Rieg ‎– "Music For Wind" (Mirage ‎/ Agitasjon ‎) 1980

Norwegian Bloke (Geir Låstad) in bedroom with synthesiser makes music about the weather......what else would you expect? One has to do something, apart from commit suicide, in those endless dark winter days.
Yep lots of 'white noise' is utilised to make fake wind effects, y'know, the first thing everyone did when they unpacked their new synthesiser......Hey Mom! Listen to this!
Later, we sampled burps into our new samplers and did the same thing; except this time it was for our very unimpressed girlfriends.......although it was very rare for a male into electronic music to actually have a girlfriend.Then when they did eventually find a partner, the synth went into the bin briefly until they were inevitably also 'binned off'for being boring, then came the come-back CD-r.
Geir also disappeared after 1980 only to mysteriously return in 2008 with a....uh-hum(clears throat)....comeback CD-r!.....Is it possible he got a girlfriend in 1981, then when he was divorced by 2008, vented his male menopause by retreating to his misspent youth in the bedroom and his youthful first love?....I think so.

If you hadn't noticed 'Rieg' is Geir spelt backwards.....clever eh?

DOWNLOAD and release some trapped wind HERE!

Mark Shreeve ‎– "Firemusic" (Agitasjon ‎– AGI 004) 1981

One of my favourite Jazz albums is Archie Shepp's "Fire Music".....ain't I sofisticated (sic)???......which positively bristles with channeled energy(fire) among the abused sax noises, but it does have its smooth bubbly moments,Like the whole of this cassette.

Mark 'Big in Norway' Shreeve's version of "Firemusic" seems to be a much more pleasant evening in front of a log burner than the controlled Napalm of Shepp's wailing horn. Its a soundtrack to witnessing something burning rather than using the energy of the fire in the creative process.Then extinguishing it with gallons of analogue foam.

This limited edition cassette for a Norwegian fanzine label is,for me, Mark's best album. It could easily fit into Tangerine Dreams' back catalogue from the classic period of 73-76.Plenty of gorgeous, warm analogue synth sounds, and hypnotic spacious melodies that could make burning to death a pleasurable experience.  

Tracklist:

A1 Blitz 8:47
A2 Firestorm 9:05
A3 Fireball 8:45
B1 Black Candles 3:45
B2 Firepower 16:37
B3 Heatwave 7:40

DOWNLOAD some warm analogue fire HERE!

Mark Shreeve ‎– "Thoughts Of War" (Uniton Records ‎– Uniton 001) 1981

Mark even had vinyl out in 1981, courtesy of a Norwegian label, as you do.

Here, our Mark ruminates on the sticky subject of 'War'.Pretty nasty stuff is 'War'......lots of killing, mass executions, maimed children, Genocide, its no fun at all......or so I was led to believe.

Listening to Mr Shreeves' 'Thoughts' on the subject one would be inclined to think that these unwelcome violent episodes were quite relaxing, floaty escapades.As if mass destruction was an open gateway to paradise. 

This is a concept of 'war' more akin to that imagined by those stone-age morons in the Islamic State.Of course to get round the fact that it is written in their holy book that they should not kill,they call themselves 'Martyrs'rather than muderers.A fast track to the side of God,and rewarded with, and I quote, "A Sensual Paradise". This consists of being wed to 72(?!) 'perpetual Virgins' called the 'Houri'......women, of course, don't get 72 musculus blokes in paradise, only one,"...and they will be satisfied with him"!!!!???....Have you ever heard such a pile of misogynistic neanderthal bullshit in your life before......well, yes if you're a devout Muslim.......I could go on, but might risk some kind of Fatwa from some suicide-bearded nutjob modern caveman in Birmingham.

I digress.

As pictured on the rear of the Shreeve sleeve, one will notice that Mark could have easily been pictured in 1971 rather than 1981, but his beard is absolutely NOT that of a radical Muslim; so his vision of War is probably not that perverted skidmark of anti-intellectualism that is radical Islam......don't worry the American Taliban are just as fucking bad to balance it up.

These 'Thoughts' on War ironically, or maybe purposefully turn out to be great stuff for Meditations for Peace.Like those Buddhist chaps do.....now wait.....isn't it those Buddhist chaps who are currently performing Genocide on the Rohingya (muslims) people in Myanmar? And wasn't it Buddhists who invented Suicide Bombing in WW2?.....the kamikaze.

So no-one is innocent is the conclusion to this digression.

But Mark Shreeve is innocent of taking the obvious route in this beautifully warm analogue, Berlin School of Electronics style, portrayal of War......this record is really 'Thoughts On Peace', and who could possibly disagree with that?.......yeah yeah I know, there's a huge list, topped by our chums from the three main monotheistic religions.

Good album by the way, even if a conceptually vague one.

Tracklist:

Thoughts Of War - Part One (15:15)
A1.1 Escalation
A1.2 Cold Emotion
A2 Nightmare Of Reality 14:25
B1 Dream Sequence 11:01
Thoughts Of War - Part Two (18:41)
B2.1 Funeral In Desolation
B2.2 Remembrance
B2.3 "...Ashes To Dust..."

