Richard Chartier is an artists most concerned with minimalism. In his review of Chartier’s recent Set or Performance, Stylus writer Michael Heumann wrote “It sounds like a very faint echo of the noise a certain mouse makes when it crawls around the insides of my walls.” And trust us, that’s a very good thing. As such, we decided to ask Chartier which tracks are currently on his iPod:

Vice Versa– Riot Squad

One of my favourite songs. Before they became ABC and having their lexicon loved and smothered in production by the lavish Trevor Horn, these lads from Sheffield were sending forth crisp electro beats ala contemporaries such as The Normal. Perfect deadpan vocals and lyrics. “Queer mask,,,, tear gas…” I looked for this 7″ for years (in the days before eBay) and found it finally at a thrift shop and almost fell on the floor when I did. I’m still trying to get a hold of the 8 Aspects tape, if anyone is out there with a kind heart…

[buy Vice Versa stuff here]

Marc and the Mambas– Mamba

I’ve had a penchant, which I share with Ivan Pavlov, for Soft Cell and Marc Almond for a while now, but what I love the best is his great project Marc and the Mambas. An LP, a double LP, a live CD and several 12″s worth of high drama, dark poetry and fatalistic ballads. Marc Almond belts out the bile on this epic track. Picture it if you will… a faded sticky floor with the clacking rhythm section made of loop of the heels of Spanish dancers, cigarettes lit in corners, and then sumptuous strings. Gorgeous. I love to listen to it on repeat.

[buy Marc and the Mambas stuff here]

Amanda Lear– Alphabet (Prelude In C By JS.Bach)

Why dont they make music like this anymore? Oh yeah, because its INSANE. Rumoured to be Salvador Dali’s transgendered muse, Amanda Lear was Dali’s cosest friend after his wife Gala died. Her work is varied and her vocal stylings disturbing. She ends up close to something like a Euro Grace Jones that moves confidently between rock, disco and spacey musings about the alphabet. Thank you to my dear friend Drew Daniels for introducing me to her world. “B is for Bionic and Bach”

[buy Amanda Lear stuff here]