Pic: Maximo Pedraza (http://www.flickr.com/photos/maximopedraza)

Soko - Monster Love (feat. Ariel Pink)

Molly Nilsson   I Hope You Die

John Maus - Keep Pushing On

nightschoolrecords.bigcartel.com/artist/m…-nilsson

A sweeping, cinematic, emotional change is in the air. Molly Nilsson’s sixth studio album Zenith begins with clear, wide eyes open to Earth as we would love it to be but seldom is. Recorded in her home of Berlin and whilst touring and, as ever, conceived, produced, written and recorded in solitude, Zenith is Nilsson’s big statement and consequently her most affecting work to date. It sees her reveling in big arrangements, sweeping synth strings, bigger choruses and emotions. Like the rest of us she looks within and to endless sunsets in wonder and puzzlement.

That Molly Nilsson is a DIY cult figure is beyond question; she has always written directly and with wit straight down the line between the universal and the personal. The difference with Zenith, and you can hear it in the opening chords of opener The Only Planet, is that her scope is now much wider and her heart heavier than ever before: over a post-ecstatic dusk, Nilsson serenades the globe in a loving embrace. Following on, 1995 is, arguably, one of Nilsson’s finest songs to date. It’s one of those songs to learn the lyrics to, to listen to on repeat, a reason to wear the grooves down to the bone, it’s why pop music can be one of the greatest art forms we have. It’s an example of how, on this album, Molly draws the listener closer to her heart than ever before. There’s simply no escape from the line “The plans that you made / when you still had the time / I’ve saved all the things that you left behind but by now I guess I’d consider them all mine /Windows 95, is only a metaphor for what I feel inside / Although I’m older now / there’s still an emptiness that’s never letting go somehow.” Show-stopper Mountain Time is the soundtrack to being on the run, from societal conventions, from normative ideas of happiness, from your surroundings. It’s the intoxicating call of the renegade. That’s not to say that Nilsson’s light touch has been forsaken for grandiose statements. Bunny Club begins as a demo-sketch before breaking into a fast-paced tale of doomed romance with big rave synths and Bus 194 (All There Is) sees Molly joyride through a city on a happy hardcore bus. But it’s tracks like Tomorrow and another contender for best-ever-Molly moment, Happyness that the true scale of what she’s accomplished reveals itself. We’re locked in a spiraling orbit, strings and bass whirling, gazing at the spinning planet below us as we contemplate both the ultimate freedom in loneliness and the glimmer of hope in the Other. Can we ever be truly with someone? Are we ever truly alone?

Over the 13 tracks here we get the impression that Nilsson may always be restless; like anyone else she has conflicting feelings of love and hate. It’s just not many other people can tell you exactly how you feel before you know it yourself.

MOLLY NILSSON: Mountain Time (from Zenith)

By 12 Ètoiles. All rights reserved.

Lyrics :

This is Halloween 

[Verse]
Shadows crawl where the moonlight hides
Pumpkins grin with their hollowed-out eyes
The wind it whispers
The cats they cry

[Chorus]
This is Halloween
This is Halloween
Scream till your socks fall off your feet
This is Halloween
This is Halloween
Tricks and treats on every street

[Verse 2]
Bats that dance in the midnight glow
Graveyard parties where skeletons show
Spiders weaving webs so slow

[Prechorus]
In the dark where the nightmares bloom
Candy corn and the smell of doom

[Chorus]
This is Halloween
This is Halloween
Monsters mash and goblins leap
This is Halloween
This is Halloween
Hide and seek with things that creep

[Bridge]
Witches cackle
Their cauldrons bubble
Zombies shuffle
They’re looking for trouble
Ghosts they giggle
They float and sway
Tonight we all come out to play.

New Wave [vocals] - This is Halloween

jsaijdoa-6

U.S. Girls - The Island Song

'Bennington' is from John Maus' A Collection of Rarities and Previously Unreleased Material' out on CD, LP and digitally July 17th in North America and July 16th in the rest of the world. 

