DFA US Vinyl & CDs

Review: JJ Ulius, solo exclave of the bands Monokultur and Skiftande Enheter, shares his third solo LP for Mammas Mysteriska Jukebox and DFA Records. Volume III continues his brand of quirky, Mellotronic, flauneuristic indie. With Ulius described as a "world-building artist" by DFA, and his album as a "big step forward" compared to the earlier two volumes in this LPs series, this balming collection of tunes is a paean to personal maturation, and to feelings of restlessness mellowed by slowmo days. With each song written over beats played in by Tor Sjoden of the wild-eyed Stockholm group Viagra Boys, these are beats that were themselves inspired by tracks by Patrick Cowley, CAN, Count Ossie, Black Devil Disco Club and others, in all of whom Julius would find inspiration.

Review: Wearing 1980s synth pop influences on their sleeve, and sounding exactly like they belong on the mighty DFA, Brooklyn's Light Asylum were rightly praised at the time they put out their debut - and, to this date - only studio album, circa 2012. Critics noted that, at a time when dance-punk crossover was everywhere, driven by LCD Soundsystem and many of the acts frontman James Murphy signed to DFA, the New Yorkers manage to differentiate themselves from the pack in several ways.

Taking a hint of Depeche Mode (well, maybe a bit more), a pinch of Nine Inch Nails, and parts of Throbbing Gristle, Gary Numan, and other pioneers, Light Asylum managed to introduce some much-needed light and spatiality into the often claustrophobically dark and oppressive industrial synth world. In doing so, they offer a sound that's somehow both universally accessible and niche, which is never an easy line to tread.

Review: Mermaid Chunky are the logical result of the creative partnership of Freya and Moina, two visual artists and musicians from Stroud and South London each. Having shuttled between each locale for inordinate stretches of time, their latest record - the whimsically Christened slif slaf slof - nonetheless bridges these local poles. A breezy homage to the duo's shared ideal excesses - an interest in fantasy folk, costume, absurdist nature, surrealist scatting - the likes of 'Ceili', 'Tiny Gymnast' and 'Chaperone' are liable to solicit all manner of reactions in the listener, from on-the-spot bouncing to full-frontal gyrating. A sorely difficult to place record, merging motifs of indie, freak folk, and a decidedly DFA experimentalism.

Review: Russian avant-garde sculptor namesakes Naum Gabo, AKA Jonnie Wilkes of Optimo and mastering engineer James Savage, drop their inaugural album, 'F. Lux.' The pair delve deep over eight tracks of cavernous ambiance, pummeling industrial techno and barren, windswept synthscapes, which are perfectly alluded to by Scottish painter Andrew Cranston's surreal artwork. In turns introspective and oppressive, the pair ditch their usual stylistic sensibilities for something altogether more longform and enveloping, allowing for full immersion in the cavernous soundworld. Highlights include opening wormhole 'Aora' and the deeply tense grindhouse resonances of the aptly named 'Hebust Cometh'. Wicked and bad.

Review: In the early explosion of millennial indie-dance, The Rapture were surely one of the best. It helps their roots were in spikier realms on Sub Pop before they connected with James Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy. The combination was potent, and Echoes was the dazzling result, with knockout hits like 'House Of Jealous Lovers' and 'Sister Saviour' offset by an album which never misses a beat whichever direction it heads in. 20 years on, it's as brilliantly inventive and downright kick ass as it was upon release, capturing an exciting time when DFA represented a new vanguard in dance music and indie alike.

Review: This project began in 2018 when Jonny Campos was on a break from playing guitar with Grammy-winning Lost Bayou Ramblers and recorded ambient pedal steel passages at Kirkland Middleton's house. The resulting tracks are named after vanished Southern Louisiana waterways and evoke a sense of impermanence. The music flows like a dream, slipping into consciousness as a serene, meditative experience or a deeply resonant one. The album first came digitally and on cassette via Nouveau Electric Records in 2020 but now lands on vinyl thanks to DFA.