Archive for the cassette Category

Razor Penguins- Discography

Posted in 1980s, 1981, 1986, cassette, demo, goth, goth-rock, post-punk, razor penguins, US on October 24, 2016 by Frankie Teardrop

As the wind picks up and the sun sets earlier, I find myself clutching my post-punk records close to the chest. What better time than to post the full 7” discography by US goth/post-punk band Razor Penguins. Though they sound inspired by both the UK scene as well as the budding LA “desert-goth” scene at the time, the band hailed from Columbus, Ohio.

These two releases appeared with a five year gap in between, quite a long time to wait for a follow up… The first 7” is incredible, both tracks gloomy and incisive as ever. “Paris” sounds right at home with Lung Overcoat, another US band with a similarly UK-inspired sound. The flip is far gloomier, with a nasty churning guitar working its way throughout much of the backing track. The second 7” is a bit more of an instrumental affair, though their style hadn’t changed much in five years. The title track has a bit of spoken word vibe throughout, while the second song is a straight instrumental, akin to the likes of the recent Savage Republic reissues which stripped their otherwise classic material of vocals.

I’ve also included a demo tape that’s been floating around the web elsewhere, in case you may have missed it on other blogs… I can’t take credit for the cassette rip, which is extremely murky and is very likely a transcode, but in case you want more Razor Penguins, this cassette features seven unfamiliar songs that may have been slated for a full length record. The only track that appears in duplicate here is “The Math Professor,” which may explain the single’s otherwise demo-esque vibe… I don’t have a year on the cassette, but I reckon it was recorded between 81 and 85…

Razor Penguins- Paris 7” (1981)
1. Paris
2. Indifference

Razor Penguins- Demo K7 (???)
1. The Math Professor
2. Less
3. Tides and the Moon
4. Untitled 1
5. At All
6. Exchanges
7. No Expectations
8. Untitled II

Razor Penguins- The Math Professor 7” (1985)
1. The Math Professor
2. August

*download all three here*

12 Comments »

Spleen Ideal- Untitled K7

Posted in 1980s, 1989, cassette, coldwave, france, french, spleen ideal on January 7, 2013 by Frankie Teardrop

Here’s another generous donation from Marc Collin, formerly of Persona/New Horizon label and currently the brains behind Nouvelle Vague.  This is his own project, formed by Collin and Xavier Jamaux, who is now actve in film scoring.  

I can’t seem to get enough of this tape lately… Really great combination of organic instruments and electronics here (and even a sample from Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares); straight up perfect coldwaves from France.  Fans of bands like Résistance, End of Data, etc. will find lots to love here.  You can also find two more tracks by Spleen Ideal on the amazing Nos Années Folles comp from 1990.  I believe this tape was released in 1989. 

SIk7

Spleen Ideal- Untitled K7
1. Vague a Lame De Fond
2. Try Another World
3. Reflet D’une Beauté Mortelle
4. Conte de la Folie Ordinaire
5. Desseins a Colonier
6. Kasrolnikov

*download it here*

3 Comments »

Message- Demo K7

Posted in 1980s, cassette, coldwave, france, french, message on November 3, 2012 by Frankie Teardrop

I know it’s only been a few days since my last post, but Stéphane B. of Coldwave.fr just passed this over to me and I couldn’t wait to share.  Keeping with recent themes, here’s an unknown and untitled demo tape from Message, previously covered here.  I don’t have titles for any of the songs, though the fourth track is clearly “The Crazy Garden”- the b-side from the 7”.   Can’t notice much of a difference between the two versions, tape murkiness aside.  The other three (untitled) tracks seem to be exclusive to this release.  Really wish they recorded more during their tenure…

No artwork for this one- sorry, kids!

Message- Demo K7
1. Track 01 (Instrumental)
2. Track 02
3. Strange Voice
4. The Crazy Garden

*download it here*

Speaking of coldwave demos, a lot of people have asked about the Coldreams demo tape, which can be found and enjoyed over at Kentucky Fried Wave.

