Transatlantic Overdub (LP, De Fabriek Records & tapes, 1985)

A great compilation, which just as the Contact Discs earlier was paid for by the participants, but here everybody had to pay for 3-4 minutes. Each track starts with a spoken piece in the musicians native tongue, which is a bit tedious. It has Das Ding, Conrad Schnitzler, Giancarlo Toniutti, D.K., Max Axe, Nico de Haan, K2, John Jacobs, Esplendor Geometrico, Mark Lane, Sviatoslav Lieontievich Kruticov, De Fabriek. Orange vinyl and a silkscreened plastic. I believe limited to 250 copies.


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Schlaflose Nachte - Drum Dance & Song (12", Red Flame Records, 1982)

So I was all wrong when I posted previously about Schalflose Nachte. They did do another record, this one. Thanks to paphio23 for sharing this!

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Seven & A Half Dutch Seven Inches

As promised already some time ago, the half 7" is the side of Cargo Cultus from the split with Nexda. You find it together with some other, more experimental 7"s from the Netherlands.
A Link Twingle is a split 7" by two bands Tuxedo and Presse Papier, both of which entirely unknown to me, but Harold Schellinckx is a member of the later, so that was the reason I ever bought this. It was released by Link Records (80001), no date on the cover.
Bart & Jan are Bart Chabot, a dutch poet and by now a famous TV character and Robert-Jan Stips of Supersister, The Nits and such like, with a crazy Dutch text on world war three. Just in case you thought Torso would only release serious doom music. Released by Torso (457 (VR 10665) in 1981.
Cargo Cultus released by Studio 12 (S1), no date on the cover.
Dier was a rock band with experimental touches. I am looking for their 'Fragment/Miltvuur' cassette. Released by Stichting Update Materials (no number) in 1981 in an edition of 500 copies, with five different covers.
Hard Werken was a trio of Sander Wissing (guitar, violin, bass), Peter Redert (vocals, bass, effects) and Henk Elenga (vocals synthesizer, electronic percussion). Recorded in Backlash Studio. There is also a design buro of the same name (still), but I am not sure how they are related. Released by Hard Werken Records (HW 1002) in 1980.
Komovari64's 7" I bought last week when I picked up the Das Wesen 12". I never heard of this, although it seems to be from Nijmegen too. Released by Privaat Platen (nummer 2) in 1982. It was still in great shape, probably even never played. The guy behind the counter had also no clue.
P. Kok was a member of Dier, but his solo work is much more experimental. Besides this 7" there are, I believe two further cassettes, on Stichting Update Materials. This 7" was released by O.V.M. Records (no number) in 1980.
Störung is perhaps the best known band here, their excellent LP can be found on Mutant Sounds. This 7" was released by Störung Records (001) in 1982. I am not sure if 'Dreadful Dance' is the same version as on the LP.

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Bee Queen/Technological Aquiver - Scala Destillans/Rumbling Ravage (LP, De Fabriek/Korm Plastics, 1990)

This record, produced by De Fabriek, has quite a story. Originally it was supposed to be a split between Bee Queen and De Fabriek, and each band would be paying half the pressing (of 250 copies), but De Fabriek 'sold' their side to Technological Aquiver, which were previously known as The (Lost) Attic, without telling Bee Queen. So the Beequeen/Korm Plastics version has an extra insert explaining this. The Technological Aquiver side was donated by paphio23, and the Bee Queen side was taken from the remastered CDR release on Plinkity Plonk. There is a mystery track on there, which I think is the run out groove of the record, so I trimmed that one minute. As a bonus I include also the two bonus tracks from that CDR release, which is a Beequeen split 7" with The Legendary Pink Dots and a track from the limited cassette release of the 7". Recently a double CD with old vinyl works by Beequeen have been released, which I also highly recommend (on Plinkity Plonk also)

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Laibach - Live In V2 (tape, V2, 1986)

One of those great concerts that I missed, even when I knew Laibach at the time, having their first split cassette with Last Few Days and the first tape on Staalplaat (which I will post due time, along with the second tape). On Discogs this is called 'Live In Hell', but that's not on the cover anywhere, so I am clueless who made that title up. It's the tape with that nice cardboard cog wheel, which was no doubt a beast to manufacture. But the tracklisting is this
A1 Vier Personen
A2 Nova Akropola
A3 Vade Retro Satanas
A4 Die Liebe
B1 Du, Der Herausforderst
B2 Drzava
B3 Vojna Poema
B4 Sredi Boji

