Category: Live Reports (Page 34 of 36)

BLANCMANGE Live at Koko

27 March 2011 /

BLANCMANGE presented a sharp show at London’s Koko as part of their highly welcomed comeback.

The duo of Neil Arthur and Stephen Luscombe recently released their first album for 25 years in ‘Blanc Burn’, a dark collection of songs delivered in a modern technical setting but retaining all the hallmarks of their quirky and humourous sound. Unfortunately, Stephen Luscombe has been diagnosed with a spinal aneurysm and unable to take part in the tour; ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK wishes him all the best and a speedy recovery.

However tonight, he’s able to observe proceedings from the sidelines as his charismatic band mate Neil Arthur leads honorary mangers Pandit Dinesh and a deputising Graham Henderson through a spirited if short set to a crowd of eager onlookers who interestingly seem to have more hair than the average OMD or NEW ORDER audience!

Following a great warm up DJ set by the ubiquitous Mark Jones from Back To The Phuture who digs up the lost synthpop classic ‘Haven’t We Met Somewhere Before?’ by TELEX for all to hear, a taped intro of Vishnu acts as overture before BLANCMANGE begin with ‘I’m Having A Coffee’. An everyday tale of life how life can pass you by, of course one way to stop this from happening is to try something new… opening with an impressive new number is a fine statement of intent that this is not to be a complete night of nostalgia. It acts as a perfect starter before the main course which consists of half the tracks from their brilliant debut album ‘Happy Families’.

“Long time innit?” murmurs Mr Arthur by way of a greeting. Julian Cope will probably be skating on another copy of ‘Happy Families’ if he can hear the amazing response that is greeting tunes like ‘I Can’t Explain’, ‘God’s Kitchen’ and ‘I’ve Seen The Word’ tonight. On ‘I Can’t Explain’ in particular, Arthur almost turns into Ian Curtis as the blistering synths accentuate the overall intensity.

Meanwhile, ‘I’ve Seen The Word’ retains its melancholic beauty while the observational narrative on religion of ‘God’s Kitchen’ recalls a time when record companies were willing to take risks on unconventional musical subjects. And all this a couple of years before DEPECHE MODE’s ‘Blasphemous Rumours’ too.

Neo-referencing ROXY MUSIC’s ‘Do The Strand’, new single ‘Drive Me’ is part autobiographical as Arthur adds some theatrical surrealism when recalling his youth, particularly on meeting a DAVID BOWIE impersonator who refused to shave his moustache! Throughout the colourfully lit proceedings, Pandit Dinesh effortlessly taps his way through probably the largest array of ethnic percussion instruments ever to have been gathered to add a rich, spicy flavour to proceedings. He acts as the perfect sidekick in Luscombe’s absence to Arthur’s wonderful down-to-earth charm.

On ‘Don’t Tell Me’, the first hit single of the night, Neil Arthur is both dramatic and self deprecating. And the big belting voice of yore that has been more subdued on ‘Blanc Burn’ returns, bringing many smiles from the crowd.

Further amusement occurs when Arthur reaches for a megaphone for a rendition of ‘Probably Nothing’. He even treats onlookers to a spot of Tai Chi, no doubt the secret to his enormously fit, lean and healthy look.

Arthur’s joyful demeanour often disguised the edgier lyrical elements of BLANCMANGE’s catalogue in the past which have only become more obvious in retrospect.

A nice welcome surprise arrives in the shape of the brilliantly funky ‘Game Above My Head’, B-side of ‘Waves’ while the magnificent A-side itself really does sound like Scott Walker fronting OMD. With further roars of approval plus the passion which Arthur gives to this crescendo ballad, Julian Cope will probably now need to find two copies of ‘Happy Families’ to skate on!

‘The Western’ is an addition to the tradition of ‘Don’t Tell Me’ and ‘Living On The Ceiling’ and is probably the album’s most instantly accessible track. And when Koko gets ‘Living On The Ceiling’, this smash that still fills dancefloors and gets used in adverts acts as a symbol of BLANCMANGE’s musical and cultural legacy. An audience singalong is conducted superbly by Arthur’s animated arm actions coming over like a Lancastrian David Byrne.

