SAB ‎– "Crystallization" (Vanity Records ‎– vanity 0002) 1978

Vanity Records  were not always a fine early source of nineties style glitchy electronica and proto rave trance outs. In 1978 they were a German kosmiche copyists label,

コズミック or '宇宙の or 'Uchū no' (Japanese for cosmic?).

I don't know if this is on the NWW list,but it sounds like it should be. Equally as good as any 'lost' krautrock kosmiche discovery.
Unlike the new prog electronic classics from the UK around the end of the seventies,like Dave Jones,George Garside,Ian Boddy etc,these fellows did this stuff because they didn't know any better,not as a contrary reaction to the musical fashions of the time.A pure place free of the whims of peer pressure,and in the process producing a Jap-prog classic,遠大!Then came Techno Pop!

 

Tracklist:

A1	Yume-No-Ishi
A2	Marble
B1	Menou
B2	Agate

DOWNLOAD a memento of the japanese space program HERE!

R.N.A. Organism ‎– "R.N.A.O Meets P.O.P.O" (Vanity Records ‎– vanity 0006) 1980

A letter wot i found on da internet!

A strange beast indeed from that strange Japanese beast,Jap music critic, Yuzuru Agi's, Vanity Records.Not quite a monster to rival Mothra,more like 'Minya' aka Son of Godzilla, with that weird 'Waaah-kw-waaah' squeal,instead of Godzilla's gutteral scream.
This is so minimal,it could be called minimal minimal synth, like a kind of lounge music for Daleks, relaxing on their home planet of Skaro after a hard days exterminating. Listen to this of an evening,just as Davros would, relaxing in a foaming hot tub of therapeutic mineral salts. Thrill to its sparse repetitive rhythms and crisp analogue noises, and wonder as to what 'P.O.P.O' stands for.

Tracklist:

A1	Weimar 22
A2	Howareyou, Whyou
A3	After
A4	Bring To Naught
A5	Nativity
A6	Yes, Every African Must Be Free Eternally
A7	Say It Loud, I'm Dilettante, I'm Proud
A8	Matrix

DOWNLOAD a tab of ribonucleic acid HERE!

Normal Brain ‎– "Lady Maid" (Vanity Records ‎– vanity 0009) 1981

Normal (Brain) service has been resumed, after that admittedly wonderful new years day post, we return to some Japanese nascent electronica,by Normal Brain,on the cult label, Vanity Records.
Apparently this features on that trainspotters guide to alternative music the "Nurse With Wound List". Hiding amongst the awful eastern European bargain bin prog rock, anglo-american psychedelic rock copyists from Switzerland, and dull as fuck third rate kosmiche from former Czechoslovakia; we find this proto-electronica-glitch classic that could easily have been made today, or at least released on Warp records around 1995. A very post-rave vibe permeates the Speak and Spell machines, misspelling 'Music' for our delight. Definitely one of the bright spots on that nerdy list,along with PiL,Glaxo Babies,Homosexuals,Cabaret Voltaire and a few other surprise inclusions.I'd sooner listen to this than some twenty minute bland -out from another third rate Agitation Free-alike.(I am of course being rather harsh,purely for entertainment purposes naturally)
Basically,this record is rather good indeed.

Tracklist:

A1	M-U-S-I-C
A2	Frottage "One Way"
A3	You Are Busy, I Am Easy
A4	KE300
A5	Frottage "SW"
B1	Fragment

DOWNLOAD a normal brain at last HERE!

The Jubilets - "Looking Forward To A Hearty Breakfast" (Rip Off Tapes - RIP 1) 1981

As the first post of 2016, I figured it should feature the original inspiration behind this blog and a thousand other cassette releases;- the unique, charming but weird, inclusiveness of original UK DIY from 1979 to 1982.
The shear man-hours taken to hand colour the artwork for this hopelessly obscure release is impressive in itself, but also the band included an extensive handwritten letter to explain everything to the purchaser (William), and even included Fifty pence change!?
There were hundreds of these tapes advertised in Sounds and the NME,and i assume this was one of them.
The music is of the The Danny and The Dressmakers, Barron Balls, Scrotum Poles variety. Very limited musical talent and very limited access to musical instruments. Most of the tracks involve only a drum kit playing behind some rather amusing shared vocals.
Its a real time capsule,making many forgotten cultural references,especially about The New Romantics, who they refer to as 'Futurists'.One song describes an average night down the pub in 1981,describing the various Youth Cults as they enter the pub at different times.Very funny, and very culturally interesting at the same time.
Also check out the amended NME Chart included in the package, with The Jubilets inserted at the top of the album and singles charts, and observe the absolute crud that was in the charts of the time.This is why we had an alternative culture, and still have today,probably with even more need than in 1982!?
This tape is an absolute delight,full of charm and youthful enthusiasm. All fully encapsulated in my fav tune on the tape, "Wordy Yippinghood", a joyful rewrite of the Tom Tom Club's classic.Reminds one of the humour one only shares with your closest friends from your youth,and is often lost in the cruel mists of time.
Happy New Year.

