Nice Mover by Gina X Performance

The seminal debut album from 1979 by German synth wave pioneers Gina X Performance, whose groundbreaking singles Nice Mover and No G.D.M. remain enduring electroclash staples after four decades of club supremacy.

Formed in Cologne in 1978, the core of Gina X Performance comprised of vocalist Gina Kikoine and producer/keyboard/vocoder wizard Zeus B. Held. 'I had in mind science fiction-inspired tracks,' explains Zeus. 'Really cold sounding music, with no blues-ey chords or melodies, no guitar and nothing rocky.'

Originally issued on German imprint Crystal in September 1979, icy, noirish debut album 'Nice Mover' contained 8 tracks and spawned two radical Eurodisco hits, with gender-bending single No G.D.M. becoming a firm favourite at the legendary Blitz Club in London's Soho. At the same time Zeus B. Held also became an in-demand producer, working with John Foxx, Fashion, Rockets and Dead or Alive.

Since then countless electronic artists have acknowledged or betrayed the influence of GXP, including Depeche Mode, Propaganda, Ladytron and Peaches. Bonus tracks include remixes by DJ Hell, Headman, Red Axes, Psychonauts and Zeus B. Held.

"Any fans of the Blitz will know how pivotal German duo Gina X Performance single No G.D.M. was in New Romantic clubland. It was later covered by Erasure, too, and is far from the only dreamy slice of self-labelled robot soul on Gina Kikoine and Zeus B. Held's majestic debut album. Casablanca and Black Sheep are just as prescient for mighty early synth-pop, sounding more polished in getting commercial pop songs from those early analogue synths than the still experimental Brits were managing at the time. It all still moves in a lovely fashion - 4/5" (Classic Pop, 02/2022)

"Pure ice-cold electronica" (Louder Than War, 02/2022)

"Together Zeus B. Held and Gina Kikoine created a transgressive electronic classic that smuggled genderqueer art into the periphery of the German mainstream, with not a duff track to speak op. Nice Mover opens with the title track, Kikoine placing the album explicitly on the danecefloor of New York's hottest club, Studio 54. The discotheque weirdness certainly made it perfect for London's electronic music lighting rod Rusty Egan, who picked it up and gave it heavy rotation at Blitz, where it was the ideal soundtrack for the club's scuzzy DIY glamour. Still shocking and still essential 40 years later" (Electronic Sound, 03/2022)

"Pioneering electro-pop from 1979 with hints of Kraftwerk, Nico and Studio 54-era Grace Jones" (Mojo); "Like an artier Moroder" (Uncut); "No G.D.M. is one of the most influential songs to come out of the Continent" (Q Magazine); "Disco for the intellect" (NME)

Independent record label founded in Brussels in 1980.

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