During the bionic electronic disco of ‘Blind Vision’, the frantic rhythmical rattles and clouts are faithfully reproduced although occasionally, there is a strange aural cavern in the absence of the mighty female gospel vocals that appear on the original. Towards the final straight, a futuristic updating of ‘Feel Me’ gets the one of the biggest cheers of the evening as the audience “feel the pain”. Its dynamic adventure is a reminder than there are 101 things that can be done with a Linn Drum Computer.

Genuinely flattered by the response and attention, Arthur and co encore with ‘Starf*cker’, the sinister highlight from the ‘Blanc Burn’ album. It recalls the sound of BLACK GRAPE as it rightly attacks the UK’s shallow and vapid obsession with celebrity. It is unmistakeably BLANCMANGE but could never have come from ‘Happy Families’, ‘Mange Tout’ or ‘Believe You Me’. Now that’s progress! Then, unfortunately that was it!

At least one thing BLANCMANGE manage to do is leave everybody wanting more. While the brief set was a fine balance between the immediacy of their classic songs and the vitality of the new material from ‘Blanc Burn’, there was no room for the ABBA cover ‘The Day Before You Came’ or the engaging nearly single of ‘Kind’.

However, with the mixed emotions around Camp BLANCMANGE at the moment, it’s great just to hear these fantastically under-rated compositions within a concert setting again. The final word though has to go to the amazing Pandit Dinesh who shouted out “Jai Ho” as the band said their goodbyes. This is a Hindi victory shout… roughly translated into English, it means even “you rock”!

A pint of curry anyone?

Special thanks to Stuart Kirkham at 9PR

‘Blanc Burn’ is released on Proper Records

http://www.blancmange.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/BlancmangeMusic

https://twitter.com/_blancmange_

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Richard Price
27th March 2011

DURAN DURAN Live at Shepherd’s Bush Empire

23 March 2011 /

Now The Channel Is Open

“Stay with the music, let it play a little longer” goes Simon Le Bon on the title track of their new album ‘All You Need Is Now’. Nick Rhodes’ claims that this album is “undoubtedly one of the strongest of our career” is not far from the truth. ‘All You Need Is Now’ sees DURAN DURAN return to the definitive funk-led electronic based pop of the ‘Duran Duran’ and ‘Rio’ albums when they successfully merged CHIC with GIORGIO MORODER.

Produced by Mark Ronson, the New York based brasshead wanted the band to reclaim their quintessential sound and keen to experiment with vintage synthesizers, he pushed DURAN DURAN back to their best.

Tonight’s intimate gig at Shepherd’s Bush Empire is being recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 2 so is the reinvigorated band’s opportunity to showcase some of their new material in front of a British audience. With so many of the Duranie hardcore present, Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, John Taylor and Roger Taylor take the opportunity to do something different rather than just trudge through a predictable greatest hits set. And thanks to the quality of the songs from ‘All You Need Is Now’, it all works rather marvellously.

Augmented by a string quartet consisting, in true DURAN DURAN style, of blonde, brunette, red and raven haired beauties, the overture is an instrumental tribute to the late composer John Barry with new guitarist Dom Brown soloing his way through various Bond themes before segueing into ‘A View To A Kill’. With the focus being on the new album tonight, the first of the new numbers, ‘Being Followed’ and its electronic spy drama edge appropriately comes next. This is a superb sequencer assisted number with the tingling metallic edge of THE CURE’s ‘A Forest’ that captures the paranoia today’s surveillance society.

A discordant electronic intro launches the excellent album title track rather like a glitterball ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’… it’s full of fight and optimism because really, ‘All You Need Is Now’. Nick Rhodes does his round of posing like a distinguished cross between Andy Warhol and David Sylvian, armed with his Alesis Andromeda A6 / Roland V-Synth / Roland Jupiter8 / Kurzweil K2000 / Micro-Korg set-up.

