V2 Schneider – Tape Works 1981-85 [VOD126]

The finest German Minimal / Synth from early 80’s NDW Underground by V2 Schneider. For this release Jurgen Schweighart, alias V2 Schneider, sat down, saved and listened to approximately 50 original master tapes, reels and cassettes from 1980 to 1985 including his official tape releases ”Vol. 1” (1981), ”Blues” (1982), ”Abgrund der Gefuhle” (1984), ”Nr.1 in Hong Kong” (1985), ”After A.I.D.S. Symphony” (1985) and many so far unreleased hidden treasures, demos and out-takes. At the request of VOD-Records, none of the tracks were remixed or edited and therefore kept in their authentic original and charming form.

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V2 Schneider – Tape Works 1981-85 [VOD126]

LeLu/Lu’s – Operating On Specific Cues: Early Works 1982-86 [VOD125]

LELU/LU'S - Operating On Specific Cues: Early Works 1982-86

LeLu/Lu’s were an early to late 80’s electronic/synth-based project based around Deni (in the early 80’s known as Yo-Yo and nowadays known as Timekode). In 1985 they released a fantastic 12 song tape on Unlikely Records (URT91) called ”Operating on Specific Cues” which forms the basis of this 25 track 2 LP-release While the tape is still rather unknown to fans of synth music, the three 7”s released from 1985-87 (on Alain Neffe’s Insane Music as well as Possum and R&D Records), with the outstanding tracks ”Spaceman Bassman”, ”Africa” and ”Fragile Thing”, are better known to the minimal synth/wave community and collectors of 80’s wave and minimal synth vinyl.

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LeLu/Lu’s – Operating On Specific Cues: Early Works 1982-86 [VOD125]

Rational Youth – Cold War Night Life Recordings 1981-84 [VOD124]

One of Canadas first synth-pop groups, Rational Youth was formed in the summer of 1981 by Tracy Howe (The Normals, Men Without Hats, Heaven Seventeen) and Bill Vorn (U, Sacred Noise). Within the 10+ years that Howe put Rational Youth on indefinite hiatus, their early vinyl recordings (1981-1982) became much sought after collector items, and had been re-branded as minimal-synth. This 5LP set with booklet provides an almost complete overview of their works from 1981-1984.

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Rational Youth – Cold War Night Life Recordings 1981-84 [VOD124]

Peine Perdue – No Souvenir [CBR003]

Cold Beats is a record label from Barcelona created to give support to bands and artists in the wave/electronic scene. ‘No Souvenir’ is the third release on the label and comes from the French duo Coco Gallo & Stephane Argillet. The album include 14 tracks and it was recorded and mixed in Paris-Berlin between 2011 and 2013.

Peine Perdue – No Souvenir [CBR003]

:Codes – All The Tragic Heroines [FIR006]

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After 10 years of existence, numerous live gigs and great contributions to various compilations (on such labels as Kommando 6, Enfant Terrible, La Forme Lente and Pneu to name a few), :codes has become such an evident part of the minimal synth / cold wave revival that it is hard to believe this is only their first album. Featuring Chris behind the machines and Najah (of Dolina) at the vocals, the French/Belgian duo crafts delicate synth jewels, dark as velvet and cold as ice.

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:Codes – All The Tragic Heroines [FIR006]

Musumeci – Untitled (Traxx edit) [MNQ050]

Musumeci tapes reissue, with their brutal body music plus, similar to DAF, CHBB and Liaisons Dangereuses, was one of the most acclaimed in the Mannequin Records 2013 productions. Traxx, the Chicago-based head of Nation Records, redesigned a raw live version of ‘Tag Fur Tag’ with what he described as a ‘hugly-tape Kode’

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Musumeci – Untitled (Traxx edit) [MNQ050]

Lassigue Bendthaus – Matter [DE060LP]

