One of our favorite mixing of modes from the old school – a tremendous second album from the legendary Aksak Maboul! The record mixes arty playfulness with some rootsier elements – bits of Eastern instrumentation, jazz, improvisation, and even some post-punk elements – all in a way that makes for one of the most creative recordings of its time – a set that easily provides key inspiration for more recent genre-crossing acts like this! There's a bit of Y or Ze Records whimsy at times – but the end result is much deeper, and much more compelling– as you'd expect from a group that features Fred Frith on guitar, Chris Cutler on drums, Marc Hollander and Michel Berkmans on reeds, and Denis Van Hecke on a range of cool cellos! Each tune has a slightly different flavor, but there's still a really unified feel to the record too – one of those European projects that comes together like nothing you'd hear from the US. Titles include "Geistige Nacht", "A Modern Lesson", "Palmiers En Pots", "Inoculating Rabies", "Cinema", and "Bosses De Crosses". CD

If the "figures" in the title here sounds a bit familiar, it's because Figures was a great return to form for the legendary Aksak Maboul – a record that showed that their unusual mix of sounds and styles was alive and well into the 21st Century – used here as a platform for new creation by a hosts of artists and producers invited to the project by the group! These tracks aren't remixes, and are definitely "redrawn" in the spirit of the title – fresh music that moves between a variety of modes, but which often still retains the leaner feel of the group in their current incarnation. Titles on this first volume include "Silhouettes (Vanishing Twin rmx)", "C'est Charles (Shungu rmx)", "Eyelids & Phosphenes (Aksak Maboul reconstruction)", "Hotel Suites (Carl Stone redesign)", "Un Caid (Spooky J rmx)", and "Retour Chez A (Kate NV rmx)". LP, Vinyl record album

If the "figures" in the title here sounds a bit familiar, it's because Figures was a great return to form for the legendary Aksak Maboul – a record that showed that their unusual mix of sounds and styles was alive and well into the 21st Century – used here as a platform for new creation by a hosts of artists and producers invited to the project by the group! These tracks aren't remixes, and are definitely "redrawn" in the spirit of the title – fresh music that moves between a variety of modes, but which often still retains the leaner feel of the group in their current incarnation. Titles on this second volume include "Un Caid (Hello Skinny rmx)", "Retour Chez A (Felix Kubin rmx)", "Fin (Stubbleman rmx)", "Anatomy Of A Dramuscule (Matias Aguayo interpretation)", "L'Adieu A L'Histoire (Tolouse Low Trax rmx)", and "Dramuscule (Ohh Luuu rmx)". LP, Vinyl record album

A really cool project from this always-unique group – a set that follows in their pan-global legacy of sounds, but which also adapts them to more of a soundtrack sort of setting – as you might guess from the album's appearance in the Made To Measure series! The music is strong throughout, but also works to engage a series of sung and spoken text passages – all words penned by Veronique Vincent (hence the title) – and performed by Blaine L Reininger, Laetitia Sader, Alig Fodder, and others. The project is inspired by sonic projects on European radio from years back – but it's also got a sound that's very much in the spirit of the Crammed label at its height – and maybe a bit like that of the contemporary imprint Les Disques Du Crepuscle too. Titles include "Veille Au Reve", "Miracle Au Jardin, "L'Ombre Double", "Talking With The Birds", "The Eraser", "Zone Blanche", "Brown Dwarves", and "I Walk & I Walk". LP, Vinyl record album

A really unique project from the Serbian underground of the 80s – a record that mixes together global elements, electronics, and some other live instrumentation – all in a way that's as tuneful as it is experimental, and which has a nice sort of post-punk sense of freedom throughout! The music reminds us a lot of some of our favorite work from farther up on the European scene – particularly records on the Crammed label, as this set shares a similar sense of wider sensibilities coming into play with new technologies of the time, yet handled in a way that's very personal and poetic. The duo bring a bit of vocals to the record, but most of the music comes from the interplay between acoustic and electronic elements – on titles that include "Gitanes", "Gajeiro", "Rhinoceros II, "Sometimes At Nine", "In The Sky", and "Rumba Balcana". LP, Vinyl record album

Very cool work from Jean-Luic Aime – ex-member of Univers Zero, working here in a very heady brew of cold wave electronics! The music shifts between spare, almost tuneful numbers that remind us a bit of Minny Pops or Young Marble Giants – and some much more experimental sounds that belie Aime's legacy – done with a homegrown feel that would have been right at home in the darker corners of the early Crammed Disc universe! The album brings together tracks from a few different small-label cassette recordings, with full notes on the music from Andy Votel – and titles include "Prima Linea", "Scorpio", "Coaltar Saponine", "I Can Help You You Know", and "Ultrissima On The J's M". LP, Vinyl record album