TAPETE RECORDS - Forced Exposure

$16.50 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 5/23/2025

Picture one of the greatest living singer-songwriters in a kitchen. He is on holidays, he's just had a swim. His wife is out on the beach, and he finds himself faced with a bowl of irresistible strawberries. They're meant to be shared, of course, but their taste is "out of the ordinary," so he just can't help himself. Minutes later all of the delicious fruit are gone, but there's the germ of a song as the phrase "Someone ate all the strawberries" has just popped into Robert Forster's mind, sounding "so weird, but normal". Thankfully, he has taken his guitar with him. As the story goes, his wife Karin Bäumler not only forgave her husband, she actually joined him on a duet of what was to become the title song to his ninth solo album. Robert Forster has perfected the art of being outré in a least ostentatious way, from his time in the Go-Betweens to his solo career, now spanning almost three decades, interrupted only by the old band's reformation in 2000 which ended with his songwriting partner Grant McLennan's untimely death in 2006. Strawberries follows a recent spate of deluxe reissues of four of his older solo albums as well as the third and final volume of the career-spanning series of G Stands For Go-Betweens boxsets with a much awaited helping of new material. Next to admittedly bigger names such as Bob Dylan or Nick Cave, Robert Forster is the rare case of an artist with a celebrated past whose current work evokes genuine interest among a faithful fan base. As a straight-up personal song, "Strawberries" is a bit of a red herring in the context of this new album that, unusually for Forster, deals almost exclusively in observational character studies or, as the author would have it, "story songs". Louis Forster, by the way, also makes an impressive appearance on lyrical lead guitar in "Such a Shame." As his slapback echo vocals tuck into a rockabilly vibe, you can hear Forster enjoying the company of his Swedish backing band: producer Peter Morén (of Peter, Björn and John fame) on guitar, Jonas Thorell on bass, and Magnus Olsson on drums, crucially augmented by Lina Langendorf on various woodwind instruments and Anna Åhman on keys. The album's monumental closing track "Diamonds" starts off as a cross between Lou Reed and Buffalo Springfield, then takes off via Astral Weeks into an (almost) Albert Ayler direction, with Lina Langendorf given free rein on the tenor sax and Forster himself relinquishing his trademark understatement for some unexpected outbursts of falsetto.

$26.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 5/23/2025

LP version. Picture one of the greatest living singer-songwriters in a kitchen. He is on holidays, he's just had a swim. His wife is out on the beach, and he finds himself faced with a bowl of irresistible strawberries. They're meant to be shared, of course, but their taste is "out of the ordinary," so he just can't help himself. Minutes later all of the delicious fruit are gone, but there's the germ of a song as the phrase "Someone ate all the strawberries" has just popped into Robert Forster's mind, sounding "so weird, but normal". Thankfully, he has taken his guitar with him. As the story goes, his wife Karin Bäumler not only forgave her husband, she actually joined him on a duet of what was to become the title song to his ninth solo album. Robert Forster has perfected the art of being outré in a least ostentatious way, from his time in the Go-Betweens to his solo career, now spanning almost three decades, interrupted only by the old band's reformation in 2000 which ended with his songwriting partner Grant McLennan's untimely death in 2006. Strawberries follows a recent spate of deluxe reissues of four of his older solo albums as well as the third and final volume of the career-spanning series of G Stands For Go-Betweens boxsets with a much awaited helping of new material. Next to admittedly bigger names such as Bob Dylan or Nick Cave, Robert Forster is the rare case of an artist with a celebrated past whose current work evokes genuine interest among a faithful fan base. As a straight-up personal song, "Strawberries" is a bit of a red herring in the context of this new album that, unusually for Forster, deals almost exclusively in observational character studies or, as the author would have it, "story songs". Louis Forster, by the way, also makes an impressive appearance on lyrical lead guitar in "Such a Shame." As his slapback echo vocals tuck into a rockabilly vibe, you can hear Forster enjoying the company of his Swedish backing band: producer Peter Morén (of Peter, Björn and John fame) on guitar, Jonas Thorell on bass, and Magnus Olsson on drums, crucially augmented by Lina Langendorf on various woodwind instruments and Anna Åhman on keys. The album's monumental closing track "Diamonds" starts off as a cross between Lou Reed and Buffalo Springfield, then takes off via Astral Weeks into an (almost) Albert Ayler direction, with Lina Langendorf given free rein on the tenor sax and Forster himself relinquishing his trademark understatement for some unexpected outbursts of falsetto.

