Category: Reviews (Page 61 of 199)

Visions Of ULTRAFLEX

26 October 2020 /

While the work of FARAO and SPECIAL-K can be more artful, considered and melancholic to most ears, the two ladies respectfully behind those projects, Kari Jahnsen and Katrín Helga Andrésdóttir, provide a bit of sunshine in these stranger times by having some cheeky fun as ULTRAFLEX.

Originally commissioned as a live concept, Jahnsen and Andrésdóttir have combined Olympic Nordic skiing, Soviet fitness videos and electronic disco to come up with a pop group that fashionista Lotta Volkova would surely have manufactured had she wanted to become a music Svengali. Perhaps unusually for a band, the pair met when Andrésdóttir’s father dated Jahnsen’s mother. ULTRAFLEX have described their debut album as “an ode to exercise, loaded with sex metaphors badly disguised as sports descriptions”. It is fair to say that the duo have an appetite for seduction.

It all begins with an electro-sexy declaration to ‘Get Fit’, but the girls state that “the message is for you to interpret, is it a critique on the societal pressure to be fit – or a motivational anthem, or perhaps both?”

Asking listeners to “1-2-3-BREATHE!”, ‘Work Out Tonight’ plays with some funky energetic synthbass and disco machine rhythms with lashings of cowbell before climaxing with a saucy dialogue between a man Jae Tyler and a woman as he accidental wanders into her dressing room…

Pitch shifting their vocals for effect and adding slinky sax from Tumi Árnason, the primarily instrumental ‘Papaya’ possesses a sun-kissed groove. Meanwhile ‘Never Forget My Baby’ is more laid back, sitting on a hypnotic off-beat with a gorgeous dual vocal expressing desire as a vintage digital slapped bass solo occupies the middle eight. The digital slapped bass returns on ‘Man U Sheets’ which then get switched to a squelchier variant as the girls get all breathy and sweaty like a Nordic MARSHEAUX gone electro jazz funk with all the vibey trimmings.

Inspired by TV sports montages, ‘Olympic Sweat’ was ULTRAFLEX’s calling card and remains as exquisite as when it premiered in the summer, a dreamy instrumental blend of PET SHOP BOYS, NEW ORDER and SIN COS TAN.

Coming over like Australian duo CONFIDENCE MAN’s ‘Try Your Luck’, the self-explanatory ‘Full of Lust’ is all girly come-ons and amorous panting, playfully raising temperatures while Jahnsen and Andrésdóttir go all LISA LISA & CULT JAM in the catchy chorus. The very Japanese Citypop soundscape betrays the song’s origins which ULTRAFLEX told ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK “started when we made an electro version of our favourite Norwegian children’s song ‘Sure Sivert’ by Maj Britt Andersen. With her permission, we were allowed to use the melody from the original song as a synth solo that now comes in at the end”.

Closing with ‘Secret Lover’ by spinning off percussively into another funky synthbass backdrop recalling MANTRONIX, ULTRAFLEX said of their creative dynamic: “We are both workaholics who appreciate a good laugh and a lot of sarcasm. Kari is the beatmaker and synth master while Katrin delivers the poetic sass and visual excellence. Together we make the synthiverse and melodic framework. With our common goal being to have as much fun as possible, we’ve succeeded from day one. Yes, we both felt the need to stop being miserable and do something fun for a change.”

The debut ULTRAFLEX album is a wonderfully joyous listening experience which proves a lot of amusement can be had while still maintaining an artistic integrity.

Deliciously coy with naughty exercise double entendres, the partnership of Kari Jahnsen and Katrín Helga Andrésdóttir cannot help but draw smiles. It is just the tonic needed right now as a very strange and tense 2020 draws to a conclusion.

‘Visions Of ULTRAFLEX’ is released by Street Pulse Records on 30th October 2020 in vinyl LP, cassette and digital formats, available direct from https://ultraflexband.bandcamp.com/album/visions-of-ultraflex

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Text by Chi Ming Lai
26th October 2020

UNIFY SEPARATE Solitude & I

24 October 2020 /


“You and me v tomorrow, living off joy and sorrow and the dreaming in our eyes, we keep our dreams alive…”

If there was a musical duo who visually symbolise the dystopian paranoia of the world pandemic crisis, then it is the protective boiler suit donning UNIFY SEPARATE.

Formally known as US, the Scottish Swedish pairing of Andrew Montgomery from GENEVA and Leo Josefsson of LOWE impressed with their 2019 debut album ‘First Contact’ which successfully combined the soaring vocal aspects of Britpop with the melodic melancholy of Nordic synth.

