This blog is dedicated to the lost world of seven and twelve inches from the 70's/80's, mostly from minimal synth, post punk, dark wave, cold wave, industrial, no wave, experimental area.
After 2 years of exploration into the depths of Italian Minimal Synth and Cold Wave, Mannequin is back with the second volume of the much acclaimed compilation 'Danza Meccanica - Italian Synth Wave 1981-1987'.
Here are three new absolutely stunning gems in streaming:
Vision Fortune – Black Coral / Void Of The Valley 7" (Mannequin MNQ 019)
Release Date: 26 November 2011
7" Single - Limited Edition 300 Copies
Vision Fortune are two brothers spirits from London, UK, who sent us a strange and entertaining short email letting us know that they had some sounds to hear up on their Soundcloud.
“We are fans of you, maybe you will be fans of us”.
With such a great invitation we couldnʼt help but head over for a listen and what we found were “Black Coral” and “Void Of The Valley”. Instantly, i saw “Black Coral” travelling on the train of Savage Republic, Red Temple Spirits and the Californian Trance and on the other side “Void Of The Valley” channeling in the same breath the spirit of King Crimson, so full of sax wails over a steady hynotizing bass line which frames the dual vocals that is almost a chant.
We are pretty sure that Vision Fortune will be one of the next big things in the UK indie scene in 2012, so we are really proud to present you their debut 45 revolutions-per-minute single.
"It's downbeat, pretty dense in it's recording and doesn't really seem to care if the listener is having a good time." (LOST LOST LOST MAGAZINE)
"Picture, if you can, a bunch of other-worldly belly dancers beaming down to Earth, bringing with them a musical language consisting of avant garde, jazz fusion, a raw sense of garage rock and a talent for a creating damn catchy pop hooks." (CANT HEAR MY EYES MAGAZINE)
"Each moment that passed was one step closer to our insanity as we wandered through the void of the valley" (GOOD POP BAD POP MAGAZINE)
"Vision Fortune sound like an unlikely jam between Abdullah Ibrahim's Dollar Brand, Bill Laswell's Material, King Crimson and Joy Division. And they definitely sound like a bunch of great musicians with a rich musical background and a true songwriting craft" (SPIRIT OF EDEN MAGAZINE)
"Do check out their Soundcloud (in the most stable frame of mind you have) for more material from these South London drone-smiths. I'm not joking; these guys literally open new doors on perception." (SPOONFED MAGAZINE)
I brani selezionati nella mixtape vivono sospesi in un istananeo gioco di flashback e flashforward, tra cospirazioni e ispirazioni, un'eterna altalena tra brani inesplorati del passato e nuove glorie.
Tracklist e note.
01 Craig Leon - One Hundred Steps ('Vising' LP, 1982)
Uno dei più famosi produttori di NYC (Blondie e Ramones tanto per spararne due a caso) qui impegnato come solista in un'orgia synth-psichedelica senza respiro. Da riscoprire e rubare a piene orecchie.
02 Chris Carter - Interloop ('The Space Between' K7 1980)
Fresco di ristampa su Optimo Music, nel 1980 Chris Carter tralascia il momento Throbbing Gristle per dedicarsi alla sua più grande passione: i sintetizzatori. The Man vs The Machine(s).
03 Nagamatzu - Murderous Passions ('Sacred Islands Of The Mad' K7 1986)
Qualcuno si ricorderà sicuramente il produttore techno inglese Andrew Lagowski nel suo momento novantino. Pochi sanno però che appena 10 anni prima il buon Andrew si faceva intere dosi di dark wave in vena. Joy Division meets electro.
04 The Soft Moon - Total Decay ('Total Decay' 12'' EP 2011)
Previsto per il giorno di Halloween il nuovo EP firmato a nome Soft Moon aka Luis Vasquez. Il classico "can't wait for".
Se persino la Thrill Jockey inizia a pizzicare nell'underground, probabilemte quello che dicono è vero. La minimal synth o minimal electronics ha raggiunto il suo apice in termini di popolarità. Tunnels suona come Dark Day catapultato nel 2011. Magnifico.
06 The Royal Family and the Poor - Voices ('The Project Phase 1 - The Temple Of The 13th Tribe' LP 1984)
Il lato esoterico-wave della Factory Records, ovvero la mia etichetta preferita. Disco inarrivabile, indefinibile, da lacrime. Da notare Peter Hook che fa capolino al basso in un momento di estrema lucidità creativa.
07 Brassica - Ballo Dei Morti (Various – Somewhere Out On The Nightside 12'' 2009)
L'unico uomo in grado di fondere il testo di un pezzo degli Slayer tradotto in italiano e super-vocoderato con l'italo disco di deriva cosmic sound. Magic waves for you.
Title-track appena premierata come traccia della settimana su Pitchfork per il duo minimal synth newyorchese più influente degli ultimi 30 anni. Liz & Sean, i love you!
