Various - 391 Marche (1983)

Today's post features an impossibly scarce tape compilation, provided to me by an Italian friend from the very Marche region the tape is named after. From what I understand, this is a twin compilation to 391 Umbria which I had previously posted here. The lead-off track is a winner (see below), but great obscure sounds from beginning to end that I think will touch every palette. Enjoy!

Track List:

A1 - 3B Unit - Tango In The Rain
A2 - Know How - - Horizon Sales
A3 - The End - Tears In My Eyes
A4 - The End - This Man
A5 - Evitaxal - Untitled
B1 - Modi - Stay Underground
B2 - Celery Price - The C. of the X.
B3 - Marylin's Pills - Marylin's Pills
B4 - Aut Aut - Lusitania
B5 - Aut Aut - For You

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Vasselli - Paura Del Sole (198x)

Here's a rather obscure 7" from Italy (naturally). It's been a long time since my last post, and even longer since my last italo-disco post, so I thought it high time I deliver. While this is certainly an italo-disco record, it might have some appeal for wave/minimal heads as well, as there are some elements to the songs that register it somewhere outside the typical italo sound -- at least, in my opinion. I can't be certain on the year, but my guess is somewhere around '83-'85. If anyone out there can confirm that'd be great! Enjoy!

Track List:

A - Paura Del Sole
B - Il Canto Di Agla

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In other news, on the label efforts with Medical Records LLC, we're making some great progress with a few artists featured on Crispy Nuggets, and I think you guys are going to love it! More news as things develop. Stay tuned!

Noël Nickel - Madeleine (1981)

Here's a lovely self-release 7" from France. Certainly hard to find, as I've been after it for quite some time, but everything surfaces eventually! Expect classic early synthpop sounds with a touch of guitar littered in the mix. Enjoy!

Track List:

A - Madeleine
B - 120 BT/Mn

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Dono Detti - Esplanade Hotel, Live 18 March 1983

Here's a very special treat from way down under (and way back when music was fresh and exciting). You may be familiar with this Aussie band by way of the compilation Signal To Noise Set, which contains their great track Flesh and Steel (wait till around the 1 minute mark). Here's what little info I know on the band itself:

Initiated in 1983 as an experimental project by Jandy & Joseph. They were joined by Wes on keyboards for a while before the line up settled with Jandy Rainbow on vocals, programming & keyboards, Julie McInnes on vocals, sax & cello, Joseph Sgro on electronic percussion & backing vocals and Ross Guy on synthesiser & backings vocals.

Well, as is usually the case with these bands, there is more (although often hard to find). In this case, we have a CD-r from 2004 that went almost entirely under the radar, containing a live set performed by the band in 1983. I'm not usually one for live material, but these are crystal clear and sound more like solid demos.

There are 2 other such releases to my knowledge, another from 1983 and one from 1984 as well. If anyone can help those surface, that would be amazing! For now, enjoy!

Track List:

01 - We Grow Old
02 - Stuffed Shirt
03 - Shallow Vessel
04 - Strange Fruit
05 - Automation
06 - Machines Are Taking Over
07 - Surrender To Your Kiss
08 - The Cat
09 - Flash

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The Klingons - Analog-Digital (1982)

So, probably by now you've looked at the cover image and thought to yourself, "I don't give a damn what he has to say, this tape looks awesome". And actually that's a fair assessment, but just lend me a minute of your time to read on. Great news to follow.

Yes, this impossibly obscure tape from the UK is indeed awesome. Ironically named, as what was once analog will now be presented to you digitally. Catchy minimal synth throughout, the kind that only the early 80s can deliver.

What's even more exciting, however, is that Marc from Anna Logue Records has reached out to the artist and will be re-issuing this tape on LP! More info here. Update: this and more is now reissued through Vinyl On Demand in an amazing Scottish Minimal Synth compilation, more info here.

A few quick notes: Track A7 here is not listed on the tape, it's just a 30 second instrumental bit at the end of the A-side. Also, the very last track "Trad. Arr." will not be making it to the re-issue, so that's a special treat in your download below. Enjoy!

Track List:

A1 - Society
A2 - R.A.M.
A3 - Analog-Digital
A4 - Confusion
A5 - P.C.M.
A6 - A. Survivor
A7 - Untitled
B1 - Outcry
B2 - Vortexian Fall
B3 - Trad. Arr.

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Medical Records LLC: Reviews + News

Tonight we have a new type of post, a bit out of the norm for this blog. We're still talking records here, so don't take off just yet.

