Dalis Car - The Judgement Is The Mirror 7"

Wikipedia:

"Dalis Car was a musical group formed in 1984 by Peter Murphy (vocalist), Mick Karn (bassist, keyboardist, guitarist, saxophonist) and Paul Vincent Lawford (rhythm construction). The band was formed shortly after Murphy and Karn left their former bands (Bauhaus and Japan, respectively). They recorded one album, The Waking Hour, and released one single, "The Judgement is The Mirror." The cover of the album features a detail from Maxfield Parrish's seminal painting Daybreak.

The recording of the album took place in unusual circumstances, as neither Karn nor Murphy spent much time together in the recording studio, preferring to send tapes back and forth between each another, to work on alone.

The album, a collection of keyboard and bass-driven songs, was a commercial failure and the duo soon disbanded."

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

P.S. There doesn't seem to be an apostrophe in the band name, so I haven't used one either.

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Malcolm McLaren - Madam Butterfly 7"

I'm not a massive fan of McLaren as a person, because I don't usually like exploitative, manipulative people. Anyone who ever worked with him doesn't have very nice things things to say about him as far as I can tell. Simon Reynolds' account of the whole Bow Wow Wow thing was the point of no return for me. But yet, despite all that, he has his name on some great records. I guess most of the winning strategy in this game is to choose your collaborators wisely. And he could do that alright.

This is my farewell. That's all.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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Midge Ure & Mick Karn - After A Fashion 7"

This ridiculous single must have had a load of money thrown at it. The sleeve portrait is by Linda McCartney and the design is by Peter Saville. I think this was the only thing they did together and I don't remember it being such a huge hit. It's a lovely little thing though - utterly overblown and ridiculous, but somehow, massively cool.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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Strawberry Switchblade - Let Her Go 7"

This brief bio from Discogs seems to tell the story rather nicely:

"From the ominous shadows of Goth suddenly appeared two young girls in polka-dot dresses, flaming red lipstick, and hair ribbons. Looking like the brides of Robert Smith, Strawberry Switchblade made a brief splash on the U.K. charts and then abruptly vanished in the mid '80s, leaving their fans with a handful of collectible singles and one LP of deceptively sweet-sounding dance pop. Rose McDowall would later appear on countless experimental and industrial releases by Psychic TV, Coil, Current 93 and Death in June, among others."

This rarely heard single isn't their best work, but the B side is taken from a Janice Long session track on Radio 1. How Eighties in THAT?!

I might have told this story before on here, but at an early Julian Cope solo gig in Lancaster, Strawberry Switchblade were supporting. I somehow managed to blag my way into the dressing rooms and suddenly, there they were, ironing their ribbons.

I fell a little bit in love, of course.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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Associates - Those First Impressions 7"

Utterly wonderful 1984 Associates single produced by Martyn Ware of The Human League/Heaven 17/B.E.F.

This is from the Perhaps album which (I think I'm right in saying) was the first record Billy MacKenzie made following the departure of Alan Rankine.

B Side. "Thirteen Feelings" is from the album as well, but has a classic Associates feel about it.



Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps

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Felt - Sunlight Bathed The Golden Glow 12"

Released in July 1984 on Cherry Red, for me, this is the start of Felt's ascension to greatness. Brilliantly produced by John A. Rivers, who wisely stacks up the female bvox behind Lawrence's weedy voice, this is a real indie stormer. Meanwhile, Maurice Deebank works his trademark spidery guitar magic to massive effect.

01. Sunlight Bathed the Golden Glow
02. Fortune
03. Sunlight Strings

Sunlight Strings is almost better than the title track and makes me feel like I want to use it as a soundtrack for something. Fortune is a re-record of the "Crumbling The Antiseptic Beauty" track.

There's an imperfection on the vinyl on this copy which you can hear on both sides, but hopefully it won't spoil your enjoyment of this truly great record.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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Vitalic - Second Lives 12"

Second Lives' is massive, anthemic stuff, compressing a ridiculous amount of fizzing synth circuitry into a superb electro-disco format. It's fairly telling that the remixes tend not to deviate to far from the original's melodic essence, and however big and brash it may seem, there's really no getting around how effective 'Second Lives' is.

The Mustang reinterpretation is probably the most successful remix of all, injecting a little Italo know-how into the production with subtle usage of live instrumentation. Lifelike's contribution involves a hyper-glossy, more modern approach, keeping the melody in check whilst dishing out zinging panoramic synths, while the Bloody Beetroots mix strives to sound even more inflated than the original, cranking everything up to breaking point and perhaps slightly beyond.

This is available as a DD, so I'm only keeping this up for the weekend. Awesome stuff.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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