New-ish things

From the depths of the DFA vault (really just an assortment of poorly organized hard drives of varying vintages), we found this gem, a version of “pow pow” made all squirrely by master squirrels the Idjut Boys.

Why we kept this a secret for 14 years will forever remain a mystery. It’s a distant cousin of the original - vocals gone, drums looped out, squelch and delay coming down like rain. A real chugger.

What better to pair it with, then, than Rub-N-Tug’s remix of “too much love,” long out of print from its original pressing in 2005 and still a complete monster meant for dark rooms and cranked up smoke machines. It lives on wax once again, now with a likeminded buddy.

Both tracks were recut at 45RPM by Bob Weston and pressed with care by the good humans at Third Man Pressing in Detroit, MI. Hand-stamped here at DFA and limited to 1000 pieces.

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.

• Lacquer cut by Bob Weston
• Pressed with love by real humans at Citizen Vinyl in Asheville, NC
• Single LP in a gatefold jacket, printed insert, and 24" x 36" fold out poster

In 2012, LIGHT ASYLUM - part of the larger DFA family tree, featuring the superhuman vocalist Shannon Funchess, who sang on stage with LCD at MSG the year prior, and her then collaborator Bruno Coviello - released their self-titled debut album. It remains widely streaming, but for whatever reason has flown under the radar since those in between days. The notable exception is Discogs, where vinyl copies have been selling for like $200. When revisiting the record a few years ago, wondering as we always did how a track like “A Certain Person” never became a Very Big Song, given that it would make even the coldest, crabbiest heart burst into flames, we were confronted with this imbalance and felt compelled to act.

That LIGHT ASYLUM found a sort of rarefied status makes sense. It’s the kind of record cherished by Those Who Know: perfectly crafted, spiritually commanding synth-pop with a voice that sounds like some kind of goth oracle from beyond. It’s simply too good to remain out of print.

This version was pressed at Citizen Vinyl in Asheville, NC from lacquers cut by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service. The package includes all of the original art - gatefold jacket, printed insert, 24” x 36” fold-out poster - with a slightly tweaked cover: where there were once three different shots of Shannon, now there is only one, definitive version.

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

A cover of the almighty Alan Vega tune recorded during the This Is Happening sessions, original released in 2009, never repressed for whatever reason (life?), and played live exactly five times:

• 1x at MSG in 2011
• 1x at the Panorama Festival in NYC in 2016 (right after Alan died)
• 3x at the Brooklyn Steel 2022 residency

Figured since it's back in the rotation, it was worth a repress.

Four color print on a reverse board sleeve.

Poly-lined inner.

Cut by Bob Weston at 45RPM. Pressed at IRP in Bordentown, NJ.

“What could have been a mere anthology of the label's uniformly excellent 2004 output is, additionally, a meticulously assembled personal narrative. This is a label that balances its musical and commercial aspirations with an earthy, no-bullshit disposition and-- let's say it-- the world's best fucking handclaps.” - Nick Sylvester, Pitchfork, in the heady days of 2004.

Behold, Compilation #2. A compendium what are arguably the best prime-era DFA cuts, mostly all recorded and/or remixed at the old DFA Studios on W. 13th Street (with some notable exceptions), released as 12-inches and then compiled onto a 3xCD set for convenience because, at the time, people actually bought CDs more than vinyl.

Now, in the spirit of time not really being much of a linear thing anymore, and for our own selfish desire to have this version of Liquid Liquid’s “Bellhead,” produced by the DFA, finally committed to wax, we have reverse engineered this thing back onto vinyl and presented it as a four-record boxed set.

We went back and found the master tapes or files for each song - a not insignificant effort given our habit of disorganization. We then rather painstakingly resequenced and remastered it with the guy we trust with such things: Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service. The lacquers Bob cut were plated and pressed at what we believe to be one of the best pressing plants in the country: QRP in Salina, Kansas.

We tell you all of this to say: we took this shit pretty seriously. Because we felt like it was important and because we felt like some folks would really appreciate it. It sounds remarkable. It looks great. (Rob Carmichael re-did the original packaging, adding a new photo from DFA OG Tim Saccenti from one of the original parties at W. 13th St.) Of course, we somehow can’t stop ourselves from making labeling errors - Pixeltan’s “That’s the Way I Like It” somehow escaped the center labels on the fourth record. It’s kind of the DFA curse. Has to be!

