Wednesday, 21 September 2011
Tuesday, 20 September 2011
UK Cassette Culture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassette_culture
In the UK, Cassette Culture was championed by marginal musicians and performers such as Barry Lamb, Storm Bugs, the insane picnic, Instant Automatons, Stripey Zebras, What is Oil?, The APF Brigade, Blyth Power, The Peace & Freedom Band, Academy 23, Sean Terrington Wright, Frenzid Melon, Cleaners From Venus, Chumbawamba, 5ive Ximes of Dust and many of the purveyors of Industrial music, e.g. Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, and Clock DVA. Artists self-releasing would often copy their music in exchange for "a blank tape plus self-addressed envelope".
In the UK, Cassette Culture was championed by marginal musicians and performers such as Barry Lamb, Storm Bugs, the insane picnic, Instant Automatons, Stripey Zebras, What is Oil?, The APF Brigade, Blyth Power, The Peace & Freedom Band, Academy 23, Sean Terrington Wright, Frenzid Melon, Cleaners From Venus, Chumbawamba, 5ive Ximes of Dust and many of the purveyors of Industrial music, e.g. Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, and Clock DVA. Artists self-releasing would often copy their music in exchange for "a blank tape plus self-addressed envelope".
Friday, 26 August 2011
All lyrics for *5IVE HOURS OF US (gulp)*
PRODUCTION LINE (NO HUMAN)
Part and parcel.
All part of the same thing,
On a production line (no human).
Robot assembly.
Line up for the new mode,
On a production line (no human).
In the banks of the control;
Underworld, underground,
On a production line (no human).
In the shelters all the corpses;
Dead below the ground,
On a production line (no human).
And the machine travel on,
Now all life is gone,
On a production line (no human).
Turning out the arms,
No-one will ever use,
On a production line (no human).
Machines have made machines,
That have been the end of Man,
On a production line (no human).
ADVERTISING SPACE
Yeah, everything is dual,
Everything has a pole.
The devil lived backwards in my heart;
Feeding and breeding in my soul.
A useless tool to fill my day,
With words in head & actions done.
A tasteless glance, a giveaway.
My guilt exposed in Africa
Canned flesh under a wheel.
Cue laughter, dark-sex-appeal
Video-accelerate,
Watch nothing faster, faster.
Multi-corporate dangle-lead,
YOU are my master!
And now Advertising cuts into my life.
It suggests I fall apart.
Why not accept their new truth?
Castrated, ahhh, from the start.
Hmm, Scraps of paper.
Eyes that fail on sight.
Some salesman tried to tell me,
This ain't the dead of night, huh!
SAYONARA
No use to cry,
'Cos it's hard to drive,
With tears in your eyes -
Things collide.
Another road to somewhere,
Emotions cul-de-sac.
Asleep at the wheel
And you don't come back.
Island of barren office.
How did we come this far?
Glowing on the horizon,
You face, this sky, the car.
The road before me opens
And leads into the gloom.
Now I've lost my foothold,
What more can I do?
Last night I got out,
Three, maybe four, kilometers from the city.
Into the night,
A country track.
I stopped by a stream.
Kill the enguine, kill the lights,
Her kimono on the backseat.
My head in my hands...
Cry.
Cry.
human male : "Sayonara..."
robot female : "Sayonara..."
SMILE WITH THE EYES
[Lyric extracted from a saleman's training manual, found in a skip]
Many people are good starters but bad finishers,
because they lack the self-discipline needed to find their way through the
difficulties which almost always obstruct the achivement of objectives.
Only one thing is more infectious than enthusiasm and that is the lack of it.
Be sincere.
Make the buyer believe that you are genuinely trying to render him a service.
With a prospect you have to get it across in as few words as possible
that your company is a force to be reckoned with.
The human brain retains more of what it sees than what it hears.
Very little in life remains static. Those who don't go forward mostly slip back.
So how do you rate in the art of persuasive communication?
Who is the right man? The man with the money.
There are mainly two types of receptionist:
The young and probably pretty, usually inept, girl
with limited thinking/observation powers
and the Other.
Many girls mention dirty hands and/or fingernails.
Receptionists like a man to be positive.
Whichever type of receptionist you are faced with
be sure to ask for exactly what you want,
as though you fully expect to get it.
Smile with the eyes.
Be sure to break off contact immeadiately after this.
Treat a receptionist or secretary as normally as possible.
Do not try and disguise the fact you are a salesman - be proud of it.
Remember, the value of a smile but don't overdo it.
RACHEL
The streets are full of Chinese,
The rain it never stops.
The people in apartment,
Are playing techno-pops.
The voight kampf test is final,
This corner I must turn.
I'll fire one into your heart
And through your eyes I'll burn.
The time will come for you now,
No more to live in fear.
No time to cry, it's time to die.
Earth won't have you here.
The streets are full of police,
The rain it never stops.
Rachel's breath is fading,
Her dream of life is gone.
ETHNIC BOMB
I still love you, napalm
C&BW
Sounds like country & western
I want an ethnic bomb
drop it on me & people like me.
Chemically & biologically unclean
you still magnify the burn
inside of me, napalm.
Yes i still love you
I want a mutant bomb
drop it on mutants & people like me
but that is just a problem,
people like me.
Yes i still love you, napalm
give me the stuff where i cannot be asked..
Learning we will be sacked fast with no money..
Just give me the stuff that makes me bleed.
You put a fire in me and i'm burning.
Napalm, give me the ethnic bomb
I'm in love with the ethnic bomb
Sounds like country & western
C&BW
It's all biological
we were made for each other
you & me, yes i'm still in love with you
napalm
Lord have mercy...
TECHNOLOGY
Work it into the framework of Science.
Work all week, in defiance.
Time enough for movement,
Time enough for change.
Keep working at it,
Work at it.
Words like paper on a page,
Out of context, meaning nothing.
Why must you always look for meaning?
It's something I avoid in my life.
Weave it into the fabric of Science.
Technology is full of meaning.
Science and work are full of love,
Escaping every single day.
