Tag: Metroland (Page 6 of 7)

Thalys: A Short Conversation with METROLAND

30 August 2014 /

Thalys_Promo14

METROLAND are the Belgian conceptual duo with synthetic sounds from the ‘underground’.

Highly influenced by KOMPUTER and KRAFTWERK, although the capital letter ‘K’ is highly resonant in their sound, METROLAND are perhaps more textural.

They are like a ride through an electronic landscape, layered with authentic warm sequences, robotic vocals and uniquely vintage drum machines, all designed for the commuter world.

Their version of IGGY POP’s ‘The Passenger’ has to be heard to be believed and such has been the quality of tracks like ‘It’s More Fun to Commute’, ‘Enjoying The View’, ‘Harry Beck’ and ‘2013’, several unscrupulous eBay dealers in Russia were passing off CD-Rs of three tracks from the debut long player ‘Mind The Gap’ as KRAFTWERK demos in 2013! Meanwhile, METROLAND were invited to work their technological magic on well received remixes for OMD, MARSHEAUX and RUSTY EGAN.

METROLAND have now returned with their Kling Klang flavoured Technopop courtesy of the multi-formatted single ‘Thalys’, a tie-in with the European high speed train operator. Passengers S and A kindly spoke to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about their upcoming railway journey…

Thalys_Promo04

You supported OMD on the Benelux leg of their ‘English Electric’ tour, how was that for you?

Imagine that a local priest gets an invitation from the Pope to do a service in Vatican City. Well, it mostly felt like this. Everything fitted so well.

Andy McCluskey was browsing for information on ‘Metroland’ one evening whilst travelling homewards on the train and he stumbled across our material and instantly liked it due to the KRAFTWERK touch. He got in touch via e-mail and the funniest part was that in his correspondence, he mentioned his band ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK, as if we never heard from them.

How modest can you be? Here we have gotten an e-mail from a man, who wrote himself into history several times, and that is precisely who Andy is: an amazing person to whom we looked up during our childhood (and we still do), who gave us hours and hours of listening pleasure and then, one day, you get to meet him in person and support that ‘band’ we never heard of 🙂

A highlight in our career, no doubt… proud we had that opportunity!

Thalys_Promo02

Last time we spoke, you had just completed your rework of OMD’s ‘Metroland’. They must have liked what you did because they asked you to do another of ‘Night Café’ which many consider to be even better?

When we played together in Brussels, we talked about loads of things, amongst which we talked about the new single to come… by that time ‘Dresden’ was the presented single and the outside world was not aware yet that ‘Night Café’ would become number three.

Of course we also discussed the ‘Metroland’ remix, how we got to do it and especially that it took over 50 hours in total to do the final mix down. But Andy was most happy about the fact we did not butcher the song to death, making it something that was unrecognizable. He stated that it was an OMD song with a different approach, and it was precisely that what made him give us a second opportunity.

The very next day, we were already in touch with the friendly people at 100% Records, who also were happy with the results. We noticed that the ‘Night Café’ remix was doing well on Soundcloud and in particular on Youtube. Passenger H boosted the remix into a much higher region by creating two ex-tre-me-ly nice videos.

Your remix for RUSTY EGAN of ‘Dreamer’ has had a very positive response as well

So far we did indeed only read nice reviews, so we hope that when it gets released, more people will find their way to METROLAND. The funny thing about this remix is that RUSTY EGAN himself is truly fond of our remixes…even so, we stumbled across tweets and messages in which he asked if there is a METROLAND mix available. So kind and warm of him 🙂

But 2013 was killing us on the remix part, we actually did nothing else but creating ‘versions’ for other people. You should know that we quite often integrate new sequences, sounds, melodies, bass sequences into our remixes and we repeatedly felt that we were only making music to give away. So we decided to stop doing remixes until we finished our own material, ‘Thalys’ included, as this was a monstrous project in every sense of the word.

Thalys_Promo01

Talking of dreaming, who would be your dream artists be to remix?

There is only one which we both have high in our lists, and that is ORBITAL. Next to that, we have ERASURE, CHVRCHES… quite some 🙂

We would also love to do MARSHEAUX again, as we feel we did not do so well with ‘Can You Stop Me?’.

That remix was our first one we made as METROLAND, and we did not want to go too far and next to that, f*cking up songs from such a top-top-top-top and even over-the-top good band… we were too modest and too shy at the time… regarding making a remix that is, we’re always modest and shy 😉

2013 was an interesting year for METROLAND as your songs were being bootlegged and passed off as new KRAFTWERK demos…what were your feelings about that?

We still don’t know if we should take this as a compliment or not. On one side, it is a true shame this has happened for sure, especially when our songs where regarded as only demos.

“Are our songs nothing more than demos?” we kept asking ourselves. Looking at it differently, it is amazing that people would then think that our songs could have been from the godfathers of electronic music.

Now, there was some buzz about it, but not that much….we only got an invitation from Ralf H to come over for tea, as he liked our music a lot and he wanted some tips… but we kept that as a secret 😉

What did you think of KARL BARTOS’ new album ‘Off The Record’?

