ZOA

Z.O.A., sometimes expanded as ZoologicalOlacigoloporhtnA, is a Japanese goth, avant-garde, industrial and progressive rock band formed in 1984 around vocalist Seiichiroh Morikawa, and emerged from the particularly adventurous Japanese underground of the mid-1980s, moving between punk, noise, industrial music, gothic rock and increasingly complex progressive structures.

 
Morikawa had already been involved in the local underground before forming Z.O.A., including running More Records from around 1982. The early Z.O.A. lineup went through several changes, but the band began to establish a much more distinctive identity after guitarist Shinji Kuroki joined in 1986. Kuroki had known Morikawa from their teenage years and came from a harder rock background, bringing a very different guitar approach to the group. Their collaboration pushed Z.O.A. away from its raw early punk form towards a heavier, more elaborate and progressive sound. 

 
The early period was closely connected with Tokyo's alternative scene and the emerging independent-label movement. Z.O.A. appeared at venues including Shibuya Live Inn and Shinjuku Loft, sharing territory with punk, gothic, noise and experimental groups. Their association with Trans Records, the label founded by Masashi Kitamura of YBO² and Fool's Mate magazine, was particularly important. Z.O.A. became one of the label's representative bands and issued their first album, 'Humanical Garden', through Trans Records in 1988. 

 
The addition of Kuroki also coincided with a major change in the band's musical language. Instead of simply extending the aggressive punk approach of the earliest Z.O.A., the group developed a dense combination of heavy guitar, industrial textures, unconventional rhythms and progressive arrangements. The result could move from crushing sections into much stranger, atmospheric passages without losing the tension of Morikawa's highly distinctive vocals. The band's work from this period is often associated with the Japanese underground's crossover between punk, industrial, gothic and progressive rock rather than with a single genre. 

 
Z.O.A.'s principal active period ran from the mid-1980s through 2000, with numerous changes in the rhythm section and other personnel along the way. Drummers in particular changed several times, with musicians including Hideo Takizawa, Pazz, Katsuo Sato, Takashi Kimura and Tatsuya Yoshida appearing at different stages. The 1989-era combination of Morikawa, Kuroki, bassist Takahito Shinohara and drummer Pazz became one of the best-known configurations of the group.

 
After becoming inactive around 2000, Z.O.A remained an important reference point for Japanese underground music, while Morikawa continued working in other projects. The group returned to the stage in 2015 after an invitation connected with Auto-Mod's 35th-anniversary event. That reunion eventually developed into more regular activity, and in 2019 Morikawa, Kuroki, Shinohara and Pazz reunited as Z.O.A and released 'Six Tracks', produced by Atsuo of Boris. 

 
The later period also brought collaborations with members of Boris and other figures from the Japanese experimental scene. Z.O.A. released new material after their return, including the album '仮想の人 (The Moon Said That You Are The Moon)', while Morikawa's activities continued to overlap with projects such as Chi To Shizuku. The band's connection with the older Trans Records generation remained an important part of its history, particularly through its relationship with Kitamura and the wider network around Fool's Mate.

 
In 2023, Z.O.A. announced that the group would end its activities after completing its 40th anniversary cycle. The final shows took place at Koenji High in Tokyo on 13 and 14 October 2024, bringing the band's four-decade history to a close. The final lineup featured Morikawa on vocals, Kuroki on guitar, Shinohara on bass and Hideo Takizawa on drums, and the final album, 'Night's Wanton Spider', appeared in July 2024. 

 

Sudeten Creche

Sudeten Crèche began in 1980 as a sonic-art project conceived by Yvette Döll, who handled the artistic direction and lyrics. Rather than starting out as a conventional band, the project grew from experimental sounds, tape loops, voices, short-wave radio interference and synthesizers, with Döll drawing on the atmosphere of experimental and electronic music from the 1960s and ’70s. The project took a more concrete musical form around 1980–81, when Döll worked with Paul Carlin, her brother, who contributed lyrics and vocals. Much of this earliest material remained unreleased, although some of the recordings were later used as source material. 

The first public appearance came with the compilation EP 'Europe in the Year Zero', issued in 1982 as a benefit for the anti-nuclear cause. Sudeten Crèche contributed “Are Kisses Out Of Fashion?” and “Dance”, two early minimal electronic pieces that established the sound associated with the project. The compilation also featured Yazoo with “Goodbye ’70s” and Colour Me Pop, and had been conceived with Sudeten Crèche’s involvement. According to Paul Carlin, the project came together through connections involving Döll, Illuminated Records and people around the emerging electronic scene. The record reportedly sold more than 10,000 copies and reached No. 46 in the UK singles chart and No. 7 on the independent chart before selling out within a few weeks. 

Mark Warner was also involved with Sudeten Crèche around this period, although his role has been omitted from some later accounts of the band's early history. Warner recalled that he played the keyboard parts on 'Europe in the Year Zero' using Carlin's Casio, while Carlin played the guitar on “Dance” using Warner's Fender Telecaster. Warner and Carlin subsequently became the two musicians most closely associated with the group's early-’80s incarnation.

 
In 1983 the lineup expanded with guitarist Baz Voce and bassist Tim Wharton. The four-piece recorded the 'Kindergarten' EP for Illuminated Records, including “Kindergarten”, “Dance” in instrumental and extended forms, and “Asylums in Beirut”. The record placed Sudeten Crèche alongside a number of other adventurous artists associated with the label, while the group's music was increasingly identified with the stripped-down electronic sound that would later be described as minimal synth or minimal wave. 

That same year brought one of the band's most notable live episodes. Sudeten Crèche supported Nico during the UK leg of her 1983 European tour, including a performance at Queen Mary College, University of London. Carlin later recalled meeting Nico backstage and receiving a signed copy of her 'Procession' EP with the words “A kiss for the Creche”. The encounter subsequently provided the inspiration for the title 'A Kiss From The Creche', used for a later Sudeten Crèche CD-EP. 

After the early-’80s activity, Sudeten Crèche never completely disappeared, although work became intermittent as the members pursued other projects. Carlin and Warner continued working on material at various points through the 1980s and into the early ’90s. Warner was involved with several other groups and projects, while Carlin worked in music production and other areas of the record business. The original Sudeten Crèche material therefore remained scattered across unreleased tapes, recordings and occasional reworkings rather than forming a conventional catalogue. 

Carlin and Warner revived Sudeten Crèche around 2005–06 after both had spent a considerable period away from the UK. This reunion produced new recordings, including the 2008 'Wounds' single on Annalogue Records, and helped bring renewed attention to the band's early material. Minimal Wave subsequently reissued the classic recordings, including the 'Are Kisses Out Of Fashion?' 12-inch in 2009. That release drew on the original tape reels and combined “Are Kisses Out Of Fashion?”, “Dance”, an unreleased version of “Kindergarten” and “Asylums”; the vinyl edition was limited to 500 hand-numbered copies. 

Sudeten Crèche also returned to the stage after more than twenty-five years away, with performances in several European cities around 2011. At that point Carlin and Warner were the active members, with the earlier involvement of Voce and Wharton forming part of the group's history. Their music was increasingly being placed within the minimal synth and minimal wave revival, although Carlin and Warner themselves noted that those genre labels did not exist when they were making the original recordings in the early ’80s. 

Warner left the group after the later reunion period, with the split becoming apparent around 2012–13. Carlin and Döll then returned to the project's original experimental basis. From 2014 onward they began assembling and reconstructing material dating from roughly 1980 to 1985, combining old recordings with new work. In 2015, Döll and Carlin began recording new Sudeten Crèche material together again.

 
This work eventually led to 'Nothing Is True', released in 2019. The project brought together newly recorded material and reconstructed elements from the group's earliest period, including a vinyl-only appearance of the original 1982 recording of “Are Kisses Out Of Fashion?”. The release also contained four new and previously unreleased tracks, continuing the connection between the experimental tapes of the early Sudeten Crèche and the later minimal-wave incarnation. 

X Mandarina Duck

X Mandarina Duck emerged in Athens in 1984, during a period when the Greek independent scene was filling up with bands moving away from the older rock vocabulary and towards new wave, post-punk and sharper, more stripped-down sounds. The group was formed by Tommie Bouzianis, previously associated with Parthenogenesis and Stress, along with bassist Zacharias “Zack Antvark” Vrelianakis and drummer Chris “Mine” Stoligas. Stoligas was also responsible for the slightly strange name X Mandarina Duck. Bouzianis described the group as a particularly intense, hard-driving trio, and they became active on the Athens live circuit, appearing at places including Kyttaro, Rodeo, Pegasos, the Student Residence, Flisvos, the Freedom Park and the Propylaia. 

 
Tommie Bouzianis was the main songwriter and frontman, handling vocals and guitar, and his background already connected X Mandarina Duck to the rougher side of the early Greek punk and alternative scene. Their English-language material fitted naturally into the growing Athens new wave underground, while the group's live reputation seems to have been based largely on speed and energy rather than elaborate arrangements. 

 
The band began appearing on records in 1985. Their first documented release appearance was on the compilation 'Η Ανεξάρτητη Rock Σκηνή – Live', issued by Δικαίωμα Διάβασης, the label that later became Di Di Music. X Mandarina Duck contributed “Don't Pretend” and “Principles”. The same year they were included on 'Outsiders', another important document of the Greek independent scene, with “Television” and “Passengers”. Both tracks were written by Bouzianis and recorded at Mastersound Studios in Athens on October 1, 1985, with Chris “Snake” Manolitsis handling the engineering.

 
'Outsiders' was part of the broader network that was developing around the independent Athens scene in the mid-1980s. The compilation brought together groups such as X Mandarina Duck, Anti-Troppau Council, Villa 21 and Not 2 Without 3, and has subsequently been described as an important snapshot of the period. X Mandarina Duck travelled to Thessaloniki for its presentation at Cine Argo on November 22, 1985, sharing the bill with Anti-Troppau Council and Venericna Bolest.

 
Their live activity continued into 1986. On February 10 they played at Kyttaro Club in Athens with Low Noise, followed by the April 20 show at Rodeo Club with Αδιέξοδο and Panx Romana. The Rodeo appearance is also independently documented in contemporary Greek-rock archive material and in accounts of Panx Romana's concert history. Bouzianis later recalled another Athens appearance at the Propylaia in April 1986, sharing the bill with Pavlos Sidiropoulos, Dimitris Poulikakos, Nikolas Asimos and others, before the group left Greece for London in June.

 
Their only proper release was the extremely scarce 7-inch 'Non Stop (Sensations)', issued in 1986 by Wipe Out! Records. It contains “Non Stop (Sensations)” on the A-side and “Stuff No Bluff” and “Unconscious” on the B-side, with all three songs credited to Bouzianis. The record carries catalogue number W.O.R. 001 and was the very first release of Wipe Out!, a newly established independent label founded in early 1986 by Gregg Vaios and Thodoris Kritharis.

 
The circumstances around the single are closely tied to the early history of Wipe Out. Gregg Vaios recalled producing the X Mandarina Duck record himself, while bassist Zacharias Vrelianakis was already involved with the group. Vaios and Kritharis wanted Wipe Out to provide a home for independent Greek rock acts that had difficulty getting their recordings released, and X Mandarina Duck became the starting point for a catalogue that would later include Panx Romana, Villa 21, South of No North and many other artists. 

 
The band did not make it as far as an album. Shortly after the 7-inch appeared, Vrelianakis left and Winston Detleiv joined in his place. Rather than continue under the same name, Bouzianis renamed the group The Boycotts. This name change is therefore directly connected with the final phase of X Mandarina Duck rather than representing an unrelated project.

 
The Boycotts continued in London, where Bouzianis and Detleiv played at clubs including Gossips, Le Beat Route, The Crypt and the Rock Garden. In 1988 they appeared on the compilation 'Song and Legend' on Abstract Records with their version of “Julie” by Blue Birds. Bouzianis remained active in London for many years, playing with groups including Bad Karma Beckons and Dynamitte Inc. and also working as a session guitarist. His later activities included the album '13een Black' and, much later, the Astrodot project. Vrelianakis subsequently moved into record dealing and opened a second-hand record shop in Monastiraki, Athens.

 

Walk The Moon

Walk The Moon was a short-lived duo formed by Chilean-American multi-instrumentalist Alain Johannes and Latvian-born musician Natasha Shneider. The project came together in Los Angeles in the mid-1980s, after the two had met through the local music scene. Johannes had already built a reputation through his work with What Is This?, the band he had formed with Hillel Slovak, Jack Irons and others, while Shneider had previously fronted the Soviet-American R&B/pop group Black Russian. 

Johannes, whose full name is Alain Johannes Moschulski, was born in Santiago, Chile, in 1962 and had been playing guitar, bass and other instruments since childhood. His teenage career was closely connected with the early Los Angeles alternative-rock scene and the musicians who would later become associated with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. What Is This? had released records with Johannes, Hillel Slovak and Jack Irons before its members went in different directions. By the time Walk The Moon appeared, Johannes was moving toward a much more studio-based approach.

 
Natasha Shneider was born Natalia Mikhailovna Schneiderman in Riga in 1956. She moved to the United States with her family in the late 1970s and became involved with Black Russian, a group that signed with Motown and released an album in 1980. Shneider handled vocals and keyboards and brought a strong musical background that included classical training. After Black Russian ended, she continued working around Los Angeles, where she eventually crossed paths with Johannes.

 
Walk The Moon's self-titled album appeared on MCA in 1987. Rather than operating like a conventional rock band, Johannes and Shneider handled virtually all of the featured instrumentation themselves. Johannes contributed guitar, vocals, percussion, programming, saxophone and E-Bow, while Shneider played piano, synthesizers, percussion, programming and vocals. Their approach combined rock with dance, funk and polished pop, giving the record a distinctly late-1980s studio sound. 

The album was produced by Dave Jerden, who had already worked with a number of rock and alternative acts, and recording also took place at Crescent Studios in Bath, England. Contemporary trade coverage presented Walk The Moon as a new duo aimed partly at Top 40, CHR and dance audiences, while also expecting some alternative-radio interest. Johannes and Shneider wrote the material together for much of the record, although each also had individual writing credits.

