Off the Beaten Path Post Punk Thread

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Re: Off the Beaten Path Post Punk Thread

Post by shadowplay » Wed May 17, 2017 2:47 am

Hmmm is Thomas Leer off the beaten path enough for this thread?

If so let me offer a wholehearted recomendation regarding the recent issue of his original home recordings from 1979 which are out on digital and coming forth on 2X12 next week on the very wonderfull Dark Entries who previously reissued his wondrous Private Plane single which is in my opinion one of the greatest post punk records. I'm a long term fan, going right back to Private plane and his AMAZING album with Robert Rental 'The Bridge' (and a Spotifylink if you have it) was Santa's special gift to me in 1979.

Thomas later work is also well worth looking at, it's a source of some frustration to me that whenever Scottish music from around this time is discussed the focus tends to fall heavily on a bunch of floppy fringed check shirters who still wish it was it's the 1960's ;) and Thomas Leer and Robert Rental get nary a mention.

I'd guess that fans of early Cabaret Voltaire and maybe even Wire would be into this, it's very, very lofi but it still sounds great to me and on my prized antique dystopian barometer it pushes the mercury right up to the Ballard line. Music makers may well be interested in the gear used, which is rudimentary to say the least (and similar to the gear used on The Bridge);
Thomas Leer wrote:“1979” is a 14-song collection spread across two pieces of vinyl clocking in at 70 minutes. Leer says, “1979 was a great year for making music. The punk explosion two years earlier, cleansed the palate and opened up minds to new sonic possibilities. It was in this spirit I took to exploring electronics and set up my first little home studio. Bearing in mind this was before such luxuries as Portastudios or affordable multi-tracks, I decided sound quality was less important than experimentation and innovation, so I pressed on with the meager equipment I had. My tabletop studio in Crouch End, North London, consisted of two cassette machines, a copycat tape echo, some FX pedals, Ring Modulator, Guitar, Bass & Wasp :-* Synthesizer.” Songs range from half serene atmospheres, to minimal rhythmic workouts, to tape loops layered behind distorted guitars, to cold layered singing, all with a psychedelic lo-fi attitude.
Thomas Leer - 1979 stream on Bandcamp CD on Klangalerie, who put out kindred spirit Caroline K's Now Wait for Last Year before BEB vinyled it.

D
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Re: Off the Beaten Path Post Punk Thread

Post by FrankRay » Wed May 17, 2017 3:24 am

I know it's outside the strict remit, but I've been listening to Leer's sterling work on the excellent Soul Mining LP by The The. Still love the sound of that record, and Leer's synths have a lot to do with it. Very cool production; similar to Blue Nile, Dreaming era Kate Bush and Talk Talk around the time of Colour Of Spring. All post punk in some ways, depending how you calibrate. And who could be more post punk than Stevo??

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Re: Off the Beaten Path Post Punk Thread

Post by shadowplay » Wed May 17, 2017 3:39 am

FrankRay wrote:I know it's outside the strict remit, but I've been listening to Leer's sterling work on the excellent Soul Mining LP by The The. Still love the sound of that record, and Leer's synths have a lot to do with it. Very cool production; similar to Blue Nile, Dreaming era Kate Bush and Talk Talk around the time of Colour Of Spring. All post punk in some ways, depending how you calibrate. And who could be more post punk than Stevo??
It's a pretty broad church in my opinion and I think it's very much in the post punk continuum, even though the piano solo in that version of Uncertain Smile left me with a lifelong burning blue hatred for Jools Holland. I prefer the Matt Johnson - Burning Blue Soul album by a margin but that doesn't mean Soul Mining isn't a good record. When BBS came out I loved the track Song without and Ending so much.

I always wonder about the possibility of a Stevo Biopic he was pretty eccentric, though he is widely hated for not paying folk their due. I don't think anyone on K.422/Force and Form made a penny.

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Re: Off the Beaten Path Post Punk Thread

Post by FrankRay » Wed May 17, 2017 5:41 am

Born londoner, me. Jools' piano tootling is fine by me. He talked a lot about working class london songs- pub singers and the like- on desert island discs, and that whole Madness/Squeeze/Blockheads/Dr Feelgood thing came into sharp focus for me. I care less for BBS, personally. It's the sense of space on Soul Mining that I like. Could do without any of the later albums, too.

