Needle Time

  Ike Yard - Night After Night [SV 045 USA 2020 24-Bit FLAC] Originally released as a 12" EP on Les Disques Du Crépuscule in 1981, this red vinyl 2020 pressing was snuck out by Superior Viaduct a few weeks back after being originally scheduled for the aborted Record Store Day 2020. It remains scheduled for online retailers in September, however some copies are out there in vinyl stores. Less electronic and more post-punk than their album for Factory America, Night After Night dives headlong into the sleazy New York underworld via the backstreets of rainy Manchester - you could understand why Factory held an interest. This is where Section 25 meet Suicide, it is where Joy Division greet Chrome. These songs represent the darkest elements of no-wave, they represent turgid urban, experimental post-punk with complex arrangements - building a night scene where you fear no one gets out unscathed.  A1 Night After Night A2 Sense Of Male A3 Infra-ton B1 Motiv B2 Cherish

Ike Yard - Ike Yard [FACT A SECOND USA 1982 24-Bit FLAC] Likely one of the most obscure artists on Factory Records, this rare album by electronic four-piece Ike Yard first appeared on the American off-shoot of the label in 1982. There was a subsequent European pressing but strangely not on Factory Benelux, this rip is from my original USA pressing.  Ike Yard were Stuart Argabright, Kenny Compton, Fred Szymanski and Michael Diekmann - their unique post-punk hybrid of electronic music could be deemed as close to mid-period Cabs however the Ike Yard sound is more intricate and hypnotic, augmented with the use of acoustic drums and percussion. They were the support act at New Order's videoed gig at at The Ukrainian National Home in New York in 1981, of which live recordings are know to circulate (somewhere). Modern day minimalists would learn much from this. A1 M. Kurtz A2 Loss A3 NCR B1 Kino B2 Cherish 8 B3 Half A God