[List of Worldwide Hi-Tech Companies]
I WANT STRAIGHT SEX
The ice is here whenever you're around.
The ice is cold it forms upon your brow.
You are so cold your lust just brings me down.
You are so cold you shouldn't be allowed.
Evening comes & the deathstar falls.
Evening falls & the dark comes down.
Evening falls & the deathstar comes.
Evening comes & you are the one.
THE MAINFRAME
Drink and drive
Make a pass
Break your head!
Their look is so amazed,
Their eyes fully extended
but they do not know why
and freely make suggestions
to encourage us not to
expect another semi - path
It's no good to turn water into whine
if you can't think straight it's too late
Their smiles are false
but neither have a liking
to enquire after forever
and yet they do not know why
Aloft, alone, outside the cage
my head enraged
to know the bird has flown...past
Generators humming, microcomputers screeching
talk to each other through the mainframe
Their language so BASIC
i can never understand it
ears are all aroused, to attention
stood up like walls
So solids will fall like dandelion seeds
into our laps
for scrutiny, a silver box could be useful towards this purpose
Burn your head to step down the ladder
then go outside yourself and up by the roof
Drink and drive
Make a pass
Erase your head!
GOODBYE JOHNBOY
Goodbye,
Johnboy.
(repeat)
THE SINGLE OFF THE ALBUM
Program this
Machine Code.
A beginning not an end.
Built with one goal -
The expansion of your world.
You've got the problems ... solutions.
We supply solutions ... problems.
You've got the problems ... solutions.
You've got the problems ... solutions.
We'll supply solutions ... problems.
TRICK OF TIME
Passion, you gotta have some -
you better sink your teeth into it.
I know where to get some
if your life's out of date
then i will renew it.
Motor, servo motor
servo mechanistic ruin.
Onward with precipitance
to your destiny -
if that's your prediliction.
Walking, always walking
why bother walking
when you could be flying.
Sometimes never taking
and the aching
only comes from too much trying.
The future is a corner
that sits on the horizon.
I know what i am after
the day after
is just a trick of time.
(repeat)
NO ORDER
Somebody says:
"There's more good than bad".
I wonder.
Noise in my head.
Iron bar in my hand.
Everyday is yesterday.
There is no love that stands up against this.
Everybody says,
They've got their eyes open.
No order.
Just orders.
No order.
Just orders.
PLASTISCHE TASCHEN
Plastische taschen
Konnen gehr verlicht sein.
Um ein gefahr vor ehrstickung.
Zu vehr miedern.
Diese taschen vom
Babies und kindern.
Weghalten.
FIRE IT!
We're into the fabric of Science.
Work all week, for an Alliance.
Time for a movement, time for a change.
Now our sounds blowing out your brains.
There's one thing that we desire,
For the music in our hearts to take you higher.
Cranking it up and pumping it out,
No we ain't gonna shout and
Tell you what we're about.
We are called 5ive Ximes of Dust.
We won't rust,
On us you can trust.
We'll give it our most because we must.
It's been discussed, we're gonna feed your lust.
Your lust for living,
Your lust for fun.
Your lust for life, Like its just begun.
Like stepping in the moonshine and walking in the sun.
We are the bullet and you are the gun,
so Fire it!
(repeat)
ESTATE CHILDREN
We build up a tolerance to all this sound
It shouldn't be allowed
The estate children.
We put things right in the nick of time
We cut it back down
The estate children.
We're Laying down tracks for ...
Drawing up plans for ...
We're carving out the future for ...
Falling in love for ...
The little ones and babies
We gotta take care of, for today
The estate children.
They'll get bigger, we'll grow smaller
And fade away
The estate children.
We're printing circuit boards for ...
We're building up the walls for ...
Writing down tunes for ...
'cause they will be the words ...
They'll soak up the sunshine and the air
In tomorrows fields
The estate children.
They'll soak up the data in the cities
On tomorrows hills
The estate children.
We're sailing all the seas for ...
We're working on our knees for ...
We're crossing all the land for ...
And space is close at hand for ...
We're putting up the flags for ...
We're pulling out the stops for ...
We're striking up the band for ...
We're doing technopops for ...
We're opening the parks for ...
We're lighting up the dark for ...
So they can see their way
Toward a clearer day.
The sole inheritors
The Sun, the Earth, the sky
We're all working for them
Until the day we die.
The estate children.
NEW ARRANGEMENT
Look at the size of this thing between us.
Where did it come from and how did it happen?
So dense it's impossible to measure.
Could this be a permanent fixture?
Was it born from my words or my actions?
Now estrangement, the new arrangement.
This policy of non-verbal,
Taking me into a darker place
We carry on as though nothing has happened.
One more day of this and I'm gonna crack up.
Said you were trouble, now I know what you meant.
But I can't handle this new arrangement.
Look at the size of this thing between us.
We carry on as though nothing has happened.
One more day of this and I'm gonna crack up.
Said you were trouble, now I know what you meant.
But I can't handle this new arrangement.
Leave me alone, don't look into my eyes.
Please don't witness my pain or fathom my surprise,
'cause I don't want the world to know just what a fool
I thought I was...
Acting cool.
We carry on as though nothing has happened.
One more day of this and I'm gonna crack up.
Said you were trouble, now I know what you meant.
But I can't handle this new arrangement.
COMPUTERBANK
Employment is deployment
March of the working man
Metal penis future
Automation
Call shore stations
Computerbank
Communication through electrification.
(repeat)
MURASAKI KNOWS
Get as much as you can
Down your neck before you die.
Greet the people, shake their hands,
Kiss the girls and make them cry.
Get as much as you can
Down your neck before you die.
Greet the people, shake their hands,
Kiss the girls and make them high.
Asimovs' electric sun
Is coming round again.
Isle of the specific
More Pacific, from that time.
As we've said the vagaries
Therein the shortwave grows.
I'm pining for the superstar
Murasaki Knows.
WHOOSH
Five, five, five, five, five,
Five, five, five, five, five,
Five times of acid -
Five.
