Following a break from the music scene (by his recent prolific standards!) during which he has been made an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy at Edge Hill University, John Foxx has released not one but two instrumental albums.
Both releases feature artwork by Jonathan Barnbrook using images created by visual artist Karborn. The first release is ‘Evidence Of Time Travel’, a collaboration with Steve D’Agostino. The music is described as “is a unique investigation of the terrors and pleasures of temporal displacement. A sinister sonic architecture of drum-machine-music and analogue synthesizers”.
Based on the evidence presented so far, the soundtrack of chattering Compurhythm and shrieking string machines on pieces such as the primitive drum ‘n’ bass of ‘Rhapsody In Flames’ and the dystopian sequence rush of ‘The Forbidden Experiment’ will please any long standing enthusiast of John Foxx. There will be a special live event at The British Film Institute in November to coincide with the release.
D’Agostino also appears on the second of these releases ‘B-Movie (BallardianVideo Neuronica)’, collaborating on the track ‘Disaster Series’. And while this album is largely a Foxx solo offering, Chief Mathematician Benge features on ‘Geometry, Collision & Coincidence’.
Ranging from the deviant technopop of ‘Crash Course’ to the sombre ambience of ‘The Other Side’, the music reflects the cut-up / collage nature of the same titled short movie assembled by Foxx and Karborn. Inspired by British writer JG Ballard whose books include ‘Crash’ and ‘Empire Of The Sun’, the work was premiered as part of Brighton’s ‘Cine-City’ festival in late 2012.
It seems bizarre now that following his below par LP ‘In Mysterious Ways’ in 1986, Foxx effectively retired from the music industry until his 1997 return ‘Shifting City’ with Louis Gordon. Compare that to 2013 which saw John Foxx releases with THE MATHS, JORI HULKKONEN and THE BELBURY CIRCLE plus the curation of the ‘Exponential’ covers EP featuring GAZELLE TWIN and I SPEAK MACHINE.
And all this is without mentioning the remixes for OMD and SIMPLE MINDS or the ‘Metadelic’ and ‘In The Glow’ retrospectives. Another John Foxx release ‘Electricity & Ghosts’ is scheduled for 2015.
‘Evidence Of Time Travel’ and ‘B-Movie (Ballardian Video Neuronica)’ both get a general release on 6th October 2014 via Metamatic Records
‘Evidence Of Time Travel’ will be premiered at a special live performance for The British Film Institute as part of their ‘Sci-Fi: Days Of Fear & Wonder’ season on 21st November 2014; details can be found at: www.bfi.org.uk
Minimal synth duo XENO & OAKLANDER release their fourth album ‘Par Avion’ this summer and as can be fathomed from the title, it sees them in comparative holiday mode.
The songs have been described by the pair as “postcards of love for a cold age — shimmering moments from the present, romantic messages from the past, and love mementos for the future”.
While Liz Wendelbo and Sean McBride retain their trademark combination of analogue trickery and unorthodox vocals, best showcased on ‘The Staircase’ from their last album ‘Sets & Lights’, this release on Ghostly International expands the template with a more expansive but still spacious sound. Icy string machines sit next to synergetic arpeggios and clattering drum machines in an exotically modern sound environment as both proven by the glistening offerings of ‘Sheen’ and ‘Providence’.
This new album’s aural diversity from upbeat to downbeat, slow to fast and light to dark comes as a half hour conceptual ode to synesthesia ie the union of the senses. As singer Liz Wendelbo explained: “Sound makes me think of a scent, which makes me think of an image, which makes me think of a certain kind of light”
The duo supported JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS at London’s XOYO in 2011 and the Brooklyn based pair were notable for their array of vintage instrumentation that included several Roland SH101s, a Roland RS09, Korg KR55 Rhythm Box, TR808 and an Oberheim SEM. This complex armoury provided for a frantically tensile approach that included manually operated percussion fills and some additional authentic Europeanism in the form of Wendelbo’s wispy Franco / Norwegian charm.
So ‘Par Avion’ is indeed looser than XENO & OAKLANDER have ever been before. ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK spoke to the duo’s Sean McBride about how they made their new album fly…
Your new album ‘Par Avion’ has been described as an ode to synesthesia. What conscious decisions were there to make it different from ‘Sets & Lights’?
At the outset of recording this album, Liz was engaged in developing several perfumes, ‘Eau de Xeno’, hence synesthesia. There was never a conscious decision to do something different. There were of course newfound synthesizer processes that we wanted to employ and expand on. As our music largely grows out of live performance, this new material, in part, emerged out of the interstitial moments between the set of songs we were playing live, namely the songs from ‘Sets & Lights’.
For instance, ‘Sheen’ grew out of the bridge linking ‘Sunday’ with ‘Blue’. After which we form them into structured pieces. So in a sense ‘Par Avion’ was squeezed out of the gaps of ‘Sets & Lights’. There is an internal logic integrated into not only the new album but also our entire catalogue. ‘Providence’ and ‘Reflections’ function as soundtracks within, and to this album and this logic.
‘Interface’ appears to have a more expansive audio spectrum than before?
