Piska Power
Thermal Cycler

Reissue of the 1994 debut from Phil Western and Dan Handrabur's 'Off & Gone' project. A hallucinating document of the pair's initial jam sessions and what would become the genesis of a fruitful collaboration between two key members of the West Coast electronic music scene of the 90s/00s. Four tracks of deep, psychedelic techno, including the now-classic 'Namlohssa'. Re-mastered from the original DAT tapes.From Dan Handrabur [Dreamdoktor, Shukar Collective & 1/2 of Off & Gone]:I met the late Phil Western in the fall of 1992 on a visit to his record store, Oddysey Imports. There was always good music playing there, so I ended up hanging out for many hours, almost every day.It was very clear we had similar taste in music, be it the new electronic wave at the time or older music like Eighties British guitar pop, and vintage rock, not to mention ambient and world beats.A mutual friend, Robert Shea [Map Music/ Discotext], suggested we get together and jam; there was a trend going on to bring one's favorite synth to a buddy's studio and tweak knobs.We ended up making a couple of tracks which we showed Robert, a man with many connections in the new music business, by that I mean independent, forward-thinking labels from around the globe. His reaction encouraged us to release them. At the time, I was working on making a CD of my own music and tracks I had made with other tech- heads. Somehow the two cuts fitted quite well into the vibe of Outersanctum's "Frequencies From The Edge Of The Tektonic Plate" which we released in April of 1993.Sensing the possibility of a collaboration, we decided to move my equipment to Phil's place [he lived in a more permissive part of Vancouver where it was ok to work at a louder level].Armed with two Atari 1040st with midi and various synths, samplers, and drum machines, we started crafting what was to become our most important body of work of the mid-nineties, Off and Gone, Floatpoint and others. After a visit to Lopez island where Mike Kandel [1/2 of Exist Dance] had his studio, the three of us decided on the name [Off and Gone] and set a release date for our first EP. Needless to say, we were ecstatic about it since we were both very fond of the music Exist Dance was releasing.This was the incentive we needed and also a psychological push to work on more material. Our sessions were lengthy; there was not much talking and a lot of playing. Programming in Notator (now Logic Audio) was tedious but rewarding; mixes were tracked to DAT tape. Some gear without memory had to stay on for days until we were satisfied with the mixes. Occasional overheating and power outages were our biggest enemies and guests to the studio who carelessly pushed keys on synths, thus ruining arpeggios...We never used limiting or compression. We didn't own any of that gear, relying solely on the power of our sound generating devices. No audio editing was available back then, at least not to us. A few times, we snuck into Skinny Puppy's studio to play with their Pro Tools rig and track guitars and violin through the Eventide, which we resampled and used in tracks.At the time, we had the feeling of doing something important for the Vancouver electronic music scene, inspiring other musicians to build studios and strive to create new, interesting music, away from the industrial sound that defined the city for several years, for which we had the utmost respect.All the music we made together was purely for the joy of sound creation and a sincere love of dance and ambient music; without any desire for affirmation or commercial success. Throughout our relatively short but productive collaboration, there was a feeling of completing each other's ideas very easily, without arguments, in an almost telepathic way, something I personally have never experienced again with another musician.

Para One · SPECTRE: Machines of Loving GraceMachines of Loving Grace, available in half speed mastered 180g double lp housed in a heavy sleeve with UV spot varnish. Machines of Loving Grace, the new album by Para One, whose real name is Jean-Baptiste de Laubier could be called fiction. It is an object freed from constraints, formats, genres, territories: the gospel of a new world. Six years after Club, eight years after Passion, his previous LP, this lover of electronic music, who has also been putting his sensitivity to the service of movies (soundtracks for Céline Sciamma in particular) opens with this record a new dimension in his artistic career. “I needed to break away from patterns and systematisms of formats, and take unexpected turns. To do so, I had first to allow myself to do so”. Allow oneself and maybe above all confront oneself – with one’s childhood, with one’s childhood’s ghosts, and what fantasies, ideals, memories, and grey areas they harbor. He had to go back – without giving up on his position as an adult, as a full-fledged artist – to the sources of his imagination, to the moment when music was holding almost mystical power. And then revisit it to make something new out of it. Just like Sanity, Madness & the Family (the feature film directed by Para One that he just finished and of which it is a consubstantial part), Machines of Loving Grace has an investigation around a family secret and the father figure as its starting point.

RSD-LP001 // The Art Of Us by Blair French

Originally released in 1987 ‘Pretty Face’ by Stinger J has become highly sought after in recent years,Stinger J was a one time alias used by Detroit Producer Kevin McCord, formerly of legendary American R n B and funk band One Way. As a writer & producer Kevin has had an illustrious musical career working with Alicia Myers (‘I Want To Thank You’), Oliver Cheatham (‘Get Down Saturday Night’) and Mariah Carey (‘Make It Happen’). Featuring the vocals of Jonathan Haywood, ‘Pretty Face’ is a melting pot of Soul, Disco, Garage and Detroit house. B Side ‘Wonder Land’ pairs the vocals of Jonathan Haywood with Kevin himself, a soulful ballad with classic 80’s production and live keys, strings and percussion. ‘Pretty Face’ is a unique example of an intended crossover record from a mainstream producer who soaked up the influences of his home town Detroit around the birth of House & Techno. Self released at the time on Kevin’s own Chance label, it was hard to get momentum without major label backing so the project fell by the wayside. Now officially reissued for the first time in partnership with Kevin McCord with Artwork by Bradley Pinkerton.

Erik Wøllo is a unique Norwegian musician that has been active since 1980, covering a wide range of styles but mostly known for his very personal take on electronic ambient music.In Silver Beach, gentle rhythms hold center for lush beautiful melodies to unfold, manifesting a restrained elegance in the way the chords hover around this percolating heartbeat. The result is synthetic walkabout music, an album of simple yet vibrant sophistication, perfect for wandering around or sitting contemplating imaginary beautiful vistas with eyes closed. These seventeen stunning tracks create a sense of ceaseless motion without arrival, the pleasure of traveling without destination: walking on an outer limits beach.An early electronic music masterpiece, it was made using the latest MIDI technology at that time. Everything was composed and recorded on the now vintage Roland MSQ700, and all the diverse synths and rack modules were mixed directly down to 2 track analog tape (no multitrack tape was used).The original Silver Beach album was released on vinyl on the Norwegian label Cicada Records in 1986. In 1988 the album was released on CD (also Cicada) and included the additional and very rhythmical tracks “Little Big Tune” and “Mountain Train.” The album was also re-released on CD on the Spanish label Margen Records in 2005, remastered and fine-tuned with 5 additional previously unreleased tracks from the same era. These tunes just refuse to be forgotten, their glittering beauty having both an air of nostalgia, but also of validity, as they continue to haunt new ears. There's no doubt that this is a classic of European eighties electronic music composition, a polished artwork with the best aesthetic and emotional signifiers of its era.

The 2 Smooth World Vol. 1 Album broadcasts a highly addictive tale of electronic frequencies. A whole universe of musical explorations, ranging from twisted electro to more dubby compositions, beatless ambient ballads, classic house nostalgia - naturally flowing into oceans of acid & bass.