Les Disques Du Crépuscule En Sept Sélections Pour Sept, er, Quid

Legendary label Les Disques Du Crépuscule have been steadily making their back catalogue available for sale via Bandcamp, including several classic albums with bonus tracks at a bargain price of £7.00 for a digital download. Many are also available on shiny disc.

Too many to mention in one post really, so I've selected seven as a sampler, namely

 

Clinker (+ 4 bonus remixes): Julie Campbell / Stephen Mallinder / Benge (2021)

Sorry For Laughing: Josef K (1981) (this is the shelved version; The Only Fun In Town is also available) 

Rhythm Of Life + New York Remix mini-album: Paul Haig (1983/1984)

Nice Mover (+ 6 bonus remixes): Gina X Performance (1979)

Nue Au Soleil (Complètement: Ludus (2024) (compilation previously released as an 11-track vinyl in 1987 and a 28-track 2CD in 2017; the digital version contains all 18 tracks from CD1 and the 4-song John Peel session from CD2)

Fidelity (+ 2 bonus tracks): The Durutti Column (1996) (The New Fidelity was originally issued on a Portuguese compilation in 1992) 

Moving Soundtracks: Various Artists (1983) (this appears to be the 2008 rejigged reissue, originally 20 tracks, here minus 2 songs by Be Music and Alan Rankine; I picked The Pale Fountains for today's selection)

 

Seminal compilation From Brussels With Love, the debut release on Les Disques Du Crépuscule in 1980 and featured in the headline photo, is also available as a digital download. That'll cost you a tenner but for 28 tracks a bargain. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You'd Have To Be A Crazy Person To Assert You Never Wanted This

Super groups don't get much more super than Creep Show, at least if you're into deep, dark, sleazy electro pop. Five years after their debut Mr Dynamite, Creep Show returned in June with Yawning Abyss.

 

As regular visitors to this blog will know, I love the music of John Grant and particular his ongoing excursions into electronica. Wrangler was formed roughly a decade ago and it's line up is formidable: Stephen Mallinder (Cabaret Voltaire), Ben Edwards aka Benge (John Foxx & The Maths, Blancmange, Fader) and Phill Winter (Tunng). 

 

I'm assuming the origins of Creep Show can be traced back to 2016, when Wrangler remixed Voodoo Doll, a single from John Grant's third album Grey Tickles, Black Pressure. Whatever the reasons that brought them together, it's been a fruitful partnership and, 5 year gap notwithstanding, Yawning Abyss is a very welcome follow up.

Grant and Mallinder take turns with lead vocals, occasionally overlapping (as with Moneyback), their respective stands at the mike evoking the sounds of their previous work. Matinee could easily be from Cabaret Voltaire's second stint with the Les Disques Du Crépuscule label at the start of the 1990s. Opening song The Bellows or Bungalow play like an uptempo cousin of songs from John Grant's last album Boy From Michigan.

The closing pair, Steak Diane and The Bellows Reprise, pretty much dispense with words and voices altogether. The former includes some glitchy vocal notes, the latter a sweeping synth soundtrack that brings the whole (creep) show to a suitably cinematic close. By cinematic, of course I mean a John Carpenter horrot flick rather than another Will Smith heart-tugging Oscar grabbing effort. 

 

If you haven't heard Creep Show before now and have been inspired to buy Yawning Abyss, then I'd recommend going all out and buying the debut Mr Dynamite too. Here's the video for Modern Parenting if you need further incentive.

I mentioned earlier that Ben 'Benge' Edwards has worked with Neil Arthur on the last few Blancmange albums. Blancmange and John Grant have also remixed each other's songs. In a nice nod to the future, another of the highlights from Creep Show's debut album was remixed by Kincaid aka Neil Arthur's son, Joe.

 

Safe And Sound (Kincaid Remix)

O.M.D./T.F.C.M.

...or, if you prefer, some Twenty First Century Music from O.M.D.

 

I've not compiled an Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark mixtape covering songs from their second wave but if I did, it might look something like this. There have been enough great singles, B-sides and album tracks to comfortably create another 'Best Of' compilation and there's a new album, Bauhaus Staircase, anticipated in 2023.

 

If all this leaves you hungry for more, I've also reloaded the two 1980s O.M.D. mixtapes that I've posted here in the past couple of years. Is there such a thing as too much O.M.D.? Definitely not!

 

Side One

1) If You Want It (Marsheaux Remix) (2010)

2) VCR (Single Version) (Cover of The XX) (2010)

3) Helen Of Troy (24.02.12) (Demo) (2012)

4) Bomber (One More Time) (16-10-15) (Demo) (2015) 

5) Stay With Me (Album Version) (2013)

6) HAHAHA (2017)

Side Two

1) Please Remain Seated (2013)

2) New Holy Ground (2010)

3) Dresden (John Foxx & The Maths Remix (2013)

4) RFWK (2010)

5) Metroland (Radio Edit) (2013)

6) Isotype (V1.7 23-02-16) (Demo) (2016)

7) What Have We Done (Single Mix) (2017)

2010: History Of Modern: B2, B4

2010: History Of Modern / If You Want It (limited edition 2x CD): A1

2010: Sister Marie Says EP: A2

2013: Dresden EP: B3

2013: English Electric: A5, B1

2013: English Electric (limited edition box set) (USA): A3 

2013: Metroland EP: B5

2017: The Punishment Of Luxury / Demos (deluxe edition 2x CD): A4, B6

2017: The Punishment Of Luxury: B-Sides & Bonus Material: A6, B7

Side One (22:40) (Box) (Mega)

Side Two (22:25) (Box) (Mega)

 

All Wrapped Up Vol. 1 Side One & Side Two

All Wrapped Up Vol. 2 Side One & Side Two 

Like A Grain Of Sand Lost In Your Storm

I've been listening to GusGus' 2007 album Forever this week, which has prompted today's random half-dozen. 

The selection opens with one of the many remixes of 2011 single Over. This one's a collaboration between Carmine Conte & Matteo Milleri (aka Tale Of Us) and Douglas Benford & Ben 'Benge' Edwards (aka Tennis). 1999 single Ladyshave also gets an external overhaul, this time courtesy of Tim 'Love' Lee. 

 

Closing proceedings is an excellent live version of Arabian Horse, performed in Reykjavik for KEXP. You can find the full four-song set on YouTube and it's well worth a visit.

We were fortunate enough to have a short visit to Iceland in October 2016, taking in the usual tourist sights in a few days. It seems like forever since we were there, but at the same time certain moments seem like yesterday. A beautiful landscape like nothing I'd ever seen before and totally captivating. Something about the environment also seems to inspire and motivate music to move you or make you move. GusGus is a prime example of this.

1) Over (Life And Death Remix By Tale Of Us & Tennis) (2011)

2) MallFlowers (2007)

3) Purple (Album Version) (1997)

4) Ladyshave (Fully Bearded Mix By Tim 'Love' Lee) (1999)

5) Dominique (Album Version) (1999)

6) Arabian Horse (Live @ KEX Hostel, Reykjavik, Iceland, 10 December 2011)

Like A Grain Of Sand Lost In Your Storm (45:05)