“Babylon” is the twin-LP to last year’s “Hollywood”, the second and last part of the MODERN WITCH retrospective on TuT/RuR.

The story of MODERN WITCH began 7 years ago in Denver, Colorado, when graphic artist Mario Zoots, singer Kristy Fenton and house veteran Kamran Khan started recording experimental music together on an old VHS camera. In the space of a few years, a couple of very limited tape and CD/R releases on labels such as Disaro and Clan Destine Records, and a series of spooky performances both in Europe and on the American continent, the trio has become a true underground reference for creepy, ritualistic dance music, in the muddy but oh so fascinating waters between Witchhouse and Minimal Synth. Drunk on 80s cold wave, bathed in suburbian occult decadence and haunted by dead celebrities, “Hollywood” and “Babylon” are a feast of thaumaturgic synth lines, nonchalant but captivating mpc 1000 – sequences, drugged-out spoken words and ghostly voices.

American Angst or Minimal Doom electronics at their best!

Listen and order here.

Hyperactive musician and filmmaker TZII is no newcomer to the TuT/RuR roaster, since we already had the pleasure to release his much acclaimed BLACK MONOLITH SPACE QUEST soundtrack on Rectangle Astral, and to welcome him on JAW with his project SOLAR SKELETONS.

TZII has been making music for almost two decades, and yet SAnd HAert RAge is a first in the artist’s career in several ways: amidst a long discography of CDs and tapes, it is his first solo appearance on vinyl; and more importantly perhaps, it is the first time that he chooses to tackle one of the most fundamental experiences of his life, his Saharian childhood. TZII spent his early years, until adolescence in fact, in Africa, confronted to a multitude of intense, deeply life-altering experiences, from Beninese Voodoo rituals to the endless landscapes of the Sahara desert. An extreme environment, provoking extreme and very divergent emotions, which find their musical expressions in the changing ambiances of the record’s four tracks.

From mystery to simple beauty, from melancholy to pure joy, this is an intimate but exalting record, where meditative and festive moods rub shoulders in the most natural way. Best Oriental Chill-Wave for both the dance-floor and your inner eye.

Listen and order here.

Brussels-based multi-talent TZII has been spreading his magickal frequencies all over the world since 1996, both as a composer for dance companies, live performances and movie soundtracks, and of course as a member of SOLAR SKELETONS and DUFLAN DUFLAN. After his recent appearance on the Recuerdos del Futuro compilation, he is back on RECTANGLE ASTRAL with the original soundtrack of Caasi Vomisa’s soon-to-be-cult underground sci-fi flick “Black Monolith Space Quest”. A 40 minutes trip through tense black-hole synth throbs, spooky spacy analogue drones from beyond the final frontier and fat sci-fi disco beats. For fans of UMBERTO and XANDER HARRIS a must!

Collector edition in VHS-style plastic box, including film poster and 4 postcard stills.

Listen here and order here.

After the wonderful “World In A Tear” LP released earlier this year on Cititrax/Minimal Wave, Treue um Treue are happy and proud to present the second album by BRUTA NON CALCULANT, thus resuming their collaboration with the French duo of Alaxis Andreas G. (once known as Le Syndicat Electronique and mastermind of Invasion Planete) and his blood brother V-Y (Age, Swesor Bhrater, De Frontanel).

From IOSOPHIS to SHINY BLACK MATER, many eclectic projects have charmed and surprised us since Alaxis Andreas G. made his discreet reappearance on the musical scene. But none has had the fullness, maturity and deeply unique musical voice of BRUTA NON CALCULANT, which appears as a sublimation of all that has come before, like the completion of an alchemical Great Work. Leaving behind the folk elements present in World In A Tear, this new album blends with instinctive ease hypnotic third wave rhythm box beats, big muff fuzz and esoteric lyrics into a masterpiece which is both lyrical and intensely ritual, drenched in this aura of mystery characteristic of the brothers’ recent works. Thematically inspired by the myth of the wolf-woman, La Que Sabe (“the one who knows”) is an album about initiatory death, the passage through the wolf’s cave leading up to spiritual rebirth and Liberation. It proves Alaxis Andreas G. to be one of the few contemporary artists capable of constant renewal, each new step on the musical path as thrilling as ever.