LIFE'S A KILLER
10 PRINT "Life's a killer"
20 REM (All you know is illusion)
30 GOTO 10
CAN YOU SEE ME NOW
Can you see me now
not caring if i die tomorrow
can you hear me now
not caring if you die today
And it took this long
to kneel to thee Machine
bow your head down low
accept the new regime
So where are you now
are you with another
smile and you forget
you forget me, erase me woman
Down the autumn hill
where my body starts to go
never turning back
no turning back, no turning no
You'll never understand
just how a man can burn
fire from the skies
ceaseless charm you'll never learn.
COMPUTER GARDEN
Computer :I N V U
Human :
Man has his life,
Just like nature,
Wild and anger,
Trapped and controlled.
VIBRANCE DANCE
V I B R A N C E D A N C E
LOTUS LOVE
In the garden of my mind
There's a bridge where she still walks
She's the lily of the stream
Lotus Love is my dream
In the garden of my mind
There's a place where she still lives
She's the blossom of the tree
Lotus Love where is she?
ALL LYRICS COPYRIGHT 5X0D (1981-1989)
Part and parcel.
All part of the same thing,
On a production line (no human).
Robot assembly.
Line up for the new mode,
On a production line (no human).
In the banks of the control;
Underworld, underground,
On a production line (no human).
In the shelters all the corpses;
Dead below the ground,
On a production line (no human).
And the machine travel on,
Now all life is gone,
On a production line (no human).
Turning out the arms,
No-one will ever use,
On a production line (no human).
Machines have made machines,
That have been the end of Man,
On a production line (no human).
ADVERTISING SPACE
Yeah, everything is dual,
Everything has a pole.
The devil lived backwards in my heart;
Feeding and breeding in my soul.
A useless tool to fill my day,
With words in head & actions done.
A tasteless glance, a giveaway.
My guilt exposed in Africa
Canned flesh under a wheel.
Cue laughter, dark-sex-appeal
Video-accelerate,
Watch nothing faster, faster.
Multi-corporate dangle-lead,
YOU are my master!
And now Advertising cuts into my life.
It suggests I fall apart.
Why not accept their new truth?
Castrated, ahhh, from the start.
Hmm, Scraps of paper.
Eyes that fail on sight.
Some salesman tried to tell me,
This ain't the dead of night, huh!
SAYONARA
No use to cry,
'Cos it's hard to drive,
With tears in your eyes -
Things collide.
Another road to somewhere,
Emotions cul-de-sac.
Asleep at the wheel
And you don't come back.
Island of barren office.
How did we come this far?
Glowing on the horizon,
You face, this sky, the car.
The road before me opens
And leads into the gloom.
Now I've lost my foothold,
What more can I do?
Last night I got out,
Three, maybe four, kilometers from the city.
Into the night,
A country track.
I stopped by a stream.
Kill the enguine, kill the lights,
Her kimono on the backseat.
My head in my hands...
Cry.
Cry.
human male : "Sayonara..."
robot female : "Sayonara..."
SMILE WITH THE EYES
[Lyric extracted from a saleman's training manual, found in a skip]
Many people are good starters but bad finishers,
because they lack the self-discipline needed to find their way through the
difficulties which almost always obstruct the achivement of objectives.
Only one thing is more infectious than enthusiasm and that is the lack of it.
Be sincere.
Make the buyer believe that you are genuinely trying to render him a service.
With a prospect you have to get it across in as few words as possible
that your company is a force to be reckoned with.
The human brain retains more of what it sees than what it hears.
Very little in life remains static. Those who don't go forward mostly slip back.
So how do you rate in the art of persuasive communication?
Who is the right man? The man with the money.
There are mainly two types of receptionist:
The young and probably pretty, usually inept, girl
with limited thinking/observation powers
and the Other.
Many girls mention dirty hands and/or fingernails.
Receptionists like a man to be positive.
Whichever type of receptionist you are faced with
be sure to ask for exactly what you want,
as though you fully expect to get it.
Smile with the eyes.
Be sure to break off contact immeadiately after this.
Treat a receptionist or secretary as normally as possible.
Do not try and disguise the fact you are a salesman - be proud of it.
Remember, the value of a smile but don't overdo it.
RACHEL
The streets are full of Chinese,
The rain it never stops.
The people in apartment,
Are playing techno-pops.
The voight kampf test is final,
This corner I must turn.
I'll fire one into your heart
And through your eyes I'll burn.
The time will come for you now,
No more to live in fear.
No time to cry, it's time to die.
Earth won't have you here.
The streets are full of police,
The rain it never stops.
Rachel's breath is fading,
Her dream of life is gone.
ETHNIC BOMB
I still love you, napalm
C&BW
Sounds like country & western
I want an ethnic bomb
drop it on me & people like me.
Chemically & biologically unclean
you still magnify the burn
inside of me, napalm.
Yes i still love you
I want a mutant bomb
drop it on mutants & people like me
but that is just a problem,
people like me.
Yes i still love you, napalm
give me the stuff where i cannot be asked..
Learning we will be sacked fast with no money..
Just give me the stuff that makes me bleed.
You put a fire in me and i'm burning.
Napalm, give me the ethnic bomb
I'm in love with the ethnic bomb
Sounds like country & western
C&BW
It's all biological
we were made for each other
you & me, yes i'm still in love with you
napalm
Lord have mercy...
TECHNOLOGY
Work it into the framework of Science.
Work all week, in defiance.
Time enough for movement,
Time enough for change.
Keep working at it,
Work at it.
Words like paper on a page,
Out of context, meaning nothing.
Why must you always look for meaning?
It's something I avoid in my life.
Weave it into the fabric of Science.
Technology is full of meaning.
Science and work are full of love,
Escaping every single day.
[List of Worldwide Hi-Tech Companies]
I WANT STRAIGHT SEX
The ice is here whenever you're around.
The ice is cold it forms upon your brow.
You are so cold your lust just brings me down.
You are so cold you shouldn't be allowed.
