Black Marble - A Different Arrangement (Hardly Art, 2012)

Here's a group that's been winter therapy for me lately. Black Marble is a 'minimal wave' revival act from Brooklyn. They play post-punk style synth meets early Human League experiments. For the Brits: Tiny Mixtapes described it as "looking out at Manchester from your bedroom in Sheffield". Melancholy vibes with a French coldwave delivery sans suicide. There's a lot of positivity here if you sift through the Roland fog.

This is a fun record. Classic drum beats. Driving punchy bass lines. Fast tempos. Dance alone reading J.G. Ballard with a spot of Earl Grey. 1982. Minimal mascara.

R.I.P. Martin Lloyd (1950-2013)

Sad news today that Martin Lloyd of the early '80's electronic duo Oppenheimer Analysis has passed due to liver failure. In their early career they opened for such acts as Hawkwind and Spizz Energi. Primarily known only for a cassette release, they had a resurgence of popularity when Minimal Wave issued a vinyl EP.

Read a great interview with him HERE.

No More - 7 Years (Rustblade, 2010)

No More is yet another German band from the 80's I just discovered that is now blowing my mind.

They were formed in Kriel, Northern Germany in 1979. After their wildly successful 7" single "Suicide Commando", NME was prompted to state that they were "suitable German Electro fashion". The song was so big that a Belgian band named themselves after it.

It was a typical setup of vocals, guitar, bass, synth and drums but they really had their own thing going on. This was an fascinating blend of minimal wave, electro and edgy post-punk with early Cure, Joy Division and Bauhaus all over it. Several of their tracks broke barriers as well, seeping into the techno scene.

Most of their really good material was on on singles so here is a fantastic compilation of their work from 1979 to 1986.

Get it Here

Evil Madness - Super Great Love (Editions Mego, 2011)

To be honest, I'm kind of frustrated with Editions Mego at this point. How can a label only put out top notch material? I read about this act and thought this would definitely be the one to show that no label is perfect. Wrong. They got me again. This time its with something completely different. Brace yourself for an unusual record from some unusual guys who are ordinarily very cerebral. This is a super-group made up of BJ Nilsen (Swedish experimental sound artist and composer), Johann Johannsson (Icelandic musician who's written and produced for Marc Almond, The Hafler Trio, Pan Sonic and Barry Adamson) and members of Stilluppsteypa (Icelandic abstract / experimental electronic band).

Apparently, these very serious composers needed an outlet. What we have here is an album ready for the European dancefloor circuit. In fact, if you didn't know better, you'd assume this was another unknown early 80's act unearthed by Veronica and crew for the Minimal Wave comp. Not to limit the record to that sound, there's also a solid EBM representation here, along with industrial, coldwave and chillwave. This is tribute music for the most part with a dash of over the top modern trance and techno. Its very reminiscent of some of those later Kraftwerk tracks that were a bit silly but you loved them anyway.

I highly recommend this.

Get your new "dance in front of the mirror" score here

Or: