Slab! – Death's Head Soup [12''] (1989, Ink Records)

Slab! are an industrial music / alternative rock band initially active between the mid-1980s and early 1990s. They reformed in 2009. The band's first release was the 'Mars on Ice' 12-inch single in 1986 on Dave Kitson's Ink Records (an offshoot of his Red Flame label). This received airplay from John Peel who invited them to record a session for his BBC Radio 1 show the same year. They followed this with 'Parallax Avenue' in 1987 which saw them in the lower reaches of the UK Independent Chart, and in May that year their debut mini-LP 'Music From The Iron Lung' was issued, reaching number 21 on the Independent Albums chart. 'Smoke Rings' gave them their highest charting single, reaching number 31 on the indie chart in July 1987, and towards the end of the year the band's first long-playing album, 'Descension' was issued. Second full-length LP album 'Sanity Allergy' was issued in 1988, and that year they recorded their third and final Peel session. The band split up in 1991, with a 'best of' compilation, 'Ship of Fools', released the same year. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA] 

 

 

Label: Ink Records – INK 1240 

Format: Vinyl, 12", Single 

Country: UK 

Released: 1989 

Style: Alternative Rock, Industrial Rock, Noise Rock, Funk Metal, Industrial Metal

 

Tracklist:

A Death's Head Soup 

B1 Death's Head Soup (Club Mix) 

B2 Switchback Ride 

 

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The Raw Herbs – Old Joe / That’s How It Is [7''] (1986, Medium Cool)

 

The Raw Herbs were an English indie pop band signed to Medium Cool Records, who had a number 19 hit on the UK Indie Chart in 1987 with "Don't Bury Me Yet". The band comprised Derek Parker (vocals, guitar), Kevin Bache (guitar), Steven Archibald (bass), and Brian Alexis (drums). The band recorded a session for Janice Long's BBC Radio 1 show in 1987. Brian Alexis, who had taken up teaching after receiving a degree in psychology at UEL, died on 17 May 2011 after suffering a deep vein thrombosis. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]

 

 

Label: Medium Cool – MC002 

Format: Vinyl, 7", 33 ⅓ RPM, Single Sided, Stereo, Flexi

Country: UK 

Released: 1986 

Style: Indie Rock, Twee Pop, C86, Jangle Pop, Neo-Psychedelia

 

Tracklist:

A1 Old Joe 

A2 That’s How It Is 

 

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Philip Johnson – Radio City [Cass] (1981, HR Cassettes)

 

The absolute epitome of early DIY, 'Radio City' provided a fantastic step by step to guide to non-musicianship for the uninitiated. Releasing around 20 cassettes between 1979 and 1981 alone, Philip Johnson seems to have been forgotten in the most recent wave of interest, but given how his seemingly random soundscapes tended to operate far beyond even the outer limits of experimentation, it's not a surprise. [SOURCE: GREENINC]

 

 

Label: HR Cassettes – No. 3 

Format: Cassette, Album, C45 

Country: UK 

Released: 1980 

Style: Experimental, Industrial, Sound Collage, Musique Concrète

 
Tracklist: 

A1 Radio City 4:33 

A2 'My Friends' 3:23 

A3 American Intelligence 1:44 

A4 Johnson' Opera Part 1 0:36 

A5 'At The Old Bailey' 2:40 

A6 Johnson' Opera Part 2 1:47 

A7 Johnson' Opera Part 3 3:12 

A8 Johnson' Opera Part 4 2:57 

B1 Ritual 2:42 

B2 Nothing 3:46 

B3 Holiday Train 1:42 

B4 'More Than Just' 7:16 

B5 'Not So Much' 1:27 

B6 My Line 1 1:17 

B7 My Line 2 1:07 

B8 'There's Been Some Tough Talking' 1:56 

 
Notes: 

Recorded by P.J., first May 1979 on cassette, then (except "Opera Pt.I") again on reel, Oct. 29th, 31st, Nov. 2nd. Some tracks re-recorded Sept. 1980, but it's a 1979 production. 