We were really interested in a sonic thickness – elongated and dense walls of frequency modulated harmonic noise mixed with glassy string clusters and voltage controlled analog delay feedback – not necessarily a move away from the age-old syncopated arpeggios of our older material, but a stretching out and a kind of liquefaction of these elements.
The ‘Par Avion’ title track possesses a wispy dreamy romance alongside the more unorthodox sounds while the excellent ‘Sheen’ is quite bouncy yet smothered in ice and seems to nicely sum up the concept of the album. What would you consider the key tracks on ‘Par Avion’?
I think more important than “key tracks” would be “key processes” and so I would say that FM synthesis is that key process. We used between 10 and 15 oscillators, we relied less on filters and patched the oscillators directly to the VCA (amplifier) only using analog delays to cut high frequency distortion. With this we were able to achieve everything from wall of sound dreamy guitar noise (‘Sheen’ and ‘Lastly’) to tremulous bouzouki timbres (‘Par Avion’).
How would you describe your creative dynamic during writing and recording, particularly with regards to who takes lead vocals etc?
Mostly conceived during the live performance ‘bridging’ of songs, the recording process is very straightforward, as I am controlling the rhythmic, bass and chordal elements, Liz is producing melodies and atmospheres, both with synthesizers as well as her voice. Liz typically sings to begin with, as I can then adjust the harmonic structure around her and she around me. All of the music is recorded in one take – apart from the fact that all of the instruments require the clocked master pulse (often coming from a Roland system 104 or TR 606 or Korg KR 55), we want the songs themselves to be a registration of a particular performance of a particular moment in time. Perhaps not the most apt comparison, but we would rather work with clay than with Legos.
Have your various solo projects as LIZ & LASZLO and MARTIAL CANTEREL had much of an effect on your approach to this album?
Liz sang on some of our friend Xavier’s songs (LASZLO, AUTOMELODI) and played string synths – as such I do not think it informs XENO & OAKLANDER so much, it’s a fun collaboration, whereas MARTIAL CANTEREL abides by, albeit solitarily, the same essential ethics and processes as XENO & OAKLANDER; so certainly there are a great deal of borrowed ideas, structures, and elements.
However, when working with another, the art of listening to the other becomes much more critical in importance – a synergy, a counterpoint. Also, Liz brings to X&O an aesthetic vision, a synesthetic vision – so her solo work with perfume, film and photography is central to our project’s universe.
How did you originally become interested in forming a project consisting exclusively of electronic instrumentation? Who were your main influences musically and culturally?
In the early 90s, I acquired a Korg Monopoly, Oberheim SEM and a SC Prophet 600, a SC Tom and an SC Drumtraks. I realized that there were archaic, pre digital ways to interface these instruments with one another. So simply as we acquired more, the studio became one large holistic, interfaceable, synergistic instrument – to borrow a term from Chomsky’s generative grammar, a discrete infinity of possibilities.
There was little need to bring in other instrumentation outside of the realm of voltage control – what little we have brought in over the years (trumpet, guitar, ethnic percussion) has been a playful highlight of the very thing it is playing alongside of – the synth studio. As goes influence, everything from Baroque to 60s psych to 80s Italian industrial and beyond… We are particularly interested, though, in the music and those projects which involved similar synthesizers to what we use, especially those who utilized synthesizers during their nascence – ca. 1964 to 1984.
You’ve acquired a Serge Modular? Why one of those as opposed to any other modular and how have you found it to use?
I acquired the Serge 6 years ago and for me as, a unit, it is the most densely complex synthesizer I have ever used. The synthesizer wizardry lies in that the modules can have a multitude of different functionalities, its size, the mode of patching (banana jacks) and most importantly, the incredibly stable tuning of the unit. The Wave Multiplier section within my Serge system is perhaps a favorite function – sine waves rectified at odd number harmonic intervals.
However the Serge is just an element of a greater instrument – the multitude, the many interconnected synthesizers we use. So what is being played is not just the Serge, but 3 or 5 or 8 other synthesizers all patched together, talking to one another, at times ignoring one another. Funnily enough the Serge appeared more on Sets and Lights than on Par Avion…
The Roland SH101 appears to be one of your favourite instruments; what is it about is versatility / limitations that makes it an important part of the XENO & OAKLANDER sound?
The SH101s – we have 5 – for me, are used simply as controller keyboards to play either the Serge, 2600s, Eurorack system etc., and Liz largely uses them for atmospherics, noise percussion, and auxiliary bass overtones. The SH101’s greatness lies in the fact that it is so lightweight, and as such, makes touring with a complete analogue synthesizer set-up possible. The clockable arpeggiator and the built-in scratchpad sequencer are added perks.
You’ve acquired a vast number of synths and devices over the years, are there any interesting stories you can tell us with regards some of their little eccentricities and quirks?
I brought the Serge with me to Copenhagen in 2010 as checked-in baggage, and after unpacking it and soundchecking, I realized that the oscillators were as I left them in New York – perfectly tuned.
Is there an instrument you’d like to have that you don’t already own yet?
More Serge modular and maybe a Wersi Alpha DX 300.
You’ve adapted the live set-up to use more modern technology to control the older synths. Did you have any artistic manifesto dilemmas to consider or was it a no-brainer in terms of practicality?
