The idea behind The Thrown Ups was to have a band where no one ever practiced and no one ever wrote songs. At their first show opening for Hüsker Dü in February of 1985, the group brought raw oysters to throw at the audience if the reaction was negative. The response turned out to be positive, but the band doused the crowd with the sea creatures anyway. Such practice became commonplace for the group, which began to incorporate visual elements in case the music was horrific. The most famous of The Thrown Ups' lineups included vocalist Ed Fotheringham, guitarist Steve Turner, drummer Mark McLaughlin (aka Mark Arm), and band founder / bassist John Beezer (aka Leighton Beezer). Beezer had met his fellow bandmates at one of his house parties in February of 1984. When they were on-stage, anything could happen. On one such occasion, dubbed "the Bloody Pooper," Fotheringham rigged a bottle of ketchup to a tube that expelled the condiment from the back of his pants. The end result was a terrified audience covered in the substance.
Seattle's Thrown Ups began in the basement of the home occupied by Beezer and original vocalist Steve Mack in 1984. Since the pair had a variety of instruments in the house, they invited anyone who stopped by to sit in on a jam, whether or not the people knew how to play. Friend Mike Faulhaber happened to be hanging out there quite frequently and took up the guitar. Rounded out by a drum machine, The Thrown Ups were born. Mack left by the end of the year and moved to Europe, where he formed That Petrol Emotion with two former members of punk rock band The Undertones. Fotheringham joined as the band's vocalist in the fall of 1984, followed by the group's mutual friend, Scott Schickler, on drums. By October of 1985, Faulhaber had also left The Thrown Ups in order to move to England. Beezer ran into guitarist Steve Turner at the Brookes Brothers store in Seattle. Beezer explained the idea behind his new band to Turner and offered him the guitar spot vacated by Faulhaber. Turner tried to decline, but Beezer persuaded him to join by explaining that Turner would never have to write songs at practice, since the group was based around improvisation. Schickler left The Thrown Ups in 1986, which happened to be around the same time that McLaughlin was leaving the Seattle group Green River. McLaughlin agreed to fill in as The Thrown Ups' drummer.
By this time, the band was gigging at Seattle venues, such as the Vogue and Scoundrel's Lair, opening up for bands like Bundle of Hiss. By mid-year, Turner approached Tom Hazelmeyer, founder of Amphetamine Reptile Records, about releasing some material from the band. At first, Hazelmeyer displayed total disinterest, but after Turner played a snippet of a Thrown Ups practice tape, Hazelmeyer agreed to distribute all of the band's material. Prior to this, Amphetamine Reptile was solely a vehicle to release music by Hazelmeyer's own band, Halo of Flies. The Thrown Ups became the first group that was actually signed to the label. The band booked time at Seattle's Reciprocal Recording and laid down their 'Felch' single with engineer Jack Endino. By early 1987, the record caught the attention of various critics, which included future Matador Records co-owner Gerard Cosloy. Almost everyone who heard the release gave it critical praise. That summer, the band returned to Reciprocal Recording, recorded the 'Smiling Panties' single, and released it late that year. This was followed by the recording of the 'Eat My Dump' 7" in February of 1988. An outtake from that session, titled "You Lost It", appeared on that year's 'Sub Pop 200' compilation of Seattle groups.
By this time, Turner and McLaughlin had started the band Mudhoney with Melvins bassist Matt Lukin and former Bundle of Hiss drummer Dan Peters. That Halloween, Mack returned to Seattle with That Petrol Emotion, who was receiving airplay on MTV. The band was playing a show at the Moore Theater, where The Thrown Ups were opening. During The Thrown Ups' set, they used That Petrol Emotion's amplifiers. The Thrown Ups were playing at such an extreme volume that the roadies from That Petrol Emotion feared The Thrown Ups would blow the gear. Midway through The Thrown Ups' set, That Petrol Emotion's road crew appeared on-stage to turn the volume down. According to Beezer, "Patrick McDonald, the classic big-paper rock critic, panned us as being loud, sloppy, garage-inspired crap." Beezer finished by stating, "[McDonald] was right -apparently he hadn't heard of grunge yet." By 1989, Amphetamine Reptile released their 'Dope, Guns and Fucking in the Streets, Vols. 1-3' compilation, which included a track from The Thrown Ups' 'Felch' session. 1989 also found The Thrown Ups back at Reciprocal with Endino recording their only full-length album, 'Melancholy Girlhole'. It appeared on the Munich, Germany, label Glitterhouse the following year, while it was released in the United States by Amphetamine Reptile as three 7" records.
