GUSGUS started within cinematography but gained international acclaim for their electronic productions.
As an eclectic troupe, with various members weaving in and out of the collective over the years, the Icelandic duo of Daniel Ágúst Haraldsson and Birgir Þórarinsson have been the only constants.
Taking their name from a mispronunciation of “cuscus” in a German film ‘Ali: Fear Eats The Soul’, the Reykjavik sound manipulators have always marvelled at being able to play with various styles and genres, mainly producing dance pieces spanning from Euro-disco, through ambient to house.
Whatever the description, the quality of GUSGUS’ fruit has shone brightly over the last nine studio releases and number ten, ‘Lies Are More Flexible’ is no different.
A collection of four vocal and four instrumental tracks is as eclectic as any previous work from the talented bunch, seeing the two founding members hard at work to showcase their ever changing, yet familiar sound.
Starting with stunning synth arpeggios on ‘Featherlight’, bringing back the good old memories of classic ambient dance tracks, the atmosphere is set on cold and icy with occasional specks of warming hope. If they ‘Don’t Know How To Love’ in its progressive house alignments, maybe John Grant, who Þórarinsson once produced, could help on backing vocals? The track is a desperate plea to be taught “how to love”, over a stencil of found sounds and haunting synth.
But now comes the ‘Fireworks’, enveloping the club feel of a perfect dance track, followed by ‘Lifetime’, which is equally bouncy and grabs with its sweet synth punches and exquisite melody. From the word full to word none, ‘No Manual’ offers life affirming capabilities with an equivocal undercoat, while the title track reminisces the familiarity of vintage video games.
‘Towards Storm’ ebbs and flows endlessly, with the album closing on ‘Fuel’, continuing to carry the light and warmth of hope, peace and weightlessness, so consistent in GUSGUS’ offerings.
It is refreshing to listen to a shorter product, where the length of the opus means no lesser amount of work and no compromise in the quality of the recordings.
Those who marvel at Haraldsson’s voice will enjoy their treat, while the others lose themselves in the appreciation of the instrumental only pieces. Both match the high quality that GUSGUS have been known and loved for many years now. Maybe ‘Lies Are More Flexible’, but the truth is the duo are hitting new levels of brilliance with their latest offering.
CREEP SHOW sees a dream team collaboration between US singer-songwriter and professed synth-lover John Grant with the established experimental electro triad of Stephen Mallinder, Benge and Phil Winter, collectively known as WRANGLER.
The two parties started to develop a working relationship after the latter remixed Grant which then lead onto live dates at The Barbican and The Royal Albert Hall. The resulting link-up has since given birth to the ‘Mr Dynamite’ album. It’s a meeting of minds that in the words of Mallinder is: “…a Hydra. A beast with multiple heads and voices, so no one is quite sure who is saying and doing what. Everything is permitted and everything is possible”
CREEP SHOW spoke about the gestation of the album, the impact of Benge’s studio relocating to Cornwall and some of the tech involved in the making of ‘Mr Dynamite’.
WRANGLER opened for John at The Royal Albert Hall, was this a calculated attempt by John to engineer a collaboration between both parties? 😉
Mal: Well, we’d already collaborated by this point as John and myself had been talking and WRANGLER had done a remix of ‘Voodoo Doll’ from the ‘Grey Tickles, Black Pressure’ album. It was around the time of the Albert Hall show that we’d been asked to work together and play at the Barbican, so the Albert Hall was just a nice cherry on the cake of us joining forces. We were very chuffed being asked to play, it was a lovely gesture by JG and all the team.
Phil: I just remember it being a very surreal evening, but we were made to feel very welcome.
Benge: I think at the time it was the biggest gig we had done – and certainly the poshest! It doesn’t get much posher than the Royal Albert. We even got to meet The Queen (Kylie Minogue)!
JG: Everything I do is carefully calculated which is why I am also a real estate magnate.
With John involved, how did this change the working dynamic of WRANGLER?
