Category: Reviews (Page 16 of 199)

CREEP SHOW Yawning Abyss

10 June 2023 /

A supergroup comprising of John Grant, Stephen Mallinder, Ben “Benge” Edwards and Phil Winter, CREEP SHOW released their acclaimed debut album ‘Mr Dynamite’ in 2018.

The histories of the individuals involved have been more than well documented and since then, John Grant has released two solo albums ‘Love Is Magic’ and ‘Boy From Michigan’ while Stephen Mallinder had two of his own ‘Um Dada’ and ‘Tick Tick Tick…’.

Busy boy Benge co-produced all of those bar ‘Boy From Michigan’ while he has also been working with Neil Arthur in BLANCMANGE and FADER, as well as John Foxx. Not to be left out, Phil Winter has been back with his experimental folk band TUNNG for two albums.

All this without forgetting the regular Mallinder / Benge / Winter project WRANGLER who released their third album ‘A Situation’ in 2020. However, there was always this sense that the Bella synth union which was CREEP SHOW had more to offer…

Produced in Cornwall at Benge’s MemeTune complex as a bunch of sonic experiments using vintage synths before the tracks were taken to Iceland for Grant and Mallinder to record their vocals, the new album’s title ‘Yawning Abyss’ was inspired by “a cosmic event horizon” that Mallinder observed from his attic window while standing on a chair!

Opening proceedings with a punchy backing track, ‘The Bellows’ is like a blippy PET SHOP BOYS with layers of treated and vocodered vocals before being countered by enticing Middle Eastern resonances in the synth solo. A commentary on crypto currency, ‘Moneyback’ offers avant rap alternating between Grant and Mallinder which echoes the former’s ‘Voodoo’ while the accompanying vorsprung durch technik is rather engrossing.

The futuristic-flavoured ‘Yawning Abyss’ title track takes the pace down to a grooving midtempo with slight voice filtering on Grant’s delivery. ‘Matinee’ sees Mallinder get growly and as the track builds in size and tempo to a darker art-funk, it enters a close encounter of a different kind and becomes particularly ominous in the middle eight.

Moving into trancier house, ‘Wise’ is mysterious and minimal, bolstered by a barrage of synthetic noise. There comes another eccentric twisted rap on ‘Yahtzee!’ and despite the inherent weirdness, there are hooks within the squelchy sonics and frantic machine rhythms. ‘Bungalow’ though is conventional in comparison and perhaps comparable to a John Grant solo ballad; dressed with ivory flashes, harp runs and a synthetically sourced choir, with echoes of John Barry, this is akin to electronic Bond theme.

With schizophrenic voices penetrating from all sides indicative of the band name, ‘Steak Diane’ is an abstract experiment featuring bass guitar and reggae inflections to head into the final straight. To conclude, ‘The Bellows Reprise’ offers a shorter drum-less instrumental take on the album opener that adds the dramatic ‘Blade Runner’ sweeps of Vangelis.

Despite the tensions and menace captured within the music, the fun and camaraderie that was quite obviously had by the quartet in making ‘Yawning Abyss’ comes across, making ‘Mr Dynamite’ seem guarded in retrospect. Even the group photos for this album are more relaxed with everyone comfortable with the sophomore dynamic that now ensues. Straightforward in its approach with no egos or pretensions, ‘Yawning Abyss’ is an excellent experimental joyride.

‘Yawning Abyss’ is released by Bella Union on 16 June 2023, available in the usual physical and online formats via https://ffm.to/yawningabyss

CREEP SHOW 2023 UK live dates:

Exeter Phoenix (15 June), Brighton ACCA (16 June), Jodrell Bank Blue Dot Festival (21 July), Hebden Bridge Trades Club (22 July), Latitude Festival (23 July), London Village Underground (25 July)

http://creepshowmusic.com

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Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Chris Bethell
10 June 2023

HAWKSMOOR Telepathic Heights

6 June 2023 /

Bristol-based James McKeown has been releasing music in various guises since 2010.

But in 2017, he started an instrumental electronic project HAWKSMOOR which has since become his most prolific vehicle. The moniker was inspired by Nicholas Hawksmoor, an architect who worked alongside Christopher Wren and John Vanbrugh on the design of several buildings including St Paul’s Cathedral and Blenheim Palace while he also designed several London churches.

