Intended as a soundtrack to a post-truth world, Rodney Cromwell presented his second album ‘Memory Box’ in Spring this year.
While themed around selective memories, its closing track ‘The Winter Palace’ is about wanting to forget a lost love. Utilising motorik mechanisation as its backbone, there are shades of OMD and NEW ORDER within the glacial electronic soundscape while a glorious synth solo thrown in for good measure. Behind Rodney Cromwell is indie veteran Adam Cresswell, once of SALOON and ARTHUR & MARTHA, he tells his former beau: “I dream of you regardless, whether I am asleep or awake”.
Fresh off a number of prestigious live dates opening for BLANCMANGE, Adam Cresswell gave an explanation of ‘The Winter Palace’.
‘The Winter Palace’ is the track that many have singled out from ‘Memory Box’, what do you think is the key to its appeal?
I’ve no idea. It was only after people started telling me that it was “a beautiful song” that I realised it was any good. I’m never the best judge. But I am very glad people like it because I spent ages on it; I re-wrote the melody and lyrics three times, then I re-pitched the whole thing into a different key so I could sing it better and because I use knackered old synths, it meant I had to re-record almost everything from scratch.
As to why people like it, well, I guess we live in complicated times, perhaps its appeal is in its simplicity. I think we all want to escape out of the super complexity of our digitally driven lives sometimes. The song is essentially five chords – all vintage synths, no programming beyond the drum machine – so it might be new to 2022, but it’s a simple construction with a familiar sound. The synths may feel icy, but it’s actually a super-warm production that you can immerse yourself in, like a cosy blanket. And the lyrics are pretty universal too; it’s about obsessing over someone despite not really liking them. Most of us can relate to that.
Yes, can relate to that… so what is ‘The Winter Palace’?
Whatever you want it to be. I got the name from Lucy Worsley history show about the Russian tsars. It just sounded cool so I thought “I’ll have that”. It suited this song because I see the narrator as someone out in the cold with the object of his affection – or contempt – distant and unobtainable. It was originally called ‘Seemingly Infinite Sadness’ but that was a bit pretentious even for me.
How did the video concept come together?
Martin J Langthorne who plays synth in my live band and who was behind the whole ‘Memory Box’ design aesthetic directed it. I just asked Martin if he could put together something that looked like the record sleeve coming-alive. It’s a juxtaposition of concrete brutalism and the natural world; light and dark tones with explosions of colour. The concept was I suppose, to do something incredibly conceptual, while trying to pretend it’s simple and incredibly down to earth. Which is a nice summary of the whole Rodney Cromwell project.
You’ve been opening on selected dates for BLANCMANGE, how have you found the experience?
They’ve been brilliant; it was lovely playing to a really appreciative audience that really got what we do. And also playing in venues that can do justice to our lo-fi – but epic – sound was a breath of fresh-air.
I thought we were a pretty good fit with BLANCMANGE too because, obviously while they are super-professional and serious about giving a real great performance, there is often a wicked irreverence to what they do; one minute they’ll be playing an poignant synth ballad and the next Neil Arthur is making you laugh-out-loud singing about a lettuce. Our own irreverence though often falls into farce. On our first night I managed to lose my tour pass, and my hotel key and very almost the trousers I was wearing, so God knows what they thought of us.
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its grateful thanks to Adam Cresswell
The phenomenon of the New Romantics can be said to have begun in Autumn 1978 with the foundation of a “Bowie Night” by Steve Strange and Rusty Egan at Billy’s nightclub in London’s Soho.
The youth movement that emerged aimed to find something new and colourful to escape the oncoming drabness in The Winter Of Discontent. Like Edwardian dandies meeting the Weimar Cabaret with extras from ‘Barbarella’ in between, they did a strange swaying arms dance, so as to not mess up their theatrical bouffanted hair. But after a disagreement with the owners of Billy’s, the pair moved their venture to The Blitz Club in Holborn.
Despite names such as Futurists, The Blitz Kids and The Movement With No Name, it was the term “New Romantics” coined by producer Richard James Burgess that became the widely used press description for this flamboyant group of outsiders. It was to eventually stick on anything from synthpop, art rock and peacock punk to Latin grooves, jazz funk and cod reggae provided the artist wore make-up, zoot suits, frilly blouses, smocks, headbands or kilts. Parallel club scenes developed at The Rum Runner in Birmingham, Crocs in Rayleigh near Southend and The Warehouse in Leeds from which DURAN DURAN, DEPECHE MODE and SOFT CELL respectively emerged.
