Category: Introducing (Page 1 of 25)

Introducing SPIKE

5 March 2025 /

Spike is the nom de théâtre of London-based singer-songwriter Hannah McLoughlin.

Under her own name, she released an experimental electronic soundscape EP ‘The Tower’ in 2020 and has been a regular performer at London’s Cafe Oto. But Spike is a much more song-based and avant popcentric, influenced by Irish composer Roger Doyle and his songs as part of OPERATING THEATRE like ‘Spring Is Coming With A Strawberry In The Mouth’ and ‘Queen Of No Heart’ which featured the vocals of Elena López and were released by U2’s Mother label in 1986.

Adept at flute, EWI and synth, Spike delivers a brand of macabre disco dealing with the undead and the inhuman. It’s therefore perhaps no big surprise that her debut self-titled EP opens with a deadpan electronic cover of Warren Zevon’s ‘Werewolves Of London’. A gothic reimagining, this will be seen as sacrilege to some but it is certainly more inventive than Kid Rock’s pick ‘n’ nick hatchet job ‘All Summer Long’!

The video for ‘Werewolves Of London’ was filmed by McLoughlin on 16mm and included many of the London Soho landmarks referenced in Zevon’s lyrics except the Lee Ho Fook Chinese restaurant in Gerrard Street which was part of the original lyrics and closed in 2008. Incidentally, this was 3 doors away from the now-also closed Gooseberry Studios which was where Gary Numan recorded ‘Are Friends Electric?’

The promising EP also includes the enjoyable melancholic Motorik rave of ‘Tiquetonne’ which delightfully interpolates ‘Con Te Partiro’ aka ‘Time To Say Goodbye’ as made famous by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli. More rhythmically metronomic and possibly the stand-out song, the wonderful ‘You’re Missing’ offers a slice of glorious angelic oompah and vocally recalls the sadly departed Trish Keenan of BROADCAST.

‘Voca Me’ brings in a deeper ghostly atmosphere but as it shuffles along, it deals out more choir girl resonances in the second half. The EP closes with the eerie vocodered tone poem ‘I Could Wait’ where the cerebral approaches of Laurie Anderson loom large.

Short and sweet, this varied debut showcasing an intriguing new talent provides a fresh take on electronic avant pop seeded by that uniquely British eccentricity.

The ‘Spike’ EP is released by God Nation, available digitally from https://gobnation.bandcamp.com/album/s-t-4

https://www.instagram.com/__s.p.i.k.e.__/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/39uMUO8aGb1e8smPZBb6fd

Text by Chi Ming Lai
5th March 2025

Introducing MINDREADER

10 May 2024 /

If ACTORS were fronted by DLINA VOLNY and went to a horror flick all-nighter with BOY HARSHER, that would be a good way to describe MINDREADER.

Like ACTORS, MINDREADER are from Canada, a Montreal-based quartet comprising Valerie Kirkwell, Edward Scrimger, Bryan Greenfield and Alexandre Duguay; their tagline is “Can’t spell MINDREADER without dread”. Since forming in 2023, MINDREADER have been developing their sound and visual aesthetic under the radar. Creating an air of mystique, they have also limited their social media presence as an antithesis to the “LOOK AT US! WE’VE AWESOME!” attitude of many of today’s fledgling acts.

With a stark propulsive tension, EP opener and MINDREADER’s first single and ‘The Kill’ really does put ACTORS, DLINA VOLNY and BOY HARSHER into an enticing melting pot of synths and effected guitar. Adopting a template of deep resonance, the superb gothic techno of ‘Leviathan’ points towards the alternative dancefloor menace of European acts such as NNHMN and MINUIT MACHINE.

‘Parasite’ explores more post punk territory with SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES being the obvious template here vocally while rhythmically, it is more JOY DIVISION. Recalling LINEA ASPERA, the more artful ‘Soft Pull’ returns to the dancefloor with it buzzy doom disco and haunting storytelling before with a more funereal skip, ‘Outsider’ brings in a unusual cross of fleeting dubstep rhythms, scratchy art funk six-string and bass drones to close.