$26.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 5/2/2025

LP version. Louis Philippe and The Night Mail return with a new captivating record where the songs are once again faultless. Carrying on the journey away from the classic towards the unexpected with new synths and hand claps adding a sense of the abrupt and, with voices calling from the wings, a sense of play and a lack of fear. Philippe Auclair aka Louis Philippe, Anglo-French singer-songwriter extraordinaire, has been an admired fixture for the past four decades, from his beginnings as protagonist and house producer at Mike Alway's fabled él Records label through his forays into the Shibuya sound and collaborations with the likes of Bertrand Burgalat, XTC's Dave Gregory, High Llamas' Sean O'Hagan and Young Marble Giants' Stuart Moxham right up to his more recent adventures with The Night Mail -- a loose ensemble around bassist/sometime acid jazz artist/encyclopedian of sound Andy Lewis, ex-Death in Vegas guitarist/head of heads at Papernut Cambridge/legacy indie's favorite live and session drummer Ian Button and guitarist/Viennese pop ambassador to Canterbury Robert Rotifer. When Louis Philippe & The Night Mail met again at Rimshot Studio in rural Kent in the spring of 2023 to tackle album number two, the same extended line-up was assembled. Work on The Road to the Sea began with just four days' intense recording under Rimshot's oakwood eaves followed by extensive extra sessions in Andy Lewis' hideaway studio somewhere up in deepest Bassetlaw. As the core duo of obsessives, Lewis/Philippe immersed themselves in the material, adding voices, instruments and effects, interrupted only once by Robert Rotifer visiting to throw in a few more touches of Telecaster. Their mission was to fully realize the sonic and harmonic potential of songs as varied as the partly portentous, partly (deceptively) jaunty opener "The Road to Somewhere", the catchy, XTC-flavoured "Pictures of Anna", the breezy-yet-apocalyptic space age groove of "Where Did We Go Wrong" or the piano-led Francophone waltz of "Une maison sans toit". It all adds up to a colorful mix of delicate textures, subtly sculpted reverb, melodic mellotron madness, Wilsonesque layered vocal harmonies, and the sort of long lost, very English whimsy it would take an anglophile Frenchman to evoke. And yet, in its transparent spaciousness dotted with charming detail, The Road To The Sea also brings to mind the sound of Summer Dancing, Andy Lewis' acclaimed 2017 collaboration with the late, great Judy Dyble.

$16.50 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 5/2/2025

Louis Philippe and The Night Mail return with a new captivating record where the songs are once again faultless. Carrying on the journey away from the classic towards the unexpected with new synths and hand claps adding a sense of the abrupt and, with voices calling from the wings, a sense of play and a lack of fear. Philippe Auclair aka Louis Philippe, Anglo-French singer-songwriter extraordinaire, has been an admired fixture for the past four decades, from his beginnings as protagonist and house producer at Mike Alway's fabled él Records label through his forays into the Shibuya sound and collaborations with the likes of Bertrand Burgalat, XTC's Dave Gregory, High Llamas' Sean O'Hagan and Young Marble Giants' Stuart Moxham right up to his more recent adventures with The Night Mail -- a loose ensemble around bassist/sometime acid jazz artist/encyclopedian of sound Andy Lewis, ex-Death in Vegas guitarist/head of heads at Papernut Cambridge/legacy indie's favorite live and session drummer Ian Button and guitarist/Viennese pop ambassador to Canterbury Robert Rotifer. When Louis Philippe & The Night Mail met again at Rimshot Studio in rural Kent in the spring of 2023 to tackle album number two, the same extended line-up was assembled. Work on The Road to the Sea began with just four days' intense recording under Rimshot's oakwood eaves followed by extensive extra sessions in Andy Lewis' hideaway studio somewhere up in deepest Bassetlaw. As the core duo of obsessives, Lewis/Philippe immersed themselves in the material, adding voices, instruments and effects, interrupted only once by Robert Rotifer visiting to throw in a few more touches of Telecaster. Their mission was to fully realize the sonic and harmonic potential of songs as varied as the partly portentous, partly (deceptively) jaunty opener "The Road to Somewhere", the catchy, XTC-flavoured "Pictures of Anna", the breezy-yet-apocalyptic space age groove of "Where Did We Go Wrong" or the piano-led Francophone waltz of "Une maison sans toit". It all adds up to a colorful mix of delicate textures, subtly sculpted reverb, melodic mellotron madness, Wilsonesque layered vocal harmonies, and the sort of long lost, very English whimsy it would take an anglophile Frenchman to evoke. And yet, in its transparent spaciousness dotted with charming detail, The Road To The Sea also brings to mind the sound of Summer Dancing, Andy Lewis' acclaimed 2017 collaboration with the late, great Judy Dyble.

$26.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 4/11/2025

Double LP version. Of all the independent record labels of the 1980s, él was the most singular and exciting. él only existed for a few short years and yet paradoxically -- given its modest commercial success -- was hugely influential. For writer Jonathan Coe, one of the label's many devotees, él was "Britain's great musical secret." This "best of" compilation LP, curated by label supremo Mike Alway himself, reminds the world of the greatness of él. él was created in 1984 by Alway, a mercurial A&R man for Cherry Red signing outstanding artists like Everything But the Girl, The Monochrome Set, and Felt. Alway briefly co-ran Blanco Y Negro (an offshoot of WEA) but was soon constrained by the conservativism of the commercial music sector and left to set up his own label. Alway's "hands on" approach was to take complete control of the philosophy of the label's releases and even the titles of songs in the manner of pop impresarios of the past. Alway became a curator, selecting, shaping and overseeing the records issued on él. He employed songwriters proficient in classical pop techniques such as Nicholas Currie (AKA Momus) and Philippe Auclair (AKA Louis Philippe) who issued their own records while writing, arranging and performing for other él artistes. Great musicians such as Simon Turner (AKA The King of Luxembourg), Dean 'Speedball' Brodrick, and producer Richard Preston completed the picture. él was critically acclaimed in the UK and popular in America and mainland Europe but in Japan had a profound effect, directly influencing the Shibuya-kei phenomenon that included Pizzicato Five, Kahimi Karie, and Cornelius. The Rubens Room accompanies the book Bright Young Things by Mark Goodall (Ventil) the first publication to tell the fascinating story of the music found on The Rubens Room. Mike Alway writes in his sleeve notes that "él was the joy of my life. It was monumental." Featuring Louis Philippe, Anthony Adverse, The King of Luxembourg, Would-Be-Goods, Marden Hill, Bad Dream Fancy Dress, The Monochrome Set, Always, and Momus.

