Tag: Mirrors (Page 6 of 8)

A Beginner’s Guide To The MARSHEAUX Remixes

3 December 2011 /

In these days of modern remixing, recordings are often reworked to oblivion with the end result being a pointless club track that bears little relation to the original.

In these types of reinterpretations, vocal samples might occasionally appear but everything else is as good as rendered unrecognisable. One of the worst early examples of this indulgence was the Transcendental Constant Viper Mix of OMD’s ‘Stand Above Me’ by Phil Kelsey from 1993… that case was made even worse because what had actually been reworked was another track altogether, namely ‘Dream Of Me’!

Who these versions are aimed at is often a mystery although an excellent article on How The Major Labels Sold ‘Electronica’ To America sheds light on how this madness may have started. And now today with reciprocal remix arrangements being used as part of a dual marketing tool, sometimes quite incongruous pairings are procured with the final outcome getting a mixed reception and often alienating both sets of fanbases.

However, some artists take a more sympathetic approach to the remix opportunity and offer beat enhancements, extra melodic parts and instrumental breakdowns to compliment a track in a far more classic tradition. Richard X, Mark Reeder, PET SHOP BOYS, THE MANHATTAN CLIQUE and FREEMASONS have proved to be fine purveyors of this more accessible song based interplay. But one duo who outstrip them all with their digi-electro style are Athens based synthgirls MARSHEAUX.

Together with their producers FOTONOVELA, Marianthi Melitsi and Sophie Sarigiannidou combine their best synthpop sensibilities with both feet on the dancefloor to deliver some of the best received pop styled remixes of the last ten years with many established artists among their portfolio. These include official commissions, such as one for Katy Perry which has since become the biggest selling single recording that MARSHEAUX have been involved in, as well as bootlegs for their own club DJ sets.

The gift Sophie and Marianthi have when remixing is they always manage to enhance a song with their stamp while retaining the core essence of the original – simple in theory but in reality, not an easy thing to do! But when MARSHEAUX had a go at remixing OMD’s comeback single ‘If You Want It’, even their dainty craft work couldn’t turn that particular donkey into a racehorse!

So with a new album from Sophie and Marianthi still a while away, here then are MARSHEAUX’s best 18 remixes to check out, in alphabetical order by artist. ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK believes this impressive collection would make a rather good compilation album. Perhaps it could be called ‘Dream Of A Disco’?

CLIENT Its Not Over (2008)

MARSHEAUX took their visual inspiration from CLIENT so when they toured Germany together in 2008, it was a most perfect pairing. On ‘It’s Not Over’, some Hellenic shine is added to CLIENT’s Cold War chic for a slice of electro perfection. Sarah Blackwood’s vocal is given space to breathe while the sharpened glitterball backing retains the fuzzy edge of the original but with some additional Eurocentric riffage.

Available on the CD EP ‘It’s Not Over’ via Out Of Line Records Germany. Listen on YouTube http://youtu.be/P1A9d6kU7JE

www.client-online.eu

www.eblackwood.com

DAYBEHAVIOR It’s A Game (2011)

This synth trio hail from Stockholm but with singer Paulinda’s Italian heritage, a Mediterranean flavour colours their cooler Nordic spirit. So with that in mind, come the bouncy remix of an already brilliant track, this version of ‘It’s A Game’ could easily be mistaken for one of Sophie and Marianthi’s own recordings.

Available on the download single ‘It’s A Game’ via Graplur Records Sweden

www.daybehavior.com

DEPECHE MODE A Pain That I’m Used To (2007)

Already a magnificent brooding epic in its original form, this mighty opener to the ‘Playing The Angel’ album boasted “pain and suffering in various tempos” was brilliantly transformed by MARSHEAUX. They adding their own sparkling top end dynamic as well as an ominous bass rumble. Although never officially released, this was voted top remix in a poll of DEPECHE MODE fans.

www.depechemode.com

ELECTROBELLE Mirrorball (2008)

The original first appeared in 2008 on an EMI Greece related compilation as part of the lead up to a full single release by Undo Records. However, this did not materialise and it wasn’t until Autumn 2010 that it was issued in its own right as an independent EP. The original was good but MARSHEAUX’s remix was even better. The girls toughened ‘Mirrorball’ up to an EU friendly dancefloor splendour with additional air-synth riffage and interluding attacks that added some extra energy to proceedings.

Available on the CD EP ‘Mirrorball’ via Eden Records

https://www.facebook.com/electrobelle

MYLÈNE FARMER N’aie Plus D’amertume (2011)

Gallic songstress Mylène Farmer is her country’s equivalent of Madonna if slightly less controversial and diva-ish. Her sound does seem to benefit from disco enhancements, having already scored a No1 in her own country with the MOBY / MANHATTAN CLIQUE collaboration ‘Crier La Vie’. Almost translating as “do more bitterness”, this ballad is given a dreamy uptempo facelift by MARSHEAUX which is pop perfection.

www.mylene.net

THE HUMAN LEAGUE Sky (2011)

Like a post mid-life update of 1984’s ‘Louise’ for the new millennium, Philip Oakey says ‘Sky’ is about “meeting dead girls in bars”. Suitably sombre and monotone synthpop for ‘The Vampire Diaries’ generation, ‘Sky’ is proof that Da League can still come up with great tunes. MARSHEAUX’s busy pulsing adds more fortified Italo elements without disrupting the original’s wonderful melancholy and livens the tempo.

www.thehumanleague.co.uk

HURTS Better Than Love (2010)

Theo Hutchcraft and Adam Adamson’s HI-NRG ditty underwent many manifestations having been originally part of their previous band DAGGERS’ live set. The fastest paced song in the HURTS catalogue, MARSHEAUX’s version hypnotised with its frenetic dancefloor friendliness and sequencing. Again retaining all the best euphoric elements of the song, this remix simply sparkles with optimism.

www.informationhurts.com

IN-VOX featuring ANDY BELL Will I Ever? (2004)

Ever wondered how ERASURE would have sounded doing ‘Go West’? Here it is in this highly uplifting collaboration with Greek duo IN-VOX. The original was fairly guitar driven but MARSHEAUX’s remix, which incidentally was their first, added a distinct electronic sheen to make it a pop masterpiece. Much better than the cover versions which Andy and Vince were attempting at this point.

Available on the CD single ‘Will I Ever?’ via Sony Music Greece and Columbia Records Austria.  Listen on YouTube http://youtu.be/YvkwXKlvZwk

www.myspace.com/invox1

www.andybell.com

KID MOXIE Medium Pleasure  (2009)

KID MOXIE give a cynical snarl waxing lyrical about how society accepts the culturally mundane and mediocre. With a tedious evening led by COLDPLAY, SNOW PATROL and ELBOW for Children In Need warmly received by the masses, this just rings so true. Thankfully, MARSHEAUX’s interpretation of ‘Medium Pleasure’ is anything but mundane and mediocre, with rhythmical life enhancement through exposure to cool female fronted electro guaranteed.

Available on the Greek CD edition of ‘Selector’ via Undo Records. Listen on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRRrL0pWyrk

www.myspace.com/kidmoxie

MESH Crash (2006)

Adding some light into the dark industrialists’s repertoire, this bleepy reworking emphasises MESH’s sometimes hidden knack for rousing and catchy electronic tunes. With some of the rockier tendencies stripped away, it becomes club friendly gothic pop that retains the all the dynamic tension and synth soloing of its parent recording. It’s almost like DEPECHE MODE go disco, complete with a lift from ‘It’s No Good’!

