Category: Reviews (Page 24 of 199)

ITALOCONNECTION Midnight Reworks

30 September 2022 /


While in the UK, ITALOCONNECTION are best known for their remixes of HURTS and THE HUMAN LEAGUE, it is the Italian pair who get given the treatment this time around.

Italian veterans Fred Ventura and Paolo Gozzetti continue their midnight journey as ITALOCONNECTION with a collection of reworks. Although tied in with their most recent album ‘Midnight Confessions Vol1’, only four of its tracks are represented with the remaining songs coming from deluxe bonus tracks and non-album digital singles.

With the ITALOCONNECTION mission “to sound vintage in a modern way”, this ethos is applied with respect by their chosen collaborators, the end result being unlike other dance remix compendiums, the majority of the songs are identifiable and continue with the original album’s central theme of love.

A more introspective closing track on ‘Midnight Confessions Vol, sibling duo MONO HAN give ‘Humans’ a tighter disco treatment with synthwave friendly inflections as the opener. Meanwhile, the catchy but bittersweet ‘Get Together’ loses its appealing bounce and ‘I Feel Love’ throb in favour of something more rigid and icy via ITAL OSCILLAZIONI ’s remix.

DJ Tin Tin’s take on the lovelorn drama of ‘Since You Went Away’ applies a different groove as well new synth and high-pitched voice counter-melodies, but the alluring touch that actress Francesca Diprima provided is now absent. Noted Danish Italo archivist and remixer Flemming Dalum gets to work with ‘All Over’ to give it some Kling Klang meets Moroder meets Klein & MBO presence while retaining the original’s spritely confidence.

A song in its own right without any rework, ‘No Way’ is a good track that stomps like a trooper but with its darker aggressive outlook, it did not fit with the romantic notions of ‘Midnight Confessions Vol1’. Similarly of a darker disposition and released in 2020 as a standalone single, ‘Today Tomorrow’ is brightened up slightly by Fogli & Colombo and made more vintage Italo in feel. Also of 2020 vintage, ‘Without A Reason’ gets an electro 808 for its backbeat and vocoder thrown in for a hypnotic abstract reinterpretation by Dutch production team SFERA CELESTE PROJECT.

With the bonus tracks, ‘Be Yourself (Again)’ offers catchy Italopop while with in-house Naked Remix of ‘Endless Possibilities’, this ITALOCONNECTION production for Francesca Gastaldi strips the original structures for something more driving, nocturnal in keeping with the Midnight theme.

With the widescreen European electronic pop that was presented on ‘Midnight Confessions Vol1’, the more purest Italo enthusiasts will most likely love what is on offer with ‘Midnight Reworks’.

‘Midnight Reworks’ is released by Mordisco / Blanco Y Negro as a vinyl LP and digital release with bonus tracks, available from https://italoconnection.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/italoconnection

https://www.instagram.com/italoconnection/

https://open.spotify.com/album/1FIjdRRSgMSkCaadWSGkVf

Text by Chi Ming Lai
30th September 2022

ROMAN ANGELOS The Aimless Aquanaut

29 September 2022 /

With the lounge fusion of his second album ‘Music for Underwater Supermarkets’ crossing Burt Bacharach with AIR, Roman Angelos presented muzak for grocery shopping in the future.

Inspired by Jean-Michel Jarre’s album ‘Music for Supermarkets’ which was released as a limited edition of one, Brooklyn-based producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Rich Bennett uses his Roman Angelos persona to explore his fascination for vintage library and soundtrack music. The end result is a vibey exploration in sound that included woodwinds, transistorised organs and vintage synths.

However, ‘The Aimless Aquanaut’ deviated from that formula in its drifting electronic air, lushly layered with gentle mechanised percussion and oozing with nautical mystery, waiting for Marina from ‘Stingray’ maybe? So near so spa, the new extended version allows a more immersive experience that could go on even longer thanks to the hypnotic flow of its pretty bubbling arpeggios. The Riptide and Rumble remix by producer / engineer Scott Solter expresses the ambience in a spikier manner. It acts as a trailer for a full remix album “Supermarkets, Underwater” to be released in early 2023 by Happy Robots Records

Roman Angelos had a quick chat with ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about soundtracking underwater supermarkets.

