Pardon the delay, but here is the requested Outer Circle LP, released in 1982. An abrasive mix of both guitars and synths, but neither minimal wave or synthpunk, this particular record is definitely a curious oddity in the post-punk spectrum.
Not a lot of information available about this band aside from their US origins, so let’s cut to the chase. Take a listen below!
Outer Circle- Outer Circle LP
1. Blind Venetians
2. The Home Fires
3. Another Moon
4. Inside
5. Broken Children
Lustans Lakejer (aka Lustavision and Vanity Fair) were a Swedish new wave band originally formed in 1978 with a punk informed approach, not unlike the likes of Magazine and Ultravox. The band issued several 7 and 12” singles and a debut record before releasing today’s download, Uppdrag i Genève in 1981. At that point, the synthesizer became a main component of the band’s sound.
After a handful of following releases and lineup shifts, the band split in 1986. Reissues of the band’s catalog, expanded with bonus tracks and expanded booklets, followed. The band reunited in 1999 for a festival appearance. Another record followed and the band is currently active as both a recording and touring entity to date.
The CD reissue of Uppdrag i Genève is available for purchase via http://www.hotstuff.se/, for a pretty reasonable price. The record includes five extra bonus tracks, including a 7” and live tracks. Since the record is still available for those willing to import it, I’ve only uploaded the main program for listening purposes. Give it a spin, and if you dig it, be sure to pick up the CD. Here’s the info:
Lustans Lakejer- Uppdrag i Genève LP
1. Rendez-Vous I Rio
2. En Lång Natts Färd Mot Dag
3. Sista Tangon I Paris
4. Segerens Sötma
5. Stilla Nätter
6. Man Lever Bara Två Gånger
7. Män Av Skugga
8. Unga Moderna
9. Öppna Städer
10. Paradisets Portar
For more information about Lustans Lakejer, check out the band’s official myspace page, run by singer Johan Kinde.
There’s very little information to be found on this particular artist, one John Ruth from New York, whose lone 1981 release, I Am a Model sits comfortably with the likes of OMD and John Foxx-era Ultravox, with a little Talking Heads quirk thrown in for good measure. Without any further ado, here’s the information for this fantastic synth gem.
1. Goodbye
2. Stalk The Wild Animal
3. Kick Me In The Bed
4. Rhonda La Boo
5. I Am A Model
6. Summer Commuter
7. 50 Mile Radius
8. Ordinary Mood
9. Restaurant
10. Polyclimate Is Here
*download link removed. see comments for purchasing link*
Here’s a slight deviation from the standard Systems of Romance fare to end the weekend. Though it’s a mere stone’s throw away from minimal wave as it is, my interest in Italo and Space Disco has been on the rise over the past six or seven months, and has culminated in two mixes of classic tracks both old and new. I created the first Sequins and Spandex collection in November of ’08 (and forgot to post it here during the blog’s forced downtime). Otherwise, I just finished the second mix last night, and am pleased to offer them both for your listening pleasure. The first is a little more glitzy, polished, and modern, while the second is a little more gritty and of-the-era. Here’s all the info:
Sequins and Spandex: An Introductory Disco Compilation
1. Friday Nights- Diamond Vampires
2. Hands in the Dark- Chromatics
3. Destiny- Vivien Vee
4. Veronica’s Veil- Fan Death
5. Digitally- Plastic Mode
6. Esc Hatch- Mount Sims
7. Pillow Talk- Lustt
8. Lady Operator- Mirage
9. 1991- Crystal Castles
10. Beatific- Glass Candy
11. No Regrets- Black Devil
12. Automatic Amore- Patriza Pellegrino
13. I’m an Indian Too- Don Armando’s 2nd ave. Rhumba Band
14. How Do You Dance?- Telex
15. Speakerphone- Kylie Minogue
16. Movie Star- Roisin Murphy
17. The Night (Original Mix)- Valerie Dore
18. Last Night a DJ Saved My Life (Mirage Mix)- Indeep
Sequins and Spandex 2: Electric Boogaloo
1. Spacer Woman- Charlie
2. Chase (Dub Version)- Sun La Shan
3. What Did He Say- Nite Jewel
4. Hide It- The Golden Filter
5. Somewhere in the Night (Extended)- Stereo
6. Main Theme From ‘Christine’- John Carpenter
7. Moscow Discow (Single Version)- Telex
8. Ikeya Seki- Kano
9. Magic Fly- Ecama
10. You- Boytronic
11. Into the Night- Tobias Bernstrup
12. Pulstar- Hipnosis
13. Baseball Furies Chase- Barry de Vorzon
14. Polaris- Cyber People
15. La Nuite Blanche- Munich Machine
16. Don’t Lose Control- Material
17. Flashing- Goblin
I hope to make a habit of these, so if you dig ’em, please speak up! Happy Friday, ladies and gents!