In the next two years, Turner and McLaughlin began devoting their main attention to Mudhoney. As a result, Beezer kicked everyone out of The Thrown Ups in 1991 and labeled its former members as sellouts. Beezer said this was a convenient excuse to avoid arguments, although the real reason he broke up the band was due to the fact that it had exceeded its lifespan. While Turner and McLaughlin were spending their post-Thrown Ups' days in Mudhoney, Beezer went on to form the bands El Grand Conquistador and Stomach Pump. He also kept busy as a program manager and developer for Microsoft. Fotheringham pursued his career in art, designing album covers for Mudhoney, as well as many jazz labels like Verve. The Thrown Ups' complete discography for Amphetamine Reptile appeared on a single album, titled 'Seven Years Golden', on January 28, 1997. The record also contained three bonus tracks. According to Beezer, one of the previously unavailable songs, called "Bucking Retards", was a prototype for Mudhoney's "Keep It Out of My Face". [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Sister Double Happiness formed in San Francisco in 1986 and immediately became the city's favorite concert draw before even releasing their first album of over-the-top, white blues-rock. Gary Floyd and Lynn Perko, who'd played together in the punk group the Dicks, joined with Ben Cohen (from Pop-o-Pies) and Mikey Donaldson on bass. The foursome recorded a self-titled album of hard-driving songs for SST in 1988, the bulk penned by Floyd and Cohen. Owing much to Floyd's Texas roots as a blues / punk belter, the band played a fiery mix of blues-inflected hard rock and punk, the likes of which were incomparable. Subject matter was primarily confined to the human condition and spirituality in the face of AIDS and urban decay. The band's promise earned them a contract with Reprise in 1991 for 'Heart and Mind', but failed to find them a wider audience. That same year the band won a Bammie (Bay Area Music Award) for Outstanding Club Band, and Jeff Palmer replaced Donaldson on bass. A Sub Pop single and two albums for the label's German arm, 1993's 'Uncut' and 1994's 'Horsey Water', followed. Danny Roman was added as a guitarist, and Miles Montalbano replaced Palmer on bass. The video release, 'Greetings from Zurich', is a lasting testament to their live prowess. The band also contributed to a number of tribute albums that were popular in the early '90s paying homage to artists diverse as Roky Erickson, Dead Kennedys and Frank Sinatra. The band broke up in 1995 -none of their recorded work ever quite captured the heat they were capable of live. Floyd immediately formed the Gary Floyd Band and records and tours, mostly in Europe. Perko was in Imperial Teen with Faith No More's Roddy Bottum, and Cohen works as a guitarist. The posthumous 'Stone's Throw from Love: Live and Acoustic at the Great American Music Hall' appeared in 1999. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Royal Depeche were a German post-punk band who released one single in 1987, and were never heard from again. Though it was released much later, there are definitely 81-84 vibes all over this one, especially in The Chameleons-esque guitar lines that can be heard throughout both tracks. There are hooks galore and strong female vocals to bring the tracks home. [SOURCE: SYSTEMS OF ROMANCE]
German experimental electronic post-industrial group. They were formed after P.D. broke up in December 1980. One half of that group became Permutative Distorsion, while the other half became P16.D4. Both groups shared one member: Ralf Wehowsky. [SOURCE: DISCOGS]
Officer! is the brainchild of Londoner Mick Hobbs. His musical roots are in the fecund RIO scene of the late ’70s and early 1980s, initially as guitarist in The Work (alongside Bill Gilonis, Rick Wilson and Henry Cow’s Tim Hodgkinson), and subsequent related groupings The Lowest Note, The Lo Yo Yo, and The Momes. Over the course of the decade he became closely associated with This Heat and their Cold Storage studio in Brixton, working with the likes of Flaming Tunes, Family Fodder, Catherine Jauniaux and Zeena Parkins, to name but a few.
The Officer! project formally surfaced in 1982 with a cassette tape entitled 'Eight New Songs By Mick Hobbs'. It marked the blossoming of a singular writer and improvisor, with a gift for plangent melody, ingenious arrangement and lyrics at once caustic and courtly, playful and profound. The Cold Storage-recorded 'Ossification' LP arrived a year later, followed by 'Cough' (1985) and 'Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes' (1988).
By the start of the 1990s Hobbs had joined Jad Fair’s Half Japanese (he continues to play in that group as well as Strobe Talbot, a trio with Fair and Benb Gallaher). In the early months of ’95, Half Japanese were in Baltimore to record their 'Hot' LP; Hobbs stayed on to cut the bulk of the songs that comprise Officer!’s 'Dead Unique' –songs drawn from a rich store of material written and refined in the seven years since the band’s last outing– with a talented assemblage of local and visiting musicians. Returning to the UK, Hobbs brought the tracks to producer Julia Brightly to mix at her 16-track home studio in Bethnal Green; by the end of the summer, 'Dead Unique' had taken shape.