$16.50 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 4/11/2025

Of all the independent record labels of the 1980s, él was the most singular and exciting. él only existed for a few short years and yet paradoxically -- given its modest commercial success -- was hugely influential. For writer Jonathan Coe, one of the label's many devotees, él was "Britain's great musical secret." This "best of" compilation LP, curated by label supremo Mike Alway himself, reminds the world of the greatness of él. él was created in 1984 by Alway, a mercurial A&R man for Cherry Red signing outstanding artists like Everything But the Girl, The Monochrome Set, and Felt. Alway briefly co-ran Blanco Y Negro (an offshoot of WEA) but was soon constrained by the conservativism of the commercial music sector and left to set up his own label. Alway's "hands on" approach was to take complete control of the philosophy of the label's releases and even the titles of songs in the manner of pop impresarios of the past. Alway became a curator, selecting, shaping and overseeing the records issued on él. He employed songwriters proficient in classical pop techniques such as Nicholas Currie (AKA Momus) and Philippe Auclair (AKA Louis Philippe) who issued their own records while writing, arranging and performing for other él artistes. Great musicians such as Simon Turner (AKA The King of Luxembourg), Dean 'Speedball' Brodrick, and producer Richard Preston completed the picture. él was critically acclaimed in the UK and popular in America and mainland Europe but in Japan had a profound effect, directly influencing the Shibuya-kei phenomenon that included Pizzicato Five, Kahimi Karie, and Cornelius. The Rubens Room accompanies the book Bright Young Things by Mark Goodall (Ventil) the first publication to tell the fascinating story of the music found on The Rubens Room. Mike Alway writes in his sleeve notes that "él was the joy of my life. It was monumental." Featuring Louis Philippe, Anthony Adverse, The King of Luxembourg, Would-Be-Goods, Marden Hill, Bad Dream Fancy Dress, The Monochrome Set, Always, and Momus.

$16.50 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 4/4/2025

With their unpredictable live performances and songs such as "Zurück zum Beton" and "Industriemädchen," S.Y.P.H. caused a ruckus at the end of the '70s -- as one of the bands that began to write lyrics in German around Düsseldorf's Ratinger Hof. Right from the start, the band broke with genre-conformist expectations and borrowed from rock, punk and kraut just as much as from Dadaism and the reality of everyday life. After the first album and several singles, the band produced two more albums -- Pst and S.Y.P.H. (Album 4) -- together with CAN's Holger Czukay. Tapete Records is now releasing both albums and a collection of previously unreleased rarities -- Punkraut 1978-1981.

"In the mid-seventies, Uwe Jahnke and Harry Rag had probably founded the first CAN fan club in Germany and, among other things, conducted an interview with Holger Czukay for Harry Rag's school newspaper in 1976. Four years later, fandom made way for collaboration when the band asked the legendary CAN multi-instrumentalist whether he'd be willing to produce the next S.Y.P.H. album. To their astonishment, he accepted. Thus it came about that in 1980, S.Y.P.H. was recording with Czukay in the fabled Innerspace Studio in Weilerswist, where the iconic CAN albums had been created years earlier. Czukay also performed on several tracks, for instance horn, percussion, bass and harmonica on 'Do the Fleischwurst'. These sessions resulted in the two albums Pst and the untitled 4th album. We stumbled into the 'Innerspace', a raucous and shrill punk band in CAN's private recording room. We wanted to develop our musical style, change it, discover new territory, improvise. We wanted to move away from the punk belters and towards something new. Jojo on bass, Uli on drums, Uwe on guitar -- and myself on whatever we could find. Holger would send the signals through the loudspeakers distributed around the room and recorded a lot with several room mics. Most of the recordings were therefore live, only a few overdubs were recorded separately. We probably didn't know exactly what we were doing at the time. After 5 days, the studio days were over and we went home." --Harry Rag

$16.50 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 4/4/2025

With their unpredictable live performances and songs such as "Zurück zum Beton" and "Industriemädchen," S.Y.P.H. caused a ruckus at the end of the '70s -- as one of the bands that began to write lyrics in German around Düsseldorf's Ratinger Hof. Right from the start, the band broke with genre-conformist expectations and borrowed from rock, punk and kraut just as much as from Dadaism and the reality of everyday life. After the first album and several singles, the band produced two more albums -- Pst and S.Y.P.H. -- together with CAN's Holger Czukay. Tapete Records is now releasing both albums and a collection of previously unreleased rarities -- Punkraut 1978-1981.

"Peter Braatz (Harry Rag), Jojo Wolter, Ulli Putsch and myself in 1980 in Can's so-called Innerspace Studio in Weilerswist: what a happening! I probably still don't have the words to describe how I felt. Were we excited? Of course we were -- and then some. It was a non-stop flight to the center of the universe, to the Holy of Holies, way beyond our musical imagination. After all, except for the first LP Monster Movie, this is where all the wonderful masterpieces of the very best international German band that we all love so dearly were created. Pure magic was at work here. Future Days had already been a promise for me when I was still a student -- and now the four of us were right at the center of our musical dreams. We could suddenly play whatever we wanted. Okay, on the first day we were all still pretty tense. But Holger Czukay kept encouraging us and quickly managed to loosen us all up a little. And then the thing took off. So there was always an urgent desire within us to create intuitive music without making agreements up front, where everyone was listening to their inner self and at the same time to their fellow musicians -- that's what the Pst, i.e. 'Shh' is about! -- creating music together in the moment. A free, direct way of composing. The spatial atmosphere of the Innerspace Studio contributed significantly to us being able to realize this wish. The studio as a living musical universe. A large, truly infinite space without barriers, where all four of us were in our element." --Uwe Jahnke

$26.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 4/4/2025

LP version. With their unpredictable live performances and songs such as "Zurück zum Beton" and "Industriemädchen," S.Y.P.H. caused a ruckus at the end of the '70s -- as one of the bands that began to write lyrics in German around Düsseldorf's Ratinger Hof. Right from the start, the band broke with genre-conformist expectations and borrowed from rock, punk and kraut just as much as from Dadaism and the reality of everyday life. After the first album and several singles, the band produced two more albums -- Pst and S.Y.P.H. -- together with CAN's Holger Czukay. Tapete Records is now releasing both albums and a collection of previously unreleased rarities -- Punkraut 1978-1981.

