Tag: Daniel Miller (Page 5 of 7)

ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE 2016

23 October 2016 /


The ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE held its second event at Düsseldorf’s CCD following the success of the inaugural gathering.

With impressive line-up that read like a ‘Who’s Who?’ of electronic music, former NEW ORDER bassist Peter Hook, OMD’s Andy McCluskey, HEAVEN 17, WRANGLER, VILE ELECTRODES, METROLAND and Michael Rotherhithe were among those who took part in 2015.

For the 2016 event, John Foxx, Steve D’Agostino, Rusty Egan, Jimi Tenor, Jori Hulkkonen, Eric Random and MARSHEAUX played live while among the speakers were Daniel Miller, Chris Liebing, Mark Reeder and Chris Payne.

The conference coincided with co-organiser Rudi Esch publishing ‘ELECTRI_CITY – The Düsseldorf School of Electronic Music’, an English language version of his acclaimed book documenting the development of the city’s innovative and inspiring music scene which spawned acts such as KRAFTWERK, DAF, RIECHMANN, NEU! and LA DÜSSELDORF. With Jochen Oberlack of Bellerophon Records acting as the weekend’s Master of Ceremonies, the first of the special international guests was Mark Reeder.

Presenting his acclaimed documentary ‘B-Movie: Lust & Sound In West-Berlin 1979-1989’, the film captured the music, art and chaos of West Berlin before the infamous wall came tumbling down.

But as Reeder explained in his charmingly fluent Mancunian lilted German to Tassilo Dicke in the Q&A afterwards, the enclosed conscription free environment allowed a creative melting pot to emerge where everything and anything seemed possible.

Next up was Chris Payne in an interview hosted by ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK. Best known as a member of Gary Numan’s band between 1979-1990 and for co-writing VISAGE’s ‘Fade To Grey’ with Billy Currie and Midge Ure, the Cornishman began by demonstrating his bass Cornamuse, a double reed instrument from the 14th Century.

Revealing that he studied Medieval music, he even treated the audience to a quick burst of ‘Cars’ before reflecting on its limitations and therefore highlighting the expansive possibilities of synthesizers. Now domiciled in Normandy, he happily chatted about his period with Numan, recalling how he had 21 keyboards in his armoury and some of the practical jokes he played on the 1979 support act OMD.

At this time, OMD were a duo comprising of Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys plus a third member Winston. Despite some electronic music publications stating Winston was a drum machine, Payne confirmed that Winston was most definitely a tape recorder. And on the final night of the UK leg of ‘The Touring Principle’ at Hammersmith Odeon, Payne thought it would be amusing to put on the lock of the TEAC A344 4-track reel-to-reel to stop it from playing.

The genesis of ‘Fade To Grey’ occurred during soundchecks on ‘The Touring Principle’, but Payne recalled how the song’s cyclic structure had been composed during his time at music college.

With regards the song’s female French voice, while the eventual German No1 featured Rusty Egan’s then-girlfriend Brigitte, the idea had come from Monsieur Payne and featured on the original recording made at Martin Rushent’s Genetic Studios with a different lyric.

Mute Records impresario Daniel Miller and techno guru Chris Liebing followed and while Miller reflected on his love of German music which inspired his own recordings, he highlighted the musical kinship he had with Liebing and even joked that they would probably want to play exactly the same tracks during their DJ sets later that night at the Time Warp club night hosted by Salon des Amateurs.

The ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE was about live music too and Manchester electronic veteran Eric Random had the honour of opening proceedings. Random recently released his new album ‘Words Made Flesh’ on Austrian record label Klanggalerie, but the one-time CABARET VOLTAIRE and Nico collaborator made his return in 2014 with ‘Man Dog’, ‎having last issued a long player using his own name in 1986.

Opening with his set with the groovy ‘Knock Yourself Out’, he captured the ethos of the weekend with his sinister but funky, voice sample laden electro. Occasionally adding vocoder and his own FAD GADGET inspired vocals as on the hard beat driven ‘Let It Go’, the Germanic environment more that suited his stark style of presentation.

MARSHEAUX’s appearance prompted dancing in the aisles and despite monitor issues, the duo delivered a fine performance. The brooding aggression of ‘Burning’ from the new album ‘Ath.Lon’ proved to be a highlight, while other newbies such as ‘Safe Tonight’ sat well next to slightly reworked fan favourites like ‘Breakthrough’, ‘Dream Of A Disco’ and ‘Come On Now’.

A beautiful rendition of DEPECHE MODE’s ‘The Sun & The Rainfall’ won over anyone who wasn’t already convinced, with two new converts being Claudia Schneider-Esleben, sister of KRAFTWERK co-founder Florian and John Foxx who sat absorbed throughout the entire set.

Finishing proceedings on day one was Rusty Egan with a part live-part DJ presentation of his upcoming record ‘Welcome To The Dancefloor’. Augmented by Nikonn and Chris Payne, it began with a marvellous dual overture where the latter performed instrumental piano based renditions of ‘Down In The Park’ and ‘Fade To Grey’.

He even sneaked in snatches of Numan evergreens ‘Are Friends Electric?’ and ‘Cars’ as well.

Seguing into the ‘Nu Cinematic’ ambient version of VISAGE’s German No1 featuring Payne on violin, there was then the surprise inclusion of the beautiful VISAGE instrumental ‘Whispers’; this was not entirely successful as the monitor problems continued, but it was a brave choice and more than welcome for that very reason.

The video playback section featuring the lead vocals of Andy Huntley, Midge Ure, Emily Kavanaugh and Tony Hadley, such was his enthusiasm, Egan couldn’t resist joining in on the mic. But Egan got his turn on lead when he morphed into an MC for ‘Wonderwerke’, adding a “was ist das?” snarl shaped by his inimitable London swagger.

Closing the main set with ‘Thank You’, Egan’s vocodered list of musical heroes over layers of sweeping synths even prompted him to walk into the audience to encourage their additional robotised contributions.

The following day began with artists and journalists being given an informal tour of Düsseldorf by Rudi Esch. The landmarks included Düsseldorf HBF where KRAFTWERK had their iconic monochromatic photo on Gleis 17 taken and the entrance to the former Kling Klang studios.

Among those present were John Foxx and MARSHEAUX, with one particularly memorable moment taking place outside Der Ratinger Hof, when Foxx held court as he chatted about working with Conny Plank on ‘Systems Of Romance’.

Appropriately, formal second day proceedings began with the showing of ‘Keine Atempause – Düsseldorf, Der Ratinger Hof und Die Neue Musik’, a film about the city’s music scene followed by a panel Q&A.

But afterwards, a familiar character from Berlin reappeared. The scheduled speaker Martyn Ware had unfortunately been taken ill, so Mark Reeder kindly stepped in with an interview in English conducted by ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK; this chat differed from the day before, focussing on Reeder’s own music career and his long association with NEW ORDER.

Interviewed by German journalist Ecki Stieg, John Foxx gave a marvellously eloquent talk covering his entire career. Working with Brian Eno on the first ULTRAVOX! album, the one-time ROXY MUSIC synthesist told Foxx it was important to keep a space at the end of an album to make a new song out of nothing; that nothing of course became ‘My Sex’. Reflecting on the recording of ‘Systems Of Romance’ to applause from the attentive audience, Foxx also declared Conny Plank as the most important record producer since George Martin.

Despite the innovation of his debut solo album ‘Metamatic’, Foxx moved away from pure electronics due to criticism that his music was cold.

At the time he thought “Maybe I’ve done the wrong thing… it made me afraid of my own music in a way… I’ve never been any good at judging the quality of what I do, I like it but don’t know if it’s any good or not!” – this led to the more band oriented sound of the follow-up ‘The Garden’ which included the actual ‘Systems Of Romance’ song.

