E-Man - E-Man

  Quote

E-Man was the first apparition of Geir Jenssen – these days better known as Biosphere. This tape, originally released in 1984 on Likvidér # LIKV 4025, features contributions from Per Martinsen (Mental Overdrive) and Nils Johansen (Bel Canto).

 

All tracks recorded on a Teac 4-track cassette recorder at Elverhøy Studenthjem, Tromsø and Nord-Norsk Studenthjem, Oslo, Norway between 1983-1984.

 

All tracks written by Geir Jenssen except: A1 written by Jenssen/Martinsen, A4 written by Jenssen/Johansen/Larsen, A6 and B4 written by Jenssen/Larsen, B1 written by Jenssen/Høyer/Larsen. Geir Jenssen: electronics, Ragnar Larsen: vocals and bass (A4, A6, B1, B4), Frank Jensen: vocals (A1, B5), Per Martinsen: electronics (A1, B7).

 

Illustration – SavX.

 

 

Reviews

 

Aquarius (USA):

 

A long lost eighties artifact from UK tape label The Tapeworm, released along with three other strange and wonderful tapes, to be found elsewhere on this week's list.

 

E-Man is probably not a name familiar to most folks, and Geir Jenssen might not be either, but odds are, most aQ customers and drone obsessives do know Jennsen by his 'other' name, Biosphere!

 

But before you freak out and nab one of these expecting some sort of icy grim minimal ambience, be prepared, this was originally released in 1984, and is a whole 'nother beast. E-Man specializes in gloomy synth driven new wave, with crooned dramatic vocals, programmed electronic percussion, Joy Division-y basslines, Kraftwerk like melodies, wicked cool, but definitely of its time. Although folks who have been digging on the recent resurgence of new wave / cold wave, should for sure check this out, cuz this is the real deal, warm whirring swooshes of synthesizer, "Rockit" like rhythms, electronic drums, even some scratching, a little bit funky, but also cold and clinical, space-y here and there, with haunting snippets of found sounds, mysterious voices, but all would around the groups propulsive sound. There are some moments that hint at the Biosphere to come, a little more spacey and abstract, but even those tracks are strangely new wave-y, almost new age-y actually, and often lead right into some stiff outerspace robo-funk, usually overlaid with the above mentioned reverb drenched croon. Not at all what we expected, but we're totally digging it.

 

Bad ass Savage Pencil artwork too...

link: http://touchshop.org/product_info.php?cPath=78&products_id=354