DOWNLOAD some relaxing war sounds HERE!

Mark Shreeve ‎– "Phantom" (Mirage) 1980

Seems 1980 was a prolific year for Mark Shreeve, a year we've already established was the high point of this modern renaissance for art and music that some of us were privileged to have lived through.
It's all finished now of course, with the stragglers having to reinvent the wheel again and again, like landscape painters have had to do for the last 500 years or so; that's the future we have to look towards......the same things but done again,masquerading  as something new.
I suppose this rehashing trend started in the seventies, with stuff like 'the Mod Revival' and the resurrection of 'Ska'.
The UK electronic underground of the early eighties was basically a revival of the German Kosmiche music of the early Seventies, repackaged as DIY Electronica, and set in small town provincial England......well no-one else was doing it were they.Very unfashionable in 1980, so if you wanted to hear music like this then you jolly well had to go and 'Do It Yourself', as the Post Punk manifesto would have stated if it had ever existed.
So, here we get a tape of Electronic Space Symphonies recorded in a bedroom in such an exotic location as the dying English seaside resort of Great Yarmouth rather than West Berlin. 
It wasn't always like this for Mark however. He did get to work with a member of Tangerine Dream later on, his obvious inspiration. And, less impressive, infact downright criminal, he wrote several hit tunes for page three bimbo Samantha Fox in the mid-eighties!.....I assume those tunes weren't exploratory electronic odysseys like those on 'Phantom'.....would have been fun though to have Sam vocalising to something like this instead of whatever crud she inflicted upon our innocent discotheques?  

DOWNLOAD this phantom to your machine HERE!

Mark Shreeve ‎– "Ursa Major" (Mirage) 1980

The constellation Ursa Major, aka The Great Bear, containing, as the tail section of the Bear, a familiar pattern of stars commonly known in the USA as 'The Big Dipper', in France as 'Le Casserole' and in the UK, as 'The Plough'.
Thankfully this Cassette only has one title, but its contents are a bubbling 'casserole' of electronic star stuff that ploughs through your sub-consciousness until your thirst has been quenched without double dipping in the well of the Berlin school of synth twiddling.
That's about all I can think of to say without referring directly to the music too much, like modern music reviewers seem to do a lot????.Think, Tangerine Dream as Ursa Major, and Mark Shreeve as Ursa Minor......the poor chap only had one synthesiser, as opposed to about ten thousand under the auspices of TD,yet there's almost no difference in the finished product except for the budget;theirs was massive and Mark's was zero.......they did have better haircuts though.

DOWNLOAD the great bear(d) HERE!

Mark Shreeve ‎– "Embryo" (Mirage) 1980

They came with Beards,with bunches of unkempt long hair tied back in unsightly pony-tails, and carried keyboards as their weapons.......no i'm not talking about the Viking Invasion of Northern England!? The Vikings had weaponry at least equal in lethal effect as a Korg Monopoly or Moog Prodigy, but these later invaders were better known as The UK Electronic Underground. An unsubscribed terrorist organisation from the late seventies and early eighties.
Just as those naughty Punk Rockers, with their spitting and their habits, thought we were free forever from a Klaus Schulz hypnotic sequencer driven electronic symphony, or a Tangerine Dream Live album.There appeared, bubbling below the surface, in the very 'Punky',and certainly not Funky, world of DIY Cassette culture, grew a rebellious,or more accurately,Oblivious,infiltration of unrepentant progressive music fans with a spare few quid to spend on the latest polyphonic synthesisers.
One of these bearded invaders was none other than Mark Shreeve,who spread fear throughout the post-punk legions with his hypnotic keyboard sequences,effected electronic dream-scapes,and meandering melodies.Wielding his Prophet 5 like a sword in the hands of a disenchanted east-London born benefit cheat in Islamic State, with a captured Saudi-Arabian Fighter Pilot kneeling in an orange boiler-suit before him.
I exaggerate of course......no-one had the slightest clue this stuff existed in 1980.They were all too busy moonstomping in that bloody awful Two-Tone cult, where everyone dressed like they were in the Specials and had 'Fun' forced down their throats like geese at christmas......Skin'ead Fois Gras anyone?....no thanks!
That stuff makes Mark Shreeve, music and image, look like real rebellion against any kind of Status Quo,new or old (not the band of course!...ps, R.I.P. Rick Parfitt 😭).....(and as of 31/08/2022 R.I.P. Mark Shreeve too!?

Tracklist:
A1 The Keeper
A2 Alive!
B1 Embryo
B2 Iceflakes

DOWNLOAD some embryonic shreeve HERE!

