Tag: Mirrors (Page 4 of 8)

FOTONOVELA A Ton Of Love

10 December 2013 /

Guest vocalist albums are a strange beast; often too varied to give a coherent directional focus but too samey to work as a compilation, reactions to them are mixed.

But among the best in recent years though has been 2009’s debut album by KLEERUP featuring Robyn, Lykke Li, Marit Bergman and Titiyo. And now comes the second album from Greek production duo FOTONOVELA. Although their own catalogue has been small, their fingers have been in many pies. Primarily known for their work with MARSHEAUX, they have also remixed PET SHOP BOYS, GROOVE ARMADA and THE HUMAN LEAGUE.

Named after the cult Italo standard, FOTONOVELA’s sophomore LP is called ‘A Ton Of Love’; it kind of sums up the concept and is appropriately, an anagram of George Geranios and Nick Bitzenis’ professional moniker. The album is a far more song based collection than its groove laden predecessor, ‘Mistakes Are Good’.

The concept of ‘A Ton Of Love’ was to produce a supreme electronic record featuring vocalists from all stages of classic synthpop as a homage to the genre. As a sign of their ambition, the first person they approached was OMD’s Andy McCluskey and the sessions went well… so well in fact that the resultant number ‘Helen Of Troy’ ended up on OMD’s ‘English Electric’ opus! Great for FOTONOVELA’s standing but back to square one for the album. Next up was a collaboration with new Wall Of Sound signings EKKOES… that went well too with ‘Fight The Feeling’> pencilled in as their debut single!

One could be forgiven for thinking with FOTONOVELA’s tracks being coveted by their collaborators for their own albums, the tracks remaining on ‘A Ton Of Love’ might not be of the same standard.

But with a cast that features DUBSTAR, SECTION 25, MIRRORS, CLAPS, KID MOXIE and of course MARSHEAUX, the quality is maintained and in a few cases, exceeded.

Exceeding all expectations is one of the numbers with James New from MIRRORS. Capturing the essence of classic OMD with a spirited, majestic vocal, ‘Our Sorrow’ is a fine tribute to Humphreys/McCluskey but also highlights how much the wonderful MIRRORS are missed.

One cannot failed to be moved by the middle eight where New emotively exclaims “your love is poison to my veins”! And if that wasn’t enough, there’s another James New vocal in the fizzy uptempo synthpop of ‘Romeo & Juliet’ which takes on a slightly lighter shade than the usual pop noir of MIRRORS.

Meanwhile the wonderful Sarah Blackwood warms up for the recorded return of DUBSTAR in 2014 with great pair of wonderfully feisty numbers ‘Justice‘ and ‘Beautiful’. Continuing FOTONOVELA’s hitchhike through the North West of England, SECTION 25’s Bethany Cassidy gives it a pensive ‘Clean Slate’.

A FOTONOVELA album would not be complete without the voices of MARSHEAUX at some point; their ‘So Strange’ was the highlight of ‘Mistakes Are Good’. Unsurprisingly given that the two parties are joined at the hip, ‘Big Black Hole’ doesn’t veer too far from the usual MARSHEAUX formula although more prominent pulsing synthetics add a distinct high energy vibe. However, ‘Close To Me’ delivers some enigmatic pop in a surprisingly higher register than MARSHEAUX have reached before, recalling SANDRA’s ‘Maria Magdelena’.

Remaining near the Aegean Sea, ‘Freeze Frame’ voiced by Elena Charbila aka KID MOXIE is dreamily melancholic with an air of fragile vulnerability. It proves again that the Hellenic beauty has finally found her voice with that gorgeously breathy continental style following her guest spots on Nick Bitzenis’ NIKONN project.

Daryl Smith from cult duo THEY GO BOOM! is brought out of semi-retirement to add his voice to ‘Heartful Of Nothing’ and the result sounds like THE STONE ROSES fronting ERASURE!

Unfortunately, ‘Love Without Fear’ with CLAPS vocalist Patrick Donohoe sounds a little too frantic and forced.

Highly rated duo EKKOES finally make their appearance on ‘Arrows’, but there’s something not quite there too… their remixes of KATE BUSH and DRAGONETTE have been superb and on paper, they should be loved. But their Achilles Heel seems to be singer Jon Beck’s voice; it’s pleasant enough but lacks impact. Or maybe it’s the song; ‘Fight The Feeling’ was much better.

These two are the least essential items on the collection; and it’s a shame that for contractual reasons, the lovely enigmatic ballad ‘Scarecrow’ by Swedish jazz singer Jay Jay Johansson isn’t on the album and won’t see light of day until Record Store Day 2014 as a separately sanctioned release. But with three of the original songs intended for ‘A Ton Of Love’ going elsewhere, the final tracklisting was bound to be a little compromised.

Overall, ‘A Ton Of Love’ is great album but has sort of been a victim of FOTONVELA’s own success. The sessions have spawned some the best songs of 2013 and luckily, a number of them are on this album. This is a rather fine showcase for one of best production teams in Europe; ‘A Ton Of Love’ does what it says rather well.

‘A Ton Of Love’ is released as a CD by Undo Records on 11th December 2013 and available from http://www.undorecords.bigcartel.com/product/cdun46-fotonovela-a-ton-of-love-cd

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Text by Chi Ming Lai
10th December 2013, updated 29th December 2016

Missing In Action: MIRRORS

26 August 2013 /

Broken By Silence

Photo by David Ellis

In 2013, it would appear electronic pop music is as popular as ever with classic acts such as OMD and PET SHOP BOYS producing some of their best work since their heyday. And with them come many new acts who have been inspired by the innovators.

But one comment often keeps being repeated whenever ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK discusses particularly the new all-male synth acts on the scene with its colleagues and friends: “They’re not MIRRORS!”

Founded by James New (lead vocals and synthesizer) and Ally Young (synthesizer and backing vocals) in 2008, the pair were soon joined by James ‘Tate’ Arguile (synthesizer) and then Josef Page (electronic percussion) a few months later.

New and Arguile had actually been members of one-time indie hopefuls MUMM-RA who were signed to Columbia Records and had supported THE KILLERS in 2007; their best known song ‘She’s Got You High’ was used in a Waitrose advert and an episode of ‘The Inbetweeners’.

In 2009, MIRRORS released two self-produced singles ‘Look At Me’ and ‘Into The Heart’ which showcased an updated post-punk electronic sound. With New’s majestic vocals over their surreal, cinematic atmospheres, MIRRORS designated their music pop noir. After a few false starts image wise, MIRRORS settled on a look based around 20th Century European Modernism.

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James New told ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK: “We were fed up with how everything looked around us and we were definitely fed up with this celebration of scruffy indie rock music”. Relocating to Brighton, they impressed with their live shows locally and were eventually signed by FAT BOY SLIM’s label Skint Records with a tour supporting DELPHIC following not long after.

The quartet had a distinct vision and after aborted sessions with noted producers Richard X and Ed Bueller, their debut album was recorded and self-produced in a rural Sussex farmhouse before being mixed in New York by Jonathan Kreinik of DFA fame.

