Our belated discoveries included some giant hits of the 80s and 90s as well as little noticed Moroccan genius and Polish post-punk
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Slapp Happy’s 1972 debut album is a curious thing. It was recorded at Faust’s Wümme studios, with the krautrock legends acting as backing band, but it sounds absolutely nothing like krautrock. It was intended as a joke – a sarcastic response to experimental musician Anthony Moore’s record label demanding something more commercial – but carries no audible trace of the smug condescension that implies. Instead, it exists in an unplaceable space of its own creation. Its melodies stick with you – the fabulous Blue Flower was covered on Mazzy Star’s 1990 debut album She Hangs Brightly – its air of oddness feels unaffected, Dagmar Krause’s voice is a plaintive delight: pop music made by minds untethered to accepted notions of pop. Alexis Petridis
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