Category: Reviews (Page 78 of 199)

NINA Automatic Call

19 December 2019 /


While it appears to have been a comparatively quiet 2019 for NINA, she has been busy touring the US and Canada with PARALLELS as well as recording.

At the start of the year, there was a brand new song called ‘The Calm Before The Storm’ which was coincidentally released during one of the coldest wettest spells in England. Then in the Autumn, she teamed up with FUTURECOP! for a collaboration entitled ‘Against The Tide’. But with the year almost up, the London-based Berliner has unleashed the vibrantly appealing magenta splash of ‘Automatic Call’.

Developing further her bridge between synthpop and synthwave, NINA said of her new creation: “’Automatic Call’ is about the challenges we encounter when going through a break up and how hard it is to let go and finally move on”. Uplifting but melancholic, the song is the result of another collaboration with Oscillian who produced seven songs on NINA’s 2018 debut long player ‘Sleepwalking’. The producer was also responsible for the song’s ‘Grand Theft Auto’ inspired cityscape video.

“Oscillian filmed, directed and edited the video as well as producing the music” NINA said, “We were inspired by synthwave aesthetics, late night driving, highways, LED lights, and we used a vintage Dodge Challenger car in the video. As soon as we started to film, torrential rain started and didn’t stop all night. Luckily we did have cover and in the end, it all played in our favour, as the light reflecting on the puddles on the ground tied in really well with the overall feel of the video”. But getting intimate with her romantic leading man provoked some unintended amusement as “there was a scene where I had to get really close to Tommy, the other actor in the video, and we just kept giggling. It was very hard to keep a straight face.”

While it appears to have been filmed is Los Angeles, the location of the video was actually a bit closer to home. “We filmed ‘Automatic Call’ in Sweden over 2 days. We discovered Tommy, the actor in a club in Malmö when we played a show there and he looked like he just came out of an 80s movie” NINA remembered, “so we approached him there and then and asked him if he wanted to be part of my music video. He loved the idea right away, even though he didn’t have any previous acting experience, so he flew from his home in Finland just to do the shoot.”

‘Automatic Call’ comes from NINA’s upcoming second album ‘Synthian’ due sometime in 2020.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to NINA

‘Automatic Call’ is released as a digital single with a bundle of remixes, available now from https://ninasounduk.bandcamp.com/

NINA’s 2020 Calendar is available from http://www.ninasounduk.com/store/calendar

https://www.iloveninamusic.com/

https://www.facebook.com/iloveninamusic

https://twitter.com/iloveninamusic

https://www.instagram.com/ninasounduk/

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
19th December 2019

NEULAND Neuland

6 December 2019 /

Whilst TANGERINE DREAM continue to forge ahead without founder member Edgar Froese, it has been intriguing to monitor how ex-members of this iconic and highly influential electronic band have developed their own solo careers and collaborate despite being part of the act at differing times.

Jerome Froese (who was a member of TD between 1990-2006) and Johannes Schmoelling (1979-1985) worked together with Robert Waters as part of LOOM and now sees a new joint venture between Peter Baumann and Paul Haslinger.

Baumann was part of TANGERINE DREAM during their classic ‘Virgin Years’ period and Haslinger replaced Schmoelling in the band in 1986, staying until 1990 to help solidify their soundtrack work (‘Miracle Mile’ and ‘Near Dark’) plus the well-received Jive Electro album ‘Underwater Sunlight’.

Since leaving TANGERINE DREAM, Haslinger has continued to pursue the production of soundtrack music by scoring for a selection of film, TV and computer games including ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ and ‘Resident Evil – The Final Chapter’. Despite speculation that Peter Baumann would rejoin TD after Edgar Froese’s passing (a Facebook announcement even announced the possibility), Baumann ended up instead releasing another solo album ‘Machines of Desire’ to add to his individual canon of work which started with ‘Romance ‘76’ and ‘Trans Harmonic Nights’.

The seeds of Baumann and Haslinger’s collaboration started way back in 1991 with a promo cassette entitled ‘Blue Room’ but it’s taken until 2019 for this partnership to be solidified with the release of their eponymous double album ‘Neuland’.

For those expecting re-treads of eras that Baumann and Haslinger explored with TANGERINE DREAM, ‘Neuland’ (‘New Territory’) will come as a surprise as it shows no huge desire to revisit past glories (although there are some subtle nods). Instead it focuses more on a soundtrack-based aesthetic and also factors in Baumann’s use of live percussion which featured heavily in ‘Machines of Desire’.

