John Bender — Superior Songs

John Bender

John Bender recorded voraciously between 1978 and 1980 at his home in Cincinnati, Ohio. Not even song titles could slow down his creative pace, as he named all the tracks after their position on the original tapes. "36A2," for example, was cassette #36 side A, piece #2. I Don’t Remember Now / I Don’t Want To Talk About It, his first album from 1980, is the holy grail of minimal lo-fi electronics. Layers of fractured melodies, distorted synthesizers, hollowed-out rhythms and claustrophobic vocals unfold over the 40 minutes of this lost masterpiece. "It's A Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl," one of Faust's greatest songs, is perfectly deconstructed by a distinct punk-meets-experimentalist sensibility.

“He is the Cincinnati musician who 35 years ago came up with the template for dubstep, unless he invented “cold wave,” or maybe he helped define analog minimalism.” – Cincinnati Magazine

electronic, experimental, synth, art pop