Category: Reviews (Page 79 of 199)

FRAGILE SELF Fragile Self

11 November 2019 /

“Love and work are the cornerstones of our humanness”: Sigmund Freud

Exploring states of mind from madness to creativity, FRAGILE SELF are a minimal electronic duo aiming to create dark pop music to communicate the detachment often felt within the human condition.

Anil Aykan and Jonathan Barnbrook are FRAGILE SELF, thoughtful visual artists with a strong sense of partnership in music through their previous work with personalities as diverse as David Bowie, John Foxx, Hannah Peel and Rihanna.

Like a musical thesis on psychotherapy, the self-titled album is released on the 120th anniversary of the first publication of ‘The Interpretation of Dreams’ by Sigmund Freud.

Aykan had an early flirtation with Black Metal with her handling the poetry, she comes over like an existentialist cross between MISS KITTIN and Mira Aroyo of LADYTRON which suits the brooding and ritualistic exploration that is FRAGILE SELF.

Mixed by Erland Cooper and shaped by modular synthesis, Jonathan Barnbrook said ”The thing that interests me most about it is the changing of electronic voltage that affects pitch, timbre and time. It is like you are playing with the building blocks of the universe. The same thing that makes the sound of drum, drives the human heart to beat or fires neutrons in the brain that define consciousness.”

With an incessant mechanical rhythm and stark vocal phrasing, the opener ‘I Loved Alone’ takes on the fierce aura of GAZELLE TWIN and a detached expression of feeling within the language.

Beginning with a recorded quote from Fritz Perls who coined the term ‘Gestalt therapy’, ‘This Is My Existence’ is brutal with Aykan exclaiming “memory is cancer”, Barnbrook’s doomily emulates his hero John Foxx with an eerie synth theme over a minimal structure.

The art funk of ‘Bertha’ is mutantly danceable, the deadpan vocalisation does recall MISS KITTIN but compliments the stark electronic backing, especially when Aykan percussively slips into German to recall the attitude of Berlin punks MALARIA!

The eponymous title track squelches with bass rumbles and electronic chainsaws while ‘Patients’ does possess some unsettling rhythmic fervour in a white noise barrage and talk of “broken histories” before going aggressively militaristic.

The noise attack on ‘Deperson’ is the darkest track on ‘Fragile Self’, swoops and gongs do battle over an industrial backbone in eine eintürzende Wand aus Tönen. The reverberant cerebral concept piece ‘Surrogate’ hints at Wendy Carlos and dark Jean-Michel Jarre; aesthetically schizophrenic, it is also something which also shapes the sinister arpeggio and chant laden ‘Leon’.

A syncussive pulse soundtracks the horror mood of ‘Need For Sanctuary’ with creepy Theremin-like qualities for a slice of vibrato laden avant-wave. ’Journey Taken’ though is a battle of machines in alternate quartet bursts in all frequencies before unsettlingly ending on the doom of church bells affirming Sartre’s view that “Hell is other people”.

The debut offering from FRAGILE SELF is an intense uneasy listen, but it is a well-crafted and yes, impeccably designed art statement. There’s aggression and agitation but it is aurally cathartic and rewarding.

So if the idea of MISS KITTIN collaborating with GAZELLE TWIN in an experimental electronic backdrop appeals, then this record will help highlight how “Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength”.

‘Fragile Self’ is released by Sugarcane Recordings / Daperson Society as a vinyl LP, CD and 480 page book with download code, available now direct from http://www.fragileself.com/vinylcdbookdownload

Download also available from https://fragileself.bandcamp.com/

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Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Teri Varhol
11th November 2019

SHOOK Music For City & Nature

6 November 2019 /

Capturing the mood of a busy metropolis during the rush hour, the self-explanatory ‘Music For City & Nature’ is the latest work by SHOOK, the musical vehicle of Dutch composer Jasper Wijnands.

