[engl] Benni have two LPs out on Goner Records, he was in Wizzard Sleeve, Natural Child, Heavy Lids and played Mr Quintron's right hand when Quintron had broken his wrist. John Carpenter-ish garagerock? Garagey Vangelis with creepy vocals? It's fan-fucking-tastic for sure!

[engl] Unless you are a monomaniacal specialist of the 80s, there is very little chance that Cha Cha Guitry will ring any bell. And yet this band, buried away in Saint-Etienne – at the very heart of France – could have rivalled easily with Elli & Jacno or Telex. Emblematic of that French touch which tinged new-wave with a bit of sunshine, their electro, retro-futuristic songs have that slight sweet and sour flavour between casualness and sophistication. The birth of Cha Cha Guitry in 1981 was a landmark for its members, Serge, Dominique, Charly and Marie. High-school friendships and love stories helping, it is in a most spontaneous way that these art lovers formed their band. Once their hippie phase was over, the guitar, sax and flute were abandoned in the closet while machines took over: an EMS AKS synth, a Roland SH101, a Roland TR808 rhythm-box. The two couples met in the congenial atmosphere of their “home studio” to record their songs. The boys composed and sang, the girls sang and designed minimal costumes, the elegance of which was enhanced by some DIY touches: no need for fabric, paper will perfectly do. As deceivingly offhanded stylists, the Cha Cha crew carefully crafted a music that was both studied and charmingly quirky, making collages of pop raw materials and avant-garde stuff. Scissors in hand, they took what they wanted from the Bauhaus, Moholy Nagy, or Sonia Delaunay’s dresses, taping these iconic bits onto the sounds of Kraftwerk and what remained of pop culture (comics, movies, songs of the 30s or easy listening). Cha Cha Guitry, wisely ingenious, modelled tropical landscapes out of cellophane, thus elaborating its own synthetic surrealism. We’ll offer as evidence the title “Les Yeux Ouverts sur les Beautés d’Aujourd’hui” (“Opening Our Eyes to the Beauties of Our Days”), borrowed from a handbook about mechanics. “We were aware of the beauties of the decade, both visual and aural. That was the spirit of Cha Cha. It was like living in an inspiring utopia: we were at the wheel of a bubble, driving at full speed through the 80s!!!” The adventure would not last more than a few years, just long enough to record two cassettes on Kronchtadt Tapes (a local label central to the underground scene that was more into punk) and give three concerts. “It was difficult to play our music on stage with studio synths, so we figured out a system in which the fifth member was a Revox. It throned among us on stage, playing the soundtrack as we sang live.” As isolated as they were in Saint-Etienne, they got nevertheless noticed by Alain Maneval who programmed them regularly on Europe 1, and they could even be heard on Radio Gay. So they went to Paris to meet a manager from Virgin, but they never got the luck, rare in those days, to release a vinyl. Their arty, pop style was also too DIY for Agnès B’s freshly opened shop: their second cassette, though wonderfully packed in a Plexiglas case resembling an icicle, was not to the brand’s taste. Serge has been living in the same flat since 1975 and never got rid of his synthesizer. The studio where Cha Cha would record its songs has not changed a bit. Everything has been kept, ordered, archived, from the piles of magnetic tapes to the hundreds of Polaroid shots. We are happy to offer you a selection of them.

[engl] Though famous for other things (including doing the synths on GARY NUMAN’s iconic “Pleasure Principal” album and co-writing VISAGE’s massive hit, “Fade To Grey”), Chris Payne brought THE ELECTRONIC CIRCUS to life in 1981. At the time, poised to become his next major project, the initial single “Direct Lines” gained little traction and quickly found its way to quiet obscurity. There it remained until some genius made a video using footage from Swedish film “Summer With Monika” that so perfectly fit the surging melancholy of youth’s temporary romances that the song garnered a million views and a new cult of rabid fans (me included! -Jensen). Once this synth-pop perfection enters you it will find permanent purchase and continue to be a joyous wellspring for years to come, truly a gift that keeps giving. This fully licensed official reissue comes on 150 on red and 350 on black 75gr vinyl housed in a reverse board custom die-cut glue pocket sleeve. Originally recorded in 1981 at Pebble Beach Studios in Sussex UK (also where THE ADVERTS recorded the excellent "Gary Gilmore's Eyes/Bored Teenagers single!) by Tony Harris. Remastered in 2021 by John Golden. Art and packaging based on the original 1981 design.

[engl] Ultra rare D.I.Y minimal / synth–pop / industrial / darkwave album from 1986! Kozmonaut was the personal project of a young & talented Canadian musician called Michael Gutierrez, who moved to San Francisco in the early 80s. Influenced by Kraftwerk and German culture / electronic music, Michael recorded the "Flieg" album all by himself at his garage studio, using the pseudonym of "Hans Schiller". 1000 copies were pressed on his own label, Vier Productions Inc, but they were never distributed or sold at the time, with virtually the entire pressing being discarded, as Michael, a perfectionist, was not satisfied with the spelling mistakes on the cover, among other things. In 1989, Michael, along with Pieter Ziegelmeier, formed the famous industrial / electronic band Kode IV. Sadly, Michael contracted AIDS and passed away in 1994. All the contents of his garage (tapes, albums, synths and recording equipment) were sold for cheap or ended up in the street. Fast forward to 2010: An adventurous record hunter (Christian Peintner) finds a copy of the "Flieg" album at a thrift shop in San Francisco. At first, he thinks it’s a German album but after some investigation, he discovers the name of Michael Gutierrez which leads him to Kode IV and then to Peter Ziegelmeier. He visits Peter who tells him the real story of Michael Gutierrez aka Hans Schiller and Kozmonaut. Listening to it now, "Flieg" is an excellent album, a crossover of a wide range of styles from early Industrial (paving the way for Michael’s later sounds with Kode IV), to Synth–Pop, Experimental Electronics, and Dark Wave. Michael uses the vocoder very effectively and in one of the songs, "Tidal Meditation", he recorded the Golden Gate Bridge fog horn to use it as a sample.

[engl] Limited to 200 copies: - 170 copies in black/white cover.(THIS) - 15 copies in silver/white cover. - 15 copies in superwhite/white cover. Tracks A1 and A2 were previously released on the compilation cassette Lautt - Ein Sampler Aus Südwest. Slightly different versions appeared previously on the cassette P4 in 1982. Tracks A3 and A4 were previously released on the compilation cassette Sellemols & Heid in 1983. Tracks B1 to B5 were previously released on the cassette P4 in 1982.