(03.07.09) Empty house. No rain, no sun. A dullness cuts through the aging day. It is neither warm nor cold. The city reflects the tepidity of grey concrete and black dissolving tarmac. Uneasiness unable to broach into anxiety. Such ineffectuality emits no light or shadow, ash mixed with florescence . Welcome to the New Wave.
Minimal Wave has peered in and found two lost souls in the despondency of 1980s forgotten synth pop, Linear Movement and Sudeten Creche. Neither have been saved from their blend of sonorous sorrow and aural elation, instead life has been breathed into their past bringing LP and 12″ back in stunning form.
Linear Movement were a ephemeral spark in the 1980s. The group of Peter Bonne, Peter Koutstaal and Lieve Van Steerteghem were the brainchild of Bonne. Bonne was the master behind outfits such as Twilight Ritual and Autumn, likewise he spearheaded Linear Movement with intermittent collaboration with Koutstaal and Steerteghem providing vocals for some tracks. However, Linear Movement never made it to an LP. Some tracks made it onto the gold dust rare Pulse Music cassette and “The Game” also lives on Minimal Wave’s Lost Tapes. But until now, with the release of On The Screen, Linear Movement’s music has been floating in the limbo of the unreleased. Now the trio have a medium, vinyl.
Bonne saw the Linear Movement as a project coming from a more poppy base, one shrouded in new wave synthesizers. “Way of Living,” with its twanging synthlines and distanced vocals, starts the record. Minimal and estranged as it is, the track has a catchiness embedded in its isolated analogue chords. “Cytogenetic Movement” is a downtempo journey into the whirring workings of Bonne’s synthesizer addiction whilst “In My Head” raises the vintage analogue pitch into a dervish of synth pop. The deeper tones of “Five Faces” bring the A-Side to a close before the epic “The Game” arrives on the reverse. The track is an amazing work of swirling synthesizers as layers of discordant solo vocals fall in the gap of despair and distortion, a new wave gem unearthed by any account. Bonne crosses from instrumental and lacklustre vocal across the LP, shuffling the lines of emotion with man and machine sound. “To Another Soul” works on distanced lyrics with an immensely passionate synthline before “On The Screen” brings down the curtain on this LP.
In quick succession Sudeten Creche, Paul Carlin and Mark Warner, are asking Are Kisses Out of Fashion. The UK outfit first came onto the new wave scene in1982 with a 12″ being released in ’83. But, after that the guys (like so many Minimal Wave finds) receded into the dusty archives of the past. In March 2006 Sudeten Creche returned, after almost 25 years of silence, with a 7″ on Anna Logue. Now Minimal Wave are giving them twelve inches of vinyl. “Are Kisses Out of Fashion,” first released on Europe in the Year Zero in 1982, opens the 12″. The track is an incredibly powerful piece of new wave. The tinny synthline has an unmistakable home studio sound whilst bordering into the playful. Any element of delight is leveled by heart hollowed vocals as the track contorts and squirms under a human heaviness and synthesizer lightness. “Dance,” from the Kindergarten EP of 1983, brings a different tone to its predecessor. The keyboards are left in the background as an element of guitar rolls across downtempo beats and lyrics. Somber sounds introduce the flip side. Light and cheery synthlines rise and fall, elevating the immediate despondency of the vocals. Sudeten Creche let their synthesizers take centre stage on this track, with cascading chords blending into an almost beatless atmosphere. The 12″ comes to rest with the aptly named “Asylum,” a work of deep bass and heady low-key electronics.
It seems that with every release Minimal Wave are opening new doors and pulling back the curtains on fresh streams of music. From Oppenheimer Analysis and Graham Philip D’ancy, not to mention the Lost Tapes and Found Tapes compilations, the label is growing in strength and influence. In quick succession the New Yorkers have retrieved and returned Linear Movement, Sudeten Creche and Stereo; with each having different musical aspects. Linear Movement border into a poppy synthy sound, but it is in no way comparable to the modern interpretation of pop; this is dark and seductive synthesizer music that is an aural drug addiction and not a rom-com tale. Sudeten Creche traverse a different ground, toeing new wave despair with downtempo elation. It is Minimal Wave’s desire, and their discoveries of talent that is bolstering an enthusiasm and passion that is running into the 21st century.
Both releases are out now on Minimal Wave.