The resultant long player ‘Lights & Offerings’ was a wonderfully cohesive, seamless body of work that expressed the hopes and fears of young manhood. Following the philosophy of the Bauhaus movement’s founder Walter Gropius in uniting art and technology, the album crucially possessed an intelligent balance between precise electronic beats and emotive vintage synthesizer melodies.

James New had certainly kept his promise when he described the album as a collection of “really great pop songs” that contained “very densely produced, heavily layered, emotional, soulful electronic music”. Epic tracks such as ‘Fear Of Drowning’, ‘Somewhere Strange’ and the sub-11 minute ‘Secrets’ showed depth and ambition while there was accessible but cerebral synthpop in ‘Searching In The Wilderness’, ‘Hide & Seek’ and ‘Ways To An End’. And to show off their versatility, there was the beautiful electro cover of cult Country & Western number ‘Something On Your Mind’.

Despite delivering a fine debut album, MIRRORS didn’t get the recognition they deserved. There were several possible reasons for this. By the start of 2011, there appeared to be a synthpop backlash following the success of LA ROUX, LITTLE BOOTS and even LADY GAGA during 2009-2010.

Certainly the music press only seemed to embrace bands with a rogue electronic element if there was an obvious guitar backdrop (see THE KILLERS, LCD SOUNDSYSTEM and WHITE LIES). But ultimately, they wanted combos with beards, guitars and preferably no synthesizers at all (see KINGS OF LEON and MUMFORD & SONS!)

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It would be fair to say that MIRRORS probably also suffered from being compared to HURTS, particularly in Germany, the one market where MIRRORS were expected to prosper and the only country where the quartet undertook a full headline tour.

HURTS’ ‘Wonderful Life’ had been a No2 hit there and while the arthouse monochromatics of both acts indicated they each had a common goal to subvert the perception that bands needed to wear jeans and be hairy in order to attain any kind of credibility, musically the two acts were kilometres apart.

HURTS were more TAKE THAT and SAVAGE GARDEN cleverly dressed as ULTRAVOX, while MIRRORS really were the illegitimate offspring of OMD and DEPECHE MODE! But even the European public didn’t quite see it like that and certainly HURTS were able to attain more promotional momentum thanks to the weight of the Sony Corporation behind them!

While it could be expected that the real music brigade would be resistant to MIRRORS and their thoughtful aspirations, there was a surprising refusal to accept them within the electronic community itself. Electronic music didn’t die post-grunge but had mutated into numerous sub-genres and cottage industries.

But there was many a petty jealously embroiling as this band seemingly appeared out of nowhere and picked up on the distinctly European legacy that had been left behind back in the day to satisfy the synthobic territory of the USA with the advent of MTV. Comments like “Synth Britannia throwbacks”, “credit crunch KRAFTWERK” and “OMD tribute act” were among those banded about.

Photo by David Ellis

Then there was OMD’s drummer Mal Holmes’ amusing quip that “MIRRORS do OMD better than OMD do OMD…” – although complimentary, the comment may have inadvertently had an adverse effect. It was known to have got up the backs of several OMD fans who felt that OMD could do no wrong, despite them delivering a disappointing comeback album in ‘History Of Modern’! Ultimately, it was as if some wanted MIRRORS to fail.

Of course, OMD were one of MIRRORS many influences. The invitation to support the band on their 2010 European tour proved to be a blessing and a curse. While opening for OMD put MIRRORS firmly in front of an audience who were most likely to embrace them, it also drew comparisons due to the shared musical and sartorial roots of both bands.

The tour was a great success and enabled MIRRORS to undertake a headlining sojourn of Deutschland but the decisions to accept invitations to open for OMD in June and September of 2011 may have been ill-advised in hindsight.

With MIRRORS also playing events such as Back To The Future – Tomorrow Is Today with Gary Numan and John Foxx plus Godiva Festival with HEAVEN 17 and BLANCMANGE as well, MIRRORS were now being perceived as a Synth Britannia support act! James New later admitted: “I think we’ve made without realising it, maybe a record that was slightly more derivative than we hoped to make. We can be honest about that!”

This must have been preying on the band’s mind because prior to the Autumn batch of OMD dates and a slot at Bestival sharing the bill with SANTIGOLD and ONETWO, MIRRORS cancelled their appearances to “write new material”. Many followers of the band sensed all was not well and this was confirmed in a statement a few weeks later when Ally Young announced he was leaving.

The reason appeared to be good old fashioned musical differences; “We were coming to the point where writing the second record had begun. I felt like I’d taken it as far as I could perhaps emotionally as I wanted to” Young said in December 2012, “we were writing things that were good but I didn’t feel like I wanted to be part of it anymore. I didn’t know what I wanted to do at the point but I did know it wasn’t that!”

MIRRORS parted ways with Skint Records although a belated remix album ‘Deconstructed’ was issued before Christmas 2011. But it appeared as though MIRRORS were done and dusted.

Then at the start of 2012, the remaining threesome announced the release of an EP ‘This Year, Next Year, Sometime…?’ which featured two newly recorded songs ‘Dust’ and ‘Shooting Stars’; the remaining songs were various works-in-progress or demos.

While it appeared to be nothing more than a stop-gap, it showed that Messrs New, Arguile and Page were still determined to pursue their artistic ideals just as DEPECHE MODE had with ‘A Broken Frame’ back in 1982 after Vince Clarke left. Using a wider palette of possibilities including more prominent guitar and conventional bass, the sparser direction still retained their essential melodic components. It proved if nothing, that MIRRORS were in still business although between premises and working from home.

Meanwhile after producing an aborted second album for Britpop influenced rockers VIVA BROTHER, Ally Young teamed up with their singer Lee Newell to form LOVELIFE and uprooted to New York. While still very much synth and sample led, the duo developed a sound based more around R’n’B grooves which were very much influenced by their new urban surroundings. Appropriately enough, they toured North America supporting THE NEIGHBOURHOOD while their first two EPs ‘El Regreso’ and ‘The Fourth Floor’ were well received; from the former, the HARD-FI meets OMD template of ‘Brave Face’ was a particular highlight.

On the MIRRORS front, things have been slightly less clear. Although a single ‘Hourglass’ backed with the superb ‘Between Four Walls’ was issued via Bandcamp in Summer 2012, New and Arguile reformed MUMM-RA for a one-off show later that Autumn. Fast forward to April 2013 and MUMM-RA have released a new download only EP. Other than a low-key gig in the Czech Republic at the FIS Ski Flying World Cup in February 2013, MIRRORS have remained silent. However, it is understood the band’s management have been answering enquiries for live bookings from various parties in 2013, although none of these have actually come to fruition.

Meanwhile, New has contributed vocals to two songs with production duo FOTONOVELA, best known for their work with MARSHEAUX and co-writing the OMD song ‘Helen Of Troy’. The vibrant first song from the sessions was ‘Romeo & Juliet’ while the magnificent second number ‘Sorrow’ is still to be aired publically. Whatever happens, MIRRORS are greatly missed and one wonders what the reaction to ‘Lights & Offerings’ might have been had it been released in the more sympathetic climate of 2013, a year which has seen KRAFTWERK headline Latitude and synthpop trio CHVRCHES get signed to Virgin Records.

