Tony Carey – Radio Tokyo
Taken from former Rainbow keyboardist Tony Carey’s ever-so-slightly-offensively titled 1982 instrumental album Yellow Power, the track ‘Radio Tokyo’ re-entered my consciousness yesterday when Mike Simonetti featured it on his stupendous FACT mix. Drawing influence from Japan, Carey’s debut album has been described by the man himself as being “cult birth-of-techno [...]
Single of the Day – Moebius Plank & Neumeier – Pitch Control
Today’s SOTD is a 1983 “proto-techno” classic from Conny Plank, Dieter Moebius and Mani Neumeier. As former members of Tangerine Dream, Cluster and Guru, the trio were pretty accustomed to pushing musical boundaries, as this energetic and mad effort shows. Taken from their album ‘Zero Set’, the track is still [...]
Single of the Day – Andy Nelson – Lady Angie
What a front cover! For that reason alone, Andy Nelson’s 1982 funky electronic disco masterpiece is our SOTD. Not really, the song turns out to be pretty good as well. A cult favourite, the track was recently lauded by ‘nu disco’ legends the Idjut Boys, due to it’s fabulous ‘camp [...]
Single of the Day – Black Gold – C’mon Stop
C’mon, stop what you’re doing and check out this booming SOTD from Black Gold! Released in 1983 on the mighty Prelude label, ‘C’mon Stop’ was written by unsung electro hero Jon Robie. As Arthur Baker’s right-hand man during the early eighties, Robie helped to produce seminal tracks from Afrika Bambaataa’s [...]
Single of the Day – Metro Area – Honey Circuit
One of my favourite Metro Area songs ever, this bubbling track from 2006 seems to sound better every year. Does that mean the quality of ‘dance’ music is generally declining or does it mean that I need to get out more? Anyway, since the gloomy weather has taken hold, I [...]
Single of the Day – Gina X Performance – Kaddish
Not many bands would take creative inspiration from the Jewish Mourners’ Prayer – The Kaddish, but cult avant-garde electro-disco pioneers Gina X Performance did just that with their 1981 song ‘Kaddish’.
Single of the Day – Cat Stevens – Was Dog A Doughnut
Cat Stevens In A Weird-Disco-Record Shocker Alert!! By the late seventies, Cat Stevens managed to annoy the majority of his fanbase by going through a crazy ‘electronic/disco’ phase. As most established stars experimented with the ‘new disco craze’ (Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, Kiss, etc etc), today’s SOTD is Cat Stevens’ wonderful [...]
Single of the Day – Grauzone – Film 2
Formed by brothers Stephen and Martin Eicher in 1978, the Swiss band Grauzone were part of the ‘Neue Deutsche Welle’ (New German Wave) – a collective of European bands who took their inspiration from punk, early electro and the grey decaying urban cities around them. From its early beginnings in 1981 from the underground punk [...]
Single of the Day – Hot Gossip – Circus of Death
A nice, subversive campy SOTD to end the week from ‘legendary’ British dance troupe Hot Gossip. ‘Circus of Death’ was taken from the groups’ 1981 album ‘Geisha Boys and Temple Girls’. Produced by Martin Ware and Ian Marsh – former members of the Human League and BEF, the album is [...]
Single of the Day – Propaganda – Frozen Faces
Curious SOTD today from Propaganda – a slightly curious synth-pop group from the eighties. Comprising of Claudia Brucken, Michael Mertens, Susanne Freytag and Ralf Dorper, they left their native Germany for England in 1983. After performing a cover of Throbbing Gristle’s ‘Discipline’ along side original material, they found an early [...]