Tag: Goldfrapp (Page 5 of 10)

FIFI RONG The Same Road

24 May 2017 /

Beijing-born songstress FIFI RONG pulls off a surprise with her latest single ‘The Same Road’.

More uptempo than she has even been before with a driving nocturnal resonance, ‘The Same Road’ is accessible while still retaining the airy mystery of her previous work. The synthy soundscape is particularly enticing along with Rong’s distinctive vocal interplay, while the rhythmic guitar and reverbed drum sound adds some of the Trans-Atlantic vibe that CHVRCHES successfully adopted on their second album ‘Every Open Eye’.

Mixed by Max Dingel whose credits have included THE KILLERS, WHITE LIES, MUSE and GOLDFRAPP, ‘The Same Road’ is the possibly the most pop that FIFI RONG has ever been with the latter’s ‘Head First’ looming over it.

While the single sees FIFI RONG move away from her more artful downtempo roots, she says “‘The Same Road’ falls into one of my recurring themes of such inherent paradox and emotional cocktail of vulnerability and strengths.”

Directed by her regular visual collaborator Paris Seawell, the video for ‘The Same Road’ sees Rong in enigmatic dance motion choreographed by Dam Van Huynh, with the hazy effect enhanced by striking UV glow make-up…

Following the success of her previous campaigns, FIFI RONG begins a new Pledge Music project for her next two single releases. One of the options available is the possibility of her recording a cover version of your choice, while also available are the usual opportunities for private gigs, personalised lyric sheets and a signed limited edition compilation vinyl LP of her career to date.

With appearances at SXSW 2017 and The Great Escape, along with her noted collaboration with Swiss electronic pioneers YELLO, FIFI RONG is undoubtedly on an upward trajectory with her brand of world futurism.

‘The Same Road’ is released on 16th June 2017 via AWAL through the usual digital outlets

FIFI RONG launches ‘The Same Road’ with a live show at The Waiting Room in London’s Stoke Newington on 13th June 2017

Information on FIFI RONG’s current Pledge Music campaign can be viewed at: http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/fifirong-2singles

http://www.fifirong.com/

https://www.facebook.com/fifirongmusic/

https://twitter.com/fifirong

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Paris Seawell
24th May 2017

SARAH P. Who Am I

5 May 2017 /


KEEP SHELLY IN ATHENS was the first project Sarah Anna Psalti was involved with, accompanied by the mysteriously named producer and musician RΠЯ.

After the release of their debut long player ‘At Home’ featuring the magnificent ‘Oostende’, SARAH P. decided to relocate to Berlin, where she desperately needed a new start.

Indeed, her first EP ‘Free’ “a couple of years that have been rough and weird”, seeing Sarah “shyly and slowly moving from the ultimate darkness towards the light”.

As the songstress admits, “when I’m writing and recording my own music or working on a feature, I do it all my way. I’ll put together the sounds I like, I’ll play the melodies that I think they fit”.

Now with ‘Who Am I’, Sarah finally unveils the long awaited gem she’d been talking about, “There is a whole concept behind it and I am very much looking forward to sharing it, although I’ve got to hold back and wait!”

Produced together with George Priniotakis, ‘Who Am I’ is “a pop record that is different, an ode to the humanly deep need of security and love”. Sarah certainly doesn’t shy from the experimentation, sounding exquisitely like Kate Bush on the title track, asking the existential questions over a sparse beat, which flourishes into a house inspired climax. It’s a perfect description of “humanity, the world we live in and our importance (or unimportance) as individuals and / or as a whole”.

The minimalistic approach permeates throughout the production and is mirrored in the magnificent ‘A Letter From Urban Street’, with its ringing sounds and ethereal vocals, reminiscing a hybrid of Bush / Goldfrapp / Fraser / Scattergood.

