Veronica Vasicka in discussion with Richard Brophy on how New York City informs the spirit of her Minimal Wave and Cititrax labels. Read more
The cult Shake Your Molecules from the Franco-American pairing will be the subject of an expanded reissue from Veronica Vasicka’s label.
There seems to be no end to the flood of synth reissues over the past few years, labels like Dark Entries, Medical and Mannequin are among current record labels digging deep, committed to unearthing forgotten rarities from often unsuspecting musicians. At the very centre of this movement is digger extraordinaire, Veronica Vasicka, who coined the Minimal Wave genre back in 2005. After releasing Clean Tables Have to Be Burnt by Hard Corps in 2012, Vasicka brings forth the Rarities LP, a collection of out-takes and demos issued in dedication to frontwoman Regine Fetet who passed away in 2003.
Records from Morphine, Swamp 81, Crowdspacer and Minimal Wave were among the picks for November’s best record sleeves.
More extended machine-made masterpieces from Minimal Wave’s ‘French favourites’ on the way.
Super rare Irene & Mavis EP from UK synth poppers is label’s 50th reissue, due for release in November.
Veronica Vasicka’s label to issue retrospective of “ritualistic minimal electronics” from the French duo.
Records from Luke Wyatt, Ikonika, Dekmantel, Minimal Wave and Mood Hut provided this week’s highlights.
The minimal wave classic “Flying Turns” will be issued with a pair of remixes from Ricardo Villalobos on the Pressure Traxx label.
The canon of Belgian synth pop is dipped into with an album of Polyphonic Size selections due out next month.
Regis, Silent Servant and Shifted all remix The KVB for a forthcoming Immaterial Visions Remixes 12″ from Cititrax.
Minimal Wave’s next release has them presenting two tracks from Sandra Plays Electronics, the primitive DIY project of Karl O’Connor.
As befitting a month where record companies applied the brakes on their release schedules, December saw a marked downturn in records worthy of inclusion in our monthly feature.
London duo The KVB will release an album on Minimal Wave offshoot Cititrax in late February – with a rather illustrious looking remix EP to follow.
The best compilations act as gateways into a world of music unknown to the listener, perhaps encouraged to investigate thanks to one stray familiar name or some eye-catching artwork. It’s possible that the art of a finely curated compilation might be in danger of being lost on a current generation brought up on the endless musical possibilities of the mix and match download culture, though 2012 showed that there are still plenty of labels willing to invest the time and knowledge neccesary.
Our list of the top ten compilations looks to capture that, drawing on a selection of established labels celebrated for their ongoing efforts in the realm alongside imprint who’ve made impressive fresh steps in this direction, with an overall diversity of musical styles that hopefully reflects our own divergent tastes. It should also be noted that the drastic decline in quality of commercially released mix CDs, no doubt caused by the over abundance of online podcasts and mixes, reached a tipping point whereby we decided to leave the format out of this year’s “best of” coverage.
Next month Minimal Wave will release La Piscine, a 12″ of unreleased material from the Lyon based In Aeternam Vale.