I’ve got a couple of electronica posts coming your way. I’m not a big fan of the genre, but I have some reverence for the “old school” recordings of Tangerine Dream, Brian Eno, Kraftwerk, Syrinx, etc. This is a 1995 Virgin digital re-master of the original 1980 album.
Track Listing:
1) Tangram (Set 1) - 19:52
2) Tangram (Set 2) - 20:27
When I first heard about Working for a Nuclear Free City, I thought to myself, “Yeah! What a bold and inspiring name.” Then I read from their own record label that I should NOT “mistake them for a pack of hippies.” So WTF then, you just chose the name to piss off people who might actually be Working for a Nuclear Free City then? If that’s the case, sod-off mates!
Supposedly this band from Manchester is something to “watch for” in 2008. The article below is full of the usual hype, but hey, I like the “Rocket” song. It’s interesting enough to keep me from yawning and changing the radio station.
Their self-titled debut album was released in the UK on the Melodic label in 2006. This, plus some “rarities and previously unreleased numbers”, and two tracks from their new “Rocket” EP have been re-packaged for their debut American release: “Businessmen & Ghosts”, out now on the “Deaf, Dumb and Blind” label. How can you have “rarities” when you have only one full album under your belt?
The hype below is from Deaf, Dumb and Blind:
Though the band’s name might suggest otherwise, the members of Manchester rock outfit Working For A Nuclear Free City are not “a bunch of tree hugging hippies.” According to guitarist Gary McLure, the band plucked the name from a British street sign they loved for its “subtle ironies and suggestion of secret bunkers hidden just underground.”
The band’s quirky, mysterious name is a fitting match for their music; WFANFC creates lush soundscapes that are melodic and gripping without being easily sorted into any one genre. The band culls from electronic, dance, and shoegazer influences (as far reaching as Berlin-trilogy era Bowie and David Axelrod) in an earnest effort to bring something new to the table. “We want to create an alternative to the current retrospective trend in music,” says singer and producer Dekko (a.k.a Phil Kay). “We just want to keep moving into uncharted territory.”
This is not to say that WFANFC does not have a distinctive sound – they simply do not sound like anyone else. Beginning as the studio project of brothers Phil and John Kay and school friend Gary McLure in 2001, the group made only slow-burning instrumental tracks until they added bassist Ed McLure to the mix, who introduced dance beats and vocals to the tracks. “Sometimes a song doesn’t need words,” says Phil, “But we always intended to have vocals on these tracks.”
What resulted is an eclectic mix of orchestral, adrenaline-fueled dance tracks juxtaposed with quiet, bedroom pop songs and eerie, sparse, acoustic cuts. In the hands of another band, this eclectic mix of tempos and moods could feel cluttered; on WFANFCs debut, the songs both compliment and challenge each other. “Troubled Son” pairs a booming bass line with clanging industrial effects, “England” channels rainy day psychedelia, and “So” starts off as a finger-picked folk track and ends in a booming chorus that would shake any dance crowd.
The band is no stranger to the live club scene, having made their mark on UK nightlife by crafting provocative remixes–The Rakes, Polytechnic, Shitdisco, Archie Bronson Outfit, The Whip and Starsailor have all called on WFANFC for an aural facelift, drawn to the band’s unexpected treatments of old songs. “I never listen to the original track if I can help it,” says Phil. “I’ll take the coughs of the vocalist before he did his take and turn them into a beat, or take the string noise from the guitar and make them into a new instrument.”
What is truly exciting about WFANFC’s world is that there are no constraints; their new debut US release Businessmen & Ghosts, on Deaf Dumb + Blind Recordings, draws from loose grooves, neat Krautrock touches, and even spoken word, and still feels like the work of a cohesive and musically-tight group. Featuring all the tracks from their self titled UK debut album and subsequent Rocket EP on Melodic, plus a number of rare and unreleased tracks, Businessmen & Ghosts is a groundbreaking collection from an important band on the verge of breakout success.
For a band that is just now making its United States debut, WFANFC could not be in a better position; they push boundaries, cross genres, and still sound only like themselves. Just don’t mistake them for a pack of hippies.
