Xeerox

Suspended in memory, the inception of Xeerox takes us to the beginning of 1979. By then Javier Hernando was working for Gay & Company in Barcelona, where one day he met an excessive fifteen year old Krishna Goineau, by then self-nicknamed Jerry Latex, who asked him if he could play for him some Roxy Music. Javier chose “Street Life”, which was funnily parodied by him. He then promised him that he would bring him a record that he would very much like. When he came back, he got it out of his bag, and Javier discovered that it was none other than 'Datapanik in the Year Zero' by Pere Ubu. The cover astonished Javier equally as 'Half Machine Lip Moves’s cover by Chrome, that he had seen a couple of weeks ago, when Toni Serra (a concert promoter) came up to him at the counter with a copy of it. Chrome’s sound, disturbed the staff, while Toni and Javier explored their common favourite groups, formula that would usually led to a group formation. This was their case a few weeks later. Even though they lacked of experience, they were caught on by the devaluation of the instrumental skills present in the most agitating and groundbreaking proposals of that time. His acceptation towards this challenge was immediate and shortly after followed Mario Almonacid, Magda Redondo and Pedro Llorens. 

Their rehearsal sessions started filled with a continuum sound of improvisations, with no preconceived instructions, in their development and duration. Static poses before diabolically accelerated music, dissonant, with high volume levels, that originated atonal sounds, in between four electric blue colour walls, full of terminal inscriptions and shocking slogans under an agonic light. Between the rehearsal-bunker door and the street door they had to flank a backyard replete of fuselage remains of the outmost variety. The place was run by an “ubuesque” and macabre matrimony, both obese, formed by a frustrated choreographer and his epileptic wife. Some of her attacks surprised us at the premises, after some of her many reprimands. 

After a short while of the incorporation of Cheity to their sessions, they received the offer from the promoter of Gay&Co, to be the support band for Siouxsie and the Banshees (it would be their first concert in Barcelona). This responsibility and the fact that the concert location could have been the Teatre Romea, made them question, for the first time, their own limitations, and if their pure amusement could still work in front of a live audience. The posterior cancellation of the concert was, why deny it, especially for Javier, a relief, but at the same time a warning to self-evaluate the real extent of their work. 

Xeerox was influenced by the music, ideology and aesthetics of punk, even though it wasn’t in a strict or exclusive way. The rejection of melodic guitars became in noise generators, and the fact that they didn’t work with schematic songs led them to practice a kind of mix between punk and atonal rock. Due to their impressionable age, they received the influence of some of the scenes, like the Parisian band Metal Urbain or the journalist and writer Yves Adrien, some German bands of the 70’s like Neu, Kraftwerk or Faust, and also some Avant Garage bands like Pere Ubu or Chrome. Additionally, many Californian formations that they discovered in the Fanzine Search&Destroy, not forgetting Hawkwind and Crass, whose concert in the Londoner Pied Bull left them dazzled and amazed. 

At the end of the 70’s, there was no outstanding punk scene in Barcelona, with the exception of Ultimo Resorte and Clinic Humanoids, who started to emerge. Between bands from the previous wave, like Banda Trapera and Xeerox there was a huge gap. They felt a bit more identified with bands like Suck Electronic Enciclopedic, Macromassa and especially with Psicopatas del Norte, Tendre Tembles, groups that achieved very high levels of creativity, whose risk and ingeniousness wasn’t precisely inherited by the bands of the posterior decade. The city of Barcelona succumbed into a deep coma, clearly placing Xeerox in an outsider position. Part of this disappointment made Krishna leave to Düsseldorf, and later on to Berlin, where he formed Liaisons Dangereuses, side by side with Beate Bartle ex-Mania D and Chris Haas ex-DAF. 