Talking about his third solo album ‘The Golden Section’, Foxx said “I wanted to combine electronics with psychedelia… I think I failed because I tried to fit too many favourite things together. It’s always a mistake, it’s like having a meal with all your favourite food, you have fish and pudding and cake and soup and it’s not good! You might love them all, but if you put them on the same plate… but it was out of enthusiasm so I can forgive my younger self for making mistakes like that!”

Premiered in 2014 at London’s South Bank, John Foxx and Steve D’Agostino supported by visual artist Karborn gave an assured performance of ‘Evidence Of Time Travel’, “a unique investigation of the terrors and pleasures of temporal displacement. A sinister sonic architecture of drum-machine-music and analogue synthesizers”.

Karborn’s cut-up images and filmed segments complimented the stark and stoic soundtrack. acontinually evolving audio / visual experience, the finale of ‘Empty Clothing Blows Across A Beach’ saw Katia Isakoff join the trio on a Moog Theremin. Locking into a wonderfully trippy improvisation, disturbing schizophrenic voices also reverberated around the enclosure.

 

The second day concluded with a unique presentation of the silent art movie ‘Nuntius’. Featuring a live improvised soundtrack from Finnish musicians Jimi Tenor and Jori Hulkkonen, the film stars Mr Normall as its central, alien character. Seemingly manufactured in outer space, Mr Normall explores the woods, stares intensely and even rides a motorcycle sidecar combination through a tunnel in Helsinki with a Shetland sheepdog named Louis.

The film’s accompanying music ranged from blippy ambient to frantic motorik, with Tenor occasionally taking to a flute while Hulkkonen brought out his portable Trautonium, an electronic instrument with a pressure sensitive glided board and whose conceptual origins date back to 1929. The whole experience was totally mindbending and when Mr Normall appeared on stage with Tenor and Hulkkonen, things became even more surreal.

It was fabulous weekend that was a reminder of Düsseldorf’s importance as a centre for art, culture and fashion. With the rising profile of the ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE, the 2017 event will be a must-attend date in next year’s diary.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Rudi Esch and Carsten Siewert

Live performances can be viewed at
http://concert.arte.tv/de/electricity-conference

www.electricity-conference.com/

www.facebook.com/Electri.city.Esch/

www.jorihulkkonen.com/

www.facebook.com/jimitenor/

www.mrnormall.net/

www.metamatic.com/

www.altersonicsound.com/

www.karborn.com/

http://rustyegan.net/

http://www.electronicmusiclibrary.com/

http://marsheaux.com/

https://twitter.com/theericrandom

http://mute.com/

www.clr.net/

www.facebook.com/markreedermusic/

https://bellerophon-records.com/

www.groenland.com/en/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Markus Luigs, Roger Kamp, Lola Li and Chi Ming Lai
23rd October 2016

WRANGLER Sparked Modular Remix Project

1 June 2016 /

WRANGLER SparkedThe mission for this project (should the remixer choose to accept it) was as follows:

“WRANGLER would like to ask you to submit an experimental piece of music for inclusion on an album entitled ‘Modular Remix’. The idea is very simple. We provide some basic stems from a track selected by you from our debut album ‘LA Spark’ and you add whatever sounds you like – the only rule being that you use just one analog modular synthesiser system of your choice. We’ve approached you because we admire your passion and commitment to electronic music, and we hope you will be interested in taking part.”

Naturally, given the specialised nature of the brief, WRANGLER approached electronic artists known for their modular approach to synthesis, hence the presence here of DANIEL MILLER, ALESSANDRO CORTINI (NINE INCH NAILS), SOLVENT and CHRIS CARTER.

In what is arguably the stand-out remix on the album, Mute boss DANIEL MILLER extracts the gliding bassline and a vocal loop from ‘Theme from Wrangler’ and builds a new track around it with a driving 4/4 kick and flanged Solina strings. Ex-THROBBING GRISTLE synthesist CHRIS CARTER takes the dystopian ‘Lava Land’ and completely reconstructs it, turning it into an industrial wasteland soundscape, leaving the main Logan string part as a ghostly skeletal echo in the far off distance.

Whilst SCANNER reworks the title track from the original album, by jettisoning all the original musical parts and building a hypnotic sequencer driven web around Stephen Mallinder’s ‘LA Spark’ vocal, ALESSANDRO CORTINI strips out all of the vocals and percussion, leaving very little (if any residue) from the original ‘Modern World’. What remains is a throbbing, shifting, filtered piece which slowly rises over four minutes before dropping back down again – reminiscent of his film work with TRENT REZNOR, this ‘Modern World’ could quite easily function in a soundtrack context.

SOLVENT, who are probably best known for soundtracking the acclaimed ‘I Dream of Wires’ modular synthesizer documentary, remix ‘Harder’, adding a skanking electro-dub vibe with spring reverbed snares and tape delayed vocals. Hissing white noise and analogue drum machine beats frame the track as snippets of sound from the original drift in and out. This leaves the final piece on the album, entitled ‘Theme Meme’, where the band remix themselves over an epic 14 minutes.

WRANGLER live-greenWith KRAFTWERK styled electronic textures and retro Roland Compurhythm beats, the remix acts as a soundbed for Stephen Mallinder’s electronically mangled vocals and harsh synthetic sound effects on top. The final four minutes wind down and help bring the track to a half-tempo closedown.

With the emphasis being on the word ‘experimental’ from the original brief, none of these versions (with the exception of DANIEL MILLER’s ‘Theme…’ and DAVID BURRASTON’s ‘Mus IIC’) bear much resemblance to the ‘LA Spark’ originals which is undoubtedly what WRANGLER had in mind when first guesting out the project. As such, the band should be applauded for giving the remixers involved complete artistic freedom here.

But fans of ‘LA Spark’ will probably be more comfortable with the original versions, which despite occupying the darker fringes of synthesized music, still feature enough melodic hooks to act as a gateway for those into more mainstream electronica.

With thanks to Steve Malins at Random Music Management

‘Sparked Modular Remix Project’ is released by Memetune in double vinyl, CD and digital formats on 10th June 2016, available from http://wrangler.tmstor.es/

WRANGLER open for JOHN GRANT on 15th June 2016 at London’s Royal Albert Hall

https://www.facebook.com/mallinderbengewinter/

http://memetune.net

Text by Paul Boddy
1st June 2016

ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE 2015

8 November 2015 /

Dance To The Future…

Düsseldorf paid homage to its electronic music history with a three day event of lectures, discussions and live music.

The ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE celebrated the work of pioneers like KRAFTWERK, DAF, RIECHMANN, NEU! and LA DÜSSELDORF, as well as reflecting the city’s worldwide influence on bands such as NEW ORDER, THE HUMAN LEAGUE, DEPECHE MODE, CABARET VOLTAIRE, VISAGE and OMD.

A year in the planning, organisers Rudi Esch and Carsten Siewert assembled an impressive line-up of artists, musicians and academics which read like a ‘Who’s Who?’ of electronic music.

It included names such as Benge, Gabi Delgado, Ralf Dörper, Rusty Egan, Harald Grosskopf, Peter Hook, Stephen Mallinder, Andy McCluskey, Daniel Miller, Mark Reeder, Michael Rother and Martyn Ware.

Also present was Dr Uwe Schütte, whose academic conference ‘Industrielle Volksmusik for the Twenty First Century – Kraftwerk & the Birth of Electronic Music in Germany’ at Aston University helped inspire the seeting up of the event.

While there have been numerous books about Germany and in particular KRAFTWERK, few have been written by people who were actually there at the time. Esch’s own book ‘Electri_City: Elektronische Musik aus Düsseldorf’ was published in 2014 and provided a much needed eyewitness account.

It fully related the Cold War tensions within Der Bundesrepublik that inspired many young Germans into pursuing adventures in art, music and cinema as a matter of self-expression and cultural identity.