Sculpting and stabbing away in his own inimitable fashion, he ably recreates the ‘swimmy’ string sound of his faithful old Crumar Performer on the new and classic tracks, linking the present with the past.

But the reason this new material is so reminiscent of the classic DURAN DURAN era is simply because they are good songs with catchy hooks and rhythms that are easy to dance to. That’s the most important thing rather than any particular instrumentation that might be being used.

Meanwhile Simon Le Bon looks like a German Schlager star sporting his ill-advised beard but he fulfils his role as front man tremendously. He may not bounce around as much as he used to but acts as a perfect energetic foil to John Taylor’s cool poise. At the back in the engine room, Roger Taylor has to be one of the most glamourous drummers ever; only in a band like DURAN DURAN would someone with his dark good looks be relegated to being a sticksman!

So keeping strictly in rhythm, the funk hybrid of KC & The SUNSHINE BAND and CHIC entitled ‘Notorious’ and the UK No1 ‘Is There Something I Should Know?’ keep the party flowing among the faithful before more new material. This comes in the shape of the bouncy ‘Safe’ with backing singer Anna Ross taking over SCISSOR SISTERS Ana Matronic’s role and recalling the infamous ‘singing dealer’ Cindy Ecstacy’s contribution to SOFT CELL B-side ‘Insecure Me’.

As well as the classic dance pop Duran, the new album also shows how Messrs Le Bon, Rhodes, Taylor and Taylor have rediscovered their mojo for rich melodic ballads. ‘The Man Who Stole a Leopard’ follows the template of ‘Tel Aviv’ tinged with ‘The Chauffeur’, but it’s ‘Leave a Light On’ that gets the live premiere tonight, acting as a remembrance for those in the know of DURAN DURAN’s haunting lost song ‘My Antarctica’ from the unloved ‘Liberty’ album.

Also performed is ‘Mediterranea’, one of the bonus additions to the forthcoming physical release and it allows a breather to proceedings. A narrative on the British attitude to sunnier climes, it reveals the dreamy essence of ‘Big Thing’ era B-side ‘I Believe / All I Need To Know’. In a well paced set that inter-disperses big hits among all the new material, the female string quartet return to add an Arabic tinge to ‘The Reflex’ and some heart warming textures to ‘Ordinary World’, the song that re-established DURAN DURAN back as a force in 1993 after years in the relative wilderness. Dom Brown takes centre stage here to reprise the FM rock guitar soloing that no doubt originally helped with the crossover re-evaluation back then.

However, it’s the Bowie / Roxy / Kling Klang influenced dynamic of the New Romantic era that most people love and remember. So when fan favourite ‘Friends Of Mine’ is launched by Nick Rhodes’ synth drones and pulsing arpeggiator, the audience erupt. The chant of “Georgie Davies is coming out… no more heroes, we twist and shout” is a reminder that it was 1975 when the ‘George Davis is innocent’ campaign was in full swing. Friends of his dug up Headingley Cricket ground in protest at his conviction for armed robbery. He was later released, but it turned out he wasn’t actually so innocent after all!!!

And speaking of cult classics, the fantastic lost single ‘Careless Memories’ makes a welcome appearance, its chunky synthesized heavy rock accompanied by a 2011 edit of the wonderful Anime screen projection that first appeared on the classic line-up’s live return in 2004.

The latin-tinged synth funk of ‘Girl Panic!’ has a big chorus and it’s in brilliant tracks like these that indicate how the classic DURAN DURAN sound has returned. It’s not just the synths, it’s also the funky bass, the syncopated backbone and the mix of rock and rhythm guitar together with the distinctive ‘will or won’t he make it’ vocals of Simon Le Bon that encompasses a product that is greater than its sum of parts. And to keep the momentum, an anthemic pop crescendo closes the main set with audience singalongs to ‘Sunrise’ and ‘Rio’ almost drowning out Le Bon.