Colin Potter ‎– "See" (ICR ‎– ICR 028) 1990

A journey into ambient drone territory for the wizard of DIY underground electronica, Colin Potter; long before Harry Potter became the most famous Potter, overtaking Beatrix quite comfortably.
ICR(or Integrated Circuit Records) was probably the 'Hogwarts' of experimental keyboard-ism for the whole of the 80's, and C.Potter was its Dumbledore.
Here , Dumbledore goes Drone, before it became fashionable for every Wire magazine reader to have an experimental Drone project on the go. It's a genre that should be attempted once,preferably by one person only, never to be repeated and I'm quite comfortable with that 'one person' to be Colin Potter.
A 'Drone' album can be written produced and played in real time in one take without any musical expertise required whatsoever,and is basically not really for listening to.Its a kind of aural water to fill up your flotation tank to the brim, to assist you to cut yourself off from this cruel world and confront your inner id without influence from the ego.
I don't sense that Colin has any ego whatsoever,and as one of the instigators of the DIY movement and cassette culture he deserves massive respect;but I can't say I've listened to anything he's done since this outing in 1990, which I'm shocked to find out was 27 years ago!!!!....or is that 27 years ego?

Check out his series of classic cassette releases HERE!

Tracks:

1-A Drift (23:57)
2-Tide (23:36)
3-Untitled (15:50)

DOWNLOAD from user platform 9 and 3/4 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!

Rick Crane ‎– "Fuji" (ICR ‎– ICR 15) 1983

Rick Crane's second cassette on ICR is the usual pleasant melodic electronica in the DIY Berlin School style as championed by Dave Jones, Carl Matthews and the like.
Its the kind of proto-new age music that is perfect for your landscape video's, or as background music in a Florists.
 Gentle, inoffensive stuff......if that sounds like an insult it's unintentional. There's definitely a talent to making  minimal melodic electronic music for ignoring.

Tracklist:

A1 Rising Eastwards
A2 Fuji:Pillowbook Of Dreams
A3 Moondrawn
A4 Inner Struggle
B1 Fisher Of Souls
B2 Of Robots, Men And Zen
B3 The Shrine Of Harai

DOWNLOAD fuji via berlin to bury st. edmunds HERE!

Dave Jones ‎– "Tansel" (Self-Released Cassette) 1984

One was never safe living in a quiet backwater like Mid-Glamorgen(Wales) back in the early eighties,for you may never know it, there maybe some loner living next door with racks of synthesisers making electronic symphonies for movies that would never be made. Its far worse nowadays, where anyone from a gestating zygote to your mates' granny can make their equivalent of "Jeff Wayne's War Of The Worlds" on their laptop.
This was once thought to be a good thing, but in the modern era, where everyone who has an 'Album' out.....including me!.....has turned this once noble venture towards self-empowerment, into a dense soup of meaningless treacle.
Like X-Factor has Destroyed the 'Singer' as something to be enjoyed rather than endured, so Bandcamp and Soundcloud has destroyed the aura of homemade music through the shear volume of stuff clogging up the communication cables of at least a thousand class 'M' planets.
Oh look, another Band......this guy makes all his own music y'know.....yawn!......hey listen to this 'Industrial Harsh Noise Project' I found on Bandcamp......no thanks, I've got to go and stand in the corner for a while!?
This is Dave Jones' final release as far I know....or care....and its approaching the dreaded era where we all dumped our analogue stuff for FM Digital, and tried to make realistic Trumpet sounds rather than actually playing a real Trumpet.
This may be the reason Dave disappeared into the welsh valleys to escape this binary crime against culture.Only recently have the War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague put 'Crimes Against Culture' on their statute book, which bring Yamaha and Fairlight into danger of being put on trial, and maybe some of the musicians who used this stuff up for 'Crimes against Humanity'; Paul 'N....n.....n....Nineteen' Harcastle being one of them.The whereabouts of Mr Hardcastle are now unknown.Apparently, there's a rumour that he is in hiding posing as a factory worker in darkest Argentina.
As for 'Tansel', i detect very little digital synthesis,and is reassuringly analogue; although a lot of it does sound like background music for an old skool computer game....which can be a good thing,if you're that way inclined.Personally I prefer it on the commodore C64 or Spectrum ZX, where it can stay. The C64 SID chip has yet to be bettered in my humble computer game-phobe opinion.
Maybe that's what happened to Dave Jones,and he's still churning out inoffensive electronic music for the Playstations and X-Boxes of the modern 'Lost Generation'....that is after-all their eqivalent of Rock'n'Roll one supposes with a dismissive snort? The kind of 'snort' we Generation X'ers had to endure when our Glenn Miller fan parents heard Sham 69 spinning on the teak veneered music centre. 

Tracklist:

A1 The Sprite
A2 Sprites Dance
A3 Fairy Go Round
A4 The Trek
A5 Water Laugh
A6 China Lock
A7 No Harm Done
A8 Who Did What
B1 D.S. Blues
B2 'I' Infection
B3 Kirk Revisited
B4 Tansel The Broadcast

DOWNLOAD from davy jones' electronic locker HERE!

