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This is a bit of a very rare treat. Digging through my old vinyl collection a couple of days ago I came across a promotional copy of “For Future Reference” an album by the early 1980s synthpop band Dramatis. (Rocket Record Company: Train 18). I stuck it on and found myself flashing back to a much younger version of myself, pure nostalgia, sitting here in the Sky Bunker on a hill in Bristol… recalling a teenager in Newcastle with daydreams of being an author.
The treat came when I realised that I had almost no recollection of the B-side. It was like finding some lost treasure. One of the newly discovered tracks is this one, Ex Luna Scientia.
It’s got hallmarks of early E.L.O and Queen but still carries a flavour of Numan.
Dramatis are Cedric Sharpley (drums), Chris Payne (vocals, keyboards), Russell Bell (guitars, keyboards) and Denis Haines (keyboards) who were all originally members of the backing band for Gary Numan prior to 1981; Sharpley and Payne were also members of Tubeway Army – the punk rock and new wave band that helped propel Numan into the electro stratosphere with the incredible Replicas album in 1979.
Here’s some artwork from the front and back covers of the Dramatis album:
I bought Replicas, by Gary Numan and Tubeway Army, when it came out in 1979 at the malleable age of 8. It literally warped my brain, blew out the sides of my imagination and introduced me to the cold bliss of cyberpunk concepts and electro music.
This is the album cover – synonymous with the chillingly dark track “Down in the Park” – which was the precedent theme for the whole album. Dystopian science fiction meets a new kind of punk.
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Replicas album cover: Gary Numan + Tubeway Army - click for full size
I bought this a few weeks back and it’s possibly one of the most perfect albums Numan has ever made; part of his on-going and relatively recent collaboration with Ade Fenton. Skip back to the Halcyon days of Tubeway Army through to Berserker; this is where most people can be forgiven for only thinking of Numan as being all about “Are Friends Electric” and “Cars” whilst totally missing the staggering wealth and breadth of experimental talent going into the chameleon-like shifts of style and sound. “The Fury” and “Strange Charm” brought in Numan’s fetish for science fiction, particularly cyberpunk concepts and lots of movie-samples – something hinted at with the Mad Max / post-apocalyptic vibe of “Warriors” three years earlier. Then something seemed to go a little wrong – Numan began to experiment with a rocky sound but for whatever reason, it had lost the classic agent provocateur sound of science fiction punk. The album Metal Rhythm jars like a 16-track sequencer caught taking a comfort break.
Ironic when you consider the time-frame of Trent Reznor and his Nine Inch Nails.
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Then a new sound and a string of albums with a similar and well-crafted vibe, “Sacrifice”, “Exile” and “Pure”. The science fiction theme was back in full flow, mixed with a healthy dose of anger against God laced with vocals about angels, demons and the pain of tragic loss.
And now, abruptly, after more than a decade out in the media wilderness… people beyond the fan-bunkers are talking about Numan again. In a good way. Basement Jaxx had a huge hit in 2002 with “Where’s Your Head At” courtesy of chunky samples from Numan’s track M.E.
“Jagged” and the mash-up that was “Hybrid” came through the Numan engine… feeding everyone’s hunger for the fix. All good Numan.
But “Dead Son Rising” takes everything to a whole new level. This is a quintessential masterpiece – a conclusion, if you like, of over thirty years in the dystopian science fiction realm of electro music – and the stories told by his lyrics.
It’s not an easy album to like. It doesn’t sing to you with beauty or lift you up in ecstasy, but rather it snarls with grungy overlapping guitar riffs, charges at you with metal shrieks, impales you with meaty bass throbs, lashes you with discordant vocals and the kind of melancholic chords that come from the heart of Numan’s seminal works.
Numan has found his industrial rock groove and its spectacularly awe-inspiring.
The NIN / Trent Reznor and Numanoid “reciprocal influence” has had a massive payoff.
And the album shifts. It evolves within the 11 track** lifespan. What you start with is a wholly different sound to where you end.
This is music for writing Cyberpunk or any gritty science-fiction and dark fantasy. This is music for scenes of violence, haunting dilemma, fast-paced narrative spill and the fury of a writer’s imagination when it’s on fire and in the moment of creation.