As we want the distinction between studio practice and live performance to collapse as much as possible, physical weight, size and durability become key. For the last three years we have used a hodge podge of eurorack modules fitted into a very portable carrying case. This allows us to match, let’s say, the functionality of the Serge or Roland System 100 in a relatively inexpensive and portable unit. While the manufacturers of yesteryear used higher calibre electronics and materials (military grade circuitry, leather tolex, brushed steel) the simple dimensions and weight of these instruments precludes using them live without a substantial road crew, an army of assistants.
Also within the eurorack format, one can very easily customize and swap out the modules within a case to the needs of the day – MARTIAL CANTEREL uses one grouping of modules, Xeno another. I have toured with the Serge and ARP Odyssey several times – the Serge’s power supply weighs more than the synth itself – however they no longer provide the most bang for what one human being can carry – especially across Europe – trains, planes, automobiles.
So are you darkwave, synthpop, electro, EDM or minimal synth? Do classifications such as these really matter in the end?
These terms do not matter to me. They are only important for the Historicists and as eBay LP auction keywords. We’ve used the term ‘Minimal Electronics’ over the years to describe our music, although with our new album ‘Par Avion’, the minimal has perhaps changed to maximal.
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its sincerest thanks to XENO & OAKLANDER
Special thanks to Steve Malins at Random PR
‘Par Avion’ is released in LP, CD and digital formats by Ghost International. A special edition flesh coloured vinyl version, limited to 350 hand-numbered copies with a rose-scented art perfume insert will be available soon
GAZELLE TWIN premiered her new album ‘Unflesh’ with a special performance at Birthdays in London’s trendy Dalston district.
The live presentation showcased a heavier sound that has distinctly moved away from the cinematic hauntronica of debut album ‘The Entire City’ and interim EP ‘Mammal’.
The moniker of Elizabeth Bernholz, GAZELLE TWIN has acquired an impressive host of admirers and collaborators including John Foxx, Gary Numan and Clint Mansell. ‘Unflesh’ has with artistic violence allowed the Brighton based songstress to exorcise her demons.Indeed, the closing number of the evening is appropriately titled ‘Exorcise’; an impressively aggressive cross between PINK FLOYD’s ‘One The Run’ and KRAFTWERK’s ‘Home Computer’, it is accorded some extra uneasy resonance by Bernholz’s deadpan commentary.
Clothed in a school-blue goodie with a head stocking and brown wig replacing the mysteriously veiled Elephant Woman look of her shows supporting JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS in late 2011, GAZELLE TWIN’s new material has a more threatening intent, focussing on the more industrialised template introduced by ‘Belly Of The Beast’ and new single ‘Anti Body’.
The ‘Unflesh’ title track and ‘I Feel Blood’ are even barer but no less unsettling while ‘Guts’ follows a similar path but adds an almost PRINCE-like funk groove. Indeed, much of the material on ‘Unflesh’ is strangely danceable…
Elizabeth Bernholz kindly spoke with ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK before her ‘Unflesh’ showcase to discuss her latest incarnation of expression.
How would you describe the differences in the way you’ve conceived ‘Unflesh’ compared with ‘The Entire City’ and the ‘Mammal’ EP?
The writing process has simplified. I restricted myself so that I ended up with a more direct and quite a lo-fi sound. There are connections with ‘The Entire City’, the first full length thing I ever wrote and produced, but the relationship with ‘Unflesh’ is minimal. It has been written very much with live performance in mind.
Titles such as ‘Unflesh’, ‘Belly Of The Beast’, ‘Guts’ and ‘Anti Body’ indicate you still have metaphysical concerns?
That’s something I can’t switch off. But I don’t want to. There are rarely moments where I’m not considering the wider meaning of all things, on a day to day basis. I’ll make a sandwich and think of the former life of all the ingredients, all these particles that are being slammed together to ultimately end up as my sh*t…
I like that sort of thought process. I’m hypersensitive to everything around me all the time. This is not always useful. I suffer from anxiety and have numerous phobias that mostly arose from childhood. I have overcome most of them through making music, and this record is very much a continuation of that process.
The ‘Unflesh’ project has been supported by a striking audio / visual component. The faceless girl in the school-blue sportswear… is the character in any way autobiographical?
100%. It’s from a memory of school, 16 years ago. I chose to confront a difficult experience from that time, by re-embodying it. The difference is that this time I’m in control. A pretty simple exercise in self-help when you think about it… people will continue to be baffled and weirded-out by it, but that’s OK. That’s the fun part of it. That makes me want to do it even more.
When we last spoke, you described recording an album as being “a bit like doing a thesis”. Has that still been the case with ‘Unflesh’?
I researched anatomy – more as a hobby than being very academic about it. I’m especially interested in disease and mutations in nature. I have always enjoyed finding rhymes in nature – in structures, behaviours, rhythms etc. I also researched a lot of artists and artworks that deal with similar themes. I find doing this really rewarding and enlightening. There is so much out there to absorb.
Since ‘The Entire City’ was released, THE KNIFE returned with the uncompromising ‘Shaking The Habitual’. What did you think of it and has it has any bearing on your own artistic directions for ‘Unflesh’?
