Category: Reviews (Page 102 of 200)

EMIKA Falling In Love With Sadness

2 October 2018 /


Since releasing her third album ‘Drei’ on her own label in 2013, the Berlin-based Anglo-Czech musician EMIKA has been a fine example to those who aspire to be a truly modern independent artist.

Following her well-received crowdfunded 2017 classical symphony ‘Melanfonie’ with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, EMIKA returns to electronics with her best album to date entitled ‘Falling In Love With Sadness’.

Released on World Mental Health Day, the record is a concept album of sorts and a portion of proceeds will go to a UK-based mental health charity.

For the lady born Ema Jolly, it has been a journey of reflection on generations of family sadness as her most personal work to date. While this might be EMIKA’s most overtly synthpop adventure, ‘Falling In Love With Sadness’ is deep and thoughtful, with enticing melodic textures that possess an inherent gloominess that makes for great art.

Co-produced with Robert Witschakowski of German dance experimentalists THE EXALTICS and also featuring guitarist Chris Lockington, it utilises more straightforward rhythms with less emphasis on the threes which characterised ‘Dva’ and ‘Drei’.

‘Wash It All Away’ with an atmospheric air and some subtle guitar embellishment, it provides an opener with an easing cathartic effect. But ‘Could This Be’ launches the album into a pulsing Eurocentric stomp, a little bit like a modern electro take on ‘Gimme Some Lovin’ with EMIKA’s hushed vocal tones offset by sudden bursts of live percussion and spy drama inflections.

With the excellent first single from the album ‘Close’ laced in chromatic melancholy over a sparse and chilling backbone, ‘Run’ takes that template further with layers staccato voice manipulations over a deeply European electronic backdrop.

The pacey ‘Promises’ makes the most of EMIKA’s lower and higher vocal registers, providing an eerie cascading harmonic with some rumbling dubby tension and booming stabs driving Eastwards. There’s a glorious urgency about it, a solemn synthphony with spine tingling qualities.

The ringing riff of ‘Killers’ signals a more simmering avant set piece with building arpeggios smothering almost unintelligible whispers and words for that enigmatic quality before Ms Jolly exclaims “now you wanna f*ck me up!” even though “I get back up!”

Punctuated by white noise and processed guitar, ‘Falling (Reprise)’ sets the scene for ‘Falling In Love With Sadness’ featuring THE EXALTICS. A brilliant uptempo piece embroiled in haunting tension, this is avant pop at its best, hypnotically breathy and weirdly danceable, sweeping towards a solemn conclusion in a sea of voices.

Beginning in a bare bass laden manner, ‘Escape’ sees EMIKA saying she will “make this real” and picks up the rhythm, exploring New York electro but in an ultimately noirish manner.

But to close, EMIKA pulls a magnificent surprise with ‘Eternity’; while the bass sequence has a very electro body core, it is without the shouting and the Teutonic metal bashing. Although maintaining a frantic metronomic rigidity that is as good as clockwork, the forlorn manner of Miss Jolly’s delivery and the accompanying piano chords capture a beautiful hue which combine for an unusual but striking contrast.

A wonderfully bittersweet musical rhapsody laced with Bohemian melancholy, ‘Falling In Love With Sadness’ is a glorious sonic exploration into how sadness moves through people. “My music is about my life, what I see and feel, which I wish for, what I suffer from.” she said, “So when I look back or forward on my music, I’m really just reflecting about my life.”

The best electronic pop album of 2018? ‘Falling In Love With Sadness’ is without doubt one of the contenders and should belong on all turntables, digital devices, tape recorders and even CD players.

‘Falling In Love With Sadness’ is released by Emika Records in CD, vinyl LP and digital formats on 10th October 2018, available from https://emika-official.bandcamp.com/album/falling-in-love-with-sadness

http://emikarecords.com/

https://www.facebook.com/emikamusic/

https://twitter.com/emika_records

https://www.instagram.com/emikarecords/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Bet Orten
2nd October 2018

FIFI RONG x LO The Crown EP

28 September 2018 /

Beijing meets Berlin on ‘The Crown’, the first fruit of labours from FIFI RONG and LO.