Xeerox received a proposal from Germany but it was ruined at the end. Der Plan, through its record label Ata Tak proposed them to participate in the recompilation 'What Next Humans?' which was changed in the end for the name of 'Fixed Planet'. The temporary blockage of the band and the mistaken idea that they would only accept electronic music, led them to decline their offer, being brilliantly taken over by Esplendor Geometrico. Shortly after, they considered introducing electronic devices to their sound. They acquired a beautiful prehistoric rhythm box and Raul Guber, who had just joined playing the bass, incorporated a synthesizer MS-10. With it, Raul took on a solitary project a while later, Los Toreros del Este and the Mortiferos Torpedos de Disneylandia. In their final stage, German Lazaro occasionally joined, and the last incorporation was Luis Lorenzo and with him, Xeerox sort of became what they baptized with the name En PreVision D. [SOURCE: JAVIER HERNANDO - XEEROX]

429 Engaños

After an incursion in a rock & roll group during his adolescence (Los Presumidos), Javier Corcobado (born in Frankfurt in 1963 and based in Madrid) formed in 1982 429 Engaños, a highly experimental band that lasted a couple of years. The group was completed by Gerardo Romera, Javier Rodrigo, Charly and Manuel Presas. They were clearly influenced by bands like The Residents, Cabaret Voltaire, Tuxedoomoon or 23 Skidoo. 

 
They worked on scores, but always leaving room for the random component that gave their music a certain air of controlled chaos. What was written for drums was executed for the keyboard. In the change of roles the difference was sought. At that time it was important, and decisively artistic, not to sound absolutely like anyone else. It is not difficult to imagine that, in those outbursts of strong creativity, more than one believed himself to be the legitimate heir of the Dadaists for a day. 

In the midst of the spiral of the "Movida", 429 Engaños remember as their most outstanding concert the one they offered at the main meeting point of the cream of the crop of the time, Rock-Ola, in May 1983. That same year, Radio 3 broadcasted a couple of songs from their demo: "¿Qué es un Sentimiento?" and "Historia de Amor". After some more demos and personnel changes, the group was renamed Mar Otra Vez, and later, Demonios Tus Ojos. 

 

Corcobado has continued his solo career with a first album in 1989, 'Agrio Beso', interspersed with the creation of the group Corcobado y Los Chatarreros de Sangre y Cielo between 1991 and 1995, with whom he released three more albums. He has also been producer of several groups (Esclarecidos, among others), lyricist (Los Enemigos, Clónicos, Luz Casal, Andrés Calamaro) poet and novelist with several published books. [SOURCE: GRUPOS NACIONALES NUEVA OLA 80]

 

T

Only 300 copies were pressed of 'Dark Fields', the only album released in 1983 in Barcelona by T, recently turned into a collector's item. T was an enigmatic trio formed by Mr. Nada (percussive rhythms), Caballero T (tapes and distortions) and Tres (vocals, guitars and synthesizers). Tres had already become the singer of a progressive rock and funk band Klamm. The LP was released after their early dissolution and precisely through Klamm Records. It was recorded in 1982 without the members of the band ever coinciding in the recording studio. A conceptual, singular and unique work, where influences and styles such as electronic pop and avant-garde experimentation are mixed. [SOURCE: ROTOR DISCOS] 

 

La Caida De La Casa Usher

La Caida De La Casa Usher were a Spanish electronic darkwave band active around 1982 and 1984. Javier Corcobado collaborated as guest artist on their demo tape. The name of the group comes from a book by Edgar Allan Poe, so they were already predisposed to the darkness, and they developed their career within an incipient synth-pop scene, along with Aviador Dro, Oviformia Sci or Esplendor Geométrico. [SOURCE: LAST.FM]

 
[MORE INFO: GRUPOS NACIONALES NUEVA OLA 80]

 

Clonicos

Clónicos is a Spanish experimental jazz-rock group that was active mainly between 1984 and 1994. Markus Breuss, a conservatory musician, formed the group in 1984 with Pelayo Arrizabalaga and soon after, Justo Bagüeste joined, taking as references artists/groups such as Cassiber, Material, Elliott Sharp, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Edgar Varese, Fred Frith, John Zorn and Art Ensemble of Chicago. Breuss was the group's leader and principal composer. During the ten years of the group's life, it incorporated several collaborators. 

