Aptly-named revival label Minimal Wave has compiled Futurisk‘s entire catalog and pressed it on collector-quality 180g vinyl, including this alternate take of their signature track, Meteoright. Destined to be a collectible. At $22, you’d be crazy not to pick one (or two) up.

SCHEMATIC: Need more Futurisk videos??? Get your fix HERE!!!

Pssst...pass it on!

Crash Course in Science was formed in 1979 while the three members were attending art school in Philadelphia.Flying Turns is off their 12″ Signals from Pier Thirteen originally published on Press Records in 1981.

SCHEMATICS: More videos and MP3s from the 12″…

Clean, first pressings sell for upwards of $100, with second pressings from 1986 on LD Records fetching only slightly less.

Cardboard Lamb (2:41)

Crashing Song (2:35)

Factory Forehead (2:56)

Pssst...pass it on!

Let Uncle Rico’s time machine teleport you back to 1977 San Francisco. Eschewing guitars in favor of synths (good move, fellas), The Units become one of the very first synthpunk bands. They then start tearing it up, self-releasing the original version of this track in 1979 on what is now an absurdly rare 7″ record (sells for about £100). This video features the album version, released in 1980 on the Digital Stimulation LP.

SCHEMATIC: The ENTIRE Digital Stimulation album, band portrait and flyer (via synthpunk)…

What follows is the entire Digital Stimulation LP with each track listed in its proper order. This album is an opus and deserves a concentrated listen. The last track, Cowboy, is a mind-warping experience. I just yoinked an original 7″ copy of High Pressure Days from eBay and will make/post vinyl rips and videos as soon as it arrives. In related news, an anthology was released in 2009 called History of The Units – The Early Years: 1977 – 1983 and is available through discogs.

Digital Stimulation

Warm Moving Bodies

Go

Mission

Mission

Bugboy

Tight Fit

Passions or Patterns

Town by the River

Cowboy

Pssst...pass it on!

SCHEMATIC: Limited edition repress, original female vocal version and more videos…

Flucht was one of my very first blog posts. There is something about this song that works its way into your bones. Josh Cheon of Dark Entries Records in SF just did a limited, hyper-quality repress of the Heute EP including the superior German version of Flucht. For $13, you’d be nuts not to grab one while they’re still in supply. Josh also wrote up his great interview with Stephen Kraemer of Zwischenfall.

Flucht (Female Vocal Version) (1984)

The female vocal version of Flucht was actually the b-side of the Sandy Eyes single released on Belgian label Les Disques du Crépuscule and Italo champ Fuzz Dance.

Sandy Eyes (1984)

This song has a much warmer, almost pre-balearic feel to it and was NOT on the Heute EP.

Atemlos (1983)

Pssst...pass it on!

Lamborghini (Live at Metro TV, July 1982)

SCHEMATIC: Recording details, the original studio cut and a later concert version…

There is some confusion regarding the actual name of this track: Is it Lamborghini or Petrol? My hunch is that Lamborghini is actually an early version of Petrol. The earliest example of Lamborghini is off the 1982 French compilation Entrave et Étouffement, whereas Petrol doesn’t show up until 1985 on a 7″. To complicate matters further, although the embedded Live at Metro TV July 1982 clip you already saw is clearly a live performance of Lamborghini, it is tagged on youtube as Petrol.

This next cut of Lamborghini was taken from a compilation CD called Can’t Stop It! II (Australian Post-Punk 1979-84) that was published in 2007. The compilation is just OK, although that track from Centerfold is good, too. Might as well pick it up digitally because Severed Heads early recordings will cost you from $50 – $2,000!

Lamborghini (CD Version)

Lamborghini (CD Version)

Petrol (Live at Rock Arena, 1986)

Pssst...pass it on!

Although Moroder made some Taleggio over the years, From Here to Eternity is an early Italo masterpiece. First published as an LP in 1977 on US-based Casablanca Records, near mint copies of this album are still widely available for about $20. Synthspotters love this video…

SCHEMATIC: Some Moroder TV appearances, a Casablanca Records promo video, more details…

Moroder’s discography is longer than the Dead Sea Scrolls. Among other massive hits, Moroder was behind Donna Summer’s 1977 smash, I Feel Love.

He also did the theme song for the crazy-ass movie Midnight Express in 1978. Below is a classic German TV show (check out those mics!) introducing Moroder and his oscar-winning track, The Chase, which is 13 minutes of mind-warping synthesizer amazingness. In this all-too-brief clip, Moroder goes from laying it down in German to working a Minimoog in an ultra-rare LIVE performance.

Here is the original 8-minute 45RPM version of the track. I can’t seem to find the 12″ version, so will upload mine.

Here is the Casablanca Records promo where Moroder demonstrates his vocoder skills.

Moroder produced everyone and everything in the 1980s. Beyond rescoring the 1920s Fritz Lang film Metropolis, he was responsible for Top Gun (along with German protégé Harold Faltermeyer), Blondie’s Call Me, Irene Cara’s What a Feelin’ LP which included Romance ’83 (and Flashdance), The Neverending Story and so forth.

Pssst...pass it on!

Supernature is a cautionary post-apocalyptic tale of scientific hubris and genetic experimentation gone awry. Although there are numerous tracks from the 70s and 80s that pay homage to space, robots and computers (thank God), few disco/synth tracks really drop earth science. Me like! Me like!

SCHEMATIC: High quality extended vinyl rip MP3, lyrics, cover art…

The Cerrone 3 LP is readily available on vinyl for only $10 or so. The LP version of the song is nearly 10 minutes long, but is actually only the first of three movements that comprise a totally epic Side A. Not really sure what happened on Side B, but who cares?!! The tracklisting and run times are:

a1) Supernature (10:20)
a2) Sweet Drums (3:30)
a3) Into The Smoke (4:40):

Once upon a time
Science opened up the door
We would feed the hungry fields
Till they couldn’t eat no more

But the potions that we made
Touched the creatures down below
And they grow up in a way
That we’d never seen before

<chorus>Supernature, supernature
Supernature, supernature</chorus>

They were angry with the man
Cause changed their way of life
And they take their sweet revenge
As they trample through the night

For hundred miles or more
You could hear the people cry
But there is nothing you can do
Even God is on their side
(God is on, God is on, God is on their side)

<chorus>Supernature, supernature
Supernature, supernature</chorus>

Cars will break the light
Come flowing in the air
The creature will decide
Who goes where

How can I explain
Things are different today
Darkness all around
No one makes a sound
Such a sad affair
No one seems to care

<chorus>Supernature, supernature
Supernature, supernature</chorus>

Better watch out
There’s no way to stop it now
You can’t escape
It’s too late
Look what you’ve done
There’s no place that you can run
The monsters made
We must pray

Maybe nature has a plan
To control the ways of man
He must start from scratch again
Many battles must he win
Till he earns his place on earth
Like the other creatures do
Will there be a happy end
Now that all depends on you

<chorus>Supernature, supernature
Supernature, supernature</chorus>

Pssst...pass it on!

SCHEMATIC: A short music video clip and cover artwork…

Pssst...pass it on!

This is a fantastic documentary on the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, which was responsible for such tunes as the Doctor Who theme song. This electronic music primer traces the development of recorded sound from magnetic tape onward. Reel-to-reel beat matching included! Ultimately enlightening and presented in, I think, its entirety (over six roughly 10-minute parts).

SCHEMATIC: The remaining five parts…

Pssst...pass it on!

SCHEMATIC: Another live version and a brief documentary excerpt…

Pssst...pass it on!