Italians Do It Better

Dlina Volny

In Between

Italians Do It Better

***The latest from this darkwave / post-punk trio from Minsk, Belarus. Dlina Volny’s music vaporizes on the event horizon where Eastern European Post-Punk collides with Western Synthwave. The album balances mystical narratives & dreamlike fantasies sourced deep in the trio’s subconscious. Walking the tightrope that separates pain & euphoria, the lyrics wrestle with polarity. Anxiety vs passion, & hope vs the deep despair that surrounds negative space.

Desire

Games People Play

Italians Do It Better

***The third full-length album from Desire—Megan Louise and Johnny Jewel. “Games People Play is a conceptual double album with two records inside one. It’s half Dancefloor Pop & half Film Noir. 21 songs recorded in the Key of Love. On the boulevard of broken dreams…She dares to roll the dice one more time…”

V/a

After Dark 4

Italians Do It Better

***The fourth volume in IDIB's ongoing After Dark series features the latest from WOLFRAM & DESIRE, ANNIE-CLAUDE DESCHENES, SALLY SHAPIRO, GLUME, DESIRE, BODY DOUBLE ORION, MOTHERMARY, DOUBLE MIXTE, CLUB INTL, LOVE OBJECT,THE OPERATOR, TALVI, KID MOXIE & NINA. FARAH, CAUSEWAY, and more. Pressed on purple vinyl.

Sally Shapiro

Ready To Live A Lie

Italians Do It Better

***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). The name "Sally Shapiro" has always referred to both the duo, as well as the enigmatic anonymous singer whose real name is something else. But "Sally" is also a third entity: the fictional character singing about her love stories. It's now been 18 years since Sally Shapiro's debut album Disco Romance, that took influences from italo disco and indie pop with a naive and youthful flavor, as if everything "Sally" did was to "walk in the moonshine thinking about my love affairs", as she once put it. 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.Pressed on 180-gram colored vinyl.

Curses

Another Heaven

Italians Do It Better

***Berlin-based romantic post-punk and body musik Musician/DJ riding the next wave acid halo into the sun-shattered dusk. Pressed on hot pink vinyl.

V/a

Italians Do It Better

Italians Do It Better

***NOW AVAILABLE NEW DOULBE MINT VINYL!!! The JOHNNY JEWELL produced tribute to the Material Girl features the breathless IDIB best performing the iconic singles. Features tracks from DESIRE, SALLY SHAPIRO, FARAH, ORION, DOUBLE MIXTE, JORJA CHALMERS, LOU REBECCA, JUNO FRANCIS, NUMBER ONE POPSTAR, IN MIRRORS, JOON and others. 

Desire

Escape

Italians Do It Better

***Desire shares Escape, their new album written and recorded in Los Angeles and 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 and a children's choir to paint the picture. Throbbing synthwave and daytime drama soap operas all play into the color pallet of the album. The lyrics are sung in English, French, and 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.

Sally Shapiro

Rent

Italians Do It Better

***"Sally Shapiro's cover of this Pet Shop Boys classic keeps the original close to the heart. Emphasizing the baroque leanings of the chord progression, they take it further with a 8th note melody careening over icy pads. The result is a Synthwave skyline scraping the upper atmosphere in the never-ending race to survive the first of the month. It's a twisted tale of the politics of economy in relationships where the currency is love. Sally's crystalline coo glides over Johan's elegant Italo production as the bass line anchors the galloping rhythm section. Home is where the heart is... but shelter comes first in this game of love."—Johnny Jewel Pressed on clear vinyl.

Glüme

Main Character

Italians Do It Better

***"Main Character, like the rest of Glüme’s discography, explores identity and feeling at home in yourself. But in a delightful, meta way, Main Character soundtracks a curious, free-flowing world of selves totally in keeping with the title. Glüme has composed her own musical in three acts in which she stars as the titular main character and antagonist, and it makes for excellent watching. Act 1 sees Glüme at her vibrant, bright best, opening Main Character with a handful of sparkling pop bangers. After the reflective beginnings of 'Child Actor', Glüme absolutely comes into her own on 'Do Me A Favor': simultaneously end-credits energy and opening-montage optimism, pairing lyrics about escapism with bubbly synths and sprawling production that could soundtrack any number of excited new beginnings. It’s a good note to open the new chapter of Main Character on, and fittingly cinematic too. In a similar vein, 'Dangerous Blue' is pure euphoria, glittering in falsetto and blending a pulsing club beat with dizzy, delicate melody lines, and even punctuating the rhythms with huge orchestral flourishes. “Wedding Cake Shop” is one of the record’s most avant-pop moments, a breathless walking bass and vivid storytelling alongside pure playfulness. 'Flicker Flicker' employs a darker tone, with murmured vocals over trap beats, but it’s still sensual and based around a catchy, coy hook and grounded in slick production. Glüme is at her best when she’s toying with quintessential pop tones and prodding them towards her boundaries, and it shines across Main Character. But the album's...