LP – black vinyl – limited edition of +/- 300 copies. Comes with a superb artwork by Sophie Lécuyer.

Listen and order here.

15 years after its initial ultra-limited CDR release, ENDPHASE’s first and only album finally goes analogue! >I< was composed and recorded between 1996 and 2001 by Marc Patrick Schaffer, later to become the founder of ANNA LOGUE RECORDS and one half of SOLITUDE FX, using an array of synthesizers such as the Kawai K1, Korg Poly-61 and Yamaha PSR-6300. Presented here in its extended 2001 version, it gathers no less than 20 glorious neo-romantic tracks, between dreamy instrumentals and catchy electro songs, featuring guest vocals by Carmel Smith and Orpheo Weidelt-Baur (SFX). Infused with the longing and despair of the late 90s, ENDPHASE remains a true milestone of the German minimal wave revival, an intimate and introspective testimony to the beginning of an era.

C72 professionally duplicated audio cassette – transparent green shell – in clear case + printed J-card – lim. ed. of 100 hand-numbered copies.

Listen and order here.

Treue um Treue is very proud to present a selection of their best tracks for the first time on vinyl, on two twin-LPs of which this is the first. Drunk on 80′s cold wave, bathed in suburbian occult decadence and haunted by dead celebrities, “Hollywood” is a feast of thaumaturgic synth lines, nonchalant but captivating mpc 1000 – sequences, drugged-out spoken words and ghostly voices. American Angst or Minimal Doom electronics at their best!

Listen and order on TuT/RuR shop.

“Musique Atomique Sans Surveillance” is a highly skilful, playful yet authentic blend of 70s prog synth, early 80s minimal electro and 90s techno, flowing with ease from library lounge music to spacey weird-wave to electronic exotica, reminiscent at times of BERNARD SZAJNER and CLAUDE LARSON. The spiciest note of this delicious psychotropic cocktail is of course Erick’s unmistakable, demented yet committed Deutsch-Frenglish lyrics, which make of ADN’ CKRYSTALL such a unique experience.

Listen and order on TuT/RuR shop.

To speak of Ame de Boue, this is the debut album and only 250 copies were released on Treue Um Treue, in February.

Soundwise, I was pleased to find back some elements from Dolina but the obscure madness was pushed a bit further. I got stunned by the diversity and the beauty of the sounds that seems to be mixed and arranged with real magic. As others often reuse the same type of classic analog sounds, there is much more originality to be found here.

Musically, most of the album has some sort of bizarre carnivalesque ambiance, making me dreaming of clowns dancing on barrel organ music. The spooky theme, from the beginning to the end, really stirred me deep inside.

Out of 15 songs, my favorite title is definitely L’Inconfort Néccésaire (live and very different version). The beat stays on a slow tempo but near the end, It’s Fun to be Dead also kicks in with a danceable song using a distorted rhythm over a killer bassline.

The intro and the first 2 songs are written in French, 5 are in English and the rest is instrumental. The vocals are sang or spoken in some kind of simple and modest way that really makes them shine. At other times, wicked effects are also used over vocals for more experimental passages.

Why only 250 copies were printed? Given the quality of the music, I think it is a big nonsense but to be selfish, I am very glad to own my copy of this limited edition. It seems that Ame de Boue and Dolina aren’t much into self-promotion. Just search online and you won’t find their page on any stupid social network. I found it relieving after wondering what’s the matter with so many artists and so-called marginals, using private mainstream medias without much consciousness.

Certainly, L’Inconfort Nécéssaire will pass the test of time as I have no doubt its intemporal originality will make it a priceless collector item.

Also worth mentioning, you should check out Illustrations Sonores, a new and very promising project from Datz and Froe Char.

L’Inconfort Néccésaire on Discogs