dZihan & Kamien
Stiff Jazz / Ford Transit

✺ Neuromantic is Takahashi’s first solo release for ALFA and his third solo album overall.✺ Features Phil Manzanera, Andy Mackay (Roxy Music), and Tony Mansfield.Neuromantic is Takahashi’s first solo release for ALFA and his third solo album overall. In addition to Japanese musicians Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Kenji Omura, the album also features Phil Manzanera, Andy Mackay (Roxy Music), and Tony Mansfield whom he recorded with during a long stay in London. This record builds on the techno sound of YMO’s BGM (released the same year), infusing Takahashi’s unique romantic aesthetic and is considered one of his masterpieces. The sixth track, “Drip Dry Eyes" is a self-cover of a song that he wrote for ALFA artist artist Sandii.Yukihiro Takahashi explains, “The early 80’s was one of the busiest periods of my music life…When I think back now, I think that my recording style and production process that I continue to this day may have been solidified then, during the early 80’s.”The new reissue of Neuromatic is part of ALFA’s ongoing reissue series featuring many of Yukihiro’s early 80s solo albums from his first hit record Murdered by Music (1980) to his last record from his ALFA era Poisson D’Avril (1985 soundtrack to the film of the same name).

150 copies, Clear Vinyl, black inside/out sleeve, A4 risograph printing insert.Mastering & Cut by Noel Summerville, London 2014.

For his first solo EP, Tushen Raï designed a record in the form of a colorful patchwork of sounds, a meticulous collage of samples, surrounding noises and synthesizers. Here, Maori percussion dug on field recording discs from the late 60s and 70s meet Indonesian chants recorded on phones and posted anonymously online. A nostalgic yet deeply contemporary testimony to an imagination weakened resulting from the cultural globalization.With Drums Circles, Tushen Raï wants to reconnect with the adventure novels, from Jules Vernes to Barjavel, which nourished his childhood. Thought out as an ode to the diversity of our cultures, our practices and our beliefs, Drums Circles is a cry in favor of open-mindedness and curiosity. It is an invitation to discovery rather than to conquest.A humble invitation to embark on a journey and to collective trance.