Evening comes & the deathstar falls.
Evening falls & the dark comes down.
Evening falls & the deathstar comes.
Evening comes & you are the one.
THE MAINFRAME
Drink and drive
Make a pass
Break your head!
Their look is so amazed,
Their eyes fully extended
but they do not know why
and freely make suggestions
to encourage us not to
expect another semi - path
It's no good to turn water into whine
if you can't think straight it's too late
Their smiles are false
but neither have a liking
to enquire after forever
and yet they do not know why
Aloft, alone, outside the cage
my head enraged
to know the bird has flown...past
Generators humming, microcomputers screeching
talk to each other through the mainframe
Their language so BASIC
i can never understand it
ears are all aroused, to attention
stood up like walls
So solids will fall like dandelion seeds
into our laps
for scrutiny, a silver box could be useful towards this purpose
Burn your head to step down the ladder
then go outside yourself and up by the roof
Drink and drive
Make a pass
Erase your head!
GOODBYE JOHNBOY
Goodbye,
Johnboy.
(repeat)
THE SINGLE OFF THE ALBUM
Program this
Machine Code.
A beginning not an end.
Built with one goal -
The expansion of your world.
You've got the problems ... solutions.
We supply solutions ... problems.
You've got the problems ... solutions.
You've got the problems ... solutions.
We'll supply solutions ... problems.
TRICK OF TIME
Passion, you gotta have some -
you better sink your teeth into it.
I know where to get some
if your life's out of date
then i will renew it.
Motor, servo motor
servo mechanistic ruin.
Onward with precipitance
to your destiny -
if that's your prediliction.
Walking, always walking
why bother walking
when you could be flying.
Sometimes never taking
and the aching
only comes from too much trying.
The future is a corner
that sits on the horizon.
I know what i am after
the day after
is just a trick of time.
(repeat)
NO ORDER
Somebody says:
"There's more good than bad".
I wonder.
Noise in my head.
Iron bar in my hand.
Everyday is yesterday.
There is no love that stands up against this.
Everybody says,
They've got their eyes open.
No order.
Just orders.
No order.
Just orders.
PLASTISCHE TASCHEN
Plastische taschen
Konnen gehr verlicht sein.
Um ein gefahr vor ehrstickung.
Zu vehr miedern.
Diese taschen vom
Babies und kindern.
Weghalten.
FIRE IT!
We're into the fabric of Science.
Work all week, for an Alliance.
Time for a movement, time for a change.
Now our sounds blowing out your brains.
There's one thing that we desire,
For the music in our hearts to take you higher.
Cranking it up and pumping it out,
No we ain't gonna shout and
Tell you what we're about.
We are called 5ive Ximes of Dust.
We won't rust,
On us you can trust.
We'll give it our most because we must.
It's been discussed, we're gonna feed your lust.
Your lust for living,
Your lust for fun.
Your lust for life, Like its just begun.
Like stepping in the moonshine and walking in the sun.
We are the bullet and you are the gun,
so Fire it!
(repeat)
ESTATE CHILDREN
We build up a tolerance to all this sound
It shouldn't be allowed
The estate children.
We put things right in the nick of time
We cut it back down
The estate children.
We're Laying down tracks for ...
Drawing up plans for ...
We're carving out the future for ...
Falling in love for ...
The little ones and babies
We gotta take care of, for today
The estate children.
They'll get bigger, we'll grow smaller
And fade away
The estate children.
We're printing circuit boards for ...
We're building up the walls for ...
Writing down tunes for ...
'cause they will be the words ...
They'll soak up the sunshine and the air
In tomorrows fields
The estate children.
They'll soak up the data in the cities
On tomorrows hills
The estate children.
We're sailing all the seas for ...
We're working on our knees for ...
We're crossing all the land for ...
And space is close at hand for ...
We're putting up the flags for ...
We're pulling out the stops for ...
We're striking up the band for ...
We're doing technopops for ...
We're opening the parks for ...
We're lighting up the dark for ...
So they can see their way
Toward a clearer day.
The sole inheritors
The Sun, the Earth, the sky
We're all working for them
Until the day we die.
The estate children.
NEW ARRANGEMENT
Look at the size of this thing between us.
Where did it come from and how did it happen?
So dense it's impossible to measure.
Could this be a permanent fixture?
Was it born from my words or my actions?
Now estrangement, the new arrangement.
This policy of non-verbal,
Taking me into a darker place
We carry on as though nothing has happened.
One more day of this and I'm gonna crack up.
Said you were trouble, now I know what you meant.
But I can't handle this new arrangement.
Look at the size of this thing between us.
We carry on as though nothing has happened.
One more day of this and I'm gonna crack up.
Said you were trouble, now I know what you meant.
But I can't handle this new arrangement.
Leave me alone, don't look into my eyes.
Please don't witness my pain or fathom my surprise,
'cause I don't want the world to know just what a fool
I thought I was...
Acting cool.
We carry on as though nothing has happened.
One more day of this and I'm gonna crack up.
Said you were trouble, now I know what you meant.
But I can't handle this new arrangement.
COMPUTERBANK
Employment is deployment
March of the working man
Metal penis future
Automation
Call shore stations
Computerbank
Communication through electrification.
(repeat)
MURASAKI KNOWS
Get as much as you can
Down your neck before you die.
Greet the people, shake their hands,
Kiss the girls and make them cry.
Get as much as you can
Down your neck before you die.
Greet the people, shake their hands,
Kiss the girls and make them high.
Asimovs' electric sun
Is coming round again.
Isle of the specific
More Pacific, from that time.
As we've said the vagaries
Therein the shortwave grows.
I'm pining for the superstar
Murasaki Knows.
WHOOSH
Five, five, five, five, five,
Five, five, five, five, five,
Five times of acid -
Five.
