Berlin-based New Yorker Luca Venezia, better known as CURSES, has joined the Italians Do It Better family. The musician and DJ has signed with the label run by Johnny Jewel and Megan Louise that became known for being home to Chromatics but has since also provided a release outlet lately to Mothermary, Dlina Volny, Causeway, Kid Moxie & Nina, Sally Shapiro, Bark Bark Disco and Love Object.

For many reasons, the Italians Do It Better union is fitting; known for blending goth rock, new wave, dark disco and synth as exemplified by Venezia’s acclaimed ‘Next Wave Acid Punx’ series of compilations, ‘Another Heaven’ is the third full length CURSES album. Benefitting from Johnny Jewel’s co-production input, it develops on the gloomy vision cemented on the debut ‘Romantic Fiction’.

Informed by Venezia’s love of alternative club music, one of the highlights of ‘Another Heaven’ comes with its title song; this takes its lead from New Order and ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’, but presents it more as an influence rather than the blatant but very good rip off that Nation Of Language’s ‘On Joy Division Street’ was. Expressing his lovestruck joy across seven wonderful minutes, Venezia said “This is a love song dedicated to the lost ones, a ballad for the lost ones to belong. We are always searching for that immortal love, divine romance, a truth to our mystery, and when we find it, we can only assume, this creature so perfect so made for you must be from an ethereal unknown place”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Thumping 808's, rolling bass stabs and haunted, ghostly vocals twist around a core of melodic pop music and woozy chorused guitar. Redolent of the golden era of goth music, spiked with pearls of poppy melodicism. Ace.

TRACK LISTING

1. Caviar
2. Another Heaven
3. Heart & Cane
4. Like Porcelain
5. Echoes
6. Elegant Death
7. HS2G
8. Vanish (Feat. Skelesys)
9. Helium (Feat. Marie Davidson)

15 years since their fantasy disco scene-defining 1st volume, Johnny Jewel’s IDIB lasso Sally Shapiro, Desire, Farah, Lovelock and the kreme of their field for a 27-song, 2-hour re-up

Where previous volumes took their sweet time to arrive, ‘Volume 4’ graces the ‘floor only two years since the last, and nobody’s complaining. From its slo-mo, dry-iced covers of Jennifer Lopez’ ‘Waiting For Tonight’, Don Henley’s ’Boys of Summer’ and even flipping R.E.M.’s ‘Losing My Religion’, thru to exclusive pearls by our disco queen crush, Sally Shapiro, and Johnny Jewel as Desire, it’s the ideal soundtrack for late summer into silly season.

TRACK LISTING

1. Wolfram Feat. Desire – Sad Ibiza Song
2. Orion – Call A Psychic
3. MOTHERMARY – Coming For You (NICOLAAS Remix)
4. Double Mixte – Chateau D'eau
5. Love Object – Epicurus
6. The Operator – Danser
7. Talvi - The Day We Met Never Ended For Me
8. Kid Moxie & NINA* – Waiting For Tonight
9. Farah – Losing My Religion
10. Sally Shapiro – Moonlight Dance (Tommy '86 Remix)
11. Glüme – Dangerous Blue
12. Cigar Cigarette – Come Correct
13. Desire – Silver Machine
14. Causeway – I'm Falling Apart
15. Esper Star – Boys Of Summer
16. Juno Francis – Romantica
17. Sally Shapiro – Purple Colored Sky
18. Club Intl Feat. Logan Avidan – Hazel Eyes
19. Mesh Kimono – Afterburn
20. Dlina Volny – Saturday
21. Annie-Claude Deschênes – Electric Light
22. Cameron Romance – Meet You On The Other Side
23. JOON – I Think They Call It Love
24. Lovelock Feat. Orion – Riders On Dark Horses
25. PYNKIE & Social Media – Zoom
26. Body Double – Telescope
27. Double Mixte – Am I A Fool To Love You

Desire return with 'Games People Play', an expansive 21-track double album that finds the band pushing deeper into their world of Dancefloor Pop and Film Noir. Recorded between Los Angeles, Paris, and London, the album unfolds like a game of chess—Desire as the queen, fate as the dealer, and love as the ultimate wager. It’s a cinematic labyrinth of passion, power, and deception where every move counts, and every lover risks heartbreak on the razor’s edge.

