Konrad - Evil

[1982]

If you didn't discover Konrad's delightful cult album Evil on music sharing blogs in the 00s here's your chance now. Don't let the cover fool you this ain't no satanic metal, it's actually an anti-evil synth-songwriter record. The sort of thing you might think John Maus was influenced by. While Evil is somewhat of its time it's also absolutely outside of time as well. 

Along with the myriad of synth action you get some fx damaged vocals, acoustic guitars, more synths, jazzy pop, psych rock reimagined through an electro pop viewfinder, lite synthetic jazz-funk, a blue eyed soul tune, cosmic synth breaks and even reggae. A bit like a skewed survey of radio rock/pop of the era made in a bedroom by one fella and his arsenal of keyboards. Konrad: A one man genre that he also termed Ethereal Sequence which he described as "the sequence of the soul". This music scientist is an electro wizard. 

Lyrical and theme-wise Evil is somewhat of a concept LP. After seeing a lot of violence and murder on the streets of NYC, the assassination of John Lennon was the catalyst for him "to build a non violent record where he could teach human beings not to be evil" Other topics include science, the cosmos, synchronicity, the matrix, alien intelligence and the drudgery of work.

Cult-y outsider music albums can often be a difficult listen or just utter crap but this is incredibly accessible pop music.  

The unadulterated humanity here might just be the tonic you need in these spiritually bankrupt times.  

Cleaners From Venus - Follow The Plough

Cleaners From Venus - Follow The Plow 

Cleaners From Venus' poetic jolly defiance looking towards whimsical optimism or something more ecstatic is always good on a gloomy wintry day. Their spirited daydream-y anthems fit my glad to be gloomy/Happy when it rains vibes. I used to call overcast rainy winter days in Melbourne during June "Joy Division days"...  in the 90s me and my housemate would get some red wine and watch Withnail & I on such days. 

Anyway I discovered an odds and sods German only Cleaners From Venus compilation tape today called Winter (1988) and it has this version of Follow The Plough. This is a slightly different "brighter" mix from the one on the Living With Victoria Grey tape. 

Cleaners From Venus in their jangling 80s, Rickenbacker drenched, heavenly pop (non) hit stride. 

Peak Newell.

    

The Living With Victoria Grey mix. Interestingly it's grey in Victoria today... hello from the Antipodes.

Cleaners From Venus - Winter (1988)

The whole shonky un-remastered lo-fi cassette.

A1 Prince Of The Winter recorded 1985, previously released on Various - Reynard The Fox.

A2 When Fire Burns Dreams recorded 1986, previously released on Modern Art/Cleaners From Venus - Souvenir.

A3 Amateur Paranoic recorded 1982/83, previously released on the cassingle Two For The Winter. 

A4 She's Checkin You Out recorded 1982/83, previously released on the cassingle Two For The Winter.

A5 Albion's Daughter recorded 1986, previously released on Modern Art/Cleaners From Venus - Souvenir.

A6 Ilya Kuryakin Looked At Me recorded 1986. Originally appeared on the Victoria Grey cassette. This version is a special mix for Color Tapes with different instruments (real drums, different guitar mix etc.)

B7 Sunday Afternoon recorded 1987
B8 Ilya Kuryakin (full version) recorded 1987. This is the vinyl version from Illya Kuryakin Looked At Me.
B9 Black And White. recorded 1987. Previously released on Illya Kuryakin Looked At Me.

B10 Follow The Plough recorded 1985/86. Originally appeared on the Victoria Grey tape. This version is a more "transparent" Mix made for Color Tapes.
B11 Soul Monday recorded 1984/85. Originally appeared on the solo cassette Martin Newell - Songs For A Fallow Land. Different mix.

B12 Julie Profumo recorded 1984/85. Originally appeared on the solo cassette Martin Newell - Songs For A Fallow Land. Rather different mix.

Martin Newell - Amateur Paranoiac [Two For The Winter - Cassingle] (1983)

Wonky post-punk psychedelic dub poetry kinda thing. Top stuff.