Mal: I don’t know if anything had to change too much as we all integrated so well; we worked in the studio with consummate ease. It was just nice to have another element, another tangent to go to, another voice – quite literally when John did vocals. But we all worked on every aspect of the tracks together, no roles were defined which is exactly how WRANGLER work anyway. It was fun though, so just a case of going from being a wonky tricycle to being a wonky car… the fourth wheel was very handy.
Phil: Yeah, nothing really changed, we just had another pair of hands (that could even play chords) and another mouth to feed !
Benge: It was good to find out that John is as up for experimenting with sounds and ideas as we all are. We deliberately don’t usually have many boundaries when we work together as WRANGLER, so I guess it could have been problematic adding in another personality to the mixture, but John is so open minded and up for experimenting that it felt really natural.
JG: It’s always the perverts who are up for “experimenting” – I’m calling my solicitor!
Were they any prior decisions on the direction for the album or did things evolve organically?
Mal: Well the three of us did some preliminary sketches, as John was on tour, but they were very broad ideas that quickly changed when we got together. Plus John had already sketched out the ideas for ‘Mr Dynamite’. After that, it was just all hands on deck but there was no prior discussion about what it should sound like … apart from f*cking great.
Phil: Even if there were, they disappeared very quickly once we realised we were heading in roughly the same direction .
Benge: Before we started, I was asking myself, how is this going to work vocally as Mal and John are stylistically polar opposites – there was a lot of room for it to go horribly wrong! But the interesting thing was that the addition of John’s new dynamic, lyrically, vocally and musically mutated what we do as WRANGLER into something completely new and unique. Originally we weren’t going to have a new band name, we would have been called “Wrangler featuring John Grant” or “John Grant featuring Wrangler”. But we felt we had created something that had its own strong personality
JG: I felt it was very organic and soon we had settled into a comfortable atmosphere of resentment, competitive pettiness and sardonic laughter.
How did the songwriting process work on ‘Mr. Dynamite’?
Mal: We were backstage after his show at the De La Warr Pavilion and John played me the ideas of rhythms for ‘Mr. Dynamite’ that he’d done. We took it all into the studio and then began working on it.
Phil: Do you mean the track, or the album as a whole? Either way it was pretty much the same, get a load of sequences, a beat , and then play and sing over the top .
Benge: And then shove it all through a pitch shifter and flanger.
JG: For my part, Benge and I sampled every single word into an old Akai sampler from the 80s and then played them at different pitches on a keyboard.
Whose idea was the big girlie backing vocals on ‘Endangered Species’?
Mal: I’ll let JG answer that one, but suffice to say we were all happy with it. John and I sat in the studio with the girls and let them rip through it. It was great as they all loved the tracks… when we got to sing on ‘Modern Parenting’, they made the right connections to George Clinton and FUNKADELIC so we knew it was going to work.
Phil: John’s… great call, we’d never do anything like that, love it!
Benge: I think originally John had put some backing vocal parts in at the end of that one, then he casually said “why don’t I get Culture Club’s original backing vocalists to redo them?” – when we realised he wasn’t joking, it was a no brainer.
JG: I don’t mind taking credit for this one. Mary Pearce, Maria Q and Zee Asher have worked with CULTURE CLUB for yonks and I just wanted an excuse to be in the same room with them again as they have toured with me and they are fantastic as you can hear.
Alongside the obvious CABARET VOLTAIRE influence, much of the synth bass on ‘Mr Dynamite’ is reminiscent of classic electro like ‘Bassline’ by MANTRONIX, how much of an influence is era this on your work?
Mal: That period is so important to us all. Technology-wise Benge’s studio is massively invested in that sound and we all love that period as it represents a very dynamic collaboration between machines and people. The whole idea of drum machines, synths and basslines all talking to each other in a very live way. We all grew up with that sound, and on opposite sides of the Atlantic, so it is an important way for all four of us to connect. Phil and I have been friends, and worked together, for years and the whole electro period is our provenance – put on an Oberheim DMX drum machine and Juno bassline and we turn to liquid.
