Author: electricityclub (Page 19 of 419)

“I don’t like country & western, I don’t like rock music… I don’t like rockabilly! I don’t like much really do I? But what I do like, I love passionately!!”: CHRIS LOWE

“Good taste is exclusive”: NICK RHODES

KNIGHT$ Meets STEVEN JONES & LOGAN SKY

4 May 2024 /

The best album of 2019, ‘Dollars & Cents’ by KNIGHT$ gets the 5 year edition treatment with two bonus tracks including a Flemming Dalum Remix of ‘Gelato’ on pistachio coloured vinyl.

Also featuring ‘What’s Your Poison?’, ‘Alligator’, and the vibrant title track, ‘Dollars & Cents’ showcased James Knights brand of vibrant Britalo in a long playing format to the wider public. With the involvement of Fred Ventura and Paolo Gozzetti of ITALOCONNECTION in the production and mix of three tracks, it was granted disco authenticity. Meanwhile, co-produced by Martin Dubka, ‘Hijack My Heart’ allowed KNIGHT$ to tighten his trousers for a rousing floor-filler to rival BRONSKI BEAT.

To celebrate 5 years of ‘Dollars & Cents’, KNIGHT$ will be undertaking a number of shows performing the album in full including a London date on Thursday 23rd May 2024 at The Fiddler’s Elbow in Camden. Special Guests will be modern day New Romantic duo Steven Jones & Logan Sky; the pair had been introduced by the late Steve Strange of VISAGE and over the 10 years since, have recorded six albums of moody Eurocentric art pop overtures, the most recent being ‘Sacred Figures’.

James Knights, Steven Jones and Logan Sky got together for a chat with ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK ahead of their London show.

How did you become aware of each other?

James Knights: I think I first met Logan when HEARTBREAK reformed and performed at the Moth Club with ITALOCONNECTION in 2018. I performed my song ‘Alligator’ with ITALOCONNECTION that night and we started talking after the show.

Logan Sky: Before I started working with Steve Strange, VISAGE and Steven Jones, I was making tracks, with an Italo vibe. Listen to my first albums and also my latest subscriber-only cassette. I remember that KNIGHT$ were supporting HEARTBREAK (a dark Italo duo) and both acts filled the room with so much energy and got the crowd dancing. I picked up a vinyl of KNIGHT$ ‘Alligator’ EP at the performance and met James for the first time. I’ve seen KNIGHT$ play a few more times, supporting A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS and had good chats at each and we’ve kept in touch.

You are very influenced by Europe, although Steven and Logan are very Mittel Europa while James in more Mediterranean, how did the fascination with across the channel begin with you all?

Steven Jones: The Mittel Europa thing has its roots in my teenage suburban daydreams. I was into the novels of Christopher Isherwood and Stephen Spender (who offered snapshots of chic Bohemia). I watched French and German films, beguiled by their glamour and emotional complexity. Time spent in Düsseldorf at the age of 16 infused me with a sense of romantic possibility. German radio stations played electro pop hits I’d never heard before that left indelible imprints on my mind. On spontaneous trips to Paris (thank you, Charlotte!), I leafed through magazines effortlessly blending music, fashion and sex. I formed a habit for cafes and French torch songs. My fantasy Europe was grand, artistic, sexy, and colourful. Its smells were of coffee, cigarettes and cold sunlit beers. It was art and night-trains, girls called Kirsten, boys called Klaus. Its love affairs were volatile and sure to end badly. It was stylish, heartbreaking and a million miles away from my mundane English routine.

James Knights: Hard to say really. I’d never performed abroad until 2006! I always knew I wanted to perform my music there, since I studied Italian in secondary school and dreamt about this magical place I saw in all the books. In the early days, SCARLET SOHO used to go on stage to ‘Europe Endless’ by KRAFTWERK, the build is so good and it made for some positive tension before we went on stage.

What’s your favourite song that captures the essence of your love of Europe and why?

