I've got two tracks today, good for when you realize it's about 1:30 or 2 in the morning and you've been up for longer than you expected but aren't quite ready to go to bed yet. Maybe you've got the last of a glass of wine to finish, maybe you're on the last few pages of your book (or maybe, with pleasant synchronicity, both). Or maybe other people don't sit up all night reading and listening to ambient music and drinking wine.

They're both beat-driven, but quietly so. They don't pound, they throb and pulse. They're subtly insistent, taking you with them while they go somewhere and look around and then bring you home again. The first, "Electro Dreams," is a brisk walk at night, past people moving through their own lives and doing whatever it is they need to do separately from any observer and from one another, while the second, "Introspection Part 1," is a look around the cannery sometime in the very early morning when even the people at work are asleep on their feet, dreaming themselves into the machinery in a way the daytime workers never experience.

Both of these appear to be out of print. If you find them in the used bins or feel like dropping the 7 bucks Amazon sellers seem to want for the first Fax compilation, I'd say go for it.

Zenith - Electro Dreams (FAX Compilation)

Salt Tank - Introspection Part 1 (United States of Ambience 2)

Like any other morbid curiosity, thought, I can't resist poking around, just to see what crimes have been perpetrated against my favorite songs. Here are some tracks I've found that I think are interesting, amusing, and non-obvious enough to point out.

Policy of Sweet Dreams -- Depeche Mode and the Eurhythmics. Synthpop power mix, yeah! I especially like how the opening hooks have been interlaced to form a sort of uber-hook. And the Eurhythmics "Ooohs" and Depeche Mode chorus mix nicely. Recommended.

Never Float On -- The Assembly and Modest Mouse. Mixing two super-popular synthpop acts is too obvious? Well, okay. How about the band Vince Clarke was in between Yaz and Erasure? With Feargal Sharkey on vocals, The Assembly recorded and released one single, "Never Never." Here it is, mixed with Modest Mouse's recently-popular "Float On." A little time-stretched, sure, but it works.

Devil Went Down To The Beach -- New Order and the Charlie Daniels Band. Synthpop and indie rock was too obvious? Sure, okay. Here you go! The instrumental B-side version of "Blue Monday" and some hardcore country music! Take that!

All right. That's probably not my final word on mashups, but now I can claim I have followed internet trends and talked about mashups in my mp3 blog. Now I just need to set up an Amazon wish list and post topless pictures.

They released another album, All The Naked People, which included actual production values, but it was far less interesting than their first. Thus, the three tracks here are from Organic? The Overlords appear to have pretty much vanished since then.

Organic!
Holiday in Cambodia
Near Dark [Campfire Mix]

Between 1987 and 1990, cEvin Key and Dwayne Goettel recorded enough tracks on their own to fill out an album and an EP. Key's percussion and Goettel's sampling combine to form an equisitely-crafted set of what they called "soundtracks for movies that never existed." The Infidel is dark, percussive, and lush, and the carefully-chosen snippets of movie dialog serve to add extra layers of expression to what might otherwise be just another set of almost ambient instrumental tracks (although an exceptionally lush and complex set).

I'm including a few tracks here-- "Naugal Tone" and "Come in Piece" from The Infidel and the extended version of "Father Don't Cry" from the Father Don't Cry EP.

In 1995 Dwayne Goettel died of a heroin overdose at his parents' house, where he had gone in an attempt to kick the habit.

Father Don't Cry (Extended)
Naugal Tone
Come in Piece

Exit is notable for being written largely using the PPG Wave 2 synthesizer-- it's a striking and distinctive sound. It was one of the first (if not THE first) synthesizer to use digital wavetables, but it processed them through an analog signal chain, making it an incredibly versatile and expressive synth. The sounds are undeniably digital, but the analog filters warm up the sound and keep it from being too sterile. Here's the page at Vintage Synth Explorer. It's pretty! And blue!

In the two tracks here, most of what you hear is generated by the PPG Wave. Even the most digital sounds are, while clean and undeniably digital, not sterile or static. No simple looped waveforms here-- nope, this is MODULATION.