I originally touched on San Francisco synthpunk legends Units back in July 2006, so let’s flesh that post out a little bit with their lone full length release, 1980’s Digital Stimulation, which features a rerecorded version of ‘Warm Moving Bodies.’ The original version can be nabbed from the 2006 overview post, alongside a more detailed profile of the band. Otherwise, here’s the info proper:
1. High Pressure Days
2. Digital Stimulation
3. Warm Moving Bodies
4. Go
5. Mission
6. Cannibals
7. Bugboy
8. Tight Fit
9. Passion Or Patterns
10. Town By The River
11. Cowboy
*DOWNLOAD LINK REMOVED* – reissued via Furturismo!
The following upload comes as a request, and features Swiss minimal synth band Starter’s entire discography. Starter formed in 1981 as a three piece, led by Francis Foss, who remained the only original member after a personnel switch in 1985.
Starter would release one LP in 1981, followed by several 12” releases throughout the late eighties, calling it quits in 1989. Francis Foss was also active in Shy Rose, a Swiss Italo Disco act who released a handful of singles.
In 2004, Topfuel Entertainment collected Starter’s discography and released it as an extremely limited CD-R pressing, sold alongside a DVD of various live performances over the years. Only sixty copies of this fine release exist, and I’ve had my eyes peeled for ages. Snap one up if you see it! Otherwise, here’s the information for the CD-R portion.
Starter- Start CD-R
1. Lunapark
2. Is This Love
3. Minijupe
4. Baby
5. Plastic
6. Tanger
7. Tarzan And Jane
8. Machinedrum
9. Part Of You
10. Victim
11. My Love
12. Night By Night
13. Cause I Love You
14. Victim Of The Beat
*DOWNLOAD LINK REMOVED* – ATTENTION, dear readers- you can now get a remastered copy of this LP via the always excellent DARK ENTRIES label, an awesome reissue label based out of the west coast. Click here for more info!
Though I have yet to find an original copy of this release, a generous party has uploaded a video from the DVD-R portion, so please click below to view live performances of both Lunapark and Minijupe from 1982:
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A request for today, ladies and gentlemen. This post contains London based minimal synth/new wave band A Popular History of Signs and their 1987 singles collection, Taste.
The three-piece outfit (centering around Andrew Jarman on bass/vocals, Peter Scammell on keyboards, and Paul Clarke on percussion) released their first 7” record in 1980, and ended with this compilation and their final LP, 1988’s England in the Rain (which featured a slightly expanded lineup and a more pop-oriented approach).
Though the band never earned a huge following, they remained a cult favorite, attracting the attention of Ministry’s Al Jourgenson, who remixed both ‘Ladder Jack’ and ‘House,’ both versions which appear below. The rest of the compilation tracks appeared originally as 7” and 12” releases over the course of the 1980s.
Andrew Jarman is now flying solo under the Southern Arts Society moniker, recording and playing to date.
A Popular History of Signs- Taste LP
1. Crowds
2. Justice Not Vengeance
3. Dancing With Ideas
4. Stigma
5. Art Of Persuasion
6. If She Was A Car
7. Ladder Jack
8. Trapped
9. Body And Soul
10. House
11. Rock & Roll (Velvet Underground cover)
12. Run Through The Jungle (John Fogerty cover)
*DOWNLOAD LINK REMOVED* – reissued on all your favorite digital media outlets!
Second post for today, ladies and gents. Feeling a bit productive today. Below lies a recent favorite of mine, making its way into my latest DJ sets.
The Canadian synthpop/minimal wave band Rational Youth began in 1981 as a duo. Members Tracy Howe (ex-Heaven 17/Men Without Hats) and Bill Vorn released several singles and their debut record, Cold War Night Life in 1982. Soon after the record was released, Bill Vorn departed, marking the beginning of several lineup shifts that would occur over the following years. Several EPs and one more full length (1985’s Heredity, more of a Howe solo record under label intervention) followed before Howe retired the name for almost a decade.