DOWNLOAD to accompany a hearty breakfast HERE!

Sympathy Nervous ‎– "No More Expo" (Negative Emission ‎– NE-1002T) 1980

Japanese cassette only proto-rave electronica from the year zero of 'popular' synth music. This could easily have been recorded yesterday,and as far as some modern musical forms are concerned, it sounds like tomorrow.
Inspired by the electronic German groups,why Yoshifumi Niinuma isn't mentioned in the same breath as Manuel Göttsching in regards to making the first House/Techno record, i really don't know; as this was released four years before "E2-E4".Maybe because no-one gave a shit about Japanese music in Europe,and no-one had even heard of Sympathy Nervous even in Japan?Blame obscurity?
This is better than "E2-E4" anyway, that particular landmark was more Trance-y than this tape I suppose,so it has that guilt to bear at least.

Tracklist:

A1 No More Expo
A2 Music Of The S.N. Phase-1
A3 Lace Master
A4 Khahi Cloud
A5 My Favorite Patch
B1 Money Crisis
B2 Heart Of The Sun (Roger Waters)
B3 Pale Port
B4 Spirit Of The Bomb
B5 Mescal

DOWNLOAD and expo no more HERE!

Sympathy Nervous ‎– "Sympathy Nervous" (Vanity Records ‎– vanity 0007) 1980

Surprisingly thin on the ground,even more so that in the USA, is decent Japanese Minimal Synth music from the cusp o'the eighties. There was plenty of plinky plonk synth pop like The Plastics,or awful high budget blandness like Yellow Magic Orchestra,but nothing to compare with the devastating Noise rock which that densely populated island produces en masse.
One shining exception was/is Sympathy Nervous, aka Yoshifumi Niinuma, who gleaned his inspiration from the German electronic underground of the so-called Krautrock era. A more tasteful Resurrection of the axis alliance to produce something of benefit to mankind with some timeless proto-techno of the highest order.

Tracklist:

A1 A Worm
A2 Go On And Off
A3 Temperament
A4 Deaf Picture
B1 Automatic Type
B2 Quick Starttype
B3 Inverted Type
B4 Sympathetic Nerves

DOWNLOAD sympathetically or nervously HERE!

John Bender ‎– "Pop Surgery" (Record Sluts ‎– RS 004) 1983

A Minimal Synth classic that is almost fit enough to shine the shoes of 'Metamatic','Computer World' or 'The Pleasure Principle'; more importantly,done on a minuscule budget compared to those major label classics.But probably has more in common with stuff like the immeasurably wonderful "Dada Computer".
More introverted and suffocated analogue classics from a bedroom lost in the smogs of ignorance, only to emerge from that fuzzy egg as an ugly duckling that we don't want to turn into a Swan.

It says on the sleeve:
"The material on this album is gleaned from tapes 53 thru 68 
and was conceived in 1982 and the 1st quarter of 1983"......I assume the numbers in the titles refer to the year of the source material? 1953????? It seems that John Bender is claiming to be the Inventor of Synth Pop?

Tracklist:

A1	54-2 Meat
A2	65-2 Galacial
A3	60-1 Thought
A4	60-2 Mallinder
A5	60-3 Hand
A6	60-4 Day
B1	57-1 Dance
B2	67-4 Glass
B3	53-2 Blue
B4	68-1 Cows
B5	68-2 Amalgamelon
B6	68-3 Unrelated

DOWNLOAD an appointment at the pop surgery HERE!

John Bender ‎– "Plaster:The Prototypes" (Self-Released Cassette) 1981

You can't get more minimal synth than this homemade ,very, minimal synth classic tape from the now missing in action John Bender.15 tracks of lonely analogue sequences buzzing above submerged vocals enhanced with cold sounding room ambiance,over simple drum box beats. What more could a downtown johnny come lately disc jockey want to play in the chill out room of the night spot that was ,until recently, very a la mode?

DOWNLOAD and get protypically plastered HERE!

John Bender ‎– "I Don't Remember Now" (Record Sluts ‎– RS 001) 1980

From the "Metal Benders" of Dark Day, to fellow electronic contemporary Bender, of the John variety(what a segue!).
A more harsh and sparce variety of crude DIY electronica from Mr Bender,all released on his own Record Sluts label in handmade sleeves. This one being an attractive generic brown card sleeve with rubber stamped by hand designs that were unique to each of the thousand that were manufactured.
Excellent claustrophobic bedroom minimal synth classics, with inaudible introverted vocals low in the mix. Fabulous stuff.

