Catalog number: MNSXLP004
Artist name: The Observatory and Koichi Shimizu
LP Name: Demon State
Label: Midnight Shift
Release date: 23 September 2022

A1. Panopticism
A2. Demon State
A3. 1-330
A4. Lichen
B1. Animal
B2. Imprisoned Mind
B3. Psyberia
B4. Demon State (Demonstrate Remix)

“There was something extra-political, extra-social, almost extra-human about it; it smacked of tidal waves, of natural forces . . . These emotions are my instruments.”
— Richard Wright, The Color Curtain: A Report on the Bandung Conference (1956)

The Observatory is one of those last few bands that can change and become your life. Stuck in Singapore, the wilful outlier of Southeast Asia, this ever-shifting group stubbornly evolves past its roots, most recently in an more improvisational, instrumental, and noise-adjacent territories in an EP with collaborator Haino Keiji.

In DEMON STATE, Dharma and Cheryl Ong plus Yuen Chee Wai continue The Observatory’s bold partnerships, this time with electronic musician Koichi Shimizu (IMPRINT). Together, they finally reach this long-gestating, total (yet I’m sure temporary), and rhythm-focused, electronic reinvention of The Obs—while briefly nodding to their past. The road is long; DEMON STATE is one pit stop in glorious hell.

Partly stemming from a casual, improv studio session with Koichi in early 2020, the eight tracks on DEMON STATE—their first release on the Midnight Shift label—were formed from a gradual accumulation of sonic layers; they were foraged, recycled, and pieced together remotely also from solo bedroom recordings, a historical sample, nonhuman beats and effects, as well as journals and junk.

A vinyl and digital release, DEMON STATE features the cover-art illustration of Enka Komariah (Senyawa, Raja Kirik). As they describe it, the “sense of wretchedness in this, the waste of capitalism, the evils of racial discrimination, the ever-spiralling mess, the awakenism of control” are confronted, head on in the band’s pattern, to disturb, comfort, confuse, worship, dance, rest, and resist. 
Ultimately, the singular form of DEMON STATE refers to our personal, individual, and ineffable states of demonic possession. DEMON STATE embraces us in the independent space of The Obs, where we can be alone together. It offers its listener some type of solace, if not an exorcism. For when the devil has been in us for this long, who’s to say who’s possessing who, who’s whispering sibilant sounds in our ears, who’s wearing the mask, who’s not yet dead and who’s still alive? Who’s still fighting for a just world?

Credits:
Composed, arranged and performed by The Observatory and Koichi Shimizu
Recorded in Singapore and Yamanashi by The Observatory and Koichi Shimizu
Edited and mixed by Koichi Shimizu
Mastered by Simon from The Exchange
Art direction by Yuen Chee Wai
Layout by Takashi Makabe
Illustration by Enka Komariah
Press text by Dan Koh
Words by Yuen Chee Wai
Imprisoned Mind contains an excerpt of the speech by President Sukarno at the opening of the Bandung Conference (Afro-Asian Conference) 1955.
Koichi Shimizu – otolary.wixsite.com/koichishimizu
The Observatory are Cheryl Ong, Dharma and Yuen Chee Wai – theobservatory.com.sg
Produced by Kavan Spruyt (Midnight Shift)
All rights reserved The Observatory and Koichi Shimizu 2022.

Demon State

Bandcamp

MNSXLP004 - The Observatory and Koichi Shimizu - Demon State

Premiere of the track "Liquid Dimension" by LostSoundBytes, @vastechoses Records creator, taken from his upcoming album "Parallel Intrusion" on Big Science Records.
-
Artist: @lostsoundbytes
Track: "Liquid Dimension"
Album: "Parallel Intrusion"
Label: @bigscience
Format: Cassette + Digital
Release date: October 25, 2022
Pre-order: https://bigsciencerecords.bandcamp.com/album/parallel-intrusion

Written and produced by Lostsoundbytes
Mastering by Catriel Naife
Design by Warzou

Premiere: LostSoundBytes - Liquid Dimension [BGSC2208]

@unrealexpect
Unrealistic Electronics goes across the board exploring all ends of the long lineage of punk electronics, minimal wave, electro.
Well served compilation of 10 tracks from every part of the world made by and for for rhythm lovers.

