{"product_id":"various-artists-trax-test-excerpts-from-modular-network-var","title":"Various Artists: Trax Test (excerpts From Modular Network) \/ Var - VINYL LP","description":"\u003cb\u003eTitle: \u003c\/b\u003eTrax Test (excerpts From Modular Network) \/ Var\u003cbr\u003e\n                                         \u003cb\u003eArtist: \u003c\/b\u003eVarious Artists\u003cbr\u003e\n                                         \u003cb\u003eLabel: \u003c\/b\u003eEcstatic\u003cbr\u003e\n                                         \u003cb\u003eProduct Type: \u003c\/b\u003eVINYL LP\u003cbr\u003e\n                                         \u003cb\u003eUPC: \u003c\/b\u003e5060165482924\u003cbr\u003e\n                                         \u003cb\u003eGenre: \u003c\/b\u003eElectronic\u003cbr\u003e\n                                         \u003cb\u003eRelease Date: \u003c\/b\u003e2017-10-06\u003cbr\u003e\n                                         \u003cb\u003eNumber of Discs: \u003c\/b\u003e2\u003cbr\u003e\n                                         \n                                         \u003cbr\u003e\n                                         \n                                         \n                                         Trax Test is the first ever survey of Italy's pioneering, visionary, and influential label and mail art collective Trax, which ran from 1981-1987 as a network for the creation of collaborative projects. The collective included a pre-NWW Colin Potter and some of the earliest work from Masami Akita, aka Merzbow, but also had deep connections with the art world; a few Trax members went on to become famous designers and artists - Ettore Sottsass of hugely influential Memphis Group even guests on vocals on the last track of the compilation. The whole selection here is rare as heck and sorely in-demand by collectors, much of it now making it's vinyl premiere some 30-odd years after the fact. With credit due to compilers Vittore Baroni of Trax and Ecstatic's avowed wave fiend, Alessio Natalizia (Not Waving) - who was also behind the Mutazione (Italian Electronic \u0026amp; New Wave Underground 1980-1988) compilation (2013) - Trax Test is a portal to the international scene which laid the grassroots for a proliferation of electronic music over the proceeding decades - a pioneering part of the infrastructure for independent music distribution which could be said to pre-echo the myriad social networks and platforms today. As Frans de Waard astutely points out in the 16-page booklet, there were no \"templates\" for this thing back then, meaning artists did everything DIY: from cutting, pasting, and Xeroxing their artwork to experimenting with recording techniques and disseminating their work; all resulting in a wonderfully daring and freeform mosaic of ideas which valued the virtues of ostensibly \"unfinished\" or open-ended work. Traces of disco, cosmic krautrock, jazz, electro-pop, and industrial noise are all tessellated across the compilation's 25 tracks, with a number of artists and the same equipment - cheap drum machines, synths, FX and tape - cropping up in various, mutant formations. This set is right up there with the best compilations from Vinyl On Demand, Light Sounds Dark, or Minimal Wave. Features: Cancer, M. A. Phillips, Nausea, Amok, Mecanique Vegetale, Daniele Ciullini, E-Coli, The Cop Killers, Peter Mayer, Rod Summers, Robin Crozier, Capitalist Pig, Biagio D'egidio, Piermario Ciani, Vittore Baroni, Nocturnal Emissions, de Rezke, Ado Scaini, Enrico Piva, Giancarlo Martina, B Sides, Colin Potter, Naif Orchestra, Merzbow (Vacation Of Merzbow Lowest Music \u0026amp; Arts), Monty Cantsin, Die Form, Utopia Production, Spirocheta Pergoli, Nostalgia, Ptose, Ddaa, Zone Verte, and I Nipoti Del Faraone. Mastered by Matt Colton at Alchemy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTracks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Various Artists","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":32303446196295,"sku":"33632643","price":32.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2976\/0132\/files\/3729877.jpg?v=1747413588","url":"https:\/\/tower.com\/products\/various-artists-trax-test-excerpts-from-modular-network-var","provider":"Tower Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}