Music has a time and a place. Early 80's post punk eclecticism gave rise to an independence of mind and spirit which opened doors to infinite possibilities. No longer confined by the strait jacket of major labels and imbued with the confidence and imagination of a new era new sounds appeared. The spirit of punk engaged with an aspiration for a wider musical vision and a willingness to experiment with sound. The era of home made cassette music allowed people to share and copy - and more importantly to create. This new era of creativity was linked to a re-discovery of electronic music and the revived interest in the European music of bands such as Kraftwerk and Can and the sound-scapes created by Brian Eno...
Malcolm Neon, born Malcolm Gwyon, lived and worked in Aberteifi (Cardigan) on the west coast of Wales, a town also associated with the power-pop group Ail Symudiad and the singular post-punk outfit Datblygu, with whom Neon would later collaborate. In the early 1980s he founded Casetiau Neon, the first DIY underground tape label in Wales, releasing 18 cassettes between 1980 and 1985. His only vinyl appearance during this period was a single track on a Welsh-language EP alongside Y Ficar, Y Diawled, and Eryr Wen. Everything else was cassette-only, in small editions, distributed locally and through personal networks. The music is sung entirely in Welsh and absorbs the influence of Kraftwerk, Brian Eno, and Can through a sensibility entirely its own: angular, emotional, melodically direct, shot through with the particular character of the Welsh language and the grey Irish Sea coastline of Ceredigion.
This double LP with bonus 7" (VOD150MG), 1980–1985, is the complete first vinyl presentation of Neon's work, all drawn from the Casetiau Neon releases. The bonus 7" includes a track by Meibion Mwnt, a collaboration with Wyn Davies of Datblygu, whose Seren China (1983) Boomkat described as anticipating Super Furry Animals and Gruff Rhys. "Seriously our heads are spinning after ingesting this one," they wrote. A major reissue of a wholly unknown corner of British minimal synth history. Edition of 500 numbered copies in a gatefold sleeve.
