HA HA MONO: Run for Miles 7"

Here is a record to make goth and early-80s synth fans drool. It's the only release from a UK band called Ha Ha Mono. It was released in 1982 on Lash-Up Records through the SRT custom pressing label. The song "Run for Miles" is a gloomy synth-driven masterpiece, while the track "Snake" is slightly more pop-sounding, but still a wonderful dark post punk track with a synth line that sounds like it's trying to charm the snake in the song's title. Definitely an excellent record, and one that deserves to be heard by a wider audience.

Ha Ha Mono: Run for Miles 7"
1982, Lash-Up Records
A: Run for Miles
B: Snake

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RIP SCHREDDER'S TECHNO PRIMITIVISM 7"

If you like your synths pushed to the very brink of sounding like they are going to fall apart, here is a treat for you. A guy from Florida by the name of Rip Schredder's recorded this 7" called "Techno Primitivism" in extremely small quantities. He also had Milo from the punk band Gay Cowboys in Bondage do backup vocals. The name of this record doesn't lie: This is truly primitive. It's not exactly "techno" as we know it (I don't even think that term was really used in the manner it is today, anyway) - it's pure noisy analog synth banging, knob twiddling, tinny synth percussion, and angsty talk-singing. This record is so amateur it makes Transparent Illusion sound like a night at the opera...

Rip Schredder's Techno Primitivism 7"
198?, self-released
A: Gut Reagan
B: Information Nightmare

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B.TROOP: Europeans LP

Here is the only LP from the UK electro-pop band B.Troop. This UK band released a couple 7"s before they issued this full-length in 1981 on Illuminated Records. This is ridiculously infectious synthpop, with drum machines, sax, bubbly synthesizers, and catchy hooks and choruses throughout the album. It's perhaps a mix of Human League and Teardrop Explodes. It's a very underrated album, so give it a chance!

B.Troop: Europeans LP
1981, Illuminated Records
A1 Not Coming Back
A2 Europe
A3 New Human
A4 Fade Away
A5 Emotional Assassin
A6 Satellites
B1 Computer Logic
B2 Strange Time
B3 Yvette
B4 Just Because
B5 Espionage A Gogo
B6 Killing Conversation

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SOUL ON ICE: Underwater 12"

Here is the only 12" from a schizophrenic band called Soul on Ice. They also had a song on the "Your Secret's Safe With Us" compilation. They didn't really have a specific style: "Underwater" is a midtempo post-punk song that has influences of The Sound and Echo and the Bunnymen; Breahless sounds like the intro to an early U2 song with dub guitars, and Splintered Lens sounds exactly like early Shriekback. It's worth it for the latter for me, since I love that style of bass-driven post-punk and lazily mumbled vocals. Good stuff!

Soul on Ice: Underwater 12"
1982, Red Rhino Records
A Underwater
B1 Splintered Lens
B2 Breathless

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Various Artists: Der Produzentenklub Empfeihlt Lebensmittelsex LP

Here is a rare comp of NDW, minimal synth, darkwave, experimental, and post punk bands called Der Produzentenklub Empfeihlt Lebensmittelsex. I can't find much information about the label on the Internet, but from what I can glean, Der Produzentenklub started around 1986 or so (this was the first release), and may have been a subsidiary of the German NDW label Ink Records (not to be confused with the more well-known UK label of the same name!). Many of the bands here (Reifenstahl, Don Bartnick, Topolinos) had releases or were compiled on that label. Other bands also released other records or featured members of more well-known groups (Echo Romeo had a 12" on the Das Buro label, CCCP featured ex-members of Fehlfarben and Belfegore).
There is something for everyone here, especially fans of electronic music. It's a pretty solid release, and works very well when listened to the whole way through.