The book’s success in Germany provided much of the impetus and momentum to curate this lavish gathering of kindred spirits. The first of the special guests taking part was Peter Hook who talked to Rob Keane about German influences on the UK’s post-punk scene and in particular, JOY DIVISION.

It was Ian Curtis who first introduced the others to KRAFTWERK. After the charismatic vocalist’s passing, the surviving band members became NEW ORDER and as they became more electronic, they acquired five Prophet 5s costing £2000 each.

This had only been made possible by the posthumous success of JOY DIVISION.“God bless him, Ian… without him, we wouldn’t have been able to afford these machines to make electronic music…” Hooky said, “what happened in NEW ORDER was as the technology developed, it enabled you to buy the machines that KRAFTWERK were using. I’d love to watch them do something, I really would. Because for all the coverage you get of KRAFTWERK, you never actually know HOW they did it!”

But despite KRAFTWERK being the pioneers of electronic music, Ralf and Florian had been so impressed by ‘Blue Monday’, they arranged to meet its engineer Michael Johnson at Britannia Row Studios where it was recorded. “They wanted to book into the studio we used…” remembered Hooky, “and they wanted to use our engineer, because they wanted their next record to sound like ‘Blue Monday’, which is most ironic because we spent years trying to sound like them!”

KRAFTWERK had a look round Britannia Row but unimpressed with the old fashioned, faded grandeur of the studio, they cancelled the session. “I took that as quite a compliment” quipped the Salford Bass Viking playfully.

Hooky also reminisced about how he was very impressed by fellow Mancunian Mark Reeder’s mastery of speaking German while on JOY DIVISION’s only visit to Berlin in 1980.

But when he asked how Reeder had become fluent so quickly, the then Factory Records representative in Germany answered: “you can learn any language when you’re starving!”

Mark Reeder himself formed part of panel discussion on the German impact of the Düsseldorf Schule to give his ‘Englishman in Berlin’ point of view. As the man often credited with introducing Italo disco to NEW ORDER, Reeder’s recent film ‘B-Movie – Lust & Sound In West Berlin 1979-1989’ captured the spirit of the divided city and highlighted how a similar document about Düsseldorf would now be quite timely.

The ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE was not just about lectures and talks, but about live music too. Cologne’s EMOTIKON opened proceedings with some incongruous generic pop funk, so it was a welcome relief when HEAVEN 17 took to the stage at Zakk for the sold-out show.

Headlining their first ever concert in the German art capital, HEAVEN 17 gave one of their now famous electronically focussed sets which also featured material that had spawned from THE HUMAN LEAGUE Mk1 when Martyn Ware was a member.

Inviting him to join the band, Phil Oakey remembered how Ware turned up at his house with ‘Trans-Europe Express’ under his arm and told him “Look, we can do this!”. The song that best summed up the occasion was ‘I’m Your Money’, a synthetic train ride with multi-lingual business phrases that captured the essence of a European Union.

To follow a fine performance from HEAVEN 17, Daniel Miller’s aftershow DJ set reflected his influences and subsequent signings for Mute Records to conclude an excellent first day.

With a packed second day, Friday’s numerous academic and theoretical proceedings were concluded with a Krautrock discussion in German by a panel of veteran musicians that included one-time ASHRA member Harald Grosskopf, Michael Rother from NEU! and WALLENSTEIN’s Jürgen Dollase.

Whereas Germany has usually been associated with purer forms of electronic music, its kosmische outlook has influenced many rock and alternative bands too. However, Dollase’s continual ranting about the joys of LSD proved tiresome and was exemplary evidence to children as to why they shouldn’t do drugs!

The panel was later opened up to questions from the audience so ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK took the opportunity to ask Michael Rother about his first three solo albums.

‘Flammende Herzen’ , ‘Sterntaler’ and ‘Katzenmusik’ were produced by the late Conny Plank and featured CAN’s Jaki Liebezeit on drums. Did he have a favourite?: “I don’t really have favourites, there are individual tracks I enjoy more, it depends on mood and circumstances. It would be unfair really to have a favourite album” Herr Rother replied, “Of course, I try to highlight Conny Plank’s contribution, he was so valuable… we wouldn’t have been able to record NEU! or the second HARMONIA album or my solo albums without Conny, so he’s all over the place in my music… thank you Conny”

Opening the second evening’s musical line-up, Dublin’s TINY MAGNETIC PETS have been championed by Rusty Egan and their appearance in Düsseldorf was their first in Europe.

The trio’s main strength was their engaging lead singer Paula Gilmer, while Sean Quinn’s synth soloing was also enjoyable. But the occasional rattle of an acoustic drum kit was a distraction and the trio sounded much better when Eugene Somers took to exclusively electronic percussion.

WRANGLER, fronted by Stephen Mallinder who had lectured earlier in the day, delivered a screeching set of dystopian vibes and cold wave mechanics, demonstrating how the Düsseldorf gene has mutated into marvellous pieces such as ‘Lava Land’. Mallinder’s drowning gargoyle vocal was particularly striking within the venue’s effective stereo panning capability.

Incidentally, the trio’s incumbent synth collector extraordinaire Benge has recently relocated his MemeTune studio to rural South West of England, in an echo of Conny Plank’s legendary countryside complex which KRAFTWERK, NEU! and LA DÜSSELDORF all recorded in.

Michael Rother delivered a career spanning set of his works including NEU! evergreens like ‘Hallogallo’, ‘Neuschnee’ and ‘Seeland’. There was also the welcome airing of material from his HARMONIA days too. Accompanied by Hans Lampe, formally of LA DÜSSELDORF, the drummer was unbelievably metronomic throughout, providing the hypnotic heartbeat to these much loved numbers. With assistance on bass and synth from a computer, the glorious symphony of ‘Karussell’ from ‘Flammende Herzen’ was a joy to behold. Watching enthusiastically in the crowd was OMD’s Andy McCluskey who remarked in passing to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK that ‘Flammende Herzen’ was the most played album on his iPod!

With another fine evening of live music over, proceedings then moved over to the famous club Dr Thompsons for the aftershow party featuring Rusty Egan.

Originally a location for a factory making floor wax, Egan’s DJ set reflected electronic music’s past and present, much to the approval of both TINY MAGNETIC PETS and METROLAND whose tunes got an airing on the dancefloor.

Day three featured SØLYST aka Thomas Klein who warmed up early attendees with an ambient percussive soundtrack that suited the time of day perfectly. Meanwhile, the Rusty Egan vs ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK discussion about the influence of Düsseldorf, Berlin and Bowie on the New Romantics brought up some amusing anecdotes from his Blitz Club and VISAGE days. “KRAFTWERK was all in time!” he retorted in a fascinating and at times, hilarious chat. On DAFT PUNK, he said “The reason why DAFT PUNK wear robot helmets is cos they can’t show their faces… cos THEY STOLE EVERYTHING! But they did it brilliantly!”

The conversation even turned to THIN LIZZY’s Phil Lynott who frequented the scene and recorded the synth friendly single ‘Yellow Pearl’ co-written with Midge Ure that featured Egan on drums. Also featuring Billy Currie, Egan confirmed that it was a VISAGE song in all but name. ‘Yellow Pearl’ was heavily influenced by LA DÜSSELDORF and was to later gain iconic status as the theme music to ‘Top of the Pops’ from 1981 to 1986, showing just how far reaching the influence of German electronic music had become.

Wolfgang Flür’s now famous video messages on the world wide web have been a delight to many in electronic music circles and in his absence, a special broadcast was prepared by the former KRAFTWERK percussionist for the conference.

