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]
Rallying around the considerable talents of British producer / modern dub mastermind Adrian Sherwood, the New Age Steppers were not so much a band as they were a loosely knit aggregation of musicians from some of Britain's best avant-garde post-punk / funk bands. There was Ari Upp from The Slits, Mark Stewart from The Pop Group, and John Waddington and Bruce Smith from Rip, Rig & Panic. Along with the usual gang of suspects employed by Sherwood's dynamically creative On-U Sound (George Oban, Style Scott, Eskimo Fox) studio, the sound of the New Age Steppers was that of cut-and-paste dub mixing, psychedelic swirls of found sounds, dissonant aural collages, sinewy reggae riddims, and odd, semi-tuneful vocals. Not for the faint of heart, the music created by Sherwood and his Steppers was among the most exhilarating and consistently challenging to come out of Britain during the early post-punk era. It wasn't always accessible, but it has few peers in terms of ingenuity and daring. Highly recommended to those whose musical tastes occasionally reside on pop's radical, experimental fringes. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Forerunners of post-rock and the modern-day revival of space rock, The Dead C are an improvisational, hugely prolific noise rock trio indebted to Sonic Youth (whose Thurston Moore is an avowed fan), as well as Krautrock and psychedelia. Challenging and mostly instrumental, they have been a definite anomaly on the New Zealand scene, which was still known primarily for the jangly collegiate pop associated with the Flying Nun label when the band first emerged in the late '80s. Perhaps in part for that reason, The Dead C didn't attract much of a fan base in their home country; their audience was mostly international, developed initially through fanzine culture and word of mouth.
They did, however, help spark a more experimental music scene around their native Dunedin, which was centered around bassist Bruce Russell's Xpressway label and boosted the careers of musicians like Alistair Galbraith and Peter Jefferies. They have also influenced a broad range of bands, from the ambient post-rock of Flying Saucer Attack and Labradford to the neo-psychedelia of Bardo Pond to lo-fi indie rockers like Pavement and Sebadoh. The Dead C's own music holds elements of all those styles, and has remained essentially the same for most of the band's life: murky, hazy, loosely structured drone rock, enveloped in a thick crust of avowedly low-fidelity guitar noise, and often warped with tape manipulations or studio treatments. Consistent almost to a fault, their catalog is generally very much of a piece, with minor variations here and there; this, combined with size and scarcity of their oeuvre, could make finding entry difficult, but experimental rock enthusiasts have often found the rewards worth pursuing.
The Dead C were formed in Dunedin, New Zealand in 1986, with a lineup of guitarist/occasional vocalist Michael Morley (a onetime member of the evocatively named Wreck Small Speakers on Expensive Stereos), bassist and Xpressway label head Bruce Russell, and drummer Robbie Yeats (formerly of the well-liked Kiwi pop band The Verlaines). In keeping with the early format of Xpressway and Morley's own Precious Metal imprint, their earliest releases were only available on limited-run cassettes, but they also hooked up with Flying Nun in 1988 to issue their first LP, 'DR503' (which was retitled 'DR503b' and 'DR503c' for later reissues). A second Flying Nun LP, 'Eusa Kills', appeared in 1989 and featured a bizarre cover of T. Rex's "Children of the Revolution."
The Dead C next forged a relationship with Philadelphia-based indie Siltbreeze, which would issue the majority of their output during the '90s. The first was 1990's 'Helen Said This', which was later reissued on CD as part of a two-fer with the formerly cassette-only 'Trapdoor Fucking Exit' (the latter's title was used for the CD). Released in 1992, the double-LP set 'Harsh ‘70s Reality' is regarded by most as a high point -perhaps the high point- of the band's career, ranging from relatively concise songs to the side-long jam "Driver U.F.O." In its wake, Morley and Russell both launched side projects -Gate and A Handful of Dust, respectively- that allowed them to pursue even more esoteric avenues. A flood of Dead C material followed between 1993-1994 as well: the improvisational 'The Operation of the Sonne', the outtakes / archival collection 'World Peace Hope Et Al' (on the British label Shock), the live album 'Clyma Est Mort', and an EP titled 'The Dead C Vs Sebadoh' (which is not a collaboration with the American indie rock band fronted by Lou Barlow).
The Dead C hit another creative high point with 1995's 'The White House', a fan favorite that brought a touch more structure to the group's usually free-form compositions. The live album 'Repent' followed in 1996, while the next year's 'Tusk' -titled ironically after the Fleetwood Mac album- proved to be their last effort for Siltbreeze. It also marked the end of their most prolific period, as the band subsequently spent an astonishing (for them) three years off record. They weren't inactive, though; when they finally returned in 2000, it was with an eponymously titled double-CD release of sessions conducted from 1995-1999. The Dead C was released on the group's new Language Recordings label, which allowed the bandmembers greater financial control. Their second Language album, 2002's 'New Electric Music', was the most electronically oriented item in their by then large discography to date. Issued in 2003, 'The Damned' found a more widespread American release via the Starlight Furniture label.
Following a 2005 12" with African percussion ensemble Konono No. 1, released as the 18th volume of FatCat Records' Split Series, The Dead C began a long-running relationship with American label Ba Da Bing, which released 'Relax Fallujah - Hell Has Come' (a 7" of early recordings) and the double-CD compilation 'Vain, Erudite and Stupid', which spanned their entire career up to that point. A split LP with Hi God People on the Nervous Jerk label also appeared in 2006. The Dead C's first albums for Ba Da Bing were 'Future Artists' in 2007 and 'Secret Earth' in 2008. These were followed in 2010 by the new album 'Patience' and reissues 'Clyma Est Mort / Tentative Power' and 'Perform M Harris'. 'Armed Courage', consisting of two side-long tracks, appeared in 2013, as did a split LP with Rangda. The four-LP live box set 'The Twelfth Spectacle' was issued by Grapefruit Records in 2014. A limited 7" single titled 'Palisades' was released by I Dischi Del Barone in 2015. The double album 'Trouble' appeared on Ba Da Bing in 2016. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Charanjit Singh (1940 – 5 July 2015) was an Indian musician from Mumbai, who performed as a session musician,often as a guitarist or synthesizer player, in numerous Bollywood soundtrack orchestras from the 1960s to 1980s, working with filmi composers such as Shankar-Jaikishan,R.D. Burman (Rahul Dev Burman), S.D. Burman, and Laxmikant-Pyarelal. Singh led a wedding band and recorded and released a number of albums covering popular film songs. These were a form of instrumental elevator music, some of which have since been re-released by Sublime Frequencies, such as his steel guitar renditions of "Manje Re" from "Bandhe Haath" in 1973 and "Chura Liyaa Hai Tumne" from "Yaadon Ki Baaraat" in 1975. In 1981, he produced synthesizer-based electronic renditions of the "Silsila" soundtrack in his record 'Charanjit Singh: Plays Hit Tunes on Synthesizer of Silsila'.
In the 21st century, Charanjit Singh gained attention for his 1982 release 'Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat', an album originally intended as a fusion of electronic disco music with Indian classical ragas. Singh's use of both the TR-808 drum machine and TB-303 bass synthesizer has led some music journalists to suggest that it is perhaps the earliest example of acid house music; predating Phuture's seminal Chicago acid house record "Acid Tracks" (1987) by five years. Comparisons have also been made with the work of other electronic dance musicians who were inspired by acid house such as Ceephax, Phuture 303, and Aphex Twin. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]
