the 1980s. neo-liberal excess. crumbling communism. military juntas ruling with an iron fist. and of course, freaked out music. contort yourself are turning back the clock and returning to an unholy fount of inspiration with -80s underground cassette culture volume 1. a buffet of beaten up and brutalised tracks are on offer from unknown outfits and respected experimenters. across two lps expect to find noise reductions, post punk bitterness, no wave grunts, distortion soaked strings and vocals lost in a hail of pain. a road map into the weird and wild world of diy back alley artists who, armed with only a tape and an idea, gave the established music norms a sharp fist to the throat.

having debuted with a fine ep by job sifre, artificial dance has returned to the source for release number two. the 12inch pays tribute to one of the most influential figures of original diy electronic music scene of holland, hanjo erkamp. during the first half of the 1980s, erkamp had a hand in some of the most experimental and forward-thinking releases on the now legendary cassette label, trumpett. famously, he was a member of two of the label’s key bands industrial outfit doxa sinistra and new wave combo ende shneafliet but during the period he also recorded a swathe of solo tracks as c.stein, most of which only saw the light of day decades later. la bombe plastique, a thrillingly spacey and futurist cut rich in proto-techno rhythms, intergalactic electronic motifs and drowsy choral vocals. for this timely reissue, the superb original version comes accompanied by a fresh re-edit created primarily for dj use.

all tracks on this record have been selected from the cassette series oscars x-mas carols, originally released on christmas day 1984, 1985 and 1987 by oscar smit’s imprint noel tapes in holland. edition of 400 copies. laminated translucent sleeve, hand stamped (12inchx12inch). complete with dossier including liner notes by oscar smit, band bios, photos and download code!