Cleaners From Venus - Julie Profumo (1985)

Back to the pastoral paisley... Pure perfect poetic pop!

Autopilot - Love Is A Process

[1979]

Cult post-punk single of the highest order... you love your Magazine, The Fall. Wire, Homosexuals etc. well now you can add Autopilot to the list. Quite possibly the greatest one off post-punk single of all time out of Britain, it's so ace it's hard to believe it didn't become a chartbusting hit. 

Forced Vengeance - William Goldstein

[1982]

Incredible opening sequence and score to Forced Vengeance. Layers of spectacular thickly textured synthesisers, oriental vibes and anthemic drama. As previously stated in the post about William Goldstein's score to Eye For An Eye, many of the best soundtracks are for movies you don't know or care about.

Film · The Church

More soundtrack-y goodness from legendary 80s bands. An instrumental of immense lyrical charm. Gorgeous profoundly emotional stuff. I dunno if it ever got used in a film or tv show... 

Elegia · New Order

Epic.

On the evidence here New Order should have become massive soundtrack composers. Alas that was not to be. This track however has been used numerous times on soundtracks for 80s teen movies, video games, documentaries, cop shows and several Netflix series. 

Elegia is Italian for elegy which makes sense as this sombre and mournful instrumental is dedicated to Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis, their former bandmate who killed himself. 

I didn't even know a 17 minute version of this existed but apparently the five minute version on Low-Life (1985) is edited down from this lengthy original.  

The Ogre Theme - Simon Boswell

From the dude who produced 23 Skidoo's Coup (1984) and did the brilliant score to Richard Stanley's cyberpunk flick Hardware (1990) comes this slice of soundtrack gold. A sombre slow-crawling dystopian vibe here that is actually for an Italian telly movie directed by Mario Bava's son Lamberto. 

The Ripper - Rod Slane

[1985]

Once again a soundtracks to a z-grade 80s horror flick that outshines all other contributions to the film. Rod Slane's The Ripper OST has never been released. This 11 minute suite extracted from the movie and edited together by Fish Man starts out eerily sad quickly becoming cinematic with compounding layers of suspenseful sound and soon enough alarming atmospheres are achieved. At 3:00 those incredible chiming synths enter rippling kaleidoscopically outwards eventually deforming. More sonic layers are insidiously added, the pile up reaching immense density and aural capacity. Thick textures  of dramatic synthetic sound are deployed to great effect and by 6:30 some über-80s guitar tones arrive then it's back to dark tones before ending with a tropical neon nights synth jam. 

Fabio Frizzi - City of the Living Dead

Fabio Frizzi - Apoteosi Del Mistero (1980) 

It's a remake of his Zombie theme. More like a cleaned up, more uplifting version. Peak mellotron choir goodness. Creepy heroic.  

Fabio Frizzi - Zombie 2 Main Title (1979)

I think I prefer this though. There's something a bit more grime-y, drowsy and unstable about it, quite torpid compared to the above remake. Funereal zombie stoner synth.

 

Fabio Frizzi - Paura Nella Città Dei Morti Viventi (1982)

It's pretty hard to go past this here, the original Beat Records soundtrack LP of City Of The Living Dead though. One of the all time great Italian horror scores. Amongst the gorgeously mournful analogue synths, epic ghostly mellotron choirs, tenebrous atmospherics, there's even some acoustic guitar and quite possibly the most emotional use of a fretless bass ever in the history of recorded music on the unbelievably poignant Paura E Liberazione.

Graveyard Productions - Grab My Mask

Graveyard Productions - Grab My Mask (1995)

The daisy-age gone sour. A deranged criminal tale set to sweet innocent music. So it's not the usual 90s Memphis underground horror movie samples, it's a lovely tranquil Isley Brothers sample of Highways Of My Life mixed with Graveyard Production's melodic chorus that has fermented into something off key sickly sweet and absurdly unsavoury. It's a bit of creepy fun, lo-fi used to delirious perfection. They tread a fine line on Grab My Mask: Always verging on satire of hip hop's glamorisation of nihilistic ultra violence and yet it's still often unsettling. "Don't make me get my OJ gloves" is a particularly menacing line that's probably also black comedy genius. I'm pretty sure there's also a conflicted Robin Hood-esque moral tale lurking in amongst this complex barrage of words too.    