The record combines big-room club anthems ('Dream Girl', 'Drama Queen'), shadowy noir interludes ('Othello', 'Réflexion Sous La Pluie'), and timeless ballads ('The Judge', 'Cold As Ice'), all framed by Johnny Jewel’s signature cinematic production. With 72 minutes of music, 'Games People Play' is both a mirror and a mask: part dancefloor, part dream sequence, part broken heart. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Darkside
2. Dangerous Drug
3. Human Nature
4. Dream Girl
5. Sometimes
6. Vampire
7. The Judge
8. Drama Queen
9. Russian Roulette
10. Love Races On
11. Cold As Ice
12. Réflexion Sous La Plouie
13. Tell It To My Heart
14. I Know
15. Love Theme
16. I Run To You
17. Demons In The Rain
18. Othello
19. Love On The Air
20. I See Black
21. Games People Play

Since 2006, listeners have been curious about the origin of the label name Italians Do It Better. Some say it's an homage to Italo Disco, others guess it's related to ancestry, but in fact it's a nod to the iconic T-shirt Madonna wears in the "Papa Don't Preach" video circa 1986.

Fast forward to a world pandemic... To encourage creativity & lift spirits, Italians Do It Better President, Megan Louise asked every artist “If you could cover your favourite Madonna song…What would it be?”

As a tribute to their label muse & the impact Madonna’s music has had on the world around us, Italians Do It Better are sharing a compilation of covers simply titled “Italians Do It Better”. One of the tracks (“Lucky Star” by Club Intl) is even produced by Max Kamins, the son of Mark Kamins, the New York DJ who helped break Madonna in the early 1980's. From the experience he says “Dance music was the soundtrack of my early childhood. Working on "Lucky Star" reconnected me not only to my father, but also reminded me that a good song is timeless".

Executive produced by Johnny Jewel, the compilation is a passport to 20 covers from the bedrooms of 19 artists across 10 different countries.

TRACK LISTING

1. Joon - Papa Don't Preach
2. Desire - Angel
3. Sally Shapiro - Holiday
4. DlinaVolny - Hollywood
5. Farah - Gang Bang
6. Mothermary - Like A Virgin
7. Club Intl - Lucky Star
8. Love Object - Frozen
9. Orion - Into The Groove
10. Number One Pop Star - Hung Up
11. Double Mixte - La Isla Bonita
12. Juno Francis - Beautiful Stranger
13. Glüme - Material Girl
14. In Mirrors - I'm Addicted
15. Causeway - Crazy For You
16. Mothermary - Like A Prayer
17. Jorja Chalmers - Justify My Love
18. Pink Gloves - What It Feels Like Fora Girl
19. Lou Rebecca - Burning Up

Desire is an electronic music band from Montreal and Portland, Oregon. Their debut album, '2', was originally released in June 2009 on Italians Do it Better, and is now repressed on Baby Pink coloured Vinyl. The band is made up of vocalist Megan Louise, producer Johnny Jewel (also a member of the bands Chromatics and Glass Candy) and Nat Walker (also a member of Chromatics) on synthesizer and drums.

TRACK LISTING

1. Montre Moi Ton Visage
2. Miroir Mirior
3. Don’t Call
4. Dans Mes Reves
5. Under Your Spell
6. Colorless Sky
7. If I Can’t Hold You
8. Part II

2025 repress of Desire's 2022 release 'Escape'. Inspired by the ultra-vivid world of 1970's giallo films, they wrote the soundtrack of their dreams using their favourite musical instruments: Minikorg, Jupiter 8, 909, Mellotron, Simmons Rhythm Modules, String Machine, a D-50 & Fender Rhodes.

House music rhythms provide the canvas for girl group narratives & a children's choir to paint the picture. Throbbing synthwave & daytime drama soap operas all play into the color pallet of the album. The lyrics are sung in English, French, & Korean, adding even more drama to the mix. Through it all, there is the optimism of true love's compass navigating us through all the chaos life has to offer

TRACK LISTING

1. Black Latex
2. Telling Me Lies
3. Liquid Dreams
4. Love Is A Crime
5. Zeros
6. Dark Age
7. Haenim
8. Ghosts
9. Escape
10. The Young & The Restless
11. Days & Nights
12. L'Amulette De La Vie
13. Friends & Enemies

Swedish italo disco / synthpop duo Sally Shapiro announce their fifth studio album, 'Ready To Live A Lie'. Taking inspiration from synthwave, italo disco, nudisco, indie pop and bossanova, the album becomes their second for Italians Do It Better - again mixed together with label founder Johnny Jewel (Chromatics, Glass Candy, Desire).

'Ready To Live A Lie' may, however, be the duo's darkest album yet. The lyrics have shifted from the euphoria of first love to exploring "Sally's" struggles in long-term relationships—love triangles, boredom, resentment, and the lingering sense of loneliness.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Other Dyas
2. Hard To Love
3. Rent
4. Purple Coloured Sky
5. Happier Somewhere Else
6. Guarding Shell
7. Hospital
8. Did You Call Tonight
9. Oh Carrie
10. He’s Not You
11. Rain

Desire shares Escape, their new album written & recorded in Los Angeles & Palm Springs, California. Inspired by the ultra-vivid world of 1970's giallo films, they wrote the soundtrack of their dreams using their favorite musical instruments: Minikorg, Jupiter 8, 909, Mellotron, Simmons Rhythm Modules, String Machine, a D-50 & Fender Rhodes.