UNIFY SEPARATE have released their first single of 2020, the magnificently striking statement of ‘Solitude & I’. Like DEPECHE MODE meeting MUSE before building with some mighty synth arpeggios, it morphs from a drum ‘n’ bass lilt into a blistering mutant attack.

The tense self-directed video filmed by Tobias Andersson looks like it could be a scene from ‘The Crazies’ or ‘Chernobyl’. It sees our heroes on decontamination duty, driving their Gothically modified Toyota Celica called Angelica to a desolate forest quarry. Resigned to the disaster that has occurred, it all acts as poignant symbolism that the world is running out of time…

From the new album is due out in mid-2021, ‘Solitude & I’ is a natural progression of the Stockholm-based duo’s material on ‘First Contact’ with Montgomery not letting up with his Jeff Buckley inspired vocal delivery, reflecting the isolation and uncertain future many are currently feeling as “There’s nobody out there, no-one but you and I”.

Anthemic, uplifting and optimistic, it is UNIFY SEPARATE’s in-your-face manifesto on never giving up on your dreams.

‘Solitude & I’ is released as a digital single, available direct from https://unifyseparate.bandcamp.com/

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Text by Chi Ming Lai
24th October 2020

FROM BRUSSELS WITH LOVE

20 October 2020 /

Originally released on 20th November 1980, the deluxe cassette compilation ‘From Brussels With Love’ celebrates its 40th Anniversary.

Writing for NME, Paul Morley said at the time: “The arrival of this thin tape from Belgium provides a reminder – without really trying, without being obvious – that pop is the modern poetry, is the sharpest, shiniest collection of experiences, is always something new”.

It was the first proper music release on Les Disques du Crépuscule, a boutique Belgian label that emerged from Factory Benelux.

FBN was the European Low Countries wing of the iconic Manchester label that at the time was the home to JOY DIVISION, A CERTAIN RATIO, THE DURUTTI COLUMN and SECTION 25. It had primarily been set-up as an outlet for spare tracks by Factory Records acts and one of its later notable releases in Autumn 1981 was the 12 inch remix of NEW ORDER’s ‘Everything’s Gone Green’ which featured the non-album songs ‘Mesh’ and ‘Cries & Whispers’ on the B-side.

But from its inception with direction from head office, the Obscure Records influenced Les Disques du Crépuscule was to be a separate entity despite being run by the same Factory Benelux founding team of Michel Duval and Annik Honoré; the pair had established the Plan K venue in Brussels which hosted two JOY DIVISION concerts to establish the Manchester link.

‘From Brussels With Love’ was notable for featuring the first released recording by the three surviving members of JOY DIVISION following the sad passing of Ian Curtis before they adopted the name NEW ORDER; ‘Haystack’ was a collaboration with Leicester-born singer-songwriter Kevin Hewick. Conceived as a concert journal and curated by Duval, Honoré and radio show host / composer Wim Mertens, as well as a range of international avant-garde and new wave music,  it contained modern classical work from Gavin Bryars and a then-unknown Michael Nyman.

There were also spoken segments including a poetry reading from THE SKIDS’ Ricard Jobson plus interviews with Brian Eno and Jeanne Moreau; the latter featured a beautiful piano background by Claude Coppens to accompany the words of the notable French actress, thus producing an art piece in its own right.

‘From Brussels With Love’ was diverse, varying from exquisite ivory pieces like ‘Children On The Hill’ by Harold Budd to ‘The Music Room’, a Frippish guitar noise experiment from JOY DIVISION producer Martin Hannett accompanied by a drum machine.

But of interest to electronic music enthusiasts were three exclusive jingles by John Foxx and an early rhythm machine backed take on ‘Airwaves’ by Thomas Dolby. Meanwhile from Europe, there was the doomy synth laden post punk on ‘Cat’ by THE NAMES and the quirky electronic Neue Deutsche Welle of DER PLAN’s ‘Mein Freunde’.

To celebrate its 40th Anniversary, ‘From Brussels With Love’ has been reissued as a lavish 10” x 10” 60 page hardback earbook with rare images, posters, sleeve designs and memorabilia, plus a detailed history of the Crépuscule label between 1979 and 1984. The audio features not only the 21 tracks from on the original cassette in 1980 on one CD, but a bonus collection of 18 related tracks from the period on a second CD including those contributions unable to be included due to space considerations.

For John Foxx completists, this set will be essential as it includes two more jingles from the former ULTRAVOX front man, as well as his superb garage robo-funk instrumental ‘Mr No’.

