Bush Tetras - Too Many Creeps, 1980 (99 Records)

essential early ’80s era New York no wave. Bush Tetras were Cynthia Sley, Pat Place (post Contortions), Dee Pop and Laura Kennedy.

Anne Clark - Our Darkness, 1984

Eighties techno punk classic by experimental English poet and musician Anne Clark - hence the wonderfully dark spoken word lyrics - together with keyboardist David Harrow, whose fascination with keyboards, synths and sampling effects led them to create songs that would provide a blueprint for the electronic and techno movement; an interesting British new wave counterpoint to the sound evolving in Detroit around the same time.

Pretty pumped to have just found this version for only $4, which I believe is a Razormaid edit that subtly strips away a saxophone break in the middle. Razormaid! Records is a pretty interesting entity in itself, being a subscription based remix service for working dj’s started in San Fransisco in the mid 80’s. Their catalog is nothing less than prolific, having released hundreds of limited-run (1000 vinyl copies each) special version edits of some of the most cutting edge stuff out there - Cabaret Voltaire, D.A.F., Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk, New Order, OMD… They also exclusively used die cut jackets with full color printed sleeves and colored vinyl for every release. Each jacket, sleeve and vinyl pressing were designed with matching colors and each sleeve (once inserted into the die cut jacket) spelled out a letter of the word RAZORMAID in their cataloging scheme, with issue numbers such as R1, A2, Z3, O4, R5, M6, A7, I8, D9, and !10. Pretty cool.

Moskwa TV - Generator 7/8, 1986

Cult act with temporarily strong influence on techno in the 2nd half of the 80’s. Originally Moskwa TV was intended as an entirely instrumental project by its initiators Andreas Tomalla as (Talla 2XLC), Alexander Henninger (Dynaton Studio), Ralf Henrich and Kurt Ader. In light of their success in the beginning and in order to reach a bigger audience, they started looking for a characteristic voice in spring ‘85. Through a recommendation of CBS (today Sony) the collaboration with Ion Javelin began. Shortly after their joined venture they landed a permanent European Independent Hit: “Generator 7/8”. Its lyrics dealt with the MCA (Maximum Credible Accident) at a nuclear power station/plant. Not even 3/4 of a year after its publication this Techno-Pop-Classic achieved sad actuality through Chernobyl.

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Joan Of Arc / Maid Of Orleans, 1981

taken from their third album Architecture & Morality, released November 1981. A beautiful synth pop record throughout, with OMD’s sound augmented by the mellotron, used to add sweeping atmospheric swatches of string, choir and other sounds. It eventually sold more than 3 million copies with “Maid of Orleans” being the most successful single of 1982 in Germany.

Interestingly enough these two tracks were both originally titled “Joan of Arc”, the name of the latter single being changed at the insistence of the publishers to avoid confusion. It became “Joan of Arc (Maid of Orleans)” and later simply “Maid of Orleans”.

The artwork was produced by Peter Saville and Brett Wickens. Architecture & Morality was released several times with varying artwork, most notably in yellow, blue and grey but even green versions are available. The original cover from 1981 is light yellow/orange in a die-cut sleeve.

And in case you were wondering, OMD is currently rocking facebook and twitter and are pretty active at the moment. Andy McCluskey recently commented on their website about the new OMD album - the first in fourteen years - and tour:

Work on the forthcoming OMD album The History Of Modern continues and a provisional release date is under consideration.

Paul Humphreys has been working on the new OMD album recently and mixing work is also on the schedule. Meanwhile, Andy McCluskey is meeting with Peter Saville this week to discuss sleeve design concepts. The band are also receiving a lot of requests for licensing offers from around the world and it looks likely that a lot of deals are going to be made over the next few months.

“Regarding the album and record label we’re looking at a deal with 100% which is a joint venture deal. It is just for UK. We are talking to an indie in US, and several license or distribution deals in Europe. I am delighted to report that the demos have been so well received in Germany that several labels are in a bidding war! We are still on target for early Sept. album release.

We will tour UK, Ireland and European continent from late October through November. We hope to travel further in 2011.”

Oppenheimer Analysis - Radiance, 1982

Superb minimal synthwave originally released on cassette in 1982. This track features on a promotional split 7” with Mark Lane 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.