Chalmers, Jorja

Midnight Train

Italians Do It Better

***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, and challenging—but it’s also utterly exhilarating. It’s not been a straight-forward path. Burned out following years of classical studies in her native Sydney, Jorja traveled half-way round the world looking for an escape. Settling for some ad hoc office jobs in London, she started kicking around in b&s, playing saxophone for a friend’s new wave project. Someone from Bryan Ferry’s team spotted her at some flea-bit bar, and was infatuated—soon Jorja started touring the world with Roxy Music. Jorja’s 2019 debut album Human Again was sketched in hotel rooms across Europe & North America, ideas punched out on down-time between shows. Open ended and lucid, its formless, dreamy atmospherics touched freely on darker aspects of the psyche. This time round, however, things are a bit more defined. Midnight Train is a treasure trove of ideas. Indeed, it could well be...

Glüme

The Internet

Italians Do It Better

**Glüme wants it all. Born & raised in Los Angeles, it all started with a Judy Garland biopic. When a six-year-old Glüme heard her parents arguing about money, she knew what to do. If the Wizard of Oz’s Dorothy Gale could become a star and buy her parents a house in the real world—Glüme could do it too. She stopped going to school, started taking dance lessons and started booking auditions. Baby Glüme landed roles in 102 Dalmatians, Kingdom Hearts, and a Hayao Miyazaki film, but her airy voice & melancholic aura wasn’t exactly what the Disney Channel was looking for. “There were all these happy, girl power albums, but they were all written by men. Guys would say to me, you need to be more empowering, more uplifting. I don’t have any of that to say.” Fast forward…Glüme hears Chromatics on Spotify Shuffle. Immediately, she knew that Johnny Jewel’s production was the only way the music in her head could be translated to the outside world. Her years as an actor had supplied her with enough connections to get a meeting with the president of Warner Brothers & Rihanna’s lawyer, but she couldn’t track down Johnny Jewel. Then, out of nowhere, Glüme wound up in the ICU for two weeks. After dozens of tests, she was diagnosed with Prinzmetal Angina, a rare heart disease. It felt like a door had closed. “I didn’t like the vision of myself as a sick person. So I went on The Internet.” Between...

Sally Shapiro

Sad Cities

Italians Do It Better

***The anticipated new album from the Italo disco / synth pop duo SALLY SHAPIRO comprised of Shapiro and Johan Agebjörn. "Seems like ages, since Sally Shapiro shared their first song online, Italians Do It Better’s introduction to the pair was 'I’ll Be By Your Side,' a shimmering Italo Disco track with ethereal vocals that hypnotised 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. Sally Shapiro’s sound was a definitely a different 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... Working in deep seclusion over the last half decade, they record Sad Cities, an incredible collection out on February 18th 2022 via Italians Do It Better. A gorgeous bouquet of pure electronic bliss mixed by Johan Agebjörn & Johnny Jewel."—Northern Transmissions. (STREET DATE - 2/18/2022)

V/a

After Dark 3

Italians Do It Better

***Every seven years, we release an After Dark label sampler, the long awaited third edition is finally here. Produced by Johnny Jewel, ‘After Dark 3’ features label mainstays DESIRE, CHROMATICS, FARAH and introduces fresh blood from around the globe. A glimpse beyond the curtain, into what the new year sounds like for Italians Do It Better. In the tradition of our spaced out cinema disco, we present After Dark 3…The wallpaper of your dreams & the stardust of the future. With ORION, JOHNNY JEWEL, DOUBLE MIXTE, ATRIP, LOVE OBJECT, JOON, GLÜME, MOTHERMARY, GUy GERBER, CAUSEWAY, CLUB INTL, and PINK GLOVES.

