Category: Lost Albums (Page 8 of 14)

Lost Albums: MINERVE Please

13 March 2016 /

MINERVE PleaseAs far as Germany’s leading electropop bands go, MINERVE had implanted themselves quite quickly into the scene, after forming in 2002.

Compromised of Mathias Thürk, who looked after the production and Daniel Wollatz, the lead voice of the establishment, demanding studio sessions gave birth to their first long player entitled ‘Breathing Avenue’. Gems as ‘High Pitched Emotions’ and ‘Clear’ paved the band’s way into gigging extensively alongside acts such as PSYCHE, THE CRÜXSHADOWS and SPEKTRALIZED.

Eastern Europe took an exceptional liking to the newcomers; Poland being their main bread winner, as well as the Czech Republic and Hungary. 2005 saw the band receive the prestigious nomination and prize in the German Rock & Pop Association’s Awards, and further gigs followed with IRIS and MELOTRON. The following year, the duo became a trio, with Andreas Wollatz as the addition on keys and MINERVE entered the German Alternative Charts at a respectable No16 with ‘My Universe’.

MINERVE-03As their popularity grew with further tours and more albums, MINERVE continued climbing the steps of excellence throughout Russia, the former Yugoslav countries, Bulgaria, Turkey and of course, Poland, Ukraine and their native Germany.

‘Please’, which was released in 2010, remains the group’s most acknowledged album. It was produced by a widely recognised name in the electronic circles of Germany.

Olaf Wollschläger had successfully looked after artists such as AND ONE and the UK’s best export MESH on their albums including ‘Perfect Solution’, ‘Automation Baby’ and the forthcoming new release ‘Looking Skyward’. Wollschläger was joined by the mastering legend John Cremer, who fine-tuned the collection of adept tunes with finesse and electronic know-how.

‘Please’ contains twelve, non-filler tracks, each one emotionally loaded and ready to transport into the world of the dark and lonely, yet remaining hopeful and warm. The opening ‘Hold Me Tight’, mirroring the signature beats of MESH, is a quintessential dance track, fortified with alluring synth sounds and the competent voice of Wollatz.

‘Every Day’ follows with mantric beats, which continue the electronic disco theme, pulsating and orbiting around the lyrics describing the mundanity of life. ‘Down To The Ground’ slows the tempo somewhat, introducing a grunge guitar riff, while ‘Life Is An Illusion’ probes deeper into the slowness of synthpopia, with an excellent chorus.

‘You Don’t Know Me’ turns into a full on ballad, with ‘Don’t Ask Me Why’ returning to the club-worthy rhythm of layered synths and capable production. ‘Phoenix’ rings powerfully, exploring the cacophony of electronic sounds to perfection, as does ‘Read My Memories’.

The title track enters, ushering the era of a gentler type of melody a la SIMPLE MINDS, before returning to more retro beats of ‘Forbidden Love’. ‘Save Me’ returns to the blueprint of “slower is better”, while ‘Under My Skin’ closes the creation with the heavier, beefy synth of a near-MESH experience.

MINERVE-02After the release of ‘Repleased’ in 2011, which contained remixes by SEABOUND, SPEKTRALIZED and others, founder member and main programmer, Mathias Thürk decided to leave the band to pursue other projects.

While MINERVE have yet to follow-up ‘Please’, the remaining members promise new levels of electronic pleasure to come soon, and perhaps more gigs alongside CAMOUFLAGE, DE/VISION and other legends.

Fingers crossed that will happen soon; for now, ‘Please’ is a fine example of what those Berlin based boys are capable of.

‘Please’ is still available on CD and download via Gravitator Records

https://www.facebook.com/Minerve-official-104954206201966/

http://www.gravitator.ru/english_version/

Text by Monika Izabela Goss
13th March 2016

Lost Albums: SANDRA Into A Secret Land

27 February 2016 /

The million dollar question is: whose female vocal was featured on a single, which topped the UK charts in 1991? 

A singer, who had already been an established solo artist in Germany and most of Europe; someone, who never made it into the UK in her own right, but whose voice pierced through the extraordinary seductive production of Romanian-born, German producer Michael Cretu. Meet SANDRA, one of the voices of ENIGMA, whose ‘Sadeness (Part I)’ achieved the top position in twenty four countries with its sensual connotations, based around the curious sexual desires of Marquis de Sade (hence, the original spelling of the name of the track).

