Archive for the lost desert Category

Pro Memoria- 1988 K7

Posted in 1980s, 1988, coldwave, ethereal, france, french, k7, lost desert, spleen ideal with tags , on March 29, 2013 by Frankie Teardrop

Apologies for flooding your hard drives yet again, but I’ve been meaning to post this tape for months now, and it’s due time for it to be heard.  Here we have the debut demo cassette from Pro Memoria, a haunting and gloomy French Coldwave band from Lyon, one of the country’s hotspots for this sound.  The cassette was self-released in 1988, and features three incredible studio tracks and one live number to top it off.  Fans of Cocteau Twins, Lost Desert, Rosa Luxemburg, Baroque Bordello, Collection D’Arnell-Andrea, etc. will love this one.

There are a handful of scattered compilation appearances around the same era as this release, including two tracks on the often mentioned Nos Années Folles compilation (Lost Desert, Spleen Ideal, etc.)  The band changed their sound a bit to incorporate some jazz influences, releasing Elegia in 1991.  You can grab that one from 7” From the Underground.  “Cinderella” from this cassette has been cleaned up and reissued on the excellent Transmissions Continued compilation on Infrastition.

R-2186760-1268682141

Pro Memoria- 1988 K7
1. Cindirella
2. Le Cri
3. Secret Du Prisme
4. Pro Memoria (Live Lyon, Mars 88)

*download it here*

6 Comments »

Lost Desert- Heterogen Infiltration K7

Posted in 1980s, 1989, coldwave, france, french, lost desert, marc collin, nouvelle vague on December 4, 2012 by Frankie Teardrop

I owe a great deal of gratitude to Marc Collin of Nouvelle Vague for the next two posts.  I had the pleasure of meeting Marc at the weekly Wierd party a few years back, and I soon found out that he was involved in a handful of great coldwave projects before growing to critical and popular acclaim.   For those unfamiliar, Marc was involved in both Spleen Ideal and Persona, two cassette culture bands who released a handful of obscure releases.  More on Spleen Ideal soon.  Marc also ran the excellent New Horizon label, who issued an alternate version of this particular cassette.

As for Lost Desert, little is known about this French band, though the tracks scattered across various compilations are some of the strongest female fronted French coldwave tracks, mixing both organic instruments and New Order-esque electronics.  In fact, one of their most discovered tracks is aptly named “Tribute to New Order,” which appears on the excellent Supercherie compilation.  Other tracks appear on New Horizon’s Nos Années Folles and the excellent Mea Pulpa cassette, previously posted here.

This tape was originally released without a label in 1989.  Most of these songs appear on the highly coveted A Travers Le Miroir cassette, which appeared on New Horizon in 1990.  Considering the track list is near identical (and as this tape was distrbuted/licensed by New Horizon according to the insert), my guess is that these versions are the same across both tapes, with just two exclusive tracks per cassette, unless the titles were simply changed before the New Horizon edition.  Anyway, this tape is certainly worth the hype, which features a highly melodic side A and a more electronic side B.  A perfect release from France’s cassette culture.

Lost Desert- Heterogen Infiltration K7
1. Ouverture
2. Tu Avais Tort
3. Nouvelle
4. Sunrise
5. Vision Enflammée
6. Far Away
7. L’arme De Sang
8. Conversation
9. Etrange Satire
10. Eyes of Ice
11. Baby Watch TV! (Live)
12. Final

*download it here*

A million thanks again to Marc for ripping this gem!

 

13 Comments »