Dave Jones ‎– "Second Attempt" (ICR ‎– ICR007) 1982

Not everyone took the Kraftwerk approach to the synthesiser you know? A plethora of medium length thinning haired bedroom nerds wanted to be Tangerine Dream.Which was now possible by 1980, as the price and size of the necessary equipment was rapidly reducing,and within range of your average 26 year old kosmiche musick fans and their warehouse job wage packets.
This stuff was far easier to make than it was for The Human League to produce 'Being Boiled'; a meandering structure using 'too many notes' rather than  using a carefully selected three note boot to the crotch.
Colin Potters Integrated Circuit Records was the natural home for this new wave of meandering fingers and knob twiddling.If Post Punk was the rebirth of Prog, this stuff displayed the grim reality that original prog had never really gone away, and Ironic that the DIY approach of Punk provided the very music that the 'punks' professed to despise with a vehicle for further existence.
This new lot of Klaus Schulz's never had the same interesting names as their Germanic forebears either.Rick Crane,Carl Matthews, George Garside, and Dave Jones, didn't have the same exotic allure of an Edgar Froese or a Dieter Moebius;but the music was a lo-fi and utterly homemade replication of those Krautrock legends.
So here's Dave Jones' second cassette release from 1982,and could easily have been used in Blade Runner or Chariots of Fire instead of Vangelis......again, it was the name that did for it.Who are you gonna choose, Vangelis or ....er...Dave Jones?

Tracklist:
A1 Black Mikado
A2 The Jade Temple
A3 Ro
A4 Necropolis
B1 Oh Prodigy
B2 G.F.I.
B3 Voyager
B4 Excerpt
B5 End Play

DOWNLOAD at the first attempt HERE!

Tone Set ‎– "Cal's Ranch" (Zia Records ‎) 1982

Synth Punk from cowpoke country in Arizona isn't the most obvious thing you'd expect.Such practices ,you would think, could easily attract a drunken crucifix waving mob determined to stamp out this faggot/nigger music spawned by Satan himself.
I once drove through Arizona, and stopped to ask a Dungaree and baseball cap wearing  Redneck, who was creosoting a fence(Stereotypes are largely deserved?), which was the way  to Flagstaff. He just turned slowly in my direction and looked at me as if I had just landed from Outer-space, jaw dropped in incomprehension.Not many Flares and Hawaiian Shirt clad Skinheads with English East Midlands accents happen this way often I guess. I repeated the question to be met with silence again. I thanked him, and got back in the car and wheel spun out of there.
This was the same trip, where I entered a redneck hostelry, attracting a disapproving salvo of stares from the locals at the bar.Decided to pay pool and selected something on the jukebox that they could probably like.....AC/DC right?....but instead of 'Hells Bells' the machine decided to play "I'll Tumble For Ya" by fucking Culture Club. I felt in imminent danger of a severe Hill-Billy arse-raping as portrayed in that John Boorman film "Deliverance".So I supped up my Coors Light and my partner and I slipped out the side entrance before Bronski Beat's version of Dueling Banjos came on.
The people who make art in these circumstances are the real heroes of Punk Rock in my opinion.And Tone Set(Galen Herod and Greg Horn) are fine examples of not only that, but of prime minimal wave electronica.
Their early sound was ostensibly synthetic, mixing very 'clean' analogue synthesizer sounds with taped dialogue. This was the sound of their debut release, the 1982 cassette called "Cal's Ranch". It almost completely lacked vocals, which is generally a good thing is it not?

Tracklist:

A1 Introduction 0:08
A2 Out Out 3:56
A3 He's Got A Little Dog 5:42
A4 Predictions 5:25
A5 Such Heavy Conviction 3:20
A6 The Devil Makes The Loudest Noise 6:38
A7 Waiting For Oatmeal 3:20
B1 Indeed 3:28
B2 Relax 4:00
B3 What Good's A Hit Song? 3:24
B4 Time Travellers 2:36
B5 The Tone Set 3:38
B6 Appeal To Them 3:16
B7 Wigglin Around In Middletown 6:56
B8 Close 0:20

DOWNLOAD and set the tone HERE!

Galen Herod ‎– "Patterns for the outside surface of a cube" ( pegna 5) 1981

Galen Herod's pre-Tone Set escapades date back to the days when infinite synchronization wasn't available to destroy the human in the machine.The rhythm units didn't try to sound like drums or even like other drum units.No Overdubbing, a very 'Punk' concept rarely used by 'Punk' musicians, is a under-utilised method for keeping it real, as is No Keyboards; read as, used no conventional instruments.
Above all, it sounds great; primitive electronics laid down on slightly muddy analogue tape that you can't really dance to, unless as a soundtrack to a contemporary ballet.
It's the kind of electronica that presaged the work of Panasonic in the 1990's.

DOWNLOAD from inside the outside surface of a cube HERE!

Bill Nelson ‎– "Quit Dreaming And Get On The Beam (Expanded)" (1981)

So while we're on the subject of young William Nelson, here's the next ,more synth orientated record which dropped the 'Red Noise' suffix to concentrate on the 'star'.
Always striving for the experimental but accessible pop song,these dozen or so synth pop ditties were written around the same time as the material for 'Red Noise',which is why it sounds almost the same. He was/is always prolific, and even pushing 70 he has released four albums this year.....so far!
Although I lost interest in his music from here onward, one must respect his relentless creativity which shows little sign of abating.
This LP contains at least one synth-pop classic in "Do you dream in colour?",and this remastered version comes with plenty of nice bonus tracks,to further enhance your listening experience.....and don't forget he even had time to produce the early 'A Flock Of Seagulls' tracks on his own Cocteau label.Which I guess is something of a millstone around his neck?...but at least he didn't produce 'U2' like Eno did!? What were you doing Briaaaaaan!!!!!!

