Post-Punk / New Wave

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/zerra-i-mn0000694874/biography wrote:The Irish quartet Zerra 1 had enough soaring harmonies and ringing guitars to follow in the footsteps of compatriots U2. And while commercial success never happened, Zerra 1 possessed too much talent to be written off as failed U2 impersonators. Formed in the early '80s by Paul Bell (vocals, keyboards), Andreas Grimminger (guitar), Adrian Wyatt (bass), and Korda Marshall (drums), Zerra 1 had the spiky haircuts and dour vocals common to British new wave artists from that period; their cool looks and stylish sound should've gotten them played on MTV, but America remained indifferent. Zerra 1 didn't catch on in the U.K. either, although the band's 1983 single "The Banner of Love" hit number 33 on the English indie charts. Drummer Mike Mesbur replaced Marshall in 1984. Their self-titled debut LP was released on Mercury Records that year. Owing much to U2 and Simple Minds, Zerra 1 featured dark, epic rock that may have been too moody or weird for commercial radio. However, Zerra 1's second album, 1986's Domino Effect, had the pop hooks needed to catapult the group into stardom. The band opened for acts such as U2 (of course) and the Cure, but zero sales meant extinction for Zerra 1. Marshall later became the head of Infectious Records.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Icicle_Works wrote:The Icicle Works are an English alternative rock band. Named after the 1960 short story "The Day the Icicle Works Closed" by science fiction author Frederik Pohl, The Icicle Works joined Liverpool's early 1980s 'neo-psychedelia' wave, which also propelled Echo & the Bunnymen and The Teardrop Explodes to stardom. They are best known in their home country for their only top 20 UK hit "Love Is a Wonderful Colour" (1983). In the US and Canada, they also had only one top 40 hit, but it was the 1984 single "Whisper to a Scream (Birds Fly)".

Led by singer/songwriter Ian McNabb, the band released five albums from 1984 to 1990 before breaking up in 1991. McNabb later convened a revised line-up of the band in 2006 to play live shows; this revised Icicle Works line-up still plays sporadic live dates.

http://www.last.fm/music/Nocturnal+Projections wrote:Nocturnal Projections were a rock band from New Plymouth, New Zealand that began recording in 1981 and split up in 1983. Often compared to British post punk bands, especially Joy Division, with whom they shared a moody, bass-driven sound, although the Projections’ guitar was less metallic and more ebullient than Joy Division’s. They also never underwent the exacting production of many such British bands; there is a directness to their recordings that has dated well.

http://www.sputnikmusic.com/bands/Wonky-Alice/44000/ wrote:
Wonky Alice are a post-punk band from the early 90's that incorporate elements of shoegaze into their sound.

https://www.facebook.com/yabanciband/info/?tab=page_info wrote:Yabanci (foreigners - coming from Outside) is an Alternative Rock band born in Sept 2011. Through the voice of Prophet Maiden, Yabanci songs speak about natural philosophy, alchemy, religion, fading issues human kind is leaving behind.
SwissDarkNights label has released "Birth" debut EP (Feb 2013), "Grimorium" debut full-lenght (May 2014), Chaoss EP (Oct 2015).
Yabanci are LadyGhost (voice) and Valerio (guitars, lyrics, bass programming) from original lineup and Emiliana (synth, drum machine, bass programming).

https://www.reverbnation.com/vetsband wrote:The Vets formed in the sleepy seaside town of Hornsea in late 1976.
They managed to learn and play the "never mind the bollocks" album in full and started playing gigs.
After about a year the band started to write their own songs mostly written by the drummer Spec. these songs were nearly all about some kind of disaster / scandal...early "hits" were "motorway pile up", "Rampton rave up" and the now famous "happy jack's got a hole in his iron lung".
After this things could only get better ! Rehearsing in their local church bell tower for 5 nights a week the band soon established a cult following playing places as far away as Bridlington and Aldbrough. They released their first single "flies" in late '79...the great john Peel played it twice !!!
Also in Late '79 the band acquired a home made synth and this dominated their sound from then on. In june 1980 they released "world in action" as a single...this completely sold took off and sold out of it's 2 pressings selling 2000 copies...mainly due to the fact that John Peel loved it and played it a total of 17 times over the next few months. John even came up to Hornsea and played a gig with the band.
Neil and Spec left to form International Rescue with Steve Skinner and Dave Waller (from the band Fax)...However Neil found his way back to Hornsea and the Vets continued now with new drummer Ashley Smith (Floyd) on board.
The band continued for another 3 years as a popular live draw , appearing on TV in late '83. Their final gig sharing a bill with good friends International Rescue and Moscow.
However the Vets never really split up...from time to time over the next 27 years they continued to drink and occasionally play together.
The last time being xmas 2009...With new boy (since '85) Rich Webster on guitar...It was such an enjoyable gig that the band started rehearsing again and have recently recorded a new EP back at their old stomping ground at fairview studios. Who knows what the future holds !