Available on the Greek CD edition of ‘We Collide’ via Undo Records.

www.mesh.co.uk

MIRRORS Into The Heart (2011)

Christened the ‘Greek Girls Are Not Easy’ mix, Sophie and Marianthi turned MIRRORS’ most accessible track into a sensational neo-robotic danceathon. The as-yet-unreleased extended version added even more sharp synth counterpoints to the majestic singalong with the whole package proving that classic Synth Britannia influences are nothing to be ashamed of.

Available on the Greek CD edition of ‘Lights & Offerings’ via Undo Records. Listen on YouTube https://youtu.be/77f812hkDBg

www.theworldofmirrors.com

MOBY Lift Me Up (2005)

The original version was used as the theme for the UK’s Formula 1 coverage for a few years in the noughties and while it doesn’t have the instant resonance that FLEETWOOD MAC’s ‘The Chain’ has in its association with motorsport, it is certainly an energetically rousing anthem. At a less frantic pace, MARSHEAUX’s remix with its firm octave shift drive is a regular staple in their DJ sets and always well received by clubbers.

www.moby.com

OMD She’s Leaving (2008)

Technically, this is not a remix as it started life as a cover version of the ‘Architecture And Morality’ classic. However, a new vocal by Andy McCluskey was added and this delightfully rounded with the angelic melancholy of MARSHEAUX’s own sweet timbres. Given a modern discofied softsynth facelift, this pretty duet is a fine example of how yesterday’s tomorrow can successfully meet the present and the future.

Unreleased at time of writing, listen on YouTube http://youtu.be/ly6JDo8o1I0

www.omd-messages.co.uk

KATY PERRY Hot ‘N’ Cold (2009)

Katy Perry kissed a girl and liked it, but behind all the shock tactics was some quality songs written by Cathy Dennis and in the case of ‘Hot ‘N’ Cold’, Swedish megapop producer Max Martin. Taking its cue from the PET SHOP BOYS remix of THE KILLERS’ ‘Read My Mind’, this superb reworking by MARSHEAUX can only be described as truly banging! When presented to Katy Perry’s management, they were none too pleased but the lady herself loved it and sanctioned its release.

Available exclusively as an iTunes download single via EMI Records Greece

www.katyperry.com

SAKIS ROUVAS Shake It (2004)

MARSHEAUX went to the Eurovision Song Contest with their electro assisted radio mix of this saucy uptempo number. Sakis Rouvas, who could be considered Greece’s own Ricky Martin, came 3rd in proceedings and went to No1 in his home country. While ‘Shake It’ is not exactly a work of genius, it is good fun and did considerably better than the UK’s entry which came 16th.

Available on the CD Single ‘Shake It’ via EMI Records

http://www.sakisrouvas.com/

SALLY SHAPIRO Jackie Jackie (2010)

SALLY SHAPIRO is the Queen of Scandinavian electropop and has won many admirers. With her wispy vocal and discotheque tendencies, she shares a musical affinity with MARSHEAUX. Interestingly though, the original of this was more of a pretty crystalline ballad. So MARSHEAUX added a 2010 percussive backbone to give it disco potential and thereby construct an uplifting anthem in time for the new decade.

www.facebook.com/shapirosally

TAREQ Mosquito (2011)

Greco Jordanian Tareq Souleiman was previously the lead singer of TECH SOIR and his vocal timbres make him electro’s answer to INXS’ Michael Hutchence as his cover of ‘Need You Tonight’ indeed shows. ‘Mosquito’ with its relaxed but pacey drum ‘n’ pop was the superb highlight from his first solo album ‘Cocoon’. Here though, MARSHEAUX take the pace down to a slower off-beat groove for an even greater chilled mood with Marianthi’s soft vocals, symphonic strings and KRAFTWERK’s Vako Orchestron choirs from ‘Radio-Activity’ added to the mix.

http://www.facebook.com/Tareqdisco

TIGER BABY Girlfriend (2006)

Dream laden electro from Copenhagen, TIGER BABY are another act who could be mistaken for MARSHEAUX with that synthpop vibe combined with sweetly gorgeous vocals from Pernille Pang. Stylistically, this has all the impressive hallmarks of the MARSHEAUX sound combined with the unmistakeable melodic sensibility that Scandinavian pop acts seem to naturally possess.

Available on the CD single ‘Girlfriend’ via Gunhero Records Denmark

www.tigerbaby.dk

With thanks to MARSHEAUX, all at Undo Records and EMI Greece

A selection of MARSHEAUX’s remixes can be heard at:
https://soundcloud.com/marsheauxremixes/

http://www.marsheaux.com

http://www.undorecords.com

Text by Chi Ming Lai
3rd December 2011

ELECTRONIC PHUTURE REVUE at VINTAGE FESTIVAL

2 August 2011 /

The plush confines of London’s Royal Festival Hall was the venue for the wonderful ‘Electronic Phuture Revue’ curated by Back To The Phuture’s Mark Jones and HEAVEN 17’s Martyn Ware.

Forming part of the three day Vintage Festival, despite the nostalgia vibe of the weekend’s proceedings celebrating five decades of British cool, this showcase was certainly no cheesy nostalgia ride.

Instead it promised a show with classic and new interpretations of synthpop NOT 80s, in a distinct move away from the dreaded ‘Remember The Here & Now’ type associations! Opening the Revue, Alan Wilder’s RECOIL orchestrated a moody cinematic presentation that included forays into his side of the DEPECHE MODE story.

A terrific ‘Jezebel’ mashed-up with ‘Walking My Shoes’ and TUBEWAY ARMY’s ‘Are Friends Electric?’ was the first musical highlight of the evening while despite the early start, a powerful Aggro mix variation of ‘Never Let Me Down Again’ third track in managed to encourage a few of the devotional to get up and do the cornfield wave. With Paul Kendall as his willing conspirator, Wilder’s carefully selected cinematic segue also included elements of ‘Personal Jesus’ to help people to “reach out”.  These various segments of familiarity provided accessible counterpoints to RECOIL’s more organic, sample based productions like ‘Prey’ and ‘Faith Healer’.

Speaking of DEPECHE MODE, New York based MOTOR were next and their new glam stomper ‘Man Made Machine’ features vocals by Martin Gore in a collaboration that sounds not unlike a camp Iggy Pop being backed by an angry GOLDFRAPP. Tonight, it is voiced by MOTOR themselves although Gore himself lurked in the video projections as the duo delivered their brand of harder edged techno electro. Their long awaited song based album is out later this year and will feature vocals by GARY NUMAN, ELECTRIBE 101’s Billie Ray Martin and NITZER EBB’s Douglas J McCarthy.

The DJ interval with Mark Jones allowed a breather before the arrival of MIRRORS. Despite the obvious comparisons with a certain synth act from the Wirral Peninsula, MIRRORS live are actually more like a young KRAFTWERK meeting DEPECHE MODE.

With recent appearances at fashion shows for the likes of Michalsky and Glastonbury under their belt plus their album ‘Lights & Offerings’ gaining the praise of many plaudits, 2011 has been very good for the sartorially chic quartet. Their sharp but moody aura, combined with an artful sensibility shone through as they exhibited their development of the classic Synth Britannia sound.