James Knights: Well I already mentioned ‘Europe Endless’, but there are some fun ones too and really too many to mention. Righeira ‘Vamos A La Playa’ from 1983, Sandy Marton ‘People From Ibiza’ from 1984. I always loved ‘To Germany With Love’ by ALPHAVILLE too, 1984. Of course everything by BOYTRONIC and THE TWINS.

Steven Jones: I could write a long list so I’m gonna choose two. A song that really captures this feeling for me is ‘Summer In Berlin’ by ALPHAVILLE. The sweetly evocative electronics, the yearning vocal, the imagery of a hot Berlin afternoon, the heavy machine, the sweaty body. All combine to evoke the complicated ambience of my Mittel Europa. Dark and light. Ominous and sunlit. A more contemporary expression of this sentiment is ‘Kisses’ by SLOWDIVE. Shimmering and impressionistic, it’s full of abstract longing and is accompanied by a video shot in night-time Naples in Midsummer.

The usual question, what is your favourite track by the other and why?

James Knights: ‘Summer Herz’ I think. I always love a trumpet or sax somewhere in the mix, and the track reminds me a bit of THE BELOVED vocally.

Logan Sky: ‘What’s Your Poison?’ is a stonker of a track, but I still have fond memories of ‘Alligator’ and love the lime green vinyl!

What is the plan for the upcoming London show at The Fiddler’s Elbow, what can attendees expect?

James Knights: I’ll perform the whole of the ‘Dollars & Cents’ LP, plus my other songs. It’s a huge celebration, and it’s going to be hot! Everyone’s welcome to come and party at The Fiddler’s Elbow on May 23rd and let off steam. The anniversary vinyl will also be available at the show.

Steven Jones: Logan and I have been recording and performing together for 10 years so we’ll be selecting some of our favourite songs from our entire catalogue, old and new. The gig offers an opportunity to let them manifest again in the live setting. It’s a good feeling to look back at all the songs we’ve written and perform some of them in a friendly low-key atmosphere. It’s also great to perform together again after a hiatus of several years. Expect style, irony and some smoulder!

What is next for you?

James Knights: In May, I will play at the Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig. It’s my third time there with numerous projects and always a great gig. I’m going to Munich to record a new song this summer, it’s called ‘Supernatural Lover’, I’m very happy with it. Then in the Autumn I will tour the UK with 80s legends CHINA CRISIS, and hit Europe again with TRANS-X. Looking forward to going to some new places like Odense, and Bury!

Steven Jones: That’s a deep and enigmatic secret. Obviously. But I can hint at a retrospective collection of our best songs and the early stages of some new material. There will be some artistic surprises too! Lately we’ve been collaborating with some of the luminaries of the dance music scene. We’ve released ’Come Back Tonight – The Remixes’ on Jaime Alguasuari’s label Anims. So expect more club orientated collabs and re-inventions.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Steven Jones and Logan Sky

KNIGHT$ plays The Fiddler’s Elbow, 1 Malden Road, London NW5 3HS on Thursday 23rd May 2024 with special guests Steven Jones & Logan Sky – tickets available from https://www.seetickets.com/event/knight-/fiddler-s-elbow/2940615

KNIGHT$ ‘Dollars & Cents’ is available as a pistachio coloured vinyl LP, CD + download from https://knights101.bandcamp.com/album/dollars-cents-album

http://knights101.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Knights101/

https://twitter.com/JPSKNIGHTS

https://www.instagram.com/knights101/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/07xFYhAkgObJY8VBkIy1O4

Steven Jones & Logan Sky ’Come Back Tonight – The Remixes’ is available at https://www.beatport.com/release/come-back-tonight-the-remixes/4466309 while their back catalogue including the albums ‘Sacred Figures’ and ‘European Lovers’ is available from https://etrangersmusique.bandcamp.com/

https://www.etrangersmusique.com

https://www.facebook.com/etrangersmusique/

https://www.instagram.com/stevenjonesmusic/

http://www.logansky.co.uk/

https://twitter.com/LoganSky

https://www.instagram.com/logan.sky/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2q5h7vR5Z3JbI1zyeedcRP

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
4th May 2024

JOHN CARPENTER, CODY CARPENTER & DANIEL DAVIES Lost Themes IV: Noir

30 April 2024 /

John Carpenter is back-back-BACK! The Horror Master and his regular collaborators Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies, son of THE KINKS’ Dave Davies, present the fourth instalment of the ‘Lost Themes’ series.

