A 12” white label, released by Survival Records, containing the hammering rhythmic attack of Dirty and the softer, melodic, pulse of Respirer (To Breathe) was circulated around London’s dance floors. In no time a wave of attention hit them and throughout 1984 and into 1985 they dominated the independent pop charts.

John Peel championed them on his infamous late night Radio One show and they headlined at his ICA Rock Week in the Mall, London. By 1985 Hard Corps had signed with major label giants Polydor. This enabled the band to work with a couple of their favoured and respected producers, Martin Rushent (known mostly for his exceptional work with the Human League) and Depeche Mode producer and Mute Records supremo, Daniel Miller. These sessions provided the public with just one single due to the labels non-promotion, Je Suis Passée, a sweeping arrangement of breathtaking beauty, combining pumping sequences and sheer power of emotion of Regine’s voice.

The band went on a major tour with The Cure in 1985 and Depeche Mode in 1988, before finally disintegrating.

Now for the first time ever, rare unreleased versions of Hard Corps tracks from the 1980s have been remastered and are being made available. “Clean Tables Have To Be Burnt” is a 180 gram vinyl pressing limited to 999 copies with double sided innersleeve featuring a beautiful group shot and all of Regine’s lyrics. The album will be available in early April. Further news to be posted soon.

Check “Dirty”, the opening track on The Minimal Wave Tapes: Volume 2 out on February 27th via Stones Throw.

Veronica Vasicka has put together another minimal wave podcast for Stones Throw, featuring a few of the recent & upcoming reissues from Minimal Wave and her sub label Cititrax.

Stones Throw & Minimal Wave are teaming up for the release of The Minimal Wave Tapes Vol. 2 on February 27. 

TRACK LIST:
Artist, Song, Collection & Label
Théâtre Commercial - Conversation (Spectacle Commercial, Picture Wave)
In Aeternam Vale - Dust Under Brightness (TBA, Minimal Wave)
Felix Kubin - Calling My Brain (TBA, Minimal Wave)
Streetwalker - Straight Face (Future Fusion, Cititrax)
Richard Kirk - Never Lose Your Shadow (Earlier/Later, Mute)
Innergaze - Mutual Dreaming (Mutual Dreaming, Cititrax)
Hard Corps - Desolation Land (Clean Tables Have To Be Burnt, Minimal Wave)
In Trance 95 - Something Better Than Nothing (Cities Of Steel And Neon, Minimal Wave)
The Fast Set - King Of The Rumbling Spires (TBA, Minimal Wave)
Karl O’Connor - Clean Air (White Savage Dance, Downwards)
Geneva Jacuzzi - We’re Afraid (Unreleased)     
Class Info - Circle Game (Inside, Classified/Minimal Wave)
Sympathy Nervous - I’m Fan (TBA, Minimal Wave)
Träneninvasion - Sentimental (Träneninvasion 7”, Welt-Rekord)
Another View - EFF223 (k7)       
John Maus - Keep Pushing On (We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves, Upset! The Rhythm)
Linear Movement - On The Screen (On The Screen, Minimal Wave)

The Stones Throw podcast is free. To download Stones Throw’s podcast you must use podcast software such as Apple iTunes. Subscribe via iTunes or our RSS feed and check out the podcast archive listed at stonesthrow.com/podcast

Unlike Das Ding, Schedelvreter is not pattern-based or sequenced, the synth sounds are hand played over a collage of found sounds. At the time, Danny was experimenting with a Crumar synth that was falling apart, and would sporadically create sounds that were like human voices. He created massive drum sounds by layering noise, using leftover four-track additions in reverse and some live drum recordings courtesy of his brother’s tapes. The end result feels narrative and filmic, like the sound track to an imaginary apocalyptic movie: bleak and desolate.

Release is now available: http://minimalwave.com/releases/release/schedelvreter-hunker/

Release date: February 27, 2012

This is the second volume of The Minimal Wave Tapes series, a collection of rare electronic music compiled from bands around the world,  Most of the songs were recorded in the 1980s and originally released on limited edition cassettes or vinyl by the artists themselves, and only a handful of people knew about them.  Now they’ve been remastered from their analog source tapes, brought to you by Veronica Vasicka and Peanut Butter Wolf.

The Minimal Wave musical genre was hallmarked by the use of the analog synths and drum machines manufactured in the 70s and 80s, and characterized by simple music structures made by musicians working in the early D.I.Y. aesthetic: recording on tape in their home studios, creating their own album artwork, and often collaborating via postage mail. The fanzine CLEM (Contact List Of Electronic Musicians) was very influential in creating a worldwide community for this sort of music, before digital technology and the Internet came into play.

Minimal Wave the label was founded in New York City in 2005 by Veronica Vasicka, who focused the label solely on obscure Minimal Wave recordings, researching, re-mastering and releasing them on limited vinyl and digital.

