Beyond
– Soundwaves crashing on Space Shores
– A giant smiling bell
– Utopian space dome
– Roller Skating Snakes
– Flashing Zappers
– A flock of Maracas
– Computer Face the Great
– A feather faced reptile
– a centipede with winged feet
– Monsieur Moustache & his Dancing Cat
– The Triangle of Electric Enlightenment
– Handstand Rubber Bandstand
– The Bowtied rainbow
– Man made of Snare Drum Dancing the doopy doop
– Minotaur Olympian
– The Infinite Organ
– Psychic Turban Clad Pineapple
– Tuba wielding octopus
– Black Hole Horn
– Eye in the Sky
– Static Spiral
– Expanding Child’s Head
– The Ghost of Rotary Telephone
– Prism Eye
– Monkey with the money scales
– Lost island in the sky
– The Searcher of Sentiment
– Ever Bending Owl
– The Shimmering Seed
– Rippling Rowboat, a Mirage
– Cloud of knowing
– Slow Sparkling Ship with Blimp Sails
– Bubble Bunch
– Feedback Kaleidescope Portal

A mass of sound that takes you like a tsunami, with relentless power, the sound of this piece was originally released on cassette and is out now on CD and vinyl via Denovali. The work of Ricardo Donoso explores themes related to space, contrast and textures. Considered a must listen in the dark ambient circles, the re-release of “Deterrence” gives a chance to listeners to discover or re-discover this masterpiece.

Ricardo Donoso is a composer, percussionist and electronic musician from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil who currently resides in Boston. “Vesperum” is part of his new release, Saravá Exu, that explores drones, noise, and electronics as much as silence. The contrast of dark and light, noise and quiet, and rational emotions are expressed in a form of ritual the records encapsulates.

Belgian producer Brice Dreessen, AKA Lowcommittee, follows previous cassette release with 8 new track on the Vlek label. Beats unlimited, textures incorporated and an association of electronics make of his work a consistent trip. Throughout ‘Race at Neon Club’ Dreessen delivers a masterclass in modular synthesis, while haunting organ chords swell above the untamed sounds that bubble away beneath. Out now on 12″

Bardo is the first single from Amoreux, Swahili‘s second release. From Portland to the dancefloors of the world, Swahili is one of those rarities where dance and rock songs combine perfectly. Psychedelia to move and dream to, take me to the tropical palace and show where the secret is.

“Molecular” is part of a new release by Languis called Ocean’s Floor released on their label Simballrec. All throughout 2014 Languis has been releasing music from its vast archive of recordings. Ocean’s Floor is the latest one to close the year, with more expected for 2015. Languis started in 1997 in Los Angeles by dublab’s Alejandro Cohen and Marcos Chloca. In 2005 John Girgus from Aberdeen and Stephen Swesey from Tristeza joined the band marking the band’s change of direction from electronic to more of a rock/shoegaze style. After a few years of touring and a number of releases as a four piece, the band “disbanded” and continued mostly as a studio project, relying mostly on studio experimentation from past years as a form of musical output.

With no prior knowledge on what was about to come from the speakers, MN.ROY release on Leaving Records fragmented my thoughts in a thousands pieces. Beyond glitch, this is an absolute deconstruction of everything. As digital as it gets, MN.ROY simply doesn’t stop to look at the beauty of what’s broken, the music will continue until not much is left. Like when you took apart a calculator just to realize there was no way in seeing the numbers from the screen come out of it.

The duo behind the band Happy Meals are a couple in love. This vibe shines through in their debut album Apéro, released through the always excellent Night School label. We proudly share their song “Altered Images” with you. This French disco jam is a levitation device that will get your ears soaring. We urge you to check out the full album to absorb the cosmic adventure Happy Meals have assembled. Also check out the Green Door studio in Glasgow where the couple struck their magic chords.

from Orcas Island in the Northwest region of Washington state, her music is magical and peaceful, just like how she describes her hometown. Compositions using modular synthesizers and other electronic instruments lead her album “Euclid” into an representation of nature in her own way. Ocean waves interweaved with sound weaves, layers of sound on top of the layers from the landscape.

Like a lullaby that turns into a classical piece, Mary Lattimore (harp and electronics) & Jeff Zeigler (guitar and synths) developed this and the other songs on their new record, “Slant of Light“, as improvised compositions. Following their own distinct personal styles into the context of many different styles, their influences can be traced from past collaborations to folk, experimental rock and beyond.

