Stereolab's Duophonic Super 45s releasing first new LPs in 20 years (Astrel K, Ghost Power)
Duophonic Super 45s, the label run by Stereolab’s Tim Gane and Laetitia Sadier and manager Martin Pike, have released a few 7″ singles in the last few years, as well as those Stereolab reissues, but otherwise the label has been largely inactive for the last two decades. That changes this month, with Duophonic releasing two new non-Stereolab albums on April 29.
One is Stereolab-related, though. Ghost Power are the duo of Tim Gane and Jeremy Novak (Dymaxion) who released a 7″ on Duophonic a couple years ago and are now releasing their debut album. They make ultra-groovy instrumentals that sound somewhere between krautrock the more experimental side of late-’60s ye-ye, and early-’80s post punk. Gane and Novak made their album remotely in London and New York, respectively, and you can listen to “Asteroid Witch” below.
The other new album on Duophonic is Flickering i, the debut album from Astrel K, aka Rhys Edwards of Ulrika Spacek. He made the record after moving from London to Stockholm, Sweden. “I didn’t really know anyone in Stockholm so kinda retreated into making music just by myself,” Edwards says. “The album title definitely reflects this period; I was on my own making music and sometimes nothing would be happening and sometimes there would be little sparks of ideas that could keep me going.”
Where Ulrika Spacek made noisy, drony indie rock, Astrel K has more of a ’60s psychedelic pop feel by way of groups like Broadcast or The Soundcarriers. The album includes “You Could If You Can,” which Duophonic released as a 7″ in 2020, and they’ve shared the video for new excellent new single “Is It It Or Is It i?” Watch that below.
In other news, Stereolab are working on a fifth volume of their Switched On compilation series that rounds up singles and other non-LP tracks. Stay tuned for more info on that.
Stereolab will tour this fall. and you can pick up their 1992 album, Peng!, on vinyl in our shop.
Ghost Power tracklist:
1. Asteroid Witch 03:41
2. Panic In The Isles Of Splendor 03:41
3. Lithic Fragment 01:22
4. Inchwork 03:17
5. Zome Primer 01:43
6. Grimalkin 05:01
7. Heavy Bubbles 01:28
8. Vertical Section 02:14
9. Opsimath 02:04
10. Astral Melancholy Suite 15:05
Astrel K – Flickering i tracklist:
1. Is It It Or Is It i? 05:56
2. You Could If You Can 03:47
3. Imperial Phase 05:05
4. 9V 00:50
5. Clicktivism 04:58
6. Clean Coal 05:27
7. Forwardmomentum 03:52
8. Flickering i 03:20
9. Morbid Clinging 01:48
10. Maybe It All Comes At Once 03:00
