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DFA no doubt owes a very large part of its existence to the incredible, indelible Liquid Liquid, so it is with great and humble honor that we release this 12” from the New York no wave legends, a double a-side package featuring sorta-new versions of classic Liquids tracks.

This torrential take on “Bellhead” was recorded and produced by James Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy in 2004 and originally appeared on DFA”s “Compilation #2.” It’s an all-timer percussion workout, bursting at the seams with marimba, drums, and, yes, all manner of bells, a far cry for the see-saw slouch of the original.

The other side is an unreleased instrumental remix of “Optimo,” which (bear with us here) was rerecorded by the Liquids in 2008 and then remixed by Optimo (Espacio), the Glaswegian duo who are named in tribute to the song in question. If you followed that, then you know. If not, just remember that we’re all showing up here because of how important and essential this band remains.

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"Bellhead"
Recorded in 2004 at RPM Studios, NYC.
Produced by the DFA. Engineered by Andy Sarnoff
Assisted by Eric Broucek

"Optimo - Instrumental Mix by Optimo (Espacio)"
Recorded in 2008 at SRG Studios in Hamilton, NJ
Mixed by JD Twitch and Dave Clark

Mastered and cut by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service
Vinyl pressed at Furnace Record Pressing in Alexandria, VA

It's official.

Original artwork by Richard McGuire.

Adapted by Steele Bonus.

Embroidered onto a Richardson Peach Twill Dad Hat.

An all time design, now available officially.

Original artwork by Richard McGuire.

Adapted by Steele Bonus.

Printed by Wunder in Brooklyn, NY on a Gildan Heavy Cotton™ T-Shirt.

 “Stunning.” - Clash

“A beautifully ritualistic trance.” - The Guardian

Mermaid Chunky. It’s all in a name, sometimes. The danceable, costumed, curiosity rich duo of artists Freya Tate and Moina Moin are as imaginative as they profess. Or, to get more to the point, as we all need them to be.

Freya and Moina are two visual artists and musicians from Stroud and South London, places where they importantly found communities (Stroud’s SVA and the capital’s Total Refreshment Centre) of like minded people just as willing to chase down an idea to its possibly illogical conclusion. And it is in the collective and the idea of participation that Mermaid Chunky really clicks. This is a party, a collective dance, made all the better with more: people, ideas, layers, kick drums, recorders, saxophones, frogs.

To wit, the album’s first track and first single, “Céilí,” named after a traditional Scottish or Irish social gathering and dance, which builds from a simple recorder line into a swelling, warm burst of major chord dance music. Goosebumps or check your pulse.

Further down the rabbit hole, “Chaperone” is almost boardwalk electro, like Fischerspooner on a ferris wheel; “Frogsporn” and “Nature Girl” are mucky, trippy dirges filled with stalactites of synth and squelch; “Tiny Gymnast” is a kaleidoscopic waltz into the night. Hold onto your seats, ladies and gentlemen.

You might be wondering how we, DFA Records, all the way over in cynical Brooklyn, entered the picture. There was a day a few years ago, sun shining in full Springtime splendor, when James heard something while waiting for a coffee down the street from the office. It sounded simple yet deceptively complex: a dance track where the one - that anchoring first beat in a measure - could be heard a thousand different ways. Frustrated and interested, he Shazamed the song, playing from an episode of Zakia’s Questing show on NTS, and brought it back to the office. (The song, FYI, was “Friends,” from Mermaid Chunky’s VEST EP, released in 2020.) It led to an invitation to open for LCD Soundsystem at Brixton Academy in 2022 and the eventual deal with DFA. Mermaid Chunky has also played live alongside The Comet Is Coming, Alabaster DePlume, Snapped Ankles, and many others.

Tracklist:

1. céilí
2. frogsporn
3. tiny gymnast
4. chaperone
5. medieval
6. nature girl
7. sad nun

All songs written by Freya Tate and Moina Moin

Produced by Mermaid Chunky and Joe Jones

Mixed by Korey Richey, Pablo Morales, and Joe Jones

Mastered by Bob Weston

Photos by Simon Pizzey

Costumes by Mermaid Chunky and Liberty Ray

Designed by the band, printed on AA 1301 blanks. Printed and shipped from the US.

Please welcome back to the program Museum Of Love, the erstwhile duo of Pat Mahoney and Dennis McNany who have returned to the DFA fold with a perfect 7”, two songs like two sides of a coin.

"After Us" is a simple, buoyant pop song heavily tempered by warnings of a bleak future. The old "sugar with the medicine" approach. 

"Look Of Disgust" is its perfect foil. A notty, almost industrial sounding wind up that ends just like a slap in the face.

Both songs were mixed by Nick Millhiser and mastered by Bob Weston. Purple vinyl pressed at Third Man Pressing in Detroit, MI.

Fernando Pulichino's slinky, syrupy dance floor records have been cycling through DFA DJ bags for years, so it was only a matter of time until he made an official appearance on company letterhead. The OG version of "I Got, She's Got" which appears here on B2 is a romping, howl-at-the-moon burner, but it's the remix that really goes and notched the A1 placement at 45RPM. Between the two, is another bomb, "She's Playing With Fire." All three tracks are weapons, trust us.

Mastered and cut by Bob Weston and pressed at Furnace Record Pressing in Alexandria, VA.

"A merciless triumph" - The Wire

You must surrender. Because if you’ve followed Naum Gabo over the past 15 years - across various 12-inches, styles, and notable labels - and you’re listening to “F. Lux,” their first proper album, then you’re probably wondering how you wound up here, all the way down, barely able to see through the brain-clogging atmosphere and towering low-end.

