As work on their long awaited ‘VII’ EP continues, “Sweden’s best kept pop-secret” KITE are back with some ‘Panic Music’.
It follows up the celebratory pop rave of ‘Teenage Bliss’ and the moody introspection of ‘Tranås/Stenslanda’, both from 2020. ‘Panic Music’ exudes a fierce anxiety with front man Nicklas Stenemo presenting his characteristic screaming delivery.
While the epic neo-gothic textures associated with KITE are present and correct, Christian Berg further explores his fascination for electronic drones and swoops while there is also the surprise of a guitar solo in the middle eight.
Directed by Mattias Erik Johansson with Director of Photography Daniel Tackas, the accompanying video possesses an eerie desolate quality with grainy images sourced from old tube TVs and filmed on actual VHS tape as well as more modern computer image merging. The stress and strain of the past two years and a very uncertain future are captured both musically and visually in less than five minutes!
Meanwhile on Saturday 14th May, KITE will broadcast their sold-out gig live from Fållan in Stockholm’s former slaughterhouse district where viewers are promised an intimate and cinematic experience with new techniques in livestream production and a completely new stage show.
In 2019, KITE’s sold-out concert at Stockholm’s Royal Opera Theatre was broadcast on Sweden’s SVT2 national channel. The live presentation added an orchestra to their mighty electronic sound and showcased the duo’s artistic integrity and innovation with an unusual theatrical presentation that involved supporting actors within a mocked-up office setting alongside Stenemo and Berg’s fort of synthesizers.
‘Panic Music’ is released by Astronaut Recordings via the usual digital platforms
KITE’s show at Stockholm Fållan on Saturday 14th May 2022 will be live streamed in association with Doors.live, tickets are available from https://doors.live/en/e/kite-may14
Singer Karen Hunter has recorded a wonderful cover of the Gary Numan ballad ‘Don’t Call My Name’ in support of The Ced Sharpley Drumming Bursary.
As Karen Taylor, she was a band member on Numan’s ‘Berserker’ and ‘The Fury’ tours. She had previously sung on the 1976 Giorgio Moroder produced single ‘Doctor Funk’ by the German band SMILEY.
Ced Sharpley was Gary Numan’s drummer from 1979 to 1992; after he sadly passed away in 2012, the bursary was founded in his memory by Ced’s partner Gill Mabey and her brother David Mabey.
The bursary pays for one year’s special one-to-one drum tuition for a chosen pupil at Ashlyns School in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire where Ced was a former pupil. A new recipient is chosen each year and it is entirely funded by donations and fund-raising events.
‘Don’t Call My Name’ was the closing track on the 1988 album ‘Metal Rhythm’ and the haunting song is given a serene feminine twist. It has been produced by music veteran Steve Hunter who played guitar on Peter Gabriel’s debut solo single ‘Solsbury Hill’ and was also in the live bands of Lou Reed and Alice Cooper. Acting as executive producer and project manager is Stephen Roper of The Numan Arms video interview platform.
Other past Numan associates contributing to this crystalline reinterpretation of ‘Don’t Call My Name’ are Chris Payne on violin and Andy Coughlan on fretless bass. Keyboards come from Anthony Gilroy while noted session musician Steve Hamilton, whose credits include PET SHOP BOYS and RADIOHEAD, provides the slinky sax.
Karen Hunter said this was “a fun project to remember Ced. He was a really lovely man”; all profits from the sale of ‘Don’t Call My Name’ go to The Ced Sharpley Drumming Bursary.
In memory of Ced Sharpley 1952 – 2012
‘Don’t Call My Name’ and its instrumental version are available now as a download bundle direct from https://karenhunter.hearnow.com/
Blessed with a majestic operatic voice akin to Mario Lanza on amphetamines, the late Billy MacKenzie first found fame as one half of ASSOCIATES with Alan Rankine.
Following the success of their 1982 album ‘Sulk’ featuring the hit singles ‘Party Fears Two’ and ‘Club Country’, ASSOCIATES imploded just before a UK concert tour was about to begin with Alan Rankine departing. Billy MacKenzie continued with the ASSOCIATES name and worked with YELLO before taking the solo plunge with ‘Outernational’; sadly it was to be his only solo long playing release during his lifetime.
25 years after his passing, ‘Satellite Life Recordings 1994-1996’ compiles the majority of his final recordings, highlighting his collaborations with musician Steve Aungle in particular. The pair has met in 1979 when Aungle declined MacKenzie’s invitation to join ASSOCIATES in favour of playing in a local cabaret band!
After 1985’s ‘Perhaps’ album which saw MacKenzie bring Martin Rushent and Martyn Ware into the production fold, Aungle collaborated on the song ‘Set Me Up’ which was pencilled in for the next album ‘The Glamour Chase’, only for ASSOCIATES’ label WEA to shelve the record.