Photo by David Ellis

After two and half years, what remains is the music and it is only after some distance that there can be an objective reassessment. Thus ‘Lights & Offerings’, with its associated bonuses, remains an impressive body of work. OMD’s Andy McCluskey once said MIRRORS had the potential to become “the DURAN DURAN of modern synthpop”. Even if that prospect is to remain unfulfilled, it really would be shame if there was to be no more great music from MIRRORS.

‘Lights & Offerings’ is still available via Skint Records

The EP ‘This Year, Next Year, Sometime…?’ and single ‘Hourglass’ are available as downloads via Bandcamp from http://mirrorsofficial.bandcamp.com/

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Text by Chi Ming Lai
26th August 2013

LOVELIFE Interview

18 December 2012 /

Brooklyn based UK duo LOVELIFE made their UK live debut in London’s Camden Barfly for a showcase of their indie R’n’B electro fusion.

Having played numerous gigs in their adopted home of New York, Lee Newell, one-time lead singer with VIVA BROTHER and Ally Young, formally of MIRRORS were suitably relaxed and showed no nerves beforehand. Opening with the brilliant ‘Brave Face’ from the debut ‘El Regreso’ EP, Newell showed himself to be a very capable and charismatic front man, his boy band looks winning favour with numerous female members of the audience.

Young meanwhile continued to display the exuberant enthusiasm that was always a pleasing feature at MIRRORS gigs, harmonising with Newell while handling his Dave Smith Prophet 08 and Moog Little Phatty. Incidentally, it was also great to see MIRRORS’ James Arguile in the crowd giving his support to his former bandmate and later affirming his positive vibes about the music.

LOVELIFE’s performance was augmented by drums and guitar; while these elements added a sure-fire bite to proceedings, neither was too imposing with the former providing percussive colours alongside the power while the latter gave texture to the grooves, samples and synthetic atmospheres….however, it was quite different from VIVA BROTHER despite these two additional musicians Frank Colucci and Sam Jackson both being ex-Brothers.

Running though a variety of beat driven numbers such as ‘Tonight (We’re Taking Our Own Lives)’, ‘Your New Beloved’ and ‘Invisible’, LOVELIFE’s genre blend worked well in a live setting, the contrast of Newell’s and Young’s tastes pushing boundaries for an unusual template within electronic pop.

Not quite synthpop, not quite indie rock and not quite R’n’B but most definitely different. Newell’s lyrical gists are often very personal and none more so than on ‘She Makes It Look So Easy’. Closing with the rousing and anthemic pop of ‘Heaven’, the most immediate song from their new release ‘The Fourth Floor’, LOVELIFE are finding their way and most importantly enjoying the ride.

Just prior to this performance, Ally Young and Lee Newell spoke to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK to give an insight into their music and values…

What inspired you to come together musically as LOVELIFE?

Lee: We never intended to write music together, Ally was working as a producer on VIVA BROTHER’s second album. We started writing tunes over a period of six months and realised there was a connection there so we wanted to see how far we could take it.

Ally: Yeah, we never planned to do it.

What is the creative dynamic between the two of you?

Ally: The way we’ve done it is kind of an evolution. After we did the VIVA BROTHER album, we kept going with stuff together that was different to what both of us had done previously.

We can start from a drum loop, chord progression or a melody. Lee writes all the toplines and all the lyrics but we do everything else together, bouncing ideas back and forth.

The indie press and blogs appear to have assumed LOVELIFE is a reincarnation of VIVA BROTHER and some quarters have been dismayed by the more electronic based content?

Lee: I expected it to happen but you can’t get hung up on those sorts of things. You’ve go to do what you gotta do and just play music! We’re not here to please anyone other than ourselves; I think that’s the whole ethos behind our music. Before perhaps we’ve been ushered into areas we weren’t necessarily meant to go but now we’ve got this freedom and no pressure from labels, just pressure from ourselves. Because we’re doing it on our own terms, there’s no need to worry about anything else. So whilst a few of the blogs were a bit dismayed, I think now a lot people are getting quite excited about the whole thing from what I hear.

Ally: Like Lee said, it wasn’t a total shock, it’s just a bit lazy saying “this is VIVA BROTHER reincarnated”; I wasn’t in the band so it can’t be!

You decamped to New York…

Lee: …we wanted to get away from it all after VIVA BROTHER and our manager suggested we get our pennies together and relocate to New York to make something happen.

Ally: We didn’t take much persuading!

Lee: So we went and then six months later, we went with the idea of playing some gigs as a band and came back as LOVELIFE. What you see in the show is like a year’s worth of writing and recording.

Ally: We literally went at the drop of a hat! We didn’t know what we were going to do when we got there…I’d never even been to New York! We were a band that no-one knew who had three songs on the internet so we started from the bottom. We had nothing and it was really exciting.

Lee: It was really frightening; it could have all gone off in our faces! “Oh god what have we done! We put our lives on hold and now what?” But we wanted to come back and show everyone what we’d done.

Ally; was there much escaping and soul searching from your point of view after MIRRORS?

Ally: No-one knows who I am so there was no need to escape!!

Lee: I thought his band were good!

Ally: For me, it was a little simpler in that we did that first record ‘Lights & Offerings’ and we toured it but we were coming to the point where writing the second record had begun.

I felt like I’d taken it as far as I could perhaps emotionally as I wanted to… we were writing things that were good but I didn’t feel like I wanted to be part of it anymore. I didn’t know what I wanted to do at the point but I did know it wasn’t that!

Had you grown out of the classic synth thing? I always had the impression that you were most into it out of the four of you…

Ally: It was probably mostly me…when we started MIRRORS, James New and I wanted to do an electronic band that wasn’t a traditional live band and banished all those elements of real guitars and drums. That was exciting because you set yourself limits that you work within and do things in a different way. Those same invisible walls that we put up to make MIRRORS felt liberating but by the end of it, I couldn’t really do what I wanted to do. So LOVELIFE, I feel is exactly what I want to do; we’re not just an electronic band so when you see us live, we are a proper band with a guitarist and drummer. We use samples that are triggered from the drum kit but that’s what I love, there’s a lot more emotion in it.

Lee: What Ally said is quite important; it’s something that happened with VIVA BROTHER as well. When you start a band, you create these limitations that you have to live within and MIRRORS, it was the four of them and it was very synth heavy, smart and very cool. VIVA BROTHER was very…

Ally: …Rock ‘n’ Roll!

Lee: Yes, rocky, Britpop, all that kind of thing! And then you find you’re limited by it. You can’t escape it and you’ve done what you needed to do. We did our second album and I was done with it before I released it!

What sort of influences have you each brought to the table that perhaps the other wouldn’t have taken notice of had you not been working together?

Lee: I never really listened to much synthesized music at all other than the 90s dance/R’n’B that was on the radio that I loved…but I never imagined I’d be playing it! It’s a whole new world making a piece of machinery talk; I felt that was really interesting. It something I understood with a guitar but never understood with a quirky keyboard. That was exciting for me. And I think it’s the opposite for Ally…

Ally: …for me, it’s the way that Lee writes melodically and lyrically. We work together…

Lee: …I don’t understand what he does…I try! *laughs*

Ally: If we have a chord progression or something, often I’ll have something in my head but I never say it out loud and I always like to hear what Lee does. But Lee will do something that I would never in a million years have come up with. And that’s the beauty of it; if we both had the same record collection, we’d sound like a homage or pastiche…I’ve been there and done that!

