SOFT CELL

 

Hot on the heels of Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, SOFT CELL were already deep in the well documented throes of consumption by the time The Art Of Falling Apart was released in 1983. An incredibly adult synth pop record - a parade of upbeat dancefloor bangers with Almond's sweet lilt delivering legitimately dark tracks like "Loving You, Hating Me," "Forever The Same" and "Numbers," an incredibly introspective assault on consumption and promiscuity. Listening to this record in real time (or in the years after its release when I was a young teen discovering and devouring UK synth and new wave) it was just another collection of songs....I am a middle aged man now and my ears, head and heart are different. The Art Of Falling Apart is a mature and real collection of songs anchored by a tortured two verse title track. Makes me want to dance like I'm too young to drive and can't identify with any of this. Don't dismiss SOFT CELL, they're (far) more than a kitschy cover tune. 

THE ART OF FALLING APART

=============================
I'm skilled at the art of falling apart

It's the holding together, together forever

Trying all of the vices is what's doing the damage 

All the good things are bad things 

And I'm paying the prices

ASPS

 

Sometimes it takes less than ten minutes to make you reconsider. ASPS is the solo embodiment of Andrea Blake (CHROME DOME, VACUUM) and their sole release is a dose of gloriously dark, minimal(ist) Australian synth that will remind the careful listener of WAX IDOLS and TJO. The causal listener will experience dark and deliberate sonic beauty...and isn't that enough?

ASPS

SPECTRES

 

Hard to believe that SPECTRES have been in the game for almost twenty years now (check last year's stellar Presence full length), just as it's hard to believe that when they first popped onto the collective punk radar it was still novel to hear punks making new wave and/or goth sounds. While that progression is almost a given in these 2020s, Vancouver's SPECTRES have spent the in-between times forging their own path towards something that is instantly familiar. Nostalgia is a perfect dark wave recording - period, You don't need the DIY scene context or the members-of or anything else, just know that these sounds stand completely on their own. If you're from my "era" and came up the way I did, then you're going to hear things that make you feel at home (THE FIXX, THE CALL, THE ALARM), but these punks make all of it theirs and I'm kinda beside myself while I listen to "Along The Waterfront" on a tape that came in a box of crust and grindcore tapes from Indonesia. Do yourself a favor....savor this one. Please. It's special. 

NOSTALGIA

99 LUFTBALLONS

 

I recall a post from years ago where I used the term NDW ("Neue Deutsche Welle" = "German New Wave") to describe IDEAL or EXTRABREIT or some similar artist. Someone got annoyed at the distinction because, well, isn't New Wave music just New Wave music? Why is there a Deutsche Punk or a Kraut Rock when we don't have designated and commonly accepted terms for punk, classic rock or new wave from other specific regions or countries? Perhaps it's because the Germans did (do) just hit differently, but also it's because it's just what the fukkn Germans called their shit, you know? Case and point, this stellar collection of commercial NDW bangers from 1983. Like a K-Tel cassette from across the pond, featuring hopelessly palatable and undeniably addictive cuts from EXTRABREIT, HUBERT KAH, FRL. MENKE (the least interesting artist on the tape, and the only one with two tracks), TRIO (you know the song even if you don't know you know the song), SPLIFF, NEON BABIES, JAWOLL and others, plus the title track from NENA. Just solid ass '80s summer hits - off kilter, infectious and definitely Deutsche. 

99 LUFTBALLONS
NDW - HITS FÜR UNTERWEGS

VISCOUNT

 

Yo - I was not expecting this shit. Not at all. This VISCOUNT tape was mixed in with some raw grind and primitive DBeat tapes because I'm disorganised and at first glance I figured it was maybe more of the same (which would have been fine) - I was wrong as fukk. VISCOUNT is the brainchild of Lucy from HYGIENE and PRIMETIME and though this is their first (and thus far only) release, it shows a vision completely realized and presented with confidence. Retro '80s dark wave energy (of course), and then throw in a bit of SHOP ASSISTANTS, TRVST, TJO....WAX IDOLS even. If goth twee is a genre then VISCOUNT bears their banner. If good music is to your liking then this tape will stop you dead in your tracks. 

10 PAST 10

INTERNAL AUTONOMY

Hard to understand why this band continues to fly under the radar, but here I am with their fifth demo from 1991 and I'm still pinching myself hearing these sounds for (not the) first time. Authentic dark wave steeped in UK anarcho with BLACK SOLSTICE connections, INTERNAL AUTONOMY are a truly unique (sounding) collection of souls - and to go from the chaotic CONFLICT-esque bombast of "The Time Has Come" and the mania of "Doesn't Anyone Believe Me?" to the PINK DOTS vibes in "An Anthem For Humanity" and the pure proto-goth of "Just Another Day" and "Foresight + Hindthought" is a magnificent feat. Every IA release hits different, and the experimental phase/s at the end of their run are often the most compelling for me - I hear new sounds literally every time I listen. My copy is a dub labeled '5th DEMO - MASTER TAPE' so any souls holding a copy with the artwork....? You know how to find me.  