Find out more info on the release here: http://www.ribbonmusic.com/label/?p=313
Pre-order the Special Edition translucent pink vinyl limited to 500 copies here: http://bit.ly/mausraritieslp

TOUR DATES
07-12 New York, NY - Pier 84 * (River Rocks)
07-14 San Diego, CA - Casbah
07-21 Seattle, WA - Capitol Hill Block Party
08-09 Oslo, Norway  - Oya Festival
08-10 Gothenburg, Sweden - Way Out West Festival
08-14 London, UK - Scala
09-01 Los Angeles, CA - FYF Festival
09-03 San Francisco, CA - The Independent
09-06 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge (MusicFest NW)

* w/ Dan Deacon

John Maus - Bennington (2007)

Solid Space - Tenth Planet (1982)

We are honored to present the first vinyl reissue of French legends Martin Dupont’s seminal album from 1987, ‘Hot Paradox’. Martin Dupont was originally founded by Alain Seghir in Marseille in 1980. He enlisted numerous collaborators throughout the years, including Beverley Jane Crew, Brigitte Balian, and Catherine Loy. Martin Dupont was immensely talented with a rare dynamic between its varying members that was likely inspired by a combination of their magnetic personalities, creative vision, and the home studio where they recorded. Their music was colorful, enthusiastic, and delicate, but also melancholy and mysterious. A mixture of hot and cold, light and dark. They created electronic music that incorporated guitars, clarinets, and saxophones and is described by many as New Wave yet truly transcended genres. Aside from having been released as part of ‘The Complete Collection: 1980-1988’ 5-LP box set, the ‘Hot Paradox’ album hasn’t been available on vinyl since 1987. It is one of Martin Dupont’s most exquisite albums, illustrating the band’s mastery of synthesizer work, drum programming, and vocal duets. The album is vibrant and emotive, simultaneously somber and bright, theatrical and danceable. It is an essential album in the French cold wave, new wave, and minimal synth scenes, and in recent years, has finally received the recognition it deserves beyond any musical categorization. The Hot Paradox album reissue is pressed on 180-gram black vinyl, is accompanied by the original insert/lyrics sheet, and is housed in a heavy-weight sleeve featuring art by Yves Cheynet. The Hot Paradox LP is now available for pre-order with a release date of October 10th, 2023.

Purchase here:
https://minimalwave.com/releases/release/hot-paradox/

Hot Paradox

Martin Dupont 'Inside Out' from the Hot Paradox LP

Released May 27th. Night School Records.
CD/LP/Digital.
Pre-Order: http://nightschoolrecords.bigcartel.com/product/lssn016-terror-bird-all-this-time-lp

“All This Time” is the 3rd full length LP from Terror Bird - aka Nikki Nevver - and is by far the most personal, emotionally affecting and musically developed. Recorded at home over a period of 5 months, the 10 songs on “All This Time” document a period of intense emotional upheaval, a period wherein Nevver underwent major shifts in her personal life, rediscovered the solo recording process (previous albums having used live drumming and studio production) and married a raw, personal music with a straight-to-tape aesthetic most in-tune with her early recording experiences. The difference this time is that Nevver’s unique voice - at turns operatic and fragile, untutored and wearing its heart on its sleeve - serves as the perfect conduit for the emotional turmoil in the songs.

Nevver’s voice has grown into a formidable instrument, a towering, unabashed vocal whose resonance curls around the synth and drum machine production, at times duetting with itself, at times scaling the vocal register to reach new dramatic heights. Brought up on the music of the 80s “studio” - The Smiths, Kate Bush, The Cure - Nevver’s music exists beyond modern zeitgeists or considerations, subverting “big production” music into a personal DIY aesthetic. It’s a pure songwriting that outgrows genre and thrives purely on the merits of direct communication between songwriter and listener. 

Each song on “All This Time” serves as a chapter in a narrative that is universal; from the self-doubt and loneliness of opener “The Wrong Way,” to the doomed bedroom romance of “Try To Break Me,” from the masochistic guilt of “Locket” to the near-anthemic “Lust & Violence.” Each song speaks directly, plainly, to the listener, dispensing as much as possible with the unnecessary augmentation of modern pop music; “All This Time” is simply the deeply romantic, part-doomed / part-hopeful songs of a singular, unique talent.

The Wrong Way (From LSSN016 - "All This Time" CD/LP/Digital)

The Minimal Wave label was founded by Veronica Vasicka in 2005 to create a network for synth wave enthusiasts and promote 80s electronic music via an online archive and vinyl releases. The label specializes in high-quality vinyl pressings of electronic artists from all over the world. Our sub-label Cititrax focuses on modern and experimental electronic dance music. Aside from limited edition vinyl releases, both labels' catalogs are available digitally as well.