DALEK I-COMPASS KUM'PAS, LP, 1980, UK

An album containing a wealth of subtly amazing (and often delightfully odd) things happening within what at first glance can superficially seem like pleasantly slick commercial new wave. Intricate, hyper catchy and full of exceeding smart choices in instrumental voicings and stereo imaging, I hear passing bits of of the grandiose drama of The Associates (if not their histrionics), the witty and structurally skewed synthetically driven work of The Passage and the arty-to-the-point-of-showing-your-prog-roots work of The Shiny Men and new wave-era Anthony Moore. One of my favorite recent discoveries.

Note: link removed as this is shortly due for reissue on Medical Records.