For a while now there's been a growing fascination with the sound and style of the 80s. It's natural, considering how fads of an era get recycled about every 20 years, although "revived" might be the better word for it. That cycle of rebirth for the 80s has been evident in electronic music since the beginning of the 00s and though it has always been smudged with memories of the 70s, I think it's reached a pure state now and Sonar Kollektiv's compilation called Computer Incarnations For World Peace displays this in surprising clarity.

1. Codek "Tim Toum"
2. Propaganda "18. Novembar"
3. Special Touch "Garden of Life"
4. Sylvester "I Need Somebody To Love Tonight"
5. Brian Briggs "AEO (Pt. 1+2)"
6. Will Powers "Adventures In Success"
7. Codek "Closer"
8. Ray Barretto "Stargazer"
9. Talking Drums "Courage"
10. The Fixx "Reach The Beach (dub)"
11. Colored Music "Heartbeat"
12. Jean-Luc Ponty "Computer Incantations For World Peace (LP version)"
13. Aksak Maboul "Mastoul Alakefak"

Since the 90s there's been a disproportianate trend of the masses to embrace only the biggest, best known names in music. Let's not get into a discussion of Beatle-mania and such because truly, it was a different time. Today as I'm sure has long been the case, people as a whole are quite isolated from the "fringe" talents of the music world. Back in the 50s and 60s or earlier it was one thing to exist on a restricted diet of musical talent, but with the readily available pool of talent waiting in hordes at the end of just a few keystrokes, there doesn't seem to be an excuse not to explore. In truth, the "fringe" probably comprises more than 90% of all the music being produced today. Perhaps it's a problem of having too many choices? Maybe there are too many people afraid to take a chance these days? Perhaps people's isolation stems from "major" labels no longer putting their promotional dollars behind the kind of "unknown" bands, as they did quite often in the late 70s and 80s, whose legacy would go on to change the way many of us listen to music today. Perhaps it's also because radio today is too afraid to take chances on playing music from "unknown" bands? While once upon a time you could catch some surprisingly forward thinking "specialty" shows in the evening hours of major radio channels, now there are virtually none. That kind of independent, dare I say "experimental" programming is almost exclusively the stuff of College and non-profit radio stations, and in the world of radio for the masses, that's like being told you're a second-class citizen (no offense and certainly no disrepect to college and non-profit radio - I wholeheartedly respect what you do). The internet and streaming radio stations have certainly shifted that balance, but when it comes to the masses as a whole, enlightenment is yet to come.

If you've been following Sonar Kollektiv's compilation releases lately you know to expect something eclectic that always has that unmistakable Sonar Kollektiv sound and style, and Computer Incarnations For World Peace (named after the ill translated track by Jean-Luc Ponty) is no exception. I was able to enjoy a compilation that came out at the end of last year on Compost Records called "Elaste Volume 01: Slow Motion Disco" and this collection is very much in that style. It's an homage to the lesser known side of new wave music and the even lesser known cosmic disco sound of the time.

To hear how Jazzanova/Sonar Kollektiv's Alex Barck and friend Gerd Janson of Running Back Records can dig into that 20 year old era that was the 80s and come up with a 13-track compilation that inspires a whole new appreciation of it, and sounds amazingly fresh at times, you have to know there is some incredible work being done today that the masses, and even those on the "fringe" may never know about. Until the year 2020 when someone puts it all together in a compilation that makes you wonder how you never heard these songs at the time.

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Original release date: March 26, 2007
Release date shown above is approximate.

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