“F. Lux” is deep, enthralling listen, alternating between moments of pounding, world-ending techno (“Schinokapsala” and “This 1¨º∆”) and sharply imagined, surrealist scenes painted with metallic machines ("Aora" and "Haerstag"). There is light to be found in the darkness, but the only way out is through.

Naum Gabo are Glasgow’s Jonnie Wilkes (also known as one-half of DJ duo Optimo) and James Savage (prolific mastering engineer). F. Lux was written and produced entirely by them at their Glasgow Hottrax Studios and mastered by James Savage. The album's front cover artwork is a painting by cherished Scottish painter, Andrew Cranston. The vinyl was pressed at MPO in France using lacquers cut by Bob Weston in Chicago.

1. Aora
2. Tols
3. Schinokapsala
4. Hebust Cometh
5. Haerstag
6. This 1¨º∆
7. Nothing In My Hand
8. Parasymptofelia

Dickie Landry has blown many minds around the world in his lengthy career as a jazz and avant-garde saxophonist of the highest regard. He was a founding member of the Phillip Glass Ensemble and (according to Wikipedia lore) introduced Paul Simon to zydeco, one of the indigenous sounds of his native southern Louisiana. Rarely, though, does Dickie’s saxophone make you want to get up and dance like a crazy person.



Such is the effect of “Hang The Rich,” a nugget of slinky, ecstatic punk-funk that was until recently completely lost to the sands of time. Recorded in 1986 (or thereabouts) in New Orleans, it’s the kind of song that compels you to move any which way you can, drunk on indignation.

The track came to DFA via LCD Soundsystem's Korey Richey, who knows Dickie from back home in Louisiana.

After a lengthy search, we located the original tapes in a storage locker somewhere in the Southeast and finally were able to get a clean, quality transfer done here at DFA HQ.

From there, we only had one person in mind for a more DJ-friendly edit: Glasgow’s JD Twitch, one half of Optimo and a selector of similarly puckish spirit. Twitch’s ability to place older, skronkier sounds in a modern dance floor context are unmatched, and his edit hard and jagged before opening up into those beautiful rapturous moments that make the original so goddamn special.

Written and produced by Dickie Landry
Engineered by Shelton Skerrett
Additional engineering by Korey Richey
Soprano saxophones and Roland Jupiter 4 by Dickie Landry
Vocals by Evelyn Erhard
Percussion by Billy Ware
Drums by Ricky Sebastian
Mastered and cut at 45RPM by Bob Weston
Pressed at MPO

The DFA debut from longtime family member Jayson Green also marks the return of the classic DFA twelve-inch. Maybe it actually stands for Dying Formats Always?

Jay’s sung in a lot of bands. Like, a lot. Panthers, Violent Bullshit, Cheeseburger, and the legendary hardcore band Orchid. There are probably more. He’s always been smart and hilarious, never quite cynical though always quick to point out the absurd.

Now in a bandleader role, he’s delivered us a classic a-side in “Local Jerk,” which sounds like a party because it was actually recorded during one: tight disco drums, big claps, a neck-rolling baseline, horns, and group vocals. You can literally hear the bottles clinking.

The head trip is the b-side, “I Need Love,” which is a most terrifying, ridiculous piece of nightlife satire.

CREDITS

The album that, in many ways, started it all. Repressed for the first time since its release in 2003.

Produced by James Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy for the DFA.

Pressed at Citizen Vinyl in Asheville, NC from lacquers cut by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service.

Needle drop and a floaty, child-like piano sucks you into the post-punk papier-mâché world of JJULIUS, where everyone speaks Swedish, listens to Young Marble Giants and eats nothing but Twizzlers.

Vol. 2 is, perhaps obviously, a continuation of the world-building JJULIUS did on Vol. 1, which is a little more raw, a little wilder in spirit and sold out at both source and every record store that managed to get its hand on a copy. It will also re-arrive this summer on DFA this summer alongside its successor. (Order here.)

JJULIUS is Gotebörg’s Julius Pierstorff, who, with his partner Elin Engström aka Loopsel, also records as Monokultur and runs the tiny label Mamma’s Mysterious Jukebox.

The music they make both together and separately is entirely their own, with its own rules of what instruments come and go; when a song begins and ends or swells like a marshmallow. And yet! It’s also referencing all the records we love and know - Young Marble Giants, Postcard Records, early Cabaret Voltaire, and even contemporary local peers like Mathaverskan.

Buy the ticket, take the trip.

Produced by James Murphy for DFA Productions.

Back in stock with the original 24"x36" folded poster insert! If you already have the record, you can order the poster on its own here.

Double LP in a gatefold jacket with matte finish and a silver foil stamp on the cover.

Pressed at Citizen Vinyl.

Tracklist:

Side A
01. Get Innocuous!
02. Time to Get Away

Side B
03. North American Scum
04. Someone Great

Side C
05. All My Friends
06. Us v Them

Side D
07. Watch the Tapes
08. Sound of Silver
09. New York, I Love You but You're Bringing Me Down

LCD Soundsystem - 45:33 - 2xLP

Originally released in 2006.

This album was commissioned by Nike to listen to on an iPod while exercising.

"Complex, fun, and meticulously put together, 45:33 sounds even better pumping from a home stereo than it does through an iPod while jogging". - All Music

Original Pitchfork Review, 2006

Wikipedia Entry

 Tracklist

A - 45:33

B - 45:33

C - 45:33

D - 45:33

The debut LP from LCD Soundsystem.

1xLP in a reverse board sleeve.

Track Listing:

1. Daft Punk Is Playing At My House
2. Too Much Love
3. Tribulations
4. Movement
5. Never As Tired As When I'm Waking Up
6. On Repeat
7. Thrills
8. Disco Infiltrator
9. Great Release