And then? Nothing. For reasons that no one, least of all Hobbs, can remember, 'Dead Unique' was shelved, all but forgotten about until 2012, when Blackest Ever Black chanced upon it while trawling the Officer! archive maintained for Hobbs by Andrew Jacques. Two years later, the album was made available to the public for the very first time, with a full 2xLP, CD and digital release on BEB. [SOURCE: BLACKEST EVER BLACK]
Noise Unit is a Canadian industrial band, founded by Bill Leeb of Front Line Assembly as a side project. The band has seen several changes in line-up, with Bill Leeb being the only permanent member. The first album, 'Grinding into Emptiness', arose from the collaboration between Leeb and Marc Verhaeghen of Belgian industrial band Klinik. It was released in 1989 through Wax Trax! and Antler-Subway. The 1990 follow-up, 'Response Frequency', was the last release to feature Verhaeghen until 1996 and included Rhys Fulber who would remain with the band for the next three albums. Verhaeghen resumed his collaboration with Noise Unit for the 1996 album 'Drill' which also featured members of German industrial band Haujobb. After an eight-year hiatus Leeb teamed with former Front Line Assembly member Chris Peterson in 2004 to release 'Voyeur' in 2005. [WIKIPEDIA]
Maurizio Bianchi (born 4 December 1955 in Pomponesco in the Province of Mantua) is an Italian pioneer of industrial music, originating from Milan.
Bianchi was inspired by the music of Tangerine Dream, Conrad Schnitzler and Throbbing Gristle. He wrote about music for Italian magazines before beginning to release his own cassettes under the name of Sacher-Pelz in August 1979. He released four cassettes as Sacher-Pelz before switching to his own name or simply "MB" in 1980.
Bianchi corresponded with many of the key players in the industrial music and noise music scenes including Merzbow, GX Jupitter-Larsen, SPK, Nigel Ayers of Nocturnal Emissions and William Bennett of Whitehouse. After this exchange of letters and music, his first LPs were released in 1981.
'Symphony For A Genocide' was released on Nigel Ayers' Sterile Records label after Bianchi had sent Ayers the money to press it. Each track on the LP was named after a Nazi extermination camp. The cover featured photographs of the Auschwitz Orchestra, a group of concentration camp prisoners who were forced to play classical music as people were herded into the gas chambers. The back cover included the text "The moral of this work: the past punishment is the inevitable blindness of the present".
Also in 1981, William Bennett, head of the band Whitehouse and the British Come Org. label, offered Bianchi a record contract, which Bianchi signed unchecked. It was based on a "joke contract" that Steven Stapleton of Nurse With Wound had sketched. The contract assumed all rights to Bianchi's work. After delivery of the tapes Bennett edited-in speeches by Nazi leaders, and instead of the relatively unsensational name MB, it was published under the alias Leibstandarte SS MB, named after the SS unit that worked as bodyguards to Adolf Hitler.
By 1983 and the release of the 'Plain Truth' LP on U.K. power electronics label Broken Flag, Bianchi had become a Jehovah's Witness. At the end of 1983 Bianchi announced his withdrawal from music, stating "The end is very near, and we have a very short time to recognise our mistakes and to redeem ourselves... I stopped doing music, and now my life is going towards its full awareness".
In 1998, encouraged by Alga Marghen label head Emanuele Carcano, who offered him a label of his own, Maurizio Bianchi resumed making music. The label was EEs'T Records, through which he released new editions of old MB albums and many new recordings.
Bianchi then proceeded to work on over a hundred new projects both solo or in collaboration with other Italian and international artists including Atrax Morgue, Aube, Francisco Lopez, Mauthausen Orchestra, Merzbow, Ryan Martin and Philip Julian / Cheapmachines.
Bianchi has worked with record labels including Dais Records, the Carrboro, North Carolina based Hot Releases and the Italian Menstrual Recordings to re-release some of his out of print material.
On August 19, 2009, for unspecified personal reasons, Maurizio Bianchi decided again to completely stop making music. This decision was soon after reversed; Maurizio Bianchi continued to release new music. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]
Lisfrank (vocals - synthesizers - drums), real name Fulvio Guidarelli, started as a project in January 1980.
