Eric Random - Dow Chemical Company (7'' 1981)

Experimental multi-instrumentalist Eric Random released three albums and a slew of singles between 1980 and 1987, tracing a fascinating post-punk arc from art-bruit to esoteric jazz and funk inflections, and later exploring non-Western idioms with his group The Bedlamites. Hailing from Manchester, Random struck up enduring associations with Buzzcock Pete Shelley, Velvets femme fatale Nico and (most notably) with Sheffield avant gardists Cabaret Voltaire, with whom much of his early material bears comparison.

In April 1981 Random took part in a brief New Hormones package tour with Ludus around Belgium and Holland, and this connection lead to the release of a third single via chic Brussels-based independent, Les Disques du Crepuscule. Released in July 1981, again on 7" only, TWI 029 coupled Subliminal with 23 Skidoo, and explores similarly ominous sonic surrounds to the debut ep. May also saw the release of another 7" single on New Hormones, (ORG 11), combining Dow Chemical Company with Skin Deep. Less austere than the debut ep recorded a year before, both tracks offered bubbling, rhythmic sound patterns, and were the first to feature other musicians, with Lynn Walton contributing vocals to DCC.

Tracklisting

A1 Dow Chemical Company
B1 Skin Deep

New Hormones ORG 11

Download from Mass Mirror

Schleimer K / Die Partei - The Stag / Strahlsund (7'' FLEXI 1982)

One of the most interesting flexi split coming from the dutch Vinyl Magazine serie. In A side we have the great minimal synth Schleimer K from U.K. with a killin track (dont miss the 12'' Fugitive Kind and the s/t LP, still ripped on mutantsounds blog), in the B a very synth-experimental german band, Die Partei (check also their LP 'La Freiheit Des Geistes'). It finish for cheap often on Ebay, so simply take a look and buy.

Tracklisting

A1 Schleimer K - The Stag
B1 Die Partei - Strahlsund

Vinyl Magazine SHOL 3258

Download from Mass Mirror

Dark Day - Trapped (12'', 1981)

Dark Day's first album "Exterminating Angel" followed in 1980. The band consisted of Robin, Phil Kline, and Barry Friar, but the lineup remained fluid, and at various times included Steven Brown and Peter Principle (Tuxedomoon), filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, Nina Canal and David Rosenbloom (Glenn Branca). The album's release was followed with a promotional 12 inch "Trapped" whose b-side "The Exterminations 1-6", six hyper-reverse mixes, remains Robin's favorite of his early work. During this time Dark Day played live concerts in New York City at The Mudd Club, TR3, CBGB's, Max's Kansas City, Hurrah's, and Trax as well as M-80, the New No Now Wave Festival in Minneapolis. A mini-tour of Europe included gigs at Leuven, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam.

After a brief shift in aesthetics, Robin reformed Dark Day as a synthetic keyboard duo with Bill Sack and recorded a second album "Window".

Tracklisting

A1 Trapped
B1 The Exterminations 1 To 6

Lust/Unlust Music JMB 238

Download from Mass Mirror

Dark Day - Hands In The Dark (7'', 1979)

In the mid-1970s, Robin Crutchfield moved to New York to participate in the growing conceptual and performance art movement. After several performances in galleries and alternative spaces which received critical acclaim, he broke away from the scene to pursue music.

In 1979, after having formed the infamous no wave band DNA with Arto Lindsay and Ikue Mori, and recorded a single for Lust/Unlust and four tracks for the Eno-produced "No New York" album, and having gigged with DNA for nearly a year, Robin determined the band was moving in a direction counter to his own interests and left to form his own project, Dark Day.

With the aid of Nancy Arlen (Mars) and Nina Canal (The Gynecologists and Ut), he released an initial single "Hands In The Dark" b/w "Invisible Man" on Lust/Unlust, Charles Ball's fledgling label which had already released the historic debut recordings of Lydia Lunch's groundbreaking Teenage Jesus & The Jerks, as well as the aforementioned DNA single.

Tracklisting

A1 Hands In The Dark
B1 Invisible Man

Lust/Unlust Music NML

Download from Mass Mirror

Do-Po - Rhythm / Oxidization (7'', 1981)

Do-Po were an obscure minimal synth italian group composed by 5 guys (see the insert below for details) and coming from Cervia, the same city of N.O.I.A. They were the first exit of LM Records (Luigi Mazzesi Records) and they pressed only this 7'', that was recorded and mixed at Sutera Studio (Cervia) and printed in 1000 copies, some with an insert.









Tracklisting

A1 Rhythm
B1 Oxidization

L.M. Records 001

Download from Mass Mirror

Legendary Pink Dots, The - Blacklist (12'' 1989)

The Legendary Pink Dots formed in August 1980 in London. In 1984 the band transplanted itself to Amsterdam which led to a shift in the original lineup, the original bassist Roland Callaway leaving at this time.

