Quick request this weekend for Incandescent Luminaire’s lone 7” from 1982. Excellent minimal synth from the UK, featuring Mark White (formerly of ABC and Vice Versa). Nice duality on both sides- the a-side is a nice slice of minimal electronic pop, while the second is a more experimental affair, complete with rickety synth lines aggressive guitar textures. Perfect for fans of Testcard F, The Actor, and bands of that ilk.
Incandescent Luminaire- Famous Names 7”
1. Famous Names
2. The Warning
Still continuing to drop the posts I had lined up while figuring out what, if anything, to do about the past. Looks like Rapidshare is the way to go for now, but who knows how long they’ll be off-the-radar, as they’ve apparently slowed DL rates to discourage illegal content. Too much in flux to really pin down a proper solution.
That said, here’s a gift from Bx-59cppw that I’ve been meaning to post for some time. Here we have the debut album from Mecanica Popular, a Spanish industrial/experimental duo. Originally released in 1994, this LP also saw a repressing in 1990, while their second LP was originally released in 1987 and appeared again in 2010.
A must hear for fans of Factrix, Dome, Throbbing Gristle, The Elephant Table LP, and other things that go bump and scrape in the night. There’s some nice grooves here and there that should also be right at home for fans of minimal synth and kosmiche music.
Mecanica Popular- ¿Que Sucede Con El Tiempo? LP
1. Impresionistas I
2. La Edad del Bronce
3. Impresionistas II
4. Quiero Irme
5. Siempre Tu
6. Impresionistas III
7. Estado Sólido
8. Galilea: Centro de Datos
9. Daguerrotipo
10. Ambrotipo
11. Plenilunio
12. Máquinas y Procedimientos
13. Impresionistas IV
For those fluent in Spanish, you can read more about the band here.
A donation from Jason, much appreciated!
Here we have a highly coveted single from Thirteen At Midnight, known for their work on Survival Records. Many readers should already be familiar with the disco rave up recording of this track (originally released as the b-side to Climb Down), with female vocals and pounding electronic percussion, but few know of this version, which has a more post-punk style to it. Reminds me a lot of early, minimal synth tinged Simple Minds, if you’re one for touchstones. Almost unrecognizable outside of the sweeping synths, but equally awesome. Check out the locked groove on side B!
No year listed on this one, but it likely predates the b-side recording from 1982, released on the same Pure label. If I had to guess, I’d say 1981, but almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades…
Thirteen At Midnight- Other Passengers 7”
1. Other Passengers
2. Other Passengers (2)
*download it here* (RE-RIPPED/uploaded on 3.8.12)
Feeling fiesty this Friday, so here’s a SECOND post for your weekend pleasure. It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything minimal synth related, and I’ve had this single kicking around for years, so it’s about damn time I posted it. So, synth fans, this one is for you!
Here we have a often-coveted 7” from Spain, released in 1982 on Hispavox, who had tie-ins with EMI and are still around to date. This is the band’s only release, pure minimal bliss. The A-side is all over the map, shifting in and out of tempos and featuring some rather impressive operatic female vocals, as the title might suggest. The B-side is the standout for me, a really pretty pseudo-instrumental (minimal vox) with washes of synth (and what sounds like, but likely is not a theremin). Both tracks are worth your attention, but don’t let me tell you twice.
UA- Cantante De Ópera 7”
1. Cantante De Ópera
2. Maldoror
I’ve had this on deck to post for a bit, but what better time to post it than now? Mr. Goutroy of A Viable Commercial has dusted off and uploaded Vono’s quirky and charmingly amateur first LP over at his space, so in true blogger camaraderie fashion, here’s their final LP. Bookends for your listening pleasure, if you will.
Whereas Dinner Für 2 is a simple, yet detached record, this 1986 entry is anything but. Four years later, the duo grew as musicians and fleshed out their sound from their humble beginnings. It seems that one day, someone must have pissed in their Cheerios, as the band developed a more aggressive EBM-esque sound in the vein of Body 11, Bigod 20, Front 242, and other such bands with numbers. However, this is not a play-it-by-numbers EBM record as you might expect from that description. The vocals are a little more palatable than most EBM bands of the time, organic tones in lieu of the overdriven vocals that would become a genre staple into the 1990s. If anything, the LP is harder to pin down, stylistically. Other touchstones I’m hearing here include mid-period Wire (The Ideal Copy is my favorite, in case you were wondering) and the atmosphere of Peter Gabriel’s third and fourth records (cool!). Also hard to deny the Public Image crib on track six. No samples, but well, let’s just say it sounds like a response track.
There’s no real standout hit a la “Headhunter” or “Sensoria” here, but this album functions well as a whole. Besides, there are plenty of deep, funky synth grooves packed that make this LP worth a peek for any fan of the wave spectrum.