PURPLE AVANT GARDE NOIZE EXPERIMENT

MYSTIC PRIESTESS

 

MYSTIC PRIESTESS listen like the full realization of a concept, an if the band was a plan hashed out meticulously over years and scenarios before the first rehearsal. Influences? Sure, and perhaps they're even obvious.....but moments into "Toxic Masculinity" and where MYSTIC PRIESTESS are coming from is the furthest thing from your mind. All you care about is who MYSTIC PRIESTESS are and what they are doing now (or at least what they were doing up until 2020). It's something special to listen to something you can so instantly understand and still continue appreciating through the very last note - and their 2017 debut on Transylvanian serves as a reminder that we (all) deserved more of them than we got. 

MYSTIC PRIESTESS

CURRENT AFFAIRS

 

You could almost swear that you heard this on a grainy third generation VHS copy of a 120 Minutes broadcast....if you were an Old like me, that is. Blatant WAX IDOLS by-way-of BANSHEES vibes in the song construction and the guitar delivery, but CURRENT AFFAIRS do an excellent job of adding their stamp where necessary. Listen to "Cheap Cuts" which is going to become one of my favorite songs from 2017 that I didn't hear until 2023. They dropped a full length this year that I'm going to listen to this morning on my commute...in case you needed any insight into how I plan to spend my day. I'm not really concerned with how you spend yours...as long as you are taking care of yourself. 

"OBJECT"

НОВА ГЕНЕРАЦИЯ

 

Admittedly, НОВА ГЕНЕРАЦИЯ (NEW GENERATION) takes a bit to really settle into...but they are worth the (your) effort/s. Eastern Bloc cold wave hits different - the(ir) new wave reflects and projects their environs and it's the very result that is cold, more than the intent. 1987's Вход Б (Entrance B) seems to live in and among that general observation, with tracks like "Ловец На Сърца," "Да, Да, Да" and "Аз Съм Аз" that sound like an '80s new wave broadcast from another dimension. This was the first of several staple releases from the band before founder Dimiter Voev's death in 1992...and my first exposure to them. As you tunnel into whatever you're into, remember that if you keep digging, you might come out the other side and discover an entirely different existence. 

ВХОД Б

ACHTUNG ADK

 

Pretty much everything that rules about tape comps is right here. No two artists sound the same - it flows between dark post punk, jerky angular freak outs, fist bashing hardcore punk and synth driven dancefloor bangers - and every track is an absolute killer. Every. Single. Track. It's cold and dark (I mean, it is German), and I was only familiar with one of the bands on Achtung ADK before I popped the fukkr in. Now I have a few favorites...because tape comps rule. 

ACHTUNG ADK

- Also my first introduction to the Billo tape label, with which I am not low-key obsessed. -

июльские дни (JULY DAYS)

 

Июльские дни (JULY DAYS) have made appearances here before, I just need to remind you that there is more. If this were dressed up right (and if we're honest, from North America or Western Europe), there's no reason why you wouldn't be talking about июльские дни  the way people talk about INTERPOL or ICE AGE or even BLOC PARTY - we're talking indie/dark wave/goth of that caliber. And to be clear, I celebrate records from all three of those bands.....or maybe I should say: all four of those bands. Because I just added this Russian outfit to the list. 

КОЛОКОЛ

POLSKA NOWA FALA

 

A reissue of a reissue, and I'm here for it. The (sub)title really tells you all you need to know - Polish New Wave 1983...seventeen songs from MADAME, MADE IN POLAND, VARIÉTÉ and 1984. All four bands play variations of stark, anthemic proto-goth; MADE IN POLAND are slower and brooding, MADAME are quintessential Eastern European mainstream wave (think Klaus Mitfoch and/or REPUBLIKA but darker), VARIÉTÉ come off like OMD on a steady diet of Pornography and saxophone, and 1984 are just...perfect urgent cold wave. Pay special attention MADAME's "Głupi Numer," which has a chorus that will make your entire dark/wave collection melt, and 1984's "Tu Nie Będzie Rewolucji" (taken from their Tonpress 45) which is on a short list of the most fiery, punk new wave songs I've ever heard. Extremely pleased when this one showed up in my mailbox a few months into Thee Covid. 

POLSKA NOWA FALA 1983..

SIERPIEN

 

Another brooding dose from SIERPIEN - I feel like I could sprinkle their entire discography over these pages and never hear a complaint.  2016's Смердит До Самых Звёзд (Stench Up To Heaven) is among their most fully realized releases...eight pieces of introspective and moody (and danceable) goth led by a hesitant guitar that is balanced by a shockingly confident booming baritone coming out of the sonic shadows. You put it on and it just removes you completely, and I love a recording that can do that.  

