A recent companion to mixes #1 and #2 made some 20 years ago. These mixes are not the result of research, they’re part of my ‘Foundation’ series for a reason. I don’t listen to 21st century post-punk or darkwave, my tastes in music moved on and most of it it’s too cringe to listen to anyway – even if the sub-genre continues to contribute a much needed alternative voice of social and political criticism for a failing world, with a much more visible and diverse output today – emotionally, artistically and intellectually.
This is a collection of 20 tracks by 20 bands that marked my own 80’s, first person experience. Just a couple of American bands featured here… the bands then were was just a tad harder, they just didn’t fit with the nature of the atmosphere going on here. And fact is there was more than enough to keep us entertained in the fruitful London-Berlin axis. I was a kid then with little to no access to new music and an overdose on The Cure, Bauhaus/Love & Rockets and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds became the standard against what everything else was judged on – for sound and aesthetic.
Outside the portentous sphere of English bands, I will forever be in awe of that Clan Of Xymox synth and six stringer sound… a definitive moment in Darkwave, never to be repeated and The Young Gods dazzling industrial attack that would open the door to an uglier and more sinister 90’s.