DIY outsider halloween music.

Strap Like An Army Tank - King Goldi (feat. Lil Wako & Skimask Troopaz)

King Goldi - Strap Like An Army Tank (Video incorrectly titled) - [1996]

Insane underground lo-fi psychedelic horrorcore* 90s Memphis stylee with some rockin' guitar samples and screwed techniques. That cheap creepy synth is something else. The music here has more in common with Chrome or The Residents than say 1996's rising stars of rap Jay Z or The Fugees. 

*I feel like 90s underground Memphis Rap with morbid, horror, satanic and dark psychological themes was never properly named or in fact given a proper sub-genre term to seperate it from other Memphis rap and Horrorcore from other geographical areas. Using the term horrorcore with 90s Memphis rap is somewhat misleading as it really doesn't sound anything like Esham, Gravediggaz or bloody ICP, only really overlapping in some dark psychological lyrical themes. The 90s Memphis flows and beats are an entire (aesthetic sound)world apart from these Northern counterparts. 

If they can retroactively coin the term Mid-School Hip Hop they should have no qualms about a seperate genre name for the music I'm talking about here. Bloggers and aficionados refer to it as evil Memphis shit or devil shyt. Perhaps I should try to come up with one... then again I can't stand retroactively titled genres especially if it's for music created created more than 5 years previous let alone 30 years ago. I mean is anybody seriously really using the term Zolo outside of Rate Your Music nerds? 

Black Puppet - Groove Chronicles

Groove Chronicles - Black Puppet [1999]

Classic UKG. 

The kids are reading history in reverse. So some of these children who weren't even born in 1999 call this dubstep. Not something that inspired or influenced dubstep but actual dubstep. This temporal collapse is distorting knowledge. It's a particular pedagogical and epistemic problem that is being applied across the board as seen in debates about slavery where they conveniently leave out of the timeline how the British stopped slavery and poured immense financial and human resources into this incredibly moral endeavour... correct me if I'm wrong I think perhaps sociologist Frank Füredi addresses the problems with reading history wrong and its disastrous consequences... anyway sorry this is a tangent not relevant to this amazing track.

...this was the b-side of their hit 99 with the wibble wobble bass, crisp jittery beat and overall immense dubwise production.   

Just Give It All To Christ · Lucky Rosenbloom

Lucky Rosenbloom (1985)

Back to the electro. This is something else. I guess it's electro gospel but I mean it could be gospel-house, I don't get the genre pigeon hole here...I'm guessing it's down to the make of drum machine and his geographic location which was St Paul. 

This is a WTF? tune if there ever was one. It's electronic, it's post disco, It's funky, it's jazzy, It's futuristic, it's the strangest space age gospel tune you ever heard. Insane synth action with luxurious soul jazz piano stylings, acidic squelches, off the wall funky keytar breaks, unorthodox recording techniques and more. At one stage (0.42) I thought another song had started playing in another window of my computer but no that's just this song's strange arrangement and unique sound design. I can't tell whether that was incompetence or deliberate, either way it was surprising and a genius move.

If my memory serves Rosenbloom was a pastor and tv evangelist who recorded just this one 7" single and last year it got re-released by one of those trendy reissue labels either Light In The Attic or Numero Group. 

I think maybe this is outsider music.  

Broadcast - Spell Blanket

Running Back To Me - Broadcast (2024)

Witchy and tribal. This definitely has a second half of the 00s vibe, making clear that there was definite overlap between Hypnogogia and Hauntology. This has a similar spirit to groups like Pocahaunted but then again I guess Broadcast were always more than just hauntologic with their folky neo-psych and dilapidated moogy dream jazz.

