Flexipop

Some years ago I wrote an article on Flexipop for Vice… basically it was all about recycle culture… and as this is still relevant I will publish the article again below… enjoy!

The article below was already published in slightly different versions, but on paper only, in the Dutch version of Vice Magazine (vol. 5, issue 9) and in Traces (issue 1).

Flexipop: disposable pop or recycle art?

Most people will only be able to guess what Flexipop is. For a few obsessive nerdy music fans like myself it is a cultural standard, a world of its own, or even THE world. Well here is a short lesson into the history of cheap produced minimalistic new wave pop music and how some people today try to turn it into a hype to cash in on it.

The name Flexipop is not a real genre name as it comes from an UK magazine that ran for two years from 1980 onwards. Each edition came with flexible 7 inch record. You know vinyl but not regular vinyl as you could use it as a Frisbee and even bend it and fold it and if it wasn’t damaged that bad it still would play.

Anyway, the focus of Flexipop and the discs was on new wave music. Many well known bands like The Cure, Soft Cell and Depeche Mode contributed tracks for a flexidisc, often the tracks where exclusive recorded. The Dutch counterpart was called Vinyl magazine and focused as they called it themselves on Modern Music. Basically this meant more experimental and obscure stuff from the counterculture and the then real existent underground. The flexidiscs that came along with Vinyl featured mostly these less accessible sounds of the new wave genre with tracks from bands like Tox Modell, Schleimer K and Mecano.

Think cheap, minimalistic and weird electronic pieces and unpolished and raw post-punk guitar stuff. During the 1990’s when all the world was listening to Grunge one music maniac started to make bootleg cd-r compilations entitled A Tribute To Flexipop and later followed by The Return Of Flexipop and None Night Of Flexipop next to some other titles referring to the same tradition. A total for more then fifty cd-r’s where compiled. All featuring something between twelve to twenty tracks per disc. Well that is what I call a repertoire! This was done not for profit but for fun only and to keep this music tradition alive.

These discs feature a fantastic world of music with tracks from tape releases, a-side but mostly b-sides from hard to find 7 inches and tracks from obscure independent vinyl releases. During the years when nobody listened to this stuff the name minimal electronics or minimal synth became some sort of genre definition for this type of 80’s minimalistic synth-punk new wave music. Many bands featured found it an honor to be on this series, as back in the days but even more at that time only few people showed interest in their music.

Bit by bit a real cult following began to take shape. During the late 90’s this evolved into a new scene of musicians and labels producing and releasing new music in this stylistic tradition. Next to that some labels were founded that only started to re-release some of the old music. Mostly music that was never put to vinyl before. Some of this was bootleg stuff as not all the musicians that released their music on cassette tapes in the 80’s could be traced down straight away. Remember this was before the myspace, facebook and linked-in era.

Artists like Skanfrom, Bakterielle Infektion, Solvent, Lowfish and of course Le Syndicat Electronique paved the way for many artists to follow, just as labels as Genetic Music, ADSR, Invasion Planete, Suction, Was Soll Das Schallplatten and Kernkrach did their part in spreading the music to a small loyal fanbase. At the same time electro had a revival. Contemporary electro acts like I-F, Legowelt, Luke Eargoggle and in a way also Rude66 helped to shape the new electro scene, even though they had been active already since some years . Although sharing some esthetics and style elements the two scenes did not always meet each other straight away but in the end musicians, labels and audience began to mix.

The recognition of this Flexipop music as an important root for electronic pop music, even though still only for the well informed, give way to a second wave of labels and musicians to take their cue and inspiration from this style.

Social media made it easy to find the old cult heroes and ask their clearance for releasing archive music from the past. In the same way internet made it possible to reach a worldwide audience. While most labels work in the spirit of the old underground, as in a Do It Yourself attitude towards producing, promoting and distributing the music, some seem to see some cash in it.

