Selected Writing
Lena Platonos - Balancers
By Shawn O’Sullivan
The twelve tracks on Balancers reveal a murkier side of Lena, one draped in tenebrous washes and oneiric utterances. Ragged analog rhythms feature on several tracks, even breaking into a brooding electro groove on “A Cat in the Corner”, but the predominant tone is sparse and somber. Mournful instrumental “Phaethon” swells to mythological proportions, while “In September” feels small enough to fit in your pocket. Lena’s poetry sits amidst lush pads and Radiophonic Workshop-esque squiggles, her voice setting an intimate tone in the shifting electronic sea. Inspiration is drawn from Greek mythology and architecture, and lyrics evoke a soft sorrow, an ambivalence towards love, life, and the passage of time. Although the material here spans 3 years and features a range of recording fidelities and synthesis techniques, the collection possesses the heft of a singular artist’s vision.
Balancers was remastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios. Eloise Leigh designed the sleeve, which features a doubled Lena in washed-out burgundy hues, channeling the femininity and mystery of the album. Also included is an insert with lyrics in both Greek and English.
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Greek electronic music legend Lena Platonos returns to Dark Entries with Balancers, an LP of previously unreleased material recorded between 1982-1985. Athens-based Platonos has worked with the label previously to reissue her three solo LPs - Gallop, Sun Masks, and Lepidoptera - as well as to release three accompanying 12” EPs featuring modern remixes of her work. She is renowned for her forays into cutting-edge electronic experimentation as well as her striking, impressionistic poetry and lyrics, always recited in Greek.
Clan of Xymox - Peel Sessions
By Shawn O’Sullivan
Dark Entries reunites with longtime idols Xymox, also known as Clan of Xymox, to reissue their Peel Sessions. Xymox was founded in Nijmegen, Netherlands in 1983 by Ronny Moorings and Anka Wolbert, who were joined shortly by Frank Weyzig and Pieter Nooten. Melding the synthesizer-driven experiments of post-punk and New Wave with the doom-laden atmospherics of the burgeoning goth rock scene, Xymox were one of the key progenitors of dark wave. The success of their 1983 debut EP, Subsequent Pleasures (reissued by Dark Entries in 2014) paved the way for a string of epochal releases on 4AD, where they honed their lush, despairing sound. Following their 1985 debut LP, Clan of Xymox, DJ and tastemaker John Peel invited them to BBC studios to record for his Radio 1 show. These recordings were released in 2001 via the Strange Fruit label on CD and are now available here for the first time on vinyl and digital formats.
Side A of Peel Sessions was recorded on June 4, 1985 at Maida Vale 5. Ronny and Anka recount facing anxiety and technical difficulties that day, with their complicated MIDI routing and a necessary plug conversion eating into their scant studio time. But their craft shines on these recordings, unmarred by the stressful circumstances. A reverb-drenched rendition of “Stranger”, the brooding hit single from Clan of Xymox, opens the record. “Muscoviet Mosquito”, a cult number from Subsequent Pleasure,
follows. It is reworked here in a more robust fashion, similar to the version that would appear on the 1987 Lonely is an Eyesore compilation. Anka’s vocals take center stage on side closer “Seventh Time”, allegedly the song that charmed John Peel. Side B was recorded during a second Peel session on November 3, 1985, and illustrates the band’s continued development with three tracks that would appear on their 1986 album Medusa. “After the Call” was written and sung by Pieter Nooten, and has subtle echoes of Morricone amidst its proto-shoegaze drone. “Agonised by Love” and “Mesmerize”, which would later be retitled “Medusa”, both point towards the smoother, softer anguish that would characterize their sophomore LP.
All songs were remastered by George Horn at Fantasy studios. The sleeve, by Eloise Leigh, evokes classic Vaughn Oliver designs for 4AD, and features a photograph of the band mid-performance. Also included is a 2-sided insert with archival photos and notes from both Ronny and Anka on their experiences recording at the BBC studio.
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“A.C.C.” is an angular pop song that is at once both fractured and droning, like a skipping record that sounds incrementally more warped with each iteration.
Robert Rental is an artist as influential as he is overlooked. An anchor of the early British DIY and post-punk scene, his name is most frequently uttered alongside illustrious collaborators such as Thomas Leer and Daniel Miller. Dark Entries and Optimo ally to illuminate some of Rental’s early solo works with an expanded reissue of his ACC/Paralysis 7”. Both labels have previously excavated Rental’s catalog; DE reissued the untitled collaborative LP with Glenn Michael Wallis in 2017, and Optimo released a collection of demos entitled Different Voices for You. Different Colours for Me. in 2018.
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Group Rhoda, the solo project of Mara Barenbaum, returns to Dark Entries with Passing Shades. An integral member of the Oakland electronic music scene, Barenbaum has been writing, performing, and plunging into oneiric depths as Group Rhoda since 2009. This is the project’s fourth LP, and the third time Barenbaum has collaborated with Dark Entries; previously on the Max & Mara LP Less Ness in 2013 and the Group Rhoda LP Wilderless in 2017.
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Group Rhoda - Passing Shades
‘Passing Shades’ is both mystifying and revelatory. Folk forms are echoed only to detour into the alien.
The Aquatic Invasion:
A Drexciya Discography Review
With this record, they ostensibly created Detroit techno by merging the Kraftwerk's stripped down electronic pop with the bombastic funk of Parliament. Throughout the 80s, Atkins and his peers, Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May, continued to experiment with dance music that resonated with a quasi-religious fervor. In the early 90s, the second wave of Detroit techno manifested itself as a more obdurate, more aggressive, and more politically charged sound. Mad Mike Banks' Underground Resistance record label began releasing records in 1990. Fiercely independent, UR militarized the Detroit techno sound. Social change was to be brought about 'by any means necessary,' as evidenced by track titles such as "Attend the Riot" (1991) and X-101's "Sonic Destroyer" (1991). Crucial members of UR's early incarnation include Blake Baxter, Jeff Mills, Rob Hood, and Drexciya.
Steeped in the macrocosmic mythos of Sun Ra, the utilitarian-wonderland rhythms of Kraftwerk, and the smoldering aggression of Public Enemy, Drexciya plumbed the deeper depths in search of 'sonic truth'. Flange-heavy electro rhythms gyrated in geyser-like spurts while gurgling synths warbled and washed over whirlpools of submarine bass, seemingly evoking the most primal physical qualities of water. Tracks built slowly, ebbing and flowing gently like a warm tide before striking with hurricane-like fury in syncopated 808 snares and bullet-like bursts of treble-heavy hail. This was a liquefied expression of urban discontent.
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