Title - 'Under What Flag - A Tribute to Fad Gadget'
Artist - Various
For those not in the know, Francis John "Frank" Tovey, known also by his stage name Fad Gadget, was a British avant-garde electronic musician and vocalist.
He was a proponent of both new wave and early industrial music, fusing together a unique blend of pop structured songs mixed with mechanised experimentation.
As Fad Gadget, his music was characterized by the use of synthesizers in conjunction with sounds of found objects, including drills and electric razors.
His bleak, sarcastic and darkly humorous lyrics were filled with biting social commentary toward subjects such as machinery, industrialization, consumerism, human sexuality, mass media, religion, domestic violence and dehumanization while often being sung in a deadpan voice.
Now on Under What Flag (Cleopatra Records), a smattering of underground dark electronic artists pay tribute to the truly groundbreaking British avant-garde artists, Fad Gadget.
1. Bioassay – 'Collapsing New People'
2. Blakk Glass – 'Lady Shave'
3. Blicky – 'Ricky’s Hand'
4. Canter – 'The Box'
5. Charlatan – 'Fireside Favourite'
6. Cortex Defect – 'Back To Nature'
7. Cylab – 'Swallow It'
8. George Sarah – 'Arch Of The Aorta'
9. Labrynth – 'King Of The Flies'
10. Leæther Strip – 'Back To Nature'
11. Maleagant – 'Saturday Night Special (Threatened Brick In The Wall)'
12. Manufactura – 'Insecticide'
13. Microchip Junky – 'Insecticide'
14. Missing Witness – 'The Box'
15. NOIR – 'Back To Nature'
16. Pixelpussy – 'State Of The Nation'
17. Shrapnihil – 'Insecticide'
Blending electronics with found-object noise and deadpan vocals made Fad Gadget an influence on everyone from Depeche Mode, Liars, NIN and more. Inclusive here of performances by industrial icons Leæther Strip, LA-based composer George Sarah, NOIR feat. Athan Maroulis, et al, from the very start re: Bioassay's brilliant early '80s DM vibed 'Collapsing New People', on through to Shrapnihil's more goth industrialization on 'Insecticide', Under What Flag is a flashback to an era sadly gone by; but yet still warmly welcomed in most all our hearts.
CD Purchase Link
www.CleopatraRecords.com