Nazca

Tuxedomoon were the most artistically sophisticated act on Ralph Records — a San Francisco label otherwise home to The Residents — and their debut Half-Mute (1980) remains one of the more fully realized post-punk records of its era. Blaine Reininger, Steven Brown, and Peter Principle built a sound combining classical training with electronic experimentation.

Nazca, named for the Peruvian geoglyphs visible only from the air, is one of the album's most atmospheric tracks: synthesizer and viola combining over a rhythm that suggests ceremony rather than dance.

Tuxedomoon relocated to Europe in the early 1980s, finding large audiences in Belgium and the Netherlands before being fully appreciated in America. The catalog rewards sustained exploration.