Author: electricityclub (Page 238 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

FEVER RAY Plunge

1 November 2017 /


The First Lady of the Swedish electronic scene Karin Dreijer returns and the comeback is indeed a bit of a ‘Plunge’.

Being one half of THE KNIFE who shook the foundations of Swedish synth music and created new directions in all things electronic, Dreijer has for years embodied the most influential figure in darker, artier synthpopia. THE KNIFE, formed in Gothenburg with her brother Olof, released a few notable albums, including the uncompromising ‘Shaking The Habitual’ in 2013, to disband the following year after a number of successful live appearances.

Yet back in 2009, Dreijer couldn’t wait to unleash her solo project under the pseudonym of FEVER RAY, which gave a go ahead to artists such as IAMAMIWHOAMI, KARIN PARK, GAZELLE TWIN, AUSTRA, THE HORN THE HUNT, NIKI & THE DOVE and perhaps to Canada’s GRIMES as well. The school of hauntronica was opening doors to a wide variety of female artists who wanted to take the synth to another level.

The eponymous album number one was heralded by ‘If I Had A Heart’, which caused a stir big enough to be featured in many TV series, with ‘Breaking Bad’, ‘Person Of Interest’ and ‘Vikings’ to name a few. The Ice Maiden Of Synth also contributed vocals to the works by DEUS and RÖYKSOPP, composed the soundtrack to ‘Dirty Diaries’, ‘Hour Of the Wolf’, and gigged extensively, gathering more than positive reviews. Known for her visual extravaganza of costumes, masks, body paints and theatrical props, Dreijer makes an unexpected return with ‘Plunge’.

Weird and eerie sounds on ‘Wanna Sip’ pull strings from the onset, inviting a celebration of what’s unusual and egocentric. The curious urgency created by the clever use of musical elements ends abruptly, to be followed by ‘Mustn’t Hurry’; the Nordic vocals are pushing boundaries over mysterious beats, leading to pitch-bent hysteria on ‘A Part Of Us’ featuring Tami T.

‘Falling’ is the preparatory tune, designed to work as shift change into the more political and designed to shock part of the album. The most experimental on the opus, it features samples of dial tones, bells and harsh vocals to unnerve and “feel dirty”. For a tribal feel of distorted vocal and sex noises, all wrapped up in Japanese notion over the playground antics, let’s go into ‘IDK About You’. Weird enough? Certainly…

But then comes ‘This Country’; here Dreijer gets political, sexual and more peculiar still. Referring to “perverts”, “free abortions, clean water” and the general statement that “this country makes it hard to f**k” pretty much says it all. It’s all a risky ‘Plunge’ (except the title track is a chipper instrumental proposition); ‘To The Moon & Back’ being the classic example of it with the scandalous “I want to run my fingers up your pussy”. Have we heard it right!? Oh yes, FEVER RAY has the fever, and she’s not ashamed to admit it. And all this over ERASURE-esque arpeggios!? And why not!

The vibrations change to cinematic eastern violin, which buzzes with the urgency of noise in ‘Red Trails’, shifting to ‘An Itch’ with its axe grinding qualities, to be reconciled with ‘Mama’s Hand’. With that stretched voice, trying to explain the subject matter as love, but what love? Maternal, sexual, of a brotherhood of men; has Dreijer found her destiny? Has she reached her fulfilment? Has she cleared the uncertainty or merely muddied the waters further?

FEVER RAY has certainly transformed, noticeably evolved, properly grown, unafraid to spell things as they are. The ambivalent political-sexual manifesto is there for grabs. It won’t be to everyone’s taste, but for the lovers of the quirky, strong, semi-feminist and above all, bursting with art forms, ‘Plunge’ will hail the new era. It’s an era of unbridled sexuality, paradoxical freedom and all things weird and beautiful.

And who will FEVER RAY inspire next?

‘Plunge’ is released by Rabid Records via the usual digital platforms

https://feverray.com

https://www.facebook.com/FeverRay/

https://twitter.com/feverray

https://www.instagram.com/feverray/

Text by Monika Izabela Trigwell
1st November 2017

SHELTER Interview

30 October 2017 /


Last year, Welsh duo SHELTER “ascended” onto the hungry synthpop fans with a bang, following their debut ‘Emerge’.