"Peter Braatz (Harry Rag), Jojo Wolter, Ulli Putsch and myself in 1980 in Can's so-called Innerspace Studio in Weilerswist: what a happening! I probably still don't have the words to describe how I felt. Were we excited? Of course we were -- and then some. It was a non-stop flight to the center of the universe, to the Holy of Holies, way beyond our musical imagination. After all, except for the first LP Monster Movie, this is where all the wonderful masterpieces of the very best international German band that we all love so dearly were created. Pure magic was at work here. Future Days had already been a promise for me when I was still a student -- and now the four of us were right at the center of our musical dreams. We could suddenly play whatever we wanted. Okay, on the first day we were all still pretty tense. But Holger Czukay kept encouraging us and quickly managed to loosen us all up a little. And then the thing took off. So there was always an urgent desire within us to create intuitive music without making agreements up front, where everyone was listening to their inner self and at the same time to their fellow musicians -- that's what the Pst, i.e. 'Shh' is about! -- creating music together in the moment. A free, direct way of composing. The spatial atmosphere of the Innerspace Studio contributed significantly to us being able to realize this wish. The studio as a living musical universe. A large, truly infinite space without barriers, where all four of us were in our element." --Uwe Jahnke

$16.50 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 4/4/2025

With their unpredictable live performances and songs such as "Zurück zum Beton" and "Industriemädchen," S.Y.P.H. caused a ruckus at the end of the '70s -- as one of the bands that began to write lyrics in German around Düsseldorf's Ratinger Hof. Right from the start, the band broke with genre-conformist expectations and borrowed from rock, punk and kraut just as much as from Dadaism and the reality of everyday life. After the first album and several singles, the band produced two more albums -- Pst and S.Y.P.H. (Album 4) -- together with CAN's Holger Czukay. Tapete Records is now releasing both albums and a collection of previously unreleased rarities -- Punkraut 1978-1981.

"This compilation contains rare and previously unreleased recordings from the first three years of the band's history: The songs 'Blech' and 'Mondpogo,' performed live at S.Y.P.H.'s first concert in Düsseldorf's Carsch-Haus in 1978 and five recordings made in nearby Solingen between 1978 and 1979. There are also three studio recordings from the Hamburg Container Studios in December 1981 -- recordings from a time when 'the band had finally abandoned punk as a musical genre as well as the influence of interim producer Holger Czukay and had found a style all of their own." --Kurt Dahlke

$26.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 4/4/2025

LP version. With their unpredictable live performances and songs such as "Zurück zum Beton" and "Industriemädchen," S.Y.P.H. caused a ruckus at the end of the '70s -- as one of the bands that began to write lyrics in German around Düsseldorf's Ratinger Hof. Right from the start, the band broke with genre-conformist expectations and borrowed from rock, punk and kraut just as much as from Dadaism and the reality of everyday life. After the first album and several singles, the band produced two more albums -- Pst and S.Y.P.H. (Album 4) -- together with CAN's Holger Czukay. Tapete Records is now releasing both albums and a collection of previously unreleased rarities -- Punkraut 1978-1981.

"In the mid-seventies, Uwe Jahnke and Harry Rag had probably founded the first CAN fan club in Germany and, among other things, conducted an interview with Holger Czukay for Harry Rag's school newspaper in 1976. Four years later, fandom made way for collaboration when the band asked the legendary CAN multi-instrumentalist whether he'd be willing to produce the next S.Y.P.H. album. To their astonishment, he accepted. Thus it came about that in 1980, S.Y.P.H. was recording with Czukay in the fabled Innerspace Studio in Weilerswist, where the iconic CAN albums had been created years earlier. Czukay also performed on several tracks, for instance horn, percussion, bass and harmonica on 'Do the Fleischwurst'. These sessions resulted in the two albums Pst and the untitled 4th album. We stumbled into the 'Innerspace', a raucous and shrill punk band in CAN's private recording room. We wanted to develop our musical style, change it, discover new territory, improvise. We wanted to move away from the punk belters and towards something new. Jojo on bass, Uli on drums, Uwe on guitar -- and myself on whatever we could find. Holger would send the signals through the loudspeakers distributed around the room and recorded a lot with several room mics. Most of the recordings were therefore live, only a few overdubs were recorded separately. We probably didn't know exactly what we were doing at the time. After 5 days, the studio days were over and we went home." --Harry Rag

$26.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 4/4/2025

LP version. With their unpredictable live performances and songs such as "Zurück zum Beton" and "Industriemädchen," S.Y.P.H. caused a ruckus at the end of the '70s -- as one of the bands that began to write lyrics in German around Düsseldorf's Ratinger Hof. Right from the start, the band broke with genre-conformist expectations and borrowed from rock, punk and kraut just as much as from Dadaism and the reality of everyday life. After the first album and several singles, the band produced two more albums -- Pst and S.Y.P.H. (Album 4) -- together with CAN's Holger Czukay. Tapete Records is now releasing both albums and a collection of previously unreleased rarities -- Punkraut 1978-1981.