With the familiar themes of loss, despair, and empowerment, nostalgia is a coat that MINDREADER unashamedly wear in their take on post-punk, synth and darkwave. But already with this debut EP, the quartet have shown with songs like ‘Leviathan’ and ‘Soft Pull’ that they are more than comfortable to musically twist and turn as they attempt to present “their unique version of the genre to life”.

‘Cope With Me’ is self-released as a digital EP, available on the usual online platforms and direct from https://mindreader.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/mindreader.music/

https://linktr.ee/mindreader.music

https://open.spotify.com/album/0T47AIXyFZz81YskqyJs4Z

Text by Chi Ming Lai
10th May 2024

Introducing BRIGITTE BARDINI

6 October 2023 /

Photo by Bella Salvatore

Hailing from Melbourne in Australia, Brigitte Bardini is the latest artist to embrace her dark side having begun as an acoustic singer songwriter.

Moving away from the dreampop and shoegaze of her earlier material like ‘Aphrodite’ and ‘Moving On’ but developing on the airy electronic pop of ‘Heartbreaker’, her new single ‘Start A Fire’ embraces a trancey tension within a shady techno backdrop. With shades in her vocals of Berlin-based producer Ema Jolly aka Emika, ‘Start A Fire’ captures an alluring gothique on top of a gritty dance tempo while simultaneously haunting and melodic.

“My last release, ‘Stellar Lights’, was very band oriented which I found at times unaccessible for a solo artist when it came to scheduling shows.” said Brigitte Bardini of her change in direction following her 2021 debut album. “Since I had all the tools to write, record and produce my own work, I decided I can focus more in a direction that allows flexibility where I could perform with minimal dependence on other factors. This was mainly the mindset that led me into electronic music.”

“I think the ‘darker’ sound came from my exploration into using minimal layers in my production and instead choosing sounds that are strong and sometimes abrasive” she added, “The new darkwave and techno music of the 80s and 90s provided me huge inspiration for this. I was listening to a lot of UNDERWORLD, NEW ORDER, DEPECHE MODE and Gary Numan.”

Written and produced entirely by Bardini, the accompanying video for ‘Start A Fire’ features our heroine as a femme fatale with a day job presenting on a TV shopping channel who has murdered her partner the night before by burning down his house… it is all sinister stuff but visually and aurally absorbing. The stylised rage recalls strong female characters in films like ‘Pulp Fiction’ and ‘Kill Bill’ as well as more recent drama action series such as ‘Warrior’.

“I always found a huge amount of pleasure in experimenting with sound and honing in on the production side of making music” she said of her new sound, “My attraction to abrasive sounds and darker themes, being a huge horror fan, really led me naturally into the dark electronic pop genre for this release. Once I recognised that the ‘dark’ side of music and film became a refuge and a bottomless pit of inspiration, I then knew where to look when I needed ideas which helped to develop a clearer vision in my work”.

Of her future plans, Bardini told ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK “I will be releasing another single very soon and there is an album on the horizon. The song releases to come are all electronic and based in exploration of sound and 80s inspired visuals.”

‘Start A Fire’ is released by Ruby Valley Records, available from online platforms including https://brigittebardini.bandcamp.com/track/start-a-fire

https://www.facebook.com/BrigitteBardiniMusic

https://twitter.com/BardiniBrigitte

https://www.instagram.com/brigitte_bardini/

https://linktr.ee/BrigitteBardini

Text by Chi Ming Lai
6 October 2023

Introducing MADELINE GOLDSTEIN

26 January 2023 /

Formally of synth-tinged Portland band FRINGE CLASS, front woman Madeline Goldstein went solo in 2019 having discovered Ableton to free herself of the traditional band format.

Relocating to Los Angeles, her debut album ‘Forget This’ in early 2020 collected a variety of sonic electronic experiments with the vocal presence of Julee Cruise captured on ‘Dreams’,

While hazier impressionistic overtures emerged from the opening track ‘A Feeling’ and there were also the shimmering soundscapes of ‘Control’, 2021’s ‘Lost In Heaven’ let in some sparkle and acted as a stopgap single before 2022’s ‘One More Day’ signified a revitalised approach in more song-based structures. With brighter synth hooks amongst the dreampop and a deeper vocal register in a fabulously delivered performance recalling Mari Kattman or Megan Louise, it was undoubtedly a step forward.