09 The Night Terrors - Human Hair ('Back To Zero' CD 2009)
Krautrocker australiani con enormi synth monofonici e il theremin di Miles Brown a guidare il tutto. Epic sound.
10 Led Er Est - Plants ('May' 12'' EP 2011)
Dopo le bombe atomiche 'Dust On Common' e lo split con gli Ancien Regime, i tre scatenati di Brooklyn tornano alla carica con una psichedelia di deriva synth minimale, dove si intrecciano sperimentali echi di chitarra acustica e melodie vogliosamente pop.
11 Rituals Into The Fire - Gift of Time ('Journey Through Darkness, Searching For The Sky...' 12'' 1988)
Gruppo canadese praticamente sconosciuto, impegnato in un disco senza continuum temporale tra dark wave, ambient e new age, il tutto condito da piano e violini e due voci dell'oltretomba. Creepy.
12 Esben And The Witch - Eumenides ('33' Demo 2010)
Sono passati ormai due anni da quando scaricai questo splendido demo in rete (molto più grezzo negli arrangiamenti e nella produzione rispetto al successivo 'Violet Cries'), subito dopo aver acquistato il loro primo 7''. Il mio primo pensiero fu quello di contattarli per Mannequin ma alla fine non feci nulla. Male. Nel 2011 gli Esben sono stati il primo gruppo inglese a firmare per la Matador negli ultimi dieci anni.
A fine 2009 mi trovavo a NYC per presentare Danza Meccanica e Pieter della Wierd Records incensò questo duo, una ragazzona di colore e un tipo di origini italiane, a suo dire tra le cose migliori uscite nell'elettronica wave americana degli ultimi anni. Beh si, effettivamente avevi ragione da vendere, Pieter.
INFO: MANNEQUIN FESTIVAL . CHAPTER #0 MARTIAL CANTEREL + TROPIC OF CANCER 02.11.2011 La Mécanique Ondulatoire, 8 Passage Thiéré, 75011 Paris, France Inizio h. 21,30 Ingresso: 8,00 € Prevendita: booking@mannequinmailorder.com o discoetchaos@gmail.com
MANNEQUIN FESTIVAL . CHAPTER #1 TROPIC OF CANCER + MUSHY + DIE SELEKTION 03.11.2011 Closer Club, Via Vacuna, 98 Inizio h. 21,30 Ingresso: 8,00 € info: booking@mannequinmailorder.com
At the tail end of 2010, San Franciscan Luis Vasquez put out his dark, fever-soaked self-titled debut LP as the Soft Moon. The follow-up to that release, the Total Decay EP, is out on October 31 (yes, Halloween, fittingly) on Captured Tracks. Check out the title track below.
MNQ 018 The Present Moment - Loyal To A Fault LP/CD
A new effort entitled Loyal to A Fault will soon see the light on Mannequin. This new record is a collaborative effort between Scott Milton and Philipp Munch of The Rorschach Garden.
It explores a relatively similar dynamic pop territory, still opened to new musical tendencies and new sonorities without loosing cohesion. Consequently this last effort promises a completely mesmeric musical odyssey made of eerie drones, addictive electro moves, propulsive batcave bass lines and captivating plaintive-melodic sections which culminate into a sort of ecstatic consuming reverie. Scott Milton’s rich sense of composition gives to the arrangements a radical and unique feel, somewhere between the narcoleptic twist of The Sisters of Mercy, the regular addictive density of Front 242 and the touching goth- dramatic sense of Colin Newman or Asylum Party. The Present Moment means a real sense of adventure towards music and a fair degree of passion for singular, creative and fugitive shared moments, against any procrastination. Prepare yourself for this transgressive, post-romantic electro adventure.
This year, Scott Milton’s live band played with a handful of notorious figures of the synth-minimal cold wave circle such as Light Asylum, Salem, Gatekeeper, Iron Curtain, Legendary Pink Dots, Soft Metals just to name a few…
“There’s rarely any way to sing about love here without it feeling like the end of world.” (Altered Zones)
“Synthpop is pop made with synths, simple as that and The Present Moment are a more than an excellent example, showing that today there is talent in this genre.” (Peek A Boo Magazine)
“The Present Moment’s new album is a real outlier in the surge of new dark music coming out of North America” (I Die You Die)
If you want to contribute with your own material, please send an email to: bluetvset@gmail.com, with a list or just the zipped file including mp3 (min. 192 kpbs) + cover of the single + txt with a short bio.
Yu can also upload it directly to Mass Mirror (http://s2.massmirror.com) and send me back the links.
Because many users maybe dont know how to download the zipped album from the servers here's a very short guide
1) Click on "Download from" at the bottom of each post
2) A new page now is open (zShare,Mass Mirror, Snapdrive). Simply follow the "download" link and wait until the zipped file is available to save to the desktop.
