Kas Product By Pass

• 1. Loony-Bin
• 2. Seldom, Often
• 3. Smooth Down
• 4. Mingled & Tangled
• 5. Tina Town
• 6. T.M.T.
• 7. Devil Fellow
• 8. W-Infatuation
• 9. Taking Shape
• 10. Tape

French electronic duo KaS Product were proper enigmas. Their first decade of activity, from 1980 to 1990, was marked by carving out their own niche within a fertile and noisy corner of music close to punk, early cold and minimal wave, and indie-electro. Compared by some to Kaleidoscope-era Siouxsie and The Banshees, Soft Cell and Suicide, it's no stretch to say that without this pair -the late Spatsz (Daniel Favre) and Mona Soyoc - the likes of Prinzhorn Dance School would sound different. By Pass was up there with their finest hours and most defining creations. Arriving in 1983, it's packed with a kind of dark, back-room-of-a-dive bar venue edge that is at once anarchistic, surreal, and beautiful. 'Tina Town', for example, will raise the hair on the back of your neck, 'W Infatuation' seems to belong in some batshit Broadway musical, 'Mingled & Tingled' is all about groove and seduction. Excellent all round.