V/A: Der Produzentenklub Empfeihlt Lebensmittelsex LP
Der Produzentenklub, 198?
A1 ROUGE ALEGRE: Sonic Boom
A2 CCCP: Our Time
A3 HUNDGEBURTH: Circumstances
A4 DIE FISCHE: Machine to Machine
A5 ECHO ROMEO: So Far
A6 FACE TO FACE: Vicious Circle
B1 FEAR OF GOD: The Fall
B2 ID: House on Fire
B3 REIFENSTAHL: Mein Herz Muss Schweigen
B4 TOPOLINOS: Rote Fahnen
B5 DON BARTNICK: Und Crashman: Leben In Der Geisterstadt
B6: UNKNOWN ARTIST: Untitled

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CLOUD NINE: Waterland mLP

Here is an LP that is surprisingly unknown (it's not even listed on discogs), considering it was released on the venerable Ariola label. This is a Dutch band called Coud Nine, who played a type of synthpop that seemed like it was made for radio play. As such, there is a bit of cheese factor involved at times, but when the band gets it right - as on the wonderful electropop smash "Fraction of a Second" - they REALLY do it well.

Cloud Nine: Waterland mLP
1985, Ariola Records
A1 Blue Gardens
A2 Fraction of a Second
A3 Poison
B1 It Started When the Rain Came
B2 Waterland
B3 Wordporridge

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To Heaven a Jet/Revox Cadets split 7"

This week I have three synth-heavy records to share. To get things started, here is a 7" released on Bill Nelson's Cocteau Records. It's a split between two bands, and I believe these may be the only songs they officially released. I know that the To Heaven a Jet song was later rereleased on a Cocteau Records comp, and the Revox Cadets song appears on one of the many New Wave Complex cd-rs. David, the singer/songwriter of To Heaven a Jet, informed me that Revox Cadets was actually just Bill Nelson himself, under a pseudonym. After To Heaven a Jet disbanded, David went on to be in groups like The Rain Poets and Big Man Aviators.

To Heaven a Jet/Revox Cadets split 7"
1981, Cocteau Records
A To Heaven A Jet: Airfields
B Revox Cadets: Tony Goes To Tokyo (And Rides The Bullet Train)

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VARIOUS ARTISTS: Nuit Blanche LP + ASHES: Saturn is Black 7"

I suppose that most people are familiar with this excellent compilation, Nuit Blanche. The LP features groups likie Diseno Corbusier (whose debut EP Perfido Encanto I shared last year)., Design (who also had a track on the Topless Game comp and a 7" on Anna Logue Records... the track here has yet to be reissued), The Ashes (who also had a 7" on KPs Records, the label that released Topless Game and Nuit Blanche), and unknown bands like the excellent Paris-Brule-T-Il?. This is a highly sought-after and very recommended LP with loads of killer songs. Most of the songs are in the synthpop/minimal wave/post punk vein, although there is a suprisingly pleasant classical guitar instrumental to end the record.

Also shared here is the aforementioned Ashes "Saturn is Black" 7", about which I can find absolutely no mention on the internet. It was released in 1984 on KPs Records... does anybody know if this label released anything else?

Various Artists: Nuit Blanche LP
1984, KPs Records

A1 Design Sunset Boulevard
A2 Halloween (2) Tomorrow
A3 Ashes, The Delay
A4 Chrome 17 Etcetera
A5 Diseño Corbusier Chiquillo
B1 Faits Divers This Is A Romance
B2 Duty Free (2) Burning Passion
B3 Paris-Brule-T-Il? La Logeuse
B4 Croth Daily News
B5 Central Park (5) Anas De Lin

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Ashes: Saturn is Black 7"
1984, KPs Records

A1 Saturn is Black
B1 Run Away of Love

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HI-I: Mind Your Head 12" EP

Well, I am back from my 3 1/2 week-long vacation to the Benelux region. The lands of beer, clogs, fritz, waffles, tulips, red light districts, chocolates, and *ahem* coffeeshops also had many, many great record stores. I probably have permanent damage to my back now, but it's worth it to bring back some excellent records! Such as This one here. It's a 5-song EP from a Dutch group called "Hi-I". The group uses two female vocalists and an extra percussionist along with the standard bass/guitar/drums for some excellent dark post punk. It's a little bit Siouxsie, a little bit The Veil, a bit of Cocteau Twins, and a smidgen of Skeletal Family. Dark, gloomy, and pretty much unknown! This one is highly recommended; I enjoy it more and more each time I listen to it. I see there is a copy available on gemm.com for cheap... Will anybody like this enough to buy it?

Hi-I: Mind Your Head EP
1986, Square Music

A1 Mind Your Head
A2 Nobody KNows
B1 Look Back
B2 Smile
B3 Illusions

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