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We are venturing out of our concrete bunker to explore the strange and unsettling world of COLD WAR ELECTRONICA for this month's Electronic Sound cover story. Tin hats are recommended for this one.
Our cover story consists of 10 connected pieces detailing how the nuclear age rewired our ears. We look at pioneering artists such as KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN and DANIEL MILLER in the West and GEORG KATZER and RODION ROSCA behind the Iron Curtain, while MARK REEDER lifts the lid on East Berlin's hidden "walled in" scene. We select some of the biggest Cold War hits too, with Paul Rutherford talking about FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD's 'Two Tribes', Midge Ure remembering ULTRAVOX's 'Dancing With Tears In My Eyes', and Martyn Ware on HEAVEN 17's 'Let's All Make A Bomb'.
To soundtrack this month's magazine we have an exclusive double CD featuring 35 tracks relating to the Cold War. Taking in minimal synth, darkwave, post-punk, industrial, weird pop and abrasive ambient, get ready for plenty of tension, anxiety, fear and paranoia, with a side order of doom and gloom. It's all pretty disturbing and quite brilliant stuff.
The first CD of 'Cold War Electronica' covers the 1980s, a decade when American-Russian relations were strained close to breaking point. The contributors include BILL NELSON, SECTION 25, OPPENHEIMER ANALYSIS, KONSTRUKTIVISTS, CULTURAL AMNESIA, 23 SKIDOO and NAGAMATZU, together with five key names from East Berlin's deeply underground and often dangerous "walled in" scene. Most of their tracks first appeared on limited edition cassettes that were sold under the noses of the secret police.
Our second CD boasts material from 2017 to 2025, beginning with the year that the global news media started talking about the onset of a new Cold War. The artists come from a dozen different countries, with VERYAN, CONCRETISM and POLYPORES among the UK representatives and MARY OCHER, SONOLOGYST, DESINTERESSE and NIGHT IN ATHENS just some of the others involved. We also have Ukrainian duo BLAZERJACKET, whose track is inspired by the Russian invasion of their country.
As with all our magazine-linked music releases, this CD is only available to readers of Electronic Sound, so make sure you grab your copy right away.
The full tracklist of the CD is:
DISC 1 : COLD WAR ELECTRONICA 1980 – 1989
Oppenheimer Analysis – ‘Radiance’
Bill Nelson – ‘Atom Man Loves Radium Girl’
Neuntage Alt – ‘Monotone’
Die Unbekannten – ‘Casualties (Recounted)’
Modern Art – ‘Early Warning’
23 Skidoo – ‘Just Like Everybody’
Bourbonese Qualk – ‘Gag’
The Local Moon – ‘Stay’
Heinz Und Franz – ‘Blutrausch’
Zombies Under Stress – ‘Stalin’
Cultural Amnesia – ‘Do You Remember The War?’
Caroline K – ‘Chearth’
Konstruktivists – ‘Andropov 84’
Nagamatzu – ‘Der Gute Kamerad’
Crispy Ambulance – ‘Death From Above’ Section 25 – ‘Friendly Fires’
A.F. Moebius – ‘Erika’
Corp Cruid – ‘Sex Box Man’
Rational Youth – ‘Dancing On The Berlin Wall’
DISC 2 : COLD WAR ELECTRONICA 2017 – 2025
Veryan – ‘Singing Revolution’
Concretism – ‘The View From Pye Green Tower’
Identity Theft – ‘Deep State’
Sonologyst – ‘Sleeper Agent’
Desinteresse – ‘Hij Wist Het Niet’Propter Hoc – ‘Nom De Guerre’
Procrastinatrix – ‘Civilians’
Blazerjacket – ‘Nuclear Dust’
Alien Skin – ‘Cold War Pop’
Mary Ocher – ‘For All We Know (The World May End Tomorrow)’
Morgol – ‘Dead City Part Three’
Priority Alpha – ‘Das Programme (Achtung!)’
Formal Method – ‘Sloika’
Night In Athens – ‘Words Unspoken’
Tout Debord – ‘Best Way To Die’
Polypores – ‘Post-Extinction’