Bureau B

V/A - Silberland - Vol. 1: The Psychedelic Side Of Kosmische Musik

"Bureau B invite you on an expedition to Silberland, a singular span of spacetime created by Germany's sonic futurists of the seventies and eighties. Embracing the early electronics and tape experiments of the sixties' avant-garde, these artists aimed to boldly go, eschewing small steps for giant leaps into a nebulous and novel sound. The kosmische generation emerged from the revolutionary student movement of '67 and '68, opposing any lingering political ties to Nazism and occupying the cultural vacuum which endured long after the post-war era. Encompassing both better known and more obscure artists, this collection is a trip into the psychedelic and cerebral strain of this amorphous genre, pairing the pulsating and propulsive with moments of cosmic calm.

Opener "Strahlsund" by Die Partei serves as the national anthem for this no-place, its utopian melodies and stately rhythm evoking an optimism which is swiftly skewed by the chrome tones and snapping percussion of Ralf Trostel's "Two Face". The delirious drive of Michael Bundt's "Full Steam Ahead" embraces the uncanny as jarring bursts of laughter drown out a serpentine topline before the fever breaks into the cold sweat of Moebius' "Etwas", a sweet synth sonata decorated with detuned keys. "Scharfer Schnitt (No1)" is the first suggestion of Silberland's full scope, the Populäre Mechanik A-side fusing postpunk and dubby funk and perfectly paving the way for the ritualistic stomp of Roedelius' trance-dancing "Regenmacher". Splitting the difference between Berlin and Düsseldorf schools, Tyndall offers the typically glittering "Großstadtgefühl", which smoothly segues into the synth scree of Conrad Schnitzler's beatless and balletic "Bis Die Blaue Blume Blüht". The zero-gravity drift continues with a contribution from Cologne's Phantom Band, who achieve an effortless groove while Bernd Kistenmacher takes you to the midpoint with the deep space repetition and Teutonic tessellations of "Quitting Time". The return journey begins with the beauty and sadness of Heiko Maile's "Nachtspaziergang" then sidesteps into a punkish pair from Moebius & Plank and Faust. If this bristling brace toyed with the terrestrial, Riechmann takes an aerial view of Earth via "Weltweit" and Asmus Tietchens strays way too close to the sun with a playful take on Venusian exotica. Things take a turn for the psychedelic via the Arabesque piano of Cluster's transformative "Avanti" and Günter Schickert's strung-out and smoldering "Wanderer", before the roving sequences of You's "Live Line" fire up the hyperdrive for a foray into warp speed. Cutting the thrusters almost entirely, the synthesist himself Harald Grosskopf takes the controls for re-entry, gliding through the upper atmosphere on the heartfelt waveforms of "Emphasis", cushioning the craft into Eno, Moebius and Roedelius' hypnagogic "Base & Apex"." - 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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