Unfortunately though, tonight they were limited to just ‘Fear Of Drowning’, ‘Into The Heart’, ‘Hide And Seek’ and ‘Ways To An End’ for their sojourn. However, MIRRORS impressed again and much of the aftershow chat was about their potential. Avoiding worries, the future of synthpop is bright and in eight very good hands.

ONETWO gave a highly polished recital that delved into a variety of songs from Claudia Brücken and Paul Humphreys’ corresponding histories as well as their more recent compositions. Synthpop standards ‘P-Machinery’, ‘Messages’, ‘Electricity’ and ‘Duel’ got the audience dancing and sat nicely side-by-side with the atmospheric dramas of ‘Sequentia’, ‘Thank You’, and the Martin Gore co-write ‘Cloud Nine’.

Even if the DEPECHE MODE songwriter wasn’t there physically, his presence was certainly felt in spirit throughout the event, such has been his influence on electronic pop music. Ms Brücken herself was in tremendous voice as usual, her chanteuse demeanour perfectly at ease with the sophisticated surroundings of the Royal Festival Hall.

Afterwards, Paul Humphreys and Alan Wilder were spotted chatting in the foyer before the start of Thomas Dolby’s set. The two keyboardists hadn’t seen each other in ages; had it really been 23 years since DEPECHE MODE beat OMD in that infamous cricket match, as documented in Steve Malins’ excellent DM biography ‘Black Celebration’, during the ‘Music For The Masses’ US tour?

Meanwhile in a very impressive performance, Thomas Dolby teamed up with his tribute act THE PIRATE TWINS in a most touching musical union. What a moment it must have been for Darren Goldsmith and Andrew Down to be playing with their hero, almost mirroring the occasion when Dolby himself and his band backed David Bowie at Live Aid.

Opening with the terrific ‘One Of Our Submarines’, Dolby journeyed back first with ‘Europa And The Pirate Twins’ and later ‘Hyperactive!’. On the latter, drummer Mat Hector did a brilliant job tightening his trousers to reprise Adele Bertei’s backing vocal!! Of course, there was also the madness of ‘She Blinded Me With Science’, with Dolby affectionately reminiscing about his recording sessions with the late Dr Magnus Pyke in his introduction and demonstrating the various samples used.

But then Dolby looked to the future with a superb exotically flavoured dance number entitled ‘Spice Train’. Guest singer Nicki Wells joined in and provided some alluring ethnic stylings for a great live preview of his new album ‘The Map Of The Floating City’. This symbolised one important aspect of all the classic acts in tonight’s line-up who had played up to this point; much as they have dozens of highly popular, memorable hit songs between them, they all performed material that was either new or from the last decade ie the 21st Century. Rewind Festival this evening was most certainly not!

To climax this special ‘Electronic Phuture Revue’ were HEAVEN 17 who truly delivered in their position as headliners. Although they were the only classic act not to play new or recent material, they made up for it instead by making a statement “to change people’s perceptions through the medium of reinterpretation” as Martyn Ware himself so eloquently put it to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK last May.

With a stark soundscape opening, the detuned tones of THE HUMAN LEAGUE’s take on ‘You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling’ clanked in. So here was the sight of Glenn Gregory and Martyn Ware duetting as The Right-on Brothers. With this surprise still causing aftershocks, ‘Fascist Groove Thang’ and ‘Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry’ quickly got everyone on their feet by way of a Friday night disco atmosphere.

But what followed was an even more unexpected moment in a magnificent updating of THE HUMAN LEAGUE’s ‘The Black Hit Of Space’ from ‘Travelogue’, providing the highlight of the evening. Futuristic sounds warbled off and on – and yes, they weighed more than Saturn! Gregory was clearly enjoying his “Tonight Matthew, I will be Phil Oakey” moment and even Mark Jones left his DJ pulpit to mingle with the punters at the front for an impromptu singalong.

With ‘The Luxury Gap’ being played live in full at The Roundhouse in the Autumn, it made sense that ‘Come Live With Me’ and ‘Let Me Go’ got renditions to ease stunning new keyboard player Berenice Scott into the live band. But then the much heralded special guest took to the stage. Giving her spirited interpretation of ‘Ball Of Confusion which first brought Tina Turner back into the limelight on the BEF Music Of Quality Of Distinction LP was THE COMMUNARDS’ Sarah-Jane Morris.

It was Janis Joplin doing electro Motown and with the state of upheaval in the world at this present moment in time, the song’s forthright message was wholly relevant. As an entertaining experiment, it boded well for The Roundhouse shows later this year. With the inevitable ‘Temptation’ following and backing singer Billie Godfrey doing her usual star turn, to close it was another ‘Stars In Their Eyes’ moment for Glenn Gregory as HEAVEN 17 ended with their powerful take on ‘Being Boiled’.

Despite being an absolute treat musically, a few grumbles about the occasion have to be highlighted. At no time was the auditorium ever full, even for the later performing acts. The fault with this probably has to lie with the ticket distribution. Top price tickets were anything from £85 to £100, which priced most music fans out despite the impressive line-up assembled. Ticket sales were slow but following a 2-for-1 offer in The Guardian, the online seating plan appeared to show that the ‘Electronic Phuture Revue’ was gaining momentum.

However, judging by the number of people who took their seats for only ten minutes at a time and then promptly left, never to return, it would seem that tickets had been given to various people associated with the Vintage Festival like stall holders and VIPs who clearly had no interest in synthpop. Surely it would have been better to have had an affordable ticket price in the first place to fill the venue with music fans? This was disappointing for all the acts playing to say the least.

But the ridiculous curfew of 10.30pm meant that RECOIL were ushered in at 6.30pm and the following acts had to be so tightly packed into the schedule that there was minimal time for any of the audience to take a comfort break without missing at least one song by the next band!

With the various Vintage themed club happenings such as Northern Soul and Rockabilly happily banging away in the complex until 1.00am, surely some kind of licensing compromise could have been negotiated by the Vintage Festival organisers, South Bank Centre and local authority to make things a lot more practical and workable for such a unique gathering? There are lessons to be learnt by all.

But these issues should not dampen what a tremendously memorable evening this actually was. Like ‘Back To The Phuture -Tomorrow Is Today’ and ‘Short Circuit Presents Mute’ earlier in the year, the ‘Electronic Phuture Revue’ was yet another great event that reinforced electronic music’s credibility as the groundbreaking and vital cultural force it thoroughly deserves to be. Roll on the HEAVEN 17 / BEF weekender in October then…

www.heaven17.com

www.thomasdolby.com

www.facebook.com/pages/Onetwo/106510152747250

www.facebook.com/theworldofmirrors/

www.wearemotor.com

www.recoil.com.uk

www.backtothephuture.net

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Richard Price, Steve Gray and 7und70
2nd August 2011

The Synics Guide To LADY GAGA

16 June 2011 /

Et Je Veux Ta Revanche…

LADY GAGA first came to prominence in Summer 2008 when her debut album ‘The Fame’ was released in the US and her song ‘Just Dance’ became a huge hit. This was superior pop R’n’B but despite slices of synth, there didn’t appear to be anything at the time which stood out within a modern electronic pop context.

Then in December 2008, Caroline Sullivan’s now prophetic article for The Guardian entitled ‘Slaves To Synth’ was published. Her piece proudly announced that in 2009, female fronted electro pop would be the next big thing with her focus not only on LADYHAWKE, LA ROUX and LITTLE BOOTS but also LADY GAGA.