In 1982 he founded the Mask Productions label for which he produced his 12” 'Man Mask', and in 1983 the compilation LP 'First Relation' which includes part of the song “Man Without Limits”. In 1983 in the compilation cassette 'The Voice', produced by Vittore Baroni from the Area Condizionata label, Lisfrank released “Ombre”, an experimental track made entirely by voice.
In the subsequent years, except for a few concerts and appearances, Lisfrank collaborated on the production and arrangements of the album by Ivan Cattaneo 'Vietato Ai Minori' (1986), and several years later, under the alias of Bangdito, published a mix of electro-dance (1995).
In 2009 Anna Logue Records released the LP 'Mask Rewind' which collects most of the tracks recorded by Lisfrank between 1980 and 1985, and a new version of the song "Out of Control".
Also in 2009 Lisfrank appears with the track “Identity” in the compilation LP 'Danza Meccanica - Italian Synth Wave 1983-1987', for the label Mannequin-InTheNightTime.
Kommunity FK is an American post-punk / gothic rock band, formed in 1978, by singer Patrick Mata, -influenced by Throbbing Gristle, David Bowie and Joy Division as well as other artistic inspirations like Dadaism, anti-art, noise, musique concrète and the Brion Gysin / William Burroughs cut-up technique-, that helped establish what came to be known as the deathrock scene in Los Angeles.
Though initially named "Kommunity Fuck", after a piece of paste-up art created by Mata, the moniker was soon shortened. Kommunity FK's debut album, 'The Vision and the Voice', was released in 1983 by Independent Project Records, featuring a lineup of Mata, drummer Matt Chaikin and bassist CE CE.
The follow-up, 1985's 'Close One Sad Eye', garnered significant attention when a video clip for the song "Something Inside Me Has Died" received significant play on MTV. By this time, Mata and Chaikin had been joined by bassist Kevin Kipnis and keyboardist Margaret Arana.
After departing the band, Chaikin drummed for an early lineup of Jane's Addiction. Later Kommunity FK lineups included bassists Cam Campbell (A II Z, Sex Gang Children), Eddie Branch (UK Decay, Furyo, Peter Murphy) and Dave Roberts (Sex Gang Children, Carcrash International).
In 2008, Kommunity FK returned with their third effort, the collection '5 Song Free Sampler', issued on the Invisible Records label. Now a duo of Mata and guitarist / keyboardist Sherry Rubber, they followed it up with 'La Santisima Muerte' (2010) on KommunityPM Rekords and 'Thee Image & Thee Myth' (2015) on Crysella Records.
During a Kommunity FK hiatus in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Mata led the band Sativa Luvbox, who released two albums: 'The Bad Sleep Well' (1989, Splat-Co Records) and 'Beloved Satellite' (1993, Gasoline Alley Records). Mata had earlier issued a 1979 single, 'The Queen of Beverly Hills', under his own name. Using the name Texylvania, he also covered songs on several tribute albums. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]
Jamie Wednesday were a British 1980s jangle pop band, formed in Streatham, South London in 1984,that released eight songs on two records between 1985 and 1986. Previously they had been called The Ballpoints, and then they became Peter Pan's Playground, later deciding on the name Jamie Wednesday.
The band consisted of:
James Morrison (acoustic guitar, lead vocals), Fruitbat (bass guitar, backing vocals), Dean Leggett (drums and percussion), Lindsey Lowe (trumpet), and Simon Henry (saxophone). Ray Buckley may also have played drums for Jamie Wednesday, prior to joining British soul band, Buddy Curtess and the Grasshoppers.
Jamie Wednesday recorded and released two EPs, and contributed to two compilations on the Pink Records label, but they never sold well and the band remained virtually unknown. Jamie Wednesday are indirectly responsible for the name of the band Pop Will Eat Itself, when an article about Jamie Wednesday in the NME, written by David Quantick, mentioned that pop music is ever-recycling its ideas and that eventually, 'pop will eat itself'.
Jamie Wednesday split up in 1987 just before a scheduled appearance at an opening gig. James Morrison and Leslie Carter stuck together and filled in for that gig. Thus Carter USM was born, with Morrison and Carter becoming Jim Bob and Fruitbat respectively. Drummer Leggett subsequently joined BOB. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]
La Gran Curva was a band from Madrid part of the so-called «sinister wave» (dark wave) scene and later synth pop, founded in 1984 and dissolved in 1987.
La Gran Curva takes its name from the Talking Heads song "The Great Curve", from their album 'Remain in Light'. The band was formed by Belén L. Celada, Juan José Suárez and Julián Sanz Escalona. Produced by Servando Carballar, leader of Aviador Dro, they released all their records in DRO, and recorded in the Duplimatic studio in Madrid.