Following on, Andy McCluskey and Rudi Esch presented some light hearted but music fan friendly banter in what was billed as The Electri_City Show. Discussing a variety of records Esch had brought along from his own personal collection, the OMD frontman mentioned how he was a big fan of LA DÜSSELDORF: “Thinking about LA DÜSSELDORF and NEU! – the biggest loss to the scene is Klaus Dinger”. Following his death in 2008, Klaus Dinger was hailed as a legendary drummer, having popularised the Motorik beat.

But as Michael Rother once pointed out, before 2004 nobody cared about NEU! “It’s great that people are thinking about NEU! and LA DÜSSELDORF” said McCluskey, “they should be up there with KRAFTWERK”. However as documented in Esch’s ’Electri_City_Musik_Aus_Düsseldorf’ book, Dinger was known to be a difficult character and that didn’t help his reputation. “It’s the Van Gogh thing” added McCluskey, “you have to bloody die before people think you’re a genius”

Of course, OMD combined various influences to achieve their distinctive template. But what is not often realised is that it is closer to LA DÜSSELDORF than it is to KRAFTWERK, especially on ‘Architecture & Morality’: “It is great that the city of Dusseldorf has woken up to the fact that KRAFTWERK and other musicians changed the world. Whilst KRAFTWERK cement their position in the pantheon of the museums and the books, LA DÜSSELDORF and NEU! were very important. They also did something that was beautiful and different. And OMD unconsciously were combining the two, the electronic sound with the organic…”

The Techno / Industrial panel in Deutsch fittingly included DAF’s Gabi Delgado and DIE KRUPPS’ Ralf Dörper as well as Ramon Zenker, the man behind FRAGMA. It would be fair to say that neither sub-genre could have had its roots in any country other than Germany. Delgado caused some amusement when he casually lit up a cigarette in the middle of the discussion, reinforcing the rebellious and confrontational aura of DAF.

During the interlude, many went to take a look at the Monster Formant modular synthesizer, owned by local enthusiast Siegfried Brückner, which was being demonstrated in the foyer. Six years in the making and featuring a gobsmacking sixteen VCOs plus many other features too numerous to mention, it was an impressive sight that looked like one of those vintage telephone exchanges.

To begin Saturday night’s live music proceedings were Zurich based combo LEN SANDER; their languid style of trip hop has become a favourite of Rusty Egan who also lists LONDON GRAMMAR among his current favourites. They provided a cerebral build before the appearance of two of the most impressive synthesizer duos in Europe at the moment.

With the amount of equipment VILE ELECTRODES possess, they could fill Klingklang itself. Using their more streamlined European touring set-up, the Home Counties couple are now effectively adopted Germans having impressed enough during their tour of Germany supporting OMD in 2013 to land two Schallwelle Awards. Splendid new songs like ‘Pulsar Timing Array’ and ‘Stark White’ from the just released EP were evidence of their continuing progression.

With a more minimalist set-up, METROLAND were the perfect act for the weekend to honour the artistic legacy of Düsseldorf. Their second long player ‘Triadic Ballet’ was a conceptual audio installation themed around das Staatliche Bauhaus. The perfect realisation of Walter Gropius’ theory of uniting art with technology, with a combination of crisp electronics and art school visuals, the Belgian duo gave a wonderful presentation that was appreciated by all those present including Andy McCluskey and Rusty Egan.

Closing the event, escapist trio DELTA turned out to be the most disappointing of all the bands participating, their landfill indie totally at odds with the weekend’s ethos. Meanwhile Düsseldorf duo BAR fared much better, their synth laden dreampop augmented on occasion by singer Christina Irrgang’s use of a recorder. However, these two acts highlighted the lack of a clear headliner to finish the weekend on a true high.

Overall though, the ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE was fabulous weekend with representation from both sorcerers and apprentices of the Düsseldorf scene. With the English translation of the ’Electri_City_Musik_Aus_Düsseldorf’ book due in 2016, the story of what the city has contributed to the world can only spread further.

French icon Jean-Michel Jarre said recently: “Electronic music has a family, a legacy and a future…” and there was nothing more truer than over these three days by der Rhein.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Rudi Esch and Carsten Siewert

Additional thanks to Tom Steinseifer, Roger Kamp and Tapio Normall for the use of their photos

‘Electri_City: The Dusseldorf School of Electronic Music’ is due to be published in English by Omnibus Press sometime in 2016

The ‘Electri_City – Elektronische_Musik_Aus_Düsseldorf’ compilation is released by Grönland Records.

http://www.electricity-conference.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ELECTRICITY.Conference

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Chi Ming Lai except where credited
8th November 2015

A Beginner’s Guide To JOHN FRYER

8 August 2015 /


Having started his career at London’s Blackwing Studios in 1980 as an assistant engineer, John Fryer had a very basic knowledge of recording technology.

Employed by Eric Radcliffe, he promptly progressed from engineering into production and became the very reason for the first two COCTEAU TWINS albums sounding as sui generis as they did.

FAD GADGET and DEPECHE MODE; freshly discovered by Daniel Miller, were two of the first acts Fryer co-engineered on a rather limited studio equipment with the pressures of time. Technology started to progress fast and Daniel Miller would often bring the newly released toys into the studio.

The second DM album, ‘A Broken Frame’, written by the newly appointed chief songwriter Martin Gore, used the likes of PPG Wave 2 and Roland TR808 amongst others. The freshly formed YAZOO, with Alison Moyet and ex-Depeche member Vince Clarke, decided to record simultaneously.

To avoid any friction between the acts, John continued at Blackwing, while Eric looked after YAZOO from his home. Fryer did work on ‘Only You’ for them however. Soon enough Fryer’s growing sound manipulation would lend itself to his side project THIS MORTAL COIL with 4AD kingpin Ivo Watts-Russell, named after Monty Python’s ‘Dead Parrot Sketch’. The idea behind the venture was to create music as collaborations with artists signed to or associated with 4AD.

Fryer continued his career in Blackwing, producing MODERN ENGLISH, DEAD CAN DANCE, THE WOLFGANG PRESS, CLAN OF XYMOX and notably HE SAID, whose track ‘Pump’ Fryer still reminisces with fondness.

He has described his time as “a blur”, having worked on multiple projects simultaneously and producing one artist after another. In ten years, he only had five days off sick and worked incredibly long hours, an example being a 36 hour session with Alison Moyet, followed by “the next band”. Outsiders thought Fryer was indeed the owner of the studio, having spent all his time there!

Nine years after the start of his love affair with Blackwing, Fryer decided to go freelance. Truth being, if an artist wanted to work with him, they would approach him anyway. And that was certainly the case with NINE INCH NAILS, Trent Reznor having admired what Fryer had done for HE SAID. Fryer proudly recalls the feeling after finishing the album’s production, upon re-playing it to NIN’s record company boss, who had thought the record was ruined.

For Fryer, the desired effect had been achieved. The production work rolled in and notable clients included HIS NAME IS ALIVE, PARADISE LOST, LUSH and THE GO-BETWEENS.

Having not been in a band as such before, in 2011 Fryer decided to head his own project DARKDRIVECLINIC. 2014 brought the hungry listener SILVER GHOST SHIMMER while in the recent months, Fryer has indulged in the softer, ethereal offerings of two MURICIDAE EPs accompanied by the LA based Louise Fraser. 

With such wealth of experience, Fryer surely deserves a break. Living in Oslo, the master does not rest on his laurels however; hungry to produce, in his stripped down studio, he will no doubt work with some amazing acts again.

In the meantime, let’s imagine what a John Fryer retrospective would look like, made up from a choice of his best work as an engineer, co-producer and producer. The list is not comprehensive and the tracks are not necessarily the best songs on their respective albums, but they certainly showcase Fryer’s production and engineering skills, which evolved over the years, giving him a signature sound of his own.

With a restriction of one track per album project, here are eighteen songs choices in a Beginner’s Guide to the studio legend that is John Fryer, with additional choice commentary from the man himself.