LIFE'S A KILLER
10 PRINT "Life's a killer"
20 REM (All you know is illusion)
30 GOTO 10
CAN YOU SEE ME NOW
Can you see me now
not caring if i die tomorrow
can you hear me now
not caring if you die today
And it took this long
to kneel to thee Machine
bow your head down low
accept the new regime
So where are you now
are you with another
smile and you forget
you forget me, erase me woman
Down the autumn hill
where my body starts to go
never turning back
no turning back, no turning no
You'll never understand
just how a man can burn
fire from the skies
ceaseless charm you'll never learn.
COMPUTER GARDEN
Computer :I N V U
Human :
Man has his life,
Just like nature,
Wild and anger,
Trapped and controlled.
VIBRANCE DANCE
V I B R A N C E D A N C E
LOTUS LOVE
In the garden of my mind
There's a bridge where she still walks
She's the lily of the stream
Lotus Love is my dream
In the garden of my mind
There's a place where she still lives
She's the blossom of the tree
Lotus Love where is she?
ALL LYRICS COPYRIGHT 5X0D (1981-1989)
Tuesday, 16 August 2011
The Hidden Tapes - CD + Digital release info
News : MW030 V/A The Hidden Tapes CD / Digital Release
MW030 V/A The Hidden Tapes CD / Digital Release
Out today, the digital release of The Hidden Tapes: A Compilation of Minimal Wave from Around the World ‘79-‘85. The Hidden Tapes features rare, unreleased, and licensed tracks from as far as Japan and the former Yugoslavia. Most of the bands on this compilation recorded on 4-track tape in their bedroom studios while two of them went further to collaborate by sending tapes through the mail. The sounds on this record range from raw proto-industrial to naive danceable Belgradian new wave, to filmic synthesizer music to more complex, vocal-driven melodic synthpop.
The Hidden Tapes digital and CD release presents songs from Danton’s Voice, Oskarova Fobija, The Fast Set, Sympathy Nervous, Pas De Deux, Unovidual + Tara Cross, SS-Say, Robert Lawrence + Mark Phillips, Kym Amps, Reservé, and includes two bonus tracks from Gary Allen (US) and Art Fact (Sweden). Thanks to everyone involved in making this happen. Check sound samples via links below. Digital release August 15th, CD release September 1st. One sheet available upon request.
http://minimalwave.com/releases/release/the-hidden-tapes/
"Veronica Vasicka compiles rare and unreleased tracks from '79-'85 for this compilation on her Minimal Wave imprint. Hailing from Japan, Yugoslavia, UK and many from Belgium, these are lo-fi bedroom productions of raw, synth-pop gems of uncanny electronic nostalgia, plus two bonus tracks. Bliss."
"Minimal Wave compile ten rare, unreleased and precious tracks from around the world circa '79-'85 selected by Veronica Vasicka. 'The Hidden tapes' spans DIY synth music from Japan to Belgrade, from noisy new wave to strobing proto-Industrial dance music. The first side opens to 'Care' by SS-Say from Denmark, full of euphoric '84 arpeggios and epic pop vox from Inge Shannon, before relocating to Yugoslavia for Oskarova Fobija's pert synthpop on 'Beli Dekolte' from 1983 and an immense highlight from 1980 Japan, the ornate vocoder groove 'Polaroid' courtesy of Sympathy Nervous aka Yoshimi Niinuma and Tatsuya Senzaki. And that's not forgetting two standardly darker aces from Belgium thanks to Danton's Voice and Pas De Deux. The B-side includes three tracks from the UK: Rob Lawrence and Mark Phillips' scuzzy, urgent rhythms and distorted on 'Computer Bank', the piquant melody of The Fast Set's 'Kaleidecon', and the cinematic gloom of Kym Amps' 'You Don't Know My Name'. However the highlights here have to be the seductively elegant Belgian electro-pop of 'Destination Pour L'Inconnu' by Reservé, circa 1981 and the uniquely artful 'Microphone Connection', a Belgian/USA tape composition by Tara Cross and Henk Wallays taken from the legendary 'Insane Music For Insane People' cassette series. Highly Recommended."
"While the genre known as Minimal Wave (the resurgence of focus on analogue synthesizer artists from the 1980’s) has been spurred along by renewed interest in those instruments by a new generation of listeners and artists, the principle impetus has been provided by a handful of labels that have released, and continue to release, what where once considered lost or forgotten recordings.
One such curator with a masterful ability to ferret out the most satisfying of these rarities is DJ Veronica Vasicka. As a New York City electronic music hipster gone the way of historian/archivist in an attempt to chronicle what was even then a fragmented underground, she has by some sort of Post Modern default become an impressive electronic music story herself. After just six years her aptly named label Minimal Wave has released over 30 vinyl projects preserving an illusive and secretive genre with an impeccable sense of taste.
Continuing her label’s narrative, the latest various artists compilation “The Hidden Tapes” features obscure but certainly noteworthy artists from 1979-1985. Opening up with a strong dose of arpeggiation and anthemic female vocals from Danish band SS-Say, the record moves across side “A” with the up tempo New Wave-ish “Beli-Dekolte” (meaning “white cleavage” in Serbian) by Oskarova Fobija who at the time were from what was then Yugoslavia. Next up is Danton’s Voice with “I Hear The Bells,” especially interesting because it sounds like a long lost Absolute Body Control or Klinik demo. It being Belgian is no surprise. Japanese rhythmic noise artists Sympathy Nervous follow with “Polaroid” an unreal hypnotic groove that features a cleverly triggered or looped vocoder. And finally the pièce de résistance for side “A” and quite possibly the best track on the LP Pas De Deux’s “Cardiocleptomanie,” which originally appeared on a flexi-disc included in Vinyl Magazine (pronounced vee-nil) May 1983. It is a “less is more” sum composed of drum machine wood blocks and bongos, a few tasty minimal synth lines, and an overlay of repetitive female vocals that touch a Krafwerkian harmonic nerve.