Adding a twist to the alluring sound that was last heard on the ‘Awake’ EP earlier this year, ‘The Crown’ showcases a synergy between two music creatives from two previously walled cities with a feeling of empowerment and freedom.

The past couple of years have seen Miss Rong wear a number of different dresses from the Trans-Atlantic pop of ‘The Same Road’ and the reggaefied overtones of ‘The One’, to guesting for the highly regarded Swiss trailblazers YELLO. But she describes ‘The Crown’ as “the most consistent body of work I have written in terms of style and mood; no more, no less”.

‘The Crown’ title song is as gorgeous and airy as one can expect from Miss Rong, a blippy arpeggio leads into an unexpected drop which formulates a mutant groove and high pitched vocal modulations which some will love but others may not find so appealing.

The moody and mysterious ‘Hunger Game’ offers some chilled atmospheres as the sun goes down, with its shimmering qualities enhancing a great pop ballad and Miss Rong making the most of her vocal range.

Going ‘Upstream’, Miss Rong and LO offer a building epic of cinematic proportions with swoops, sweeps and layers that almost conjure a strangely Sci-Fi Country & Western feel… ah yes, ‘Twin Peaks’ meets ‘Nashville’ in Outer Space!

‘Foreign’ is more obscure and unusual, sitting it is own aural cocoon and conveying the feelings of an outsider attempting to settle into a new environment in the face of adversity over a soothing bass mantra,

But while it is more akin to modern pop than perhaps any of her previous releases, ‘The Crown’ still maintains an aura of delightful oddness that will bridge long standing followers of Miss Rong while and welcome newcomers to her magical world.

‘The Crown’ EP is released in CD and download formats

http://www.fifirong.com/

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

https://twitter.com/fifirong

https://www.instagram.com/fifirong/

http://www.thisislo.com/

https://www.facebook.com/listentolo/

https://twitter.com/listentoLO

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photo by Matt Alexander
24th September 2018

DUBSTAR One

26 September 2018 /

DUBSTAR are back and after eighteen years since their last album ‘Make It Better’, ‘One’ is their first long playing offering as a duo. 

Now comprising of Sarah Blackwood and Chris Wilkie, with the guitarist now taking on the songwriting duties, the new numbers naturally have more of a six string slant although that wonderfully forlorn vocal presence is still very much there. Having sat on the bridge between Britpop and Synth Britannia under the auspices of PET SHOP BOYS and NEW ORDER producer Stephen Hague for their debut album ‘Disgraceful’, ‘One’ has been produced by Youth, whose credits include CROWDED HOUSE, THE CHARLATANS and THE VERVE.

Suitably melancholic, opening song ‘Love Comes Late’ sees Sarah Blackwood cynically pondering within a midlife narrative, at last finding love but being too old to truly appreciate it. With a live sounding drum feel and a superb synthetic bassline, this will please those who might have first discovered DUBSTAR via a ‘Shine’ compilation.

Psychedelic overtones linger all over ‘One’, especially on THE BEATLES-esque ‘Torched’ and ‘Please Stop Leaving Me Alone’ with its frenetic Hammond organ and Wilkie’s guitars… dare one even mention the ‘O’ word and the Gallagher brothers! With trumpet from Michael Rendall who also contributes keyboards throughout ‘One’, the classic brass infused pop of ‘I Hold Your Heart’ takes Blackwood on Northern Soul journey but in the truest geographical sense.

‘Waltz No9’, the introspective synth-less tune that launched DUBSTAR’s return is the album’s ‘Just A Girl She Said’, while also maintaining the aura of classic DUBSTAR is ‘You Were Never In Love’, coming over all dreamy and uplifting despite its downcast tone. The most electronic number on ‘One’ is the gorgeous ‘Locked Inside’, with elements of KRAFTWERK creeping in and even TEARS FOR FEARS as Blackwood tells of how “my hands are tied”; more of Roland and Curt’s spectre looms on the shuffling swing of the bittersweet ‘Why Don’t You Kiss Me?’

