Trans-X – Living On Video
Everybody knows Trans-X. But at the same time, nobody does. Trying to figure out who this band is? Listen to this and you might suddenly go, “Oh! I know!” But you’ll only remember that track, and nothing else. That’s because this band is in the “One Hit Wonder” bin of the 80s closet. Groups tend to get lost in that bin, and Trans-X is a prime example. It’s a shame this band was forgotten (like most of the other synthpop groups of the 80s), because the rest of this album is pretty good. I’ve heard that they’re one of those bands whose B-sides are better than their real albums, but I’ve yet to find anything else by them anywhere. So, do the unexpected and actually listen to more material than the band’s one hit.
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I love this band. Up until joining Shellife yesterday, all I had was their EP Warm Moving Bodies and an LP Digital Stimulation. In fact, I like that EP more than I like most full albums by other bands, and the LP just amazes me every time I listen to it, so you can imagine my excitement when I saw this. But who are the Units, and why do I love them so much? The Units were a synth-punk band from San Francisco. They are called synth-punk because they played punk music, but replaced the guitars with, you guessed it, synthesizers. This compilation of their “Early Years” is non-stop awesome. It just goes to prove that the Units were flat out AMAZING. If you really want to know what kind of band the Units are, check out this film they used to play at their shows:
Fad Gadget is a great post-punk band, but nobody remembers them. Composed of Frank Tovey and an ever revolving cast of musicians, Fad Gadget was on par with groups like the Human League, Soft Cell, Wire, and many others, but never enjoyed the same success that the others did. Combining everyman Dylan-esque lyrics with sci-fi electronic post-punk, Fad Gadget was an honest and confrontational group. Under the Flag, released in 1982, moved the group into more soul and dance influenced territory. Although the album presents lighter music than its predecessors, it is by all means just as good. It is a shame that Fad Gadget never was remembered. So, next time someone says, “I’m trying to get into post-punk, where should I start?” don’t forget to mention Fad Gadget!
The Ramones solo albums may suck, but that doesn’t mean they should be ignored. Even if Dee Dee had a breakdown and went through an identity crisis and recorded a horrible (yet somewhat entertaining) rap album, that shouldn’t have been an indicator of future albums, right? For Dee Dee, it was. Not one of his four albums between 1995 and 2000 got above a rating of 3 stars on AllMusic.com. Tommy got out early, and is now performing in the critically acclaimed bluegrass band, Uncle Monk. He’s also the only one who isn’t dead. Good for him. Marky Ramone did a bunch of stuff with a Danzig-less Misfits and Osaka Popstar, made decent and bad albums with the Intruders and the Speed Kings, and then died. Now that I’ve bored you with stuff about other Ramones releases, you can see why they suck. They couldn’t move on from the Ramones. Even this album doesn’t go far from the Ramones style, Joey’s voice is the voice of a generation, timeless and instantly recognizable, and will be forever copied by bands like the Queers and the Lillingtons. Don’t Worry About Me is the only album released by Joey, and it was released by his estate posthumously. Some truly fine pop-punk, even though it’s as if he just kept re-writing all those Ramones songs.
Jonny L was a rave scene superstar in the 90s when drum n bass and jungle exploded into popular music’s field of vision. Magnetic, his sophomore release is a perfect example why. The album is brilliant, each track a masterpiece in its own right. The album’s only real shortcomings are the collaboration tracks, which tend to be hit or miss, but can be easily looked over because of the rest of the album’s sheer brilliance.
Hailing from Tromso, Norway, a city 500 miles above the Arctic Circle is Geir Jennsen, also known as Biosphere. Jennsen was one of the founding members of the influential New Age trio Bel Canto, before he embarked on a solo career, first releasing singles as Bleep for the SSR label, and then he became Biosphere. The 1997 album Substrata was released after a three year period with no releases from Biosphere. Markedly different from his other releases, Substrata shows an abandon for the rhythmic elements of his earlier works, and focuses on dark, melancholy soundscapes. It is perhaps one of his best works, although every album he has done is worth listening to, and is a cohesive set, one track blending into the next, creating an hour long soundscape that is perfect ambient.
First off is the album Sphynx:
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