Late 70s/early 80s dark electro

Hi,

I'm making a mix of early electro, with interludes from the conet project (http://soundcloud.com/the-conet-project/sets/the-conet-project) and I was wondering if anyone could recommend some songs. Here's what I have so far:

Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft - Der Mussolini
Kraftwerk - Numbers
The Normal - Warm Leatherette
A Number Of Names - Sharevari
Telex - Moskow Diskow
Fad Gadget - Ricky's Hand
Suicide - Ghost Rider
Laurie Anderson - O Superman (For Massenet)

I really want that dominatrixy cold war sound and I can't think of any other records like this. Basically I looking for the kinds of records people like Miss Kitten were trying to emulate in the early 00's. Any ideas? Thanks.

search for minimal synth or dark wave. a lot of discussion about this kind of music can be found with some searching.

youtube thread of synthpop/minimal synth/dark wave classics
Minimal Synth Revival

I'm going through the first link, thank you. Maybe I should be more specific: I'm looking for songs that invoke a feeling of the Cold War, with synths that sound really dated... a lot of the early electro artists employed this socialist realism aesthetic and the music always reminds me of the Sprockets sketch from Saturday Night Live. The themes I have in these songs are bleak political views and general macabre, but in an unemotional way, almost like Industrial music.

Also, it can be electronic avant-garde (like Laurie Anderson). It doesn't have to be dance music. I will continue to search through the old threads though. Thanks.

john foxx

Metro Pakt - "Neue Strassen"
(weirdly pulled from youtube, but, ahem, here is another ilxor's mix which you may find of interest)

Do you specifically want vocal tracks with bleak and/or alienated lyrics, or just a bleak/alienated sound? Was thinking there are a few hard electro-ish tracks on Conrad Schnitzler's "Conrad & Sohn" collaboration with his son Gregor but most of them are instrumentals and my German is not up to the lyrics on the others (at one point Gregor seems to be ranting about... something that made me kind of uncomfortable that I might not like it if I could understand it)

On a less electro and more minimal tip, possibly my favourite electronic record of this era is Monoton - "Monotonprodukt 07", which you can listen to on its discogs page.

man I really wanna hear this mix when it's done, it sounds great

a quick 10:

john foxx - burning car
liaison dangereuses - avant apres mars
p1/e - 49 second romance
ike yard - kino
fad gadget - back to nature
kas product - never come back
chris and cosey - love cuts
anne clark - sleeper in metropolis/our darkness
monte cazazza - kick that habit man
ymo - light in darkness

this is my favourite music ever pretty much

i remember optimo had a mix up on their website called 'cold war mix' that had some of this stuff on it

wow this really paid off. Monoton sounds great and I'm grabbing that 1981 mix now. p1/e , ike yard and anne clark are right on the money.

I got a tip to check out Chris and Cosey and I'm doing that now too. Thanks everyone and keep em coming!

This song was made for your mix (and it's a kraftwerk rip off too)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHLgZZ7ks3c

And here's some dominatrixy sounds (pretty obv selection tbh)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX88XJaJ_bg

There's actually a Monoton track called 'shortwavetransmission' -- perfect!

And Chris and Cosey - Radio Void is also perfect.

Cybotron, "Alleys of Your Mind"

esplendor geometrico - moscu esta helado

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3qGi478YJk

eberhard schoener - why don't you answer

http://www.optimo.co.uk/goodies/#coldwar

http://www.optimo.co.uk/goodies/#electrobeat

> No More - Suicide Commando (1981)
> A song that refuses to die. A couple of years after these Germans recorded this it spread like a virus to become a cult classic. The virus is still spreading to this day.

and i thought they were swiss.

absolute body control - is there an exit?

'dominatrix sleeps tonight' has a video?? wonders never cease

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_More_(band)

another obvious suggestion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gllp8gvwSI8

not electro, but for creepy and alienated electro-acoustic early industrial, Thomas Leer & Robert Rental's The Bridge album is a must.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS8CLj5_GN0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ci7lssNMRI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWkSkczooEU

I'm just getting to SPK now and I think there's got to be at least something in their catalog I can use. What about Front 242, or Einstürzende Neubauten? I don't know much about either band but maybe they have early stuff that would fit.

Also, is there an art movement associated with this music? I have an idea in my head of this 80s adaptation of soviet constructivist art but I don't know if this ever actually existed. What exactly was Sprockets on SNL parodying? If that was a spoof of something, what was it spoofing?

xex "snga"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRNXj-5ltao&feature=related

Hahah, that's great!

I can't help myself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pbcC99C-Y8