Phil: I guess if we have a default setting it’s that sound, but I’d like to think there are wider aspects to our sound.
Benge: Yes, but when you walk round the studio and you are confronted by a corner of the room that has a DMX, a Roland SH101, Oberheim 4-voice and a Claptrap all connected together, it’s hard not to slip into electro-mode, even just a little bit.
JG: Yeah, that’s just part of my DNA, the synth basses of the 80s – the SH-101 from Roland is beyond all human understanding.
MemeTune studio and its synths has now relocated down to Cornwall, has the change of location had any effect on the music making process?
Mal: Well, it takes a little bit longer to get to, but once we’re there it means we have no distractions. When MemeTune was in Hoxton, there were too many people and places to tempt us out so the working process different. But wherever it is we’ll go and work – I think using ‘Space 1999’ as an inspiration, we need to have a MemeTune Moonbase.
Phil: Obviously, it’s a very different experience to working in a studio in London. But as mentioned, it’s all about the people really (and the dog).
Benge: What’s nice now is when people come down here, it’s a total lock-in. No-one can escape for days on end! It’s a good focus. And yes, even Rothko (my dog) gets involved.
JG: I always feel completely invigorated and inspired by the beauty of Cornwall and Benge’s amazing studio, so it certainly affects me. Sadly, I never saw the London MemeTune studios 🙁
John’s professed love of the Roland Juno 106 is well-known, how well-used was this synth on the album?
Mal: Not at all!
Phil: I think the CS80 has taken his heart ❤
Benge: Or was it the Sequential Prophet VS?
JG: It is indeed the CS80 (the greatest synth of all time) and the Prophet VS which have stolen my heart. But the Juno 106 is still precious to me.
So were there particular go to synths on this album?
Mal: There is always ‘synth of the week’ – usually the one that’s just come back from the Keith the Synth Cobbler – but that’s always changing. There’s a particular little Akai machine that’s been made to work its socks off in the last few sessions.
Phil: I seem to remember the Roland SH2 and the Minimoog providing a lot of the basslines .
Benge: As always at MemeTune, there’s a lot of interplay between all the instruments. Keyboards, drum machines, effects units, analog sequencers, modular systems all get connected together in millions of ways. It’s impossible to keep track of it all
‘Fall’ in places is akin to a lost ‘Autobahn’ era KRAFTWERK track, do you think electronic artists will ever stop paying homage to the German meisters?
Mal: Who? Never heard of them!
Phil: Why would you?
Benge: I’ve heard of an English band called Craftwork
JG: My mother did a lot of craft work as well and there were latch hook rugs all over the place. But to answer your question: I hope not.
‘Safe & Sound’ is a wonderful mix of old-school crooner vocals and analogue electronics and is ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s favourite track on ‘Mr Dynamite’, can you each select a favourite from the album and why?
Mal: ‘Endangered Species’
Phil: Impossible, sorry!
Benge: I like the way ‘Fall’ turned out – I think it’s got a simplicity and beauty and groove that I’m into at the moment
JG: ‘Endangered Species’ for me too. Loved doing that vocal and lyrics and the combo of bassline and pad makes my legs go all rubbery.
So… ‘Mr Dynamite’ a glorious one-night stand of an album or the start of a continuing meaningful relationship between all the parties involved?
Mal: It would be so rude not to call after such a memorable night!
Phil: And I need my scarf back!
Benge: It wasn’t goodbye, it was au revoir.
JG: What they said…
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its sincerest thanks to CREEP SHOW
Special thanks to Danielle Carr at Bella Union
‘Mr Dynamite’ is released on 16th March 2018 by Bella Union in CD, vinyl LP and digital formats
CREEP SHOW 2019 live dates:
Sheffield The Foundry (5th October), Liverpool Arts Club Loft (6th October), Bristol Trinity Centre (8th October), London Scala (9th October), Hove Old Market (10th October), Newcastle Boiler Shop (12th October), Glasgow Art School (14th October)
Following the collaborative project with Benge as FADER, this relationship is perpetuated with the John Foxx sideman tackling production duties on the new BLANCMANGE album ‘Unfurnished Rooms’.