Passenger S loves it, typical Kraftwerkian material with these lovely melodies… wow! Passenger A is a bit more critical and only found it so-so. It is just a matter of taste, and that cannot be discussed. We saw him live in Brussels, and that was a stunning good show. It is good to see that someone continues the real KRAFTWERK spirit. Not a lot of material since 2003 from the godfathers…

Thalys_Promo15

So what is the concept behind the new single ‘Thalys’?

A train, that’s the simplest answer we can come up with 🙂

The story behind it is something else. When we had ‘Mind The Gap’ out into the open, we got a lot of reactions like “nice concept, but how long can a band continue with that?”...

True, but do we need to continue with underground and transportation themes? No, we don’t… but still, there were some things that we felt were not completed, and it was one day that we texted a message to each other saying “a song about a train”… ok, eh… crazy lads…

And so we had an arrangement about ‘The Elephant’ (due to the fact it is linked to Belgium), but it stayed an arrangement. Some weeks later, we had a new 6-second melody… and months later it ended up being a song lasting more than 11 minutes. We felt fascinated by the Thalys trains immediately. OK, they are normal high speed trains, but the typical colour makes them so unique.

Whilst we had the idea growing slowly in between all the remixes and the OMD support, we picked it up several times and continued working on the song at a very, very, very, slow, slow pace… at a certain moment, we decided to involve the Thalys company as we saw this ‘concept’ was growing bigger and bigger. This means that at this very moment, we are writing history, as no band ever before us has written a song about Thalys, and so we hope that our name will be linked to these burgundy red trains for as long as they exist 🙂

You have gone on a multi-format extravaganza with this release?

Seeing our ages and background, and our sources of inspiration, there is one name that should instantly pop-up and this would be Mute. We are so truly fond of their marketing approach that we always wanted to do something similar. This made us propose to our label Alfa Matrix and ask if they would allow us to release a 12 inch vinyl (and not an album). Strangely enough, they went all the way with this (again) crazy idea.

The management at Alfa Matrix have been close friends from us for over 20 years now and they know that when we have an attitude towards our ideas, that we go for the full 150% to make it happen. Yes, it was a crazy ride with quite some obstacles to be where we are, but we made it 🙂

On top of this, we decided to go vintage all the way and created a cassette tape (how 80s can you get, right?) to accompany the vinyl. Of course, the label had their say and marketing-wise, they wanted to add a CD to the vinyl for the fans. So they have not yet turned totally grey or bald and have their ‘modern’ (but nearly outdated as well) digital medium 😉

Next to this we went one step further and thought, with a blink to the past, “why not create several versions in a different language?”. Thus we created a radio edit of the 11 minute-song in English, called the ‘London edit’ (which can be downloaded in regions where they don’t speak French or German) and a ‘Düsseldorf edit’ for the German speaking countries and a Paris edit…you can guess the rest.

Let’s not forget that we also have three totally blasting remixes so you will have loads of ear candy to enjoy! Did we also mention that every medium has exclusive versions ? Yep… again the Mute way of thinking. But it has been quite stressy getting this together, so ‘Thalys’ will just be a unique fact and happening 🙂

Thalys_Promo08

Where do you think METROLAND will be heading for the next album?

We do have at the moment of taking this interview, 16 tracks ready for musical review. In other words, the arrangements have turned into demo songs, and these demos turned into unbalanced songs and we need to put the dots on the i’s.

After this focussed time consuming (not to mention good beer too) job, it is time to do the production mixdown, making sure everything is in balance and off it goes to the mastering. Then all files will head over to the pressing plant where the complete concept will take shape too. For the central theme and concept for this next album, we will be musically travelling to Germany, but it will be something that no-one will expect, truly not 🙂

The style of music is a little darker and harsher than on ‘Mind The Gap’ which was at times mellow while still having a sort of tristesse drenched in electronics. The new album has a different tone of darkness and synthetic sounds. We never experiment, we always go for the up tempo sequences and bass lines… so no need to worry yet 😉

What would be the perfect location for one of your live presentations?

The Transport Museum in London, the one place we would love to go and present our audio-visual experience (we prefer not to call it a live performance). And of course the Hammersmith Odeon in London. Can someone make this happen? 🙂

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to METROLAND

‘Thalys’ is released by Alfa Matrix in a 12” vinyl / CD / cassette bundle package and three territorial download EP formats, further information at http://www.alfa-matrix.com/bio-metroland.php

http://www.metrolandmusic.com/

https://www.facebook.com/metrolandmusic

http://soundcloud.com/metroland

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Kristel Nijskens BE
30th August 2014

OMD Night Café

14 September 2013 /

omd-night-cafe-cd_med

Love and violence, suicide and murder… just a normal day in the office for OMD and it always has been!

Having released their best album for 30 years with ‘English Electric’ in April, OMD continue the promotional campaign with one of its key tracks ‘Night Café’.

Originally demoed under the working title of ‘Hopper’ after the American realist painter Edward Hopper, the track lyrically references a number of his works in a song which despite its major key template and beautiful melody, resonates with some darker themes.

