Glorious Strangers - "Move It Time"

glorious strangers - "move it time" (download)

I haven't been able to dig up much information about Glorious Strangers aside from what the always great Mutant Sounds blog had to say:

"The product of one Wharton Tiers, esteemed NY engineer for the likes of Branca/Swans/Sonic Youth back in the day, here working alongside his wife Carol on vocals, Glorious Strangers being one of two of Wharton's period projects to feature on MS, Jim having posted the 3x7" set by his concurrent outfit Social Climbers some time back. Under the Glorious Strangers guise, he and Carol concoct smirky bon mots of demure quirk akin to Y Pants or Inflatable Boy Clams to vaguely amusing effect."

"Move It Time" is from the impressive compilation New York Noise, Vol. 2, a compilation that showcases some early 80's no wave bands and features the likes of Sonic Youth, Glenn Branca, Jim Jarmusch, Arthur Russell and more. If you like bands like ESG, you might like Glorious Strangers.

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Lisfrank - "Man Without Limits"

lisfrank - "man without limits" (download)

Lisfrank was a one-man-band from Italy who was most active in the 80's. Very dark-themed synth, and very good. "Man Without Limits" appeared on last years collection of hard to find Lisfrank tracks called Mask Rewind, an extremely limited vinyl release that came with a limited white vinyl 7". It originally appeared on the highly sought after Mask Productions compilation First Relation back in 1983. If you can track this down, be sure to pick it up.

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Body Electric - "Magic Electronic"

body electric - "magic electronic" (download)

This little gem of a 7" from 1984 has been recently re-issued as a 12" by Moustache Records out of the Netherlands. Extremely catchy, heavily-Vocoded electro. The new 12" reissue has some alternate edits, as well as the equally as good "5595." To the best of my knowledge, the 12" is currently available via Clone Records, which means it's going to cost you about $40 US to purchase it on vinyl, but if you're just in the mood to own the MP3's, you can pick it up digitally for significantly less over at the Boomkat store. I might have to start saving my pennies.

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Splash Band - "The End (Disco)"

the splash band - "the end (disco)" (download)

Great cover of the the end theme from John Carpenter's "Assault on Precinct 13" by German "disco" band The Splash Band. Released in 1984, this stuff is more 80's electro than disco. The Music of John Carpenter features some pretty impressive covers of themes from Starman, Big Trouble in Little China, The Fog, and the extremely impressive covers of Halloween 2 (the other standout track from this release), and Halloween. If you can find this, pick it up. It's hard to come by.

Scotch - "Disco Band"

scotch - "disco band" (download)

Sort of a guilty pleasure. Some of you may hate this song, but I think it's really catchy and there's a synth line in here that really gets me. Scotch was an Italo-Disco group in the 80's (which you can probably tell when you hear the song). It's kind of hard to find a whole lot of information about them. Give this song a try or two. There's an entertaining video for the song here

nick nicely - "Hilly Fields"

nick nicely - "hilly fields" (download)

Released in 1982, nick nicely's "Hilly Fields" is considered one of the first non-hip hop songs to feature minimal record scratching. The song also took close to a year to complete. What really attracts me to this song is that the drum machine drums are hard for their time, the cello adds a lot to the song, and the sheer psychedelia of the song is really impressive. Apparantly, nick is working on a new record. There's a great collection of his songs that came out in 2004-2005 called Psychotropia that you should really check out.

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The Little Dabs - "E.T. (Every Time)"

the little dabs - "e.t. (every time) (download)

The Little Dabs were two boys aged 4 and 6 from Philadelphia. Their father, Russell Dabney, was the drummer in a band called Gypsy Lane, back-up band for such bumpin' acts as the Village People and Instant Funk. This song was a #1 hit in Canada in the 80's. It's catchy as hell.

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Sexual Harassment - "I Need A Freak"

sexual harassment - "i need a freak" (download)

Released in 1983 on Heat Records. Classic early 80's, somewhat silly electro. This track inspired a pretty big hit from a few years ago. See if you can guess what it was.

Visage - "The Anvil"

visage - "the anvil" (download)

I discovered this record in the dollar bin a few years back. I picked it up based on the cover art. It just looked dark and new wavey, so I had to try it out. I put it on the turntable when I got home and lo and behold, it WAS dark and new wavey. I fell in love with this song, and did a bit of research on them. Turns out, Visage has consisted off and on of members of Ultravox (one of my favorites), Magazine, Siouxsie and the Banshees and more. This album also reached #6 on the UK charts when it was released in 1982. It's always great when you can find out something new and amazing while digging for records. I haven't done it for quite some time, but I think I'm going to start again.

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Fad Gadget - "Make Room"

fad gadget - "make room" (download)

As you can see, I'm sort of on an 80's kick this week. Fad Gadget's early stuff was more avant-garde than some of his 80's electronic music peers. He was often known to record using found sounds including drills and razors (similar to what Einsturzende Neubauten was doing back then as well), and had some highly controversial stage performances, once even tar and feathering himself onstage. (That's him on the cover there, covered in shaving cream). He's been called "the bumbling Dr. Who of electro-pop". That alone should make you check out more of his stuff. Also, his early releases were on Mute Records (home to Depeche Mode). Some of it is on the weirder side (if you couldn't have guessed), but when he penned a great pop song, it was really a great pop song.

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The Human League - "The Things That Dreams Are Made Of"

the human league - "the things that dreams are made of" (download)

Best known for their hit "Don't You Want Me?", the Human League had many other songs that were just as good. They were a very influential synth-pop group back in the 80's, and their songs are still heard constantly all around the world. I'd recommend checking out more of their back catalog.

wikipedia page

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