Working more as a writer’s assistant rather than co-writer, a full composing partnership between the pair did not occur until 1994 when MacKenzie entered one of the most prolific phases of his career. As Aungle remembered: “Stylistically, we were all over the place. Piano ballads one minute, electronica the next, then we’d switch to 70s glam rock or 60s soul. A marketing nightmare for any record label to deal with…”
A number of the recordings appeared on the posthumous albums ‘Beyond The Sun’ (1997), ‘Eurocentric’ (2001), ‘Transmission Impossible’ (2004) and ‘Auchtermatic’ (2004). But Aungle felt his work with MacKenzie had not been presented or sequenced satisfactorily, hence his involvement in this newly curated 3CD compilation.
On ‘Satellite Life Recordings 1994-1996’, the music has been compiled into three themes ‘Winter Academy’, ‘Consenting Holograms’ and ‘Liberty Lounge’ with around a third of the material previously unreleased. With some of the tracks being demos, understandably the sound quality varies considerably.
Primarily comprising of stripped down material based either around piano or guitar, ‘Winter Academy’ provides a fitting backdrop for MacKenzie to excel as a charismatic interpreter. MacKenzie’s covers of ‘Wild In The Wind’ (made famous by Johnny Mathis and David Bowie) and SPARKS ‘Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth’ are outstanding. But the chilling drama of the self-composed ‘The Soul That Sighs’ encapsulates everything that is loved about Billy MacKenzie.
The haunting orchestrated reading of Randy Newman’s ‘Baltimore’ produced by Dennis Wheatley will be familiar to those who enjoyed the wonderful deep tech house JiiHoo bootleg by Jori Hulkkonen from 2011 which sampled the vocals, while ‘Sing That Song Again’, the ‘Winter Academy’ song and ‘Return To Love’ prove that the MacKenzie / Aungle partnership were more than adept at composing timeless torch songs.
The electronic dance approach of the ‘Consenting Holograms’ set is very much of its time and has not aged particularly well with the frantic ASSOCIATES gone techno material such as ‘3 Gypsies In A Restaurant’ and ‘Diamanda’ getting lost amongst all the energetic rhythmic rattle.
Originally from the posthumous ‘Eurocentric’ album, ‘Hornophobic’ experiments with drum ‘n’ bass and not surprisingly, sounds likes it could have come from David Bowie’s ‘Earthling’ album while the previously unreleased ‘Eurocentric’ title track moderates the percussive pace for something more palatable.
‘Liberty Lounge’ presents a mostly band-oriented sound. Among the standouts are the Pascal Gabriel produced ‘Give Me Time’ which was written with Paul Haig and the Cold War trip hop of ‘At The Edge Of The World’ which saw COCTEAU TWINS Simon Raymonde at the production helm; both were part of ‘Beyond The Sun’. The set ends fittingly with Aungle’s piano and violin instrumental ‘Von Hamburg’ which poignantly represents MacKenzie’s absence…
As an eclectic document of the final creative years of Billy MacKenzie, ‘Satellite Life Recordings 1994-1996’ does the job very well and his dedicated followers will be more than happy with the wealth of unreleased material presented in the highest quality possible.
With the tragic invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Martin on Facebook has now moved on from being an anti-vaccine infectious disease expert, to becoming a military strategist and historian on Eastern European politics.
But the poetry of one who has escaped ethnic genocide, been separated from next of kin as a refugee, seen the fall of The Iron Curtain and now has the looming threat of The Bear next door, has far more substance. For Alanas Chosnau and Mark Reeder on their second album together, this is ‘Life Everywhere’.
Chosnau is of Lithuanian and Iraqi-Kurdish parentage; he grew up in Baghdad, but the downward spiral of the Iraq-Iran war soon saw his parents packing him off to Lithuania, which was then part of the Soviet Union in 1983, to live with his grandparents, while he was separated from his father and sister who were unable to leave Iraq.
Meanwhile, Reeder moved from Manchester to West Berlin at the height of The Cold War, immersing himself in the divided city’s art scene. From organising concerts by punk band DIE TOTEN HOSEN on the other side of the wall while under surveillance by The Stasi to working with East German band DIE VISION, he was keen to unite East and West via a joint passion for music.
Tensions in Eastern Europe have been rife since Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and just as Hitler did the same to Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938 before laying claims on Poland in 1939 to justify the unification of East Prussia with the German mainland, history is sadly repeating itself. With lessons seemingly not learnt from the past, people cannot help get angry and political.
“When I started making this album, I was thinking about life under oppressive authoritarian regimes and how they affect us all, especially considering what is going on now, I think it’s even more important.” explained Mark Reeder vividly to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK, “It was inspired by my love for George Orwell’s prophetic ‘1984’ and how our present world was starting to emulate his book. The dread of being plunged into an authoritarian system was a topic I touched upon on our first album ‘Children Of Nature’ with the “warning” songs ‘Drowning In You’ and ‘Heavy Rainfall’.”
Musically ‘Life Everywhere’ possesses an Eastern European austere and the opening song ‘Why?’ is a moody emotive ballad where Chosnau asks “Why does my heart feel so sad? Why does my heart ache to bad?” while with echoes of John Barry, Reeder adds a balalaika for added regional authenticity alongside his usual synths, bass and guitar.