"This compilation contains rare and previously unreleased recordings from the first three years of the band's history: The songs 'Blech' and 'Mondpogo,' performed live at S.Y.P.H.'s first concert in Düsseldorf's Carsch-Haus in 1978 and five recordings made in nearby Solingen between 1978 and 1979. There are also three studio recordings from the Hamburg Container Studios in December 1981 -- recordings from a time when 'the band had finally abandoned punk as a musical genre as well as the influence of interim producer Holger Czukay and had found a style all of their own." --Kurt Dahlke

$16.50 NOT IN STOCK

The Loft notched up an impressive list of firsts for Creation Records' artists back in the mid-'80s. First Creation band on TV, first to hit the top of the indie singles chart, first to be invited on to a major UK tour and first Creation band to record a coveted BBC radio session -- for Janice Long's Radio One show in 1984. Then they split up. Since that infamous onstage tragedy; splitting up mid-song, at the Hammersmith Palais in front of 3,000 people when on the verge of Big Time indie greatness, the band has reunited. Just as their status as one of the UK's most influential guitar bands of the '80s continues to grow and to influence a host of younger artists, and thirty-nine years after that acrimonious split, it seemed the time was right to record their debut album. After a sell-out show at London's MOTH club and their heralded appearance at the Glas-Goes Pop festival, the group was invited by BBC 6 Music's Riley & Coe to record its fourth BBC session, at Maida Vale's famous Studio 4. Within six months the session was rush released by Precious Recordings of London on glorious ten inch vinyl. Enter Hamburg based, Tapete Records, who, hearing rumors about new Loft material, snapped up the album and signed the band without hearing a single note. The ten song collection, Everything Changes, Everything Stays The Same was recorded in Hackney in August and produced by Dexys' Sean Read with the original Loft line up of Pete Astor (guitar /vocals) Andy Strickland (guitar), Bill Prince (bass) and Dave Morgan (drums).

$26.00 IN STOCK

LP version. The Loft notched up an impressive list of firsts for Creation Records' artists back in the mid-'80s. First Creation band on TV, first to hit the top of the indie singles chart, first to be invited on to a major UK tour and first Creation band to record a coveted BBC radio session -- for Janice Long's Radio One show in 1984. Then they split up. Since that infamous onstage tragedy; splitting up mid-song, at the Hammersmith Palais in front of 3,000 people when on the verge of Big Time indie greatness, the band has reunited. Just as their status as one of the UK's most influential guitar bands of the '80s continues to grow and to influence a host of younger artists, and thirty-nine years after that acrimonious split, it seemed the time was right to record their debut album. After a sell-out show at London's MOTH club and their heralded appearance at the Glas-Goes Pop festival, the group was invited by BBC 6 Music's Riley & Coe to record its fourth BBC session, at Maida Vale's famous Studio 4. Within six months the session was rush released by Precious Recordings of London on glorious ten inch vinyl. Enter Hamburg based, Tapete Records, who, hearing rumors about new Loft material, snapped up the album and signed the band without hearing a single note. The ten song collection, Everything Changes, Everything Stays The Same was recorded in Hackney in August and produced by Dexys' Sean Read with the original Loft line up of Pete Astor (guitar /vocals) Andy Strickland (guitar), Bill Prince (bass) and Dave Morgan (drums).

$16.50 IN STOCK

Der Moderne Man formed in 1979 and operated mainly in the vicinity of Hanover's No Fun label. Inspired by visits to concerts and record stores in London and New York and bands such as the Ramones, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Iggy Pop, and the Clash, the group developed an explosive sound that led to the first album 80 Tage auf See ("80 days at sea") in 1980: German-language post-punk that stood out from Hanover's underground sound and also gained support from BBC's John Peel. Tapete Records now re-issues their first two studio albums. This is accompanied by Jugend Forscht, a compilation of demos, EPs and singles with some unreleased tracks. All three releases are complemented by detailed liner notes and previously unreleased images. 80 Tage auf See captures a historic moment. When the record was released in 1980, the so-called "Neue Deutsche Welle" (German New Wave) was no more than a rumor. It was still far from clear what (post-)punk on West German terms might entail. 80 Tage auf See was recorded over a short time span and hurled onto the market just as swiftly. The 80 days of the album title most likely do not refer to time spent in the studio. This release occupies one of the top spots in the race for the very first German punk album. It is perhaps the first "first German punk LP" that managed to reproduce the force and urgency of the English original, albeit in a way so deferred and strange that the term "Krautpunk" comes to mind. Der Moderne Man was to Damned and Wire what Amon Düül II was to Hawkwind and Vanilla Fudge. No wonder John Peel kept the record in his show's heavy rotation. Shortly after the release of 80 Tage auf See, the basically postnatal New German Wave disbanded into fractions whose initial hostility towards each other gradually turned into indifference. The remains were something like 'Deutschpunk' (not 'Krautpunk') here, avant-garde neo-tonality there and in between some more or less successful attempts to establish contemporary German pop music. On 80 Tage auf See, all of this is still on equal footing: (power) pop, the catchy wave punk which would become the signature sound of Hannover's No Fun label and the rather idiosyncratic idea of experimental music which Michael Jarick (aka Ziggy XY) brought in as a singer.