innocent76 wrote:μεγάλο άσμα αγαπητή

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/16720-under-the-pale-moon/ wrote:Under the Pale Moon is Fresh & Onlys guitarist Wymond Miles' second solo release this year. The first, Earth Has Doors, is an ornate, intricately composed four-song EP culled from a backlog of songs accrued over several years. Meanwhile, Pale Moon was written and recorded within two months. Compared to the EP, the album's origin story reads like a burst of cathartic inspiration; according to Sacred Bones, his closest friend and some family members passed away within a short period of time, inspiring him to write and record the album's 10 songs. (The final line in the liner notes: "in memory of robin.") That explains why heartbreak, tragedy, and poetic melodrama hang heavy over Pale Moon.

https://rateyourmusic.com/artist/the_the wrote:Matt Johnson lived above his father's pub, which is where he gained an interest in music. He formed his own band, Roadstar, when he was 11 and by 15 became an assistant engineer for a music publishing company (DeWolfe) after a brief stint as their tea boy. In 1979 he formed The The with Keith Laws (synth player) and opened for Scritti Politti.

They released their first single, "Controversial Subject", with the 4AD Records in 1980, Johnson released Burning Blue Soul as a solo project, and was also guitarist for The Gadgets during that period. They also made a song for the Some Bizzare Album compilation. By 1982, Johnson used an assortment of studio musicians to create his musical palette, but unfortunately decided not to release their creation, The Pornography of Despair; instead, their first official album was 1983's Soul Mining which was centered around "This Is the Day" - a song featuring Orange Juice's Zeke Manyika.

Johnson later became ill and didn't release another album until 1986's Infected - working with Neneh Cherry, The Art of Noise's Anne Dudley, and Swans' Roli Mosimann. In 1989, Johnson, Johnny Marr, James Eller, and ABC drummer Dave Palmer recorded Mind Bomb; then, 1993's Dusk. In 1995, Johnson worked with Eric Schermerhorn, D.C. Collard (keyboardist), Jim Fitting (harmonica), and Brian MaCleod (drummer) to release Hanky Panky, a collection of Hank Williams cover songs.

http://deadwaxrecords.bandcamp.com/album/this-face-dw001 wrote:In 1983, after the release of their last known output (the splendid ‘A Personal View’ e.p.), Kinetic Ideals recruited a new drummer, Patrick Duffy, firing their Oberheim DMX drum machine shortly after. With flesh and blood behind the kit again, new songs were written and three of them were recorded at Toronto’s Wellesley Studios in the spring of 1984. The ‘This Face’ session contains some of their strongest material yet but back then no record company stepped up to provide the band a home and all the songs remained unreleased.

Almost 30 years later, Dead Wax Records is proud to announce the release of the ‘This Face’ e.p. featuring the three session tracks plus an additional song recorded at Toronto’s Manta Sound studios later in the winter of 1985. They have been digitized from the original master tapes by Peter J. Moore of Cowboy Junkies’ The Trinity Session fame, carefully remastered by Nicolás Zúñiga of Dead Wax Records to please the ears, retaining all their original analogue power and glory.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_Skull wrote:Live Skull formed in downtown New York City in 1982, founded by tandem guitarists Mark C. and Tom Paine (birth name: Lance Goldenberg). The earliest lineup included Julie Hair on vocals and Dan Braun (formerly of Spinal Root Gang and Circus Mort) on drums. They were soon joined by drummer James Lo and bassist Marnie Greenholz. With this lineup of the band, lead vocals were shared by C., Greenholz and Paine.

In 1984, Live Skull released their self-titled debut 12" EP on Massive Records. After signing with prominent indie label Homestead Records, they released their 1985 debut full-length, Bringing Home the Bait. The follow-up, 1986's Cloud One, featured slightly more accessible song structures. A live album titled Don't Get Any on You was recorded at CBGB later that year, followed by the Pusherman 12" EP.

Thalia Zedek joined the band as lead singer in 1987, taking over most of the vocal duties so that the other members could concentrate on their instruments.[2] Zedek had previously played in the Boston-area post-punk outfits White Women, Dangerous Birds and Uzi. The band also replaced Lo with ex-Ruin drummer Richard Hutchins.[3] Zedek and Hutchins debuted on 1987's Dusted, which spawned a black-and-white music video for the song "5-D". This video later appeared on the Twelve O'Clock High Volume 1 (1989, Atavistic) video compilation.

The group next signed to the larger Caroline Records label, which issued 1988's six-song Snuffer 12" EP. Greenholz subsequently left and was replaced by Sonda Andersson, a former member of Rat at Rat R and cousin of avant-garde composer Glenn Branca. Released in 1989, Positraction was a more accessible, song-oriented effort that continued their generally positive critical reaction. Live Skull disbanded in 1990 due to sustained lack of commercial success, with Paine deciding to focus on an alternate career.