‘The Aimless Aquanaut’ is quite different aesthetically to the other tracks on ‘Music For Underwater Supermarkets’ in its electronic ambience compared to the easy listening lounge mood of the other tracks, how did it end up there?

Even though it has a slightly different aesthetic, all the short interludes on the original record are meant to be meditations more than fully realized pieces; in many cases they’re there to signal the next phase of the record. ‘The Aimless Aquanaut’ was intended to evoke a deep dive into the water – the arpeggiated synths being like bubbles passing by.

Which ambient exponents have been most influential to you in this type of music?

A lot of my references for this record come from folks like Fennesz and Biosphere, and of course Mr Eno. But I also really love 80s New Age ambient music, the Environments records from the 70s, so much of the ECM catalog, and lots of 70s ambient space rock. Scott who remixed the album, brings his own set of influences and ideas to these remixes, but I draw from a lot of different flavors of ambient.

‘The Aimless Aquanaut’ has been extended for single release, but was there any temptation to make it an hour long like ‘Thursday Afternoon’ by Brian Eno?

I’m glad you asked! In fact, the full remix version of this record (due for January release) by Scott Solter is very much inspired by ‘Thursday Afternoon’. In fact it was the main reference point that both Scott and I discussed when he started the remix. Although the final recording is not one long piece, the influence is there, and the remix of ‘The Underwater Supermarket’ is the closest to that idea as it is a 16 minute long dark and expansive excursion.

So this remix variant of the ‘Music For Underwater Supermarkets’ album, will it be ambient or are we talking “hands in the air” club music or something else entirely?

Haha, I would love someone to do a “hands in the air” remix of ‘Underwater Supermarkets’! In fact, when I was working on the original recording, a friend sent me a hip-hop beat he created with ‘Swimming Through The Aisles’. Hip-hop in 7/8, I’ll take it! But on a serious note, the record will be more along the lines of your traditional concept of ambient. One of the things Scott and I discussed when he started working on these remixes was that I wanted his versions to feel like the inverse of the original record. So whereas the original was a light and bouncy interpretation of life underwater, this is more of a dark and immersive record. More of your lights out, lay down on the floor and zone out kind of thing.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Roman Angelos

Special thanks to Adam Cresswell at Happy Robots Records

‘The Aimless Aquanaut’ is released by Happy Robots Records, available now as a digital single bundle from https://happyrobotsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-aimless-aquanaut

https://www.happyrobots.co.uk/roman-angelos

https://twitter.com/acmehallrich

https://instagram.com/acmehallrich

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
29th September 2022

BLANCMANGE Private View

28 September 2022 /


The 15th long player from BLANCMANGE sees a return to London Records who issued their debut ‘Happy Families’ in Autumn 1982.

Originally a duo comprising of Neil Arthur and Stephen Luscombe, the pair released a further two albums ‘Mange Tout’ and ‘Believe You Me’ before going on a lengthy hiatus.

They returned in 2011 with ‘Blanc Burn’, but with Luscombe unable to continue due to health reasons, BLANCMANGE has since become a prolific solo adventure for Arthur. ‘Private View’ presents a collection of synthesised art-pop that finds a significant role for guitarist David Rhodes, BLANCMANGE’s very own Carlos Alomar who has regularly applied his talents with Peter Gabriel as well as a live stint with JAPAN.

Continuing FADER partner Benge as producer who worked on the recent BLANCMANGE albums ‘Unfurnished Rooms’, ‘Wanderlust’, ‘Mindset’ and ‘Commercial Break’, ‘Private View’ presents a striking opener in ‘What’s Your Name’; not a cover of the 1981 DEPECHE MODE tune, despite a sparse vibey start, it strums and crashes into action while Arthur uses a manipulated voice treatment to give a sense of other worldly alienation away from the indie rock track that this could easily be.

