Laibach / Last Few Days – Laibach / Last Few Days [Cass] (1983, Galerija ŠKUC Izdaja)

To many the band Last Few Days is just a complete mystery or simply some group who toured with Laibach and then promptly disappeared soon afterwards. This is not particularly surprising for a band that consciously left little mark during their existence. They were a band that deliberately avoided releasing their material and kept a limit on their live performances, they also had a very low profile though it was increased briefly after the Laibach collaborations. Most people attending their concerts had little very idea who they were, simply enticed along by the ambiguous posters or simply a night out. The concerts themselves bizarrely lasting all through the night (with a mixture of music and movies), still going at 7AM and not quite easiest sort music to be listening too either. They made heavy use of megaphones, guitars often played with broken bottles, drum unrelenting and brutal, delivering rather harsh and bewildering but occasionally rhythmic apocalyptic music. The three main members of Last Few Days were Daniel Landin (aka D. Styme), Si Joyce (aka Si Gross) and Keir Wahid (aka K. Warhead & and K. Fraser). They were regularly helped out by Fritz Haaman (aka Fritz Catlin) who also performed with Laibach during the joint tour, and occasionally by Sam Mills, both members of 23 Skidoo. Last Few Days returned as a pop outfit in 1990, with a core of Keir and Si.

 

 

Label: Galerija ŠKUC Izdaja – none 

Format: Cassette 

Country: Yugoslavia 

Released: Apr 1983 

Style: Industrial, Dark Ambient

 

Tracklist:

A1 Laibach – Panorama I 

A2 Laibach – Cari Amici 

A3 Laibach – Jaruzelsky 

A4 Laibach – Zmagoslavje Volje 

A5 Laibach – Smrt Za Smrt 

A6 Laibach – Država 

A7 Laibach – Panorama II 

B1 Last Few Days – Polar Vision 4:21 

B2 Last Few Days – I Lie 3:50 

B3 Last Few Days – F1. Redemption 7:47 

B4 Last Few Days – Blind Knives 3:16 

B5 Last Few Days – Solemn Warnings 2:46 

 

Notes: 

Tracks A1 to A7 recorded at Studio Metro/RŠ 1982/83. 

Tracks B1 and B4 recorded at Western Works May 1982. 

Track B2 recorded in Greenwich Tunnel (Beneath the River Thames) November 1982. 

Track B3 recorded at The Final Academy October 1982. 

Track B5 recorded at The Death Factory February 1983. 

 

Recorded at RŠ (Radio Študent) 1983, print run: 400 copies. 

 

DOWNLOAD HERE

Kinetic Ideals – Reason [12''] (1981, Mannequin Records)

 

Kinetic Ideals was a Canadian new wave band from Mississauga, Ontario. They released one single and three EPs on the Mannequin record label, formed by Paul Abrahams, manager of the new romantic group Spoons. In 1981 they issued the five-track EP, 'Reason', that established the sound they became known for, a moodier post-Joy Division groove that fit with other locals like Sheep Look Up and Breeding Ground. Brett Wickens was by now working for Peter Saville Associates in England, and designed an angular modernist cover in the mold of early New Order releases. This combination of compelling music, improved production and visual design garnered the band critical acclaim. Mike Rullman (vocals), Jean-Claude Chambers (guitars), Alan Murrell (bass) and Jon Davies (drums) found themselves opening for visiting bands including Teardrop Explodes, The Stranglers and Gang of Four. The song "Animalistic" topped the dance-club charts in Toronto in 1981, and was a live favourite. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA] 

 

 

Label: Mannequin Records – MANEP1 

Format: Vinyl, 12", 33 ⅓ RPM, EP 

Country: Canada 

Released: 1981 

Style: New Wave, Punk, Synth-pop, Post-Punk

 

Tracklist:

A1 Absurdity 

A2 Animalistic 

A3 No Exit 

B1 Fire 

B2 Structures 

 

DOWNLOAD HERE

Jon Rose – Vivisection [LP] (1988, AufRuhr Records)

 

Jon Rose is a highly versatile violin player despite the fact that that tends to be forgotten. A maverick, subversive character and one of the most colorful artists in new music, Rose is mostly known for his many experimental radio dramas, conceptual stage pieces, deconstructed/reinvented string instruments, and a wicked sense of humor. Most of his works are threaded with cross-thematic elements (in a way that strongly recalls Frank Zappa's own "conceptual continuity") that elaborate a revision of violin history. Rose is also an active free improviser with groups in Australia and Germany.

 
Rose grew up in England. He studied the violin from age seven until 15, at which point he turned his back on formal music education. He began to play professionally at the beginning of the 1970s and spent most of the decade taking up every gig offered to him. He performed rock, country, jazz, and contemporary music, and even made commercial session work. This contact with the popular repertoire of each genre allowed him to absorb every trademark lick, every cliché that would later feed his John Zorn-like stylistic jump-around compositional technique. Halfway through the 1970s, Rose moved to Australia. He soon became a catalyst for the burgeoning avant-garde scene and recorded his first albums there for the label Fringe Benefit. 

