Ultra were one of the shadiest of the post-Industrial avant-experimental groups, with next to nada available in terms of info and a deliberately cryptic/parodic stance. They were in fact the brainchild of Jon Carlson with contributions from Christoph Heemann and Achim P Li Khan of HNAS, inspired in part by their response to the early Whitehouse and Come Org releases. But in their attempt to lampoon and amplify the urges behind the most transgressive Industrial noise they went well beyond the remit, birthing a form of subtly psychedelic avant garde that is as beautiful as it is hilarious. There’s a sophistication to the recording that bears Heemann’s unmistakable thumbprint (he appears on 11 of the 18 tracks), with hazy drone sunsets that are pure Mirror, elegiac avant piano instrumentals and great barracking Industrial/rock assaults in the mode of Whitehouse/Ramleh, including the classic “New Centurion” and their amazing take on The Sodality’s “I Can’t Stand A Bitchy Chick.” The schizophrenic atmosphere makes for the perfect confusion, lurching from fizzy, melancholy tone-poems to fists full of Industrial brutalism. If you’re at all attuned to the more experimental/avant garde side of Industrial music, the side specifically inspired by the NWW list and articulated by labels like Pinakotheca, then might wanna move in. This deluxe double LP reissue restores their classic 1997 Roman Holiday album complete with additional stray singles and a bonus 7” featuring unreleased material from the Zoll sessions. Edition of 500 copies. Highly recommended.

Stunning archival unearthing of late-60s/early-70s electronic works from minimalist composer Charlemagne Palestine in an edition of 380 copies: recorded as experiments towards his ‘lost’ masterpiece L’Avventura, inspired by the Antonioni film of the same name, these pieces feature dense, overlapping settings for filtered sine tone generators and variously manipulated tape-works. The first side features a 1970 composition that is one of the wildest and heaviest recordings of Palestine’s career, with Industrial strength monoliths consisting of constantly shifting and elementally powerful steel tone drones pitched against each other in great hurricanes of sound. Commissioned as a dance piece for Gus Soloman, it’s one of Palestine’s most radically organic electronic environments. The second side features more love-level electro-drone works, with overlapping oscillators generating time-killing fluctuations. A massively heavy side from Palestine, with a set of recordings that create a spectacular vision of the future.