For some years Peer-to-peer networks like Soulseek already make the Flexipop compilation cd-r’s available to everybody for free, like they possible should. But, today you can also buy compilations of these compilations on vinyl, cd and yes in digital format to pay for, from various labels. Every country some to have a Flexipop re-issue label today and it seems like every month there is a new label born which is doing the same thing.

I agree that some of this music has cultural value and not only because I am an obsessive music nerd in love with this music. I agree this music should be available. I agree some labels are needed to release this music on vinyl for the first time. But, there is a true overkill. There is a reason some of this music never made it to a larger audience as the die-hard cult following from the 80’s and 90’s. Not all of it is that good. It has cult value for sure, but not all of this music has cultural value. It seems not all labels are gifted with selective capacities or with the true blood of this counterculture music tradition.

So for the curious people who are still not sure whether this is simply disposable pop music are true art with meaning and value worth to be recycled I advice to login at Soulseek and download the original Flexipop cd-r’s, have nights of fun with the music and found out what gems these compilations hold for you. Then you can always get the contemporary vinyl productions with the songs that touch you in the end and do not need to spend hard cash on dozens of compilations of compilations. Also it should be in the true nature of any real music fan to be willing to dive into a style or genre and pick the few things that appeal to you and go on from there… and tracing the original releases in the end…

M.

Ende der Zukunft

IMG_1501Now also the artwork for the Staatseinde 7 inch is printed. As announced before this one was done on a Risograph machine… in three layers (three colours)… I think it looks great… and yes it is different as the design (as presented on the ET website)… but that is just part of the game with printing techniques like this… you never know exactly how it will turn out… it is a bit of luck, a bit of fate and a bit of going with the flow…

If all goes well “Ende der Zukunft” (as the record is entitled) will be delivered at the end of this week and I can start shipping shortly after that…

All three of the records (Staatseinde, Sololust and Europ Europ) are already numbered… I only need to fold the artwork/sleeves and put them in a pvc sleeve… so finally soon soon soon…

Printing time (again)

europ_petit_insertYesterday was printing time again at Kapitaal in Utrecht… this time it was the insert / artwork for the upcoming Europ Europ 7 inch… with the help (as always) of the printing chief of Kapitaal super nice double sided printed inlay cards were realised… we printed them with silk screen printing technique and did a little experiment with two colours of ink so all inlay cards came out different…

All I need to do now is cut them… but that is for the printed parts only as a few small other things still need to be finalised for the Europ Europ records… and still the artwork for the Sololust and the Staatseinde records need to be printed… so more work is waiting… but I expect all to be ready in time for the release date late November…

Petit Enfant series return: Sololust, Europ Europ and Staatseinde

Staatseinde_cvrIt has been has been four years since the last record was released in the Petit Enfant series… the 7 inch series with a focus on all things synth pop… from minimal synth sounds to coldwave and darkwave… and from synth punk to a bit more weird and edgy minimal electronics…

And… to celebrate the return of this series three records are released at the same time… all classic 7 inches on 45 rpm… all three with familiar names from the Enfant Terrible family: Sololust, Europ Europ and Staasteinde.

Sololust returns with a true future classic and instant dancefloor favorite for the specialized dance nights out there… and on the flip side a superb melancholy minimal tune… Europ Europ have never before sounded so rhythmic…but their typical (post)-industrial style is also there of course… resulting in two tracks of weird post-industrial disco… Staatseinde has seen some personnel changes… and only for the better in my opinion… on this record they present their new more electronic sound… Neue Holländische Welle version 2.0…

All artwork will be printed (Risograph and silk screen) at Kapitaal in Utrecht… so these records will be true collector pieces (again)…

Full track previews are available now on the ET sound cloud…

The records are expected at the end of October… and a release party is in the making… and next to that Sololust and Staatseinde will perform live at Radio Resistencia at Kapitaal on sunday 18th of October and Europ Europ on sunday 22nd of November…