The lovely three-part vocal harmonic of ’Mantra’ punctuates another psychedelic flavoured number to close ‘One’, and it’s an brilliantly epic song that one could imagine John Lennon coming up with if he had collaborated with THE HOLLIES!

DUBSTAR’s appeal has always been their down-to-earth kitchen sink dramas and there are certainly no shortage of those on ‘One’.

With more of a guitar driven aesthetic, Blackwood and Wilkie have revitalised DUBSTAR and long standing fans who also loved ‘Goodbye’ and ‘Make It Better’ will not be disappointed at all with this long-awaited eagerly anticpated comeback album.

Is it asking too much to be given time? Not at all, the new DUBSTAR album has been well worth the wait.

‘One’ is released on 12th October 2018 by Northern Writes in CD, vinyl LP, cassette and digital formats, pre-order direct from https://dubstar.tmstor.es

http://dubstarofficial.co/

http://www.facebook.com/dubstaruk/

https://twitter.com/dubstarUK

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Text by Chi Ming Lai
26th September 2018

NEW ORDER Decades

24 September 2018 /

A new film by Mike Christie for Sky Arts, ‘Decades’ is a part concert and part documentary presentation of iconic Manchester band NEW ORDER. 

It follows them as they re-stage their acclaimed ‘So It Goes..’ collaboration with conceptual artist Liam Gillick and a 12-piece synthesizer orchestra recruited from students attending Manchester’s renowned Royal Northern College of Music.

Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of JOY DIVISION’s TV debut performing ‘Shadowplay’ on Granada TV, introduced by their soon-to-be Factory Records boss Tony Wilson, the film celebrates the past, present and future of NEW ORDER.

Featuring interviews with Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert along with new recruits Phil Cunningham and Tom Chapman, ‘Decades’ also includes contributions from graphic designer Peter Saville as well as cultural commentators Jon Savage and Dave Haslam.

First performed at the Manchester International Festival 2017, the audio / visual spectacular had its own technical and logistical challenges, with up to 19 musicians on stage including conductor Joe Duddell.

Taking the installation to OGR Torino and Wiener Festwochen earlier this year, the whole concept had to be almost totally reconstructed thanks to the height restrictions and dimensions of the two hosting art spaces in Italy and Austria respectively.

For the musical aspect of the show, the MIDI information controlling the NEW ORDER’s regular live set had to be transcribed into twelve individual music scores for each of the students to play by hand.

But controlled from a huge computer were the light show, the angles of the white Venetian blinds in each of the cubicles that the synth orchestra were each positioned in and all the sounds for the various synthesizers.

Still very much a concert, Liam Gillick was adamant that this wouldn’t be “a weird art event with music”. Stephen Morris got fully involved in the technological aspects because he was, in his own words, “the only one boring enough to read the manual”, a trait which Bernard Sumner reflected on as being “unusual for a drummer” and something which long suffering wife Gillian Gilbert laughed about and said made him “impossible to live with…”

But Morris spoke in awe of how with the original NEW ORDER productions, the band would programme each note laboriously into the sequencers before speeding up the results, while each member of the synth orchestra would use their virtuoso ability to deconstruct and tightly recreate the fast programmed elements of tracks like ‘Plastic’, ‘Sub-Culture’, ‘Vanishing Point’, ‘Shellshock’ and ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’.

But as Cunningham remarked, “you’ve got to have a feel” and this was a quality which the synth orchestra undoubtedly provided. The best song from NEW ORDER’s most recent ‘Music Complete’ album, ‘Plastic’ was presented full length as were all the other songs in the film, a relief from the usual quick cut butchering and fast editing that has occurred in 21st Century music event broadcasts aimed at youngsters with attention deficits.

The spectacular sea of flashing straight line visuals came over well on the small screen and reflected the song’s complex but energetic combination of Giorgio Moroder and house, aided by Sumner’s disco dad dancing and the silhouetted movements of the synth orchestra looking like a futuristic ‘Jailhouse Rock’.

