* 2021 Stock. Edition of 300 * Another entry from the darkly enchanting minimal synth-pop and psych-tinged world of The Modern Art. As an introduction to the world of Coil and Current 93 collaborator (and Sun Dial main man) Gary Ramon and his orbiting bandmates, you can't do better. "From a time when drummers were as rare as a tune with a melody. It could have been made yesterday, by one of those modern bands of foppish young men, whose parents' record collection contained stuff like The Wake and Modern English. A jolly jaunt through some early eighties indie, full of hand played synth lines, classic drum box sounds, poppy sequences, and introverted vocals." "Now this is my kind of icy, desolate lo-fi music. A lot of 80's music that I listen to nowadays seems to predict the coming of vaporwave & hypnagogic pop 25+ years later, and this album is no different, even if it's only really predicting the bleaker aspects of the latter. Still, this stuff is occasionally very pretty ('Stars')... There's plenty of diversity on a track-for-track basis: compare the dreaminess built out of layered acoustic guitars on 'Beautiful Truth' to the more energetic and mechanical 'Little Ballerina.' Or just compare any other track to the untitled closer, which is basically ambient guitar + some echoed sample hovering off in the distance." Formed by Ramon in the early 1980's, Modern Art released two albums on vinyl, and a significant amount of impossible-to-find cassettes. Some of this material was compiled in a highly regarded 3-LP (sold out) box set, made in 2013 by Vinyl on Demand.
This remastered reissue of "Oriental Towers," their second cassette album, originally released in 1983, also includes five previously unissued tracks from that session—two of which are not on our recent LP reissue. On this album you will find examples of what was going on in England during the pinnacle of the post-punk scene—an inspired time that encouraged young musicians to develop music influenced by the likes of Joy Division, Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle and Clock DVA.
