New wave wasn’t just a term applied to postpunk power pop. It was used in the early 80s when anyone from jazzers to disco producers were experimenting with the computers and samplers starting to make their presence felt. This was a time when technological advancements meant exploration with often exhilarating and mindblowing results, giving birth to strains such as electro and Italo-disco, which were like otherwordly funk excursions for the mind and body.
Some of these experiments gripped Jazzanova’s Alex Barck (who was overjoyed to have unearthed a bass-propelled boogie classic, Talking Drums’ Courage, in a Belgian record shop) and Running Back’s Gerd Janson sufficiently to rope together a gamut of rare or obscure gems they’ve tracked down over the years. Along with new bloods, veteran innovators revelled in the possibilities of analogue technology, here represented by jazz-fusion violinist Jean-Luc Ponty (sounding like he’s jamming with Manuel G�ttsching) and iconic Latin percussionist Ray Barretto. Underground electronic dance foragings from Will Powers, Sylvester, Codek and Yugoslavia’s Propaganda pulsate alongside. There are many startling moments of cross-fertilisation here which would soon settle into safely labelled musical boxes. Back then this was excitingly new and much still sounds fresh today.
