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viewing 1 To 21 of 21 items
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CD
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BB 440CD
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"Martin Rev's eponymous debut solo record was released in 1980, not long after the second Suicide LP appeared. It is one of the most seminal albums to have emerged in the early years of electronic music... The tension between his hypnotic drum machine salvoes and Alan Vega's irrepressibly expressive voice on stage or in the studio created an electrifying mix, and yet these six supremely minimal compositions were no less impactful without Vega's voice. There is an enchanting simplicity to the beautiful bubblegum melodies of the opening pieces 'Mari' and 'Baby Oh Baby' (the only track with a Rev vocal, everything else is instrumental). Like a clandestine heart, embedded in dissonant textures and infinite rhythm loops, echoing the doo-wop and rock and roll songs at the tempestuous epicenter of New York, the place which had such a profound influence on the youthful Martin Rev, there is also an incongruousness to Rev's own music, etched into the DNA he shares with the city... Above all, there's a sense that Suicide's records and the solo works of Martin Rev could not be any more different to those of their European contemporaries such as Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream or Jean-Michel Jarre. If this is music as dystopian psychedelia, it glows nevertheless with substantial warmth. Sounds grab you instantaneously and, by virtue of endless repetition, never let you go. Rev's 1980 debut thus offers us something of great value: an insight into the beginnings of an impressive solo career which would play such an important role in the development of successive generations of artists. It is as enthralling today as it was when it first appeared." --Daniel Jahn, July 2023
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LP
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BB 440LP
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LP version. "Martin Rev's eponymous debut solo record was released in 1980, not long after the second Suicide LP appeared. It is one of the most seminal albums to have emerged in the early years of electronic music?. The tension between his hypnotic drum machine salvoes and Alan Vega's irrepressibly expressive voice on stage or in the studio created an electrifying mix, and yet these six supremely minimal compositions were no less impactful without Vega's voice. There is an enchanting simplicity to the beautiful bubblegum melodies of the opening pieces 'Mari' and 'Baby Oh Baby' (the only track with a Rev vocal, everything else is instrumental). Like a clandestine heart, embedded in dissonant textures and infinite rhythm loops, echoing the doo-wop and rock and roll songs at the tempestuous epicenter of New York, the place which had such a profound influence on the youthful Martin Rev, there is also an incongruousness to Rev's own music, etched into the DNA he shares with the city?. Above all, there's a sense that Suicide's records and the solo works of Martin Rev could not be any more different to those of their European contemporaries such as Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream or Jean-Michel Jarre. If this is music as dystopian psychedelia, it glows nevertheless with substantial warmth. Sounds grab you instantaneously and, by virtue of endless repetition, never let you go. Rev's 1980 debut thus offers us something of great value: an insight into the beginnings of an impressive solo career which would play such an important role in the development of successive generations of artists. It is as enthralling today as it was when it first appeared." --Daniel Jahn, July 2023
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CD
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BB 439CD
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"[Martin] Rev initially explored free jazz and similarly free forms of musical expression before discovering the magnetic attraction of electronic production and instrumentation, enabling him to create music in a wholly independent and autonomous environment. Using the most rudimentary equipment, he grafted the roots of rock n' roll into the process of combining effects and devices to generate electrified sounds, the likes of which had never been heard before. This music would map out the way forward not only for Suicide, but also for a fascinating solo career. Martin Rev's predilection for experimentation knew no bounds. At home, he played around with rough ideas, trying out all manner of variations and colorations. These tape recordings provide a captivating insight into his modus operandi, often representing the early stages of what would later become Suicide tracks or cuts on Rev's solo albums. Spanning the period 1973 to 1985, the recordings on The Sum of Our Wounds are much more than a collection of demos and outtakes. One has the sense of listening to a rounded album of familiar compositions, now portrayed in a completely new light. The brittle fragility of these cassette pieces reveals a deep-lying sensitivity, like a collection of wounds..." --Daniel Jahn, June 2023
