Information/Write-up
liner notes: The Lou Champagne System is a real time guitar synth solo act that uses a special guitar and hook up invented by Lou. It allows him to play guitar and sound like a whole band with no tapes!
Canadian post-punk classic by one-man synth, guitar and syn-drum band, Lou Champagne System. 'No Visible Means' was privately pressed on Lou's Ontario-based Pterodactyl Records in 1983. Over nine tracks he serves an impressively diverse array of post-punk styles, from more jagged guitar-driven wave pop to slicker electronic disco with a slightly daft but endearing darkside lyrical rhetoric. It's the latter styles which make up the highlights, including one in particular 'Propoganda Frustration', a standout piece of arpeggiated disco bass and tortured vox with a shifty patina of dubbed-out guitar primed for the darkest dancefloors. Equally on a dry, motorik minimal tip, there's the excellent 'Silent Walking', while the rest tends towards spikier punk modes, like the propulsive guitar and rushing machine rhythm vectors of 'Another Dimension' and the snotty fury of 'Do Something'.
Originally self-released in 1984 on Pterodactyl Records, “No Visible Means” is the work of Canada’s own Lou Champagne. Lou Champagne was active the Ontario music scene and also performed with other local musicians from that region as well. The “Lou Champagne System” was the real-time guitar synth solo act of Lou Champagne. Due to his knowledge of electronics, he was able to link his guitar, synth, and synthetic drums into a working one-man solo act that was playable with floor switches and pedals. The overall effect was the sound of a full band. “No Visible Means” was recorded in 1981-1982 and mixed in 1983. It consists of 9 works of unrelenting sonic bliss. The music can be described as synth-heavy, textural punk with a very diverse palette of styles drizzled in for a truly unique listening experience. “Don’t Say I’m Here” opens the album with a bang showcasing Lou’s angular guitar effects and emotionally powered vocals. “Propaganda Frustration” is a thick, modulated affair with overtones of minimal disco and motorik motifs that commands attention on the dark dancefloor. “Machine Muzik” is a standout track with effects-laden jagged guitar hooks drenched in a haze of electronics. From beginning to end, “No Visible Means” is a synth-punk masterpiece and will surely appeal to connoisseurs of the darker, synth-based outer limits of post-punk and jagged guitar-heavy new wave. Re-issued by Medical Records in 2012.
Written, music, and produced by Lou Champagne (except Silent Walking: lyrics by Champagne/Bevers)
Engineered by Brian Hewson and Pete Bevers
Recorded at The Lift, October 1981 to April 1982
Mixed at Sound Path Studios, Oakville, Ontario, February 1983
Art assembly by Savoy Design
Photography by Frans Udo Vanniekerk
DON’T SAY I’M HERE
Fred: Television - Ha Ha Ha Ha
Narrator: Psychopathic thoughts inside your mind
Free another’s soul that you find
The television’s on, the television’s on.
Fred: The television’s on, the television’s on.
Narrator: It picks the lock inside your heart
Releasing instincts of violence from the start
The television’s on, the television’s on.
Fred: Now, don’t be afraid - just let me in.
I just want to - just want to AHHH!
Narrator: Telephone rings. Telephone rings.
Fred: Don’t say I’m here.
Don’t say I’m here.
Don’t say I’m here.
Don’t say I’m here.
Don’t say I’m here.
BROKEN HEARTS
Broken hearts, broken hearts.
Left standing out in the cold
Feeling so lonely, feeling old
Don’t cry for broken hearts
Don’t cry for broken hearts
Don’t cry for broken hearts
Don’t cry for broken hearts
Don’t go wild over my intentions
I want to reach my destination
Don’t cry for broken hearts
Don’t cry for broken hearts
Don’t cry for broken hearts
Don’t cry for broken hearts
The feeling inside me is true
I think of you - I love you too, too.
Don’t cry for broken hearts.
PROPAGANDA FRUSTRATION
PROPAGANDA
FRUSTRATION
ATTITUDE
ARMAGEDDON
SELLING SO SWEET
Your mind of tellin’ me “So Sweet”
You think all I’ve found is neat
You’d better call a day of
Call it nothing here
Mind and telling me “So Sweet”
You’re telling me you’re neat - yeah!