I had pretty much finished writing most of ‘Unflesh’ by the time ‘Shaking The Habitual’ came out, but I love that album of course and proudly align myself with its stance on politics, including the politics of performance art and how gender is dealt with in popular culture. Uncompromising is the key. They are one of the best conceptual performance groups out there right now. I wish there were more.
Claire Boucher aka GRIMES fedback to you about the demo of ‘Anti Body’. I SPEAK MACHINE aka Tara Busch has also reworked ‘Anti Body’. Do you feel an affinity with any of the current crop of female artists in electronic music?
I am asked this a lot… I guess because I am openly challenging the gender issue in performance. In the end, my interest is only in ideas. I might feel a great affinity with a very aggressive, masculine, male performer like Stefan Burnett (DEATH GRIPS) as well as a female artist who is exploring similar territory.
I think it’s important not to make the distinction about gender being the reason behind it. Over emphasis can sometimes push the divide even further. I fully support other artists who are female of course, and I stand firmly behind the feminist and the LGBT debate which is very important to keep in the forefront of the mind.
GAZELLE TWIN, in its very essence, began as statement against a commercially driven world (and music industry), which constantly wants to remind me of my own sex and tell me what I’m supposed to do with it.
Your musical connections with JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS and the MemeTune collective have led to further collaborations with people such as Stephen Mallinder via the WRANGLER project. You’re building up quite an impressive CV of collaborators?
It’s insane… I was thinking about some of the people I’ve encountered or worked with over the last year and I’m incredibly lucky to have had introductions to legendary figures like John and Mal, and also GARY NUMAN. It’s heavily down to my manager Steve Malins who is the chief orchestrator of all these connections and is really talented at connecting people very naturally, from very quite different backgrounds. Robin Rimbaud (aka SCANNER) has also introduced me to some amazing people too, such as WIRE’s Colin Newman and Chris and Cosey of THROBBING GRISTLE. All of this is a privilege and I’m very grateful for that, but long may it continue.
I visited MemeTune a few months back and was strangely drawn to the Polymoog… was there a particular instrument or device that you saw out of the vast collection at MemeTune that particularly fascinated you?
Every time I go there, I notice something new and become lost in the awe of all these incredible instruments surrounding me. Of course I am impressed with the rare synths like the CS80 and the enormous wall of modulars, but the thing that blew me away most of all was actually the simplest… The Plate Reverb – which is just a huge wooden box containing one sheet of metal, an amp and a dampener, with one big metal dial on top to change the tension of the metal. You turn it on from downstairs in the studio and can hear everything going through it upstairs. It’s really, really incredible.
You’re known for experimenting with vocal processing in your music. Have there been any new techniques that you’ve discovered which have shaped this album and perhaps your approach to live work.
The majority of my new material is about spoken and often whispered lyrics rather than sung. There’s a certain skill to achieving that in a live setting because it requires a different kind of performance. In contrast, I have also included a lot of chest voice passages which feel great to perform. I have tried to emulate techniques from Bulgarian Folk singers for these elements, bending my voice into new shapes. There’s still a fair amount of processing going on in this record, but it’s more upfront than anything I have done before.
You’re playing live to showcase the album. How do you feel about live work? Is it something you want to do, or feel you have to do?
Performing live requires so much effort. Not just working the songs into a live format, then rehearsing over and over and over again (which I really hate), but to then have to get through the nerves, deal with the gamble of the sound being alright after soundcheck (it SO often isn’t), and then to recover quickly after all that stress and do it all over again… It’s a hard job, but I consider it a challenge. I do want to perform more and try to garner more satisfaction from the process.
What are your hopes and fears for the future?
Good Health / Bad Health (respectively)
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its sincerest thanks to Elizabeth Bernholz
Special thanks also to Jeff Schofield at Type PR
‘Anti Body’ is released by Anti-Ghost Moon Ray / Last Gang as a digital download and limited 12″ vinyl. It features the exclusive track ‘Phobia’ plus remixes by WRANGLER and I SPEAK MACHINE
‘Unflesh’ will be released later in 2014
Forthcoming GAZELLE TWIN 2014 live appearances include: St Gallen Grabenhalle (28 May – with PLANNINGTOROCK and BERNHOLZ), Hamburg Vogel Ball Festival (2nd August) and Glasgow Old Fruitmarket (3rd October – with WRANGLER and SCANNER)
Multi-instrumentalist singer / songwriter Hannah Peel launched her new ‘Fabricstate’ EP with a special intimate gig at MemeTune Studio, home of chief Mathematician Benge and his renowned collection of vintage synthesizers.
It also happened to be where her second album is currently being recorded. In the complex, which was the venue for interviews with Gary Numan and John Foxx as part of BBC4’s Synth Britannia documentary, were various items of vintage equipment dotted around the room such as the Polymoog and Korg Polyphonic Ensemble; it was a perfect setting to showcase Hannah Peel’s newly developing sound that has mutated to more experimental climes since her traditionally structured debut album ‘The Broken Wave’.