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LP
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BB 439LP
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LP version. "[Martin] Rev initially explored free jazz and similarly free forms of musical expression before discovering the magnetic attraction of electronic production and instrumentation, enabling him to create music in a wholly independent and autonomous environment. Using the most rudimentary equipment, he grafted the roots of rock n' roll into the process of combining effects and devices to generate electrified sounds, the likes of which had never been heard before. This music would map out the way forward not only for Suicide, but also for a fascinating solo career. Martin Rev's predilection for experimentation knew no bounds. At home, he played around with rough ideas, trying out all manner of variations and colorations. These tape recordings provide a captivating insight into his modus operandi, often representing the early stages of what would later become Suicide tracks or cuts on Rev's solo albums. Spanning the period 1973 to 1985, the recordings on The Sum of Our Wounds are much more than a collection of demos and outtakes. One has the sense of listening to a rounded album of familiar compositions, now portrayed in a completely new light. The brittle fragility of these cassette pieces reveals a deep-lying sensitivity, like a collection of wounds..." --Daniel Jahn, June 2023
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BB 439LTD-LP
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LP version. Red color vinyl. "[Martin] Rev initially explored free jazz and similarly free forms of musical expression before discovering the magnetic attraction of electronic production and instrumentation, enabling him to create music in a wholly independent and autonomous environment. Using the most rudimentary equipment, he grafted the roots of rock n' roll into the process of combining effects and devices to generate electrified sounds, the likes of which had never been heard before. This music would map out the way forward not only for Suicide, but also for a fascinating solo career. Martin Rev's predilection for experimentation knew no bounds. At home, he played around with rough ideas, trying out all manner of variations and colorations. These tape recordings provide a captivating insight into his modus operandi, often representing the early stages of what would later become Suicide tracks or cuts on Rev's solo albums. Spanning the period 1973 to 1985, the recordings on The Sum of Our Wounds are much more than a collection of demos and outtakes. One has the sense of listening to a rounded album of familiar compositions, now portrayed in a completely new light. The brittle fragility of these cassette pieces reveals a deep-lying sensitivity, like a collection of wounds..." --Daniel Jahn, June 2023
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2LP
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BB 418LP
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LP version. Reissue, originally released in 2008. Hazy dream chronicles. "A Martin Rev album is always liable to spring a surprise. Think of the rough guitars which unexpectedly appeared on his 2003 release To Live (BB 417CD/LP) instead of synthesizers. Les Nymphes, which followed in 2008, saw Rev return to dream-laden melodic miniatures, but came from a resolutely more radical place than its predecessors. A minimalist thread runs through Martin Rev's oeuvre, and yet there is an opulence, something approaching exuberance, to the pieces on Les Nymphes. The first few seconds of the opening track 'Sophie Eagle' herald a towering sonic wave, a cascade of echoes and rhythm loops, with fragments of melody and Rev's sporadic utterances rising like whitecaps above splashing phase shifts. References to contemporary club music, in evidence on To Live, resurface here, along with the disconcerting guitar samples which dominated the previous album. The other tracks on Les Nymphes share a subcooled, dreamlike, slow rave sensibility amidst a post-industrial atmosphere which is reminiscent of Coil in the scope of its three-dimensional soundscape. Rev elaborates: "The similarities of Les Nymphes to house and dance were evident for sure, although I didn't start off searching for them in particular. It was probably the first work I brought to completion from start to finish on computer, and a lot of the tracks were digitally derived from interactive programs rather than outboard gear. The atmosphere and sound were inspired by a lot of reading I had been doing in Greek mythology and also investigating