MAP - "MAP 7 no.10 (Monkeys,Bees and Cats)" - (Map Tapes MAP 7) 1981

At last, the final installment of the epic MAP 7 odyssey; the UK cassette culture equivalent of the Icelandic saga's,Tolstoy's War and Peace,the ten hour long 'Shoah' documentary or the Greek legends.
The difference being that "MAP 7" doesn't bore the shit out of you. Constantly inventive, while battling economic restraints; always moving into different but related sonic territory,never boring. The shear weight of material is an astounding feat of ruthless creativity; either that or he had nothing else better to do.Either way this work survives as monument to the UK DIY scene of the early 80's, albeit a very well hidden monument,in the shadows around several corners behind a hill.Like erecting the Statue of Liberty in a crater on the dark side of the Moon(Obviously made from cardboard,sticky tape,and spit), only occasionally spotted by the odd errant Russian Lunar surface surveying satellite (I suppose that's a metaphor for oneself,beaming back the info to you back at mission controlski in Kazakhstan?) 

Track Listing:

01 Endomorphine Test Batch
02 My Face
03 Chimetime
04 In the Monkey House
05 Stop / Intruder

06 Rhesus Rhesus
07 Churchscrape / Clockface
08 'Can Bees Hear Sound?' (A Soundtrack)
09 Reprise
10 Skin a Cat
11 Kill that Hero

At Last its the final DOWNLOAD of MAP 7,so click HERE quick before I find another one!

MAP - "MAP 7 no.9 (Sum [Over] Load Headphone Musik)" - (Map Tapes MAP 7) 1981

If your headphone musik of choice is the theme to Pac-man as played by Jandek,and remixed by Minoy, then you're in luck.That's the first track,followed by a the Theroretical Girls do Asteroids.Throbbing Gristle does Space invaders,The Residents weird up Donkey Kong, and Brian Eno does an ambient Super Mario.Some tracks even sound like an accurate field recording of someone playing 'pong'(the earliest video game) while Whitehouse rehearse in the apartment below. It really does sound like this! All in glorious lo-bit shit-fi.Can it really get any better than this?

Track Listing:

01 A.C.C.C.C.C.
02 Abbatoir
03 The Invisible Song
04 Daft Vacant Meets the Princess
05 Tangled Mind
06 Review
07 Probe Droidxalpha 1
08 Of The & The
09 'Q'
10 Saigon
11 11 TR
12 The Endless Tunnel
13 Cleaning Up
14 Some Testcard Music

(DOWN)LOAD sum Headphone Musik HERE!

MAP - "MAP 7 No.8 (Track one,side one is Dedicated To The U.S.A." (Map Tapes MAP7) 1981

This one's got three cover versions on it,including a rare cover version of one of Throbbing Gristle's greatest hits, "Hamburger Lady",here shortened to just "Hamburger. Instantly recogniseable for me was the Siouxsie and the Banshees album opener "Mirage", which i admit to knowing all the words, as one played "The Scream" to death in 1978; for me they broke up in '79, the reformed versions were bloody terrible! Roxy Music were the glam band that inspired everyone,albeit secretly in the punk and beyond era. Forget Richard Hell, Television,and The New York Dolls(Glam hangers on basically), it was Bowie, Glitter,and Roxy that made the kids open to Punk Rock and what followed it (with a fair smattering of Dr Feelgood too). Of all the american proto-punkers that held any real influence, only The Ramones contributed anything to the UK scene, that being the three and a half chord thrash template for '77 Punk, along with the biker jacket.....although thats nothing to be proud of. Bowie had a spikey haircut,dyed orange, while long haired Dickie Hell was still in reform school. Roxy prepared the kids for making music like this, on MAP 7,with their art school experimentation,due largely to patron saint of Non-Musicians,....Eno. There are few music type people who you only refer to by their sir names?....We got Mozart, Beethoven,Dylan,and...Eno? (I suppose there's Bendle too,but no-ones heard of him? Buy his book and find out more!)
This is why track one is dedicated to the U.S.A.?.....or is it because of the dumber than thou Redneck infested Bible Belt?
After droning on about where punk rock really came from,as everyone likes to philosophize at length about, lets talk about MAP 7 no.8....er.....it's fucking great! Nuff said.

DOWNLOAD the eighth commandment of map HERE!