All that, veiled under exquisite Gregorian chants, interspersed with Latin and French lyrics, erotically whispered by SANDRA. The lady herself, born Sandra Ann Lauer, started off as the voice of female disco trio ARABESQUE, whose hits raised the roof in both Japan and their native Germany.

Nine albums later and following the decrease in popularity of disco music, SANDRA and her partner Michael Cretu, decided to concentrate on their own project. The first step was releasing a German version of ALPHAVILLE’s ‘Big In Japan’. The expectations, however, didn’t match reality; the track was a poor seller.

SANDRA’s solo career started taking shape with the first album ‘The Long Play’ and its massive Euro hit single ‘(I’ll Never Be) Maria Magdalena’, cementing her position as one of the freshest sounding vocalists of the era. She moved to London for a while, to distil, not only her language skills, but also her singing. As her popularity grew, SANDRA married Cretu and relocated to Ibiza, where she concentrated on her third release ‘Into A Secret Land’.

The album consisted of nine tracks, four of which became subsequent singles and elevated the artist to the new heights of recognition. ‘Secret Land’ opened the album, with exquisite piano and PET SHOP BOYS inspired synth patterns as well as the clean vocals of Mrs Cretu. The song became the second single showcasing the album and, to date has been considered as one of SANDRA’s biggest hits.

‘We’ll Be Together’, featuring the artist’s signature vocals, beefed up with Cretu’s own voice, was a marvellous dance track, punctuated with a clever use of added instruments, such as castanets, making it a Spanish hymn. It was also the first song to be co-written by the artist.

‘Heaven Can Wait’, which advertised the production as the first single, still remains one of the most popular songs by the German songstress; the pointed vocal over superb synth combos programmed by the brain of ENIGMA.

‘Just Like Diamonds’ slowed down the tempo considerably, into a beautiful ballad, while ‘Around My Heart’, a huge chart hit and the last single from ‘Into A Secret Land’ followed with interesting changes of sequences before leading into ‘Crazy Juliet’; yet another pop corker.

‘La Vista De Luna’, although was never released as a single, enjoyed some radio play in Europe and was rather popular in Poland. ‘Celebrate Your Life’ opened with oriental sound effects, rushing into ‘Children Of England’, a gentler sounding, more political track, showcasing that SANDRA could get serious and branch out beyond the matters of heart.

More albums followed, including attempted comebacks and desperate plug-ins into the UK chart territory including the very ENIGMA sounding ‘Johnny Wanna Live’; Britain never bought into it however, for reasons unknown, especially as SANDRA became immense in many countries and English was her preferred tongue of choice. Her 2012 album ‘Stay In Touch’, produced by the extremely popular German DJ duo, BLANK & JONES barely entered the charts, even though it was built on her early sound’s blueprint.

It’s both a great misfortune and a curious mystery, as to why SANDRA never made it big in the UK, but one thing is certain: she was big in Europe and certainly very “big in Japan”! And with her connections to ENIGMA, her own albums are more than worth checking out.

‘Into A Secret Land’ was released on CD by Virgin Schallplatten GmbH

http://www.sandra-music.com/

https://www.facebook.com/sandra.lauer.cretu.official/

https://www.facebook.com/We.LoVe.YoU.SANDRA/

https://twitter.com/Sandra_Artist

https://www.instagram.com/sandra.lauer.cretu.official/

Text by Monika Izabela Goss
27th February 2016

Lost Albums: SECTION 25 Dark Light

15 February 2016 /

section 25 dark light

Issued in late 2012, ‘Dark Light’ was the eighth studio album by the cult independent combo SECTION 25.

Founded by the Cassidy brothers Larry and Vin, SECTION 25 first came to wider attention with the acclaimed album ‘Always Now’, which was released on Factory Records in 1981 and produced by Martin Hannett.

However, the band became best known for their seminal electro classic ‘Looking From A Hilltop’ in 1984, when Larry Cassidy’s wife Jenny Ross joined the band and featured on lead vocals.

Sadly the husband and wife team passed away in 2010 and 2004 respectively. In a fitting gesture, Vin Cassidy recruited his niece Bethany, daughter of the departed SECTION 25 couple to join the band full-time alongside regular guitarist Steve Stringer and bassist / porgrammer Stuart Hill.

Bethany had already featured on SECTION 25’s 2009 album ‘Nature + Degree’ and possessed a vocal style that was eerily reminiscent of her mother. ‘Retrofit’, a 21st Century reworkings album released after Larry’s passing included a new updated version of ‘Looking From A Hilltop’, produced by Stephen Morris from NEW ORDER.