Vono- It’s Time LP
1. It’s Time
2. This Door
3. Geh Deinen Weg
4. Zerstoert
5. Here Comes
6. Love Song
7. Lebe Heute
8. Das Wars
I’ll be on hiatus for a little bit here, as we’re gearing up for a big move, and it’s likely we won’t be setting up the turntables for a few weeks. I may have a few things loaded in the queue to bring out here and there, but I’ll be loaded for bear when I get back to full functionality!
I was going to hold off on posting this for a few more weeks, but after completing it in the late hours last night, I can’t help but share it immediately. Here we have the fifth installment of the Systems of Romance series, volume FIVE to be exact, and debatably my favorite of the bunch. You can expect a nice mix of guitar and synth tracks here. The only difference is this mix features 4-5 new artists that are all worth checking out, alongside several rare and unreleased tracks. Running time is a minute or so over a full length cd-r, so feel free to trim one of these for your own personal burnnn. Here’s the tracklisting:
Various Artists- Systems of Romance Vol. 5
1. After the Snow Melts- Clever Lines
2. Genetics- Final Sound
3. Epitaph- A Haunted Sawmill
4. New Year- Days Are Nights
5. Chanson D’Amour- WCH
6. In The Future- Split Level
7. Strange Days- Immunity
8. A Color- Tropic of Cancer
9. Run Run- Avantgarde De Luxe
10. Shadow Walk- Negatives in Colour
11. When Thunder Comes- Mission
12. What Goes On?- The Radiance
13. Desperate Rhymes- Piece De Resistance
14. Cover Girl- Dengon
15. Silly Earth- Scatterbrains
16. Eden- Sofia Run
17. On the Moon- Beyond Words
18. Shoot Me Down- P.S. Personal
19. Geraldine- Cha Boom Cha
20. Blind Me- Winter Severity Index
21. Sweet Cliché- The First Loves
Here’s a few words on the tracks:
1. Plucked from the 8 Essential Attitudes compilation. Picked it up cheap and while there are some gems, it’s mostly a mixed bag.
2. From the No Surrender! compilation, an otherwise rough and tumble collection of skinhead/oi tracks from Rock-O-Rama records.
3. Very rare single release, one of this band’s only tracks. Saw a release on The Trance Compilation.
4. Brazilian darkwave band who released a killer album in 2010, where this track hails from.
5. French synth from 1984…Stay tuned for a full post on this 12”.
6. B-side of a 1984 minimal synth single from the UK. If you have the a-side, holler!
7. Plucked from a 1985 compilation entitled Sounds from the Southern Scene Vol. 1. This band appears twice on the comp as the bookends. Their other track isn’t nearly as good, but still worth hearing.
8. Brand new coldwave sounds from LA, can’t get enough of this track!
9. Denmark band, from their first LP, released in 1982. Another track appears on SOR vol. 3.
10. An unreleased track from the UK band featured here.
11. Also from the 8 Essential Attitudes comp. Guitar-driven smash, and not the same post-Sisters band!
12. 1990s darkwave, released on a compilation of excellent like minded souls (Derrière Le Miroir, Lucie Cries, Frozen Autumn, all great bands)
13. Grabbed this 1985 12” from the US in a dollar bin. Decent new wave throughout, but this track is a standout.
14. Another US band who issued two singles in 1985 on ESYNC records (Velvascurge!). Mostly power-pop sounds, but this track has a nice guitar-driven edge to it. If anyone insists, I have both singles uploaded for a future post, but this one is the real treat of the lot.
15. Scarce minimal synth from the Netherlands. Would love to hear this full LP!
16. 1990s darkwave band who issued two records before splitting up.
17. 8 Essential Attitudes.
18. 1983 synthpop single from the UK.
19. The standout track from this 1988 12”. Also from the UK.
20. Brand new (all female) post-punk/coldwave band from Italy. A new favorite, really tremendous stuff. Keyboardist also doubles as Mushy, who just issued a full length solo LP on Mannequin Records!
21. I belive this track is a demo from a new post-punk band from London. Certainly sounds timeless!
Here’s a recent compilation sent my way by John Costello, a name that should already be familiar from previous posts. Here we have a CD release of Tuxedomoon interpretations from 2007, as recorded by several members of a prominent TM message board. This CD exists as a non-for-profit venture via the site Tuxedomooning.com and while it isn’t available for sale, though there may be some copies available for those wishing to market the disc.
Fans of Tuxedomoon should find a fair mix of selections from the band’s career, done with care and finesse by several prominent underground artists. Cult With No Name also appear here, and Costello contributes TWO tracks. Allow me to expand on this post with some info and behind the scenes from Costello himself:
“[The compilation] grew out of the TM yahoo group forum started by Erik Stein (he’s also half of lounge electro duo Cult With No Name). Amid the renewed hustle of TM activity, French label Optical Sound released a covers cd in 2006, Next To Nothing, with artists including Simon Fisher Turner and Scanner. Oliver Schupp (of German band Festspielhaus), proposed a forum members covers cd and, when he found enough takers, took it forward from there. It was sanctioned by TM as a not-for-profit venture of 300 cds, with copies bought by the contributors to distribute how they wished and the rest sold by Oliver to forum members or interested parties at cost until they ran out.