I've recently had the pleasure of getting to know Troy of Medical Records LLC, if you're not already familiar with this label, you should definitely be keeping an eye out. This US label has already released a healthy foundation of re-issues and are, I feel, just getting started. For example, here's a list of releases coming out in the not too distant future:

• MR-012 Gay Cat Park "Synthetic Woman" LP June 2012
• MR-013 Drinking Electricity "Overload + Singles" double LP! August 2012
• MR-014 Christof Glowalla "Erde 80 +" 10" EP October 2012
• MR-015 Tony Carey "Explorer + Yellow Power" double LP! December 2012
• MR-01? Mathematiques Modernes "Les Visiteurs Du Soir" LP TBA
• Represses of MR-001 Deutsche Wertarbeit and MR-002 Alexander Robotnick TBA (black 180gm vinyl, no hand-numbering)

Troy was kind enough to mail me the two most recent releases, Dalek I and Axxess. A perfect taste of classic and the impossibly obscure. Medical certainly have cut no corners in production here, both releases feature beautiful sleeves and clean crisp sounding vinyl, just the feel you'd be looking for when picking up your long awaited re-issue. It came to my attention that Axxess (pressed to 1,000 copies) is close to selling out already! I suppose it's not that shocking when you consider what you're getting. Perhaps my favorite part of the Dalek I release is the included flexi-disc 7", a nice treat to an already great LP. Here are some sound clips from both releases -- highly recommended!

-Axxess-

-Dalek I-

Completely great, I know. Well, in addition to these great releases and the already top notch line-up coming to us in the future, there's even more news. And it involves Crispy Nuggets. I have been in touch with a number of bands from this blog over the years, but never had the time or resources to talk realistically about releases. In partnering with Medical, these possibilities are now a becoming a reality. There are no solid details or dates to share yet, but 2013 will see the first band up Crispy's sleeve released via Medical Records, and trust me when I tell you this-- it's not one to miss! The details will unfold in due time, as Troy and I still need to hash out much of the plan, but we are both excited about it and I promise you will be too. Stay tuned, and grab up these Medical releases!

Now, as for posts, I've got a few synthy treats waiting in the wings, and they'll take flight very soon. Until then. Stay Crispy.

VHF - First Impressions / In Stereo (1981)

 
Here we have the last piece to the VHF puzzle; the first of which, an impossibly hard to find LP, was provided for us by none other than the great Frankie Teardrop. Get it here. This 7" preceded the LP by 1 year, and contains the LP title track, as well as an exclusive track on the b-side. Thankfully the b-side is pretty listenable, especially if you like classic new wave with a bit of powerpop flavor. Hoping to get some more posts up soon, so stay tuned. Enjoy!

Tracklist:

A - First Impressions
B - In Stereo

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Update!

Well, not the kind of update you're looking for, I'm sure. But I needed to make this a while ago. I am aware of all the dead Mediafire links, and I apologize for that. Unfortunately I haven't had the time to go re-upload all of them. I will try to do it soon, little by little.

Once I find a hosting site I want to use, I'll put up a few more new posts, and I have an announcement to make as well. Stay Crispy.

Mixed Feelings - Another Place (1982-1984)

Tonight's post is the kind that doesn't happen often, and I'm very excited to be sharing this with all of you. I hope you'll enjoy the contents as much as I have.

If you've been following the Crispy Nuggets compilations, you'll probably remember one of the standout bands from Vol. 1, Mixed Feelings, and their instantly catchy minimal synth diamond "Another Place (Like Home)". Well, I've had the pleasure of meeting the song-writer of the band, Mr. Sean Cooper, and he's been kind enough to make the band's other recordings available.

Aside from the fact that I really think these songs are great, I'm most impressed by how young they were at the time (which you can see clearly in the photos). The band was from Basildon, which if you think hard enough might bring another synthpop band to mind... I'm going to quote Sean directly here, because he tells it better than I ever could:

"We started in the band in 1981 whilst still at school, Nicholas Comprehensive in Basildon which is the same school that the Mode boys went to...i recall seeing their first gig at our school disco ( i hassled martin about his synth after the "gig") and quite often we would watch them rehearse in one of the school classrooms. I had wanted to be a synth player in a band for some time cos as a young kid i was into early League, Numan, Kraftwerk and had "auditioned" with a couple of "new romantic" and even a rockabilly band (armed with only a cheap electric organ), but it wasn't until a childhood friend said "lets start a band" that I really took the idea seriously....so we asked a couple of other mates to join, saved up some money, bought a couple of cheap synths and a drum machine and off we went...

