Hard Corps had a French singer but were part of the English alternative electronic scene of the 1980s. With Martin Rushent doctoring their sound, they could have been the Human League. Instead, they got thrown off a tour with Depeche Mode after Regine, their lead singer, defied an order to stop baring her torso on stage. The legacy they left is a precious one in poptronica history, which is being rediscovered by the minimal wave generation. This was their best known song, as recorded by the legendary UK music show, The Tube.
hard CORPS
From what we can tell, Sean Barron of Empire State Human has a new project called iEuropean, into which he has pulled Wolfgang Flür (ex-Kraftwerk, Yamo), while tapping Clive Pierce and Rob Doran (both of hard CORPS notoriety) with Phen for remix support. “Activity of Sound” sounds a little bit like Torch Song borrowing the voice-over from a Juno Reactor track in places, which is no bad thing, and it has been more than competently repurposed for the dancefloor in this mix. Flür, of course, was a robot once, but there is an organic warmth in this song that suggests the machines are evolving.