Tag: Piston Damp (Page 1 of 2)

2024 END OF YEAR REVIEW

27 December 2024 /

Image by Simon Helm

Me? Definitely Won’t Be! Join the #SynthResistance

When ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK came into being in March 2010, synth was still on a recovery path and it seemed PET SHOP BOYS were the only act continuing to fly the flag successfully having been awarded the BRIT Award for ‘Outstanding Contribution To Music’ the previous year.

While DEPECHE MODE and SIMPLE MINDS had released albums in 2009, their latest material showed few signs of their imperial phases. BLANCMANGE, NEW ORDER and SOFT CELL had not yet returned, ULTRAVOX were still to release ‘Brilliant’ despite a well-received live return and while THE HUMAN LEAGUE were regulars on the live circuit, they had not issued a new album for 9 years. Meanwhile OMD and DURAN DURAN were in a state of creative flux having released disappointing albums in ‘History Of Modern’ and ‘Red Carpet Massacre’ respectively.

However in 2024, most of these acts are performing to sizeable audiences and while ULTRAVOX may have called it a day in 2013, Midge Ure continues to tour with songs from ‘Vienna’, ‘Rage In Eden’, ‘Quartet’ and ‘Lament’. For these heritage acts, the concert circuit is now very lucrative and a testament to their music still standing up after several decades and most importantly for longevity, appealing to new and younger audiences.

Photo by Chi Ming Lai

But for new synth music generally, particularly in Britain, it appeared to be in decline although these signs had been very apparent over the past few years. One thing that has been significant about ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s 30 SONGS OF 2024 was that on only 4 occasions was there full or part representation from the nation that seeded Synth Britannia… how the mighty have fallen! And when Taylor Swift is doing better electronic pop songs than most, then there’s a real problem!

First time around during 1994 to 1997, Britpop had as good as killed off the synth and with the news of the OASIS live reunion in 2025 grabbing all the headlines, it looks as though history is repeating itself. But everything is cyclical and there was a backlash against guitar bands after the new millennium began. There is hope yet but while a MIRRORS reunion is unlikely any time soon, it takes darkness to appreciate the light so anything is possible 😉

2024 was a year fraught with uncertainty and this was reflected musically. With ongoing political tensions in their homeland and having spoken out against the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, MOLCHAT DOMA relocated from Belarus to Los Angeles. Their excellent fourth album ‘Belaya Polosa’ channelled the anxiety and fear of that journey into exile and literally saw the trio change from sounding like JOY DIVISION to sounding like NEW ORDER. But have they walked from the frying pan into the fryer?

Released back in March before the US Elections, one of the best albums of 2024, ‘Masochist’ by NIGHT CLUB became a dystopian prophecy come true. Emotions were summed up by the inclusion of ‘The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum)’, a cover of the song by FUN BOY THREE. Written as a metaphor to the dangerous posturing games played by “The Cowboy” Ronald Reagan in 1981 during The Cold War, today the even crazier orange face is back followed by his flock of mindless MAGA sheep…

‘If You Tolerate This, Then Your Children Will Be Next’ sang MANIC STREET PREACHERS and more than ever in the UK, it is important to stand against the retarded racist scum getting behind the neo-fascist posturings of that pompous grifter Nigel Farage to cover up for their own life failings. Add in a crackpot billionaire who inherited blood money made during the vile South African Apartheid regime, playing a real life Dr Evil by throwing his cash into the far right and supporting the new Nazis in Germany of the AfD, and the world is in a very precarious position right now. Quoting Midge Ure who recently gave new live renditions of the ironically monikered RICH KIDS’ sadly relevant 1978 anti-Nazi anthem: “NEVER AGAIN DO I WANT TO HEAR THE SOUND OF MARCHING MEN!”

Anglo-German duo KALEIDA experienced an existential crisis due to the pressures of parenting and the shifting patterns of life. But Christina Wood and Cicely Goulder managed to make their long distance creative partnership work again and their reward was their third album ‘In Arms’. As the title suggested, it has been an impassioned battle capturing 3 years of artistic perseverance and reinforced their sense of purpose.

On a more personal level, Anglo-French artist Julia-Sophie delved deeper into the complexities of relationships by exploring themes of self-destruction, tenderness, love and emotional struggles. This is what happens when people ‘forgive too slow’ but swathed in an intriguing electronic sound, her understated fulfilment combined emotional unease with an airy beauty for some satisfying thoughtful listening for another of the best albums of 2024.

Photo by Chi Ming Lai

With the onset of climate change but still those in denial despite the scientific proof, Patricia Wolf conceived ‘The Secret Lives of Birds’. Having recorded various bird songs and calls, curiosity led her to become a conservationist and while her music was very beautiful at times, there were darker moments of angst and sadness driven by concern. Birds and their behaviour have been a creative haven for artists of a more ambient persuasion and Masayoshi Fujita continued his avian fascination on his new work ‘Migratory’.

Loula Yorke presented her new ‘Volta’ and the wonderful opener ‘It’s been decided that if you lay down no-one will die’ acted as a bittersweet meditation on overwhelm, an emotion many were feeling. For Finlay Shakespeare, his creative journey appeared to have taken its emotional toll and ‘Directions Out Of Town’ reflected turbulent times and was touted as possibly his last album. Meanwhile Polish producer ZAMILSKA summed feelings up with the impassioned ‘United Kingdom Of Anxiety’ as another exile from Belarus CHIKISS captured this moment ‘Between Time & Laziness’.

Photo by Thomas Stelzmann

While a new PET SHOP BOYS album was always on the cards and they duly delivered with their fifteenth ‘Nonetheless’, Michael Mertens and Ralf Dörper starting a new chapter of PROPAGANDA was perhaps on not on anyone’s bingo card at the start of 2024. Featuring the sultry vocals of Thunder Bae, PROPAGANDA presented an eponymous long player to signify a fresh start with the closing cover ‘Wenn Ich Mir Was Wünschen Dürfte’ being a key highlight.

