Various ‎– "Flowmotion(An Album of Contemporary Electronic Music)" (ICR ‎– ICR 003) 1982

Well, as this compilation is over 35 years old, it can no longer claim to be an album of Contemporary anything, but it does have some electronic music on it ,by some of the bigger names of the UK's electronic underground of the early eighties. And I note that none of this lot have yet to retire.
A few of these tracks one would hesitate at calling them strictly 'Electronic'.Experimental pop with incidental electronics is good enough for Eyeless In Gaza,and Those Little Aliens hark back to the time when magnetic Tape manipulation was called 'Electronic' Music.I suppose anything made with machines that one plugs into the mains is technically 'Electronic' so there you are!?

Tracklist:

A1 –Chris & Cosey-Devil God
A2 –Those Little Aliens-Ismalia
A3 –Eyeless In Gaza-Dusky Ruth
A4 –Eyeless In Gaza-Through Eastfields
A5 –David Jackman-Do The Dog
A6 –Ian Boddy-Follow
A7 –The Legendary Pink Dots-Hanging Gardens
B1 –Ian Boddy-Skylights
B2 –Paul Nagle-A Journey In The Dark
B3 –Carl Matthews-As Above, So Below
B4 –Colin Potter-Rooftops

DOWNLOAD with the flow HERE!

Various Artists ‎– "A Cage Went In Search Of A Bird (An International Compilation)" (Dark Star ‎– DS 1-2) 1985

A wide ranging compilation that included all the leading lights of the UK Electronic Underground.....aka a fancy way of saying 'Prog'......are collected on this c-90/c-60 double package.Compiled in 1985 by our chums from the Ultima Thule Record Shop in Leicester; whose own projects (Alto Stratus and Zircon etc) take up a hefty 20 minutes of tape time.....and why not?
A wide range of abstract experimentation is on display over these two and a half hours, ranging from Ambient electronics to mid range Industrial, to the madness of DDAA,categorised in the 'Other' category on iTunes.

Tracklist:
White Side
A1 –Paul Nagle-Skrying 8:45
A2 –Peter Frohmader-Pharaonische Grabkammar 9:10
A3 –Colin Potter-Potters Wheel 6:14
A4 –Region 5-In The Cage Of Crystal Moonlight 5:43
A5 –Conrad Schnitzler- 1·11·84 7:02
A6 –Adhara Alucian Landscape 6:58
Yellow Side
B1 –Ken Moore In The Field With Flowers & A Toilet 5:47
B2 –Kevin O'Neill The Claws That Catch 5:39
B3 –Peter Frohmader Sepulchral Choirs 11:28
B4 –Alto Stratus The Captive 14:56
B5 –Paul Kelday Timelord 5:06
Grey Side
C1 –Günter Schickert Powolerman/Suleika 8:53
C2 –Land Of Yrx Merman Ikon Bee 7:07
C3 –Bourbonese Qualk-Blackout 3:02
C4 –New 7th Music-Tlazolteotl 5:03
C5 –Hartmann-Forget The Past 3:08
Blue Side
D1 –R N Andrews- Humphrey's Final Words 2:06
D2 –Aussenminister-City Wolf 4:29
D3 –Zircon & The Burning Brains-Imaginé 5:16
D4 –Input- Heavy Street 4:19
D5 –David Gate-Nothing Isn't Everything 3:39
D6 –Rollkomanndo-Nude Picture 2:11
D7 –DDAA-Une Etude De Sonorisation Par Le Sol 4:50

DOWNLOAD this bird from its cage HERE!

Carl Matthews ‎– "Call For World Saviours" (Mirage ‎– M 412) 1984

You could be forgiven for mistaking this for Testcard Music, or Library Music, or prime Das Kosmiche period Krautrock? One could go on, but this cassette could be all things to a lot of music minorities the world over , maybe even the musical saviour that the title so boldly is calling out for?.....The word 'Saviour', as is the case with 'Genius' is a word too often bandied about , and neither apply here. Its merely a good ambient/proto new age electronic record, which falls well short of that other over-reaching category 'the Masterpiece'......it's just.....er....alright; but needless to say, in my humble opinion Carl Matthews' best release?
Which 'World Saviours' he is calling out for I'd hate to guess.
If the suggestion is a second coming scenario,I would be less inclined to even post it on here at all! Leave that to religious nutjobs and conspiracy theorists; who are in fact new-age religious nutjobs. 
'Project Blue Beam' is a particular conspiracy theory that the so-called 'Truthers' like to drop in any casual conversation about the weather.......in fact don't get onto the subject of 'Weather' with a 'Truther', you'll be stuck all day with monologues about HAARP , 'Chemtrails' and using weather control as a weapon.
'Project Blue Beam' is the very made-up paranoid vision that NASA and the CIA are planning to fake a second coming of Christ to help create a unified and very controlled Christian Bloc(cue track 6, "Harmony Through Conflict"), to frighten the blue fuck out of rival religions, and those goddamn Athiests too!
If there's ever a soundtrack required for the 'Blue Beam' project then I would recommend this cassette to be played as the Hologram of 'your personal saviour' Jesus H. Christ, appears in the sky above your poxy little town. Watch him descend to perform miracles to track three ("Young Disciple"), and hear him preach world peace on the 'Grassy Knoll' in Dallas,accompanied by track four ("Sacred Word"), to a thronging mass of whooping Cowboys and Rednecks foaming with spittle, ready to Kiiiiiill fer Jeeeeesus.
This could easily be subverted into a warmly welcomed suicide cult by some snidey reprogramming of the software courtesy of any enlightened individual with half a brain cell. The whole of middle America, and below the mason-dixon line would be a mass grave, hopefully taking the dumber parts of both US coasts along with the fuckers.If Trump survives, his support base will have disappeared, and we can all live in real peace.....peace from Stupidity.
So maybe there could be a world saviour after all?......all Hail Human Stupidity!Amen?

Tracklist:

A1 Be Like A Child 3:30
A2 Blessing 3:00
A3 Young Disciple 6:00
A4 Sacred Word 5:00
A5 City Hearts 4:00
B1 Harmony Through Conflict 5:30
B2 Harmony 2:00
B3 Burning Ground 4:00
B4 Approach 8:00
B5 Call For World Saviours 2:00

DOWNLOAD from heaven HERE!

Carl Matthews ‎– "Iridescence" (Mirage ‎– M609) 1983

Another cassette of proggy space synth hypnotic meanderings from the Edger Froese of Cumbria, Mr Carl Matthews.
More of the same electronic background music to accompany a video of a deep space probe scooping up space dust for analysis.
My Analysis is that this is very good for navel gazing in the bath surrounded by scented candles.
A pastime I can't indulge in because I only have two en-suite showers, and no bath, at my gaff, so I just play at being Voyager 3 in my mind, (yes, I have a mind and I know there were only two voyager probes!!!?).
As Voyager one had a golden record bolted to its side showcasing the 'sounds of Earth' as selected by the great Carl Sagan and chums back in 1977, maybe my imaginary Voyager 3 could have some golden cassettes stapled to it's hull? 
I'm sorry to say that Carl Matthews, good as he is, would not probably make the final cut. I'd obviously select Danny and the Dressmakers "39 Golden Grates", Solid Spaces' "Space Museum" and 5XOD's "Dada Computer" tapes as my suggestions. At least if a malevolent Alien race would discover the probe, and by some miracle have a vintage cassette deck available in the junk shops on their planet.They could listen to these tapes and would be profoundly 'put off' the idea of invading Earth to steal 'our women', as the Martians often did in the fifties. Some women to this day still insist they have been abducted and fondled by randy space aliens. One listen to Danny and The Dressmakers and Earth's women would be more than safe from any Groping Greys with ungentlemanly urges. Earth women are in far more danger from the indigenous aliens of our own planet......we call them 'Men'. Those dirty little bleeders with their barely under control sexual urges'n'all! The leader of whom is a creature who looks like Jabba the Hutt in an ill fitting business suit, sometimes described as resembling a chewed piece of gum rolled in cat hair.....yes.....Harvey Wankstain himself. Beam him up Scottie!

Tracklist:

Side 1
A1 Give Love
A2 Trinity
A3 Day Of Forgiveness
A4 Silent Watcher
Side 2
B1 Elemental Moon
B2 Nexus
B3 Iridescence

DOWNLOAD iridescently HERE!