Tracklist:

1 Banal 3:53
2 Living In My Limousine 4:10
3 Vertical Games 3:15
4 Disposible 5:55
5 False Alarms 2:51
6 Decline And Fall 4:43
7 White Sound 4:10
8 Life Runs Out Like Sand 5:23
9 A Kind Of Loving 4:16
10 Do You Dream In Colour 3:46
11 U.H.F. 4:41
12 Youth Of Nation On Fire 4:05
13 Quit Dreaming And Get On The Beam 3:39
Bonus Tracks:
14 Mr. Magnetism Himself 3:11
15 Living In My Limousine (Remix) 4:20
16 Birds Of Tin 2:20
17 Love In The Abstract 3:34
18 Be My Dynamo 2:11
19 Rooms With Brittle Views 3:53
20 All My Wives Were Iron 1:31

DOWNLOAD to get on the beam HERE!

Bill Nelson's Red Noise ‎– "Sound On Sound (+ Demos, Sessions, and Live Stuff.)" 1979

Bill Nelson hears XTC and Devo , then realises that 'Be Bop Deluxe'(His former Band) were shit and joins the rest of the UK in rejecting any music that existed before 1977.
So 'Red Noise' (The prog record company Harvest insisted on adding the prefix 'Bill Nelson's' for marketing purposes), was Bill's attempt to make music for the modern kids.
It Tanked of course, and many a bargain bin was littered with reams of Red Noise albums;which is where i bought mine....99p in Woolies. I played it and it was great,like a more 'herky' but less 'jerky' XTC.
Bill was also a champion of 'A Flock Of Seagulls' whom I also secretly dig as a very,very, guilty pleasure.
This was intended to be futuristic,like A Flock Of Seagulls' hairstyle, but quickly dated, and now sounds futuristic again in a retro-futurist stylee(unlike A Flock Of Seagulls' Hairstyle)...if you catch my drift.
As the last album I posted was also called 'Sound On Sound', and someone requested some 'live' Red Noise;it is my pleasure to offer this greatly expanded version of the album, including Demo's, Sessions, and Live stuff......it's great,not good.

Tracklist:

1 Don't Touch Me (I'm Electric) 1:51
2 For Young Moderns 4:25
3 Stop/Go/Stop 3:10
4 Furniture Music 3:32
5 Radar In My Heart 1:37
6 Stay Young 3:12
7 Out Of Touch 3:31
8 A Better Home In The Phantom Zone 4:27
9 Substitute Flesh 3:30
10 The Atom Age 3:02
11 Art/Empire/Industry 2:44
12 Revolt Into Style 3:24
Bonus Tracks (Singles & Sessions)
Furniture Music (HAR 5176) B-Sides
13 Wonder Toys That Last Forever 4:03
14 Acquitted By Mirrors 4:57
Revolt Into Style (12 HAR 5183) B-Sides
15 Stay Young (Live At Leicester De Montfort Hall) 3:01
16 Out Of Touch (Live At Leicester De Montfort Hall) 3:49

BBC In Concert 1979

17 Out Of Touch 3:48

18 Stop-Go-Stop 3:06

19 The Atom Age 3:03

20 Possession 2:06

21 Substitute Flesh 3:43

22 A Better Home In The Phantom Zone 4:58

23 Radar In My Heart 1:38

24 Art-Empire-Industry 3:01

25 Revolt Into Style 3:25

26 Stay Young 3:18
Peel Session (17th February 1979)
27 Stay Young 3:00
28 Furniture Music 3:39
29 Don't Touch Me (I'm Electric) 1:41
30 Out Of Touch 3:44
The Old Grey Whistle Test 1979
31 Don't Touch Me 1:41
32 Furniture Music 3:45
33 Stay Young 2:57
Demo's 1978:
34 The Atom Age 3:34
35 Furniture Music 3:27
36 Out Of Touch 3:37
37 Radar In My Heart 1:41
38 Revolt Into Style 3:33
39 Stay Young 3:25
40 Stop Go Stop 3:15
41 Substitute Flesh 3:53
42 That Way For Years 5:28
43 Waiting For The Night 4:10
44 A Better Home In The Phantom Zone 4:43
45 For Young Moderns 5:00
46 Acquitted By Mirrors 1:59

DOWNLOAD this revolt out of style HERE!

André De Saint-Obin ‎– "Sound On Sound" (Ding Dong Records And Tapes ‎– ddc 003) 1982

Dutch bedroom artist with Rexox A77 remakes Bill Nelson's Red Noise, but without the catchy futuristic melodies.
André delivers a very dense electronic rock tape, full of retro-futurism  and processed voices. Its actually rather entertaining;but,as he used the same album title as Bill Nelson's doomed Red Noise project, this gives me an opportunity to link to some long promised Live Red Noise, as requested some months ago. 

