The excavation of the endless European tape underground of the 80s continues as such with Infinite Expanses's first time vinyl edition of a Nostalgie Éternelle cassette that first started doing the rounds in 1989. Given the attention afforded to music of this kind over the past decade or two, the profile of the German duo feels unusually muted, especially as they were quietly prolific, the subject of numerous split releases since their mid 80s conception and a handful of more contemporary outings. At That Time is an effective survey of their muse, adjacent to the minimal wave constructions of acts like SM Nurse and Pseudo Code, the industrial mechanisms of Portion Control, and the more crepuscular decay of shadowy outliers like Caroline K and Nocturnal Emissions. So familiar are the signifiers now, you'll immediately understand what's at play on first spin, and yet there you'll be coming back for more time and again. What is it with this kind of music that's so enduringly appealing? Perhaps the end of the world aesthetic is an eternally seductive notion? No man left on the shelf in the war against himself and all that. Or maybe the sound of two people from nowheresville (Leer actually, a city in north west Germany otherwise notable for the Bünting Tea Museum and Leeraner Miniaturland) coming together to make such a home-brewed, self-directed racket portentous with doom and longing is a romantic pursuit that speaks to something animal inside us all? Whatever it is, you've now the fun of At That Time to help you work it out.
FFO: Caroline K, Nocturnal Emissions, SM Nurse, Portion Control, Pseudo Code