Clónicos was the first Spanish group to play at the prestigious mœrs festival (Germany). In 1991, together with Finis Africae and the Swiss painter Daniel Garbade, they presented the performance “Cláusulas” to celebrate the 700 years of the Swiss Confederation, in Madrid in 1991. The music of Clónicos coincides in time with the groups of the so-called "Movida Madrileña", with which it has some contact (Víctor Polanski, leader of Polanski y el Ardor), but it is closer to the proposals of European and American avant-garde music (no-wave, free-rock, punk-jazz, etc.), with a combination of traditional percussion instruments, synthesizers and self-made instruments. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]

 

Mar Otra Vez

Mar Otra Vez is considered a cult band with its tragic conception of music and life and pioneers in Spain of the experimental fusion between rock and noise. Their origins were in 429 Engaños, band founded by Javier Corcobado in the mid 80's, with influences from groups like The Residents and Cabaret Voltaire. Mar Otra Vez were founded by Corcobado and Julián Sanz Escalona (from La Fundación). Their first line-up were Corcobado as singer (as well as trumpet and sax), Sanz Escalona (later known as Erizonte) on bass (also percussion and violin), Andrews Wax on keyboards, Javier Rodrigo on guitar and Luis Corchado on drums. Their style was influenced by the punk-funk and punk-rock waves of the booming post-punk.

 
In 1985 they released their first work, the EP 'No He Olvidado Cómo Jugar Embarrado', on the label Grabaciones Accidentales. In 1986 the line-up changed, with only Corcobado and Corchado remaining, and Gabriel S. Arias joining on guitar, and they released a new EP, which meant a change in their music, becoming more minimalist. In 1987 the line-up changed again, formed now by Corcobado, Arias, Luis M. González on bass and Víctor Royo Enguix on drums. That year Mar Otra Vez release their only LP, 'Algún Paté Venenoso', before split. Although the record company offered them to continue with their career, Mar Otra Vez disbanded, and Corcobado founded Demonios tus Ojos, with which he made a name on the Spanish scene. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]

 

Klamm

The story of Klamm started in Martorell, 30km near Barcelona, in 1976. Teenagers Josep Saus "Toto", Antonio K. Puertas and Leo Mariño got together under the influence of bands like Can and King Crimson. The original line up consisted of guitar, bass guitar and drums, and they were barely 16 years old when they began. From there, they evolved and also went though different personnel changes, added new influences, had experimental progressive jazz-rock periods, were touched by the works of bands like Talking Heads or Japan, augmented the range of instruments used with the addition of saxophone, various percussions and synths, and by 1983 they managed to record and self-release their first LP 'África Roja' on Klamm Records.

 
Besides Saus, Puertas and Mariño, the LP has the collaborations of Juanjo Ezquerra, J.P. Santos, Subi, Victor Nubla (Macromassa, Bel Canto Orchestra, FSM, Naif, a.o.), Abdul El'Marabet, John Greaves (Henry Cow, National Health) and Tres. The album is a perfect mixture of all their influences, King Crimson styled cold funk, progressive rock experimentation a la Van Der Graaf Generator, art rock with echoes from the New York scene and elements from krautrock, all thrown into the cauldron to come out with one of the most personal and interesting releases made in Spain in that period. Still pretty obscure, this album deserves to reach a wider audience. [SOURCE: SOUNDOHM]

 

A New Personality

A New Personality were an American New Wave band led by brothers Darren and Brent Rademaker in Tampa, Florida in the early 1980s. The band were a support act for Duran Duran in 1984. The band mixed the psychedelic gloominess of Echo & the Bunnymen with their own talent for melodic songwriting and came up with a very distinctive New Wave sound characterized by strong melodies and a polished production. In 1981, the band released the single 'Eyes', followed by 'Essential Things' in 1982 and also 1983. Both these singles were on the Green Records label. [SOURCE: LAST.FM]

 