At the time, a full European campaign had yet to be fully engaged but by January 2009, the former Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta had reached No1 in the UK with ‘Just Dance’ and ‘The Fame’ began. While the album had far too many songs on it, several cuts proved to be space age pop at its finest and indicated there was more than meets the eye.

LADY GAGA’s well thought out publicity machine ran like a dream. There were her controversial promo videos and extravagant live appearances which included amongst several props, a pyrotechnic brassiere! And there was her quirky interview style; who could forget her appearance on the BBC’s Tonight With Jonathan Ross sipping from her infamous china tea cup! The brilliant ‘Poker Face’ was released as a follow-up single. LADY GAGA was now in a bizarre way spearheading the Revenge Of The Synth. Many young ears had now been opened to sound of electronic music for the first time.

As the year progressed, many LADY GAGA fans were finding that acts such as LA ROUX and LITTLE BOOTS were appealing to them too.

Although a total theatrical queen (she says she is a gay man trapped in a woman’s body!), combined with her vivid imagination and classical training, this has done all the musical talking. Thanks her main collaborator Swedish producer RedOne, a European retro-futuristic sheen highlighted all the melodic and dynamic structures within her best songs.

This sound came fully to the fore with ‘Bad Romance’ from ‘The Fame Monster’ 2CD repackage in late 2009. Observers who had admitted to not being in the slightest bit interested before had now succumbed to the joys of LADY GAGA. This was hardly a surprise because when all the hype dies down, what always survives and prevails in music are good tunes.

‘The Fame Monster’ also appeared to reflect an enhanced European musical sensibility. In an age where free downloading is the norm, the Haus Of Gaga has actually sold in vast quantities. And now with new album ‘Born This Way’, LADY GAGA prepares for total world domination with an even more immediate Euro friendly sound.

Despite the war cry of “Don’t be a drag, just be a queen” to signal her return as cheerleader for the downtrodden outsider, the title track was a comparative disappointment compared with the quality and impact of ‘Bad Romance’. Structural similarities with Madonna’s ‘Express Yourself’ haven’t helped in the critical assessment.

Also, the terribly cheesy but enjoyable Latino dance romp ‘Americano’ is likely to make some listeners throw things. As with her debut collection, there are just too many tracks to make ‘Born This Way’ a wholly satisfying listen. By the law of averages, the LADY GAGA catalogue is not all good stuff with some dire rock numbers and generic urban fodder included.

But the RedOne and Fernando Garibay productions in particular with their synthetic pop feel are quite superb. If all the best bits were taken from the Gaga musical portfolio, there would be a fantastic eighteen track Best Of in there. But with the incredible number of superior remixes out there too, it is difficult for the curious to actually know where to start.

So ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK proudly brings you a synics guide to LADY GAGA, specially tailored for the more discerning synthpop fan…

Just Dance

Her first big hit featuring rapper Colby O’Donis, it was nominated for a ‘Best Dance Recording’ Grammy in 2009 but eventually lost out to DAFT PUNK’s ‘Harder Better Faster Stronger’. Although rhythmically rooted to modern R’n’B, the song’s arrangement touched many bases and became a good introduction to LADY GAGA. The mash-up with ‘Confusion’  put together by DJ EARWORM under the title ‘Just Dance to New Order’ is one of the many variations worth checking out.

Available on the album ‘The Fame Monster’

LoveGame – Chew Fu Ghettohouse Fix

Naughtiness personified, the lush intricacies and melodic complexity of ‘LoveGame’ revolve around a repetitive backing track. The genius of this song has been highlighted by a superb orchestral arrangement by Walt Ribeiro. On the ‘Chew Fu Ghettohouse Fix’, what better than to have a noisy duet with the ‘Anti-Christ Superstar’ himself, MARILYN MANSON. A sped up heavy house remix with lots of shouting from the one time Brian Warner, this rework keeps both Goths and pop princesses happy on the dancefloor!

Available on the album ‘The Remix’

Poker Face

With its staccato vocal and what sounded like backing provided by a bunch of robotic stormtroopers, the brilliant ‘Poker Face’ amusingly recalled BONEY M with its “Mumm-mumm-mumm-maah” refrain. The song has since become ubiquitous and spawned some amusing mash-ups featuring renditions by actor Christopher Walken and South Park’s Eric Cartman who incidentally sounds like DIVINE in his version!

Available on the album ‘The Fame Monster’

Paparazzi – DEMOLITION CREW Remix

Seemingly about fame, this actually is the most disturbing stalker’s anthem since MORRISSEY’s ‘The More You Ignore Me The Closer I Get’. While the original R’n’B flavour suits the track, the DEMOLITION CREW offer this superb remix which is more New York electro disco with pulsing arpeggios and syncopated machine rhythms galore.

Available on the single ‘Paparazzi (The Remixes)’

Eh-Eh (Nothing Else To Say) – PET SHOP BOYS Remix

Pur-lease! The reggae version on ‘The Fame’ is actually quite lame. But given a danceable poptastic treatment, it was rescued from down the dumper by this PET SHOP BOYS remix. Messrs Tennant and Lowe were already big fans of LADY GAGA and enhanced her standing no-end when she joined them to sing ‘What Have I Done To Deserve This?’? as part of their BRITS 2009 medley performance.

Available on the album ‘The Remix’

The Fame – Glam As You Remix

The album’s title track is a great funky disco number with a very catchy chorus, but here it’s given the squelchy bassline and buzzy synth treatment by Guena LG. It is also specially fortified with a solid four-to-the-floor dance beat. Although appearing to be obsessed with the cult of celebrity, she was actually poking fun at attention seeking rich kids, something she would be well qualified for as a former class mate of Paris Hilton!

Available on the EP ‘Hit Mixes’

Bad Romance

The almost Italo disco styled “woah-oh, oh-oh-ooaaah” refrain, layered synthetics and big chorus suddenly woke people up. It was at this point that Gaga synics began to change their minds. Ending with Ms Germanotta sitting on a bed with a burnt corpse, there are hints of some strange things going on upstairs. This all adds up to making her such a fascinating character. Oooh la la!

Available on the album ‘The Fame Monster’

Alejandro

LADY GAGA fused danceable pop with a New York performance art cool that hadn’t really been seen since MADONNA. T. ‘Alejandro’ offered a modern day electro take on ‘La Isla Bonita’ with its blissful Hispanic feel. One of the great LADY GAGA traits is her uplifting choruses, always simple but very effective. And speaking of MADONNA, their bitch fight on Saturday Night Live in 2009 showed that she had a sense of humour too.

Available on the album ‘The Fame Monster’

Monster

“Don’t call me Gaga” she exclaims: “I’ve never seen one like that before!” It starts like a typical Euro tune but then the drums pound away in accented syncopation. Often referring to her enthusiastic followers as Little Monsters, the dark lyrics almost have as many deviant sexual thoughts as an episode of True Blood: “That boy is a monster, he ate my heart and then he ate my brain!” 

Available on the album ‘The Fame Monster’

Dance In The Dark

Highlighting the dangers of cosmetic surgery, this is brilliantly euphoric with a classic synthpop feel that features strong hints of ‘True Faith’ and Strangelove shaped by Fernando Garibay who impressed enough here to attain a more significant role in the production of the ‘Born This Way’ album. ‘Dance In The Dark’ is probably the nearest LADY GAGA will come to doing a NEW ORDER or DEPECHE MODE cover although there was actually a rumour going round that she was considering covering ‘People Are People’!!