Very few have had a successful career as a film director while also soundtracking their own work like John Carpenter has, with ‘Assault on Precinct 13’, ‘Halloween’, ‘The Fog’, ‘Escape From New York’, ‘Big Trouble in Little China’, ‘Prince Of Darkness’ and ‘Village Of The Damned’ to name just a few…

A family unit of father, son and godson, the trio were inspired by a book of stills from noir films and their titles; John Carpenter’s wife Sandy King gave him the book one Christmas. While these are “soundtracks for the movies in your mind”, whereas the original scores for these noir films were largely orchestral, the trio interpreted the images with their usual synthesizer and guitar template.

The opener ‘My Name is Death’ offers gothic Spaghetti Western resonances before climaxing with a blistering guitar solo picturing the standoff. Despite opening with a stark piano motif surrounded by sweeping synths, ‘Machine Fear’ morphs into a percussive death rattle enhanced heavy guitar riffage, while inside a desolate apocalyptic backdrop, ‘Last Rites’ offers a sense of foreboding in its ragged metal.

A complete contrast, ‘The Burning Door’ could be music to a Cold War spy drama with its haunting East European mood. Meanwhile, with classic keyboard runs augmented by some six string menace, when ‘He Walks By Night’ drops to a church organ, it becomes even more sinister before reprising itself powerfully.

With a slight pentatonic flavour, ‘Beyond The Gallows’ is not surprisingly embroiled in fatalistic tension but galloping along with a compelling electronic bass sequence, ‘Kiss The Blood Off My Fingers’ is ominous although synths do also creep in. ‘Guillotine’ sits in a solemn bed but as it rocks up, it drops back to its spacier beginnings that recall Avro Part before heading back to where it left off.

‘The Demon’s Shadow’ is unsettling as it should be based on its title alone but to close, ‘Shadows Have A Thousand Eyes’ is a hypnotic metronomic closer that brings together strung textures, sparkling arpeggios, power chords and electronic drums inside a cocoon of reverb.

‘Lost Themes IV: Noir’ is the first one in this series to be billed as a John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies collaborative record. But while Davies makes his presence felt on his guitar and the younger Carpenter provides his schooled musicality, the end result is characteristic John Carpenter.

“I’m the experience. I’ve done music for movies before” said The Horror Master about his role in the collaborative process. For that reason alone, ‘Lost Themes IV: Noir’ will delight John Carpenter fans and those who favour the rockier end of synthwave to be shown how it’s done.

‘Lost Themes IV: Noir Out’ is released on 3 May 2024 by Sacred Bones via https://lnk.to/LTIVNoir

Format variants include:

• Sacred Bones exclusive Red splatter on Clear (Silver foil), with poster and a clear 7” with exclusive bonus track ‘Black Cathedral’ and screen printed B-Side
• Sacred Bones Society exclusive black and white splatter on Clear (Silver foil), with poster and a clear 7” with exclusive bonus track ‘Black Cathedral’ and screen printed B-Side
• All retail Transparent Red (Gold Foil) with poster
• All retail tan and black marble (Gold Foil), with poster and a clear 7” with exclusive bonus track ‘Black Cathedral’ and screen printed B-Side
• Rough Trade exclusive Oxblood red and black marble with splatter (Gold Foil), with poster and a clear 7” with exclusive bonus track ‘Black Cathedral’ and screen printed B-Side
• Shout exclusive Black and clear cloudy (Gold Foil), with poster and a clear 7” with exclusive bonus track ‘Black Cathedral’ and screen printed B-Side
• Black LP (Gold foil) with poster
• CD
• Cassette

https://theofficialjohncarpenter.com

https://www.sacredbonesrecords.com/collections/john-carpenter

https://www.facebook.com/directorjohncarpenter/

https://twitter.com/TheHorrorMaster

https://www.instagram.com/johncarpenterofficial/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
30 April 2024