Reflecting this is the controversial accompanying video which takes a subversively macabre approach. Like Edward Hopper directing ‘South Park’, the adult themes which include casual sex, cross-species coitus, suicide, gang violence and murder have provoked a plethora of complaints. One comment just went “Rubbish video. Created by juveniles for juveniles”.

But paradoxically on its suitability for viewing by minors, one observer argued “when I sit down to watch South Park of an evening, I’m expecting a sick and tasteless cartoon. When I sit down to watch an OMD video with my 5 year old on a Friday morning, I’m not” while another said “Being an animation doesn’t make the content any less ‘disturbing’ (though I’d use the word tasteless instead) than live action. I guess it’s fine for people who think South Park, Beavis & Butthead, Keith Lemon etc are suitable for a mass audience including younger folk. I don’t find any of them funny, mainly because toilet humour isn’t clever. I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks it’s a bit naff and not worthy of OMD”.

Many of these comments are surprising; OMD’s music has always explored the not necessarily pleasant side of the human condition. Indeed, on ‘International’ from 1983’s ‘Dazzle Ships’, the emotive track began with a news broadcast that announced: “The Youth Anti-Imperialist Tribune was also addressed by a young girl from Nicaragua whose hands had been cut off at the wrists by the former Somoza guards…”

Meanwhile, other lyrical gists in OMD songs between 1980-1993 have included the suicide of a charismatic musician, the suicide of a woman who worked as a stripper because she had no other means of supporting herself, the racially motivated massacre of five innocent demonstrators by the Ku Klux Klan, the death of over 100,000 people by nuclear attack and most notably on two hit singles, the brutal execution of a teenage girl!

In support of the video, VILE ELECTRODES’ Martin Swan said: “It reminds me of some of my favourite animations (ie Monkey Dust) and captures the darker undercurrent of the lyrics that some people seem to completely miss… ‘a voyeur in a high window…’, ‘dying like I used to do…’ etc”.

In response to the negative criticisms, Swan also retorted: “Fine, if you don’t like it, you’re entitled to your opinion, but some people seem to find it extremely disturbing because it’s an animation exploring adult themes. In what century do you live? Why are you complaining it’s not suitable for your kids? IT’S NOT MEANT FOR YOUR KIDS! It’s not f**king CBeebies!”.

Meanwhile, VILE ELECTRODES themselves have been the target of many a vented spleen, courtesy of their unsettling ‘B-Side The C-side’ reworking of ‘Night Café’.

A very alternative take on the song, it was inspired by OMD’s inventive experimental B-sides of the past such as ‘Navigation’, ‘Annex’ and ‘I Betray My Friends’.

VILE ELECTRODES were invited to support OMD on their German tour after Andy McCluskey spotted them on ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK; but the ‘Night Café’ remix roll of honour features not one, or even two but THREE acts that have been championed by ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK

Finnish duo SIN COS TAN, who recorded one of the best songs of 2012 in ‘Trust’, have provided a Nordic electro disco reinterpretation of ‘Night Café’while fresh from the success of their ‘Metroland’ remix, the appropriately named Belgian duo METROLAND have been invited back to work their crisp mechanised magic on the Nighthawks Remix.

Also featuring on the EP are previously issued B-sides ‘The Great White Silence’ and ‘No Man’s Land’ which both premiere in physical CD format plus the unreleased McCluskey/Humphreys duet ‘Kill Me’.

All intended for ‘English Electric’ and structured in slow waltz time with particularly emotionally raw vocals by Andy McCluskey on ‘No Man’s Land’, their inclusion on the album would have almost certainly brought a halt to the seamless journey so painstakingly crafted by Paul Humphreys. This also would have made ‘English Electric’ far too long but despite pressure from within, Mr Humphreys stood his ground and told ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK that in the end, “quality over quantity” won through.

More interesting though as bonuses are ‘Time Burns’ and ‘Frontline’ the former initially appeared on the limited edition ‘The Future Will Be Silent’ 10 inch picture disc, while the latter was from the flip of the ‘Our System’ 7 inch electric blue vinyl single included in the ‘English Electric’ luxury tin boxed set.

Musically, both are sample based collage experiments inspired by world events and very much in keeping with the ‘English Electric’ original vision of “what does the future sound like?”

But as the duo found with ‘Dazzle Ships’, too many abstract tracks on what, to all intents and purposes, is a pop record can confuse listeners. However, ‘Time Burns’ would have made a fitting alternative to ‘Decimal’ and the intense artistic soul searching that must have gone on when the final tracklisting was decided upon can only be imagined.

B-sides and bonus songs are always an interesting appendix to envisage the possible directions an album could have taken. It is a testament to Paul Humphreys and Andy McCluskey that while approaching their mid-50s, they both had the creative drive and emotional resolve to pool such an embarrassment of riches to fully realise ‘English Electric’.

