Advanced Art
Darkhive - The Tape And Vinyl Years

Listening notes

Advanced Art's "Darkhive - The Tape And Vinyl Years," released in 2015 on Artoffact Records (catalog number AOF199), is a vinyl compilation that draws together material spanning several years of the project's output. Spanning eleven tracks across two sides, the record is catalogued under EBM, Electro, Electronic, and Synth-pop — a grouping that situates Advanced Art within a broader tradition of European electronic music that flourished in the 1980s and into the 1990s.

The A-side opens with four tracks designated as 7" versions: "Black Roses," "No Answers No Solutions," "From Nothing To Nothing," and "Steel," running 3:35, 3:39, 3:11, and 3:28 respectively. These are followed by two tracks explicitly identified as 1987 demos — "You're A Pretender" and "You Need Love (2nd Demo 1987)" — suggesting the compilation draws on material predating the 7" versions that precede them on the sequence.

The B-side shifts toward a somewhat longer running time per track. "Wake Up" and "Tear Open These Scars" open the side before three 1990 demos close out the record: "This Blue Moment," "Til I Beg For Mercy," and "Life Before Death." At 4:42 and 4:52 respectively, the two longer demo tracks are the most extended pieces on the album. The presence of demo recordings from both 1987 and 1990, combined with the 7" versions on the A-side, gives the compilation a chronological breadth consistent with what its subtitle — "The Tape And Vinyl Years" — explicitly proposes.

The release was issued under Artoffact Records, a label with a documented history of releasing EBM and industrial-adjacent electronic music. This vinyl edition carries catalog number AOF199.