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Minny Pops - Restant (non CD tracks)

When Les Temps Modernes announced that they would be releasing several CDs with the work of Dutch band Minny Pops I was jumping for joy. 'Drastic Measures' is the best LP ever produced in The Netherlands in experimental electronics. Full stop. I was a bit disapointed that when all three CDs were released, there was some material missing. From both the third LP 'Poste Restante' and the fourth '4th Floor' only half the material is there. This post is whatever remained unreleased, as far as I can see. So those missing LP tracks, along with 'Mental', the Plurex live single (which I downloaded from the excellent Dual blog) and the freebie 7" 'Kogel/Stralers' which came with the second pressing of 'Drastic Measures'. As far as I can tell this sums up the entire recorded history of Minny Pops - and remember: buy CDs. These tracks may not be the most representative work by this great band, but if you do like them, buy the CDs! Thanks to Dual blog and paphio23. And oh, the photo comes from Muziekkrant Oor and is the band around the time of 'Sparks In A Dark Room'.


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Das Wesen - Complete vinyl works

Das Wesen - Complete vinyl works

Like Mekanik Kommando and Vice published earlier here, Das Wesen also came from Nijmegen and existed from 1980 until 1983. Before that they were called Puber Kristus, and as such they had a flexi with vinyl and two tracks on the Ultra compilation cassette, which will be here soon. They changed their sound and name, following the influence of Joy Division, of whom they were support act at Doornroosje in 1980. A great but Dutch story about the band and that gig can be read here: http://www.hansdekkers.org/no-wave
Das Wesen had strong ties to Bazooka, they shared Hans Dekkers on guitar. The first release was a split 7" between these bands. After that they recorded two 12"s for Torso, which showed an even greater love for Joy Division and PIL. Their final 12", 'Nocturne' was released on their Akzidanz in 1983. I picked up a brand new copy from the local store today. Let me know if I can get you one, as they still have some left. On March 31 1983 they played their final gig in Paradiso.
This post was made with the great help of paphio23.

so the complete picture:

1. Serie Serie, 7", Interface Records IF 1, 1981
2. Anyone, 12", Torso 129/VR22079, 1982
3. Who Had A Heart, 12", Torso 1214/VR22327, 1982
4. Nocturne, 12", Akzidanz akzi 2, 1983

download no longer works, available on CD

Last Few Days - Too Much Is Not Enough (12", Touch, 1986), Pure Spirit And Saliva (LP, Dead Man's Curve, 1986)

One of the more obscure groups from England, including members of 23 Skidoo, and film maker Daniel Landing. They never wanted to release anything, but of course somethings were released. They played their concert at odd hours, like 7AM. According to Discogs: "Daniel Landin (aka D. Styme), Si Joyce (aka Si Gross) and Keir Wahid (aka K. Warhead & K. Fraser). They were regularly helped out by Fritz Haaman (aka Fritz Catlin) who also performed with Laibach during the joint tour, and occasionally by Sam Mills, both members of 23 Skidoo."
These two works are their outings on vinyl. 'Too Much Is Not Enough' is, in my very humble opinion a classic. Worth alone downloading this for. The 'Pure Spirit And Saliva' LP was recorded throughout their European tour, and on the backside it says "on a blisteringly hot day in June 86, K Warhead and S Gross from Last Few Days sat in a small box with Dave Henderson, a pile of cassettes, an equalisation unit that no-one understood and a Revox... this is the result'. The last four tracks on the b-side are considerable lower in volume, which I didn't correct and throughout it's not a great pressing. But on the bright side: I'll be posting their Staalplaat cassette and their split with Laibach some day soon.

