IKE YARD レコード& CD

Review: Dark Entries takes it back to New York City in around 1982 for this previously unreleased record from Ike Yard. This cult crew was made up of Stuart Argabright, Michael Diekmann, Kenneth Compton, and Fred Szymanski and they worked in their own realm somewhere between proto-body music and No Wave peers in New York. They disbanded just a year after forming having dropped an EP on Les Disques du Crepuscule in 1981 and then a self-titled album for Factory in 1982. Using the Korg MS-20 and the Roland TR-808 they cook up plenty of hybrid electro-acoustic sounds and ramshackle rhythms that are underpinned by moody baselines and perfect to get bodies moving in the club. Whether you're a post-punk fan or lover of weird electronics, this is well worth checking out.

Review: If this is your first run in with New York's Ike Yard then Factory Records might be a good place to start - these guys were the first US act to sign with the iconic but doomed Manchester label back in the day, and that says a lot about what to expect from their output. This was their first EP, released in 1981, making their proto-post punk and no wave trappings all the more groundbreaking.

The five tracks still stand up today, and certainly compare with some of the era and canon's definitive names. It would be unfair to say you can hear A Certain Ratio, Joy Division or Section 25 here, though, as Ike Yard were doing this at roughly same time to those UK counterparts, so it's less about mimicry and more a sign of just how necessary noises like this were back then.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Creasing to corner of outer sleeve but otherwise in excellent condition***


If this is your first run in with New York's Ike Yard then Factory Records might be a good place to start - these guys were the first US act to sign with the iconic but doomed Manchester label back in the day, and that says a lot about what to expect from their output. This was their first EP, released in 1981, making their proto-post punk and no wave trappings all the more groundbreaking.

The five tracks still stand up today, and certainly compare with some of the era and canon's definitive names. It would be unfair to say you can hear A Certain Ratio, Joy Division or Section 25 here, though, as Ike Yard were doing this at roughly same time to those UK counterparts, so it's less about mimicry and more a sign of just how necessary noises like this were back then.

Review: Amongst those who love New York's early '80s no-wave/post-punk scene, Ike Yard's 1982 debut album has long been regarded as something of an under-appreciated classic. Thanks to this reissue from Superior Viaduct, you can now judge for yourself. The band's sound is noticeably a lot more minimalistic than many of their contemporaries, mixing throbbing, low-slung basslines (think ESG or Liquid Liquid) with sparse, pulsing electronics, weird synthesizer sounds and stylish male vocals. It's a unique and hugely atmospheric sound that's as intense and paranoid as it is spaced-out and otherworldly. The album is full of highlights, but our picks include the percussively awkward "Loss", the creepy and clandestine "Kino" and the fiendishly alien sounding "Half A God".

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged, but otherwise in excellent condition***


Amongst those who love New York's early '80s no-wave/post-punk scene, Ike Yard's 1982 debut album has long been regarded as something of an under-appreciated classic. Thanks to this reissue from Superior Viaduct, you can now judge for yourself. The band's sound is noticeably a lot more minimalistic than many of their contemporaries, mixing throbbing, low-slung basslines (think ESG or Liquid Liquid) with sparse, pulsing electronics, weird synthesizer sounds and stylish male vocals. It's a unique and hugely atmospheric sound that's as intense and paranoid as it is spaced-out and otherworldly. The album is full of highlights, but our picks include the percussively awkward "Loss", the creepy and clandestine "Kino" and the fiendishly alien sounding "Half A God".

Review: By now, we should all know what to expect from Lack of Afro, AKA veteran funk, soul and hip-hop producer Adam Gibbons. This fourth studio album for regular home Freestyle Records is being pitched as his most eclectic yet. Certainly, there's plenty of variety in the textures, styles and tempos, from the disco-funk stomp of Herbal T hook-up "Brown Sugar" and sweet Northern Soul blast of "The Contender" (all fuzzy guitars and pleasing horns), to the soft soul shuffle of "Making It Right" and Breakestra-ish hip-hop funk of "Here We Go Again". Despite the variety, Gibbons is still at his best when really cutting loose, as the superb opener "Freedom" adeptly demonstrates.

Review: Whilst remix EPs are by no means the most original of concepts, French label Desire should be applauded for their set of Ike Yard Remix EPs due to the calibre of those involved. Previous editions have seen contributions from Regis, Monoton, Tropic of Cancer and former Ike Yard synth player Fred Szymanski and this third and final EP sees the label turn to a younger generation with equally compelling results. Diagonal boss Powell might be new to remixes (this is only his second after reconstructing Silent Servant for Jealous God) but he's evidently willing and capable to dissect the source and reassemble in his own style. Put simply, little of "Half A God" remains here but Powell's remix will resonate immediately with anyone that consumed his original work last year. Elsewhere The KVB essentially throw down a cover version of "Cherish 8" whilst Vessel's accompanying mix of the same track should sound deafening on a big system and much the same can be said about Bandshell's refix of "NCR".

Review: Having teamed up with the like minded Blackest Ever Black to release a record of Ike Yard reworks from techno doyen Regis and veteran multimedia artist Konrad Becker, Desire return to the iconic No Wave band's discography for more remixes. Much more diverse in scope, this 12" sees Tropic of Cancer, Arnaud Rebotini and the band's own former synth player Fred Szymanski rework the Ike Yard canon and the results are just as salacious. The presence of Tropic Of Cancer is particularly interesting as Camella Lobo's project have previously only ever completed one remix - a 2011 digital effort of Fostercare should you be wondering - and in her hands "Half A God" is transformed into some suitably chilling and ethereal. Szymanski remixes the same track under the Recombinant guise, and his resultant effort has been adeptly branded a piece of "musique concrete-inspired electronica". The finely coiffured Frenchman Arnaud Rebotini offers up something a big more immediate with a pulsating techno revision of "Cherish 8? under the familiar Black Strobe name.

Review: Michael Diekmannm Stuart Argabright, Kenny Compton and Fred Szymanski formed Ike Yard, a late 1970s art band based in NYC who melded the influences of post punk dub and Krautrock experimentation with their own industrially charged electronic leanings and recorded for Disques du Crepuscule and Factory. Ike Yard's only album, the eponymously titled six track Ike Yard which surfaced on Factory US in 1982 was originally reissued by the Desire label last year in the aftermath of the band reforming in 2010 without Szymanski. A much needed repress arrives now for those who missed out first time around or have come to Ike Yard in the aftermath of that immense Regis remix on Blackest Ever Black.

Review: Remixes of iconic New York no wave act Ike Yard by Regis and Konrad Becker's Monoton project feature on this joint release from Blackest Ever Black and Desire. Technically a complementary release to Desire's soon to drop reissue of Ike Yard's eponymous debut set from 1982, this 12" has the Downwards boss and Becker tackling tracks from that album. Led by Stuart Argabright, Ike Yard's brand of avant garde electro minimalism is not something you can easily digest, but both remixes here work as fine complements to the source material. Regis' take on "Loss" is a pattering, skeletal affair that develops ripples of uneasy analogue pulses without ever forgoing Ike Yard's paranoia inducing intentions, while Becker's Monoton Dub take on "NCR" is equally respectful, if much more foreboding in execution.