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ITALIANS DO IT BETTER

Desire

II - 2025 Repress

    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

    Desire

    Escape - 2025 Repress

      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

      Sally Shapiro

      Ready To Live A Lie

        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

        CURSES

        Another Heaven

          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”


          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)

          Desire

          Escape

            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

            Sally Shapiro

            Sad Cities

              REWIND…

              15 years ago, they shared their first song online. Blogs & record labels immediately took notice & swarmed. Our introduction to the elusive Swedish duo was the now classic “I’ll Be By Your Side”, a shimmering Italo Disco track with ethereal vocals that hypnotized everyone who heard it. Johan’s elegant production was years ahead of what anyone else was doing at the time, & the elusive falsetto of the dreamlike singer was unforgettable. In 2007, their debut album, Disco Romance, was revered by the press. The album was nominated as “Best Dance/Electronic Album of the Year” & was given a spot in Pitchfork’s Top 50 albums of 2007. Their sound was a unique take on the romantic club music of the mid 1980’s. At the time you could count the artists exploring this territory on one hand. Johnny Jewel began corresponding with Johan later that year resulting in Agebjörn’s remix of Glass Candy’s “The Chameleon”. The seminal After Dark compilation had come out that summer & the kindred spirits kept in touch.

              Their debut album sees remixes by other likeminded producers like Lindstrøm, Tensnake, Junior Boys, CFCF, & Juan MacLean. In 2009, My Guilty Pleasure, picks up where Disco Romance left off. They collaborated with Electric Youth (known from the ”Drive” soundtrack) on their third album Somewhere Else in 2013. Johan is a fixture on European dancefloors collaborating with Lindstrøm, Glass Candy, Annie, Wolfram, Hercules & Love Affair, & more. In 2018 he produced the addictive Samantha Fox single “Hot Boy”.

              PAUSE…

              Sally is notoriously shy, remaining shrouded in anonymity. To this day she insists on recording her vocals alone in the studio & refuses to perform her songs live. In 2016, the duo went underground & released what was thought to have been their final single.

              FAST FORWARD…

              Working in deep seclusion over the last half decade, they recorded an incredible collection of material out this fall via Italians Do It Better. A gorgeous bouquet of pure electronic bliss mixed by Johan Agebjörn & Johnny Jewel. The enigmatic duo re-surfaces from the underground this week with “Fading Away”, a first look at a new era.

              PLAY…

              TRACK LISTING

              1. Forget About You
              2. Believe In Me
              3. Down This Road
              4. Sad City
              5. Dulcinea
              6. Falling Clouds
              7. Love In Slow Motion (Feat. Electric Youth)
              8. Million Ways
              9. Tell Me How (Feat. Tommy ’86)
              10. Christmas Escape
              11. Fading Away

              Jorja Chalmers

              Midnight Train

                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

                Glass Candy

                B/E/A/T/B/O/X - Clear Vinyl Pressing

                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".


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