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Mekanik Kommando - And Then The Wind Died Down (two tapes, Rosebud Records, 1986)

As promised last week, here is the double tape by Mekanik Kommando. It was released in between 'Bay The Moon' and 'Shadow Of Rose' and contains the more experimental work by them. Music for films and other occasions. This tape came in a large box with an extensive booklet printed by Knust (who still use their stencil machines to print exotic magazines, record covers etc.), which I didn't scan. It's a bit unrelated to the music. I tried to separate the various tracks, which was difficult, so I left it one track per side. And oh, after I did the upload to Massmirror, I see I tagged the mp3 wrong as 'As the wind dies down'. The correct title is 'And Then The Wind Died Down'. You'll have to re-tag it, as i'm off to work

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De Fabriek/The Klinik - Attentie (LP, De Fabriek Records & Tapes, 1986)

On Discogs I see this being a limited edition of 500 copies, but if my memory serves right, it might be only 250 copies, like so many of the records De Fabriek released around that time, such as Transatlantic Overdub and Technological Aquiver/Beequeen. The grey, silkscreened dirt bag says 'Attentie', but then each side also a subtitle, 'Melting Close' for The Klinik and 'Platanen' for De Fabriek side. Although I never cared that much for similar music of The Klinik's counterbands, I thought this was a great record. Of note: the insert is designed by Frans de Waard, of whom I never thought of as a designer - and rightly so, by the looks of it. But the record is great.

Nico Selen wrote: this album was made by De Fabriek along the same principle as '17 to 7 on 33'. One side was sold to the Klinik, the De Fabriek side was sold in pieces to various people. I delivered 'Dates' and got 30 copies. De Fabriek did the same for their 'Neveleiland' release and even pieces to compilations.


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Interior - Bizarre Disco (7", Plurex, 1979), Interior (12", Plurex, 1980)

You could easily wonder if they are two different bands by the same name, but it's the same band. I believe the 7" was made by Peter on bass guitar and Maarten on synthesizer with a rhythmbox, while on the 12" they are joined by Moniek on drums. Speedy development for this band, who shortly after ceased to exist and became Soviet Sex, and also Blue Murder as a later off-shoot. The 7" sounds like Minny Pops, whereas the 12" is a weirder combination of that and post punk, but with a cover of 'Rock It USA'. And speaking of famous artists, the Peter here is Peter Klashorst, still the enfant terrible of the dutch painters.

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Het Winnifred Komplex (tape, Kubus Kommunikaties, 1980)

This was the second release on Kubus Kommunikaties which was a split release between Muziekkamer (side 1) and De Andere Planeet (side 2). I think behind De Andere Planeet is Rob Smit, who ran the label. Muziekkamer was duo from Leiden, The Netherlands and who created some wonderful music, all which will be here some day. The labels index side 2 with 2 tracks, but I can't find the point to separate them, so I left them as such. De Andere Planeet is Eno like synth music, whereas Muziekkamer is a bit more experimental with reel-to-reel experiments.

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Mission Papua Holland - June 87 (LP, Mission Papua Holland Records, 1987)

The links for the five 'Contact Discs' (see last friday) are working! I think there was a problem on the side of Massmirror, but also for reasons unknown it's now solved.

A bit of a weird band, Mission Papua Holland. There were two members, Jasper Frenken and Mark van Gelder, who sometimes played together and sometimes solo, but always used the name Mission Papua Holland. It is in hindsight a bit hard to say who did what, but 'June 87' was made solo by Frenken. I hadn't played this in some years, and was surprised by its quality. One side is quite drone related, while the three shorter tracks are almost academic electronic. A true great record of no longer forgotten music.

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The Young Lions - No News, Strange Rumours (12", Plurex 0013, 1980)

While you are still recovering from yesterday's post, today a really short one, but a nice one me thinks. When I started to look which records would be nice to post and transfer, I found out I have 2 copies of this record, so anyone wanting to buy or trade, please contact me (433rpm@gmail.com). The Young Lions were Tim Benjamin, Ronald Heiloo, Harold Schellinx (these three we met earlier on with their 7"s which we featured some time ago), Peter Mertens and Rob Scholte, before he moved to Suspect. Six rather short but great post punk tracks.

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Contactdisc 1 - 5 (5LPs, Stichting Stopcontact, 1981-1987)

The summer never started and holidays are soon over. I am not sure if I have time every day to do a nice post in the future, so I decided to a massive post for today: all five volumes of Contact Disc. The idea behind these records was simple: you make music for this record and every band pays along, pro rata, for the pressing. Each band gets their share paid in finished records. The idea came from Plurex with their '7 to 17 on 33' 7 inch, and was later repeated by other Dutch labels. A goldmine for nice experimental music, short tracks and some great synthesizer pop.