Easing into the encore first with the touching ‘Come Undone’, the final new track of the evening is delivered in the form of ‘Runway Runaway’, a close cousin of ‘Rio’, before ending with the now traditional band jam of ‘Girls On Film’. Complete with band introductions and audience chant of “play the f***ing bass John”, John Taylor pouts profusely and enjoys the adulation in his position as the New Romantic era’s David Beckham. But what is often forgotten about him is what a highly accomplished bass player he is, with an impressive style that fuses two of its most sadly missed exponents; Bernard Edwards and Mick Karn.

With the performance basing itself on the strongest and most immediate songs from the new album, DURAN DURAN were back on form with the splendid vigour and enthusiasm of men half their age… it’s taken a while but following the lukewarm reactions to comeback albums ‘Astronaut’ and ‘Red Carpet Massacre’, ‘All You Need Is Now’ may well be as Mark Ronson suggests, the “real follow-up to ‘Rio'”.

In its original nine track iTunes version, it worked as a wonderful cohesive body of work… with the addition of five bonus tracks on the physical variant (six on the deluxe edition), it will be fascinating to find out whether this expanded edition will flow quite as well.

‘All You Need Is Now’ is released worldwide as a 14 track CD and 15 track CD/DVD by Tape Modern on 21st March 2011

http://www.duranduran.com

https://www.facebook.com/duranduran

https://twitter.com/duranduran

Text by Chi Ming Lai
23rd March 2011

CLAUDIA BRÜCKEN & FRIENDS Live at The Scala

13 March 2011 /


“Sooner or later, one has to take sides in order to remain human” Claudia Brücken 2005

Claudia Brücken is the original first lady of cinematic electronic pop. Successfully maintaining an icy but approachable aura that draws from Germanic divas as varied as Marlene Dietrich, Nico, Nina Hagen and Gina Kikoine, one aspect that stands out about her is how she’s maintained her values and artistic integrity over the years.

For her, it is all about quality rather than quantity. She could so easily have been trudging around the dreaded ‘Here & Now’ and ‘Rewind’ circuit singing ‘Duel and ‘Dr. Mabuse’ accompanied by an unsympathetic house band. But thankfully, she is much better than that.

Her varied back catalogue as a solo artist and with PROPAGANDA, ACT and ONETWO (as collected on her recent retrospective ‘ComBined’) has captured the essence of her thoughtful imagination and focussed aspirations. It’s a testament to the strength of her musical reputation that she’s been able to gather the ComBinations of very special guests who join her tonight to celebrate her illustrious career.

The list reads like a who’s who of avant pop: Paul Humphreys, Glenn Gregory, Martyn Ware, Andy Bell, Susanne Freytag, Ralf Dörper, Andrew Poppy. And together, they gather to perform a cross section of her Eurocentric classics for an eager audience that has waited years for a solo Claudia Brücken concert.

Taking to the stage, the glamorously attired Claudia is joined by her ONETWO partner Paul Humphreys who acts as the evening’s musical director plus the regular live band of guitarist James Watson and MANHATTAN CLIQUE’s Philip Larsen. With the addition of one time PET SHOP BOYS percussionist Dawne Adams, they are the core musicians for this unique live event.

The loyal Claudia faithful, who have travelled far and wide to here on this cold March night, are rewarded with ‘Kiss Like Ether’ as the show’s opener, its squelchy ‘State Of Independence’ bass driving alongside the ethereal voices of Claudia in harmony with backing singers Melissa D’Arcy and Dave Watson.

‘Sequentia’ follows and fills The Scala with the chilling widescreen spectre of the ASSOCIATES. Many have said Claudia duetting with the late Billy MacKenzie would have made a dreamboat pairing. Both songs act perfectly as a two movement overture to the stylish proceedings.

The first guests of the night arrive in the shape of a three quarters reunion of PROPAGANDA for ‘Dr Mabuse’. Ralf Dörper reprises his stern role from the original while Susanne Freytag completes the trio by concurring with Claudia in her distinct Teutonic tone.

Watching this reunion reminds everyone that not only were the Düsseldorf based quartet the “ABBA in Hell”, but they were also the proto-LADYTRON. ‘Dr Mabuse’ sounds magnificent and loses none of its mystery and magic.