Available on the album ‘The Fame Monster’

Telephone

A duet with BEYONCE that has R’n’B producer Rodney Jerkins at the controls, ‘Telephone’ turns out to be a bouncy work-out reminiscent of some of the more interesting urban/electro fusions that divas like RIHANNA have taken into the charts in recent times. Whereas ‘The Fame’ was very much an electro R’n’B album, most of the eight songs on ‘The Fame Monster’ bonus CD could probably be defined as more electropop with some R’n’B influences thrown in.

Available on the album ‘The Fame Monster’

Marry The Night

On ‘Marry The Night’, the opening salvo on ‘Born This Way’, LADY GAGA does a rippin kittin as she goes all warrior queen via DONNA SUMMER with this club friendly celebration of hedonism. Almost like a 21st Century take on PET SHOP BOYS’ ‘Tonight Is Forever’, producer Fernando Garibay adds some darker electronic progressions compared with the brighter digi-pop of his predecessor RedOne while the chorus soars with uncradled euphoria. Listen out for the DURAN DURAN sample too…

Available on the album ‘Born This Way’

Government Hooker

Despite a touch of Maria Callas operatics in the intro, ‘Government Hooker’ launches into some dysfunctional electropop in the vein of GIRLS ALOUD at their XENOMANIA-led best with a chunky bass triplet in the engine room powering away alongside the Casio bleeps and percussive Man Machine blips. This sly dig at history’s political sex scandals is one of the ‘Born This Way’ album’s highlights.

Available on the album ‘Born This Way’

Judas – MIRRORS Une Autre Monde Mix – Nuit

MIRRORS take the discordant verse backing on their ‘Une Autre Monde Mix – Nuit’ and keep Gaga’s bizarre intonation that lets her get away with saying “arse” rather a lot but remove the very poppy chorus that was not wholly unlike that of ‘Bad Romance’. The result gives things an extra darker resonance in keeping with the implied blasphemy. The edgier synthpop continues with the pulsing middle eight that somehow manages to have both feet in The World Of Mirrors and The Haus of Gaga.

Available on the download bundle ‘Judas (Remix EP Part 1)’

Hair

Almost reborn in the USA, this is a guilty pleasure that sounds like it’s been lifted straight off the soundtrack of ‘St Elmo’s Fire’. ‘Hair’ is Gaga in full ‘Brat Pack’ mode with sax, piano, compressed drums and power chords thrown into the melting pot plus the sort of voice that the big bouffanted Wilson sisters from HEART used to belt out regularly on MTV. Although not as interesting as album closer ‘The Edge Of Glory’, this is immensely catchy and gives Belinda Carlisle a run for her money.

Available on the album ‘Born This Way’

Scheiße

“I don’t speak German but I can if you like! Ich bin mir absolut klar, ich trag den Namen Monster”; the Germanic dance influences on ‘Scheiße’ come to the fore with Ms Germanotta monologuing in Deutsch while RedOne provides his futuristic trance sheen on this thunderous, highly enjoyable warehouse romp. Only SCOOTER and lots of shouting are missing from this party!

Available on the album ‘Born This Way’

Bloody Mary

A superb mid-paced beat driven ballad in the vein of Madonna with Gregorian chants, pizzicato stabs, vintage synths and increasingly prevalent religious references in the mix. “I won’t crucify the things you do” she says. If ‘Judas’ is LADY GAGA’s ‘Like A Prayer’, then ‘Bloody Mary’ could well be her ‘Oh Father’.

Available on the album ‘Born This Way’

The Edge Of Glory

This superbly bizarre and anthemic number may well be constructed like a Springsteen stomper complete with a wholly authentic Clarence Clemons sax break, but ‘The Edge Of Glory’ strangely ends up sounding like PAT BENATAR mashed up with LA DÜSSELDORF over a Teutonic techno beat! Another Fernando Garibay production, he ably fills the mantle previously held by RedOne as chief helmsmen.

Available on the album ‘Born This Way’

LADY GAGA’s albums ‘The Fame Monster’,‘The Remix’ and ‘Born This Way’ are released by Interscope/Polydor Records

http://www.ladygaga.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ladygaga/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
16th June 2011

GARY NUMAN, JOHN FOXX, MOTOR + MIRRORS Live at Back To The Phuture London

2 May 2011 /


Tomorrow Is Today… Back To The Phuture figurehead Mark Jones has a clear mission statement: “to join the dots on electronic music”.

He has been the driving force behind a number of exciting innovations in recent years, including the collaborations of LITTLE BOOTS with Gary Numan, and LA ROUX with HEAVEN 17 for BBC 6Music. And more recently, there was a Back To The Phuture themed night at Bestival featuring HEAVEN 17, Howard Jones and VILLA NAH.

Last year he announced his most ambitious show to date, ‘Tomorrow Is Today’, which would bring together a stellar line-up of synth acts past and present. “It’s amazing to see Back To The Phuture evolve into a live ‘happening’ and to be able to present inspiring artists that’ve paved the way for all of us alongside ace current talent”, said Jones. “Their music has never been more relevant to what’s happening – tomorrow is today.”

The venue for this very special show was The Troxy, a lavish art-deco venue in London’s East End which began its life as an upmarket art deco cinema in the 1930s. By mid-afternoon a very large queue had started to snake around the building, such was the anticipation of the evening’s events.

Electronic music fans from Germany, Finland and Italy had made the journey especially, while musicians of various standings from the genre were also in attendance.

VILE ELECTRODES and DEPECHE MODE’s Andy Fletcher were all interested onlookers, keen to be part of one of the biggest celebrations of electronic music to be ever held on British soil.

First on the bill were Brighton-based quartet MIRRORS. The smartly attired band were clearly thrilled to be sharing the stage with their electro forefathers, and they rose to the occasion, delivering a blistering set showcasing their superb debut album ‘Lights and Offerings’. As a live act, they are quite mesmerising to watch and their performance won over a legion on new admirers, as evidenced by all their CDs selling out at the merchandise stall by the end of the night.

Following a short DJ set by the irrepressible Mark Jones, it was time for the first of two synth legends to take to the stage.

John Foxx, accompanied by his band including Benge, Steve D’Agostino, Serafina Steer and Robin Simon, opened with ‘Shatterproof’ from the acclaimed new album ‘Interplay’.

Foxx exuded his enigmatic charm throughout the set, in which new material sat comfortably next to early ULTRAVOX anthems ‘Dislocation’, Quiet Men’ and ‘Hiroshima Mon Amour’, plus his trio of classic solo singles ‘Underpass’, ‘Burning Car’ and ‘No-One Driving’.

Sadly, the album’s highlight ‘Watching A Building On Fire’ was absent but it was a brilliant hour of fine electro. John Foxx is a pioneer of the genre who, more than thirty years into his career, is still making music that is exciting and innovative. The ecstatic welcome he received tonight was richly deserved.

By way of contrast, the next band were Franco-American techno outfit MOTOR. With their light-sabre styled microphone stands and frantic club beats, what was not obviously apparent tonight is that the duo have moved into song based territory with their new album which is due out later this year. DEPECHE MODE’s Martin Gore, NITZER EBB’s Douglas McCarthy, ELECTRIBE 101’s Billie Ray Martin and Gary Numan will all be featuring as guest vocalists.