The eponymous album opener is an intriguing mixture of guitar textures, interlocking monosynths and Linn Drum programming. Neil Arthur’s vocals convey a real sense of loss and a brilliant chanting “search, search!” helps tie the whole piece together. Always one for incorporating ‘kitchen sink’ drama lyrics into his songs, Arthur’s killer line here is “…no amount of online shopping will cover the loss”.
‘We Are The Chemicals’ is an understated, but ultimately catchy track, with a lyric which sounds part news report and part early HUMAN LEAGUE with a “…chemical spillage on a trading estate in Altrincham” forming the centrepiece for the song. Arthur himself provides guitar on the track and a simplistic square wave synth and early Roland JP-style arpeggiator fills in the mid-range on the piece. The track’s beauty lies in that it doesn’t try too hard and in its concluding 50 seconds hits a wonderful, but still low-key climax with some additional soaring keyboard parts.
‘Share it Out’ starts out like a sped-up long distance cousin of MARTHA & THE MUFFINS New Wave classic ‘Echo Beach’ before Arthur’s flanged psychedelic vocals are joined by an early Roland drum machine combo and heads off in an entirely different direction altogether. Very hypnotic and almost ambient in places, ‘Share It Out’ utilises the kind of Eastern melodic scale that made ‘Living On The Ceiling’ such a successful culture-splicing track.
The downtempo ‘Wiping the Chair’ utilises a combination of NEW ORDER-style guitars and OMD-influenced synth textures and is a highlight here; low-key in its delivery, Arthur delivers an emotional song about reuniting with a long-lost friend asking them to “Come back soon”. ‘Anna Dine’ has a wickedly catchy chord progression and features the kind of interlocking monosynth work that made the early DEPECHE MODE and YAZOO albums sound so effective, it also has another classic brutalist Arthur line in “I’ve taken the earth wires from most of your plugs”. ‘In December’ is another atmospheric slow tempo track and another highlight here; with an ambient soundscape aesthetic which drifts over the listener effortlessly.
With its combo of squealing guitar riff-age and discordant modular electronics ‘Gratitude’ takes its cues from NINE INCH NAILS to the point where one could imagine Trent Reznor taking the lead vocal on this track. An angry-sounding Arthur really lets loose here and it provides a welcome rise in tempo on the album.
The song which is most highly anticipated here is the collaboration with John Grant; the closing 8 minute piece features Grant on backing vocals and piano. ‘Don’t Get Me Wrong’ winds the tempo back down again and despite a hooky chorus line, doesn’t quite match some of the earlier highlights on ‘Unfurnished Rooms’.
With the current OMD album setting an extremely high bar for how an electronic record should sound sonically both mix and mastering-wise, the only drawback with ‘Unfurnished Rooms’ is the imagining of how it would sound with a bigger and more expansive production job. Some of the elements of the album feel like they would benefit from more layers (especially Arthur’s vocals) and a finer attention to detail.
For many listeners though, ‘Unfurnished Rooms’ will be fine addition to the BLANCMANGE canon and Arthur’s wonderfully personal songwriting skills show no sign of diminishing anytime soon.
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
WRANGLER are Stephen Mallinder AKA Mal (ex-CABARET VOLTAIRE), Benge (JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS) and Phil Winter (TUNNG).
Since talking to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK back in April 2014, the trio have followed their debut release ‘LA Spark’ with a modular synth remix album ‘Sparked’, a live show at The Royal Albert Hall and a follow-up album in the shape of ‘White Glue’.
With a new single ‘Stupid’ recently unleashed as a trailer for the new long player, Mal, Benge and Phil kindly spoke about developments within the band and the forthcoming collaboration with US singer / songwriter John Grant.
