A  Don't even think about it
B  Poker play

Don't even think about it is a song from 1989 released under the name Chayell by Peter Bonne. Chayell is mostly known for being a member of A Split Second, but he has also released a couple of singles on his own under the name Chayell.

This is New beat with a dark and gothic touch. Very heavy on the bass and rather minimalistic. Quiet refreshing with a bit of darkness in a genre where most of the songs are about sex, drugs and partying.

The b-side is like a instrumental remix of the a-side.

Found my copy at Discogs and I payed 8 €.

Rediscovered this while browsing through my old records. This is one I picked up in 1988 just because of the look of the cover and the song titles. And it sounded just as it looked - great!

Pop art is a record full of bubblegum pop melodies with  a punk, rock'n'roll attitude and electronic influences. It sounds as the love child of Blondie and Sigue Sigue Sputnik leaving puberty. In my opinion this is a really great record that seems to be a bit ignored or forgotten.

One of Transvision Vamps obvious strenghts is lead singer Wendy James who attracts attention with her sexually charged and rebellious image. But she also have an interesting and expressive voice that fits really well with the bands material.

I love this whole album, but the cocky cover of the Holly and the Italians song Tell that girl to shut up really catches the attention. Also I want you love and Psychosonic Cindy are great up-tempo songs. Other great songs are the softer Sister moon and the opener Trash City.

Transvision Vamp was a really cool band that relesed two more albums before calling it quits. Velveteen from 1989 is also good, but on the final album Little magnets versus the bubble of babble the band had lost their focus.

Really happy to have seen them live at Hultsfred in 1991.

A1  Burnout
A2  Bodycheck
B1  On command
B2  Flesh

This is as classical as it can be. A forceful debut from 1986 with songs that has relevance for both the EBM scene and the New beat scene.

It starts with Burnout, a funky collaboration between Peter Bonne a.k.a. Chrismar Chayell and Marc Heyndrickx a.k.a. M. Ickx. A really good song for the dance floor with heavy rythm and funky synths.

The second song on the a-side is Bodycheck. Another example of the funky side of A Split Second, with the addition of guitars. Not a bad song, but the weakest on this EP.

On command, the first song on the b-side, is one of A Split Seconds heavier songs, and a classic amongst the EBM:ers. A really hard and industrial sounding song, with lots of precussion and a hard pounding bass.

The last song on the record, Flesh, has it's own mythology, beeing a part of the birth of the New beat scene in Belgium. According to the legend the song was played by a DJ named Marc Grouls at the club Boccaccio. Instead of playing it at it's normal speed at 45rpm, he played the record on 33rpm with the pitch at +8. This slowed down version became very popular and DJ:s started experimenting with other electronic songs the same way.

Soon after producers picked up on this trend and started to make electronic music with slower beats in their studios. They also added influnces from the acid scene and had thus created a new genre. New Beat was very popular for a couple of years in Belgium, with the release of hundreds of singles during a short period.

The slowed down (New beat) version of the song Flesh.

A  Systems breaking down
B  Systems breaking down (Dance version)

This was released in 1982 and was the second single from british vocalist Anna O'Malley. Her first single was Like the do in the movies, wich was a hit in Sweden when I was young (still on my wishlist). That song used to close the school-dances and gave us a chanse to slow dance and smell the girl's hair before returning home.

Even though I don't have equally vivid childhood memories with the song Systems breaking down, it evokes the same kind of feelings and memories. I just love how this music sounds and how Anna's beautiful, slightly detached voice delivers in this song.

The song was written by Ken Leray and pruduced by Leray and Geraint Hughes. Hughes has also worked with Sara Brightman on the wonderful song I lost my heart to a startrip trooper in 1978.

I found my copy at Skivhallen Majorna and payed 14,01 €.

A  Acid queen (Dirty version)
B  Acid Queen (Instrumental)

Acid queen was the third song to be released from the label Kaos Dance Records. Major Problem has the same members as Lords of Acid, and includes the labels founder Maurice Engelen a.k.a. Praga Khan.

Acid queen is one of the major hits from the New beat era. The sound of this track is very acid with a hard and industrial beat. The lyrics are sampled talk about BDSM-themed sex.

This is a personal favorite since I am very found of the 303 bassline with the very acidic sound. Probobly very inspired (smpled from) Phutures song Slam. Also it makes me wanna move and groove on the dance floor.

Found my copy at Discogs and payed 7 €.