the same stories in different languages. Probably my spending a lot of time living in Montreal for several years was a strong influence in that it's a French speaking environment and all the book stores had a great array of classical literature in French and other languages." The inspiration of cultural mythologies is what makes Les Nymphes so irresistible, its hazy realities assembled in a dream chronology. What would an ethereal house or techno album sound under Rev's guidance? Once again, this work demonstrates the rigor of Martin Rev's approach, his willingness to embrace risk and his uncompromising rejection of a single aesthetic framework. Les Nymphes is, without question, the work of an artist who is constantly in search mode." --Daniel Jahn, February 2022
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CD
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BB 418CD
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Reissue, originally released in 2008. Hazy dream chronicles. "A Martin Rev album is always liable to spring a surprise. Think of the rough guitars which unexpectedly appeared on his 2003 release To Live (BB 417CD/LP) instead of synthesizers. Les Nymphes, which followed in 2008, saw Rev return to dream-laden melodic miniatures, but came from a resolutely more radical place than its predecessors. A minimalist thread runs through Martin Rev's oeuvre, and yet there is an opulence, something approaching exuberance, to the pieces on Les Nymphes. The first few seconds of the opening track 'Sophie Eagle' herald a towering sonic wave, a cascade of echoes and rhythm loops, with fragments of melody and Rev's sporadic utterances rising like whitecaps above splashing phase shifts. References to contemporary club music, in evidence on To Live, resurface here, along with the disconcerting guitar samples which dominated the previous album. The other tracks on Les Nymphes share a subcooled, dreamlike, slow rave sensibility amidst a post-industrial atmosphere which is reminiscent of Coil in the scope of its three-dimensional soundscape. Rev elaborates: "The similarities of Les Nymphes to house and dance were evident for sure, although I didn't start off searching for them in particular. It was probably the first work I brought to completion from start to finish on computer, and a lot of the tracks were digitally derived from interactive programs rather than outboard gear. The atmosphere and sound were inspired by a lot of reading I had been doing in Greek mythology and also investigating the same stories in different languages. Probably my spending a lot of time living in Montreal for several years was a strong influence in that it's a French speaking environment and all the book stores had a great array of classical literature in French and other languages." The inspiration of cultural mythologies is what makes Les Nymphes so irresistible, its hazy realities assembled in a dream chronology. What would an ethereal house or techno album sound under Rev's guidance? Once again, this work demonstrates the rigor of Martin Rev's approach, his willingness to embrace risk and his uncompromising rejection of a single aesthetic framework. Les Nymphes is, without question, the work of an artist who is constantly in search mode." --Daniel Jahn, February 2022
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CD
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BB 417CD
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Reissue, originally released 2003. "Like a blizzard in a snow globe American indie label File 13 Records released what was already Martin Rev's sixth solo album in the autumn of 2003. The previous year, Rev and his musical partner Alan Vega had struck out in a new direction on their American Supreme album and Rev's solo works continued in a similar vein. If Strangeworld (BB 337CD/LP) from the year 2000 actually felt more like a timeless abstract of Martin Rev's entire spectrum of musical influences, To Live, three years later, introduces more contemporary elements, including guitar samples for the first time. "The sound of To Live was actually one I had already been using live on stage for a couple of years. The inspiration didn't come from the 2000's but probably from something much earlier although I couldn't specifically pinpoint from where. It's also related to the rhythm tech I was using," Rev recalls. The record met with mixed reactions on release. Some critics were wrongfooted by sequence-driven segments and the industrial rock characteristics of the late 1990s -- not what they expected from a Rev album. In the same way that Suicide's revolutionary new sound was loved and hated in equal measure back in the 1970s, Rev was still polarizing opinion with his music some 30 years later. But even if synthesizer drones and minimalist keyboard figures were less prominent on To Live it is fair to say that all of the tracks shared the inimitable language of form which made Martin Rev's sound so