{"title":"Karen Marks","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"cold-cafe","title":"Cold Cafe","description":"\u003cp\u003eAlmost four decades since it’s domestic release, Karen Marks’ 1981 single \u003ci\u003eCold Café \u003c\/i\u003ehas finally reaped it’s deserved international credit to become one of Australia's most recognised minimal wave recordings. Efficient Space now showcases the Melbourne artist’s brief but entire discography, including two previously unheard demos, all produced with experimental synthesist Ash Wednesday (The Metronomes, Modern Jazz, Thealonian Music).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA rarity in the then male dominated industry, Marks found her footing in music, first through rock journalism and then in band management. Formally of Adelaide, newly arrived synth-punks JAB (Johnny Crash, Ash Wednesday and Bodhan X) approached her for representation, subsequently contributing tracks to seminal 1978 snapshot Lethal Weapons and playing the Crystal Ballroom's opening night. Wednesday and Crash would soon dissolve JAB, enlisting Mark Ferry and Sean Kelly to create Models. Still under Mark's management, Models became one of the fastest rising new bands of the punk movement, playing to full houses of dedicated and frenzied fans everywhere. Sadly, internal frictions forced Wednesday and Marks to leave after two years, with Crash following three months later.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHer creative relationship with Wednesday fortified with the co-production of his 1980 machine-pop prank \u003ci\u003eLove By Numbers\u003c\/i\u003e, her swooning chorus uplifting his deadpan count to 100, before the two collaborated on Marks’ own recording persona. Immortalised by the icy Oz wave of \u003ci\u003eCold Café\u003c\/i\u003e, her Astor issued 7” also boasted the caffeinated flip \u003ci\u003eWon't Wear It For Long\u003c\/i\u003e - a should be hit with guitar from future Icehouse member Robert Kretschmer.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFans know of one more recording - \u003ci\u003eYou Bring These Things\u003c\/i\u003e, a forlorn arrangement of an otherwise unreleased Paul Kelly song, gifted to her by the revered wordsmith. The track only ever appeared on the Astor promotional LP \u003ci\u003eTerra Australis\u003c\/i\u003e, sinfully alongside Up There Cazaly and Joe Dolce - hard proof that the label grossly misunderstood her talent (Marks recalls their persistent requests to show midriff and cleavage). Locked in a dissatisfying label arrangement and at this stage unwilling to follow her peers to greener pastures overseas, she felt her only way out was to cease all further activities.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt the 11th hour of preparing this retrospective, two tracks unexpectedly surfaced via two cassettes - a paranoid demo version of her signature tune \u003ci\u003eCold Café\u003c\/i\u003e, and a long-lost fourth song \u003ci\u003eProblem Page.\u003c\/i\u003e Both living room recordings follow Marks and Wednesday’s ingenious framework of minimal lyrics, minimal chord progressions.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Efficient Space","offers":[{"title":"Black | 12\"","offer_id":50506992910667,"sku":"1063163","price":17.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/1e2f4a60-6a32-4e86-8d8f-75857d26b3b3_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727835850"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/collections\/karen-marks.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}