Pinkman records presents Five Years of Tears: A string of releases dedicated to celebrate the 5th birth year of the label. The first volume features contributions by 3 of the labels usual suspects, as well as newcomer Randstad. Ernestas Sadau’s powerful, raw and menacing cut starts sets the scene for Alessandro Parisi to delve deep into his synthesizer toolkit. What comes out is a highly emotional production, infused with sirens and melodies that may cause tearful mourning on the dancefloors. On the B side Identified Patient provides yet another one of his notoriously slow and filthy underground creepers, while Randstad delivers another burst of energy that celebrates raw percussion, gloomy pads and haunting vocal samples.
12″ / Digital Album
The wait is over. Dust off that old gimp mask and its time to go back on the prowl. The metropolis is yours to take and control. Leather-clad street hustler electronics from the year 3018. Get hacked.
LP / Digital Album
The modern synthwave scene would be significantly poorer without the keen ear and tireless efforts of the Mannequin label run by Alessandro Adriani. Geographically situated within the nerve centers of Rome and Berlin, yet with a musical spirit that easily transcends these boundary lines, Mannequin’s back catalog has been an important component in the modular assemblage that makes up electronics-based independent music in the 21st century, and an important reference point for those who need to defend against the lazy accusations that this such is purely “retro” in its form and content. Recent accolades and accomplishments – being named Resident Advisor’s “label of the month” for May of this year, starting the ‘Death of the Machines’ 12” series, and being given the ‘green light’ for bi-monthly parties at the Säule room in Berghain – have been earned through Mannequin’s unflagging commitment to sonic diversity and Adriani’s own realization that the anxious and sharp-edged sounds associated with, say, the Cold War of the 1980s can convey a completely different message today. Adriani says it best when claiming that “there is no such thing as ‘old’ or ‘new’ music…only the music of now”. With this cogent statement of intent, Mannequin continues to go on exploratory missions to find the best and most relevant aspects of genres like acid, industrial, EBM, post-punk, coldwave and still more.
Which brings us to Mannequin’s newest project and 100th release overall: the Waves of the Future double LP compilation, which itself is not a conventional retrospective collection. Case in point – none of the artists appearing on this collection have put out their own releases on Mannequin yet, despite acting as Mannequin’s unofficial ambassadors (via DJ sets and other means). This makes the set even more compelling rather than less so, since it shows how Mannequin fits into a larger picture that includes other scene leaders and label owners including Beau Wanzer, Willie Burns (WT Records), Silent Servant (Jealous God) and Ron Morelli (L.I.E.S.). Of equal importance is how Waves of the Future projects a sense of aesthetic resilience and continuity; showcasing just how well the current artists allied with Mannequin employ and re-interpret the sonic lexicon that appears on that label’s reissues of ‘classic’ acts such as Nocturnal Emissions, Bourbonese Qualk, Din A Testbild and Doris Norton.
2 x LP / Digital Album
De-Bons-en-Pierre is a project from Beau Wanzer & Maoupa Mazzocchetti. Beau Wanzer spends the majority of his days sifting through paraffin embedded animal tissues and reading old issues of Fangoria, occasionally breaking his monotonous routine to record in various fits and bursts. As well as solo material, he is also in numerous projects including Streetwalker, Mutant Beat Dance, Civil Duty, and Corporate Park. He’s released on many labels including; Diagonal, L.I.E.S, Cititrax, Nation, Rush Hour, and Light Sounds Dark. Maoupa Mazzocchetti is the pseudonym of Florent Mazzocchetti, a French producer based in Brussels. Florent is strictly devoted to a DIY mentality around music production and his sound revives the electro-industrial aesthetic of the late 70s and early 80s. He’s released notable productions on labels such as Unknown Precept, PRR! PRR!, Knekelhuis and Mannequin Records.
While Beau was visiting Brussels he stopped by Maoupa’s house to jam for a bit. All songs were recorded on April 4, 2016 between 11:00am and 11:00pm, as single live takes.“Crepes” is a 6-track EP, titled so because they ate crepes the majority of the session. Beau says, “There was a bit of a language barrier. We’d mostly just laugh and nod when something sounded cool to us.” The equipment set up included a Roland TR-808, TR-606, SH-101, CR-78, CR-8000, two Syncussions and effects. Over 23 minutes of garbles, sludgy synths and leviathan rhythms. Surfing the slippery slope between industrial and electro, but never quite falling in, just a dip of your pinky toe to to test the temperature.
LP / Digital Album
First sound object of an unsuspected collaboration. Text by Cyrille Poumerie, music by Jean Martial-Guilhem and Cyrille Poumerie. Recorded at home between October 2017 and today. Mixed and ‘mastered’ at home, lo-fi Instruments used: bass, guitars, synthesizer, vst, harmonica, vocals.
Digital Album
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