Nr. 1 has Vovokai, The Haters, Act Of God, Venezie 5.55, Onnyk, De Fabriek, Dier, Doxa Sinistra, Infatuation, Andre De Koning, Stereoland, Hero Wouters & Willem Hagen, Duke Daylight & Count Sheep, Bart Terlaak & Hero Wouters, Enif Omnivorius, The Attic, Gerrit Hoekma, Vittore Baroni

Nr. 2 has Klang, Secreto Metro, Nicola Frangione, Smexmec, De Fabriek, Mark Lane, Unovidual, H. Wouters & W. Hagen, H. Wouters & R. Loots, Stereoland, Era Ora, Jack Art, CBM 64, The Lost Attic, Venezia

Nr. 3 has Tranquil Eyes, 5ive Ximes Of Dust, Mystic In Eye Flight, Mark Lane, Diseno Corbusier, Neel Holst & Hero Wouters, Metal Thought, L'Eponge Synthetique, Era Ora, Hirsche Nicht Auf's Sofa, The Lost Attic, De Fabriek

Nr. 4 has Tranquil Eyes, Figurants, Twilight Ritual, eM, Frozen Ducks, Panta Rhei, S.C.I., Mystic In Eye Flight, Kapotte Muziek, Vox Populi!, De Fabriek, The Bearcage, X ray Pop

Nr. 5 has Beatnik Love Affair, Frozen Ducks, Tranquil Eyes, Menko, The Paradox, S.C.I, Panta Rhei, X Ray Pop, BB Speedok, Das Synthetische Mischgewebe, Confused Parents, Hans Slock, Kapotte Muziek, Orduc, De Fabriek

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five

Suspect - Above Suspicion (LP, Backstreet/Backlash, 1980)

Suspect is the forerunner of Schlaflose Nachte. The band existed for litte over a year (1980-1981), but managed to play a lot of concerts and record this LP. The line up was always fluctuating. Here it's Berni von Braun (guitar), Peter Prima (drums), Gila Du Juice (bass) and The Frank (microphone). He left shortly after the recording of this LP, and was replaced by Rob Scholte, now one of the most famous painters in The Netherlands. Much of their music was made through improvisation and rhythm plays an important role. I believe they also released a cassette on LeBel Period (the label ran by Tox Modell), but I don't have that one. If anyone does, please let me know. Dry post punk with some groove. 'Instinct music' as a Dutch magazine wrote.

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Mekanik Kommando - Bay The Moon (LP, Wereldrekord, 1984), Shadow Of A Rose (LP, Rosebud Records, 1986)

The first three records by The Netherlands' Mekanik Kommano can be found on Mutant Sounds, but this is the first of two postings to make the picture complete. The second one will have their 'As The Wind Dies Down' double cassette. 'Bay The Moon' is their second and last record for EMI's Wereldrekord label, but they were dropped due to lack of succes. The boss up there learned that there is no money in experimental music, not even the popmusic version thereof. On their own Rosebud Records they released 'Shadow Of A Rose'. Then came 'The Castle Of Fair Welcome' but when this came out they changed the name to Use Of Ashes, placing stickers on the cover (ones which say Mekanik Kommando are very rare). For me the lost the experimental edge with that move. The double cassette was released just before 'Shadow Of A Rose', and will come soon here. The smooth experimental music slowly develops on this material into the more psychedelic sound of The Use Of Ashes, but still sounds great.

bay the moon
shadow of a rose

Alien - Celebrating Your Victory (12", private, 1983)

A short one for today but one with a lot of power, this record that has been said to be a true inspiration for Skullflower. Monotonous banging on guitars and drums in two pieces and a feedback experiment. Alien came from Monster, a very small village near Den Haag, The Netherlands. The main man was Frans Lelieveld, who before was involved in a fanzine, BOH and the cassette label thereof. Their compilation cassette might follow one day. Lelieveld also had a band called 'Het Laatste', meaning The Last, because it was the last thing he would ever do. Not so, as this 12", made with a inhertence, came after that. Never heard of him again after that.