He Said - Pump, 1986

Happily came across another He Said record during a quick stop at Treehouse Records in uptown Minneapolis - a great little shop with solid local roots. I’ve been somewhat obsessing over Wire member Graham Lewis’ He Said side project ever since a chance encounter with his Take Care album last month. Pump was one of the first singles off his first album Hail from 1986.

Liaisons Dangereuses - Los Niños Del Parque, 1982

Incredible and way ahead of anything else at the time. Unfortunately they produced only one album, the result of four ten-minute sessions recorded to CHBB cassettes - mixed by Liaisons Dangereuses at Conny Plank Studio and released with Teldec Import Service in October 1981. The Los Niños Del Parque single was released on Mute in 1982.

Fad Gadget - Coitus Interruptus

The first Fad Gadget album. Nine songs recorded at Blackwing Studios, All Hallows Church, London 1980.

Sexual Harrassment - If I Gave You A Party, 1983

First heard this on Gomma’s brilliant Anti NY compilation from 2001 - holy jesus nearly ten years ago already, and nothing short of a revelation for me at the time. Along with the shamelessly under-produced name-dropping festivities of LCD’s “Losing My Edge”, I’m pretty certain this double vinyl comp basically triggered my no-wave addiction. I’ve been searching for the originals of all the tracks ever since. Sexual Harrassment was part of the music that came out of New York’s early 80’s hip hop & graffiti Mudd Club scene. It’s not exactly what comes to mind when I think of no wave, but it definitely ranks among some of the weirdest dirtiest, electro out there from the time. It doesn’t get any better, I especially love the party scene at the end of the track.

Soft Cell - Tainted Love / Where Did Our Love Go, 1981

After the chart failure of their previous single “Memorabilia” - actually an underground club fav produced by Mute Records founder Daniel Miller - Phonogram Records allowed Soft Cell to record a second and final single in an attempt to score a chart success. The band opted to record a radically minimalist cover version of “Tainted Love”, a northern soul classic originally sung by Gloria Jones.

Soft Cell’s version was recorded in a day and a half with singer Marc Almond’s first vocal take being the version ultimately used on the record. They left the recording sessions with only modest expectations that the track might break into the UK Top 50. Further, Almond wrote that his only significant contribution to the song’s instrumentation (besides the vocals) was the suggestion that the song begin with a characteristic “bink bink” sound which would repeat periodically throughout.

J.J. Fad - Supersonic, 1987

Produced by The Arabian Prince. Just wait for the electro edits after the beat drops 4 minutes in. Dope.

The Bollock Brothers - Harley David (Son Of A Bitch), 1987

British punk band formed in 1979 by Studio 21 club dj Jock McDonald who turned out some killer left-field covers, notably this one originally by Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot as well as an elctro version of The Sex Pistols album Never Mind The Bollocks.

Thanks to my bro Tommy p for pointing this one out while record shopping in little tokyo LA a while back.

Ultravox - Mr. X, 1980

Beautifully crafted minimal new wave produced by Conny Plank at his studio near Cologne Germany, very much in the same vein of Juan Atkins’ seminal detroit tech “Alleys Of Your Mind”, mostly due to the mechanical drumming of I believe a Roland CR-78 drum machine.

Playgroup - Euphoria, 1985 (Factory Benelux)

The only single from this little-known New York outfit, not not to be confused with Trevor Jackson’s electroclash Playgroup project. Released in ‘85 on Factory Benelux alongside two other 12” singles, Playgroups’ sound fits in perfectly along side the likes of New Order, but unfortunately suffered from a lack of promotion.

The Benelux label was the result of an informal arrangement made in 1980 between Factory Records and Les Disques du Crépuscule in Brussels, whereby the latter released ‘spare’ recordings by Factory artists. However most of the Benelux releases have proved to be jewels in the Factory crown - The Key of Dreams (Section 25), Everything’s Gone Green (New Order), Shack Up (A Certain Ratio), Calcutta (The Names) and The Plateau Phase (Crispy Ambulance). Now defunct as a political entity, the term Benelux referred to the pre-EU customs union formed by Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

He Said - Watch-Take-Care, 1989

One of the many experimental electronic side projects of Graham Lewis, bassist of Wire, beginning with the release of Hail in 1986 on Mute. Take Care is his last album to date.

I’ve pretty much had the entire album on repeat since picking this up last week from Zzz’s.  It covers a lot of ground, spanning from industrial noise to moody new wave, electro ballads, and even a bit of acid house. The dystopian video-collaged album art, credited to Sven, certainly doesn’t disappoint either.