There were several key esoteric releases in 2024; Gareth Jones and Daniel Miller released their third volume of ‘Electronic Music Improvisations’ as SUNROOF while Heiko Maile and Julian DeMarre offered ‘Neostalgia’, leaving Jori Hulkkonen with some ‘Hurt Humour’. And like a greeting from wherever he is now in the universe, Klaus Schulze had ‘101, Milky Way’ posthumously released in a continuation of his vast electronic legacy.

In 2024, there were albums released where 90 to 100% of the content comprised of previously released singles; one of those was the debut album by LEATHERS, the side-project of ACTORS keyboardist Shannon Hemmett which explored her love of dark electronic pop. Another was the appropriately titled ‘VII’ by Swedish duo KITE which was their seventh body of work containing music from their seven most recent singles released over the past seven years, gathering the power and the glory of their ambition.

Using a similar strategy,  R. MISSING finally released an album ‘Knife Shook Your Hand’ after years of embracing a scattergun standalone song approach which at times was frustrating to follow, especially with today’s now widely embraced Netflix-led home and mobile entertainment methodology of “binge watching” TV series.

Photo by Volker Maass

CAMOUFLAGE finally took their ‘Rewind To The Future & Goodbye’ tour on the German road with a show look backing on four decades. Meanwhile celebrating 45 years of BLANCMANGE, ‘Everything Is Connected’ was a new career-spanning collection supported by a tour where Neil Arthur supported himself with his collaborative side project THE REMAINDER. Celebrating 25 years of the multi-million selling ‘Play’, Moby delivered a mighty greatest hits set in front of a packed house at London’s O2 Arena as well as highlights from that album.

Midge Ure aired his catalogue of his greatest hits and with so many ULTRAVOX songs part of the set, it was difficult not to think of his departed bandmate Chris Cross who passed away this year. Another sad loss in 2024 who had connections to ULTRAVOX and their former leader John Foxx was the iconic photographer Brian Griffin; his other subjects included DEPECHE MODE, OMD, SPANDAU BALLET and TALK TALK.

With 16 tracks speeding through its restless 40 minutes, ‘Powder Dry’ saw Tim Bowness revisiting his passion for the post-punk and electronic pop acts of his teens, having opened for the solo Billy Currie version of ULTRAVOX and worked with members of JAPAN while in his first band NO-MAN with Steven Wilson; of course the latter has been behind the spate of new remixes of ULTRAVOX for their series of lavish boxed sets.

A number of veterans returned after long new release absences. Michel Moers, best known as the front man of Belgian electronic trailblazers TELEX released what was only his second solo studio album ‘As Is’ and had Claudia Brücken guest on its lead single ‘Microwaves. Meanwhile after several years in the making, Harald Grosskopf presented ‘Strom’, translated from German as “electricity”.

Across the Atlantic, Los Angeles-based multimedia artist Geneva Jacuzzi gave a detached Eurocentric poise reminiscent of Gina X and her third album ‘Triple Fire’ was an enjoyably delightful mix of accessible electronic pop and energetic art chaos. Comprising of North America’s alternative music power couple Tom Shear and Mari Kattman, HELIX took their fans to an ‘Unimaginable Place’ as another US based couple XENO & OAKLANDER further refined their precise yet spirited productions for their eight album ‘Via Negativa (in the doorway light)’.

Newer North American acts making a splash were IMMORTAL GIRLFRIEND and Canada’s MINDREADER while Los Angeles-based duo DIE SEXUAL finally brought their erotic charge to the stage opening for the likes of IAMX and LEÆTHER STRIP. But the most promising act emerging stateside were Haute & Freddy.

Photo by Tim Darin

For the past few years, Alison Lewis has focussed on her ZANIAS solo venture but she was back playing live with Ryan Ambridge as LINEA ASPERA in the summer with the pair having been quietly writing and recording new material together. Having found TikTok fame performing synthwave styled covers, DREAMKID released his second album ‘Daggers’ to capitalise on his social media traction while both exploring much darker climes, CURSES and CZARINA released their third full length albums.

In Europe, Belgian duo METROLAND released their sixth album ‘Forum’ as well as simultaneously maintaining their solo projects 808 DOT POP and LECTREAU. In Sweden, Johan Agebjörn was a very busy man releasing EPs with Yota and Mikael Ögren while also announcing he has a work-in-progress with NINA; the Queen of Synthwave’s own musical partnership with RADIO WOLF was developing nicely, with a European tour opening for CANNONS giving the couple a chance to showcase their darker sound.

As the summer ended, IONNALEE ambitiously issued her new album simultaneously in English and Swedish while Norwegian neighbours PISTON DAMP declared there were “No Points For Trying” as they launched the more pessimistic instalment of their twin volume ‘Mastermind’ album venture.

Photo by Joanna Wzorek

Presenting the second volume of their ‘Midnight Confessions’ series, ITALOCONNECTION were back with their vintage but modern style of Italo disco while Greco-German trio DINA SUMMER showed that good electronic dance music with a grittier impassioned outlook was alive and well in Berlin. Also based in the former divided city, Polish DJ and producer CHARLIE emerged as one of the promising new stars on the Italo-Proto scene.

Retrospective sets can often compile another time, another place as exemplified by releases this year from Bryan Ferry, Peter Baumann and NO-MAN proved. But the best one came from FRANK CHICKENS whose ‘Ninja Legends 1983-1989’ captured them in their quirky prime, especially on the collection of BBC radio  sessions which made it an essential purchase. On the book front, ‘1984: The Year Pop Went Queer’ was among the best.