Cover Illustration by: Zaskorski
Label Design by: Tadi

released August 1, 2022

Buy Compilation

Mild Is Your Pain - from Unrealistic Electronics V/A Vol. 1 [UNEX001]

LIES-192
JFK-Tape Archives 86-88 
3xlp

Huge 14 track triple vinyl retrospective release from the cult British industrial group JFK (Anthony DiFranco). Some of which pre-dates his work with Ramleh, this collects all the tracks from the Broken Flag cassettes (BF67+BF70) plus previously unreleased and unheard tracks, now standing as the definitive presentation of the band's early years. Absolutely groundbreaking material in all it's damaged sludge fueled beauty. Instruments used include electric razor, washing machine, aerosol cans, and Roland 606 among many more. Absolutely essential. Limited to 250 copies worldwide, comes with insert, one time pressing. Remastered from the original tapes and cut by Josh Bonati.

A1. INTRO
A2. FEEL THE WEIGHT
A3. NIPPLE-AIN-TOW
B1.PENISATOR
B2. PRO-ERG 1
B3. UNTITLED
C1. SWEATHORSSE
C2. LYDIA MANTRAP
D1. FOLLOW ME 1
D2. PRO ERG 2
E1. SUNSET SMILES
F1. FOLLOW ME 2
F2. COME THURSDAY/COME MONDAY
F3. DEAR JODIE

Tape Archives 86-88

JFK-Sunset Smiles (LIES-192)

Pre-order via Bandcamp : https://osare-editions.bandcamp.com/album/oe-017-novo-line-zeit

Novo Line – aka Berlin's algorave maestro Nat Fowler – delivers a noisy, ultramarine voyage into the depths of his archaic hardware. Clawing at the periphery between leftfield electronics and avant-garde pop, Zeit is an entirely new sonic universe, eerily familiar yet utterly uncharted. A visionary synthesist, Fowler is renowned for his productions that make use of mainly '80s equipment including vintage digital synths, discarded MIDI Hi-Tech, tape delay and even an ancient Atari ST computer. But, despite the aged technology, the result is far from nostalgic.

'Ain't That a Mess' slams in with Monica Kremidi's crooning à la Little Annie Anxiety with reeving car engines and guitar-rock static fed through a pan effect. Multilayered melodies soar on 'Stein', the pounding drums matched by gliding strings, crafting that holy grail of cavernous, booming textures and uplifting euphoria that mark out the most transcendent of rave tracks. The deceptively gentle opening bars of 'Morning Star' are interrupted by a viscously squelching bassline, Cass McCombs' vocals dancing deliciously with the raw beat.

Rejecting contemporary tech-fetishism, Novo Line has a near-supernatural ability to exorcise novel sequences, weaving together a record that speaks to the ghost in the machine.
credits
releases December 10, 2022

Produced by Nat Fowler
Vocals on A1 by Monica Kremidi - Vocals on B2 by Cass McCombs
Mastered by Rude66
Manufactured by Deepgrooves, Netherlands
Cover art by Elena Colombi & Manuel Sepulveda
Riso strip printed at TerryBleu, Amsterdam
Art direction by Elena Colombi
Words by Hannah Pezzack

[ OE 017 ] Novo Line - Zeit (snippets)

From a research work started in full lockdown three years ago, finally sees the light (or darkness) Echi Senza Fine, a remastered collection of sound material by Tasaday.
Inspired by the controversial media story in 1971 of the discovery of a tribe in the Philippines that apparently had technology that had stood still in the Stone Age, the project officially borrows the name Tasaday in 1984 from the evolution of Nulla Perreale, in turn union of Die Form (musical part) & Orgasm Denied (performative part).
To put it in the words of Marcello Ambrosini, the Tasadays find in Die Form the controlled destruction of the form after its careful design and construction, while in Nulla Iperreale the spontaneity free from any possible superstructure. They declare themselves new primitives, not in the perspective of a nostalgic return to a pre-industrial or prehistoric external world, but in the exception of an inner experience in stark contrast to the leviathan of the single utilitarian thought that has dominated the West for centuries.
Their production-action does not allow itself to be tempted by the repetitiveness used by many industrial groups of those years, thus resulting seminal in the evolution of the scene. Their impulse to go further and not remain caged in the format of the new wave is witnessed by their particular sound vocabulary that sees, along with the use of conventional instruments, the use of DIY tools such as Chopper Vox and highly sui generis tools, like the Camolofono, cariole loaded with sheets, stones, tubes, chains and "garbage" of various shapes and sizes. 
A discography dotted with primordial electronic experiments that reaches the new millennium through several vinyl records and an endless number of cassettes. From this undefined and mysterious number of tapes that is born Echi Senza Fine: 14 tracks (+ 2 digital bonuses) remastered, collected by Asymmetrical, who also edited the release insert, a collage of visual and textual material from their fanzines. A series of 300 transparent vinyl + Insert.