‘White Glue’ is an intriguing title, is there a specific meaning behind it?
Mal: Well, I think I’ll let Phil go into the detail as it came from his idea, which was based on the exoticness of the Spanish translation of “White Glue”. Unfortunately we’d got that completely wrong, we actually meant the Italian translation “Colla Bianca” which as you can see started to sound a bit like a sh*t cocktail so went with the original, always a good idea, as we loved that anyway!
Phil: ‘White Glue’ is used to repair damaged record sleeves, of which I have many, the bottle I found had the mentioned translations which we played with and then discarded!
How do you see the new album differing from your debut ‘LA Spark’?
Mal: Well for me it expands on some of the sounds we used to make ‘LA Spark’ so has the connection, but seems to take those rhythms and sounds to another level.
We use and misuse technology, that’s what WRANGLER are about, so each release is another chapter in the story, just as ‘Sparked’ was. Everything should be a progression but also have some relationship, to build on the past.
For me personally there are themes that come out of ‘LA Spark’, which was a rather bleak and cautionary narrative in relation to human impact on the world. In turn ‘White Glue’ is a response to the corruption, exploitation and mindless materialism that engulfs us. It’s hard not to respond to a world that is dominated by elites, plutocracies and chumocracies.
Benge: To me, the difference this time round was we had quite a lot of the tracks written and in a playable state a long time before we finally recorded and mixed them in the studio, and we were playing them in our live set for ages which really helped flesh the music and arrangements out. It’s kind of the first time I’ve worked that way and it really changes the dynamic of a song when you play it and refine it in front of an audience before committing to tape. Having said that, the rest of the album was done in the studio in intense late night modular synth jams that none of us were in control of. That combination of refined arrangements and live studio experiments is where we ended up.
Phil: The time frame of the recordings definitely had an impact on the eventual sound of the record.
With ‘LA Spark’ we would generally work on a track until it was done, but with ‘White Glue’ we would start a track and then not work on it for ages, as other ideas/tracks had sprung up that we got diverted by.
But having that space in the working process really worked, as it meant we could live with them ie DJ them out or play them live before committing to the album.
The ‘Sparked’ modular remix album concept was an interesting one. Were you surprised by some of the mixes you were given?
Mal: Well you could say yes, as they were all wonderful in their own way and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. so surprised that way. But in another way, not surprised at all as we had such respect and admiration for those artists. We directly approached them to work with us and I’m eternally grateful for them agreeing and contributing… everyone’s a Maserati, as the old saying goes (including the one we did).
WRANGLER recently played The Royal Albert Hall as support for JOHN GRANT, how did that come about?
Mal: Well we first met John a couple of years ago when we played ‘Sensoria’ with CHRIS & COSEY, and realised what an aficionado he was of electronic music. We stayed in touch and all became good friends; he’d asked us to do a mix of ‘Voodoo Doll’ from his latest album and then the Albert Hall gig came up and we were invited, I guess having seen us play and knowing our music, JG thought it was a good fit. A very generous and clever man.
How did you approach playing such a prestigious venue? Were there any nerves beforehand?
Mal: I don’t really get nervous. I think having played for so many years, you realise if you start to think about all things that can potentially f*** up, you’d be a quivering wreck. So “excited” is a better word and if things really screw up, I’ve been known to tell jokes – the last thing Benge says to me every time I’m about to go onstage is “no jokes!!” so I tend to be pretty minimal now when we play. To be fair it’s not very cool and they’re sh*t jokes so he is right.
Benge: Our thinking was if we can’t have a huge screen behind us on that massive stage then we would go the opposite way and just use 3 small TV monitors, one in front of each of us and go minimal. Actually on the night, JOHN GRANT and his stage team were really generous and gave us the full light show as well, which we didn’t expect as the guest act. That was really cool of them.
Phil: It’s such an awesome space, but everyone involved was so helpful and welcoming that it was very enjoyable.