SHOOK said: “In this album I tried to document my emotional and mental state at this point in my career. It is inspired by the conflict between the energetic and busy city life and the calm, warmth and peace that nature gives. It isn’t a city ‘versus’ nature album though, it is about daily life existing in a gray area in between. I try to find a balance by connecting both sides.”

Now if there was a more apt instrumental embodying the commuting way of life, then the subtle funk of ‘City’ would be it. Opening ‘Music For City & Nature’, the joy of heading home is a countered by the frustration of travel and delay. It’s a light and shade piece that sets the mood.

In a duet with SHOOK’s regular collaborator Juliet Klaar, the charming ‘Mind Up’ adds modern treated vocals over a jazzy electropop vibe, his own voice recalling a less wayward Yukihiro Takahashi as flickering synthesized pulses capture the tension of adolescent angst and how best to move forward.

Meanwhile, ‘Fighting’ is pure YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA, with robotic voices and bright pentatonic overtones pointing towards the iconic trio’s first two albums. Playing with a similar template, ‘Rush Hour’ captures a typical South East Asian sunset where things start to get dark at 7.00pm even at the height of summer.

‘Morning Shine’ borrows from Ryuichi Sakamoto and ‘Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence’ in particular but it is delightful, as is the bright and breezy ‘Sun Symphony’ which is a number that celebrates an appreciation for the simple things in life.

Written and sweetly sung solo by Juliet Klaar, ‘Lullaby’ is a pretty tune that does what it says it will, but ‘A Million Trees’ with its marimba motif goes a bit more esoteric in the vein of Steve Reich, outstaying its welcome by three minutes. Things get back on track with ‘I Miss You Today’ which incorporates a live sounding rhythmic feel alongside some filmic piano runs.

Closing with the rather sparse understated soundscape of ‘Shape Of Water’, SHOOK heads for the creature comforts of home under the watch of the late Japanese ambient trailblazer Hiroshi Yoshimura for a fitting journey’s end.

‘Music for City & Nature’ has a delicate timeless quality in its search for balance and peace of mind.

It might be too sedate and organic for some, but does its job well of capturing the start and end of a journey in its literal sense.

‘Music For City & Nature’ is released on 8th November 2019 in CD, vinyl LP and digital formats, pre-order from https://shook.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-city-and-nature

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Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photo by Liz Eats Films
6th November 2019

UNDERWORLD Drift Series 1

4 November 2019 /


The start of November saw the official release of a huge body of work by UNDERWORLD that functions more like a musical diary than a premeditated set of album tracks.

‘Drift Series 1’ first started to take shape a year ago to the release date with the track ‘Another Silent Way’ and a statement from UNDERWORLD that “Drift is the opposite of ‘normal’ or ‘usual’ practice; we’ll do this until we’re dust.”

With the intention of producing freely downloadable new work on a week to week basis, ‘Drift Series 1’ is an epic and in places daunting collection.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK has reviewed the ‘Sampler Edition’ which scratches the surface of a package that comprises 7 CDs, 1 Blu-ray, and an 80 page exclusive book documenting the whole ‘Drift’ journey from conception to conclusion in interviews with Rick Smith and Karl Hyde from the band and design collective Tomato’s Simon Taylor.

Opener on the sampler is ‘Appleshine’, a collaboration with Aussie experimental jazz outfit THE NECKS, but here present in a very condensed version, the original 48(!) minute version is available on the full box-set. ‘Appleshine’ is a blissed out, open hi-hat driven piece which evokes early UNDERWORLD, flitting between two chords with a floating melodic vocal from Hyde and the addition of sporadic live sax arpeggios which work seamlessly on the piece.

The excellent ‘This Must Be Drum Street’ starts with the kind of sequenced bassline that worked so well for German TB303 meisters HARDFLOOR before a key change and filter opening propels the track straight into Giorgio Moroder territory; additional textures of synth and another Hyde vocal contribute to another strong track which dissolves in layers of delayed vocals at the end.

After a short glitchy synth intro, ‘Listen to Their No’ takes no prisoners by quickly bursting into a glorious NEW ORDER ‘Temptation’ styled sequencer part. Featuring one of Hyde’s most commercial hooky vocal lines, “there’s no-one, no-one, no-one playing” and “magic’s never broken” are soon lodged as earworms after only one listen.