House music rhythms provide the canvas for girl group narratives & a children's choir to paint the picture. Throbbing synthwave & daytime drama soap operas all play into the color pallet of the album. The lyrics are sung in English, French, & Korean, adding even more drama to the mix. Through it all, there is the optimism of true love's compass navigating us through all the chaos life has to offer.

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
1. Black Latex
2. Telling Me Lies
3. Liquid Dreams
4. Love Is A Crime

Side 2
5. Zeros
6. Dark Age
7. Haenim (ft. Ether)

Side 3
8. Ghosts
9. Escape
10. The Young And The Restless

Side 4
11. Days & Nights
12. Broken Windows
13. Friends & Enemies

Jorja Chalmers enjoys a quiet life. The Australian born mother of two lives in Margate, the Kent coastal town that is turning into something of a cultural hub. Yet there’s another, shadow version of Jorja Chalmers, one that resides in a liminal realm; a saxophonist & composer, a brooding, vampiric, twilight soul who yearns for some sense of aesthetic transformation.

New album ‘Midnight Train’ comes close to severing the two. Constructed during the long winter lockdown, Jorja would put her kids to bed before closing the door in the spare room, building lengthy, undulating passages of cinematic terror, patching together European art-pop glamour with outsider electronics. It’s composed, intense, & challenging – but it’s also utterly exhilarating.

“I feel incredibly proud of this album,” she says. “It feels like a life’s work squeezed into one space. It feels like I’m saying something.”

TRACK LISTING

A1. Bring Me Down
A2. I'll Be Waiting
A3. Rabbit In The Headlights
A4. Boadicea
A5. Love Me Tonight
A6. Nightingale
A7. Riders On The Storm
B1. Rhapsody
B2. The Poet
B3. The Wolves Of The Orangery
B4. On Such A Clear Day
B5. Midnight Train
B6. Underwater Blood

Portland's masters of cinematic synth, the inimitable Chromatics are back with their fifth studio LP, "Closer To Grey". The band's first album since 2012, "Closer To Grey" continues the outfit's exploration of neon lit diners, freezing city streets and 80s noir, kicking off with a stripped back and atmospheric interpretation of Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound Of Silence". The tempo rises for "You're No Good", "Closer To Grey" and twist the knife, which alternate between vintage Italians Do It Better disco and propulsive new wave, before "Light As A Feather" pairs Chromatics' trademark sound with the fresh addition of a breakbeat. The first disc ends on a note of romance with the prom-friendly "Move A Mountain", a reminder that vocalist Ruth Radelet can kill with a whisper. As we head to the C-side "Touch Red" leads us through a little lounge-styled melancholy while "Whispers In The Hall" finds the middle ground between trap-bass tones and Carpenter's Halloween soundtrack. A synth and scuzz cover of Jesus And Mary Chain's "On The Wall" reminds us of the group's DIY origins, a wonderful contrast to the luxurious textures of "Love Theme..." and dreamy closer "Wishing Well". 

And just like that, Chromatics pull off that most difficult of tasks, creating something which is the same, but different. All the emotion, feeling and mood remain, but bolstered with a few new musical flavours which compliment rather than detract. 

TRACK LISTING

1. The Sound Of Silence
2. You’re No Good
3. Closer To Grey
4. Twist The Knife
5. Light As A Feather
6. Move A Mountain
7. Touch Red
8. Through The Looking Glass
9. Whispers In The Hall
10. On The Wall
11. Love Theme From Closer To Grey
12. Wishing Well

It's hard to think of any other record that so perfectly encapsulates that favourite part of the day for all nighthawks, revellers and DJs. The hour before dawn, when the streets of the city are empty, lights change for traffic that isn't there and a lone fox is you're only companion on your walk home. Taking their inspiration from the synth-heavy soundtracks of John Carpenter (especially "Assault On Precinct 13"), Kraftwerk, Madonna and Timbaland their sound is unique because of the absence of sequencers and computers. There's something undeniably refreshing about dance music that goes out of time occasionally. Highlights include "Rolling Down The Hills" and "Beatific" but it's their cover of Kraftwerk's "Computer Love" that's the record's masterpiece. It's hard to believe that a song written nearly thirty years ago could soundtrack, so perfectly, the alienation of city living in the twenty first century. Thank you Italians Do It Better for "B/E/A/T/B/O/X".