 
The record opened with "Daddy's Coming Home", the first single and probably the track most closely associated with the project. Billboard described it as a rhythmically sophisticated pop track with a rock-and-soul edge, while the later single "She Flies" was also released through MCA. Other songs on the album included "Love Is What You Make It", "On Your Lap", "Sugar", "Shake Break", "Live On", "Tears in Your Smile", "Victim of Love" and "Happy Train".

 
There was never a second Walk The Moon album. Johannes and Shneider continued developing the musical ideas from the project and, around 1990, brought drummer Jack Irons into a new trio that became Eleven. That group allowed the pair to move further toward alternative rock and a heavier, more expansive sound, with Johannes on guitar and vocals and Shneider handling bass, keyboards and vocals. Eleven's first album, 'Awake in a Dream', followed in 1991.

 
The connection between Walk The Moon and Eleven is particularly important when tracing Johannes and Shneider's careers, since the 1987 album effectively sits between Johannes' work with What Is This? and the much longer Eleven period. The pair later became involved with artists including Chris Cornell and Queens of the Stone Age, with Johannes establishing himself as a guitarist, songwriter, producer and engineer and Shneider contributing vocals, keyboards and bass to a wide range of projects.

 
Shneider died in Los Angeles on July 2, 2008, aged 52. Johannes continued working as a musician and producer, contributing to projects connected with Queens of the Stone Age, Chris Cornell, Mark Lanegan, PJ Harvey and other artists. The Walk The Moon album remains the only recording credited to the Johannes-Shneider duo under that name, making it distinct from the much later Cincinnati indie-rock band that also adopted the name Walk the Moon.

V-3

V-3 were an experimental rock group from Columbus, Ohio, built around guitarist, singer and songwriter Jim Shepard and active from the late 1980s through the 1990s. Shepard had already been a central figure in the Columbus underground for years through Vertical Slit, Phantom Limb and Skullbank, developing a rough, home-recorded approach that mixed punk, garage rock, noise and free-form experimentation. V-3 became another outlet for that restless side of his work, but with a more recognisable band format.

 
The group was formed in September 1986 when Shepard joined forces with Nudge Squidfish, Rudy Smith and Roxanne Newman. Newman had been involved with Phantom Limb and Skullbank, while Squidfish was already an important figure in Columbus's do-it-yourself scene and had previously played with Kevyn and the Kasualties. The band's early period was closely connected to the loose network of musicians surrounding Columbus's independent punk and experimental scene, with people such as Mike "Rep" Hummel, Ron House, Don Howland and Tommy Jay moving between groups and projects.

 
V-3's music was deliberately difficult to pin down. Shepard's guitar could move from primitive punk riffs and feedback-heavy noise to repetitive, almost hypnotic figures, while the recordings frequently incorporated tape manipulation, found sounds and rough home-studio textures. The band could sound like a damaged garage-rock group one minute and an experimental noise project the next. Trouser Press described the early V-3 material as a mixture of punk, art-rock, sound collage and abrasive experimentation, with Shepard's bleak humour and detached vocals giving the songs their particular character. 

Their early catalogue was largely issued through small independent labels and cassette releases. 'Unbroken Silence' appeared on Iron Press in 1989, followed by the 'Earth Muffin' EP and 'Monsters of Hollywood' EP in 1991. 'Psychic Dancehall', issued by Ropeburn in 1991, is among the key releases from the early lineup and includes tracks such as "Prime Minister Keyes", "Tick Tock", "Gotta Get Free", "Dead Man" and "Another Exterminator (Eaten By Bugs)". Roxanne Newman's vocals are prominent on several of the tracks, while Nudge Squidfish contributes the bleak "Dead Man". 

'Negotiate Nothing' followed in 1992, again on Ropeburn, and pushed the rougher side of the group further. Alongside more straightforward punk material were pieces such as "Scrap Metal Radio" and "Your Uncle", where tape loops, noise and unconventional arrangements became part of the music. "Party at 15th and Summit", in particular, turned a local Columbus setting into a dark, almost documentary-style piece.

 
V-3 later moved into a more visible phase with 'Photograph Burns', released in 1996 through Onion Records, an American Recordings subsidiary. The album had been recorded for less than $500 and retained much of Shepard's abrasive approach despite the larger label connection. The title track was a particularly important V-3 song, while "American Face", "Bristol Girl" and a new version of "Superhuman" showed the group working within a somewhat more conventional rock framework without abandoning the strange edges of the earlier material. The Washington Post included 'Photograph Burns' among its notable releases of 1996, highlighting Shepard's guitar work and the mixture of caustic songwriting and melodic passages.