The ‘Night Café’ 10  track EP featuring remixes by VILE ELECTRODES, METROLAND and SIN COS TAN plus the ‘English Electric’ B-sides is released on 16th September 2013 as a CD and download by BMG Records

www.omd.uk.com

www.vileelectrodes.co.uk

www.facebook.com/homeofsincostan

www.metrolandmusic.com/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
14th September 2013

RUSTY EGAN Speaks Out

29 May 2013 /


There is a new VISAGE album but the majority of its founder members have not been involved.

John McGeoch passed away in 2004 and although Barry Adamson played on the first two albums, he gave up his equity in the collective after the first single ‘Tar’.

Whilst Dave Formula has contributed one song ‘Dairies Of A Madman’, ULTRAVOX members Midge Ure and Billy Currie did not participate.

The collective’s original catalyst Rusty Egan did take part in the initial stages as musical director of the project, but withdrew due to artistic differences and disagreements over production values.

Then in November 2012,  Steve Strange announced on German TV that he was writing songs with Midge Ure which proved to be incorrect while various sources reported on the fallout to confirm that all was not well.

Thus Steve Strange is the only ingredient from the original Blitz Club days who appears throughout the resultant album entitled ‘Hearts & Knives’. Although there are guest appearances by notable players from the scene such as ex-ULTRAVOX guitarist Robin Simon and ex-SIMPLE MINDS keyboardist Mick MacNeil, this album to many ears is not a real VISAGE album.

Rusty Egan spoke to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about the background of ‘Hearts & Knives’ and how he intends to pursue his own musical interests in the future…

How did the idea for a new VISAGE album come about?

I was consulted about the possibility of a new VISAGE album on the basis that royalties due to me, the estate of John McGeoch and to Dave Formula had been misappropriated by Steve Strange over a period of eight years.

The proposition was that the only way to recover the misappropriated royalties was to produce a fourth VISAGE album and pay Steve Strange a reduced royalty share until the misappropriated funds were restored. I was only willing to be involved in the production of an album that would do credit to the heritage of VISAGE. I spoke with all the members to establish their willingness to reform which was a tough call, and one by one they all declined.

So what did you do then?

I then thought “If I was going to form VISAGE today, who would I invite?” I talked with Chris Payne who co-wrote ‘Fade To Grey’ for writing and keyboards, SPANDAU BALLET’s Steve Norman for sax and percussion, ex-ULTRAVOX guiarist Robin Simon, Didier Marouani of SPACE and as producer, Brian Tench who had worked with KATE BUSH and OMD as well as VISAGE.

But some might say your concept for a new VISAGE is no more valid than this solo Steve Strange version?

Of course, a VISAGE album without a contribution from Midge would be crazy. When the team started to come together, Midge kindly offered a song called ‘Become’.

But early in the production cycle, it became clear to me that the company who were funding the production had no intention of meeting my production values nor matching the quality of the team that I had pulled together with an album that would show them or the VISAGE heritage in a good light.

So why is ‘Hearts & Knives’ not a VISAGE album then in your opinion?

Midge Ure and I alone came up with the concept for VISAGE. That is a matter of historical fact. VISAGE was and is our intellectual and emotional property.

The album has been produced and released without the consent of Midge or myself.

‘Hearts & Knives’ I presume alludes to love and death. Well I loved VISAGE, but this album is the death of everything that VISAGE represented. This collection of songs/music does not represent the heritage and musical values of VISAGE. It is a Steve Strange album. I believe that no-one would be interested in a Steve Strange album so using the name VISAGE is the only way to market the album.

So what have you thought about the end result?

Given this background, I have really struggled to be impartial about this album. ‘Lost In Static’ is the only track on the album that actually works, just because it’s simple. It has a decent drum and bass track. There’s one song ‘Never Enough’ which was very SIMPLE MINDS; but it could be good if we worked on the lyrics, got some great guitar and pumped that bass… the final version sounds like a home recording that was submitted as a demo. The production company has only added some guitars.

‘Shameless Fashion’ is OK but does not sound like VISAGE. ‘She’s Electric’ is also OK but nothing special; the ‘Fade To Grey’ CR78 drum track has been copied as an intro. The thin drums once again sound like a demo as if the producer has said “We’ll do the drums later” but never got around to it. I hate the vocal delays.

‘Diaries Of A Madman’ is the only song written by Steve and he had recorded it a few years ago with Dave Formula.

‘Dreamer I Know’ appears to have some potential…

That song is the one that I am most upset about. I met Arno Carstens at the Isle Of Wight Music Festival after I saw his performance. I just had to ask him about this song, he said it had been released but without any great take up. “I love it” I said, “It is like DEPECHE MODE, can I use it for VISAGE but make some changes?” Arno said “Sure, just do it and let me hear it”. I hope he does NOT EVER hear this VISAGE version… I had nothing to do with it. I have done this song the justice it deserves.


So what are you going to do music wise?

I have continued to write with Chris Payne and an amazing writer Gerard O’ Connell who co-wrote ‘Welcome To The Dancefloor’. We have done an amazing job on ‘Dreamer’; Youth co-wrote that with Arno, I have to say the mixes are simply wonderful. I have six more amazing songs co-written with Chris Payne and other songwriters. Didier plays his style keys, Steve Norman plays some nice sax which is very ROXY MUSIC.

