Out on December 15 are 3 vinyl reissues of the Lycia album “The Burning Circle and then Dust”. Each vinyl edition is limited to strictly 100 copies only on black, 200 on gold and 200 on neon orange triple vinyl, coming inside a deluxe tri-fold gatefold sleeve.

Apart from the vinyl the album also gets reissued regular double-CD digipak editon. The double-CD and also the vinyl versions contain all the original tracks.

“The Burning Circle and Then Dust” is Lycia’s fourth studio recording, originally released on double CD via Projekt Records in 1995. Save for a very small CD re-release in 2006 by Silber Records, the album has never been reissued since – and never before on vinyl.

Mike VanPortfleet himself commented: “After several years of doing more synth oriented material I wanted a return to my guitar roots (in particular English post punk and 4AD). Lycia started as a guitar based band and I wanted to reaffirm that with disc one, which was originally going to be the release. I was also listening to a lot of shoegaze then, which inspired a return of making the guitars, as opposed to the synths, the focal point of the atmospherics.”

The album also marked the first collaborations between Mike VanPortfleet & Lycia members David Galas & Tara Vanflower.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Out via Avantgarde on March 4th is the newest Lycia single “Simpler Times”/”A far away Place”, which is being released as a 7 inch single in 2 different formats, one in babypink & black (300 copies), and pure black (200 copies).

The single comes less than a year after the “Casa Luna” EP. Here’s what Mike VanPortfleet says about this single: “After John Fair and I revived “Except” and “Galatea” for Casa Luna it stirred up quite a bit of nostalgia in me. John and I started working together in 1982 and he was my main collaborator throughout the 1980s. Back then our goals were to write songs in the post-punk and synth styles of the time. After Casa Luna, John and I discussed reviving additional old songs, but decided instead to write a couple new songs in the same way we worked back then. So we kept it a bit more minimal and tried to create in the same way we did back then. We tried this a couple times in the past with the Dust sessions in 1994 and Empty Space in 1999 and it didn’t work, with both sounding more in sync with the time they were created. When John rejoined the band on “In Flickers” (2018) we collaborated on “A Failure” and “Mist”, and those two songs really recaptured the spirit of the way we worked and wrote back then. Which then led to our remakes of “Except” and “Galatea” for Casa Luna and then to these two new songs.”

Check out the teaser below.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Out later this Spring in 2 limited editions of bottle green and black double vinyl is “A Day In The Stark Corner”, the second studio album by darkwave masters Lycia (or the third if you also count the “Wake” EP. Originally released on Projekt in late 1993 the album never received a vinyl treatment until today.

At the moment of recording this album the band was solely Mike VanPortfleet on vocals and instruments. Additional mixing was done by Project Records label boss Sam Rosenthal.

When asked about his thoughts on this reissue, Mike VanPortfleet says: “It’s hard for me to describe A Day In The Stark Corner. It’s a release that came from a difficult space. Dark albums usually come from dark times, and for Stark Corner that was definitely the case. I was in the midst of an existential meltdown (and one fueled by excessive substance use) and while recording it felt as though this would be the last Lycia album, and the last I’d ever sing.”

Below is a visual of both versions.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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After the recent re-release of “Ionia” on Vinyl, which became Audioglobe exports’ bestselling vinyl in 2021 so far, the darkwave cult act Lycia returns with a follow-up to 2018’s “In Flickers” in 4 versions. “Casa Luna” will be released as a black, purple with black and as a galaxy pink with purple 10” (all in very limited quantities). The 4th version is a limited print of 500 digipak CD copies.

Casa Luna features re-recordings of a couple of John Fair and Mike VanPortfleet-written early synth-based songs (“Except” and “Galatea”) from 1989, previously only heard in rough demo form. The EP also revisits an interest in Spanish/Flamenco styles previously explored by Mike VanPortfleet and John Fair in 1983. The release comes via Avantgarde Music who also brought the 1991 debut full-length “Ionia” to a vinyl edition for the first time in early 2021.

The release was not planned at first so Mike VanPortfleet explains: “In Flickers and Casa Luna are Lycia’s purest releases. Originally planned as a split 7” with the song “A quiet Way to go”, as more songs were written they evolved to an EP.”

Formed in Tempe, Arizona (USA), in 1988 by Mike VanPortfleet, Lycia were pioneer in the darkwave genre. Lycia’s current lineup consists of John Fair, David Galas, Tara Vanflower and Mike VanPortfleet, who has been the only constant member since the band’s formation.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Out now is “Wish No Harm”, the first new Audra song released in 10 years, and also the first single from the upcoming fourth album “Dear Tired Friends”.

“Dear Tired Friends” will feature 10 songs with a guest appearance by Mike VanPortfleet of Lycia on the song “Planet of Me”. The album was recorded and mixed by Joshua Rozenboom and mastered at The Cage Studios in Coventry, England by Martin Bowes of the band Attrition.

The tentative release date for Audra’s newest studio album is August 23, 2019 and will be available in the following formats: Black Vinyl, Clear Vinyl, CD and digitally.

Here’s the first single: “Wish No Harm “.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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American darkwave pioneers Lycia (a Side-Line favourite for years already!) returns to Projekt for the 4th release of their second era. Side-Line can now exclusively premiere the track “The song is Autumn Into Winter”, which was originally prepped by David Galas for the band’s 1996 “Cold” album but never completed. Tara Vanflower and Mike VanPortfleet finished it off and it is the closing piece on the new album.

Lycia formed in 1988 and released 7 albums on Projekt between 1991-2002. After several lost and unproductive years, a second era began in 2010 with “Fifth Sun”, followed by “Quiet Moments” (2013), and “A Line That Connects (2015)”.

Mike began the album with a few solo acoustic tracks. Soon after, John Fair and David Galas brought in collaborative material that changed the direction of the project. “John approached me about adding guitar to some synth songs he was working on,” Mike comments.

“They took me back to the feel of our collaborations from the 80s and stirred up so much nostalgia. Even though they were stylistically very different from the ‘solo’ songs I was working on, the mood was a perfect fit, and I felt they needed to be part of what was coming together as the next album. Around the same time I started working with David on a couple of songs. I had him listen to a number of new bands before starting… curious as to how it would affect his writing. Like with my ‘solo’ songs, it did have a marked effect and really added a new feel to the established LYCIA sound. Plus he had a Cold outtake – “Autumn Into Winter” – which was magic when I first heard it. A true time capsule from 95/96.”

Mike VanPortfleet: “”In Flickers” is an emotionally charged album of deeply personal darkwave/post-rock. The ten tracks are intriguing meditations on forgotten paths, corrupted hopes, and faint memories of beauty. The open-ended melancholy captures a cold and desolate spirit, a sound as somber as the lyrics themselves.”

You can also already listen to the album’s title track “In Flickers”. The album itself will be out on October 26.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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“Ionia” is the second studio album by the American dark wave band Lycia, and was initially released in 1991 by Projekt Records. The album offers a blending of intense cascading guitar, droning synths and deep, whispered vocals.

The album is now back in print for the first time in a decade, digitally remastered by Martin Bowes (Attrition) and can be ordered right here. The personnel at that time conistsed of Mike VanPortfleet with additional help from Susan Jennings, Sam Rosenthal (mixing) and Will Welch (sampling).

Here’s a preview of the title track, in case this band is all new to you.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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