distinctive. Layers of rhythmic loops fade into Rev's sporadic, recitative spoken words which are as tender as they are threatening, building into a snow globe blizzard where chromed glitter and golden confetti dance wildly, haphazardly. This is particularly striking on 'Gutter Rock', an overmodulated, hypnotically charming slice of lounge exotica. And this very sound of antithesis, between hard drum machines, guitar salvoes and Rev's intangible voice, in which every mood and sense of insecurity which foreshadowed the new millennium, especially in a city like Rev's New York, was shattered two years earlier on September 11. To Live is not easy to digest, a work of contradictions which marks a transition in Martin Rev's overall output as a child of its time, worthy of special attention in his legacy." --Daniel Jahn, February 2022
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LP
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BB 417LP
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LP version. Reissue, originally released 2003. "Like a blizzard in a snow globe American indie label File 13 Records released what was already Martin Rev's sixth solo album in the autumn of 2003. The previous year, Rev and his musical partner Alan Vega had struck out in a new direction on their American Supreme album and Rev's solo works continued in a similar vein. If Strangeworld (BB 337CD/LP) from the year 2000 actually felt more like a timeless abstract of Martin Rev's entire spectrum of musical influences, To Live, three years later, introduces more contemporary elements, including guitar samples for the first time. "The sound of To Live was actually one I had already been using live on stage for a couple of years. The inspiration didn't come from the 2000's but probably from something much earlier although I couldn't specifically pinpoint from where. It's also related to the rhythm tech I was using," Rev recalls. The record met with mixed reactions on release. Some critics were wrongfooted by sequence-driven segments and the industrial rock characteristics of the late 1990s -- not what they expected from a Rev album. In the same way that Suicide's revolutionary new sound was loved and hated in equal measure back in the 1970s, Rev was still polarizing opinion with his music some 30 years later. But even if synthesizer drones and minimalist keyboard figures were less prominent on To Live it is fair to say that all of the tracks shared the inimitable language of form which made Martin Rev's sound so distinctive. Layers of rhythmic loops fade into Rev's sporadic, recitative spoken words which are as tender as they are threatening, building into a snow globe blizzard where chromed glitter and golden confetti dance wildly, haphazardly. This is particularly striking on 'Gutter Rock', an overmodulated, hypnotically charming slice of lounge exotica. And this very sound of antithesis, between hard drum machines, guitar salvoes and Rev's intangible voice, in which every mood and sense of insecurity which foreshadowed the new millennium, especially in a city like Rev's New York, was shattered two years earlier on September 11. To Live is not easy to digest, a work of contradictions which marks a transition in Martin Rev's overall output as a child of its time, worthy of special attention in his legacy." --Daniel Jahn, February 2022
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LP
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BB 336LP
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2025 restock; LP version. "Martin Rev's fourth solo album See Me Ridin' was released on the New York label Reachout International Records (ROIR) in 1996. Received by the critics with amazement, it proved to be a watershed moment in his career. Journalist Neil Cooper wrote at the time: 'When I first heard Rev's new record, I was taken aback. Was he serious? Was this some inside joke? He had to be kidding -- or was he mentally over the top!' Its reception echoed that of the 1992 Suicide album Why Be Blue, which sprung such a surprise on fans of the duo comprising Martin Rev and Alan Vegas. On this particular solo album, Rev repeated the trick of dispensing with rough, brittle sounds. This was not Rev seeking to distance himself from his musical origins, he was actually getting back closer to his roots. Signs of Martin Rev's formative influence as an electronic music pioneer can be seen in many places. Virtually no one would have expected him to deliver a doo-wop album, but in the light of Rev's socialization and artistic tradition, it reflects a logical process of absolute reduction. Martin Rev crafted See Me Ridin' as a kind of power pop hybrid, an album which owed much to the R&B and doowop of the 1950s and 1960s; the music which a youthful Martin Rev heard on the streets of New York, the soundtrack to his teenage years which had such an intense effect on him and would resurface in his own works. Nowhere more so than here. The instrumental foundations of these 16 tracks are built on rudimentarily sketched melodic arches, outlines rather than fully defined structures, yet all the more forceful for that. As if the full potency of an R&B band has been distilled into minimalist keyboard compositions. Martin Rev's vocals are as minimal as they are sentimental, wonderfully poetic like a latter-day Chet Baker perhaps, or Jonathan Richman. This solo album not only blindsided Rev's critics and fans alike, but also painted a personal, nostalgic portrait of his home, New York; fading out the noise and contradictions of the city to channel the romantic energy of the metropolis." --Daniel Jahn, May 2020
