The Edsel Auctioneer were a band formed in Leeds in 1988 by Ashley Horner (guitar/ vocals), Phil Pettler (bass/ vocals), Aidan Winterburn (vocals, guitar) and Chris Cooper (drums). They were named after the ill-fated Ford automobile whose front grille was supposed to have resembled a woman's pudenda. Best friends with Pale Saints, they lived on the same street in Leeds, Harold Avenue (which spawned the so-called 'Voice of the Harolds').
In early 1988 they recorded a number of songs for a small independent record label in Glasgow but this never got released. Instead the songs found their way to BBC Radio 1 DJ, John Peel, who described in Offbeat magazine the moment he heard the cassette he drove off the A12 to Suffolk in shock. Peel subsequently invited the band into Maida Vale to do a session. They recorded four songs ("Brickwall Dawn", "Blind Hurricane", "Between Two Crimes" and "Place In the Sun") and it was broadcast in late 1988, and again in 1989. On the back of this they signed to Decoy Records, a sub-division of Rhythm King Records that also was the home of Mega City Four. They recorded their first single 'Our New Skin / Strung' in Camden with Iain Burgess and followed this with EP 'Gutted'. These first two releases were collected as a mini-album, 'Voice of the Harolds'. The music has often been classified as something like Dinosaur Jr., Hüsker Dü and My Bloody Valentine, although there were also traces of The Byrds, The Monkees and sixties garage bands as well as The Go-Betweens and Pixies.
At this time, they were moderately successful in the UK, supporting Teenage Fanclub, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Senseless Things, The Telescopes, Buffalo Tom, Silverfish, The Lemonheads and The Wedding Present. They were televised on Transmission, an early morning ITV show and Snub TV on BBC Two where Aidan Winterburn the lead singer can be seen attempting to stop security beating up his brother in the crowd. Chris Cooper left in 1992 to join Pale Saints full-time (he had been in both groups at the same time) and Tris Williams joined the band as replacement.
Edsel Auctioneer recorded their first proper album 'Simmer' with Chris Nagle (who had produced The Charlatans) in Edinburgh and Strawberry Studios in Stockport in late 1990. The record label had financial problems, and the album was not released for nearly a year, by which time a lot of momentum had dissipated. The album spawned a series of singles including 'Starfish' (which included a cover of Madonna's "Borderline") and 'Undertow' in 1992 and 1993. The label subsequently folded and the group were forced to look for another label. Alias Records (home to Archers of Loaf and Yo La Tengo) came to the rescue in 1993 after they played the CMJ festival in New York and toured the US. Their second album 'The Good Time Music Of...' was recorded in Huddersfield in 1994 by Steve Whitfield (engineer of The Cure) and released by Alias in 1995. The album spawned one single "Summer Hit", an atypically breezy bubblegum pop song with Meriel Barham from Pale Saints singing back-up. The album also had a guest spot from Paul Yeadon from Bivouac. The album was not commercially successful, and the band broke up in late 1995 with various kinds of job and family obligations taking over. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]
Originally a product of Britain's new romantic movement, Depeche Mode went on to become the quintessential electro pop band of the 1980s. One of the first acts to establish a musical identity based completely around the use of synthesizers, they began their existence as a bouncy dance-pop outfit but gradually developed a darker, more dramatic sound that ultimately positioned them as one of the most successful alternative bands of their era.
The roots of Depeche Mode date to 1976, when Basildon, England-based keyboardists Vince Clarke and Andrew Fletcher first teamed to form the group No Romance in China. The band proved short-lived, and by 1979 Clarke had formed French Look, another duo featuring guitarist/keyboardist Martin Gore; Fletcher soon signed on, and the group rechristened itself Composition of Sound. Initially, Clarke handled vocal chores, but in 1980 singer David Gahan was brought in to complete the lineup. After one final name change to Depeche Mode, the quartet jettisoned all instruments excluding their synthesizers, honing a slick, techno-based sound to showcase Clarke's catchy melodies.