An agreeable dance outfit with ties to industrial music, techno, and funk plus an equally appreciable pop sense, Information Society hit the dance clubs and later the charts with their infectious breakout single, 1988's "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)". The group, a quartet formed in Minneapolis by James Cassidy, Paul Robb, Kurt Harland (aka Kurt Valaquen), and Amanda Kramer, signed to Tommy Boy Records a few years later and recorded a self-titled album. The single "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)," propelled by a Leonard Nimoy sample and Valaquen's smooth, assured vocals, became a club hit and eventually landed at number three in the pop charts. Later that year, "Walking Away" hit the Top Ten as well, and the album reached gold-certified status. Kramer left soon after, however, to record with the Golden Palominos, 10,000 Maniacs, and also on her own. Information Society's sophomore album, similar to not-so-famous follow-ups by dance-popsters EMF and Jesus Jones, was more than competent but mostly ignored by critics who had pegged them as one-hit wonders. Several singles managed shallow chart exposure, but after the third album (1994's 'Peace & Love, Inc.'), both Robb and Cassidy exited. Harland continued on, signing with the Cleopatra label and releasing the industrial-tinged 'Don't Be Afraid' in 1997 along with the remix album 'InSoc Recombinant' in 1999. Harland then moved onto a career in video game music, working for publishers like Crystal Dynamics and Electronic Arts. Little Information Society activity happened until the group was featured on an episode of VH1's Bands Reunited in 2004, but Kurt was a holdout. Amanda Kramer moved on to join The Psychedelic Furs. A couple of shows with Harland, Cassidy, and Robb took place in 2005 before Harland left the band; although he remained a silent fourth member, he gave a 2006 lineup with vocalist Christopher Anton his blessing. This lineup was responsible for the 2007 album 'Synthesizer', but Anton was out by the end of 2009 and Harland returned soon after. The band released '_Hello World' in 2014 on Robb's Hakatak label and supported the album with a world tour. In 2016, the all-covers album 'Orders of Magnitude' arrived with songs originally performed by Human League ("Don't You Want Me"), Devo ("Beautiful World"), and The Sisters of Mercy ("Dominion"). [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
The Hollow Men were a British alternative band from Leeds that caused a stir on the alternative music scene in Manchester during the mid to late '80s. Comprising frontman David Ashmoore, rhythm guitarist Choque, lead guitarist Brian E. Roberts, bass guitarist Howard Taylor, and drummer Jonny Cragg, the group made their name on the gig circuit by combining the lucid, psychedelic rock sound of the '60s with the upbeat, rhythmic aspects of acid house. Naming themselves after the poem by T.S. Eliot, the project initially began as a two-piece in 1985 with Ashmoore and Choque putting out their debut release, the single 'Late Flowering Lust' on their own label, Evensong. They were eventually joined by Taylor on bass duties for their debut album, 'Tales of the Riverbank'. The album was released through Evensong along with their follow-up, 'The Man Who Would Be King', which featured Cragg and Roberts, thus completing the line-up. After a number of live performances, the ensemble began to create a buzz on the live music scene and were eventually signed to Arista Records in 1988. Arista put out their single, 'White Train' which was effectively a remix of one the tracks that originally appeared on 'The Man Who Would Be King'.