‘Some Times These’ also retains a fuzzy kerrang element although the chorus keyboard theme has an immersive Eno-esque air that echoes his work on “Heroes”. More sequencer driven, ‘Reduced Voltage’ echoes CAN in its groovy kosmische precision but the guitars are turned up in the second half, contrary to the title.

Waking up with an idea seeded in 1980, ‘Here We Go Go’ is a song that could have come from the ‘Quartz’ album from FADER but with louder percussion, before it marvellously morphs into the artier drama of OMD for its conclusion. The energetic ’Chairs’ pulses along with a strong throbbing drive and Arthur announcing in frustration at those easy triggers that “we keep getting excited about things beyond our control”, when all he needs is a “cup of tea”…

With more ragged six string and mechanised pulsing, ‘Who Am I?’ sees our hero lost and forlorn while ‘Everything Is Connected’ offers a strange kind of eerie indie electro-funk but while not a reprise of ‘Feel Me’, it is as the title suggests, part of the lineage.

With a steadfast pulsing motorik, ‘I Tried To Be You’ features several glorious synth sections which are very pleasing to the ears. Then using a swirling cacophony of electrickery, the ‘Private View’ title number borrows the punchy drum mantra from NEW ORDER’s ‘Leave Me Alone’ to present a sardonic angle on a world where “you know you can’t let go now”.

Brilliantly taking cues from the forest-laden atmospheres of CLUSTER, ‘Take Me’ features some wonderful piano and guitar work. It’s a sumptuous motorik ballad where Arthur declares he is “lost without love” although this ending provides the best song on ‘Private View’.

40 years on from BLANCMANGE’s debut album on London Records, ‘Private View’ shows Neil Arthur can still spring some surprises.

He continues as a creative force to be reckoned with, using his brand to open doors and satisfy while eschewing the more nostalgic tendencies of some of his peers.

‘Private View’ is released on 30th September 2022 by London Records in the usual formats

2022 BLANCAMANGE UK live dates include:

London Rough Trade East (1 October), Cambridge Junction (7 October)^, Stroud Subscription Rooms (8 October)^, Colchester Arts Centre (13 October)^, Cardiff University Y Plas (14 October)^, Frome Cheese and Grain (15 October)^, Reading Sub 89 (20 October)^, Nottingham The Level (21 October)^, Gillingham Glassbox Theatre (22 October)^, Bristol Fleece (27 October)+, Guildford Boileroom (28 October)+, Wimborne Tivoli Theatre (29 October)+, Exeter Theatre (4 November)*, Southampton The Brook (5 November)*, Birmingham The Mill (10 November)+, Lancaster Kanteena (11 November)+, Barrow-in-Furness Forum Theatre (12 November)+, Diss Corn Hall (17 November)*, Manchester Gorilla (18 November)**, Liverpool Hangar 34 (19 November)**, Leeds Wardrobe (24 November)**, Sheffield Leadmill (25 November)**, Newcastle Riverside (26 November)**, Aberdeen Lemon Tree (1 December)**, Edinburgh Liquid Room (2 December)**, Glasgow Queen Margaret Union (3 December)**, Brighton Concorde 2 (9 December)**, London Islington Assembly Hall (10 December)**

Support acts: ^Oblong +Alice Hubble *Rodney Cromwell **Stephen Mallinder

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

https://www.facebook.com/BlancmangeMusic

https://twitter.com/_blancmange_

https://www.instagram.com/blancmange_music/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photo by Helen_Kincaid
28th September 2022

MECHA MAIKO NOT OK

17 September 2022 /

Toronto-based synthy songstress Hayley Stewart is back as MECHA MAIKO with her third long player ‘NOT OK’. Conceived in a rural retreat away from civilisation on her synthpop farm before being finished in the big city with engineer and producer Jack Marko, the various social-political flashpoints that emerged during the worldwide pandemic such as Black Lives Matter, misogyny, fake news, corruption and global warming shape the themes of ‘NOT OK’.

