Another selection box this time from 1988 and on the UK Independent label Nuppynaut. Who thought of some of these band names ?
Generic AOR (A1) with synth and chugging guitar.
Fighting Shy from Norwich; Bass Guitar – Adam Clarkson, Drums, Percussion – Paul Flack, Keyboards, Vocals – Alex Russell, Lead Guitar, Vocals – Mel Barker , Saxophone – Tim Nial and Vocals – Simon Morley do INXS. That’s the only band I could find info on.
The Beauregardes sound a bit like The Pretenders with electronic drums.
Grab Harry programmed this funk track but the vocals are a bit cliche but some nice saxophone.
Back to some Heavy Rock from Sittin Pretty an then on to some Lloyd Cole and The Commotions soundalikes. Track A7 is more Rock with a female lead. Joseph Running Horse do heavy , Indie jangle. and decent bass guitar. Good track. New Wave synth with not the best vocals from Nofix D’Abode.
With a name like X.O.X it has got to be fast and heavy. More AOR from Pete Fisher and female vocals on the Tortula track on a powerful Rock Ballad. Power Pop from Agurs Wish again with some odd vocals.
Closing with some Indie Rock from P.H.B. catchy and a decent closing track. A bit of U2 guitar too.
None of the bands went on to be even semi famous. One recording and done !
Yes a Tuesday Post because of the Rock element !!!
From February 1993 and with new producer Paul Borg and Paul Martin (Talkin’ Louds inhouse team) we get on to issues of feminism and abusive relationships.
A more punchy track with plenty of hooks , I did remember it ! Light and catchy but with such dark content.
The Sour Mash Edit brings in some Bluesy Guitar and grinding organ
The Sax and Flute is nice and light with a more progressive bass sound, shame there wasn’t a dub or instrumental.
A big jump to October ’94 and a mini-album as it were. More Hip Hop than Jazzy groove.
Loops and scratches and taking turns to rap. “Scenes In My Mind” reminds me of The Specials “Ghost Town”, Trip Hop on “Ager To Returner”, interesting sounds and loops. “Who’s Side Are You” is a phat track with plenty of UK references. Yes there is a metal guitar on the mosh pit version. Could have been even heavier.
From 1996 and a comeback single promoting their second album, “Time Capsule” which came out on the More Rockers label. Mike Mangini and Shane Faber helped out with the production. Mangini remixes the “Whassinit? For The Cynic” keeping grungy but not as heavy (or obvious in style) as the mosh pit mix.
Rootless a.k.a The Dirty Beatniks (Justin Underhill, Neil Higgins and Neil Higgins) go loose and groovy with a bit of acid.
Here is some proper French chauntesse covered in Electronics. From November 2000 and featuring French chanteuse Alizée Jacotey discovered by Mylène Farmer and one a French Pop Idol type competition. Now very famous in France and widely known through out the World…. apart from on here !
This was her debut album at the age of 16 with Farmer helping with the lyrics. Musicians included ; Laurent Boutonnat – music, arrangements, keyboards, programming, production, Bernard Paganotti – bass guitar, Slim Pezin – guitar, Matthieu Rabaté – drums and Ann Calvert – backing vocals.
I’m not saying too much about this just to say it’s a beautiful album, relaxed and epically produced. “Mon Maquis” is the stand out to me, just wish I knew more French.
Formed from the remnants of Leeds punk band Air Raid and Art School upstarts Jug Jug, the core of LMIE corp, Trevor Abbot and Paul Martland met at Wimbledon School of Art.
Songs From The Ark was recorded at Ark studios in Kingston Upon Thames and was produced by David Motion.
Subsequently courted by EMI the band recorded an album’s worth of material that’s never seen the light of day including the magisterial Sons Of The Soil
Paul’s mastery of an ancient EMS synthi A led him to session work with Win (You’ve got the power), Strawberry Switchblade (10 James Orr Street) Simon F of Intaferon and Chiefs Of Relief. Also some special sounds for the avant garde theatre group Lumiere and Son.