Known as ‘The Devil’s Architect’, it is fitting that Nicholas Hawksmoor’s musical namesake has been an exponent of hauntology which takes the idea that elements from a social or cultural past can return in the manner of a ghost. Having released the Ballardian ‘Concrete Island’ with THE HEARTWOOD INSTITUTE and the druidic Solstice celebration ‘Head Coach’ both on Spun Of Control in the past couple years, McKeown issues his first HAWKSMOOR album with the prestigious Sounds Of The Universe imprint Soul Jazz Records.

Entitled ‘Telepathic Heights’, as with previous HAWKSMOOR works, it is inspired by German pioneers such as CLUSTER, ASHRA, TANGERINE DREAM and NEU! Making use of a Moog’s Sub37 and DFAM drum machine as well as occasional guitar, the album opens with ‘Cycloid’, a fine engaging piece comprising of gritty percussive noise and manually manipulated drifts in the tradition of early KRAFTWERK, CLUSTER and the Fast Product period of THE HUMAN LEAGUE.

Floating over a rhythmic stutter, drones and repeated synth patterns shape ‘Nuclear Kites’ while utilising a subtle but speedy waltz beat, ‘Praxis’ offers abstract textures although its hooks help keep it from being totally obscure. The eerie resonances of the ‘Telepathic Heights’ title track do as instructed with minimal guitar providing additional harmonic tension inside a cavern of reverb, echoing elements of KRAFTWERK’s ‘Mitternacht’.

Retaining the six string and threatening at various point to turn into SUEDE, ‘Athanasia’ provides a less intense soundscape as a breather before ‘A Neural Interval’ provides a filmic interlude into the second half. ‘Synesius’ chills with subtle industrial elements but utilising E-bow, ‘The City Ships Of Alpha’ provides melodic focus to a flowing backdrop. ‘Dream Logic’ possesses an appealing iciness before providing what it says on the tin, ‘Abstract Machines’ closes the album with dystopian ambience.

With a particularly strong first half, ‘Telepathic Heights’ offers a heady but accessible listening experience. Its fresh but familiar soundtrack of electronic interventions will prove satisfying to enthusiasts of that classic Brain / Sky Records period of cosmic adventure, with the additional distinct touch of English discontent.

‘Telepathic Heights’ is released on 30 June 2023 by Soul Jazz Records as a CD or vinyl LP with download code, audio preview and pre-order available at https://soundsoftheuniverse.com/product/telepathic-heights

HAWKSMOOR opens for FENELLA on 10 June 2023 at London’s Courtyard Theatre in Hackney

https://twitter.com/_Hawksmoor_

https://linktr.ee/hawksmoor_music

Text by Chi Ming Lai
6 June 2023

NNHMN Circle of Doom

2 June 2023 /

Berlin-based couple NNHMN released their debut album ‘Church Of No Religion’ in 2019.

Since then, there have been a number of EPs including most recently ‘For The Comfort Of Your Exstazy’ which featured the strong body breakthrough of ‘Omen’ and its poignant anti-war message stating the true nature of evil.

Continuing that encapsulation of these unsettling times, “non-humans” Lee Margot and Michal Laudarg present their new album ‘Circle of Doom’ where they adapt their dark electronic body style with more varied dance elements.

Making use of a trance laden backbone and icy futurepop hooks, the German language ‘Hungrige Liebe’ embodies a Mittel Europa detachment in its spoken word, chosen as it “fits best to the theme of love and death”. Much more techno in construction and “a meditation on love, evil, sin and redemption”, ‘Gloomy Heart’ throbs in triplicate but adds an eerie choral vibe over the enticing club friendly action.

The wonderful glory of ‘Soldier of Beauty’ is more serene but no less danceable with a particularly hypnotic bassline and the viewpoint that the only honest thing to fight for is peace. Meanwhile, the tension on ‘NRL’ can be cut with a knife, described by NNHMN as “the pursuit of a vision, both personal and musical. The transmission of a cosmic solitude opera station”; the voice manipulations and wobbling electronic bass boost what comes over like BOY HARSHER invading Gatecrasher.

Photo by Cristina Del Barco

At a more steadfast pace, if it wasn’t for the airy lead vocals and cavernous reverb treatment, ‘Tiger’ could be mistaken for TECHNOTRONIC and that is not meant in a negative way. The minimally structured ‘Lush Longing’ could be Miss Kittin fresh out of carbon freeze, but the syncopated stomp of ‘Schizophrenic Vitamine’ retains the mystery if not the standard of its preceding tracks. However, ‘Unreal’ cuts an exotic if unsettling tone as it manoeuvres into classic body mode.