The band continued to perform around the country, and became known for their distinct live image and their penchant for decorating the stage with tree props, akin to the ones that appeared on the popular children’s television show, "The Magic Roundabout". Successful gigs eventually led to them touring in support of acts such as The Wonder Stuff, Ghost Dance and the Stone Roses. The band released their third album 'Cresta' through Arista Records in 1990. Unfortunately, it was the only release on Arista as they disbanded the following year. However the album did well on both sides of the Atlantic, reaching the Top Ten in the U.S. college radio charts and receiving critical praise throughout the U.K. The group’s tunes did not go unheard however, and a compilation entitled 'Twisted' was released through November Records in 1994. The record was made up of previously unreleased tracks, demo recordings, and rare live cuts. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
One of the earliest of the Midwest's hardcore bands, Lansing, MI's The Fix played ferocious music at a recklessly fast speed, literally burning through the arc of a band from birth to crash in just 22 months. Consisting of guitarist Craig Calvert, singer Steve Miller, drummer Jeff Wellman, and bassist Mike Achtenberg, The Fix conceptually began after Steve and Mike caught sets by The Stranglers and the Ramones within a few weeks of each other at Dooley's in Lansing. The actual band officially formed in 1980 with the arrival of Calvert and Wellman. The Fix's furious shows made them favorites on the D.I.Y. hardcore circuit, and they caught the attention of Touch and Go's Tesco Vee, who issued a Fix 7" early in 1981, 'Vengeance / In This Town', and a second 7", 'Jan's Rooms', at the end of the year. The violently fast hurricane that was The Fix finally played itself out, however, in San Francisco on New Year's Day 1982, when the band decided to call it quits. 'At the Speed of Twisted Thought...', a full-length CD made up of the band's singles, demos, and a generous set of live tracks (making it essentially the complete recorded legacy of The Fix), was issued in 2006 by Touch and Go Records. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Regarded as one-hit wonders in America, the Eurogliders actually had a longer and more successful career in their homeland. Formed in 1980 in Perth, West Australia, the Eurogliders consisted of six members: Grace Knight (vocals), Crispin Akerman (guitars), Bernie Lynch (guitars), Amanda Vincent (keyboards), Geoff Rosenberg (bass), and John Bennetts (drums). As a teenager, Knight used to perform in folk clubs. Searching for a career boost, she traveled to Australia where she met Lynch, a friend of her sister's. As Knight developed her vocal style, Lynch began assembling the pieces for a band. In 1982, the Eurogliders released their first album, 'Pink Suit Blue Day', but it did not sell well. However, "Heaven," the autumnal single from 1984's 'This Island', was a worldwide smash; it provided the group's only U.S. airplay. Unable to duplicate that success, the Eurogliders broke up in 1989. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Following the 1982 dissolution of Japan, the group's onetime frontman David Sylvian staked out a far-ranging and esoteric career that encompassed not only solo projects but also a series of fascinating collaborative efforts and forays into filmmaking, photography, and modern art. Born David Batt in Kent, England, on February 23, 1958, Sylvian formed Japan in 1974 and served as primary singer / songwriter throughout the group's eight-year existence. Just prior to Japan's breakup, Sylvian began working with composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, with whom he released the single "Bamboo Houses" in 1982, marking the beginning of a longstanding musical relationship.
After 1983's "Forbidden Colours," another joint effort with Sakamoto composed for the film "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence", Sylvian released his 1984 solo debut, 'Brilliant Trees'. The first step in his music's evolution from Japan's post-glam synth pop into richly textured, poetic ambience, the album featured contributions from Sakamoto as well as Jon Hassell and Can alumnus Holger Czukay. That year, Sylvian also published his first book of photographs, "Perspectives: Polaroids 82/84"; in 1985, he released "Preparations for a Journey", a documentary filmed in and around Tokyo, as well as the EP 'Words with the Shaman'.
'Gone to Earth', an ambitious double LP recorded with assistance from Robert Fripp and Bill Nelson, followed in 1986, while 1987 marked the release not only of the beautiful 'Secrets of the Beehive' album but also the book collection "Trophies: The Lyrics of David Sylvian". At the same time, he began composing the score for modern dancer Gaby Abis' "Kin", which premiered at London's Almeida Theater that September; another collaboration with Abis, "Don't Trash My Altar, Don't Alter My Trash", bowed in November 1988. Also in 1988, Sylvian reunited with Holger Czukay for the instrumental LP 'Plight and Premonition'; the duo re-teamed in 1989 for 'Flux + Mutability'. "Ember Glance: The Permanence of Memory", an installation of sculpture, sound, and light created by Sylvian and Russell Mills, was staged in Tokyo Bay, Shinagawa, in 1990; a year later, he and the other members of Japan, who had briefly reunited under the name Rain Tree Crow, issued a self-titled album.
In 1994, Sylvian emerged in tandem with Robert Fripp for both an album, 'The First Day', and "Redemption", another sound-and-image installation exhibited in Japan. The superb 'Dead Bees on a Cake' followed in 1999; 'Approaching Silence', a collection of instrumental material, appeared later that fall. In fall 2000 Sylvian returned with the double-disc 'Everything and Nothing', which made for an excellent introduction to some of Sylvian's projects that had finally taken shape after the composition completion, financial settlements, and time constraints throughout his solo career. He reappeared in 2003 with 'Blemish', an unsettling disc of new material featuring appearances by avant guitar legend Derek Bailey and electronica experimentalist Christian Fennesz. It took six long years for Sylvian to record a follow-up to 'Blemish', but he did so with 'Manafon' in 2009. Fennesz appeared on the set, as did vanguard musicians Evan Parker, John Tilbury, Otomo Yoshihide, Polwechsel, and Keith Rowe.