Now I must say I am so much more content now to just do ‘Rusty Egan Presents…’ and release some tracks AFTER this album has gone away.

You’ve previewed ‘Welcome To The Dancefloor’ which is like GIORGIO MORODER meets DAFT PUNK…

Well, collaboration is really the way forward. Robin, Gerard , Didier, Brian Tench… there are many talented people I come across. If you listen to the radio show there are some amazing new bands that I would love to work with; SIN COS TAN really do it for me, METROLAND and KARIN PARK too.

‘Welcome To The Dancefloor’ is an example of how I have always worked. There was this amazing bassline with synth stabs that grabbed me, but what I could hear was an electro style uplifting track and I wrote this on the roof of the villa in Ibiza… I just looked and thought “Welcome To The Dancefloor of THE WORLD”. It’s here and as a DJ, I am and always was inspired in Ibiza and will head there again this summer and write some more… we wrote that track and recorded it very simply and then sent it to Robin Skouteris who did the final mixes.

I first came across Robin when I heard his amazing ‘Wonderful’ mix featuring HURTS. We just clicked and he did exactly what I wanted with the finished mixes… we are working on every track together first, then some friends want to remix. We are speaking with Paul Oakenfold, Richard Grey, Michael Gray and Tim Overdijk. And I’m excited to be in contact with METROLAND.

Although you did the deep backing vocals on VISAGE songs like ‘Fade to Grey’ and ‘Night Train’, you’re not known for singing. So will all the songs be vocodered like ‘Welcome To The Dancefloor’ or do you have other plans?

I always did backing vocals on everything and I sung ‘Dancefloor’ then got Gerard to do it pre-vocoder.

On ‘Night Train’, I do the whole answer verses and on all my current stuff, I just sing it badly and then Gerard does it better.

I could sing it but it would be in the Bowie/ Iggy low baritone and I love that style but I am not a frontman. I would love VIKTORIA MODESTA rather than me.

Once I have the songs recorded… well, all I can do is make some calls and hope people like them. I would just love KARIN PARK to sing on them, I have two songs that I know would suit her and also Theo from HURTS or the guys in MIRRORS. There are so many perfect singers out there.

So now I just want to get the songs and the music right, the only good sign I have is that when I ask people to work with me, they hear the simple music and say “YES I love it, let’s do it” … that is the way I know I am doing something right.


Are there any other plans for the project?

I hope to play drums with RRussell Bell and Chris Payne in DRAMATIS so I hope there is a need for RRussell’s guitar…

I have Robin Simon playing on one song and it’s perfect, he just sounds like the Robin of the ‘Systems Of Romance’ era.

How are you finding doing the radio shows?

I say “Less Talk, More Music” as I really think ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK is about the NEW MUSIC and the inspired classics. I am just the link… people love the tracks I select and that’s always been the case. I find bands / songs / music and say “I love this”… success!

It may take a year or four albums like with SIMPLE MINDS and ULTRAVOX but I can hear it, first time… and my track listings will show that we have found great talent; it may take time… but it’s QUALITY!

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Rusty Egan

https://rustyegan.com/

http://www.facebook.com/djRustyEgan

http://rustyegan.blogspot.co.uk/

https://soundcloud.com/rusty-egan

https://twitter.com/DJRustyEgan

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
29th May 2013

OMD Interview

21 April 2013 /

Photo by Tom Oxley

‘English Electric’ is genuinely a stunning return to form.

Utilising their KRAFTWERK, NEU! and ENO influenced avant pop template, the original creative nucleus of Paul Humphreys and Andy McCluskey have married their classic sound to glitch techniques, modern computer voice generators and sympathetic contemporary production for a wonderfully cohesive work.

The long standing influence of Düsseldorf’s Fab Four – Ralf, Florian, Wolfgang and Karl – is more apparent on ‘English Electric’ than on any other previous OMD album. From first single ‘Metroland’ to ‘Kissing The Machine’, a sonic collaboration with Herr Bartos which also features PROPAGANDA’s Claudia Brücken, OMD’s Germanic circle is now complete.

Interestingly, some OMD fans weaned on ‘If You Leave’ and ‘Sailing On The Seven Seas’ appear to have been confused about OMD recording an electronic album with references to KRAFTWERK. But right from the off with ‘Electricity’ (which was effectively the song ‘Radio-Activity’ speeded up), Kling Klang has been the seed of OMD’s genesis. McCluskey recently included ‘Radio-Activity’ AND ‘Trans Europe Express’ among his baker’s dozen of favourite albums for The Quietus so this should not have come as any great surprise!

‘English Electric’ could well be the best OMD album since 1983’s ‘Dazzle Ships’. The sparkling but bittersweet synthpop of ‘Helen Of Troy’, the Edward Hopper referencing realism of ‘Night Café and the lovely Paul Humphreys vocalled ‘Stay With Me’ are all prime jewels in the OMD crown.