SECTION 25 today02

But the new SECTION 25 era was heralded in 2011 with the release of the ‘Invicta’ EP via Fac51 The Hacienda, an imprint started by estranged NEW ORDER bassist Peter Hook.

It featured ‘Colour Movement Sex & Violence’, a danceable synth led ditty which captured that classic hedonistic Manchester vibe and recalled THE OTHER TWO’s ‘Tasty Fish’. Also featuring on the EP was a slightly more aggressive number entitled ‘Inner Chaos’; both songs were a sign of things to come.

Using a title and photo given to them by Factory graphic designer Peter Saville, the band had always intended to have the word ‘Light’ in the title to reflect the poppy nature of the record. But SECTION 25 had a wider reputation for darker, heavier music, so the title was an indicator of their change in direction. ‘Dark Light’ was also a technical term for the colour seen by the eye in perfect darkness, so it matched Saville’s Polaroid image which was used on the artwork.

Largely co-produced with Alan Gregson and Derek Miller aka OUTERNATIONALE, ‘Dark Light’ was a ten track set that signalled a spiritual return to the technopop flavours and pastoral textures of ‘From The Hip’. With the addition of another Cassidy in Joanna on backing vocals and keyboards, SECTION 25 transformed themselves into something almost as glossy as MARSHEAUX or MARNIE, certainly when compared to the raincoat demeanour of ‘Always Now’ or even the more optimistic Bernard Sumner steered opus ‘From The Hip’ from which ‘Looking from A Hilltop’ spawned.

7fbn62_my_outrage_311

On the opening song ‘World’s End’, the gentle sequencers and soothing synths recalled the more ambient elements of ‘From The Hip’, and introduced Bethany’s sweet vocals as a more raspy version of Lauren Mayberry from CHVRCHES.

Following the sedate start, a dynamic punch in the face came courtesy of the feisty ‘My Outrage’. Crossing supreme pop with a post-punk sensibility, this was a prime girl power anthem signalling that 35 years after their formation, SECTION 25 now had the potential to appeal to a multi-generational audience.

The excellent ‘Pitch Black Box’ was a cool and bouncy dance track in the vein of NEW ORDER, with sax lines making the overall sound unusual yet familiar. Seductive Blackpool accented spoken vocals provided another enigmatic counterpoint, coming over like how LITTLE BOOTS should have sounded with her more club-focussed direction, post-‘Hands’. The lyrics certainly expressed some flirty assertiveness, with a call to “be abusive, intrusive, corruptive…”

‘Love Cuts’ took a rumbling machine bass and solid beat to provide a stern groove while with a less intense and looser rhythm construction, ‘Colour Movement Sex & Violence’ worked well in its new format, although its appeal was not quite as immediate as the original radio friendly single take. However, the propulsive female/ male vocal duel of ‘Inner Drive’ became more accomplished its dreamier ‘Dark Light’ version and realised its potential.

SECTION 25 today01

Like a North-by-North West REPUBLICA, ‘78’ took on a rockier stance coupled with a Eurodance flavour, while held together by a percussive mantra, ‘Letter to America’ was more sinister, with Steven Stringer’s deadpan male voice providing opposition to the more innocent female vocals. Curling with rhythm guitar syncopating over a pulsing electronic backbone, ‘Memento’ kept the album’s consistent club friendly vibe going before the final song ‘Early Exit’.

A melancholic number featuring great live drums from Vin and coloured by a mood of reflection possibly in reference to Bethany’s parents, this was undoubtedly another of the album’s highlights. Full of hope despite the sadness, ‘Early Exit’ was a fitting album closer in the euphoric vein of NEW ORDER’s ‘Dream Attack’ or listening today as a more recent reference, ‘Superheated’!

Utilising live and computerised instrumentation coupled to a vibrant freshness thanks to the new blood, SECTION 25 evolved while literally retaining its core DNA. A fine addition to the Cassidy Family tradition, with its defiant sense of optimism and willingness to move on, ‘Dark Light’ certainly merits investigation by anyone remotely interested in quality synthpop.

‘Dark Light’ was released by Factory Benelux and is available direct from http://www.factorybenelux.com/

http://www.section25.com

https://www.facebook.com/section25

http://www.factorybenelux.com/section25.html

Text by Chi Ming Lai
23rd February 2016

Lost Albums: TRENTEMØLLER Lost

1 February 2016 /

trentemoller-lost

Danish producer Anders Trentemøller made a name for himself when he remixed DEPECHE MODE’s ‘Wrong’ in 2009.