I love this album, and I hope you, my loyal readers, enjoy it as well.

Kiew Mission
Choronzon

The album goes in and out of print-- I can't recommend it enough.

The PostPunkJunk archives are well worth trawling for music, too...

First, Lali Puna doing a super-quiet, almost ambient, cover of Phil Oakey and Giorgio Moroder's title song for the movie Electric Dreams, which, in a heartless crime against culture, isn't out on DVD. How could they release Short Circuit, but not Electric Dreams? It's got a MUCH better soundtrack, especially with that wonderful cello/computer jam session. That and the closing number in Revenge of the Nerds were the most influential pieces of movie music in my formative years. Make of that what you will. And now, on the "Reproductions" Human League tribute album (which is generally quite good), Lali Puna has made it quiet and pretty, for times when you want to express how lonely it can be to be far from somebody you love and miss but huge throbbing analog synths just don't fit the mood.

Lali Puna -- (Together In) Electric Dreams

Next up, more unabashed 80's cheese, complete with chunky octave basslines, sampled guitars and a hook so hooky that I had to dig up the song more than 15 years later to find out if it was as great as I remembered. Yep, it was. I don't really feel like searching out any info about Baltimora right now. Presumably they were from Baltimore, released this song and the requisite 12" remix (which you're getting here-- dig it, synthesizer monkey noise breakdown at 4:49), and vanished. Who knows? Thank you, "Maximum 80's," for bringing us this nearly-forgotten delight. And oh look, there are Baltimora videos on YouTube. Cool. Baltimora! Top of the Pops!

Baltimora -- Tarzan Boy (12" remix)

Finally, another piece of catchy 80's synthpop, from Blue Clocks Green, who until a couple of years ago didn't even have a web presence. They do now, and there's been some vague mention of a comeback, although I think that would imply that they'd actually been here in the first place. There's an extensive biography here, and I deeply regret not stealing the "Hemingway" 12" vinyl from WBUR when I had the chance. Alas, my morality. Anyway, it's a cute and bouncy little tune, and very catchy indeed. Highly recommended, and mirrored here in case the upenn.edu link (where I got the file) goes away.

Blue Clocks Green -- Hemingway

Regardless of my previous threats, these are all mp3 files, so non-itunes users can relax-- for now.

I may post things here in .m4a format. This means that iPods are pretty much the only portable that can play them. Plus, it's possible that there are people whose software might not handle the format. Most players have plugins or some sort of method for playing .m4a files, at least.

Would there be massive outcry if I were to post music in .m4a format? I'm inclined to go ahead and do so, but if it would be WAY TOO ANNOYING, I'd go to the trouble of digging out CDs and re-encoding them. It would take longer, since I couldn't just upload what's on my laptop now, but for you, my beloved readers, I would do this thing.

Currently considering for upcoming posts: Shriekback, I Start Counting, A.C.Marias, You Shriek, and some others. Any requests? (I think I Start Counting will be next.) Plus, special guest posters Joe and Nik have accounts, whenever they feel like posting anything.

Let me know...

Frustration and artistic differences took their toll and Think Tree broke up in 1994. Keyboardist Krishna Venkatesh formed El Dopa, while front man Peter Moore, guitarist Will Ragano, and drummer Jeff Biegert created Count Zero (who have a MySpace page here).

Think Tree released two albums, the first, eight/thirteen, on their own label and the second, Like The Idea on Caroline. Both are out of print.

Hire A Bird (eight/thirteen)
The Word (Live) (eight/thirteen, CD version only)
Eye For Eye (Like The Idea)
Everything Is Equal (Like The Idea)

Short post today (better than no post since last week, I guess), and ideally Joe will post some early-90's Boston Industrial sometime soon. He's got some DDT and some Joy and some others lined up, I think. I guess we'll see...

For now, though, Edelweiss! One-hit wonder Bavarian synthpop dance frenzy! Yes indeed.

Edelweiss - Bring Me Edelweiss