5 Comments »

Ausweis- Ausweis K7

Posted in 1980s, cassette, coldwave, goth, k7, post-punk with tags on April 10, 2012 by Frankie Teardrop

This one’s an especially rare treat for fans of bootlegs and live material. Fans of the French cold wave should already be familiar with Ausweis, who released several hard-hitting singles, a split, and a full length LP in the mid-80s. Seems as if they were the French answer to Killing Joke, with the pounding rhythms and arpeggiating synths, best displayed on tracks like “Jours De Haine” and “Pas Demain.” Despite the comparisons, I’ve always found the band to be especially vicious, having just as much in common with the first wave of synthpunk, including their country’s own Métal Urbain and co.

Either way, the band is an absolute staple as far as the French are concerned, and this tape compiles several live recordings from the band’s tenure. There’s no date assigned to it, but the tape was produced by the V.I.S.A. label, responsible for releases from Vox Populi, Clair Obscur, Die Bunker and the Pas Demain 7”, just to name a few. I’m guessing the tape is from 85, given that most of the live performances hail from that era. You can expect some of the same Ausweis classics to appear here, as well as several unreleased tracks exclusive to the band’s live set at the time. Obviously, the quality is hit or miss, given the source recordings, but I hope you’ll all agree that it’s a fitting snapshot of a vicious band in their natural habitat.

Ausweis- Ausweis K7
1. Mecanik
2. Doktor Diktature
3. Berlin
4. 1984
5. Exhibition
6. Ella Choice
7. Je N’Aime Plus Les Filles De Chez Dior
8. Eva
9. Dieu Est Mort
10. Phase Fatale
11. Red And Black (Spizzenergi cover)
12. Gangsters United
13. Murnau

*download it here*

For more info on the tape, including specific info on the performances each track was pulled from, check out the discogs page for more details!

7 Comments »

Beg For Eden- Beg For Eden K7

Posted in 1980s, 1992, beg for eden, cassette, goth, post-punk on March 26, 2012 by Frankie Teardrop

Here’s another rare cassette. This one goes out to Michael of Return to the East who originally posted the 12” from this excellent experimentally driven post-punk band. I believe they were from the NYC area, or at least one member is located there as of now. I’ve heard tales of the singer showing up to local bars and passing out copies of The Stark Elusive on vinyl, an otherwise essential piece of forgotten lore. Just check out the track “Blink” if you haven’t heard it before. Always reminded me of a gloomier reading of “Ceremony,” while the rest of the record does well to destroy melody with traces of noise and anguish.

Well, that particular 12” appears here as well as the first six tracks on this tape. Since it sounds like the album was just dubbed to the cassette here, it’s not of much interest but worth a comparison if you’re an audiophile. The real meat and potatoes of this tape comes from the final five tracks, which were recorded in 1992. The band faded into obscurity and these tracks never saw the light of day outside of this cassette. They sound like a natural and noisier progression from the 12”. In other words, well worth listening to!

Beg For Eden- Beg For Eden K7
1. Hands Flail
2. Blink
3. Your Corpse
4. Peripheral
5. Imminent Artillery
6. Entrails
7. Intro*
8. Jesus Jet Plane
9. Catatonic
10. This Now
11. Find Our Hearts Again

*download removed by request*

Peter Messina contacted me and respectfully asked for the download link to be removed due to the lesser quality of the dub. However, he’s offered some more info about the band and the stories behind these tracks:

You correctly point to the final five songs as being the really interesting part of that tape, and those are demos the band did in it’s practice space of the songs we did eventually record in the studio. With the idea being to put out a second EP or called Find Our Hearts Again.

We also used the studio material to shop around and had serious interest from the London label Too Pure who were eager for us to send them more material. But the band was really at an end place at that point for many disastrous reasons that came together spectacularly in the Fall of 92 and the Spring of ’93 and we’d been together close to 7 years at that point.

The band on that cassette was comprised of me (Peter Messina) on vocals & bass, Jacques Cohen on guitar, Greg Scott on loops, keyboards and tapes and John Dale on drums.

