KLINISCH SAUBER-DER KOMMERZ/DER KRIEG/DER MOND, 1982, SWITZERLAND
Fun (if textbook) Swiss sequence 'n' spiel minimal synthiness somewhat in the mode of fellow Alpine electropop movers Guyers Connection.
KONSTANTIN-SING MIR EIN KLEINES ARBEITERKAMPFLIED/DER KLEINE TROMPETER, 1983, GERMANY
AKA Neue Deutsche Welle operative and Foyer Des Arts member Max Goldt under a pseudonym and engaging here in a sorta genially capering art pop quirk. Nice.
KRANKHAFTE PHANTASTEN-DON'T FOLLOW/ANTI-MEDIOCRE-WORST-RIOT/KRANKHAFTE PHANTASTEN, 198?, USA
Einsturzende Neubauten was the obvious template for the year zero trashcan pound of these NYC art primitives; their corrosively gunked up in-the-red mixes reaching their apotheosis with the eponymous final track that sounds like the mix is being swallowed alive by a king sized hairball on the end of my needle. Missing Foundation and Sink Manhattan were obviously taking cues here.
KURASNAYA ROZA-S/T E.P., FLEXI, 1982, JAPAN
Don't let the first track's unctuously studio slicked and funk-a-poppin' qualities wrongfoot you into dismissing these obscure Japanese proggers. There's a reason that an imprint as associated with Japan's marginal freak fringe as were Cragale decided to issue this flexi, as tracks two and three here furiously whip through some very choice 80's art rock maneuvers that take a page from the best of 80's King Crimson; seemingly the very same page that L.A. avant prog units from the C.O.M.A. universe like Newcross and The Underpeople were taking notes from.
CHRISTOF KURZMANN-SINN BLAU PAUSE, 1995, AUSTRIA
This was the first salvo from this prominent Austrian electronic artist, issued in an edition of 100 copies on the fledgling Syntactic imprint and coming complete with the snazzy velvet bow tie if, like me, you grabbed the artist edition. Kurzmann would go on to become a major presence on the international scene, having co-founded both the Phontaktik festival and the Rhiz club and running the Charizma label alongside recording with the likes of Burkhard Stangl, John Butcher and Ami Yoshida. Way back on his debut here though, he was up to a different sort of mischief, beginning with the fact that, through the mysteries of the cutting process, several segments within the side-long suites that comprise each side here have distinct and separate tracks in the left and right channels that are apparently meant to be heard individually as well. Put together, the results are a curious and uneasy drift between moodily art warped synth pop in the mode of Mark Glynne and Bart Zwier and queasily looping kitsch ephemera ala Tom Recchion.
-s.t.-front+copy.JPG)
-s.t.-rear+copy.JPG)
KWALITAT 100%-S/T E.P. 2003 (RECORDED: 198?), GERMANY
Another excellent Neue Deutsche Welle archival tape find from the redoubtable Was Soll Das? Schallplatten imprint that was reissued in an edition of only 100 copies. The instrumental concoctions created by these cats are definitely off the experimental tip of the minimal synth spectrum and cover a good bit of ground, with overtones of stripped Ike Yard style proto electro and Sky-era Asmus Tietchens robot pop brushing up against hollowed out and alienated Monoton-like atmospheres.
Get it via Megaupload Here
Get it via Rapidshare Here
-s.t.-front+copy.JPG)
-s.t.-rear+copy.JPG)