Album opener ‘Cascade 39’ is one of the most backwards-looking tracks on the album with a combination of Berlin-school style sequencing and a Minimoog-styled solo weaving through most of the piece. The introduction to ‘Road to Danakill’ is an unsettling mixture of vocal samples and what sounds like an ice cream van(!) before breaking into a mixture of brass, choir and glitched/reversed electronic percussion. It’s here that Haslinger’s soundtrack credentials start to come to the fore and it’s not too much of a stretch of the imagination to envisage this as a theme to a Fox TV series.

‘Counting on Time’ has a very recognisable Baumann-esque theme, almost classical in conception, but combined with more warped percussion and ethereal background sweeps. The piece mutates from here eventually morphing into an entirely different beast with deep synth basses and synthetic choir melodies.

In complete contrast ‘Dream 9’ is a distant cousin of ‘Trans Europe Express’ era KRAFTWERK with mid-section clanging metallic percussion a la ‘Metal on Metal’ and Vako Orchestron-like textures spread over its seven and a half minute length. ‘Liquid Sky’ is an intriguing mixture of TANGERINE DREAM styled sounds and musical parts, with melodic elements which hint at ‘Phaedra’ or ’Rubycon’ and a middle sequencer section which recalls ‘Thru Metamorphic Rocks’ from the ‘Force Majeure’ album.

It takes nine tracks before fans of old school TD are rewarded with the piece ‘Measure 3’ where both Haslinger and Baumann let loose in a track with an improvised synth solo over a ratcheted step-sequencer bass part. Far more disciplined than the previous more unstructured tracks, ‘Measure 3’ comes as somewhat of a relief, even though it is far from a hum-along melodic piece! The remaining six pieces all have a soundtrack-aesthetic to them and veer from more unsettling soundscape based work of ‘Nautilus’ through to the euphoric/uplifting album closer ‘Longing in Motion’.

At over 80 minutes in length and completely instrumental, ‘Neuland’ will be (for most) a daunting and challenging listening proposition, but repeated listens help to reveal its charms. A single album may have been a more preferable option, but in these days of Spotify playlists it would be easy to create your own ‘highlights’ for a concise version.

Those seeking the comfort blanket of classic era TANGERINE DREAM would be better off seeking out the band’s newer material, But listeners who are in reverence of Baumann and Haslinger’s previous output will find much to love here. Ultimately ‘Neuland’ is the epic sprawling sound of a hugely influential electronic duo pushing the musical envelope and steadfastly refusing to rest on their musical laurels… new territory indeed…

‘Neuland’ is released by Proper W/S in double vinyl LP, CD and bluray and digital formats

https://www.neuland.net/

https://www.facebook.com/neulandproject/

https://www.instagram.com/neulandproject/

Text by Paul Boddy
6th December 2019

NO-MAN Love You To Bits

25 November 2019 /


More than a decade since their last release NO-MAN return to their more synthetic roots with the new album ‘Love You To Bits’.

The release harks back to earlier NO-MAN works such as ‘Loveblows & Lovecries’ and ‘Flowermouth’ and is bound to throw anyone more familiar with the later recorded output from Messrs Bowness and Wilson.

The mirrorball on the sleeve should give a clue to the content within, but this is not fluff piece but a work of real depth and substance.

That said, anyone who only know the band from their later output may need to triple check the credits to ensure this is the same team that brought us tracks like ‘Truenorth’. From the opening portentous drone to the 808 style percussion and arpeggios running counter to the main synthetic melody line, it’s clear this is a very different beast from the last album ‘Schoolyard Ghosts’.

One thing that has remained from that release is Tim Bowness’s melancholic vocal. Possessing one of the most distinctive voices in modern music. the delivery throughout the album is spot on. Though split into 5 sections each, ‘Love You To Bits’ and ‘Love You To Pieces’ could be viewed as 2 long form remixes which utilise differing instrumentation to add light and shade of tone to the music.

One thing that is clear is the influence of Bruno Ellingham who has been tasked with the final mix is writ large on this release. The same sparkle he gave the likes GOLDFRAPP is obvious with the separation around the instruments giving the overall pieces room to breathe.

