Browse by Label: FORCED NOSTALGIA (BELGIUM)

Artist:	PELICAN DAUGHTERS
Title:	Fishbones And Wishbones
Label:	FORCED NOSTALGIA (BELGIUM)
Format:	LP
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	FN 001LP

Pelican Daughters were founded by Justin Brandis and Andy Rantzen in 1984. Using a variety of instruments, found objects & DIY tape loops, the pair released a succession of cassette-only releases into Sydney music stores. Over the course of several releases and live performances, including two cassette releases on CCP, the duo were joined over the years by occasional members Ben Fontaine, Andrew Holmes, James Fergus, Bryce Cannon and Anthony Maher (aka dub producer Sheriff Lindo). The group also recorded with Miriam Williamson of Wrong Kind Of Stone Age, a collaboration that eventually blended some Pelican Daughters tracks into the early work of long-running Australian techno act Itch-E & Scratch-E (Paul Mac and Andy Rantzen), most notably on the track "Sweetness And Light," now considered an early rave classic. A chance connection led to Fishbones & Wishbones (essentially a "best-of" from the cassette years) and Bliss being released by Kim Cascone's San Francisco label, Silent Records. One further album, Darkness Before Light, remained unreleased until 2009, when it was picked up by Sydney label 4-4-2 Music for release. Fishbones & Wishbones was recorded on Portastudio between 1984-1988 in Sydney, Australia by Andy Rantzen, Justin Brandis, Bryce Cannon and Andrew Holmes. Versions of this album have been previously released on tape by Cosmic Conspiracy Productions (1988) and on CD by Silent Records (1991), but this is the first time the material has been available on vinyl. The sound of Fishbones & Wishbones draws lines between the jagged edges of the post-punk movement and into the more introspective sounds that would go on to typify so much electronic music of the early '90s. Vinyl cut at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin.

Artist:	CICCIOLINA HOLOCAUST/SERMONIZER
Title:	Albeit Albeit/Sibelius Spiders
Label:	FORCED NOSTALGIA (BELGIUM)
Format:	LP
Price:	$19.50
Catalog #:	FN 002LP

There's no shortage of electronic reissue imprints operating these days, especially ones concentrating on "lost" synth-wave recordings from the late '70s-mid '80s, but few have access to the kind of material amassed over the years by Forced Nostalgia, a label curated by one of Belgium's most knowledgeable and methodical sound archivists. The breadth and quality of the material already scheduled for release by Forced Nostalgia is just jaw-dropping -- extending the remit to begin with the post-punk heyday of the late '70s all the way through to the mid '90s, taking in often unreleased, mostly unheard and overlooked material from tape music to industrial, from bossa-pop to proto-techno, from drone to out and out analog experimentation -- with the vast majority of the music now being made available on vinyl for the very first time. Florim Prishtina and Rezart Veseli recorded together as Cicciolina Holocaust in Firenze, Italy during the late '70s and early '80s, releasing several tapes, all as small private editions given to friends. Using guitar, Korg Poly 61, Korg KPR 77, Cornet, Tascam Portastudio (4-Track), effect pedals, tapes and an array of self-built machines, their work covers a wide spectrum of analog electronics, resulting in oppressive and uber-dark synth-scapes and minimal proto-techno experiments that slot perfectly alongside the kind of darkside work typified by Regis and the more experimental end of the Downwards label in 2011. Sermonizer is the work of an anonymous producer from Bologna who started experimenting with primitive (field-) recordings and tape manipulations in late '79. In 1984 he recorded numerous avant-garde, industrial and ambient works onto 4-track recorder and his massive output consists of numerous private tape albums, both studio and live recordings. The five tracks here were recorded between 1983 and 1986 and were made on synthesizer, guitar, violin, drum machines, electric shaver and other found objects and voice. Vinyl cut at Dubpates & Mastering, Berlin.

