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Bureau B

ALU - Die Vertreibung Der Zeit (1980-1986)

"ALU's inception as descendants of the psychedelic group Sand, founded by Ludwig Papenberg and Johannes Vester, comes in 1980. Their first single "Bitte Warten Sie!" appears on their own label Der Letzte Schrei! in 1981. Even on these early recordings, the project's sonic orientation is discernible: sequencer-driven, simplistic rhythmic structures layered over fragments of free text, a common thread tracing ALU's musical contours through various successive metamorphoses. Although the band emerged from Berlin's cassette underground, their brittle sound is closer to the likes of Nocturnal Emissions or Cabaret Voltaire in England than to their German counterparts. The first realignment came in 1981 when vocalist Nadja Molt joined the group. Her voice cuts deep furrows into the tracks, at times lurking ominously in the background, elsewhere virtually exploding out of certain tracks. Logged by the band as ALU II, this phase fails to produce any studio recordings, but two live LPs Störfaktor I - Alus Riskantes Experiment 31.7.81 im Risiko (1981) and Licht (1982) survive as audible witnesses. Ludwig Papenberg left before 1982 reached its conclusion; Vester and Molt continued as a duo, now called ALU III, resolutely pursuing the principles of concentrated improvisation and maximum creative autonomy. On the live cassette, Geistige Erneuerung (1983), the band outlined their philosophy, "We aim to store as many sounds, noise and rhythmic frameworks as possible in our synthesizers and drum machines as we allow them to unfold naturally when we play live. Words and vocals are snapshots, spontaneous phenomena." Two other cassettes were released the same year, Ungesunde Traumbilder and Attrition/Alu. These proved to be the final studio recordings before ALU exited the scene with a concert at Fabrik in Hamburg, entitled Performance und kein Ende in 1986. The ALU oeuvre thus covers seven years of divergent creativity, yet the group's inner compass never wavers. ALU represent understated understatement, their music touching on genres such as electro, techno or IDM which would only materialize years later. Repetitive sequences sound like taut loops, their frequencies tuned to allow the original sample to shine through in skeletal fashion. Die Vertreibung der Zeit is more than a mere historical document; in order to understand the bigger picture of contemporary club culture, this collection is an essential piece of the puzzle." - Bureau B.
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After nearly a decade of false starts, multiple game plans veering off the rails, and a handful of shattered hopes and/or dreams, the odyssey is finally complete—the new Fusetron site is here.

This is the first phase of a multipart rollout that will span the next few months: the currently browsable stock includes miscellaneous new releases from the past 8+ months (we have a lot of catching up to do), plus approximately a third of our backstock. Note that we’ve reduced/slashed prices on many titles and will continue to do so in order to make room for new stock. We’ll also be expanding / tweaking / improving / debugging the site itself (for example, we still have work to do on the automated international postage system, not to mention the inevitable inventory discrepancies that come with transferring an ancient and massive database to a new system).

Over the next few months, as we take inventory, clean house, and delve into our storage, we will be uploading thousands of additional items, gradually, on a near-daily basis. This will include the majority of the LPs, as well as many titles, in all formats, once thought long-gone. Many currently “sold out” items are likely to resurface.

Finally, once our general backstock is up (probably in the next two or three months) we’ll begin making our extensive stockpile of rarities available online for the first time: tons of random out-of-print titles, "deadstock," warehouse finds, secondhand collectibles, etc., accumulated over the past few decades.

Frequent/returning customers will be getting early access to these items. Details to follow on how this will work (a priority mailing list? a 'frequent flyer'-like program?), but it will not be based on dollars spent. We want to reward those who consistently support us, especially in the discogs marketplace era (to those who show up trying to poach five copies of a one-off rarity, and nothing else, ever… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ).

So—we suggest you take some time to dig through the site—even we’ve been surprised by what’s been turning up, and there’s much more to come.
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