$35.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 3/7/2025

Double LP version. Der Moderne Man emerged from the vicinity of Hanover's No Fun label, an incubator for a scene somewhere in between punk, avant-garde and new wave. In addition to two studio albums, the band recorded various demos, EPs and singles between 1981 and 1983. These songs, which did not appear on the two regular albums, are now being re-issued for the first time as an independent compilation. Jugend Forscht spans an arc from the first EP to early demo recordings and a single that was never released as a regular album to the German-language New Wave of the last mini-LP Neues aus Hong Kong. The tracks collected on Jugend Forscht tell the story and development of Der Moderne Man in an impressive way. The compilation is supplemented by detailed liner notes and some never-before-published images. Der Moderne Man combined a wide range of influences: the punk rock minimalism of guitarist Eckhardt 'EKT' Kurtz, English music magazines, imported records bought during visits to Berlin, the hyperactivity of drummer Claudius Hempelmann and the lyrics of Michael 'Ziggy XY' Jarick with their very own view of everyday life. After touring with five other bands from the No Fun label and new drummer Felix Wolter, Der Moderne Man released a live mini-LP and produced the LP Unmodern with the additional band member Thomas 'Tonio Scorpo' Schnura on saxophone and synthesizer. With the addition of bass player Axel Wicke, 1982 was shaped by numerous tours and positive to euphoric reviews. Soon, major record companies were coming along with offers, but the band (for the most part) rejected the industry's temptations. Der Moderne Man incorporated influences from England and the USA on their 1983 mini-LP Neues aus Hong Kong. This could have meant a career boost, but German audiences were tired out by the glut of cheap German new wave industry output and the band subsequently dropped out in autumn of that year. The songs now compiled on Jugend Forscht show that Hannover was capable of more than just rock music.

$26.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 3/7/2025

LP version. Der Moderne Man formed in 1979 and operated mainly in the vicinity of Hanover's No Fun label. Inspired by visits to concerts and record stores in London and New York and bands such as the Ramones, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Iggy Pop, and the Clash, the group developed an explosive sound that led to the first album 80 Tage auf See ("80 days at sea") in 1980: German-language post-punk that stood out from Hanover's underground sound and also gained support from BBC's John Peel. Tapete Records now re-issues their first two studio albums. This is accompanied by Jugend Forscht, a compilation of demos, EPs and singles with some unreleased tracks. All three releases are complemented by detailed liner notes and previously unreleased images. 80 Tage auf See captures a historic moment. When the record was released in 1980, the so-called "Neue Deutsche Welle" (German New Wave) was no more than a rumor. It was still far from clear what (post-)punk on West German terms might entail. 80 Tage auf See was recorded over a short time span and hurled onto the market just as swiftly. The 80 days of the album title most likely do not refer to time spent in the studio. This release occupies one of the top spots in the race for the very first German punk album. It is perhaps the first "first German punk LP" that managed to reproduce the force and urgency of the English original, albeit in a way so deferred and strange that the term "Krautpunk" comes to mind. Der Moderne Man was to Damned and Wire what Amon Düül II was to Hawkwind and Vanilla Fudge. No wonder John Peel kept the record in his show's heavy rotation. Shortly after the release of 80 Tage auf See, the basically postnatal New German Wave disbanded into fractions whose initial hostility towards each other gradually turned into indifference. The remains were something like 'Deutschpunk' (not 'Krautpunk') here, avant-garde neo-tonality there and in between some more or less successful attempts to establish contemporary German pop music. On 80 Tage auf See, all of this is still on equal footing: (power) pop, the catchy wave punk which would become the signature sound of Hannover's No Fun label and the rather idiosyncratic idea of experimental music which Michael Jarick (aka Ziggy XY) brought in as a singer.

$16.50 IN STOCK

Der Moderne Man emerged from the vicinity of Hanover's No Fun label, an incubator for a scene somewhere in between punk, avant-garde and new wave. In addition to two studio albums, the band recorded various demos, EPs and singles between 1981 and 1983. These songs, which did not appear on the two regular albums, are now being re-issued for the first time as an independent compilation. Jugend Forscht spans an arc from the first EP to early demo recordings and a single that was never released as a regular album to the German-language New Wave of the last mini-LP Neues aus Hong Kong. The tracks collected on Jugend Forscht tell the story and development of Der Moderne Man in an impressive way. The compilation is supplemented by detailed liner notes and some never-before-published images. Der Moderne Man combined a wide range of influences: the punk rock minimalism of guitarist Eckhardt 'EKT' Kurtz, English music magazines, imported records bought during visits to Berlin, the hyperactivity of drummer Claudius Hempelmann and the lyrics of Michael 'Ziggy XY' Jarick with their very own view of everyday life. After touring with five other bands from the No Fun label and new drummer Felix Wolter, Der Moderne Man released a live mini-LP and produced the LP Unmodern with the additional band member Thomas 'Tonio Scorpo' Schnura on saxophone and synthesizer. With the addition of bass player Axel Wicke, 1982 was shaped by numerous tours and positive to euphoric reviews. Soon, major record companies were coming along with offers, but the band (for the most part) rejected the industry's temptations. Der Moderne Man incorporated influences from England and the USA on their 1983 mini-LP Neues aus Hong Kong. This could have meant a career boost, but German audiences were tired out by the glut of cheap German new wave industry output and the band subsequently dropped out in autumn of that year. The songs now compiled on Jugend Forscht show that Hannover was capable of more than just rock music.

$16.50 IN STOCK

The Hanoverian post-punk group Der Moderne Man made a splash with the 1980 release of their first album 80 Tage auf See (80 Days at Sea). The album quickly drew attention throughout Germany, later also in the UK and other international territories -- not least thanks to the support of BBC's John Peel. The second LP Unmodern was released in 1982. Tapete Records is now re-issuing the first two studio albums. This is accompanied by Jugend Forscht, a compilation of demos, EPs and singles with some unreleased tracks. All three releases are complemented by detailed liner notes and previously unreleased images.