It’s all lovingly recreated using laptops and Roland Fantom workstations… and to think this could have only been produced in 1984 using Trevor Horn’s £40,000 Fairlight… a new Toyota MR-2 (as emblazoned on the cover of LA ROUX’s ‘In For The Kill’) would have cost around £10,000 then! How technology has moved on!

The only disappointment is that the mics cut in and out with Susanne Freytag particularly being unable to be heard at times. Apart from this slight glitch, the music comes over loud and clear throughout the evening. Interestingly, ‘Absolut(E)’ almost steals the show in this early section, the beefy house rhythms that drive it are further enhanced by some finely tuned programming and a crystal sound.

Despite the all-star cast, one person who doesn’t appear tonight is DEPECHE MODE’s Martin Gore. On his co-write ‘Cloud Nine’ though, James Watson acts as a worthy substitute recreating Gore’s distinct six string rhythm textures before finishing with a layer of pretty infinite guitar to enhance one of the highlights from ‘Instead’.

Claudia then introduces HEAVEN 17’s Glenn Gregory who returns the compliment of Claudia’s appearance at last year’s triumphant Sheffield Magna gig to take over Thomas Leer’s vocal duties on ACT’s ‘Snobbery And Decay’. Poor Thomas was unable to take part due to a hospitalised illness and was sadly missed. But Mr Gregory did a superb job on one of the great lost ZTT singles that lyrically has now become relevant again, thanks unfortunately to a return to the unpleasant social economic climate of 1987.

Following on, Martyn Ware joins his erstwhile HEAVEN 17 colleague to tackle the demo version of ‘Temptation’. Much starker than the soul fusion of the famous hit single, Claudia gives it a sexy deadpan delivery over the backing like a more sinister electronic take on SOFT CELL’s version of ‘Tainted Love’.

HEAVEN 17 remain for the debut recital of country and western cover ‘When Your Heart Runs Out Of Time’ from the film Insignificance. This cult favourite narrowly missed inclusion on ‘ComBined’ but was luckily dusted off for inclusion on ZTT’s ‘The Art Of The 12 Inch’ collection. Tonight, it soars with its synthesized instrumentation arranged like an ULTRAVOX ballad, almost in tribute to the recording’s producer Midge Ure.

Everything takes a breather when ZTT’s arch minimalist Andrew Poppy accompanies Claudia on solo piano for a stark cover that was first premiered on their ‘Another Language’ album. The audience are respectfully attentive as the pair tackle a touching rendition of Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’ before following with an emotional take on Roy Orbison’s ‘In Dreams’.

Claudia then steps out of the spotlight for a moment as Susanne Freytag re-emerges next to the microphone stand and announces “all that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream”. Written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1849, that segment of poem initiates an unexpected but breathtaking rendition of the epic opener from ‘A Secret Wish’. Textured with real trumpet, it is magnificent and brooding with the incessant backing sounding like a cross between PET SHOP BOYS and prime SIMPLE MINDS that builds to the massive percussive break. Dawne Adams is a total star here, frantically doing justice to original exponential template on this most special of moments.

The audience then get even more secret wishes as Ralf Dörper returns and shouts “PROPAGANDA” over some bleepy mechanics to launch ‘P.Machinery’. The second instalment of the 3/4 reunion is full of motor, power, force, motion and drive. The machine funk and synthetic brass stabs are all faithfully recreated, testament to Paul Humphreys’ engineering and programming skills.

‘Night School’ is the first of Claudia’s new songs tonight and the groove laden shuffle keeps the momentum going. “What are you waiting for?” monologues Claudia during the song… it turns out it’s actually Susanne Freytag who almost doesn’t make it on stage for ‘Light My Way’ when it inadvertently starts without her! But it turns out to be a fine live debut of what in 1993 was originally the first recorded return of the PROPAGANDA ladies since ‘A Secret Wish’.

The brilliant ‘Home (Tonight)’ from ONETWO’s ‘Instead’ appears in blistering remix form steered by Philip Larsen to compliment the superb collection of dancier numbers that make up this second half of the show.

