Various – Abstract Magazine Issue 5

[I've only just bought this, but so glad I did - it brings many of my 80's vinyl together. When you see a magazine like this, it makes you realise how musically fertile the period was. All of the bands have such unique soundscapes and they are clearly enjoying a freedom which seemed more prevalent in the 80s. It is much more difficult now for music as radical as this to get noticed.]

This is an amazing anthology of 80's indie music at a critical period. I say it loosely: for me 80's indie was best from 1980-84. And this 85 vinyl + magazine captured some of the best (but not necessarily most obvious) of this period. Check the vinyl playlist for an example of the contents.

Even the ads are great. On the front inner page is a double ad for Cocteau Twins' Aikea Guinea and Wolfgang Press' Water; both being 12" EPs which 4AD was famous for (almost kind of mini-albums which held real treasures). The adverts are all relevant music ads. For instance, later in the magazine, there are two short reviews for Cocteau Twins' Aikea Guinea and Wolfgang Press' Water.

There is a long-column review of Coil’s Scatology which gives a few comment of the Psychic TV history. Gordon Sharp of cindytalk gives an interview and presents a specially created piece of music for the vinyl. I've read the Swans interview, which is very personal and fresh. Toward the end of the Swans article it turns into a kind of hardcore sex fantasy which reads like a weird hybrid of Jungian psychoanalysis and extreme literature (not kidding, this could be Bataille). It’s extraordinary.

The magazine is beautifully curated, put together with sharp observation. But keen on preserving an ‘underground’ rag mag feel. The typeface is courier. I have noticed the spelling isn’t all there. For instance, for the short review of Aikea Guinea, “ . . . suddenly you’re engulphed in sweetly scented pastiche”, but that all adds to what it all essentially IS.

And that is just the magazine, there is also the 12” vinyl. All of the tracks are unique to this compilation, either remixes or “recorded specifically for Abstract”, + one demo and two live tracks.

If you buy this, make sure you get it with both the vinyl and the magazine.This is a real labour of Love for 80’s Indies.

If you have kept your copy inside its original paper sleeve within the original hard PVC outer sleeve all these years, probably best to check what your vinyl looks like now - you may not like what you see! Mine has that mottled look caused by the PVC outgassing. Still seems to play OK, but with surface noise.

Hit and odd miss compilation with some interesting remixes and live recordings.
Highlights being AATT, Wolfgang Press and Jazz Butcher.
The included magazine is a joy. Recommended.