I don't really like the bands that think they're still in 1982. It's boring. When retro sounds are combined with a modern approach, it can be great.
I was attracted to the aesthetics of post-punk bands and also their specific histories. Some of these acts could have achieved the level of fame of Joy Division or other peers, but circumstances didn't allow for it. I was looking at some old music charts in the magazine Vinyl - and all these songs had a brief moment in the Top 20 in various European countries. Then, they vanished. It's really fascinating, and sometimes a bit sad.
I was really into what is called "minimal synth" - music made strictly on analog synths, and also cold wave, basically a more synth-based version of European post-punk, at that point. So, I decided my own show Minimal Wave was a good way to combine the minimal electronics aspect with the "wave," where guitars come into play.
I had been DJing a dance night in Brooklyn and witnessed the response people had to "The Devil's Dancers" - Oppenheimer's one hit song. All these young people were dancing to this amazing song, completely unaware of whether it was current or not. It was from 1982, but sounded very current. It made sense that a physical record should exist for this song again. It seemed the obvious choice to represent what Minimal Wave was going to be.
When I reissue these Minimal Wave Record songs, I also re-master them. With Oppenheimer Analysis, it turned out that the band still had the master tapes. So, Martin Lloyd from the band and I baked the tapes to restore the quality.
I had been digging so much for my show, Minimal Wave - constantly finding fresh old material to play every week - that I ended up discovering all these obscure bands that no one had really heard here. It was very exciting to be able to play their records on the air for a new audience and be able to get instant feedback.
I think Oppenheimer Analysis had the most accessible material for commercial success. Martin Dupont, Deux, Linear Movement, Moderne and Stereo held a lot of potential as well.
Being the recent accessibility of rare vinyl and cassette music via blogs, as well as the digital backlash which is driving more people to crave the tangible - most of these minimal wave releases are hand-numbered vinyl editions, which adds another level to the listening experience. They can listen to an LP and it's there for them to look at, examine its cover art, and hold whilst buying and downloading music in digital form remains such an ephemeral experience.
It's a very satisfying feeling for everyone involved into giving bands a new life - for me, the artists, and the audience.
It's a weird technique but it works. If you bake tapes at a certain temperature - I think it's 130 degrees - something happened to the magnetic particles, so you can restore them. The key is to do the transfer to digital while it's still warm. If it's done right, the new digital version will actually improve upon the quality of the original. If you do it wrong, though, the tapes will melt!