Following their support slot on DEPECHE MODE’s Tour Of The Universe, the future could get very interesting for Mr No and Bryan Black. MOTOR were followed by their label boss, Mute supremo Daniel Miller, another goliath of the electro world whose DJ set included his own ‘Warm Leatherette’ which started the Mute brand off, some TUXEDOMOON and the Slavery Whip mix of DEPECHE MODE’s ‘Master And Servant’.

Finally it was time for Gary Numan to appear. Often referred to as the godfather of electro, as he strode onto the stage against a towering backdrop of LED screens he looked every inch the guvnor. As if to prove the point, he launched straight into three classics in a row; namely ‘Down In The Park’, ‘Films’ and ‘That’s Too Bad’, each to a rapturous reception.

To mark the special occasion, ‘Crash’ then received a rare live airing, and anyone who bought the ‘Dance’ album some thirty years earlier was singing their heart out.

‘Listen To The Sirens’ was another one getting a rare outing while for the rest of Numan’s set, vintage tracks like ‘Cars’ were interspersed with heavier brand new material such as ‘Dead Son Rising’ and ‘Splinter’ which resulted in some lost momentum.

Nevertheless, ‘I Die: You Die’ with its savage narrative on the destructive nature of the press sounded as futuristic as ever, while anthems such as ‘Pure’ and the spine-tingling Andy Gray mix of ‘A Prayer For The Unborn’ affirmed that when Numan is good, he’s very good. The set was ultimately well received by the highly enthused faithful (when was the last time the former Gary Webb actually sung the line “but are friends electric?” himself?) and provided a fitting climax to the night.

To close the proceedings, an emotional Mark Jones came out on stage to thank everyone involved, and then a veritable ‘who’s who’ of Synth Britannia took to the stage for a final curtain call: Daniel Miller, John Foxx, Gary Numan and MIRRORS.

It was quite a sight to see; our friends electric! Ally Young of MIRRORS thoroughly enjoyed his evening and said: “It was a real privilege for us to be playing alongside such legends”.

Photo by Ed Fielding

MIRRORS’ singer James New went to meet fans in the merch area afterwards while nearby, John Foxx was all smiles and happily shook hands with well wishers as they expressed their grateful thanks. Via his website, Gary Numan said: “The feedback we’ve had so far has all been extremely positive which makes all the hard work that has been put in so worthwhile.”

This was a special night that brought together the electro community from far and wide. All credit to Mark Jones and Back To The Phuture for making the dream a reality.

http://backtothephuture.net

www.numan.co.uk

www.mute.com

www.metamatic.com

www.wearemotor.com

www.facebook.com/theworldofmirrors/

Text by Steve Gray
Additional material by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Mike Cooper and Richard Price
2nd May 2010

Vintage Synth Trumps with MIRRORS

30 April 2011 /

“Meine Tasche voll mit kleinen Geheimnissen. Du nennst diesen Platz mein Schloss. Aber ich zeige all mein Verlangen. Du sagst mir, du hast nichts. Aber ich, ich bin ein Wahnsinniger…”

MIRRORS capture the intelligent aesthetics and aspirations of KRAFTWERK, JOY DIVISION and OMD. Bringing them forward into the 21st Century, they have a denser, grittier approach for an element of aural claustrophobia that reflects their pop-noir aura.

As well as releasing one of the best albums of the year so far in ‘Lights and Offerings’, they have also been impressing new audiences via prestigious support slots with Gary Numan, John Foxx and OMD.

Now they are embarking on their first headlining tour in Germany, the spiritual homeland of electronic music. This expanded show to sees the welcome return of their debut single ‘Look At Me’ to the live set, as well as premieres for B-Side ‘Toe The Line’ and the monumental album closer ‘Secrets’.

The latter in particular showcases the ambition of the MIRRORS audio/visual experience; grainy impressionistic film projections and stark lighting soundtracked by the sharp, dynamic cacophonies of synthetic sound. Effectively creating their own ‘Spiegelsaal’, instrumentalists Ally Young, James ‘Tate’ Arguile and Josef Page are fronted by the intense, energetic persona of vocalist James New.

With their confidence growing throughout the tour, James even performed the song’s final reprise monologue in Deutsch at Frankfurt’s Yellowstage, much to the delight of the home crowd.

Just prior to their first show at Cologne’s Gebaude9, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK were invited by James New and Ally Young to a round of Vintage Synth Trumps in a variation of the classic card game that has kept many a child happy in the school playground.

While Tate sat nearby compiling MIRRORS latest tour blog, James and Ally also talked about ‘Lights and Offerings’ reception, how they are not synthpop by numbers and their use of guitars…

So what’s your first trump card?

Ally: Well how about that? A Juno 60! *big cheers from all*

James: What are the chances?

And James has one for a Sequential Circuits Prophet 5… let’s talk about the Roland Juno 60 first because that’s one of the mainstays of your set-up isn’t it?

Ally: It is. James plays the Juno and I play not a Sequential, but a Dave Smith Prophet. It’s fully analogue with digital interfaces.

What you’ve got there is a classic synthesizer with the Juno 60 and the most up-to-date polyphonic analogue synth in the Prophet 08. When you decided to go for synthesizers as your main instrumentation, how important was it for you to use a combination of vintage and new equipment?

Ally: The reason we like all the old synthesizers is that they don’t go in tune properly, one wrong move of a button and the sound is lost forever, they’re noisy and they’re slightly unreliable… but that’s what we like, that analogue warmth.

James: The Juno for us particularly was just because for warm padded sounds like FEVER RAY-type drones, it sounds incredible; an almost ‘organy’ synth sound and for things like ‘Write Through The Night’…

Ally: The chord at the beginning of that is Juno.

James: What we tend to use the Juno for is padding out. If you think of us almost as a traditional band, Ally plays the lead parts, Tate plays the bass parts on the Moog, Josef obviously does drums and I’m sort of rhythm in all the rest of the noise *laughs*

Where did you get the Juno 60 from?

Ally: That was covered in dust in the basement of our record label’s office.

James: We asked “Can we borrow that?”

Ally: Two years later and we’ve still got it and we’re still touring it.

With the Dave Smith Prophet 08 then, what made you choose that one?

James: It does a bit of everything.

Ally: It does sound amazing. I didn’t what to buy it at first; I’m not a big fan of the digital modelling synths… if you want an analogue synthesizer sound, you’ve got to buy one. It’s part digital but the way the sound is created in the DS is totally analogue and the pretext of the Prophet is that it’s not a homage to the Prophet 5 which Dave Smith and Sequential Circuits obviously made… it’s if he never made the Prophet 5 and was going to make one now, this is what it would be.

For me, it does everything. It’s the best of both worlds, the functionality of it is amazing, the extra envelope generator etc. I used it on pretty much everything for recording and live. It’s just so versatile. A lot of the pulse sounds that we use a lot on the record are actually a Minimoog but the Prophet does them pretty closely for live.

You do get some quite amazing sounds on your solos, I’m thinking particularly of the screeching one in ‘Searching In The Wilderness’..

Ally: I knew you were going to say that, that was the Juno. A lot of them are a combination of sounds, two or three parts put through a holy amount of reverb!

‘Searching In The Wilderness’ is also the song that changed the most from its original demo to the final recording.

James: It became more MIRRORS.

Ally: I think it was maybe a bit too twee, a bit too light…

James: It was a bit too light and it did remind us a lot of ‘Speak and Spell’. On the original production, it was very empty and it needed to sound like the rest of the record.