March Of The Fleas - Broadcast (2024)

Sorta like a lo-fi shoegaze jam but Broadcast stylee. I get that these are demos but were Broadcast ever this raw? My brain says no but I don't really trust my memory bank anymore so who knows... maybe I'll have to dig out me dusty old cds and give them a listen. So the recently released Spell Blanket compilation is made up of 36 demos recorded between 2006 and 2009. This material was apparently sketches for a future LP that never got made. (Retro) Retro retro-future.  

Broadcast - My Body (2024)

Hymn for an occult ritual... goths in the woods...fun baby Diamanda Galas doing spooky incantations...

I don't recall Broadcast ever being this overtly... well just this overt. 

Disturbing or hilariously cheese-y, I don't know... maybe both. 

Broadcast - Follow The Light (2024)

While containing many sketches and snippets Spell Blanket has plenty of gorgeous haunting psych-folk moments like this. Surely one of Trish's most outstanding tunes.

Staring Into The Abyss

CELEBRATE THE NEW DARK AGE

Bernard Herrmann - Gort/The Visor/The Telescope (1951)

Darkness and fear with added theremin fun.

Front 242 - Moldavia (1991)

The sound design and the way sound is organised here is pretty impeccable. Also just an iconic anthem innit.

Health - Ashamed Of Being Born (2023)

It's hard to have an affect if you're a post-industrial pop group post-1980s but this is somewhat interesting if perhaps post post-post ironic (or should I add in a few more posts). This video with its images of the cult of nerdy fandom with their infantile dress ups and mental illness deification is all about you and your identity or lack thereof and the emptiness at the heart of it all...The downer euphoria "I'm a sad boy" identity pioneered by the likes of Drake is transposed here onto a Linkin Park/NIN style jam. What's the difference anymore? Rap, psych, metal, industrial, dance pop: All this shit sounds the same...is the same. 

Pedro The Lion - Rejoice (2002)

Codeine/Low/Idaho.... Pedro has the blueprint...pulled off with particular aplomb. This is a raw non-ironic sad boy but it feels like he's reaching for something more and not just acquiescing to the abyss. 

 

Crass - White Punks On Hope (1979)

A song slagging off The Clash is always a winner with me. Also notable for astute commentary on retarded "There is only one viewpoint. It's ours and we are correct" lefty conformism and meaningless pick a team "Which side are on?" politics that still rings true today. Imagine thinking for yourself...

I get the irony of a dogmatic sloganeering band slagging off a band for being dogmatic sloganeers. 

 

"Pogo on a nazi, spit upon a jew
Vicious mindless violence that offers nothing new
Left wing violence, right wing violence, all seems much the same
Bully boys out fighting, it's just the same old game
Boring fucking politics that'll get us all shot
Left wing, right wing, you can stuff the lot"

Polvo - Every Holy Shroud (1994)

Like Pavement and Unwound tunes like this sounded nostalgic back in the 90s when they were released. I've gotta say It is surprising that I still really enjoy Polvo. In fact I think I like their stop start shenanigans, weird time signatures, modal guitars and daft surreal melancholy more now. Still acquiring the taste 30 years on. 

"Celebrate the new dark age with us
Calculate the irony with someone you can trust"

Midnight Star - Electricity

[1983]

The charms of Midnight Star..... they certainly had a fucking knack for these insidious grooves. Although this was infectious electro-funk for the future these fellas were so old school they still wore their showbiz threads instead of the trendy sneakers, leather jackets and tracksuits. It didn't really matter though coz if you were breakin' or roller skatin' this jam was electric. 

The Future - Nuclear Holocaust

The Future - Nuclear Holocaust (Vocal) [1984]

Oblivion was just a push of a button away back in the day when the cold war was raging with it's arms race and star wars programme, We understood the very real threat that we were going to be blown to bits by a nuclear bomb at any minute. Paranoid dread was real and normal to us kids at the time. 

We didn't get our Nuclear Holocaust or jet packs. It seems jet packs aren't on the horizon anymore but the future does offer us the renewed promise of the possibility of thermonuclear annihilation. Isn't it nice that our childhood dreams are being kept alive by our overlords.