 
The group's catalogue also includes 'Russian Roulette Chinese Style' and 'The Superhuman' 7-inch releases from 1995, the 'Launch Pad Explosion' 7-inch from 1997 and the 'Pimping in the 90's' album from 1998. The latter was a self-released collection issued through Iron Press, with twenty short pieces ranging from "The Amateur Welder" and "Queen of the Underground" to fragments, demos and noisy miniatures such as "Car Horn in a Stinger Trap", "Squid Ink" and "Bullet through the Floorboards". 

 
By the mid-1990s, V-3 was increasingly intertwined with Jim Shepard's solo recording activity. He continued producing large amounts of material on cassette and small-run vinyl, often under his own name or through related projects. A 1995 CMJ review noted that Shepard had been making home recordings since the late 1970s and that his solo records 'Evil Love Deeper' and 'Picking Through the Wreckage With a Stick' were finally appearing on vinyl after years of cassette releases. The same underground recording culture that shaped Vertical Slit was still very much present in V-3.

 
Shepard died in Columbus in October 1998, aged 44. His death brought the active period of V-3 to an abrupt close, although recordings continued to circulate and appear in later archival releases. V-3's recordings have continued to surface in reissues and archival projects. The group's later digital catalogue includes 'Psychic Dancehall', reissued in 2020 with the original material supplemented by tracks such as a live version of "Photograph Burns", "Inside Outpost", "Fast Blue U.F.O.", "Twisted Words" and "The Enemy Within". The release credits V-3 and Iron Press as producers and identifies the project simply as V-3 from Columbus, Ohio. 

UV Pop

UV PØP, short for "Ultra Violent PØP", was a Sheffield-area post-punk and electronic project built around John K. White. Although it is sometimes described as a band, UV PØP began very much as White's personal project, with him handling vocals, guitar, tapes and much of the recording himself. The project emerged in the early 1980s from the South Yorkshire underground, at a time when Sheffield was producing a particularly interesting collision of post-punk, electronics, industrial music and experimental pop. 

Before UV PØP, White had been involved with a trio called The I Scream Brothers, where he supplied the music while the other two members handled the vocals. The group never really developed because rehearsals and creative work were limited, so White began performing the material himself, singing over backing tapes and developing the idea that became UV PØP. His home gradually became a small recording studio, allowing him to experiment with tape loops, electronics, guitars and other sounds without needing a conventional band around him. 

The first proper UV PØP release was the 'Just A Game / No Songs Tomorrow' 7-inch, issued by Sheffield's Pax Records in 1982. The record was recorded at Cabaret Voltaire's Western Works studio and produced by Cabaret Voltaire together with UV PØP. White played all the instruments and wrote the material, while the sleeve was designed and individually silk-screened by Klive. Only 1,000 copies were made, each with a slightly different handmade cover, which later helped turn the single into a highly sought-after piece of early Sheffield post-punk.

 
The connection with Cabaret Voltaire was particularly significant. White's sparse combination of guitar, voice, rhythm machines and tape manipulation fitted naturally into the experimental atmosphere surrounding Western Works, while the songs retained a more recognisable pop structure. UV PØP consequently sat somewhere between minimal synth, coldwave, post-punk and electronic experimentation rather than belonging neatly to any single category. The political and socially uneasy atmosphere of early-1980s Britain also found its way into White's lyrics. 

In 1983, Flowmotion Records issued the first UV PØP album, 'No Songs Tomorrow'. A Belgian edition appeared through Konexion, with a different sleeve and some variations in the mixes. The album brought together the stark electronics and guitar-based material of the earlier single with more developed songs such as “Psalm”, “See You”, “Portrait”, “Sleep Don't Talk”, “Commitment”, “Arcade Fun” and “Four Minute Warning”. The record established the characteristic UV PØP sound: restrained drum machines, angular guitars, homemade electronics, tape textures and White's distinctive, understated vocal delivery.

 
The title track, “No Songs Tomorrow”, became the key recording from this period. White's lyrics are bleak and personal, while the music remains stripped down and tense, with the primitive electronic rhythm and guitar creating a sound that was very much rooted in the early Sheffield scene. The track subsequently appeared on numerous compilations dealing with minimal synth, coldwave and British electronic music.
 

UV PØP also developed a live presence despite the unusual nature of the project. White could perform with backing tapes rather than a conventional rhythm section, and the group appeared on bills with artists including Nico, In the Nursery, Pulp and Culture Club. A December 1983 live session for Dutch radio VPRO at Hilversum documents White performing vocals, guitar and tapes, with a set that included “Portrait”, “Hands To Me”, “No Songs Tomorrow”, “Just A Game”, “Sleep Don't Talk” and “Superstition”. 