Roby, Tess

Beacon

Italians Do It Better

***BACK IN STOCK!!!  “A Montreal-based artist and grizzled veteran of the Canadian Children’s Opera Company, Roby wrote Beacon in 2015 following the death of her father. Collaborating with her brother Eliot — and using synthesizers and drum machines from her father’s studio — Roby sought to craft a “spiritual homage,” both to her father, and to the beacon the album takes its title from (a Napoleonic War-era watch tower that still sits atop Ashurst Hill in Dalton, Lancashire.) Fittingly, Roby’s music is awash with ethereal synths, imbued with a sense of longing for a place, moment, or feeling, like its searching for a guiding light in the darkness.”—Tiny Mix Tapes

Jewel, Johnny

Digital Rain

Italians Do It Better

***Received a 7.4 rating from Pitchfork.  Hot on the heels of the critically acclaimed 2017 LP Windswept—which soundtracked David Lynch's Twin Peaks, Digital Rain is JOHNNY JEWEL's s latest album. Jewel is known for his extensive collaborations with film makers David Lynch, Nicolas Winding Refn, and Ryan Gosling, as well as for his work with groundbreaking musical groups such as CHROMATICS, GLASS CANDY and DESIRE. The 19 movements of Digital Rain are three dimensional beds of analogue warmth encompassed in raw electronic moisture. The result is an expansive pallet of soft color amid canyons of jagged oscillations. Pressed on 180-gram purple vinyl. Housed in gatefold jackets.   According to Jewel, "Digital Rain is a mirror image of itself designed to play as a singular liquid movement." "After living a few years in a desert climate, I realized I was nostalgic for the constant presence of precipitation from every city I once called home. The sound of hail ricocheting off my roof in Houston... The floods crashing in from the Gulf of Mexico that would destroy my mother's house three times... The constant kiss of drizzle on the streets of Portland, and the morning rain against the windshield of Trimet city bus number 15 that I would ride home after recording all night... The snow buried row houses of Montreal where my daughter was born, and the rhythmic feel of ice cracking under my boots for six months straight." "The desert is constant, and I love this repetitious ritual of Los...

Rothbard, Andrew Douglas

Divonium Digitalis

Italians Do It Better

***Four tracks taken from the Cantosynaxis album by symth explorer ANDREW DOUGLAS ROTHBARD (MICHANDI SHALIMAR, PLEASURE FOREVER, SLAVES, THE VSS). Features the tracks "Worshipping the Myth of Betrayed Talent," "Rat & The Family Bones," "Prognoz Relikt," and "Section 8 Face." Pressed on emerald green vinyl.

Jewel, Johnny

Windswept

Italians Do It Better

***BACK IN STOCK ON NEW RED VINYL!!! JOHNNY JEWEL's Windswept featuring music from the new season of Twin Peaks. Housed in gatefold jackets and pressed on 180-gram red vinyl.

In Mirrors

Escape From Berlin

Italians Do It Better

***Introducing In Mirrors From Vancouver, B.C. Their Debut LP "Escape From Berlin" was recorded in deep isolation on location at Nite Prison in Vancouver. Produced & mixed by Johnny Jewel, the album plays as a dizzying massive singular collage. Acutely focused on texture & the negative space between moments, composer & poet Jesse Taylor is the core member in a revolving cast of collaborators. For this LP, his partners in crime are Suzanne, Hiromi Inada (Japan), & Andrew Grosvenor on clarinet. As enigmatic & fleeting as reflections in a hall of mirrors, these themes are fractured & textural. Taylor ambitiously asks us to look beyond the mirror...through to the other side where we imagine Phillip Glass playing chess with William Burroughs while Klaus Schulze slaves over a droning synthesizer in the corner. Sonically, we hear vapor trails from Coltrane, Carpenter, & Amon Duul. This debut is a glance at one of the most varied artists on Italians Do It Better's roster. Johnny & Jesse have been collaborating behind the scenes since 2003. Distilled in a process strengthened by time from Portland to Montreal...Los Angeles to B.C. In Mirrors blurs the imaginary lines between genres opening with a sultry Stevie Nicks cover & closing with 14 minutes of expansive aural fusion. Perhaps Taylor's good friend, Joey Casio said it best..."Change the channel, this one is the mirror". On 180 Gram Blood Vinyl!

Jewel, Johnny

Home (original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Italians Do It Better

***NOW AVAILABLE ON CD!!! The soundtrack to critically acclaimed Flemish director Fien Troch's fourth film Home. Side A features pop music from CHROMATICS and SYMMETRY with JOHNNY JEWEL's ambient score on the flip. Fourteen songs.

Nite Jewel

Obsession

Italians Do It Better

***NITE JEWEL returns with a five-song teaser to an upcoming full-length. 20 minutes of music pressed on 180-gram pink champagne vinyl in an edition of 500 copies.

Twisted Wires

Struck Twice

Italians Do It Better

***Armed with a voice of velvet and a Linn drum, Houston' TWISTED WIRES their second EP for Italians Do It Better. Two songs (and seven versions) to keep your turntable warm while you wait for their debut full-length, Always. 31 minutes of music. Pressed on 180-gram white vinyl in an edition of 500 copies.