‘Away From Me’ borrows ideas from GAZELLE TWIN, paired with the feel of a grown-up nursery rhyme, while ‘Berlin During Winter’ is certainly far colder than sunny Athens, with its Nordic aura. The metallic, scattered sounds vibrate over the urgent build-up of the vocal, culminating in a plethora of voices, at times quite animal sounding in a leaf taken from Alison Goldfrapp’s book.

‘ForgetRegret’ ushers in some dramatic sound play, with fascinating synth textures and captivating voices paving the way for a new style of mature electronica.

The shouting male voices on ‘Instead Of You’ could be the ones from DEPECHE MODE’s vintage B-side ‘Flexible’, but the melody and that gentle, yet powerful female vocal, creates a hedonistic vision of dreamlike state realities, which SARAH P. seems to excel in.

‘LoveStory’ could have featured on the ‘Twin Peaks’ soundtrack, contrary to a faster paced’Millennial Girl’ which capture a sci-fi vision of synthpopia.

‘Summer Prince’ fabulously is a reminder of the Canadian synth queen GRIMES’ style and ‘To You’ toys with the gentility of Sarah’s voice and timid sound manipulation which is rather pleasant on the ear.

What she sets out, she achieves. ‘Who Am I’ is sophisticated, cultured and synthtastic. SARAH P. certainly stands for high quality recordings, originally produced and sophistically executed.

“There’s no right and there’s no wrong, but there’s hope” says Sarah, “And while we’re feeling defeated, even during those dark hours, there’s hope we can do better. And we will.”

She did…

‘Who Am I’ is released as a download album by EraseRestart, available direct from https://sarahpofficial.bandcamp.com/

http://sarahpofficial.com/

https://www.facebook.com/sarahpofficial/

https://twitter.com/sarahpofficial

Text by Monika Izabela Trigwell
Photos by Christoph Neumann
5th May 2017

VANBOT Siberia

7 April 2017 /

Stockholm based singer / songwriter Ester Ideskog, otherwise known as VANBOT, has undoubtedly produced the most striking album of her career following the comparatively conventional offerings of ‘Vanbot’ and ‘Perfect Storm’.

‘Siberia’ is the result of a 17 day journey on the Trans-Siberian railway, recorded by Ideskog with collaborators Johannes Berglund and Petter Winnberg while cooped up in a small carriage compartment with just battery operated technology for company, out in the wilderness, largely away from civilisation…

The musical adventure captures extreme and expansive landscapes from Moscow to China via Mongolia with a roaming atmospheric ambience. Embracing the technological limitations, the threesome purposefully made no additional recordings upon their return to Sweden to the resultant album, naturally titled ‘Siberia’.

With constant motion and new locations looming throughout, most of the tracks have been subtitled according to the location of their conception. It begins with an incessant drum machine as the train departs for ‘Not That Kind (Moscow)’. Sparse and steadfast, haunting female and male voices chill across the airy soundscape. And with the dreamy percussive collage of ‘Stay With Me (Perm)’ that follows, it is evidence that ‘Siberia’ is not a straightforward pop album but one that is dictated by the mood of its surroundings.

‘Yekaterinburg’ is a beautiful instrumental recalling the work of Norwegian duo FROST with lo-fi organ sounds and processed voice samples, the gentle clattering symbolising the move into a new continent on the city’s Eurasian border. Meanwhile, ‘On the Fly (Omsk)’ takes the journey into South-Western Siberia where the mood is gloomier. Omsk is said to be one of the saddest places in Russia and the track’s sombre aura certainly reflects that.

The crystalline ‘Collide (Krasnoyarsk)’ sees a more obvious Nordic influence creeping into proceedings and compared to the tracks before, it is more song based as the pace picks up with some gorgeous melodies too.

‘Hard to Get Used To (Baikal)’ sees the rhythms take a breather as the sight of the world’s oldest and deepest freshwater lake brings in an early GOLDFRAPP influence; Ideskog filters her whispers ‘Felt Mountain’ style as a ukulele plucks away in the background.