Meanwhile THE TORNADOS meet LA DÜSSELDORF blitz of ‘Dresden’ will have live audiences up on their feet despite its macabre lyrical context. Although closely related, ‘Dresden’ is however not actually about the bombing in the Second World War in the same way ‘Enola Gay’ was about Hiroshima. Instead, it uses the city as an unsubtle metaphor about relationship breakdown, an emotive topic that connects with the album’s theme of unfulfilled utopian dreams.

Photo by Ed Fielding

There are also unconventional chorus-less songs like the magnificent ‘Our System’ which sees drummer Mal Holmes turn into Phil Collns for the song’s explosive climax.

But the biggest surprise is ‘The Future Will Be Silent’, a squelch laden commentary about audio pollution… despite its dubstep drops, the end result remains somehow distinctly OMD!

OMD also embark on an extensive world tour and the various support acts in each territory showcase the best of established and new talent in a thoroughly reinvigorated electronic music scene.

Special guests in the UK are JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS who need no introduction; the former ULTRAVOX front man’s partnership with vintage synth collector extraordinaire Benge also features on stage, the multi-talented Hannah Peel whose ‘Organ Song’ was sampled for the OMD track ‘Bondage Of Fate’ from the previous OMD album ‘History Of Modern’. She also covered ‘Electricity’ for her debut EP ‘Rebox’.

Meanwhile, the Belgian and Dutch dates will be supported by METROLAND, a duo with Kling Klang burned into their circuitry and whose debut album ‘Mind The Gap’ is an affectionate technological journey inspired by the London Underground network; their electronic restyling of IGGY POP’s ‘The Passenger’ has to be heard to be believed while their appropriate remix of ‘Metroland’ is a big favourite of Rusty Egan.

The striking VILE ELECTRODES will be the opening act for the German tour and ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK is particularly proud as they first  featured on the site in 2010. They were also chosen by Andy McCluskey as a direct result of him perusing this very site. Andy McCluskey spoke about OMD’s new opus…

What inspired you to make ‘English Electric’ more conceptual?

It was the logical step forward. ‘History Of Modern’ was a collection of songs in various OMD styles. But we got loads of sh*t for just making a good album with ‘History Of Modern’. If U2 or SIMPLE MINDS just make an album that sounds like them, everyone will applaud them for getting back to basics. *laughs*

I don’t think people who crave songs are going to be disappointed. Having said that, ‘Our System’ is probably more akin to things like ‘Stanlow’ and ‘The Romance Of The Telescope’.

You’re making a statement of intent by launching the album with one of the experimental tracks ‘Decimal’ AND releasing ‘Metroland’, the longest track on the album as a single?

‘Metroland’ is a beautiful song with a simple but beautiful lyric, even if I say so myself… we’re very happy with it. So the beginning of this campaign is yes, making a statement of intent and flagging that we believe in what we’ve done on this album. The people who will buy the album will buy it hopefully because they’ve heard ‘History Of Modern’ and hopefully because they are OMD fans; they will buy it in the first two weeks. Then, hopefully, the people who liked ‘Sister Marie Says’ and bought ‘History Of Modern’ because they heard it on Radio2 will then go and buy the album when they hear the next two singles… this is the theory! *laughs*

Photo by Tom Oxley

‘Dazzle Ships’ was made in a period of adversity and insecurity… with ‘English Electric’ we are sort of in that situation with the economic uncertainty and the spectre of terrorism. What similarities can you identify spiritually with the two albums?

That’s an interesting thought isn’t it… does it find itself in similar economic and political landscape? In some respects, yes it does. But I don’t think that bad as the economies are, I don’t think most people in the Western democracies probably feel quite as fearful as they did in the early 80s of atomic destruction.

So the landscape isn’t exactly the same… y’know you’ve asked me a question I don’t know the answer to, well done! There are similarities and there may be similarities in the way it is being conceived because of the environment, but I would have to admit they are unconscious. I do want to stress we have not tried to recreate ‘Dazzle Ships’! It was a little frustrating for people to be talking about ‘Decimal’ being just ‘Time Zones’ for 2013… no it’s not! It’s completely different. It’s like saying because it’s got a speaking voice in it, it sounds like ‘Time Zones’… that’s like saying THE CLASH were like THE BEATLES! It just doesn’t hold water!

What techniques have you used to conceive these shorter, collage pieces?

For ‘Atomic Ranch’, Paul turned me on to these Vox Machina plug-ins. It’s quite nice to hear the three voices offset against each other… and one of them which most people seem to think of as the wife, is she going off-message or is she going on-message at the end? I don’t know… she changes. ‘Please Remain Seated’ is a combination, there’s a second half with a programmed voice and my words but the first half is an airport recording in Chinese. When you hear them in the context of the album, the linking pieces actually set up the next piece of music very beautifully.

Is the internet today’s short wave radio?

In practical terms, the internet has influenced ‘English Electric’ because it’s a source of information in the same way that German imports were when we were teenagers and the short wave radio was; when you’re interested and alert, you soak up anything you can get. I discovered the sound of Voyager going through the magnetosphere of Jupiter on YouTube and I downloaded vocal machine programmes and samples from the internet. I used to have ring binder folders to do my homework in because OMD, we are geeks and we research our songs. My laptop became my ring binder with a load of stuff that we downloaded from the internet; information that we didn’t even get round to using like The Doomsday Clock… watch out for that one!!

