Metronomes, The

Metronomes, The

The Ballad Of The Metronomes

Mannequin

***Mannequin is more than enthusiastic to announce the re-release of both the LPs (Multiple Choice from 1980 and Regular Guys from 1985) plus the two single 7"s Saturday Night/Sunday Morning and A Circuit Like Me from this legendary minimal synth band from Australia. The group was an integral part of the early electronic music scene in Australia and their releases have become collector's items in Europe, as they are mostly impossible to find. The Metronomes first appeared in Melbourne in 1979 and initial members were rock journo/synth player Al Webb, bass player Andrew Picouleau (Secret Police, Sacred Cowboys) and synth-pioneer Ash Wednesday, nowadays a live tour member of Einstürzende Neubauten. Al himself will admit later that Ash's ingenuity in creating something out of very little was the key to the Metronomes sounding as "produced" as they did. Their first 7'' single Saturday Night/Sunday Morning came out in 1980, featuring a real metronome as rhythm section with instrumentals layered over, and the second A Circuit Like Me/Closed Circuit from 1980 featured more experimentation with drum machines and rhythm sections recorded using a borrowed Roland CR 78. It was the first time in their compositions that a vocal had been used, courtesy of a lady called Talking Judy. The first full-length Multiple Choice was recorded in the winter of 1980, using Roland Strings, a mini-Korg, some Arp synthesizers and a Boss Dr-55 -- a drum machine that was intensively used by many minimal synth bands during the '80s. The second album Regular...