He succeeded not only in stamping his own vision with a far superior interpretation that well and truly outstripped the rather ploddy original, but more significantly, his rework highlighted the shortcomings in DEPECHE MODE’s production and arrangement department.

With a support slot for Basildon’s finest at London’s 02 Arena on the ‘Delta Machine’ tour, the scene was set for his own work to be recognised.

While primarily known as a dance producer, his previous two albums ‘The Last Resort’ and ‘Into The Great Wide Yonder’ showed the Dane to be highly capable of mixing organic instrumentation with electronics.

His third studio outing ‘Lost’ in 2013 was a combinational development of its predecessors, but with a greater emphasis on songs. This is particularly evident with his hip support cast of vocalists such as LOW, BLONDE REDHEAD’s Kazu Makino, Jana Hunter of LOWER DENS, THE RAVONETTES, GHOST SOCIETY and THE DRUMS.

Positively nocturnal with smatterings of Lynchian guitar and mechanised beats, ‘Lost’ however began with the meditative slowcore of ‘The Dream’ fronted by LOW. But the album was jolted from this sedate start with the bass grunt and eventual electronic intensity of ‘Gravity’ voiced by Jana Hunter. But bigger beats made their presence felt on ‘Still On Fire’; its trance-like qualities would have been quite similar sounding to Ferry Corsten’s ‘Sublime’ had it not been for the track’s rockier inflections.

There were also the psychedelic overtones dominating ‘Candy Tongue’ and the Turkish flavoured electro spy drama of ‘Constantinople’. Featuring the vocals of Marie Fisker, the former possessed a cerebral demeanour while the latter came complete with an organ solo aping THE DOORS!

Elsewhere on ‘Lost’, while technology blended with guitars, full-on dance friendliness sat very much on the backburner. Instead, aa downtempo haziness was on the agenda with the processed chill of ‘Come Undone’ angelically sung by Kazu Makino and the atonal bells of ‘Morphine’, its mutant jazz concocting a distinct ‘Twins Peaks’ meets Nordic Noir vibe.But the standout tracks on ‘Lost’ were much more rhythm laden.

The muted synth trumpets and spacey swirls of ‘Deceive’ driven by an incessant drum machine came over like DEPECHE MODE meeting DEATH IN VEGAS, while the epic ‘Trails’ with its conventional bass and guitars took a visceral approach that side-chained to a sickly claustrophobic feel before erupting into a more electronic and percussive second half. The album had no shortage of ambition, as proven by the deviant sub-nine minute drone ‘n’ bleep fest of ‘Hazed’ and the hidden unnamed piano piece afterwards.

Adding the indie electronica of ‘Never Stop Running’ and the frantic GHOST SOCIETY assisted ‘River Of Life’ with its aggressive arpeggios and raw feedback, ‘Lost’ was an adventure in sound that rewarded multiple listens, simply because it had the ability to sound different on each play, depending on mood and the time of day. On sonics alone, it had the potential to win plenty of admirers, simply for its rugged production style.

So it begs the question why Anders Trentemøller wasn’t employed by DEPECHE MODE as producer instead of the hapless Ben Hiller? Their perfect producer was sitting under the noses of Messrs Gahan, Gore and Fletcher all that time! TRENTEMØLLER’s multiple texture blend would have worked tremendously… after all, he’d pulled it off already with ‘Wrong! Can you imagine what he could have done with ‘Welcome To My World’?

With the recent unwelcome rumour that Dave Gahan wants The Drumhead and The Noodler aka Christian Eigner and Peter Gordeno involved in the next DEPECHE MODE album, the production ear and musicality of TRENTEMØLLER is more needed than ever!

‘Lost’ is still available via In My Room in CD, vinyl and download formats

http://www.anderstrentemoller.com/

https://www.facebook.com/trentemoller/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
1st February 2016

Lost Albums: MACONDO Up Here For Thinking, Down There For Dancing

21 January 2016 /

 

Not to be confused with the Latin rock band discovered by Sergio Mendes, MACONDO were a synthpop duo from Grays in Essex.

Comprising of Wayne Clements and his sidekick Vickie, their only album ‘Up Here For Thinking, Down There for Dancing’ was released in 2003 by Ninthwave Records, an American independent specializing in electronic pop founded in 2001 as part of Lexicon Magazine, originally an ABC fanzine that morphed into a more general platform featuring synthpop and new wave.

