WOW, quite the collection here! Run by British enthusiast Robert Maycock, Mindscan was a tape imprint mainly focused on compilations which collected together tracks from the UK underground, drawing on post-industrial, proto-techno/house, electro/new beat, ambient and dub. The wealth of extremely obscure music covered across the various volumes of the UK Electronics and Beatronic tapes tells yet another story of that era, though of course much of this music is near impossible to find, never having been made in great number in the first instance. French label Delodio have now pieced together their own compilation, selecting eight tracks from those archives to provide what is seemingly just a very surface level scratch of a broad-minded label. Being so short, the quality control is inevitably extremely high, essentially serving to throw new light on the highly diverse landscape of late 80s UK electronic music. Some of this is ready for the dance, sinewy and boisterous DIY ravers (Dreamcore'a acid-y Deep in U), and some of it, as with the absolutely mesmerising Richard Leake and Patternclear tracks, are on their own plain entirely, presaging afterhours listening while also suggesting its own autodidactic avant garde. Essential documents first time around, now more needed than ever. The original fan culture.
