Instant Hit: A Popular History of Signs- Dancing with Ideas

The London based quartet A Popular History of Signs released two studio albums and several singles during the 80's. Certainly one of the outstanding tracks was their 1982 release "Dancing With Ideas" which was released as 7" single. It was backed by "The Traveller" and it was issued on Melodia Records in 1982. The music of the band was drifting between arty synth-dance and lightly played mood music. 

 

October Singles Round-Up

1.A Place To Bury Strangers- "And I'm Up"

2.Still Corners- "Fireflies"

3.Parralox- "Sharper Than A Knife" (Pete Hammond Remix)

4.Sparks- "Two Hands One Mouth"

5.Tindersticks- "This Fire of Autumn"

6.Mushy feat. A.R.Kane- "My Life So Far"

7. Tracey Thorn- "In The Cold, Cold Night"

8. Peter Godwin- "Sky Falls"

9. Pet Shop Boys- "Leaving"

10. Bat for Lashes- "All Your Gold"

HTRK/ Tropic of Cancer- Part Time Punks Radio Session

The Part Time Punks Radio Sessions 12" by HTRK and Tropic of Cancer holds six sublime songs of desire. Comparable to a fly-on-a-wall Peel Sessions, the critically acclaimed Part Time Punks radio show is the sound of the LA underground, run by local icon Michael Stock. The limited split captures both bands live at the radio headquarters during HTRK’s first 2011 tour of the USA, accompanied by comrades in minimalism and melancholia, Tropic of Cancer. Flipping this vinyl sounds like two sides of the same cursed coin, and mirrors a high school dance playing an endless lustful waltz. BPMs bumped down to a psychic stalk. It’s a broken and beautiful memento. 

http://www.ghostly.com/part-time-punks-radio-sessions 

New Featureless Ghost LP 'Personality Matrix' Announced for November 6th

Personality Matrix is the debut LP by Atlanta duo Featureless Ghost following a steady stream of EPs including the recent 'Mind Body' cassette on Night-People. All of those prior releases were great but Featureless Ghost were holding onto something special that they have now fully materialized in the form of this LP. Pre-release listens of the vinyl had friends of the band and the label awed by the heavy and deep sound of this record, a true stunner that buries the speakers and space around the sound. A fully realized master work recorded and mastered to perfect specifications; Night-People has never released anything that simply sounds this good. Featureless Ghost set high expectations and surpassed them. Any reference to the aesthetic or influence seems too simple to fully describe what has been accomplished with this release.

Synth pop, dark wave, minimal synth, trance, none of it really matters. This is deep eclectic electronic music performed to live midi, hybrid digital and analog perfection. The dual male/female vocal delivery presented on this record shows a high concern for distinctly developed interplay and identity that is perhaps unequaled in contemporary synth-pop. Cyber dreams, lost worlds, and dystopian futures seem to be the subject of Featureless Ghost's expression but the music itself couldn't be more solidly realized and perfected.

Mastered by Pete Swanson and artwork by Shawn Reed, 'Personality Matrix' will be available on vinyl and digital formats from Night-People on Nov. 6th. The pre-order is now up on their web-site http://www.night-people.org/

https://www.facebook.com/FeaturelessGhost

And the Featureless Ghost interview if you missed it.
In Conversation: Featureless Ghost

Josef K- Sorry for Laughing the First Ever Vinyl Reissue

LTM presents the first ever vinyl release of Sorry For Laughing, the legendary first album by cult Scottish guitar group Josef K, recorded for Postcard Records but destined to become the great ‘lost album’ of the post-punk era. 

Recorded at Castle Sound Studios (Edinburgh) in November 1980, Sorry For Laughing should have been issued as Postcard 81-1, but was shelved after the band and label boss Alan Horne decided the 12-song set sounded too polished. Perhaps two dozen white-label copies in unmade sleeves exist, and have sold for as much as £1,000 amongst collectors. Josef K issued their second stab at a debut album, 'The Only Fun In Town', in July 1981 – only to split after completing a promotional tour. 

This remastered vinyl-only edition of Sorry For Laughing' replicates the original Robert Sharp artwork (a solarised portrait of the band atop Calton Hill, printed in silver pantone), with detailed sleeve notes on the inner bag, and the added bonus of a 12 track CD, The TV Art Demos, featuring all tracks from the band’s very first recording sessions in 1979. The remastered edition is due for release on November 26th through LTM Recordings.

http://www.josef-k.org/news.htm

Next Wave: Second Planet

From Germany comes our next band to watch out for. It's the Second Planet by Danilo Roost who has been quite around with his minimal electro-pop project in the recent years releasing three albums on his label. New album by Second Planet is entitled Work Processing and it was officially released earlier this year on SkullLine. Several songs on the album were already featured on the previous releases and altogether it makes 17 track total on the new album.

http://www.myspace.com/second-planet 

WAW: Lescop- Tokyo, la nuit

The long awaited album by the French electro-pop outfit Lescop is out this month. It is a self titled debut which was produced by Johnny Hostile and which is out on POP NOIRE. The album features the songs "La Foret" which was released last year and their summer hit "Tokyo, la nuit".  

www.facebook.com/lescoplescop
 

Reissue: Nuvo West- Nuvo West

The Italian record label Synthetic Shadows has reissued the rare and obscure debut album by the American group Nuvo West. Their debut album 'Scary' was originally released in 1983 through West Records Inc. This new compilations features the remastered edition of 'Scary' plus their unreleased Cassette 'Twankin'' from 1984. The release is out today and it is available in 500 copies.