More percussive and funky with a speedy conga mantra and a dominant digital clap, ‘All You Need Is Love’ enters electronic disco territory but with roots in Reeder’s SHARK VEGAS days and emulating the propulsive air of NEW ORDER, ‘Ice’ moves the claps into a more analogue snap with an appropriately colder layer of string machine. As love turns to anger, it encapsulates a narrative about a domineering individual unhappy that their ex is flirting with another more amiable personality… sound familiar?
Augmented with spacey synths, the strident presence of the ‘Life Everywhere’ title track makes a plea for humankind not to self-destruct, either through war or environmental catastrophe. However, like a militaristic march, ‘I Wonder’ asks the important question “Have you ever tried and you could see your life from the other side?”.
Touched by more balalaika, the tearful ‘Love Can’t Turn To Fear’ was previously issued as ‘Širdis’ meaning “Heart” in Lithuanian and if there is one music artist who can articulate the feelings of current world events in song, it is Alanas Chosnau. It asks who will carry the burden of responsibility and who will be the couriers of peace? But while that is being debated, millions will be hurt… with first-hand experience, this is Chosnau’s plea for love and peace between friends.
In collaboration with Chinese band STOLEN who opened for NEW ORDER on their European tour of 2019, ‘The Void Empire’ is shaped by a foreboding rhythmic swing as builds with an electronic goth presence that exudes DEPECHE MODE before rocking out in the dead of night as the body speaks out on the spectre of authoritarian regimes.
Concluding with ‘Last Night’, proceedings are taken down with solemn Rhodes chords accompanying subtle percolating sequences. Expanding into a swirling cacophony of emotions and despair, Chosnau poignantly reflects how “Last night, we were having a good time, we were having a good life, where did it go, now?”. Hauntingly, he resigns himself to the fact that “We’re waiting and waiting… to say… goodbye”.
It’s as if The Cold War never ended, although the current situation is far worse thanks to the likes of Fifth Columnist Nigel Farage, whiney posh boy Laurence Fox and one-time F1 reporter Beverley Turner all outing themselves as Putin sympathizers.
With the sound of Harry Palmer given a more electro soundtrack and hidden behind the facade of love songs, ‘Life Everywhere’ is a deeper statement on life during wartime. It is an undesirable situation that is brutal reality, thanks to dictatorial leaders propped up by blood money with greed taking precedence over what is morally right. This is an important record for an important time.
Things eventually did not end well for the aggressor in 1939 so in 2022, the world can only hope that good will prevail…
‘Purple Zone’ is the first-ever collaboration between iconic Northern English duos SOFT CELL and PET SHOP BOYS.
While Dave Ball had remixed PET SHOP BOYS ‘DJ Culture’ as part of dance duo THE GRID, this is the first time Marc Almond has worked with Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe.
The two pairings met backstage after the second Hammersmith Apollo show during SOFT CELL’s recent tour celebrating the 40th Anniversary of their debut album ‘Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret’.
As well as performing what has often been hailed as one of the best albums of 1981, Almond and Ball premiered songs from their forthcoming new album ‘*Happiness Not Included’. One of the songs in the encore was the rousing ‘Purple Zone’, an uplifting Europop number with very anthemic reminiscences of PET SHOP BOYS. But the very SOFT CELL twist comes from Almond’s darkly doomed lyrical expressionism in keeping with the introspective themes of ‘*Happiness Not Included’ such as mourning the passage of time, missed opportunities and life not quite going as planned.
Although the colour purple is actually rare in nature and thus seen as sacred, its primary constituents comprise the stability of blue and the energy of red, an apt midlife metaphor. Coincidently SOFT CELL covered ‘Purple Haze’ as part of a medley of Jimi Hendrix songs in 1983 for the bonus 12” single in initial copies of their second album ‘The Art Of Falling Apart’.
The video directed by Yassa Khan sees Messrs Almond, Ball, Tennant and Lowe together in a pub, participating in some domino dancing while there is the rather incongruous spectacle of the PET SHOP BOYS frontman pulling pints and the SOFT CELL singer as an ice cream man!
Produced by Dave Ball and PET SHOP BOYS for single release in a union of The Blackpool Electro Mafia as well as featuring the voices of both Almond and Tennant, ‘Purple Zone’ goes full circle; SOFT CELL had an amazing run of Top 40 hit singles between 1981-1984 including a UK No1 in a cover of ‘Tainted Love’ and four consecutive Top5 entries.
But after SOFT CELL imploded, it was PET SHOP BOYS who took over the baton while smoothing over the image and sound, to become the most successful British synth duo of all time with an imperial phase that included four UK No1 singles between 1986-1988.
As Neil Tennant probably would have put in when he was deputy editor of ‘Smash Hits’ while SOFT CELL were having their own imperial phase, this is “an amazing pop moment” on ‘*Happiness Not Included’ .
So who is putting money on a joint performance of ‘Purple Zone’ when PET SHOP BOYS take their ‘Dreamworld’ greatest hits show to London’s O2 Arena on Sunday 22nd May 2022?
The album ‘*Happiness Not Included’ is released on 6th May 2022 via BMG in various formats including yellow coloured vinyl LP, picture disc LP, CD, cassette and download
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