Photo by Tom Oxley

Your 1993 co-write with Karl Bartos ‘Kissing The Machine’ has been reworked by Paul Humphreys for inclusion on ‘English Electric’ and Claudia Brücken is featuring too?

The original version was wonderful although not as many people have ever heard it as it was merited as I was very proud of it and I think Karl as well. I did want more people to hear ‘Kissing The Machine’ but the sound of it and lyrically concept of it fitted with the kind of dystopian vibe of the whole ‘English Electric’ album.

Paul has completely thrown everything else away and reworked the track from scratch. And yes, it sounds quite like KRAFTWERK! When Paul gets the bit between his teeth and he has a really great direction, he fires some wonderful stuff up! It’s interesting because Paul had the idea of asking Claudia to do the vocal in the middle eight and I said “let’s do that”. So we did it in the middle but I suggested we start it with the “I want you to want me – I need you to need me…” bit through a vocoder and went “y’know, could you ask Claudia to do it in German as well?” Oh! German in the middle, it’s so good on the music, it just sounds fantastic! It’s very exciting to be able to have Claudia Brücken on an OMD tune!

How did the collaboration with MARSHEAUX producers FOTONOVELA, ‘Helen Of Troy’ come about? Most people in the UK and US won’t have heard of them…

George Geranios and Nick Bitzenis of FOTONOVELA were our label bosses in Greece via their Undo Records and they sent me this track… the demo had Nick going “Helen Of Troy – Helen Of Troy” so I took his vocal off as you do [*laughs*], chopped it all up and rearranged it… it’s gorgeous! I have used some of Nick’s backing vocals. It was the third one completed on the album, I love it to bits! And ‘Helen Of Troy’ is much more of a metaphor than either of the ‘Joan Of Arcs’ were.

Several of OMD’s best songs have been inspired by the ethics of conflict and war… ‘Enola Gay’, ‘Bunker Soldiers’, ‘Silent Running’; does ‘Dresden’ fall in that category?

‘Dresden’ is a whopping great, unsubtle metaphor… it was interesting that we found ourselves in Dresden, it was quite incredible but the song had already been written before I went. It’s not about the bombing of Dresden in the same way as ‘Enola Gay’ was about the aeroplane that dropped the atom bomb.

‘Idea 3’ has been turned into ‘Stay With Me’, is there’s an ‘Idea4’?

We’ve always got bits and pieces left over. I think they will get used. ‘Ideas 1-3’ were all melodies written by Paul, it was just a question as to whether they would get turned into songs. ‘Idea 1’ became a B-side. ‘Idea 2’ became ‘History Of Modern (Part II)’ and ‘Idea 3′ has finally became ‘Stay With Me’ and that’s another great melody.

What are the bonuses that come with the various formats of the album?

The B-side of ‘Metroland’ is ‘The Great White Silence’. In the collector’s tin, there is a 7 inch vinyl; one side has got ‘Our System’ which by general consensus is everyone’s favourite song on the album while on the back of it is a song called ‘Frontline’ which is only available on that 7 inch vinyl.’Frontline’ was influenced and inspired by The Arab Spring and the vast majority of the drum track is entirely made out of machine gun, cannon and artillery fire. The song’s working title was ‘Artillery’.

There’s one more track called ‘No Man’s Land’ on iTunes and there’s also a couple of totally instrumental abstract pieces that don’t even have actual titles that may be further B-sides down the line.

You just signed a worldwide deal with BMG…

We’ve signed to BMG for publishing and global rights on this album only. It’s a new model, they’re a rights company, not a record company. They don’t have a great big building with 500 staff that is a massive overhead, they have a small office with a handful of people. Each deal they do is a bespoke deal for each artist in each territory, employing freelance people to work the project for its lifespan; that’s all it costs them. This is one of the new models in the music industry to see if there is a functioning new model! *laughs*

How does ‘English Electric’ compare with ‘History Of Modern’?

‘History Of Modern’ is what it was because of the circumstances it found itself in. There’s a feeling abroad that ‘English Electric’ is quite powerful and well conceived. That’s nice. There will be people who will have a whinge about it, but I don’t think the people who like songs will be in any way disappointed.

‘English Electric’ has been a hard album to make… really hard! Much harder than ‘History Of Modern’, it’s been torn out in several different ways for several different reasons.

By the time it was completed, both of us were emotionally and physically exhausted. We’re starting to get our energy back and we are getting feedback which is incredibly positive. Many people who have heard the album are very excited about it. It’s been an interesting journey these last couple of years writing this album. It’s been very exciting.

Where do you stand on modern vocal processing technology? I find it surprising some people who adore Kraftwerkian vocoders go “UGH! Autotune!”?