 
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Orfeon Gagarin – Gift Of Fire [Cass] (1991, Linea Alternativa)

Orfeón Gagarin is one of the first project of the veteran electronic musician from Madrid Miguel Angel Ruiz since the mid eighties. Ruiz's music is one of the best kept secret of the Spanish underground electronic music since the early eighties, as he is not as well known internationally as other musicians from Spain who started in those years, such as Esplendor Geométrico, Francisco López, or Diseño Corbusier, to name a few. 

 

In 1986 he released his first work on cassette as Orfeón Gagarin on his own legendary label Toracic Tapes, and since then he has been very active in the international cassette label movement and has collaborated with musicians from different countries such as Cisfinitum (Codachrom), Dieter Mauson, Francisco López, Siegmar Fricke (Efficient Refineries, Ambulatorio Segreto), Stephano Barban, etc. As a solo artist, besides Orfeón Gagarin, he has released dozens of works in all formats, mostly on cassette, under different names: Funeral Souvenir, Exhaustor, Michel Des Airlines or Ventral Metaphor. [SOURCE: MORADA SÓNICA]

 

 

Label: Linea Alternativa – none 

Format: Cassette 

Country: Spain 

Released: 1991 

Style: Experimental 

Tracklist: 

A1 Jevanese Forms Of Life 

A2 Opening: Across The Night 

A3 Death Of The Starring 

A4 Eastern Lights 

A5 Delang Shadows 

A6 News Form Europe 

A7 The Mussels' Dance 

A8 An Island For Adults 

A9 Sudden Blindness 

A10 Le Méthode Crocodile 

A11 The Spell Of Watch 

B1 The Warning 

B2 A Snake Feeling 

B3 The Head, He, She, We, It 

B4 The Student's Wound 

B5 The Harbour, The Farewell 

B6 Threat Form The West 

B7 The Secret School 

B8 Pansori Play 

B9 Goodbye, Edo 

B10 Closing Title
 

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No Man Is An Island – The Girl From Missouri [12''] (1989, Plastic Head Records Limited)

No-Man are an English art pop duo, formed in 1987 as No Man Is an Island (Except the Isle of Man) by singer Tim Bowness and multi-instrumentalist Steven Wilson. The band has so far produced seven studio albums and a number of singles/outtakes collections (most notably, 2006's career retrospective, 'All the Blue Changes'). The band was once lauded as "conceivably the most important English group since The Smiths" by Melody Maker music newspaper, and a 2017 article of Drowned in Sound described them as "probably the most underrated band of the last 25 years". Originally creating a sample-based proto-trip hop/ambient/electropop-styled music, No-Man has pursued a more organic, diverse and band-oriented sound in subsequent years. Drawing from a diverse mix of singer-songwriter, post rock, minimalist, progressive rock, jazz and contemporary ambient sources for inspiration, No-Man's musical style is distinctive yet difficult to categorise. 

 
Steven Wilson originally launched the band in 1986 as a solo project, recording an instrumental track called "From a Toyshop Window", which blended progressive rock with synth pop. In 1987, he linked up with singer, lyricist and occasional guitarist and keyboard player Tim Bowness, who at the time was singing with Liverpool-based art-pop band, Plenty. Bowness and Wilson continued working together on recording sessions for the next two years. Violinist Ben Coleman joined the project after becoming involved with recording sessions in late 1988. The band established a four-piece live line-up in 1989 by adding guitarist Stuart Blagden (who had previously played with Bowness in the Manchester-based band, Still). No Man Is An Island released their debut single, a waltz time ballad called "The Girl From Missouri", on Plastic Head Records in mid-1989. The band was disappointed with the single and soon disowned it. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]

 

 

Label: Plastic Head Records Limited – PLAS S 012 

Format: Vinyl, 12", 45 RPM 

Country: UK 

Released: 1989 

Style: Indie Rock, Art Rock, Art Pop, Chamber Pop, Progressive Rock

 
Tracklist: 

A1 The Girl From Missouri 

A2 Forest Almost Burning 

B1 Night Sky, Sweet Earth 

B2 The Ballet Beast
 

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Modern Jazz – Bubble Head Breakdown [Cass] (1983, Not On Label)

