The year is almost over and time issues or other stuff kind of forced us to skip on some material we would love have to present. So we came up with the idea of the Catching Up With… series, that will look back to the year of labels whose music we thoroughly enjoyed (but maybe did not cover enough due to time issues).
For the first part of this series, we will look back on the Berlin-based label aufnahme + wiedergabe and their releases of this year. Maybe you missed something, maybe you did not—either way, our Catching Up With.. series will wrap the year up nicely, and will certainly unearth some musical gems you have missed out on (but don’t feel bad—so did we). Refresh your memories with us.
To round up our series, that will run throughout December and, maybe, January, we talked to the men behind the music, and Philipp Strobel, co-founder of the long-running DEATH # DISCO club night, Endorcism, and head of [aufnahme + wiedergabe], met up with us to talk about 2015. This is the first episode of a series of podcasts to come, and we will make sure to have another podcast featuring Philipp Strobel, and we want to schedule it for our sixth one—Episode VI, Return of the Strobel.
This is our first official post-punk.com podcast, so we hope that you enjoy it, with a special shout out to our good comrade Jägermeister, that fueled the conversation a lot and contributed to a long, yet very entertaining podcast about The Cure, New Order, Savages and end of the year lists.
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But for now, let’s look back on [aufnahme + wiedergabe], in chronological order.
Blush Response – Future Tyrants (June 29)
Blush Response is one of my top discoveries of the year, and Joey Blush has proven himself an excellent sound designer knowing exactly how to handle these mysterious machines called “modular synthesizers”. Future Tyrants is a harsh sounding rhythmic soundscape exploring the dark and industrial side of Techno, one we’ve been enjoying a lot when we did not mope around listening to The Cure. Joey, who relocated from New York to our hometown Berlin recently, is also an excellent live performer and a very nice person to interview.
Future Tyrants by Blush Response
Cold Showers – Plantlife (August 14)
The US-based Cold Wave/Post Punk band Cold Showers released an excellent album on Dais Records this year, but the pioneering single Plantlife, backed with Solemn Life, was issued on [a + w]. In the stupid heat of this summer cold showers were extremely pleasurable, and how could a band called Cold Showers not be a perfect summer issue? I could not think of something better, but the brooding, melancholic and solemn Synth Wave infused Post Punk tracks matched the atmosphere of the season, and even in the stupid cold of winter, Cold Showers’ single is one of the best tracks we heard this year.
Read our review here.
Plantlife by Cold Showers
Tempers – Undoing (August 14)
Another single was issued on August 14—and Tempers‘ Undoing, pioneering their album Services that saw the light of day later this year, and it’s a fine one, a lo-fi Garage Rock and Post Punk influenced track that presented the two piece, after a few celebrated digital singles that already proved that Tempers are a bit more than your average Shoegaze / Cold Wave band (Strange Harvest is a well proven club hit, for example). If you want more on Tempers, scroll down. I am sure you want. Jasmine and Eddie were so kind to meet up for a nice in-depth interview at Wave Gotik Treffen this year, it is still a nice read.
Undoing by Tempers
The Harrow – Love Like Shadows (August 28)
The Harrow issued a decent album on the now-defunct NYC based Function Operate label two years ago that, for some reason, did not get much attention, but that would eventually change with the release of a split single with their [aufnahme + wiedergabe] label mates La Fete Triste that was released last year. A glorious start for a fruitful compilation and The Harrow, featuring illustrious names like Frank Deserto, who joined forces with Dream Affair, and Ex-Bell Hollow / The Naked and the Dead guitarist Greg Fasolino, issued a nice first standalone record for [aufnahme + wiedergabe] with Love Like Shadows. Their eerie shoegaze / electro wave tracks are worth checking out and the two non-album tracks featured on the EP makes Love Like Shadows a valuable release.
Love Like Shadows by The Harrow
Black Egg – Melencolia (September 4)
We are very aware that Black Egg were an unavoidable topic this year, but I cannot stress this enough—they deserved the attention by releasing one of the finest electronic music albums this year. Compared to The Harrow, Cold Showers and Tempers, the French collaborative project, with core member UsherSan, who is best known for his works with the Cold Wave / Post Punk cult act Norma Loy, explores much darker territories of the music world with their blend of Industrial Music, EBM, Minimal Wave and Ambient. Make sure to check out our in-depth interview with UsherSan and Corina Nenuphar (Ex-Ghost Actor) as well, and you might want to take a listen to Adan & Ilse, another project UsherSan is working with, and Black Egg’s other release of this year, an acoustic album called Songs of Death and Deception.
Melencolia by Black Egg
Tempers – Services (October 23)
We already spoke about Tempers’ first [aufnahme + wiedergabe] issue, the digital single Undoing, earlier in this article, and the full-length album Services doesn’t disappointed those of you who had high hopes for this release—we consider this one to be one of the strongest of this year, a dense, consistent and foggy album that is on constant rotation here, but who are we to talk so much—get hooked on Services yourselves.
Services by Tempers
Codex Empire – Kingsevil (October 30)
Featuring Techno releases on post-punk.com isn’t exactly a new concept, with Ancient Methods and Blush Response as two artists on the borders of EBM, Industrial and Techno that got covered by us, and Codex Empire lines into that perfectly. Mahk Rumbae, a member of the Austrian Industrial outfit Konstruktivists and Ghost Actor, issued four fine tracks of analogue, noisy and hard-hitting dancefloor killing machines that are more than worth your attention.
Kingsevil by Codex Empire
The Harrow – Silhouettes (November 6)
Good old-fashioned American Dream Pop is what The Harrow already delivered with their releases and their second full length album Silhouettes doesn’t disappoint at all. The swelling synth pads and Greg Fasolino’s amazing guitar playing that already made Bell Hollow a standout act, with Vanessa Irena’s excellent vocals on top, make The Harrow a must-listen for anyone who enjoys Dream Pop, Shoegaze and eerie Synth Wave.
Silhouettes by The Harrow
Philipp’s Strobel’s top records of 2015
Albums:
November Növelet – The World In Devotion [Galakthrrö]
King Dude – Songs Of Flesh And Blood – In The Key Of Light [Not Just Religious Music]
Cold Showers – Matter Of Choice [Dais]
Agent Side Grinder – Alkimia [Progress Productions]
The Soft Moon – Deeper [Captured Tracks]
SNTS – The Rustling Of The Leaves [SNTS]
Pure Ground – Standard Of Living [Chondritic Sound]
Ke/Hil – Zone 0 [Tesco Organisation]
Prurient – Frozen Niagara Falls [Profound Lore Records]
Kiss The Anus Of A Black Cat – To Live Vicariously [Zealrecords]
Singles / EPs
Room 506 – Drop Out 12“ [Room 506]
White Chamber – One 7“ [Heiðrunar Myrkrunar]
Stave – After The Social 12“ [Repitch Records]
Tzusing – A Name Out Of Place PT. II 12″ [L.I.E.S.]
Bourbonese Quak – Lies 12″ [Mannequin]
Digital Poodle – Revision! Vol 1 – Work Terminal 12“ [Suction Records]
Fixmer – Issue N. 8 12″ [Jealous God]
Ancient Methods – Turn Ice Realities Into Fire Dreams 12″ [Hands Productions]
Dominatrix – Dominatrix 12″ [Instruments Of Discipline]
Headless Horseman – Headless Horseman 006 12“ [Headless Horseman]