Sometime around 1992/93, after the rise of alternative rock and before the death of Kurt Cobain, there was a sweet spot in the pop-culture landscape for DIY punk, noise rock and the many permutations of lo-fi pop. There was Shimmy Disc, the documentary “The Year Punk Broke”, and the movie slackers. Zines and indie labels celebrated and embraced all that. Crayon walked that fine line of the not quite aggressive, yet hard enough to not be pure pop. Lo fi to its purest, the re-issue of “Brick Factory” by HHBTM Records is on limited edition vinyl (the album was originally only released on CD and cassette). In addition, the digital download includes 21 bonus songs comprising tracks from 7 inch singles, compilations, 4-track demos and never before heard unreleased songs.

For starters Gala Drop are from Lisbon, Protugal. Not that it matters, their sound is so internationally connected that is a sign of the times. They rather come from a place where psychedelia, punk, Motown, dance and every other label that’s been attached to music are melted in one pot. Their new record coming out on Golf Channel is all that and more.

This is a video they just released as well:

Males is part of a very interesting compilation that came to us via Ba Da Bing and Fishrider Records. “Temporary” showcases selections from Dunedin’s (New Zealand) pop underground (2011-2014) As much as these bands hate being thrown into a bin with a label on it, to then be categorized, discovered, loved, forgotten, and then appreciated again years later… there is truth to some extent on a sound, or better yet, an approach to music these bands have in common. After all, they did grow up in the same city, went to nearby schools, and were influenced by the same “previous generation” of musicians in the city (The Bats, The Clean, Flying Nun, Etc.) They also seem to be influenced by the same weather, smells and sights. It was a true discovery to find some of the younger bands, projects and collaborations. The publication that came along was also very informative. The Dunedin sound, as much as it may be despised by their creators, says something about a special place and time that found a voice of its own. Many cities around the world only wish they had this voice.

Underground cult legend James Pants brings a tripped out tribal stomp meets Lynchian vibe to his “Shibaura” remix from the new Anenon record Sagrada. This track is part of “Sagrada Remixes“, a collection of five commissioned remixes and edits by artists such as Afterhours and D Tiberio among others.

dublab’s Fall 2014 “Proton Drive” Fundraiser Broadcast is on November 3-21. We rely upon your donations to keep the music flowing! In order to set you in a philanthropic headspace, Sun Araw has crafted a theme song of epic, hypnotic proportions. This tune will surely sway creative minds into giving mode. When you’re ready to make a generous, tax-deductible donation click here.

dublab DJs and very special guests are broadcasting live from 8am-8pm PST each weekday during the Proton Drive Fundraiser on dublab.com to inspire your action. Tune-in, tell a friend and donate!

The always mysterious Keyboard Masher crew came out with three new tracks on their label. Always sourcing their influences and sounds from vast obscure archives from the past and a production for the years ahead. Dance to this, or play it while coasting along the shore line.

One of the ultimate classics of space disco is being re-issued by Nang Records. This is such a treat!!! for those unfamiliar with Space, this french band from the 70s/80s and beyond produced a string of records that are extremely influential. The “Space” project was put together by producer JP Illescuo in 1977. It all started with the “Magic Fly” melody which was originally a slow-tempo piano piece by Didier “Ecama” Marouani. JP added Paris session musician stalwarts Roland Romanelli, and Jannick Top into the mix and energized a upbeat and futuristic sound based around synthesizers and a pounding 4/4 beat. The ‘Magic Fly’ single was originally released in 1977 and became a hit all over Europe and the US. The album of the same name followed the same year featuring 7 tracks of futuristic soundscapes for the downtrodden 70s.

Grasshoper crosses the limits of darkness to enter a new dark. Jesse DeRosa and Josh Millrod have logged years of auditory exploration as fixtures of the New York avant improv scene. With Grasshoper they just simply dig as deep as they can and once the shovel hits the rock bottom, they crack through the rock to find to other level. No longer higher or lower, their release Dark Sabbath: Symbols of Evil is simply that, prepare yourself for this before pressing play.

After months of live shows and studio work, Aloa Input allows other producer to explore and deconstruct his compositions. This remix by B.Fleischmann is part of the Anysome RMX release that includes Sam Irl, René Arbeithuber, Veli x Viwo, Leroy Schlimm, and Richard Eigner. All of them breaking it down, and building it up again.