The opening section of ‘Love You To Bits’ gets straight to the point, announcing itself as an electronic work with electronic percussion and the aforementioned vocal front and centre. Real drums explode in around halfway through and kick the piece up a gear. The first breakdown comes after the vocals exhort that they ‘Love You’ repeatedly and a short linking piece has Bowness harmonising with himself over the sequenced bass from the first section.

A funky guitar loop heralds a more down-the-line band performance which once again melds with the open sequence before part 4 goes on an extended instrumental break with effected guitar being underpinned by more live drums and that simple but earworm-y sequence. There by this time can be no mistaking this for anything else but a pop album, but one which rewards repeated listening as although simple on the surface there are layers of instrumentation that are pulled out with each play.

This is a Steven Wilson collaboration so a sonic surprise shouldn’t come as, well a surprise. Here it’s from of the closing section of ‘Love You To Bits’ which at the end, having revisited the themes and motifs of the previous section closes with a plaintiff brass section playing out like something from ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ than Studio 54

The journey is at this point only half complete as the second half of the album, ‘Love You To Pieces’ opens with Bowness showing again how his voice is more than capable of carrying a song with the simplest of instrumentation to somewhere it really has no right to go. He really does possess one of the most unique tones in modern music, up there with the likes of Paul Buchanan of THE BLUE NILE in its ability to wrench at the heart without you really knowing why.

The interplay between synthetic tones and more organic instrumentation gets swept away in the next section as a driving synth bass carries a vocoded vocal forward, building into a jazzy section of effected electric piano which should give comfort to anyone that has seen Steven Wilson live recently and the playing of Adam Holzman, for it is he…

Overall the second half of the album appears to more contemplative and this is no bad thing giving balance to the ‘dancier’ opening ‘Bits’ section. All too quick, for this listener at least, it’s over with the final part coming across as something you’d here in a piano bar at 3am.

“Time was we mattered…” sighs Bowness at the close of the track. On this showing, NO-MAN still do matter and in spades. This is no misguided sidestep, the band where making music like this 25 plus years ago. In fact the bones of the album stem from demos that old.

As known progressive artists, both Wilson and Bowness have taken their individual brands of modern music in numerous different directions. This is another example of that and one expected to be included in many top 20 lists at the end of the year. A recommended release.

‘Love You To Bits’ is released by Caroline International in CD, vinyl LP, cassette and digital formats

http://no-man.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/nomanofficial/

https://twitter.com/nomanofficial

https://www.instagram.com/nomanhq/

https://timbowness.co.uk/

http://stevenwilsonhq.com/

Text by Ian Ferguson
25th November 2019

BLAINE L REININGER Commissions 2

18 November 2019 /

Blaine L Reininger is the noted American singer and multi-instrumentalist who crossed the Atlantic with TUXEDOMOON and eventually settled in Europe.

Initially finding a home in post-punk Brussels, he now happily resides in Athens, an environment that has provided him with the freedom to compose genre-crossing works, both solo and with his iconic band.

Casual music observers may know Blaine L Reininger for the TB303 driven cinematic synthpop of ‘Mystery & Confusion’ from 1984.

But his latest collection ‘Commissions 2’ released by Les Disques du Crépuscule gathers soundtrack music made for theatre and dance productions staged between 2015-2019. It follows-up his previous soundtrack anthology from 2014.

These include ‘Angels’, ‘Caligula’, ‘The Kindly Ones’, ‘Reigen’, ‘Master & Margarita’, ‘Picnic With the Devil’ and ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ with the pieces ultilising a variety of textures including synthesizers, piano, guitar, string bass, cimbalom, ukulele, choirs and Reininger’s ever faithful violin.

The works range from atmospheric and eerie to grand and gothic, but despite their experimental nature, are mostly highly listenable in their own right. Opening the package, ‘Im Eiswind’ from ‘The Kindly Ones’ manages to mix all of the attributes afore mentioned, with the violin working well alongside various Mellotron sounds.

‘Atomium Sunrise’ is more ambient in tone while ‘Cold Song’ is appropriately dominated by an ominous synthbass, as is the dramatic ‘Krakenangriff’ from ‘Master & Margarita’,

Meanwhile ‘Alter Ego’ also off ‘Master & Margarita’ unexpectedly brings in vocoder and apes classic DEPECHE MODE.

But ‘Petao, Petao’ plays with arpeggios and haunting choirs while ‘You People Amaze Me’ uses a lot of reverse treatments over a solemn repeated organ.

