German Synth Wave Underground

"Sowas von egal" is a collaboration between the Hamburg record label Bureau B and the Hamburg party series Damaged Goods where they present rare, obscure synth & wave discs from the early 1980s which absolutely deserve to heard. It was clear from the outset that “Sowas von egal 2” would need to scale similar heights of excellence as its predecessor, featuring carefully selected, sought-after, danceable tunes.

A gently propulsive track from Wild!, Blue Savannah makes for a pleasant if not a completely stunning single for Erasure; the band itself once amusingly claimed it was "Erasure meets the Eagles!" The pleasure in this single lies in the various remixes and extra tracks that come scattered throughout. The title track itself benefits from two complementary remixes, "Der Deutsche Mix I and II", the latter of which adds a reasonable enough breakbeat and some fun synth soloing to create a low-key, Manchester-tinged dancefloor filler. There's one further remix from Mark Saunders that combines his usual fun beats and upbeat feeling to the original, not to mention adding a bit of twangy country guitar. Also on the disc is an okay enough original B-side, "Runaround in the Underground"…

Compiled by noted Australian music writer and historian David Nichols, ‘Closed Circuits’ looks at what happened in Australia when the machines started taking over in the wake of punk in the late 70s.

Brothers Ron and Russell Mael from Los Angeles, USA have been making diverse music since 1969 under various incarnations of Sparks. In 1979 they ditched the guitars and keyboards of glam geek rock and started working with Italian producer Giorgio Moroder, beginning a love affair with electronic music. Since then they have worked with a variety of people including Finitribe, Les Rita Mitsouko, Erasure and Faith No More.

Compiled by noted Australian music writer and historian David Nichols, ‘Closed Circuits’ looks at what happened in Australia when the machines started taking over in the wake of punk in the late 70s.

Two years in the making, Close To The Noise Floor is a 4CD, 60-track set exploring the origins of electronica in the UK. Featuring tracks from key figures on the cassette label underground alongside early releases by future stars of the movement, this is part primitive rave, part synthesiser porn and part history lesson.

German Funk, Rare Groove and 1970s Disco music (e.g. the highly regarded Munich scene around Italian producer Giorgio Moroder) have been widely recognized and featured on numerous reissues and compilations. However, the Boogie-ish post-disco side of German music history until now has remained relatively undiscovered. One of the reasons might be that a broader national scene in Germany (unlike the UK for example) never existed. Even though tracks by US bands such as Dazz or Midnight Star were popular in discotheks in Germany around that time, bigger labels showed little interest in promoting German groups playing this new style of Disco Funk that brought in electronic musical instruments and often lacked the iconic "four-on-the-floor" beat.