Side “B” opens up with industrial sequencer vehicle “The Computer Bank” by Robert Lawrence and Mark Phillips. Teetering on the edges of experimental and “Warm Leatherette” inspired work its repetitive dissonant samples and whispered vocals provide plenty of hook. In the second track two sequencers (and their oscillators), a beat box, and some analogue strings are used as ingredients in “Kaleidecon” by The Fast Set. This psychedelic instrumental is a cunning exercise in manipulating overlays of rich minimal sounds. Up third is French trio Reserve with “Destination Pour L’Inconnu,” their minimal answer to Visage’s “Fade To Grey” complete with accoutrement that include Ultravox-like sequencing, French language spoken female vocals, and vocoder. A rich, lush, and well produced accomplishment. The fourth song on Side “B” continues the New Romantic fun with Kym Amps “You Don’t Know My Name.” Lyrically walking the line between longing from afar and stalking it is a dark synthpop treasure. And closing out the disc collaborating artists Unovidual and Tara Cross serve up “Microphone Connection.” The out of key disharmonics and strange but compelling interplay between musicians provides a fitting eclectic anything goes stamp on this compilation.
Vasicka has done a stellar job delivering another essential installment in her mission to bring forward the early story of Minimal Wave. “The Hidden Tapes” will no doubt attract collectors and enthusiasts in droves as it forks over many very good and equally very rare if not impossible to find tracks in a beautifully designed package that goes the extra mile to emphasize the importance of this work. Highly recommended."
Mark Lane - Electrogarden - 2011
MW030 V/A The Hidden Tapes CD / Digital Release
Out today, the digital release of The Hidden Tapes: A Compilation of Minimal Wave from Around the World ‘79-‘85. The Hidden Tapes features rare, unreleased, and licensed tracks from as far as Japan and the former Yugoslavia. Most of the bands on this compilation recorded on 4-track tape in their bedroom studios while two of them went further to collaborate by sending tapes through the mail. The sounds on this record range from raw proto-industrial to naive danceable Belgradian new wave, to filmic synthesizer music to more complex, vocal-driven melodic synthpop.
The Hidden Tapes digital and CD release presents songs from Danton’s Voice, Oskarova Fobija, The Fast Set, Sympathy Nervous, Pas De Deux, Unovidual + Tara Cross, SS-Say, Robert Lawrence + Mark Phillips, Kym Amps, Reservé, and includes two bonus tracks from Gary Allen (US) and Art Fact (Sweden). Thanks to everyone involved in making this happen. Check sound samples via links below. Digital release August 15th, CD release September 1st. One sheet available upon request.
http://minimalwave.com/releases/release/the-hidden-tapes/
"Veronica Vasicka compiles rare and unreleased tracks from '79-'85 for this compilation on her Minimal Wave imprint. Hailing from Japan, Yugoslavia, UK and many from Belgium, these are lo-fi bedroom productions of raw, synth-pop gems of uncanny electronic nostalgia, plus two bonus tracks. Bliss."
"Minimal Wave compile ten rare, unreleased and precious tracks from around the world circa '79-'85 selected by Veronica Vasicka. 'The Hidden tapes' spans DIY synth music from Japan to Belgrade, from noisy new wave to strobing proto-Industrial dance music. The first side opens to 'Care' by SS-Say from Denmark, full of euphoric '84 arpeggios and epic pop vox from Inge Shannon, before relocating to Yugoslavia for Oskarova Fobija's pert synthpop on 'Beli Dekolte' from 1983 and an immense highlight from 1980 Japan, the ornate vocoder groove 'Polaroid' courtesy of Sympathy Nervous aka Yoshimi Niinuma and Tatsuya Senzaki. And that's not forgetting two standardly darker aces from Belgium thanks to Danton's Voice and Pas De Deux. The B-side includes three tracks from the UK: Rob Lawrence and Mark Phillips' scuzzy, urgent rhythms and distorted on 'Computer Bank', the piquant melody of The Fast Set's 'Kaleidecon', and the cinematic gloom of Kym Amps' 'You Don't Know My Name'. However the highlights here have to be the seductively elegant Belgian electro-pop of 'Destination Pour L'Inconnu' by Reservé, circa 1981 and the uniquely artful 'Microphone Connection', a Belgian/USA tape composition by Tara Cross and Henk Wallays taken from the legendary 'Insane Music For Insane People' cassette series. Highly Recommended."
"While the genre known as Minimal Wave (the resurgence of focus on analogue synthesizer artists from the 1980’s) has been spurred along by renewed interest in those instruments by a new generation of listeners and artists, the principle impetus has been provided by a handful of labels that have released, and continue to release, what where once considered lost or forgotten recordings.
One such curator with a masterful ability to ferret out the most satisfying of these rarities is DJ Veronica Vasicka. As a New York City electronic music hipster gone the way of historian/archivist in an attempt to chronicle what was even then a fragmented underground, she has by some sort of Post Modern default become an impressive electronic music story herself. After just six years her aptly named label Minimal Wave has released over 30 vinyl projects preserving an illusive and secretive genre with an impeccable sense of taste.
Continuing her label’s narrative, the latest various artists compilation “The Hidden Tapes” features obscure but certainly noteworthy artists from 1979-1985. Opening up with a strong dose of arpeggiation and anthemic female vocals from Danish band SS-Say, the record moves across side “A” with the up tempo New Wave-ish “Beli-Dekolte” (meaning “white cleavage” in Serbian) by Oskarova Fobija who at the time were from what was then Yugoslavia. Next up is Danton’s Voice with “I Hear The Bells,” especially interesting because it sounds like a long lost Absolute Body Control or Klinik demo. It being Belgian is no surprise. Japanese rhythmic noise artists Sympathy Nervous follow with “Polaroid” an unreal hypnotic groove that features a cleverly triggered or looped vocoder. And finally the pièce de résistance for side “A” and quite possibly the best track on the LP Pas De Deux’s “Cardiocleptomanie,” which originally appeared on a flexi-disc included in Vinyl Magazine (pronounced vee-nil) May 1983. It is a “less is more” sum composed of drum machine wood blocks and bongos, a few tasty minimal synth lines, and an overlay of repetitive female vocals that touch a Krafwerkian harmonic nerve.