FAD GADGET The Box (1980)

‘The Box’ was the B-side to ‘Back To Nature’, the second ever single on Daniel Miller’s Mute Records. Later appearing in re-recorded form on the magnificent ‘Fireside Favourites’ album released in 1980, interestingly enough, the vocals were recorded with Frank Tovey being uncomfortably locked up in a flight case. This was to signify the “boxed” feel of the vocals. John fondly remembers the collaboration: “Yes, Frank wanted to get a claustrophobic close sound and we just happened to have a big flight case sitting there in the live room, big enough to fit him inside. So we decided to record the vocals in the flight case to get the authentic box sound”

Available on the FAD GADGET album ‘Fireside Favourites’ via Mute Records

http://www.fadgadget.co.uk

DEPECHE MODE Tora! Tora! Tora! (1981)

Not having the digital luxuries of the world we know today, ‘Speak And Spell’ was solely recorded on a 8 track tape machine, but Fryer made do with anything which came to hand, as long as it could make some sort of noise. ‘Tora! Tora! Tora!’ was one of two songs written by Martin Gore on the Vince Clarke dominated ‘Speak And Spell’. A clever love song about a decaying relationship, crying out for help, hidden within highly political lyrical content, it was fabulously intertwined in a steady beat to which Dave Gahan has performed some of his best early dances live.

Available on the DEPECHE MODE album ‘Speak & Spell’ via Mute Records

http://www.depechemode.com/

DEPECHE MODE Leave In Silence (1982)

‘Leave In Silence’ was DEPECHE MODE’s sixth single. Taken from ‘A Broken Frame’, it was written by Martin Gore, who suddenly got elevated into being the band’s chief songwriter, upon Vince Clarke’s departure. After the previous pop slanted singles ‘See You’ and ‘The Meaning Of Love’, it introduced the darker, more melancholic tones of what was to be in store for DEPECHE MODE – John: “Martin took to writing like a duck to water, he always had in it him, it just had to be coaxed out of him. Once Vince had left, the new DM was born”

Available on the DEPECHE MODE album ‘A Broken Frame’ via Mute Records

https://www.facebook.com/depechemode

COCTEAU TWINS From The Flagstones (1983)

From COCTEAU TWINS’ third EP ‘Sunburst & Snowblind’, the Fryer produced ‘From The Flagstones’ was recorded by Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie as a duo, after Will Heggie left the band. There was a feeling of improvisation, including Fraser’s distinctive, yet “wordless” vocals and Guthrie’s effected guitar riffs. Those two elements intertwined and went on to become the band’s signature sound on the eventual ‘Head Over Heels’ album – John: “We recorded up in Scotland where the band felt more at home. The album wasn’t improvised, it was written and we just played around with sounds and over dubs. Why do people think Liz never sang words? She sat for hours with a dictionary writing lyrics for the album, she just has a unique way of singing and phrasing, that’s all”

Available on the COCTEAU TWINS album ‘Lullabies To Violaine – Volume 1’ via 4AD Records

http://www.cocteautwins.com/

THIS MORTAL COIL Song To The Siren (1983)

Originally released by Tim Buckley on his 1970 album ‘Starsailor’, the song has become his most famous, mainly due to the numerous cover versions, THIS MORTAL COIL’s take being one of the most prominent. The single featuring Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie was released in 1983, peaking at No66 on the UK singles charts. Due to its cult popularity, it also spent 101 weeks on the UK Indie Charts. ‘Song To The Siren’ was included on the 1984 debut album ‘It’ll End In Tears’. None other than David Lynch appreciated the version to such an extent, he featured it on his 1997 ‘Lost Highway’ film and the first two Julee Cruise albums are said to be inspired by the production – John: “‘Song To The Siren’ was originally recorded as a B-side to the tracks ’16 Day’ and ‘Gathering Dust’; that was the start of the epic journey THIS MORTAL COIL went on”

Available on the THIS MORTAL COIL album ‘It’ll End In Tears’ via 4AD Records

http://www.4ad.com/artists/thismortalcoil

M/A/R/R/S Pump Up The Volume (1987)

M/A/R/R/S could be considered the ‘dance’ version of THIS MORTAL COIL, with Watts-Russell suggesting a union of COLOURBOX and AR KANE, two 4AD acts who had each suggested to him independently about making records inspired by the emerging American House scene. Engineering the sessions, Fryer found himself an unwilling referee between the conflicting factions. So the two parties worked separately with the COLOURBOX led ‘Pump Up The Volume’ coming out on top in white label club trials. With Fryer utilising an Akai MPC / S900 combination for the programming plus scratch effects by DJs CJ Macintosh and Dave Dorrell, the rest became history…

Available on the compilation album ‘Pump Up The Volume’ (V/A) via Universal Music

http://www.4ad.com/artists/marrs

THIS MORTAL COIL Acid, Bitter & Sad (1987)

With THIS MORTAL COIL, the likes of Elizabeth Fraser, Gordon Sharp, Tanya Donelly, Heidi Berry and Lisa Gerrard were recruited amongst others, to perform either cover versions or original material. However, much of the latter comprised of enigmatic instrumentals steered by Fryer and Watts-Russell. A good example was ‘Acid, Bitter & Sad’ which featured the abstract vocals of Alison Limerick and turned up on the ‘Lonely Is An Eyesore’ compendium. The three studio albums that surfaced from the project ‘It’ll End In Tears’, ‘Filigree & Shadow’ and ‘Blood’ were all highly acclaimed. The idea continued as THE HOPE BLISTER with Louise Rutkowski on vocals for two albums before Watts-Russell retired from the music industry in 1999.

Available on the compilation album ‘Lonely Is An Eyesore’ (V/A) via 4AD Records

https://www.facebook.com/John.Fryer.Official

NINE INCH NAILS Sin (1989)

‘Sin’ was the third single from the critically acclaimed NINE INCH NAILS’ debut LP ‘Pretty Hate Machine’ which achieved triple platinum certification in 2003, having sold three million copies in the US alone. Still a live favourite, ‘Sin’ peaked at number 35 in the UK Singles Chart in 1990. The song’s sexual connotations are clearly portrayed in its video, which features the “Short” remix of the track. Fryer engineered, mixed and produced the song and fondly remembers working on the album, which went to become a huge commercial success – John: “‘PHM’ was a slow burner, it took a while for it to catch on but once it did, there was no stopping it or the band…”

Available on the NINE INCH NAILS album ‘Pretty Hate Machine’ via Island Records

http://www.nin.com/

JESUS JONES Right Here, Right Now (1990)

Led by Mike Edwards, JESUS JONES’ ‘Right Here, Right Now’ was released in September 1990 and peaked at No31 in the UK Charts at the height of the indie dance ‘baggy’ craze. However in the US, it went to No2 in the Billboard Hot 100. Inspired by the Russian Perestroika changes, as well as other events in Eastern Europe, the tune is still used in adverts and video games alike – John: “Mike had a unique approach to writing pop music, it was great to work with him on that album. Great poptastic record”

Available on the JESUS JONES album ‘Doubt’ via Food Records

http://jesusjones.com/

CHAPTERHOUSE Falling Down (1991)

Remixed by Stephen Hague, ‘Falling Down’ appeared on the band’s EP ‘Freefall’ and Fryer-produced LP ‘Whirlpool’. The band was placed into Shoegazing genre, a name invented by NME and Melody Maker describing the performance style based on being not engaged with the audience and simply “staring downwards at their shoes”. Of course, this could have been the outcome of constantly looking downwards while using the effects pedals! John: “The NME has been great at making up labels for types of music. CHAPTERHOUSE was, and still is a live awesome band. The first thing the band did on starting the recordings, was take off their shoes…”