Artist:	PUMP
Title:	The Decoration Of The Duma Continues
Label:	FORCED NOSTALGIA (BELGIUM)
Format:	LP
Price:	$23.50
Catalog #:	FN 003LP

Pump were Andrew Cox and David Elliott, a pair of like-minded electronic music fiends who met at Brighton University in 1979. After staring a fanzine and a tape label, the pair eventually began to record their own material (initially under the moniker MFH) and released several cassette albums typified by underground industrial strains inspired by Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, Faust and Heldon. They spent the middle of the 1980s often geographically estranged, with David writing for the notorious Sounds magazine alongside David Tibet, and Andrew working in Cornwall. In 1987 they finally recorded new material, making for their exceptional debut album under the Pump moniker The Decoration Of The Duma Continues, originally released on Andrew Hulme's Final Image label. The album has languished in the out-of-print wilderness pretty much since its release and has now been carefully remastered and reissued by Forced Nostalgia on a beautiful gatefold vinyl pressing with a suitably rich cut at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin. The Decoration... is clearly influenced by the era that immediately preceded its release, capturing the vapor trails of the post-punk movement while fermenting industrial and electronic ideas that would go on to dominate their incredible, criminally-overlooked second album Sombrero Fallout. The album opens with "Dance Without Music," constructed around a spiralling synth line and skittering percussion somehow reminiscent of early Talking Heads, Cabaret Voltaire and the squashed anti-funk often heard on tracks by The Cure from the same era. But there is a much darker undercurrent permeating the pores of these tracks -- and "A Veiled Woman" marks a watershed of sorts -- taking a turn towards more unstable terrain with treated glass-bottle gamelan effects draping a veil of sadness and tension over inherently beautiful, original material. "A Sort Of Accident" goes even further towards establishing the stylistic links and aesthetics shared by Pump and some of their contemporaries, most notably -- Coil. Reviewed at the time of its initial release, the album was described by The Observer as "bad mood music" while Melody Maker said it sounded like "the clanging and abrasion of rusted and misaligned gears and ratchets..." -- and it is precisely that slightly unhinged, brilliantly forward-thinking marriage of beauty and decay that makes The Decoration Of The Duma Continues stand out so brightly against the backdrop of almost all of the music released at the time. Pump, to our minds at least, really are one of the great forgotten bands of the era. Limited edition of 500 copies only. Housed in a full-color gatefold sleeve.

Artist:	VAZZ/LA BAMBOLA DEL DR. CALIGARI
Title:	Whisper Not/The Wrong Holiday
Label:	FORCED NOSTALGIA (BELGIUM)
Format:	LP
Price:	$19.50
Catalog #:	FN 004LP

The Forced Nostalgia label continues to expand and inform with the release of this split release featuring 1980s outfits Vazz and La Bambola Del Dr. Caligari. The A-side features six tracks from Glasgow's Vazz, a duo consisting of Anna Howson and Hugh Small. Whisper Not was recorded at the legendary Hellfire Club in Glasgow in 1982 and was eventually released on limited edition cassette, before the band were signed up to appear on the 2LP compilation Antelopes & Alligators on Operation Twilight -- a sub-label of Belgium's infamous Les Disques Du Crépuscules. For one reason or another, the compilation never materialized -- but the reference to Crépuscules should give you some idea of where Vazz figure in the scheme of things. Whisper Not really is an astonishing collection of tracks -- a small but perfectly-formed companion-piece of sorts to Antena's Camino Del Sol (which appeared in the same year), with Anna Howson's distinctive voice accompanying guitars, bass, drum machine, percussion and the Casio MT-30 keyboard -- a classic configuration. But what set Vazz apart from their contemporaries is Hugh Small's forward-thinking production signatures -- something that's most evident on "Cast Reflections" -- the standout track on this mesmerizing set. The way the drum machine and guitar have been treated and compressed sounds like something from The Cure's Faith album reworked in a current electronic studio -- it's just a profoundly beautiful and affecting piece. It really is hard to believe that these tracks have languished in the archives until now. The B-side features Italy's La Bambola Del Dr. Caligari and five tracks recorded between 1983 and 1986. The band were a short-lived minimal synth trio from Bologna, Italy, consisting of the exotically named Judy Asquith (voice), Aurelium Spitty (sound engineer, synth, drum machines, effects) and J.R. Ewing (keyboards, effects). They recorded their first demo tape in early 1984 and sporadically played live in 1985/1986, eventually arranging the soundtrack for an installation at the art gallery Number Zero (Bologna) in Feb. 1986. Several self-produced tapes were recorded over the years but were never properly released. In 2005, Roberto Napoli mastered all the recordings from the analog tapes and kindly assisted in editing the selections made by Forced Nostalgia. The result features some of the finest lost-and-found musical gems from the '80s gloom-pop era, finally available for public consumption 25 years after they were recorded. 500 copies only, cut at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin.

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