The Future is an alias for Michael Johnson Jr of legendary electro-funk combo The Jonzun Crew.

The Future - Unclear Holocaust (Re-mix Version) [1984]

You may prefer the instrumental dub mix b side for your breakdancing til armageddon. 

Sandy Kerr - Thug Rock

[1982]

Sweet, smooth and sultry this funky post-disco* hip-hop jam is the business. Behold that groove, bass-line extravaganza and cowbell goodness. Everybody get out your roller-skates, it's time to partay!

*Disco often gets conveniently overlooked as a major ingredient in the formulation of hip hop. By the time it mutates into gangsta rap nobody's owning up to it as an influence. Moot point I spose.

Strafe - Set It Off

[1984]

An epic elemental electro-funk masterpiece.

When the differences between funk, electro, house and techno or even post-disco, freestyle and chart dance pop were pretty flimsy. If you added the emphasis on a particular instrument here it may have been categorised as a different sub-genre. A lot of categorisation at the time was geographical. In Australia in 1984 just starting High School it was all just called dance music. 

Set It Off's influence continued into at least the early 00s with the likes of The Neptunes ripping off this aesthetic wholesale and calling it their own. 

 

Still the future. 

Newcleus - Computer Age (Push The Button)

Newcleus - Computer Age (Push The Button) [Club Mix] - (1984) 

A lot of old school electro jamz are amazingly pertinent to today, probably more so than anything actually current in pop music. 

Some theorists say now that AI has been unleashed onto the public that we're doomed. How much more doom mongering propaganda can we take? I suspect AI was released into society to create more havoc, confusion and chaos so that more control can be exerted upon us lowlife masses. It will have you screaming for the government to fuck you harder with regards to your dwindling freedom.

Many people are under the misapprehension that science-fiction books & movies and futuristic electronic music are always cheerleading retarded technological progress but no many of these artist's artefacts have always been about warning us of these incredibly anti-human existential dangers. Enjoying Kraftwerk, John Foxx or Newcleus doesn't equate to wanting to comply with trans-humanism. 

Are we under their control, or are they under our control, or what?
Push the button
Computer age is now
Everyone must have a machine
They say it's gonna make life easier,
well, I can't stand it....
They say we should put them in control
Well, maybe next we'll give them a soul
I guess we must now think that we're gods,
While we're less men than ever
I know the Lord cannot be too glad
In fact, I'm sure he must be quite mad
To see us take His role from our lives
And give it to computers
For here we sit in our easy chairs
As our machines decide how we'll fare
Who will suffer, who will survive?
It's up to the computers
Push the button
Are we under their control, or are they under our control, or what?
Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning!
Computing
"I'm no longer in control
I can't program my machine
Now it wants to take my soul
Stop it or it will proceed!"
Why is it you're trying to give me
Programs
I'm in charge and yet you're trying to
Program
I'm metal so you think you have to
Program
But I'm a man 'cause I don't need no
Programs
Now computing...now computing...now computing...now computing...
Are we under their control, or are they under our control, or what?

Totally epic track that gets pretty cosmic at 5:40.

Bonny - Prefab Sprout

Bonny - Prefab Sprout (1985)

Impeccable.

Timeless 80s pop perfection: aged like fine wine. Paddy McAloon's idiosyncratic words and feels ensure Bonny is like nothing else. Wretched grief thoroughly captured in an authentic yet beautiful manner. 

Heartbreaking.

Rev-P - 1994 (1994)

Strangely several elements of Bonny were used here to great effect in this unusual uncanny slice of dark, damp and dubby jungle. This murky tune was created by Pete Parsons aka Voyager aka Static Substance. 

