Third Door From The Left - "Live 001 / Live 002" (Cause For Concern ‎– CFC 003) 1982

Duo comprising of Raye Caluori & Kevin Thorne(Of We Be Echo fame), who met at the Throbbing Gristle performance at the YMCA, London on August 3rd 1979.......that's the factual crap out of the way!
The preceding cassette ("Face The Firing Squad") was more or less a photostat of pre-1981 Cabaret Voltaire,as will be the first 'We Be Echo' releases; but, remarkably this double live album is more of a TG/CV hybrid,and is all the better for it. The Three Mantra's Riff makes an unwelcome appearance on track one ,but it is thankfully submerged underneath a Doppler effect of swooshing noise.In the studio this would have been mixed below the beats and the plagiarized bass line; this is the advantage Live recordings have,allowing the uncontrolled sound to assume its own form.
Basically,this one allows Third door From the Left to have their own identity;which in a world where every town and the populous within them are slowly becoming identical, is something to be celebrated.

Tracklist

A1	001
A2	002
A3	003
B1	Eat The Baby
B2	The Plague
B3	Turn Me Off
B4	Mission To Kill
B5	The Voice Of God

DOWNLOAD TG's and CV's aborted love child HERE!

Third Door From The Left ‎– "Face The Firing Squad" (Chamber Music ‎– CM001) 1981

In the mid-seventies, kids in america bemoaned the fact that Led Zeppelin weren't around often enough for them......so we got Aerosmith, who keenly filled that abyss for these simple youths. Inexplicably, Aerosmith escaped being sent to the Hague ,and lesser criminals like Radovan Karadzic did!?
In the early Eighties, Cabaret Voltaire were evolving from their near-perfect proto-industrial sound,to the less effective 'Red Mecca' sound,then afterwards degenerate into some dodgy disco unit.
To fill this aching void we got "Third Door From The Left",who sound like.....er.....Cabaret Voltaire? 
This tape is their version of a ,less funky, "Voice Of America" era Cabs,and is a fine, if generic, listen.
That is definitely CV's drum machine on track one,i'd recognise it anywhere! I understand there was some co-operation from those fun loving Sheffield dwelling chaps somewhere along the line.
Kevin Thorne of TDOTL,became the equally Cab-alike project 'We Be Echo' after this.

Tracklist

A1	Under Attack
A2	Pause
A3	Ritual
A4	Tear My Heart Out
A5	In The Room
A6	The Party
B1	Jack/MIssion To Kill
B2	Endorphin
B3	Erik Dorf's Diary
B4	It's Not Us
B5	People Like You

DOWNLOAD,fire and reload HERE!

Laibach ‎– "Deutschland" (Self-released cassette 1985)