The core members of the group are vocalist/songwriter/keyboardist Edward Ka-Spel and keyboardist Phil Knight. Many others have passed through the group over the years. As of 2007[1] the group is comprised of:

* Edward Ka-Spel - vocals, keyboards, songwriter
* Phil Knight (a.k.a. The Silverman) - keyboards, electronics
* Martijn de Kleer - guitars
* Niels van Hoorn (a.k.a. Niels Van Hoornblower) - saxophones, clarinets, flutes, MIDI wind controller
* Raymond Steeg - live sound engineer

The story behind the band's name traces back to the mysteriouse pink dots on certain keys of the bands main recording studio piano named "Osbert", the dots that can be found at either end of the keys do not make any particular chord or scale pattern and the reason for them remains unknown to this day. The piano itself which is still to this day owned by one of the founding band member April White, can be found at her home recording studio in Cambridgeshire.

Their music touches on elements of neo-psychedelia, ambient music, electronic music, tape music, industrial, psych folk, synth-pop and goth rock, with a distinctly experimental/avant-garde bent; their sound has evolved over time and remains distinctive, making it difficult to place the group into a concise style or genre. The group in general (and Ka Spel's lyrics and singing in particular) have earned comparisons to Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett[2]; the group has also been compared to a lot of classics seventies deranged bands as Can [3], Faust, Brainticket, Magma or Neu! (of whom they do their only cover). Anyway, Ka-Spel has said that they have seventies influences not in a "revival way" -think in the non revival "seventies underground reference" of projects like Nurse With Wound, Current 93 or Coil, all close to LPD. A very important fact is that in these days LPD have a lot of influence in younger bands.

Tracklisting

A1 Blacklist
B1 Methods
B2 Our Lady In Cervetori

Play It Again Sam (PIAS)

Download from Mass Mirror

Thanks to Daniel Bernath for the link!

P. Children - Documentation 1987-1992 (CD 1992)

P. Children were an experimental industrial/noise outfit composed by Harold Walls, Mike Parker and Robert Kirzinger. This cd contains a selection of remastered tracks originally released on vinyl, as well as some previously unreleased tracks.

Tracklisting

01 Little March
02 Slow Blue Bite
03 Social Life
04 Not Established
05 Aura (Number 7)
06 Transmitted
07 Recurrence
08 Irresolution
09 Influence
10 Truth Witheld

D&E001, CHCD-05

Download from Mass Mirror

La Fura Dels Baus - Accions (CD Remastered, 1998)

La Fura dels Baus is a Catalan theatrical group founded in 1979 in Barcelona known for their urban theatre, use of unusual settings and blurring of the boundaries separating audience and actor. La Fura dels Baus is a company in a permanent process of transformation that, since it was founded, has approached new challenges in the field of the performing arts. Its occasional shows and events have had an enormous impact on both international critics and audiences. It would be no exaggeration to say that since Actions/Accions (1983) La Fura dels Baus can be considered as a cult group for its thousands of followers all over the world. La Fura has developed its own language, style and aesthetics over the years based on collective creation.

A sequence of seven "actions" employing intense dramatic spectacle and music. The performance happens at ground level among the spectators and only the musicians and the high wires are raised. The performance space, usually a deserted warehouse, is used to the utmost dramatic effect. 1 MIRA. Saxophone, voice and synthesizers create an exhilarating start to the performance. 2 HOMES DE FANG. Three men, naked and caked in mud, make their way among the crowd. They eat raw eggs, smearing them over their faces and then crawl into barrels. 3 FAKIRS. Two men in suits knock down a wall and wreck a car with axes and sledgehammers; fireworks speed along overhead wires. 4 HOME BLANC. A man wearing buskins and covered with white paste moves towards a large white canvas cloth hanging on one of the walls. 5 BIPS. The men in the car cover two mud men with blue and black paint and then chase them among the audience throwing noodles at them. 6 CORDES. Two men hang from a pair of ropes and make their way towards the big canvas. Their bodies are covered with transparent plastic and they burst bags of red paint creating a red explosion. 7 LONA. The plastic men and the white man perform a body painting action on the big canvas, flailing their limbs erratically so that the canvas is daubed with red paint.

Creators / performers: Marcel.lí Antúnez Roca, Jordi Arús,“Hansel” Cereza, Miki “Espuma”,Pep Gatell, Jürgen Müller, Alex Ollè, Carles Padrisa, Pere Tantinyà
Production and management: Andreu Morte & Mercè Illa.
Creative drafter: Andreu Morte
Lighting design: Ramón Rey
Sound design: Pablo J. Loyzaga
Produced by the Centre Dramàtic de la Generalitat de Catalunya (Barcelona) and La Fura dels Baus.