Among the other musical highlights are Bill Nelson’s ‘Dada Guitare’, a Far Eastern flavoured instrumental of glorious E-bow and THE DURUTTI COLUMN’s beautiful ‘For Belgian Friends’, composed by Vini Reilly in honour of Michel Duval and Annik Honoré. Produced by Martin Hannett, his technologically processed techniques made Reilly’s dominant piano sound like textured synthetic strings, complimenting his sparing melodic guitar and the crisp percussion of Donald Johnson.

Also produced by Martin Hannett and another welcome inclusion in the ‘From Brussels With Love’ appendix is THE NAMES ‘Nightshift’ with its chilling synth embellishing the archetypical arty post-punk miserablism of the period. Another Belgian band POLYPHONIC SIZE make an appearance with ‘Nagasaki Mon Amour’, an intriguing minimal tribute to ULTRAVOX with its detached Gallic delivery over buzzing synths and icy string machines produced by Jean-Jacques Burnel of THE STRANGLERS.

Of interest to PROPAGANDA fans will be JOSEF K’s frenetically paced ‘Sorry For Laughing’ which was covered on ‘A Secret Wish’; their front man Paul Haig went on release a number of EPs and albums via Les Disques du Crépuscule including the acclaimed ‘Rhythm Of Life’ and ‘The Warp Of Pure Fun’.

Over four decades on, the catalogue of Les Disques du Crépuscule included artists like Anna Domino, Isabelle Antena, Alan Rankine, Winston Tong, Blaine L Reininger, John Cale, Helen Marnie and Zeus B Held as well as bands such as TUEXDOMOON, MARINE, CABARET VOLTAIRE, MIKADO, THE PALE FOUNTAINS, ULTRAMARINE, MARSHEAUX and LES PANTIES.

Sophisticated and exhibiting a tasteful visual aesthetic, Les Disques du Crépuscule established itself as a cosmopolitan and culturally significant artistic outlet with a distinct identity that outlasted its parent company Factory Records. ‘From Brussels With Love’ was the start of a story that continues today.

In memory of Annik Honoré 1957 – 2014

‘From Brussels With Love’ is released on 6th November 2020 by Les Disques du Crépuscule as a deluxe 40th Anniversary 10” x 10” 60 page hardback earbook with 2CDs, available direct from https://www.lesdisquesducrepuscule.com/from_brussels_with_love_twi007.html

It is also reissued as a limited edition facsimile cassette package in PVC wallet and gatefold double LP set featuring first disc in black vinyl and the second in white; both come with a download key

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Text by Chi Ming Lai
20th October 2020

CODE Ghost Ship

16 October 2020 /

Seen as something of a cult classic, ‘The Architect’ by Kent based electronic quartet CODE came out in 1995 on Third Mind just as the label folded.

Seen as contemporaries of ORBITAL, LEFTFIELD, UNDERWORLD and THE ORB, CODE made an impression with their first three EPs ‘505 345 675 Delta 9’, ‘Cities’ and ‘Criminals’. But little was heard from Andy Phillips, Graham Cupples, David Mitchell and Darren Till after they morphed into MORTAL but now 25 years later, a follow-up to ‘The Architect’ has appeared! ‘Ghost Ship’ effectively takes up where ‘The Architect’ left off but then there’s a reason. Recent requests to reissue ‘The Architect’ saw the quartet of revisiting material that had been shelved after its recording.

However, CODE said “the original sequencing and arrangement programmes are lost in time and the sampling hardware is no longer available either, so all these tracks are constructed from the stereo mixes. The melodic and textural content was already there, it was a question of remaining faithful to the original recordings, editing and layering and in some cases adding new parts.”

So whether this material can be classified new or not is down to the listener; but all the material is previously unreleased, save a 2020 rework of the superb 1991 single ‘Light Years’. Uptempo, club friendly and moved along nicely by a precise but also grooving rhythmic backbone, it is one of the highlights of ‘Ghost Ship’ and there’s a suspicion Richard Barbieri’s ‘Solar Storm’ from 2017 may have used it as inspiration.

With the title inspired by the MV Alta cargo ship that washed up intact on the coast of Ireland a year after disappearing en route to Haiti, ‘Ghost Ship’ contains other worthy tracks. Opener ‘Origin’ is an immediate slice of punchy electro Schaffel using the HAL 9000 speech from ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ that also appeared on NEW ORDER’s ‘Murder’; “Well, I don’t think there is any question about it” states the conflicted sentient computer, “It can only be attributable to human error. This sort of thing has cropped up before, and it has always been due to human error.”

Although ‘Ghost Ship’ is largely instrumental with spoken samples throughout, ‘The Building’ springs a surprise as a song with stark vocals and backing in a manner not far off FLUKE and its offshoot SYNTAX. This connects straight into another song cut from a not dissimilar cloth called ‘Midnight’ with sweeps and virtual orchestrations enhancing the driving nocturnal atmosphere.

