3 Dark Entries Editions Italo Disco 12″s Out Now

Our 3 Dark Entries Editions Italo Disco 12″s Are Shipping Now

Body Heat (Vocal)
Body Heat (Instrumental)

Fockewulf 190 was a New Wave group from Milan formed in 1980 by Vittorio Barozzi aka Victor Life and Dario Dell’Aere. In 1979 the duo met outside a cinema and began a lifelong collaboration of projects: Diamond Dogs, Ice Eyes, Demode Boulevard and Fockewulf 190, named after the model jet planes Dario fanatically built. Musically, the duo were inspired by the Human League’s “Reproduction” and John Foxx’s “Metamatic”, while they took visual cues from the New Romantics Visage and Ultravox. With the Fockewulf 190 moniker, they created their own dark blend of Italo disco and New Wave, and released two singles in 1984 and recorded an album’s worth of music that eventually saw the light of day in 2010.

By 1983, local DJ and guitarist Salvatore Nonnis aka Stan After was added to the group. The band were searching for a producer and found Giuseppe Mincioni of Market Records who serviced the local DJs at the Taxi Club where Stan worked. Mincioni immediately proposed to make a hit with the Italo Disco production team Miki Chieregato and Roberto Turatti behind such acts as Den Harrow, Joe Yellow, Stylóo, Flexx. Dario handed them a demo called “Walking Out” and Turati thought the John Foxx-esque vocals were not commercial enough so they suggested vocalist Fred Ventura. Fred accepted their offer and wrote lyrics for the song politically inspired by living in a world divided in East and West, the Cold War, terrorism, and street violence. The debut single “Body Heat” was released in 1984 on Market Records with the band’s name misspelled as Fokewulf and vocals wrongly credited to Dario. Clocking in at over 6-minutes, the song features Fred’s New Beat style vocals over melancholic, sweeping keyboards and hard edged drum rhythm patterns. On the B-side is an instrumental version with the occasional “Hey you take a look at me” chorus. All songs have been remastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The record is housed in an exact replica of the original jacket featuring a black and white mannequin bust shrouded in fog by Filippo Maniscalco. Each copy includes a double-sided postcard with lyrics, notes and photos. This reissue is dedicated to Vittorio Barozzi aka Victor Life who passed away in 2014.

Ghost Town (Vocal Version)
Ghost Town (Ghost Version)

Dark Entries Editions is proud to reissue “Ghost Town” the 1984 debut 12” single by Mono Band from Italy. The project was conceived by producer Rene ‘D’Herin and Massimo Fantinatiti aka Fantenax. They teamed up with songwriter and guitarist Luigi Venegoni aka Svengile who had previously worked with progressive and jazz-rock bands Arti & Mestieri and Venegoni & Co. as well as cosmic disco group Stratosferic Band. Treading the lines between Italo Disco and the darker side of New Wave, the trio crafted a mysterious sound. Melancholic arpeggiators, a throbbing baseline, stuttering samples, and the classic Linn drum machine run throughout the track. Vocals were handled by an uncredited Carlo Rossi who raps about a ghost town filled with fear. When female vocalist Elena Sansonetti begins to softly whisper the chorus one might get goose bumps. The trio were joined in the studio by DJ Mike aka Michele Paolino of Make Up/Mike Up, DJ Moody, Fabrice Bellini of Art Fine and producer Miceli. The song was recorded in a few days at Dynamo Sound Studio in Turin and originally released on the popular Discomagic Records. This reissue includes the original vocal version, backed with a longer dubbed out instrumental “Ghost Version” on the B-side. All songs have been remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The 12” is housed in an exact replica of the original sleeve with an astrological photo the planets orbiting the sun. Each copy also includes a 2-sided postcard.

Over And Over
Over And Over (Dub Version)

Fantasy Life was a one-off Italo disco studio project that consisted of various producers, songwriters, and vocalists from Turin, Italy. The line-up included Lorenzo Avico, Maurizio Camoletto and Sergio Bergamin. They recorded their only single “Over and Over” at Minirec Studio in 1985 with mixing engineer Gigi Guerrieri. It was released that same year by Thick Record a sublabel of Il Discotto Productions and became one of the most coveted Italo Disco 12”s. “Over and Over” is a parable that describes the story of a girl growing up, comparing her life to the changes of the moon. Signature Linn drum and Simmons drums create the driving rhythm track that hauntingly sways back and forth. The vocal version has a nearly two minute extended instrumental break in the middle of the song heightening the dramatic pace. On the B-side is a Dub Version with extended instrumental breaks, bass lines and occasional vocals. Both songs are remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The vinyl is housed in the original jacket featuring a painting by Andrea Franzoso and includes a double sided postcard with lyrics and notes.

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OUT MARCH 12TH

Parler musique
Organisation maritime
Un subalterne insubordonné
Téléconférence
Myéline
L’Ordre cannibale
Entr’acte
Une salade oblongue
Dark Entries is proud to release the debut album from Bézier titled ‘Parler Musique’. Bézier is Taiwanese-American musician Robert Yang who is also part of the Honey Soundsystem crew. A multi-instrumentalist, Robert grew up in Southern California then planted his roots in San Francisco in 2005. Over the years in SF he has built an impressive analog synth-based studio, which also serves as the creative hub for his riveting live performances.

Parler Musique clocks in at over 52 minutes with 8 tracks are spread across four sides for maximum loudness. The album title is a French transliteration on the phrase “Parlor Music” and is evening music for a meeting of minds in a drawing room or a literary salon. To ‘talk about music’, the actual translation of the title, the album is a hotbed of ideas. Different genres are crisscrossed: punk, synthpop, jungle, new romantic, industrial and new wave. Airy melodies, surging arpeggios and symphonic breakdowns counterpoint cold digital drum sounds to convey beauty within inescapable and impending daily processes. The track titles for ‘Parler Musique’ zoom in on Romantic preoccupations with mystery, unknowns, depths–where themes combine to form an occult revelatory experience.

All songs have been mixed by Mark Pistel (Meat Beat Manifesto, Consolidated) at Room 5, San Francisco and EQed for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios. The vinyl comes housed in a jacket featuring a surreal circuit board pattern with pink bubbles flickering on an abstract horizon of water designed by Eloise Leigh. Each copy includes a postcard risograph-printed in fluorescent pink and dark blue with Dadaist text by Justin Aulis Long.

“Is the drum the successor of human sacrifice or does it still sound the command to kill?” Adorno, Motifs (1951)

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