Lassigue Bendthaus is the electro-industrial project of Uwe Schmidt aka Atom or Seor Coconut from Germany. Uwe Schmidt began making music in the early 1980s, first playing drums, then switching to programming a drum computer after he had heard a Linn Drum on the radio. In 1986 he co-founded the cassette label N.G. Medien, on which his first musical work under the name Lassigue Bendthaus, ”The Engineer’s Love”, was released. Soon after, he started to work on what would become his first official record release, the album ”Matter”. The recordings and production began in 1986 and took almost 4 years, until the album finally came out in 1991 on the German Parade Amoureuse label. Musically somewhere between late ”Industrial” and ”Electronic Body Music”, yet already anticipating ”Acid” and ”Techno”, this production managed to cause quite a stir, due to its advanced production techniques. Songs pay strong homage to Kraftwerk, approaching the early industrial dance scene with a softer sequential approach than most of his contemporaries. ”Matter” is a hermetic reflection about the relationship between perception, nature, science, technology and labor. This reissue comprises the entire 1991 ”Matter” LP, as well a bonus 7” record containing 2 tracks never before released on vinyl.

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Lassigue Bendthaus – Matter [DE060LP]

Soma Holiday – Shake Your Molecules EP [MW052]

Minimal Wave  presents a remastered reissue of Soma Holiday‘s cult classic, Shake Your Molecules. Soma Holiday was a Franco-American duo consisting of Jean-Marc Vallod (FR) and Jane Honicker (US), based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn back in the early 1980s. They recorded “Shake Your Molecules” along with “Too Many People” and “Art Dimension” in 1984. With the help of Eric Dufaure, they had their 12” released on Cachalot Records in the US, and later a further pressing was made by Les Disques Du Soleil Et De L’Acier in France. That quintessential NYC electro / hop hop sound infused with the French New Wave sensibility is what ended up making “Shake Your Molecules” such a unique dance floor hit. This release includes the original “Shake Your Molecules” mix, the unreleased dub version and two other unreleased outtakes of “Too Many People” and “Art Dimension”, all from their 1984 studio recordings at Unique Recording Studios.

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Soma Holiday – Shake Your Molecules EP [MW052]

Crash Course in Science – Signals From Pier Thirteen [DE059]

Crash Course in Science are a post punk band that formed in 1979 in Philadelphia.The band members, Dale Feliciello, Mallory Yago and Michael Zodorozny, met while attending art school. They began to experiment with crude electronics and off-beat writing. CCIS avoids conventional instrumentation by using toy instruments and kitchen appliances to augment the distorted guitar, drums and synthesized beats. Their first single, Cakes in the Home was released in 1979 and their 4-song 12” EP ”Signals From Pier Thirteen” in 1981. Pier 13 was an abandoned coal-loading pier along the Delaware River near where CCIS rehearsed. The band went there often and was inspired by the huge silent machinery, shapes, shadows, ghosts and debris. The songs ‘Cardboard Lamb’ and ‘Flying Turns’ quickly became club favorites during the early 80’s. This EP’s raw, percussive sound influenced both techno and industrial music in later years. CCIS feel a strong connection to Throbbing Gristle, although they consider themselves as working in a parallel universe rather than being influenced by them. Crash Course in Science go above and beyond what is considered ‘New Wave’ in attitude and sound.

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Crash Course in Science – Signals From Pier Thirteen [DE059]

Skitungen – Ofrivilliga Rorelser [KAFTEN004]

Icy science courtesy of Towlie Von Der Rauchen’s burgeoning Kaften imprint: translating to ‘involuntary movements’, “Ofrivilliga Rorelser” lives up to its name with an angular groove, static analogue dynamics and an uncompromising distorted punk-funk vocal. Guaranteed to have you jittering and jerking in all manner of robotic fashions, it dances to the rawest, most visceral of classic electro heartbeats. Facit’s remix pushes us a little deeper into the 80s with a poignant air of new romance.

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Skitungen – Ofrivilliga Rorelser [KAFTEN004]