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The Lost Jockey - Professor Slack (10", Operation Twilight, 1982), The Lost Jockey (LP, Les Disques Du Crepuscule, 1983)

One of things I am still clueless about is why the work of The Lost Jockey was not released on CD. The Lost Jockey were Andrew Poppy, John Barker and Orlando Gough. They composed their pieces of minimal music and then performed them. 'Professor Slack' was originally released as a 10" on Operation Twilight and later re-issued as a 12" by Battersea Records, but with wrong listing of the tracks. That record is great. The LP is more mellow, with lots of piano playing in Steve Reich fashion, but it suffers greatly from the length - the b-side goes over thirty minutes - and sadly even after cleaning by my friend Freek still sound a bit scratchy. Well, another reason why this should be on CD.

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Baader Pop Gruppe - 7" (Gramschap/Disaster Electronics Inc., 1981), Krieg Und Leichen (cassette, Stichting Update Materials, 1982?)

Baader Pop Gruppe was furious synth punk trio who came from a remote part of The Netherlands, before moving to Breda. They didn't exist for very long, around 1982, but I'm sure I saw them live once. The bandmembers are Etwin (guitar, bass, voice), Anja (drums, syndrum, voice) and Simon (voice, synth. perc, bass). Their music is partly driven by sequencers and drums, and resemble DAF a bit. The texts are probably quite serious back then, but sound hilarious these days. The 7" was released by Gramschap, a left-wing magazine who always had something extra, not always a record. The Ex also did a 7" with them. The cassette was released by Stichting Update Materials, from Laren, who released Dier and P. Kok. It always seemed a bit odd for them to release something this political.

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Der Junge Hund - Ridders (12", Kremlin, 1981), Alte Und Idioten (LP, Kremlin, 1982)

This free jazz, rock, funk, punk trio from Eindhoven made these two records on Kremlin Products as well as 'Europa Ladenversuch' a double cassette which I don't have anymore. The Dutch answer to James White. 'Ridders' was recorded in thirty minutes so they claimed back then. 'Alte Und Idioten' is a bit more refined. The band was Horst Rickels (saxophone), Renz Sanders (voice, saxophone and guitar) and Rik van Iersel (drums). Very energetic stuff all around.

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Beneden De Grens (tape, Ding Dong Records & Disks, 1982)

Of this release there were two versions, one sixty minute one and the more well-known forty-six minutes one. This here is the sixty minute version. According to Frans de Waard's 'Nederlandse Cassette catalogus Editie 85/86', Head Body Organisation doesn't appear on the C46. The cover here is a scan of the original C60. The tape was copied on a really low quality tape. I had to replace the housing to get it playing again, but it's worth the trouble, even when one channel is louder than the other. I believe Ding Dong started to use chrome cassettes after this. The pieces are indexed by band, not by track, like on the original release. Track listing:

Side 1:

Pseudo Code
Three Hands
Mecanique Vegetale

Side 2:

Kaa Antilope
Head Body Organisation
Bene Gesserit

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Remko Scha - Machine Guitars (LP, Kremlin Products, 1982)

After the all the pop music of the past days, time for something more unconventional. Remko Scha is an artist from The Netherlands who took Glenn Branca's guitar to a more extreme level. He built machines with ropes that played guitars. He also used metal brushes. Quite minimal music of static guitar playing, but creating overtones. Next to the first Minny Pops one of the most radical LPs from The Netherlands. Scha is these a professor in Amsterdam, teaching computer linguistics.

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Mo (LP, Backdoor Records, 1980)

This record I have always been fond off. Mo came from Delft, The Netherlands and their odd line up was this Clemens De Lange (keyboards), Harm Bieger (drums), Heili Helder (vocals) andHuub De Lange (bassoon, keyboards). Especially the bassoon is a true odd ball in popmusic. On this, their first self-titled album, you'll find 'Fred Astaire' which was quite a hit back then, and even to this day surfaces in lower regions of the Top 2000, the all-time favorite list. After the first album everybody but the drummer left, who continued with three new members, relying more on keyboards, making two more albums, which I don't have but seem of lesser interest to me. The three members left music entirely. This LP is a great and original new wave album.