Further info: http://www.factmag.com/2012/01/10/five-minutes-with-veronica-vasicka/

TRACK LIST

1. Hard Corps “Dirty” (UK, 1984)
2. In Trance 95 “Presidente” (Greece, 1988)
3. Philippe Laurent “Distorsion” (France, 1984)
4. Das Ding “H.S.T.A.” (Netherlands, 1982)
5. Subject “What Happened To You?” (Belgium, 1982)
6. Ohama “The Drum” (Canada, 1984)
7. Geneva Jacuzzi “The Sleep Room” (Los Angeles, USA, 2004)
8. Antonym “Cinnamon Air” (UK, 1983)
9. Ruins “Fire” (Italy, 1984)
10. Ende Shneafliet “Animals From Outer Space” (Netherlands, 1981)
11. Felix Kubin “Japan Japan ” (Germany, 1985)
12. Class Info “Out Of Line” (USA, 1984)
13. In Aeternam Vale “Annie” (France, 1984)
14. Aural Indifference “Theme (Australia, 1981)

The Minimal Wave Tapes Vol. 2: Philippe Laurent - Distorsion (1984) by Stones Throw Records

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| ||New year’s eve episode of Prague’s only regular music night focused on|| |
| ||70s/80sMinimal/NDW/Synth-Coldwave/EBM/Synth-pop//Post-punk/Italo|| |

| ||This time proudly presents founder of Minimal Wave label|| |

djane Veronica Vasicka [NYC]
†
http://www.revelinnewyork.com/videos/veronica-vasicka
†
http://minimalwave.com/
†

djs whydie? & Layup

| ||Free entry|| |

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http://www.facebook.com/events/124597864322873/
http://soundcloud.com/minimalwave/minimal-wave-mix-veronica

This time around, self-titled, GrandLife & The Pop Manifesto present:

LIVE:
Xeno & Oaklander (Wierd)

DJs:
Gavin Russom (DFA)
Veronica Vasicka (Minimal Wave)
Typical Girls (The Pop Manifesto)

Saturday, December 17
Tribeca Grand, 2 Avenue of the Americas
Doors at 11

Free with RSVP: events@grandlifenyc.com

—

Check out exclusive mixes from…

Xeno & Oaklander: http://bit.ly/tx5j9X
Gavin Russom: http://bit.ly/9XGCxJ
Minimal Wave: http://bit.ly/b4AWZJ

And more info at: http://www.self-titledmag.com/

“I had been making these repetitive, pattern-based Das Ding songs and felt the need to do something a little different. Something more organic, with a narrative structure to it. Reading Shelley’s Frankenstein at the time, and looking at old accounts of Spanish explorers in the Americas, inspired me to make what I imagined as the soundtrack to an imaginary movie: bleak and desolate. I had a Crumar synth that was falling apart, and if you held down a chord and switched it off and then back on, the voltage would drop so the tones became individual blips that sounded like human voices. I made some massive drum sounds by layering noise, used leftover four-track additions in reverse, and included some drums I found on a tape my brother had given me. I just layered it all on the four-track and played along. It made a nice little package of about seven pieces, so I made up a name for it, “Schedelvreter,” which translates as something like “Skull Gobbler.” The tape was released in 1985, but only a few were made at the time.”

RICHARD D.CLOUSTON & PANDORA’S JUKEBOX

with special guest

VERONICA VASICKA (Minimal Wave - New York)

Sat 29th Oct 2011
£5 / 23.00 - 04.00

Baby Bath House
IN THE BASEMENT!
125 Stoke Newington Church Street
London - N16 0UH

ritual music for the exorcism of demons

FANCY DRESS ESSENTIAL

Spooky Decor - Creepy Treats - Ghosts

http://www.rdc77.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=235613246496636

Release date: October 6th. Purchase here http://minimalwave.com/releases/release/orgelvaerk/

Automaticism features songs Yosihumi Niinuma recorded between 1979-1981. Most were originally slated for a cassette release but never saw the light of day until now. When the Tsunami washed away the coast of Japan last March 2011, Niinuma lost everything: an entire lifetime of recordings, instruments, hand built sequencers, and even his home. Fortunately, he had sent us his audio masters prior to the disaster. This release is fully dedicated to him, in memory of all his lost recordings. The record is pressed on 180 gram ultra clear vinyl and comes in a printed heavy clear sleeve, with Niinuma’s account of what happened on that day of March 11, 2011 and the months that followed. This is a benefit album, all the proceeds go to the artist. Special thanks to Narumi Omori for translation assistance and Gustavo Eandi for cover art. Release date: October 5th. Purchase here http://minimalwave.com/releases/release/automaticism/