MAP - "Map 7 no.7 (There's A War Going On!)" (Map Tapes MAP7) 1981

By now i'm running out of adjectives,nouns and pronouns to describe this wonderful music,but i'll still give it a go,and I may run o'er old ground so please forgive me.
It can remind one of playing super mario, yes. It can, and does, sound like an inkjet printer cranking up ready to squirt its vile fluid, even if it was made in a dot-matrix epoch.Compared to modern electronic tech, this is the anti-matter sound equivalent of the Gang of Four switching back to Transistor powered amps from the tiresomely vaunted Valves. Which may seem strange from a person who detests the square waves of digital synthesis, but if one were to strive to replicate MAP's production values today, it would have much the same effect as Andy Gill's harsh staccato chopping through those harsh unforgiving transistors of the 1970's.
Well I tried!?

Track Listing:

01 Drowning / Lifeboat / Fear of Drowning
02 Process System 3
03 Johnny and the Two Bar Electric Fire
04 Don't Flirt with Fascism
05 Acid Burns
06 Let Me In
07 Process System 4
08 Stirs Eden
09 Rampant Rampton
10 Propaganda
11 Tranquility
12 Loving Avoid!
13 The Truth About Unemployment Pt.2
14 Let Me Out

DOWNLOAD a useful map at last HERE!

MAP - "MAP 7 No.3" (MAP Tapes MAP7) 1981

This hopelessly obscure C-60 starts off splendidly with the first couple of tracks using (we'd say sampling nowadays) found voices,and clandestinely recorded conversations.The highlight being a little girl(who'll be in her late thirties now!) who comes up with the inspired nonsense phrase of "Punch the ceiling over alllll the people", which i admit,I've always wanted to do.
When the music kicks in proper, it can remind one of anything from the space and weirdness of classic period Residents, to a Bontempi organ version of Neu.
As far as these ears are concerned, you can't get better vibrations for your hammer and anvils than this endlessly inventive fizzing casiotone samplefest, buzzing round yer cochlea's.

Track Listing:

01 Nice Things In Tins
02 C.B. Voices
03 Chameleon
04 On Broadway
05 The Action
06 Parts of the Action
07 The Curse of the Cat People
08 Debauchery
09 Art Thugs
10 Disease

DOWNLOAD a map of how to make diy electronica HERE!

Five Times Of Dust (5XOD) ‎– "Yum Yum Music" (Stichting Stopcontact ‎– CC9) 1984

More inventive minimal electronica from our fav minimal electronica act 5XOD. This time on a Dutch cassette label,which is slightly different to the UK version,which apparently included a program for the zx Spectrum.The Irony of this stuff is that around 1984 this would have been thought of as 'old fashioned' as the 'cutting edge' Electronic acts moved towards the digital era,forsaking actual 'electronic' sounds in favour of simulated trumpets,and other aural atrocities. In the second decade of the 21st century this now sounds, ironically, contemporary, if not still slightly futuristic. Retro-futurism at its zenith; an eighties computer game soundtrack that the kids dance to at the discothéque.If the kids actually interact with each other physically nowadays that is?

Tracklist:

A1	Can You See Me Now?
A2	Negative Terminal
A3	Data
A4	Plastische Taschen
A5	The Mainframe
A6	Yellow Luv
B1	Computers Are In Control
B2	The Lollipop Song
B3	Wall Of Numbers
B4	Estate Children
B5	Girl With A Vdu (Part 2)
B6	Angular

DOWNLOAD and make a yummy sound HERE!

Five Times Of Dust (5XOD) ‎– "Befor The Beginning We Were Living" (Quick Stab ‎– PROD 18) 1982

Lo-Budget,Lo-Fi, Lo-Spec, Lo- Tech,1982 style,made to sound like something fresh from Today/the future. When I last looked it was 2015, and this tape is a testament against the art strangling nature of too much tech,of the endless possibilities of the 'modern' world. If you scan the instruments and non-instruments used in the creation of this fizzing fuzzy bleep fest , you will be surprised to see an unnerving lack of 'proper' synthesizers.Not that modern synth's can recreate this sound without an equal amount of inventiveness that was used by necessity to create it in 1982. The Human League were at the top of the charts, with a bank of top of the range Synth's,with a top producer (Martin Rushent) to program them ,and write the top pop hits for them. Of course The Human League used to sound like 5XOD in their earlier incarnations; more proof that being given endless possibilities produces turgid nonsense 9 times out of 10. 5XOD are a fine example of using creativity with improvised 'make do and mend' lo-tech to produce something with a life of its own.

