The Analog Aurora
aka Early 80s Electronic Innovators from Vancouver and Montreal
I’ve been meaning to do a deeper dive into legacy electronic acts from Canada’s 80s scene.
Yes, I’ve discussed the heavy hitters commercially like Spoons, Men Without Hats, and Strange Advance.
But below the surface were a few other influential acts from scenes in Vancouver [on Canada’s Pacific Coast] and Montreal [a beautiful, cosmopolitan, and bilingual city in central Canada].
In many ways, these two cities are worlds apart. But musically, both can lay claim to forward thinking and risk taking musical environments.
Let’s start out west with three degrees of separation.
VANCOUVER
Images In Vogue
Formed in 1981, IIV evolved from a Kraftwerk-inspired sound to more of a New Romantic feel. They were done by 1988 after 3 EPs and 2 full-length efforts.
Do visit YouTube to catch the original video for this if you can, it is amazing, and blocked by their short-sighted record label.
Meanwhile, beat master Kevin Crompton cashed in his chips in 1985 to work full-time on his side hustle - a much less radio friendly act known as…
Skinny Puppy
True pioneers of the industrial sound, Crompton [aka cEvin Key] added vocalist Kevin Ogilvie [aka Nivek Ogre] in 1983 to unleash a soundscape that we had not heard before. At least not by two dudes named Kevin.
Darker, tape loop and sample-heavy, and with stage shows that were more like horror-core, it’s safe to say that Crompton found a different avenue for his creativity.
Meanwhile, Bill Leeb - who went on tour with Skinny Puppy and was slated for a permanent spot on the roster, opted to go a different route with…
Front Line Assembly
Leeb recruited Rhys Fulber and Michael Balch to get his project off the ground in 1986. Balch would leave for Ministry, but not before helping get a bunch of FLA material finished.
Leeb and Fulber have been the most prolific of these Vancouver bands, with countless singles, LPs and other side projects released as recently as 2015.
MONTREAL
Rational Youth
Effectively Tracy Howe and whatever group of collaborators were around, Rational Youth have had many incarnations.
Howe moved in the same circles as Men Without Hats’ Ivan Doruschuk, sharing a band named Heaven Seventeen [not that one] and Howe credited on MWH’s first EP.
Rational Youth bubbled under with three of their 1985 singles from the ‘Heredity’ album. But I’m gonna go back a bit further for something that was a bit less mainstream than those tracks - the exquisite ‘Saturdays In Silesia’.
Trans-X
When Pascal Languirand wants to get dancy, he lays down a sick track and then finds a vocalist to sing for him.
Sadly, Trans-X has never been as popular here at home than abroad. The project has been wildly successful in Europe with a variety of vocalists [including his wife, Lady D] taking the lead over the years.
Still active, their biggest song is a ditty known as ‘Living On Video’. Shoutout to Laurie Gill on the mic. [There was also a French-language version ‘Vivre Sur Vidéo’].
You must absolutely turn up and watch this video artefact from 1985. Why did our early videos always have TVs in them, anyway?
Awesome article, never knew Images started in Vancouver. I saw them a few times.
Still have my Front Line Assembly tour t-shirt.
Keep up the great work!
This is great, especially because you’re highlighting the western part of your country, a region I always struggle to get a handle on musically. I know Skinny Puppy and Front Line Assembly, but I didn’t realise they were from BC. I also didn’t know Images in Vogue. Rational Youth and Trans-X are well-known, of course.