Oppenheimer Analysis

Andy Oppenheimer and Martin Lloyd met at the 1979 World Science Fiction Convention in Brighton, England. They quickly became good friends, sharing an interest in the work of David Bowie, electronic music and early synthesizer bands such as the Human League and Soft Cell. They also shared a love of old science fiction movies, 1950s graphics and comic book imagery and a fascination with post-World War II propaganda, the politics and aesthetics of the Cold War, and the social impact of the atomic bomb.

Over the next few years Andy and Martin frequented the growing club scene, including Studio 21 in Oxford Street, and became involved in the developing Futurist and New Romantic style sub-cultures. During this period Martin recorded as Analysis, both alone and with David Rome of Drinking Electricity. They released their first single, "Surface Tension/Connections" on David's Survival label in 1981. Meanwhile Andy held his own occasional club nights and continued to work as a science writer and editor, later becoming a nuclear expert.

In 1982 Andy and Martin began writing and recording together at Feedback Studio in Battersea, and performed several times as Oppenheimer Analysis at The Bell, Islington, the 1983 World David Bowie Convention in Hammersmith, the Starzone Birthday Party at Camden Palace, the 1984 European Science Fiction Convention in Brighton and other live venues. Their first demo tape and the later twelve-track “New Mexico” cassette were sold at gigs and by mail-order, and were reviewed in Melody Maker, Sounds and Soundmaker.

Andy subsequently recorded and performed with Chris Ransome as Oppenheimer Ransom, supporting Bronski Beat at the 1984 Miners’ Benefit at the Electric Ballroom, Camden, Erasure at The Bell, and other gigs such as the Shaw Theatre, London.

Although they have been musically inactive during the last twenty years, Andy and Martin have stayed in touch. They are now recording again following the recent revival of interest in early electronic minimalism and Cold Wave music.

A limited edition 12" release of their early hits can be on www.minimal-wave.org. This 12" includes the songs "The Devil's Dancers" and "Cold War" and was released in December 2005 as MW001.

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