Following two mini-collections of salvaged early 80s teenage electronica (available on this site) we now fast forward to the early 90s. With Hampshire a distant memory, Moliné is lost in the capital, struggling as Londoners must with the simple processes of living.
Conceived in a state of personal psychic chaos in the East End between 1992 and 1994, Downer Party…represents a conscious attempt to make happy music. Something that others might conceivably enjoy, and even dance to. As the Baltic Exchange and Bishopsgate bombs rattled the windows of Moliné’s Whitechapel flat, the turbulence of the London streets framing his own emotional tumult, he turned to the paradoxically liberating grids, strictures and edicts of Dance music to try and bring some sense of connection and order to his life. For this he used a sampler, a hardware sequencer, a 4-track and some effects. Guitar and fretless bass were also sporadically deployed.
Unfinished and eventually abandoned, the music has resided in fragmentary form on dusty cassettes in a plastic bag for the last 25 years. Nobody ever heard this music at the time. Nobody has since.
The tapes have been rescued, reassembled, restored and remastered using the exciting techniques of today. While the music draws on contemporaneous elements of Techno, Cyber-Funk and Cinematic Psych-Soul, it has an obsessive intensity to it a quarter of a century later that belies its original escapist remit. File under: the sound of early 90s London, as lived by outsider twenty-somethings everywhere.
So, does it sound happy?
You should be so lucky.
credits
released September 25, 2020
Instruments used:
Roland S10 sampler, Akai S950 sampler, Alesis MMT-8 sequencer, Alesis reverb, other effects units, guitar, Aria fretless bass. Programmed, performed and recorded by Moliné, 1992-94. Restored, reassembled, remastered in 2020.
supported by 6 fans who also own “Downer Party In The Baltic Exchange: Recovered And Restored Tapes 1992-94”
these early shows are thrilling, it's a time and a live experience I never thought I'd have again...and now you've posted all these early live shows! i love them all so much and am so grateful!!! jupiterscii
Tempering dystopian electronics with Morricone-esque set pieces, the UK psych soothsayers' latest album is also their most dynamic. Bandcamp New & Notable Feb 28, 2019
The first solo album from veteran drummer Jim White of Dirty Three uses moody percussion to explore a lifetime of experiences. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 12, 2024
supported by 6 fans who also own “Downer Party In The Baltic Exchange: Recovered And Restored Tapes 1992-94”
How many versions of "Final Solution" do I currently own? It doesn't matter. Now I have another one, this time with the blazing guitar of MC5's Wayne Kramer! Pere Ubu has been an all time favourite of mine for 40+ years and the Bandcamp discography of live "bootleg" albums is a total treasure trove. p_zetner