 
By 1985, Rose moved to Berlin. In the course of the next few years, his art literally blossomed. Before he left, he had delivered to the ABC (the Australian state radio) a 90-minute series entitled "The Anatomy of the Violin," but it is in Berlin where he developed his very peculiar sense of humor, style juxtaposition, and historical fraud in a series of hörspiels. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]

 

 

Label: AufRuhr Records – 67013 

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album 

Country: Germany 

Released: 1988 

Style: Free Improvisation, Experimental, Contemporary 

 

Tracklist: 

A1 Paganini's Surgery 2:42 

A2 Exit Dance 3:18 

A3 Budapest In Flames 2:24 

A4 First Cut 3:19 

A5a The Believers (1) 6:26 

A5b The Believers (2) 2:01 

A6 Open Wounds 2:51 

A7 Another CD Accident 1:27 

B1 Transfusion 3:02 

B2 Madonna And Child 7:31 

B3 Do The Razor Blade 0:38 

B4 Amazing Cage 6:32 

B5 Panic Button 1:16 

B6 Taking A String For A Walk 3:59 

B7 Straight Batting / Bowing 3:21

 

Notes: 

Tracks A1, A5b, B3 & B5 come from a Radio Hörspiel "Paganini And The Reverend Ike". Track B7 mixed in Australia. The Other pieces were recorded live at concerts or sessions in Berlin, January 1987. 

 

DOWNLOAD HERE

Inertia – The Screen / A Submarine [7''] (1980, Inertial Records)

 

Inertia was a Douglas Benford (aka Media Form, Radial Blend, Si-{cut}.db and Sidecut>>db) project. This is the sound of alienated youth, sick of the rock trip, finding their way in a new world of endless possibilities. Their best work was to come, but this is a charming moment in the birth pangs of minimal electronic pop, played by fingers not computers. Incredibly stripped down minimal synth that somehow captures your attention. Highly recommended for the 80's minimal synth collectors.

 
 

 

Label: Inertial Records – ERT-1 

Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single 

Country: UK 

Released: 1980 

Style: Minimal, Synth-pop, Minimal Wave, Minimal Synth

 

Tracklist:

A The Screen 

B A Submarine 

 

DOWNLOAD HERE

H.N.A.S. – Die Drehorgel Als Feuerspritze [Cass] (1986, Dom)

H.N.A.S. (Hirsche Nicht Aufs Sofa) was founded by Achim P. Li Khan and Christoph Heemann in 1983. H.N.A.S.'s sound experimentation started in 1984 with a series of limited cassettes made for demonstration purpose or personal use. Their first LP release was 'Abwassermusik' in 1985 (together with german experimental band Mieses Gegonge). The group then recorded 'Melchior' with Steven Stapleton, released on the United Dairies label the following year. Subsequent H.N.A.S. releases were mainly on their own Dom label.

 

 

Label: Dom – DOM 77-21 

Format: Cassette, Album, C60 

Country: Germany 

Released: 1986 

Style: Experimental, Industrial

 

Tracklist:

A Paradoxa Und Geheime Wissenschaften Dieser Welt 

B1 Bärenklammer 

B2 Macht Der Glaube Krank? 

B3 Ewige Verwirrung (Alternativer Mix) 

 

Notes:

A recorded live in Kalterherberg, BRD 8/12/84 

B3 is an alternate mix of a track that appears on the LP 'Küttel Im Frost' 

 

DOWNLOAD HERE

Güler – The Salt On Your Face [LP] (1987, Akzidanz)

 

Güler was a Dutch band from the Nijmegen scene that released only one album. Most of the band members previously played in other bands. Hans Hermes played in Das Wesen, Laszlo Panyigay in Mekanik Kommando and Ties van der Linden in Vice. Huub Dols, the fourth band member, would later form Ulanbator with the latter two. So you can hear a solid album, produced by Panyigay. Although the new wave in the second half of the 80s was largely taken over by the more polished New Romantic, this band has a sound that fits the early 80s.

 
The opener cuts right in. "Kiss Me" is a slightly hysterical uptempo song, which immediately makes it clear that this is not music to sit still to. In the music you can hear gothic rock influences, a bit in the direction of Bauhaus. PIL also briefly pops, which will also have to do with the somewhat drawling way of singing in this song. "The Ravens" has nice stirring rhythms, which provide a catchy drive in the song. The combination with a screeching guitar sound, including weird tomfoolery and a conjuring monotonous vocal, make it perfect to fill the dance floor with crazy dancing wave freaks. The quite dark tinged sound in "Gök" has something mysterious and could easily be placed under the heading of gothic rock. Certainly the vocals also contribute to this, they have a pinch of Eldritch (Sisters of Mercy). The drum sound of "Little Boy" was surely inspired by Joy Division's "She's Lost Control," otherwise, it looks absolutely nothing like it. Güler is definitely not a copycat. Occasionally you recognize some possible influences, which is only natural, here again Bauhaus, for example. All in all, it's a nice uplifting song.
 