We were (and i still am!) heavily influenced by Mode. And yeah I got to meet them numerous times, I would often bump into Martin and he was always interested to see how the band was going (somehow he knew that i had been expelled from school...)...we also knocked on Daves front door one night and invited him to a gig we were doing just down the road from him..."

photo taken on the same street where Fletch lived

As a huge DM fan myself, I found that story to be absolutely amazing. If you like this blog, you probably like DM too, which will come in handy as a few of these songs are DM covers :-)

Most of these tracks were recorded in 1982 under the main core group, but roles varied out through '84. Sean Cooper always on the task of song-writer and synths, Mark Robinson was the vocalist, but unfortunately suffered a voice break later on. Pete Reynolds and Alan Stone also took on synth duties, while Geoff Conner manned the drum machine. Last and certainly not least is Lorraine Olson, who provided guest vocals on tracks 01, 05, 06, and 08.


I can honestly say there isn't a song here I don't like, this is a prime example of pure DIY minimal synth, at it's best. I hope you'll feel the same. Enjoy!


Track List:

01 - Another Place (Like Home)
02 - Because Of You
03 - Fate
04 - Final Demand
05 - Fun
06 - The Captain
07 - Told You So
08 - Stand Up High
09 - Holding On
10 - Ice Machine (Cover)
11 - Photographic (Cover)

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The Valley Forge - Fit To Fall (1986)

The first of two 12" records released by this UK band. The 2nd record was posted by bX here, but since MegaUpload is now sleeping with the fishes, I've re-uploaded it for you here. Details on both records can be found in the reviews on their Discogs pages, presumably left by a former band member. Enjoy!

Track List:

A1 - Fit To Fall (The Mix)
B1 - Escape
B2 - Hope

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Various - Incontinence (1984)

Easily one of the scarcest items to surface on this blog. This French cassette was limited to only 100 copies. Despite featuring the likes of well-known bands like Deux, this tape has gone mostly unnoticed. That should change quickly, as this one's rather impressive throughout. The best contributions are that of Collision Expérimentale and the Bauhaus-esque Avant Post, but every band here adds a little something... for everyone. Enjoy!

Track List:

A1 - Dada Neuf - Au Pays Du Coup De Soleil

A2 - Dada Neuf - Tuillage Évolutif

A3 - Deux - Game And Performance

A4 - Deux - Felicita

A5 - Collision Expérimentale - Dans Laid Couloirs

A6 - Collision Expérimentale - Fidêle-Castrè

A7 - Avant Post - The Squealing-Call

A8 - Avant Post - Pongs And Death

B1 - Leda Atomica - No Woman's Land

B2 - Leda Atomica - Etude Du "Houlala"!!!

B3 - Leda Atomica - Jailhouse-Rock

B4 - The Grief - The Torment

B5 - The Grief - Dirty Dance

B6 - Vision Baroque - Leslie

B7 - Vision Baroque - The Death ***

B8 - A Joyce Concept - Voices And Crys ***

*** One mp3, as the tracks run together

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Joy Before The Storm - Silence Ever After (1985)

This LP has got to be one of the best US minimal synth obscurities. The album art represents the sound rather accurately, like looking through the window of a sad loner, just him and his analog instruments. Hah. The best track is most definitely "We're All Alone", but there are a few other gems littered in there as well. It's been extremely difficult to find any useful information regarding this record, I found some miscellaneous info on another US band by the same name, but there's no evidence they are linked. Info always appreciated. Enjoy!

Track List:

A1 - Attic Window
A2 - We're All Alone
A3 - These Things Happen
A4 - We Should Be Closer
A5 - Cheerleader
B1 - Shadow Of A Radio Tower
B2 - Walking On Air
B3 - Quiet Past
B4 - Westchester Siren

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Mosfets - The Great War (1982)

Here's a 7" from none other than, you guessed it, the UK. Plucked from the ranks of the very best obscure minimal synth acts, to be sure. It doesn't show up often, and when it does it won't come cheap. "But Crispy, I have bills to pay, and I just spent my last paycheck on Obscure Identities releases, including the Aspect Ratio tape! I can't afford this record!" Not to worry, my friend! Just click the download link below and have a listen -- for free! Enjoy.

Track List:

A - The Great War
B - Power Games

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