Her best yet, Madeline Goldstein’s latest single ‘Seed Of Doubt’ is the first song from the soon-to-be-released ‘Other World’ EP that promises a narrative on “the restlessness of alienation and isolation, the longing to move, to feel power, and to flee”. It is a brooding slice of gothwave in a manner akin to LEATHERS, tinged with some ghostly allure thanks to a haunting soprano delivery.

Despite the sense of unease, like all good gothic-flavoured tunes, there’s a romance in the vulnerable uncertainty while chilling Numan-esque synth passages point towards visions of castles and forests as the song’s rhythmic lattice builds. This imagery is captured in the video put together by Goldstein and Chad Fjerstad which begins with grainy and nocturnal street footage in the intro before snapping into daylight and rock formations to portray isolation in nature. The visual accompaniment jumps around to show a forlorn Goldstein sitting in a hotel room while also containing grainy night vision footage.

The self-composed ‘Seed Of Doubt’ has been produced and mixed by Matia Simovich whose credits have included BOY HARSHER and BODY OF LIGHT, as well as one-time TANGERINE DREAM member Peter Baumann. Madeline Goldstein will soon be on the bill with Catherine Moan and Primer for a live gig at The Virgil in Los Angeles hosted by Das Bunker.

’Seed Of Doubt’ is available as a digital single direct from https://madelinegoldstein.bandcamp.com/

Madeline Goldstein, Catherine Moan + Primer play Das Bunker at The Virgil on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles on Friday 3rd February 2023 – tickets available from https://dasbunker.org/

https://twitter.com/madi_goldstein

https://www.instagram.com/madelinegoldstein_/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpF_9z4V1JQXqVmxFaFh-Iw

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0qtVLVzUD4Qglw7wW90QqO

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Enshrine Productions
26th January 2023

Introducing GEMMA CULLINGFORD

27 June 2022 /

If you had Yoko Ono’s ‘Walking On Thin Ice’ reconfigured as a Balearic friendly electronic disco number, then that in a nutshell encapsulates ‘Tongue Tied’, the latest single by Gemma Cullingford.

From the upcoming long player of the same name, to be released by Elmo Recordings in Autumn 2022, the Norwich-based Cullingford made her debut as a solo artist with ‘Let Me Speak’, one of the singles from which ‘Wide Boys’ got the remix treatment from A CERTAIN RATIO. Also from that 2021 album, ‘I Like You’ was an adventure in art funk that wouldn’t have sounded out of place as a single on Factory Records.

Utilising a minimal programmed backdrop, a stark spoken word reading of Bobby Gentry’s ‘Ode To Billie Joe’ proved to be a highlight alongside the mutant harmonic menace of ‘The Lizard’ and the groovily hypnotic ‘Queen Bee’ which contained a closing instrumental synth passage that came over like Gary Numan gone glitterball.

With a nonchalant but sensual vocal style reminiscent of Sarah Nixey of BLACK BOX RECORDER, ‘Tongue Tied’ exudes a positive if nervous energy in a purer metronomic adoption of electronics. The parent sophomore album promises explorations on “relationships and the different emotions they can bring, from paranoia, yearning and helplessness to lust, shyness and just downright wanting to dance.”

Already a four album veteran before going solo as a member of SINK YA TEETH and earlier in KAITO with Nik Colk Void of FACTORY FLOOR, now that LONELADY has reopened the door to female fronted electronically sequenced post-punk funk in the past year, Gemma Cullingford could be next in line to be embraced by a wider audience.

The album ‘Tongue Tied’ is released on 2nd September 2022 by Elmo Recordings as a CD and vinyl LP

The back catalogue is available from https://gemmacullingford.bandcamp.com/

Gemma Cullingford 2022 live dates include:

Brighton Residents Records (2nd September), Norwich Arts Centre (8th September)*, Ipswich Smokehouse (9th September)*, London Dalston Shacklewell Arms (10th September)*, Manchester Talleyrand (17th September)+, Bristol Crofter’s Rights (29th October)+

*with Alice Hubble  +with Rodney Cromwell

https://www.gemmacullingford.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/gemcullingford

https://twitter.com/gemcullingford

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

https://open.spotify.com/artist/6WR6hPeb9Qq39fAm88GtcL

Text by Chi Ming Lai
27th June 2022

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