After building a following on the London club scene, Depeche Mode debuted in 1980 with "Photographic", a track included on the Some Bizzare Album label compilation. After signing to Mute Records, they issued "Dreaming of Me" in early 1981; while neither the single nor its follow-up, "New Life", caused much of a stir, their third effort, "Just Can't Get Enough," became a Top Ten U.K. hit, and their 1981 debut LP, 'Speak and Spell', was also a success. Just as Depeche Mode appeared poised for a major commercial breakthrough, however, principal songwriter Clarke abruptly exited to form Yazoo with singer Alison Moyet, leaving the group's future in grave doubt.
As Gore grabbed the band's songwriting reins, the remaining trio recruited keyboardist Alan Wilder to fill the technological void created by Clarke's departure. While 1982's 'A Broken Frame' deviated only slightly from Depeche Mode's earlier work, Gore's ominous songs grew more assured and sophisticated by the time of 1983's 'Construction Time Again'. 'Some Great Reward', issued the following year, was their artistic and commercial breakthrough, as Gore's dark, kinky preoccupations with spiritual doubt ("Blasphemous Rumours") and psychosexual manipulation ("Master and Servant") came to the fore; the egalitarian single "People Are People" was a major hit on both sides of the Atlantic and typified the music's turn toward more industrial textures.
Released in 1986, the atmospheric 'Black Celebration' continued the trend toward grim melancholy and further established the group as a commercial force; it eventually sold over 500,000 copies in the U.S., which earned it gold status. Released in 1987, 'Music for the Masses', featuring three Hot 100 singles in "Strangelove", "Never Let Me Down Again", and "Behind the Wheel", propelled the group into the mainstream. The album would sell over a million copies in the U.S. alone. A subsequent sold-out tour yielded the 1989 double-live set '101'. Recorded at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, it was accompanied by a concert film directed by the legendary D.A. Pennebaker.
With the alternative music boom of the early '90s, Depeche Mode emerged as one of the world's most successful acts. The triple-platinum 'Violator', released in 1990, was a Top Ten smash that spawned the hits "Personal Jesus" (a number eight single), "Enjoy the Silence", "Policy of Truth", and "World in My Eyes". Their 1993 LP 'Songs of Faith and Devotion' -featuring a significant change in its heavy use of electric guitars- entered the charts in the number one slot. However, at the peak of its success, the group began to unravel, beginning with Wilder's 1995 exit. Gahan attempted to take his own life and later entered a drug rehabilitation clinic to battle an addiction to heroin.
After a four-year layoff, Depeche Mode continued onward as a trio and released 1997's 'Ultra', which featured the hits "Barrel of a Gun" and "It's No Good". A year later, the band embarked on a tour in support of its newly released hits album, 'The Singles 86>98'. Depeche Mode played 64 shows in 18 countries for over one million fans. Each member took considerable time off after the tour's completion, and Depeche Mode would not regroup for another three years.
'Exciter', the band's follow-up to 'Ultra', was released in 2001, with the singles "Dream On" and "I Feel Loved" finding moderate success on international radio outlets. Two years later, Gahan issued his debut solo album, the dark and sultry 'Paper Monsters'. Gore also followed suit by issuing the all-covers 'Counterfeit²', a full-length sequel to his similarly themed 1989 EP. Each member supported his work with respective tours of the U.S. and Europe; however, the bandmembers soon resumed working together, and 'Playing the Angel', their 11th studio album, became a Top Ten hit upon its release in October 2005. Produced by Ben Hillier (Doves, Blur, U2, Elbow) and studded with singles like "Precious" and "John (The Revelator)", it topped the album charts in 18 countries and went multi-platinum and/or gold in 20 countries. Depeche Mode went on to play for more than two-and-a-half-million fans worldwide, and the 2006 video release 'Touring the Angel: Live in Milan' captured one of the band's greatest shows.
'Sounds of the Universe', also made with the assistance of Ben Hillier, arrived in early 2009 and debuted at number three in the U.S. The 2013 release of 'Delta Machine' made for a trilogy of Hillier albums, while the album was mixed by longtime Depeche associate Flood. 'Delta Machine' debuted at number two in the U.K., and peaked at number six on the U.S. Billboard 200. The concert film and album 'Live in Berlin' (directed by Anton Corbijn from a late-2013 show) followed in November 2014.
The band returned in early 2017 with their 14th studio effort, 'Spirit'. The album's material was largely inspired by the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election and was produced by Simian Mobile Disco's James Ford (Foals, Arctic Monkeys). Buoyed by the single "Where's the Revolution", 'Spirit' debuted at number five on the Billboard 200. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
In 1979, armed with a Korg MS-10 synthesier and a very simple rhythm box, Christof Glowalla began experimenting with a tape recorder and a few DIY sound generators. Influenced by outfits such as Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, and Fad Gadget, Glowalla eventually put his creation to tape at the West Berlin “Musiclab” which was a small 8-track studio in the Kreuzberg district. What resulted in 1980 was the self-released now excruciatingly rare 'Erde 80' 7 inch single. Glowalla also collaborated in a band called Exobit in 1981 with Ingolf Kurkowski and Frank Landgraf, but it was a brief existence. Also in 1981, Glowalla recorded 3 more tracks with Kurkowski which were presented to various record labels, but they unfortunately were never released at the time. Though relatively obscure in the early 1980s, the 'Erde 80' 7 inch release slowly became an underground hit with collectors with subsequently rising prices that continue to rise today. [SOURCE: MINIMAL WAVE RECORDS]
Paul Quinn was initially the lead singer with the first line-up of Jazzateers, but was relegated to backing vocals while his role was taken on by Graeme Skinner (later to find success with Hipsway) when the material was recorded and released. Then in 1984 came Bourgie Bourgie, an act signed to a major label in the shape of MCA Records and of whom great things were anticipated. Sadly, it only amounted to a couple of majestic singles -'Breaking Point' and 'Careless'-, while there are some tapes in circulation of stuff that was recorded in demo form for an unreleased LP. [SOURCE: THE (NEW) VINYL VILLAIN]
Asphixiation was a one-off side project for Melbourne provocateur Philip Brophy, best known for his work with → ↑ →, whose decade-long investigation into the aesthetics of punk, electronic and dance music began in the late 1970s.
He had already released a series of seven inch singles, and had begun to incorporate elements of disco into their minimalist rock-hewn sound, when curators at Melbourne University’s George Paton Gallery approached Brophy to present something in their space.
Brophy decided to put disco into an art gallery. The ensuing exhibition presented paintings lifted from Italian Vogue, single instruments displayed on plinths, tape loops playing minimalist ambient sounds, and a synthesizer pulsing a loud thump throughout the space. Brophy also created a ‘fake’ disco band -itself a perverse idea because the essence of disco was its artificiality- to mime on stage with a reel-to-reel tape visibly playing, just like disco was being presented at the time.
'What Is This Thing Called ‘Disco’?' was recorded just days before the exhibition of the same name opened in July 1980. Aged only 20, Brophy wrote all the music in 5 days, with accomplice Ralph Traviato taking care of lyrics. Recordings were done over 7 graveyard sessions at Latrobe University studios, engineered by David Chesworth (Essendon Airport) and Chris Wyatt. Ralph, Phil and guitarist Leigh Parkhill played everything, sharing vocals with Maria Kozic and Jayne Stevenson.
In February 1981, iconic Melbourne label Missing Link released a 12” of two songs from these recordings, and later that year the band released the album themselves, repressing the 12” and including it in the package. A friend posed nude for the cover, deliberately reversing disco’s penchant for half-naked women on its album sleeves. [SOURCE: ASPHIXIATION.BANDCAMP.COM]
God And The State were a band from Los Angeles that existed for less than 2 years.
Members were David Hull on guitar and vocals (from Toronto, Canada), and Barbara Ann Jaeckel on bass and vocals (from Detroit). Drums were played by Kevin Barrett (100 Flowers, Radwaste, Urinals).
In their short existence they managed to record an album in 1983 which saw the light of day 2 years later. Only 1000 copies were pressed. [SOURCE: DISCOGS]
Die Unbekannten (The Unknown) were formed in June 1981 by two ex-pat Brits living in Berlin, Mark Reeder and Alistair Gray, for the legendary “Konzert zur Einheit der Nation” (Concert for the Unity of Germany) held in the SO36 club in Kreuzberg on 17th June 1981.