There have been a few groups who have drawn complaints from neighbours,girlfriends,or parents over the years. The stand-outs were, Suicide for "Frankie Teardrop", Whitehouse for everything they ever did,and  bizarrely, the Butthole Surfers "Locust Abortion Technician";which made one particular girlfriend livid,and convinced I was a satanist!?
One shining example of such an artist,who are largely misunderstood,in fact I don't think I understand them(?); are the hugely crushingly heavy Laibach,from the Former-Yugoslav republik of Solvenia.The only country from which I have been deported!.....a funny story involving me hiding my smack-head girlfriend's methadone pills,accidentally i may add, in my Passport(I know!).Which i unfortunately proceeded to present to a clued-up border guard.I said they were Headache pills,which usually worked, but he knew what they were. Gallantly, I blamed my Girlfriend,and she got grilled by the gestapo while i waited. Sent back into Croatia,the Cops there were more like the Nazi type's one imagines in the world of Laibach.....ironically,a lot more frightening than the reasonable chaps in Laibach's fatherland,Slovenia.Bare in mind that this was 1998 and the war had only just finished,so everyone were very twitchy,and looked as if they had something to hide. So, I never got to visit Ljubljana (aka Laibach in German),but managed to avoid jail. Many other bizarre incidents happened on that trip too numerous to mention,the best was being mistaken for UN peace keepers in a deserted Bosnian Hotel(where we were the only guests),as we were wearing military uniforms as a fashion item(really stupid in a war zone i know!); the staff panicked when they saw us, and laid on five star service.....then the real army arrived.Very funny,and a very cheap holiday in other peoples misery,as it says in the song,well....at least on the sleeve of "Holidays in the Sun", by the comparatively, very lame and inoffensive, Sex Pistols.
The 'Pistols' never got any complaints , their music never matched their image; just rock'n'roll.
Now Laibach had a huge frightening sound to match their huge frightening image ,with even more confusing politics than our loveable spikey-tops. Forget electric guitars, whip out yer Flugel Horns and Opera singers, then shit your pants!
I'm not alone, when I sense a underlying 'Humour' in Laibach's music,subtly threading through the Wagnerian Horror of this brutal music. Early Laibach,is especially wonderful and brutal, as showcased on this self-released Live cassette from post-Tito yogoslavia in 1985. They seemed to like Tito a lot,who, as a communist, contradicts their Fascistic imagery.'Are they Communists, or Nazi's(?)', was a common question. I prefer to think they are neither,but a representation of the Horror of mass political movements. Although,that said, both of these political dogma's do have some positive aspects, namely in their common "Socialist" roots. Its these aspects that are frequently promoted in Laibach's propaganda, amidst the humour and the horror. A very complex pop group indeed; just how we like it.
This cassette is a fine document,and shows the group at their very best;noisy, brutal, aggressive,and frightening. Guaranteed to draw complaints from the 'Normals' in your life,confronting them with uncomfortable feelings; as if dropped into the crowd of a Torch-lit Nuremberg Rally and they find themselves screaming 'sieg heil' enthusiastically.......Beware the 'Hive Mind'!

(the track listing on the insert didn't match the music,so i've tried my best at identifying the tunes,if i'm wrong .....keep it to yourself please).  

Track Listing:

01 Vier Personen
02 Vade Retro
03 Nova Akropola
04 Die Liebe
05 Ti, Ki Izzivas
06 Sredi Bojev
07 Vojna Poema
08 Drzava

DOWNLOAD this fine bunch of kunst HERE!

A Completists guide to the best of rest Of Vanity Records (1978-1981)

BGM-"Background Music" 1980

Agata Morio - "Norimono Zukan" 1980

Tolerance - "Divin" 1981

Tolerance - " Anonym" (1979)

Aunt Sally - "Aunt Sally" (1979)

As the rest of the classic releases on this wonderful Japanese record label were posted on the equally wonderful non-japanese "Bleak Bliss" blog; I have provided convenient linkages to said quality obscure noise vessel above. Especially excellent is the post-punk classic "Background Music" by BGM; good enough to rival The Glaxo Babies,ESG, and Gang of Four for post-punk-funk perfection.
Check the descriptons on Bleak Bliss for further infotainment.

Morio Agata ‎– "恋のラジオシティ" ( Vanity Records – vanity 2003, 7" Flexi promo) 1980

Morio Agata was apparently a moderately successful pop singer in Japan in the 70's. So to keep up with the times he made some synth-pop tunes in 1980, which resulted in the cheesy new-wavesploitation album " 乗物図鑑" on Vanity.(Which you can download on the rather lovely 'Bleak Bliss' blog by clicking here!)
This Flexi-Disc, free with 'Rock Magazine' in Japan, has the first track from that album to wet your appetites for more electronic R'n'R such as this. Its a kind of Suicide number with the lights turned on, but with  Alan Vega and Martin Rev replaced by Keith Harris and Orville.(yep its trash culture reference time again....for foreigners,ie anyone who isn't British, click here to experience the Harris as introduced by John Peel on Top Of The Pops)

DOWNLOAD some prime jap cheese HERE!

Die Krupps ‎– "6 Jun 1981 At Krefeld Haus Blumenthal" (Vanity Records ‎– vanity 8104, 7"Flexi promo) 1981

Vanity also has their/his serial number on a plethora of promo Flexi Discs that came with the boss's (Yozuru Agi) "Rock Magazine". These are as rare as a Tory/Neo Con I don't want to kick seven shades of Shite out of.
This one features German Industrial/EBM old skoolers ,Die Krupps, named after another jolly German industrial giant who used slave labour during WW2. I suppose we can't critise them too much,what they did was legal in their country,and bastards like McDonalds still do it today,as it is still legal;coupled with the slow murder of generations of children with their provably poisonous unhappy meals.There should be an industrial group called Die McDonalds Die really,but it doesn't sound as good as Die Krupps.
Die Krupps, nowadays, are an incredibly awful Metal group, but back in 1980 they were good, so don't be put off. This Flexi disc captures 6 minutes of their very non-metal early live sound.

DOWNLOAD this celebration of slave labour HERE!

Sympathy Nervous ‎– "Polaroid" (Vanity Records ‎– VA-S1) 1980

There have been aspersions cast on the authenticity of the date that Sympathy Nervous made his prescient recordings.This single, especially the a-side, sounds very,almost too modern era techno.
There is absolutely no doubt as to when 'Polaroid' was set to tape in Yoshifumi Niiuma's living room.....1980.No  sophisticated sequencing required, just controlled voltage,and ,or, tape syncing. Not just ground breaking, he made the whole mine shaft to the mother-lode.
The other two tracks are a bit weirder, "D.B.TV" (Directed by TV) especially, sounding like  the soundtrack to Forbidden Planet being transformed into a fruit smoothie.

Tracklist:

A Polaroid
B1 Polyester 35 Micron
B2 D.B.TV

DOWNLOAD some cream for your polaroids HERE!

Perfect Mother ‎– "Youll No So Wit" (Vanity Records ‎– VA-S3) 1980

In house music journalist and label owner, Yuzuru Agi, again takes the producers chair for Perfect Mother's only vinyl release; and its a mad one.The three tracks on this seven incher which contain elements of ambient,post punk, and minimal synth pop,are almost devoid of anything you would associate with a pop single.There are no catchy melodies or hooks, no songs, but there are moments you can dance to, only if you're insane,or don't mind dancing on your own. Songs for a very 'Dark Disco',for example, one that has closed down for the night. Unhinged madness guaranteed to empty a room,never-mind a dance-floor; now that's my kind of Pop......Unpopular.

Tracklist:

A1	Dark Disco - Da. Da. Da. Da. Da. Run
B1	You'll No So Witt
B2	Ephemeral Pieces

Da Da Da Da Da DOWNLOAD ephemerally HERE!

Mad Tea Party ‎– "Hide And Seek" (Vanity Records ‎– VA-S2) 1980

Vanity released three 'Classic' singles, this being the best according to my tastes,which were firmly molded by the immediate UK post-punk period ; as if you didn't know.
This collection of three heavily UK influenced tunes (can you call 'three' a collection?);could have easily been a Rough Trade release,with its untuned GangofFour-isms, as fronted by Claire Grogan on Valium. Pop music has never sounded better,especially Japanese Pop Music.

Tracklist:

A	Hide And Seek	3:42
B1	Modern Time's Pop	2:08
B2	In A Tea Bag	4:21

DOWNLOAD and seek no more HERE!

Dada ‎– "Jyo" (Vanity Records ‎– vanity 0001) 1978

Vanity Records' first release is from their prog hangover period, before the New Wave had hit Japan. A bit like Virgin Records before 1977.
This Mike Oldfield meets Brian Eno epic, sits comfortably alongside this labels other prog epic by SAB,but seems from another universe in comparison to the post-punk stuff from a year or so later, or the minimal electronic cassettes from 1980/1. One for post-Syd Pink Floyd Fans.

Tracklist:

A1	Yuuen • Inraku • Gaki
A2	Udonbara
B1	Rokujinzuu
B2	Seijyo-No-Chi. Mizu

DADA DOWNLOAD HERE!

