ANDROID: In Tune With Tomorrow LP

Do you remember those 50s movies that took place in the future, with pod cars, cylindrical buildings, and jet packs everywhere? In retrospect, those films seem quaint and silly, but at the time I'm sure their directors thought they were visionary. Well, Android is the muscial equivalent of that sci-fi glimpse of the not-too-distant future. With shaved heads, surrounded by synthesizers and knobs and keys and pads, with vocoders galore, this band looks and sounds like they want to be Kraftwerk circa 2125. There are songs about the future, songs about space, and even songs about the comfort that a synthesizer provides.
The record was pressed on clear blue vinyl, with a blue silkscreened poster insert and blue, white, and silver artwork. the entire presentation is an amazing and beautifully made homage to a stripped-down, monochromatic, otherworldly, robotic future. They self-released this in 1982 on their Alternative Music Productions label.
Judging by the photos on the back and on the insert, it appears that they set up a custom-made room somewhere (Los Angeles, presumably) to play their shows. I also wager to guess that this record was only sold at those shows. Of course, I could be wrong, and would love to hear from anyone in the bend or who saw the band!
The music, of course, is key on any blog dedicateed to old obscure records. Yes, it gets cheesy. VERY cheesy, in a lo-fi vocodered Tangerine Dream-meets coldwave sort of style that has not aged particularly well. But when the band gets it right, they create some beautiful 100% synthetic masterpieces, such as the beautiful, dreamlike My Love Is Like a Shooting Star, the tinny electro of Standing in the Line of Fire, or the cold futurist bliss of my personal favorite, Perpetual Motion. I uploaded this many years ago to a new wave bulletin board and it still seems to be completely unknown... Hopefully this post will rectify that.

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Android: In Tune With Tomorrow LP
1982, AMP Records
A1 Luminary
A2 Images
A3 Sometimes My Love is Like a Shooting Star
A4 Standing in the Line of Fire
A5 ThemeSong
B1 Ahead of Your Time
B2 Listen to the Sky
B3 Perpetual motion
B4 exerpt from Tentative Conclusion
B5 ElectroSynphonia

Pitch: What Am I Gonna Do For Fun?

This record was written up waaaaay back in 2006 on the Italians Do It Better blog/website, but I don't think the music was ever shared. Their post explains the origins of the record and the personnel involved. The most "fun fact" about the musicians involved is that Marc Center more or less developed Macromedia (some company that released an obscure and probably unused program called "Flash"), and programmed the first licensed music for a video game (the Peter Gunn theme in Spyhunter!).

When I found this record, I didn't know what to expect - it had a nice DIY silkscreened sleeve, "synthetizers" listed as the main instruments, and a guest horn section on the B-side. The B-side is indeed a bit of a loungy number somewhere between synthpop, funk, and lounge music. In actuality, it fits pretty well with the NY no wave scene (think Elliot Sharpe and the more brass-oriented bands he was in).

The A side is the winner here, and is one of the unknown minimal synth gems that occasionally pops up out of nowhere. With completely blasse, vaguely foreign, and occasionally delay-effected spoken female vocals, random samples, a gurgling dublike synth bassline, and lazy synthesizer melodies, this sounds like a contemplative Young marble Giants during a heroin-induced trance. And I mean that in the best way possible.

Pitch: What Am I Gonna Do For Fun? 12"

1982, self-released

A: What Am I Gonna Do For Fun?

B: It's a Quest

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Various Artists: Paris Mix LP

After seeing the posts of Ice's sole EP and Guernica's split LP , I decided to share a very sought-after French coldwave compilation that both of those bands were featured on. This LP, called Paris Mix, was released in 1982 on the Zeb Records label in France. As far as I know, this was the only release on that label, and only 2000 copies of this record were pressed.

The record is split between coldwave and punk tendencies. The aforementioned bands both have strong contributions on this record - Ice has an exclusive (at the time) version of their cold synth classic La Grande Guerre, and Guernica have two incredible coldwave songs that sound very similar to Charles de Goal. I particularly LOVE the three songs from Zona, a female-fronted post punk band that sounds like a mix of Au Pairs, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Charles de Goal. I can't find much info on them, although I vaguely remember them having one other release. Any more material from Zona would be greatly appreciated!

Those artists make up side one. Side two starts off more punk-ish, with a trio of songs from Peggy Luxbeurk. They are the perfect transition between the two different sides, as the last five songs on the second side are rounded out by Swingo Porkies and Prop Sack, who are both straight-ahead punk.

The sheer amount of incredible material on this record make it one of those albums that can truly be called "legendary" (or at least "classic".) My copy has a few pressing errors that cause occasional static at the start of side two, so don't be too annoyed by background noise on a couple tracks! This is well worth the download by any fan of underground French music!

Various Artists: Paris Mix LP

1982, Zeb Records

A1 Guernica - Kamikaze

A2 Guernica - Rebellion

A3 Zona - Vie Parisienne

A4 Zona - Boule Quies

A5 Zona - Citron

A6 Ice* - La Grande Guerre

B1 Peggy Luxbeurk - Sueur Froide

B2 Peggy Luxbeurk - Les Enfants De La Crasse

B3 Peggy Luxbeurk - Univers

B4 Swingo Porkies - Pas Comme On Les Voit

B5 Swingo Porkies - Résolu

B6 Swingo Porkies - Un Monstre Est En Moi

B7 Prop Sack - Comme Avant

B8 Prop Sack - Aujourd'hui

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THE PHONES: Two Hearts, Two Heads LP

There are some LPs that don't impress me too much upon first listen, but eventually grow on me the more I listen to them. This debut album by Dutch post-punk band The Phones is such an album. The first time I heard it, I thought it was good, but there weren't any tracks that stood out too much. Still, there was something there - something about the album made me listen to it again. And then again. And now, after many, many listens, I have no idea how I was not immediately in love with this album. It's a perfect combination of jagged guitars, dark synths and organs, powerful and perfect vocals, loud drums, and simple, repetitive basslines; an excellent mix of new wave, darkwave, pop, and electronic; a great blend of many influences, from fellow Dutch post-punkers Mecano to Joy Division to Television to Modern English to the Thomas Leer/Robert Rental LP. The A side is a bit spotty at times, but has the excellent instrumental minimal electronic song "*" (yes, that's the full name); the B side is solid throughout. THe final two songs, Cities and Comme L'Amour, are both masterpieces in my opinion. These are songs that would would be lauded and raved about by hipsters and indie journalists as the next big post-punk revival band if they were released today - they have aged perfectly. The synths and bouncy chorus in Cities and its long instrumental outro, and the abrubt start-stop-start-stop of the beginning of Comme L'Amour, have driven me to listen to these songs dozens of times. Not only is this self-released album a lost classic, but the packaging is great - it comes in an oversized quadrilateral sleeve, with a hand-cut dust jacket (which has a stamp that says "hand cut" on it, to authenticate the DIY-ness of it, I suppose). This is an album that deeply rewards repeated listens. And even if I'm the only one who loves the album, I still want to share it, as it is exactly the type of album that I created this blog to share.

The Phones: Two Hearts, Two Heads LP
1982, self-released
A1 Change
A2 The Lizard's Show
A3 Silly
A4 *
A5 Heroin, My Love, My Heroine Love
B1 Emotional Language 4:28
B2 VIP 4:22
B3 Cities 4:37
B4 Comme L'Amour

Click here to download this album!