Lee: Exactly what I’ve done! To get out of our comfort zones, we have to work a lot harder for something to happen. The reason MIRRORS and VIVA BROTHER were buzz bands was because we sounded a lot like an era and people can romanticise with a band that sounds like its from that era and relate to it easily.

You should have seen my first live review of MIRRORS… it had ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK all over it!! *laughs*

Ally: Someone referred to MIRRORS as “credit crunch KRAFWERK”!

Lee: That’s unfair! VIVA BROTHER got called a bad homage to SHED SEVEN and a bad FLOWERED UP! *laughs*

Ally: Because we’ve gravitated towards each other musically, there are records that we equally both love but there are others that Lee would listen too that I probably wouldn’t and vice versa. I think it will always be like that. Our sound is synthy and slow with R’n’B/Hip Hop influences but if Lee sung melodies like that, we’d be a laughing stock…two middle class white kids making R’n’B/Hip Hop!

This is what’s interesting about you. My first impression was that LOVELIFE is electronic pop music, but perhaps not quite as we know it. Some of it sounds like what might have happened if Noel Gallagher had picked up a Prophet instead of a Les Paul. Other tracks, it’s quite R’n’B… 

Lee: When you do something for a while and you fall out of love with it, you do the polar opposite. Because we were in New York, it does encompass you slightly.

Ally: The music that surrounded us where we lived in Brooklyn would be totally different to what we hear in the UK.

Lee: It’s music everywhere, in cars, on the streets…

Ally: …in America, each station is genre specific so you listen to a station for the genre you like, you don’t get a station with everything. So you can listen to Hip Hop or R’n’B all day long and you can’t do that in the UK…even on Radio1Xtra, it’s not like it is there! That definitely influenced us.

Lee: It was something new that we discovered together as well and fallen in love with.

Ally: I’ve always had a soft spot for really cheesy slow R’n’B and some of the cool stuff as well but I was never going to get away with that in MIRRORS! *laughs*

‘Brave Face’ is the song that possibly links LOVELIFE musically most with MIRRORS…what inspired that one? It’s like a courageous statement of intent…

Lee: There is an element of that but a lot of the first ‘El Regreso’ EP was about a break-up I went through. Me and Ally bonded over relationships that ended with girlfriends at the same time and we had solice in each other; we were on each other’s shoulders a little bit.

I felt we could be a little raw lyrically. It’s about a girl but if you want to think of it as about us being brave, you can take that… it makes for a better story! *laughs*

The song ‘Heaven’ from your new EP ‘The Fourth Floor’ is about your old band Lee?

Lee: It was something to get off my chest, I was bit frustrated in VIVA BROTHER and I was paranoid that people weren’t taking me seriously as a musician and songwriter. I wanted to put that into a song and what better way to answer people. It was a good melody as well, the words sort of came together.

Ally, how did you complement it musically?

Ally: The track was written musically before a lyric…

Lee: …we added parts to accent some words and certain feelings like in the chorus where it says “When I thought I found heaven, I found myself in hell, lost and alone so far from home” and there’s this big orchestral siren which really alludes.

Ally: I think with that song, it’s less about production but it’s obvious what it’s about and it’s a good song…the lyrics are really poignant and the song stands up.

Lee: I don’t expect anyone to know what band I was in but it was something personal to me. So if anyone listens to it, they might have their own interpretation of what it’s about.

Will you do a song about your old band Ally?

Ally: If Lee writes one! *laughs*

Which songs have been the key tracks for you both so far from your two EPs?

Ally: I think is probably ‘Your New Beloved’ from ‘The Fourth Floor’ EP. From start to finish, we did that in two hours. I made this beat and dragged this sample in while Lee wrote the melody in about 15 minutes and we tracked it in about another 15-20… then it was done!

We can sometimes get bogged down and you can overwork a song but that one, we spent the least amount of time on and we thought “this is good”. It’s the track which lyrically people relate to the most, it’s given us the most attention.

Lee: It’s weird that…’Your New Beloved’ is definitely a stand out and ‘Brave Face’ for me as well because it feels very complete for whatever reason.

Ally: That was another one that happened really quickly wasn’t it?

Lee: Yes, and I love the middle eight to it as well.

Ally: ‘I’m No More’ would be the second one for me…I think that encompasses what we do very well in that the musicality of it is quite urban and electronic with a Hip Hop influence, but then the melody is completely different and its contrast sits perfectly.

So how has LOVELIFE been received by the people who followed your previous bands?

Ally: We haven’t really received much aversion from any fans of the previous bands who were genuinely fans of the music. It’s rare from my experience… the whole negative thing has come from press and from blogs.

Lee: I’ve had a few which I would expect…

I understand you like the new Glasweigian synthpop act CHVRCHES?

Lee: I think CHVRCHES are great and cool. They’re something a bit different, like PURITY RING but a bit more songy! ‘The Mother We Share’ is a big tune!

Ally: It grew on me that…wasn’t overly into it first time.

Anyone else you like at the moment?

Ally: Angel Haze, she’s cool and there’s this 17 year old kid from Brooklyn, a rapper called Joey Bada$$…his EP ‘1999’ reminds me of a young NAS. The Taylor Swift record is a killer!

Lee: I really like HAIM.

You did a remix for MAROON 5. How did that come about?

Ally: We got asked to do it by the label.

Lee: They saw us play. We were offered it and thought “we can’t pass up this opportunity”!

Ally: Remixes are fun anyway because it’s like writing a song without writing a song. It’s already written and you just take it apart and put it back together!

Did you do the MIRRORS Une Autre Monde Mix for LADY GAGA’s ‘Judas’?

Ally: There were two kicking around, one I did… if Interscope offer you a LADY GAGA remix, you don’t say no, it’s as simple as that! To be honest, remixing that song was like a lesson in engineering; it was fun!

Hopes and fears…what next for LOVELIFE?

Lee: That’ll be the album title… *laughs*

Ally: …your biography!

Lee: Yeah! I think we’re planning to go to South-By-Southwest Festival so that’s the next thing were going to work towards. And then we’re going to go back to America for a bit. In the meantime, we’re just going to write and play…

Ally: …yes, play where there’s a demand for us.

Lee: As long as we’ve got new music to play and we’re enjoying it, we’ll do it.

Ally: I think we’d like to do a slightly longer release next time.

Lee: It will probably be a bit more experimental and darker.

Ally: I think we’re still finding our feet. Even with the two EPs, I think that’s fairly evident.

