Black Noi$e
Illusions

BSTX030 - IT - 1983/2021RPGiorgio GIordano and Giorgio Dolce originally produced ''KKK." back in 1983, and the track was taken into the hearts of the blossoming Balearic scene hovering around DJ Alfredo at Amnesia. It's as gentle and sweet natured as Italo disco can be, and of course it makes perfect sense that Best Record would dig it out of the archives and give it the shiny new reissue it deserves. The ''Club Mix'' of ''KKK'' is a feast of simple, charming programmed melodies and crisp drum machine rhythms with the innocence of the early 80s in its heart. The ''Dub Mix'' and ''Bonus Beats'' on the flip are handy for the technical DJs out there, but the ''Club Mix'' is where it's at for the lovers.

Sticking to the trusted format of 4 tracks of high grade electronic explorations per EP, all sourced from equally excellent artists: Tim Jackiw, Böhm, Biz & Al Bradley.

NEP was a loose multimedia collective formed in 1982 Zagreb, ex-Yugoslavia. The founder Dejan Krsic collaborated with various artists in a quest of re-thinking the stale concepts of art history, position of the author and the barriers between pop and elitist high culture. Heavily influenced by Walter Benjamin and Andy Warhol in theory and Brian Eno and Kraftwerk in music, Krsic created NEP as an umbrella term (meaning Nova Evropa or New Europe) of diverse rule-breaking activities, covering graphic design, music, photography, video, news-media and theoretical work. Musically NEP focused on experiments in ambient and tape-music, self-released and hard to find compilation tapes like "The Cassette Played Poptones" (1988). Deeply immersed in pop-culture, politics and art theory Krsic's search for perfect pop music with cutting critical edge peaked in 1989, the year 'Decadance' track was conceived in studio.Fox & His Friends published the single in 2017 with Snuffo Remix on B-side. It received rave reviews in music press like MixMag and DJ Mag and it is still played on dance-floors around the world. But the story around the NEP is musically (as well as artistically) much wider: for the first time Fox & His Friends team compiles best cuts from unreleased and rare NEP tapes, covering the period from 1985 to 1989 on POP NOT POP abum. Dejan Krsic is now famous graphic designer and art historian in Croatia. Other collaborators include Laibach and Borghesia photographer Jane Stravs, artist and TV director Gordana Brzovic, Jovan Culibrk, now Bishop at The Serbian Orthodox Church and Anja Rupel, singer of cult Yugoslavian synth-pop group Videosex as well as the other members of Videosex, Iztok Turk and Janez Krizaj who produced some of the tracks. Other collaborators were talented producers Robert Logozar and Davor Daga Devcic, singers Linda Cooper, Natalija, Alexx Kovacs... The list of collaborations is long.Some of the memorable moments on POP NOT POP album are early demo version of Decadance 'How Do I Dance To This Music?' with blue movies samples and drum machine experiments like early Cabaret Voltaire, then Krsic's reinterpretation of legendary Kraftwerk's Trans Europe Express anthem as 'Transcendance', or 'Radical Chic', where Dejan himself and Anja Rupel from Videosex make lovely couple of dandy-esque fashionistas, singing chart-friendly radio synthpop tune that contrasts the A-side (The 'NOT POP' side) - full of experiments, dark wave and industrial nods to Test Department and Cabs. B-side is 'THE POP' side that will surprise most of the NEP followers from their early experimental cassette days. Sunny, danceable, joyfull pop that reveals the many faces of NEP. As Kraftwerk today is more of a concept than a band, NEP does the same by re-writing its products (musical, graphical, theoretical, activist) and constantly puts them in permanent state of change or re-mix. In the future, only NEP logo will be enough to consider something an art piece, and NEP will be everybody who wants to, as their Art Manifest claims. Until that day comes, 'POP NOT POP' is a document of how the vivid and creative were art-scenes in socialist Yugoslavia. Some of the graphic work, cut-ups from theory and Manifesto are also included on this LP, designed by Dejan Krsic aka NEP himself. This release is made from the original master tapes and published for the first time on vinyl.

Featuring 8 different artists from Mexico to Lithuania, Peru, Portugal, Florida, UK and Belgium, ‘Maloca Vol. 1’ outlines the worldly focus of Le Motel’s new label.Launching Maloca Records earlier this year, the label’s ethos is to build bridges interlinking disparate yet like-minded musicians dedicated to blending organic electronic and acoustic elements. The global network of makers highlighted on Maloca Vol.1, the label’s first compilation, confabs a terrestrial and borderless percussive sound that has been bubbling in clubs and Le Motel’s orbit.Opening the compilation is esteemed Peruvian duo Dengue Dengue Dengue followed by Lithuania's DJ JM who has previously released on the likes of Nervous Horizon and Goon Club Allstars, Miami artist and NAAFI affiliate Nick León and Lisbon’s DJ N.K. On the second half of the compilation, there are contributions from the label founder himself, Mexico’s Omaar, UK’s Coen and mysterious artist Tsongo. Maloca Records has put out three vinyl releases to date from Oakland’s Farsight, Beijing’s Howie Lee and Le Motel. The label is quickly building a reputation for releasing brilliant forward-thinking club records whilst capturing specific international sounds.

Hallucinating Gnarly Spring Breakers.

We are delighted to present a raw, young talent from Copenhagen - the city of fairy tales. Indeed, Parks at Night, the debut album from 17 years old Teis Ortved, could very easily provide the soundtrack for a recently unearthed Hans Christian Anderson story. In fourteen moves, the devoted multi-instrumentalist tells us the tale of his relatively short journey so far with confidence that belies his age. There's no ego or showboating here as this modest musician brings together seemingly disparate technologies with apparent ease, marrying sequenced beats and plaintive pianos overlaid by ethereal vocals that take his very special music somewhere other-worldly.To fully appreciate Teis' universe we need to dip a toe into his upbringing, his wonder years and the family unit that has had so much influence on his fascinating musical output. Both his father and mother are musicians - the former having previously been a drummer in a danish band, and almost from birth, Teis would sleep backstage at his parents shows. Teis has been immersed in music his whole life - even his sister is a renowned violinist. There was no escape from the arts in the Ortved household, nor was there been any desire to do so, which probably explains the sense of calmness in Teis' productions. His music feels like a pleasure; a natural outlet; one that's never been stifled and always been encouraged.