The desire to revisit the past became a major thing in 2024, as exemplified by the frenzy surrounding the sale of tickets for the OASIS reunion shows which were among the first in the UK to employ the dreaded but perfectly legal scam of dynamic pricing. But the need to see any band years past their commercial peak with the likelihood of a less accomplished performance than before, be it vocally, musically or energetically, was a head scratching prospect. The music world has been trying to make up for lost time and money since 2021 but the post-covid gig bubble may have now burst.

With ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK having seen many bands back in the day at their best, the shows now available with a hint of nostalgia may not have been universally appealing as they were to those who were too young or not even born to have attended first time around. But paradoxically thanks to the dearth of new quality music, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK found itself listening to podcasts of old people talking about old music! So it was an honour to be invited by host Iain McDermott to chat about our favourite year in music 1981 for his wonderful ‘Back To NOW’ podcast centred around the noted compilation album series.

‘The Album Years’ hosted by Steven Wilson and Tim Bowness remarked that “talking about music IS the new music” and on the most knowledgeable, passionate and humorous podcasts, hosts were able to express their opinion and say a record or an artist was “sh*t” without immediate fear of social media retorts while also praising where praise was deserved!

But during a recent edition of ‘The Small Town Boys’, Clark Datchler of JOHNNY HATES JAZZ remarked that while music critics back in the day could be “cynical” and “nasty”, today they are at the other extreme and “sycophants now” with “hardly any criticism of records released” – this everything is brilliant mentality has undoubtedly led to an acceptance of mediocrity and a lack of perspective in a monoculture of medium pleasure.

With those forthright and articulate expressions key to their success, live presentations of these podcasts in theatres and arenas are becoming increasingly popular and profitable thanks to lower overheads, especially when compared to concerts.

Among ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s favourite music podcasts in 2024 were ‘Word In Your Ear’ presented by former Smash Hits and Q editors David Hepworth and Mark Ellen, ‘Electronically Yours With Martyn Ware’ and ‘The Giddy Carousel of Pop’ discussing the history of Smash Hits. But best of all was the more general podcast ‘The Rest Is Entertainment’ hosted by Richard Osman and Marina Hyde which is part of Gary Lineker’s Goalhanger Podcast empire also behind ‘The Rest Is Politics’, ‘The Rest Is History’, ‘The Rest Is Money’, ‘The Rest Is Classified’ and ‘The Rest Is Football’; one suspects the popular socially conscious former footballer will not miss the BBC the way it will miss him 😉

If 2023 was something of a strange year, 2024 might have actually been stranger. There is a glimmer of hope for the future, but the signs are already there that things may get worse, be it socially, politically, environmentally or culturally… sometimes, people really do deserve what they get!

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s 2024 playlist ‘The Great Bleep Forward’ containing over 235 tracks from the year can be listened to on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4xMrAkCbeWvUmTfrN6i6Gu

Text by Chi Ming Lai
27 December 2024

PISTON DAMP Mastermind Vol 1: No Points For Trying

28 November 2024 /

Having made an attempt at ‘Making The World Great Again’ on 2021, Norwegian based electronic pop duo PISTON DAMP are back with the follow-up ‘Mastermind Vol 1: No Points For Trying’.

Compromising of Jonas Groth whose past work has been mostly with his older brother Stephan in his band APOPTYGMA BERZERK and the classically trained Truls Sønsterud, the subtitle ‘No Points For Trying’ indicates an air of resignation. What is not often known is Norway actually has a border with Russia so world events will have heightened tension.

Opening song ‘The Netherworld’ is swathed in an epic melancholy with an array classic synth sounds but what is this “hell” that Jonas Groth is referring to? There are many candidates. However the pace changes with the spritely Europop of ‘I’m Losing You (A New Tale)’ while ‘To My Knees’ co-produced by Stephan Groth (who is involved in all the album’s final mixes with the duo and Magne Johansen) utilises infectious sequencer patterns and synthetic swoops to good effect.

The ominous ‘Revolve’ is far moodier with layered vocal harmonies but displaying a kinship to ERASURE’s ‘The Circus’ period, the carousel motifs on ‘Waste’ provide a suitably unsettling ride for full cause and effect as there are “No Points For Trying”.

The speedy cut and trust of ‘Downfall’ ventures into electronic goth pop for its verses although the rousing choruses twist the plot somewhat. ‘Now You Know’ presents some great rewards in its sound design but showing opposing poles, the detuned riffs of ‘So Much To Like (Too Little To Do)’ are infectious.

‘Sacrifice’ with additional vocals from Truls Kristian Nygaard takes on much more sombre tones before the lo-fi vocodered tone poem ‘Down, Pt. 3’ interlude segues into ‘The Day Of Departure’, a marvellously wistful tune with cascading keys and shimmering leadlines to close.

Photo by Trygve Sorli

Despite the less optimistic tone compared to its predecessor, ‘Mastermind Vol 1: No Points For Trying’ is a worthy follow-up to ‘Making The World Great Again’ and a continuing development in the art of classic Nordic melancholy. Yes, this album is set to “depressed mode” and this would explain the absence of upbeat bangers.

But PISTON DAMP were so prolific in this second album phase and recorded enough material in a variety of styles for a double album. Thus “Vol 1” is where all the dark and moody songs have ended up for the onset of winter but “Vol2” promises to be more upbeat and pure synthpop in time for next summer. The story continues…

PISTON DAMP use the following synthesizers: Roland Juno 60, Roland Juno 106, Roland Jupiter 4, Roland System 500, Roland RS-505, Minimoog Voyager, Moog Matriarch, Moog Grandmother, Moogerfoogers, Korg MS20, Elektron Nord Lead 3, Analogue Systems Vostok 2000, ARP Odyssey and tons of Eurorack (mainly for percussion and sequencing)

‘Mastermind Vol 1: No Points For Trying’ is released on 29 November 2024 by Sub Culture Records as a limited edition vinyl LP, CD and download, available from https://subculturerecords.bandcamp.com/

https://www.pistondamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pistondampcom

https://www.instagram.com/pistondamp/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
28 November 2024

2021 END OF YEAR REVIEW

17 December 2021 /


As the world steadily emerged from a painful pandemic that put many lives on hold, nostalgia appeared to be the commodity most in demand as the music industry took steps to recover.

