Electronic - Electronic - CD (1991), U.K.

Happy Holidays! It's just hours before the end of the year and what better way to celebrate the end by listening to some twitch inducing music? Electronic, formed in 1988, was a joint effort between ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr and singer/guitarist Bernard "Barney" Sumner from New Order. Guest musicians were also involved such as Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe from The Pet Shop Boys and Karl Bartos from German synth pioneers Kraftwerk. Electronic existed after the demise of The Smiths (Marr) and in between and during an extended absence from New Order (Sumner).
During that time, they released 13 singles, 3 full-length albums, and a compilation "best of" album (released in 2006). Electronic's sound represents only a fraction of the vast and creative nature of the Madchester scene going on in the U.K. at the time. Using a mix of analogue synths and guitars, they set out to make an impact with some successful singles such as Getting Away With It, Get The Message, and Second Nature.
For today's post, I'm introducing their self-titled debut album released by Factory Records. It's very obvious Electronic sounds very much like how New Order would sound if Peter Hook took a break from playing bass, but with Johnny Marr on guitar and helping out with writing some of the songs, the similarities become less obvious. Some notable tracks in this album include Tighten Up, Gangster, and Try All You Want. With the exception of Tighten Up, I was surprised that Gangster and Try All You Want weren't released as singles! I wasn't very fond of Getting Away With It, although it has a catchy chorus, it's a very cheesy song with somewhat awkward and simplistic lyrics. Well now, it looks like I've ran out of words,  excuse me while I'm off celebrating and anticipating the beginning of the new year!

Details:

Electronic - Electronic - CD (1991), U.K.

1. Idiot Country
2. Reality
3. Tighten Up
4. The Patience Of A Saint
5. Getting Away With It
6. Gangster
7. Soviet
8. Get The Message
9. Try All You Want
10. Some Distant Memory
11. Feel Every Beat

Review

More Information:
Biography
Discography
Fan Site

The Lavender Faction - Four Riffs For Joe - Maxi Single (1991), U.K.

I have a complete disdain for the train wrecks people keep listening to lately such as Ke$ha (how do you pronounce that!?), Justin Bieber and among others.
I don't mean to stomp on people's listening habits, I just think some of them need to go out and explore outside of familiar territory and embrace unknown sounds out there that exist outside of the typical mainstream outlets.
It brings me great relief to see there's been a resurgence of some good shoegaze / psychedelic rock bands for a few years now such as Ceremony, The Daysleepers and Ringo Deathstarr. I'm hopeful this new interest in the genre will bring in more listeners now than it did in the past.
The Lavender Faction (I like the name!) was a band who came from the U.K. in the late 80's or early 90's. They're undoubtedly from the shoegaze scene but got lost in between the likes of more popular groups such as The Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine and Ride. I think it might've been the low production quality of their recordings or maybe they were just poorly managed. Whatever the reason was, The Lavender Faction are worth a listen.
Finding any information for this group was very difficult as it usually is the case with these obscure bands. The only information I was able to find was their limited discography (In My Mind, Ride and Four Riffs For Joe) and the members (Geoff Suggett - vocals and guitar, Tony Pickering - vocals and guitar, Mark Patterson - bass and Andy Lee - drums) involved.
The material I'll be presenting here is from Four Riffs For Joe, released in 1991 by Lust Recordings. Four Riffs For Joe is a mix of indie rock with tinges of shoegaze. I think these guys could've gone further with developing their sound and making it noisier than what it currently was, but after the release of this maxi single the group disappeared.

Details:

The Lavender Faction - Four Riffs For Joe - Maxi Single (1991), U.K.

Side A
1. Crawl Down
2. Total Change

Side B
3. Haze
4. Was It You

Review

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Breathless - Between Happiness And Heartache - LP (1991), U.K.

Melancholic, atmospheric, romantic, ... Breathless is all of these and so much more. This is one of those great discoveries that somehow go unnoticed for many years and make you wonder why you didn't find out about them sooner.
Formed somewhere in the U.K. (London?) in the early 80's, the group comprised of Dominic Appleton (vocals and keyboards), Gary Mundy (guitars and additional voices) and Ari Neufeld (bass and acoustic guitar). Former members included Tristram Latimer-Sayer (drums) and Martyn Watts (drums and percussion).
Between Happiness And Heartache has the perfect blend of shimmery bluesy style sounding guitars, bittersweet lyrics and dream-pop goodness. I've listened to this album countless times and never tire of it each listening session. It is also one of those albums to listen to for those times whenever you feel really down and out. Before moving on to the music, it is worth mentioning that Dominic Appleton was a guest musician with 4AD super group This Mortal Coil.

Details:

Breathless - Between Happiness And Heartache - LP (1991), U.K.

Side 1:
1. I Never Know Where You Are
2. Over And Over
3. Wave After Wave
4. You Can Call It Yours

Side 2:
5. All That Matters Now
6. Clearer Than Daylight
7. Flowers Die
8. Help Me Get Over It

Review

More Information:
Official Myspace
Tenor Vossa Records