Ken-Dang

 Ken-Dang was a new wave/post punk from Bergen, Norway that was formed in the early 1980s by guitarist Odd Harald "Beinet" Hundvin, bassist Ronald Jensen, keyboard player/trombonist Morten Odéen (who had previously played in the group Blåfugl), vocalist Kjersti Bergesen (who had previously played in Ohms March and Parkens Grøde), and drummer Terje H. Hanssen who had previously played
in various swing, jazz, and big bands in the 1970s. The name Ken-Dang comes from the lead drum in Javanese gamelan music.

Ken-Dang made a name for themselves with a distinctive sound which was a combination of exotic Eastern rhythm patterns and British new wave. All songs are sung in English.

The song "Hours And Days" from the 1984 album Monsters & Miracles became a radio hit. 

Kjersti Bergesen left the band in 1985 and was replaced for a short period by Ine Tømmerås until 1986. Bergesen continued her music career in the band Secret Mission and took part in Langsomt Mot Nord's self-titled debut album in 1985, before she became a presenter on TV 2.

Ken-Dang - Ken-Dang 12" EP (1983)

1 War's Hell

2 Born in Borneo

3 Flowers in the Garden

4 Six Years Old

5 Faceless Figures

 

 Ken-Dang - Monsters & Miracles (1984)

1 Hours & Days

2 The Servant

3 She Goes to Few Parties

4 Monsters & Miracles

5 State Mate

6 No Choice

7 Sea of Sand

8 Computer Addicted People

9 My Mind Making

10 Human Factor

 

DOWNLOAD from MediaFire

 

DOWNLOAD from Zippyshare

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va Meeting part 1 and 2

This is a compilation of Dutch new wave/pop bands. Very few of them recorded anything else. Jamback Affair released two albums (which I have if anybody decides they need to hear them). 

 

Zzipp has a 7" that I really love so I was looking for anything else they may have recorded and I found this series. I bought the first volume but the seller sent me the second volume by mistake. I decided to keep it and I bought the first one later.

There are a few good moments but nothing too captivating in either one.

 

Meeting (1985)

1 Jamback Affair - Peachy

2 Jamback Affair - 

3 Jamback Affair - The Party

4 Zzipp - You're Better Off with Me

5 Zzipp - Masochism

6 Zzipp - Groupie

7 Simplex Novum - Innerworlds

8 Simplex Novum - Scratches

9 Simplex Novum - Changing Times

10 Zenith - Division

11 Zenith - Thoughts

12 Zenith - Reminiscence

 

 

Meeting II (1986) 

1 Between The Sheets - Quasimodo

2 Between The Sheets - Nobody's Born to Lose

3 Between The Sheets - Somewhere

4 Crystal Dark - Observer

5 Crystal Dark - Roman Insanity

6 Crystal Dark - Colorful Ambitions

7 Jane Kelly - Desires

8 Jane Kelly - Heartbreaker

9 Jane Kelly - Endless Dream

10 The Big Sleep - Blue Moon

11 The Big Sleep - Skies are Burning

12 The Big Sleep - Just Before the End

DOWNLOAD Meeting and Meeting II

The Eighty Eights - Top of the World (1981)

 1 She Fell in Love with James Bond

2 Tragic Accident

3 Time Machine

4 Top of the World

5 Light Year

6 Channel Misery

7 Sorry Wrong Number

8 Mutiny

9 Don't Call Us

10 Checking Out

11 What Would Your Mother Say?

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The Fabrics [Finland] - Complete Discography

The Fabrics existed only for a few years but they released a lot of material in that time. 

The band was started in 1979 by Tommi Läntinen who has since been in many other bands like Boycott, Rin Tin Tin, the blues-rock band Tommi & Hombre, Tom Dozen, and Kokoelmilla, not to mention a whole lot of solo releases.

Less than 4 years later the band broke up after releasing two albums, four singles, and a cover of the Spencer Davis Group's "Gimme Some Lovin'".

Both A and B sides of two of the singles are on the album Tonight so they weren't included in this download. Here's what is in this download:

Look at This (1980) - 9 track ska influenced debut.

Factory 7" (1980)

 

Tonight (1981) - 12-track full length that had their biggest hit "Summer is Fading"

 

Eskimoes and Chinese 7" (1982) 
Their final release before Tommi Läntinen and keyboardist Kim Trapp recorded another album as the band Rin Tin Tin.

DOWNLOAD all four Fabrics releases along with the song "Gimme Some Lovin'"

The Rin Tin Tin album "Swazi-Beat" sounds like it very well could have been The Fabric's third album. I was able to find it on a blog called AOR Night Drive but the link is from 2012 and a bit iffy so I re-upped it to Mediafire. 

 

DOWNLOAD Rin Tin Tin - Swazi-Beat (1984) 

 

 

As we are in day two-hundred-and-something of our two-week lock down to 'slow the spread' and 'flatten the curve', you have to appreciate that the guy on the cover of Tonight is respectfully wearing a mask.

Bleistift - Bleistift (1981)

There is a 7" record from the Netherlands released in 1980 called "17 to 7 on 33" which was 7 bands who paid for the release by paying per minute. There were two bands who had a song that was exactly 1 minute long and the other 5 bands had songs that were exactly 3 minutes each. So 17 minutes by 7 bands at 33 rpm.