No matter which era, anything musically from the past was more desirable that anything that reminded the public of the past 20 or so months. The first escape destination in the summer for many restricted to staying on their own shores were the established retro festivals.

Meanwhile television provided an array of documentaries ranging from chart rundowns of past decades and informative classic song analysis on Channel 5 to Dylan Jones’ look at ‘Music’s Greatest Decade’ on BBC2 and Sky Arts’ ‘Blitzed’ with all the usual suspects such as Boy George, Philip Sallon, Marilyn, Gary Kemp and Rusty Egan.

SPARKS had their own comprehensive if slightly overlong film ‘The SPARKS Brothers’ directed by Edgar Wright, but the Maels’ musical ‘Annette’ starring Adam Driver was a step too far. Meanwhile the acclaimed ‘Sisters With Transistors’ presented the largely untold story of electronic music’s female pioneers.

It was big business for 40th anniversary live celebrations from the likes of HEAVEN 17, THE HUMAN LEAGUE, OMD and SOFT CELL, while other veterans such as NEW ORDER and ERASURE returned to the live circuit with the biggest indoor headlining shows of their career.

Meanwhile for 2022, Midge Ure announced an extensive ‘Voices & Visions’ tour to present material from the 1981-82 phase of ULTRAVOX.

Also next year and all being well, GOLDFRAPP will finally get their belated 20th Anniversary tour for their marvellous debut ‘Felt Mountain’ underway while there are rescheduled ‘Greatest Hits’ live presentations for PET SHOP BOYS and SIMPLE MINDS.

Always money for old rope, but also giving audiences who missed them at their pioneering height an opportunity to catch up, ‘best of’ collections were issued by YELLO and TELEX while JAPAN had their 1979 breakthrough album ‘Quiet Life’ given the lavish boxed set treatment. Meanwhile, while many labels were still doing their best to kill off CD, there was the puzzling wide scale return of the compact cassette, a poor quality carrier even at the zenith of its popularity.

“Reissue! Repackage! Repackage! Re-evaluate the songs! Double-pack with a photograph, extra track and a tacky badge!” a disgraced Northern English philosopher once bemoaned.

The boosted market for deluxe boxed sets and the repackaging of classic albums in coloured vinyl meant that the major corporations such as Universal, Sony and Warners hogged the pressing plants, leaving independent artists with lead times of nearly a year for delivery if they were lucky.

But there was new music in 2021. Having achieved the milestone of four decades as a recording act, DURAN DURAN worked with Giorgio Moroder on the appropriately titled ‘Future Past’ while not far behind, BLANCMANGE took a ‘Commercial Break’ and FIAT LUX explored ‘Twisted Culture’. David Cicero made his belated return to music with a mature second album that was about ‘Today’ as Steven Jones & Logan Sky focussed on the monochromatic mood of ‘European Lovers’. Continuing the European theme but towards the former Eastern Bloc, Mark Reeder gave a reminder that he was once declared ‘Subversiv-Dekadent’ and fellow Mancunians UNE became inspired by the ‘Spomenik’ monoliths commissioned by Marshal Tito in the former Yugoslavia.

For those who preferred to immerse themselves in the darker present, Gary Numan presented ‘Intruder’, a poignant concept album produced by Ade Fenton about Mother Earth creating a virus to teach mankind a lesson! Meanwhile ITALOCONNECTION, the project of Italo veterans Fred Ventura and Paolo Gozzetti teamed up with French superstar Etienne Daho to tell the story of ‘Virus X’! The video of the year came from UNIFY SEPARATE whose motivation message to ‘Embrace The Fear’ despite the uncertainty reflected the thoughts of many.

Despite the general appetite for nostalgia, there was some excellent new music released from less established artists with the album of the year coming from Jorja Chalmers and her ‘Midnight Train’ released on Italians Do It Better. The critical acclaim for the UK based Aussie’s second long playing solo offering made up for the disbandment of the label’s biggest act CHROMATICS, as it went into its most prolific release schedule in its history with albums by GLÜME, JOON, DLINA VOLNY and LOVE OBJECT as well as its own self-titled compilation of in-house Madonna covers.

As Kat Von D teamed up with Dan Haigh of GUNSHIP for her debut solo record ‘Love Made Me Do It’, acts like DANZ CM, CLASS ACTRESS, GLITBITER, PRIMO THE ALIEN, PARALLELS, KANGA, R.MISSING, I AM SNOW ANGEL, XENO & OAKLANDER, HELIX and DAWN TO DAWN showed that North America was still the creative hub as far as electronically derived pop songs went.

Attracting a lot of attention in 2021 were NATION OF LANGUAGE, who with their catchy blend of angst, melody and motorik beats welcomed synths as family in their evolving sound while also providing the song of the year in ‘This Fractured Mind’, reflecting the anxieties of these strange times. At the other end of the spectrum, DIAMOND FIELD went full pop with an optimistic multi-vocalist collection that captured the spirit of early MTV while BUNNY X looked back on their high school days with ‘Young & In Love’.

ACTORS delivered their most synthy album yet while as LEATHERS, they keyboardist Shannon Hamment went the full hog for her debut solo effort ‘Reckless’. FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY released a new album and some of that ‘Mechanical Soul’ was brought by their Rhys Fulber into his productions this year for AESTHETIC PERFECTION.

In Europe, long playing debuts came from PISTON DAMP and WE ARE REPLICA while NORTHERN LITE released their first album completely in German and FRAGRANCE. presented their second album ‘Salt Air’. There was also the welcome return of SIN COS TAN, KID KASIO, GUSGUS, MARVA VON THEO, TINY MAGNETIC PETS and MAN WITHOUT COUNTRY.