Master C & J - In The City (Devil Mix)

[1987]

Immaculate restrained minimal disco-funk of the future... There's still something rather inexplicable about certain early Chicago house tracks and In The City is no exception with its liminal unnamed vibe. Bleak lyrical content delivered via frightening vocal science intermingled with bouncy bass and exuberant drum machine hand claps signal a somewhat poignant inevitability of 80s urban living. This downcast sensibility is blanketed by warm synth tones leaving feels tilted towards elation rather than agitation, adding a disconcerting dimension. Dystopian psychedelia where danger and excitement are so entwined they're indistinguishable from each other.

Mr. Fingers - Mystery Of Love

[1985]

The enigmatical Mystery Of Love is still fresh to this day and ultimately transcendent. This is the original 1985 instrumental not the later re-recorded version with vocals that came out under the moniker Fingers Inc.

It's funny innit that years later somebody in the UK termed ambient house a sub-genre because house at its inception was already ambient and house so...

That fluid bass swirling like a kaleidoscope giving it a circular momentum, the ace cymbal work and those wistful washes of melodic synth with a euphoric tinge make this primo 80s tune-age from Chicago! 

A flowing atmospheric track like this seems more suited for driving, home listening or headphones than a sweaty dance-floor. Larry Heard created a timeless and indeed mysterious sound here.  

Chip E - Time To Jack

[1985]

More raw stripped down jackin' trax from Chicago. Appearing to be deceptively rudimentary these hypnotic, pounding yet intricate rhythms are sterling elemental beat-science. Chip E uses minimal elements from Italo-disco and electro-pop creating delirious drum machine driven damage, originating one of the finest early house tunes. 

Jesse Saunders - On And On

[1984]

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. 

Vis-A-Vis - Obi Agye Me Dofo

[1977]

Rolling golden grooves for miles... Highlife indeed!

I haven't heard this in 15 years but I came across it on the youtubes last night... and wow it's... magnificent! Soundway compiled this tune back in the 00s on the great double cd Ghana Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds and Ghanian Blues 1968-81. This infectious track is highlife merging into afro-synth-funk and it's on another plain innit. 

If you love Nigerian synth legend William Onyeabor you are going to love what Tonny Doziz does with his synthesiser here. This is a hell of an ensemble. A crack percussion team is deployed to give you maximum rhythmic pleasure: On congas of glory George Asante, cowbell extraordinaire Alex Jubin, Danel Asare on maracas and drummer Kung-Fu Kwaku aka Shaolin Kung Fu (Gybson Papra). Held down bass-wise by Slim Yaw Manu.

... hypnotic sweet psychedelic-jazz-funk Ghanian stylee is the Vis-A-Vis highlife way. 

Robbie Dupree - Hot Rod Hearts

[1980]

When falling in love was like being on the run: It was gangster. It was heroic.

Roger's previous single Steal Away was an American top 10 smash and a number 24 hit here but this follow up didn't even crack the top 40 here in Australia but make no mistake this is one of the greatest soft rock radio anthems of all time. 

"Ten miles east of the highway
Hot sparks burnin' the night away
Two lips touchin' together
Cheek to cheek, sweatshirt to sweater"

Yes indeed he wrote and sang that line "sweatshirt to sweater" and somehow made it noble and beautiful.

Hot Rod Hearts lyrics are deceptively simple but are actually brilliantly concise. Coupled with the lightly sophisticated sound it's pop perfection innit, right up there with early Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, Phil Spector's girl groups etc. 

Home On Monday · Little River Band

[1977]

Staying in Melbourne zones... What about this west coast classic from rainy Melbourne? Expansive melodies and harmonies galore, adult sentiments, gambling themes, such bleak lonely freedom loneliness, confusing wistfulness and dreary romance. 

I had this on a tape in primary school and the emotions entwined with that immaculate arrangement were just so unusually complex it was incredibly disconcerting yet enticing for a young mind. 

It's also a phone call song like the previous post's I'd Really Like To See You Tonight but much more consummate in its execution. 

Rick Springfield - Don’t Talk To Strangers

[1982]

Here's a forgotten bit of gold that was at the intersection of soft-rock, teeny bop and yacht rock! It's our Broady-boy* Ricky and his lost classic Don't Talk To Strangers.