Finally, how did you get on with getting KRAFTWERK tickets? *laughs*

Ally: It’s still a little difficult for me to talk about it…I phoned from half seven in the morning until about four in the afternoon and I didn’t get through once! The whole saving grace for me was that no-one had tickets until 3.00pm. I think there were ten volunteers from the Women’s Institute on the phones at the Tate…my mood changed through the day as I was thinking “This is my last chance to see KRAFTWERK!”…then I thought “F*** KRAFTWERK, it’s only Ralf Hütter”! I couldn’t get tickets for anything! I would’ve taken tickets for ‘The Mix’ or ‘Tour De France Soundtracks’!!! *laughs*

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to LOVELIFE

Special Thanks to Chris Nenadich at Fifth Member Management

‘The Fourth Floor’ and ‘El Regreso’ EPs are available on digital platforms

http://www.facebook.com/LVLFinfo

https://soundcloud.com/lvlf/sets/lovelife-the-fourth-floor

Text and interview by Chi Ming Lai
18th December 2012

2012 END OF YEAR REVIEW

16 December 2012 /

Close Encounters Of The Synth Kind

The year began with the housewives’ favourite astronomer Brian Cox naming several synth friendly classics like OMD’s ‘Messages’ and DURAN DURAN’s ‘Friends Of Mine’ in his choices for ‘Desert Island Discs’ as well as declaring an appreciation of ULTRAVOX.

The confessions of the one-time keyboard player of DARE and D:REAM proved once again that electronic music is the preserve of the intelligent, discerning listener. And as with the strap line to ‘Close Encounters Of The Third Kind’ which featured the use of an ARP 2500 to communicate with the aliens incidentally!), it proved to many a synth enthusiast that “we are not alone”!

Speaking of ULTRAVOX, they made the comeback of the year with ‘Brilliant’, the first long player featuring the classic line-up of Warren Cann, Chris Cross, Billy Currie and Midge Ure since 1984’s ‘Lament’. While the album could have probably done with being two tracks shorter, it was the best of the bunch in a line of returns from the last few years by Synth Britannia veterans OMD, BLANCMANGE and THE HUMAN LEAGUE; not bad considering most of the band are now in their early sixties! The Dreaded Pink Thing has now been truly buried!

Gary Numan continued to tour like there was no tomorrow and reunited with his old backing band DRAMATIS on several of his ‘Machine Music’ shows in tribute to the late Ced Sharpley who had drummed for both. From the same management stable, JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS unleashed their third album in 18 months entitled ‘Evidence’ while Claudia Brücken released only her second solo album in just over 20 years with a soothing collection of reinterpretations called ‘The Lost Are Found’.

With only Synth-Werk plug-in hoaxes and Belgian clones METROLAND to keep Klingklangers entertained with new material, KRAFTWERK themselves undertook a 3D residency at New York’s MoMA featuring their eight most recent works with a controversial two tickets per customer policy. As most of these albums clocked in at just over 30 minutes, there was still an hour’s other favourites to savour for those lucky enough to get their names on the list.

This electronic extravaganza will be reprised at London’s Tate Modern in February 2013. As a former power plant, the location is wholly appropriate although the occasion will be tainted by the ticket fiasco that preceded it! Ex-member Karl Bartos was probably observing with amusement as he will be returning in 2013 with a new album ‘Off The Record’ and world tour. Disgruntled fans who missed out on the Tate Modern shows are now likely to be venturing his way for their KRAFTWERK fix!

Danny Boyle’s London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony attempted to showcase the best of British so with UNDERWORLD as musical directors, OMD, NEW ORDER, PET SHOP BOYS, BRIAN ENO and EURYTHMICS all figured during the evening.

DEPECHE MODE themselves announced a new album and tour for 2013 in a bizarre press conference that appeared to have no actual news! But this was not before Dave Gahan guested with SOULSAVERS and Martin Gore did a cameo for MOTOR; He also reunited with former bandmate Vince Clarke for the rather polarising techno project VCMG. And in a year that saw all members of the extended DM family busy, former bandmate Alan Wilder helped compile a tribute album to one-time synthpoppers TALK TALK and released the RECOIL concert film ‘A Strange Hour In Budapest’.

MARSHEAUX returned to London with a triumphant performance featuring The Blitz Club’s legendary Rusty Egan on electronic percussion during an encore of ‘Come On’, a song from their forthcoming fourth long player ‘Inhale’.

They also released a double headed single with the marvellous TWINS NATALIA; Sophie and Marianthi covered their cult favourite ‘When We Were Young’ to compliment their rendition of ‘Radial Emotion’.

After the label and personnel upheavals of last Autumn, MIRRORS regrouped as a trio and made a welcome return with a starker sound. While this new material perhaps lacked the immediacy of their ‘Lights & Offerings’ debut, songs like ‘Between Four Walls’ and ‘Dust’ captured a depth of mood that grew with each listen. MIRRORS off-shoot LOVELIFE decamped to make their fortune in New York and unveiled a promising number in ‘Brave Face’ which crossed OMD with HARD-FI.

Sweden proved its prowess with COMPUTE who beefed up her sound for second EP ‘The Distance’ while IAMAMIWHOAMI took her mysterious audio visual experience into the physical album arena for the first time with ‘Kin’ where the enigmatic electronic soundtrack stood up on its own. Just down the road, there was the RAMMSTEIN reincarnated as DEPECHE MODE menace of TITANS.

Electro crooners JULIAN & MARINA showcased their lounge crooner synthpop with a cover of a Hollywood-era Elvis number ‘A House That Has Everything’ and DAYBEHAVIOR released their third album ‘Follow That Car!’ after a year’s delay.

Among the best songs of 2012 was ‘Trust’ by Finland’s SIN COS TAN, a new project from VILLA NAH’s Juho Paalosmaa and ace producer Jori Hulkkonen. The parent eponymous album was impressive too and showed once again that the Nordic region was the perfect environment for the genesis of inventive leftfield synthpop.

From across the Atlantic, Canadians CRYSTAL CASTLES and PURITY RING were the darlings of the hipster cognoscenti along with GRIMES who hit the black keys of her Juno-G and impressed with her latest album ‘Visions’. She also made a timely appearance on ‘Later With Jools Holland’ which recalled the TV debut of LITTLE BOOTS back in 2008.

Sadly, Victoria Hesketh left behind her synth girl persona to head for the less challenging climes of clubland. Big rival LA ROUX was taking her time recording her second album while LADYHAWKE proved that she was always a rock chick in the first place with her second long player ‘Anxiety’sounding like it had been recorded down a drainpipe!

But in Diamond Jubilee Year, QUEEN OF HEARTS flew the electro flag with a glitzy slice of electro schaffel appropriately entitled ‘Neon’. A further single ‘Warrior’ proved it was not a fluke as the young royal turned into CLAUDIA BRÜCKEN meeting Emo KYLIE!

The UK found itself a few promising female-led electronic acts in the charmingly kooky …OF DIAMONDS, the Italo-led KOVAK and the dark but dreamy EVOKATEUR. But virtually out of nowhere came Glasgow’s new synth sensations CHVRCHES.

Despite only unleashing two songs ‘Lies’ and ‘The Mother We Share’ for public consumption, both were corkers; their much vaunted live performances met expectations, displaying both inventive synth arrangements and a vital pop sensibility.

The boys weren’t idle either with BRIGHT LIGHT BRIGHT LIGHT and KID KASIO unleashing their long awaited debut albums while on the newer side of the tracks, there was the angry OMD of AUTOMATIC WRITING, the FAITHLESS gone rock of SINESTAR and the ERASURE for the new millennium of MODOVAR.