People draw lines in sound in weird and arbitrary places don’t they? *laughs*

I would say anything is fine. I’m a little bit bored of pop vocals with Autotune as an effect but modern production is so clean that you can hear all the separation between the instruments and the voices so clearly that unless you are the most incredible singer, actually most people are Autotuned! It’s just a case of how much they’re Autotuned… have you just pulled it into tune or is it patently obvious and sliding? I have no problem with anything being used, all I’m interested in is does it work for me, what do I get out of it? If I get something out of it, then everything is fine!

How are you finding new electronic acts these days?

I enjoy your website and I’ve discovered some very interesting bands actually…

Oh, who have you found recently?

I can’t say… cos one of them is going to support us in Germany!

Is it CHVRCHES?

No! But a young British electronic band is supporting us in Germany. Obviously JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS are supporting us in the UK and how could we say no to John Foxx! *laughs*

How did JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS supporting in the UK come about?

We were just asking around as to who might be available that would be complimentary and somebody said John Foxx and we were like “NO WAY? Would he tour with us?”; he said “yes” and we said “yes please”! *laughs*

Well, you get to see Hannah Peel again!!

EXACTLY!! I emailed her as soon as I found out and said “Hello, are you on the tour?” and she said “Too right!”… so yeah! *laughs*

I’m looking forward to hearing who the young British electronic act is!

Yes, and we have a Belgian two-piece supporting us in Brussels and Utrecht…

…oh! METROLAND???

Yes, METROLAND are supporting us!

Have you checked out ANALOG ANGEL? Their track ‘We Won’t Walk Away’ sounds just like OMD!

I’ll have to check ANALOG ANGEL out, the last few weeks have just been f**king mental!

They’re a trio of weegies, I said your dad played for Celtic and it turned out they were Rangers fans! *laughs*

Ha! Ha! Y’know, it turns out I don’t think my dad played for Celtic! I think he was pulling a Walter Mitty on me! He played football and he was something to do with Celtic because he knew people at the ground when I was a kid and he used to take me up there. I’ve walked on the pitch and been in the trophy room… turns out he never played for the first team as far as I could find out!! Funny old world eh?

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its grateful thanks to Andy McCluskey

Special thanks to Toby Harris at 100%

‘English Electric’ is released by BMG in CD, deluxe CD+DVD, download, vinyl and tin box set formats

OMD’s 2013 UK tour with special guests JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS includes:
Margate Winter Gardens (28th April), Birmingham Symphony Hall (29th April), Nottingham Royal Centre (1st May), Ipswich Regent Theatre (2nd May), London Roundhouse (3rd May), Bristol Colston Hall (5th May), Oxford New Theatre (6th May), Sheffield City Hall (8th May), Leeds Academy (9th May), Manchester Academy (10th May), Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (12th May), Gateshead Sage (13th May), Liverpool Empire (14th May)

The Benelux shows featuring special guests METROLAND include:
Utrecht Tivoli (Friday 17th May) and Brussels Ancienne Belgique (Monday 20th May)

The German tour with special guests VILE ELECTRODES includes:
Hamburg Docks (21st May), Bielefeld Ringlokschuppen (22nd May), Berlin Tempodrom (24th May), Leipzig Haus Auensee (25th May), Köln E-Werk (27th May)

Please visit the official OMD website www.omd.uk.com for further details on all shows on the ‘English Electric’ tour including the rest of Europe and North America

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
21st April 2013

OMD Metroland (Appropriately Remixed by METROLAND!)

21 March 2013 /

Belgian electronic duo METROLAND have finally unveiled their remix of OMD’s new single entitled, appropriately enough, ‘Metroland’ and have even produced a promo video too.

Ironically, despite the accusation by some of them being KRAFTWERK copyists, METROLAND have actually stripped away the more obvious Kling Klang Synthanorma elements.

The Blitz Club’s legendary DJ Rusty Egan even enthusiastically commented “now it’s LOST the Kraftwerk, I like it MORE!”

METROLAND told ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about their remix: “We both hate those darn f*cked up club mixes where you can barely recognize something of the original. We started all from scratch. So, every sequence and bass line, melody was played as-new (we did not have a MIDI file), and we searched for new sounds. In the end, it became a more orchestral mix spiced up with the typical bass sounds from METROLAND, along with our famous layered sequences.”

Passenger A and Passenger S remembered: “It was a tough job as the song itself is a splendid OMD song with a KRAFTWERK spirit, a shivering combination, so we hope our remix will attract OMD fans”.

On receipt of this reworking, Andy McCluskey emailed METROLAND to say he was “loving it!!” The duo were extremely chuffed with the reaction: “Just imagine: making a joyful remix and getting such a reaction from someone you have been looking up to since you were a teenager!!”

OMD ‘Metroland (Appropriately Remixed by METROLAND)’ and the ‘Metroland’ EP are released as downloads on 25th March 2013 by BMG

METROLAND support OMD at Utrecht Tivoli on Friday 17th May and Brussels Ancienne Belgique on Monday 20th May 2013

http://www.omd.uk.com/

http://www.metrolandmusic.com/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
21st March 2013

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2017 ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK | Email: [email protected]
Privacy Policy

Up ↑