Ally: I think it’s moved away from ‘Speak and Spell’ and more into that saturated sound…

James: Melodically, maybe not…

Ally: But the actual production has much more of a darkness. In its original guise, it didn’t sit right.

James: It’s the lightest thing on the record.

Ally: But we wanted it on there, it’s a nice little mood change.

Photo by David Ellis

OK, let’s pull out another card…

Ally: Ah, the Minimoog.

James: Actually, when we did our very first recordings where we pooled all our money to go into a studio, there was a Minimoog there. I’d personally never heard one before…we were using plug-ins because we were flat broke. And when we heard it, it was just amazing!

Ally: It’s that moment isn’t it?

James: From that moment on, we just thought “we have to use this” as the driving force for some of our tracks.

Ally: Those sort of “dum-dum-dum-dum” pulsing parts… amazing!

James: So yeah, that was the start of it, my first memory. And there’s some great pictures of us looking very excited!

What made those pulsing sounds on the beginning of ‘Fear Of Drowning’?

James: That’s actually Garageband…

Ally: It was originally, but we replaced it with the Prophet although we’re not snobs in any sense. Some of the sounds you hear on the record were from plug-ins and Garageband but it’s more about the post-production really. We’re not going to sit here and say we only use analogue gear and we only use sequencers… we don’t. If something sounds good, then it really doesn’t matter.

So can I ask, is there any guitar on the album?

Ally: There are loads!

James: It’s really distorted and low, it adds density.

Ally: I would say it’s on every track without exception, perhaps ‘Something On Your Mind’ doesn’t have any guitar.

James: It would be about the only one. We use it in a particular way; it isn’t guitar live…

Ally: It’s not Jimmy Page wiggling all over it! It’s more in an almost MY BLOODY VALENTINE sense because there are layers and layers of guitar all over the place. But we just maybe sidechain it off something strange so it’s sucking in and out a bit…

James: Exactly! And it gives it some rhythmic element as well so if you have layers and layers of guitar, you just sidechain it to a snare or vocal. Then you end up with this kind of sickly, heaving in and out which you can’t pinpoint.

Ally: That’s one of the things that is quite MIRRORS, we have a lot of these synth sounds but we have things like guitars on there to add that extra dimension.

James: The thing about it is also, having acoustic instruments gives it a live feel and that was important. It had to be visceral and real, having a couple of drums that were a bit out.

Do you think having musical backgrounds in more conventional roots actually helps your songwriting because synthesizers are still comparatively new to you as instruments; that you approach them like excited boys?

Ally: I think so. The other thing you have to bear in mind with a synthesizer is you can play a melody or a chord with one sound and it could be completely wrong.

Manipulate that sound and then suddenly, it becomes something else which you don’t really get when you’re sat round a piano or writing a song on an acoustic guitar… it is what it is. Electronic instruments, good or bad, give you that freedom to be able to play the same thing but change the sound and manipulate it so that it becomes something completely different.

James: It’s two different challenges for us in that one half of it is very much important that we get the songs right to start with. I tend to take more of a role in that initial melody and then Ally certainly has vast interest in the geeky side of recording.

Ally: Most of our songs start with the core of a song, then we just pull them apart and put them back together using electronic instruments.

Are you quite prolific with your writing?

James: It weird actually, I think I used to write much more but particularly since being in MIRRORS, I’d rather write fewer ideas and work on them for longer to make sure they’re the best versions of the song.

Ally: For the ten songs that made the album, we have ditched I’d say twenty…

James: Yeah, that’s probably quite standard.

But resulting from that, you’re becoming known as a good B-sides band…

Ally and James: YEAH!

James: We’re really pleased about that…

B-sides are a great traditional to be part of. How do these tracks emerge? Are they experiments in new directions?

Ally: They are tracks that, for whatever reason, didn’t make the record, be it for mood or that there was already a song of a similar nature on there.

James: We didn’t in a lot of cases think they were worse. Every single B-side could happily have had a place. We didn’t want it to be too self-indulgent and long. If you’ve got fifteen brilliant songs, it’s going to be an hour and forty five minutes!

Ally: No-one going to have time for that, we’re not RADIOHEAD! *laughs*

James: It’s nice that people really appreciate that we do put as much of an effort into the B-sides because it means they’ll come back to the singles.

Any particular favourite B-sides?

Ally: I think ‘Toe The Line’ probably for me personally. That was a song we didn’t really consider for the album until the very last minute and we thought “What about this? It’s actually quite good!”

James: ‘Lights And Offerings’ for me.

Ally: Yeah, I forgot about that! ‘Lights And Offerings’ was so close to making the album…

James: The reason it didn’t make it was because ‘Secrets’ did, it’s as simple as that. They come from a similar place and we didn’t want to have too many epics. With ‘Somewhere Strange’, ‘Fear Of Drowning’ and ‘Secrets’, you’ve got three lynchpin moments; we didn’t need another one of those.

Ally: We’ve always played it live, it goes down excellently.

James: It’s one of my favourite tracks of ours! ‘Broken By Silence’ as well, I like that one.

Can I ask you about ‘Falls By Another Name’ as that’s an interesting one, in that there are elements of early DEPECHE MODE?

Ally: It’s a bit of a guilty pleasure…

…was that one definitely recorded as a B-side one-off to get a certain thing out of your system?

James and Ally: MAYBE!

Ally: Perhaps subconsciously.

James: We do have a habit of writing quite big melodies and choruses, we come from a poppy sort of place.

Ally: James and I normally do that, it’s Tate that reins us in! *laughs*

James: And Tate will tell you right now that he’s not a big fan of ‘Falls By Another Name’…

Tate: It’s alright… *everyone laughs*

The German bonus track ‘Visions Of You’ probably falls into that category too. I think it sounds like CHINA CRISIS if they had fully adopted synthesizers.

Ally: Yeah, people have said that before.

James: That’s another of the ones we looked at when we were making the record.

The label really wanted it to be on the album and we had to put our foot down and say…

Ally: …this doesn’t feel right to do this on our first record. It didn’t make it in the UK but we’re happy to release it in Germany and I think we’ve come back to it a bit.

James: It’s a very big pop song but there’s part of me that thinks it might be a little too big.

Ally: It sort of scares us almost!

Another card then? A Korg MS10…

James: Korg MS10… I know about this one don’t I? *laughs*

Ally: Yeah! I’ve been looking for an MS20 for a while but they’re all quite expensive.

James: I might be right in thinking they’re quite good at making those muted guitar sounds.

Ally: There’s a track we’re working on at the moment where we’ve made an almost pizzicato string sound. It does that and it’s really lovely. I think I’d potentially invest in an MS20 for the second record mainly because I like the idea of something that’s semi-modular plus also the bass and the filter on it are amazing. It’s got the external input audio input so you can feed other audio into it and use the filter on it…

That’s how GOLDFRAPP got those synthetically treated screaming sounds on the ‘Felt Mountain’ album…

James: Oh, that’s interesting…

Maybe that’s something you could do?

James: Yeah, will definitely try *chuckles*

Ally, you’ve got a Moog Source card there but your Moog is the Little Phatty, what’s that like?

Ally: It’s good but it’s not as easy to make good sounds as the Prophet, it takes a little bit more work.

James: It’s good at what it does for live work because it basically does the bass for us.

Ally: It’s got that nice effect because it’s monophonic and it’s limiting in a good way I think. Again, some good modern features like you can connect it up to your computer and look at the sound. It’s also got a tempo synch, an arpegiator and little things like that.

