Musique Pour La Danse Holland レコード& CD

Review: A2L were active between 1988 and 1990 and released two albums and several EPs on labels like 1st Bass, Big One and Force Inc. Their sound blended British psychedelic house with elements of new beat, industrial, EBM and early acid house and in doing so captured the raw energy of the UK rave scene. Notably different from typical acid house acts of the time, A2L's music took in machine funk, samplers and turntable techniques to create trippy, infectious grooves. This collection compiles rare underground gems from them from 1989 and features standout tracks like 'Even Though It's Make Believe' and 'Come On.' It's a great look back to the experimental spirit of the late 80s.

Review: Although it's a genuinely terrific album, A3000's 1994 set Magnetic Gliding remains unknown to all but a handful of 90s ambient and ambient techno enthusiasts. Musique Pour La Danse has, wisely some would argue, decided to reissue it. Produced by Swiss scene stalwarts Marco Repetto (best known as part of cult post-punk era combo Grauzone) and Stefan Riesen - who later joined forces again as Synectics on Reflex - the album flits between spacey deep techno workouts (sublime opener 'Sonic Stripes'), psychedelic ambient soundscapes (see the similarly impressive 'Flow'), and the kind of hybrid cuts served up by 90s contemporaries such as Spacetime Continuum and Air Liquide. In a word: essential.

Review: Between 1986 and 1994, Tony Boninsegna released an insane amount of music under dozens of different aliases, offering up rave-ready tracks that variously mixed and matched elements of acid house, bleep & bass, hardcore techno and breakbeat. Yet he remains almost unknown. Notes From The Underground, a two-part retrospective of his career, is therefore well overdue. This second part, which boasts extensive sleeve notes from UK dance music historian Matt Anniss, is packed to the rafters with re-mastered treats, with highlights including the electro-tinged bleep business of Lab Technicians' 'We Gave You Life', the weighty acid breaks of Sykosis 451's 'Monsoon', the breakbeat hardcore funkiness of MI7's 'Show I', and the proto-jungle madness of Raggahead's 'Give The People What They Want'.

Review: At long last, a light has been shone on the career of one of the UK's true underground rave heroes: Bedford producer (and man of umpteen aliases) Tony Bonisegna. Cold Blow and Musique Pour La Danse have done a terrific job on the two-part set, offering up remastered killer cuts from Bonisenga's vast catalogue alongside extensive sleeve notes by Join The Future author Matt Anniss (whose book was the first to tell the producer's remarkable story). There's plenty to set the pulse racing on this first volume, including Bonisegna's earliest explorations of house in the late 80s (both as part of The Rhythm Squad), the clonking and bleeping shuffle of Original Clique's 'F (Whistle Mix)', the Pet Shop Boys-go-to-a-rave shimmer of 'Tonnere' by Pierrepoint, the acid-flecked breaks madness of Big Showdown's 'They're Here' and the sub-heavy early breakbeat hardcore of AEK's 'Lick It'.

Review: Hypnotone's iconic self titled mini album reissued and released just in time for this Summer Solstice. Originally released by Creation Records in 1991 - long out of print and now reissued - this one comes now meticulously remastered and pressed onto pristine white vinyl, aesthetically bolstering its pure, ascendant sound to match. The Hypnotone moniker was formed out of the bemused miasma that came after the wake of the infamous Hacienda nightclub in Manchester; made up of another related but no less legendary Tony (Martin, not Wilson) and yet another Martin (Mittler) (don't get confused, now), their eponymous debut came after an inspirational spell of digital sampler experiments and intentional Balearic hitmaking.

Review: Musique Pour La Danse proudly presents 8 Coffins, an essential collection of original tracks by the British duo Dougie Wardrop (of Conscious Sounds fame), and Nigel Lake as Jungle Neck, unearthed from the original masters laid down in the mid 90s. Eight raw tracks span four sides, two tracks each, authentically laying out a quick octave of bodybagging heaters. '8 Coffins' prophesies this (high) octane sequence of hits, ticking the first target off its list with a jungle cut bordering on a muted dub version, with offbeat bubbles and lowpassed vocals sounding as if the melody was being sung behind an ebony, mist-shrouded room divider. 'Kingdom Rise' moves further in this dub/jungle techno direction, working in lasery descensions into a take on Lennie De Ice, while the singular rollage of 'Bodyguard' ups the clarity while matching a sample-spread vox jab to the bass sequence. The inverse record equally dazzles, with its far-Eastern koto against mecha-jungle on 'No Wicked', and rapid snare delays against frank flutes on 'Latin Flute'.

Review: Renowned for his seminal work with acts such as The Moody Boys, 400 Blows, and The KLF, the incomparable Tony Thorpe compiles this astutely curated, meticulous collection of 16 rare and sought-after post-punk era cuts that the maestro would regularly spin at parties, making them his personal pile of niche gems. Featuring tracks from Public Image Ltd, Mark Stewart and The Maffia, Basement 5, 23 Skidoo, and African Headcharge, to name but a small handful, Post Punk Theory arrives spread out across 2xLP and includes a 40-page fanzine booklet written by Matt Annis with photographs by Simon Pyke and Ian Brodie. A unadulterated true post-punk time capsule for both lifers and studious newcomers alike.

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


The third in Switzerland's best and truest retro dance throwback series; here the Mental Groove Classic series returns with a treasure trove of rare and hard to find tracks plucked from the personal collection of label founder Olivier Ducret, a pivotal figure in Switzerland's acid house and rave-era party scene. Only the best, brightest and most effulgent of house, techno, bleep and analog jams are heard on this series, bringing that heady, yet much sought-after, cross-section of dreaminess and rawness to our wanting ears. From the dreamy breathalizings and Himalayan hollerings of Uncle 22's 'Pain', to the deep ficus-bathed melodic blossomings of Point Zero's 'Coastal', it's clear that the ability to portray wateriness and fluidity in the otherwise (stereotypically) arid drum machine and sequencer form was something extant; a superpower shared collectively in the Swiss psyche of the time.

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


The Mental Groove Classics is a new series of reissues documenting the sweats and oversights of Olivier Ducret, a pivotal figure in Switzerland's acid house and rave-era party scene. Ducret's Mental Groove label collected and discographized many of the 90s' brightest and yet roughest gems of the time; as both Volume 1 and this follow-up demonstrate, there is an unabashed rawness shared by the likes of Airtight's 'Housewerks FXTC' and Techno Grooves' 'Hiawa' here, the kind of rawness in sound that the various music-makers of today may only emulate, yet may never truly fully replicate, if not for the simple fact of overproduction and/or the all-too-easiness of overindulgence and possibility enabled by digital audio tech. To contrast, this one's simple, drum-machinic grooves mesh rather effortlessly with a transcendent trance, one which reaches a dubby apogee on The Moody Boys' C-sider 'Jammin', not long before a wonky French touch leaves a lasting tactile impression on Nagai Eri's D2, 'Delta'.