Their set was hastily thrown together a few days before and the song lyrics were written in the pub opposite the club, while awaiting their soundcheck. They actually had no name when they appeared at the SO36 and were dubbed by a local journalist Andre Schwerdt as, “the two unknown Englishmen” in a local magazine review and the name Die Unbekannten stuck.
They recorded their first successful 12” vinyl 'Die Unbekannten' shortly afterwards for Elisabeth Recker’s Monogam label.
This controversial three track EP also featured their friend Thomas Wydler on drums. It was a collection of gloomy and politically themed tracks, such as the cold-war classics “Radio War”, “Casualties” and “Poseidon” (a bi-lingual song in English and German, about the sinking of a Poseidon nuclear submarine).
The cover artwork acquired for this first single, was a photo of three East German border patrol guards (VOPOS), which had been obtained especially for the EP’s artwork. However, it transpired that the photographer hadn’t given his permission to also use the picture for other marketing purposes and when he saw the city covered in Die Unbekannten posters, he filed a suit against the Label and withdrew his permission for his picture.
After selling a few thousand copies the single was culled from the shelves.
As Reeder also worked as co-manager and sound engineer for avant-garde all-girl group Malaria!Die Unbekannten were provided with the ideal opportunity to tour extensively throughout Europe, as Malaria!‘s support act.
In spring 1982, Mark and Alistair were given an early prototype of a Roland 606 drum computer, by a member of The Human League. After a few days trial (writing songs), they immediately went into Harris Johns recording studio in Kreuzberg and recorded "Don’t Tell Me Stories" (featuring Renegade Soundwave’s Danny Briotett on cooking pot-percussion), and “Perfect Love” for their next Monogam EP 'Dangerous Moonlight'.
Two more tracks soon followed “The Game” and “Against the Wall” (which again featured Thomas Wydler on drums and percussion).
This melancholic single was a huge success for the band and was probably one of the earliest examples of electronic “darkwave” music.
During the following two years, the line-up changed. Wydler left the band to play with Die Haut and the drum machine and electronics completely changed their sound and songwriting style.
Using Reeder’s extensive eastern European dissident contacts, Die Unbekannten also performed at secret illegal gigs deep inside communist bloc in places like Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
In early 1983 they undertook an adventurous tour of Germany, Austria and Hungary, together with Die Toten Hosen
(where they played together in Budapest’s Karl-Marx-University and
where some twat stealthily stole one of their Roland 606 drum
computers).
The first concert of this mad-dash tour, was for the grand opening of
“The LOFT” - in the “Metropol” Berlin’s most renowned live venue- and
for this gig, P1/E founder member Michael Schauemer and swedish musician, Jeppe Eckholm joined the band.
In 1984 the line up changed again.
Jeppe had gone back home to Sweden to recover and Schaumer left to form his own band, Tennis Boy Blues with Yuji Kimura and Monika Dietl.
It was now that two new members were added; Leo Walter and Helmut Wittler, formally of Soif de la Vie.
The band were asked to play as the support act for a huge New Order tour of Europe and so Mark and Alistair agreed a complete image change was really required, to go along with the new line up, sound and songs and thus Die Unbekannten were transformed into Shark Vegas. [SOURCE: MINIMAL WAVE RECORDS]
Mekanik Destruektiw Komandoe is a German rock band named after Magma 'Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh' whose members were Uli Radike on drums, Stephan Schwietzke on saxophone, Alexander Hacke on guitar, Ze-Thai on bass & Volker Hauptvogel on vocals. [SOURCE: DISCOGS]
Frieder Butzmann was born in 1954 near swiss border at the Lake of Constance and lives in Berlin since 1975.
He was the first Post-Punk.
Appeared since 1976 at different places as SO 36 in Berlin Kreuzberg and Museum of Modern Art New York.
He did things like 'Musik Für Eine Barocke Party', a Klingon Opera, more than 30 radio plays, Sound art pieces
and internet projects as Spunkkrachlexikon or comish music.
Still working permanently at his Studio für Komische Music in Berlin. [SOURCE: FRIEDERBUTZMANN.DE]