Since playing with the JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS live band, her own music has used more electronics alongside her beloved violin, piano and trombone. Her last EP ‘Nailhouse’ featured a beautiful synth friendly song called ‘Harbour’. Of course, Hannah Peel’s own sweet contemplative voice has also suited these melancholic synthetic soundscapes.
‘Fabricstate’ itself has been influenced by Hannah’s love of classic cinema and Italo Calvino’s 1972 book ‘Invisible Cities’ with the imagined travels of Kublai Khan, through to the loneliness felt by living in big cities, the failure and building of new relationships and to dreams of a better future.
So it was apt that the performance opened with ‘Chloe’, the theme tune to ’Dates’, a drama series highlighting the darker but very real side of internet dating… it deservedly won a 2013 Royal Television Society award for Best Original Title Music and its eerie dynamic suitably reflected the tension of the programme.
The haunting ‘Silk Road’ with its Middle Eastern afflicted vocal was ideal for the hushed environment of an intimate setting. Clavia Nord ivories rang gently while arpeggios blipped over subtle rhythmical samples that provided the heartbeat.
Upping the tempo and rumble, ‘Desolation Row’ and its beautifully haunting tones saw brass and strings of both the real and synthetic variety combining for a wonderful uplifting quality despite the inherent melancholy.
There was then a surprise when Hannah announced she was going to perform a music box assisted cover of THE BLUE NILE’s Paul Buchanan from his recent ‘Mid Air’ solo opus. But tied to her synth duties, she invited a member of the audience to join her. Together, they produced a rather lovely electro acoustic take of an already beautiful song. It is slated to be included on her next album. ‘Baucis’ from the ‘Nailhouse’ EP stirred proceedings slightly after the sedate atmospheres of ‘Cars In The Garden’ with its expletive laden first verse but the best was yet to come.
So with its thoughtful use of synths and loop pedals, ‘Fabricstate’ the song went and stole the show. A subtle understated number in its first half, the song was bolstered by an unexpected but amazing whirring solo on a DS Mopho x4 as things built to a percussive climax with clusters of accompaniment from the various loops. It was a suitably climatic ending to a fine, captivating performance.
The ‘Fabricstate’ collection is without doubt, Hannah Peel’s best solo work yet. A fine example of what happens when the warmth of the synthesizer is exploited and coupled with a classically trained background, the hybrid style has resulted in a quietly subversive organic and technological fusion. Based on the evidence of tonight’s showcase, her second album is going to be a fascinating listen.
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its sincerest thanks to Hannah Peel
The ‘Fabricstate’ EP is available as a 10” vinyl and download via My Own Pleasure
In one of the most productive years ever for electronic pop music, it has been extremely difficult to whittle down the list to 30 songs.
The standard has been extremely high and songs which would have made the listing in previous years have been left off. This has meant the controversial omission of DEPECHE MODE. Despite being as popular as ever, grossing over $99 million during the ‘Delta Machine’ tour, once a shortlist for 2013 was drawn, the competition was so stiff that nothing from the album even scraped in!
Yes, 2013 has been that good and wonderful songs by the likes of KELLI ALI, ELEVEN:ELEVEN, GAZELLE TWIN, GHOST CAPSULES, GOLDFRAPP, HANNAH PEEL, IAMX, KOVAK, MOBY, NIGHT ENGINE, NINE INCH NAILS, SAY LOU LOU, and SOFT METALS have just missed inclusion too!
So the songs on this alphabetical list have been released in physical formats, or digitally as purchasable or free downloads during the calendar year with a limit of one song per artist moniker.
ADULT. Idle (Second Thoughts)
The new ADULT. album ‘The Way Things Fall’ was fittingly described by one observer as “a snuff film version of Speak & Spell”. The fears of relationships and the outside world have very much fuelled the dystopian demeanour of ADULT. While still retaining their distinctive edge, their mutant love songs have a magnetic charm. This was particularly evident on the fabulous single ‘Idle (Second Thoughts)’, a vibrant electro hybrid of GINA X PERFORMANCE and SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES which showcased a strange blend of menace and melody.
Available on the album ‘The Way Things Fall’ via Ghostly International
Moving away from the industrial battleground in which they made their name, ANALOG ANGEL began the year with the enjoyably immediate ‘We Won’t Walk Away’, a laudable tribute to OMD’s classic ‘Organisation’ era. Complete with primary chord structures, one-fingered melodies and motorik rhythm programming, there was even a hint of the dulcet tones of Andy McCluskey in John Brown’s vocal. But just one thing though… Paul Humphreys wants his Prophet 5 back 😉
Available on the download EP ‘Pride’ via Carbon 12 Records
‘Without A Trace Of Emotion’ saw Karl Bartos conversing with his showroom dummy Herr Karl and confronting his demons as an ex-member of the world’s most iconic electronic group. The most straightforward pop song on the ‘Off The Record’ album, its autobiographical resignation was not unlike ‘Life’ from ‘Communication’. But whereas his former colleague Wolfgang Flür vented his spleen in book form with ‘I Was A Robot’, Bartos took a more ironic musical approach with the line “I wish I could remix my life to another beat”, a wry reference to ‘The Mix’ project which drove him to madness and out of Kling Klang!
