You know what was wrong with Kraftwerk and British electro? Not fuckin' bogan enough!
Never fear Antipodean new wave bogans are here to give you dystopian electric dreams from down under.
I'm so future I work in an office where I nearly died of computer print out, I just finished rugby training, drank a six pack, been smokin' some Winnie Blues and now I've put on my best trendy sleeveless t-shirt, wrist band and some eyeliner.
Another one I haven't heard since it was on the radio when I was a kid.
I'm assuming this was a cash in on the success of The Buggles Video Killed The Radio Star unless it was just the vibe in the air as the 70s turned into the 80s. We were kids so we didn't care if it was a cynical cash grab or not.
On the surface this tune seems like a quaint bit of lost futurism but dig a little deeper...
The lyrical theme is a surprisingly angst fuelled existential crisis as the cold bleak future threatens our cozy old world of disco and rock'n'roll.
A futuristic synthetic dance-y pop tune with some use of old school guitars too. There's mucho use of vocoderized vocals and dodgy primitive drum machines. Like a cross between the disco-rock excursions of ELO of the time and the brutally cold electronics of early Human League or Cabaret Voltaire.
This video is pretty bizarre. An old dude sings nonsensical paranoid lyrics from his bed in a mental asylum. He is then aided in in an escape and is seen being pushed around in a wheelchair by a couple of teenage girls in Kiss make-up. Towards the end he dies, I think, as the girls look around in a state of bewilderment as they continue singing. Pretty strange...
The other surprising thing here is the two teenage chicks in Kiss make-up lip syncing to the catchy chorus. It turns out these two are identical twins Gayle and Gillian Blakeney soon to be stars of Wombat then Neighbours. They would go on to a failed pop career in the 90s as their producers Stock, Aitken and Waterman began their demise. There you go, Thank you.
Totally forgot this one. Haven't heard this since I was eight years old and in primary school.
Apparently there's an entire LP by Player [1] based around this computer game theme, niftily titled Game Over (1980).
Not a hit outside of Australia but many would be familiar with the bass-line here because it was sampled on On And On (1984) an early Chicago house classic by Jesse Saunders (which I wrote about here).
[1984]
On And On - Jesse Saunders
Where I wrote: "Some people don't realise that house wasn't always a lame genre so here's some house before house got defined. No piano riff-age or acidic squelches here. On And On is still rudimentary and raw utilising specific disco elements but rearranged for maximum pleasure. Unhinged synth lines, primitive drum machine hand clap breaks galore and loops into the future."
A Euro trash synth-funk jam where the American ghetto is relocated to some suburb in Austria where the only crime was not cleaning up after your dog because you were too coked out of your brain. Was Falco the first guy to rap in German... is it even rap? It might be the invention of some other form of singing altogether. Wait for the really cool synthwave bit at 2.28, absolutely brilliant. The whole thing is is an undeniably great state of the art 80s synthetic production.
Check out this video. Look at these guys. Absolute creepy dorks but overly confident creepy dorks who think they are such spunks, so 80s. The 80s where everyone was hot, all you had to do was believe. These psychos are obviously from 80s LA and surely Bret Easton Ellis based a few characters on them.
Then again maybe they were just being hilariously ironic and maybe they were just fucking cool... I mean they aren't that cool but those absurd bass lines are so funny they have got to be a little in-joke right.
Whether it's cool, daggy or swathed in layers of irony is kinda beside the point though as Obsession is just a whole lotta undeniable fun. So much so that it's just fun.
Who do you want me to be
to make you sleep with me
The actual tune Obsession is like Giorgio Moroder on crack. Insane in your fucking face dance rock that sadly didn't make it to Number one in Canadia only reaching number seven and reaching number twelve here in Australia.
This covers so much sonic 80s ground it's astonishing that it works!
Its new wave atmospheric synth pop with all these other elements like hard rock, sophisto-pop, mor ballad, there's a bit of jangling, talk-singing that's almost rap, a dubby bassline, ethereal female backing vocals all captured in one big dreamy soundworld. With all that going on it is a testament to Idol and co. that it gets a chance to send chills down your spine with a pretty touching delivery.
*Perri Lister of Hot Gossip fame is the woman doing the proto-dream pop backing vocals here and she really makes the song.
The roots of Lynchian dream pop. A bit of bossa with the ba ba ba ba. Sorta proto-00s too with a hypnagogic/indie surf vibe...
Pretty cool... so cool in fact that it only ever appeared on a b-side to their smash hit hit single, the more commercial new wave synthy-dance-pop tune Since Yesterday.
I guess this horrifying scenario could be the continuation of the story from her previous single Nothing Comes Easy where she follows a guy around, he falls for her then she gets bored of him but then he starts following her around. All a good bit of stalking fun with cool 60s arrangements.
Nothing Comes Easy - Sandie Shaw [1966]
There are some things that people need Someone so badly they will creep All I wanted was someone I have him now, it is done Nothing comes easy Nothing comes easy I had a hard time getting him And I'm regretting it now
Each place he'd go, there I'd be I made each move so carefully And all my scheming did work well In the end, for me he fell Nothing comes easy Nothing comes easy I had a hard time getting him And I'm regretting it now
He was just as I expected Nothing lasts too much He gave me everything that I asked for At the start, everything was fine I was filled with every touch Then one day when I was with him I realised that I didn't want him any more
Now he won't leave me alone He follows me each place I go He says he don't want anyone new There must be something I can do Nothing comes easy Nothing comes easy I had a hard time getting him And I'm regretting it now
Outstanding wobbly psychedelic sonic recontextualisation.
Leyland Kirby and some other bloke do exotica plunderphonics Hawaiian style. If you love your Residents, Christian Marclay, Tom Recchion or whoever else this is right up your alley. However Mr Caretaker himself somehow injects his own viewpoint onto these sound manipulations and surprise surprise some of it is eerie and uncanny as well as also being woozy, jaunty & fun.
Top obscure British new wave single. Some insane twisted keyboard action amongst the high energy power pop riffage and awesomely daft catchy chorus. Euro-peans! Out of Bristol on Heartbeat Records.
A glorious array of intertwining icy synth-waves, gloomy guitar-waves and a bleak crispy drum machine. It's cold yet kinda comforting and cozy. A haunting hypnotic trip to the coldest depths of loneliness so infectious you don't want it to end. Dejection has never sounded so alluring and majestic.
A triumph of evocative 80s synth production that remains outstanding to this day.
One of those "lost bands", "unknown legends" or "best band you never heard" bands. I mean when that comp cd came out in the 90s they really were unknown and I guess are still to some extent. Can you be forgotten if you weren't known in the first place...
This tune is new wave of the quirky, dark and jangly kind.
60s American telly is iconic and emblazoned on my mind. Get Smart, I Dream Of Jeanie, Gilligan's Island, Bewitched etc. Get your knobs out boys.
Elizabeth Montgomery's Fa-a-ace!
Shoulda gone to number one in Canadia at least!
Patio Set [1980]
Punky post-punk, punky new wave, new wave-y post-punk etc etc etc. This was the debut single from Wichita Kansas' finest The Embarrassment. Dark, sorta menacing, weird and a whole lotta fun!
I'm A Don Juan [1981]
Double your guitar pleasure with supreme, tight, high octane riff-age and supreme surreal riff-age on this one. Frantic rhythm section plus another dual vocal with hooks galore. Surprisingly unique. Totally cookin' manic pop thrills!
Celebrity Art Party [1981]
This one might be their best pop moment. They jangled, they angular-ed, they menaced, they dual vocal-ed, they toe-tapped, they rocked, they popped! Infectious tight blistering pop.
Drive Me To The Park [1983]
A crackin' tune from their second ep Death Travels West. Nails the whole dark indie jangly thing while simultaneously still sounding punk. Still sounds incredibly fresh to this day. If this had been on a major label or big indie imprint it would have surely been a smash but it was released on Fresh Sounds who were based in Lawrence Kansas.
Two Cars [198?]
Alright one more... A brief angular song. Very cool dual vocal with talk-singing, the sorta stylistic choice taken on ten years later by (early) Pavement. These guys really nailed a distinct indie sound all of their own in the nascent days of college rock. That this tune was never released at the time, only ever coming out in 1995 on the archival cd Heyday 1979-1983, is crazy to me.