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Re: Off the Beaten Path Post Punk Thread

Post by shadowplay » Wed Nov 14, 2018 7:03 am

ah probably better here.
Keith (JD Twitch) has a new post punk compilation out that's focussed on the German NDW. I'd say it's the finest compilation since Mutazione (Italian Electronic & New Wave Underground 1980-1988) also on Strut and I'd consider him a true expert and arguably the best DJ in the world (certainly the best club nights, even with myrose tinted Scottish ear goggles) whose been collecting and advocating this stuff as long as me. I've got 90% of this but it's still an amazing listen and a fantastic introduction to anyone looking for a way in.

JD Twitch presents Kreaturen Der Nacht ]JD Twitch presents Kreaturen Der Nacht

There's a few things you might have expected to be on it but I think it's clear there's been an attempt to make it a cohesive listening piece for folk that are deep in these waters and for new paddlers.

I heard Beatles obsessed news radio DJ Nicky Campbell on the radio the other week asking aloud what the Germans have really done in pop music other than Kraftwerk like a stupendous Scottish dad rock dildo, so leaving aside everything from Kosmische, to minimal techno, to German minimal synth...here's exhibit A.

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Re: Off the Beaten Path Post Punk Thread

Post by Jaguar018 » Wed Nov 14, 2018 7:50 am

shadowplay wrote:
Wed Nov 14, 2018 7:03 am
An amazing listen and a fantastic introduction to anyone looking for a way in.

JD Twitch presents Kreaturen Der Nacht ]JD Twitch presents Kreaturen Der Nacht

There's a few things you might have expected to be on it but I think it's clear there's been an attempt to make it a cohesive listening piece for folk that are deep in these waters and for new paddlers.
Ich mag das! I think my wife would like this along with my omnivorous music fan millennial coworker.

(Not sure if Google Translate is all that effective, but whatever. :shifty: )

Edit: man I can't stand wandering saxophone tracks. :squint: :D

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Re: Off the Beaten Path Post Punk Thread

Post by shadowplay » Wed Nov 14, 2018 8:10 am

Jaguar018 wrote:
Wed Nov 14, 2018 7:50 am


Edit: man I can't stand wandering saxophone tracks. :squint: :D
NOOOO those are great, I love a bit of do you think I'm saxy in grey music. You aren't talking about Malaria! are you? They are the COOLEST all girl group of all time, possibly just the coolest group full stop.

What makes this work is the sequencing, it's not just a random bunch of tracks, it's curated.

It's funny I never have the urge to play air guitar but I had my 'air bass' out few times...actually where is that air sax? TOOOT PARRRP!

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Re: Off the Beaten Path Post Punk Thread

Post by Jaguar018 » Wed Nov 14, 2018 8:39 am

shadowplay wrote:
Wed Nov 14, 2018 8:10 am
NOOOO those are great, I love a bit of do you think I'm saxy in grey music. You aren't talking about Malaria! are you? They are the COOLEST all girl group of all time, possibly just the coolest group full stop.

It's funny I never have the urge to play air guitar but I had my 'air bass' out few times...actually where is that air sax? TOOOT PARRRP!
That Mania D track. P U! :unsure:

What a mass of contradictions you are. An avowed guitar weedling hater who delights in saxophones doing the same damn thing? :D

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Re: Off the Beaten Path Post Punk Thread

Post by shadowplay » Thu Nov 15, 2018 5:05 am

Jaguar018 wrote:
Wed Nov 14, 2018 8:39 am
shadowplay wrote:
Wed Nov 14, 2018 8:10 am
NOOOO those are great, I love a bit of do you think I'm saxy in grey music. You aren't talking about Malaria! are you? They are the COOLEST all girl group of all time, possibly just the coolest group full stop.

It's funny I never have the urge to play air guitar but I had my 'air bass' out few times...actually where is that air sax? TOOOT PARRRP!
That Mania D track. P U! :unsure:

What a mass of contradictions you are. An avowed guitar weedling hater who delights in saxophones doing the same damn thing? :D
There's only a few skronky notes on that, it's meedle free and Mania D with 50% of Malaria! are cooler than a penguin in a deep freeze and in their own coolness firmament.

It's true a guitar solo is a like a fucking knitting needle in the ear for me in 99% of cases and increasingly so and if I'm honest I find the sight of most men with an electric guitar a disheartening sight and I've generally heard enough highly saturated guitar for a lifetime but as with anything it's the wielder not that which is being wielded and for me most fucks standing manspread with an electric guitar are roughly as cool as just shitting yourself in public.

I think sax (and clarinet) is great on this sort of thing and was used well both in Germany, the UK and across the lowlands and even over in the USA and it's not like it's SO overdone and ubiquitous as a mechanically recovered cheeseburger that it's in every fucking band no matter how they do their hair and fully moribund to the power ten.

