Bustin Out 1982: New Wave To New Beat Vol 2

RELEASE DATE: 24TH MAY 2010

‘Bustin’ Out 1982: New Wave To New Beat #2’ is the second installment in veteran DJ Mike Maguire’s fascinating new mission aimed at charting the groundbreaking developments in electronic-based music through the 80s. Bustin’ Out: New Wave To New Beat: The Post Punk Era 1979-1981 was both declaration of intent and launch-pad, brilliantly capturing the early stirrings, breadth and excitement of the post-punk aftershock. The latest haul is similarly panoramic in style and country of origin while uncannily portraying the rampant barrier-crumbling going on as new technological developments seemed to emerge every week.

The set kicks off in Germany with Dusseldorf’s proto-industrial Electronic Body Music exponents Die Krupps and the 12-inch version of ‘Goldfinger’, before ‘Moody’ by the Bronx sisters E.S.G. whose stripped-down ultra cool street-funk influenced anything from hip hop to house. Klein & M.B.O.’s unadulterated dancefloor classic ‘Dirty Talk’ is followed by ‘Hip Hop Be Bop’ by Man Parrish, whose ingenious welding of Kraftwerk robo-sonics and European synth-pop sounds were a crossover club sensation. Gary Numan’s ‘Music For Chameleons’ displays a mature, haunted city style from post-punk’s first teen idol while Belgium new-beat pioneers Front 242 have possibly the rarest item here, with ‘U-Men’ currently fetching around £300.

Mark Stewart originally of Bristol’s avant-funk social agitators The Pop Group later found a home with Adrian Sherwood’s On-U Sound, and his ‘Jerusalem’ EP closed with the bleak alien dub-funk of ‘Welcome To Liberty City’. This is neatly followed by Dub Syndicate’s ‘Pounding System’, which evolved after Sherwood hit it off with Jamaican super-drummer Style Scott. A more avant-jazz flavoured other-worldliness, foreshadowing dubstep, continues with Benjamin Lew and Tuxedomoon’s Steve Brown teaming up on ‘Dans Le Jardin’.

Shriekback were formed in 1981 by former XTC keyboards-player Barry Andrews and Gang Of Four bassist Dave Allen, represented here with the rousing funk chant of ‘My Spine Is My Bassline’. ‘Breakdown’ marked the 4AD debut of Colourbox - their biggest success came in 1987 when they hooked up with indie band A.R. Kane for a one-off single under the name M.A.R.R.S. called ‘Pump Up The Volume’. ‘Planet Rock’ by Afrika Bambaataa and Soulsonic Force, created by the legendary South Bronx DJ figurehead with a team headed by up-and-coming producer Arthur Baker, was the first hip hop record to use a drum machine, setting the electronic rhythm beast loose and providing the blueprint for electro.

Chris and Cosey had already embarked on their own advanced electronic mission when their first recordings started appearing in the early 80s after they splintered from industrial antagonists Throbbing Gristle. The duo’s 1981 debut album, ‘Heartbeat’, was followed by ‘Trance’, from which comes the simmering, popping proto-electro of ’Impulse.’ Another serious master-stroke is the inclusion of South London’s Portion Control, whose fearsome brand of [what they called] ‘electro punk’ or ‘hard rhythmic electronics‘ is represented by ’Fiends’ from their 1982 debut album, ‘I Staggered Mentally’. The set ends with Pylon, from Athens, Georgia, much championed by R.E.M. and the B-52’s. ‘Four Minutes’ was the b-side of the 12-inch version of their ‘Beep’ single, its crashing, alien dronescape making a suitably unorthodox finale for this fine summation of a year when blips on the musical radar often assumed depth charge proportions.

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