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CD
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BB 336CD
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"Martin Rev's fourth solo album See Me Ridin' was released on the New York label Reachout International Records (ROIR) in 1996. Received by the critics with amazement, it proved to be a watershed moment in his career. Journalist Neil Cooper wrote at the time: 'When I first heard Rev's new record, I was taken aback. Was he serious? Was this some inside joke? He had to be kidding -- or was he mentally over the top!' Its reception echoed that of the 1992 Suicide album Why Be Blue, which sprung such a surprise on fans of the duo comprising Martin Rev and Alan Vegas. On this particular solo album, Rev repeated the trick of dispensing with rough, brittle sounds. This was not Rev seeking to distance himself from his musical origins, he was actually getting back closer to his roots. Signs of Martin Rev's formative influence as an electronic music pioneer can be seen in many places. Virtually no one would have expected him to deliver a doo-wop album, but in the light of Rev's socialization and artistic tradition, it reflects a logical process of absolute reduction. Martin Rev crafted See Me Ridin' as a kind of power pop hybrid, an album which owed much to the R&B and doowop of the 1950s and 1960s; the music which a youthful Martin Rev heard on the streets of New York, the soundtrack to his teenage years which had such an intense effect on him and would resurface in his own works. Nowhere more so than here. The instrumental foundations of these 16 tracks are built on rudimentarily sketched melodic arches, outlines rather than fully defined structures, yet all the more forceful for that. As if the full potency of an R&B band has been distilled into minimalist keyboard compositions. Martin Rev's vocals are as minimal as they are sentimental, wonderfully poetic like a latter-day Chet Baker perhaps, or Jonathan Richman. This solo album not only blindsided Rev's critics and fans alike, but also painted a personal, nostalgic portrait of his home, New York; fading out the noise and contradictions of the city to channel the romantic energy of the metropolis." --Daniel Jahn, May 2020
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CD
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BB 337CD
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"A strange world Martin Rev's fifth solo album -- Strangeworld -- was released on the cusp of the new millennium. The label responsible was Puu, a Finnish imprint belonging to Tommi Grönlund and Mika Vainio's Sähkö Recordings which came to fame in the 1990s on the strength of its uncompromising minimalist sound. Four years earlier, in 1996, Rev had unleashed See Me Ridin', an album which surprised its listeners with keyboard melody sketches and distilled doo-wop compositions. It was also the first solo album to feature Martin Rev on vocals. Strangeworld started where its predecessor left off. Melodic passages dissolved into a thicket of fragments and set pieces, coalescing in a celestial shimmer between rhythm loops and Rev's voice, which assumed the role of an additional instrument rather than a standard singing part. Martin Rev's familiar murmurs and hums are there, but the music on Strangeworld no longer feeds on the furious rumbling of the electrified city. Instead we hear wonderfully naive singing, lost in reverie, Martin Rev's condensed teenage memories of days when young hearts were breaking to the sound of doo-wop melodies on the transistor radio. There are still flashes of contemporary music and traces of dance elements, but Rev maintains these entered his musical spectrum subconsciously: 'Techno wasn't specifically on my mind while recording but for sure it was already part of the musical environment at that time so easily may have become added to some of the nuances that were revealing themselves in the album's process.' Rev took charge of the album production himself in his home city of New York: 'Strangeworld was mostly produced at a private studio that I booked as much as couple of days a week. It was the beginning of engineers setting up rental studios even in their homes since digital, then in the form of ADAT, and early computerization had suddenly made it possible.' If Säkhö seems an unlikely partner to release the record, there is, on closer examination, a certain congruity between Rev's work and the radical minimalism of the Finnish label's sound . . . Twenty years have passed since Strangeworld was first released, but the world it revealed remains as strange and enigmatic as ever." --Daniel Jahn, May 2020