Oh, and did they emerge; with a larger than life frontman in Mark Bebb and the equally adept producer Rob Bradley in charge of musical execution. Andy Bell himself chose the boys to work with him on his ‘iPop’ adventure and ERASURE invited SHELTER to support them during ‘The Violet Flame’ tour.

And now the Welsh duo are known far and wide for providing the synth loving boys and girls with catchy tunes and exuberant live shows. ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK caught up with Mark and Rob over a glass of red…

SHELTER are now quite popular with fans of easy listening electronica. But how did it all start?

Mark: We’ve been working and writing together since 1999. Rob had a studio and I was in a boyband looking for a studio. My brother recommended Rob. We shared a love of electronic music and hit it off immediately. We started making music and quickly achieved success as finalists in Future Music’s national ‘Undiscovered Originals’ song writing competition and we’ve just continued from there.

Was ERASURE-like synthpop your choice of musical style deliberate, or did things just happen?

Mark: We are both massive ERASURE fans but we don’t try to emulate them. Our style has evolved organically due to our love of all things synthpop and electronica and we are not afraid to experiment a little. We do try and keep the sound consistent though, with the fact that we are an electronic two piece band.

How do you both feel about working on non-SHELTER related products?

Rob: I’m always glad to have a bit of peace and quiet! On a serious note though, I take on paid production work from time to time and I think it helps to challenge me to try and learn new things.

Andy Bell and ‘iPop’, who approached whom?

Mark: ‘iPop’ never started life as an album. We approached Andy privately and sent him an early demo of ‘Beautiful’. We’d written the song with Andy in mind and within minutes he rang us excitedly saying he absolutely loved the song and that he’s gonna fly over early in the New Year and stay for a week to record his vocals at our studio.

Rob: We recorded ‘Beautiful’ quite quickly and spent the rest of the week going through lots of our demos and picking ones he liked. We recorded 11 tracks in 7 days, 8 of which made it to the ‘iPop’ album. Voila, ‘iPop’ was born.


And then came your support slots on ‘The Violet Flame’ Tour…

Mark: Yes, amazing, ‘The Violet Flame’ and ‘iPop’ were truly life-changing turning points for us as a band. Vince Clarke very kindly worked with us on the track ‘Lift Me Up’ from ‘iPop’, so we think Andy and Vince maybe put in a good word for us to their manager in New York.

Out of the blue one day we got an e-mail which quite literally read “How about these 8 dates guys?” with 8 dates spanning UK, Germany and Denmark ie The European leg of the tour. I needed to read the e-mail numerous times to believe it, then rang Rob and asked him if he was sitting down! Rob suffice-to-say didn’t believe me as he naturally would find such news difficult to swallow!

Rob: I asked him to send me the e-mail. I rang him back and we were quite literally fit to burst with excitement and immediately accepted the offer of course.

Your approach to live gigs seems like an elaborate affair, with all the vibrant costumes and such…

Mark: Yes, we think it’s important to take what you do seriously, but not to take yourselves too seriously. We try to always put on reasonably elaborate and flamboyant live stage performances. This is primarily why Rob uses a keytar, to enable him to be more animated and mobile on-stage.

Rob: Convincing me to get a little more experimental with outfits took a number of years longer! *laughs*

Mark: I have to say he’s actually very open minded to creative things and pushing boundaries for someone a lot quieter and more reserved than me! Seeing Rob step out supporting DE/VISION in a silver LED light suit was a really highlight for me. I’ve always kinda just worn what ‘feels right’ for me to wear in a kinda non-binary / gender fluid approach. It’s less about orientation or gender for me and more about what best suits what we’re doing musically and visually at any given time, without feeling stifled or guided by the hand of convention.

As a band, how do you take criticism?

Mark: We take criticism on the chin simple as. Whenever you put anything you’ve created out there into the public domain, you are by default open to criticism. If you ‘invite’ or ‘volunteer’ your work out into the public domain, you have to expect feedback and opinion good, bad and indifferent. I think if you can’t take criticism, you’re clearly in the wrong game frankly. You’re always going to be judged in some way or other, no matter what your outputs concern themselves with. We do always listen to people’s feedback though.

What are your musical influences?