DFA Compilation #2 Vinyl Tracklist

SIDE A

1. Black Leotard Front - Casual Friday

SIDE B

1. J.O.Y. - Sunplus (DFA Remix)
2. The Juan MacLean - I Robot
3. The Juan MacLean - Dance Hall Modulator Dub

SIDE C

1. Delia Gonzalez & Gavin Russom - Rise (DFA Remix)
2. Black Dice - Wasteder
3. J.O.Y. - Sunplus

SIDE D

1. LCD Soundsystem - Yeah (Pretentious Version)
2. The Rapture - Sister Saviour (DFA Dub)

SIDE E

1. Liquid Liquid - Bellhead
2. LCD Soundsystem - Yeah (Crass Version)

SIDE F

1. Delia Gonzalez & Gavin Russom - El Monte
2. The Rapture - Alabama Sunshine

SIDE G

1. Pixeltan - Get Up / Say What (DFA Remix)
2. LCD Soundsystem - Beat Connection (Extended Disco Dub)

SIDE H

1. Pixeltan - That’s The Way I Like It
2. Black Dice - Endless Happiness (EYE Remix)
3. The Juan MacLean - Less Than Human

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

You’ve heard Stuart Bogie before because he’s played saxophone, clarinet, and flute on a lot of records. TV On The Radio, Foals, Sharon Van Etten, Beth Orton, Run the Jewels, Antibalas, the list goes on and on and on.

We connected with Stuart during the early clutches of COVID through Korey Richey, DFA Studios engineer and LCD Soundsystem band member. 

Stuart had been cooped up in the apartment that he shared with his partner, Karyn, and their family. It was Karyn who suggested a restless Stuart start playing clarinet on Instagram Live every morning, a ritual he kept for 150 straight days. Along the way, he solicited drones and other sounds from his friends as accompaniment.

Korey asked James if he had anything lying around that might fit. Uncharacteristically, James said yes. There was this long, plaintive drone of treated piano made sometime in the 90s that he’d just found. And another similarly droning but slightly darker organ piece made for an installation in the mid-2000s. Stuart played over both in separate sessions, improvising these beautiful, delicate clarinet runs for the sheltered, live-streaming few.

We listened back to the recordings in the office and couldn’t shake how great they were. They felt like a decompression valve, relief from the persistent, creeping apocalypse. They deserved a more meaningful existence than that of a shitty MP3. 

So, Stuart came into DFA and recorded them properly. This time Korey ran him through a stack of delay units that stretched and smeared that clarinet into each drone until they were one bewildering whole. Each recording clocked in at roughly twenty minutes - perfect side-long lengths. It all fell into place so naturally.

“Morningside” is the name of the album. Two tracks on two sides. Produced by Korey and James, mixed by James, mastered and cut by Bob. It’s out October 27. You can listen to a few snippets of each side and pre-order the vinyl below. (Since it’s only two “songs,” we aren’t releasing anything officially beforehand.)

A final, but important note: the cover features a detail of a photograph called “The Burial Vault” by the excellent photographer Gregory Crewdson, taken from his recent series “Eveningside.” (The full photograph is featured on a printed insert inside the record package.) A few months earlier, Gregory was finishing what would become “Eveningside” and asked James (a friend) if he might, y’know, have anything lying around. A video was being made about the work and music was needed. James sent these recordings, which evidently sort of stopped Gregory in his tracks. And just like that another piece of the puzzle fell into place. The connection was so natural that Stuart also finally found the title he’d been searching for (until that point, we’d been calling the record simply “Clarinet and Delay.”)

CREDITS
Produced by James Murphy for the DFA & Korey Richey
Mixed by James Murphy
Mastered by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service
Clarinet recorded by Korey Richey at DFA Studios, Brooklyn, NY on November 6, 2022

“Morningside” treated piano recorded at DFA Recording, Manhattan, 2009 originally for an installation at Palais De Tokyo, Paris, in October 2009. Engineered by Matt Thornley and James Murphy.

“Eveningside” feedback and organ recorded sometime in 1993 at Plantain Recording House, Brooklyn, originally for a video art installation. Engineered by James Murphy.

Album art direction by Sam Duke
Cover and insert photograph by Gregory Crewdson, The Burial Vault,
2021-2022, Digital pigment print, image size: 34.5 x 46 in. © Gregory Crewdson

Pressed at Citizen Vinyl in Asheville, NC.

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

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

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.

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.

Some old copies of what is arguably the crown jewel of the early DFA catalog have been "unearthed!"

These copies are even pressed at 45RPM.

Written and recorded in the depths of the early pandemic, JJULIUS’ first solo album, Vol. 1, is a heavily lidded, subsuming journey into the dark heart DIY and kosmische sounds. There are traditional “songs” here, sure - catchy basslines, little dollops of guitar melody, and words, albeit sung in Swedish - but it’s really more of a complete experience than a collection of tracks, a world you don’t really want to leave even if you have no idea what’s really going on.

JJULIUS is Julius Pierstorff, a Götebörg-based musician and producer who has kicked around that city’s incredibly vibrant DIY scene in a variety of projects. He is half of Monokultur with his partner Elin, who also records on her own as Loopsel. Newly signed to DFA, the pair have new records on the way along with this repress of the long-since-sold-out Vol. 1.