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This mix explores hidden corners of early 1980s postpunk and new wave, regional oddities and synth-lit corners of the world outside the mainstream.
French coldwave, Belgian art-pop, Japanese technopop, Mediterranean new wave, fragments of disco, minimal synth, and post-punk. Languages blur. Borders collapse. The mood is romantic, synthetic, and quietly surreal.
There’s a sense of a party you weren’t meant to find: a dim room somewhere between 1980 and 1985 where everything is stylish and a little awkward. Voices echo, drum machines pulse, melodies linger.
Heard individually, these tracks are curiosities. Taken together, they form an elusive and unfamiliar world: just unfamiliar enough to feel like a secret worth keeping, or sharing.
The mix is timestamped and the tracklist is in a comment.
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So cool, there are only 3 acts here that I am aware of, Yellow Magic Orchestra being an old fav. Love your thematic shows and its obvious that you put so much thought and time into them. A Sonic Journey Indeed.
That's awesome. I wanted to make a mix that would have some surprises even for folks who are VERY schooled on 80s music, so I'm glad that was your experience! And thanks so much for the kind comment. It means a lot.
@Vodem for me the 80s was the decade that i probably missed the most off as I was living on the West Coast of the South Island. We had no power till about 85 so all I had till then was a little cassette player that ran on batteries. No cool radio stations that we could pick up either so I missed heaps but by late 80's we started our own radio station so we started to get a bit more new stuff into our lives. Record labels sent us cd's and a mate of mine would send me mixtapes of early hip hop and electronica so I slowly caught up but as your show made clear, I missed a hell of a lot of good music
@greg-smith-mix Fascinating! I had a friend who lived in Hokitika for a few years and visited him, so I know how remote the West Coast of the South Island is. I definitely had a more typical exposure to 80s music growing up in Detroit Michigan, but also didn't know any of this stuff then. My education into more underground 80s stuff came when I got involved with college radio in the early 90s, but I didn't learn of this stuff even then -- a lot of it has became better known through reissues and through the access permitted by vast streaming databases, which is how I discovered much of it to be honest!
@Vodem Yes we live in golden timers now with the tech to clean up old tapes etc and now we get to hear all this music that we missed earlier
I hear almost everything for the first time 🎧👍🏽 fantastic selection dear Vodem 🎩 my favs Elisa Point, Die Doraus & Die Marinas, Andreas Dorau, and Saâda Bonaire 🌟🌟🌟
Nice picks! As I mentioned to Neptune's Selector, I wanted to make a mix that would have some surprises even for folks who really know 80s music, so I'm glad that was your experience as well!
I have entered the Secret Party. I came here alone,
You are SO welcome here!
Great. At the time, only a few of the artists had even limited exposure in the UK - YMO, of course, Cristina on ZE and those on Les Disques du Crépuscule, like Antena, and, slightly later, Zazou Bikaye on Crammed Discs - it's so nice that many other artists have finally received recognition in the past couple of decades:) Cheers for this spotlighting of some of them!
The folks who re-released all this stuff are heroes!
this is madness 🙀
For sure! I was very pleased to discover this one! Immediately compelling.
@Vodem also: the Saada Bonaire, one of my favorites, I didn't put it in my 80s mix because it was too sad 🙀
@Paso_stranger Can you share the link to your 80s mix? 🙂
@Vodem https://www.mixcloud.com/Paso_stranger/en-train-de-parte-1/
1️⃣9️⃣8️⃣0️⃣s
Now it's really become inhinged ..
fantastic bro, as usual but great mixing and blending, seamless at times which gives a cool mesmerising effect. Always on top of your game. Respect
Thanks so much, friend. Much appreciated.
Fantastic show, Vodem - though I expected nothing less. Your program has become such an engine of discovery in my life; almost all of these songs were brand new to me and each one was excellently picked and sequenced. La fille James Dean, La Tgheeb Anni Wala Youm, Achilles, You Could Be More As You Are and Parallelisme really stood out. That Saâda Bonaire was so hauntingly familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Anyways, just wanted to thank you for putting this together! Cheers! 🙌✨
You made my day with your kind words. I appreciate your appreciation and I'm pleased to make a positive impact on your sound world. Thanks!!
Such a great mix, most enjoyable 🎶🎶💯
Wow, what an absolute treat of a mix — this is totally my thing. There are some gems in there that just blow your mind, I think I’m going to give it a few spins today.