Credits:
A1, B2, B3 from “Various - Anhelo - Anhelo Tapes - 1985”
A2, B1 from “Various - Necromicon 2 - Necromicon - 1985”
A3, A4, A5, A6, A7, B4 from “Tasaday - Die Form & Nulla Iperreale - Riflessi Sensibili - ADN - 1984
B5 as Nulla Iperreale from “Various - The Extinction - 1984”
B6 from “Various - Nimramicha - Aruru - 1988”
B7 from “Various - Minus Habens Records - 1990”

Compiled by Asymmetrical
Remastered at Sensorium
Design by Greta Haga

Echi Senza Fine

[RWCLTR022] Tasaday - Echi Senza Fine LP [300 Limited Vinyl Edition + Insert]

Artist: Lostsoundbytes
Track: Fou De Croire
Release: A Given Moment
Cat: PHASE004.5
Label: Phase Group
Release date: 15th December
Format: Cassette
Pre-order: https://phasegroup.bandcamp.com/album/a-given-moment

DT PREMIERE: Lostsoundbytes - Fou De Croire [Phase Group] (2022)

"...The idea of humanity, when purged of all sentimentality, has the very serious consequence that in one form or another men must assume responsibility for all crimes committed by men and that all nations share the onus of evil committed by all others." Hannah Arendt, Organized Guilt and Universal Responsibility 

Following up on 2022's "Allegories", Insurgency continues its music curation series with "Crimes of the 20th Century". The compilation explores untraditional portrayals of violence and examines relations between industrial music and perceptions of cruelty. The label and its invited musicians intend to oppose the weaponized usage of music by extremist groups; instead, "Crimes of the 20th Century" invites listeners to reflect on collective responsibility for modern atrocity — as it is exhibited by a roster of contemporary experimental artists — within historical and psychological contexts.

Hyggja - Chamber

Premiere of the track "Oiseaux Parleurs" by Officium, the talented French electronic and experimentation artist, taken from his upcoming debut album on Teenage Menopause Records.
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Artist: @officiumofficium
Track: "Oiseaux Parleurs"
Album: "Lazybones"
Label: @teenagemenopause
Format: Vinyl + Digital
Release date: April 14, 2023
Pre-order: teenagemenopause.bandcamp.com/album/lazybones

Words, Music, Sounds, Arrangement, Artwork by Alban Mercier
Additional Voices by Catherine Danger @catherine-danger
Recording by Alban Mercier. Aug-Sep 2022
Mix & Mastering by Paulie Jan @ Agit Prop Studio. Nov 2022
Cut & Press - Kuroneko Media

Lazybones [TMR044]

Premiere: Officium - Oiseaux Parleurs [TMR044]

BUY VINYL: https://de-bons-en-pierre.bandcamp.com/album/card-short-of-a-full-deck
Dark Entries’ resident scuzzmasters De-Bons-en-Pierre return with the Card Short of a Full Deck EP, featuring six tracks of their signature sludge. In 2016, Beau Wanzer and Maoupa Mazzochetti fused forces in order to infect the world with their mutant analog strain, a noxious hybrid of 80’s DIY cassette electronics and 90’s Birmingham techno. Card Short of a Full Deck follows 2017’s Crepes EP and 2019’s EP No. 1 and EP No. 2, all released via Dark Entries. Their latest salvo features six tracks composed for a live performance in 2019. While a damaged sense of whimsy has pervaded their previous work, Card Short sees the duo ramping up the absurdity to obscene levels. Skittering rhythms dance over ghoulish basslines and haunting, rave-evocative chords on cuts “Le Râle du Mâle Alpha” and “Puddle Points”. Elsewhere, like on “Card Short of a Full Deck” and “Accidental Surgeries”, contorted vocals battle careening synths amidst post-apocalyptic waste. This deck’s not just short, it’s also full of jokers The sleeve for Card Short of a Full Deck was designed by Eloise Leigh, and features a punk zine xerox aesthetic with playing card motifs.

Card Short of a Full Deck

De-Bons-en-Pierre - Card Short of a Full Deck CLIPS

LIES-189
GIDIA feat. Vougioukli Sisters - Moje Bukura
from the 2xlp  Struga
to be released June 30th 2023

STRUGA

GIDIA feat. Vougioukli Sisters - Moje Bukura (LIES-189)

Enquiries: info<[at]>mnshift.net.
Not accepting demos.

Label from Singapore.

MNSXLP004 - The Observatory and Koichi Shimizu - Demon State

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