Fay Ray - Family Affairs, 1980

Debut 7” single recorded at Surrey Sound Studios, Leatherhead, Surrey, England.

Fay Ray - Heatwave, 1981

Unexpected awesomeness from one of the great secrets of the British New Wave, fronted by singer Sheila McCartney, whose quivering voice is a close resemblance to Siouxsie Sioux’s. Their only album was released on WEA International and a total flop. Fay Ray faded into obscurity after the label pulled the plug on their second album and locked the masters in a vault, refusing to release it once the group was dropped. The band split shortly after. Don’t miss the video.

Chromagain - Satisfied, 1985

Rare dark wave, minimal electronic group from Turin, Italy formed by Luca Pastore, Silvio Ferrero and Davide Bassino. Aside from appearing on a few compilations, I believe their only release was this mini-lp ‘Any Colour You Like’ from 1985.

Download: WKNDRCRDS - Another Heart Breaks (47:36)

Synergy - The Final Alignment/ Yello - Call It Love (Dub)/ I Start Counting - Lose Him/ Colour Box - Just Give ‘Em Whisky/ Propaganda - Jewel/ Depeche Mode - Strange Love (Blind Mix)/ New Order - Don’t Do It/ Revenge - State of Shock (L’Pool Edit)/ Nitzer Ebb - Join In The Chant (Lies!)/ Hula - VC1/ Click Click - I Rage I Melt/ Electronic Light Orchestra - Another Heart Breaks

Ike Yard - NCR, 1982

Experimental minimal electronic group founded in 1979 post-punk New York by Stuart Argabright (Dominatrix, Death Comet Crew), Kenny Compton (bass/vocals), Fred Szymanski (synthesizers/ programming) and Michael Diekmann (guitar), named after the record shop in A Clockwork Orange. Together they recorded for labels like Disques du Crépuscule and Factory. NCR is off their eponymous album on Factory, often confused as  ‘A Fact A Second’ due to the catalog translation of “a Factory America second release” in the cover design.

Red Zebra - I’m Falling Apart, 1981

Belgian post-punk group from Bruges, formed in the late 1970’s and still active today. This is the follow up single to their punk classic I Can’t Live In A Living Room from 1980. Band website here.

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 it 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.