Tolouse Low Trax has put together this compilation for Bureau B of some very obscure and not so obscure electronica from the 1980's and beyond in the house style of Dusseldorf's Salon des Amateurs, it includes rare unreleased tracks by Venus In Furs and Lydia Tomkiw as the best known acts involved. This compilation will make a perfect Xmas stocking filler for any friends who love obscure electronica from around the world.
The compilation opens with the dark brooding El Consecuente Aspecto De Geometria by Macromassa that sounds like the vocals are a voice over at the start of a documentary with a sparse keyboards and percussion backing accentuating the different aspects of the musical geometry we are listening too.
Basset by The Stupid Set is just over 11 minutes of initially sparse techno with a poem being recited in the style of Egon Bondy with The Plastic People Of The Universe, although I'm not sure it's that revolutionary a poem, as the sounds of car engines revving against the bleeping sounds coalesce around some sort of dripping water sounds.
Il Senso Di Torpore by DsorDNE has a goth dark wave feel to it but with some very Chet Bakerish trumpet and wonderfully dispassionate vocals intoning over the music.
Techno Twins tune Donald And Julie Go Boating has the feel of classical music getting mashed up by synths and with darkly intoned vocals, almost like the idea behind Madame Butterfly by Malcolm McClaren, but this tune isn't interested in being a chart smash and is consequently far darker and would soundtrack someone falling overboard.
La Valse de Salon by Venus In Furs opens with a really nice piano motif that slowly builds as strings are added making this a rather pretty piece of background music.
Camino Largo by Javier Segura has the sort of slow brooding undertow that should be on some overblown Simple Minds style song, but this has more integrity than that and adds in a weird keyboard loop and semi spoken word vocals to come up with a tune that has a touch of the Unfinished Sympathy about it.
Oedipa Maas Y Los Atomos by Bassae has hushed female vocals that are a bit like Stina Nordenstam but with a more classical adjacent synth pop backing this is a really beautiful song that needs to be heard.
Hot June Evening by Lydia Tomkiw was the song I most wanted to hear on receiving this compilation, as I love the few songs I have by her band Algebra Suicide, it doesn't disappoint with her trademark vocals and a techno edged no wave backing to this tale of hot weather and impending problems.
Van Gogh - La Farandole Op.1 by Lueke & Lippie sounds as if it's off the soundtrack to a very odd telling of Van Gogh's life story with some properly out their percussive elements and occasional synth bits as the vocals keep on telling us the story in rather urgent French with some whistling in the background while sounding like Shit & Chanel.
Dah-May-Yoo by Kaoru Hirose is like a less cheeky Shonen Knife, slightly less knowing but with some wonderfully odd accompaniment that's a bit Frank Chickens like in places, like they have wind up toys playing as well as that snare drum and synths, this is a very cool piece.
The compilation closes with Chariot Of Palace by Viola Renea is another piece on this album that sounds like it comes from a weird Sci Fi movie soundtrack and that's no bad thing, it has proggy edges but a synth pop heart.
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