To celebrate this era in popular culture, Cherry Red Records release an eclectic boxed set entitled ‘Music For New Romantics’. But while it contains some fantastic music, the tracklisting is a confused affair, having been originally conceived around comings and goings of The Blitz Club. It was here that Steve Strange acted as doorman and fashion policeman, while Rusty Egan was its resident DJ providing the soundtrack for a scene which became the catalyst for several bands including SPANDAU BALLET, CULTURE CLUB and VISAGE as well as assorted fashion designers, visual artists and writers.
Everything was centred around fashion-obsessed and some would say self-obsessed individuals; while the story about turning away Mick Jagger is well documented, one of the ironies of Steve Strange’s gatekeeping antics was that he refused entry to Chris Payne, then a member of Gary Numan’s band in 1979; Strange was to have his biggest hit with a song that Payne co-wrote entitled ‘Fade To Grey’ while another refused entry that evening was Ced Sharpley who played the drums on it!
Contrary to legend, the playlists of the various New Romantic establishments did not comprise exclusively of electronic music as those types of tracks were comparatively scarce at the time. So international synthworks from the likes of KRAFTWERK, YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA, SPARKS, SPACE and TELEX sat alongside soundtracks, punk, disco and relatable glam rock tunes by David Bowie, Brian Eno and Bryan Ferry.
Rusty Egan declined to be involved in the collection after initial discussions led to conceptual differences. In the absence of The Blitz Club’s resident DJ who is now planning his own curated collection, one of the regulars Chris Sullivan, who himself ran a similar but less electronically focussed night at Le Kilt in Soho, steps in to provide commentary while the set was put together by the team behind Cherry Red’s ‘Musik Music Musique’ synthpop series and ‘Electrical Language’ boxed set.
‘Music For New Romantics’ comes with three loosely themed discs with CD1 focussing on glam, art rock and early electronic disco while CD2 covers Synth Britannia and new wave. CD3 though is a hotch-potch of soul, funk and electro with SISTER SLEDGE and LIPPS INC being rather incongruous inclusions; with their hit songs being readily available on any ‘Night Fever’ type compilation, there were many more suitable alternatives that could have been considered.
But it is CD2 that most will revel in and the tracklist has no fault as a listening experience. Standards such as the eponymous song by VISAGE, SIMPLE MINDS ‘Changeling’, OMD’s ‘Electricity’, ‘Moskow Diskow’ from TELEX, THE NORMAL’s ‘Warm Leatherette’, JAPAN’s Giorgio Moroder produced ‘Life In Tokyo’, ‘Bostich’ by YELLO, ‘Being Boiled’ from THE HUMAN LEAGUE and THROBBING GRISTLE’s ‘Hot On The Heels Of Love’ are present and correct. But it was SPANDAU BALLET’s ‘To Cut A Long Story Short’ and LANDSCAPE’s ‘Einstein A-Go-Go’ that were to confirm that the New Romantics were able to hit the charts in their own right after Steve Strange’s cameo in Bowie’s ‘Ashes To Ashes’ video.
CD1 features scene heroes such as Iggy Pop, Lou Reed and Mick Ronson, but heroines come in the avant cabaret glamour of Nina Hagen with ‘TV-Glotzer’ and Grace Jones’ reinterpretation of Édith Piaf’s ‘La Vie En Rose’. The most welcome track on this disc though is RAH BAND’s ‘The Crunch’ which all but invented the sexy electro-Schaffel of GOLDFRAPP, while one obscure jewel is ‘The Ultimate Warlord’ by THE WARLORD. And when today’s synthwave fanboys go on and on ad nauseam about how influential the ‘Drive’ soundtrack is, then just throw ‘Chase’ by Giorgio Moroder from ‘Midnight Express’ at them!
Despite being a mess of styles, the highlights of CD3 are Marianne Faithfull’s terrorism commentary ‘Broken English’ and Gina X with the Quentin Crisp tribute ‘No GDM’ which both fit into the avant cabaret category. Although ‘M Factor’, the B-side of M’s ‘Pop Muzik’ was regularly played at The Blitz Club, ‘Everything’s Gone Green’ by NEW ORDER sticks out like a sore thumb… Peter Hook would likely scoff at being considered a New Romantic!