In 1997, Howe reactivated Rational Youth, releasing one more record and touring for four years before playing their final show in 2001. Bill Vorn would join Tracy for the very first show, but could not return to the band full time, instead choosing to persue his interactive robotic work.
Uploaded below is the original Rational Youth LP, Cold War Night Life, released in 1982 by the original two-man lineup. This album was re-released in 1997 on CD with a few 12” bonus tracks, also generously uploaded below.
Rational Youth- Cold War Night Life CD
1. Close To Nature
2. Beware The Fly
3. Saturdays In Silesia
4. Just A Sound In The Night
5. Le Meilleur Des Mondes
6. Ring The Bells
7. City Of Night
8. Dancing On The Berlin Wall
9. Power Zone
10. I Want To See The Light
11. Coboloid Race
*DOWNLOAD LINK REMOVED* – mp3s now available through your favorite digital outlets!
Allow me to take this little bit of necessary blog downtime to talk about a newer artist. Back in this blog’s salad days, I posted a handful of tracks from new and exciting post-punk/synth/wave acts, and I’ve been meaning to revisit this format every now and again to mix things up a bit, so while I’m stuck with the daunting task of reuploading this blog’s entire back pages, I figured I’d offer you kids a little modern, yet equally relevant content.
That said, the band on the slab is none other than Mt. Simms. A featured artist on Montreal based Hungry Eye Records, Mt. Simms is a full collective developing from Mount Simms, a similarly styled one-man experimental/electro-pop outfit originally hailing from LA. Led by Matt Sims, a resident DJ/performance artist, Mount Sims released two stunning synth records throughout the new millenium, expanding the boundaries of both electro-pop and performance art. By the time 2005’s Wild Lights hit the shelves, Matt added two members to back up the band’s growing live presence.
After the subsequent tour, Mount Sims disbanded as Matt relocated to Berlin to start work on a third record as Mt. Sims. The new outfit consists of Randy Twigg on bass and Andre Lange on drums. Despite the mild change to the band’s moniker, subsquent sounds explored different territory, adding a much darker and chaotic post-punk edge to the previously solid electronic aesthetic. The results, however, are equally captivating.
Happily Ever After, Mt. Sims’ first full length release (featuring mixing and production assistance by Thomas Stern of Crime & the City Solution), was released just last week, but was predated by a 12” single. I am pleased to offer one track from each respeective Mt. Sims release for your enjoyment. The first is the title track from May’s A Grave EP, and the second is a featured number from Happily Ever After:
*downloads removed*
If you dig these tracks, please say so, and do pick up Matt’s releases both new and old. Mount Sims material is easily purchased from Amazon.com and the Itunes Music Store, but Matt’s latest work can be found on the Hungry Eye webstore, linked below. Alternately, click below for the Mt. Sims myspace page, chock full of information, photos, and more songs to learn and sing:
Back to the grind, ladies and gentlemen. Just recently married, I haven’t had much time to think about posting, but now that the dust has settled, let’s get this blog back up and running. I’m still aiming for a twice a week goal for now, so let’s see how that goes.
Today’s band is 1000 Ohm, a two man Belgian minimal synth project formed in 1979. Originally, 1000 Ohm was the brainchild of Frank Van Bogaert, but as the outfit continued into the 1980s, Johan Van Herck joined in to flesh out the band’s sound, joined by an unnamed third member for live shows (if anyone knows the third member’s name, please chime in). The first release uploaded today, the 1981 A.G.N.E.S. 12”, features just Frank at the helm, while Van Herck joined in time for 1984’s Love In Motion 12”.
The duo split in 1987 after several more 12” singles (including ‘The Claim’ a shameless synthpop jam), and Van Bogaert went on to produce several local artists before purchasing ACE studios in Antwerp. As the nineties came to a close, Frank began to release a series of his own organic synth recordings, some of which have won German awards. He still records to this day.
Without any further adieu, here’s the info for these two synth-pop gems:
1000 Ohm- A.G.N.E.S. 12”
1. A.G.N.E.S.
2. A.G.N.E.S. (2nd mix)
3. Look Around
1000 Ohm- Love In Motion 12”
1. Love In Motion
2. Love In Motion (Instrumental)