In 2010, Sylvian's Samadhisound imprint released 'Sleepwalkers', a 16-track compilation of his collaborations from the 2000s, including his Nine Horses project and 'World Citizen' with Sakamoto. It also included one new song, "Five Lines", a collaboration with Dai Fujikura. In 2011, Sylvian released 'Died in the Wool (MANAFON Variations)'. It featured reworkings -more than remixes- of some tracks from 'Manafon', and included six new cuts. The work was done in collaboration with Fujikura, Fennesz, and producers Jan Bang and Erik Honoré, among others. Two tracks were actually musical versions of two poems by Emily Dickinson, "I Should Not Dare" and "A Certain Slant of Light". The double digipack also included the CD for Sylvian's audio installation, "When We Return You Won’t Recognize Us". In 2012 he, Sidsel Endresen, and Arve Henriksen were featured contributors to Jan Bang's and Erik Honore's 'Uncommon Deities'. The same year he and Stephan Mathieu recorded the duo album 'Wandermüde'.
Back in 2011, Sylvian was taken with American poet Franz Wright's collection "Kindertotenwald", and while touring with Christian Fennesz, began composing and remixing ideas related to it on a laptop. He approached Wright about a collaboration, and the poet agreed. In the fall of 2013, Sylvian spent time with Wright, recording him reading from his work. A short while later, he began to assemble the earlier sound ideas, newly composed ones, and those readings in a long-form work. He was aided by Fennesz, pianist John Tilbury, Otomo Yoshihide, and Toshimaru Nakamura. The finished piece, 'There's a Light That Enters Houses with No Other House in Sight', was issued by Samadhisound in the fall of 2014. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Raleigh, North Carolina-based jangle pop outfit The Connells formed in the spring of 1984. Fronted by guitarist Mike Connell and his brother, bassist David, the first incarnation of the group also featured vocalist Doug McMillan and drummer John Schultz, who was soon replaced by former Johnny Quest percussionist Peele Wimberley. In late 1984, the quartet recorded a four-song demo. After one of the tracks, "Darker Days", was selected to appear on the North Carolina compilation 'More Mondo', The Connells' ranks expanded with the addition of singer / guitarist George Huntley, who made his debut on a March 1985 session co-produced by Don Dixon.
With the help of the band's friend Ed Morgan, the resulting demo made its way to the offices of the British label Demon, which agreed to fund the recording of additional tracks to complete a full-length LP. 'Darker Days' was released in Europe by Demon in 1985, and when Morgan returned to the U.S., he formed his own label, Black Park, to issue the album domestically. After the low-budget videos for the tracks "Seven" and "Hats Off" garnered MTV airplay, The Connells won a contract with the TVT label prior to entering producer Mitch Easter's Drive-In Studios to record 1987's brooding, more assured 'Boylan Heights', which featured the superb single "Scotty's Lament".
The edgier 'Fun and Games' followed in 1989, and a year later the group resurfaced with 'One Simple Word', scoring an alternative radio hit with the single "Stone Cold Yesterday". After a three-year tour that saw The Connells add keyboardist Steve Potak to their lineup in 1991, they finally returned to the studio to begin work on 1993's 'Ring', highlighted by the singles "Slackjawed" and "74-75", a major hit throughout Europe. After another three-year hiatus, The Connells issued 1996's 'Weird Food & Devastation', released concurrently with Huntley's solo debut, 'Brain Junk'. The group returned in 1998 with 'Still Life', and after ending their relationship with the TVT label, self-released 'Old-School Dropouts' in 2001 on Black Park Records. In 2010, the band's catalog was acquired by Bicycle Music Company, which issued the albums digitally. Four years later, the band celebrated its 30th anniversary with a live show in Raleigh. In 2016, the anthology 'Stone Cold Yesterday: The Best of The Connells' appeared on Bicycle Music Company. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Formed in Lansing, MI in 1982, The Crucifucks were a punk rock band led by frontman and lyricist Doc Corbin Dart. One of the most intensely cynical groups to arise during the Reagan era, The Crucifucks' brand of establishment hating rhetoric would score them a deal with fellow anti-establishment figure Jello Biafra and his label, Alternative Tentacles. Their debut, a self-titled affair, was released in 1985. Featuring Dart on vocals, Gus Varner on guitar, Marc H. on bass, and future Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley hitting the skins, Crucifucks featured some of the more volatile political punk rock of the time, including the tracks "Hinckley Had a Vision" and "Cops for Fertilizer." The follow-up, 1987's 'Wisconsin', showed some development musically, but would be the last new Crucifucks record for nearly a decade. In the meantime, Dart recorded two solo records, 1990s 'Patricia' for Alternative Tentacles, and a cassette-only self-release titled 'Black Tuesday' in 1991. 