Here are the first and third EPs from Minneapolis minimal electronic/synthpop band Kindergarten. This is yet another one of those mysterious bands that appears on many wantlists, but whose discography and history is always a bit unclear. Well, they released three EPs: Interference in 1982, another one in 1985, and No. 3 (or "The Closet") in 1987. They aren't the same band who released the "World Turned Upside Down" 12". The music on the first EP is all over the place - from OMD-esque synthpop on God Only Knows to instrumental electornic on Interference to absolutely sinister electronic industrial on Auschwitz, it really is a classic record. The third EP is much more standard synthpop but it still has some good songs, especially "Terri Goes Walking". I have never heard their second EP, though... does anyone have it? Please?
Kindergarten: Interference EP
1982 Blind Beat Records
1. Interference
2. Auschwitz
3. God Only Knows
Kindergarten: No.3 (The CLoset) EP
1987 Impala Records.
1. Transportation
2. 10 Little Indians
3. Terri Goes Walking
4. Disco-X
5. Aquamarine
Get all THREE EPs here!
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21 comments:
This is good music! I definitely prefer their 3rd EP which is high above the standard of synth pop of that time, to my taste. Thank you very much! And yes: The second EP, anyone?
Really nice man, Interference is excellant cheers
I have known Robert Engberg, the synth artist responsible for "Kindergarten," since we were both teenagers. I just got a letter from him yesterday (he now lives in Oregon) and it prompted me to wonder if anyone still remembered his old work; I was happy to run across this blog in a search. I know Robert will be excited when he hears you have made the songs available for download, and people are still enjoying his music.
I may still have some old interviews and pics from his Kindergarten era work and I'd be happy to scan them and post the material online if there is interest. Let me know if there's a forum where this material might be appreciated.
Wow, I'd love to see any interviews and pictures from Kindergarten. It would shed some light on a rather mysterious band... I could post them on this blog if you would like. You can email me - it's goutroy (at) gmail (dot) com. People may also appreciate it at minimalwave.com, a forum that focuses on underground electronic music very much like Kindergarten (especially their first EP). And if you have or could get any of the songs from their second EP, I would love to hear them...
i'll try to get the materials scanned and email them to you sometime before the end of the week. i also have some pre-kindergarten pics and a cassette with two songs that were robert's first real studio work (completed shortly after he moved to minneapolis), though i kinda fear trying to do anything with the cassette because it's so old and brittle. i'm even afraid to try and play it at this point. song titles were "give me all you got" and "get around."
regrettably, i no longer have my copy of his second ep, which was excellent. to my knowledge, robert doesn't even own a copy anymore. i do have some print materials that discuss the work, though, and will include these with the scans.
looking for ages after "interference"
ep, tnx alot!!
realy want to buy this one
but cant find it anywhere
Probably won't find it on vinyl. These guys were barely out of high school in Minneapolis when # 2 was released and not very well known. The local rock station played it once late at night and then no more. A buddy of mine worked with drummer Bob Joslyn's sister and even he had trouble landing a vinyl copy. Good luck though. It's an ecellent listen...way ahead of its time.
Something that also might be of interest to those who own a copy of the first EP on vinyl ... the artist who did the cover went on to have a pretty amazing career:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._Scott_Makela
Sadly, he died in 1999.
Thanks for that little tidbit about the cover artist; I had no idea about that!
I was in the band (lead guitarist, co-lead singer, co-songwriter) for a while (early 80s) before Rob and I went our separate ways; I live in Berlin now and work as a composer (under another name). I'm late to this thread, I know; I've been Googling Rob and the band for years with scant results! I wouldn't mind hearing from him or someone who still knows him. Thx,
S
PS We did a brilliantly mean cover of "Isolation" (two octaves of vocals in parallel), I can tell you that. "Auschwitz" is still my favorite, but I can remember being jealous of the mainstream craft of Rob's ballad "God Only Knows"; I also remember having a *horrible* time when we tried to do Bowie's very difficult "Red Sails" live.
Heared "God only knows" once on the radio on a late night programm. Must have been 1983 (?). I recorded at that time the songs on tape. Never found it of course on vinyl, neither information on the group years later on the net or wherever. Good to hear it again. I love this song and i thank you very much for sharing it.
Antonis from Athens, Greece
surprised to see someone has put the (extrememly rare) second EP up on ebay:
http://compare.ebay.com/kindergar-10-lp-private-mn-80s-rock-synth-breaks/like/310213572716
If possible, be re-up. THANKS!
I was just about to post these on my blog, I did a search to get titles and dates correct, and I came across your post.
I'm from Minneapolis and saw Kindergarten once in about 1982 or 1983 ( I would have been 14 or 15) and don't remember much aside from it being pretty fun. There wasn't much of a synth scene here back then and Kindergarten were one of the few that played all ages shows.
Saw Kindergarten live a few times at Coffman Union in Mpls. They were special. The Interference EP is really an unmined gem of Mpls music from the 80s. I treasure my vinyl copy, and lament the passing of a time when this EP could be found at Mpls cheapo records fairly easily for 5 bucks.
Please, Re-upload! sanks
Would love to hear this, but zshare link is out, can u fix a link to this obscure gem? And thanks, I love your site so much! All the best to you!
One of the album covers I have says Le Transport or Transportation as the title, which is the same as the "4th EP" in the Kindergarten.zip file. I bought it in the late 80's at a record shop called Tatters & Platters. The other album I own, No.3 was bought at Positively 4th Street.
Excellent music back then and now!
"I'm from Minneapolis and saw Kindergarten once in about 1982 or 1983 ( I would have been 14 or 15) and don't remember much aside from it being pretty fun."
Ollie, if you saw Kindergarten's live debut in the Seventh Street Entry (Rob's album project and the live version differed slightly; in the live project, half of the material was mine), you saw me playing lead. I still have two or three (hissy) cassette recordings of that night somewhere.
I posted in this comment thread four years ago and was, mysteriously, totally ignored! Laugh. But if you have questions about that era of the band, I can probably answer (some of) them. I'm still professionally involved in music and have a live project in Berlin, in fact.
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