Visage - Fade To Grey, 1980

Formed in 1978 by Steve Strange and Rusty Egan with members from Ultravox, Magazine, and Siouxsie and the Banshees, Visage were at the center of the burgeoning British New Romantic fashion movement of the early 1980s. Fade To Grey is an amazing track and the band’s most relevant and successful single; the lyrics and melody were actually composed by Midge Ure and Billie Currie who would both eventually leave the band for Ultravox. The French vocal was performed by Brigitte Arendt, a young student from Luxembourg who was Rusty Egan’s girlfriend at the time.

Absolute Body Control - Figures, 1983

Having previously played in minor punk and new wave bands, Dirk Ivens formed Absolute Body Control in early 1980 Belgium as a project more influenced by the prototype synthpop sound being produced by the likes of Suicide and D.A.F. The project, which soon settled as a duo with Ivens and Eric van Wonterghem, released a number of cassettes, but only one 7” (Is There An Exit?) and no studio albums during its brief lifespan.

This track features alongside Ruth and several others on Angular Records’ forthcoming release of Cold Waves and Minimal Electronics, another great compilation chronicling the underground cult cold wave and minimal wave mostly originating from continental Europe between the years 1981-1985. Visit the Coldwaves tumblr here.

Mark Lane - Who’s Really Listening? 1984

Going back to the early dawn of the new wave and punk movements, Mark Lane began his electronic music and tape splicing experiments in 1981. His first release was a vinyl 7” entitled “Love is So Aggravating” and although it was well received, it was the release of his 1984 mini-LP entitled “Who’s Really Listening?” that garnered him critical acclaim and cemented his place historically as one of the early pioneers of minimal electronic synthpop.

This track features on a promotional split 7” with Oppenheimer Analysis in celebration of the recently released Minimal Wave Tapes, the first official anthology of underground electronic music from North America and Europe from the excellent Minimal Wave label, remastered from analog source tapes and compiled by Minimal Wave’s Veronica Vasicka and Stones Throw’s Peanut Butter Wolf.

Buy here.

Alan Vega - Jukebox Babe, PVC Records 1980

One half of the seminal electronic duo Suicide, Alan Vega began his career as a visual artist, gaining notoriety for his light sculptures and eventually opening his own lower Manhattan gallery space which he dubbed the Project of Living Artists. The Project served as a stomping grounds for the likes of the New York Dolls, Television and Blondie as well as the 15-piece jazz group Reverend B., which featured a musician named Martin Rev on electric piano. Rev would later join Vega to form Suicide.

After Suicide disbanded in 1980, both Vega and Rev undertook solo careers, with Vega continuing to explore the fractured rockabilly identity he had established in his earlier work. His self-titled 1980 debut record which contained “Jukebox Babe”, one of his best known songs, defined the kind of rockabilly style that he would follow for some years.

Sex Pistols - Anarchy In The U.S.A. (Live at Winterland San Francisco, January 1978)

The Sex Pistols arrived in New York on January 4, 1978, where an appearance on Saturday Night Live was canceled at the last minute. The U.S. tour began in Atlanta on January 5 and continued through Memphis, San Antonio, Baton Rouge, Dallas, and Tulsa. It ended just ten days later with what would be their last show together at Winterland in San Francisco, with Johnny Rotten leaving the stage after “No Fun” saying “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?”

Aside from a few unofficial bootleg recordings, both tracks were previously unreleased until this 1980 mail order compilation from Warner Brothers.

Tones On Tail - Go! Beggars Banquet 1984

Originally intended as an outlet for Bauhaus guitarist Daniel Ash to record his more experimental material, Tones On Tail became the psychedelic and light-hearted antithesis of Bauhaus’ gloom and doom reputation. The band made a point of having each song sound as different as possible, and in concert wore all-white as a reaction to Bauhaus’s all-black look. During their short tenure together, Tones On Tail created some of the most inventive, arresting and tongue-in-cheek “pop” music until disbanding semi-acrimoniously in 1984. Ash and Tones On Tail drummer Kevin Haskins, also originally from Bauhaus, went on to form Love and Rockets.

WKNDRCRDS - Little Jackets (64:56) DOWNLOAD WKND 6

Ratatat - Seventeen Years/ Daft Punk - Teachers/ LCD Soundsystem - Losing My Edge/ Numbers - Prison Life (Gold Chains Remix)/ Radio 4 - Calling All Enthusiasts/ The Rapture - House Of Jealous Lovers (Morgan Geist Version)/ Le Tigre - Decepticon (DFA Remix)/ Morgan Geist - Epoch/ The Juan Maclean - By The Time I Get To Venus/ Safety Scissors - O.P./ Mr. Oizo - Eric’s Mood/ Numbers - We Like Having These Things (Kid 606 Remix)/ New Order - Perfect Kiss/ Playgroup - Make It Happen/ Electrelane - Film Music

Wire - Eardrum Buzz, Mute 1989

After reforming In 1985, the group increased their use of electronic musical instruments, eventually leading to the self-firing of drummer Robert Gotobed in 1990 (and thus prompting the band to drop one letter from their name to become Wir). The band released their fifth album A Bell Is a Cup…Until It Is Struck on Mute in 1988, based on live recordings, heavily re-arranged, edited and remixed in the studio. “Eardrum Buzz” was one of the few new songs on the album and became the band’s biggest charting single.

Vivien Goldman - Launderette, 99 Records 1981

British journalist born to two Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany who has devoted much of her work to chronicling punk and Afro-Caribbean music and culture. She is an accomplished documentarian, having penned the first biography on Bob Marley, and is currently Adjunct Professor of Punk and Reggae at NYU.

Allegedly she recorded the “Dirty Washing EP” in 1981 when Public Image Ltd.’s John Lydon and Keith Levene snuck her into the Manor Studios during the Flowers Of Romance sessions in late 1980, with PiL also reportedly paying for most of the recording costs - perhaps lending to how Lydon and Levene earned their co-producer credits. The EP appeared first on Ed Bahlman’s iconic 99 Records imprint and includes an excellent B side recording and dub version produced by Adrian Sherwood which also appears on the first On-U Sound New Age Steppers LP.

The Flying Lizards - Her Story, 1979

Experimental British “pop” group led by producer David Cunningham and joined by a loose collective of avant-garde personnel on instruments and vocals, most notably journalist and reggae/postpunk musician Vivien Goldman. Aside from the well-known, emotionless hit covers, the debut album also contains two wonderful songs written and sung by Goldman, including “The Window” and “Her Story”, which also contains a line that inspired the Public Image Limited single about bands selling out their artistic principles for commercial success - “This Is Not A Love Song” from 1983 (“But you can still make money, by singing sweet songs of love… this is a love song”). Ironically, it gave PiL their biggest international hit single.