Tracklist:

A1	Rattlesnake
A2	Cruelty Without Beauty
A3	Refugee Train
A4	Timeline
A5	Pseudo Martyr (Dogchild Theme)
B1	Computer Garden
B2	Song For Louise
B3	Love Cancer
B4	I Can't Want (You Anymore)
B5	Zero Rtn

DOWNLOAD befor you die HERE!

5ive Ximes Of Dust (5XOD) - "5XOD" (MAP Tapes- Amp002) 1982

Ok, What's the best Minimal Synth record ever?.......correct....."The Dada Computer" by The Dada Computer", who were Mark Phillips (aka MAP, Ampnoise) and Robert Lawrence (aka Robert Lawrence),who were also known as 5ive Ximes Of Dust, aka 5XOD.......is that clear?
I guess that this was their first outing as (i'll use the contracted form from now onwards) 5XOD, with this 9 track C-45. Packed with their trademark lo-budget fizzy solid state electronica, which produces some of the most beautiful analogue sine wave majesty ever captured on chrom-dioxide tape.
It has that ZX spectrum/Commodore C64 retro game soundtrack feel to it, but far more substantial,and doesn't get on your fucking nerves. I could listen to this all day long,and still want more.Can't rate this Bristolian duo highly enough (Even though Rob Lawrence was based in Cardiff;just a Toll Bridges ride away).

DOWNLOAD as many Ximes as you like HERE!

Robert Lawrence - "Electron Sorceror" (Self-Released Cassette) 1982

Robert Lawrence?Wasn't he in Five Ximes Of Dust,and  isn't he one of the genii behind one of the greatest minimal electronic albums of all time,and even before that; "The Dada Computer"?.......Yes ,it is he, and this tape of unreleased demo's is taken from that same cooking pot of divine inspiration.
Minimal, analogue,classic vintage tech,recorded in high fidelity to reveal the real beauty of the music.Like peeling off centuries of grime from the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel....except this reveals a masterpiece,unlike the Sistine Chapel which revealed a rather garish amateurish fresco.
Is Robert Lawrence the Michaelangelo of Minimal Synth?.....on this evidence I'd have to say YES!
It just depends on how highly you rate Michaelangelo.(His statues did have a habit of losing limbs after all.)

Track Listing:

1  Electric Technology (1.04)
2  Bassmatix 30 (3.33)
3  Sunshine Dance (3.03)
4  Going To X5 Colony (2.54)
5  The Box Of Unlimited Happiness (1.42)
6  Broken Pipes exposed 6 (2.22)
7  Japanese Brain warning (1.43)
8  If I didn't Know Better (3.50)
9  Shanghai Music (4.30)
10 Thermal Punch (5.13)

DOWNLOAD some saucy electrons HERE! 

Ampnoise - " Beyond The Spectacle" (Self Release C-45) 1983

"Retro-futurism"....an oxymoron that describes this minimal wave underground classic very nicely. Obvious reference points can be used, such as Cabaret Voltaire and most of the Industrial records stable, but this has a charm of it's own, rather like a Sinclair spectrum computer; on the surface outdated crap, but dig deeper and you get something that exists out of time and the constraints of constantly advancing technology. Record this on a muddy sounding c-45 cassette and you have produced an object of great beauty.
There's no Moogs,Korgs, or Roland's on here, this is low budget and make do on the cheapest available equipment, and all the better for it. All popular brand names are a fast track to conformity....although i suspect i could hear a Boss Dr. Rythm DR55 in there somewhere....I had one of those once...bloody rubbish it was, highly recommended. Recorded on a Fostex x-15 multitrack cassette recorder, with its infamous Dolby -B sound muffler device, that was passed off as noise reduction, ending up being music reduction,sounded better with the tape hiss!
Although very little is known about the bedroom legends that produced this solid state marvel, but I am informed that Ampnoise comprised of two chaps called Robert Lawrence and Mark Phillips (the man behind the Quick Stab cassette label, and The Dada Computer album, who still make music today as  Five Ximes of dust?
Ampnoise also appeared on the ICR compilation " Integration" in 1983, providing the track "Floppy Disc Drive".


Track Listing:

01 It's Very Simple
02 Syphilis
03 The Small Assassin
04 I.R.A. Death
05 666-23
06 Industry
07 Return Of the Horizontal Man
08 You Arouse My Animal Passions
09 Poison River
10 Geisha Children
11 Hologram
12 Psychic Operations
13 Crash
14 Even Programmes Fall In Love
15 Beyond The Spectacle

DOWNLOAD this spectacle and beyond HERE!