Andrew Weatherall: Fisherman’s Friend

First published in New Musical Express on 2 February 1980 under the title ‘The Emaciated Line Between Art And Ambience’, we’re heading into the eye of the Factory Records storm… or in Tony Wilson’s car on our way to meet The Durutti Column’s Vini Reilly.

A rousing mid-point between punk and rave, the sound of LA underground trio Sextile is couched in exhilarating squall, dirty electro and Prodigy-shaped breaks

An album of delicate synthpop? Just a female voice and a Buchla synth? Songs about space, washing machines, worms and electrons? Signed to Vince Clarke’s new record label? What’s not to like about Reed & Caroline?

“It was a fact of life as a little kid,” recalls Alexander Hacke, musician, producer, filmmaker and long-time Einstürzende Neubauten member, born and raised in Berlin and a major participant in the city’s post-punk, pre-rave scene in the 1980s. “I’d go out on the street and play, go around one more corner, and there would be a wall.”

Post-punky songstress Lonelady experienced a Zen-like moment when she hooked up with vintage electronic trio Wrangler during her week-long residency at the Barbican in London. The end result? Analogue heaven