Mark: Again simply too many to list really, but I guess my historical constants would have to be ERASURE, DEPECHE MODE, KRAFTWERK, DEAD OR ALIVE, BRONSKI BEAT, NEW ORDER, FRONT 242, OMD etc. More recently, I tend to also add in lots more independent acts such as ASSEMBLAGE 23 (Tom Shear), VNV NATION, IAMX, MARSHEAUX, AESTHETIC PERFECTION etc. In my car right now though almost on permanent repeat is ‘Metanoia’ by IAMX which, in my humble opinion is quite frankly a complete work of musical and production genius.

Rob: I basically love all music, apart from maybe thrash metal and opera *laughs*

But my real passion is for electronic 80s music like THE HUMAN LEAGUE, HOWARD JONES, HEAVEN 17, YAZOO, THOMPSON TWINS etc. I love the music that these early synth pioneers made and I just try to make new music in a similar, but evolved style in order to fill a gap that I feel they left behind. I’m obviously a massive ERASURE fan too, but thankfully they’re still delivering awesome new music in their same classic style. I do love to venture and experiment into different production styles though, but it’s always the retro electro stuff that tends to stay on my car playlist.

You’ve already “emerged” and “ascended”, what’s to come next?

Mark: Next comes ‘Soar’ – our debut trilogy of album releases were originally based on the metamorphosis and life-cycle of a butterfly. We’ve got to finish writing and recording our ‘difficult 3rd album’ first though before our beautiful butterfly takes to the sky.

Your most recent single ‘Karma’ is quite poignant. What’s the subject matter behind it, apart from the obvious?

Mark: No catch or hidden meanings with ‘Karma’, it does exactly what it says on the tin. “You can’t put out something, without a string that ties you back to it”; the opening line eloquently summarises the whole intent of the track. When I was younger, I always remember seeing a Snoopy and Woodstock sketch where Snoopy had a tennis bat and hit the ball and it bounced back and was hurtling back towards poor Snoopy.

The caption beneath it said; “… for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction!” – that stayed with me and I think ‘Karma’ pays homage to that life principle. ‘Karma’ also embraces SHELTER’s darker, edgier side which Rob and I love doing from time-to-time.

Mark, your voice seems to have blossomed lately, you must look after it well…

Mark: That’s all down to Rob’s production mastery and studio trickery. He’s very good at making me sound very good. Not revealing any of our bag of tricks or our trade secrets here! *laughs out loud*

Thank you though, that’s such a lovely thing to be told as a singer, and I will very graciously accept that lovely compliment and quit while I’m ahead 😉

Any plans to produce other artists?

Rob: My immediate priority is to finish our next SHELTER album. Mark and I are getting a real buzz from writing new songs at the moment, so I want to keep focused on SHELTER as much as possible. I do however have a couple of production jobs for some clients to work on outside of SHELTER and I think after the album is done I’d like to have a crack at doing a one-off solo single. I doubt it will ever happen but I’ve always wanted to have a go.


Coming back to live performances, SHELTER do gig extensively…

Mark: We do try to gig where and when we can, as it’s where we get a chance to reach out and directly connect with people who enjoy our music. Also it allows us to ‘road-test’ our music and see what works best in a live environment and see which tracks people respond more favourably to.

It goes without saying that our extensive and growing wardrobe also gets a bit of an airing. Rob and I always make a real effort for our live gigs with lots of behind-the-scenes debate regarding set lists, costume co-ordination etc.

Rob: Performing will always remain pivotal for a band to better connect with and understand those who like your music and also keeps you on the edge with adrenaline in terms of your performance prowess as gigging is instantaneous and unforgiving in terms of whether you can still ‘cut it’ as an artist.

Mark: We’re looking forward to playing back in Denmark shortly. Denmark has become our second home for playing live which is amazing.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to SHELTER

Additional thanks to Si Skinner

‘Karma’ is released by Ministry Of Pop as a digital single and available from the usual platforms

http://www.shelterofficial.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Shelterofficialmusic/

https://twitter.com/ShelterMusicHQ

Text and Interview by Monika Izabela Trigwell
30th October 2017

Lost Albums: ROBERT GÖRL Night Full Of Tension

22 October 2017 /

DEUTSCH AMERIKANISCHE FREUNDSCHAFT, also more commonly referred to as DAF, undoubtedly all but invented electronic body music; the late veteran DJ John Peel charmingly called them the “Grandfathers of Techno”.