Hayley Stewart first became known as a member of DEAD ASTRONAUTS with Jared Nickerson, appearing on the albums ‘Constellations’ and ‘Arms Of Night’.

But she found herself a solo creative outlet as the Japanese inspired MECHA MAIKO; the resulting 2018 debut record ‘Mad But Soft’ was a collection of sweet dreamy synthpop and featured ‘Cold’, a collaboration with fellow Canadian Dana Jean Phoenix. The interim ‘Okiya’ EP from 2019 stated greater ambitions and demonstrated that Stewart was already standing apart from many of the acts who she appeared with on ‘The Rise Of The Synths’ documentary in her uninhibited experimental approach.

This was all swiftly cemented by the marvellous second album ‘Let’s!’; its opening track ‘Apathy’ saw a quirky amalgam of swing, techno and Far Eastern influences which seemed ridiculous on paper but proved to be magnificent in practice. Also from ‘Let’s!’, ‘Phones’ was a Eurocentric club friendly offering that presented MECHA MAIKO’s answer to ‘Rhythm Is A Dancer’ and in hindsight, was a sign of things to come.

The MECHA MAIKO Bento box continues its care-free sonic development on ‘NOT OK’ which sees a greater influx of dance rhythms acting as the backbone to the catchy imaginative electronica. Opener ‘Innocent’ starts sedately but spacey pulsations and otherworldly detunings provide a Sci-Fi setting for Stewart’s pretty vocals. Feeling the force of some mighty electro, ‘Sunny, Softly (I Feel Love)’ throws in the iconic throb from the Giorgio Moroder produced Donna Summer hit for a glorious beat driven statement enhanced by an angelic delivery.

The thumping ‘400 Humans’ thrusts the agenda further to the point that it is almost EBM before it threatens to do even stranger things and morph into ‘Running Up That Hill’. Meanwhile ‘Hard’ does as the title suggests with Stewart treating the listener to her high-pitched warble as she enunciates over pentatonic interventions and a frantic rhythmic construction.

‘Shut It Down’ takes its lead from more house-driven forms but also adds an oriental twist while as an observation of those youngsters “born under the bus”, ‘The Kids’ is an attack on the spectre of the far right while utilising the charm of tinny drum machines in its trip to Detroit with some sparkling keyboard work and enticing synthesizer drama.

The industrial disco of ‘Webs’ uses metallic textures and compressed snare snaps over a pattern of repetition that echoes early HEAVEN 17 and DEPECHE MODE so as a result, comes over like Philadelphian synth girl Catherine Moan. At a moderate pace with something more musically introspective, ‘Broken Tongue’ adopts various drones but is still hauntingly melodic and addictively squelchy, building and cleverly altering into different aesthetic layers as it progresses to its conclusion.

Possibly the darkest track on the album, ‘Name Power’ offers buzz ‘n’ grit in a call-to-action that alters in tempo at various stages to suit. With shades of Kelli Ali, the sombre doom syncopation of ‘NOT OK’ is a worthy title track with cascading arpeggios, penetrative synthbass and an incessant beat to accompany a passionate message that “IT’S NOT OK”.

While the programme is traditionally concluded, a bonus track appears in a move off concept due to it being about ‘Just Some Guy’; speedy synthetic drum mantras and HI-NRG digital claps accompany the absorbing machine disco to provide the +1, like a B-side stuck onto the space left on one side of a C90 tape after recording the album.

While earlier MECHA MAIKO works may have had a charming naivety, a more worldly lyrical maturity has enveloped while not losing the sense of fun in the instrumentation. This ensures that the message can get through and be appreciated on a number of levels. As OMD proved in the past and as outlined in a Charlie Brown meme “…beautiful melodies telling me terrible things” is a highly impactful approach.

