uninvention of the guitar (1 of ??)

mouth music (sitcom bubbles)

mouth music (skank bubbles)

daas sii moorn / quel esser damaun / c'était demain / questo era domani (Swisstronica)

Experimental and Electronic Music from Switzerland 1981-93

Décalé. and Bongo Joe Records present an all new compilation placing the spotlight on the Swiss experimental and electronic scene of the ‘80s and the early ‘90s. The compilation Intenta assembles under-appreciated gems, sought-after titles and newly mixed versions. It places leftfield synth-pop next to otherworldly jazz, and joins the dots between lyrical post-punk excursions and proto-house experimentation.

The compilation covers a period of transition: When songs mutated into sounds. When synthesizers and samplers became the règle du jeu in DIY music-making. When a politicized youth movement slowly gave way to the hedonistic embrace of techno culture in Switzerland. Intenta mines the outer fringes of a scene yet to be. Many of these experimenters were pretty much on their own. Often the only way you would get in touch was at the local synth dealer.

A spirit of bold improvisation inhabited studios between Geneva and St. Gallen: these artists were articulating pop sensibilities (Air Project, Sky Bird, D-Sire, Peter Philippe Weiss), entering computer worlds (Claudine Chirac, Olivier Rogg, Carlos Perón), exploring exotic shores (Andreas Hofer, Bells of Kyoto, Fizzè), building future discothèques (Aborted at Line 6, Carol Rich, UnknownmiX) or finding glacial bliss (Dressed Up Animals, Elephant Château, I Suonatori).

The compilation was put together by Matthias Orsett and Maxi Fischer. Intenta unfolds as a sonic story that is laid-back yet energetic, sultry yet daring. The two crate diggers set out to meet with many of the artists arrayed here. Memories were shared, wine bottles opened. There were moments of sadness: Karl Lienert Löwenherz (Dressed Up Animals) and Claudius Scholer (Sky Bird) passed away during the making of this project. What remains of this journey into the backrooms of Swiss popular culture, is Intenta. If you listen closely, it will reveal a nation on the move. Beyond the Matterhorn, there is sweetness and light. 

credits

released February 28, 2020

the old joanna (slight re-re-return)

"a fortress made of sugar ice"

"I hold by a theory I concocted about Cocteau Twins. That whereas the likes of The Cure, Siouxsie, PiL, Joy Division used the big bass and massive, spraying guitars as a means of disseminating angst, pain, disdain, scalding, purgative scorn, with The Cocteaus it was different. They used the same instrumentation to create a sense of blinding ecstasy, an incredibly powerful palliative. In interviews they would talk but not in an explanatory or introspective way. It was as if their music was a massive distraction, a brilliant confection, a fortress made of sugar ice to compensate for the private pain in their lives; and that their audience tacitly accepted their music as such. All that frou-frou, patchouli, glowbo, peppermint, it wasn't whimsy but grist to the cause. What they retained, however, always was a voluble, searing intensity, as if to imply that somewhere, anguish was being actively repressed, not wallowed in" - David Stubbs, recently

the wide ranging career of Robin Askwith

1 hour 29-ish minutes in for Robin

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