The Reactions

Cleveland's Reactions weren't the biggest contenders in the Homestead Records stable. Not by a longshot in fact, but that didn't stop them from creating one wholly admirable EP ('Cracked Marbles'), exuding a fevered, guitar-centric palette falling somewhere between The Feelies and The Smithereens. The trio's bio humorously opines: "In an era where dogshit R.E.M.-alike tunes are flooding our turntables, The Reactions have already clocked in with two of the ‘80s coolest indie singles, in “Tomorrows Time Today” and “I Want You”. The Reactions indeed were not R.E.M. sound-alikes, but not completely removed from those sonic environs either. [SOUECE: WILFULLY OBSCURE]

 

Pop Art

Los Angeles-based jangle pop outfit Pop Art formed in 1983, originally comprising singer David Steinhart, his brothers Steve and Rich on guitar, bassist Tony Ortega and drummer Steve LePatner. The Steinharts soon after formed their own label, Stonegarden, for the purposes of releasing the band's debut single, 'That's Enough for Me'; a self-titled, six-song EP followed in 1984. Pop Art's full-length debut 'A Perfect Mental Picture' appeared a year later, earning the group a cult following among college radio listeners -LePatner left the lineup soon after its release, with drummer Steven Weisburd signing on for the follow-up, 1986's 'Long Walk to Nowhere'. 'Snap Crackle Pop Art', considered by diehards the band's masterpiece, appeared in 1987, but despite critical acclaim Pop Art remained frustratingly little-known to the vast majority of listeners, and after one final LP, 1990s 'Later on in the Same Life', the group dissolved. In 2000 Stonegarden issued 'Really Blind Faith: A Retrospective 1984-1990', while in the interim David Steinhart issued a pair of solo efforts, 1992's 'Everything She Says' and the next year's 'The Almighty Nest'. In 1994, he formed Small Brown Handbag with bassist Cindy Albon and drummer John Glogovac. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]

 

The Springfields

Despite living in the middle of the American Midwest, The Springfields' jangling, sweetly melodic sound put them in them in league with the finest post-C-86 guitar groups in the U.K. They were the first U.S. band to have a single on Sarah Records, 1988's "Sunflower"; covered rare and obscure songs by top practitioners like The Pastels; and in Ric Menck had a leader who was in touch with the core values of classic indie pop. The group issued a short run of singles before Menck teamed with musical partner Paul Chastain to form Velvet Crush in 1991.

 
The Springfields grew out of the collaboration between two music-loving guys who met at a recording studio in Schaumburg, Illinois, and struck up a friendship. Menck, who had been in the band The Reverbs, played drums and wrote songs; Chastain played bass and also wrote songs. The duo pooled their resources and began working together. They recorded a handful of songs at the studio during off-hours, and then, after moving to the college town of Champaign, Illinois, recorded a bunch of songs. They dubbed the project Choo Choo Train and released a Menck-written and sung single, "This Perfect Day," on their own Picture Book label in 1987. 

 

After that release, the duo decided to split their project into two separate entities. Chastain would keep the Choo Choo Train moniker and issue songs that he wrote and sang, while those Menck wrote or sang would go out as The Springfields. Menck was a big fan of the indie pop sounds coming out of the U.K. in the late '80s and wrote to the Sarah label to see if they wanted to release a single. The influential label agreed and in 1998 co-released the "Sunflower" single with the equally important U.S. label Bus Stop. The Sarah edition included an extra song, "Are We Gonna Be Alright?," a lovely ballad written by Matthew Sweet, a friend and Menck's future employer. The record was tabbed "Single of the Week" by the NME. 

The next Springfields' single, 1989's "She Swirls Around Me," featured guitar playing by Buddy Judge. The flip side of the single was a cover of an unreleased Primal Scream song that the band recorded for their first album but didn't use. Menck used his skills as a letter writer and fan to procure a demo tape from the band's Bobby Gillespie that came with a note detailing exactly how Menck should record the song, a directive that was ultimately cast aside. Another single, recorded in Boston with future Velvet Crush member Jeffery Underhill on guitar, was released by the U.K. label Seminal Twang in 1991. The A-side was a cover of U.K. indie pop group The Clouds' jangling rocker "Tranquil," and the B-side was a Menck/Chastain original ("Reach for the Stars") and a song by The Pastels ("Million Tears"). The Springfields returned to Sarah in 1990 to issue their final single, "Wonder." 