Mostly instrumentals on the A side, treated drums and atmospherics. “Slide” is a quite a dark bit of exotic mood music, “Total Concession” has chanted vocals again with a Far Eastern feel to it. “Midas Touch” is an actual proto Electro track and comes out of the blue again with vocals. I feel of Cabaret Voltaire and an insistent beat, Bill Nelson on Ebow guitar. “Waiting For The Call” is an electro march with an unusual bass sound.
Bootleg Saturday , sounds a good idea and Mike B has plenty to offer but this is from Lo.
Cowbells at the ready ? Italo Disco is here as is some very cheesy Euro Dance.
Released as recently as March 2024 this brings together the singles and mixes from this The bootleg was ripped from vinyl like most of the things on this blog !
Some stuff was around 1987 before a definite early House scene had emerged. So Hi NRG and overuse of vocal samples are abundant. Think SAW. Their was the quicker stuff in the early 90’s with a more distinct Eurobeat sound.
As the tracks get later they get quicker and cheesier.
So what about Chester ?
A production group based at Time Records and featured lots of guest vocalists. Mostly produced by label boss Giacomo Maiolini. 1987-1988 – Mauro Farina (last song: “Don’t Get Away”) 1990 – Giancarlo Pasquini (with Luigi Raimondi in “Right Time”) (last song: “Crazy For You”) 1992-1996 – Gino Caria (last song: “Kung Fu Fighting”) 1997-2000 – Davide Di Marcantonio (first song: “Hero of Desire”)
As you’d expect with a Dance act their biggest hits (the first 2) appear three times. The pick of the tracks being the last one, a decent dub mix.
Your Saturday dose of Razormaid. Will post some Hot Tracks stuff to give it a bit of a break.
Getting a little worried about the way this series is going as it continues to descend into Berlin Club territory.
EBM from Robotiko Rejecto with an over the top “Robotic” voice growling at you. Talla 2XLC was involved on this their second release from 1988. A bit of early Techno ?
A 1991 release from Metallic Traffic , probably a bit too quick for New Beat and it has elements of Rave. German voice samples but with an unusual clarinet solo (real?) making an occasional appearance.
Patrick De Meyer pops up with a release from this solo project from 1989. Front 242 bassline as it bridges the gap between EBM and New Beat. Equipment used – synth lead came from a Roland DX7, the other sounds came from a Matrix 6 and a Minimoog, the drums are from the TR 808.
Anne Clark (who I think is touring this year) gets quite drum heavy on her Eco protest track from1990. Has similar chords to “Spacer” by Shelia B Devotion from 1980. Originally produced by Mark Ferda
Not the best version of “Das Omen” , quite clunky and stop start. Again from 1990 we get Scrot with their debut release with its opera hook (another track to get double exposure)
Yet another track from 1990 from this one from Andreas Tomalla and Markus Nikolai who add vocals, synthpop ! A welcome bit of variety with good use of samples.
More EBM / New Beat from 1989 from Indicate, I wonder where the movie samples are from ? Quite interesting.
From 1989 and from German duo Holger Greb and Victor Harder, early Techno sounds. More early Techno from “Hypnautic Beats” (1990) keeps the beats going. The more complex arrangement of “Kommt Mit Mir” with those samples and a bit of a Thriller chord.
A bit of a Rave “Happening” this Friday (and maybe some more next week) Thanks Mike B ! December 91 / January 92 release.
My mate did a version of Bizarre Inc. “Playing With Knives” (https://myvinyldreams.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=119746&action=edit) and it is quite coincidental that Blue Pearl did a similar thing at nearly the same time ! Apparently Blue Pearl made a remix of Playing With Knives but it was rejected by Bizarre Inc, so Blue Pearl put a vocal on top of their rejected remix and released it themselves as this track. It figures. It also samples Sil’s 1991 track ‘Windows’.