Available on the album ‘Off The Record’ via Bureau B
The concept of BEF’s ‘Music Of Quality & Distinction Vol3 – Dark’ is dark interpretations of perceivably upbeat songs using a variety of guest vocalists. One of the beauties of this type of project is how seemingly incongruous elements are fused together for a blissful whole. Here, melodramatic Sheffield singer/songwriter David J Roch tackles Bill Withers’ ‘Same Love’ via Martyn Ware’s wonderful arrangement blending a neo-acapella intro into a meaty electro-disco tune with spacey whistles and haunting invader games like Giorgio Moroder producing SPACE’s ‘Magic Fly’.
Available on the album ‘Music of Quality & Distinction Vol3 – Dark’ via Wall Of Sound
Co-written by Swedish electro songstress Karin Park, Norway’s Eurovision Song Contest 2013 entry came fourth. ‘I Feed You My Love’ was like Robyn and Kelly Clarkson fronting ‘Songs Of Faith & Devotion’ era DEPECHE MODE. In fact, its performer Margaret Berger came second in the 2004 series of Norwegian Idol so the description was quite apt. The on-paper incongruous outcome was leftfield by Eurovision standards but perhaps not entirely shockingly, it got nul points from the United Kingdom; it summed up mainstream tastes in the UK and the country’s general Euro scepticism if nothing else!
The saviours of synthpop had an amazing year with sold out club shows and five dates supporting DEPECHE MODE in Europe. CHVRCHES‘ most accessible track ‘The Mother We Share’ was synthpop perfection with the concept of Taylor Swift gone electro having uprooted to Berlin. It deservedly scooped Popjustice’s Twenty Quid Music Prize for best UK single. Despite its wonderfully catchy chorus, it was not wholly bubblegum with its plethora of futuristic sounds and strange noises! Lauren Mayberry, Iain Cook and Martin Doherty delivered on their promise with an impressive debut album ‘The Bones Of What You Believe’, save the two incongruous indie synth numbers sung by Doherty!
Available on the album ‘The Bones Of What You Believe’ via Virgin Records
ELECTRONIC CIRCUS are led by Chris Payne, the keyboard and viola virtuoso who was a member of Gary Numan’s band between 1979 to 89 and featured prominently on the Top10 single ‘Complex’. He notably co-wrote ‘Fade To Grey’ which became a huge international hit for VISAGE. With his adopted home surroundings very much the backbone of ‘Roundabout’, the track itself possessed a sexy and authentic Gallic charm, courtesy of Chris’ wife Dominique. The exquisite, almost naïve vocals over the most incessant synth riff either had listeners dancing with delight or irritated to the point of submission… the seemingly banal words were actually a very clever metaphor for midlife!
Available as a download single via Coverdrive Records
It had to happen and the world found its female DEPECHE MODE! Led by vocalist / songwriter / programmer Anastasia Dimou, the sound was probably more like post-apocalyptic BANGLES or Belinda Carlisle with gothic overtones in hindsight. The first single ‘Land Of The Innocent’ was a wondrous epic based around the arpeggio of ‘Ice Machine’ and driven by a hard incessant beat. Possessing an industrial gloom with an enlightening pop sensibility, it was what LADYTRON would have sounded like if they had formed in a Texan desert rather than spectre of Merseyside!!
Not content with producing MARSHEAUX and collaborating with OMD on ‘Helen Of Troy’, Greek production duo FOTONOVELA unveiled a new sophomore opus which was more song based using a number of prominent international vocalists. One of the numbers ‘Our Sorrow’ featured the majestic voice of James New from the missing-in-action MIRRORS. The string synth laden ditty was in the vein of classic OMD and with the South Coast combo calling it a day in 2013, this was a fitting way to depart The Hall Of Mirrors.
Available on the album ‘A Ton Of Love’ via Undo Records
John Foxx and Jori Hulkkonen had worked together previously but never before on a body of work with a conceptual theme. Their latest collaboration took on a grainier downtempo template and the lead track ‘Evangeline’was all the more beautiful for it. Full of depth, coupled with an anthemic chorus and vibrant exchange of character throughout, this rousing yet soothingly futuristic number was quite otherworldly. The title of the parent EP said it all…
Available on the EP ‘European Splendour’ via Sugarcane Records
Nobody really knows for sure who are GIRL ONE & THE GREASE GUNS but names like Sissy Space Echo, Warren Betamax, Charles Bronson Burner and Bruce LeeFax are commensurate with their manifesto “to thrive on causing confusion with a mixture of pure synth pop and more experimental electronic sounds”. ‘Jessica 6’ is a tribute to the cult Sci-Fi favourite ‘Logan’s Run’. The eerie post-punk cacophony laced with icy Yamaha string machine makes it the perfect belated choice for the soundtrack. Add in a frantic reverbed backbeat and it all comes over like THE PIPETTES fronting collaboration between JOY DIVISION and OMD.
Available as a download single via Squirrel Records
From a long player with distinctly orchestrated and acoustic overtones, ‘Thea’ was the most overtly electronic song on ‘Tales Of Us’. Alison Goldfrapp’s vocal soared angelically, surrounded by very subtle synthetic dance textures and layers of percussive craft. While the beat was mechanical, it didn’t sound out of place on the very organic parent album.