Tracklist:

A1	36A2
A2	35B1
A3	27B4
A4	35A9
B1	36A3
B2	31A4
B3	33A1

remember to DOWNLOAD it now HERE!

Dark Day ‎– "Exterminating Angel" (Infidelity ‎– JMB-229) 1980

The Gary Numan of Manhattan's first Dark Day LP is from the time when electronic acts still used real drummers and guitars like The Numiester himself. Mainly due to a lack of a decent drum machine and syncing problems. On his second album, "Window" he uses that cheapo organists drum module with the preset rhythms we have heard on hundreds of tunes of that epoch. So this debut outing, after the end of his tenure in DNA, steers towards the doomy synth punk end of the woods.
A transitional record which would lead to a purer, and darker, form of minimal synth pop.

Tracklist:

A1	Raven's Wing
A2	Forced Landing
A3	Arp's Carpet
A4	Chameleon
A5	Crown Of Thorns
A6	No, Nothing, Never
B1	Laughing Up Your Sleeve
B2	Flightless Birds
B3	Crib Death
B4	Diving Belle
B5	Me, Myself, & I
B6	Univited Guests
B7	Trapped

DOWNLOAD the dark angel of no wave HERE!

The Die or DIY? Christmas Mixtape 2015 - "Have You Been Naughty Or Nice? Or Will You Have To DIE Or DIY?"(30 Electronic Misses From The Pre-Midi Era)" (a Die or DIY? Mixtape No.8)

As the technology era progresses to the point where we all carry around our brains, now renamed as 'Smart hand Held devices' or 'Phones'. Tech took over pop Music's Brain, if it ever had one, years ago. Dancing to a machine was a rather intriguing Avant garde concept in the late seventies, but that is now music for the masses, thumping its hypnotic beat in every hideous meat market disco around our dying planet. Before MIDI,or Musical Instrument Digital Interface was standardised, so machines could talk to each other, we had the rather unstable Controlled Voltage and gate method of sequencing a synthesiser, or play it by hand. The result of which preserved the much missed human factor that is glaringly missing from today's disco tunes.Even the singer gets 'auto-tuned' on what seems like every record.
So, as you unwrap your new brain replacement device and government tracking and data collection system.....ie your new smart phone. Slip this years Xmas mixtape on your iPhone and marvel at the wobbly, unsyncopated  beats and melodies of these 30 ditties from a time when not being a primordial cyborg was normal.

Tracklisting:

1.Ausgang Verboten - "Consumer"
2.Unovidual & Tara Cross - "Comme Je Suis"
3.Les Yeux Interdit - "Prison"
4.Ptose - "Boule(Viens Ici!)
5.Etat des Stocks - "She's Got Big Tits"
6.Dark Day - "Nudes In The Forest"
7.Danton's Voice - "Magic Mushroom"
8.Andi Arroganti - "Hom-O-Hetero"
9.Das Kabinette - "Fudge It"
10.Deux - "Ministry Of Love"
11.Duotronic Synterror - "Liebe Auf Den Ersten Blick"
12.MAP - "You've Lost That Loving Feeling"
13.Years On Earth - "And I Dream"
14.Sympathy Nervous - "Khaki Cloud"
15.Nine Circles - "The Rose"
16. Das Ding - "Reassurance Ritual"
17.John Bender - "57-1/Dance"
18.Robert Lawrence - "Japanese Brain warning"
19.Sentimentale Jugend - "Tote Kammer"
20.AD - "Conspiracy"
21.Synthefall - "Abzahlreim"
22.Zirkel Junger Musiker - "Hochwasser"
23.Treibeis - "Vinylbabies"
24.The Klingons - "Temptation"
25.Machines At Last - "The Colony"
26.High Bias - "The Killing Of The Cats"
27.Gen Ken Montgomery - "When I'm walking"
28.Another View - "Power Station"
29.Suisse - "Live At Longbourn"
30.Modern Art - "Hello-Goodbye"

DOWNLOAD something naughty but nice HERE!