Modern Jazz was an electro-based live performance group assembled and co-ordinated by Ash Wednesday. Not a conventional group by any means, Modern Jazz was carefully designed to constantly evolve and change form, to include various configurations of numerous and diverse select musicians and artists. It was to exist, therefore, as a vehicle for creative input from a varied extent of sources. This input was often directed towards the idea of mating computer generated sound and vision to human spontanaiety (perhaps stange bedfellows to the uninitiated). When viewed from this angle, the name 'Modern Jazz', however ironic, was specifically descriptive. [SOURCE: ASH-WEDNESDAY.COM]

 

 

Label: Not On Label (Modern Jazz Self-released) – none 

Format: Cassette, Album, C60 

Country: Australia 

Released: 1983 

Style: Synth-pop, Synthwave, Minimal Synth

 
Tracklist: 

A1 Bubble Head Breakdown 

A2 Sodium 

A3 Engine Noise 

A4 Life In Paris 

B1 Colour Me 

B2 Jesse James' Turd 

B3 Nothing Grows In Texas 

B4 Airstrike 

B5 Cut My Hair 

B6 Boom De Boom Boom Baby 

B7 H2O Mod 

 
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La Femme – Looking For A Laugh [7''] (1981, Space Records)

La Femme was a fascinating meld of late Seventies influences including Punk, New Wave, Glam and Hard Rock. Former members of the violent 70's Sharpie Gangs of Melbourne, they formed in 1978, and played the inner-city scene alongside all the other new bands of the day like Models, The Boys Next Door, The Ears, Little Murders and The News. Led by a charismatic frontman in Chane Chane, a flashy guitarist in Brett Walker, and supported by the thuggish rhythm section of Peter Kidd and Graham Schiavello, the band earned themselves a reputation for being confident, showy and popular in certain circles. La Femme had a strong rapport with audiences, and for that reason was readily accepted on the suburban pub circuit where many other bands of the day would have been despised.

While many believe La Femme could have made it into the big league if they’d wanted to, in many ways they were their own worst enemies. An unwillingness to play the pop star game and serious drug addictions, among other things, perhaps ended up compromising the band’s drive. But despite their setbacks, La Femme toured constantly, built up a huge support base in the city's and suburban pub circuits all over the country, and scored several prestigious support gigs (including Iggy Pop and the Ramones). La Femme eventually broke up at the end of 1983. [SOURCE: LANEWAY MUSIC] 

 

Label: Space Records – 13201 

Format: Vinyl, 7" 

Country: Australia 

Released: Nov 1981 

Style: Punk, New Wave, Glam Punk, Hard Rock

 

Tracklist:

A Looking For A Laugh 

B No-one Talks 

 

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Kiem – The Moneyman [12''] (1986, Torso)

 

Kiem formed in 1983 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and disbanded in 1987; initially formed as Pleasant Time Trio to the occasion of raising the curtain for a performance of jazz artist George Adams And The Don Pullen Quartet. "K.I.E.M." is an abbreviation of "Klank Improvisatie Elektronische Muziek" (Sound Improvisation Electronic Music). Their immediate success led to performances on jazz, rock and experimental stages and festivals (Tegentonen, North Sea Jazz, Pandora's Music Box) and modest dance-hits in the Netherlands. Most remarkable about Kiem is Cees Meurs' metal drum-kit consisting of oil-drums, garbage bin, anvil, anchor-chains and other remains from the wrecked tow-boat "Corrie". This drum-kit –played like normal drums– accompanied by a squeaking saxophone (Ger Van Voorden), a synthetic keyboard and proclaiming vocals (Huub Kentie) result in a sound that might be type-casted as industrial, but also has jazz and experimental characteristics. Ger Van Voorden left the band in 1986 to play with poet / drummer Jules Deelder. He was replaced by Jos Valster. Growing into a more popular sound, bigger success followed in Southern Europe with "The Moneyman", in 1987.

 

 

Label: Torso – TORSO 12026 

Format: Vinyl, 12", 45 RPM 

Country: Netherlands 

Released: 1986 

Style: Synth-pop, Experimental, EBM

Tracklist: 

A The Moneyman 2 6:16 

B The Moneyman 3 (Instrumental) 6:37
 

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