After the excitement of the years between 2008 and 2011, this was a comparatively quiet year for the sound of the synth with regards special events. There was no Short Circuit or gatherings on the scale of Tomorrow Is Today, the Vintage Electronic Phuture Revue or the BEF Weekender.

Within the mainstream, the majors were keen to support electronic music just so long as it was dance oriented. Notably, EMI pushed the generic foil of SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA and the ubiquitous David Guetta as the new acceptable faces of electronic music via their flawed ‘Electrospective’ promotional campaign; by default, this also involved Daniel Miller, Martyn Ware and Andy McCluskey due to the label’s ownership of the Virgin and Mute back catalogues! But some glaring schoolboy errors on their website and the use of quotes from COLDPLAY’s Chris Martin showed they didn’t really understand electronic pop…

There had been signs at the end of 2011 that the major record companies thought a rave revival would save their corporate bacons. Swedish synthpop duo THE SOUND OF ARROWS said that during their brief tenure with Geffen Records, the A&R had wanted them to sound more Ibiza club friendly. Their one-time label mate SUNDAY GIRL, who originally had a promising GOLDFRAPP meets JOY DIVISION sound, was reduced to covering dance numbers made famous by STEPS… her debut album originally slated for 2010 is still nowhere to be seen!

Meanwhile, MARINA & THE DIAMONDS‘ very good in places second album ‘Electra Heart’ had several of its songs spoiled by overdriving club beats! Is this really the only way to make people dance? It all seems a little brain dead! “NAME THAT TUNE…” snarled Rusty Egan on Facebook, “…if you can hear one?”

So should ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK settle down with a pipe and slippers? While we prefer to “dance to disco” cos we “don’t like rock”, there must be more to electro than shallow repetitive four-to-the-floor thuds and glowsticks?

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK likes a tune and doesn’t pretend to love every variation of the electronic theme. And from conversations with several DJs, it would appear clubland doesn’t want to be associated with the classic synthpop world anymore than the classic synthpop world wants to be lumped in with dance culture… so why attempt to centralise everything?

Modern beat driven flavours and other influences can be appreciated but a full blown experience is not always what is required! As the marvellous new Texan duo ELEVEN:ELEVEN have proved, danceable electronic music can be made that is subtle and syncopated. And all this without the need of an annoying dubstep remix, or a 10 minute techno rework with no melodic elements!

It’s cool to be discerning…

ELECTRICTYCLUB.CO.UK Contributor Listings of 2012

PAUL BODDY

Best Album: DEADMAU5 >album title goes here<
Best Song: ORBITAL New France (Tom Middleton Cosmos remix)
Best Gig: RAMMSTEIN at London O2 Arena
Best Video: SPLEEN UNITED Days Of Thunder
Most Promising New Act: TITANS

STEVE GRAY

Best Album: ULTRAVOX Brilliant
Best Song: CHVRCHES Lies
Best Gig: HEAVEN 17 at London Shepherds Bush Empire
Best Video: SINESTAR I Am The Rain
Most Promising New Act: CHVRCHES

CHI MING LAI

Best Album: SIN COS TAN Sin Cos Tan
Best Song: SIN COS TAN Trust
Best Gig: HEAVEN 17 at London Shepherds Bush Empire
Best Video: IAMAMIWHOAMI Drops
Most Promising New Act: CHVRCHES

RICHARD PRICE

Best Album: SIN COS TAN Sin Cos Tan
Best Song: ULTRAVOX Rise
Best Gig: BAS II
Best Video: KID KASIO Telephone Line
Most Promising New Act: KARIN PARK

Text by Chi Ming Lai
16th December 2012

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s 30 SONGS OF 2012

12 December 2012 /


It was a weak year musically overall, but a number of acts with great potential emerged.

However, in stronger years, a fair number of these acts would not have been shortlisted, it has to be said.  So here are ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s 30 Songs of 2012, listed in alphabetical order.

All have been released either in physical formats or digitally as purchasable or free downloads during the calendar year. However, the list is limited to one song per artist. It also does not include tracks which are exclusive to streams and videos or DJs only promos…

AUTOMATIC WRITING Continuous

Consisting of the Merrick Brothers, AUTOMATIC WRITING are the angry OMD! Their sombre Eno influenced template is like Wirral’s finest have been given a contemporary anthemic facelift by having WHITE LIES’ Harry McVeigh recruited as lead vocalist! ‘Continuous’ whirs and spins while driven by mutant motorik beats and dysfunctional claustrophobia. The flip ‘Falling’ is a more mid-tempo cousin.

Available as a download single via http://automaticwriting.bandcamp.com/

http://www.facebook.com/automaticwriting

BRIGHT LIGHT BRIGHT LIGHT Immature

BRIGHT LIGHT BRIGHT LIGHT is Welsh songwriter/producer Rod Thomas who adopted his ‘Gremlins’ referencing moniker to prevent being mistaken for an acoustic folk act. As the opener to the long awaited album ‘Make Me Believe In Hope’, ‘Immature’ is a great start as it rhythmically percolates in the manner of THE POSTAL SERVICE before a terrific synth section unexpectedly lifts the whole piece several notches. This is a superbly emotive and sensitive piece of pop.

Available on the album ‘Make Me Believe in Hope’ via The Blue Team/Aztec Records

http://www.brightlightx2.com/

CLAUDIA BRÜCKEN Everyone Says Hi

From ‘The Lost Are Found’ album produced by Stephen Hague which also features versions of songs originally by PET SHOP BOYS and DUBSTAR among others, Claudia Brücken’s lively reinterpretation of Bowie’s ‘Everyone Says Hi’ from ‘Heathen’ unveils a previously hidden heartfelt connection, a call for contact like Major Tom in ‘Space Oddity’. Dressed with catchy synth riffs and fuzzy shades, it combines ice maiden chill and organic warmth for an artful sound.

Available on the album ‘The Lost Are Found’ via There (there)

http://www.claudiabrucken.co.uk/

CHVRCHES Lies

Robyn doing an electro cover of ‘The Whole Of The Moon’ may not sound immediately appealing in concept but that’s how this punchy number starts before elevating into a rousing, spirited synth anthem. CHVRCHES could become the next electro combo to shake up the mainstream pop world since LA ROUX. A great song with great melodies and weird noises, herein ‘Lies’ the bridge between leftfield and bubblegum pop.

Available as a free download via Neon Gold

http://www.facebook.com/CHVRCHES

VINCE CLARKE Featuring ANE BRUN Fly On The Windscreen

Novelist Tonya Hurley commissioned her brother-in-law Vince Clarke to record a stark cover of his former band’s ‘Fly On The Windscreen’ with vocalist Ane Brun as part of promotion for her literary trilogy ‘The Blessed’. While the guitar-like textures appear to have been borrowed from the original in an act of artistic continuity, the rest of the arrangement is quite different as the vulnerable feminine twist acts as the ‘Twilight’ Generation’s perfect introduction to DEPECHE MODE.