By the middle of the decade UV PØP was becoming more of a conventional group. The second album, 'Bendy Baby Man', appeared in 1986 on White's Extra Records label, with a considerably larger line-up: John White, Mark Smith, Colin Vale, Rob Jeffrey, Neil Bonsall and Kev Jow, with additional contributions from Dean Cousins and Rick Harrison. White remained responsible for the production and engineering, but the project had moved well beyond its original one-man format. 

The 1986 “Serious” 12-inch on Native Records provided another important UV PØP recording. The single included the title track alongside “‘Oh’ June”, “Idea” and an acoustic version of “Serious”. The song combined White's guitar-led songwriting with saxophone and a darker pop sensibility, and later became one of the group's most recognised tracks. 

There was also the 'Anyone For Me' 7-inch and EP on Flowmotion in 1985, followed by the 'Music To Yeah To' 12-inch on Extra Records in 1988. The official UV PØP discography also lists 'The Cellar Tapes', a self-released cassette from 1981, which gives some insight into White's early home-recording approach before the project reached record labels and professional studios. 

After the 1980s activity slowed down, UV PØP never completely disappeared. White continued recording, and the project was eventually revived with new material and live appearances. The rediscovery of the early records also brought renewed attention to 'No Songs Tomorrow', particularly among collectors of minimal synth, coldwave and obscure British post-punk. In 2011, Sacred Bones Records reissued the original 'Just A Game / No Songs Tomorrow' single, followed by a reissue of 'No Songs Tomorrow' in 2012 with bonus material. The label subsequently brought White and the revitalised UV PØP to the United States for performances, including shows in New York. 

White's later work continued to expand the project's palette. 'Sound Of Silence', released in 2022, contains fourteen tracks including “Unconfidential”, “Floodgate”, “Sirens”, “Black City”, “New Dimension” and the title track, while 'See You Later Cowboy' followed in February 2025. The latter was again essentially a John K. White production, with the album credits listing White on all tracks except “The Girl Whose Name Is Death” and “Forget”, which feature poetry by Andrew Darlington. 

The official UV PØP site currently lists the live line-up as John K. White on vocals and guitar and Rhona White on bass, reflecting the project's continuing development from White's original solitary home-recording experiment into a live and recording project capable of changing personnel around its central figure.

 

TC Matic

TC Matic was a Belgian rock band formed in 1980 in Brussels around singer Arno Hintjens, better known simply as Arno, and guitarist Paul Couter. The group grew directly out of Tjens Couter, the rhythm-and-blues duo that Arno and Couter had started in the early 1970s. By 1974 the project had expanded into a full band with Ferre Baelen on bass and Rudy Cloet on drums, while Serge Feys later joined on keyboards. Tjens Couter released 'Who Cares' in 1975 and 'Plat du Jour' in 1978 before the move towards TC Matic.

 
The change of name in 1980 marked a pretty radical shift. Paul Couter was soon replaced by guitarist Jean-Marie Aerts, who became Arno's main songwriting partner and an important part of the band's sound. Aerts had already worked as a session musician with artists including Raymond van het Groenewoud and Plastic Bertrand, and he also produced TC Matic's first three albums. 

The new band brought together a strange mixture of new wave, blues, funk, hard rock, avant-garde ideas and French chanson. The result was sometimes described as "eurorock", although TC Matic never fitted comfortably into a single category. Arno's rough, highly individual voice was at the centre of it, while Aerts' guitar work gave the songs a harder and more angular edge. The regular line-up settled around Arno, Aerts, Ferre Baelen, Rudy Cloet and Serge Feys. In 1984, Dutch bassist Michael Peet replaced Baelen. 

The first album, simply titled 'TC Matic', appeared in 1981 and produced the group's first major Belgian success with "O La La La". The song, originally titled "O La La La", became a big club hit and one of the band's signature numbers. Its success helped push the group beyond Belgium, with the debut album eventually appearing in numerous European markets. 

TC Matic followed the debut with 'L'Apache' in 1982 and 'Choco' in 1983. The latter contained "Putain Putain", another of their best-known songs. Written by Arno and Aerts, the track mixed French with English and Ostend dialect and became a minor club hit in Belgium and France. It also showed how naturally Arno could move between languages without making the songs feel tied to a particular national pop tradition. 

The group's European profile continued to grow through touring. They played extensively outside Belgium, including Scandinavia, and in 1986 toured as support for Simple Minds. That tour proved particularly difficult and coincided with the final period of TC Matic. After six years and four studio albums, the band ceased to exist in 1986. Their studio catalogue consisted of 'TC Matic' (1981), 'L'Apache' (1982), 'Choco' (1983) and 'Yé Yé' (1985). 

A big part of TC Matic's visual identity came from photographer and designer Danny Willems, Arno's lifelong friend. Willems had known Arno since the early 1970s and photographed his earlier groups before becoming closely involved with TC Matic. He worked on the band's record sleeves, photography and graphic presentation, and was also involved with their live shows. His photographs became closely associated with the image of the group, including the famous 1981 line-up photograph. 