Featuring second generation members of NEW ORDER and SECTION 25, SEA FEVER released their eclectic debut ‘Folding Lines’ as fellow Mancunian LONELADY added sequencers and drum machines to her post-punk funk template. But Glasgow’s CHVRCHES disappointed with their fourth long player ‘Screen Violence’ by opting to sound like every other tired hipster band infesting the land.

The most promising artist to breakthrough in 2021 was Hattie Cooke whose application of traditional songwriting nous to self-production and arrangement techniques using comparatively basic tools such as GarageBand found a wider audience via her third album ‘Bliss Land’. In all, it was a strong year for female synth-friendly artists with impressive albums from Karin My, Laura Dre, Alina Valentina, Robin Hatch and Catherine Moan while comparative veterans like Fifi Rong, Alice Hubble, Brigitte Handley and Alison Lewis as ZANIAS maintained their cult popularity.

In 2021, sometimes words were very unnecessary and there were fine instrumental synth albums from BETAMAXX, WAVESHAPER, КЛЕТ and Richard Barbieri, with a Mercury nomination received by Hannah Peel for ‘Fir Wave’. But for those who preferred Italo Noir, popwave, post-punk techno and progressive pop, Tobias Bernstrup, Michael Oakley, Eric Random and Steven Wilson delivered the goods respectively.

With ‘The Never Ending’ being billed as the final FM ATTACK album and PERTURBATOR incorrectly paraphrased by Metal Hammer in a controversial “synthwave is dead” declaration, the community got itself in a pickle by simultaneously attacking THE WEEKND for “stealing from synthwave”, yet wanting to ride on the coat tails of Abel Tesfaye, misguidedly sensing an opportunity to snare new fans for their own music projects.

With THE WEEKND’s most recent single ‘Take My Breath’, there was the outcry over the use of a four note arpeggio allegedly sampled from MAKEUP & VANITY SET’s ‘The Last City’. But as one online observer put it, “Wow, an arpeggiated minor chord. Hate to break it to you but you might want to check out what Giorgio Moroder was doing 50 years ago. We’re ALL just rippin’ him off if that’s how you think creativity works”. Another added “If a four note minor key arpeggiated chord can go to court on the basis of copyright law, we are in for a hell of a few years my synthy friends”. It outlined once again that there are some who are still under the impression that music using synths was invented by Ryan Gosling in 2011 for ‘Drive’ soundtrack ??

There were also belated complaints that 2019’s A-HA inspired ‘Blinding Lights’ had a simple melody and needed five writers to realise it… but then, so did UTRAVOX’s ‘Slow Motion’ and DURAN DURAN’s ‘Rio’! Collaboration, whether in bands, with producers or even outsiders has always been a key aspect of the compositional process. If it is THAT simple, do it yourself! As Andy McCluskey of OMD said on ‘Synth Britannia’ in 2009 about the pioneering era when Ryan Gosling was still in nappies: “The number of people who thought that the equipment wrote the song for you: ‘well anybody can do it with the equipment you’ve got!’ “F*** OFF!!”

Over the last two years, THE WEEKND has become the biggest mainstream pop act on the planet, thanks to spectacles such as the impressive gothic theatre of the Super Bowl LV half time showcase while in a special performance on the BRITS, there was a charming presentation of the ERASURE-ish ‘Save Your Tears’ where he played air synth in a moment relatable to many. But everything is ultimately down to catchy songs, regardless of synth usage.

So ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK would like to present a hypothetical case to consider… if someone uses the arpeggio function with a sparkling patch from a Juno 6 synth in a recording, does Cyndi Lauper sue for infringing the copyright of ‘All Through The Night’ or the original songwriter Jules Shear or even the Roland Corporation themselves as they created it? More than one producer has suggested that THE WEEKND’s soundbite came from a hardware preset or more than likely, a software sample pack, of which there are now many.

However, sample culture had hit another new low when Tracklib marketed a package as “A real game-changer for sample based music. Now everyone can afford to clear samples” with rapper and producer Erick Sermon declaring “Yo, this is incredible. They’re trying to put creativity back into music again. By having samples you can actually pay for and afford”.

Err creativity? How about writing your own songs and playing or even programming YOUR OWN instrumentation??!? One sampling enthusiast even declared “I might go as far as to say you don’t really like dance music if you’ve got a problem with adding a beat to a huge (even instantly recognizable) sample”… well guess what? ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK LOATHES IT!!! ?

In 2021, music promotion became a bit strange with publicists at all levels keen more than ever to have their clients’ press releases just cut ‘n’ pasted onto online platforms, but very reluctant to allow albums to be reviewed in advance in the event of a potential negative prognosis.

While cut ‘n’ paste journalism has been a disease that has always afflicted online media, in a sad sign of the times, one long established international website moved to a “pay to get your press release featured” business model.

The emergence of reaction vloggers was another bizarre development while the “Mention your favourite artist and see if they respond to you” posts on social media only added more wood to the dumbing down bonfire already existing within audience engagement.

It was as if the wider public was no longer interested in more in-depth analysis while many artists turned their publicity into a reliance on others doing “big ups” via Twitter and Facebook. But then, if artists are being successfully crowdfunded with subscriptions via Patreon, Kickstarter, Bandcamp and the like, do they need a media intermediary any longer as they are dealing direct with their fanbases?

However, it wasn’t all bad in the media with ‘Electronically Yours With Martyn Ware’ providing insightful artist interviews and the largely entertaining ‘Beyond Synth’ podcast celebrating its 300th show. Due to their own music commitments, Steven Wilson and Tim Bowness were less prolific with their discussion show ‘The Album Years’ but it was still refreshing for commentators to be able to say that a record was sh*t when it actually was, rather than conform to the modern day adage that all music is good but not always to the listener’s taste!  And while various programmes came and went, other such as ‘Operating//Generating’, ‘KZL Live’ and ‘Absynth’ came to prominence.