Side “B” opens up with industrial sequencer vehicle “The Computer Bank” by Robert Lawrence and Mark Phillips. Teetering on the edges of experimental and “Warm Leatherette” inspired work its repetitive dissonant samples and whispered vocals provide plenty of hook. In the second track two sequencers (and their oscillators), a beat box, and some analogue strings are used as ingredients in “Kaleidecon” by The Fast Set. This psychedelic instrumental is a cunning exercise in manipulating overlays of rich minimal sounds. Up third is French trio Reserve with “Destination Pour L’Inconnu,” their minimal answer to Visage’s “Fade To Grey” complete with accoutrement that include Ultravox-like sequencing, French language spoken female vocals, and vocoder. A rich, lush, and well produced accomplishment. The fourth song on Side “B” continues the New Romantic fun with Kym Amps “You Don’t Know My Name.” Lyrically walking the line between longing from afar and stalking it is a dark synthpop treasure. And closing out the disc collaborating artists Unovidual and Tara Cross serve up “Microphone Connection.” The out of key disharmonics and strange but compelling interplay between musicians provides a fitting eclectic anything goes stamp on this compilation.
Vasicka has done a stellar job delivering another essential installment in her mission to bring forward the early story of Minimal Wave. “The Hidden Tapes” will no doubt attract collectors and enthusiasts in droves as it forks over many very good and equally very rare if not impossible to find tracks in a beautifully designed package that goes the extra mile to emphasize the importance of this work. Highly recommended."
Mark Lane - Electrogarden - 2011
Monday, 30 May 2011
Track from The Dadacomputer on MinimalWave Vinyl release!
minimalwave.com/articles/article/mw030-v-a-the-hidden-tapes-lp-coming-soon
A great looking release from Veronica at Minimal Wave.org - I especially recommend investigating the band Pas De Deux - their track on this album is superb!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT69s087wiI&feature=related
They were the Belgian 1983 Eurovision Song Contest entrants! - I kid you not
A great looking release from Veronica at Minimal Wave.org - I especially recommend investigating the band Pas De Deux - their track on this album is superb!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT69s087wiI&feature=related
They were the Belgian 1983 Eurovision Song Contest entrants! - I kid you not
Monday, 16 May 2011
Album reviews from old friends!
1. Malcolm Brown
PUNCHCARD SEX from INCENSE IN THE MIDDLE FRIDGE OF BIRTH by 5XOD
"Punchcard Sex" was first released on "The DadaComputer" in 1981 on MAP Tapes. My copy comes from Quick Stab Music Products 1981. 5X0D released a new version of "Punchcard Sex" in 2009 on their CD "Incense In The Middle Fridge Of Birth". I received an early copy. This is my mini review.
Listening to Punchcard Sex from Incense In The Middle Fridge Of Birth is like walking back into a room you left in 1981 where you had forgotten to switch the tape deck off. It has jammed, the tape deck jam noise is repeating, that's how it begins.
We settle in to newer sounds and it's a pleasant ride, a lo fi whack beat is hammering with a sense of isolation. I then heard the first vocal sample from the 1981 "Punchcard Sex" within this new context, a voice that has made that journey through time from 1981 to breath in the 2009 version of "Punchcard Sex". My heart froze.
I was sad and angry and elated and in love. A sound reached out through time and gently kissed my junk. I have waited 28 years to hear this and it was like hearing an electronic "Tutti Frutti" in the 21st century for the first time.
It's hard to explain why it moves me so much. I guess part of it is that so few of us heard or f**kin cared or f**kin recognised "Punchcard Sex" in 1981 for what it was. To hear "Punchcard Sex" reanimated after almost 30 years is a beautiful and truly moving experience.
5XOD made music back in the early 1980's because, they just had to, that is what they do. They have been making electronic music ever since because genuinely, they just have to.
The WASP synthesizer was one of the first truly affordable synths and Rob of 5XOD had one. In a dark damp basement on the Cheltenham Road in Bristol in 1980 he used to spit on the touch sensitive keyboard of the WASP to form a chord. The saliva would be dragged across the black and yellow keyboard to form a chord. How beautiful is that? Making electronic chords out of mucous.
That's how it is with 5XOD - they make us feel BEAUTIFUL out of spit.
I found myself 2 weeks after receiving INCENCE stripped naked to the waist pumped on whisky, alone in my flat - a deranged cyber Bukowski figure dancing to "PUNCHCARD SEX" feeling it was the greatest piece of music in my lifetime and at that moment it was, and is, and at times, still is.
My eyes were wide open, like listening to "The Bridge" by Thomas Leer and Robert Rental age 16 in a council housing scheme in Lanarkshire Scotland or listening to Cabaret Voltaire's "MIX UP" age 16 for the first time. The point I am trying to make is that it meant something, it genuinely mattered. These are not financially motivated recordings, which is remarkable in this gleaming smiling cesspit of Generation-X-FACTOR.
Incense is not complete like "Dadacomputer", there is almost too much information at times. For me personally less would have been more in this case. However there is something here that 5XOD also had on "Dadacomputer", and on many other outings on tape in the early 80's, that is really valid and worthwhile exploring.
Get with the programs. Explore true wealth of mind.
Malcolm James Brown
January 2011
2. Andre De Koning.
5X0D, what does it mean?
Somehow I rolled into the 'indie cassette scene' of the early 80's where you would record tapes with your own music (or 'sounds' in my case) and swap them with other people. The trick was to get a nice variety of 'correspondents' so you would get a nice variety of tapes back. Among my favorite correspondents were Rob Lawrence and Mark Phillips (aka MAP) from Cardiff/Bristol, as their tapes had a constant quality (i.e. they often had good tunes unlike some of the 'industrial noise' tapes that I got from other people). After some time they joined forces as 5ive Times Of Dust (aka 5XOD) and made even better tapes.
Eventually, life happened and I lost touch.
