Issue 112

For this month's Electronic Sound cover story, we've picked out 101 Records Of 1981, a crucial year in the history of both electronic and alternative music, and we have a fantastic green vinyl seven-inch EP featuring post-punk heavyweights The Fall, Jah Wobble and Blurt to accompany the issue.

One of the main music talking points of 1981 was the growing number of synthpop bands breaking into the UK mainstream charts, many of them climbing into the Top 10. But at the same time, there was a surge in new independent talent, with the post-punk underground splintering into endless sub-genres – coldwave, alt-funk, punk-funk, industrial, electro-dub, goth, jangly pop, agit-pop, avant-jazz, mutant disco and more – and artists putting out their records via established indies and previously unknown labels. It was an amazing time for electronic, experimental and just plain awesome music – whatever tribe you belonged to – and we're telling the story of the year through 101 milestone releases. It's an epic blast.

Looking beyond the cover feature, we have interviews with Electribe 101 singer Billie Ray Martin, I Monster mashers Dean Honer and Jarrod Gosling, and Californian avant-garde pioneer Dorothy Moskowitz. We also talk to Man Parrish about ‘Hip Hop, Be Bop (Don’t Stop)’ and Saint Etienne's Bob Stanley about his influences, while one-time Piano Magic men Glen Johnson and Cédric Pin step up for our quickfire Q&A session. We have ace cartoonist Savage Pencil as well, discussing his sleeve art for The Fall’s ‘Lie Dream Of A Casino Soul’ single. Which brings us back to the latest Electronic Sound seven-inch... 

After last month's popular 'Blitz 80' EP, we are bundling the new issue of Electronic Sound with 'Avant 81', another top-notch three-track seven-inch. Pressed on mint green vinyl, it features a wealth of post-punk weirdness from 1981, beginning with The Fall's thunderous and caustic 'Lie Dream Of A Casino Soul', which has Mark E Smith ranting about synths, Munich and John Foxx. Next up are avant-jazz giants Blurt and their totally wired and wild 'This Is My Royal Wedding Souvenir', which probably didn't win Charles and Diana's seal of approval. To close, we have Jah Wobble's 'Nocturnal', a spine-tingling electro-dub track from the PiL bass legend, who recorded this shortly after he'd parted company with John Lydon.  

As with all our music releases, this record is strictly limited and is only available to readers of Electronic Sound, so make sure you get your copy right away.