Available as a download single via iTunes and Amazon

http://www.vinceclarkemusic.com/

http://anebrun.com/

COMPUTE Light As A Feather

COMPUTE is Ulrika Mild, a Gothenburg girl who discovered synthpop via DEPECHE MODE’s ‘Speak and Spell’. ‘The Distance’ is a follow-up to the debut album ‘This’ and from it, ‘Light As a Feather’ is a bouncy but melancholic ditty which suggests a snow mountain of vulnerability. That is certainly apparent in Ulrika’s sweet, fragile voice. It’s beautifully sequenced with layers of eerie string machine for that distinctive Nordic chill.

Available on download album ‘The Distance’ via iTunes and Amazon

http://www.compute.se

CURXES Spectre

Roberta Fidora shows yet another fine turn of aggressive resignation like SIOUXSIE SIOUX in a padded cell while instrumentalist Macaulay Hopwood picks out his unsettling bass notes to full effect. While this CURXES tune is perhaps more guitar driven than what would normally be expected of most electronica, ‘Spectre’ is positively Spartan with symphonic synth stabs and industrial beat snaps…it’s the sound of the overground or Goth ‘n’ Bass…or even Gotham Bass; geddit? Simply exhilarating!

Available as a download single via Amazon and iTunes

http://www.curxes.com

DIVINE KNIGHTS Clouds (THE SANFERNANDO SOUND remix)

Goth laden PET SHOP BOYS from the theatrical Aussie duo dreamily remixed by THE SANFERNANDO SOUND. This is richly synthesized with lashings of atmosphere and accessible melancholy. The extrovertly camp pair have even subverted the realm of the talent show by getting into the semi-finals of ‘Australia’s Got Talent’. Dannii Minogue said: “I think DIVINE KNIGHTS are brave for coming on a show like this because not everybody is going to get them…but I really hope they do well!”

Available as a download single via Amazon and iTunes

http://www.divineknights.com.au/

http://www.facebook.com/thesanfernandosound

ELEVEN:ELEVEN No Words

Texan duo ELEVEN:ELEVEN comprise the feline vocals of Sicca with the instrumentation of Jake Childs and throw in a variety of influences including Italo Disco, Hi-NRG and Electroclash. ‘No Words’ recalls MISS KITTEN & THE HACKER, capturing a tense nightlife seediness. Short but sweet with a swirling middle section, who needs an extended dance mix when the point is made in two and a half minutes?

Available as a free download via http://weare1111.com/

GAZELLE TWIN Changelings (JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS remix)

Stark and mysterious, the living art of GAZELLE TWIN is the moniker of Elizabeth Walling, the Brighton based songstress whose brooding, unsettling Hauntronica has impressed in all the right circles. JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS’ version of one of her best tracks ‘Changelings’ sees Mr Foxx adding his own Cathedral Oceans sweeps to Benge’s Mathematical solutions. In an productive year profile wise, her music was used in the promotion for the film ‘Prometheus’.

Available on the album ‘The Entire City Remixed’ via Anti-Ghost Moon Ray Records

http://www.gazelletwin.com/

GRIMES Oblivion

GRIMES is the kooky Montreal sensation that is Clare Boucher and this Lykke Li fronting KRAFTWERK tune is sumptuously infectious. Despite almost unintelligible vocals, ‘Oblivion’ is probably the most immediate track on the ‘Visions’ album although other tracks like ‘Genesis’ and ‘Be A Body’ explore similarly accessible synthesized avenues. ‘Oblivion’ is ideal for those looking for subtler percussive colours and synthesized tapestries in a leftfield lady meets pop princess fusion.

Available on the album ‘Visions’ via 4AD Records

http://www.grimesmusic.com

HUSKI Close To The Edge

HUSKI first came to public attention on the trendy Shoreditch electro scene back in 2007 with ‘Take Me Your Picture’.  The late lamented Word magazine described ‘Close To The Edge’ as sounding “not unlike how Clare Grogan might if she took a guest slot with THE HUMAN LEAGUE”. As both THE HUMAN LEAGUE and ALTERED IMAGES worked with the late Martin Rushent, that is not as peculiar as it first sounds and it brims with a cutesy allure.

Available on the album ‘H’ via Amazon and iTunes

http://www.huskimusic.com/

IAMAMIWHOAMI Drops

IAMAMIWHOIAMI is the enigmatic electronic multimedia project fronted by Jonna Lee. From her first full length album ‘Kin’, ‘Drops’ is uptempo but almost trancelike. The beats are subtle with just layers of ice and chill to compliment. The clattering fits of noise and metallic textures add to the hypnotism. Jonna Lee’s piercing larynx will polarise listeners but this is Nordic weirdness in all its wonderful glory.

Available on the album ‘Kin’ via To Whom It May Concern

http://www.towhomitmayconcern.cc/

INJE Kofein I CO2

Hailing from Belgrade and featuring the nucleus of vocalist Jelena Miletić and instrumentalist Jovan Vesić, INJE have supported HURTS and FAITHLESS in their home country. Their chromatic East European charge will almost certainly please followers of LADYTRON. The excellent ‘Kofein I CO2’ is sort of DUBSTAR in Serbo-Croat meets David Lynch soundtrack, possessing an aural magnetism that is gorgeously layered with an air of wispy innocence.

Available as a free download from http://inje.rs/

KOVAK Killer Boots

‘Killer Boots’ is cooing new wave electropop with an immediately catchy Italo vibe…think ‘Self Control’ or even ‘Touch Me’! Appropriately decadent and sexy, this catchy song is produced by Gary Numan collaborator Andy Gray. Colourful, energetic and glamourous, KOVAK are like BLONDIE meeting DRAGONETTE and Gwen Stefani through a TUBEWAY ARMY voltage controlled filter.

Available as a download single via 74 Music

http://kovak.co.uk/

LITTLE JINDER Keep On Dreaming

Is it dubstep or is it electro? ‘Keep On Dreaming’ actually sounds more like the latter. When the half beat/two step influences kick in, luckily they do so without the irritating, skipping CD nightmares that devilishly plague most dubstep. But like with all crossover songs, it is the flavour rather than the full blown experience that often wins favour. Confused? Just enjoy… this number by young Stockholm songstress Josefine Jinder features lots of lovely synths!

Available as a download single via Trouble & Bass

http://www.facebook.com/littlejinder

LOVELIFE Brave Face

From the creative minds of former MIRRORS man Ally Young and Lee Newell from one-time indie darlings VIVA BROTHER, ‘Braveface’ is a chilling but uplifting piece of mood music which comes over like OMD fronted by HARD FI! With its Cool Britannia meets Synth Britannia fusion via the Big Apple, LOVELIFE’s genre blend may be confusing indie and electronic music fans alike but at least it’s different.

Available on the free download EP ‘El Regreso’ from http://www.lvlf.info/

https://www.facebook.com/LVLFinfo/

MIRRORS Between Four Walls

Since slimming down to a trio, MIRRORS have been heading for a sparser, textural direction which is perhaps less immediate than their debut album ‘Lights & Offerings’ but nevertheless rewarding with further listens. The beautifully stark drama of ‘Between Four Walls’ is sublime and full of post 3am drama. It is high end atmospheric electronic balladry at its best. “Do you ever wonder how you’ll ever get there when you never turn back around?”