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LP
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BB 337LP
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LP version. "A strange world Martin Rev's fifth solo album -- Strangeworld -- was released on the cusp of the new millennium. The label responsible was Puu, a Finnish imprint belonging to Tommi Grönlund and Mika Vainio's Sähkö Recordings which came to fame in the 1990s on the strength of its uncompromising minimalist sound. Four years earlier, in 1996, Rev had unleashed See Me Ridin', an album which surprised its listeners with keyboard melody sketches and distilled doo-wop compositions. It was also the first solo album to feature Martin Rev on vocals. Strangeworld started where its predecessor left off. Melodic passages dissolved into a thicket of fragments and set pieces, coalescing in a celestial shimmer between rhythm loops and Rev's voice, which assumed the role of an additional instrument rather than a standard singing part. Martin Rev's familiar murmurs and hums are there, but the music on Strangeworld no longer feeds on the furious rumbling of the electrified city. Instead we hear wonderfully naive singing, lost in reverie, Martin Rev's condensed teenage memories of days when young hearts were breaking to the sound of doo-wop melodies on the transistor radio. There are still flashes of contemporary music and traces of dance elements, but Rev maintains these entered his musical spectrum subconsciously: 'Techno wasn't specifically on my mind while recording but for sure it was already part of the musical environment at that time so easily may have become added to some of the nuances that were revealing themselves in the album's process.' Rev took charge of the album production himself in his home city of New York: 'Strangeworld was mostly produced at a private studio that I booked as much as couple of days a week. It was the beginning of engineers setting up rental studios even in their homes since digital, then in the form of ADAT, and early computerization had suddenly made it possible.' If Säkhö seems an unlikely partner to release the record, there is, on closer examination, a certain congruity between Rev's work and the radical minimalism of the Finnish label's sound . . . Twenty years have passed since Strangeworld was first released, but the world it revealed remains as strange and enigmatic as ever." --Daniel Jahn, May 2020
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LP
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BB 317LP
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LP version. Bureau B present a reissue of Martin Rev's Cheyenne, originally released in 1991. The sphere of Martin Rev's influence and the relevance of his music may well be related to the fact that he was one of the first artists who succeeded in grasping the abstraction of electronic music, infusing it with a sense of immediacy built on raw energy. Whilst the likes of La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and Kraftwerk were busy digging in the electronic music garden, Martin Rev found inspiration in the streets of New York. Rev's music is informed by characteristic influences of the city, a place where doo-wop harmonies intermingle with the hiss and hum of the metropolis, dissolving into a collage of noise. So it is that dreamy, chiming melodies blur into ominous whirrs and drones emanating from rhythm machines and layers of distorted synthesizer. This polarity between convergence and alienation describes something deeply American, as reflected in the track names and the cover image of a rodeo rider: "The idea came from the way the tracks sounded as instrumentals. They took on a different visually descriptive dimension, even more so in combination. The visualization was an immediate soundscape of the American landscape. That's where the titles and cover came from." Many of the pieces found on Cheyenne can be traced back to the sessions for the second Suicide album Alan Vega / Martin Rev (1980) which was produced by Ric Ocasek, singer for The Cars. Almost a decade passed before Martin Rev got around to editing and developing the material. "Most of the album was recorded in 1980, but the remaining few tracks from 1988 into the early '90s. The '80s tracks all went under a concerted editing process, to make them work for me even better as instrumentals. I didn't get around to that until there was an offer to release them, which was in the early 90's as well." Indeed, Cheyenne plays out like a rural, yet intense road movie, crossing a landscape rich in beauty and contradictions.