Symmetry

Yes

Italians Do It Better

***Two if IDIB's favorite SYMMETRY tracks—"Yes" and "Jackie's Eyes"—now available on one 7-inch. Pressed on icy blue vinyl.

Jewel, Johnny

Lost River Soundtrack

Italians Do It Better

***Original score by JOHNNY JEWEL, with additional music from GLASS CANDY, CHROMATICS, DESIRE, and SYMMETRY. Triple LP pressed on 180-gram opaque purple vinyl and packaged in thick, full-color pocket sleeves with stills from the film.

Jewel, Johnny

The Other Side Of Midnight

Italians Do It Better

PRESSED ON 180-GRAM ULTRA CLEAR DIPPED IN BLOOD VINYL (TWO-TONE)!!! JOHNNY JEWEL's epic instrumental "The Other Side of Midnight from the forthcoming Dear Tommy full-length. Dedicated To The Painters, Walkers, Drivers, Talkers, Directors, Riders... Designers, Shooters, Readers, Writers, Lurkers, Creepers, Cruisers, Sleepers... Givers, Takers, Movers, Shakers, Winners, Losers, Lovers, Fighters... Designed To Disintegrate With The World Around You. Your Life Is The Movie. Thank You For Listening.

Glass Candy

Geto Boys

Italians Do It Better

***REISSUED ON 180-GRAM TRANSPARENT PINK LEMONADE VINYL!!! GLASS CANDY returns with another hot slab for Italians Do It Better. You get the the band’s most popular live song—they always end their set with it—”IKO IKO” done over the instrumental version of GETO BOYS “My Minds Playin Tricks On Me,” backed with “Animal Imagination,” and instrumental mixes of each.

Desire

II

Italians Do It Better

***BACK IN STOCK ON SILVER VINYL!!! Note new price. Includes the track “Under Your Spell” from the film Drive. The highly anticipated new album from this new Italians Do It Better supergroup comprised of JOHNNY of GLASS CANDY & CHROMATICS, NATTIE from Chromatics and vocalist MEGAN from Montreal. Eight tracks.

Tiedye

Fisherman’s Bend

Italians Do It Better

***Two guys form the heart of this obscure and obvious formation of what we call the band TIEDYE. From the rocks & waves of the west coast of Sweden, Tiedye explores the sounds of dreaming disco, windblowing pop & gruyère-smelling rock. The gritty Italians Do It Better Records got a nose for the smell of saltwater drained boogierock & adopted Tiedye to the dramatic Italians-family. Their first two releases gathered much attention in the underground. Their now infamous cover version of Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters" catapulted them into the worldwide spotlight. They soon followed up with a remix for Feist, another instant early Italians Do It Better classic that solidified them as a force to be reckoned with. This 12" showcases their first original composition, along with remixes from STUDIO’s DAN LISSVIK and A MOUNTAIN OF ONE. The Dan Lissvik version was the epic closer to our Solid Gold compilation last year. Tiedye re-invented modern AOR as we know it. Sit back, relax, & enjoy the music.

Glass Candy

Feeling Without Touching

Italians Do It Better

REISSUED ON 180-GRAM TRANSPARENT PINK LEMONADE VINYL!!!  GLASS CANDY returns with talians Do It Better’s first record of 2010. Includes the cuts “Feeling Without Touching” (Video Mixx and Instrumental Mix), “Sugar & Whitebread” (regular and instrumental versions), “Covered In Bugs,” and “Shine Like Gold & Diamonds.” Features full-color two-sided insert and lyric sheet and full-color sleeve. Was named “Record of the Day” by RCRD LBL, 4/09/2010.

T&k

Mucho Swash

Italians Do It Better

***T&K is the duo of DJ KAOS and TIAGO. The music is piano and guitar filled house music that takes us back to Chicago 1991. Mellow vibes that build and build. Strictly limited edition of 750 copies , no represses. No download card. This is a RECORD.

Glass Candy

Beatbox

Italians Do It Better

***BACK IN STOCK ON 180-GRAM TRANSPARENT PINK LEMONADE VINYL!!! IDIB chiefs GLASS CANDY take the reins with nine tracks of synth-pop dance magic. Midnight classics from start to finish. 

V/a

After Dark

Italians Do It Better

***BACK IN STOCK!!! An official reissue of the latest GLASS CANDY tour CD is a sampler for upstart label Italians Do It Better (a Troubleman Unlimited offshoot). Features all unreleased songs by GLASS CANDY, CHROMATICS. FARRAH, PROFESSOR GENIUS, and MIRAGE. The future of dance music is here. Designed and compiled by JOHNNY from Glass Candy. Original limited edition CDR received a “Best New Music” rating from Pitchfork, sparking off a nationwide avalanche of I want that.