Props: 1 white canvas sheet measuring 14 x 6 m,2 axes, 2 sledgehammers, torches, 3 drums,2 ceiling cables, stage for the musicians Perishable material: 1 car per performance, 200 litres of paint,grey mud, 40 kilos of soup pasta, sawdust,fireworks Venues : disused industrial buildings, factories, markets, abandoned slaughterhouses, churches, jails...

Between 600 and 1.500 m*, 50 kw of electric power

Tracklisting

01 Instrucciones
02 Mira
03 Hombres De Barro
04 Huevos
05 Faquires
06 Fuego
07 Hombre Blanco
08 Bips
09 Cuerdas
10 Lona
11 Motor
12 Grito

Download from Mass Mirror

Karnak - When The Doors Are Closed (7'', 1984)

Karnak were one of the most impressive exponents of the florentine dark-wave scene, togheter with their friends Neon, Polyactive/Pankow and Litfiba. They printed officially only this 7'', on the storical label Electric Eye, directed by Claudio Sorgi: obsessive rhytms adapt well to the liquid harmonies of guitar, and the hysteric and lamenting vocals are fantastically inserted into the general context, alongside strident pseudo-noise effects. Simply great.

Tracklisting

A1 When The Doors Are Closed
A2 Saqqara Lights
B1 Northern Tempest

Electric Eye 001

Download from Mass Mirror

Doris Norton - Artificial Intelligence (LP 1985)

Doris Norton (pioneer in the early electro / computer music) began her musical carrer playing avant-garde and progressive music using synthesizers such as Roland System 700 and Minimoog. In 1980 she recorded her first solo album entitled "Under Ground". Sponsored by Apple computer and the Roland Corporation music instruments, she was more involved in experimental electro computerized music and recorded the albums "Parapsycho" (1981), "Raptus" (1981), "Norton Computer For Peace" (1983), "Personal Computer" (1984), "Artificial Intellingence" (1985). In 1986 she became an official consultant for IBM Computer Music and recorded two compact discs for IBM entitled "Automatic Feeling" and "The Double Side of Science" (both in new age /computer sound and psychoactive music area). In 1990 Doris Norton joined the independent label Sob: contaminated by her young son Rexanthony, she was attracted to the '90 rising techno music rhythms and composed "Techno Shock Volume One" and "Techno Shock Volume two" both recorded in studio 'a quattro mani' with her 13 years old son. In the early 1993 she composed "Techno Shock Volume Three", considered by the critics as "a good revolutionary example of techno metal music". In September 1993 Doris Norton started a new techno/trance project called "Next Objective" (the first of three in the hypnotic series) and also composed most of the songs then appeared on the Rexanthony's "Techno Shock Volume Four" and songs for "Cocorico' Two" (1994), "Cocorico' Three" and "Chagrin et Plaisir U Fisty Fussy" (1995) . Her albums "Next Objective Two", "Next Objective Three" and "Document One" have been released between 1994 and 1995 along with various singles. Since ever involved in visual arts (under several pseudonyms), in the 2004 she officially re-started walking 'the video path' and has been the "Magic Ritual" (published by Warner, 2005) and "Perpetual Adoration" (published by Rai Trade, 2006) director. In 2006 she also arranged the album "Switch on Dark" (Warner, Rai Trade) distributed in the Usa by Century Media.


Tracklisting

A1 Artificial Intelligence
A2 Machine Language
A3 Advanced Micro Music
A4 Sylicon Valley
A5 Juno 106 Software
B1 Norton Institute
B2 Norton Musik Research
B3 Oh Supermac
B4 Bit Killed Hertz
B5 JX-3P Software


Globo Records ZL 34305

Download from Mass Mirror

Units - Warm Moving Bodies (7'', 1979)

The Units are a defunct band founded in San Francisco in 1978 and active until 1984. One of America's first electronic new wave bands, they are widely cited (along with The Screamers from L.A.) as pioneers of a genre now known as "synthpunk." Since L.A.’s The Screamers never released a record, the Units' DIY, self stamped, 7” ep entitled “Units” released in 1979, may be the first example of a “synthpunk” record. It was followed by another self released 2 song 7” record in early 1980, Warm Moving Bodies/iNight.

The Units critically acclaimed first album, Digital Stimulation, released in 1980, was the first album released by Howie Klein’s fledgling 415 Records, which is considered to be the first North American record label devoted to new wave music.

Tracklisting

A1 Warm Moving Bodies
B1 I-Night


M2 Private Release

Direct Download