The Varve
The Varve were an arty postpunk all-female quintet from Colorado, recording in San Francisco. Jazzy basses, alto-sax new-waveness, minimal rhythms, they sound a bit like a milder Liliput.
The Varve were an arty postpunk all-female quintet from Colorado, recording in San Francisco. Jazzy basses, alto-sax new-waveness, minimal rhythms, they sound a bit like a milder Liliput.
Vava Vol is an example of the unsung heroines of the analog minimal synth generation of the 80s. In collaboration with Zilon Lazer, she has put together a number of wonderful analog synth tapes in Montreal's DIY early 80s scene and in Berlin where she lived in the mid-80s.
Intense sax-art-punk with political lyrics, superbly performed, but equally emotionally deep. They released only one record, although members of theirs played in various other jazz bands at the time.
Extremely strange dada-punk project from 1984, The Very Things played cabaret-wave in the style of PuniLux, but with an even more conscious performativity.
Wonderful minimal DIY pop from a band, very little information is known about. Quasi Sutro, who turned out some coldwave records later, was a member.
Sheffield synth-pop band ABC actually started as a dark minimal synth, which was probably way ahead of its time for the mainstream to notice. It makes one wonder where all the political/meta elements went when they turned into ABC.
Yet another great project by Amos (a.k.a. L. Voag, real name: Jim Welton), and possibly other members, of The Homosexuals. The sound is a mixture of low-fi experiments and twisted 1950s rock & roll.
A very unique French duo that combined minimal synth, cheerful chanson and illbient, as if those things could be combined. Produced by the amazing Recommended Records.
A rather obscure character of the post-punk era, Vivien Goldman released only a few songs, while she also wrote for NME, Sounds and Melody Maker. Her first single was co-produced by John Lydon and she also recorded vocals for the Flying Lizards.
Voice Farm is one of the very few projects presented in this website to still exist today as a music and video collective. They started in the early 80s with a hypnotic minimal-synth sound that they described as “post totalitarian cinematic electro-pop” but are mostly known for their live shows. Their latest LP was recorded in 2009.
Listening to this Australian band, it is almost impossible to believe they are from 1979. Their mixture of rhythmical nonsense, electronic minimalism and post-rock attitude is way ahead of its time.
Volkstanz released only a couple of singles and they are mostly known for being included in the seminal unofficial “the new wave complex” compilations. Atonal electronic keyboards, angular guitar passages and hysterical spoken word on top of minimal rhythms: check, check, check and check.
Vono is a minimal NDW 1980 duo with a strong theatrical edge. Members are (probably related?) Volker and Norbert Goldkuhle.
Although the Vyllies’ following crowd was gothy, due to their appearance, their sound is much stranger than that of the average dark wave band. The all-girl Swiss trio recently received some relative attention as their work was included in a minimal wave compilation.