Featuring the nucleus of Gabi Delgado-Lopez on vocals and Robert Görl on drums and electronics, their punky ethos utilised the availability of the-then newly affordable synthesizer technology, attaching the Korg MS20 semi-modular synth driven by its corresponding 16-step SQ10 analog sequencer to heavy Teutonic rhythms.

DAF’s music was a confrontational statement against the very strong American influence in popular culture that had seeped into post-war Germany. But following the cult success of their acclaimed Virgin album trilogy of ‘Alles Ist Gut’, ‘Gold Und Liebe’ and ‘Für Immer’ produced by Conny Plank, DAF went into hiatus after falling under a haze of “sex, drugs and sequencer”.

1982’s ‘Für Immer’ with its best known song ‘Kebabträume’ had already seen DAF veer towards synthpop territory at various points, but it was still something of a surprise when the DAF drummer appeared in 1984 with an eight track album made in that vein, released on Mute Records.

Görl’s solo career had begun with a standalone single ‘Mit Dir’ in 1983. Dark, brooding and magnificent, the song was to become a favourite among the cognoscenti, eventually borrowed by a newer generation of electronic duos like SIN COS TAN, reinterpreted for Prada commercials and covered by DJ HELL with STEREO MCs. But by ‘Night Full Of Tension’, Görl had lightened up considerably and the artwork even had him looking totally relaxed, posing by a swimming pool.

Co-produced by Mike Hedges who had worked his studio magic on ASSOCIATES ‘Sulk’, the percussive backbone of the record was dominated by an Oberheim DMX, in a contrast to the live drumming that DAF followers were used to. And while sequencers were still prevalent, the patterns were now more sophisticated, thanks to the advent of digital sequencers like the Oberheim DSK which could control polyphonic synths such as the OBXa which DAF had used on ‘Für Immer’.

Singing in English apart from on the solemn Brecht-influenced cabaret art piece ‘Gewinnen Wir Die Beste Der Frauen’ reciting a 13th Century Poem by Walther Von Metze,  Görl exuded a relaxed vocal style in the manner of Bryan Ferry and David Bowie that actually came over more like Yukihiro Takahashi of YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA and Winston Tong of TUXEDOMOON.

Photo by Sabine Raef

And in another twist, ‘Night Full Of Tension’ featured vocal contributions from Annie Lennox; the two had met when Görl played on EURYTHMICS’ ‘Belinda’ from ‘In The Garden’ which Conny Plank had produced. Laced with ad-libs by Lennox, ‘Playtime’ was a fine accessible opener recalling NEW ORDER that showcased the sequencer and drum machine driven pop ethos of the album.

‘I Love Me’ referenced ASSOCIATES and resembled a less frantic and more electronic ‘Club Country’, a track which Mike Hedges helmed. Given the Mute connection too, elements of DEPECHE MODE’s DAF influences that had been heard on ‘Construction Time Again’ ironically also crept in… the sorcerer was grabbing back from the apprentice. Meanwhile the quirky ‘Charlie Cat’ actually saw Lennox take the entire lead vocal and unsurprisingly, it sounded like something by EURYTHMICS as around this time, David A Stewart was using similar Oberheim equipment.

The second half of ‘Night Full Of Tension’ was glorious; ‘Queen King’ played with androgyny and sexuality over hypnotic sequences and synthetic brass stabs, while on the brilliant ‘Love In Mind’, its machine groove sat comfortably next to the similarly constructed ‘Big Brother’ by Winston Tong and ‘Big Blue World’ by Paul Haig as fine examples of the sophisticated electronic pop that was emerging during this period.

But the album’s highlight was probably ‘Darling Don’t Leave Me’, a passionate but fun duet with Lennox that was also a wonderfully wiggly synthpop pleasure. Closing with ‘Wind In Hair’, this was the closest ‘Night Full Of Tension’ got to DAF, its bassline resembling ‘Der Mussolini’ although this realisation was far lighter, with the synthetic choir and string drones pushing it closer to KRAFTWERK.

DAF reconvened in 1985 for ‘1st Step To Heaven’, their only album in English, but the pair parted ways again. Since then, Görl and Delgado-Lopez have more than occasionally reunited for DAF shows, while the recent release of the ‘Das Ist DAF’ boxed set on Grönland Records has cemented the duo’s status as the “Grandfathers of Techno”.