You're probably sitting back in the land of the free wondering why there's no Scorpions on that mix. :P

Btw if you want German of the period by with more guitars and conventional feel without going the full Winds of Change look at Rheingold.

Rheingold - Dreiklangsdimensionen is kinda like a German jump into the fire but they are best known for Fan, Fan, Fanatisch which all my kids have been obsessed with at one time or another.

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Re: Off the Beaten Path Post Punk Thread

Post by Jaguar018 » Thu Nov 15, 2018 8:48 am

That Die Haut song is the killer track for me; I did not see anything else out there by them, but I suspect my near-complete lack of German post-punk music knowledge might contribute to this. I'm just your 'basic' American hipster when it comes to German bands. I appreciate Can and Neu! Also a fan of the Kraftwerk hits (as are my kids).

I just wasn't 'ready' for this music when it was coming out. I spend my university years in the midwest and lesser known German music wasn't making its way that deep into the States. It was probably just reserved for the costal elites? :whistle:

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Re: Off the Beaten Path Post Punk Thread

Post by shadowplay » Fri Nov 16, 2018 5:27 am

Jaguar018 wrote:
Thu Nov 15, 2018 8:48 am
That Die Haut song is the killer track for me; I did not see anything else out there by them, but I suspect my near-complete lack of German post-punk music knowledge might contribute to this. I'm just your 'basic' American hipster when it comes to German bands. I appreciate Can and Neu! Also a fan of the Kraftwerk hits (as are my kids).

I just wasn't 'ready' for this music when it was coming out. I spend my university years in the midwest and lesser known German music wasn't making its way that deep into the States. It was probably just reserved for the costal elites? :whistle:
There's a few later Die Haut songs that also have Lydia Lunch vocals but most of their music is a kinda shambolic junkyard broken kneed sort of affair and there's probably nothing to rival Der Karibische Western which I've posted once or twice on here I think.

With German stuff I really started to get into the newer stuff with Malaria, Liaisons Dangereuses (I ran away from home to be at this gig) and Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft when I was in school but I was already toe in before then, especially as my dad hated the German stuff more than anything, which was a nice bonus, then I just always kept an eye open for it. I got my first job in a record shop around this time and this gave me access to distribution lists and I started to find a music that way. Back then I thought I was quite the sophisticated little prick and tried to get my Futurist night off the ground in a church hall after a Vicar made the mistake of letting me loose, sadly it was nothing but violence and disinterest.

For me this sort of music has been a true continuum, not just German but stuff that's continued the spirit. I mean I'm pounding the new Silent Servant twelve and Juan Mendez is a Hispanic American but he's still carrying the torch.

Btw thanks for taking the time to reply, it's been utterly beyond shit in the music thread for a long time (for me at least) if you don't want to talk about...well...bands there's been so much said about there's nothing left to say.

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Re: Off the Beaten Path Post Punk Thread

Post by scottT » Fri Nov 16, 2018 10:43 am

shadowplay wrote:
Thu Jul 14, 2016 8:14 am
Visitors were a band from Edinburgh and while I have their three singles it was really great to get to buy the compilation (Poet's End - Telephone Explosion Records) that came out a few months ago because the sevens are pretty skanky after all these years and also because the unreleased stuff is great.

I saw them live when I was a pup (one time supporting New Order) and they have just the right balance of limber white light guitar and fractured dystopian shadowspace. Very much post Joy Division and perhaps file alongside Modern Eon, In Camera, The Mob and early Modern English.

Pattern

Our Glass

D
I was going to ask what you thought about In Camera and then I saw your mention. Visitors is what I wish In Camera sounded more like, but falls just frustratingly short for me. In Camera gives me flashes of brilliance with some very infectious snare/hi hat grooves and prominent bass hooks mixed right to the front and often carrying the melody--all good in my book. But, man they are raw, and not "good raw" often enough. Too bad because many tracks start out with great promise and then fizzle for me as they meander to nowhere, or worse, are interrupted by grating vocals. I think they could have been better but weren't interested, and maybe that is in keeping with the post-punk aesthetic. But I really appreciate the extra polish and tighter arranging which for me make the Visitors a more enjoyable listen.

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Re: Off the Beaten Path Post Punk Thread

Post by Jaguar018 » Fri Nov 16, 2018 11:21 am

It's always nice to find new (to me) music that I enjoy-- to the point where I want to share it with other people.

