Daniel Miller / The Normal / Silicon Teens
Daniel Miller - How MUTE was born - CD - 51:23
1. T.V.O.D. (Miller)
2. Warm Leatherette (Miller)
3. Memphis, Tennessee (Berry)
4. Yesterday Man (Andrews)
5. Doo Wah Diddy Diddy (Barry)
6. T.V. Playtime (Miller)
7. You Really Got Me (Davies)
8. Chip 'N Roll (Miller)
9. Do You Love Me? (Gordy)
10. Let's Dance (Lee)
11. Oh, Boy! (Norman/Petty)
12. Sweet Little Sixteen (Berry)
13. State of Shock (Pt. 2) (Miller)
14. Just Like Eddie (Goddard)
15. Red River Rock (King/Mack)
16. Judy In Disguise (Bernard/Fred)
17. Sun Flight (Miller)
18. Let's Dance (Lee)
1-2: The Normal - 'T.V.O.D. / Warm Leatherette' 7" single, released 1978 as MUTE 001. The Normal is Daniel Miller / 3-16: Silicon Teens - Music For Parties LP released 1980 as MUTE STUMM 2. Silicon Teens are stated as Darry, Jacki, Paul & Diana and record is produced by Larry least. In fact all are Daniel Miller himself / 17-18: Silicon Teens - Sun Flight 7" single - MUTE 008
The Silicon Teens were a one-off project for synth whiz Daniel Miller, who also owned Mute Records, recorded the single "Warm Leatherette" under the name the Normal, and did extensive production work, most notably on the majority of Depeche Mode's output. The sole Silicon Teens album, released in 1980, consisted mostly of synth-oriented arrangements for classic rock & roll songs and featured a guest appearance on percussion by legendary Jam frontman Paul Weller.
Steve Huey, All Music Guide
In the guise of The Normal, Daniel released one landmark indie single, 'T.V.O.D' / 'Warm Leatherette' (the latter inspired by JG Ballard's novel Crash and later covered by Grace Jones). Both featured skeletal, entirely synth-based instrumentation and minimal, almost chanted vocal accompaniment. These wholly electronic beginnings meant that the label was initially viewed solely as a vehicle for synth experimentalists. Once again, however, this was not as the result of a conscious stylistic decision on Daniel's part -- it was simply because he signed up artists whose work he liked, and electronic music was what he was into at the time. "Nearly all of the records I bought then were coming from Germany: bands like Faust, Can and Kraftwerk. I hardly bought an English or American record in those years. My real agenda was in finding acts who were unique; I didn't want to have a band who sounded like someone else."
AMG EXPERT REVIEW: Who would have thought that the same gent responsible for the Normal's "Warm Leatherette" � the classic, whip-cracking electronic ode to J.G. Ballard's autoerotic novel Crash � would follow it up several months later with a small clutch of singles covering '50s and '60s rock classics? And who would have thought that it would lead to a full LP? Inspection of the sleeve for Music for Parties fools you into thinking that the Silicon Teens are a quartet of Darryl (vocals), Jacki (synths), Paul (electronic percussion), and Diane (synths). Though it sounds like a group of enthusiastic youngsters bent on giving straight-faced, faithful synthpop renditions of tunes like "Memphis, Tennessee" and "You've Really Got Me," the concept of the group is illusory. There's actually one Silicon Teen � Mute honcho Daniel Miller.
Music for Parties is an undeniably fun record in its complete lack of irony and full-on giddiness. The covers aren't jokes; it sounds like a group of kids having a blast with classic rock & roll. It's well produced, well played, and well intentioned � no winkie winkie here, � la Moog Cookbook. No Eagles or Chicago tunes are undertaken.
"Do You Love Me" is a scream. Darryl's alien Brit lead-in of "You broke my heart, 'cause I couldn't dahnce" and call-and-response vocals highlight the track. The cover of Heinz' "Just Like Eddie" can't be missed, either; check the fluttering synth whirs as Darryl exclaims "C' mon everybody!"
There are a few originals on the record as well, the only tip-offs that the record was made in the early '80s. "T.V. Playtime" is sinister, sounding like a commercial for a board game; "State of Shock (Pt. 2)" and "Chip 'N Roll" (with handclaps!) are instrumental hoots; and "Sun Flight" is hallucinatory with Darryl sounding like a cross between Gizmo and Darth Vader. The sound is dated after all, but with the mid- to late-'90s resurgence of the '80s synth sound, one could definitely think it to be a product of the present. Acts like the Rentals, My Favorite, and the Pulsars (who even devoted a song to the Silicon Teens to the tune of "Memphis, Tennessee") certainly took a cue from the record. If nothing else, Music for Parties stands as one of the earliest testaments of electronically processed music being emotional, rather than cold and lifeless. There's more life in this three-fourths of an hour than plenty of guitar-based records of the era.
Four months after the release of Music for Parties, Miller signed a group of waif-ish synth teens by the name of Depeche Mode. Needless to say, his label began to take off, and the Silicon Teens were tucked away. � Andy Kellman