Meanwhile, the intervening years have seen Görl pursue that very Techno direction with albums like ‘Watch The Great Copy Cat’, ‘Sexdrops’, ‘Final Metal Pralinées’ and ‘Dark Tool Symphony’. So like Winston Tong’s wonderful ’Theoretically Chinese’ excursion, ‘Night Full Of Tension’ was a one-off experiment.

But Görl’s intriguing and cool escapist journey into synthpop crossed over into an audience that may have found DAF a bit too threatening, and that was not necessarily a bad thing. ‘Night Full Of Tension’ is a very good but forgotten body of work that deserves as much recognition as DAF’s Virgin-era albums.

‘Night Full Of Tension’ is still available via Mute Records as a digital album featuring the extended version of ‘Mit Dir’ as a bonus track

http://www.robert-goerl.de

http://mute.com/category/robert-gorl

https://www.groenland.com/en/artist/deutsch-amerikanische-freundschaft/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Sabine Raef
22nd October 2017

FIFI RONG The One

18 October 2017 /

One person who is not shying from experimenting within the electronica genre is Beijing born, London based FIFI RONG.

Not only has she rebelled against the ordinary in her homeland China, but when the realisation that spreading her musical wings wasn’t going to happen there, she took the bald step of relocating to somewhere she could really emerge. And since, she has with sublime songs such as ‘Only If I Knew’ and ‘Next Pursuit’. Bred on MAZZY STAR and COCTEAU TWINS, the dainty songstress has been developing her own ethereal, eerie style, with the incorporation of some magnificent electronica, to challenge many of her contemporaries.

None other than YELLO invited her to tour and perform with them, and the Oriental Beauty has been going from strength to strength since with her multiple single releases.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK is catching up with FIFI RONG just in time for her latest release ‘The One’.

The last time ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK chatted to you, you were embarking upon your YELLO adventure and since then, there have been live events with the guys themselves!

Yes! Last year I did 4 sold out shows at Kraftwerk Berlin with YELLO. They were their first-ever shows so it was intense and I loved it. And this year we are doing different dates, and much more spread-out.

The Montreux festival was a lot of fun. Geneva was very beautiful. And I’m looking forward to the upcoming arena shows in Germany, Switzerland and Austria too.

‘The Same Road’ took your followers as surprise with a faster tempo and a clear nod towards the poppier side of things?

Yes. I like challenging myself and I like experimenting. I know I can do moody downtempo all day long, but I like to explore the uptempo side of me too while staying undeviated from who I am.

Are we to expect for ‘The One’ to usher more changes which will define your creations for a while, or is the organic process of your music making never ceasing to evolve?

I think ‘The One’ is more holistic and conclusive, from what I was in the very early days to what I am now. It happened as a simple bassline, I had no intention for it to become a so-called dub reggae vibe. I’m not aware of these things, I thought it was interesting, that’s all. So who knows what will be the next bits of excitement that are coming my way 🙂

Having released some fantastic singles, are we to expect a long player to follow?

Yes. I’m making an EP first, and this is likely to be followed by the album sometime next year. I know I have been warming up for a while. But I hope it’s worth the wait as I have been writing so much. Basically I’m being patient and I only want to release the best tracks, rather than 5 mediocre albums with some good tracks. I’m in no rush. Quality comes first.

The Pledge Music campaigns have really worked for you…

Yes, I’m very fortunate to have a small group of loyal followers who believe in me as an artist, a person, and a spirit behind all this. And they support and stay open minded to grow with me and accept my changes and evolution.

You have travelled extensively over the last few months. Any highlights?

Yes! Geneva was paradise! So in love with the lake and the mountains there. But I only got to stay there for one day. Texas was lovely. Beautiful and generous sun shine… Spain, where I escaped to on my working holiday, where I went on a solo adventure into the mountains and to the sea. You get the pattern. I like sunny places with clear water. But ironically I’m attached to London. Like a complicated love hate relationship:)

Is China still shutting you out, or are they warming to your creations? Have you any thoughts about how popular music is developing there?

Haven’t had many thoughts or attention towards it. If there was another Fifi, I’d delegate her to have a scan of what’s going on. Otherwise, London is my home, regardless of how it perceives me 🙂

Any new hardware or software in your studio you’d like to share your excitement about?

