VA – L’Embrasse: Amsterdam Arcane Tape Recordings 1987 [E-M03]

L’Embrasse is a compilation originally released in 1987, less than 50 copies were distributed at the time through local shops and it is a portrayal of a unique and very little known scene, generated in the deep underground milieu of Amsterdam. None of the tracks presented on this album has ever been re-released after the ultra-limited original edition on cassette format appeared. At the time, a dozen different acts were featured: Menko (S.M. Nurse founder), Robbie Horsfall, Peter Van Garderen (Nine Circles founder), Der Rudi, Antonia (Tonny Timmermans), No Honey From These, Incredible Coöp (S.M. Nurse members), Tranquil Eyes, Beatnik Love Affair, Cheiron, Spin & Kokkie and The Male Ego.

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VA – L’Embrasse: Amsterdam Arcane Tape Recordings 1987 [E-M03]

VA – Dutch Wave: A History Of Minimal Synth & Cold Wave In The Netherlands [OS036]

First chapter on Onderstroom digging into the history of Dutch minimal synth & wave. Comes in a gatefold sleeve with metallic finishing and pressed on 180gr. vinyl. Who needs a big, expensive recording studio with all those fancy high-tech machines that only make your weary head spin when you can do it all by yourself at home in your (teenage) bedroom? Way back in the early eighties all you really needed was an idea, quite a bit of guts and some rudimentary equipment. You could basically do whatever you wanted. The means were limited, yet the sky was unbounded. It was the time of the cold war nuclear threat, social unrest and mass unemployment but at the same time it was an era of infinite possibilities. The future was just around the corner. A lot of music that was being produced sounded just like that: a brave new world of sound and rhythm. Music was simply put on cheap cassettes, easily duplicated and swiftly distributed in limited quantities into the big world outside.

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VA – Dutch Wave: A History Of Minimal Synth & Cold Wave In The Netherlands [OS036]