Plus or Minus Two compiles 4 songs from Kansas City wave pioneers Short-Term Memory’s first cassette album, Every Head Needs Cleaning, with with a song each from their last cassette release Cinema Mind, and their digital retrospective, Flub Dub and Other Love Songs. This EP focuses on the group’s prescient dance-floor DIN-sync workouts which share sensibilities with contemporaneous early Detroit experiments by Juan Atkin’s Cybotron, Ron Hardy’s visionary Kikrokos tape edit, Shoc Corridor’s extended 808 exercises, and 90s Techno Pop by Haruomi Hosono. Rounding off the EP is the existential electronic soul ballad Words. Remastered from the original reels, 45rpm DMM pressing.
Kansas City, 1983: a band formed, wires connected and synapses fired. Three friends, tired of guitar/bass/drums rock started jamming with newly acquired synths and Roland TR 606. They called themselves Short-Term Memory. Thanks to the vanguard technology of the time, these electronic instruments spoke to each other, and Jim Skeel, Kevin Dooley & Jon Paul could program their instruments and ride the DIN-sync wave. Weekly jams became more ambitious, and in 1983 they released their first album Every Head Needs Cleaning on their own Silly Poodle Music label. Over the 80s members drifted in and out of the group, and they released 2 cassettes, an LP and a 7” EP. By the 90s Jim Skeel was at the helm, the only original member, and joined by Tim Higgins he continued to record in MIDI mode for a few years before pulling the plug, leaving recordings and memories that resisted the great fade-out of time, and today sound vibrant and more visionary than ever.
credits
released February 27, 2019
All songs:
Jim - Random Factors and Vocal
Kevin - More Random Factors
John - Synchronization
Engineering Jim / Kevin
Recorded at Heavenly Music in Gundam - 1983
Except songs A2 & A3
Composed, Improvised and Realized by Jim Skeel and Tim Higgins
Recorded, Edited & Mixed in Binary by Jim @ Smiling Stones south of Gundam -1993
supported by 5 fans who also own “Plus or Minus Two”
I have to say that this one is one of the finest compilation I've ever seen. The story, the cover, the pictures, the booklet and of course the music! Just magic, like a time machine. fabmeyer
supported by 5 fans who also own “Plus or Minus Two”
An outstanding slapping bassline. Spooky synthwork. Retro sci-fi atmosphere. It's futurism from a bygone era and I like it now. Catsley's Cornucopia // Lubey Lu
16 mindbending coldwave and minimalist synth tracks from ’80s Spain will take you to the disco at the end of the world. Bandcamp New & Notable Jan 7, 2023
A much-needed DIY history of harsh experimental music from the '80s, in direct response to the luxe plastic excesses of the era. Bandcamp New & Notable Nov 29, 2017
supported by 5 fans who also own “Plus or Minus Two”
A very well deserved reissue of the haunting 7" from 81', including tracks that were not released until now. Beautiful ethereal vocals and amazing synth arrangements, new age vibes and slowly captivating. Masterpiece! Claudia