Oh yeah lots!! I got my Maschine2 with Komplete and a new system. I absolutely exhausted my old set up with the previous version of Logic X and my own samplers. So I’m exploring the new systems, very slowly.

I’m a bit like a dog with a bone type of person when it comes to music technology. A bit thick but I eventually get my teeth into it and won’t let go 🙂

Would you say this year marks a milestone in your career so far?

I would say it’s been nice and steady and I like the pace of my development as a songwriter, performer and producer. All these things take time and craft from the insider perspective. And the outside result is simply what it looks from the outside. I don’t think about it too much 🙂

What does the future hold for FIFI RONG as 2018 approaches?

A new EP and album as I mentioned earlier. It means lots of hard work on songwriting, recording and production 🙂

So basically it’s a case of just putting my head down, as I feel I’ve only just scratched the surface of my creativity…

‘The One’ is available now via AWAL through the usual digital outlets

FIFI RONG plays London Archspace on 19th October 2017

http://www.fifirong.com/

https://www.facebook.com/fifirongmusic/

https://twitter.com/fifirong

Text and Interview by Monika Izabela Trigwell
18th October 2017

THE RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP Live at The British Library

17 October 2017 /

To celebrate 60 years of THE RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP, the pioneering collective held a pair of events within the plush confines of The British Library.

The first comprised of a panel discussion chaired by Louise Gray of The Wire, while the second was a surround sound concert with striking visuals directed by Obsrvtry, a collaboration between THE RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP, Michael Faulkner and Ben Sheppee.

Gathered for the panel discussion were Paddy Kingsland, Roger Limb, Peter Howell and archivist Mark Ayers with special guest Martyn Ware who performed on their new album ‘Burials In Several Earths’; original member Dr Dick Mills joined the chat later on after being held up in London’s Friday rush hour.

Founded in 1958 by Desmond Briscoe and Daphne Oram, THE RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP at the BBC was set up to provide “special sound” for radio and TV programmes. They were inspired by studios set up by Karlheinz Stockhausen in Cologne for pure electronic sound exploration and Pierre Henry in Paris which had a more of a musique concrète remit.

So if a programme required a door opening or a car crash, a sound effects library could be used, but as Mark Ayres put it: “if you wanted a sound effect for a nervous breakdown, where would you go for that?”. Considered to be distinct from the corporation’s musicians and initially working with virtually zero budget, THE RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP tended to rescue obsolete equipment that had been dumped by other departments.

Using and abusing technology to create new sounds, its members like the late Delia Derbyshire would be tasked with two hour programmes each week and had to work to deadlines, something which she often had trouble with and referred to as her “variable reluctance”.

Of course, working with early electronics was not straightforward. The tape machines of the day were very unreliable and Roger Limb talked of when THE RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP started performing as a live act and using digital equipment, discovering “how surprisingly varied the tape machine output was”. He concluded that “what we like about analogue things is to do with the variance, stuff that you don’t immediately hear but is adding to the interest”.

Paddy Kingsland described how Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson (who created the sound of the TARDIS by running a key along a bass string of a gutted piano before electronically treating it) were “into their happy accidents”. It was something that Roger Limb summarised as “something that’s actually wrong that suddenly becomes right”, like the BBC fire extinguisher that was found to be approximately in D# when struck!

The panel discussion also included a fascinating demonstration by Mark Ayres of Delia Derbyshire’s component parts for the theme of ‘Dr Who’. While the music was written by Ron Grainer, it was Derbyshire who orchestrated the arrangement, painstakingly recording short bursts of manually manipulated oscillator onto tape, cutting them up and splicing them together to form longer and more recognisably musical sections.

The bass was actually a plucked string, recorded and copied via tape loops onto another machine until a series of different pitches were made, with Ayres explained that “every one of those notes was a piece of tape cut together with a razor”. Roger Limb pointed out that the bassline which Derbyshire had constructed was even cleverer because “the attack only happens on the front of the phrase”.

The music had a profound impact when it was first aired in 1963 with Dr Dick Mills remembering people were intrigued and asking “WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?” because they couldn’t work out the instrumentation or how it was realised. As Martyn Ware put it, “it promised you were going to be visiting worlds that you couldn’t possibly comprehend” while Peter Howell added “You were genuinely hearing things you had never heard before”.

