Thursday, August 8, 2013

Innervoice: Nobody Knows EP

Here's an oddity that has slipped under the radar of most synth and new wave fans. I could say that NOBODY KNOWS about this EP, but that would be stupid. Instead, I'll just say that it's a strange and uneven EP from a trio of French Canadians. I cannot find any info about any of them whatsoever, so it appears this was a self-released effort by people who didn't move on to any other projects. In fact, the only relation to any record that I can find is that this was recorded at the same studio as the Janitors Animated 12" shared by Crispy Nuggets several years ago.
The music on this EP emphasizes rhythm, with little to no melody. It actually slightly reminds me of Iron Curtain in that regard - it's simplistic, repetitive, and groove-oriented synth music. The vocals are a different story though - they are often animated and forceful. The lyrics are sung in broken English, and are rather simplistic (sometimes bordering on silly - sample lyric from Too Direct: "You say I / I'm too direct / just loving and caring and sharing things / touching and glowing and feeling feeling feeling". Despite the obvious shortcomins in the lyrics department and the lack of ambition in the musical composition, it's still somehow a rather enjoyanle record.

Innervoice: Nobody Knows EP
1986, 3rd Wave Coll.

A1 Nobody Knows
A2 Shadows
B1 Too Direct
B2 Don't Go Too Fast


Click here to listen!

3 comments:

Davideomusic73 said...

thanks a lot bro!
(fantastic audio-archives, as ever)
have a nice weekend.

Alex said...

Hey! Wow I am stunned to find someone posting this online! My uncle was the keyboardist in this band, Pierre Bourdon. Actually the picture you posted is the one i took back when i didnt have a good camera.

Here is some information you can add to your biography.
The band was the project of Martin Goulet, who was really into image (superficial is what you would call it nowadays). He formed the band by going up to people who "looked gothic" and asked them if they played an instrument. At the time there was a big goth-punk venue in Montreal called Les Foufounnes Electrique (still exists but now its a trendy spot for hipsters and street punks). My uncle Pierre worked there and Martin came up to him one night and said "you look like you listen to coldwave music. do you play an instrument?". My uncle had only played acoustic guitar in Pete & Al (duo garage project). Martin told him he would do and asked him to join on keyboards.
They played a couple of shows with the coldwave scene that was big in Montreal at the time. Then they collected 2000$ and went to Studio du Parc to record and release their EP. I think 1000 were made? For some reason my uncle was only credit as an additional musician but he was actually a band member.

I really don't know that much more about the band because my uncle and I aren't close anymore, but if you want to ask him some questions, he's on facebook (just keep me out of it). thanks for the mp3s!

goutroy said...

Wow, thanks for the history Alex! Your description makes perfect sense - this record sounds EXACTLY as if a few gothic-looking people who didn't really play gothic music tried to make a gothic-sounding record.