Influences listed at their MySpace page:
The Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth, The Beach Boys, Spiritualized, Morrissey, Can, Faust, Ash Ra Tempel, Neu!, Fourtet, Caribou, Bob Dylan, Sun Ra, The Orb, Nick Drake, Gong, Faust, Brian Eno, Amon Düül, Kraftwerk, Klaus Schulze, The Beta Band, The Beatles, William S. Burroughs, DJ Shadow, UNKLE, The Sabres of Paradise, The Verve, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, The Charlatans, The Chemical Brothers, Howie B, Laika, Björk, Slowdive, Ride, Sigur Ros, Lush, Hüsker Dü, Mercury Rev, Dinosaur Jr., The Flaming Lips, Breeders, Neil Young, Neutral Milk Hotel, Broadcast, Broken Social Scene, Burning Spear, Caetano Veloso, Charles Mingus, Cocteau Twins, King Crimson, Led Zep, Love, Magazine, Manic Street Preachers, Mars Volta, Miles Davis, Minutemen, MColtrane, Amon Tobin, Animal Collective, Apparat, Beastie Boys, Beck, Bill Evens, Bjork, Curtis Mayfield, Curved Air, Dan Deacon, MF Doom, Dears, Deerhoof, Dennis Bovell, Tears for Fears, The Earlies, The Bees, The Kinks, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Wrens, The Thermans, Devo, DFA, Dungen, Dylan, Echo and the Bunny men, EL-P,Field Music, Fog, Freddie Hubbard, Gil Scott Heron, Group Home, Gun Club, Hawkwind, Husker Du, Ian Drury, Yello Magic , Apparat, Beastie Boys, Beck, Bill Evens, Bjork, Jon Spencer, Booker T, B Brian Peter St John Le Baptiste de la Salle Eno, Eric Dolphy, Bowie, Modern Lovers, Monks, Mum, Nas,New York Dolls, Of Montreal, Os Mutantes, Pastels, Donovan, Pavement, Penguin Cafe, PIL, Queens Of The Stone Age, Royksopp, Orchestra, 13th Floor Elevators, 808 State, Add n to x, Adrian Sherwood, Alice Coltrane, Amon Tobin, Animal Collective, Sigor Ros, Stereolab, Steve Reich, Stranglers, Sufjan Stevens, Talking Heads, , The Sonics, Tim Hecker, TV on the Radio, Van Dyke Parks, Wilco, Violent Femmes, Wire, Yo La Tengo Catherine Wheel, The Farm, Andrew Weatherall, Casino Versus Japan, Bola, Gescom, Air, Mouse on Mars, DJ Shadow, Nightmares on Wax, Jega, Add N to (X), Funkstörung, Luke Vibert, Plaid, Freeform, Jaga Jazzist, Funki Porcini, Fila Brazillia, Coldcut, Broadway Project, Quantic Soul Orchestra, Yes, The Who, King Crimson, The Soft Machine, The Move, The Alan Parsons Project, Hawkwind, ELO, EL-P, Tangerine Dream, Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead, The Smashing Pumpkins, Mansun, Radiohead, Elbow, John Lyndon, Einstürzende Neubauten, Captain Beefheart, Pink Floyd, The Velvet Underground, Syd Barrett, Frank Zappa, The Beatles, The Smiths, The Rolling Stones, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Funkadelic, Parliament, MC5, Television, Blur, The Byrds, David Axelrod, Broadcast, M83, My Bloody Valentine, Kate Bush, TV on the Radio, Four Tet, Super Furry Animals, Serge Gainsbourg, Talking Heads, Moondog, Tortoise, T Rex, Boards Of Canada, Brian Eno, Manitoba, Caribou, Jeff Capes-World’s Strongest Man 1987, Dears, Dungen, Broken Social Scene, Cornelius, Prefuse 73, Roxy Music, Sly and the Family Stone, Van Fucking Morrison, Yes, Neil Young, Burning Spear.
Businessmen:
1) 224th Day
2) Troubled Son
3) Dead Fingers Talking
4) Rocket
5) Kingdom
6) Sarah Dreams of Summer
7) Apron Strings
8) All American Taste
9) Quiet Place
10) So
11) England Part 2
12) Over
13) Fallout
14) Forever
15) Stone Cold
Ghosts:
1) Eighty Eight
2) Donkey
3) Get a Fucking Haircut
4) Innocence
5) The Tree
6) The Tape
7) Asleep at the wheel
8) England
9) Soft Touch
10) Pixalated Birds
11) Je Suis Le Vent
12) Nancy Adam Susan (Shatter)
13) Home
This is Spanish techno on the Basic Mix label from 1992. Mixed by Group Generator Electrogen (Carles Sanchez, Xavi Cabañol, Manel Vilas & Juan Jose Mur). You have to love the bad english in the title: James Bond Never Die. This 12″ is fun to throw into a party mix, so polish up on your English daa-ling and keep an eye on your martini at all times.