Andy Bell arrives fresh faced for their energetic duet ‘Delicious’ with the playful chemistry between Claudia and himself very apparent on stage. Friends since collaborating on his 2005 MANHATTAN CLIQUE produced solo debut ‘Electric Blue’, Andy Bell stays on for a superb airing of ACT’s ‘Absolutely Immune’. Amusingly requiring a lyric sheet and a trendy pair of spectacles to complete the task, he is on good form throughout and all bodes well for Mute’s Short Circuit 2011 concert at The Roundhouse in May and the new ERASURE album due later this year.

For the last song ‘Duel’, Claudia’s best known song is joined by Susanne Freytag on keyboards while Paul Humphreys does rather a good job hammering away for the song’s mad piano solo!

Meanwhile, Melissa D’Arcy treats everyone to a marvellous dance routine in semi-literal fashion that sparkles and shines. ‘Duel’ is such a classic, it can’t do any wrong and is a fitting end for the main set.

Sending a little sign of Claudia’s continued excellence after over 25 years in the business, the encore is the Stephen Hague co-write ‘Thank You’. Like A-HA’s 2009 hit single ‘Foot Of The Mountain’, ‘Thank You’ brings Claudia’s sound up-to-date while retaining all the classic qualities of the past. It acts as a perfect finale with its John Barry-esque vibes and wonderfully moody percussive textures.

This was a once in a lifetime experience. With a well paced set, the song choice tonight couldn’t be faulted. Love and a million other things could certainly be felt with Claudia quite visibly moved by an ecstatic response from the crowd.

In fine voice throughout, she captured the hearts of all who were present and was humbly appreciative in return. It was an outstanding evening, delightfully performed and presented… almost perfect in fact.

For those who missed this special occasion, the concert was filmed and is due to be released on DVD later this year.

‘ComBined’ is released by ZTT/Salvo and available now

http://www.claudiabrucken.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/ClaudiaBruckenMusic

https://twitter.com/claudiabrucken1

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Richard Price
13th March 2011

Return To THE BLITZ CLUB 2011

21 February 2011 /

The Blitz Club celebrated its 30th Anniversary with a special reunion at its old site which is now The Red Rooms in Holborn, London.

its original soundtrack centred on the music of David Bowie but also included KRAFTWERK, ROXY MUSIC, ENO, LA DUSSELDORF, GINA X PERFORMANCE, ULTRAVOX, THE NORMAL, THE HUMAN LEAGUE, YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA, TELEX and MAGAZINE amongst others. This vibrant post-punk scene, whose clientel were dubbed ‘The Blitz Kids’ and ‘The New Romantics’, became the catalyst for several bands including SPANDAU BALLET, CULTURE CLUB and of course, VISAGE as well as assorted fashion designers and visual artists.

Hosted by its founders Steve Strange and Rusty Egan, among the special guests attending tonight’s party are SPANDAU BALLET’s Martin Kemp and John Keeble, Martin Kemp’s wife and WHAM! backing singer Shirlie Holliman, SPANDAU BALLET manager Steve Dagger and renowned photographer Peter Ashworth whose striking images adorn the covers of SOFT CELL’s ‘Non Stop Erotic Cabaret’ and ‘The Art Of Falling Apart’, ASSOCIATES ‘Sulk’, EURYTHMICS ‘Touch’ and the very first VISAGE album.

Also reunited for the first time in many years were members of The Blitz Club dance troupe SHOCK including Carole Caplin, LA Richards, Tim Dry aka Tik from TIK & TOK and Barbie Wilde who appeared in ULTRAVOX’s ‘Passing Strangers’ promo video with the absent Sean Crawford aka Tok.

After an initial DJ set by Rusty Egan, PARADISE POINT took to the stage to deliver a lively performance with their bassist Roman Kemp following in the footsteps of his father Martin by playing The Blitz Club. His mum Shirlie looked on proudly. Despite at least three members of the group looking barely old enough to be playing on licensed premises, they were impressive with a polished danceable pop style that wholly suited the occasion.