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Eric Random & The Bedlamites - Various (2LPs, 2 12"s)

Although I am not a label honcho, or perhaps just because of that, I don't understand how things work. The ever excellent Les Temps Modernes released a great 2CD by Eric Random of his early works (http://www.ltmrecordings.com/), but the second disc, already by Eric Random & The Bedlamites, could have easily fitted the following two releases by them, the Plurex 12" and the 'Mad As Mankind' 12". But maybe the break is logical, as Random was in India at that time and learned to play the tabla. This Middle Eastern sound came in his future releases. The bunch of Eric Random & The Bedlamites here are all post that excellent 2CD, an could have been another 2CD set. After 'Ishmael' Eric Random & The Bedlamites toured with Nico. These days Random still plays music, but as Free Agents, and have 7" out on Syntactic in 1996, in an edition of 100 copies.

The records are:

Subliminal Seduction/Bedlam A Go-Go (12", Plurex Records, PL0029, 1982)
Mad As Mankind (12", Double Vision Records DVR 7, 1984)
Time Splice (LP, Double Vision Records, DVR 11, 1984)
Ishmael (LP, Fon Records, Bed 7, 1986)

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Generated Progression (LP, Mission Papua Holland Records/Tapes 87003, 1987)

When Three Mad Dog, a band from 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands, won a prize in a talent thing, they wanted to use the money to record a LP, but before recording started the band fell apart. Three Mad Dog was perhaps, in a way, the Dutch answer to Test Department. Bandleader Roderik Henderson went in the studio and recorded this LP in stead, in which he on one hand goes on with Three Mad Dog tribal rhythms and metal percussion, and on the other hand has dark soundscapes. An od mixture, but it works quite well. Generated Progression could be the Dutch answer to Werkbund and Test Dept. After that Henderson didn't play any music anymore and went back to his profession of being a visual artist and these days works as a photographer. The release is on Mission Papua Holland Records, who were from the same city and who released two LPs of their own (one I will post in the future, as the other one I don't have) and they ran a cheap studio, Studio AAwal, in the back garage of V2, who were then also located in this city.

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Sammie America's MAM (LP, Wereldrekord, 1983)

When the independent labels became a threat to the majors, the majors launched their own independents, EMI starting Wereldrekord and Phonorgam started Backdoor. You could expect that they released some lousy third rate artists, but this LP (and the forthcoming LP by Mo) will proof you wrong. Sammie America's MAM came out of Sammie America Gasphetti, and released a couple of 7"s (o.a. on Top Hole, see yesterday), before going to Wereldrekord to release their self-titled debut LP. The band's line up was Sammie America (bass, vocals), Pieter Bon (rhythm boxes, casio, lead vocals), Antoine Kroes (guitar, percussion, vocals), Mark van Woerkom (guitar, percussion, vocals), so no drummer is this early line up. The album is produced by Hennie Vrienten, then a youth idol. The record sounds mature, well produced, lots of vocals and lyrics that I don't get. They made some more albums, with a drummer, which I don't have. Some of the members are still active in popmusic and poetry these days.

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Schalflose Nachte - Flustern/Move (7", Armageddon Records, 1981) / Good Pain (cassette, Ssssnatch Cassettes, 1983?)

After Suspect from Amsterdam stopped (their LP I will do later on) Peter Prima (drums), Berni von Braun (guitar) and Gila Du Juice (born as Gila Gröger, but called Moussou on the 7" cover) went on to form Schlaflose Nächte. Their only LP 'The Angel Will Not Come' you can find on the Mutant Sounds blog a while ago, but here is the 7" that came before that on Armageddon Records (from 1981) and their only cassette 'Good Pain' which was released by Ssssnatch Cassettes (according to discogs). Also I don't know which year. Somebody transformed it to CDR years ago and made a shitty copy of the cover, so I can't read it. Just like the image on discogs actually. One track is recorded live in Berlin with Pig Bag, I believe 'Last Poets', judging by the live quality of the sound. I have no idea what happened with Prima and Braun, but Gröger went to London and formed Sugardog with Here Boy and Fritz of 23 Skidoo. Great crisis funk as they could only make that in that period.

7"

cassette