C.O.M.A

C.O.M.A is the first (and arguably strangest) project of Patrick Blaine who would then form Charles de Goal, a band that was rediscovered in the recent digging into dark coldwave.

Ca Lingo

German synthie weird-wave from Berlin’s post-jazz label Good Noise.

Camilla Motor

The weird ways of the NDW colud mean that the moody-looking band of the photo made wonderfully quirky disco-wave. Catchy but largely forgotten.

Cao Picke

Little is known about bizarre new-wave from eastern Europe, though bands like this testify that there was also a vibrant movement. Sonic Youth-leaning Cao Picke from Slovenia crafted angular plaid-like guitar dialogues.

Carambolage

An all-female Liliput/Kleenex-sound-a-like band from Hamburg that recorded under the label of Ton Stein Scherben. They crafted a beautiful angular art-punk, but their records remain largely unknown today.

Cardiac Arrest / Cardiacs

Cardiacs are one of the most successful bands featured in the blog, although considering how good they are, they are not nearly as known as they should be. If your cup is impossible stop-start post-punk multi-rhythmic madness, Cardiacs is your group. Cardiac Arrest is the pre-band from which Cardiacs emerged.

Carmen

Carmen is a total obscurity, on which little can be found, other than that it was a project of cabaret artist Piet Klocke, who also made music with the brilliant NDW-oddity called the Tanzdlele.

Cassiber

Extremely complex and (avant-)virtuosic jazz-punk group from Germany, founded by Heiner Goebells and Chris Cutler, Cassiber are one of the early examples of the anarchic, angry free jazz of the early 80s.

Catherine Jauniaux

Catherine Jauniaux is an important figure of the Belgian avant-garde who has not released many records, but everything in her career is exemplary from her first record with Tim Hodgkinson of Henry Cow, to the avant-cabaret of Des Airs to her 1990s Ikue Mori collaboration – a real DIY heroine for sure.

Le Cause

Extremely obscure Philadelphia-based DIY-synth band that released one 7" single probably around 82/83.

Celibates

Synth-pop obscurity from 1981 with only one release, Celibates scored some cute catchy Devo-esque pop.

Cerbere

French new wave project Cerbere released only one single in a DIY messthetics style in 1981 on the obscure Punk Records label.

cha cha guitri

A wonderful quirky electro-pop synth band from St Etienne, which was almost completely unknown until the re-release of their work in 2014.

Chandra

Chandra has a special place in the history of post-punk, as she was a simultaneous child of and producer in the scene. She recorded her first EP when she was 12 and later went on to be a member of Model Citizens and Material, amongst other projects. She has few releases but they are all precious.

‪Chemicals Made From Dirt

Any band that makes a song called "Beatniks Lookin For Tourists‬" deserves our attention for sure. In their own words it was "an avant absurd experiment...We liked the idea of breaking down meaning to the point of abstraction and then reinterpreting it based on personal associations and meaning rather than having any absolute meaning. Eventually we got stuck in our own muck, but of course we always were!"

Chrisma

A great Italian mix of post-punk and minimal synth that even was mildly famous in their native country and were featured in the Coctail D’ Amore show presented by Amanda Lear! Their sound is super-fresh and they were recently re-released.

Christiane F.

Christiane F. only released two 12” singles in the early 80s, but those are of the finest Tom Tom Club-esque post-funk quality. She eventually became more known for her autobiography and acting appearances.

Christian Lunch

Obscure American post-punk artist whose mixing of minimal-synth and punky vox is as contagious as Fad Gadget or Suicide, but alas it wasn’t meant to be.

CKC

CKC’s output was only a 7” single, although their members all remained (some remain) prolific in the minimal electronic scene. This is another example of the quirkier minimal-electro type, before the industrial sound took over.

Clive Oxford

Spoken word / minimal synth obscurity from the UK, a voice listing fading stars, a 7” single lost forever.

C. Memi

An obscure character of the japanese undeground that released a bunch of minimal synth beauties in the early 80s, now selling for hundreds.

Cold Dogs in the Courtyard

A lost single by a totally unknown 1982 band, “Video is Not Art” is a great example of minimal post-pop spoken-word piece that comes as a wonderfully harsh critic of the medium of video art. Probably made by art students, it is very hard to find information about this band.

Colin Potter

An electronic music pioneer, Colin Potter is a sound-artist and engineer who has worked with a plethora of projects, such as Nurse with Wound and Current 93. His early minimal-pop work is nevertheless fairly unknown.

Collective Horizontal

1979 UK DIY messthetics of the highest quality: non-musical vocal delivery, detuned instruments, scruffy recording, nerdy absurdity, all in all: wonderful.

Come On

A wonderful, though largely forgotten late-70s no-wave project from New York, Come On are like the dysfunctional brother to the Talking Heads or what would happen if you put early-Talking Heads in the washing machine. David Byrne was apparently a fan of theirs, too.

Comix

Comix’s quirky electropop is so incredibly catchy that it is impossible to think that they were not major stars. A possible explanation is that they were too strange to be pop and too pop to be experimental. So they are here.

Conceputol

Conceputol only released one 7” single, but their post-punk mix that combines the quirky rhythms of Devo and the inventiveness of the Flying Lizards, makes you wish they had released more.

Confusional Quartet

Italian band Confusional Quartet delivers a fine sound of stop-start collage-rock in the style of Cardiacs and the stranger edges of Devo. They were, also, brave enough to be primarily instrumental.

Cos

Cos started before punk as a jazzrock fusion band in the 70s, however some of their early 80s output with reggae influence, bizarre vocals and angry chordal changes is very much on the vein of the stranger ends of new wave.

Crash Course in Science

One of the most exciting groups of the coldwave era, Crash Course in Science, mixed minimal rhythms, found sounds and dada/surreal words to create an irresistible mix. They were finally rediscovered a few years ago.

The Cravats

Although largely unknown, the Cravats were actually pioneers in the sense that they started alongside all the others in 1977, but were the first to proclaim being neo-dadaists, using strange but politically cutting lyrics, funny performances and so on.

Crime of the Kitchen

No information whatsoever can be found about this Belgian flexipop minimal-synth-meets-glockenspiels female-vox beauty. They participated only on one Cassette compilation.