A true classic, Push! from Germany’s The Invincible Limit remains a solid dancefloor filler almost thirty years since it was released. With a synth line that flares out from a sequencer in bursts of flame, Push! is exemplary EBM.
Rare Video of the Week
Possibly the funniest video ever made about the music industry and EBM. Over at Radio RIX Monopol, they have some funny ideas about what people want to listen to, as Container 90 find out. There are little jokes scattered throughout this fine, home-made effort from Container 90, who also supply a driving, hard-line track to pogo to – if you can stop laughing long enough.
Nash the Slash is a Canadian original. Once a member of FM, Nash went solo, wrapped in bandages like the Invisible Man and armed with an organ and electric mandolin. Early interest from the Dindisc label took him to England, where he recorded an album with Steve Hillage (System 7) in the producer’s chair. A tour with Gary Numan followed, and Nash continued to make eccentric and original albums from his base in Ontario. This track is from And You Thought You Were Normal…
No, not a cover of a Rolling Stones b-side – this is Hastings’ finest, Vile Electrodes, in the studio for Phoenix FM, playing one of their most popular songs. The Viles, who supported OMD on the German leg of their last tour, are in the process of releasing their first album. Buy it now and help keep Martin in MIDI cables.
If you don’t recognise her from the Nokia ad or as the writer behind Norway’s popular Eurovision entry, then you’re falling behind. Karin Park has emerged from the Scandi pop scene as an international star-in-the-making. With her brother, Daniel, looking after the drums and triggering other instruments in real time, Park is in good form in this video, shot at an intimate gig in Stockholm.
Mitsou Gélinas is better known for her first single, Bye Bye Mon Cowboy, but by 1990’s Terre des Hommes album the chanteuse from Quebec was attracting pop songwriting support from none other than Ivan from Men Without Hits. Ivan doesn’t appear in this video, but his influence (and vocal contribution) is unmistakeable. This song is a slice of happiness for a rainy day.
This magazine is named for a Rational Youth album, so it isn’t a reach to find this classic in the archives. In Your Eyes didn’t make it onto the first album, so was recorded in a more guitar-oriented version for the post-Vorn major label release that followed. That version was used in the film Crazy Moon. This version was used on Musi-Video, the classic Montreal TV showcase for local talent. Both are brilliant, but this version has the classic touch.
The US is sometimes overlooked as a centre for electronic music, as it never produced a Kraftwerk or Jarre, but bands like Devo and Our Daughter’s Wedding were there making catchy and radically different pop in lock-step with Silicon Teens and Ultravox. ODW made waves internationally with the simple arpeggiation of Lawnchairs, which was an original and influential single – here performed live in New York at a 1982 show.