Adventurous manipulators of sound who came up with instruments like the Wobbulator, Peter Howell had the view that “the equipment can either be our servant or our partner”. While discussing these two approaches, he casually mentioned how an old BBC schools film he had made demonstrating the Fairlight CMI to children had been re-edited into a hilarious spoof YouTube video entitled ‘How Drum ‘N’ Bass Is Made’.

With the panel discussion over, THE RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP moved over to the Entrance Hall for their two-part live performance. With hardware such as an Arturia Matrixbrute, Korg MS20, Roland JX3P and Yamaha DX7 clearly in view, along with various laptops and controllers, the first section comprised of more progressive and lengthy ambient experimental pieces.

The impressionistic colours of ‘Picasso’ began the evening before the band settled into performing selections from ‘Burial In Several Earths’. Inspired by Sir Francis Bacon’s incomplete novel ‘New Atlantis’, Daphne Oram used a section of it as an electronic avant-garde manifesto for the workshop.

Her spirit could be heard within these watery overtures recalling Virgin era TANGERINE DREAM while in between these lengthy improvised soundscapes, Martyn Ware joined the band on a Roland Jupiter 8 for a rendition of the comparatively bite size interlude ‘Not Come To Light’.

During the interval, DJ Tom Middleton treated attendees to the spacey sounds of JEAN-MICHEL JARRE, TOMITA and VANGELIS. So it was fitting that when THE RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP returned to the stage, it was with ‘The Astronauts’, a pacey tune reminiscent of Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou. ‘Ziwzih Ziwzih 00-00-00’ from ‘Out of the Unknown’ was the first of the more Sci-Fi related compositions, a theme which continued with some music from ‘Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy’.

Meanwhile ‘Magenta Court’ from ‘Through A Glass Darkly’ explored more proggy territory. The multi-instrumental capabilities of the ensemble were astounding with the main players moving between synths, guitars, wind controllers and taking turns to address the audience.

One thing that has been lost since the advent of 24 hour television in the UK since 1997 is Test Card F. So when the iconic image of Carole Hersee playing noughts and crosses with Bubbles the Clown was projected, it saw the band to wig out in a Floydian style with a sample of its accompanying music.

A rendition of ‘Vespucci’ from ‘Fourth Dimension’ also ventured into cosmic territory while ‘Vortex’ kept the Sci-Fi fans happy, But it was the brilliant new composition ‘eShock’ that was the revelation of the evening. With Roger Limb taking to the microphone to warn the audience that they were in a “high risk area” and vulnerable to electronic shock, what proceeded was a vibrant electronic piece aided by a live rhythmic backbone from Kieron Pepper. With a cacophony of blips and beats that would make ORBITAL proud, an intense frenzy of psychedelic guitar and Theremin from Paddy Kingland was the icing on the cake.

Dr Dick Mills joined his colleagues on stage to announce the final number which was naturally ‘Doctor Who’; he even took time to joke and thank the crew for not only helping with the equipment, but also several of the band up The British Library’s many stairs.

Beginning with the familiar Delia Derbyshire take, there was a building improv before a Schaffel flavoured rock out with Kieron Pepper respectfully adding percussive power without swamping his colleagues. Pepper has also played for THE PRODIGY and he is an example to sticksmen like Christian Eigner as to how to properly mix live drums into electronic music.

Despite THE RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP members now pushing 70 years of age or more, they possessed more vigour than many acts half their age. They didn’t start play live together in a concert setting until 2009 and having been cooped up in Room 13 all those years ago, they are now relishing playing to appreciative audiences.

Call it ‘Maida Vale Social Club’ or ‘Last of The Summer Synths’, this whole evening was a moment to savour with electronic music’s elder statesmen giving a lesson to youngsters with their laptops as to how it’s all done.

With thanks to Duncan Clark at 9PR

‘Burials In Several Earths’ is released by Room 13 Records as a 4 x 10” vinyl boxset, double CD and download

http://www.theradiophonicworkshop.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/theradiophonicworkshop/

https://twitter.com/radiophonicwork

Text and Photos by Chi Ming Lai
17th October 2017

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2017 ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK | Email: [email protected]
Privacy Policy

Up ↑