After the split, Arno began his solo career under the name Arno, while Jean-Marie Aerts continued working as a guitarist, songwriter and producer. Aerts went on to produce records for artists including Jo Lemaire and Urban Dance Squad, while former TC Matic members Rudy Cloet and Serge Feys also continued working with Arno during different periods of his solo career. 

In 2017 Arno returned to the material from his early years with a new live project called Tjens Matic. The band brought together Arno with guitarist Bruno Fevery, bassist Mirko Banovic and drummer Laurens Smagghe, concentrating on songs from the Tjens Couter and early TC Matic period. The project was presented as a way of reconnecting the blues-rock of Tjens Couter with the more angular direction that developed into TC Matic. Arno continued performing with the project during the following years, alongside his solo work under the Arno name, until his death in Brussels on April 23, 2022. 

Jean-Marie Aerts died in April 2024, aged 72. His partnership with Arno had been central to the TC Matic catalogue, with the two responsible for the majority of the band's compositions and for much of the distinctive sound that developed between the first album and 'Yé Yé'. 

S.B.O.T.H.I.

S.B.O.T.H.I. was the name used by German sound and installation artist Achim Wollscheid for much of his early work. The acronym stands for “Swimming Behavior Of The Human Infant”, a reference to the 1939 study of infant swimming movements by American developmental psychologist Myrtle B. McGraw.

 
Wollscheid was born in 1959 and came out of the experimental art and sound environment around Frankfurt. Under the S.B.O.T.H.I. name he began circulating recordings during the 1980s, working with tape manipulation, electronics, found sounds, noise, cut-up techniques and other forms of sound processing rather than conventional song structures. The project was closely connected to the German underground experimental scene that was developing around independent labels and artists interested in the boundaries between music, sound art and visual art. 

A particularly important connection was P16.D4, the experimental collective centred around Ralf Wehowsky. Wollscheid became involved with the group and its wider circle around 1984–85. According to Wehowsky, Wollscheid's first LP was issued by Selektion as the label's third album in 1985. The relationship with P16.D4 went further than simply sharing a label, with Wollscheid using sounds from the group as source material for several S.B.O.T.H.I. recordings. 

Selektion was particularly important to the whole network. Wollscheid co-founded the label and associated art organisation with Ralf Wehowsky, and its catalogue became a meeting point for experimental electronics, industrial music, noise, sound collage and more conceptual approaches to recording. Releases by P16.D4, S.B.O.T.H.I. and related artists appeared there during the 1980s and early 1990s. 

Among the S.B.O.T.H.I. releases was the 1985 LP 'Swimming Behaviour Of The Human Infant', followed by records such as 'And', issued by Selektion in 1987. 'And' was a picture-disc LP containing four long pieces, including “Memory a.a.O.”, “Den Bosch. Sweet And Useful”, “Screening II” and “O.T.; Spiegelungen Ausgestorbener Sprachen”. The records were generally filed under electronic, noise, experimental and cut-up music rather than conventional rock or industrial categories.

 
Another notable release was 'Can The Sound Change – The Change Can Sound', issued by Vis A Vis Audio Arts in 1989. The album was presented in an almost deliberately austere fashion, with a white sleeve carrying the two phrases that give the record its title. Contemporary descriptions of S.B.O.T.H.I. releases emphasised the physical behaviour of the recordings as much as conventional musical composition, with sounds that could resemble electronic interference, damaged equipment, environmental noise or fragments of processed material. 

The S.B.O.T.H.I. catalogue also crossed paths with the international noise scene. Wollscheid collaborated with artists outside the German experimental network, including Merzbow, with the 1992 'Eleven Live Collaborations' appearing on Selektion. His work with P16.D4 and the surrounding Selektion circle also helped connect the Frankfurt experimental scene with the broader European and Japanese noise underground. 

By the 1990s Wollscheid increasingly abandoned the S.B.O.T.H.I. alias and began working under his own name. His interests expanded further into computer-based composition, installations, interactive works and projects dealing with the relationship between sound, light, architecture and physical space. His later work included site-specific and algorithmic pieces, so the move away from S.B.O.T.H.I. was also part of a broader shift from record-based experimental music towards installation and media art. 

R.I.P.

R.I.P. were a punk band from Arrasate (Mondragón), in the Basque Country, formed in 1984 during the explosion of the Rock Radical Vasco movement. Although they emerged alongside many of the best-known Basque punk groups of the era, R.I.P. quickly developed their own identity through a raw, stripped-down sound and lyrics that reflected frustration, alienation, social conflict and life on the streets. Their songs were fast, direct and uncompromising, capturing the intensity of the mid-1980s underground scene.