Den Sei Kwan ‎– "Pocket Planetaria" (Vanity Records ‎– VAT3) 1981

This reminds me of the time I bought a short wave radio from the Kays catalogue at 35p per week,it could also pick up the police radio and the transmissions of passing aircraft.Oh the hours of harmless fun I had.Then i started buying DIY cassettes from the DIY sections of Sounds and NME and realised that nearly everyone used a Short Wave Radio as an instrument.Who needed a synthesiser with a whole universe of weird noises and disjointed electronic rhythms  available at the twist of a dial.
That's basically what this entire cassette is, a bunch of Short wave radio interference,eastern European  blocking signals and drifting transmissions, masquerading as avant garde composition.
The ultimate Radio transmissions record is "The Conet Project" as featured earlier in this blog.This is  nowhere near as spooky as that release,but its probably the ultimate DIY method for anyone who can't be arsed to play an instrument or compose anything coherent.

Tracklist:

A1	Transparent Radio
A2	P×T×C=1
A3	Thugu-Rikwo
B1	Sarava Tetsudo
B2	Pocket Planetaria
B3	Plastic Garden

DOWNLOAD some stuff you could tape off your radio HERE!

Wireless Sight ‎– "Endless Dark Dream" (Vanity Records ‎– VAT5) 1981

Who or what Wireless Sight were or are, remains lost in the mists of this depressing foggy cassette.
Its the soundtrack to a sleeping old woman sitting in a chair in a quiet room.Only a ticking clock for company,waiting to die.
The Ticking clock is represented by......erm......a ticking clock! The loneliness, by an aimlessly played maltuned upright piano; maybe this should have been called 'Aimless Sight'? Nevertheless, it does seem endless, until it ends.....eventually.
It reminds one of the awkward silence one only finds in a Dentist's waiting room; which brings to mind a second alternative title for this lo-budget Eno facsimile,- "Music for Dentist's waiting Rooms"? Put this on in a Hospice and time how long it is before someone with Non-Hodgkinson's Lymphoma ,or their relative, smashes your compact disc player.
Wrist-slashing stuff,in the wrong sense of wrist-slashing.
That fucking ticking clock reminds one constantly of your approaching funeral,each tick of this cassette is one second that you'll never get back; in fact one thousand nine hundred and seventy seconds you ain't gonna get back.BEWARE!

Tracklist:

A	Automatic Funny Sight (16.32)
B	Endless Dark Dream (16.18)

DOWNLOAD from this endless site HERE!

Nishimura Alimoti ‎– "Shibou" (Vanity Records ‎– VAT6) 1981

As usual, I know Fuck all about Mr Alimoti,and I'd prefer it to remain that way.Mystery is an under-rated and increasingly rare commodity in today's overexposed planet, overdosed on information, both incorrect and partially false.The only truth available is the blank spaces from the past which we can fill in ourselves (DIY?) with that other under-rated,and again, sadly rare, process, 'Imagination'.
When I imagine Nishimura Alimoti recording this shadowy, rumbling, post punk shytsterpiece; I see a monochrome vision of a small sparingly furnished room in a high rise apartment block in the most unfashionable area of Osaka, with a twenty something (Japanese) male sitting at a table covered with recently acquired second hand musical gear.Hunched over a crap guitar,overdubbing to some bass and drums he'd recorded earlier; all in one take.
And that's what this sounds like, bedsit land pop from the twilight zone. Don't walk towards the light, its shit out there!

Tracklist:

A1	Bunbunbae
A2	Hyojyo No Uta
A3	Inkasanka
A4	Lock And Role
B1	Yasai Ga Kirai
B2	Ninshiki Yoso
B3	Moeagaru Chukinto
B4	Nakayubi Tomare
B5	Reito Shokki
B6	Tori Ga Tonda Rarara
B7	Zesshyo

DOWNLOAD something mysterious HERE!