Available on the CHAPTERHOUSE album ‘Whirlpool’ via Cherry Red Records

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chapterhouse/125153479348

SWALLOW Peekaboo (1992)

From their album ‘Blow’, it was the only record SWALLOW put out on 4AD. Sometimes described as part of the Shoegazing genre, the Camberwell based band came together in 1990. ‘Blow’ was later remixed by the band itself, breaking down the Fryer production and releasing it under the name of ‘Blowback’. Louise Trehy and Mike Mason joined forces with Rough Trade Records afterwards to release ‘Hush’ EP before disbanding – John: “I don’t really know why they were called shoegaze, they should be called more art-gaze, more of an arty CURVE”

Available on the SWALLOW album ‘Blow’ via 4AD Records

http://www.4ad.com/artists/swallow

HIM Join Me In Death (1999)

‘Join Me In Death’ was from the band’s second album out in 1999 ‘Razorblade Romance’. It was also released as ‘Join Me’ in the US, as they were not able to use the word “death” in the title. Although the song’s title provoked widespread controversy, it has become the fifteenth best-selling song in Finland and was used in the European version of the soundtrack for ‘The Thirteenth Floor’. There are four versions of the song’s video and a vague ‘Romeo & Juliet’ theme was also associated to the song – John: “Yes, they had a lot of trouble in the US with the lyrical content for this album. The Americans thought it was a lawsuit waiting to happen with all the teenage suicides and shootings at school, but it was just a romantic love album”

Available on the HIM album ‘Razorblade Romance’ via BMG Finland

http://www.heartagram.com/

DOPE STARS INC 10,000 Watts (2005)

‘10,000 Watts’ was positively received by critics and audiences alike, mainly thanks to aggressive vocals by Victor Love. The parent ‘Neuromance’ album was backed up with numerous festival appearances and sold out in no time. Victor Love has always praised John Fryer’s style of production, admitting his technical knowledge had improved drastically upon working with the magic maker – John: “Pop music comes in various forms and this was another one of them. Victor knows how to write a great pop song and give it a provocative edge”

Available on the DOPE STARS INC album ‘Neuromance’ via Trisol Music Group

https://dopestarsinc.bandcamp.com/album/neuromance

RABIA SORDA Methods Of Chaos (2006)

‘Methods Of Chaos’ was from the 2006 album of the same title in Spanish ‘Metodos Del Caos’. RABIA SORDA has been described as a gentler version of Erk Aicrag’s other project, Mexican Hardfloor legends HOCICO. The word “gentler” needs to be used with care, however, as to a standard listener, it is aggressive, loud and violent. RABIA SORDA’s style is characterised by a very industrial goth sound that has been hugely popular in his native Mexico and Europe – John: “I liked working with Erk and it’s a shame we aren’t working together any longer. He makes interesting kinda industrial pop music and is a very nice guy , I would love to work with him again”

Available on the RABIA SORDA album ‘Metodos Del Caos’ via Out Of Line Records

http://www.rabiasorda.com/

ASHBURY HEIGHTS Derrick Is A Strange Machine (2007)

From the critically acclaimed ‘Three Cheers For The Newlydeads’ in 2007, the Swedish duo has come through many changes, including disbanding and returning; this record remains one of their best however. ASHBURY HEIGHTS were hailed around 2006 as the hottest newcomers onto the electronic music scene, having played the big German and Swedish festivals. They have remixed endless amounts of artists including RABIA SORDA, AESTHETIC PERFECTION, GOD MODULE, and SPACEBUOY as well as many others – John: “ASHBURY HEIGHTS should have gone on to be one of the biggest electronic bands around with their super slick pop sound. It was a joy to work with them”

Available on the ASHBURY HEIGHTS album ‘Three Cheers For The Newlydeads’ via Out Of Line Records

http://ashburyheightsofficial.tumblr.com/

DARKDRIVECLINIC Silhouettes (2011)

‘Silhouettes’ was released a year after Fryer started collaborating with STRIPMALL ARCHITECTURE vocalist Rebecca Coseboom. Ethereal and textured, yet a catchy pop tune, it stands out on the ‘Noise In My Head’ album production. On this record, Fryer decided to be personally involved in a band member’s capacity, giving it celestial and sublime endorsement, and that certainly comes across – John: “‘Noise In My Head’ is the culmination of 25 years of work. It had been worked on over that time in-between producing other people’s records, but it was something I really wanted and needed to do for myself”

Available on the DARKDRIVECLINIC album ‘Noise In My Head’ via Metropolis Music

http://www.metropolis-records.com/artist/darkdriveclinic

SILVER GHOST SHIMMER Soft Landing (2014)

‘Soft Landing’ was released on 30th October 2014 to launch his “over the pond” collaboration with über talented LA based vocalist Pinky Turzo. This twinkling gem, which opens the album of the same title, is hints at the 1962 hit by JAY & THE AMERICANS ‘She Cried’. The songs on ‘Soft Landing’ can be easily described as a marriage of Dave Gahan’s solo projects and Alison Goldfrapp’s vocals, with the song itself being a masterpiece and a proud moment for Fryer. September 2015 will see gigs from Fryer and Turzo showcasing ‘Soft Landing’ to the hungry audiences – John: “The ‘Soft Landing’ album is more of a homage to the girl groups of the sixties. We wanted to marry that vocal sound of the girl groups to my electronic noise pop and I think we succeeded, in my opinion anyway”

Available on the SILVER GHOST SHIMMER download album ‘Soft Landing’ via Silver Ghost Shimmer

https://www.facebook.com/silverghostshimmer.official

MURICIDAE Strange (2015)

‘Strange’ comes from Fryer’s latest EP with Louise Fraser, an LA based vocalist. An exquisite continuation from the first EP entitled ‘Tales From A Silent Ocean’, the production on ‘Strange’ cunningly resembles Alan Wilder’s (did he learn from the best?) on his RECOIL gems, yet it’s even softer and powerful, which proves why John Fryer is THE PRODUCER of now. The droplets of synth perfection are skilfully intertwined with airy vocals of Fraser, sounding almost JULEE CRUISE-like – John: “MURICIDAE is a project that I’m proud of. It compares to my roots of a 4AD sound, capturing the ambient, ethereal soundscapes and bringing them up to date with my own twists and noise”

Available on the MURICIDAE download EP ‘Tears Are Stronger Than Waves’ via Muricidae Music

https://www.facebook.com/muricidaemusic/

Text by Monika Izabela Goss with grateful thanks to John Fryer
8th August 2015

The Electronic Legacy of MUTE RECORDS

23 June 2015 /

Without doubt, Mute Records is one of the most important record labels in the history of electronic music. 

While the early electronic legacy of Virgin Records helped the genre gain its first foothold in the mainstream, the discerning ethos of Mute has maintained its presence in both pop and more experimental fields.

Like many, Mute supremo Daniel Miller began taking an interest in synthesizers as tools for making pop music after hearing KRAFTWERK’s ‘Autobahn’. The son of Austrian Jewish refugees, he was DJing on the continent after completing his film studies course when he became enthralled by the Kling Klang sound.

He was inspired to make electronic music himself but at the time, the equipment was prohibitively expensive. That all changed with the advent of affordable synthesizers from Japan manufactured by the likes of Korg and Roland.

Already a fan of German kosmische scene, his sense of experimentation and an adoption of punk’s DIY ethic led him to buying a Korg 700s. Wanting to make a punk single with electronics, he wrote and recorded ‘Warm Leatherette’ b/w ‘TVOD’ for a one-off independent single release in 1978. He needed a label name and chose ‘Mute’ after the button that came on the equipment that he had used as a film studies student.

Distributed by Rough Trade, MUTE 001 was a surprise success and thanks to him including his mother’s North London home address on the back of the striking monochromatic crash test dummy sleeve, Miller started receiving cassettes from kindred spirits who were keen to explore the brave new electronic world; he realised that a new scene was developing.