 
The band's classic lineup consisted of Karlos Agirreurreta, better known as "Mahoma", on vocals, Yul Bolinaga on guitar, Eduardo Mancebo "Portu" on bass and Txerra Bolinaga on drums. Their early rehearsals and live shows earned them a strong local following before they became known throughout the Basque punk circuit, where they shared stages with many of the key names from the movement. Their concerts were loud, chaotic and energetic, matching the urgency of their recordings. 

R.I.P.'s first recordings appeared on the influential 1984 compilation 'Zona Especial Norte', which also featured several important Basque punk bands. The exposure helped establish the group beyond their hometown and led to the release of their debut EP 'No Te Muevas' in 1987. The record became a landmark of Spanish hardcore punk thanks to its aggressive pace, sharp guitar work and Mahoma's unmistakable vocal delivery. Tracks such as "Brigada Criminal," "Anti-Militar" and the title song became staples of the Basque punk scene and remain closely associated with the band's legacy. 

Their music combined the speed of hardcore with the rough edge of classic punk, avoiding polished production in favour of a live, abrasive sound. Their lyrics dealt with police repression, militarism, unemployment, drug addiction and everyday struggles, themes that reflected the climate of the Basque Country during the 1980s. 

R.I.P. remained active until 2003, when the death of vocalist Karlos "Mahoma" Agirreureta brought the band to an end. Over the years, the remaining members also passed away: guitarist Yul Bolinaga, bassist Eduardo "Portu" Mancebo and drummer Txerra Bolinaga. Despite their relatively small catalogue, R.I.P. left behind a collection of recordings that became essential listening for anyone exploring the history of Basque punk and the broader Spanish hardcore movement of the 1980s.

 

Q4U

Q4U were an Icelandic punk and new wave band from Reykjavík that emerged during the first wave of the country's underground scene in the early 1980s. The group was originally formed under the name Nýsasistur, but quickly adopted the name Q4U as they became part of the small but fast-growing punk community that was taking shape in Iceland. Inspired by the energy of British punk, their earliest line-up featured Elínborg "Ellý" Halldórsdóttir and Berglind "Linda" Garðarsdóttir on vocals, Steinþór Stefánsson on guitar, Gunnþór Sigurðsson on bass, Helgi on drums and Már on synthesizer. After a few early changes, drummer Kormákur Geirharðsson joined the band, helping to establish the line-up that first attracted attention. 

 
Q4U quickly became part of Reykjavík's lively punk circuit, sharing stages with other pioneering Icelandic bands and appearing in the landmark documentary "Rokk í Reykjavík", which captured the explosion of alternative music in the country. Around this time they recorded the cassette 'Skaf Í Dag', a rough collection of songs that reflected the raw, direct approach of their live performances. Their early material combined fast, aggressive punk with sharp social commentary, delivered through the distinctive and powerful vocals of Ellý, whose lyrics often tackled political and personal themes in Icelandic. 

 
The band went through a major transformation in 1982 after the original line-up dissolved. Ellý and Gunnþór carried on with guitarist Óðinn Guðbrandsson and keyboard player Árni Daníel Júlíusson, both connected with the band Taugadeildin. Rather than replacing their departing drummer with another musician, they adopted a Roland TR-808 drum machine, nicknamed "Elísabet II." The change pushed Q4U away from straightforward punk and into darker, synthesizer-driven post-punk and new wave territory. Their music became more atmospheric, drawing comparisons with groups such as Siouxsie and the Banshees and Xmal Deutschland while still keeping the urgency of their punk roots. 

 
This second phase produced the six-track EP 'Q1', recorded around the turn of 1982 and 1983. Songs such as "Böring" became underground favourites, and the band earned a reputation as one of Iceland's most adventurous acts of the period. They also returned to live performance with Kormákur back on drums for a series of concerts, including a support slot for Classix Nouveaux. Despite the growing recognition, internal changes and new commitments led to the group's breakup in 1983 after recording one final batch of demos. 

 
Interest in Iceland's early punk movement grew again during the mid-1990s, leading to the band's reunion. In 1997 they released 'Q2', a retrospective CD collecting the 'Q1' recordings, early demos, rehearsal tapes and previously unreleased material, giving listeners a much fuller picture of the band's brief but productive career. Q4U also returned to the stage for a series of reunion concerts and television appearances, introducing their music to a new generation of listeners. 

 
The group's legacy continued to grow through later reissues, including the expanded 'Q1 Deluxe Edition 1980–1983' released by Dark Entries Records, which helped bring their recordings to an international audience interested in obscure punk and post-punk. Q4U reunited again during the 2010s, performed at Iceland Airwaves, and eventually returned with new recordings, showing that the band's story stretched well beyond its original early-1980s lifespan.