Lost Albums: JYL Jyl

24 April 2024 /

After decades of composing lengthy synth symphonies, there must have been times when Jean-Michel Jarre must have just wanted to do a four minute pop tune. The France maestro managed this in a quirky collaboration with Cyndi Lauper on ‘Swipe To The Right’ in 2016.

But before that there was Peter Baumann producing a whole long player for Leda in 1978 while a few years later in 1984, another former TANGERINE DREAM member and fellow Berlin School legend Klaus Schulze did a co-production for the only album by Jyl, released on his label Inteam GmbH.

With Donna Summer teaming up with Giorgio Moroder on ‘I Feel Love’ in 1977, a new trend was set to accompany female vocalists with artful electronics. While Peter Baumann’s production ‘Welcome To Joyland’ for Leda saw him conflicted about the more commercial ethos of the concept, Gina Kikoine and Zeus B Held had a colder vision and achieved acclaim for their first album ‘Nice Mover’ as GINA X PERFORMANCE.

The vehicle of American avant-songstress Jyl Porch who wrote the majority of the lyrics to nine of the self-titled album’s songs, the music was composed and arranged by Ingo Werner who had been a member of cult German band MY SOLID GROUND before fronting his own project BABA YAGA; his wife Angela, a Neue Deutsche Welle artist in her own right, provided lyrics to two songs and backing vocals.

Born in California, Jyl Porch went to Europe to work as a dancer and model, before ending up in Germany. Here she was introduced to Ingo Werner who was looking for a performance artist to collaborate with on some electronic compositions he was developing. Recorded over a period of about 5 years, Jyl saw lyrics as pictures which suited the predominantly electronic backdrop, creating a character for each song.

The opener ‘Mechanic Ballerina’’ featured glassy PPG textures and a scary gothic male choir while a nonchalant spoken lead vocal came in the verses; there was drama and even a salvo of rock guitar from Leo Leonhardt of JOST BAND. A sexy love song in outer space, ‘Universe’ took on an ominous funereal pace with deep and kooky Lene Lovich stylings in the chorus that captured a Fantasia presence.

Chugging along with something of a disco military march and not a KRAFTWERK cover, ‘Computer Love’ saw Jyl playing the part of an operatic robot programmed to please and with Gallic expression from Helene Vernant, it was one of the album’s highlights. The playful ‘Position’ was shaped by pretty pulses and appealing sweeps for a wonderfully saucy spoken and sung number on carnal preferences, although its actual lyrical gist was of fighting patriarchy and breaking with traditions

Hopping over to 6/8 with figures reminiscent of Giorgio Moroder’s ‘Ivory Tower’ including Euro-rock interventions from noted studio engineer Frank Wolf’s guitar, the Anglo-French ‘Dance & Death’ naturally provided sinister yet seductive contrasts.

Back onto technological themes and digital chimes, ‘Computer Generation’ was pacier and percussive with delightful varispeeded voices; predicting today’s world with ”we are the computer generation – time time time – new technology – hit hit hit -high activity -s um sum sum – computer memory – trigger trigger trigger- machine authority”, it was ahead of its time.

With a pulsing synthbass as its backbone, ‘Animation’ was shrouded in a Trans-Atlantic rock flavour despite being all electronic with musical pointers to WHITE DOOR who issued their debut ‘Windows’ album the year before. Meanwhile with the spectre of Gina Kikoine looming, the spacey influence of the New York electro scene was clearly behind ‘Silicon Valley’ although the mighty synth solo would have appealed to old school Berliners; Jyl proclaimed “A brand new world future age in the heart of the valley” but countered about its “future rage”.

