various artists - The Man Machine: Mojo Presents The Electronic Revolution

It's a jolly good giveaway, this comp. Chock full of synthesized sounds ranging from the ambient to the caustic. There's even something that was written to be played whilst you run with your iPod attached to your bicep. Thanks, Nike.

Looking back at 2009, I wouldn't have given this a second thought. OMD and the Orb were artists I just skipped over on my way from Oasis to Oxes. I fucked with LCD Soundsystem, but most of those dudes had been in punk bands in the 90s, so they couldn't be all bad, could they? Sometime around then, Kraftwerk did some dates in NYC, and a dude offered me a ticket and a ride. I shrugged.

Now? Now this is all I really want to listen to. I want to fall into a K-hole with Tangerine Dream as the soundtrack. I'll buy all the Ultravox vinyl I find abandoned at a thrift store. I'm going to track down all those Flying Lotus productions, using the Discogs production tab as my lodestone. This is the future, circa 2009. Filled you with hope back then, dinnit?

Discogs

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various artists - You've Got The Fucking Power

It was the "dubstep's for pussies" comment in "Deadpool 2", which I watched part of Sunday morning as I ate a donut (ok, multiple donuts) for breakfast, that drew me to share this one, and to thinking about microscenes in general. I've always loved riddims, and so it was that I was drawn to drum n bass in the mid 90s as my exposure to electronic music expanded. And anything that grew naturally from a love of both synthetic sounds and hardcore politics was going to grab my interest. So sometime in 1996, I learned about Atari Teenage Riot and really got into digital hardcore. Bought the records, mail ordered the t-shirts, went to at least one or two shows when anyone from the roster came to the States. Even showed up for Wu-Tang/Rage Against the Machine to catch ATR from the expensive seats at Merriweather.

But it was a trend, like crystal soda and third wave ska. It didn't stick for me past the now-beloved "Live at Brixton Academy 1999" set, by which point I had probably donated the t-shirts and sold the CDs. This, which came pre-stocked in a 15-count display to the record department in 1998, is one of the few vestiges of that fandom. This holds up pretty well a quarter century after the fact; it clearly did some blocking to clear a path for big beat and IDM and, ultimately, EDM to become one of the predominant sounds of the 20s. At this late date, I'm probably most jazzed by Curse of the Golden Vampire, an Alec Empire/Justin Broadrick/Kevin Martin collab that draws as much from early 90s UK grind & crust as mid 90s hip hop as it does from 80s UKHC. Did it open me up to checking out Coil and Whitehouse? I can't say precisely, but there's a line there I just can't ignore.

So back to microscenes: I think I've always been reluctant to talk about the art I've embraced only temporarily. No one wants to be considered a poseur, but it's also a very normal part of our fandom for it to burn brightly and quickly sometimes. Yeah, I'm a guy in his mid 40s who'll probably listen to Fugazi and Discharge until the day he dies. But I also chased down out of print Toasters records in the 90s, had more than a few Bandcamp purchases of chillwave, and hope to be a bit more kind to myself when my current k-pop obsession wears down. Whether the greater world thinks it was cool is irrelevant. I dug it then; that's enough.

Discogs

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Alan Vega - New Raceion

It's the end of the month, and I'm clearing the decks with the record that's been living in my Mediafire files for the longest time. It's time to share Alan Vega's 1993 album, "New Raceion".

At the risk of seeming like a dick, I've run out of things to say about Vega's early 90s output. I'm glad it exists; it's not anything I listen to regularly (unlike the 1st Suicide record). Here you go; "enjoy" it.

Discogs

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Louise Huebner's Seduction Through Witchcraft

Imagine walking into even the freakiest of record stores or secondhand stores and asking for this. "Please, do you have a copy of Louise Huebner's 'Seduction Through Witchcraft'?" Having been that person, I can tell you; nothing makes me feel like more of a pervert than trying to track down a copy of this landmark ambient recording, featuring a sixth-generation witch once honored by L.A. County. It's like an illustration of a thick-lensed, bulbous-nosed, stooped, trenchcoat-wearing masturbator come to life, creeping about looking for tips and tricks on how to finagle the interest of the disinterested. Even the most liberal minded are sure to look like they've smelled a fart, with only imagination available to determine why ANYONE would want...what, is it a book? A record? A pamphlet?

