electro

Urban Dance: Urban Dance (1985)

2017/03/29

Even for Haruomi Hosono, Urban Dance is a rare bird. Let me step back. After listening to Friends of Earth and Love, Peace, and Trance I may be incorrect. Urban Dance’s self-titled debut is a rare bird for Japanese electronic music. Produced by Haruomi Hosono, Urban Dance was the rare slice of Japanese music that drew…
Mioko Yamaguchi: Moon-Light Princess (1983)

2017/03/17

Do you know what I love about Mioko Yamaguchi? That no matter what she attempts, she finds a way to actually do it, and do it quite well. That’s why I struggled mightily to chose what is my favorite album of hers to pitch to you, dear reader. Heart of hearts, I’ve made up my mind, and 月姫 Moon-Light…
Tolerance: Divin (1981)

2017/02/24

ot much is known about the Japanese female/male musical duo Tolerance made up of Junko Tange and Masami Yoshikawa. Understatement of understatements, even 36 years later the forward-thinking slab of music a few people know of as Divin has yielded little in terms of discovery on how the duo came to be, and (more importantly) why/how they…
Frank Chickens: We Are Frank Chickens (1984)

2017/01/11

How do you describe a band like Frank Chickens? Led by performer/artist/musician/animator/singer/theater producer Kazuko Hohki and her sister-in-arms Kazumi Taguchi, Frank Chickens still remains unlike any band out there. Using Japanese kitsch and asian fetishization as a means to facilitate some truly subversive culture prodding and oddly imaginative musical explorations, Frank Chickens’ debut We Are Frank Chickens shows you a small…
Tony Esposito: Il Grande Esploratore (1984)

2017/01/06

If ever you’re in Naples, bring up Tony Esposito, and thank me later. Part of the new Neapolitan Power scene envisioned by Tullio de Piscopo, James Senese, and Pino Daniele, Tony proved to be the one closest to bringing that sound out of the Mediterranean and onto the world. A rhythm master all his life, Tony Esposito’s Il Grande Esploratore remains one of the pinnacles of…
Rodion G.A.: Stele si lumini (1980)

2014/09/12

Rodion GA – (Rodion pictured far right) In Cluj, Romania, in the year 1975, a young man, Rodion Ladislau Roșca, in the throes of Nicolas Ceaușescu’s attempt to introduce a kind of North Korean-style communist cult control, whittled away DIY-style making some of the most unique grooves to come out of Europe. Defiant to his core,…
Krisma: Miami (1982)

2014/07/30

Christina in Bali The final video released from Clandestine Anticipation by Christina and Maurizio is for the jaw-dropping opening track of this album, Miami. Before Radiohead created “Idioteque”, before 2 Live Crew even thought about bumpin’ the bass on old electro records, before tons of EDM or noise bands forgot their roots in dance music…existed this…
Krisma: Samora Club (1982)

2014/07/29

Krisma’s “Samora Club” is such an interesting track. For the album Clandestine Anticipation Krisma decided to look at influences outside of the European sphere. The black music of America, specifically hip-hop, Asian, and various global genres were areas that they wanted to explore. The only limit they imposed on themselves is to use electronic instruments in…
Krisma: Cathode Mamma (1980)

2014/07/27

I tend to forgive a lot of stuff from the 80s. You have to, hardly any group was immune to lapses in judgement and wonky tastes in fashion and production. For this reason you have to, for once, look past the whole vision that Christina and Maurizio held at this time. Following the success of…
Ivan Cattaneo: Polisex (1980)

2014/07/26

Ivan Doing Himself I take a day break from my series on Chrisma to properly explain away the next set of videos that Chrisma will release. As, I’ve trolled away, trying to understand/translate the Italian language for this series, I’ve encountered other great characters that I probably would have never realized existed if it wasn’t…