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LP
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EMEGO 314LP
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The initial return of the playful and mystical Austrian outfit General Magic came with the 20th year anniversary vinyl reissue of their classic debut Frantz (EMEGO 010LP). A record so audacious and playful it still baffles as much as it entertains. At some point whilst working on this reissue GM's Ramon Bauer and Andi Pieper were spurred on to rummage around with ideas and tools once more and after more than two decades of inactivity sonic sorcery was conjured once again. Live shows in honor of Peter Rehberg were performed in Vienna and London. Softbop, a limited risograph collaboration with Tina Frank came with the first new recordings as a digital download came out discreetly online. The first full length album following Rechenkönig in 2000 Nein Aber Ja released in 2023 on Finlay Shakespeare's GOTO Records on CD and cassette. An ongoing series of mix tapes online further highlights their interests encapsulating a new found angle on electronic mayhem. Now comes General Magic's second official full length comeback recording, Bosko, landing exactly 30 years after the initial General Magic flights into the fantastic. The new album is initially notable prior to the needle hitting the wax or the cursor identifying a track due to the artwork. Made by long term collaborator Tina Frank, this is Frank's first analogue artwork, with a painting of a happy/nervous machine thing hovering in a landscape of no discernible identity. It's quasi science fiction hovering amongst the potential for fun. Bosko sees Bauer and Pieper update and reframe their original investigations with a fresh supply of head scratching, heart racing tunes that hit the inexplicable with a wild mesh of drums, pianos, synthetic voices and all manner of immaterial sonic play. Absolutely nothing within Bosko is predictable. The amount of change in the miasma of existence and the things we touch in order to make things has shifted so exponentially we are at the point where minds are starting to glaze over. All of this makes the return of the always original, always surprising, always fresh and exciting General Magic totally in tune with the artificial intelligent apocalyptic age. The tools may have changed but the wonderfully warped gaze of Bosko offers a fresh new vision of perplexing funk and robotic punk.
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2LP
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EMEGO 010LP
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First time vinyl issue of this 1997 Mego classic. General Magic, the duo of Ramon Bauer and Andi Pieper, who, alongside Pita, first pioneered the classic Mego sound on the Fridge Trax 12" in 1995 (EMEGO 001LP). The following year proved to be formulative when Mego released Frantz alongside a slew of game changing releases from Farmers Manuel, Pita, and Fennesz. Originally released as MEGO 010 Frantz presented a thrilling digression from what was in vogue in music at the time. This was the advent of portable computing and the Vienna based label was at the forefront of harnessing the potential of audio within this new technology. At once smart and playful these releases reconfigured once disparate genres such as industrial, techno, glitch, and the avant-garde, folding them into a bright, audacious and euphoric new system of sound. The music on Frantz (named after the Austrian skier, Franz Klammer) still pushes the boundaries of acceptable audio constructions with its startling fried electricity and twisted sensibility. The sense of joy in the audio discovery is palatable as techno laced explorations unfold a variety of unexpected and unprecedented sonic maneuvers. Tyrell launches proceedings as schizophrenic stuttering handclaps simultaneously slice into pieces as it propels forward. The bending of the brain is on display with the likes of "Obvious" and "Close, But Not Quien". Temko skewers digital debris in which a ghost melody comes to the fore. Brazen rhythms mobilize the tracks "No Ketting" and "Bonden" whilst "The Official GM Ski-WM Theme" is a short stab of priceless pop wizardry skittering about a strange exhilarating melody in homage to the finest of winter activities. This reissue also includes "Die Mondlandung" which was released as a 12" in 1995, and has never been released anywhere, physical or digital, since. This track is based on the live German TV coverage of the moon landing. An apt theme for the abundance of exploration contained within this classic release. Double-LP; includes download code; edition of 500.
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CD
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MEGO 032CD
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"Another mad digital journey through the circuits residing in both the Vienna and Berlin studios, as well as the Czech train in between. General Magic is the recording guise of Mego label co-founders Andreas Pieper and Ramon Bauer. The two of them have been working together since 1988 as visual artists and since 1995 as musicians. In conjunction with Peter Rehberg they made the very first Mego record, the infamous 'Fridge Tracks' 12". Since then Pieper and Bauer have been using the many mistakes of life as source material for new production methods, as evidenced by the skewed electronics and humorous cut-ups of Rechenkonig." Limited stock of this now deleted item.
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