In its existential commentary’, ‘Circle Of Doom’ “mirrors the state of the world we are living in” and does it with a haunted enigmatic sound. With a widened electronic palette, it acts as enjoyable and engaging dance music for the party where the enemy at the door could well be scarily knocking soon…

‘Circle of Doom’ is released by Young and Cold Records and available as a CD, black vinyl LP + download from https://nnhmn.bandcamp.com/album/circle-of-doom

NNHMN 2023 live shows include:

Geneva La Makhno (17 June), Bolków Castle Party Festival (15 July), Cologne Amphi Festival (30 July), Prague Gothic Treffen (25 August), Oostende W-Festival (26 August)

https://www.nnhmn.com

https://www.facebook.com/nonhuman.duo

https://www.instagram.com/nnhmn_

https://www.patreon.com/NNHMN

https://open.spotify.com/album/0X9WIFpXDJdVEDP6tJrR6r

Text by Chi Ming Lai
2 June 2023, updated 16 June 2023

BUNNY X Love Minus 80

25 May 2023 /

Unashamedly embracing high school nostalgia and John Hughes movies, BUNNY X’s 2021 debut album ‘Young & In Love’ was a straightforward pop statement that wouldn’t have been out of place on classic MTV.

But the duo comprising of Abigail Gordon and Mary Hanley are now sophomores and for the follow-up ‘Love Minus 80’, their thoughts have become more dystopian as Sci-Fi novels, films, television shows and interstellar romances take over as inspiration. BUNNY X have been here before with the 2018 single ‘Unknown Places’, so the second album presented an opportunity to delve deeper within a whole body of work.

“We knew pretty much at the outset that we wanted our next release to be much darker and more introspective than the debut record” said Abigail Gordon about the genesis of the second BUNNY X album, “but we honestly didn’t realize until we had a few songs done that we wanted to take things in a Sci-Fi themed direction.”

While not quite ‘Star Wars’ related, opener ‘Love Is An Empire’ sees BUNNY X continue their alliance with Don Dellpiero; derived from ‘Lights in the Sky’ on his first album ‘Born 1981’, it appears to indicate that the popwave vibes that flavoured ‘Young & In Love’ mean it’s business as usual for BUNNY X. However, ‘The Forever War’ is more mysterious; inspired by the military science fiction novel of the same name by Joe Haldeman, its subject matter tracing a love story between two soldiers attempting to find each other again after being separated in battle could be applied to current world events, adding further poignancy and tension.

Inspired by cyberpunk godfather William Gibson’s ‘Bridge’ trilogy, the narrative of ‘Breaking Away’ is presented as a “Song for Chevette & Rydell”, two recurring characters who navigate a desolate post-earthquake California. Based on another previously issued instrumental, this one was originated by the oddly monikered SELLOREKT / LA DREAMS.

Taking its lead from the ‘San Junipero’ episode of ‘Black Mirror’, the uptempo ‘Daydreaming’ offers thrust and drive akin to Robyn ‘Dancing On My Own’, all while haunted by the reality of unrequited love. Continuing the escapist rhythmic thrust and taking BUNNY X into another system, ‘The Darkest Place’ could be considered as a metaphor for more personal matters despite being themed around ‘The Expanse’ book series by James SA Corey.

Definitely not sci-fi inspired, ‘Something To Rely On’ touches on toxic relationships and the cacophony of percussive noise shows how such a palette can be utilised without having to bow down to painful overblown distortion. Meanwhile the ‘Love Minus 80’ title song explores futuristic sounds and bass rumbles in a catchy duet with THOUGHT BEINGS.

Heartfelt and emotive in its acceptance of defeat, the contrast with its icier textures gives ‘Good Love Gone Bad’ an otherworldy resonance in its themes of love, loss, betrayal and regret.

Concluding with ‘Chiba City Blues’ based on a second previously released SELLOREKT / LA DREAMS work titled ‘Without You’, this is a sister song to ‘Breaking Away (Song for Chevette & Rydell)’ as it returns to the writings of William Gibson. And just as the neo-metal guitar solo takes hold, everything just fades into cyberspace…

In ‘Love Minus 80’, the underlying sentiment is coping with the emotions and anxieties caused by confronting the many paths that can be taken. With producer GOSTEFFECTS providing the sonic continuity as he did on ‘Young & In Love’, BUNNY X’s second album is a satisfying listen that despite the darkness, points to love still being the key to everything.