Beginning disc two which has a more arthouse approach, the Eno-esque ‘Because It’s Me’ from ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ pulses along with soothing understated electronics and vocoder treatments next to slightly detuned chimes which combine for a fabulously spacey effect.

Both ‘Betweenspace’ and ‘Mauthausen Girls’ offer a more acoustic outlook within a uneasy schizophrenic cocoon, but ‘Novvy Kover’ crosses accordion with synths in a manner that is more like an aural collage.

The accordion-laden Terrible Father’ from ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ springs a surprise with a spirited vocal from Reininger, while the self-explanatory ‘Rilke Elegy’ from Reigen’ sets the tone with thoughtful lyrics.

‘Where Did They Take Him?’ from ‘The Kindly Ones’ is understandably sombre in tone, highlighting the more traditional format that dominates disc two, although ‘Happy New Year, Dorothy’ is a lively rhythmic piece with a most beautiful fiddle hook.

A fine collection of accessible soundtrack works with disc two being of a more avant garde bent, those new to the work of Reininger will find a nice entry point in disc one, while TUXEDOMOON fans will relish what is presented on disc two.

‘Commissions 2’ is thus a win-win for anyone with an interest in quality soundtrack compositions.

‘Commissions 2’ is released by Les Disques du Crépuscule as a 2CD set and download, available now from https://lesdisquesducrepuscule.com/commissions_2_twi1246cd.html

https://mundoblaineo.org/

https://www.facebook.com/Blaine-L-Reininger-157948817590987/

https://twitter.com/BlaineReininger

https://tuxedomoonblr.bandcamp.com/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
18th November 2019

ALVA NOTO & RYUICHI SAKAMOTO Two

14 November 2019 /


Capturing the essence of their performance at Sydney Opera House in October 2018, Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto present ‘Two’, a part live-part studio prepared collection of new improvised material and assorted highlights from their joint back catalogue of five albums and one soundtrack.

Incorporating computers, synthesizers, glockenspiel and grand piano, the German Japanese duo undertook a series of live events entitled ‘Two’ before culminating in Sydney where the two hour set was recorded and edited down to form this album.

Minimal and touching on ambient, classical, glitch, avant-garde jazz and experimental electronica, ‘Two’ acts as a work that can function outside of the concert hall without visuals, one that can enter an environmental listening world to provide escape and space to relax or think.

While ‘Two’ operates as an immersive whole, the entry points for casual listeners will undoubtedly be when electronic and soundtrack legend Ryuichi Sakamoto takes to synth and piano. ‘Propho’ is a case in point and sees the YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA pioneer take to his beloved Prophet 5 to sculpt haunting soundscapes reminiscent of his work for the film ‘Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence’.

Meanwhile, ‘Trioon II’ from the duo’s acclaimed 2002 debut album ‘Vrioon’ sets Sakamoto’s beautifully elegant piano playing alongside Noto’s subtle interference and spatial texturing, like Debussy to a glitchy beat. These two tracks very much set up an unexpectedly soothing and meditative experience. More unsettling though is the crackle of ‘Emspac’ which owes a debt to KRAFTWERK’s ‘Geigerzähler’.

Despite Noto’s gently rumbling backdrop, ‘Morning’ is a strangely considered and immersive discordant piece, before leading into the more percussive piano shaped mantra of ‘Iano’ from 2005’s ‘Insen’. ‘Berlin’ is more abstract, accurately sound painting the city’s unique aura with creative use of signal noise creeping in, while the lengthy ‘Naono’ from 2011’s ‘Summvs’ steadily builds into a cascading cacophony of piano, strings, noise and bleeps.

Closing the set with ‘The Revenant Theme’ from their soundtrack 2015 survival film drama ‘The Revenant’ starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy, the combination of hypnotic rhythmic passages and haunting orchestrations provide a glorious cinematic tension.

‘Two’ may have been derived in a concert setting but free of applause and audience presence in its audio only presentation, it acts as a body of work on its own that possesses an understated textural rhythmic quality, where atmosphere and melody also get their space to shimmer and shine.

‘Two’ is released by NOTON as a CD and double vinyl LP, available from https://noton.greedbag.com/buy/two-120

http://www.alvanoto.com/

https://www.facebook.com/alvanoto/

http://www.sitesakamoto.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ryuichisakamoto/

https://noton.info/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
15th November 2019

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