Tracklist:

A1 Introduction 3:45
A2 My Dirty Self 4:40
A3 Dance Till I Die 3:58
A4 My Burning Head 4:02
A5 Woman`s Talk 1:39
A6 Keine Zukunft 5:46
B1 Is It A Cop? 3:10
B2 Hey You 4:08
B3 I Got Plopmusic 2:56
B4 Suicide 4:12
B5 Desolation 2:44
B6 A Tempo Accel. 3:27
B7 $ 13 3:15

Download removed by request....see comments for link to buy the re-released version.

Mekanik Kommando ‎– "It Would Be Quiet In The Woods If Only A Few Birds Sing" (Torso) 1981

There are many myths that circulate throughout the pubs,bars and cafés of the world. One is that there was a character called Seaman Staines in 'Captain Pugwash'*, another is that Captain Kirk actually said 'Beam me up Scotty', and the biggest one is, that No Birds sing at Auschwitz. Which is partially true because there are very few trees at Auschwitz! There is ,however, plenty of birdsong; just not as much as there would be if there were somewhere for them to roost.
Another psychological effect of birdsong in an otherwise quiet environment is that it accentuates the silence.Silence in itself is often noisier than a wood full of birdies warbling; so my point is, that the album title is in fact quite an accurate observation. Silence for me, is far noisier than this home recorded minimal synth classic by Dutch electronic post-punkers, and not a Magma tribute band at all, Mekanik Kommando.

(*There was a character called Master Mate,commonly thought to be Master Bates...titter titter titter.)

Nevertheless, here's a fine example of naughty adult innuendos on kids Tv with this charming episode of 'Rainbow' by clicking here!

Tracklist:

Birds 4:57
Microbes 3:07
Plants 2:40
Vortex 2:56
Replay 3:34
White Soldier 3:22
Money For Pleasure 2:16
Icefield 4:06
Japanese Eyes 2:52
Dress Grey 2:46
On Snack 2:30

DOWNLOAD before having a refreshing zyklon b shower HERE!

Mekanik Kommando ‎– "Snake Is Queen" (Wereld Rekord ‎– 1A 068-26891) 1982

No not a Magma tribute band, but a Dutch minimal synth band from Nijmegan....as you probably guessed?.....No?
I've always wanted to be in a Magma tribute band, but my concentrational abilities are notoriously shallow; time signatures what are they?......now what was I saying??.....er.....oh, yeah, minimal synth......good innit?
This album is a fine example of those electronic groups who still used a real Bass guitar, like Tubeway Army......but ,horror of horrors!....do I detect a fretless bass on a couple of tracks? I do....but I won't hold it against them, because its a great record, full of Futurist pretensions but still retaining that naive analogue warmth of early synth units; soon to be fucked up for half adecade while we all slowly realised digital synthesis, LCD screens,multiselect menus and buttons were shit. Awful as the Rave phenomena was, at least it brought back 'Knobs' to twiddle,real time sound manipulation and that essential ingredient,warmth.

Tracklist:

A1 Pain In Eden 4:20
A2 Attraction Of Light 4:38
A3 Passing Clouds 4:45
A4 Crow 3:53
A5 Entangled By Colours 4:01
B1 Door 4:22
B2 Thin Ice 5:04
B3 Snake Is Queen / Endless 4:32
B4 Conquer The World 4:55

DOWNLOAD mekanikly HERE!

Various ‎Artists – "Radionome" (VPRO ‎– VPRO 1010) 1982

Get your electronic clogs on and kick your way through a dyke to simulate the wave of minimal synth duo's that flooded the low countries around 1981.Of which this VPRO Radio compilation is constructed around.

The fact that it included the magnificent 'Nine Circles' is reason enough on it's own to download this treasure, or even shell out the 130 euros that it is apparently worth in these sad ol' days.

They must have been a miserable lot at that trendy radio station, because they chose the two most miserable, but best, Circles tracks from their largely unreleased in their lifetimes back catalogue. These being the only tracks that made it onto vinyl in their original existence.They're now re-formed, cashing in on the minimal wave phenomenon hopefully.Even if they do look like a couple of Brexit/Trump/Le Pen voters lugging synthesisers around on the back of their mobility scooters......don't we all? 

I'd put up their entire works for download, but I upset the lady of the group when i posted some of their works a few years ago.Some people don't get my humour.... amazingly....(not!). However she was greatly insulted and ,probably rightly, Livid(For which I humbly apologise). So I got a complaint, and had to withdraw it or be deleted...again!....(ps, but if you e-mail me i'll send you a link ;-))

The rest of the tracks are pretty good too by the way.

Tracklist:

A1 –Stephen Emmer - You See You
A2 –Van Kaye & Ignit - The Heat
A3 –Van Kaye & Ignit - Whirlwind
A4 –Van Kaye & Ignit - Alice Notley
A5 –Nine Circles - Twinkling Stars
A6 –Nine Circles - What's There Left
B1 –Smalts Werktitel - 10
B2 –Smalts Werktitel - 4
B3 –Cargo Cultus - La Peste
B4 –Cargo Cultus - Stick At No Scruples
B5 –Genetic Factor - Action Spot

DOWNLOAD some pre-digital dutch synthwave HERE!

