The 49 Americans - E Pluribus Unum (1980)

  

Today we have a wonderful little LP courtesy of the prolific David Toop along with, presumably, 48 others bright individuals. Coy, catchy pop with a marked intellectual slant. Think amateurism meets academia; progressive twee if you will. The first half of the album is composed of a dozen lovely vignettes while the latter half is, well, a pop-opera about a dragon terrorizing some faraway kingdom. If that doesn't convince you to give this album a shot nothing will.

We should be more ideal ideally
Oh yes we should of course should
We should be ideal ideally
So we wouldn't have to pretend

Ludus - The Visit (1980)

As promised, here is the original version of "The Visit" by Ludus.

When I can see through you what can I see
Can I see me? Does my objectivity
Allow me access to your points of view
Can you see what I see in you?

Ludus - The Visit / The Seduction (2002)

 
Now here is a very interesting release. The Visit / The Seduction, which, as intuition might lead one to believe, is a compilation of two Ludus release from 1980 and 1981 named (you guessed it) "The Visit" and "The Seduction" respectively. As intuition probably wouldn't lead you to believe, this compilation also contains the singles "Mother's Hour" and "Anatomy Is Not Destiny". Now what actually makes it interesting is how splendid and bizarre this album is. Think post-punk from moon men. Think mercurial ballads and syncopated symphonies. Think Essential Logic but with even more talented individuals operating the instruments performing much more complex compositions. Fast, angular and disjointed guitar, phenomenally tight drumming, bass lines from Eden, and a singer who defies categorization, everything you could really ask for.

There's one last thing of note about this album that I found out only recently. I was lucky enough to come upon an original copy of "The Visit" EP and made a shocking discovery: it's not the same as the CD I'm sharing with you folks today. Entirely different takes of the same songs (albeit more or less in the same style). The oddest part about this is the fact that the CD booklet makes no mention of this discrepancy. I'm not sure if this holds true for "The Seduction" or the singles but it's an anomalous tidbit nonetheless. To my knowledge the EP isn't available online, so, as a special treat for you guys, I'll be uploading a rip of my copy of "The Visit" as soon as I find this god damned AC cable.

Want to break your little piggy
Steal your pennies make you cry

Units - Digital Stimulation (1980)

Terrific Synth-Punk album from San Francisco. Super wacky, super fun, super catchy. It really makes you just wanna go out and buy a keytar and your very own pair of visor sunglasses. The only criticism I have for the album is that, in my opinion, it kinda goes through all of the best tracks at beginning, leaving the latter half just making you long for more "High Pressure Days" or more "Warm Moving Bodies." Either way way it's a great album. I highly recommend it.

SAW JOHNNY TONIGHT
BUT WE DIDN'T SAY HELLO TO EACH OTHER
WE'RE ALL MOVING PRETTY FAST THESE DAYS
BUMPING AROUND LIKE BUMPER CARS

Family Fodder - Monkey Banana Kitchen (1980)

Family Fodder was a band formed in the 70's whose sound could most easily be described as Post-Punk. Being an earlier band of Post-Punk usually equates to being relatively experimental and unlike most post-punk today, this is definitely true for Family Fodder. One thing interesting about this band is that they were led neither by a guitarist nor a vocalist, but by an accordionist Alig Fodder (whose real name is John Pearce) who still leads the band to this day. From 1979 to 1983 the band released 14 pieces of music, of which only 3 were full length albums. Since the group's reformation in 1999 they have released an additional 2 album, Water Shed, and Classical Music.