Here’s a very rare cassette from Glenn Winter, courtesy of the ever-stellar Sean McBride. I was only familiar with this fantastic Swedish minimal synth artist via “Herrens Svar,” which appears on the near flawless Orgelvärk compilation, an absolute must-hear for any self-respecting minimal synth fan. This particular tape hails from 1986 and features several tracks in the same vein. Tor Sigvardson of 18:e Oktober (a similarly amazing project) plays bass on track 6. Definitely don’t pass on this one, folks!
Glenn Winter- Bruna Hundars Död K7
1. Prins Reimon
2. Vägg
3. 23:49
4. Beat
5. Slow-Sleep
6. En Diskussion
7. Bruna Hundars Död
8. Around And Around
9. Born To Loose
10. Fields
Up next we have an uber cult French coldwave single from 1988, especially choice for fans of the (better) Nova Express tracks posted here and here, as well as the Panoramas single posted ages ago.
Nothing much I can tell you about these guys, aside from shedding a little light on M.S.R., the label which issued this 7”. Several other classics appeared on M.S.R., including Corps Diplomatique and Amour Puzzle, also nice touchstones for this single. Really cool stuff here in the always excellent French tradition, so hope you enjoy it!
Ultime Possibilité- Errance 7”
1. Errance
2. No More Lies
Here we have the second LP from Alan Shearer, released in 1984. Generally, it follows the same vibe as his excellent debut release (uploaded here in case you missed it). All instrumental once again, with some surprisingly poppy moments mixed in as well. Definitely some stunners in the mix here. I can’t seem to get enough of “Snapshot” or “Internal Clock.” The final track even reminds me a bit of some earlier Depeche Mode moments.
Funnily enough, I agree with comments made in the last post regarding video game music, as quite a few of these tracks call the classic NES soundtracks to mind. As someone who used to hold primitive boomboxes up to the tv screen to tape various soundtracks, I mean that as a compliment!
Anyway, without any further ado, here’s the info for this LP:
Alan Shearer- Mines De Son LP
1. Siouxie Likes Me
2. Mines De Son
3. Air Transe Aller
4. Pace-Maker
5. Snapshot
6. Brasilian Music Box
7. Internal Clock
8. Touche Pas A Mon Joël
9. Air Transe Retour
10. Very Christmas
11. Andes 90
12. Week-End At Sea
Also, while I’ve got your attention, might I direct you here? New album coming on September 27th, preorders available now. Just CD and digital for now, perhaps vinyl if enough demand calls for it!
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!
At long last, here we have the full length LP from Japan’s Excentrique Noiz, which I must say, does not disappoint. Six killer tracks here, very reminiscent of the 7” released a year earlier. Click here to grab that one, in case you missed it previously. Just missing their very first 7” and a compilation track! Get their s/t flexi here via Habit of Sex! Many thanks again!
It’s prudent to mention that there are female vocals on the title track, courtesy of Syoko, the lead vocalist of G-Schmitt, another killer Japanese post-punk band worth many, many listens.
Excentrique Noiz- Matt Crescent LP
1. Moonlight
2. Fluorescent Dream
3. All That Place
4. Still In My Heart
5. Time To Lose
6. Matt Crescent
Here’s a fantastic dark ambient tape from Carl Matthews, a compilation of earlier and unreleased material from 1988. Fans of the Remote Viewing and John Costello releases should love this one.
You can read a brief, but informative history on Matthews on his official website, which doesn’t appear to have been updated in some time. There were talks of CD reissues of his old cassettes via Sandpiper Records, but the site is no longer available. That said, I do believe Matthews is still active to date, with two releases last year.
Here’s the info for this killer cassette:
Carl Matthews- Old & New K7
1. Image I
2. Aksu II
3. All One World
4. Image II
5. Kingdom Of Souls
6. Elemental Moon
7. Iridescence
8. Autumn
9. Harmless Thought
10. Day Of Forgiveness
11. Valley
12. Image III
13. Holo-Rhythm
Tracks 1, 4, 8, 12 and 13 were previously unreleased.
Track 2 from Aksu.
Track 3 from Reflections I (compilation).
Tracks 5 and 11 from Call for World Saviours.
Tracks 6, 7 and 10 from Iridescence.
Track 9 from Integration (compilation).