Continuing the New York influence with synthetic claps and Christoph Haberer’s timbale rolls thrown into the bargain, the female empowering ‘Electric Lady’ saw our heroine declaring “I’ll ride your rocket”; quite art school in its approach with an unusual beat, however it appeared that things were running out of steam as it did not hit the heights of the rest of the album. Closing the album and more new wave than electronic, guitars were the dominant feature on ‘I’m A Machine’ along with drowning vocals; undoubtedly the outlier on the record, it was result of a jam at the end of the recording sessions.

Despite its Klaus Schulze credentials, ‘Jyl’ did not capture the public imagination when released but over the years, the recorded has become something of a lost classic with its prophetic themes adding to its legend. ‘Jyl’ was remastered and reissued in 2020 by Veronica Vasicka’s Minimal Wave Records and now being enjoyed by electronic music enthusiasts who were not aware of it previously. Ahead of its time, it can now been seen as yesterday’s tomorrow coming true.

Klaus Schulze would undertake further adventures in pop, working with ALPHAVILLE on a 1988 remix of ‘Big In Japan’ before producing their 1989 album ‘The Breathtaking Blue’. Meanwhile the classically schooled Ingo Werner would venture into classical electronic, new-age and soundtrack music.

Jyl Porch would co-write and provide vocal contributions on the Angela Werner tracks ‘Fantasy’ and ‘Gotta Little Love’ also from 1984. While she would not make another record of her own, she did make an eventual impact amongst the electronic cognoscenti with her enchanting collection of futuristic songs.

‘Jyl’ is available via Minimal Wave Records as a vinyl LP with 12 page booklet insert from https://minimalwave.com/releases/release/jyl/ or https://jyl-jyl.bandcamp.com/album/jyl

https://www.weirdomusicforever.com/weird-news-and-interviews/jyl-porch-revisits-jyl

Text by Chi Ming Lai with thanks to Jeff DeCuir
24th April 2024

MICHEL MOERS As Is

18 April 2024 /

Best known as the front man of Belgian electronic trailblazers TELEX, Michel Moers releases what is only his second solo studio album ‘As Is’.

Together with Dan Lacksman and Marc Moulin, TELEX were the ultimate passively subversive pop group, whether it was by performing a funereal robotic cover of ‘Rock Around The Clock’ on Top Of The Pops while Moers was reading a newspaper or entering the 1980 Eurovision Song Contest to send up the whole charade with the sole intention of coming last!

When TELEX went into hiatus after their 1988 album ‘Looney Tunes’, the dryly humorous Moers released his solo debut ‘Fishing Le Kiss’ in 1991. Although the trio reunited, with the sad passing 2008, TELEX were formally retired.

After 33 years, Michel Moers has admittedly that working on music alone has been a challenge in the absence of his late bandmate and while continuing jobs in photography and architecture, he made music on Sundays like a painter. Recorded primarily using Logic, the songs have been developed over several years and although Moers continues with his distinctive cynical surrealism, one change in approach has been a more direct lyrical expression.

Like with TELEX, ‘As Is’ is multi-lingual while the mood is reflective. Representative of this is ‘Les Gens Sont Affligeants’, a rework of a song that actually appeared on Moers’ debut. Translated as “People Are Disappointing” because let’s face it, they are, with deep chanson resonances offset by arpeggios, it is sad that individualistic entitlement is still very relevant today.

The single ‘Microwaves’ features Claudia Brücken on lead vocals for a more straightforward slice electronic pop with solid bass and icy synth lines that come over like PROPAGANDA meeting TELEX. With dead pan and treated vocals in unison, ‘Potentially (Love-Hate)’ is like a spacey commuter train ride that makes an ideal backdrop for the frustrations expressed; the psychedelic overtones provide an interesting twist while the closing synth work is fantastic.

