★OnderStroom Records
Against The Dark Trees Beyond
They were interesting times, the early eighties. Against a backdrop of cold war and economic crises, the DIY attitude of the earlier punk movement had spawned near countless new genres where artists and bands broke the three-chord guitar mould and experimented with new content matter, singular song structures and – in many cases – new instruments. Synthesizers became affordable and were no longer the sole privilege of rock millionaires. All around the globe, musical creativity boomed as never be…
Rituals
*2022 stock* 1986's Rituals is one of the best-kept secrets of the Belgian synth-pop/coldwave movement -- sinister, dark, with touching melodies. Peter Bonne and Geert Coppens had already been playing for a few years in other projects such as Autumn and Linear Movement, and in 1985 they managed to create this stunning album. Highlights on the album include "I Never Called You a Dream," "Rooms," "Amorphous Materials," "Closed Circuit," and every other track. When the LP was originally released, b…
Closely Watched Trains
Onderstroom present a reissue of Glorious Din's Closely Watched Trains, originally released in 1987. How a boy from the Sri Lankan jungle formed the greatest post-punk band you've never heard. Fronted by an intense singer with an oblique songbook and a mysterious past, Glorious Din was unlike any other group to emerge from San Francisco's '80s underground. With singer Eric Cope, the chosen persona of a Joy Division-obsessed Sri Lankan boy who travelled halfway around the world to follow his punk…
Leading Stolen Horses
“One of the best shows I went to in San Francisco during 1984 was the Glorious Din & Trial gig. This show really changed my life & made realize that I had to follow my dreams. Both of these bands were local bands, but they had created this killer post-punk sound that could hold its own with any band from anywhere. Around this time, Glorious Din released their classic album Leading Stolen Horses. This album is a post-punk gem that many people have never heard – trust me, after one listen you will…
The Early Days
Early Days maps out Nine Circles interpretation of Cold Wave and Minimal Synth. Unbelievably the tracks are mostly from a brief time period, ’80—’82. Alienation and uncertainty course through the 2LP with heavy Yamaha chords, metallic machine beats and brittle vocals.Nine circles was formed in the early '80s by Peter Van Garderen and Lidia Fiala. In 1980 there was a band called Genetic Factor. This band split up when their three members got girlfriends and they started to make music together wit…
Dutch Wave: A History of Minimal Synth & Wave in The Netherlands
The first chapter of Onderstroom digging into the history of Dutch
minimal synth and wave. Who needs a big, expensive recording studio with
all those fancy high-tech machines that only make your weary head spin
when you can do it all by yourself at home in your (teenage) bedroom?
Way back in the early eighties all you really needed was an idea, quite a
bit of guts and some rudimentary equipment. You could basically do
whatever you wanted. The means were limited, yet the sky was unbounded. …
Sister Age
Onderstroom present a vinyl edition of Martial Canterel's Sister Age, originally released on cassette in 2004. Essential recordings by the minimal synth master of the present. With the staccato surge and somber vocalizing of Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft, the distorted synthetic soundscapes of Dirk Ivens's eeriest work, and the industrial strength of The Young Gods, Martial Canterel's earliest outings are a bleak intellectual exercise in the dark and danceable. His music creates a cold atmo…
Drilling Backwards
Onderstroom present a vinyl edition of Martial Canterel's Drilling Backwards, originally released on cassette in 2006. Essential recordings by the minimal synth master of the present. With the staccato surge and somber vocalizing of Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft, the distorted synthetic soundscapes of Dirk Ivens's eeriest work, and the industrial strength of The Young Gods, Martial Canterel's earliest outings are a bleak intellectual exercise in the dark and danceable. His music create…
In Silence
Fra Lippo Lippi was a gothic post-punk band founded in Nesodden, Norway in 1978. Band members were Rune Kristoffersen (guitar, bass, keyboards, piano) Per Oystein Sorensen (vocals, synthesizer, keyboards), and Morten Sjoberg (drums, keyboards). Their sound was heavily influenced by bands such as Joy Division and The Cure. In 1981 the band recorded and released "In Silence”, a hard to grasp, dark album with ominous bass lines, death-march percussion, pensive keyboards, and sinister, indeciph…
The Ritual
Finally the time has come to re-release the first ever recordings by Belgian minimal synth masters Twilight Ritual. Released in 1982 in a tiny cassette edition this album has not been heard by many people. “The Ritual" includes some of their best work, from mysterious dark synthpopsongs (Elegy) to club music (Webb-men) and the epic 14-minute track (Up To Now).