Singer Cameron Jones has a charismatic confidence which should see PARADISE POINT fill the gap in the market for a smart boy band that actually plays their own instruments. During the interlude to remove the stage to reveal the dancefloor proper, both Steve Strange and Rusty Egan took to the mic to thank everyone for attending.

The old Blitz Club dancefloor filled as its original resident DJ spinned classic after classic with many songs from the original Blitz Club playlist. It was quite surreal to not only be hearing the 12 inch mixes of ‘Fade To Grey’, ‘To Cut A Long Story Short’ and ‘R.E.R.B.’ in the very place that helped inspire them, but to also be in the presence of the very people that were involved in their genesis and recording.

With the essential inclusion of David Bowie’s ‘Heroes / Helden’, ‘The Model’ by KRAFTWERK, OMD’s ‘Enola Gay’, JOY DIVISION’s ‘She’s Lost Control’ and a bit of Bryan Ferry et voila… this was the perfect combination to celebrate nearly four decades of fantastically inventive avant pop music.

Next to take the decks was Princess Julia who famously appeared in the iconic ‘Fade To Grey’ promo video with Steve Strange. Again, it was surreal to see the pair standing together in the DJ booth.

Onlookers were even treated to the former Steven Harrington doing some impromptu miming over the soon-to-be released reworking of VISAGE’s ‘Frequency 7’ which now features extra lyrics borrowed from HEAVEN 17’s ‘Temptation’. This is a song which incidentally also has Blitz Club connections as it was Rusty Egan who recommended Carol Kenyon to Messrs Marsh, Ware and Gregory when the Sheffield trio were seeking a soulful backing vocalist for their then yet-to-be completed 1983 single.

Meanwhile Princess Julia’s set was varied, ranging from the not entirely unexpected like DEPECHE MODE’s ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’ to the biggest surprise of the night, FANCY’s cult Euro hit from 1983, ‘Slice Me Nice’. The various Germans and Scandinavians, who have made the journey specially to be at this reunion tonight, were particularly appreciative!

But with the landlords The Red Rooms reverting to their usual source of income as a table dancing establishment, it was time for The Blitz Club, like Cinderella, to make its exit before midnight.

The whole night was terrifically friendly with lots of great electronic pop music and many attendees got into the spirit of things by togging up as New Romantics, Peacock Punks or in the case of ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK, 1950’s German bank clerks!

The Return To The Blitz Club 2011 couldn’t have been any better. With ULTRAVOX having just signed a new recording deal with Universal Music and plans also for a new VISAGE album, the legacy of The Blitz Club is alive and well! Tonight really was a Club For Heroes!

Rusty Egan’s DJ setlist

THE KNIFE Pass This On
THE STOOGES I Wanna Be Your Dog
THE BLUE NILE Headlights On The Parade
THE HUMAN LEAGUE Being Boiled
TOM TOM CLUB Genius Of Love
KRAFTWERK Neon Lights
DAVID BOWIE Sound & Vision
IGGY POP Sister Midnight
KRAFTWERK Trans Europe Express
DAVID BOWIE Fashion
GINA X PERFORMANCE No GDM
SIMPLE MINDS Changeling
LIAISONS DANGEREUSES Los Ninos Del Parque
BLONDIE Heart Of Glass
SHOCK R.E.R.B.
ULTRAVOX Visions In Blue (EMP 09 Remix)
ABC Tears Are Not Enough
YOKO ONO Walking On Thin Ice
BRYAN FERRY Let’s Stick Together
DAVID BOWIE Ashes To Ashes
DAVID BOWIE Boys Keep Swinging
SPANDAU BALLET To Cut A Long Story Short (Long Mix)
HUMAN LEAGUE The Sound Of The Crowd
OMD Enola Gay
SOFT CELL Tainted Love
THE CURE In Between Days
JOY DIVISION She’s Lost Control
DEPECHE MODE See You
ULTRAVOX Hiroshima Mon Amour
VISAGE Mind Of A Toy
DURAN DURAN Planet Earth (Night Version)
IGGY POP The Passenger
ASSOCIATES Club Country (12″ Version)
DAVID BOWIE Heroes/Helden
KRAFTWERK Das Modell
VISAGE Fade to Grey (Club Mix)

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Richard Price
24th January 2011

SUNDAY GIRL Live at London XOYO

19 December 2010 /


ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK admits it didn’t find the music of SUNDAY GIRL immediately appealing.

