Tolerance - Anonym

Our fellow blogger Die or DIY is posting a run of releases from the fantastic (and remarkably prescient) Vanity Records label, so what the hell... I'm going to join in the fun. In case you haven't discovered them yet, Vanity Records only existed for a few years (from 1979 until 1981). During their truncated tenure, they put out some LPs, a handful of flexi-discs, and finally some spectacular cassettes of Japanese proto-techno/industrial/"minimal synth" madness by artists who, for the most part, never made any other records. One of the finest gems from their gem-heavy catalog were the two LPs by Tolerance. "Anonym", from 1979, is a classic LP by a band that only released two albums and a flexi, all on Vanity Records, then promptly decided that they had better things to do.  I can't tell you anything more about them because (like most of the artists Vanity would briefly shine a light on) aside from these three releases, they left virtually no trace. Did the band members form other bands afterwards? Who knows? (It should go without saying that if you know, please feel free to educate us in the comments)

This album shares some superficial qualities with contemporaries TG and Nocturnal Emissions (stark production, low-fidelity murk, machine rhythms) but also somehow evoke the late-night hush of Young Marble Giants on heavy xanax. If you aren't sure what to make of this one, then you are comfortably in the majority. Oh, but just you wait... because the record they made a year later is even better and further out then this one. Fans of the Zero Gravity and Sonic Plate/Far East Experimental Sounds labels take note!

Tolerance - Anonym