Tracks July 24
My favourite discovered tracks for July…
Here’s a Spotify playlist of this list (only one track missing from Spotify this month)
Glass Beams : Black Sand : Mahal (2024) : This band is probably the best thing Instagram has ever advertised to me. This new EP very much in the same vein as the first, which is not a bad thing at all. An instrumental blend of psych rock and ‘eastern’ (for want of a better word) melodies, with a touch of a film soundtrack vibe too.
Do Piano : Again : Again 12” (1985) : As I’ve said before, there’s always one more amazing italo disco track you’ve not yet heard. Or Swiss disco in this case.
O Yuki Conjugate : Beyond Control 3 : Scene In Mirage (1984) : This is a long running post-industrial scene-adjacent group, and I’m going to be lazy and describe them as a kind of dark new age thing. But a million times better than that has made them sound. I had one album, their third I think from the late 80s, and decided to investigate further. This is from their first, where their connections to new-/no-/minimal-wave sound are clearer, with drum machines etc and almost a danceable track here.
Riki : Sonar : Gold (2021) : I loved her first album but totally bounced off this one when it came out. Her inclusion in Riddle Of Fire - a recent mainly dungeon synth-soundtracked film that I want to see, made me take the time to listen again and it is indeed good. This track probably sounds the most like the first album, which I still prefer. It has a kind of mythic tinge to it with that main lead bell sound.
Anything Box : Moment’s Shifting : Hope (1993) : Can’t tell you anything about this group. Sounds like it was probably some very unfashionable sounding synth pop at the time of release but 30 years later could be a lost gem.
Jeanne Mas : Toute Premiere Fois : Toute Premiere Fois 12” (1984) : Pablo Bozzi remixed this recently and I’d never heard it. French synth pop.
Steve Moore : Point Dune : Eye of Horus (2024) : I once read Steve Moore saying somewhere that he didn't listen to dance music. So when he writes material in this vein, particularly using the instrumentation he does here (e.g. drum machines without too much of a kick, even something like a CompuRhythm at one point) it comes across as what might have been retrospectively called 'proto techno' had it been released in the 70s-80s era that the sounds might suggest. I wrote more on that Musicboard site which I unfortunately haven’t got as into using as I had hoped, unlike Letterboxd which continues to be an essential part of my life these days.
VNV Nation : When Is The Future? : Noire (2018) : A few times this year I’ve got drunk and for some reason suddenly remembered VNV Nation and imagined through rose-tinted headphones that they were worth ‘rediscovering’. While all the songs I remember from Slimelight suffer from terrible 00s crunchy drum goth disco production, this one hits the spot and also sounds alright when you’re not drunk.
Discovery Zone : Dance II : Remote Control (2020) : An appropriately summer sounding album of outsider-synth pop by someone who sounds very much like Nite Jewel but isn’t.
Energy 52 : Cafe Del Mar (Orbital Mix) : Cafe Del Mar (Orbital Remix) (2024) : A hobby this year has been collecting and ranking eurodance/trance tracks from the 90s/00s, and I’ll post the results sometime soon. That and having checked out what Orbital were doing these days having seen them perform their first two albums live back in May is I assume why Spotify recommended me this and I dig it.
Manufacture : As The End Draws Near : As The End Draws Near 12” (1988) : EBMish synth pop with Sarah McLachlan.
Asa Moto : Cacao : Martino (2021) : Cool funny balearic summer slowdisco with a silly voice.
Absurd : Der Akt : Der Akt (1990) : Kraftwerk-sampling early German techno/electro banger.
Spike Hellis : Slices : Spike Hellis (2022) : What’s with this band and 2 minute songs?
Alen Skanner : Perfect Dark : New Flesh (2023) : Spot-on non-ironic cyberpunk club music.
Peter Godwin : Images Of Heaven (Dance Mix) : Images of Heaven 12” (1982) : Apparently we made synth pop here in Britain too I had no idea.
Tangerine Dream : Puer Natis Est Nobis (Gloria) : The Keep (1983) : Having rewatched The Keep this month, I looked up the first officially released version of this soundtrack from the recent massive Pilots of Purple Twilight boxed set. This is one of the few tracks that is also in the bootleg versions of the soundtrack which to be honest are better I think.
Rhythm On The Loose : Break Of Dawn : Break Of Dawn 12” (1991) :
Spotify playlist again. I don’t actually use Spotify, other than to load it with playlists to prompt recommendations, which is working pretty well.
Allen Skanner’s Perfect Dark on Murder Records’ Bandcamp: