Near Marineland

Crash Course in Science only released two EPs during their initial existence, but they managed to record a full album that didnt see the light of day until they reunited. Near Marineland was recorded in 1981, soon before the group broke up, and was finally mixed and released as part of a box set issued by Vinyl-on-Demand in 2009, then later given a digital release on Miamis Schematic label. Furthermore, Dark Entries released it in a standalone vinyl edition in 2024 and added bonus tracks. The album refined the groups sound into a club-friendly sort of synth-punk filled with buzzing synths, lo-bit beats, and semi-robotic vocals. The record sounds strikingly modern for its time, and their music actually seems to make more sense as a precursor to electroclash rather than an offshoot of new wave. "It Costs to Be Austere" is hi-NRG whimsy to pogo along to, while "No More Hollow Doors" is a more aggressive thriller. The paranoid "Someone Reads" is even faster and more exhilarating. "Jump Over Barrels," a longtime left-field DJ favorite, distills the bands noisy, nearly industrial electronics and offbeat sense of humor into arcade-friendly proto-techno. In retrospect, Near Marineland sounds like a lost chapter in electronic musics history. ~ Paul Simpson