LAID BACK GET LAID BACK

These two guys are no ordinary guys. This was taken way back in the 1980s, when pioneering "post-punk" (what the hell, Wikipedia?) duo Laid Back first formed. They're so much less post-punk than anything else. In fact, I'd go as far to say that they were the deciding force, a leading, influential voice, in the explosion of synth/electronic music of the early 80s, and as a result came out on top. Their ultra famous song 'White Horse' is so à la mode even for 2012. It didn't take me long to find this online whatsoever - listen to the glitch, synth, drum machine, strange lyrics goodness below.

I cut the video because it's too old. I prefer listening to it than watching them pretend to play it.



I keep going on about Hot Chip. I know I do. But this one above could be them - this time, it really could be them.

John Guldberg and Tim Stahl make up Laid Back. Recently the pair have decided that it would be cool to release some things from their early days that were never released back then. Here's what they said about it:

After “White Horse” being a track indeed defining our sound, we thought it
would be interesting to dig out left-overs to fulfill a documentation of
that period - crucial for us at the time. We were still innocent
newcomers, without actually knowing to be creating a new sound!

Recently, that left-over material was transferred from analogue to digital
and, to stay as true as possible to original intentions, we only added
vocals, bass and drumbeats ahead of a final mix.

And here's how it sounds.



It starts gently with this floating synth that is gradually interspersed with some steel drums, which I love. The bass synth then comes in properly and we're away with heavy beat. It's meaty, dissonant, and sounds like something from Streets of Rage (stage 5 to be exact). The repeating vocal "Laid back..." gives the song, funnily enough, a laid back quality. Those steel drums keep punctating the song throughout. It's electro with a powerful kick.

This song is the first taken from Laid Back's upcoming mini album COSYLAND, set to be released 7th May this year.

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• Laid Back on SoundCloud
• Read all about Laid Back on Wikipedia
• Myspace page for Laid Back, too
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