‘Brilliant Yes That Would Be’ dispenses with the signature UNDERWORLD 4/4 drums, goes downtempo and evokes TANGERINE DREAM’s soundtrack work with spacious PWM analogue Juno chords.

‘S T A R (Rebel Tech)’ is an alternative mix of the weekly version which surfaced on September 12th. The original was a delirious mash-up of ‘Born Slippy’ era UNDERWORLD and the drum pattern/vocal patterns from KRAFTWERK’s ‘Numbers’, this mix is (arguably) not quite as strong but still features Hyde’s trademark stream of consciousness lyrics which first surfaced on their groundbreaking ‘Dubnobasswithmyheadman’ album. “David Bowie, Mary Shelley, Nye Bevan and Tom Jones” all get a namecheck in a track which is unmistakably UNDERWORLD and still showcases how an electronic band can still remain unique after being in the business for almost four decades.

The mantra-like nine minute sampler closer ‘Custard Speedtalk’ deploys the kind of piano motif that Trent Reznor has so effectively utilised on his soundtrack work alongside some jazzy breakbeats.

After a mid-point break, some beautifully understated guitar joins the piano and live drums to create the effect of a live UNDERWORLD jamming together and works quite exquisitely.

For a band that’s been around in one incarnation or another for nigh on forty years, ‘Drift Series 1’ is an absolutely superb collection. The production and release of new music every week has patently been a liberating process for Hyde and Smith and it’s hard to imagine many acts being able to sustain this work rate at this level of quality.

‘Drift Series 1’ is an innovative mould-breaking way of releasing music and it highlights UNDERWORLD as a band which is still at the forefront of electronic music and very much at the top of their game – highly recommended.

‘DRIFT Series 1’ is released by Caroline International as a 7 CDs + 1 Blu-ray boxed set featuring an 80 page book, a ‘Sampler Edition’ is also available as a single CD

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Text by Paul Boddy
4th November 2019

DAYBEHAVIOR Based On A True Story

3 November 2019 /


It would be fair to say that Swedish trio DAYBEHAVIOR take their time when it comes to making records.

Although their debut album ‘:Adored’ came out in 1996, a follow-up ‘Have You Ever Touched a Dream?’ didn’t emerge until 2003. Then in 2012, ‘Follow That Car!’ re-established their presence in a in the more synthpop friendly environment, with anticipation created for their next long playing offering.

A single ‘Change’ trailed ‘Based On A True Story’ in 2015 but fast forward to four years later, and their self-produced fourth album is finally here.

With a range of tempo variation contained within, ‘Based On A True Story’ is the undoubtedly the best album of DAYBEHAVIOR’s long if sporadic career. Always an act known for their for moody cinematics and lush dreamy vocals, Paulinda Crescentini, Carl Hammar and Tommy Arell have on this occasion included a number of more danceable numbers to counterpoint the more laid back aspects of their sound without losing any of their exquisite aesthetics.

Good examples of this can be heard in the fabulous Europop number ‘Driving In My Car’ and the opening ‘Burning Slowly’ with its classic emotive synthpop feel reminiscent of OMD combined with a swirling sweeping solo. The Italo flavoured ‘Change’ is all present and correct in extended 12 inch form amusingly threatening to break into ‘Axel F’, while the melodically bouncy but rigid ‘Tears That Dry’ could be mistaken for MARSHEAUX.

Frantic by DAYBEHAVIOR standards, ‘It All Started With A Train’ has a techno backbone offset by Paulinda Crescentini’s alluring whispers but it all works marvellously and when the synth solos kick it, another zone is duly entered.

For those who do prefer the more filmic side of DAYBEHAVIOR, ‘A Boy A Girl’ comes over like a Nouvelle Vague film theme. Then there’s the Nordic melancholy of ‘There’s Nothing Else’ which ventures into A-HA territory with subtle guitars giving the feel of a Cold War spy drama.