Through his connections at Rough Trade, he became aware of former art student Frank Tovey. As FAD GADGET, Tovey recorded ‘Back To Nature’ which was issued as MUTE 002 in October 1979. A seminal work that was also critically acclaimed, it helped establish Mute’s credentials as a champion of electronic music.

The first album released on Mute was ‘Die Kleinen Und Die Bösen’ by German band DEUTSCH AMERIKANISCHE FREUNDSCHAFT (DAF) in March 1980. Miller had signed them because “they weren’t relying on past rock”. The majority of STUMM 1 was recorded with the legendary Conny Plank at the controls of the studio recordings, while the remainder came from tape of a live gig at London’s Electric Ballroom.

DAF set the ball rolling in furthering Mute’s aspirations, while the Germanic influence continued through into the label’s cataloguing system as the album prefix Stumm was the German word for Mute.

Meanwhile, Miller was fascinated about the idea of synthesizers as the future of popular music and conceived a teenage pop group who would use only synths; he called them SILICON TEENS although in reality, this was actually his solo electronic covers project. Something of a novelty, his cover of ‘Red River Rock’ ended up on the closing credits of the Steve Martin / John Candy comedy ‘Planes, Trains & Automobiles’ in 1987!

But Miller’s dream became flesh and blood when he came across a young quartet from Basildon called DEPECHE MODE. Signed on a handshake 50/50 deal, while the group was a chart success, they fragmented after their 1981 debut album ‘Speak & Spell’. However the remaining trio of Andy Fletcher, Dave Gahan and Martin Gore recruited Alan Wilder, soldiered on and the rest is history. Meanwhile, the departed Vince Clarke went on to further success with YAZOO, THE ASSEMBLY and ERASURE.

With the label’s commercial success, Mute were able to back more experimental releases from Germany including the quirky single ‘Fred Vom Jupiter’ by ANDREAS DORAU & DIE MARINAS, and ‘Los Ninos Del Parque’ by LIAISONS DANGEREUSES. Mute’s business ethos, where money made from record sales allowed acts to develop within a sympathetic creative environment free from interference, proved to be key to its artistic and financial prosperity.

As the label expanded over the years, further signings included EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN, LAIBACH, WIRE, BOMB THE BASS (through the Blast First subsidiary), INSPIRAL CARPETS,  GOLDFRAPP while Moby and Nick Cave proved to be amongst the big successes . Meanwhile Miller took the ultimate step in his love of German music, acquiring the rights to the music of CAN and becoming the winning bidder for the vocoder used on ‘Autobahn’ when it came up for auction!

In May 2002, Mute Records was bought by EMI for £23m, although Miller remained as a figurehead and in charge of the company’s global activities. The label became the brand for the multi-national’s electronic music activities and when KRAFTWERK’s back catalogue was finally remastered by EMI, it was released under the Mute banner.

However, with rapid changes occurring within the industry as a result of the new digital marketplace, EMI and Miller reached an agreement in September 2010 to establish a second independently run record label under the name Mute Artists for new acts, while the Mute Records name and rights to the label’s archive recordings remained under the control of EMI via its new owners Universal. As owners of their own catalogue, DEPECHE MODE formally ended their association with the label that launched them and signed a lucrative licencing agreement with Sony BMG.

But the Mute story continues with acts such as MAPS and Polly Scattergood, while Miller’s latest addition to the roster has been NEW ORDER whose new album ‘Music Complete’ will be out on 28th September 2015.

So what twenty albums or EPs best represent Mute’s electronic legacy? With a restriction of one release per artist moniker, here are ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s choices…

FAD GADGET Fireside Favourites (1980)

Following the success of singles ‘Back To Nature’ and ‘Ricky’s Hand’ with a small but loyal fanbase now established, a FAD GADGET album was eagerly anticipated. It came in September 1980 with ‘Fireside Favourites’ co-produced with Eric Radcliffe and John Fryer. it developed on the minimal industrialism of the singles. The superb ‘Coitus Interruptus’ was a cynical commentary on casual relationships while the Cold War tensions were documented on ‘Fireside Favourite’.

‘Fireside Favourites’ was released as STUMM 3

http://www.fadgadget.co.uk

SILICON TEENS Music For Parties (1980)

Following the acclaim that was accorded to THE NORMAL, Daniel Miller decided to undertake a new project where rock ’n’ roll standards such as ‘Memphis Tennessee’, ‘Just Like Eddie’ and ‘Let’s Dance’ were reinterpreted in a synthpop style, with Miller singing like he had a clothes peg attached to his nose. With his inherent shyness, the vehicle he used was SILICON TEENS, a fictitious synth group where several young actors were hired to appear in videos and do press interviews.

‘Music For Parties’ was released as STUMM 2

http://mute.com/

YAZOO Upstairs At Eric’s (1982)

Disillusioned by the pop circus following the singles success of ‘New Life and ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’, Vince Clarke departed DEPECHE MODE in late 1981 and formed YAZOO with Alison Moyet. Although they only released two albums, YAZOO’s impact was long lasting. The debut ‘Upstairs at Eric’s’ was a perfect union of passionate bluesy vocals and pristinely programmed synthpop. Songs such as ‘Only You, ‘Don’t Go’, ‘Midnight’ and ‘Winter Kills’ set a high standard but the duo parted ways.

‘Upstairs at Eric’s’ was released as STUMM 7

http://www.yazooinfo.com/

ROBERT GÖRL Night Full Of Tension (1984)

In a departure from DAF’s pioneering electronic body music, drummer Robert Görl lightened up considerably with a solo synthpop record that even had him posing bare chested by a swimming pool on the cover. ‘Night Full Of Tension’ even featured vocal contributions from EURYTHMICS’ Annie Lennox on ‘Charlie Cat’ and ‘Darling Don’t Leave Me’. Although not featuring on the original LP, the brooding but accessible single ‘Mit Dir’ was an electronic cult classic and included on the CD reissue.

‘Night Full Of Tension’ was released as STUMM 16

http://www.robert-goerl.de

ERASURE The Circus (1986)

Although success for ERASURE was not instant with debut album ‘Wonderland’ and its lost single ‘Oh L’Amour’, the chemistry between Clarke and Bell possessed a special spark. ERASURE toured the college circuit and built up a loyal fanbase, eventually hitting chart paydirt with ‘Sometimes’. ERASURE added political commentary ‘It Doesn’t Have To Be’ and ‘The Circus’ title track, while songs such as ‘Spiralling’ and ‘Hideaway’ confirmed they were more than just a great singles act.

‘The Circus’ was released as STUMM 35

http://www.erasureinfo.com

LAIBACH Opus Dei (1987)

Controversial Slovenians LAIBACH played with Teutonic rhythms and Third Reich imagery, while their unique covers of QUEEN’s ‘One Vision’ and OPUS’ ‘Life Is Life’ indicated they were either ironic art terrorists or preachers of a dangerous political message. Mute were accused of tolerating artists with far right sympathies but with Daniel Miller’s Jewish heritage, this was unlikely. Their industrial torture made an impact with ‘Opus Dei’, particularly on RAMMSTEIN.

‘Opus Dei’ was released as STUMM 44

http://www.laibach.org/

MARTIN GORE Counterfeit (1989)

‘Counterfeit’ allowed Gore to indulge in six covers with varying origins. The emotive traditional standard ‘Motherless Child’ revealed his love of the Blues while a great version of SPARKS’ ‘Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth’ was a fitting look back at the eccentric pop that would have fed the young Mr Gore. Reinterpretations of cult artists such as TUXEDOMOON, THE DURUTTI COLUMN and THE COMSAT ANGELS revealed there was a lot more to Gore’s record collection.

