O Yuki Conjugate - 1983 Unearthed

O Yuki Conjugate re-activate their Final Image imprint with this latest re-examination of their seemingly bottomless early archives. The four LP & DVD Ambiguism boxset from 2010 was such a comprehensive collection the assumption was that all that was worthy of re-assessment had already been excavated. 1983 Unearthed definitively states otherwise, ten tracks that open a different window into the history and process of what I still believe to be one of the great undersung acts of British (or anywhere) post-punk/industrial history. Just teenagers at the time of their creation, the group were understandably in a period of creative flux and enquiry, and the music included here reflects the bridge they were building between the Cabaret Voltaire/Throbbing Gristle adjacent electronics of their debut tape and the post-industrial dystopian ambience of debut LP, Scene in Mirage. The reality is that much of this music seems to have been made at the same time - indeed, the recordings that make up that first album date to 1982 - which is revealing of both how purposeful those original releases were in their construction and how many ideas were floating around. The joys of youthful discovery! 1983 Unearthed is sequenced in such a way so as to reflect this aesthetic evolution, the first half more aligned with the Cabs/TG/ClockDVA sound, the second half mutating into the tribal, minimalist arrangements we'd see them more fully embrace on 1987's Into Dark Water, and the point they start to link 23 Skidoo with Hassell and Eno. And these are no mere footnotes or afterthoughts. Should this have served as the only document of O Yuki Conjugate's existence, we'd be lamenting a great lost record. Fortunately, it's instead another twist in the tale and, for my money, further evidence of confirmed legendary status. No minor addendum, 1983 Unearthed is essential text.
 
FFO: Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle, ClockDVA, 23 Skidoo, Jon Hassell