Produced by Youth and written and arranged by himself and US vocalist/keyboardist Durga McBroom.
The House Mix is less soundalike with the remix from Carl Segal with extra keys from Mac Quayle. Their riskier “Dominatrix” has some naughty words in, for all you BDSM fans out there !……..Matron !!!
Charley Casanova goes full on Dracula’s organ and acid bubbles on his mix (A3). His “Locomotion Mix” needs some variation off that main looped sample. Hard but repetitive.
So the actual title of the blog is myvinyldreams so to keep it from being falsely advertised I will post vinyl on a Thursday. (hopefully on other days as well 😁😃)
My relationship with Rap is mixed. I like the inventiveness, the experimentalism and the general nod-ability but I’m not into the polemic, the Us and Them attitude , the “Am I allowed to listen to it ?” feeling.
I got this double album of East meets West political ,gangsta Rap. I ripped it and listened to it. Got about a quarter of it and then gave it to my mate Mark , who likes and collects the genre.
So enjoy, it’s political, it’ll make you think and it’s got all the usual suspects , dead or alive.
Wow the penultimate collection from this head scratching series of obscure releases (mostly from tape and from Europe)
French group Clair Obscur give us electronic / synth Goth from 1983 and not sounding so dated.
Track 2 is charmingly naff, over the top vocals and some pleasant synth from French Canada and released in 1983 as well.
Van Kaye & Ignit does a some punky electro clash. Frantic with some interesting analogue noises.
The UK’s Brian Brain does some minimal and claustrophobic synth pop. Started by Martin Atkins and released in 1980, need to track down the LP.
German synth from 1983 and sounding very basic and sung (badly) in German. And another one from ’83 and the punky guitar feedback of Die Idioten, very short.
Back to France and 1982 saw the debut release from French band Martin Dupont. Weird lyrics sung in English and some great analogue sounds.
The Nocturnal Emissions sounds like an early Human League instrumental with a proggy feel.
From 1985 Steve Parker goes electro folk , handling a hurdy gurdy it seems.
Ende Shneafliet were a Dutch band and this sounds like a Depeche Mode and has a vocoder.
A very interesting track from US band Null And Void (L.A) with a touch of Glam and sung in French,
A curveball now with a normal song from Scottish singer Rose Mc Donald sounding like the Lightning Seeds. She was on half of Strawberry Switchblade. Off the album, “Cut With The Cake Knife” a collection of demos from recorded between 1986-88.
More from Belgium trio Vita Noctis, minimal synth with military drum machine from 1986.
Recorded on a dictaphone on September 16th, 1980. (That’s the standard we are going for) a debut release from the prolific Swiss artist Stephan Eicher, think minimal and then subtract it. Annoying , repeated lyrics.
Track 15 and shouty early Industrial with plenty of a rich analogue sounds from this German duo released…. 1983.
More from French band Vox Populi , weird sounds and early samples from 1984.
Track 17 and stuck in 1983 and from a compilation “Contactdisc 1” Sinister and short.
Twilight Ritual , a duo from Belgium, have a track from their debut cassette release, “The Ritual” (1982) Very interesting with a tape sample appearing in the middle.
Early bedroom EBM / Industrial from 1986 from this German duo, shame it wasn’t really produced.
From the Swedish electronic scene, Bal Paré, and using real drums (at the start) from the 1986 album of the same name.
The final track comes from Japan and is from a cassette called “Re-Musik” (1983) Minimal synthwave in a traditional Japanese arrangement. A bit of info; “Kimihide Kusafuka is a Japanese electronic artist from Shizuoka, and is a member of several noise and power electronic bands such as Techno Menses and Magmax. He has been releasing music since 1981. Kusafuka is a full-time surgical pathologist and scientist and describes himself as an ‘audio pathologist’.” sums up the way this compilation has been going.
myvinyldreams 