The move towards funk in the New Pop of late 1981 is reflected in ABC with ‘Tears Are Not Enough’ (full marks for using the CORRECT Steve Brown produced single version), HEAVEN 17’s ‘We Don’t Need This Fascist Groove Thang’ (in a rare radio version with the lyric “fascist god” changed to “cowboy god”) and TOM TOM CLUB’s ‘Genius Of Love’. But those who consider New Romantics to be discerning studious types into synth and new wave will find the likes of Coati Mundi and Don Armando extremely alienating; after all, it was THE HUMAN LEAGUE’s Phil Oakey who said to Smash Hits around this time “I hate all trends like all this Ze Stuff”!
When the New Romantic magazine ‘New Sounds, New Styles’ launched as a monthly publication in Summer 1981 after a promising launch edition, its content was confused with one angry punter later exclaiming via letter: “You’re meant to be a Futurist mag so leave all this Latin and jazz funk sh*t out of it!” – with the embarrassing novelty party act MODERN ROMANCE also being lumped in with the New Romantics, it was obvious the rot had now set in. Tellingly within a year, ‘New Sounds, New Styles’ folded…
From 1982, ‘Club Country’ by ASSOCIATES which notably highlighted the observations of Billy MacKenzie on what he saw as the posey vapid nature of The Blitz Club is a fitting inclusion. Meanwhile as the ‘Music For New Romantics’ essay writer, Chris Sullivan gets to include his own style over substance combo BLUE RONDO À LA TURK with ‘Klactoveesedstein’, a single that came in with a blank at No50 that same year!
Of course, Sullivan went on to establish Le Beat Route and The Wag Club because he loved salsa and was less than enthused about synthpop, highlighting that despite the New Romantics seeming to be a united voice of expression, like any movement, it had its factions. Not featuring in the set, it was another scene regular Marilyn who said on the recent ‘Blitzed’ Sky Arts documentary that “I hated the music, all that electronic crap” while Steve Strange imposed a ban on Gary Numan being played at The Blitz Club, thus prompting Mr Webb’s lines “These New Romantics are oh so boring” in the 1981’s ‘Moral’ and “I like romantics but I don’t like Steven” in 1982’s ‘War Songs’.
A range of key New Romantic godfathers are missing from Bowie to Eno although MOTT THE HOOPLE’s hit take on ‘All The Young Dudes’ makes up for the former while ROXY MUSIC’s ‘Do The Stand’ effectively covers off the latter. KRAFTWERK, YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA and SPARKS are also absent and of the lesser known cult figures, Wolfgang Riechmann undoubtedly deserved inclusion, while New Romantic staples such as ‘Hiroshima Mon Amour’, ‘RERB’ and ‘Magic Fly’ are more preferable to the likes of ‘Funky Town’ or ‘Ai No Corrida’.
Although only a single disc, 2006’s ‘Only After Dark’ compiled by Nick Rhodes and John Taylor of DURAN DURAN based around the music played at The Rum Runner, managed to feature Bowie and Eno as well as YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA and KRAFTWERK so did more with less. While ‘Music For New Romantics’ is flawed and will cause some head scratching, this set is a reminder of those more innocent aspirational times and a scene that DID actually play its part in changing the world.
The Blitz Club’s tenure was short and after vacating it, Steve Strange and Rusty Egan started Club For Heroes and then in 1982 came The Camden Palace; it was the UK’s first modern superclub; music and clubbing were never the same again, and it was not for the better. However, the New Romantics had made their mark.
An elitist movement that was exclusive at its core despite the protestations of some, one amusing modern day legacy of the New Romantics and the Blitz generation in particular is how some try to ride on the scene’s trenchcoat tails, despite the fact that even if they had been old enough to visit licenced premises back in 1980, they almost certainly would have not been allowed in, thanks to the door policy of the man born Stephen John Harrington.
Taylor Swift did a song in 2014 called ‘New Romantics’ and when you google “New Romantics” these days, it’s what often springs up at the top of the searches… but that’s another story 😉
‘Music For New Romantics’ is released by Cherry Red as a 3CD Clamshell Box Set on 25th November 2022
MURMURS OF EARTH began as a vehicle for Richard Sinclair who had already released two solo albums.
