v/a - Auteur Labels: Les Disques du Crepuscule

The compilation series Auteur Labels profiles independent record labels with a unique sound, vision and design sensibility, usually guided by one or two directors, and concerned more with art than commerce.

This release focuses on Les Disques du Crépuscule, the chic, multimedia imprint founded by Michel Duval, Benoît Hennebert and Annik Honoré in Brussels in 1980, and associated with Factory Benelux during its first year.

Tracklist:

1. Michael Nyman Mozart
2. Marine Life in Reverse
3. Thick Pigeon Subway
4. Josef K Sorry for Laughing
5. Repetition A Still Reflex
6. Bill Nelson Dada Guitare
7. Paul Haig Running Away
8. Tuxedomoon Ninotchka
9. Ike Yard Night After Night
10. The Durutti Column Party
11. The Names Life by the Sea
12. Steven Brown Waltz
13. Richard Jobson Autumn
14. The French Impressionists Pick Up the Rhythm
15. Isolation Ward Lamina Christus
16. Antena Camino del Sol
17. The Pale Fountains Something On My Mind
18. Mikado Par Hazard
19. Anna Domino Land of My Dreams
20. Blaine L. Reininger Mystery & Confusion
21. Devine & Statton Bizarre Love Triangle

Reviews:

"Outstanding compilations, sophisticated scholarship. This Crépuscule volume is both a treasury of musical originality and an epoch-defining document, the overarching tone of which is plangent, high aesthetic modernism. The Baroque overture of Michael Nyman's Mozart is matched by the looping dronescape of Bill Nelson's Dada Guitare. Such filmic urbanism, enhanced by the stark rhythm patterns, for example, of Repetition's A Still Reflex, is then transposed to a new mode by the wistful, sun-drenched female vocals of Mikado and Anna Domino. At root, the Crépuscule sensibility treated the recording, promotion and packaging of recorded music as a proudly artistic and holistic aesthetic process - a spirit here upheld by the super cool cover design by Benoît Hennebert". (The Wire, 08/2008)

"A bang up job. The package depicts a bygone era of enduring relevance, and the superb booklet is rich in historical detail, photographs and artwork" (Brainwashed, 09/2008)