“Resurrection” – 3:24
“Big Noise Transmission” – 4:20
“Dead Sun Rising” – 4:57
“When the Sky Bleeds, He Will Come” – 4:47
“For the Rest of My Life” – 5:03
“Not the Love We Dream Of” – 5:10
“The Fall” – 4:19
“We Are the Lost” – 5:09
“For the Rest of My Life (Reprise)” – 5:44
“Into Battle” – 5:05
“Not the Love We Dream Of (Piano Version)” – 4:52
“Dead Sun Rising (Early Version)” (Bonus Track – Digital Only) – 5:53
Music for writing sci-fi cyberpunk ¦ just bought every album they’ve made – God Is An Astronaut
electro god
I love moments like this; they’re rare for a reason – because it’s not often I find something that so resoundingly fits the psycho-emotional shape of my mind or the taste of my imagination. Gary Numan does it (his incredible new album Dead Son Rising drips collaborative influence from Trent Renznor and is one of the best yet), Solar Fields and Hybrid likewise always nail that perfect blend of ingredients to create soundscapes that are vast and emotive – without distracting my creative flow (writing).
So a few months ago I was in a cafe / bar in Bristol and the background music changed as one of the staff put his own selection on. What emerged into that vast, cavernous space, made me sit up straight – ears pricking. When I asked the barman what he’d put on he looked pleased as punch, and wrote down the words “God Is An Astronaut” on the back of a till receipt.
Skip forward to Monday this week. I’d made a note in my calendar to check them out properly, a reminder popped up. A went onto YouTube, listened to a couple of tracks and had that instinctive, gut-feeling of “yep”. Skipped onto Amazon and bought every album they’ve made.
Here they are. I’ve stacked them in a folder to pick out one at a time (I like to give each album a few weeks of individual attention to build up rapport and bond, rather than playing them all at once and have no recollection of the mood they create). I’m very much looking forward to exploring them over the next few months and seeing what kind of new worlds they shape as I work through current and planned creative projects.
Electro Origins: M.E. by Gary Numan, music for a post-apocalyptic generation
This track came onto my MP3 player via random yesterday. I’d just parked up in a lonely and remote car port on the edge of this ancient Roman spa town, Bath – a cold morning with mist hanging in the air like veils of eerie atmosphere. Perfect setting for an awesome track. This is electro from 1979! Blissfully dystopian lyrics. The last machine intelligence – alive and alone. So if you’re into post-apocalyptic gaming or fiction, I’d highly recommend this as mood music.
Video: Gary Numan morphing through 30 years of God-like electro punk.
Mr Fewzebrank has compiled photo imagery of Gary Numan into a morph-montage of his various faces since Tubeway Army days and on. There is one major omission, which is from Numan’s “I Assassin” and “Dance” period – very 1930′s noir image with music that was a very eclectic fusion of jazz, electro and his distinctive vocal style. Fewzebrank put it down to difficulty bringing the hat into the sequence, so I’ve included it below.
Enjoy the montage:
“I Assassin” period – one of my favourite albums by Numan
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You might also like these Gary Numan links:
Gary Numan Beserker twenty odd years before his time – pure cyberpunk music where 80s retro meets eerie dystopian dreams – click
Gary Numan and the Tubeway Army – John Peel Sessions – Volume Two – August 1979 – click
Videos: Are friends electric? Gary Numan @ NIN gig. Very High Quality – click
I was digging through my old vinyl collection and discovered this gem that I’d not listened to for an age. Gary Numan had a massive influence on my young (8 year old) brain and my early imagination with lyrics about rape machines and electric friends – cold liquid love and dystopian themes within a strange “Cyberpunk” future. I’d say Gary Numan may have set the launch pad for the writing I’d eventually come to produce as an adult.
The 7 ” was released in 1987. Here’s some pics of the product. Click image for full res version.
Front Cover
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Inside Cover & 7"
If you’re interested in a blissfully detailed and comprehensive discography of Gary Numan you should check out this site: http://discography.garynuman.info/
Enjoy!
Djr
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You might also like these Gary Numan links:
Video: Gary Numan morphing through 30 years of God-like electro punk – click
Gary Numan Beserker twenty odd years before his time – pure cyberpunk music where 80s retro meets eerie dystopian dreams – click
Videos: Are friends electric? Gary Numan @ NIN gig. Very High Quality – click
