This stark, minimalist single is a landmark release in the birth of electronica and its commercial cousin synthpop. It’s the entire recorded output of The Normal, alter-ego of Daniel Miller – and the first release on his label Mute Records. (more…)

I’ve heard it said that Gloria Mundi were the spark that lit the flame of goth icons Bauhaus. Apparently it was after gigging with them that Bauhaus completely changed their music and presentation.

(more…)

Graph are another of those barely remembered bands from Fast Product’s first release in their ‘earcom’ EP series in 1979.

(more…)

The Prats embodied the spirit of punk as much as any band. They looked like schoolkids, they sounded like schoolkids. Because they were.

(more…)

While some bands tried to pose as punks and failed miserably, others carried it off with aplomb – like Cardiff’s one-hit wonders The Table with their minor classic Do The Standing Still.

(more…)

Before they made perfectly crafted pop-soul records, Scritti Politti were what was then called an “agitprop” band – though you would not immediately mark them down as left-wing firebrands from their music.

(more…)

Looking back from more than half a century later, it’s astonishing how rapidly the primitive pounding of punk evolved into the questing experimentalism of postpunk. PragVEC were one of the first to embrace the avant-garde.

(more…)

Of all the oddballs produced by punk (and there were many), one of the oddest was Kenneth Spiers – universally known as Spizz. He’s best known (if at all) for his habit of constantly changing the name of his band – always using ‘Spizz’ somewhere – over the course of his long career.

(more…)

The Mekons were one of the quintessential punk groups, coming out of art school in Leeds in 1976 – the same scene that spawned Gang Of Four and Delta 5. Where Were You? – a minimalist masterpiece of bare-bones punk rock – remains one of the defining songs of the era. (more…)

The more I delve into the vaults of vintage soul, the more previously unheard gems I unearth. I guess that goes without saying. Like this classic example, a tune that’s better than many of the similar soul singles that packed the charts in the Sixties and Seventies.

(more…)