Invivo ‎– "B.B.B." - (Vanity Records ‎– VAT4) 1981

Another lost and ignored cassette only release on Japan's Vanity Records.
This time we find ourselves in some minimal electro-tinted post-punk interplanetary void.Think of a shy, vocal-less,drum box version of DAF mark one and transport them to 1980's Nippon; then you are somewhere near the sound of Invivo.
They seem obsessed with the contents of Petri-dishes, and why not? Vanity Records herself is somewhat akin to that essential item in a chemists toolbox; in so much as, she allows unicellular lifeforms such as Invivo to reproduce themselves and spread,symbiotically, to a host, to multiply or die.Unfortunately most of the bacteria, or 'Bacteriodes', on Vanity died in quarantine before they could evolve into multi-cellular organisms. A shame really,because Invivo had the potential to grow into something special,but never had the right food;all the agar jelly was snaffled by the Anglo-Saxon rock'n'roll alliance! A fine argument against the principle of Survival of the Fittest; but sometimes the best fun is had remaining in the primeval soup,especially in the world of post-war pop music. Invivo remained with the blue-green algae rather than crawl onto land and become a Dinosaur.And as we all know, Dinosaurs  became mostly extinct,leaving the smallest ones to evolve into Birds. This is happening again thanks to the meteor strike otherwise know as the Internet. One day this tape will become a bird,catch it before it flys away.

Tracklist:

A1	B.B.B. Micoplasm (1983)
A2	I.D.50 (Live)
A3	M.I.C.
A4	Macrolide (C H NO)
A5	Bacteroides
B1	Invitro / Proteus Amoxicillin
B2	Klebsiella -
B3	Micoplasma (1979)
B4	Dead World (LCM)

DOWNLOAD this lost chapter from the origin of species HERE!

Salaried Man Club ‎– "Gray Cross" ( Vanity Records ‎– VAT1) 1981

More Foggy electronic minimalism on cassette from Japan's Vanity Records by the mysterious Salaried Man Club. 
Very little more than rudimentary fuzzy drum box rhythms interspersed by lonely basic synth noises that barely get far beyond the white noise setting.Punctuated by vocodered vocals which bring back images of a depressed Metal Mickey crossed with Marvin the Paranoid Android.
It conjures a vision of a version of the Exorcist as made by Nintendo for a Game Boy mark 1, sellotaped to a circuit bent Speak and Spell machine possessed by a Demon who has escaped a pixelated Sinclair Spectrum ZX version of Hell.
Another classic from the pre-cambrian waters of electronica.

Tracklist:

A1	Martial Music (5.09)
A2	Fe.(5.02)
A3	The Thought Of Y (7.14)
A4	Cinerama (5.54)
B	Gray Cross (Parts 1-4) (18.10)

DOWNLOAD an above average salary for a Japanese male HERE!

Kiilo Radical ‎– "Denki Noise Dance" ( Vanity Records ‎– VAT2) 1981

This cassette is a weird ,muffled,glitchy affair,that dips its toes deeply into circuit bending electronic noises that are as pleasurable as popping bubble wrap; well, maybe not that pleasurable,but satisfying in a fuzzy lo-fi kind of way. The transistor frying sounds are backed up by repetitive pink noisy beats to keep the casual listener involved, so its not all dry joints and cheaply manufactured resistors; you could dance(?) to it......if you are that way inclined.I can certainly see Metal Micky's castors sliding around to this. Thankfully i'm NOT Metal Micky,or have to watch that new low in seventies childrens telly; but i would listen to this obscure cassette while I'm making me sandwiches.
(You know what, I dunno what I'd do without popular trash culture references from the arse end of the twentieth century?)

TRACKS:

1. Denki Noise Dance 1 (4.21)
2. Denki Noise Dance 2 (2.13)
3. Denki Noise Dance 3 (2.35)
4. Denki Noise Dance 4 (2.57)
5. Denki Noise Dance 5 (3.31)
6. Denki Noise Dance 6 (0.23)
7. Denki Noise Dance 7 (2.20)
8. Denki Noise Dance 8 (2.19)
9. Denki Noise Dance 9 (23.02)

DOWNLOAD and do the denki noise dance HERE!