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CD
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BB 317CD
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Bureau B present a reissue of Martin Rev's Cheyenne, originally released in 1991. The sphere of Martin Rev's influence and the relevance of his music may well be related to the fact that he was one of the first artists who succeeded in grasping the abstraction of electronic music, infusing it with a sense of immediacy built on raw energy. Whilst the likes of La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and Kraftwerk were busy digging in the electronic music garden, Martin Rev found inspiration in the streets of New York. Rev's music is informed by characteristic influences of the city, a place where doo-wop harmonies intermingle with the hiss and hum of the metropolis, dissolving into a collage of noise. So it is that dreamy, chiming melodies blur into ominous whirrs and drones emanating from rhythm machines and layers of distorted synthesizer. This polarity between convergence and alienation describes something deeply American, as reflected in the track names and the cover image of a rodeo rider: "The idea came from the way the tracks sounded as instrumentals. They took on a different visually descriptive dimension, even more so in combination. The visualization was an immediate soundscape of the American landscape. That's where the titles and cover came from." Many of the pieces found on Cheyenne can be traced back to the sessions for the second Suicide album Alan Vega / Martin Rev (1980) which was produced by Ric Ocasek, singer for The Cars. Almost a decade passed before Martin Rev got around to editing and developing the material. "Most of the album was recorded in 1980, but the remaining few tracks from 1988 into the early '90s. The '80s tracks all went under a concerted editing process, to make them work for me even better as instrumentals. I didn't get around to that until there was an offer to release them, which was in the early 90's as well." Indeed, Cheyenne plays out like a rural, yet intense road movie, crossing a landscape rich in beauty and contradictions.
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CD
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BB 316CD
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Bureau B present a reissue of Martin Rev's Clouds of Glory, originally released in 1985. Martin Rev is best known as one half of the seminal duo Suicide (with Alan Vega). Listening to his solo albums, it becomes clear that Rev was responsible for the group's music. Clouds of Glory, his second solo effort, was released on the French label New Rose in 1985. Suicide mirrored the reductive and radical traits of the contemporaneous punk scene that was in the process of emerging, but their electronic, minimalist form of language was so unique, so innovative, that they would become a major influence on the likes of Daft Punk, Air, and Aphex Twin. Alongside his work with Suicide, Martin Rev continued as a solo artist, releasing his eponymous debut album in 1980 on New York's Infidelity label. Rev's early solo excursions can be traced back to the original ideas which can be found -- in modified form -- in Suicide songs: as instrumental versions which have been texturally enriched, like a familiar figure which has nevertheless taken on a completely new existence. Five years later, in 1985, Martin Rev released his sophomore solo LP on the Parisian label New Rose Records, although the recordings on Clouds of Glory actually dated back to the earlier part of the decade, following on from the Suicide sessions for the duo's second album. Martin Rev remembers: "Clouds of Glory was produced from visual and musical sketches I had in mind which then coincided with an invitation by Marty Thau, previously Suicide's manager, to take advantage of studio time he had accumulated from other projects. The essence of my ideas was then realized in the studio. Clouds was started in 1981 and completed in 1984 when additional studio time was made possible to complete it, based on the offer by New Rose Records." In spite of Clouds of Glory having been recorded with the same equipment as the Alan Vega/Martin Rev Suicide album (1980), it occupies a completely different space, evoking the solemnity of religious music through its underlying meditative tone. "I look now upon the album as part of a personal journey into the frontier of music; a process which is never ending in its revealing of possibilities to satisfy my musical aspirations."
