I'll Be Back!

40 Anos / 40 Years

Leonard Cohen - Songs (1967)

Kraftwerk - Trans-Europe Express (1977)

Pet Shop Boys - Actually (1987)

Billy Mackenzie - Beyond The Sun (1997)

Battles - Mirrored (2007)

Silicon Teens - Music For Parties (1980)

Who would have thought that the same gent responsible for the Normal's "Warm Leatherette" — the classic, whip-cracking electronic ode to J.G. Ballard's auto-erotic novel Crash — would follow it up several months later with a small clutch of singles covering '50s and '60s rock classics? And who would have thought that it would lead to a full LP? Inspection of the artwork fools you into thinking that the Silicon Teens are a quartet of Darryl, Jacki, Paul, and Diane. Though it sounds like a group of enthusiastic youngsters bent on giving straight-faced, faithful synthpop renditions of tunes like "Memphis, Tennessee" and "You've Really Got Me," the concept of the group is illusory. There's actually one Silicon Teen — Mute honcho Daniel Miller. Music for Parties is an undeniably fun record in its complete lack of irony and shameless giddiness. The covers aren't jokes; it sounds like a group of kids having a blast with classic rock & roll. It's well produced, well played, and well intentioned — no winkie winkie here, à la Moog Cookbook. There's a handful of originals as well; "T.V. Playtime" is sinister, sounding like a commercial for a board game; "Sun Flight" is hallucinatory with Darryl sounding like a cross between Gizmo and Darth Vader. The sound is dated after all, but with the mid- to late-'90s resurgence of the '80s synth sound, one could definitely think it to be a product of modern times. Acts like the Rentals and the Pulsars (who even devoted a song to the Silicon Teens) certainly took a cue from this. There's more life in this record than plenty of guitar-based efforts of the era. Four months after the release of Music for Parties, Miller/Darryl signed a group of waif-ish youths by the name of Depeche Mode.

AMG

Luxuria - Beat Box (1990)

Luxuria was a duo consisting of former Buzzcocks and Magazine singer/songwriter Howard Devoto and Noko. Devoto began working with the Liverpool musician a few years after the release of his solo album, Jerky Versions of the Dream. The duo eventually released two albums on Beggars Banquet, which ranged from sparse acoustic accompaniment to involved dance beats. Unanswerable Lust was released in 1988 to lukewarm reception, followed two years later by the improved Beast Box. A number of singles were released off each record to little effect on the U.K. charts.

Andy Kellman - Allmusic.com

Anywhen - The Opiates (2001)

The Opiates, Anywhen's second album, surfaces almost as a faultless record, a classical collection of pure and inspiring melodies delivered with elaborate instrumentation. Vocalist and songwriter Thomas Feiner springs out as the main creator in the Swedish trio, responsible for most of the disc's words and tunes. Delivering their themes inspired by alternative pop/rock's pickings and adjoining to it classical music marks, they end up drifting in composite song structures supported by beautiful and duskily inspired lyrics. "The Siren Songs," the record's opening track, clearly identifies Anywhen's poetic purpose: to create dark and moody musically crafted atmospheres which are at the same time flowing both musically and lyrically on their own simplicity. The Opiates' classical marks are better revealed through the flute and horn performances of elements of the Warsaw Radio Symphony Orchestra, on "Dinah and the Beautiful Blue," "Toy," and "Betty Caine," again subliming the disc's exquisite soundings.

Mario Mesquita Borges - All Music Guide

V.A. - Non Peut Etre!? (1988)

Compilação para os Estados Unidos de apresentação do catálogo Les Disques du Crepuscule.

Inclui Isabelle Antena, Sevine/Statton, Anna Domino, Jane Kelly, Evan Lurie, Wim Mertens e Jazz Passengers.

Rollerskate Skinny - Horsedrawn Wishes (1996)

Formed in Dublin in 1992, Rollerskate Skinny (named for a line in Catcher in the Rye) recorded its first album as a quartet, with Jimi Shields (brother of My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields) adding guitar, voice and drums to the manifold abilities of unrelated founders Ken Griffin (vocals/guitar/keyboards), Ger Griffin (guitar) and Stephen Murray (bass/guitar). A bit like Sloan's Smeared in its derivative variety, Shoulder Voices is a fascinating and delightful debut that jumps easily from intimate indie tunefulness (the vocals sound like Pavement) to free-fire pop noise, with plenty of wild and wonderful textures along the continuum. The constant gear-shifting makes its nigh on impossible to get a handle on the group's intentions, but the balance of strong, engaging songwriting (see especially "Bow Hitch-Hiker," "Bella" and the Beach Boysish "Shallow Thunder"), alluring atmospheres ("Miss Leader," "Violence to Violence") and raw sensual abandon (just about every song has some liberating blast of distortion, but the Robyn Hitchcock-like "Some Give Birth" bears a resemblance to MBV) obviates the need for such concerns. A great, imaginative beginning.
Shields didn't stick around (or get asked back; he instead formed a group called Lotus Crown) for the band's follow-up/swan song, but Horsedrawn Wishes — recorded with a hired drummer and a major reliance on keyboards and "orchestration" — is no less impressive in its riot of excellent ideas supporting, not disguising, worthy songs. If anything, the madly ambitious production raises the band's creative vision higher, making Rollerskate Skinny that much more considerable in its achievement. If the Beatles had reached psychedelic cruising altitude around 1995, this might be their kind of album: vivid, self-confident, innovative, too involuted to easily master and thoroughly entertaining. Very well done.

Ira Robbins