The midtempo melancholy of ‘Serge’s Kiss’ makes the most of its chilling Jarre-like string machine, Simmons drums and unexpected vocoder but a major surprise is sprung with the solemn cello-laden ballad ‘Solitude’.

As ‘Based On A True Story’ heads towards the home straight, ‘A Perfect Day’ offers some angelic respite before ‘The Whispering Garden’ does what its title suggests and ‘Washed Away’ provides a dramatic orchestrated conclusion.

So Tommy Arell’s assertion that “The new album will have many of the classic DAYBEHAVIOR elements, but it will not sound like the previous albums” was more than wholly accurate.

A collection of quality Scandipop, ‘Based On A True Story’ has been worth the wait and is the ideal starting point to check out the wonderful widescreen music of DAYBEHAVIOR.

‘Based On A True Story’ is released by Graplur on 4th November 2019 as a download album from the usual digital outlets

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Text by Chi Ming Lai
3rd November 2019

RICARDO AUTOBAHN Check The Gyroscopes

30 October 2019 /


Ricardo Autobahn is a something of a music industry veteran and a known purveyor of pranklectro through his various adventures with THE CUBAN BOYS, SPRAY and POUND SHOP BOYS.

And all this without mentioning a 2006 Eurovision entry with rapper Daz Sampson, plus recordings with CBBC puppet star Hacker T Dog and the late country legend Glen Campbell with a cowpunk-techno reworking of ‘Rhinestone Cowboy’. So when ‘Check The Gyroscopes’ arrived in ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s inbox, it caused some headscratching…

What, a serious instrumental electronic album with intricate complex layers that was thematically a reaction against the current fashion for Synthwave? “I had been writing a lot of library music, production music and TV music and occasionally found myself doing stuff that was too meandering for that format” said Autobahn on how ‘Check The Gyroscopes’ developed as a follow-up to 2012’s ‘Rasterscan’ and 2016’s ‘Panophobia’.

‘Cocktails On The Dream Train To Hyperspace’ is a delightful uptempo opening, taking a leaf out of Jean-Michel Jarre and his ‘Arpégiateur’ but with a harder beat. ‘The Tranquility Of Gravity’ extends on that vibe but with a spacier outlook, thanks to its swimmy string machines which sit within a grand widescreen setting haunted by its wintery Berlin origins.

A pulsing lattice shapes the sub-eight minute ‘Jetsphere Luxury Lounge’ into a more progressive proposition before the more chillingly ambient ‘Icedrop On The Camera Lens’. Meanwhile ‘Rocketronic Mooncar’ is a beautifully melodic metronomic piece that is both lean and to the point.

‘Atomic Romance’ swirls and sparkles in a manner that trumpets with a folky resonance like Mike Olfield. And as Autobahn prepares for launch on the lengthy ‘Destination Astroworld’, guitar makes its presence felt although it’s the Kontakt software variant with “acoustic strum” and virtual Strats among the palettes used; the track is a fine demonstration of modern production techniques if nothing else as a computerised Steve Howe pops out… but like many YES tracks, it does go on a bit unfortunately.

Things get back on track with the frantic but rousing ‘Too New To Be True’ which enters Vangelis territory with its sweeping texturing, despite its pace and octave interplay. Although possessing a rather long title, ‘Emporium For Art Deco Adventurers’ is as minimal and sparse as the album can get with more synthetic guitar stylings, leading into the closing tune ‘The Comet Collector’ which re-enters Planet Jarre but additionally throws in digital strums and bright Synth Britannia themes.

‘Check The Gyroscopes’ is an immediately likeable record and some may even prefer it to Jean-Michel Jarre more recent offerings. And as a reaction to Synthwave, it certainly hammers home the point and remembers to include some variation and tunes.

‘Check The Gyroscopes’ is released as a digital album by Banoffeesound via the usual platforms and direct from https://spray.bandcamp.com/album/check-the-gyroscopes

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Text by Chi Ming Lai
30th October 2019

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