I agonised for a long time over which track to choose, as there were so many candidates. Right up to the last minute I was going to do “No Tears” but I finally chose “Everything You Want,” in a rawer rocked-up style closer to the live version on Ten Years In One Night than the early Subterranean Modern Ralph Records compilation album version.
I record with my good friend and producer Geoff Pinckney at his Alien 6 studio in Sussex. Geoff is in electro outift Tenek with Pete Steer, and ex-of Glasshouse who supported Gary Numan on a couple of tours in the late 80s/early 90s. My method of working is to record and mix each track in as close to a day as possible, but I gave EYW three to make sure it would pass muster – it’s quite daunting doing something as an amateur that will be a tribute to a band you’ve loved most of your life, and you want to do it right. The session went smoothly, unbelievably so in fact, and I finished in two days – so for the hell of it I decided to do another. I chose “Egypt” because I knew I could do a minimal version fast, and it took just six hours to record and mix. I tried to do both in the spirit of TM and worked in a few motifs from other tracks; also, the bass on “Egypt” is a sample of “The Waltz,” from Holy Wars. I had no idea if Oliver would find it surplus to requirements but he loved it and included it on the cd.
The reaction was very positive. The band issued congratulations on the forum for a job well done.”
Since there’s not much more I can add to that, let’s get to the info!
Various Artists- Adaptations From The Moon: Tuxedomooning The World
1. John Costello– Everything You Want
2. Phlitman & Kangaroo– Ninotchka
3. Festspielhaus– In The Name Of Talent (Italian Western 2)
4. Gosane– Where Interests Lie
5. Cabaret Of Complexity– Blind
6. John Costello– Egypt
7. Another– What Use?
8. !!– In The Name Of Terror (Iraqi Western 2)
9. Cult With No Name– Some Guise
10. Gosane– Everything You Want / The Stranger
11. Duke Sexton– East
12. Dry Monopole– Time To Lose
13. MistakeMistake– (Special Treatment For The) Family Man
14. Willem Schipper– The Unknown Fan
Thanks again to John Costello for all the info, wisdom, and of course, the music! Please support him and check out more of his recent work here!
Otherwise, August is looking to be a busy month for me, so I may be sparse as the month progresses. That said, I am still expecting some goodies to come my way over the next few weeks, so I will post them as I can! That said, if you need a fix faster than I can provide one, be sure to sift through the back archives or many of the excellent blogs linked to the right. Great things being posted around every corner!
This particular cassette was also donated by Ben, and features nine tracks from Combined Minds, a minimal synth band from Maryvale, Arizona.
The band operated as a three piece and recorded two cassettes for their own Multi-Purpose Musik label, an outlet for this project as well as prior releases dating back to 1979.
Always looking towards the future, this tape was released in 1983, and the follow up was released two years later. Lots of great sounds to be had here, especially for fans of Tone Set, League of Nations, (early) Soft Cell, and the more experimental side of the minimal synth spectrum. I can’t seem to get enough of “More Knobs Than Notes” and “Shop Town,” but this entire tape is a must hear for minimal synth fans big and small. Here’s the info:
Combined Minds- 1984 K7
1. Combined Minds
2. Feel The Beat
3. More Knobs Than Notes
4. Shop Town
5. Time To Relate
6. Nocturnal Nocturne
7. Comfortable
8. If I Don’t Move, I Can’t Dance
9. Sold American
*download link removed*
Sorry for the premature post, folks. I’ve just gotten word that this release (as well as several other Multi-Purpose Musik releases) are avaialbe from Shawn Helton, a member of Combined Minds who is still active in music today. Please click THIS link to read more about Helton and his projects, and to purchase these releases!
Here’s a quirky little minimal synth/new wave gem from the UK, released in 1984. Reminiscent of Home Service/Tone Set. Virtually no information available, as even the label seems off the radar. So, with that in mind we’ll keep this one short and sweet! Here’s the details:
Classified Info- Drug Called Love 7”
1. Drug Called Love
2. Drug Called Love Dub
Here’s a minimal synth/NDW hybrid 7” from 1982. Nothing out of the ordinary for the genre, but two very good tracks indeed. The guitar driven a-side is the clear winner for me, while the b-side has a bit of a reggae feel to it.
This particular 7” was released on CBS Records (a surprising choice for a major label), and is the product of two Austrian musicians. Drummer Gerhart Walenta was also involved in an Austrian psych/prog band called Paternoster, who released one record in 1972.
Here’s the info:
Neuer Frühling- Abendlos 7”
1. Abendlos
2. Liebesversuch
For those who prefer to own an original copy of this record, you can easily score one on the web for a reasonable price, if you know where to look. Get it while the getting is good!