Post-pandemic, interesting if uncertain times are ahead within the music industry. But as live performance returns, while the mainstream is likely to hit the crowd walking, will there be enough cost effective venues to host independent artists? Things have been tough but for some, but things might be about to get even tougher.

However, music was what got many through the last 18 months and as times are still uncertain, music in its live variant will help to get everyone through the next year and a half and beyond.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s year in music is gathered in its 2021 Playlist – Missing U at
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4rlJgJhiGkOw8q2JcunJfw

Text by Chi Ming Lai
17th December 2021

PISTON DAMP Making The World Great Again

10 June 2021 /


PISTON DAMP are the new electronic pop duo based in Norway compromising of Jonas Groth and Truls Sønsterud.

Classically trained, Sønsterud became known for remixing under the alias of TRÖLL. Meanwhile Groth has been making music mostly with his older brother Stephan and his band APOPTYGMA BERZERK but with PISTON DAMP, he emerges from that shadow to front his own music. Having performed lead vocals on ‘Nearest’, an ethereal electronic ballad both in concert and on the most recent APOPTYGMA BERZERK EP ‘Nein Danke!’, it is a task he is more than ready for.

PISTON DAMP formed in 2000, but has remained as a hobby project until now. The duo’s first single ‘Something In Me’ perhaps unsurprisingly was reminiscent of the more immediate side of APOPTYGMA BERZERK. Catchy, melodic and rhythmic with an emotively spirited vocal, when Jonas Groth hits falsetto, it provides a most glorious lift.

Entitled ‘Making The World Great Again’, the album begins with the spy drama collage ‘ШУМ’ but a more formally start come with the rousing four-to-the-floor synthpop of ‘Hearts On Fire’ which recalls Swedish combo THE MOBILE HOMES and their ‘Feeling Better’ but with a heavier rhythmic stance.

As the second PISTON DAMP single, the anthemic ‘Runaway’ was given the remix treatment from MESH and DIE KRUPPS; here it punches its way into the psyche with a hypnotic bassline that just stops short of a squelch, while ‘Depth Of Your Eyes’ takes a diversion into an orchestrated 6/8 in the manner of DEPECHE MODE’s ‘One Caress’.

An instrumental interlude ‘Factor Out’ features commentary on spiritual connection which is more than fitting when it segues into the two minute ‘Never Thought It Would End’…

With its hymn-like topline over a gentle sequenced passage, ‘Never Thought It Would End’ comes over like U2’s ‘I Still Have Found What I’m Looking For’ arranged in the style of DEPECHE MODE’s ‘Waiting For The Night’. Continuing with the spirit of Basildon, while the ‘Making The World Great Again’ title song dons its hat off to ‘Black Celebration’, it almost immediately locks into something much pacier and anthemic with a fabulous array of synth sounds and a rousing optimistic chorus of voices that announce “we won’t make the same mistakes as them!”.

‘Don’t’ is the closest PISTON DAMP get to EBM with a thrusting triplet as chiming melodies and soaring vocals glide over a cinematic setting that sets it apart from the Bundeswehr crowd, particularly with an angelic vocal return from COMPUTORGIRL who released an EP back in 2002 that was co-produced by Jonas and Stephan Groth.

‘Loose Ends’ offers what A-HA might have sounded like had they adopted the more baroque industrial pop elements of APOPTYGMA BERZERK, which is not as crazy as it sounds because APOP remixed ‘Lifelines’ for a promo release in 2002.

Primarily instrumental with sporadic percussion, ‘Sacred Secret’ makes use of layered choir refrains while a lonely piano adds poignancy, but shaped by sombre strings, ‘Testimony’ could be a Nordic PET SHOP BOYS with its octave disco bass although the guitar line from DM’s ‘Precious’ finds a way to morph it into a homage to CAMOUFLAGE…

‘Another Pain’ acts as the closer and sees a spacey arpeggio allows Jonas Groth to express some heartfelt frustration and when his multi-tracked vocal ab-libs join in, it starts to sounds like THE BEATLES, especially with the trumpet line…

For anyone who loves the sort of tuneful melancholic European synth that emerged after ALPHAVILLE, A-HA and CAMOUFLAGE as well as the more immediate aspects of APOPTYGMA BERZERK, the self-produced ‘Making The World Great Again’ is an ideal collection to return everyone to a mindset that while reflective, is hopeful that everything is going to be alright.

‘Making The World Great Again’ is released by Sub Culture Records, available from https://subculturerecords.bandcamp.com/album/making-the-world-great-again

https://www.pistondamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pistondampcom

https://www.instagram.com/pistondamp/

https://open.spotify.com/album/54YyjAXhjYXjcmboEgvkO7

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photo by Kine Jensen
10th June 2021

PISTON DAMP Interview

31 May 2021 /


Jonas Groth and Truls Sønsterud are PISTON DAMP and the Norwegian duo are hoping to be ‘Making The World Great Again’ with their soon-to be released debut album.

Groth has been making music mostly with his old brother Stephan and his band APOPTYGMA BERZERK and on their most recent EP release ‘Nein Danke’, contributed lead vocals to the electronic ballad ‘Nearest’. Meanwhile the classically trained Sønsterud is known for remixes under the TRÖLL moniker.

The first PISTON DAMP single ‘Something In Me’ was a classic synthpop statement while the other 12 tracks on ‘Making The World Great Again’ vary from interlude soundscapes to EBM while dropping in hints of DEPECHE MODE, A-HA and THE BEATLES in between.

PISTON DAMP spoke collectively to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about their genesis of their debut album and why it has taken them 20 years to arrive at this point.

‘Making The World Great Again’ is a rousing album, it has to be said!

