UNITS ‘Digital Stimulation’ (415, 1980)

byWill Stokes
October 13, 2022

Generally speaking, listening to a self-aggrandising peer saying, “You like [influential band]? Well, you should really listen to [obscure band]” tends more towards an act of generosity and patience than an educational experience.

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Will Stokes

Raymond Scott ‘Soothing Sounds For Baby Vol. 1’ (Epic, 1964)

byJames Thornhill

The artists that live on the fringes, the forward (or sideways) thinkers, have always drawn me in. This fascination really kicked in at university when, in the early 2000s, I presented a radio show with Erotic Volvo of Birmingham wrong-pop band Misty’s Big Adventure. As a kind of musicologist of the weird, his selections were never predictable and often a revelation.

BBuried Treasure

2 minute read

Don Dorsey ‘Bachbusters’ (Telarc, 1985)

byMat Smith

Back in April 2012, at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, my two young daughters – then aged four and five – were watching the Electrical Water Pageant float past. Transfixed by its colourful show of lights, they genuinely believed it to be the work of pure magic.

BBuried Treasure

2 minute read

Paddy Kingsland ‘Fourth Dimension’ (BBC, 1973)

byJoe Silva

“I was on the phone with [redacted] from Sonic Youth… ”

BBuried Treasure

2 minute read

Boyd Rice / Frank Tovey ‘Easy Listening For The Hard Of Hearing’ (Mute, 1984)

byIan Abraham

Originally recorded in 1981 at London’s Blackwing Studio, this brilliant maniacal fusion of weird soundscapes and fucked up noise ideology is one of the records that got away.

BBuried Treasure

2 minute read

Department S ‘Sub-Stance’ (Ltm, 2003)

byJoe Silva

"After three great singles, you just expect an album..."

BBuried Treasure

2 minute read

Merz ‘Merz’ (Epic, 1999)

byNeil Mason

Back in the olden days, many music journalists had a nice sideline penning biogs, frothy one-pagers extolling the virtues of a major label’s next big thing. The money was more than you’d earn writing a cover feature, so understandably competition was fierce.