Truss + Instruments ‎– "79/80" (Self-Released C-60) 1980

Truus de Groot was in Dutch post-punkers Nasmak for a time, providing some electronic weirdness. She went on to do various stuff over the years, including this muddy electronic Industrial cassette.This tape was intended to be played in glorious Mono.Not recommended to listen to this on headphones in stereo, as everything is panned to the extreme right or left. For a ear damaged person like me it is most uncomfortable,and disorientating......but maybe that was her intention?.....Artists eh?

Tracklist:
A1 Lucky Day
A2 Music-zak
A3 How?
A4 Herhalingen
A5 You're A Man
B1 Dance
B2 Untitledimprovisation X9
B3 So
B4 Stratego

DOWNLOAD an industrial truss HERE!

Nasmak ‎– "4our Clicks" (Plurex Records ‎– PLUREX 2300) 1982

By 1982, in the proper recording studio world, Nasmak were sliding remorselessly in the direction that was inhabited by the 'Futurists', aka the New Romantics!....the main instrument of torture that every self-respecting bass player was scrambling for in 1981/2 was the god awful 'fretless bass', and Nasmak were not innocent of this crime against music.
Leaving behind the lo-fi post-punk of their recent past,they slipped dangerously towards the sci-fantasy world of Classix Nouveaux territory with this one....although one has to say not anywhere near as brain damaging.
A Sylvian-less Japan is a less insulting comparison; something they would slip further towards for their next album 'Duel',which sounds like....well....er.... Japan, complete with a whinier David Sylvian-a-like. So, I won't be posting that one.
It strange how following technological advancements and fashion can lead to one becoming more stuck in a past epoch, even when one undoubtedly feels one is pushing forward.This album therefore,is far more dated than their earlier work.
Fretless Basses, gated snare drums,Classix Nouveaux records and FM digital synthesizers should be handed in along with any unregistered firearms to your local police station as soon as possible!

Tracklist:

A1 Pilot In Charge 2:49
A2 Waiting Room 4:30
A3 I Hope I Am Gonna Rain Today 4:03
A4 Nothing But The Lyrics 3:29
A5 Sade M De 3:21
B1 Origins And Whereabouts 2:06
B2 No Touch And Go 4:35
B3 Take A Look 2:47
B4 Not Your Living Doll 3:12
B5 Nosedive 4:08
B6 4our Clicks 0:17

DOWNLOAD without frets HERE!

Nasmak ‎– "Indecent Exposure 5 & 6 (Only This Day And 77 Others)" ( Plurex Records ‎– C 022) 1982

Only another 80 tracks to go in this Dutch Post-Punk extravaganza!
For these 'White Album/Sandinista syndrome' moments that groups have from time to time, when they feel an irresistible urge to bung everything they do,no matter how shite, onto one album.One usually feels a similar impulse to say, "Would have made a great EP"; but on this occasion I feel that this would have made a great quadruple album.....which it essentially is already, so i'll shut up.
However it's more like the Beatles 'Anthology' rather than the 'White Album', because its full of different takes of the same songs,and works in progress......not that i'm comparing them with The Beatles of course....that would be silly wouldn't it?.....Nasmak are far better.

Tracklist:

Indecent Exposure 5:
A1 F.M. Parade 1023
A2 Days 4
A3 Complicated Things
A4 Never Fool The P.A.-System
A5 Eyes 2
A6 Ne Me Quitte...
A7 I'll Never Do It Again In Hongkong 3
A8 2 Seconds Of The Flipside
A9 I Do 1
A10 Void 2 (Rehearsing 1981)
A11 Calypso Around The Clock
A12 I Do 2
A13 The Master Bait
A14 I'll Never Do It Again In Hongkong 4
A15 I Do 3
A16 Word
A17 Tudance 1
A18 I Didn't Do 1
A19 Vaseline Des Artistes (Rehearsing 1981)
A20 To Love The Fall In Djnepropetrowsk 2
A21 I Do 4
A22 Variations (2 Parts)
A23 Tudance 2 (2 Parts)
A24 I Do 5
B1 The Force Of Habit 2
B2 Roommates In Space Soundtrack
B3 I Didn't Do 2
B4 Beautiful Obscenery (Repeat Chorus 2) (Rehearsing 1981)
B5 Tudance 3
B6 I Didn't Do 3
B7 Birds (2 Parts)
B8 Fair 1 (2 Parts)
B9 I Didn't Do 4
B10 Origins And Whereabouts 3 (Crying)
B11 Labour
B12 I Do 6
B13 Cold Blood (Rehearsing 1981)
B14 Au 3
B15 Part V (Music For Movie "Do Not Title")
B16 Fair 2
B17 Ashes
B18 2nd
B19 Livin' Doll
B20 Sneak Through Any Window 2 (3 Parts)
B21 4th
B22 Now Minds Are Making New Cities
B23 Ich Liebe Dich
B24 Searching For One Hammer In Several Sheds