Wow! Thank you so very much. We’ve put a lot of time and energy into making it a positive / celebrative album. Not like party-party, but an album with a clear message as to how we see the world and the people in it.

The ‘Making The World Great Again’ title song pays homage to ‘Black Celebration’ in the intro and optimistically declares “we won’t make the same mistakes as them”, was it important for you to make this kind of statement?

This is the last song to be written for the album – actually after the title was already on the table.

The line “we won’t make the same mistakes as them” refers to “them” as being those who came before us.

When Jonas started writing the song, it was with a clear intention to make it a follow-up to the song ‘Hearts On Fire’. Both are meant as fight songs or speeches to a lost generation, if you will. The Internet has made us, as a species, feel lonelier and more disconnected from each other. We don’t necessarily need to get rid of the Internet, but we need to make people understand that there is more to life than what it seems like at the moment.

The relatively new phenomenon Social Media is trying to substitute real relationships, and this is what Jonas is talking about in these lyrics – Starting a movement that shows people how important it actually is to be social and that the reason why love (as a concept) has become a cliché, is that it actually works and that more people probably should be spending time on trying to give and receive love, rather than distancing oneself behind a screen. ‘Black Celebration’ and the following three DM-albums are indeed inspirations for most of the songs on this album, both lyrically and musically.


You formed in 2000 so why has it taken so long to release music? Are any songs from those formative years on the album?

We formed as a fun project, working out of Jonas’s brother Stephan’s studio whenever he wasn’t there. He had an Apple computer and loads of synthesizers, especially the Waldorf Q and XTk were exciting ones to experiment with.

Jonas wrote a lot of songs for this project, and at least 7 exist in demo form from that period. In 2001, Jonas became a father and life just and several other music projects happened to both of us for the next 15 years. The last five years, we have tried to get together and re-record some of the songs on several occasions, but something always came up.

In the spring of 2020, Truls called Jonas and basically told him that since it still hadn’t happened, he wanted to get it out of his system and just ban the entire project for good. This sparked something in Jonas, and he wrote ‘Something In Me’ (or rather the Danish version ‘Noget I Mig’) that same evening. Upon hearing this they decided to give it one last try, and here we are! Hehehe…

The album tracks:

1 ШУМ (new)
2 Hearts On Fire (reworked from Jonas’ 2014 demo)
3 Runaway (Original PD track from 2000)
4 Something In Me (new)
5 Depth Of Your Eyes (Original PD track from 2000)
6 Factor Out (new)
7 Never Thought It Would End (reworked from Jonas’ 2010 demo)
8 Making The World Great Again (new)
9 Don’t (reworked from Jonas’ 2012 demo)
10 Loose Ends (Original PD track from 2000)
11 Sacred Secret (reworked from Jonas’ 2016 demo)
12 Testimony (Original PD track from 2000)
13 Another Pain (reworked from Jonas’ 1994 demo)

The first single ‘Something In Me’ announced that PISTON DAMP was very much a synthpop act, which artists had been inspirations in developing this sound?

For Jonas, it’s DEPECHE MODE (83 – 98), ERASURE (86 – 97), OMD, APOPTYGMA BERZERK, DURAN DURAN and ELEGANT MACHINERY, while for Truls, it’s PET SHOP BOYS, ERASURE, APOPTYGMA BERZERK and A-HA.


‘Hearts On Fire’ recalls Swedish combo THE MOBILE HOMES, does that formative period of Nordic new wave pop which also includes bands like LUSTANS LAKEJER and PAGE deserve more recognition outside of Scandinavia?

Absolutely. Sweden in particular has had an enormous and impressive electronic scene that we Norwegians have loved since it started. When Jonas has toured with APOPTYGMA BERZERK, he has often been confronted with band names like ELEGANT MACHINERY, SISTA MANNEN PÅ JORDEN and COVENANT, even in places like South America and Israel. So maybe it has more to do with exposure rather than recognition…?

Did you use vintage synthesizers to achieve your aims or are you software based?

Truls has built quite a large synth studio, and we use hardware almost exclusively when we record our music. Some synthesizers are used in almost every song, and some are more randomly used, like if we’re looking for a particular sound. Roland Juno-106 is a classic, and of course we use that. For strings, we prefer Roland RS-505. It has some massive, powerful strings, but they can also be tender and soft.

For bass, we use a wide variety of synths, for example Roland SH-101 and Minimoog Voyager. We also use modular stuff, drones and a lot of pedals, like the Moogerfoogers. The sonic possibilities both in vintage and new synths are endless in the creative process. The experimentation with hardware is important both for creating the sound and for inspiration to develop and expand the sonic and musical landscape. Among the rarer stuff is, for example, the Elektron SidStation and it is made with the original C-64 sound chips. This is the main synth on the theme and ARPs on ‘Another Pain’.

The anthemic ‘Runaway’ had the remix treatment from MESH and DIE KRUPPS when released as a pre-album bundle, how do you feel when you let others adapt your work?

Oh, we love it. The interpretations are always really exciting to hear. And listening to the four remixes of that song back-to-back is still great (MESH, DIE KRUPPS and SUBSTAAT plus the Extended version).  Getting talents we admire to reinterpret our basic ideas is an amazing way to get inspiration for moving on to whatever comes next. This is also a cool thing about the ‘Something In Me’ single where (apart from the A-side), the TECHNOMANCER remix is the version mostly played on Spotify. On YouTube, this version is by far our most played track.


The energetic ‘Don’t’ is the closest PISTON DAMP get to EBM and sees an old friend COMPUTORGIRL return for a cameo vocal, how was this reunion?

It was great fun. Especially since ‘Don’t’ originally was intended as a band song much inspired by THE CURE’s ‘A Foolish Arrangement’, and we only picked it up because we needed a B-side for the ‘Loose Ends’ single.

The track listing for the album was more or less finished, so we wanted a separate track as B-side. The middle part was instrumental, and we considered several solutions for this part including a spoken German poem, noises and effects, and other stuff.