But keen to collaborate, he teamed up with TENEK front man Geoff Pinckney in 2015 who had also had stints as a member of the MESH live band and GLASSHOUSE who opened for Gary Numan on several tours. The collaborative dynamic is perhaps unusual but very modern; Sinclair writes the music and lyrics while Pinckney sings as well as providing his notable production ear and multi-instrumental skills honed from composing for film, television and games.
In previous incarnations, Pinckney may have occasionally prioritised chanted hooks and power but songs such as ‘The Art Of Evasion’ and ‘What Have You Done For Me?’ showed he was adept at the refined melodic styles of TEARS FOR FEARS, ULTRAVOX and A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS. Working with a kindred spirit like Sinclair in MURMURS OF EARTH has allowed Pinckney to explore those directions further.
Opening ‘Fragments Of Stolen Light’, the dynamic ‘Edge of My Dreams’ captures the melodic chill and pomp of ULTRAVOX and even the drops in an unexpected spark of brass like ‘U-Vox’ gone right. Following on, the pulsing overtures of ‘The Girl With The Turquoise Eyes’ recall VITAMIN Z who themselves opened for Midge Ure in 1985 and whose lead singer Geoff Barradale now manages ARCTIC MONKEYS…
With a synth and a strum, ‘Unwind’ enjoyably echoes German duo TxT and their 1985 European hit ‘Girls Got A Brand New Toy’ while ‘Someone Who Sees Me’ comes over like the 1993 version of ULTRAVOX fronted by Tony Fenelle, but that is not an insult as the track is a musically strong slice of atmospheric synth rock.
Over a driving electronic bass motif, ‘The Day the World Stood Still’ presents a midtempo groove and some choppy stringiness while using snakey vintage mechanisation, ‘The Travelling Man’ is a wonderful filmic instrumental that begins like CLUSTER but then morphs into something more strident and percussive before throwing in its own synth odyssey.
Throbbing alongside synthesized orchestrations, ‘Boryaku’ is another cinematic instrumental adventure that some would call synthwave but actually isn’t. With an uplifting pop refrain that slips into ‘Slip Away’, ‘A Trick of the Light’ sees Pinckey’s rousing vocals return as acoustic six strings sit comfortably with bubbling sequencers. The moody but glistening instrumental set piece ‘Hiraeth’ reflects the deep longing for home of its Welsh title and acts as a fine closer as the water waves drift away.
Eschewing total darkness, as the album title suggests, ‘Fragments Of Stolen Light’ allows some sparkle while retaining an emotional centre. This is not an album that appeases the dark festival audiences of Europe but one that will appeal to more sophisticated song-based tastes. With rousing vocals, thoughtful musicality and room to breathe, this is “syntherapy” for the maturer listener who believes electronic music shouldn’t have to involve shouting.
Anglo-French singer-songwriter Julia-Sophie Walker first tasted near-mainstream fame as a member of rock band LITTLE FISH.
Signed to Island Records, this came in a time before social media and streaming took over the world. When LITTLE FISH disbanded as 2012 concluded, they evolved into the cerebral independent dreampop combo CANDY SAYS and it saw Julia-Sophie reconnecting with her Gallic roots.
But with the disillusionment of Brexit and her musical past, the Oxford-based musician began working independently and adopting modern-day DIY production techniques.
The end result has been music of an artier electronic bent with a Franco-driven focus to make music for the sake of making music to attain her artistic fulfilment. With an IAMAMWHOAMI style of cryptic hushed engagement, her first EPs 2020’s ‘y?’ (‘why?’) and 2021’s ‘</3’ (‘heartbroken’) issued respectively in 2020 and 2021 have now been compiled as the debut Julia-Sophie album by Third Kind Records who were also the label behind the release of the debut long player by Hattie Cooke.
Composed while in a state of personal crisis, the ‘y?’ half is full of depth, hazy but emotional and dark yet strangely spirited. In asking the question “why?”, ‘breathe’ is shaped by a sparse backdrop of percussive noise and drones, as Julia-Sophie allows her voice to shine before a sumptuous arpeggio kicks in and the remainder of the song expands.
Utilising a frenetic off-kilter set of pulses as a rhythmic centre, ‘x0x’ is an emotive avant pop statement as a forlorn Julia-Sophie declares “nobody wants me here”; and when it changes pace and takes a Gallic turn, its obscure mantra makes for compelling listening.