Available as a download single via http://mirrorsofficial.bandcamp.com/

http://www.facebook.com/theworldofmirrors

MODOVAR Clearly

Comprising of Glen Wisbey on synths and the suave persona of Christopher Beecham on vocals, MODOVAR’s most immediate number is the emotively rousing ‘Clearly’. Beecham is a man with a self-confessed admiration of Alison Moyet so ‘Clearly’ connects as a song of love in the first degree. It is just one of their “melodic, anthemic, chorus led songs, lyrically focused on the undercurrents of love and the human condition”. Also check out their cover of ROXY MUSIC’s ‘Same Old Scene’.

Available on the download EP ‘Clearly’ via Amazon and iTunes

http://modovar.com/

MOTOR featuring MARTIN L GORE Man Made Machine

MOTOR’s electro stomper ‘Man Made Machine’ features vocals by DEPECHE MODE’s Martin Gore in a collaboration that sounds not unlike a camp IGGY POP being backed by an angry GOLDFRAPP. In the absence of DM material in 2012, this has been a worthy substitute with Gore luring nervously over the duo’s brand of harder edged techno electro. Incidentally, the same titled parent album also features guest such as Gary Numan and Douglas J McCarthy.

Available on the album ‘Man Made Machine’ via CLR

http://www.wearemotor.com/

THE MYSTIC UNDERGROUND Remember Me

New York domiciled Anglophile duo THE MYSTIC UNDERGROUND’s make “pop songs for the disenchanted, disillusioned and disenfranchised”. Featuring Vladimir Valette on vocals and Benedetto Socci on keyboards, their “life…set to a dance beat” touches a nerve and now more so than the NEW ORDER influenced ‘Remember Me’. An emotive guitar assisted number in the vein of ‘Leave Me Alone’, it is slightly mournful and despaired but melodically secure.

Available on the download EP ‘Dreamers & Lovers’ via Stereosonic Recordings

http://www.themysticunderground.com

KARIN PARK Thousand Loaded Guns

Bjorne goes synthy via THE KNIFE on ‘Thousand Loaded Guns’, a danceable tune that provides a degree of accessibility into the world of darker Nordic climes. Hailing from the forests of Djura in Sweden, Karin Park is yet another child of Drejer-Andersson, straddling between electropop and artier aspirations. Her sound is sonically awkward, albeit in a liberating artistic way. Scandinavia is a great place to be musically at the moment.

Available on the album ‘Highwire Poetry’ via State Of The Eye Recordings

http://www.karinpark.com/

QUEEN OF HEARTS Neon

Following her Arrival in 2011, QUEEN OF HEARTS graced the music world with a glitzy slice of electro schaffel appropriately entitled ‘Neon’. On first hearing this live, t ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gleefully pronounced that this managed to out Goldfrapp GOLDFRAPP. While this had the obvious hallmarks of Lady Alison’s glam stomp, Queenie added her own cooing poptastic flavour, recalling RACHEL STEVENS’ under rated and great lost album ‘Come & Get It’.

Available on the download EP ‘Neon’ via All Things Go Records

http://www.iamqueenofhearts.com/

RITUALS James

Hailing from downtown Los Angeles, RITUALS comprise vocalist Neil Popkin and electronic producer Julian Denis. ‘James’ is rousing neo-NEW ORDER meets THE BRAVERY (remember them?) stomper which is only slightly short of being outstanding due to its demo-ish production…but the song resonates with an appealing doom. ‘Walk Away’ from their 2011 debut EP is another fine example of their potential.

Available as a free download via http://ritualsla.bandcamp.com/

http://ritualsla.com/

SIN COS TAN Trust
SIN COS TAN is the new mathematically charged project of ace producer Jori Hulkkonen and VILLA NAH’s Juho Paalosmaa, “a synthesized duo of great promise, broken dreams, and long nights”. They have certainly delivered with ‘Trust’, all draped in melancholy with emotive vocals haunted by the ghost of Billy Mackenzie. This is subtle, hypnotic dance music with layered strings, sampled cimbalom and Cold War dramatics, it is one of the songs of the year.

Available on the album ‘Sin Cos Tan’ via Solina (Europe) and Sugarcane Recordings (Rest of World)

http://www.facebook.com/homeofsincostan

SINESTAR Hurricane

Bristol’s SINESTAR are a full blown five-piece band with drums, bass and guitar as well as synths and their MESH derived synthesized rock has the potential to crossover into several electronic sub-genres. With a so far small but impressive body of work as showcased on the ‘I Am The Rain’ EP, the terrific ‘Hurricane’ is like FAITHLESS gone rock! Catchy, tuneful and anthemic, they just need to work on the production.

Available on the download EP ‘I Am The Rain’ via Dead Rat Recordings.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sinestar/310216912403126

STRANGERS Safe/Pain

STRANGERS have been perilously close to COLDPLAY territory on occasions. But on ‘Safe/Pain’, a moody slice of sweeping synth noir with a lonely piano intro, the big surprise comes when a series of rave stabs cut in for the ultimate euphoric lift, crossed with a bit of dubstep! The BBC loved ‘Safe/Pain’ and used it for a clip of Team GB’s immense cycling achievements at the end of the London 2012 Olympics, while they got support slots with BLANCMANGE under their belt.

Available as a download single via Beatwolf

http://strangers.co.uk

TITANS It’s Dark

‘It’s Dark’ could be RAMMSTEIN reincarnated as DEPECHE MODE with fewer the flame throwers! TITANS’ vocalist Dan Von Hoyel sounds like a lower register Dave Gahan winning a fight with a less Teutonic Till Lindemann. In an electronic sub-genre known for its shouting, ‘It’s Dark’ manages to sound menacing without forcing the aggression. The edgy electronic backing from Fredrik Mattsson and Jimmy Svensson blends marvellously with the band’s doompop manifesto.

Available on the download album ‘For The Long Gone’ via Progress Productions

http://www.facebook.com/TitansOfficial

ULTRAVOX Live

There were so many songs that could have been chosen but with this opener from their err… Brilliant comeback album was ULTRAVOX’s optimistic message of intent. Musically, ‘Live’ is ‘Dancing With Tears In My Eyes’ without the imminent nuclear holocaust! The instrumental breakdown, which drops to a magnificent pulsing sequence, piano and lone bass drum before the climax, is pure LA DÜSSELDORF and really is something to be savoured.

Available on the album ‘Brilliant’ via Eden Recordings/EMI Records

http://www.ultravoxbrilliant.com/

SAORI YUKI Yoake No Scat (MARSHEAUX remix)

While recording their long awaited new album ‘Inhale’, MARSHEAUX added to their remix portfolio with a terrific reworking of a track dating back to 1969 by Japanese classic singer Saori Yuki. Adding incessant beats, infectious pulsing synth and melancholic washes of sound to the more organic re-recording with PINK MARTINI from 2011, this brings Kayokyoku (a style of Japanese music thatabsorbs various Western styles) into the electro age with a Melody For a New Dawn.

Available as a download single via EMI Japan

http://ameblo.jp/saori-yuki

Text by Chi Ming Lai
12th December 2012

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