The Great Greg Scott passed away in 2003. Jacques Cohen runs a very highly regarded studio called The Space in Poughkeepsie and John Dale, I believe might be in Austin, Tx or Oklahoma, I’m not sure.

He also said that he is in the process of exhuming many BFE studio and live tracks and will likely make them available in some form or another. More on that soon. Thanks for your understanding on this one!

5 Comments »

Various Artists- Der Bau K7

Posted in 1986, asylum party, cassette, clair obscur, coldwave, k7, little nemo, neutral project, post-punk, siglo xx on March 5, 2012 by Frankie Teardrop

This one goes out to all the Canadian readers I met this weekend in both Toronto and Montreal. Thanks for saying hello and hope to see you guys again soon!

While this particular cassette has been posted before, the digital copy I had was full of digital skips/jumps (a sound I detest more than almost anything, though the snow removal alarm trucks in Montreal have quickly risen up the ranks), so I’ve made a new, high bitrate rip from a borrowed copy. If you’re not already familiar with this one, you can expect another solid collection of French and Belgian coldwave greats, from the classics to the more obscure. Most prudent is the early version of Little Nemo’s “Love Is a Lie,” which does not appear elsewhere, including the expansive CD reissue. This is also Asylum Party and Neutral Project’s first release, dating back to 1986! The label, Aspect D’Une Certaine Industrie, is also responsible for the excellent Leiv Traumas & Machina compilations, as well as the first Neutral Project cassette.

The tape is a must hear for fans of the coldest, bleakest guitar wave. Dark music for dark times.

Various Artists- Der Bau K7
1. Siglo XX– Sweet Jane
2. Asylum Party– White Light
3. Les Maîtres– Une Douleur Passagère
4. Closed Session– My Shout
5. Neutral Project– Reviens…
6. Kindergarten– Spasmodic Alice
7. Anonymes– Interrogation 3986
8. Wallenberg– Dublin
9. Dead Relatives– Father Tranquille
10. Clair Obscur– Psychiatric
11. Little Nemo– Love Is A Lie
12. Komakino– Lacrima
13. I.W.N.N.– Venus
14. Bleme– This Wait

*download it here*

7 Comments »

Various Artists- Unreleased Vol. 1 K7

Posted in 1987, asylum party, cassette, clair obscur, coldwave, compilations, darkwave, little nemo, mary goes round, norma loy, Orchestre Rouge, post-punk, unreleased, various artists on February 23, 2012 by Frankie Teardrop

Since it seems like all links for the original Unreleased cassette are dead in the water or at a very low bit rate, here’s a fresh 320 kbps, fresh from the cassette! This one is arguably the most orthodox of the series, featuring several “household names” from the French coldwave/touching pop scene, many making their first or second recorded appearance here. Every band here hails from France, with the exception of The Cultural Decay (Belgium), and a rare track from Factory darlings Section 25.

Interesting how each of these compilations appear on a different medium, huh? I wonder if a fourth compilation will ever surface on 8 track…

Various Artists- Unreleased Volume 1 K7
1. Section 25– Human Puppets
2. Asylum Party– Where Have You Gone My Friend?
3. Brigade Internationale– Memories And Break
4. Clair Obscur– Wreck
5. Mary Goes Round– The Shelter
6. Odessa– Trouble
7. Brigade Internationale– Silence Of My Brain
8. Orchestre Rouge– 1980
9. Art Remains Tangible– Numéro 32
10 Little Nemo– Future Is Now
11. Norma Loy– Ghost Parasites
12. Brigade Internationale– Eyes On The Volcano
13. Complot Bronswick– Panem And Circences
14. The Cultural Decay– I Never Loved You

*download it here*

9 Comments »

John Costello- Halflife K7

Posted in 1980s, 1989, ambient, cassette, john costello, k7, minimal, minimal synth, network 23, remote viewing, remote viewing vol. 2 on April 19, 2011 by Frankie Teardrop