Right around that time, Menck and Chastain decided to vacate the world of lo-fi recordings, D.I.Y. singles, and twee pop -as well as the Midwest- in favor of Providence, Rhode Island, and the decidedly more professional power pop sound of Velvet Crush. The Springfields' singles were reissued as a part of the compilation 'The Ballad of Ric Menck' in 1996 by the Australian pop label Summershine, which was then itself reissued by Menck's own Action Musik in 2004. After being out of print for a long spell, the legendary U.S. label Slumberland released 'Singles 1986-1991' for a new generation of indie pop kids and jangle pop mavens to discover. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]

 

One Plus Two

One Plus Two were a coed outfit who released 'Once In a Blue Moon' on Homestead Records in 1986, and had two previous records available, namely another 12" -'The Ivy Room'- on Homestead, and a 7" EP titled 'Watercolor Haircut' on the prestigious New Math label. 'Once In a Blue Moon' is an immediately winsome album, flavored with the jangly indie-pop (think Mitch Easter, etc) of it's era. [SOURCE: WILFULLY OBSCURE]

 

The White Sisters

The White Sisters was a band from Madison, WI featuring Jeffrey Borchardt (HoneyBunch, Velvet Crush) on vocals and guitar, Derrick McBride on bass and Lawrence Bethe on drums. Derrick McBride, originally from Chicago, Illinois, moved to Madison, Wisconsin in 1984, where he joined the band The White Sisters, then joined Ivory Library in 1987. He was also known for his work at record store B-Side Records. In 1997, McBride left Madison for San Francisco, California alongside members of his band The Woolgathering. In San Francisco, he played with bands including Sweetheart and Ultraset and has worked at Amoeba Records. 

 

The Strand

Based in Arlington, VA, The Strand were a local favorite during the early '80s, but when they released their debut album, 'Seconds Waiting' on the Wasp Records imprint, listeners from points beyond the metro D.C. era took note. The LP is considered a lost American power pop classic among the few who were fortunate enough to make its acquaintance. By 2007 The Strand reunited, and issued their second album, 'Another Season Passes', which included new songs, as well as as some vintage material. [SOURCE: WILFULLY OBSCURE]

 

Great Plains

Great Plains was a band from Columbus, Ohio active during the 1980s. Its vocalist and songwriter, Ron House, went on to found the much more successful band Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments. Great Plains was founded in 1981. Its first release was 1982's 'The Mark, Don & Mel' EP, which contained eight tracks. In 1984, they released their full-length debut, 'Born in a Barn', on Homestead Records. They released another full-length, 'Naked At The Buy Sell & Trade', in 1986, followed by their third such album, 'Sum Things Up', in 1987. In 1989, the band released a compilation album, 'Colorized!', on the Demon Records offshoot Diabolo Records. In 2000, a compilation album of 50 of the band's songs from their entire career, entitled 'Length of Growth, 1981-1989', was released on the Old 3C label. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA] 

 

The Ferrets

The Ferrets were a so-called jangle pop band from the United States, active in the latter half of the 1980s, featuring Chaz Lockwood and Jim Huie. Their only long player, 'Angry Young Ferrets', was released by Jargon Records in 1987. [SOURCE: LAST.FM]

 

Riff Doctors

Riff Doctors were a short lived four piece from possibly, the Hoboken NJ area or from Durham, NC. They released a 7" single in 1983 - 'I Don't Want To Go Back / Fallingout'- on Steve Fallon’s Coyote Records label, who formerly owned Maxwell’s, a great club in Hoboken. After this, Donna Esposito, (formerly of The Cyclones) joined the band, and they changed their name to Cowboy And Spin Girl. There's a cassette only release containing six songs, a stuff of jangle-pop nirvana. [SOURCE: SHOTGUN SOLUTIONS]