Her first couple of pleasant offerings appeared to showcase her out as a model with ambitions to become the next ELLIE GOULDING.

But her new single ‘Stop Hey!’ and songs from her album sampler sent out to music journalists revealed her to be a darker, more interesting proposition altogether… like a 21st Century DOT ALLISON with touches of BAT FOR LASHES and EMILIE SIMON.

More recently, she’s also added DJ-ing to her talents and impressively reworked EVERYTHING EVERYTHING’s ‘Photoshop Handsome’ into her own stark synthetic style. As for her fashion aspirations, these are really no less part of her than say MIRRORS’ own sartorial instincts based on Gilbert & George. For SUNDAY GIRL, it’s Coco Chanel and Andy Warhol’s muse Edie Sedgwick. Meanwhile, her modelling contract with River Island has transpired to be a way of supporting her music career while following her other passions. At the end of the day, art, music and fashion all link.

 

SUNDAY GIRL is Jade Williams, a once shy young lady from the leafy suburb of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire who suffered so much from stage fright that her mother took her to a hypnotist. She was studying for an art degree before deciding to pursue musical ambitions. Inspired by acts such as GOLDFRAPP, her songs have an angsty edge covered in a layered wall of sound with some simple but rousing choruses.

And tonight at her final show of 2010 following a successful support stint with ELLIE GOULDING, she exudes the talent and engaging down-to-earth charm that brought her to the attention of Geffen Records earlier in the year. The stage is covered in fairy lights and ribbons but it’s the dense post-punk of ’24 Hours’ which starts proceedings.

Jade’s raspy but breathy voice is what singles her out from her contemporaries and it adds an almost Parisian feel to her songs which when added with some eerie synth, provide a distinctive sneery chill.

Her folktronica tinged debut single ‘Four Floors’ follows next and in a live context, this possesses some gritty power not apparent on the original. New songs ‘Human Love’ and ‘Brixton’ are also aired with the moodiness of the latter having cinematic potential in a David Lynch film.

Her most impressive number is the magnificent ‘All The Songs’. Percussively punchy, it takes on a more conventional frame tonight away from the squelchy electro of the recorded version. But this doesn’t distract from the quality of her baby. Working with producers such as Jim Eliot and Diplo (who between them can namedrop KYLIE MINOGUE, LADYHAWKE and ROBYN in their CVs), Jade is in good hands as far as the studio is concerned and things look promising for her as yet untitled album due out in March 2011.

Her cover of Italo-disco classic ‘Self Control’ goes down a storm and even provokes a laugh from Jade as some of the crowd come in too early for the “Woah-ooh-oooh” refrain. “Not yet…” she shouts, slightly putting her off cue! Ending with the superb ‘Stop Hey!’ she gives her all in this full-on avant pop tune that mixes the huge rhythm section from MGMT’s ‘Time To Pretend’ with the chorus synthline of MIRRORS’ ‘Broken By Silence’.

Combining the harshness of new wave and electro with the prettiness of pop, the show is a fabulous live presentation that brings out the smiles from Jade and the cheers from the audience. She is a fine, natural live performer, probably more confident and comfortable than either LA ROUX or LITTLE BOOTS at the same stage in their career.

Her non-inclusion in the BBC Sound Of 2011 long list remains a mystery but perhaps, this will be a blessing in disguise. Maybe this will allow SUNDAY GIRL valuable time to develop her obvious potential and carve out a niche for herself as an artist who has the ability to bridge into several spheres simultaneously.

‘Stop Hey!’ is released by Geffen Records on 16th January 2011

www.wearesundaygirl.com

www.myspace.com/wearesundaygirl

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Richard Price
19th December 2010

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