Twilight Ritual was/is the main project by Geert Coppens and Peter Bonne. During the early eighties they were involved in many other band…
In the Grassfield
Palais des Bauzards pursued an industrial and electronic variant of the sound that swept into vogue during the first half of the '80s. This compilation digs into the original material provided by the band and offers an amazing selection from start to finish. The sometimes rudimentary though gripping tracks on the first side are emblematic of their early period; for example, "Money" is driven by a screeching rhythm box, distant guitar lines, and a nonchalant voice. Cabaret Voltaire comes to mind.…
Live At Doornroosje (Nijmegen 1982)
Recordings of a stand-out gig at Doornroosje in Nijmegen (NL). By 1982 De Brassers had been playing in almost every small public space or squad in the area and logically they had gathered a cult following. Sporadicly they also performed in The Netherlands. Doornroosje was / is the club where underground music groups performed before they became well-known, especially the 80s were an interesting period with Joy Division, Nick Cave and many local punk / new wave bands hitting the stage. Here we fi…
Dance Remotion
Belgian new wave & DIY minimal synth duo that started out experimenting with a rhythm box and post-punk guitars in the vein of early Cabaret Voltaire. Rudolf Hecke explains the origin of the band: “By the end of the seventies we were both living in small towns near Leuven. I had been playing in bands since 1973 and was still living with my parents in Veltem-Beisem where the garage was my rehearsal-room. One day he showed up, he was looking for a songwriter, he’d be the singer. He rode a bike.”Th…
1979-1982
De Brassers are one of the most notorious bands in the Belgian new wave/punk history. With their no nonsense attitude they scared the shit out of the local catholic community of Hamont. De Brassers were a local mixture of the Sex Pistols (in the lowest gear) and Joy Division (they always performed a cover version of Joy Division’s Shadowplay), combining a criticism of bureaucracy and politics with experiences of psychological and existential tensions. The doomed sound they produced tells a lo…
The Ultimate Edition 1980-1984
Tremendous 5xCD box by one of the highest acclaimed minimal synth bands active during our favorite decade. The Snowy Red project started as a one-man band by Micky Mike. With a few synthesizers, a 12/2 mixing desk and a 2-track reel to reel recorder he created repetitive synth masterpieces in the vein of Suicide and Polyphonic Size. These black synthetic pearls were spread over two albums: the self-titled "Snowy Red" and "The Right To Die", both are included in this box, officially rem…
The Factory Scream
Twilight Ritual was/is the main project by Geert Coppens and Peter Bonne. During the early eighties they were involved in many other bands including Autumn and The Linear Movement (both recently re-released on Minimal Wave), but Twilight Ritual is by far the most inspired project. The spirit of the band lingers on beneath the work of Autumn through A Split Second. The work of Twilight Ritual is diverse, yet consise. Their pioneering album Rituals inspired other musicians and became an undergroun…
Walks
Much needed re-issue of this fantastic and unfortunately overlooked 1985 tape on "Stichting Stopcontact". Lex Grauwen and Paul Oosterbaan had worked together for about 8 years before they formed Tranquil Eyes in 1982. They decided to turn their back to stage performances and started experimenting with home-taping. Using an array of electronics, Tranquil Eyes recorded a great amount of songs and made a fine selection on Walks. Their first and only release. The wonderful produced tracks sou…
Weltuntergangsstimmung
Kiss The Anus Of A Black Cat is the music project of Stef Heeren which saw the light in 2005 with it’s debut record ‘If the sky falls, we shall catch larks’ on the adventurous Kraak label. Inspired by alternative folk acts such as Current 93 and Six Organs Of Admittance, Stef commenced on an solo musical embarkment after the demise of several punk bands he was involved in. The band’s name is translated as “doing black magic” and pretends to glorify counterculture. Because of it’s notoriet…
Early Tapes
The Neon Judgement was formed in 1980/1981. Instantly they self-released two cassettes. With a limited amount of electronic instruments, they recorded their debut: "Suffering". The first version of their classic track "Factory Walk" is on this tape, a much more raw version than the one which would later become an underground clubhit. "Sweet Revenge" and "Schyzophrenic Freddy" remind of Suicide and the almost claustrophobic sounding tracks "Harem" and "Army Green (WOIII) are in the veign o…
Music For Fireworks
In 1978, Philippe Genion bought a guitar for 1000 belgian francs (25€). He connected it to his hifi amp, quickly learned how to play "smoke on the water" and a few punk songs with two fingers and within two weeks, pushing the amp more and more to the limit, blew his 200W speakers out. Later, around 1980, he bought an old ARP synthesizer from walloon band "Jo Lemaire plus Flouze" and started playing with these instruments and a few old flanger and distorsion pedals, and started recording so…