"Princess Parade" also has a bit of that static drum sound á la "She's Lost Control" and a touch of Stranglers, but that will mainly be because the sound of organ distorting notes, similar to The Stranglers' 'Nice 'N' Sleazy'. Together with the freaky saxophone playing, the song takes on something chaotic, though it remains a well-organized whole. "Men and Women" stands out a bit dull compared to the rest. There is therefore quite a contrast with the song that follows, "I Threw It Out". Here a blissful fat sound is put down. Dark and ominous it sounds. Maybe the best of this record, but that remains taste and the rest is also just very different. With this song, think along the lines of Wire's "A Touching Display". Yep, this is the level and sound Güler manages to get pretty close to. What do you want to hear after the previous song? It could have been a closing track. Güler thinks otherwise and throws in another vague trip with the song "Thrilling Me". It's a bit like the eponymous closing track from The Cure's 'Pornography' album, but a little less dark. And so this fine discovery comes to an end. An unknown record of extraordinary class. [SOURCE: NEW WAVE & POST-PUNK REVIEWS]

 

 

Label: Akzidanz – AKZI 5 

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album 

Country: Netherlands 

Released: 1987 

Style: Post-Punk, Experimental. Goth Rock, Coldwave, Anatolian Rock

 

Tracklist:

A1 Kiss Me 

A2 The Ravens 

A3 Gök 

A4 Little Boy 

B1 Princess Parade 

B2 Men & Women 

B3 I Threw It Out 

B4 Thrilling Me 

 

DOWNLOAD HERE

Faith. No Man. – Quiet In Heaven / Song Of Liberty [7''] (1983, Ministry Of Propaganda Records)

 

Faith. No Man. was formed in late 1982 by Mike "The Man" Morris, Billy Gould, Wade Worthington and Mike Bordin. The band had already been around for nearly a year, and had released a demo tape, under the original name Sharp Young Men. The name Faith. No Man. was a shortened, punctuated version of "Faith In No Man". They recorded a two-song 7" single which was released in the spring of 1983. After the songs were recorded, but before the vinyl was released, keyboardist Wade Worthington left the band and was replaced by Roddy Bottum. In the late August/September 1983 Billy, Mike and Roddy quit the band as a strike out against Mike Morris, since he was the founding member of the band and could not be kicked out. The three of them then reformed as Faith. No More. (later punctuated as Faith No More, to accentuate the fact that "The Man" (Mike Morris) was "no more" part of the band. Faith No More played their first show in early October 1983. 

 
Their only single sounds quite like the first Faith No More album. The all-pervading synth lines are already there, as the jerky, percussive drum'n'bass section and the stark and the mildly psychotic mood. On the mike Mike Morris reminds a little of Jello Biafra. Really not bad. Of course, the whole thing is even rougher than the earliest Faith No More stuff, but that ain't a bad thing. "Song of Liberty" is a real cool song with a lovely bass. [SOURCE: RATE YOUR MUSIC]

 

 

Label: Ministry Of Propaganda Records – FNM1 

Format: Vinyl, 7", 33 ⅓ RPM, 45 RPM 

Country: US 

Released: 1983 

Style: New Wave, Avantgarde, Post-Punk, Goth Rock, Coldwave

 

Tracklist:

A Quiet In Heaven 

B Song Of Liberty 

 

DOWNLOAD HERE

Europeans – Vocabulary [LP] (1983, A&M Records)

 

Europeans (sometimes referred to as "The Europeans") were a British new wave group formed in 1981 and disbanded in 1985. They released two studio albums and one live album, none of which achieved much in terms of chart position. In 1989, their former keyboard player and co-lead vocalist Steve Hogarth joined Marillion as lead vocalist. 

 
'Vocabulary' is an excellent, powerful, new-wavey, pop-ish art-rock album. very musical and very entertaining without being shallow or banal. Excellent musicians who enjoy what they do are at play. Stand out tracks are "Innocence" and "Spirit Of Youth". Moods and sounds are rich, complex and diverse. Ferg Harper's vocals add a special note as well as Geoff Dugmore's serious drumming does. The production on all tracks is tight, robust but also "airy", meaning, there's a kind of effortlessness immanent that gives room for the drive and discipline the band manages to maintain the whole album through. [SOURCE: DISCOGS]

 

 

Label: A&M Records – AMLX 68558 

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album 

Country: UK 

Released: 1983 

Style: Pop Rock, New Wave, Art Pop

 

Tracklist:

A1 The Animal Song 3:50 

A2 A. E. I. O. U. 4:00 

A3 Voice On The Telephone 3:43 

A4 American People 3:10 

A5 Falling 5:20 

B1 Recognition 3:35 

B2 Innocence 4:00 

B3 Spirit Of Youth 3:34 

B4 Modern Homes 3:21 

B5 Kingdom Come 6:00 

 

DOWNLOAD HERE