Amber Dean
I was only an infant when this was originally released and it still sounds fresh as ever to me. Great early techno and new beat vibes.
Favorite track: Into The Desert.
Lhasa is the brainchild of Alain Raes from Siegen, Germany. As a teenager he was inspired by Tubeway Army's “Are Friends Electric” and Art Of Noise’s “Beatbox”. In 1985 he began collecting analog equipment (Prophet-5; Oberheim OB-X; Linn LM-1) as digital synthesizers had started to become more popular. In 1986, New Beat was born in Belgium. Dancers tapped into the darker side of synth pop, and DJs would play 45 rpm records at 33 with the pitch control set to +8. Alain was playing in New Wave bands and had started production work and synth programming for other acts.
In 1988 he self-released the debut Lhasa single ‘Acetabularia’ / ‘Acetatechno’, with help from Kris Tremmery on vocals and concept. The record combined the icy melodies of Gary Numan and John Foxx with with the mechanical rhythms of Detroit techno and EBM. Thematically, both tracks revolve around the end of life on Earth, and include samples from ‘Dr. Strangelove’. For this first time reissue, we’ve added 4 bonus tracks rescued from a 1990 recording session DAT tape. These demos show further development of the Lhasa sound with updated instruments (Roland D-20, Yamaha TX16W, Korg 707), faster tempos, and menacing proto-rave energy. All songs have been mastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley.
credits
released April 5, 2019
(C) 2019 Dark Entries Records
ALL SONGS WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY LHASA
Keyboards & programming: ALAIN RAES
All tracks written & composed by ALAIN RAES
Additional voices & concept: KRIS TREMMERY
Engineering: LUDO CAMBERLIN
Produced by ALAIN RAES/KOEN EGGERS/KRIS TREMMERY
Recorded at Studio Square Brussels
Equipment: Roland D-20, S-10 SH-1; Yamaha TX16W, CS-15, SPX 90, REX50, Rev 1; Korg 707, DDM-220 DDD-1; Sequential Circuits Prophet-5; Oberheim OB-X; Linn LM-1
Remastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios, 2018
Sleeve design: I. SCHEER & KRIS TREMMERY
Photo graphics: PS. ABBATIELLO
Layout: Eloise Leigh
Influences: Convair B-36, Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD), Edward Teller, Douglas Trumbull, Don Siegel and Max Headroom.
THANKS TO: Luc F., Guy A., Our Parents, Mister Trax & The other D.J's, Gary Numan (see you soon), J.M., Miguel, Bruno & Koen