I've always suspected that there was rich vein of German music that I would enjoy. Most of the European romance language countries' forays into pop music in the past decades (Italy, France, Spain) has been pretty poor for my tastes aside from some absolute gems here and there, but again, I think that has to do with the limited availability of 'foreign language' music in the US; which is to say, there is a lot I missed.

This is such a great time to be alive as a music fan. All of the lost/forgotten old stuff is being rediscovered and shared, and it's easier than it's ever been to record music.

I don't feel the music discussion here is all that different than what goes on in the music world in general. For every great new discovery one has to wade through a lot of dreck. Finding even one great, 'share with friends' level song a day is always special for me. If I have to skip a thread talking about Clapton or read about MBV and Sonic Youth a few times along the way it's worth it. :)

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Re: Off the Beaten Path Post Punk Thread

Post by shadowplay » Tue Jan 22, 2019 2:54 am

SUPER recommendation; Victrola - Born From The Water: Demos 1983-1985 (Bandcamp) or do as I did and buy the double record on the fantastic Dark Entries records which releases a raft of fantastic reissues, unobtanium finds and great new bands. I don't think a month goees by without at least one Dark Entries release in my record bag.

I've no doubt bored many people with my love for Victrola's sole single from 1982, Maritime Tatami b/w A Game Of Despair , which if you haven't heard it is almost certainly the best post punk one record wonder you've not heard. It's as genuine spangly dark disko stunner on the A and a gloaming introspective minimal cold wave ballad on the killer bee.

Anyway the Demos are genuinely surprising, some of them sounding more like the early 90's (not that early 90's dear reader) than early 80's and find a perfect nexus between elegant European electronic pop and shadier tape only noturnal emitters. Sound quality is only Ok but IMO it's only really noticable when you compare Maritime Tatami/ A Game Of Despair to it's rough workings, otherwise it's a good listen.

Tasting notes; Clan of Xymox, The Cure, New Order, Artificial Intelligence, Trisomie 21, Kirlian Camera, Jeunesse d’Ivoire, Moral, Fra Lippo Lippi, Japan, Nine Circles.
Victrola is the duo of Antonio “Eze” Cuscinà and Carlo Smeriglio from Messina, Italy. The band formed in 1979 but shortly thereafter relocated to Florence take part in a rich musical scene alongside Neon, Pankow, Alexander Robotnick, and Diaframma. Beginning as a 4-piece (two guitarists, bassist, drummer) they slimmed down to a synthesizer and guitar-based duo by 1982. Their sole release was the now classic ”Maritime Tatami”/”A Game Of Despair” EP from 1983, which we reissued in 2012.

‘Born From The Water’ is a 12 song collection of unreleased demos recorded between 1983 and 1985. The band sent us over 100 cassettes, through which we dug to compile the first volume of their archival darkwave ballads. They used an array of Roland synthesizers (TR-606, TB-303, TR-909, Juno 6) plus a Korg Polysix, Yamaha DX7, Casio VL-Tone VL-1, DR-55 Dr. Rhythm, and Fender Stratocaster and Jazz Bass. Some of the songs would later appear on various compilations, but the versions presented here are unique. Victrola engulfs the listener with trance-inducing synth lines, oblique minor-key bass lines, angular guitar riffs, and melancholic vocals. The songs tell tales of youth, love, karma, and the decline of civilization in modern times. Each song has been carefully remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The records come housed in a jacket designed by Eloise Leigh, which uses motifs from the band’s sole release and includes an insert with liner notes and photosVictrola - Born From The Water: Demos 1983-198


Btw if this whets you appetite for Italians in eyeliner let me just say Mutazione for one last time!

Fantastico!

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Re: Off the Beaten Path Post Punk Thread

Post by aRoseisaRoseis » Mon Feb 01, 2021 9:43 am

I really like some of the records that were conceived in the Allee der Kosmonauten /Astronaut alley, Berlin last year.

Liiek s/t and 7" - no frills angular fun in the vein of Gang of Four..

The Goods were properly packed (s/t)
Fitted and Lost (''7)

Aus s/t - paging Shadowplay- ice-cold, detached-german-spoken all-female outfit.

Suchmaschine
Am Puls der Zeit

Die Schiefe Bahn demo - Aus with a bit of a Kabarett edge, I truly love this one.

Atmungsaktiv
Vogelarten

Berlin is a few hour train ride from my neck of the woods, I'll be pointing my antennas east for any gigs post-lockdown..

Edit - Static Shock Musik still has some physical copies of the sold out ones if anyone is looking.

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