Vazz / La Bambola Del Dr Caligari - Whisper Not / The Wrong Holiday

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5...according to our Brian on Thu 02 Feb, 2012.

Now this is something quite special, I was intrigued by the brief clips I managed to crowbar off Boomkat's Fort Knox-like cryptic site of esoteric goodies and as far as the collection of tracks by Vazz go I am not remotely disappointed. This Glasgow outfit flitted around the post punk and new romantic scene in the early 80s and really do sound like they've crash landed in a time capsule and come wearily knocking on your door at five in the morning. Imagine how startled they'll be when you're stood there bemused in your dressing gown eating a pot noodle, the one thing they'd never expect to have lasted from those halcyon days! So yeah, wild funky bass lines, ethereal moods, 23 Skidoo, shimmering dubby textures, Tuxedomoon, psychotropic funk, Antena, puttering dream machines (sic), Chris & Cosey.....thinking all these wonderful things! Hey, one song is like Young Marble Giants remixed by Sun Araw whilst A Certain Ratio lounge in a hammock gazing through an opium fog. Quite startling really how these tracks have just sat there in little nook somewhere. Look Stew, I said NOOK! Flip over for a taste of Italy's La Bambola Del Dr Caligari who are a more enigmatic proposition but no less engaging. Slightly eerier sounding, not surprising from the sinister name and the vocals sound really bizarre like the echo'd intonations from a coven of witches. 'Strawberry Creeps' resembles swirling seductive darkwave electro with a slightly mystical Eastern element to it. subsequent tracks are murky, brooding gothic things with torch song vocals, funeral drum machine and frosty tendrils of sombre synth. The track Satan's Pride is an odd ponderous number with a spoken word vocal and some fabulous escalating synth action. It's like a PVC clad Lali Puna almost. So for my money, the Vazz tracks are UTTERLY indispensable and the Italian outfit's songs are also a most intriguing bonus. A real archive surprise this baby....

- The 4th release from archival imprint Forced
Nostalgia

- The A-side features an absolutely incredible ‘Lost’
album of Casio-Pop from 1982.

- The B-side features 5 tracks of mid 80’s gloom-pop
and slow-wave from Italy’s La Bambola Del Dr
Caligari

- 500 copies only, cut at D&M Berlin

- A Must for followers of early 80’s work by The Cure,
Cocteau Twins, Throbbing Gristle and Antena.

The Forced Nostalgia label continues to expand and inform
with the release of this split release featuring 1980's outfits
Vazz and La Bambola Del Dr Caligari.

The A-side features six tracks from Glasgow's Vazz, a duo
consisting of Anna Howson & Hugh Small. "Whisper Not"
was recorded at the legendary Hellfire Club in Glasgow in
1982 and was eventually released on limited edition cassette,
before the band were signed up to appear on the 2xLP
compilation "Antelopes & Alligators" on Operation Twilight - a
sublabel of Belgium's infamous Les Disques Du Crépuscules.
For one reason or another the compilation never materialised
- but the reference to Crépuscules should give you some idea
of where Vazz figure in the scheme of things. "Whisper Not"
really is an astonishing collection of tracks - a small but
perfectly formed companion piece of sorts to Antena's
"Camino Del Sol" (which appeared in the same year),
with Anna Howson's distinctive voice accompanying guitars,
bass, drum machine, percussion and the Casio MT-30
keyboard - a classic configuration. But what sets Vazz apart
from their contemporaries is Hugh Small's forward thinking
production signatures - something that's most evident on
"Cast Reflections" - the standout track on this mesmerising
set. The way the drum machine and guitar have been treated
and compressed sounds like something from The Cure's
"Faith" album reworked in a current electronic studio - it's just
a profoundly beautiful and affecting piece. It really is hard to
believe that these tracks have languished in the archives until
now.

The B-side features Italy's La Bambola Del Dr Caligari and 5
tracks recorded between 1983 and 1986. The band were a
short-lived minimal synth trio from Bologna, Italy, consisting
of the exotically named Judy Asquith (voice), Aurelium Spitty
(sound engineer, synth, drum machines, effects) and
J.R. Ewing (keyboards, effects). They recorded their first
demo tape in early 1984 and sporadically played live in
1985/86, eventually arranging the soundtrack for an
installation at the art gallery Number Zero (Bologna) in Feb
1986. Several self-produced tapes were recorded over the
years but were never properly released. In 2005 Roberto
Napoli mastered all the recordings from the analogue tapes
and kindly assisted in editing the selections made by Forced
Nostalgia. The result features some of the finest lost-and-
found musical gems from the '80s gloom-pop era, finally
available for public consumption 25 years after they were
recorded..