With a wonderful cacophony of delightfully odd sequences, ‘i told you everything’ acts as an instrumental interlude while in some ways a conventional break-up song, ‘i left you’ is arranged as an absorbing slice of folktronica, with scattered synthesis running in and out of the aural spectrum.
Into the ‘</3’ half, the confessional continues the evolution. Themed around heartbreak, ‘and you know it’ asks “are you happy?” before proceedings move into an unexpected exercise in electro-jazzy two step.
Playing with glitch and an icy variant of mutant bossa nova, the lengthy ‘cctv’ is beautiful yet unsettling, but it then diverts into an experimental arpeggio that mesmerises in its layered weirdness. Utilising a speedy machine beat, ‘i wish’ is an eerie showcase for Julia-Sophie’s airy vocals asking “what do you want from me?” as the kaleidoscopic setting of synths and voice samples hypnotise.
Pitched up and at various frequencies, more vocal samples and manipulations shape the start of ‘love let you down’ before Julia-Sophie emotes her vulnerability and tearful heartbreak; “I want to see us love again” she pleads before the voices slowly melt into the backdrop.
By experimenting with song structures, synthetic beats and widescreen atmospheres to soundtrack her fear of rejection, Julia-Sophie has presented an intricate and intriguing collection of elegant avant pop in ‘y? + </3 //’.
The recently issued ‘it feels like thunder’ EP begins a new trilogy and another journey but for now, here is an opportunity to hear how it all began.
DIE ROBO SAPIENS is the “ultimate 100% electro EBM project” by the members of trailblazing industrial metallists DIE KRUPPS.
Despite their electronic roots in Düsseldorf during the burgeoning Neue Deutsche Welle movement that emerged post-punk, DIE KRUPPS have become more metal than machine over the past decade or so. But their leader Jürgen Engler plus Kameraden Ralf Dörper and Marcel Zürcher were seeking a Sonderkraftfahrzeugfor for some of the more synthesizer-dominated material that had been written but couldn’t be used in today’s rockier template of DIE KRUPPS.
Mit Gitarren verboten, DIE ROBO SAPIENS is that Sd.Kfz. – “Imagine the Düsseldorf sound of KRAFTWERK mixed with hard DIE KRUPPS EBM” said Jürgen Engler, “This combination of styles has been spooking around my brain for a while, and it was time to put it into action”. The resultant album ‘Robo Sapien Race’ is conceived around the dehumanization and technological dependency of mankind… “without it you are nothing… so conform or revolt!”
Opening proceedings mit keine melodien, ‘Teufelskreis’ is a barrage of Teutonic bliss contained within a vicious circle of devilish hooks and infectious rhythms.
Not deviating too far out, ‘Transrapid Rapid’ really is the KRAFTWERK meets hard EBM template that the press releases promised. The thumping ‘Robotimierung’ probably has the most prominent percussive presence of all the tracks, although there are hints of YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA in a darker take on ‘Camouflage’, the very track that the German synthpop trio from Bietigheim-Bissingen named themselves after.
With a rumbling squelch, ‘Robo Normativ’ is fierce sci-fi disco but ‘Düsseldorf’ is a total surprise, a pretty crystalline instrumental in tribute to their home city. But the energy all ramps up again with the marvelous eponymous statement ‘Robo Sapien’, the English language track by DIE KRUPPS that seeded the concept and an example of the more machine than metal approach, like RAMMSTEIN being eaten by DAF.
The brilliant robopop of ‘Tanz Mit Dem Roboter’ does what it says on the tin while hard and fast with a stuttering offbeat as ‘Automatenland’ nods towards melodically to KRAFTWERK as vocoders and synthetics sweep through. However, ‘Niemals Stillstehen’ is even more frantic, speedy in many ways as a laser battle with a cyborg invasion, there really is no opportunity to stand still. Then embracing a tension reminiscent of DAF’s ‘Der Mussolini’, ‘Electro / Spannung’ has its darkness offset by pretty ‘Computerliebe’ keys.
For those who miss the earlier template of DIE KRUPPS or wished KRAFTWERK had been more aggressive, ‘Robo Sapien Race’ is that perfect body musik solution; powerful yet accessible, Germanic yet melodic, hard yet upbeat! The message is “Volle EBM Kraft Voraus!”
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok
Follow Us!