And then some twenty plus years later, while perusing the interwebs, I face that acronym again: 5XOD. It turns out the guys split up at the end of the eighties. But the good thing about split-ups is that you can come back together: they did a few years ago. In fact they picked up where they left off by taking old recordings and 'reworking' and remixing them. I got in touch with Rob who was so kind as to send me their 'come back' cd: Incense in the Middle Fridge of Birth.
The fact that I'm not so up to speed on electronic music is not really important as an obvious influence like YMO (like on the track 'You've got to Love the Nature') is not new either. It also helped that some of the tracks are reworkings of tracks that I already knew. Anyway, tracks like 'Fluffy Bomb' and 'Mass Collider' are instantly recognizable as 5XOD and great in their own right. One of the smart moves is sometimes using an electronic voice - the virtual girl singer Miku - which comes as a blessing after some of the more 'industrial' tracks.
On the whole I quite like it. It also made me (while typing up this blog item) pay a bit more attention to their my|---| site: there is even newer 'Dust Music Product' available: mOVING tHROUGH tWISTED fORMS.
To explain the title of this posting: after all these years I was wondering if 5XOD meant more than just four words and googled out that it probably does - 'The Soft Machine' by William S. Burroughs contains the answer.
Andre De Koning
April 2011
PUNCHCARD SEX from INCENSE IN THE MIDDLE FRIDGE OF BIRTH by 5XOD
"Punchcard Sex" was first released on "The DadaComputer" in 1981 on MAP Tapes. My copy comes from Quick Stab Music Products 1981. 5X0D released a new version of "Punchcard Sex" in 2009 on their CD "Incense In The Middle Fridge Of Birth". I received an early copy. This is my mini review.
Listening to Punchcard Sex from Incense In The Middle Fridge Of Birth is like walking back into a room you left in 1981 where you had forgotten to switch the tape deck off. It has jammed, the tape deck jam noise is repeating, that's how it begins.
We settle in to newer sounds and it's a pleasant ride, a lo fi whack beat is hammering with a sense of isolation. I then heard the first vocal sample from the 1981 "Punchcard Sex" within this new context, a voice that has made that journey through time from 1981 to breath in the 2009 version of "Punchcard Sex". My heart froze.
I was sad and angry and elated and in love. A sound reached out through time and gently kissed my junk. I have waited 28 years to hear this and it was like hearing an electronic "Tutti Frutti" in the 21st century for the first time.
It's hard to explain why it moves me so much. I guess part of it is that so few of us heard or f**kin cared or f**kin recognised "Punchcard Sex" in 1981 for what it was. To hear "Punchcard Sex" reanimated after almost 30 years is a beautiful and truly moving experience.
5XOD made music back in the early 1980's because, they just had to, that is what they do. They have been making electronic music ever since because genuinely, they just have to.
The WASP synthesizer was one of the first truly affordable synths and Rob of 5XOD had one. In a dark damp basement on the Cheltenham Road in Bristol in 1980 he used to spit on the touch sensitive keyboard of the WASP to form a chord. The saliva would be dragged across the black and yellow keyboard to form a chord. How beautiful is that? Making electronic chords out of mucous.
That's how it is with 5XOD - they make us feel BEAUTIFUL out of spit.
I found myself 2 weeks after receiving INCENCE stripped naked to the waist pumped on whisky, alone in my flat - a deranged cyber Bukowski figure dancing to "PUNCHCARD SEX" feeling it was the greatest piece of music in my lifetime and at that moment it was, and is, and at times, still is.
My eyes were wide open, like listening to "The Bridge" by Thomas Leer and Robert Rental age 16 in a council housing scheme in Lanarkshire Scotland or listening to Cabaret Voltaire's "MIX UP" age 16 for the first time. The point I am trying to make is that it meant something, it genuinely mattered. These are not financially motivated recordings, which is remarkable in this gleaming smiling cesspit of Generation-X-FACTOR.
Incense is not complete like "Dadacomputer", there is almost too much information at times. For me personally less would have been more in this case. However there is something here that 5XOD also had on "Dadacomputer", and on many other outings on tape in the early 80's, that is really valid and worthwhile exploring.
Get with the programs. Explore true wealth of mind.
Malcolm James Brown
January 2011
2. Andre De Koning.
5X0D, what does it mean?
Somehow I rolled into the 'indie cassette scene' of the early 80's where you would record tapes with your own music (or 'sounds' in my case) and swap them with other people. The trick was to get a nice variety of 'correspondents' so you would get a nice variety of tapes back. Among my favorite correspondents were Rob Lawrence and Mark Phillips (aka MAP) from Cardiff/Bristol, as their tapes had a constant quality (i.e. they often had good tunes unlike some of the 'industrial noise' tapes that I got from other people). After some time they joined forces as 5ive Times Of Dust (aka 5XOD) and made even better tapes.
Eventually, life happened and I lost touch.
And then some twenty plus years later, while perusing the interwebs, I face that acronym again: 5XOD. It turns out the guys split up at the end of the eighties. But the good thing about split-ups is that you can come back together: they did a few years ago. In fact they picked up where they left off by taking old recordings and 'reworking' and remixing them. I got in touch with Rob who was so kind as to send me their 'come back' cd: Incense in the Middle Fridge of Birth.
The fact that I'm not so up to speed on electronic music is not really important as an obvious influence like YMO (like on the track 'You've got to Love the Nature') is not new either. It also helped that some of the tracks are reworkings of tracks that I already knew. Anyway, tracks like 'Fluffy Bomb' and 'Mass Collider' are instantly recognizable as 5XOD and great in their own right. One of the smart moves is sometimes using an electronic voice - the virtual girl singer Miku - which comes as a blessing after some of the more 'industrial' tracks.
On the whole I quite like it. It also made me (while typing up this blog item) pay a bit more attention to their my|---| site: there is even newer 'Dust Music Product' available: mOVING tHROUGH tWISTED fORMS.
To explain the title of this posting: after all these years I was wondering if 5XOD meant more than just four words and googled out that it probably does - 'The Soft Machine' by William S. Burroughs contains the answer.
Andre De Koning
April 2011
Sunday, 31 January 2010
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