The fabulous oddball percussive template of ‘Fiction (Listvyanka)’ is made even stranger by a cacophony of pitched up vocals and distorted bass synths for a wonderfully cerebral experience. ‘Louder (Ulan-Ude)’ featuring a duet with Petter Winnberg is close to being a conventional ballad as the train treads the rails towards the sparser landscapes of Mongolia.

‘On Wasted (Terelj)’ evokes the area’s vast rocky landscape with a breathy awe, while an unexpected uptempo mood change on ‘Close Enough (Ulan Bator)’ recalls IAMAMIWHOAMI as the train speeds up and trances towards the album’s conclusion as Ideskog repeatedly chants “I can’t get closer now”.

To close ‘Siberia’, the ambience of ‘Stuck In Between (Yak – Moscow Airport)’ reflects the frustration of the transfer to get home with acoustic guitar and a slow arpeggio. The haunting synth layers are gently hypnotic while bursts of hissy noise are used inventively as a backbone without being obtrusive.

An aural exploration of the relationship between time, location and emotion, ‘Siberia’ is a bold experiment in creativity, capturing otherworldliness on earth. Most importantly, ‘Siberia’ is accessible, an example of how experimentation doesn’t have to be wholly uncompromising and can include melody. Like I AM SNOW ANGEL from the shores of Lake Placid, VANBOT is quietly subversive.

Those who favour her previous ROBYN-esque sound will be surprised or even shocked, but for Ester Ideskog, the third VANBOT album will sow the seed to establish her as an artist of worth for the future.

‘Siberia’ is released by Lisch Recordings in vinyl LP and digital fomats

http://www.vanbotmusic.com/

https://www.facebook.com/vanbotmusic/

https://twitter.com/vanbotmusic

https://www.instagram.com/vanbotmusic/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
7th April 2017

GOLDFRAPP Silver Eye

31 March 2017 /

GOLDFRAPP certainly do little else but invite the listener to dive in “head first” into each and every one their releases, which to date, are unique and storytelling, delving into variations of synth like no other.

Starting with the debut ‘Felt Mountain’ which was elegantly cinematic, through to the full glam of ‘Black Cherry’ and ‘Supernature’, the folksy ‘Seventh Tree’, the deliciously wired synthpop ‘Head First’ (who said Italo disco was dead?), onto ‘Tales Of Us’, which dazzled with a plethora of private emotion, the duo consisting of Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory promise to continue to surprise on ‘Silver Eye’.

With GOLDFRAPP, it’s like playing chess against a rather skilled opponent, “We’re going to keep you guessing on what our next move is” say the twosome, borrowing the sentiment from David Bowie. Alison admits that “We’ve never liked repeating ourselves. Often we react to things we’ve just done. We like the spontaneity of not knowing. It’s only through the process that we start to figure out what it is. The fans who have stuck with us are the ones who embrace that idea and are excited by the thought that they don’t know quite what to expect next”.

Indeed ‘Silver Eye’ has been well appointed with eclectic collaborations. The band spent 10 days in Dallas with Grammy-winning producer John Congleton. Bobby Krlic, aka THE HAXAN CLOAK caught up with them in London and Leo Abrahams, who’s known for being a Brian Eno collaborator, added abstract guitar textures.

The first single and album opener ‘Anymore’ marks a return to their electronic sound with that harsh, pulsating synth line and a sensuous vocal, wanting a reaction to the pleas of yearning (“I can’t wait, I can’t wait anymore…”). It’s different, yet still very GOLDFRAPP. A similar emotion continues to be captured on ‘Systemagic’; an uptempo gem reminiscent of the material from ‘Black Cherry’, it begs the question as to whether Alison is always found in the kitchen at parties?

‘Moon In Your Mouth’ must be the definitive slice of electronic poetry. Magical, ethereal and loaded with such engaging synth, one wants to drift away on the waves of Alison’s vocal which recalls Dido. If only more modern synthpop was written with such a captivating sentiment, it’s definitely one of the best tracks on ‘Silver Eye’.