I have a few posts in line that go hand in hand with the Remote Viewing cassette posted a few weeks back. The first of such posts is the second tape from John Costello, one of the standouts from that compilation. His track “Gormenghast,” which was recorded live in Cardiff, also appears on the b-side to this cassette, alongside two other performances from that particular show. The a-side features lengthy tributes to popular horror scores. Either way, you can expect the same great synth work and haunting atmosphere on both sides. Here’s the information:

John Costello- Halflife K7
1. Halloween Suite
2. Texas Chainsaw
3. Flame Patterns
4. Surface Tension
5. Gormenghast

*download it here*

John Costello is still making a plethora of music, spanning several electronic styles. You can check out some of his current work via Myspace.

Also, for those interested, there are some great live videos from the infamous Cardiff concert (March 18th, 1989) available via Costello’s YouTube channel. Click here to check ’em out (scroll down the upload list to view the performances), and expect some more goodies from the Network 23 crew to follow. I’d also like to thank both John Costello and label head Kevin O’Neill for all the info, support, and generosity over the past few weeks!

7 Comments »

Various Artists- Remote Viewing Vol. 2 K7

Posted in 1980s, 1989, ambient, cassette, experimental, industrial, k7, minimal, minimal synth, remote viewing, remote viewing vol. 2 on March 21, 2011 by Frankie Teardrop

This particular cassette comes on generous loan from Sean Mcbride, sole member of Martial Canterel and half of Xeno and Oaklander, two of the current synth scene’s most crucial players. For those who are unaware, the latest Martial Canterel record, You Today, has dropped via Wierd Records, and is quite the stunning piece of work. A modern classic, through and through. Pick up a copy here, if you haven’t already!

This cassette, upon hearing it, has quickly become an all time favorite. Released in 1989 on Network 23 (the first installment appeared three years prior, and has yet to be shared to my knowledge), this tape features an hour and a half of instrumental ambient and industrial works from several obscure artists. It’s a murky, unsettling, and highly atmospheric ride, without a single dud among the bunch. Many of the artists here appear exclusively among the series, while others have a few more scattered releases from around the same time. The standout for me is John Costello’s “Gormen Ghast,” which lifts off into minimal synth/dance territory after nearly three minutes of haunting atmosphere. There’s also an exclusive track by Colin Potter and a solid gem by Steve Hillman, to name a few. This is highly recommended for fans of Tangerine Dream, Coil, and John Carpenter’s film scores, but there’s a handful of great minimal synth gems sprinkled within. Dig it!

Various Artists- Remote Viewing Vol. 2 K7
1. Howard Ingram- Sacrestone 72
2. Michael Hines- The Spirit Of Radio
3. Greg Truckell- Mesh
4. Mangenta Mirror- NX-X1-11
5. R. N. Andrews- Chinese Dentist Time
6. Steve Hillman- Citadel Parts 1 And 2
7. Colin Potter- Malton
8. Kevin O’Neill- Lik Mai
9. John Costello- Gormen Ghast
10. What It Is- Rearing Pigs
11. Martin Coles & Rick Wernham- Object Detection
12. Rancid Poultry- Controlled Exposure
13. Peter Tedstone- Mystic Sequence
14. Tim Stebbing- Star City

*download it here*

15 Comments »

November Group- NG89 Cassette

Posted in 1980s, 1989, boston, cassette, coldwave, k7, november group, synthpop, US on May 26, 2009 by Frankie Teardrop

Meanwhile, thanks to a generous donation and a quick home conversion this morning, I am pleased to offer the final piece in November Group’s discography, the oft-coveted NG89 Cassette, released only in this format in 1989, shortly before the group disbanded.

I was only able to take a photo of the tape’s cover before leaving this morning, but I will add further images over the next day or so. In the interim, here’s the information for this last piece of the November Group puzzle!

November Group- NG89 Cassette
1. Ahoy Ivan
2. Hardtimes
3. This is Not Heaven

*download it here* (reuploaded @320kpbs on 8.30.2016)

Otherwise, for the remainder of this fantastic band’s discography, click here!

8 Comments »