Heavy EBM stompers by Celldöd, aka Anders Karlsson, has been releasing dirty electronic music since the late ’80s, both small-run cassette tapes inspired by the DIY ethos of his post-punk background, and pristine vinyl editions.
post punk
Not Wawing – Redacted [ELP023]
Forever a label willing to revisit previous tape-only wares if the demand is there, Sam Willis and Ale Natalizia’s Ecstatic turn their gaze to one of the latter’s earliest Not Waving documents. Originally issued on highly limited, gold cassette way back in 2012, Redacted was produced during Walls downtime by Natalizia and expanded on the “classified” themes of his Remote Viewing-inspired debut LP Umwelt. Fans of the most recent Diagonal-released Not Waving LP, Animals, should be thrilled to see how far Natalizia’s project has developed in just four years with the prevailing mood on Redacted a sort of murky and brutish EBM that is wholly satisfying.
VA – Wosto / Kilian Krings Edits [SBZ002]
Sign Bit Zero strides onwards with a set of punishing dancefloor interpretations of forgotten industrial gems handpicked by Hamburg’s Wosto and label head honcho, Kilian Krings. While Wosto’s previous output as half of Fallbeil is as much informed by Chicago house as EBM, his contributions to SBZ002 focus on the C90 experimentation which roughens the edges of the duo’s past efforts for Contort Yourself and New York Haunted. Kilian Krings explores his passion for Neue Deutsche Welle and its various offshoots in his edits here, setting a bold statement for the future of both his own and Sign Bit Zero’s no-compromise approach. SBZ002 sheds light on crucial yet often overlooked aspects of 1980s industrial experimentation. Wosto and Kilian Krings morph their discoveries into club-ready headspinners, assured to prove a highlight of any adventurous DJ set.
Executive Slacks – Seams Ruff LP [DE128]
Executive Slacks began in the hot, humid summer of 1980 Philadelphia by Matt Marello, John Young and Albert Ganss, three bored, broke, anxious art students. Starting out with performance art in subways, they soon took their angst-ridden act to galleries and night clubs. The band found their moniker in a run-down bookstore after seeing an ad for men’s polyester pants. They pieced together sounds that captured the growing paranoia of an age predicted by Orwell and the growing inequalities of the 1980s. They excavated two cassettes that contained their earliest recorded material from 1980 and 1981. “Seams Ruff” is a 13 song compilation from these cassette collections plus a bonus flexi disc featuring a live performance on WXPN from 1980. The tracks were created with the use of heavily modified synthesizers and noisemakers, the broken innards of a grand piano, metal oil drums and a spray painted Harmony Rocket guitar. The Slacks drew their influences from contemporaries like Cabaret Voltaire and Tuxedomoon, as well as Disco and Dadaism. Dripping in nihilism, the song’s lyrics tackle the existential dread of the late 20th century and three of the songs are taken from “Mann ist Mann” a 1926 play by the German modernist author Bertolt Brecht. Executive Slacks’ unique brew of primitive electronics, harsh guitars and aggressive vocals inspired many bands like Ministry, Front 242 and Skinny Puppy.
Folkvett – Tröskelvärk [PATER003]
Pater Noster introduce the debut LP from Swedish synth wizard Christian Åkerström. Produced under the alias Folkvett, ‘Tröskelvärk’ is a collection of ten infectious, hypnotic and cinematic frost-covered Nordic synth jams. Analogue and uncompromising melodic minimal synth, this is music for the ice-cold punks.
All the Madman – Tape Recordings 1980-1983 [VOD145B1ATM]
All the Madmen were Neale James Potts, Michael William Richardson, Christopher Paul Bailey and Richard Roger Weston-Smith from Stoke-on-Trent, UK. They called themselves minimal synthesizer-punks. ATM started in 1980 as an Anti Rock group, believing that the way that music was played and produced should change forever. One track called ”Superior Life” made it onto the LP ”Cry Havoc”.
Din A Testbild – Programm 1&2 [MNQ090/MNQ091]
Early pioneers of the German New Wave music scene, Din A Testbild were formed in 1978 by Mark Eins and Gudrun Gut (former member of Einstürzende Neubauten, Mania D. and Malaria!). Din A Testbild played a significant role in defining the avant-garde music of Berlin. Legendary is their partecipation at the “Festival Genialer Dilletanten” in 1981. “Programm 1” and ‘Programm 2’ were mixed and produced by Klaus Schulze on his own record label Innovative Communication in 1980. This first vinyl repress celebrates the 35th anniversary of this classic electronic album.
Xao Seffcheque – Kess 02 [KESS002]
“On KESS02 we go straight to the core of the Kess Kill sound and aesthetic with this contemporary of Liaisons Dangereuses and D.A.F. Xao produced some extremely singular music in the late 1970s and early 1980s, which makes for a very proud first reissue for Kess Kill. This is music so unparalleled that making comparisons is completely redundant. Think jacked up post-punk with manic rhythmic tendencies and you’re halfway there.”
Mick Wills – outline.27
Not Waving – Digital Tsunami 100
Metropolis – Angstpolitiek [PBD001]
Introducing Broken Dreams, a new series of white label releases on Rotterdam based Pinkman label. First up is Metropolis, who returns with four Wave, Electro and Body Music hybrids. A quartet of tracks that draw on Lapien’s diverse catalogue, this is undoubtedly some of his darkest music to date. Acid, New Beat and Post-Punk influences bubble and churn throughout. Crisp beats crash, strings lament, vocals sigh and synth stabs squirm for an EP that refuses to conform to norms. A hoarse and harsh cry to open a new Pinkman chapter.