"Although Unmodern is still the album of a bunch of amateurishly posing musicians demonstrating self-empowerment, alongside the simple arrangements, statements and songs that repeatedly define POP in three capital letters, it jangles and twinkles in every nook and cranny, and not just like that, but well thought out and in the same way that New Wave was defined and produced in the UK. The topics that Unmodern tackles have aged surprisingly well. I have to put it this way because it sounds good, but you could just as well say that they are quite conservative. Or you could tone it down and say that you must understand it in the context of the times. Abwärts were afraid of the computer state, Der Moderne Man criticizes the fact that robots are now making music. With 'Nur Die', it's not entirely clear which language is being referred to. It could be German. 'Anakonda' and 'Blaue Matrosen' provoke with a proximity to the exoticism of the 1940s and 1950s: here, 'the faraway' invariably is a somewhat ridiculous world, and the songs do not clearly distinguish themselves from this part of German non-culture. All of this was justified against the backdrop of the hippie dogmatism of the 1970s, but as I said, it can often only be understood in the context of the times. In any case, Der Moderne Man achieved something here that hardly anyone else in Germany would have managed at the time, except perhaps Fehlfarben. A cutting-edge production of international standard. New Wave without caricaturing New Wave. 'Blaue Matrosen' was released around the same time as 'Enola Gay' without being left behind or anyone turning up their nose and saying something like 'Oh, the Germans are trying their hand at New Wave now too.' Hats off to that." --Frank Spilker

$26.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 3/7/2025

LP version. The Hanoverian post-punk group Der Moderne Man made a splash with the 1980 release of their first album 80 Tage auf See (80 Days at Sea). The album quickly drew attention throughout Germany, later also in the UK and other international territories -- not least thanks to the support of BBC's John Peel. The second LP Unmodern was released in 1982. Tapete Records is now re-issuing the first two studio albums. This is accompanied by Jugend Forscht, a compilation of demos, EPs and singles with some unreleased tracks. All three releases are complemented by detailed liner notes and previously unreleased images.

"Although Unmodern is still the album of a bunch of amateurishly posing musicians demonstrating self-empowerment, alongside the simple arrangements, statements and songs that repeatedly define POP in three capital letters, it jangles and twinkles in every nook and cranny, and not just like that, but well thought out and in the same way that New Wave was defined and produced in the UK. The topics that Unmodern tackles have aged surprisingly well. I have to put it this way because it sounds good, but you could just as well say that they are quite conservative. Or you could tone it down and say that you must understand it in the context of the times. Abwärts were afraid of the computer state, Der Moderne Man criticizes the fact that robots are now making music. With 'Nur Die', it's not entirely clear which language is being referred to. It could be German. 'Anakonda' and 'Blaue Matrosen' provoke with a proximity to the exoticism of the 1940s and 1950s: here, 'the faraway' invariably is a somewhat ridiculous world, and the songs do not clearly distinguish themselves from this part of German non-culture. All of this was justified against the backdrop of the hippie dogmatism of the 1970s, but as I said, it can often only be understood in the context of the times. In any case, Der Moderne Man achieved something here that hardly anyone else in Germany would have managed at the time, except perhaps Fehlfarben. A cutting-edge production of international standard. New Wave without caricaturing New Wave. 'Blaue Matrosen' was released around the same time as 'Enola Gay' without being left behind or anyone turning up their nose and saying something like 'Oh, the Germans are trying their hand at New Wave now too.' Hats off to that." --Frank Spilker

$16.50 LOW STOCK LEVEL

Ex-Vöid -- featuring Lan McArdle (Joanna Gruesome, Lanny) and Owen Williams (The Tubs) -- return with their second LP: In Love Again. Joined by Laurie Foster (bass) and George Rothman (drums), the record sees the band flourish from a chaotic power punk group into a fully-fledged pop behemoth. Taking in elements of shoegaze ("Pinhead"), country ("Outline"), '90s indie rock ("In Love Again") and pretty much the entire history of guitar music, In Love Again reveals McArdle and Williams to be true students of perfect pop. The pair have been collaborating for a decade now, having played in Joanna Gruesome as teenagers, and In Love Again sees them both building on the sound they've honed together and embracing a new, unapologetic attitude towards songcraft. Backed by the tight-yet-raucous rhythm section of Foster and Rothman, In Love Again delivers as a huge pop album without sacrificing any of the hardcore propulsion that characterized the band's first album. Perhaps the most striking aspect of the Ex-Vöid sound is the sublime blend of McArdle and Williams' vocals: close, folk-indebted harmonies which guide the listener through an onslaught of hooks. And while this is utilized to full effect on In Love Again, the album also sees McArdle make full use of their vocal range. In keeping with their new sound, McArdle and Williams have taken a more autobiographical, nuanced approach to lyric writing this time around, a move influenced by touring with Waxahatchee. The hints of folk and country embedded in the tunes also stretch to this new lyrical approach -- storytelling and heartbreak abound. The band's first LP, Bigger Than Before, received positive coverage in Pitchfork, SPIN, Stereogum, and others. It received airtime on BBC Radio 6, and saw the band support/tour with acts such as Waxahatchee, Speedy Ortiz and Alvvays. Williams also fronts The Tubs -- whose 2023 debut saw them touring internationally and receiving plaudits from Pitchfork, The Guardian and Iggy Pop.