The rarely performed baroque sex anthem ‘Sub-Culture’ combined the best sonic elements of the original ‘Low-life’ version and the polarising John Robie remix along with many new parts.

But this provided amusement with a major continuity error thanks to two very different looking female backing singers being used over the two dates during which the concerts in Vienna were filmed for this documentary.

Not doing ‘Blue Monday’ and ‘Truth Faith’ at the ‘So It Goes..’ shows encouraged NEW ORDER to be inventive with the setlist to primarily include other more synth friendly material. But one of the most interesting choices was the post-punk rage of ‘Disorder’, the opener from ‘Unknown Pleasures’. While not presented as a concert number in the film, the rehearsal footage was a reminder of its blistering impact while leading to a section on the forever looming legacy of JOY DIVISION vocalist Ian Curtis.

After the passing of Curtis, Bernard Sumner took over lead vocals from the ‘Movement’ album onwards and in the film, Phil Cunningham recalled how uncomfortable Sumner looked when listening to it as the band members convened to listen back to the NEW ORDER catalogue to choose songs for the ‘So it Goes..’ shows.

A short section focussed on Tom Chapman replacing Peter Hook as bassist. While Peter Saville reflected that the chemistry which NEW ORDER had in their classic line-up was what made them great, he also accepted that “chemistry is combustible”; and while Sumner praised Chapman’s contributions on ‘Music Complete’, he complimented Hook obliquely by saying “not that the other bass in our history wasn’t great, it was great!”

Sumner amusingly waved and greeted the synth orchestra before a fabulously dreamy update of ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ which was visually enhanced by close-ups of the exuberant actions from the synth orchestra members, although just as the track segued into ‘Vanishing Point’, the performance disappointingly faded off into the next documentary chapter.

The neo-classicism of ‘Your Silent Face’ was just perfect foil for interpretation by the synth orchestra and as an emotional finale of the glorious ‘Decades’ itself from ‘Closer’ captured the tense sonic cathedral of JOY DIVISION while adding some strangely uplifting qualities, both songs made for the ultimate display of multi-layered melancholic grandeur.

Beautifully produced, while the film itself was not too in-depth about the band’s history, it was an enjoyable snapshot of a reconfigured band in transition who were aware of their status as treasured veteran artists. Peter Saville concluded that Liam Gillick’s concept, as “his dialogue with his idea of NEW ORDER”, was an artistic success and “put the group back into an uncomfortable space”, just as in their formative years.

As much a document about the regeneration of Manchester as a cultural force as well as the continuing relevance of NEW ORDER, what was particularly touching about ‘Decades’ was the band’s respect of their tremendous back catalogue and general happiness that their naïve pursuit of fun led them to success.

Now, if only DEPECHE MODE would be a bit more grateful for their lot and accord more respect to the very songs that got them to where they are today…

‘Decades’ can be viewed on Sky via subscription – for more information, please visit https://www.sky.com/watch/title/programme/968c1ac8-3538-4e4e-b9e8-4977a160b551/new-order-decades

The live album ‘∑(No,12k,Lg,17Mif) So it goes..’ is released as a limited edition triple coloured vinyl LP and double CD by Mute Artists

NEW ORDER play London’s Alexandra Palace on Friday 9th November 2018

http://www.neworder.com/

https://www.facebook.com/NewOrderOfficial

https://twitter.com/neworder

https://www.instagram.com/neworderofficial/

http://mute.com/artists/new-order

Text by Chi Ming Lai
23rd September 2018, updated 13th July 2019

BLANCMANGE Wanderlust

22 September 2018 /

Arranged, co-produced and mixed with Benge at the latter’s Memetune Studios in Cornwall, the new BLANCMANGE album ‘Wanderlust’ is focussed on “the pretence of a normal world being erased.”

BLANCMANGE’s first phase produced just three albums ‘Happy Families’, ‘Mange Tout’ and ‘Believe You Me’ before art college friends Neil Arthur and Stephen Luscombe parted ways amicably in 1987.