Dark Day ‎– "Window" (Plexus USA ‎– KMH709230) 1982

Not all American Synth Pop was clueless of course,although I'm not too great a fan of the first dark Day LP,the second, 'Window', could have easily been from the reject pile in Mute records office, or an underground cassette from Frankfurt.
You would never believe that the main protagonist of Dark Day was in legendary No-wavers DNA!
Robin Crutchfield's voice could easily pass for one of those androgynous English chaps in those electro-pop duo's of the early eighties.Hopefully this is natural,and not an attempt to be mistaken for English so he gets signed up? Undoubtedly Robin enjoyed having his Crutchfield (geddit?) by male groupies ; or by his collaborator, a certain Mr B. Sack (The 'B' could stand for Ball, but its misspelled as Bill, how boring!).
Dunno what it is that attracts Homosexual Men to synth pop,but they seem to be essential to make a listenable dark pop tune with synthesisers.
Pretty good stuff,and as a 'Metal Bender' myself, as in one actually bends metal into art/craft pieces,not the other English slang term for a Gay,(ie 'Bender'); I will be using track three,"Metal Benders", as my work website theme tune.High praise indeed?
Basically, they sound like a doomy, slowed down,lo-budget Depeche Mode(Post Vince Clarke) fronted by a depressed English public school boy, or drama student.

Tracklist:

A1	Window
A2	Don't Bother
A3	The Metal Benders
A4	Mr. Potatohead
B1	Nudes In The Forest
B2	Sleep
B3	Danger/Dancer
B4	Eternal Return
B5	Second Warning

DOWNLOAD to brighten your day HERE!

or DOWNLOAD for a brighter day HERE!

Bored Young Men ‎– "Is Crude OK?" (Sound Of Pig ‎– SOP 122) 1988

Shifting along the vast Sound Of Pig roster from the certified intellectualism of Joseph Nechvatal, to the intellectual Synth Pop of the excellently branded 'Bored Young Men'. This is Synth Pop, American Style,devoid of the sex of European and UK synth pop,and tinged with that (non)'sophisticated' American Humour. Like the difference between US 'comedies' like "Friends" and "Frasier", with their painfully unfunny witty dialogue, and British cynically silly, surreal but crass comedies like "The Mighty Boosh" or "The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer". 
Basically sophistication isn't sophisticated, just like a teenager tries to draw like a child's concept of how an adult should draw. To draw like a child when you have the ability to do photo-realism is the height of sophistication. Its more than Ironic that this tape is called "Is Crude Ok?"...yes it is, but I hear none here!
Thats where this tape falls down as classic minimal synth-pop, its too annoyingly restrained and mannered,like its been made by your 'cool' mum and dad.

DOWNLOAD to be a slightly less bored young man or woman HERE!

Joseph Nechvatal ‎– "Babbling Tongues Of Metamorphoses" ( Sound Of Pig ‎– SOP 75) 1987

So you thought that Negativland were a bunch of Smart-arses eh? Well here's a bona-fide smart arse, with qualifications-a-plenty in smart-arseism. This geezer can do Plunderphonia as well as being able to explain what he's doing,why he's doing it and probably write a thesis on said subject. 
If you had ever wondered who was responsible for those zany art theories of viractualism and Cybism, Dr Nechvatal ,yes he's a doctor(not the medical variety you philistine!),is yer man. And on his days off,not that Artists ever have a day off, he churns out the odd swirling sound collage constructed from found sounds and snot......quite like this fruity blast of mashed up ectoplasm ,baked and served as a rectangular plastic pie of intellectual offal.

Tracks:
Side A
Side B

DOWNLOAD someone cleverer than you HERE!

Negativland ‎– "Points" (Seeland ‎– SEELAND 002) 1981

Yes these fuckers are a bunch of smart arses, but their records are pretty good.This 1981 effort, showcases their trademark sound collage technique and a fair amount of plunderphonia.
There's an early nod towards what would be the 'Incredibly Strange Music' fad of the late nineties, with a tribute to Perry and Kingsley  of "The In Sound From Way Out"(one of thee best album titles of all time or what?) fame, on track two.
Bucket loads of found sounds and sound manipulation on offer to satisfy any number of coffee table weirdos you care to imagine.
What would be a sublime irony is if Negativland or the wankers who manage them,or own the rights to their music,ask (better still, Dee-mand) for this link to be removed. As Blakey from 'On The Buses'* would say, "that'd make my day, Butler"!

*"On The Buses" was a satirical British sit-com from the 
'60s and 70's' that accurately portrayed life in the United Kingdom as dominated by the trade unions and the working classes.....ah them were the days. We working classes owned that country before Thatcher ruined it all. Now we have nothing left.....all stolen by the Toffs. We don't even have football anymore,Beer is extortionate,even every actor is now posh because no-one from the lower echelons can afford to go to drama school.....fuck the posh cunts up in the imminent revolution!Reclaim the streets, then watch "On The Buses".

Tracklist:

A1	Harry To The Ferry
A2	The Answer Is
A3	The Scolding Box
A4	That Darn 'Keet
A5	Dear Mary
A6	Clutch Cargo '81
B1	BABAC D'BABC...
B2	A Nice Place To Live
B3	A Bee Fly
B4	No Hands
B5	Potty Air

DOWNLOAD points to good taste HERE!