Closed Circuits: Australian Alternative Electronic Music Of The 70s &80s (CD)

2017 collection. Closed Circuits: Australian Alternative Electronic Music Of The '70s & '80s, Volume 1 looks at what happened in Australia when the machines started taking over in the wake of punk in the late '70s. Synthesizers and other new technology accompanied a new DIY mentality and very quickly made their presence felt right across the pop spectrum. The collection looks at some of the underground innovators - the likes of Whirlywirld, Essendon Airport, Voigt/465 and Scattered Order - and also some of those who wedded the new sounds with more commercial instincts and created new styles of pop music, like the Dugites, Models, the Reels and the Machinations. It is a range of music that is sometimes fun, sometimes intensely serious, and always innovative. Closed Circuits features detailed liner notes and track-by-track commentary as well as an original design by Michael Trudgeon, the graphic designer for the seminal Melbourne '80s cassette fanzine Fast Forward (which was a vital outlet for this music back in the day), as well as numerous images. Closed Circuits provides a unique and invaluable look at the specifically Australian beginnings of key elements of the music of the '80s: music that is more popular and examined more closely now than at any time since it was originally made.