Richard Brophy’s column returns and features discussion with JD Twitch, Mick Wills, Alessandro Adriani, Macadam Mambo and more regarding the emergence of a new trend of re-edits.
A new archive compilation and single from the legendary Australian industrial pioneers will be released next month.
JD Twitch’s label will issue a collection of late ’80s dub versions by the forward thinking Australian group.
Tom Ellard would probably object to a long review of ‘80s Cheesecake, considering his biography consists of the following brevity: “I was born, and then I was here. To be continued.” But what the Australian-born producer may lack in gab, he more than makes up for with ingenuity – though Ellard wasn’t one of the founding members of the Severed Heads (who went by the even-less-amicable name “Mr. and Mrs. No Smoking Sign” at the time of their formation), he saw the band through their transformation from 80’s proto-industrial before moving into experimental electronic synthpop and post-punk, and was ultimately responsible for both some of their greatest commercial successes and some of their fuzziest, most inaccessible oddities.
Solo material from the archives of the Severed Heads frontman will be granted its first vinyl edition by the San Francisco label.
It would be fair to say that Severed Heads are well-regarded in electronic circles, though there’s an argument to suggest that their back catalogue – particularly their pioneering work in the late ‘70s and early 1980s – is nowhere near as celebrated as many of their better-known contemporaries. This is something of a shame, because this early work – specifically those albums recorded between 1979 and 1985 – still sounds surprisingly fresh. Certainly, it stands up to comparison with the work of similarly minded acts of the period, from Chris & Cosey and Throbbing Gristle, to Coil, Nitzer Ebb and, most potently, Cabaret Voltaire.
The reissue phenomenon shows no signs of slowing down, with Severed Heads the latest act plucked from the past and showcased for a new generation. Seattle label Medical Records is set to release two albums from the Australian act next month, and one of Severed Heads most revered songs forms the centrepiece of this 12” release on San Francisco’s Dark Entries label. In between the noise and experimentation, this release shows that the group understood how to write timeless electronic music. Released around the same time that Juan Atkins was introducing his Cybotron alias to the world, “Dead Eyes Opened” was the act’s biggest hit and shows that they were way ahead of most artists of their generation.
Iconic Australian group Severed Heads will have two of their most celebrated works reissued by Medical Records.
Forward-thinking Aussie label Modular have taken a step backwards – to explore some of the bands that helped shape the musical landscape Down Under in the 70s and 80s.