Available on the album ‘Tales Of Us’ via Mute Records
KID MOXIE is the musical vehicle of Los Angeles based Elena Charbila. Her first full length album ‘Selector’ was bolstered by a MARSHEAUX remix of its best song ‘Medium Pleasure’. Always sounding her best when adopting a breathy continental vocal style, Elena Charbila recorded possibly her best song yet as KID MOXIE with ‘The Bailor’, a dreamy and sexy tunes that glistened in the Aegean Sea. The Wayfarer remix of the song was also issued later in the year in aid of The David Lynch Foundation .
LADYTRON’s Helen Marnie released her long awaited debut solo album ‘Crystal World’ in the summer. Recorded in Iceland, it suitably captured the island’s beautifully relaxed but volatile atmosphere. Its opening track ‘The Hunter’ was a tremendous calling card and the vibrant electropop single that LADYTRON never quite got round to releasing. Very pretty and delectably glacial, the tune was vocally and musically expansive like an Arctic escapist fantasy, melancholic but free of doom.
Available on the album ‘Crystal World’ via Les Disques Du Crespuscle
MARSHEAUX’s fourth album ‘Inhale’ had been a long time coming. And it appeared as though the Greek financial crisis had loomed heavy over its making, resulting in moodier, midtempo numbers taking centre stage. ‘August Day’ though was a grower, developing on the maturer outlook apparent on the album’s concept, with a hint of CHVRCHES’ steadier paced output. Less immediate but overwhelmingly dreamy, it captured the senses after multiple listens.
MESH’s founders Mark Hockings and Richard Silverthorn know their audience so the lattice of danceable electro-rock continued on their best album yet ‘Automation Baby’. But the beautiful ‘The Way I Feel’ showed a more sensitive side with hints of Ennio Morricone. Shaped by acoustic guitar and string machine washes, the atmospheric maturity that MESH were now showcasing was a welcome surprise.
Available on the album ‘Automation Baby’ via Dependent
MONARCHY’s ‘Disintegration’ featured the sexy burlesque queen Dita Von Teese on vocals. With its vampish disco crashing into elements of Giorgio Moroder, it sounded like the SCISSOR SISTERS gone right and even threw in a few VISAGE frequency warbles! ‘Disintegration’ was a rather excellent, stomping floor filler of the first degree with some hook laden energy and cooing feline appeal.
Giorgio Moroder is now 73 years old but is as vital as ever having produced the dance track of the year! Commissioned by Google Chrome for their online game ‘Racer’, the piano line was like ULTRAVOX reworked for Studio 54 while the whirring synths and trancey elements made it come over like history of modern electronic dance music squashed into 4 minutes. But as these ideas were mostly borrowed from Da Maestro himself, it was now his time to grab it all back. Moroder easily rivalled any young hopeful with a set of double decks and a laptop.
Alison Moyet made a return to the electronic experimentation that made her famous as one half of YAZOO on her new album ‘the minutes’. With contemporary synthesized backing over a powerful rhythm construction and stuttering guitar textures courtesy of new collaborator Guy Sigsworth, Moyet’s deep emotional vocal resonated on ‘Changeling’ with a confidence and energy that dispelled the public’s perception of her as just a jazz singer!
Available on the album ‘the minutes’ via Cooking Vinyl.
Positively feline but dysfunctionally dark like Britney gone emo, NIGHT CLUB‘s cutely subversive ‘Poisonous’ based itself, like STEFY’s lost 2007 single ‘Chelsea’, around the riff of ‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)’. This superb slice of catchy electronic pop from the LA combo of Emily Kavanaugh and Mark Brooks roused with a huge crossover potential while possessing a sinister edge.
Available on the download EP ‘Love Casualty’ via Gato Blanco
NOBLESSE OBLIGE are French theatrical performer Valerie Renay and German producer Sebastian Lee Philipp who specialise in a brand of abstract Weimer cabaret tinged with a dose of electro Chanson. NOBLESSE OBLIGE’s lengthy funereal deadpan cover of THE EAGLES’ ‘Hotel California’ highlights the chilling subtext of the lyrics to its macabre conclusion! The synthesizer interpretation of the original song’s iconic twin guitar solo will either be seen as total genius or sacrilege!
Available on the album ‘Affair Of The Heart’ via Repo Records
‘Who Are You?’ is one of those great uptempo anthemic songs in the vein of ‘Listen To My Voice’ from 2000’s ‘Pure’ that confirms when Gary Numan hits the target, he hits bulls-eye! Written for a film about a musician with schizophrenic personality, it fitted well with the parent album ‘Splinter’ and its ‘Songs From A Broken Mind’. The album wasn’t just one-dimensional riff monsters and the varied material was some of Numan’s best work for years.
Available on the album ‘Splinter (Songs From A Broken Mind)’ via Mortal Records / Cooking Vinyl
The standard of ‘English Electric’ was so high that any one of its song based tracks could have made the list. But ‘Stay With Me’ is the album’s hidden gem. The first Paul Humphreys lead vocal for OMD since 1986’s ‘Forever Live & Die’, the song was originally demoed as ‘Idea 3’ and voiced by Andy McCluskey. Ever the master of melody and inspired by events around him, Humphreys reworked it into a more straightforward love song but added a beautiful cinematic resonance. It came over like ‘Love Theme From St Elmo’s Fire’ meets ‘Souvenir’ with subtle lashings of white noise!
