Cities Of Steel And Neon

In Trance 95

Cities Of Steel And Neon

 

2011

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  • 1.
    Desire To Desire
  • 2.
    Fairweather Friends
  • 3.
    21st Century European Temptation
  • 4.
    Presidente
  • 5.
    Dance Another Fear
  • 6.
    Brazilia
  • 7.
    Something Better Than Nothing
  • 8.
    Niles Swimmer
  • 9.
    Broken Down Machine
  • 10.
    Cities Of Steel And Neon
  • MW029

Minimal Wave proudly presents Cities Of Steel And Neon, a compilation of early tape recordings by Greek electronic pioneers In Trance 95. In Trance 95 was formed by Alex Machairas and Nik Veliotis when they were just 18 years old. From its inception, the duo shaped their sound using portable analogue synthesizers and drum machines, becoming one of the first artists in the minimal synth / cold wave / EBM vein to come out of Greece in the 80s. They released two singles, one 12”, and one album as well as appearing on several compilations at the time. Now for the first time ever, songs from their vast archive of unreleased 4-track tape recordings have been made available.
Cities Of Steel And Neon features material recorded between 1988-1989: the unreleased 4-track recordings, the highly lauded first single Desire To Desire / Brazilia, and a rare version of 21st Century European Temptation. The LP, an edition of 999 hand-numbered copies, is pressed on 180 gram black vinyl and housed in a matte jacket with semi-gloss inner sleeve depicting 1989 video stills of the the duo. Special thanks to Peter Miles Studio for the sleeve design and Matthew Bakkom for supplying the cover image.

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  •   LP   $22.00 Sold Out
  •   Digital mp3 $9.99 iTunes
  •   Digital mp3 $8.99 Amazon
  •   Digital mp3 £8.99 Boomkat
  •   Digital mp3 $11.99 Beatport
  •   Digital mp3/WAV £7.03-£12.79 Juno

* Denotes bonus track(s) available only on a CD / Digital version of this release, if a CD / Digital version of this release is available

 

All sample clips are 30-90 seconds in length

Reviews

     

    This is a seriously excellent blend of melodic synthwave and industrial that could only have happened in Greece and only in its relatively late release year of 1989. Why? Because this duo obviously had a knack for cherry-picking choice elements from all of the quality synthpop and industrial that came before and arranging it in a way quite unlike the typical late-‘80s copycats who were flourishing in the UK and US at the time. This record is chock full of styles that didn’t quite exist before—I hear strangely hit-worthy sounds of early Front 242, Nitzer Ebb and D.A.F. (but only more tasteful and without any overdone clunkiness or macho posturing) combined with a very song-oriented Visage/Depeche Mode (but without any candy coating or overblown melodrama). Add to that a pro-sounding, yet no less sincere Vangelis/Aphrodite’s Child haze and compositional sense (that I can only attribute to the duo’s Greek bloodline) and you have one singularly great LP. As usual, great packaging and mastering job from Minimal Wave.

     
    Scott Mou - Other Music - 2011

 
 

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