STENCH UP TO HEAVEN

PILGRIM SCREW

 

More from Washington, this time an electro-charged post industrial freak punk adventure scape from PILGRIM SCREW. The while thing listens like a shit-fi Mind-era MINISTRY outtake on 45rpm, with seemingly no attempt to provide context, rationalization, or prepare the listener for might be coming next. "Absolute Fucking Human" is the soundtrack to a mutant alien rave happening in the apartment next door at 3am, while "Mental Rations" is a modern twist on the Rev/Vega model (by way of SIGUE SIGUE SPUTNIK) and not one moment on this tape is predictable. Punk always needs a kick in the ass, and punks typically do as well...fortunately, the folks at Impotent Fetus seem to have two feet, one suited for each purpose. 

PILGRIM SCREW

THE TAPE

I'm not gonna lie - with a title like The Tape, you had better not be fucking around. And this compilation from the folks at New Music Seminar from 1986? Well, it fucks around a little bit, but ultimately it works. This is basically what you wish you had heard on the radio in the 1980s (if you were a small town teenager who didn't really have the whole punk thing dialed in yet) instead of what you actually heard on the radio. A full hour of should-have-been-more-popular-than-they-were bands like CRANKCALL LOVEAFFAIR, NEW PARTS FROM OLD, ALGEBRA SUICIDE, M-1 ALTERNATIVE and several others walking that line between commercial pre-alt and post punk (as in "after they were punk," not like the sub genre) college rock hooks. The ALTER BOYS right into the almost twee-pop THREE HITS on the second side is where this comp really completes the sale for me, enough to make me revisit the whole damn thing when I was done. Fans of bands like FOR AGAINST and the Independent Records mid-decade catalog will easily find something here...and the rest of you? Well, it's definitely work a look. 

 

THE TAPE

AMERICAN NUDISM

 

From unearthed tripped out 1980s Dutch bedroom synth dub to millennial bedroom synth stompers. The keybass as rhythm in "Future Shock" is one of the few (modern) things I've heard that actually nails THE NORMAL vibe, and AMERICAN NUDISM take that and fucking run like a present day KRAFTWERK on a dark/cyber/punk mission. The beats are dark and forceful, five tracks that truly drag you to a different place. 

DEMO '16

DREAMING

SCHEMING

UNAWARE

...

unaware

ROMANTIČNE BOJE

Ice cold '80s synth pop from the former Yugoslavia. The robotic awkwardness demands KRAFTWERK comparisons, though I prefer to picture a world in which Stuff artists like Jona Lewie and Ian Dury are trying their hand at synth drenched dancefloor smashers. "Jesenje Magle" is like the backing band for Taylor Dayne (or, more accurately, SHANNON) dropped by to pen a montage for an unrealized Uzbek action film, and "Ponekad" listens like a lullaby for an entire decade. Listen as an artifact or pump for pleasure, but let this tape (and the unearthed LP recording) from Doomed To Extinction take you to a place you've never been before. 

1983-84

TORTURE BY ROSES

 

This one slipped by me but Spencer came to the rescue a few weeks back with a loaner. Hypnotic monotony from the VEXX vocalist set to a robotic a primitive futuristic soundscape. "Growing Into Nothing" is the only upbeat moment, even amidst it's crushing frustration, these are synthesized sonic dirges provide a soundtrack for the future that we will never live through, and the past that we have missed.

TORTURE BY ROSES

SIAMESE TWINS

 

There's an alternate reality, a just reality, where I find myself in a public setting surrounded by civilians and I hear the opening vocal melodies to "Listless." And the normal people don't think it's out of place, just like no one notices when that CAMOUFLAGE song comes on the radio - no one knows who it is, but it's supposed to be there. It belongs. Because it's great. SIAMESE TWINS shouldn't be a secret, but I'm glad they are our secret. And last year's two song teaser single was a work of simple brilliance - the synths hold court with layers of vocals and flanged guitar melodies while the tracks are carried by a bass walking carefully, but with purpose, through the sand of sound. It's a brilliant thing...it's a beautiful thing. 

LISTLESS // SECOND SKIN

LOVE INTEREST

 

Driving and dreary Washington state goth/punk that slipped by (most of) us early in the last decade. Faith-era meandering guitars drowned in synths give way to a plodding trepidation on ""Circle The Drain" and an underlying/overarching sense of doom. The only hopeful moments come on the closer "How It Hurts To Outgrow," but listen closely and the only joy that you hear is one borne of resignation and acceptance. LOVE INTEREST is primitive, the edges are rough and the mix is ramshackle at times...and this is what makes it work so well. 

LOVE INTEREST