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LP
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BB 316LP
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LP version. Bureau B present a reissue of Martin Rev's Clouds of Glory, originally released in 1985. Martin Rev is best known as one half of the seminal duo Suicide (with Alan Vega). Listening to his solo albums, it becomes clear that Rev was responsible for the group's music. Clouds of Glory, his second solo effort, was released on the French label New Rose in 1985. Suicide mirrored the reductive and radical traits of the contemporaneous punk scene that was in the process of emerging, but their electronic, minimalist form of language was so unique, so innovative, that they would become a major influence on the likes of Daft Punk, Air, and Aphex Twin. Alongside his work with Suicide, Martin Rev continued as a solo artist, releasing his eponymous debut album in 1980 on New York's Infidelity label. Rev's early solo excursions can be traced back to the original ideas which can be found -- in modified form -- in Suicide songs: as instrumental versions which have been texturally enriched, like a familiar figure which has nevertheless taken on a completely new existence. Five years later, in 1985, Martin Rev released his sophomore solo LP on the Parisian label New Rose Records, although the recordings on Clouds of Glory actually dated back to the earlier part of the decade, following on from the Suicide sessions for the duo's second album. Martin Rev remembers: "Clouds of Glory was produced from visual and musical sketches I had in mind which then coincided with an invitation by Marty Thau, previously Suicide's manager, to take advantage of studio time he had accumulated from other projects. The essence of my ideas was then realized in the studio. Clouds was started in 1981 and completed in 1984 when additional studio time was made possible to complete it, based on the offer by New Rose Records." In spite of Clouds of Glory having been recorded with the same equipment as the Alan Vega/Martin Rev Suicide album (1980), it occupies a completely different space, evoking the solemnity of religious music through its underlying meditative tone. "I look now upon the album as part of a personal journey into the frontier of music; a process which is never ending in its revealing of possibilities to satisfy my musical aspirations."
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7"
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PB 021EP
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First-time vinyl pressing of an amazing track from the man who invented it all together with Alan Vega in world conquering Suicide. "Gutter Rock" is an undisputed gem from Martin Rev, dark-happy hypno-lounge from New York, recorded in 2003. This stimulating piece of music for walking, driving and dancing is backed by two other cuts from the same year.
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LP
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PTYT 040LP
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Blast First Petite presents the first vinyl edition of Martin Rev's Stigmata (2009). Originally released as a CD (PTYT 040CD). Presented as a neon-orange LP. Edition of 500. "Modern Classical masterpiece" -- Record Collector. "Remarkable electronic musicianship" -- MOJO. "an uncomfortable listen, but bleedin good." -- Stool Pigeon
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LP
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SV 012LP
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2013 release. "In 1980, shortly after Suicide's second full-length, Martin Rev released his first solo album on preeminent No Wave label Infidelity (Lust/Unlust). Uninhibited by the trappings of a collaborator, Rev was freed to explore his most experimental and pop leanings with dirty synths, dark melodies and dreamlike textures, and produced a masterpiece of modern alienation that captures a uniquely New York landscape. Echoing other electronic forerunners such as Silver Apples and Kraftwerk, and foreshadowing the work of Aphex Twin and Air, Rev's solo outing rests firmly in the lineage of unnerving sounds from the furthest fringe of maladjustment."
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CD
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PTYT 040CD
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Martin Rev, the avant keyboard half of NYC punk pioneers Suicide, releases a solo album on the Blast First Petite label. Stigmata was recorded in New York City and features 14 tracks that heave with glitched-out, digitally-distorted, synthetic orchestral sounds -- quite unlike anything he has released before. A timely "flash-forward" of an album, it has already been described as "genius" by Spiritualized main man, Jason Pierce, and continues Rev's now four decades of eclectic electronic musicianship. And to further celebrate the album's release, Neu Galleries (London) showed a series of Rev's "abstract instinctive scores" throughout November 2009. Blast First Petite also continues to celebrate Martin Rev's partner, Alan Vega's 70th birthday with the release of their Suicide covers series with tracks from Bruce Springsteen, Primal Scream, Peaches, Sunn 0))), Lydia Lunch, Iggy Pop, Julian Cope, Vincent Gallo, and many more.
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