One night Jonas was listening to one of his favourite albums – ‘Forever’ by CRANES – and the voice of Alison Shaw reminded him of Benedicte who is COMPUTORGIRL, whom he immediately wrote the vocal part for. Jonas did the vocal pre-production of the COMPUTORGIRL EP in 2002. Luckily, she was excited to do it, and the vocals were recorded the very next day. The song title was made up just as a word to save the song as when it was written. The word never came up in the lyrics, and therefore it became obvious that COMPUTORGIRL’s lines should all begin with that word. Eventually the song was nearly considered to be the A-side of the single, and ultimately it was given a place on the album too.

With its 6/8 signature and orchestrations, ‘Depth Of Your Eyes’ is quite different from the other tracks on ‘Making The World Great Again’?

Indeed, but it is actually the song that has changed the least since its 2000 demo form. This is the way it was intended to sound. The only difference is that the strings have now been played rather than being programmed. Tarjei Nysted and Kaja Pettersen play the exact notes that Jonas programmed 20 years earlier. The inspiration from the 86 – 93 DEPECHE MODE period is obvious here. We allowed ourselves to do stuff that wasn’t necessarily “genre correct”, simply because we wanted to do it, much like DM did when they brought in guitars, live drums etc.


‘Never Thought It Would End’ is almost hymn-like and comes over like U2’s ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’ mashed-up with DEPECHE MODE’s ‘Waiting For The Night’?

It’s hard to define ‘Never Thought It Would End’ without commenting on ‘Factor Out’ which leads into ‘Never Thought It Would End’. ‘Factor Out’ was made as an intro, but quickly proved to have a life of its own. Truls kept expanding it both time wise and sound wise, which made the transition into ‘Never Thought It Would End’ much more exciting. They can both be viewed as separate tracks, but also as part 1 and 2 of the same song.

Jonas’s love of harmony vocals became a powerful tool here, and we wanted the song to have a lot of air in the mix (hence the panning of the vocals which vary throughout the song). The demo of the track was recorded with acoustic guitar on a laptop while the rest of the house was asleep, which makes it a very quiet and emotionally sore sounding demo. We tried to keep that vibe going in the electronic PD version.

‘Testimony’ borrows the guitar line from DM’s ‘Precious’ and sort of morphs into CAMOUFLAGE, how did this song come together?

‘Testimony’ was the only song we actually made a proper release-worthy version of 20 years ago. Due to Jonas working as a Label Manager Assistant at Hard:Drive (partly owned by Stephan), at the same location as where Sebastian Komor from ICON OF COIL had his studio.

Seb produced the track for us and gave us a clearer direction for the song. Most of his additions were very 2000/2001, and have thus been subtracted from the new version again. But the guitar part is the same now as then, and DM’s ‘Precious’ is from 2005, so who knows – maybe the borrowed it from us? Hahaha… Somewhere on the Internet you will probably still be able to find the ‘ICON OF COIL mix’ of ‘Testimony’.


The album closer ‘Another Pain’ appears to reveal THE BEATLES as an influence which perhaps is an unusual template for electronic pop?

Being one of the first songs Jonas ever completed (1994), it is very much a Beatles influenced song. THE BEATLES have always been a huge thing for Jonas (when asked about his top three favourite bands he usually replies: “THE CURE, DEPECHE MODE and KENT, but that’s just because THE BEATLES is a given and I don’t need to use up a place for them”. The sound collage at the end of ‘Another Pain’ is inspired by the latter years of THE BEATLES, but also by PINK FLOYD, which is a huge deal for Truls.

We share a love of the same kinds of music, but rarely the same bands. The album version of ‘Another Pain’ was the first one to be made, and the ‘Blue Hearts Version’ which was used as a B-side for ‘Something In Me’ was made from this version. If you listen closely, you can hear an element of each of the other album tracks in this outro.

Which are your own favourites on ‘Making The World Great Again’ and why?

For Jonas, this changes all the time. At the moment it is ‘Don’t’, but his favourite one to record was ‘Making The World Great Again’.

This changes for Truls as well. Right now he would say ‘Testimony’, but he had a plan very early in the making of this album, that it was going to be musically arranged and produced so that each song should set the mood for the song after, and as well be a contrast to the foregoing song. And that makes it hard to pick a specific song out of the context. The songs make each other good, and the combination of them makes them even better than when they stand alone.

What are your future plans, if you have been able to make any?

Well first of all, we’re planning a virtual release party for the album on June 5th where you can hear all the songs from the album 5 days before the release, and we’ll perform 3 songs live, do some interviews, giveaways, competitions etc. So, we’re quite looking forward to that, as it will give us an early indication of what people think of the album.

We have already started on the next single, and we are planning what to do for the next album. There are still some really strong songs left from the original demos, and we want to use some of them for a follow-up album as soon as possible. We’d love to play live shows, and we have a few gigs already being planned, so we’re just hoping for the world to open up so we can help make it great again!

We’re both very keen on getting on stage to try our songs out on a live audience as soon as time permits, so both festivals, club-gigs and support gigs for other acts are what we’re planning and looking for, to be honest. Safe to say, PISTON DAMP is hard at work, and there will be more coming from us in all shapes, sizes, and forms in the months ahead!

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its sincerest thanks to PISTON DAMP

Special thanks to Per Aksel Lungreen at Sub Culture Records

‘Making The World Great Again’ is released 21st June 2021 by Sub Culture Records, available direct from https://subculturerecords.bandcamp.com/album/making-the-world-great-again

The PISTON DAMP Virtual Release Party takes place on 5th June 2021 at 1700 UK time via Facebook, details at https://www.facebook.com/events/369780110999711

https://www.pistondamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pistondampcom

https://www.instagram.com/pistondamp/

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Kine Jensen
31st May 2021

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