‘Counterfeit’ released as STUMM 67

http://www.martingore.com

DEPECHE MODE Violator (1990)

Why is ‘Violator’ so important and highly celebrated? It is still DEPECHE MODE’s most complete and accomplished body of work. It was the classic Fletcher/Gahan/Gore/Wilder line-up firing on all cylinders and at their most happiest as a unit. The end result was four hit singles but also songs such as ‘Halo’, ‘Waiting For The Night’ and ‘Clean’ which were easily their equal. And on ‘Blue Dress’, Gore’s lyrics possessed an honesty that while dark and deviant, still retained a naïve innocence.

‘Violator’ was released as STUMM 64

http://www.depechemode.com

NITZER EBB As Is (1991)

‘As Is’ saw Essex industrialists NITZER EBB at the height of their imperial powers. Although produced by the band, each song was mixed by a different artist or producer. These included Jaz Coleman from KILLING JOKE, producer Flood and MAGAZINE’s Barry Adamson. But the best number was ‘Come Alive’ mixed by Alan Wilder which had the legacy of ‘Violator’ stamped all over it. The subsequent album ‘Ebbhead’ which was produced by Wilder and Flood.

‘As Is’ was released as MUTE 122

http://www.nitzer-ebb.com/

RECOIL Bloodline (1992)

While there had been two EPs ‘1 + 2’ and ‘Hydrology’ by RECOIL, Alan Wilder’s solo sideline to DEPECHE MODE, it wasn’t until 1992 that there was a full length album. ‘Bloodline’ featured vocals from NITZER EBB’s Douglas McCarthy, Toni Halliday of CURVE and Moby. Wilder’s brooding electronic soundscapes and meticulous production made their presence felt and it was McCarthy’s contributions to a cover of Alex Harvey’s ‘Faith Healer’ that stole the show.

‘Bloodline’ was released as STUMM 94

http://www.recoil.co.uk/

MOBY Everything Is Wrong (1995)

When Moby was signed by Daniel Miller, he was considered to be a one hit wonder with ‘Go’ in 1991. His first proper album ‘Everything Is Wrong’ arrived in 1995. The superb instrumental ‘First Cool Hive’, the happy hardcore of ‘Feeling So Real’, the gospel punk of ‘All That I Need Is To Be Loved’ and the neo-classical ‘Hymn’ showcased his eclectic tastes. Miller’s tremendous foresight turned out to be a wise decision when the unexpected success of ‘Play’ in 1999 provided a boost for Mute.

‘Everything Is Wrong’ was released as STUMM 130

http://www.moby.com

KOMPUTER EP (1996)

London duo Simon Leonard and David Baker began as I START COUNTING and then morphed into FORTRAN 5. But as KOMPUTER, they created some heavily KRAFTWERK influenced numbers to make up for the lack of new material. From their first ‘EP’, ‘We Are Komputer’ was their own ‘The Robots’, while there was also the tribute to the first female Cosmonaut ‘Valentina Tereshkova’ which mined ‘The Model’.

‘Komputer’ was released as MUTE 175

https://komp46.wixsite.com/komputer

PEACH Audiopeach (1997)

The concept of PEACH was ‘ABBA meets THE KLF’. Released in September 1997, ‘Audiopeach’ is one of those albums that has been lost in the midst of ‘Cool Britannia’. The album’s reputation was based on the participation of its two instrumentalists Pascal Gabriel and Paul Statham. Completing PEACH’s line-up was singer Lisa Lamb. The album’s launch single ‘On My Own’ was classic pop for the modern era with Lamb’s vocal delivery akin to Belinda Carlisle going electro.

‘Audiopeach’ was released as STUMM 153

http://www.inspiracy.com/peach

ADD N TO (X) Add Insult To Injury (2000)

While LADYTRON were using their Korg MS20s making sinewaves in a more pop oriented setting, ADD N To (X) took their MS series synths into more obscure, experimental territory. ‘Add Insult To Injury’ had one half written / performed by Ann Shenton and Steve Claydon, while the other was written / performed by Barry 7. The wonderful robotic sexual tension of ‘Plug Me In’  and the creepy noise fest of ‘Hit For Cheese’ were highlights.

‘Add Insult To Injury’ was released as STUMM 187

http://www.addntox.com/

GOLDFRAPP Felt Mountain (2000)

‘Felt Mountain’ was a superb introduction to the then electro Weimar Cabaret cinematics of Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory. Beginning with the superb ‘Lovely Head’ with its spine tingling whistle and MS20 assisted banshee wails, the album thrilled with Morricone style widescreen inflections to accompany an ascent to the Matterhorn rather than a trek through a Spaghetti Western. ‘Felt Mountain’ was a slow burner that was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize.

‘Felt Mountain’ was released as STUMM 188

http://www.goldfrapp.com

VINCENT CLARKE & MARTYN WARE Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle (2001)

‘Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle’ was composed as part of an installation where the colours referred to in the titles of the six lengthy pieces were ‘programmed to cross fade imperceptibly to create an infinite variation of hue’ in a white clothed room. Tracks like ‘White – You Are In Heaven’, ‘Yellow – You Are On A Beach’, ‘Blue – You Are Underwater’ and’ Green – You Are In A Forest’ were all utilised to full effect with a binaural 3D mixing technique best heard using headphones.

‘Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle’ was released as STUMM 194

http://www.illustriouscompany.co.uk

CLIENT Client (2003)

In 2002, DUBSTAR’s Sarah Blackwood was recruited to front synthpop duo TECHNIQUE by Kate Holmes. In Leipzig supporting DEPECHE MODE, they became CLIENT and were mysteriously referred to as Client A and Client B in a ‘1984’ inspired Orwellian twist. Signed to Mute via Andy Fletcher’s Toast Hawaii imprint, they announced “Client… satisfaction guaranteed… innovate never imitate… we aim to please… at your service” before a “F*** OFF! DON’T TOUCH ME THERE!”

‘Client’ was released as TH 003

http://www.clientlondon.com/

DAVE GAHAN Hourglass (2007)

His solo debut ‘Paper Monsters’ was a disappointment, but Dave Gahan was still finding his feet as a songwriter, becoming more realised on ‘Playing The Angel’. ‘Hourglass’ was better and ‘Kingdom’ could have made a great DM recording. But in the same way that Mick Jagger’s 1984 Nile Rodgers produced solo debut LP having very few takers meant that the ROLLING STONES would continue ad infinitum, would DEPECHE MODE still be going if Mr Gahan’s solo career had taken off?

‘Hourglass’ was released as STUMM 288

http://www.davegahan.com

MAPS Vicissitude (2013)

While Mute continues to diversify, the more esoteric pop aspirations of Mute’s synthetic roster continues. MAPS is the vehicle of James Chapman; with a more expansive electronic template, his third album ‘Vicissitude’ was a selection of very personal songs with a strong melodic backbone. Unafraid to let the instrumental synth elements take a role in the overall aesthetic, tracks like ‘AMA’ and ‘You Will Find a Way’ put MAPS into the same league as M83 and EAST INDIA YOUTH.

‘Vicissitude’ was released as STUMM 354

http://www.thisismaps.com

POLLY SCATTERGOOD Arrows (2013)

Polly Scattergood signalled the more electronic journey of her second album ‘Arrows’ with the marvellous electro-COCTEAU TWINS twist of ‘Wanderlust’. While there were still signs of her folkier roots, synthetic textures and technological trickery were very much part of the action. The sad but driving pop of ‘Falling’ and ‘Subsequently Lost’ attracted empathy with Polly World, while the highly emotive ‘Miss You’ and the dreamy ‘Cocoon’ displayed her vulnerability.

‘Arrows’ was released as STUMM 328

http://www.pollyscattergood.com/

Text by Chi Ming Lai with thanks to Simon Helm at Cold War Night Life
23rd June 2015

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