[quote author=“peter_m”]it is the classical marketing rule: high request / no possibility to buy a reissue / bootleg.
in this case, i think a bootleg is necessary because John Bender is aware that people desperately want to reissue his records but is unwilling. at least that’s my understanding—several years ago someone was selling some originals on Ebay and said he got them directly from JB… in talking to the guy more, he said that he tried many times to get JB to look into reissuing but that he was against it. i’m going to buy the bootlegs, but if somebody manages to reissue them officially later on, i’ll certainly buy those too. i honestly think he could be as respected and widely revered as Jandek or something if people only knew - it’s not even “wave” music it’s like an entity onto itself…. all of the other minimal synth artists sound like they were influenced by Kraftwerk, Numan, OMD, Depeche, Fad Gadget, etc but those records sound like perhaps Mr Bender never heard another electronic record besides maybe some Kraut
[quote author=“reactorlgtn”][quote author=“solvent”]besides maybe some Kraut
Maybe the Faust cover was recorded after he’d heard Faust, yes…
what i meant was that those are the only electronic records that sound like they might have some direct influence on his sound. obviously the cover makes it clear that he was aware of those records. but how many other “minimal synth” artists could you imagine had never even heard Man Machine or any of the other classic widely known synthpop records? i’m sure that he had, but you can’t really discern it from the music
I agree with solvent here. I know I have tried to contact Mr. Bender unsuccessfully many times. I would LOVE to reissue the albums, but it seems I won’t be so lucky. I even tried to contact his son’s band through Myspace (pernicious knifs). They won’t even reply. Maybe he enjoys that his records sell for 400 a copy on ebay. A shame really as I agree he could be the equivalent of Jandek or other mysterious treasure… Looks like it’s bootleg time for me too. Hopefully they aren’t lousy vinyl to CD to vinyl conversions.
i just saw this too! well it’s fantastic news IMO - if anyone deserves the VOD treatment it’s JB. i bought the bootlegs (great quality BTW) - but i will still buy this of course - the bootlegs will be my DJ copies and the box will be treasured at home
i just noticed there is already a detailed description:
JOHN BENDER „extended - 1979-1983“ “(Title to be defined) 6LP/DVD-Box John Bender is without any doubt, the protagonist, if not the inventor of a whole musical-genre known as Cold Minimal Wave/Synth. His synthesizer-sounds already carried elements of techno and acid-beats while techno was still to be invented a decade later. His voice and his partially sentimental and mourning lyrics made his music to something outstanding and extraordinary, unheard before in this mixture. His three self-released Lp’s „I don’t remember now (1980), Plaster Falling (1981) and Pop Surgery (1983) are a must-have for every serious collector and interested person in such cold-wave/minimal-synth/techno-sounds. This Box-Set released in the fourth quarter of 2011 delivers an extended but almost complete overview of recordings built around his three released Lp’s which have been compiled from various tape-sources recorded between 1979 and 1983 including the tapes „Plaster: the Prototypes“ (1981), Packing List (1982), At the 4th Street Cage 1/83 (1983) & Do the Cage (1983)