But the kink shaming is SOOOOO worth it.

Not so much for the spoken content, although it has a seasonal quality that suits this time of year perfectly. Nah, it's the team of Louis & Bebe Barron that makes this a terribly underheard record. They created the soundtrack to "Forbidden Planet", the first all-electronic film score, and still as influential a bop as any reel o' tape as exists.

Anyway, I'm kinda glad I can now restrict my weird record searches a bit, now that I own this.

Discogs

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Alan Vega - Power On To Zero Hour

The second of four Alan Vega reissues on Infinite Zero, this has, throughout time, become probably my favorite of his solo records. Those ideas that felt less developed on "Deuce Avenue" feel fully formed on "Power On To Zero Hour". It's him, Liz Lamere, and 10 songs worth of pre-Guiliani NYC ugly beauty, all gospel organs and soft hiss and dark songs.

It's a great record for a grey Monday.

Discogs

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Alan Vega - Deuce Avenue

It's possible that it took me a long time to explore Alan Vega because this was my first exposure to him.

"Deuce Avenue" is a weird record, a melange of slithering Suicide-style synths, Vega's free-form scatting, crooning, and beatboxing, and drumming and programming by his wife Liz Lamere. Shit, there's definitely time where Vega's channeling the Bomb Squad's beats. He hadn't made a full-length since "Just A Million Dreams" in 1985, a much more accessible record by any measure. This one came out on the French label Musidisc, his home for this and his following three LPs.

Infinite Zero would reissue it in 1995 to what I have to guess was an indifferent scene, alongside Vega's next record, 1991s "Power On To Zero Hour". I was non-plussed at the time; I'd been given an Infinite Zero sampler with "Jab Gee" and "Bad Scene" on it, and, BOY HOWDY, I almost always skipped over those tracks. I just didn't get it. Now, I can listen to this, and I can draw parallels to the Providence noise scene on the early aughts, to the J.G. Thirwell catalog, to all the iconoclastic shit that finds its way onto my iPhone. It clicks with me now in a way that just couldn't happen 26 years ago.

Fun fact: the Infinite Zero reissue wraps up with the only complete version of "Wacko Warrior" by Vega, previously only available in a truncated form on a 7" that came with Sniffin' Rock #12. So completists...have at it.

Discogs

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various artists - Oh, Merge: A Merge Records 10 Year Anniversary Compilation

I got this for the Rocket From The Crypt song (an outtake from "RFTC") (and it was cheap). I kept it because it has a bunch of unreleased and rare indie rock from the late 90s. It's a pretty good lineup: the Karl Hendricks Trio, Magnetic Fields, Neutral Milk Hotel, Rock*A*Teens, Seaweed, and Superchunk (of course). And that's all the insight I can offer here.

Sorry, they can't all be deep dives into my mediocre history. /emoji shrug

Discogs

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The Soft Pink Truth - Do You Want New Wave Or Do You Want The Soft Pink Truth?

When he's not teaching English at Johns Hopkins or making sounds with legendary noise/musique concrete/electronic duo Matmos, former Louisvillan and Slamdek alum Drew Daniel transforms the sounds of our youth in his The Soft Pink Truth project. I tripped, dingus first, on this CD while bin-digging a few weeks back, and grabbed it based on label (Kid 606's Tigerbeat6) and price (50 cents). The cover was just...icing on the cake. Also, maybe I thought the title was "Soft Pink Turds", which is perverse and just what I'm looking for in a mystery recording.

And what did I get? It's techno adaptations of classic punk, hardcore, and new wave songs, along with a Carol Channing standard from the 1974 musical "Lorelai". Vicki Bennett (People Like Us), Blevin Blectum, Dani Siciliano, and Matmos bandmate M.C. Schmidt all take turns on the mic. There are covers of Crass, Minor Threat, Nervous Gender, and a version of Die Kruezen's "In School" that just melts like a steel beam covered in jet fuel. All of it leads to my conclusion that there should be more house/hardcore homages.

Discogs

Click here to download.