Declaring “we are only human, curious by nature”, ‘New Friend’ is solemn yet strangely heartfelt while ‘Beau-Triste’ offers sci-fi Charles Aznavour. Upping the pace with splashes of subtle percussive noise, ‘Keske Tu Veux?’ sees sparkly pulsating electronics come into play to contrast the low vocal nonchalance and what’s this? Kerranging rock guitar? In an almost resigned state wondering where the child in himself has gone, ‘Back To Then’ featuring the additional voice of fellow Belgian DAAN continues with the guitars although in a more understated manner alongside the electronics.

The absorbing ‘Pixels’ brings in an appealing synthetic cacophony over a steady metronomic beat but the throbbing ‘R.E.M.I.X’ is a fabulous slice of arty machine dance music where Moers laments aspects of his past, wishing he could “remix my life” just as Karl Bartos did on ‘Without A Trace Of Emotion’ in 2013. To close and translated as “You fall asleep”, ‘Tu T’endors’ is bare to the bone, an airy atmospheric lullaby embroiled in a drifting melancholy before a closing chime of guitar.

While delightfully astute and thoughtful, attentive effort is required from the listener but this makes ‘As If’ all the more satisfying in these days of disengaged music consumption. With this album, you can become invested and involved. Describing where the album belongs in the modern world, Moers himself says “it would be on the living room table”.

‘As Is’ is released by Freaksville Records on 19 April 2024 as a transparent vinyl LP and digital download via https://michelmoers.bandcamp.com/album/as-is

https://twitter.com/michelmoers

https://www.instagram.com/michelmoers/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
18th April 2024

GEMMA CULLINGFORD The Komiza Project

15 April 2024 /

Following up her collaborative EP ‘FOMO’ with performance poet Luke Wright, Gemma Cullingford presents another 4 track offering ‘The Komiza Project’.

It is the soundtrack to her lovely 25 minute short film ‘Home’ which comprises of Super 8 cine footage from between 1974 to 1983 assembled by Gemma Cullingford of her parents from their late teens through to their early 30s in East Anglia, Italy and Switzerland, with cameos from her grandparents, uncles and aunties, brother, friends and pet cat Beans.

The songs themselves date back to 2012 as compositions co-written with Liam Capper-Starr for her first band KOMIZA who released just one EP ‘Early Hours’ in 2014. Taking a step back from the sequencer-assisted dance friendly tunes of her two solo albums ‘Let Me Speak’ and ‘Tongue Tied’, ‘The Komiza Project’ captures Cullingford’s relationship break-up haziness of the time with observational lyrics by Capper-Starr.

The glorious melancholy of ‘Early Hours’ is a synth-laden song of wanting straight out of the Julee Cruise / Angelo Badalamenti / David Lynch songbook. Embroiled in hurt but less direct, ‘Hurry Home’ gazes more to the floor with its shimmering wall of sound and airy vulnerable vocal in the vein of Sarah Cracknell.

‘Ashes’ brings in a subtle bounce and a hint of optimism as part of the emotional recovery with the wonderful synth strings doing a great job of brightening the light at the end of the tunnel. Beginning like a SAINT ETIENNE acoustic ballad, ‘Battle Sighs’ closes with an acceptance to let things go and move on as more of those icy but beautiful synth strings take hold.

As accompaniment to the ‘Home’ film, the personal ethereal songs on ‘The Komiza Project’ make a perfect backdrop to ‘A Norfolk Love Story’ with their ghostly but nostalgic dreamlike qualities complimented by soft wispy vocals. It all fits wonderfully well together despite the seperate components having been made decades apart.

‘The Komiza Project’ is released by Shake! Shake! Records as a 12” vinyl EP in an individually hand numbered plain white sleeve with a unique 6”x4” photograph taken from the ‘Home’ film on 20 April 2024 for Record Store Day 2024 and digital formats on 27 April 2024

https://www.facebook.com/gemcullingford

https://twitter.com/gemcullingford

https://www.instagram.com/gemma_cullingford/

https://gemmacullingford.bandcamp.com/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
15th April 2024

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