Was there any reason why you got the Little Phatty rather than the Voyager?

Ally: Price mostly! The Little Phatty is £500 cheaper and if we were going to spend that much money on a synth, I think we’d probably get another Prophet to be honest, or something older.

The most unusual synth I saw your list was the Siel Cruise, where did you get that from?

Ally: eBay of course!

James: It’s good for strings, like those kind of slightly cheap NEW ORDER-like sounds… “aahh-ah-aaaah!”

Ally: Mellotrony! It’s a layer of the strings on ‘Look At Me’. But it’s not very good at doing most things! *laughs*

James: It’s just a one-trick pony and only cost a couple of hundred quid so it’s good for that particular trick.

So how do feel the overall response to the ‘Lights and Offerings’ album has been?

James: It’s been really, really good. It obviously hasn’t been world beating but what we feel like we’ve achieved is a small, really loyal fanbase which is such a great place to start from.

It gives us a place to go. I’ve been in bands where fans have been incredibly fickle and they move on. I really feel with MIRRORS, we’ve got something.

Ally: Yeah, not all the reviews have been positive as I’m sure you can imagine… the NME didn’t like it, but we knew they wouldn’t! But people like Artrocker, Q and Mojo, the magazines that we would read and respect gave it very positive reviews. In that sense, we were really pleased.

James: In a people sense, it’s been really lovely as well. So many nice messages from loads of old friends of mine as well, ringing up and saying “I just wanted to say it’s absolutely brilliant”.

Ally: It’s really sweet that.

Photo by David Ellis

How do you respond to criticism in some quarters that MIRRORS are merely “synthpop by numbers”, that you are just only recreating a specific sound from a specific era?

Ally: I’d like to quote Andy McCluskey from OMD who said in the ‘Synth Britannia’ documentary if they had been a button on a synthesizer that said hit single, he’d have pressed it more than anyone else… that button doesn’t exist! *laughs*

James: It starts with the songs and I’m very proud of them. It’s ten excellent tracks and I think it’s very diverse. But the thing is, this is our first record, people have to realise that as well. They are things that we aren’t pleased with… 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!

Ally: Yes, absolutely! But I think the live show is a very different beast to the record, it has a lot more energy perhaps than can be conveyed on the album. And it’s a lot more raw and much more like a live band.

James: I’ve heard lots of people say “I wasn’t that sure about the album but with the live show, I’ve done a total 180” which is nice.

You played at Back To The Phuture supporting Gary Numan and John Foxx, how was it for you?

Ally: We really enjoyed it. It was really nice for us to be asked to play alongside Gary Numan and John Foxx.

James: We saw people’s responses at the end of the show.

Ally: People were very keen to buy the album and we sold out, we didn’t have enough to go round.

James: It was great; a perfect audience for us really isn’t it?

Did you chat to either Gary Numan or John Foxx?

James: I had a good conversation with John Foxx. Since then, I think we might be playing with him again so that’s really good. I didn’t meet GARY NUMAN but I think I wandered into his dressing room accidentally! *laughs*

Photo by Largs Diegmann

What inspired you to cover ‘Something On Your Mind’, a comparatively obscure country song?

Ally: Tate and I had a couple of Karen Dalton LPs and it was on an Optimo mixtape. The song is beautiful, she was something of a tortured soul and her voice is incredible. We wanted to do it and it initially wasn’t going to be on the album but the label heard it and really liked it.

James: And I wanted to sing it basically *laughs*

Ally: We were quite happy for it to go on there because our version is so different. It was very nice for us to be able to apply our aesthetic to someone else’s song.

James: I think the thing for us as well is, bearing in mind that we make electronic music all day, we get back and we won’t listen to that kind of music.

Ally: Yeah, I don’t come home and put on ‘Messages’! *laughs*

James: I think we came home, put that record on and thought it would be quite interesting to try and do something that’s entirely different to MIRRORS but bring it into that world.

So did the Laura Cantrell cover of ‘Look At Me’ come before or after that?

James: Before, we had it for a couple of years. Basically she did a cover of NEW ORDER’s ‘Love Vigilantes’ and we heard that. It was really nice so we asked her.

Ally: We got a really sweet message from her saying “Thank you for asking me to do it”. Her and her band locked themselves in a studio over Christmas 2009 in Nashville. She thought the song was lovely and really enjoyed the experience.

James: And again, it goes to show that they’re really good pop songs for me because it works perfectly like that and it sounds like it could be one of her singles. It shows that we write universal music…

Ally: We just present it in a slightly off-kilter manner.

Photo by David Ellis

How did ‘Secrets’ end up being an eleven minute, three movement epic?

James: It was fourteen to start with! The label nearly had a panic attack! *laughs*

Ally: Yeah, “we’re not putting the two big singles on there… we’re putting this on it!” *laughs*

James: I wrote the song five years ago, we wanted to make a mood change on the record didn’t we?

Ally: Yeah, we wanted to do something bombastic with it. We had the initial idea of the first groove and Tate had written this piece of music that seemed to fit it so well.

We wanted to make a bold statement…like it’s our debut record, you only get to do that once and we didn’t want to look back and think “we should have put that on!”. So we thought, why not? It’s got that ENO-esque bit in the middle.

It starts very big and is quite rocky in places before the mood descends into that abstract middle and the reprise just comes in, in a different version of itself.

The ambient interlude made a refreshing change from the silence before a hidden track. It was like you decided to do an Eno instead of everyone else accidentally doing John Cage after all these years…

Ally: I’m glad you think so

James: You might see a live version of that idea live *laughs*

It will be interesting to see how you do it because that’s the one the fans have been waiting for…

Ally: That’s part of the reason we’re doing it. It was always going to be a bit of a challenge to do live, it’s just such a beast.

So what next for MIRRORS? What direction are you possibly going to take?

James: It won’t be that long ’til the next album, we said a year from releasing the first. So we’ve written quite a few songs already. We’re writing as a live band now, that will be the big change. It will be a more contemporary record.

Ally: Maybe a bit less busy, more stripped. To be honest we don’t know ourselves yet.

This has been such a long process for us because we had a lot of the songs written before we were signed, then we re-did them and now we’re touring them again which is very enjoyable but at the same time in the back of our minds, we have new ideas that we want to put down and the way things can move forward… it’s very exciting.

James: With the live show as well, we are talking quite excitedly about a more interactive show for the second album which we haven’t had time to do where we actually incorporate the sounds from the crowd so they become actually involved in it.

MIRRORS ‘Lights and Offerings’ uses the following equipment: ARP 2600, Akai MPC1000 Production Station, Dave Smith Instruments Prophet 08, Doepfer MAQ16/3 Sequencer, Kawai R50 Drum Machine, Korg MicroPreset, Moog Little Phatty, Minimoog, Memorymoog, Nord Lead 2X, Octave Cat, Roland Juno 60, Roland SH101, Roland TR808 Rhythm Composer, Roland MC202 MicroComposer, Roland SPD-S Electronic Percussion Sampling Pad, Siel Cruise.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to MIRRORS

Special thanks to Debbie Ball at Create Spark and Skint Records

‘Lights and Offerings’ is released as a CD, double vinyl LP and download by Skint Records.

MIRRORS’ suits by Gresham Blake Ltd, Brighton

Vintage Synth Trumps is a card game by GForce that features 52 classic synthesizers

https://www.facebook.com/theworldofmirrors/

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
30th April 2011, updated 17th March 2018

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