‘NOT OK’ is a fine collection of dance-friendly avant pop; as our heroine herself said: “Hopefully it can validate some of the feelings and frustrations that others have been grappling with, and to serve as a reminder that we don’t have to accept things as they are”

‘NOT OK’ is released by New Retro Wave, available as a white / black coloured vinyl, CD, cassette, Minidisc and download from https://newretrowave.bandcamp.com/album/not-ok

https://www.mechamaiko.com/

https://www.facebook.com/mechamaiko/

https://twitter.com/mechamaiko

https://www.instagram.com/mechamaiko/

https://soundcloud.com/mecha-maiko

https://open.spotify.com/album/2ghVQRu4Wn1cS2FccPzZWQ

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Zackery Hobler
17th September 2022

DINER Cassini EP

12 September 2022 /

Emerging Chinese singer / songwriter Diner Liu is the latest artist to follow bands such as STOLEN and Re-TROS to make a breakthrough in the West.

Born in China but also living and studying in Hong Kong and London, like Fifi Rong who collaborated with YELLO, Diner Liu is a cross culture kid.

In 2021, she released her eerie alternative rock driven debut EP ‘Inevitable’ on China’s leading independent music label Modern Sky. The second EP ‘Cassini’ sees her working with Berlin-based Mancunian Mark Reeder and his long time studio partner Micha Adam.

Having been inspired by ‘Blue Monday’, Diner Liu’s post-punk sound has been embellished by pentatonic textures and a greater use of electronic dance elements, hence the invitation for the NEW ORDER connected Reeder to be at the production helm. Influences range from PJ Harvey to traditional Chinese music with Patrick Cowley sitting in between.

With a greater but not exclusive use of synths, it is fitting that this sophomore work was conceived around the 2017 Cassini–Huygens space research mission to the planet Saturn. At the conclusion of its mission, the probe deorbited and burned up in the gas giant’s upper atmosphere. Written in London, Beijing and Berlin, Diner Liu was inspired by the mission’s parallels to her own personal health; having suffered from an extremely rare disease called LGESS, she eventually lost her uterus before she was 24.

Despite her mental and physical battles dealing with the situation, she saw that her life journey and music career were only just getting started. So just as the Cassini probe eventually burned up around Saturn, she saw a new chapter beginning, realising that “starting a family might not be the ultimate goal of my life.”

The best track on ‘Cassini’ comes with the rhythmic  ‘大星’ (‘Big Star’) which takes on a wonderfully cosmic air that comes dressed with Guzheng, a Chinese zither that even SPANDAU BALLET once used on the experimental ‘Innocence & Science’ from 1982’s ‘Diamond’ album.

Meanwhile, the colder ‘Cassini’ title song is a steadfast slice of Sci-Fi electro featuring Mark Reeder’s trademark synthbass pulse over a bangy offbeat, with the hypnotism enhanced by the enigmatic vocals as the closing mutant metallic textures provide the cerebral sensations.

The remainder of the EP offers variations on modern post-punk augmented with live guitar and drums.  ‘Athena’ musically recalls JOY DIVISION but proceedings are progressively paced up into an exotic throbbing trance while with synthy swoops and a tinkling motif, ‘Circle Of A Down’ captures a mysterious Middle Eastern flavoured vibe from Diner Liu’s angelic tones contrasting with the inherent sense of foreboding. The percussion-less ‘Exile’ is shaped by six string and ivories, but the downbeat doom of ‘Midnight Panorama’ takes an unexpected turn into dreamy electro which is reminiscent of Kid Moxie.

With a stylistic blend and commentary on the uncertainties of life, its extinction and its rebirth, this EP captures a dark romantic consciousness as all good gothically inclined journeys should. Life can be fulfilling outside of the expected conventions.

‘Cassini’ is released by Modern Sky and available now on the usual online platforms

https://www.instagram.com/kydiner/

https://www.modernsky.com/home/artists/216

https://open.spotify.com/album/5I9Xuf6beLX0HxCJ7397Kd

Text by Chi Ming Lai
12th September 2022

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