Fantastic compilation of Irish post-punk and art-damaged pop circa 1980-82 assembled by the veteran crate-diggers at Finders Keepers. Lots of sparse bass sounds, angular riffs, and oddly-deployed phaser pedals. Reminiscent of many things you've likely heard (or should have heard) before, but still some surprises that make it a worthy addition to your show. No FCCs, though #10 talks about drugs ("Avenue D / if you want to OD").

RIYL: Au Pairs, Gang of Four, Public Image Limited, Big Flame, "Pillows and Prayers," breathing.

1. * Dogmatic Element - "Just Friends" (3:08) - med(+), female vox, reminiscent of Au Pairs
2. The Threat - "High Cost Of Living" (4:20) - med+, minimalist grinder, nasal/whiny male vox (very Lydon-esque), builds to cold end
3. * Chant! Chant! Chant! - "Play Safe" (5:12) - med+, ominous minor chord driver with a great bridge; male vox buried in the mix and guitars almost jangle
4. Virgin Prunes - "Twenty Tens" (2:29) - med+ / varies, more dark bass lines propelling disjointed guitars and male vox; would fit well on the "non-pop" half of C86
5. * Operating Theatre - "Austrian" (3:32) - med, synth-driven, female vox that go from Siouxsie shrieks to Charlie Brown chorals, male spoken rant, closer to a Robert Rental/Thomas Leer angle; false end on female vox fade, then cold end
6. Stano - "Town" (4:09) - med(+), PiL/Go4 pseudo-funk that moves to a piano dirge at the end
7. The Peridots - "No Water" (3:48) - med, dark synth driven, male vox
8. * Choice - "Always In Danger" (3:58) - med(+), classic high clear female vox (somewhere between Tracey Thorn and Allison Statton) over synths and male choral accompaniment
9. * PH - "Last Days" (4:57) - med, almost-goth male crooning (Associates? Peter Murphy?) buried under the synth and drum box.
10. Major Thinkers - "Avenue B" (3:31) - med+, very Devo-ish, singing about NYC's Alphabet City, cold end
11. SM Corporation - "Accentuate" (1:05) - med+, short synth instrumental interlude / palate cleanser
12. * SM Corporation - "Fire From Above" (3:47) - med, shiny (for early 80s) synth-pop with female vox; with a better producer, this would have crushed "99 Luftballoons"
13. Tripper Humane - "Discoland" (5:57) - med(+), male vox with synth parts and a drum box that accelerate and slow trying to get back in sync (clearly no central clock controlling the beats); ambitious but flawed.
14. Operating Theatre - "Eighties Rampwalk" (4:03) - dn(+), instrumental chill-out that could have been movie soundtrack material.