$26.00 NOT IN STOCK

LP version. Ex-Vöid -- featuring Lan McArdle (Joanna Gruesome, Lanny) and Owen Williams (The Tubs) -- return with their second LP: In Love Again. Joined by Laurie Foster (bass) and George Rothman (drums), the record sees the band flourish from a chaotic power punk group into a fully-fledged pop behemoth. Taking in elements of shoegaze ("Pinhead"), country ("Outline"), '90s indie rock ("In Love Again") and pretty much the entire history of guitar music, In Love Again reveals McArdle and Williams to be true students of perfect pop. The pair have been collaborating for a decade now, having played in Joanna Gruesome as teenagers, and In Love Again sees them both building on the sound they've honed together and embracing a new, unapologetic attitude towards songcraft. Backed by the tight-yet-raucous rhythm section of Foster and Rothman, In Love Again delivers as a huge pop album without sacrificing any of the hardcore propulsion that characterized the band's first album. Perhaps the most striking aspect of the Ex-Vöid sound is the sublime blend of McArdle and Williams' vocals: close, folk-indebted harmonies which guide the listener through an onslaught of hooks. And while this is utilized to full effect on In Love Again, the album also sees McArdle make full use of their vocal range. In keeping with their new sound, McArdle and Williams have taken a more autobiographical, nuanced approach to lyric writing this time around, a move influenced by touring with Waxahatchee. The hints of folk and country embedded in the tunes also stretch to this new lyrical approach -- storytelling and heartbreak abound. The band's first LP, Bigger Than Before, received positive coverage in Pitchfork, SPIN, Stereogum, and others. It received airtime on BBC Radio 6, and saw the band support/tour with acts such as Waxahatchee, Speedy Ortiz and Alvvays. Williams also fronts The Tubs -- whose 2023 debut saw them touring internationally and receiving plaudits from Pitchfork, The Guardian and Iggy Pop.

$16.50 IN STOCK

With their unpredictable live performances and songs such as "Zurück zum Beton" and "Industriemädchen," S.Y.P.H. caused a ruckus at the end of the '70s -- as one of the bands that began to write lyrics in German around Düsseldorf's Ratinger Hof. Right from the start, the band broke with genre-conformist expectations and borrowed from rock, punk and kraut just as much as from Dadaism and the reality of everyday life. Now, a reissue series sheds light on S.Y.P.H.'s first creative phase from 1977 to 1982. S.Y.P.H. formed in 1977 in Solingen and began playing concerts in nearby Düsseldorf. Initially clearly based on punk, the band's sound quickly developed and became increasingly difficult to categorize. In the intensive years that followed, S.Y.P.H.'s productions often featured guests from the Düsseldorf scene around Ratinger Hof or CAN's Holger Czukay. While around 1980, punk and Neue Deutsche Welle (German New Wave) were solidifying as supposedly clear-cut concepts, S.Y.P.H.'s music testified to the blurriness of genre boundaries: already on the first, self-titled LP, the band belts out short punky songs like "Zurück zum Beton" and "Lachleute und Nettmenschen," while the B-side surprises with more than ten-minute long Kraut-inspired pieces.

$26.00 IN STOCK

Restocked, LP version. With their unpredictable live performances and songs such as "Zurück zum Beton" and "Industriemädchen," S.Y.P.H. caused a ruckus at the end of the '70s -- as one of the bands that began to write lyrics in German around Düsseldorf's Ratinger Hof. Right from the start, the band broke with genre-conformist expectations and borrowed from rock, punk and kraut just as much as from Dadaism and the reality of everyday life. Now, a reissue series sheds light on S.Y.P.H.'s first creative phase from 1977 to 1982. Pure Freude Singles includes previously unreleased songs. S.Y.P.H. formed in 1977 in Solingen and began playing concerts in nearby Düsseldorf. Initially clearly based on punk, the band's sound quickly developed and became increasingly difficult to categorize. In the intensive years that followed, S.Y.P.H.'s productions often featured guests from the Düsseldorf scene around Ratinger Hof or CAN's Holger Czukay. While around 1980, punk and Neue Deutsche Welle (German New Wave) were solidifying as supposedly clear-cut concepts, S.Y.P.H.'s music testified to the blurriness of genre boundaries: already on the first, self-titled LP, the band belts out short punky songs like "Zurück zum Beton" and "Lachleute und Nettmenschen," while the B-side surprises with more than ten-minute long Kraut-inspired pieces.

$26.00 IN STOCK

LP version. With their unpredictable live performances and songs such as "Zurück zum Beton" and "Industriemädchen," S.Y.P.H. caused a ruckus at the end of the '70s -- as one of the bands that began to write lyrics in German around Düsseldorf's Ratinger Hof (German '70s punk club equivalent to CBGB's, where D.A.F. originated). Right from the start, the band broke with genre-conformist expectations and borrowed from rock, punk and kraut just as much as from Dadaism and the reality of everyday life. Now, a reissue series sheds light on S.Y.P.H.'s first creative phase from 1977 to 1982. S.Y.P.H. formed in 1977 in Solingen and began playing concerts in nearby Düsseldorf. Initially clearly based on punk, the band's sound quickly developed and became increasingly difficult to categorize. In the intensive years that followed, S.Y.P.H.'s productions often featured guests from the Düsseldorf scene around Ratinger Hof or CAN's Holger Czukay. This is a collection of the band's early singles: four tracks - including "Industriemädchen" and "Europa" -- were originally released in 1979 on the EP Viel Feind, viel Ehr. Thirteen further tracks -- including "Falsche Freunde" and "Knudelblues II" -- were released in 1982 as Der Bauer im Parkdeck. Three further songs are unreleased.