“Incandescent…”; yes the hypnotic ‘Fluorescent’ was basically a buzzy dancefloor makeover of ‘Fade To Grey’ with the chilling Polymoog string preset from VISAGE’s original remaining in the mix while waves of synth sirens attacked it like a Martian invasion. The parent album was ‘Electric’ by name and electric by nature, and easily the PET SHOP BOYS‘ best body of work since ‘Very’. It more than made up for 2012’s lame duck ‘Elysium’…
Available on the album ‘Electric’ via X2 / Kobalt Records
A stomping electro disco number produced by Mark Reeder who previously has remixed John Foxx, DEPECHE MODE and PET SHOP BOYS, QUEEN OF HEARTS‘ cooing Bush-like howls and breathy euphoria are a total delight to the ears while the mighty cavernous sound provides the heat! Yet ‘United’ has ended up as the B-side of the less satisfactory ‘Secret’. However, if songs like this are being seen as outtakes, this is all a good sign for her debut album in 2014 which is eagerly awaited…
Available on the download EP ‘Secret’ via Night Moves
Originally, written by Saffron with noted producer Andy Gray, ‘Christiana Obey’ had been doing the airplay rounds in 2012 but finally secured a formal release to coincide with REPUBLICA’s touring comeback this year. With its suitably big chorus, Saffron was on good anthemic form while a meaty remix from TENEK enhanced the song even further and made it ready to go!
Available on the EP ‘Christiana Obey’ via Republica Music
Polly Scattergood made her debut in 2009 with a self-titled album released on the iconic Mute Records. With key influences such as Bjork and Kate Bush, it combined jubilant experimental pop with her innocent, affected vocals. From her second album ‘Arrows’, ‘Wanderlust’ realised her potential with a slice of deliciously wired avant pop in the GOLDFRAPP vein, although closer scrutiny revealed it to be more like electronic COCTEAU TWINS with that rousing air of fragility.
The Finnish duo of Juho Paalosmaa and Jori Hulkkonen swiftly followed up their acclaimed eponymous debut of 2012 with ‘Afterlife’. Hulkkonen said back in 2011 that it was being a fan of PET SHOP BOYS that inspired him to make music. ‘Moonstruck’ is a fine melancholic beat ballad in the Tennant/Lowe tradition where Paalosmaa’s emotive lost boy demeanour blends wonderfully with the sweeping drifts and building swathes of synth strings. It is also possibly the best song of its type that Neil and Chris never recorded.
Available on the album ‘Afterlife’ via Solina Records
Like ‘Twin Peaks’ meets ORBITAL, ‘Damaged Software’ was an enticing piece of electro from Anais Neon and Martin Swan which affirmed their status as Britain’s premiere independent synth duo. With a tour supporting OMD in Germany where they encountered the likes of Karl Bartos and Wolfgang Flür backstage, their vile adventure of meeting former KRAFTWERK members continued when they shared the bill with Michael Rother at Elektrofest. Three years in the making, the parent album ‘The future through a lens’ was well worth the wait.
Techno DJ WESTBAM celebrated 30 years in the music business with an intriguing mature collection of songs under the title of ‘Götterstrasse’. While the theme of the album centred on the joy and euphoria of underground nightlife, the album’s magnificent launch single ‘You Need The Drugs’ was not actually a celebration of illicit substance use. Voiced brilliantly by THE PSYCHEDLIC FURS’ Richard Butler, WESTBAM himself said it was “the first explicit electronic appeal AGAINST the use of drugs with a clear message: drugs are a bore!”. From a brilliant album that also featured vocalists as diverse as Iggy Pop, Bernard Sumner, Brian Molko, Lil’ Wayne and Kanye West, ‘Götterstrasse’ was the surprise electronic release of the year.
Available on the album ‘Götterstrasse’ via Warner Music Germany
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with a special intimate gig at MemeTune Studio, home of chief Mathematician Benge and his renowned collection of vintage synthesizers. 
tour, once a shortlist for 2013 was drawn, the competition was so stiff that nothing from the album even scraped in!
was basically a buzzy dancefloor makeover of ‘Fade To Grey’ with the chilling Polymoog string preset from VISAGE’s original remaining in the mix while waves of synth sirens attacked it like a Martian invasion. The parent album was ‘Electric’ by name and electric by nature, and easily the 
has ended up as the B-side of the less satisfactory ‘Secret’. However, if songs like this are being seen as outtakes, this is all a good sign for her debut album in 2014 which is eagerly awaited…
was an enticing piece of electro from Anais Neon and Martin Swan which affirmed their status as Britain’s premiere independent synth duo. With a tour supporting OMD in Germany where they encountered the likes of Karl Bartos and Wolfgang Flür backstage, their vile adventure of meeting former KRAFTWERK members continued when they shared the bill with Michael Rother at Elektrofest. Three years in the making, the parent album ‘The future through a lens’ was well worth the wait.
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