Indecent Exposure 6:
C1 Hobby Horse (Rehearsing 1981)
C2 Tudance 4
C3 Cocacola
C4 Stop
C5 F.M. Parade 1203
C6 F.M. Parade 1203
C7 Picture
C8 Other Places And Sea Sons (2 Parts)
C9 Won't Ye Com' Over (2 Parts)
C10 Lilly Marleen
C11 F.M. Parade 0123
C12 Tudance 5
C13 Team Spirit 2 (Why Talk Of - ) (Rehearsing 1981)
C14 Only This Day
C15 "Chocolat" 1
C16 Dead Slow 1 (Live 1981)
C17 F.M. Parade 1204
D1 F.M. Parade 1024 (4 Parts)
D2 I Do 7
D3 Before Being Born(e) (3 Parts)
D4 Better 1
D5 Soul
D6 Au Pair (Live 1981)
D7 A Shop
D8 Saw My Own Doubt Leaving
D9 Post
D10 Lilly Marleen
D11 Thank You
D12 "Chocolat" 2
D13 Announcement
D14 Inside Down 2 (Live 1981)
D15 4our Clicks (Live 1981)

DOWNLOAD Indecent Exposure 5 HERE!

and

DOWNLOAD Indecent Exposure 6 HERE!

Nasmak ‎– "Indecent Exposure 3 & 4 (The Smell Remains)" (Plurex Records ‎– PLUREX C021) 1981

Here's the next part of the trilogy of double cassettes from Dutch Post-Punk experimentalists Nasmak.Remarkably good stuff and loads of it!......and there's even more to come!?

Tracklist:

Indecent Exposure 3
3-01 Take A Look 2 2:48
3-02 Kindness 0:44
3-03 Dino 1 (2 Parts) 2:15
3-04 Madrid Central 1:33
3-05 Public Call 1:33
3-06 Rubber Bubble Vs Vital 5:28
3-07 Cocko (2 Parts) 1:37
3-08 Rhapsody In Ankara 1:09
3-09 Maxaret 1 0:37
3-10 Budapest Disco 0:59
3-11 See No More 0:47
3-12 Origins & Whereabouts 2 2:07
3-13 Rubber Bubble Vs Vital 4:25
3-14 Berlin Polka 1:38
3-15 Luggage 2:52
3-16 Dino 2 0:56
3-17 Lily Marleen 1:20
3-18 Valse Paris Minuit 5:25
3-19 Dino 3 1:04
3-20 Void 1 2:08
3-21 Dead Slow 2 1:47
3-22 The Force Of Habit 1 0:49
3-23 The Force Of Habit 1 (Continued) 0:29
3-24 Dino 4 (2 Parts) 1:36
3-25 Void 3 2:31
3-26 How Are You 1:15
3-27 Void 4 1:28
3-28 Origins & Whereabouts 1 (Trying) 2:36
3-29 Hanza 1:55
3-30 Exactly So 2:35
3-31 Violint (2 Parts) 0:52
3-32 Inside The Box (It's So Hard For Me To Shout) 2:50
3-33 Violin Maxaret 0:51
3-34 Dishhunt 3:57
3-35 Entree 0:11
3-36 Kimono 1 (The Girl In The Pink?) 2:59
3-37 I Want To Know (2 Parts) 0:59
3-38 Bo Dance 5:06
3-39 Can You 0:11
3-40 So What 1:42
3-41 Days 1 1:26
3-42 Take A Look 1 3:46
3-43 I'll Never Do That Again In Hong Kong 1 2:54
3-44 Days 2 0:29
3-45 Team Spirit (Why Talk Of?) 1:30
Indecent Exposure 4
4-01 Team Spirit (Why Talk Of?) 3:33
4-02 I'll Never Do That Again In Hong Kong 2 (2 Parts) 5:00
4-03 Days 3 0:26
4-04 Strangers In This Night 2:31
4-05 To Love The Fall In Dnjepropetrowsk (3 Parts) 4:04
4-06 Kimono 2 (The Girl In The Pink?) 4:29
4-07 To Love The Fall In Dnjepropetrowsk (5 Parts) 6:12
4-08 Spring In Tomsk 1 2:38
4-09 Common Sense 0:38
4-10 Sneak Through Any Window 1 (2 Parts) 3:18
4-11 Spring In Tomsk 2 0:57
4-12 Perque? (Why Pickups) 2:48
4-13 Maxaret 2 4:05
4-14 Spring In Tomsk 3 1:10
4-15 Little Secrets (We've Got No Time) 3:51
4-16 Waiting Room (Repeat Chorus 1) (8 Parts) 7:52
4-17 Inside Down 1 1:04
4-18 Spring In Tomsk 4 0:21
4-19 Smell Remains 2:30
4-20 F M Parade 1023 (To Be Continued) 1:33

DOWNLOAD Indecent Exposure 3 HERE!

and

DOWNLOAD Indecent Exposure 4 HERE!