Sparks in a Dark Room (original) (raw)
Sparks in a Dark Room is the second studio album by Dutch experimental electronic post-punk/ultra band Minny Pops. After signing to Factory Benelux in 1982 following their "noisy" and "goofy" debut album Different Measures, Drastic Movement (1979), the band settled into a new, less aggressive sound featuring influences of industrial music and funk. Recording Sparks in a Dark Room in late 1981, the band headed for a more clinical and clean sound. Considered a high point of the ultra movement, the record features cold, electronic tones and darkly humorous lyrics from lead singer and songwriter Wally van Middendorp.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| dbo:abstract | Sparks in a Dark Room is the second studio album by Dutch experimental electronic post-punk/ultra band Minny Pops. After signing to Factory Benelux in 1982 following their "noisy" and "goofy" debut album Different Measures, Drastic Movement (1979), the band settled into a new, less aggressive sound featuring influences of industrial music and funk. Recording Sparks in a Dark Room in late 1981, the band headed for a more clinical and clean sound. Considered a high point of the ultra movement, the record features cold, electronic tones and darkly humorous lyrics from lead singer and songwriter Wally van Middendorp. Released by Factory Benelux in May 1982, the album was not a commercial success but its critical standing has become increasingly positive. The album has since been regarded as a lost classic. Uncut described it as an "under-the-radar-masterpiece" whilst Careless Talk said it "places Minny Pops squarely within the realm of an early 80s interface that pitched accessible pop conveniences and electronic experimentation in the same arena." Today it is considered part of the origins of dark wave and industrial dance music. The album was remastered and re-released in March 2003 by LTM with numerous bonus tracks, and by Factory Benelux in March 2014 with even more bonus material, namely a live album recorded at the Melkweg in 2012. (en) |
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| dbp:align | right (en) |
| dbp:artist | dbr:Minny_Pops |
| dbp:cover | SparksInADarkRoom.jpg (en) |
| dbp:genre | dbr:Electropop dbr:Electronic_dance_music dbr:Electronic_music dbr:Cold_wave_(music) dbr:Post-punk dbr:Industrial_dance_music dbr:Ultra_(music) (en) |
| dbp:label | dbr:Factory_Benelux |
| dbp:length | 2128.0 |
| dbp:name | Sparks in a Dark Room (en) |
| dbp:nextTitle | Poste Restante (en) |
| dbp:nextYear | 1983 (xsd:integer) |
| dbp:prevTitle | Drastic Measures, Drastic Movement (en) |
| dbp:prevYear | 1979 (xsd:integer) |
| dbp:producer | Minny Pops (en) |
| dbp:quote | "The Minny Pops were right in league with Joy Division, The Normal and Cabaret Voltaire. Sparks in a Dark Room is another uniquely electronic album to add to the canon of great music being offered up in the early 80s. They combine pulsing electronics with insistent, bass guitar, guitar noises out of the PiL songbook and keyboard melodies borrowed from sci-fi soundtracks straight from Tangerine Dream. This sound was all imbued with Wally's disembodied, remote, droning lead vocals - singing lyrics which are window dressing to the over all feel." (en) "For a scene dominated by po-faced dullards, Minny Pops are welcome light relief. Although too eccentric to make sense of their regular comparisons to Interpol, this lavish expansion of their second album from 1982 is a good starting point, thanks to its Cabaret Voltaire pulse and Wally van Middendorp's tongue-in-cheek dark monologues." (en) |
| dbp:recorded | Late 1981 (en) |
| dbp:released | May 1982 (en) |
| dbp:rev | dbr:Allmusic Muzik (en) Q (en) Uncut (en) Peek-a-boo (en) |
| dbp:rev3score | (en) |
| dbp:rev4score | (en) |
| dbp:rev5score | (en) |
| dbp:rev7score | (en) |
| dbp:source | —Classic Pop talking about the album in 2014. (en) —Patrick of Gullbuy.com (en) |
| dbp:style | padding:10px; (en) |
| dbp:type | dbr:Album |
| dbp:width | 25.0 |
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| rdfs:comment | Sparks in a Dark Room is the second studio album by Dutch experimental electronic post-punk/ultra band Minny Pops. After signing to Factory Benelux in 1982 following their "noisy" and "goofy" debut album Different Measures, Drastic Movement (1979), the band settled into a new, less aggressive sound featuring influences of industrial music and funk. Recording Sparks in a Dark Room in late 1981, the band headed for a more clinical and clean sound. Considered a high point of the ultra movement, the record features cold, electronic tones and darkly humorous lyrics from lead singer and songwriter Wally van Middendorp. (en) |
| rdfs:label | Sparks in a Dark Room (en) |
| owl:sameAs | yago-res:Sparks in a Dark Room wikidata:Sparks in a Dark Room https://global.dbpedia.org/id/2GR64 |
| prov:wasDerivedFrom | wikipedia-en:Sparks_in_a_Dark_Room?oldid=1031137749&ns=0 |
| foaf:depiction | wiki-commons:Special:FilePath/SparksInADarkRoom.jpg wiki-commons:Special:FilePath/MelkwegAmsterdam.jpg |
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| is foaf:primaryTopic of | wikipedia-en:Sparks_in_a_Dark_Room |