VA – Household Shocks LP [DE114]
Dark Entries present “Household Shocks”, a 16-track compilation of UK DIY/Synth/New Wave/Post-Punk originally released in 1980. The album showcases 9 bands from the thriving post-punk scene in Scunthorpe and the North of England. Operating on a shoestring budget, co-producers Chris Leaning and Paul Singleton (both of One Gang Logic), released “Household Shocks” on Stark Products, a label they founded in 1979. At almost 50 minutes of music, the album took four weeks to produce at the Studio Playground in Lincoln. It was supported heavily by the late Radio 1 DJ John Peel.
Crystal Soda Cream – Work & Velocity [TWR028]
On their by now 4th release Crystal Soda Cream yet again prove to know how to pull out all the stops: shimmering cold & toxic, passionate & sharp tongued, claustrophobic & elegantly wasted with usual aplomb. By revealing “Work & Velocity” this Vienna threesome – Theresa Adamski (dr, keys, voc), Philipp Forthuber (voc, guit) and Sebastian Ploier (bass) – bears a distinct breed of post punk, that is not just a zealous reflection of the cold, old days in a cloudy mirror, much rather CSC manage to forge a bridge between a thoroughly thought through reminiscence of stylistic device and the framing of a paramountly contemporary statement.
Continue reading “Crystal Soda Cream – Work & Velocity [TWR028]”
RR Hearse – Call of Oedipus [JUNE010]
June Records presents RR Hearse – Call of Oedipus. Completed between 1981 and 2013, Call of Oedipus is a collection of solo works and collaborations of RR Hearse with S/M, A.Rib and Mr. Cricket. The tracks were recorded live at concerts on Greek University campuses, squats, in studio as well as in RR Hearse’s bedroom. This mini LP is a never released before document of the Greek underground music scene, transferred from cassettes and reel-to-reels’s from RR Hearse’s personal archive.
Sad Lovers & Giants – Lost In A Sea Full Of Sighs LP [DE115]
Sad Lovers & Giants are a post-punk band from Watford, England who formed in 1980. The original lineup included vocalist Garçe (Simon) Allard, guitarist Tristan Garel-Funk, bassist Cliff Silver, drummer Nigel Pollard, and keyboardist/saxophonist David Wood. In 1981, they released the 3-song 7” EP “Clé” and the ”Colourless Dream” single. The “Lost In A Moment” 7” single followed in 1982. They released two studio albums, “Epic Garden Music” and “Feeding the Flame”, before disbanding in 1983. The band reformed in 1987. “Lost In A Sea Full Of Sighs” is a collection of 9 songs recorded between 1981 and 1982. Seven songs from their first three 7” singles plus one demo and one song recorded for a John Peel Session in 1981 are compiled here. The music is moody and cerebral, awash with synthesizer swirls and sax interjections.
VA – Domestic Landscape Vol 2: Underrated Synth Classics 1982-1990 [DOM026L]
Spain’s Domestica are up to their usual antics, and this time it’s the second instalment of their excellent Domestic Landscape series, a varied and much-coveted collection of perfectly contemporary post-punk and coldwave oddities from the 1980s. We’re in love with every track on here, and we’re not exaggerating, this gear is of the highest calibre, and all very much relevant in a DJ nowadays. Think Optimo in the midst of a smokey, mid-morning set in a dark basement, and you’re almost there. Track upon track of solid gold discofied industrial music. Killer; highly recommended.
Not Waving – FACT mix 536
VA – So Low [VF170]
Optimo’s prolific DJ/producer/label boss JD Twitch aka Keith McIvor has curated a compilation of early ‘80s synth, industrial and cold wave classics and undiscovered gems in collaboration with The Vinyl Factory, titled So Low. The 16-track collection had its genesis in McIvor’s irregular club night of the same name in his hometown of Glasgow. “So Low is an occasional night at The Poetry Club in Glasgow where I play some of the music I played when I first started DJing back in 1987,” McIvor explains. “At that time the audience I played to mostly loathed what I was playing and rarely danced but then shortly after, when House music arrived I found a different audience who actually liked to dance. In response to my wife’s deep love of this music and requests from some friends who were too young to hear it in a club at the time, or indeed were not even born when most of this music was made, I was persuaded to revisit a lot of records I still loved but rarely played out, and So Low was born. It has an extremely enthusiastic audience, a joyous atmosphere and is the antithesis of what a club in Scotland playing this music nearly 30 years ago would have been like.”
Golden Teacher – First Three EPs [GT002LP]
Golden Teacher and the Rough Trade shops join forces to offer new ears the opportunity to hear the Teacher’s first three recording efforts on one handy compilation. Recorded between 2012 and 2013 at Glasgow’s Green Door Studio through a state-funded scheme for unemployed young musicians, this release documents the six-piece’s interest in the willful naïveté of late 20th century “post-” tendencies, leading France’s MidiLibre to later describe Golden Teacher as “an idiot-savant prototype of dance music in the 3rd millennium.” Golden Teacher is an ensemble of Cassie Ojay, Charles Lavenac, Laurie Pitt, Oliver Pitt, Richard McMaster and Sam Bellacosa. This release gathers all material from the band’s first three EPs, first released as OM18, OM20 and OM23 on Glasgow’s Optimo Music. The LP presents a selection of the band’s favorite tracks from these sessions.
Crystal Soda Cream – Rationale Arbeitsschritte [KIM015]
Crystal Soda Cream will release their second studio-album Work and Velocity in April 2016 via Totally Wired Records. Rationale Arbeitsschritte is the album’s first single released as a 7“ on KIM Records.
The Hipodrome Of Music 