We will have a bunch of great stuff to get to this week from Seattle’s outstanding minimal synth, etc. label, Medical Records, but today we kick things off with their awesome reissue of IKO‘s ultra-rare ’83 LP, due out on limited edition vinyl September 25th. IKO was an all-synth trio from Canada, whose members met while working in the music department at the University of Montreal. ’83 was originally released on the Canadian label Manhattan Formula in 1982, and the trio would end up breaking apart soon after it came out. Long out of print, copies of the record in the past, many of them un-official bootlegs, could easily cost you over $100. Thanks to Medical Records, ’83 has been EQ’ed and mastered from a transfer of the original analog tapes, and that means that on a track like “Digital Delight“, the proto-techno beats pack a generous helping of bass, as they back-up the cuts more melancholy synth-pop strains. Future shock ennui pervades IKO’s early lyrical meditations on just what digital culture might look like here, as a mono-toned voice muses on “electronic dancing”, “external emotion triggers”, and other meldings of human and machine. A propulsive punk energy lends “Digital Delight” an antsy, paranoid vibe that eventually builds itself into some sick, disco-destroying rhythms, along the way sounding like the kind of underground cut that would lay the groundwork for techno’s more sci-fi take on dance music! Look for the record to come out on yellow and black “half and half” vinyl, with interviews and retrospective from Seattle music editor Dave Segal!