‘Love Minus 80’ is released by Aztec Records, available as a CD, magenta neon vinyl LP, cassette + download from https://bunnyx.bandcamp.com/album/

https://www.facebook.com/BunnyXmusic

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Text by Chi Ming Lai
25th May 2023

SPARKS The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte

22 May 2023 /

It’s still a Mael, Mael, Mael, Mael World!

Russell and Ron Mael have been plying their trade as SPARKS for over 50 years now and since the release of their 2021 documentary ‘The SPARKS Brothers’, their stock is as high as it has ever been with their film musical ‘Annette’ winning a César at France’s national film awards for best original music.

Always clever but never impenetrable, the sibling duo have surmised their new long player ‘The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte’ as being “as bold and uncompromising as anything we did back then or, for that matter, anytime throughout our career.”

The 26th studio album in the SPARKS discography, ‘The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte’ sees a homecoming of sorts to Island Records, the label that released their breakthrough 1974 hit single ‘This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us’ and its iconic parent album ‘Kimono My House’.

As if to affirm the historic significance, the art rock of ‘Nothing Is As Good As They Say It Is’ recalls SPARKS’ previous Island sojourn with the surreal but poignant narrative of a 22-hour-old baby asking to be readmitted to the womb having had sight of the real world! But it all begins with the catchy title track commentary on First World problems which is rugged and enjoyable if a bit repetitive.

Named after the actress who inspired Phil Oakey’s lop-sided hairdo, ‘Veronica Lake’ has an exotic technologically-derived sequence while with a drumless electronica vibe, ‘Escalator’ could be OMD. Within a percussive glam rock cocoon, ‘The Mona Lisa’s Packing, Leaving Late Tonight’ is an avant-fling that delights in its oddness with synths, virtual brass and organ all competing for top billing.

Although sharp and buzzy, ‘You Were Meant For Me’ is classic SPARKS with a characteristically histrionic delivery from Russell and even throws in violin for good measure. Meanwhile ‘Not That Well-Defined’ takes a more orchestrated route to provide a dose of cinematic drama. Continuing on the orchestrated thinking, the Baroque overtures of ‘We Go Dancing’ recall the ‘Lil Beethoven’ album and ‘Take Me For A Ride’ takes an exhilarating tongue twisting journey into dramatic virtual strings, cascading woodwinds and timpanic romps before the rocking up half way.

‘When You Leave’ echoes the Anglophile influences that got The Mael Brothers into music in the first place but is less convincing compared to other material. “What should we do?” asks Russell and in a contradiction of its title, ‘It’s Sunny Today’ offers a more solemn string quartet shaped presentation.

Utilising a machine beat backbone, ‘A Love Story’ reveals more gothic overtones in its ominous austere and as ‘It Doesn’t Have To Be That Way’ strums its way towards the closing straight, ‘Gee, That Was Fun’ presents an amusing bittersweet lament to declare “still it was grand” as multiple harmonies in a wide spectrum of vocal ranges penetrate the psyche to reflect the confusion of relationship breakdown.

While not entering the disco territory of their Giorgio Moroder-produced days, ‘The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte’ is more electronic than recent SPARKS albums. Squeezing a lot in lyrically and musically, the backing band of Evan Weiss (guitar), Eli Pearl (guitar), Max Whipple (bass) and Stevie Nistor (drums) cope admirably for the variety of styles incorporated on this record.

SPARKS have doggedly continued their pursuit of the unconventional and remain as eccentric and fun as ever; their long standing supporters will be more than happy with this new offering.

‘The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte’ is released on 26 May 2023 via Island Records as a CD, cassette, black vinyl LP, clear vinyl LP and picture disc

SPARKS 2023 UK + European live dates include:

Oxford New Theatre (23 May), Liverpool Philharmonic Hall (24 May), Glasgow SEC Armadillo (26 May), Manchester Bridgewater Hall (27 May), London Royal Albert Hall (29 – 30 May), Barcelona, Primavera Sound (2 June), Nimes La Paloma (4 June), Marseille Espace Julien (5 June), Madrid Primavera Sound (8 June), Primavera Sound (10 June), Paris Le Grand Rex (13 June), Utrecht Tivoli Vredenburg Grote Zaal (14 June), Copenhagen Store Vega (16 June), Berlin Tempodrom (18 June), Brussels Cirque Royal (20 June), Wolverhampton Civic Hall (22 June), Glastonbury Festival (23 June)

http://allsparks.com/

https://www.facebook.com/sparksofficial/

https://twitter.com/sparksofficial

https://www.instagram.com/sparks_official/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Munachi Osegbu
22nd May 2023

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