1992 would see Alternative Tentacles release a CD compilation of The Crucifucks' first two LPs, under the title 'Our Will Be Done'. The collection would cause a furor four years later when a Philadelphia police organization discovered that the band and the label had used a staged, public relations photo of a slain police officer. The photo, an attempt at garnering wage concessions from the Philadelphia city government, and featured on the back cover of the CD, would land The Crucifucks and Alternative Tentacles in court for copyright violation. Some sources reported that the band and label lost the case, while others have reported that the suit was dismissed. Either way, the band -Doc Corbin Dart, more correctly- was re-energized by the affair, and released their third full-length, 'L.D. Eye' in 1996. The album featured the -at the time, anyway- core of The Crucifucks, Dart and drummer Steve Merchant, alongside bassist Dave Breher and guitarist Nat Warren. 1998 saw the band re-form to play the Alternative Tentacles 20th anniversary celebration at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Crucifix was founded in 1980 and fronted by Cambodian-born singer Sothira Pheng, whose family had fled the country when the brutal Khmer Rouge seized power. The band's self-titled EP debuted on Universal Records of Berkeley in '81 and was followed by the 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' single on the band's own Freak Records in 1982. The band's debut full-length 'Dehumanization' on Corpus Christi Records (an offshoot of Crass Records) is also widely considered to be their definitive work and a cornerstone of political punk. The band split up after a lengthy tour of US / Canada / Europe on July 13, 1984. A posthumous compilation album of singles and live tracks entitled 'Exhibit A' was released on Kustomized Records in 1997.
Matt Borruso and Christopher Douglas later reemerged in Loudspeaker, a New York–based noise rock group. The band included guitarist Kurt Wolf (of Pussy Galore), bassist Jens Jürgensen (of Boss Hog) and later bassist Charles Hanson (of The Normals and Chrome Cranks). Christopher Douglas was later replaced by Martin Köb (Circle X, Dustdevils, Drunk Tank, Wall Drug) on drums. They released several recordings between 1990 and 1996.
Sothira Pheng (bass and vocals) and Jimmy Crucifix (guitar) now play with Proudflesh, a San Francisco-based "Hard Punk Rock 'n' Roll". Proudflesh released their first album in March 2006 on Wired Gnome Records. Vocal samples from "Annihilation", the opening track of the 'Dehumanization' LP, were used by Orbital on the song "Choice". "Annihilation" was recorded in 2004 by A Perfect Circle for their third LP, 'eMOTIVe'; Sepultura also covered it as a bonus track on the album 'Nation' (2001). [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]
Crisis are a British punk rock band formed in 1977 in Guildford in Surrey with the lineup of Phrazer (vocals), Lester Jones (lead guitar), Douglas
Pearce (guitar), Tony Wakeford (bass) and Insect Robin the Cleaner
(drums). They performed at rallies for Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League, and at Right to Work marches.
Their debut single, 'No Town Hall', was released in 1978 on Action Group Records. On 11 January 1978, Crisis recorded four tracks at a Peel Session for BBC Radio 1, with two of the tracks released as the 'UK 79' 7" single in 1979 on the Ardkor label. The remaining two Peel Session songs were posthumously issued by Ardkor in 1981 as 'Alienation'.
In early 1979, the band underwent a major change in personnel when Phrazer and Insect Robin the Cleaner were replaced by Dexter (a longtime fan and roadie) and Luke Rendle. After performing their last show, supporting Magazine and Bauhaus in their hometown of Guildford on 10 May 1980, the band broke up. A recording of the final show was released in 2008 as the 'Ends!' CD.
An uninhibited, unpretentious garage rock band, The Creeps were formed in Sweden in 1985. Taking as their principal starting point the work of The Animals, Robert Jelinek (vocals, guitar), Hans Ingemansson (Hammond organ), Anders Olsson (bass) and Patrick Olson (drums) have become something of a Scandinavian Hamsters via their hard-gigging schedule. Their second album, 'Now Dig This', was released in 1988. Their most popular song, "Ooh I Like It", became a major Swedish hit two years later, and was eventually voted Best Song Of The Year by MTV viewers in 1990. The parent album, 'Blue Tomato', proved another major success, though The Creeps’ fixation with live performance has never been properly converted to the studio. Such was the scale and intensity of their touring that they were forced to take a career break in the early 90s with various members on the verge of nervous breakdowns. Refreshed, they returned in 1993 with the typically upbeat 'Seriouslessness', a superbly rendered collection of bar-room R&B songs. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
