Perfect punk band Zounds and 60s Italian electronica reissued

One of the best albums from the still rudely criminally neglected British early 80s punk scene is 1982’s ‘The Curse of Zounds by Zounds’, and in August it will be reissued. Big fans, or those with the mild Asbergers required to keep on top of such things (or, indeed, those with access to FACT, who broke this story) will remember that Optimo put the Reading band, who split in 1983, put Demystification on their superb 10 Inches Of Fear compilation. For those as yet unaware, we cannot stress the loveliness of this album enough, and implore you to buy it.

Another gem was unearthed this week by Italy’s Die Schachtel, who are putting rich editions of the work of two pioneers of Italian electronic music, Grupo NPS (Nuove Proposte Sonore), a collective formed by Theresa Rampazzi and Ennio Chiggio in Padua, Italy in 1964. Fans of experiments using “modulated oscillators, white noise generators, octave-band filters, amplitude modulator, and, later, a 2500 ARP synthesizer” – and who isn’t? – should head to Boomkat with haste. Also on offer is a compilation of the work of Franca Sacchi, a composer who, like Daphne Oram, saw in early electronic music New Age-y stuff as well as dope noises is seriously worth hearing, if you’re into this sort of thing. Boomkat describes En as “four extended tracks [that] move from longer, sustained drones with a cavernous sense of space, through treated strings and spectral apparitions, culminating with one extended piece of bleeping, ringing and organically morphing aural sorcery.” If that sounds like your bag, buy them here.