Ninthwave Records issued a number of new artist compilations including ‘Electricity’ which featured SUBVERSION, a synthpop act who included THE KILLERS’ Brandon Flowers as one of its members. It also handled the North American release of HEAVEN 17’s 2005 album ‘Before / After’, as well as curating tribute albums to OMD and YAZOO.

Take in the context of the period; the new millennium had begun and with the post-Britpop hangover, there was effectively no electronic music unless it was club focussed. Synthpop acts couldn’t get arrested and although LADYTRON released ‘604’ in 2001, it was done independently via their own Invicta H-Hi imprint. Even after they had achieved some critical success and signed a record deal, their second album ‘Light & Magic’ in 2003 was released in the USA first by Emperor Norton.

Wayne Clements had established his own synth imprint Lucky Pierre which later released a great compilation ‘Robopop Volume 1’ featuring CLIENT, VIC TWENTY, WHITE TOWN, KOMPUTER, EMPIRE STATE HUMAN and BAXENDALE.

But overall, it was a frustrating period for electronic music of a more pop focussed bent. It seemed North America were the saviours of synthpop, so it was no great surprise that MACONDO ended up signing to Ninthwave.

Some of that frustration came across on ‘Up Here For Thinking, Down There For Dancing’, an amusing collection of synthpop that brightened up the synthetic sky with its humour, wit, sadness, and disappointment.

On the opening number ‘Something’s Got to Happen Soon’, NEW ORDER collided with ERASURE via a wonderfully nonchalant vocal and some pretty, sparkling melodies. Lyrics like “I wanted to change my life and I was going to start today but then I got up late, there’s always tomorrow…” captured the essence of the proud pronouncements that people now make online, that ultimately wither away as unrealised ideas through lack of focus or just plain laziness. Undeterred, Wayne then declared ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ but he did.

Following on, the brilliant ‘Saturday Boys’ encompassed that very English attitude to being skint and therefore, uncommitted and unambitious; who doesn’t know someone like that? It’s the ultimate anti-aspiration song about “doing nothing to enhance our reputation…”

With hints of FRAZIER CHORUS, the brilliantly titled honesty of ‘Live Life To The Min’ also accurately captured this state of apathy in a life where “I don’t go out when I can stay in…” – indeed, who really gives a f*** about apathy?

The charming ‘Local Boy’z’ with its deliberately off-key vocals reflected on the small town mentality revolving around the M25 with the conclusion “it never occurred to us that we could leave…” while ‘Club Supper’ brought Vickie into the vocal mix with a break-up duet within a 6/8 Clarke inspired synthfest. Another swung ERASURE-ish number ‘He’s Got A Gun’ poked fun at the wannabe criminal underworld.

Within the shuffling midtempo backbone of ‘Disappointed’ and its Western theme harmonica solo was a great tune, while highlighting that ‘Up Here for Thinking, Down There for Dancing’ wasn’t just built around a single pace, there was the softer, more downbeat narrative of ‘What If He Doesn’t Show?’ and the closing cascading resignation of ‘Game Over’.

‘Up Here For Thinking, Down There For Dancing’ was a promising, quirky debut, and although there was a download remix collection ‘Down There For Dancing’ in 2004, other than an outtake ‘It Couldn’t Be Further From The Truth’ featuring Vickie on lead vocals appearing on the ‘Electricity 2’ sampler, that was it from MACONDO.

Another Lucky Pierre compilation ‘Robopop – The Return’, in association with production duo MANHATTAN CLIQUE and their label Planet Clique, did appear in 2006; on it were GOLDFRAPP, THE KNIFE, TIGA, MATINEE CLUB, ROBOTS IN DISGUISE and LORRAINE. But there was the surprise inclusion of MACONDO with a previously unreleased track called ‘CCTV’, again with Vickie on lead… it raised hopes of another album, but it was not to be.

Like their fellow ironic synthers YOUNGER YOUNGER 28s and BAXENDALE, MACONDO were an amusing aural relief to the landfill indie of the times, although unlikely to have been massively successful even in the current electro friendly climate. But they would have had some friendly faces around in this internet age.

Wherever they are now, whether they are section managers at Asda, designing logos for big corporations or writing comedy scripts for the BBC, Wayne and Vickie’s sub-FRAZIER CHORUS melodic pop and witty social observations are greatly missed.

‘Up Here for Thinking, Down There for Dancing’ was released on CD by Ninth Wave Records

http://www.discogs.com/Macondo-Up-Here-For-Thinking-Down-There-For-Dancing/release/1132423

http://www.ninthwaverecords.com/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
21st January 2016

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