Your mind telling me “So Sweet”
You think our love is really neat
You think in times of time to change
You feel alone and run away
You think in times of “Selling So Sweet”
You think your love is really neat
You’ve missed in love and time and change
You realize in time and change
You think in times of “Selling So Sweet”
ANOTHER DIMENSION
You’re living in another dimension
Can’t stop to let you realize
You’re living in a concentration
Can’t look at you with real eyes
I had an astral projection
I saw outside my mind
You thought it was some sensation
But you’ll never find out why
CHORUS
You’re livin’ in another dimension
You’re livin’ in another dimension
You’re livin’ in another dimension
Can’t you see, talk to me, or set me free.
I can see you but there’s no sense of touch
I can’t pull the wool from your eyes Babe
THE ACID made you think about it
My fantasy in disguise.
CHORUS
DO SOMETHING
The distance that surrounds
Character from within
Some things that you say to us
Help describe your sin
Politics is useless
The country’s gone for broke
There’s no use in speaking out
You’re just burning out your throat.
You gotta do something, do something.
Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey.
Buildings burning down
Crashing bashing sound
Anarchy in the street
Makes my day complete
Newsmen screaming mad
The government is bad
People helping no one
Police are really no fun.
Do something, do something,
Do something, do something,
Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey.
Buildings burning down.
INVISIBLE PRISONS
I pick the lock to your heart
Can’t you feel right from the start
You think of nothing to endure
The pain of loving is the lure
Building yourself Invisible Prisons
Walking alone in your Invisible Prisons
Music pulsing, beat the time
Dance your beat, I’ll dance mine
Distance deep within your eyes
No escape where the pressure lies
Clutching the sky. Invisible Prisons
Scratching the ice. . .
The hate that builds - astonish me
Love set free - a stalwart dream
When you find what you strive
The very reason that you’re alive
Ruining your mind. Invisible Prisons - Yeah
Takin’ too much time. Invisible Prisons - Yeah
Life in disguise. Invisible Prisons - Yeah
Clutching the sky.....
MACHINE MUZIK
Machine muzik, remain in light, cause centrefold.
Machine muzik, bigger life as you are told
Machine muzik, the change has come to, to unfold
Machine muzik, keep on dancin’ till you are told
So you found new life
Maybe you can survive
In a liquid memory
Of this insanity
Machine muzik, can’t see the light, it’s shining gold.
Machine muzik, trapped within him so dark and cold.
Robots:
We are robots - can you help me
Machine muzik. Machine muzik.
Machine muzik, trapped within him so dark and cold.
Machine muzik, remain in light, cause centrefold.
SILENT WALKING
Silent walking alone again, to keep my brain complete.
Darkness in my soul again, street lights in the street.
Mind is set on overload, thoughts begin to dwell.
Every time I turn around, the scenery turns to hell
The sound of footsteps down the street. I wonder if he’s just like me.
Alone and quiet my heart beat rings as loud as the sound of my feet.
I’m wasting hours of my life, ambition fades away.
I’m wond’ring if tomorrow will be just like today.
I wonder if I’ll get over, what happened to me today.
I wonder if I’ll get it together after having had so much pain.
I feel so hurt and lonely, like the Fool Upon The Hill
I feel so inconsistent, like I’m in love or about to kill
So I keep on walking silently, never seem to get to the end.
Somebody please approach me, I think I’m in the need of a friend.
Another road, another block - once again I’m past my home.
I’m like a man in a fantasy, maybe I should just get stoned.
I wonder if I’ll get over, what happened to me today.
I wonder if I’ll get it together after having had so much pain.
I feel so hurt and distant, like a Fool Upon The Hill
I feel so inconsistent, like I’m in love or about to kill.
And I keep on walking silently, never seem to get to the end.
The Lou Champagne System is a real-time guitar synth solo act that uses a special guitar and hookup invented by Lou. It allows him to play guitar and sound like a whole band with no tapes!
Thanks to everyone!
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