I no longer have this record and I really don't remember what it sounds like but I remember I wasn't very impressed with any of the bands except for this one. Bleistift ('Pencil'). I kept their song "Looking Swell" and found out they had one album. I don't think the album maintained the same quality of that first song but it is what I was expecting.

New wave guitar rock. No keyboards or horns. Up-tempo but too mellow to be punk. Not gothic enough to be goth. Too much structure to be 'experimental' or 'art rock'.  A voice that takes some getting used to. You know, the kind of stuff I post on this blog.

I included "Looking Swell" with this download. 

1 Utang
2 Ambition
3 Mirrors
4 Wishing Having
5 Refuse to Wait
6 French Movie
7 Gun
8 Eyes of Children
9 Showroom
10 Reggae Sessie
* Looking Swell

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va 91X Local Heroes

This is a compilation of local bands from San Diego from 1984.

1 Glory House - You'll Always be There (The Reading)
2 D-Fendants - Empty Pockets
3 Laws of Motion - Massive Doses
4 Shades of May - Distant Memories
5 Mojo Nixon with Skid Roper - Ain't Got Nobody
6 Marty Eldridge - Purple Heart
7 The Neat - In a Daydream
8 Playground Slap - Pictures of Age
9 The Beat Farmers - Lost Weekend / Happy Boy (live)

I'm not a big Mojo Nixon / Skid Roper fan so I don't know a lot about them but I think this song is unique to this record. I know Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper released a lot of other music and the Beat Farmers were pretty prolific but few of the other bands did anything else which is a shame. Laws of Motion released a 12" EP called "Check it in the Mirror". Shades of May only ever released that one song but they later changed their name to Red Flag and they have been releasing music continuously since their first album in 1989. 
The Playground Slap released an EP which is included in this download.

1 I Felt the Wind Blow
2 Thirst
3 The Ocean
4 Blue Funk
5 There's Repetition

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Streetcar Eyes - Time After Time EP (1983)

Non-threatening new wave on this one. Professional sounding new wave rock with occasional saxophone. I'm all for positivity but this band was a little to cheery for my taste. Is bubblegum-new wave a thing?
The song "I'm in it for the Fun" is my favorite song on the record. It has a bit of a ska influence.

This band does not have much of an internet presence so I'll tell you a bit about them:

They were formed in California in July of 1983 by three members of a band called Third Raile
*Red Jenkins - vocals and guitar
*Lane Vallier - bass and vocals
*Jim Briggs - sax and vocals

The drummer Barry "Snoop" Smith was the new addition to the lineup.  He played previously in bands Scoundrels, Rage, and The Rings.

The band formed with the intention of doing something different than the same old club sounds that were popular in L.A. and San Diego and wanted to focus more on vocal harmonies and stripped-down instrumentation and less on synthesizers.

Their biggest claim to fame is having recorded the song "The Chicago Blitz" that was used in the early 80s as the theme song for the US Football league team The Chicago Blitz.

They didn't focus too much on cover songs and had written and played over 20 original songs. It's not known if any of the songs that are not on this EP were ever recorded in a studio.

Anyone But Me
Cause and Effect
Caveat Emptor
Closer
Get Back Too
Gypsy Border
I'm in it for the Fun
It's Over
Just What Raymond Needed
Our Mirror
Red Head Blues
Reputation
Save One for Me
Springtime
Streetcar Eyes
The Next Door
Time After Time
Time in the Hand
Want You
Whispers in the Night 

The four songs on this record are:
 
1 Time After Time
2 I'm in it for the Fun
3 Whispers in the Night
4 Closer

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The Pin-Ups - Take One (1981)

1 Write it on the Walls
2 Can't Get Enough
3 Pin-Up
4 Confession
5 Only for Fun
6 Stranglers
7 Lies
8 Anarchy or Cake
9 Not Alone
10 The Candle
11 Snowman
12 Boys Dressed Up as Girls
13 Music for Cure
14 Lies, Too

Listen to "Write it on the Walls"

Listen to "Anarchy or Cake"

Listen to "Music for Cure"


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8 Halbe - Feed the Krauts (1987)

Somebody told me that, based on the 'kind of music that I listen to' I would love this record.
Maybe I should have asked what 'kind' of music they think I listen to before I bought this record.
Hopefully one of you will like it.

1 Fall in Love
2 No Hiding
3 Jimmy be Free
4 Fette Weiber
5 Five Minutes
6 Semen (The Bonnie Bells of Tubingham)
7 Nachts um Halb Drei
8 Seemann
9 Gone Away
10 La La La
11 It Could be You
12 Haey You
13 Sent Me Free

Listen to "Fall in Love"

Listen to "Five Minutes"


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The Pin Baskets - Fifteen Minutes with Betty Betz (1986)

This band was from the Netherlands and their ska single "30,000 Rabbits" was posted several years ago on Tone and Wave.
This album has no ska on it - just straightforward post punk/power-pop.
I included the single with this download as well as two live tracks from a compilation called "Punk Live in Brouwershoek".

1 Duchna
2 Call it Pride
3 All the Scars and Trophies
4 Instant Wisdom
5 Love is Hollow Eye
6 Ressurection
7 Never the Same
8 Fifteen Seconds with Betty Betz

A - 30,000 Rabbits
B - Glad to be Different

*Does it Matter?
*Hate and Fear


DOWNLOAD THE LP AND THE SINGLE FROM MEDIAFIRE