Carl Matthews ‎– "East/West" (Mirage M606) 1982

Another mixture of Berlin School, via Cumbia, synth noodlings, ambient, proto-New Age introspection and minimal analogue repetition from my new favourite of the UK Electronic Underground of the early 80's.
I was always familiar with the other chief protagonists in the seedy underpants of the prog dissenters in post-punk Britain, like Dave Jones,Rick Crane George Garside and the ICR crowd; but only recently have I indulged my ears with the swirling beauty of Carl Matthews' obscure canon.
Dull John Q. Public name aside, it's without doubt music for flotation tanks and astral travelling from the comfort of an armchair, but it does have more meat than most new-age or ambient musics. Something to grasp onto outside of your personal sensory deprivation chamber. All, naturally, full of gorgeous analoginous (made up word?) guano regurgitated by Doves and spread on toast made from ethically recycled cassette tape........Christ! I've spent far too long in that Flotation Tank again!

Tracklist:

A1 Lamb And Lion 8:10
A2 Cause And Effect 11:10
A3 Bridge 5:00
A4 Gura Ma 5:30
B1 East/West 11:40
B2 Aeon 4:30
B3 Cities Of Shan 5:30
B4 Motion 6:10
B5 Nomad 1:10

DOWNLOAD from the east, the west, home's best HERE!

Carl Matthews ‎– "Aksu" (Mirage ‎– M601) 1980

Another mid-twenties space progger who was apparently completely oblivious to the musical revolution happening around him, and carried on playing at being Tangerine Dream into the 80's and beyond. This mini space-synth revival around 1980-4 consisted  wholly of chaps with beards too old for punk ,too young for hippy, with very bland names, living in the most unfashionable rural arseholes of England. Carl Matthews did his astral travelling in darkest Cumbria, a part of England famed for its national parks and Nuclear reprocessing plants; a strange juxtaposition between nature and anti-nature.
Why Carl didn't give himself a cosmic name, like this album title perhaps,I dunno? If he had called himself 'Aksu' and the album was called 'Carl Matthews' my perspective on this tape would have been enhanced. Now all I see is a long haired bloke shut in a bedroom with stacks of expensive synths that he'd saved all his spending money for.Maybe even still living at his mum and dad's place.(Nothing wrong with that of course,it's cheaper, can buy more gear!....that's what I did anyway!)
The music is in fact a rather good modernised take on the Berlin School of keyboard twiddling, and sounds rather gorgeous. Lovely phat analogue warmth, filled with repetitive alien melodies , and less aimless keyboard fingering than is normally heard in this micro-genre.
Unsurprisingly, Carl works mainly in soundtrack production these days....as it says on his Soundcloud page, he describes himself, modestly, as: "An old guy who likes making sounds for Library/Production companies."

Tracklist:
A1 Azzama 3:06
A2 Encounter 6:52
A3 Aksu I 3:12
A4 Unoverse 0:27
A5 Voyager 3 2:10
A6 Aksu II 2:36
A7 Peace Within Chaos 5:16
A8 Look In To Find Out 4:02
B1 Lünaland 14:47
B2 Release 4:15
B3 Aksu III 4:06
B4 Atomic Rage 5:24

DOWNLOAD carl from outer space HERE!

Various Artists - "Integration" (Integrated Circuit Records ICR12) 1983

Excellent minimal synth/experimental compilation realised in 1983 on Colin Potter's Integrated Circuit label. Full of all the usual suspects, Alain Neffe, Colin Potter,David Jackman,it goes on. A classic DIY electronica compilation.

Tracklist:

A1 Trevor Wishart -Anna´s Magic Garden

A2 Muslimgauze -Afrikaner

A3 Paul Kelday -Towards A New Clear Age

A4 David Jackman- Last Estuary

A5 Ampnoise - Floppy Disk Drive

A6 MFH - To Give Painless Light

A7 New 7th Music - Untitled No. 7

A8 Andrew Cox - Ritual Dance

A9 Andrew Cox - Silent Moorings

B1 Ian Boddy - Sundance

B2 Subject - What Happened To You?

B3 I Scream - Menace

B4 Human Flesh - Delon Enlarges

B5 Carl Matthews - Power of three

B6 Carl Matthews-Harmless Thought

B7 Monoplane - Fin

B8 Citizens Of Science - She Moves Like A Machine

B9 Colin Potter - Hills

B10 Stratis - By Water

B11 Dave Jones - Memories Of...

DOWNLOAD and integrate HERE!