Feeling feisty today, so here’s a quick second post, hot off the press. Contained within we have an early 7” (red flexi-disc!) from Philadelphia’s Pretty Poison, also covered here. You can expect the same (surprisingly and very pleasantly) dark sounds here, which should go without saying for those familiar with the excellent Tuxedomoon original. Seriously, this cover is BLISTERING, a nice take on the already great original, supplemented with a two minute percussive piece.
Here’s the lone 7” from Negatives In Colour, a new wave band from the UK. The single is a donation from the great bx59cppw, and comes complete with the blessing of Peter Fenwick, the band’s drummer.
Unlike many of the bands featured here at Systems of Romance, there’s actually quite a bit of information to be found about the band, thanks to a new website and reverbnation page, which features several unreleased tracks. To briefly paraphrase, this five piece outfit formed in 1982, enjoying some nice exposure thanks to a BBC Oxford Roadshow appearance alongside Duran Duran, at the peak of their powers in 1983. This particular single earned a bit of success on The Tube, a program on Channel 4. The band split after a brief lineup change, but I’m told that Peter and Roland Rands are still playing together in a covers band.
One other track was officially released on the One Giant Leap compilation in 1983, which fetches some pretty crazy prices when it appears. You can find that one on the first edition of the Crispy Nuggets various artists comps.. Peter also tells me that the BBC Oxford session tracks have been made available for download here, so be sure to snag those as well. I’m particularly fond of “Shadow Walk.”
Here’s the info for the 7”:
Negatives In Colour- Caught In Possession 7”
1. Caught In Possession
2. Every Man
At long last, here’s the debut 7” from Sport of Kings, self-released by the band in 1981. I happened to stumble across it in a bin alongside the likes of Last Man In Europe, Razor Penguins, and Lung Overcoat. Needless to say, it was a good day.
This should complete the Sport of Kings discography. In case you missed them previously, you can grab the rest of their output here, here, and here. Special thanks to Fade 2 Grey for originally uploading the A-side! Otherwise, without any further ado…
Sport of Kings- Every Night 7”
1. Every Night
2. The Same Breath
This one may border conspicuously on 80s indie turf, but it’s been hitting the spot lately as the summer creeps on and my interests turn to more guitar driven tunes.
In all honesty, I’ve had this 1989 LP kicking around for a while now, purchased sealed for a dollar at an upstate NY record fair (other scores included Trisomie 21’s Playing the Pictures and the Winter Hours record I posted ages ago). It took a post over at Kentucky Fried Wave to remind me that I had it lying around, unopened and deserving of a rip.
You can read quite a bit about these guys via Kill Your Pet Puppy, where you can also find their first two 12” EPs and a slew of photos. Pretty much all you could ever want to know about them appears in their writeup, so check it out!
As far as touchstones are concerned, this album does fit in quite nicely with the likes of the 80s paisley underground. Fans of Rain Parade, Winter Hours, early R.E.M., and Game Theory should be familiar with the sounds, which with a female singer in tow, also remind me of Ghost Dance and latter-day Xmal Deutschland. For me, the LP starts pleasantly enough but ends on the stronger side, with tracks such as “If You Believe” and “Her Dreamworld” standing out and giving it a bit of that dark flavor I like so much. Don’t take my word for it, however. Here’s the info:
We Are Going to Eat You- Everywhen LP
1. Photograph
2. Heart In Hand
3. This Conspiracy
4. Each Life A Mystery
5. Glory
6. Ride Upon The Tide
7. Eye To Eye
8. On A Day Like This
9. Just Another One
10. Here Always
11. If You Believe
12. Her Dreamworld
This LP was released on TVT records, which had a series of successful LPs (The KLF, Nine Inch Nails) under their belt. With that in mind, this band earned a bit of commercial attention, and filmed a video for “Each Life a Mystery.” Peep it here:
Systems of Romance was created in mid-2007 to serve as a dumping grounds for all great things coldwave, minimal synth, post-punk, synthpunk, industrial, synthpop, and various other combinations of these styles. Feel free to make requests, noodle around, and discuss all you like...
Otherwise, this blog is dedicated to showcasing material that has long since been out of print. If you are aware of any of these items being readily available from the artist or label, or take issue with these tracks being uploaded, please let me know so I can amend the post or remove the links.