This show has led onto a forthcoming live collaboration with John Grant at The Barbican celebrating 40 years of the Rough Trade label, what can we expect from that?
Mal: Hopefully it will shift a few perceptions from both sides, but maybe less for us as we’ve all been writing and have quite a few tunes already sketched out. John has been busy touring so we started the process a month or so ago sending roughs over, but I caught up with him and he’s done some really cool sketches and rough mixes – we seem to be on the same flightpath – and we have a week or so together writing in the studio. It should be fun, we can take a break from our other roles and enjoy the process. Am hoping it will blow a few minds!
Benge: I’m really looking forward to spending time in the new studio working on this. It is such an unpredictable situation working with loads of wonky machines and so many wonky minds, anything could happen.
Phil: Expect the unexpected!
Because of the practicalities of taking the MemeTune studio equipment on the road, how do WRANGLER go about performing their music live?
Mal: Well it’s a bit of a mix and match process, so we capture and loop some of the key parts from the delicate studio gear then take the more robust equipment out with us on tour. It makes it very live and flexible, but we can build in the other parts to maintain the WRANGLER sound.
Phil: It’s a constant balancing act between the practical and the wished for!
The synth world is currently going a mad for synth hardware (modular and otherwise), would you have any advice to give to people wishing to invest in such gear?
Benge: My view is that you should try and create your own unique voice in the world if you are a creative artist. What you use is not as important as how you use it. Having said that, I love the fact that there is now so much more opportunity to use analogue hardware gear than ever before. You don’t need to scour the depths of eBay in remote far away countries to find exotic gear any more. Making music has never been more exciting than now.
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK was present at the really entertaining lecture ‘Growing Up A Little Bit German’ which you gave as part of the ‘Boing Boom Tschak’ event during the Brighton Fringe Festival. How important still is the musical DNA of KRAFTWERK to the sound of WRANGLER?
Mal: Oh I think KRAFTWERK remain the benchmark for electronic music and I can’t see that ever changing. Not just the sounds themselve which still cut through for their purity, clarity and richness, but also the process. KRAFTWERK taught us all that less is more. I still listen to the albums and appreciate the sophistication of the mixes – always the correct delay, always the complimentary frequencies, the right timbre, everything in the right place and to the correct degree.
They still work because of the simplicity and symmetry which is the basis of beauty. WRANGLER understand that, although I think sometimes it’s nice to mess it up. If KRAFTWERK are sophisticated beauty, WRANGLER are the rebel twin occasionally getting tarted up for a mucky night out.
What are your future aspirations for WRANGLER?
Mal: To write some great music, maybe try and position what we do in different contexts and allow more people to appreciate it. But really, just to continue enjoying it and ruffling a few feathers on the way.
Benge: We have only ever done our music to please ourselves. We think the perfect sound doesn’t exist yet and if we can keep trying to find that sound we will be doing something incredibly worthwhile.
Phil: More of the same please, but maybe turn the clap up a bit!
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its grateful thanks to WRANGLER
Additional thanks to Steve Malins at Random Management
‘Stupid’ is released as a download single on 9th September 2016
The new album ‘White Glue’ is released by Memetune in CD, vinyl and digital formats on 23rd September 2016
WRANGLER perform a collaborative set with JOHN GRANT at The Barbican in London on Saturday 22nd October 2016 as part of Rough Trade 40
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is released on 16th March 2018 by Bella Union in CD, vinyl LP and digital formats
is released by Blanc Check on 22nd September 2017 in a CD, vinyl LP and digital, available from 
, it begs the question as to whether Alison is always found in the kitchen at parties?
is released in clear vinyl LP, CD and digital formats by Mute Artists
with a modular synth remix album 
, a live show at The Royal Albert Hall and a follow-up album in the shape of 
.
from his latest album and then the Albert Hall gig came up and we were invited, I guess having seen us play and knowing our music, JG thought it was a good fit. A very generous and clever man.
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