Solid Space: Space Museum Vinyl LP

Lone album by Matthew Vosburgh and Dan Goldstein as Solid Space, released in 1982 when they were just 18 years old. Considered by Veronica Vasicka to be one of the best minimal wave records of all time, Space Museum is a singular work fusing dark acoustic guitar chords, atmospheric Casio MT-30 vamps and bossa nova drum machine rhythms (I put this on in my apartment and after the first couple bars of “Afghan Dance,” my bird starting singing “Hotline Bling,” LOL), executed with a certain playfulness that’s noticeably absent in most of these austere 80s postpunk records. At it’s highest points, it splits the difference between the cold freeze dramatics of The Cure’s goth trilogy and the provincial teenage dejection of Felt or The Smiths, but don’t fade away, it’s not all castrated misery here. Thoughts of the moon, the stars and a general longing for the outer limits pervade the record (many of the track titles are taken directly from Dr. Who serials and 1960s sci-fi shows), and the boys even play one for the dancefloor on “Radio France.” Says Vosburgh: “Solid Space involved me getting on a bus with a bunch of equipment and going over to Dan’s house for the afternoon, one reason we always favoured light battery-powered gear.” While the duo’s naïveté is directly responsible for the brilliance of these recordings, Space Museum can actually get a little grating at times (by the time the shriek-filled closing track rolled around, GF was begging me to turn it off) but that’s part of its charm, here in all its original raw and overlooked glory with two bonus tracks from the band’s archive (“Platform 6,” “Tutti Lo Sanno”). Check out “Destination Moon,” “A Darkness In My Soul,” "Afghan Dance" (spiritual sister to Antena's "Achilles"), “Please Don’t Fade Away,” “Tenth Planet” and “Earthshock.” Originally released on cassette in 1982 and only available on vinyl via a number of shoddy bootlegs, west coast wave saviors Dark Entries come through with the first-ever legit vinyl pressing - and it sounds incredible. Includes printed insert with full album credits and lyrics plus a replica postcard featuring the original ad for the cassette. Recommended.

• first-ever official vinyl pressing
• remastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, CA
• originally released on cassette in 1982
• includes printed lyric insert and replica postcard
• limited edition
• music label: Dark Entries 2017

reviewed by edward james almost 04/2018