Vesuvio Solo is Thom Gillies (form. TOPS) and Cameron MacLean, like an obscure side project by a member of those bands you love, these pop gems grow on you as you treasure them more and more. Their debut album “Favors” via Atelier Ciseaux is out on MP3 and limited cassette edition, just another reason to fill up a mail order form and wait for the release to arrive in the mail and play it at home over and over. The less you know about them the more intrigued you are about their music.

Justin Maxwell is a sometimes techno producer, but mostly a UX designer for Google. It’s that connection with physical hardware, through music, that has kept him grounded in the intersection between interfaces and what we seek to accomplish with them. His musically formative years were spent soaking up the acid basslines echoing off canyon walls in the Mojave, the elements of which still persist in his style today. Having achieved success as 1/2 of the dark electro act Volsoc and made some amazing tunes with John Tejada, he continues to enter his elaborate analogue modular synthesis cave a few times a year to create some mindwarping material. His new release is out now via iTunes and Beatport

Washed in flickering 8mm film light, Alpine Decline appeared in 2010 in East LA spinning up their machines and spinning out a web made of quarter inch tape. In less than a year the guitar ‘n drums ‘n buzz duo recorded three full length albums and then promptly vanished, spirited to China and vanishing along the disintegrating edge of east Beijing. A year later Alpine Decline resurfaced, pumping out new albums from the outskirts of the megatropolis. On 2013’s “Night of the Long Knives” and their new album “GO BIG SHADOW CITY,” we find the band descending from the high altitude visions of their previous records, walking us gassed out and head numb through chaos and time sickness, deep into the ruins of ancient alleyways and naked skyscrapers. This remix of “Pity the Pacified” from their new record is produced by Pharaohs, the Los Angeles dance band that’s been releasing music on labels such as 100% Silk, and ESP Institute.

Dial co-founder Peter Kersten aka Lawrence, Christian Naujoks and Richard von der Schulenburg aka RVDS have been Sky Walking for the past five years, but kept the project rather quiet until now. Their self-titled debut will be released October 13. The names Lawrence and RVDS stand for subtle yet effective and at times slightly melancholic club music that is exemplary for Dial’s sound as well as, in its carefully crafted ease, its Hamburg surroundings including Smallville: a label RVDS has released music with in addition to Laid. Christian Naujoks is a constant in Dial’s artist roster, yet his compositions draw from the more popular spheres of contemporary classical music. If a genre were to be invented for Christian Naujoks, it would have to be called “Twelve-Tone-R’n’B”.

Not quite hell, but close enough. Local Customs: Cavern Sound covers six years lost in the deranging darkness of Independence, Missouri’s Pixley limestone mine, where a team of misfit engineers captured the reverberating echoes of Kansas City’s rock ‘n’ roll blasting cap. Taped in the subterranean studio headspace of Cavern between 1967 and 1973 are previously unissued recordings by Jaded, Larry Sands & the Sound Affair, Sheriff, Mulligan, Stone Wall, Morningstar, the Montaris, and the Dantes, alongside the most explosive tracks released on KC’s Pearce, Rock, and Cave labels by the likes of the Reactions, Burlington Express, the Classmen, Fraight, American Sound Ltd, Baxter’s Chat, 21st Century Sound Movement, Pretty, Tide, and A.J. Rowe.

Ariel Kalma’s belief in the limitless potential of music connectivity alongside his virtuosic poly-instrument and synthesis skills allowed him to produce a nearly private universe of open-eyed wonder in earshot of the great ‘70s minimalist masterminds. An Evolutionary Music (Original Recordings: 1972 – 1979) collects Kalma’s unheard endeavors in ecstatic form, leaving no turn on his illuminated path uncharted.

Loscil‘s new Album Sea Island is a collection of new material composed and recorded over the past two years. While
many of these compositions were performed live extensively prior to recording, others were constructed
in the studio and are being heard for the first time here. Musically, the album represents a range of
compositional approaches. Murky, densely textured depths of sound are explored with subtle pulses and
pings woven within, contrasted with composed or improvised moments of acoustic instrumentation
making a move into the foreground.

The mysterious community of artists and musicians that form The Local Group recall the communal atmosphere of the proto-Krautrock & Komische Music era in Germany and elsewhere. Rumored to currently consist of anywhere from 7 to 25 members, The Local Group is open to any with something interesting to contribute. The Local Group’s interests include: Space, new forms, Ambient Music, soundscapes, Music Concréte, moving pictures, Horror, Krautrock, Science Fiction, the sound metal makes, Komische Music, Omni, synthesized sound, Prog, minimal anything, standing, being still, silence.