There’s another diversion where jazz combines with breakbeat on ‘Bourbon Street’ but ‘Love Perfection’ squelches within a lush widescreen setting and ‘Breathe Slow’ hypnotises with its chilled beats and digital chorals. A funkier demeanour shapes ‘Listen To Me’ while vibes compete with a crunchier approach on ‘Hall Of Mirrors’. Coming as a fitting laid back closer, ‘Marin Headlands’ is augmented by shades of countrified guitar reminiscent of Daniel Lanois’ work on Brian Eno’s ‘Apollo’ soundtrack.

The crisp dynamic production of ‘Ghost Ship’ cannot be faulted and captures a presence that can often be missing from a lot of modern electronic music recorded on the latest affordable technology. Plus with the bulk of it constructed not long after ‘The Architect’, those waiting all these years for more CODE material will be more than satisfied. Without the distraction of trying to be too contemporary, ‘Ghost Ship’ may even encourage newer listeners to check out the CODE back catalogue.

‘Ghost Ship’ is released by Lo-Tek Audio Ltd in vinyl LP, CD and digital formats on 6th November 2020, available direct from https://code16.bandcamp.com/album/ghost-ship

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Text by Chi Ming Lai
16th October 2020

ALKA Regarding The Auguries

6 October 2020 /


‘Regarding The Auguries’ is the fourth album by ALKA, the electronic music vehicle of Philadelphian Bryan Michael.

It is also the second ALKA record to be released on Vince Clarke’s VeryRecords, following up ‘The Colour Of Terrible Crystal’ from 2017.

As the ‘Regarding The Auguries’ titles suggests, this long player is not a cheerful affair; “An augury is like fortune telling that comes from looking at the patterns of bird flight” said Michael, “Those patterns usually prophecy some sort of doom…”

‘Regarding The Auguries’ is therefore timely but it was recorded before lockdown. Expanding the ALKA line-up to a three way collaboration with vocals by Erika Tele and sonic interventions from Todd Steponick, the tracks developed in slow motion through file exchange with Michael beginning the creative process.

Despite the album being made under the spectre of existential dread looming, it starts in a comparatively lively fashion with the opener ‘Fractured Time’, catchy and immediate with its vocoder and synth hooks that will delight synthwave enthusiasts, although the bursts of sombre bass signal what is to come. ‘Widthchild’ is more metallic and even funky in the loosest sense of the world while using prominent beats and Japanese prose, ‘Faito’ is exotic and enigmatic.

But then the apocalypse looms in ‘Earth Crisis’ and is inevitably sombre in its apocalyptic ambience although at nine minutes, it rather overdoes it, but parts of it would probably fit in perfectly as part of a dystopian Sci-Fi soundtrack.

‘Scrapple’ is not much cheerer but exploits a harder rhythmic core augmented by a chant although ‘Sourcery’ lightens proceedings and ‘My Heart’ adds chimes over some spacey moods before electronic percussion, percolating hooks and sweet girly vocals provide a lift towards its conclusion. The robotic ‘Solfège’ buzzes and blips, albeit with a shadier tinge while with a subtle arpeggio, ‘Doubt’ doesn’t really go anywhere.

However, despite its title, ‘Dead Like Me’ is more accessible and prettier with fabulous synth tones complimenting Tele’s dreamy voice. The closer ‘King Card’ features Vince Clarke on synths and programming and provides some exquisite chattering texturing to the rainy droning backdrop as a guesting Elizabeth Joan Kelly provides the eerie foreboding vocals.

As per usual with VeryRecords releases, a set of remixes append the main act and the boss works his magic on ‘Faito’ in an accessible upbeat fashion verging on Jean-Michel Jarre territory, the Basildon boy obviously applying the knowledge acquired from his collaboration with the French maestro on ‘Automatic’.

Meanwhile, ‘Solfège’ is remixed by FUJIYA & MIYAGI and is inevitably a slice of pulsing electronic motorik merging into drum ‘n’ bass and DJ JEKYLL takes ‘Fractured Time’ into soulful electronic territory with a steadfast groove.

For those who like darker electronic textures from outside of the pop spectrum with contemplative aural concepts that capture the zeitgeist of uncertainty, ‘Regarding The Auguries’ will be worthy of investigation. But for everyone else, they might want to start with the remixes before attempting the album.

‘Regarding The Auguries’ is released by Very Records as a CD and download on 9th October 2020, available direct from https://veryrecords.com/shop/

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Text by Chi Ming Lai
6th October 2020

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