But since his 21st Century return in 2011 with ‘Blanc Burn’, frontman Neil Arthur has become possibly the most prolific man in electronic music. ‘Wanderlust’ is the sixth long player of this second phase and all this without including Neil Arthur’s side projects FADER and NEAR FUTURE or the ‘Happy Families Too’ rework.

Beginning with ‘Distant Storm’, this is an unusual but brilliant BLANCMANGE tune with its incessant dance beat, reverberant Moog bassline and dreamy processed vocoder aesthetic; with a rousing, almost spiritual quality, there are even elements of JAMES’ ‘Come Home’ creeping in for good measure. Following on, ‘In Your Room’ is a great slice of vintage cold wave synth, with a vocoder aesthetic and an assortment of manipulated sounds.

The heavily percussive ‘I Smashed Your Phone’ uses noise and electronics to deal with the sensitive issue of domestic abuse, while the amusing ‘Gravel Drive Syndrome’ provides commentary on social climbing and keeping up with the Jones’ aided by an Eno-esque VCS3 joystick solo.

‘Talking To Machines’ deals with Arthur’s continuing love / hate relationship with smart phones and what is now becoming anti-social media, but also as he put it: “this Kafka-esque nightmare just to get to the person you want to talk to.”

Like a sombre Northern English KRAFTWERK, the marvellous metronomic ‘Not A Priority’ also adds the resonance of JEAN-MICHEL JARRE with some chilling string machine; “Be yourself, you can’t be anybody else” Arthur exclaims as Hannah Peel harmonises and counterpoints this marvellous concoction with her soprano stylings.

Inspired by the smarmy Victorian–minded politician and ‘Walter The Softy’ impersonator Jacob Rees-Mogg, the swirly robopop of ‘TV Debate’ captures Arthur’s anger at the state of the nation in a musical cross between PLASTIC ONO BAND and THE FLYING LIZARDS; “I’m creating imagery and now I’ve got politicians doing a conga, it’s a mess!” he reflected to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about the song, “We’re a nation who watch cookery programmes but can barely cook!”

Featuring David Rhodes on guitar, the heavier tones of ‘Leaves’, with its looming reverberant textures and discordant reverses, continues the gloomier mood before the Linn and guitar driven resignation of ‘White Circle, Black Space’. And with the aid of some haunting Vox Machina computer voices, the closing bittersweet title track explores the longing to be somewhere else while swathed in Roland vocoder towards the song’s conclusion.

“I’m catching up in what I think is unfinished business” Neil Arthur remarked on his artistic drive, “I’m just in a position where I’m experimenting all the time. I do what I want and it’s a bonus that some people like it.”

Possibly his best body of work as BLANCMANGE in its 21st Century incarnation, Neil Arthur has undoubtedly found comfort from working with Benge on what is effectively their third album together. That comfort has also provided an appealing palette of electronic sounds that acts as a fine platform for his not-so-merry lyrical witticism.

‘Wanderlust’ is released by Blanc Check on 19th October 2018 in CD, vinyl LP and digital formats, available from http://blancmange.tmstor.es/

BLANCMANGE 2018 ‘Wanderlust’ tour includes:

Norwich Arts Centre (1st November), Nottingham Rescue Rooms (2nd November), Cardiff Acapela (3rd November), Bristol The Fleece (4th November), Darwen Library Theatre (7th November), 8 Edinburgh Voodoo Rooms (8th November), Glasgow Oran More (9th November), Newcastle The Cluny (10th November), Brighton The Old Market (15th November), Southampton Brook (16th November), Dover Booking Hall (17th November), Wolverhampton Robin 2 (22nd November), Gloucester Guild Hall (23rd November), Northampton Roadmender (24th November), Leeds The Wardrobe (29th November), Derby Flowerpot (30th November)

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

https://www.facebook.com/BlancmangeMusic

https://twitter.com/_blancmange_

https://www.instagram.com/neilarthur/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
22nd September 2018

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