‘Tigerman’ also finds itself in a dreamlike state of animal-like consciousness, similarly to ‘Beast That Never Was’, while ‘Everything Is Never Enough’ goes back to the faster tempo and poignant lyrics, describing the wasteful society of today. To slow things down, the delicate ‘Faux Suede Drifter’ and exquisitely opulent ‘Zodiac Black’ punctuate the centre of the long player. Both downtempo masterpieces are dreamy and unparalleled in their simplicity.

‘Become The One’, nods to the inspiration Alison Goldfrapp took from a documentary about transgender children, and the opus is concluded with the striking ‘Ocean’. The vocal evolves here over some gritty, emancipated electronica loaded with heavy emotion à la the productions of John Fryer, injecting feelings that can do nothing else but move and force to yearn for more. But there’s no more, ‘Silver Eye’ ends abruptly here, begging for further listening pleasures. Let’s rewind…

As Will Gregory observed: “I think writing an album is like being lost in a wood. You’re trying to figure out an interesting path. You don’t know whether it’s going to be a dead end or somewhere interesting and you never know when to stop because around the corner some beautiful vista might open up.”

GOLDFRAPP don’t repeat, they don’t pretend, they just consistently deliver. It proves there’s plenty of new life to be brought into releases of an established act. A definitive challenge for their contemporaries, it’s a strong contender for the ‘Album of 2017’ title, even this early in the annum.

‘Silver Eye’ is released in clear vinyl LP, CD and digital formats by Mute Artists

http://goldfrapp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Goldfrapp

Text by Monika Izabela Trigwell
31st March 2017

THE GOLDEN FILTER Still//Alone

27 February 2017 /

Coming from a background in electro-disco, the Australia meets America duo, THE GOLDEN FILTER have more of a Scandinavian synth sound.

Vocalist Penelope Trappes, originally from Down Under, joined an Ohio boy and synth programmer Stephen Hindman in The Big Apple before relocating to London. Their first album ‘Voluspa’ proved to be an excellent example of electronic dance knowhow, with magnificent singles such as ‘Solid Gold’, ‘Thunderbird’ and ‘Hide Me’.

The debut was followed by the release of ‘Unselected Works’ in three volumes, but now the pair are back with a worthy follow-up in ‘Still//Alone’.’We Are The Music’ opens the long player, with that minimal synth sound Clarke and Gore used on their VCMG collaboration. However this time, a gorgeous female voice accents the sparse melody and execution.

‘Nine’ sounds very mathematical, almost calculated to lead to a trance induced comatose, while ‘//’ is very Gore-esque again. ‘Vibrational’ offers a futuristic approach a la GAZELLE TWIN with a metallic feel and ambient textures.

The tempo changes with ‘Questions’. Is it John Fryer on that guitar? He certainly wouldn’t be ashamed of this tune. The airy vocal and the sophisticated production bearing elements of uncertainty and placid dependency lead to possibly the best track on the opus, ‘Dust’. Here, GOLDFRAPP meets BLONDIE interlaced with NEW ORDER, with a skilful guitar and systemically apt synth.

‘There Is No Love Between Us’ comes in with the punctuating bass line and the comeback of minimal techno, crushing with the waves of simple, yet sophisticated melody. The closing ‘Rivers’ nods to OMD minus McCluskey with the higher synth riff and jabbing bassline making it an easy listening pop track.

THE GOLDEN FILTER have come back with a very eclectic combo of great tunes; there’s no repetition, no sameness, no fillers, only a decent sounding mix of songs appealing to many tastes. This is definitely a worthy outing, which will prove rather timeless.

‘Still//Alone’ is released by Optimo in vinyl and download formats

http://www.thegoldenfilter.com/

https://www.facebook.com/thegoldenfilter/

Text by Monika Izabela Trigwell
27th February 2017, updated 8th December 2017

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