Tag: Propaganda (Page 1 of 6)

Michael Mertens & Ralf Dörper: The PROPAGANDA Interview

11 November 2024 /

Michael Mertens and Ralf Dörper starting a new chapter of PROPAGANDA was perhaps not on anyone’s bingo card at the start of 2024.

Featuring the sultry vocals of Thunder Bae, PROPAGANDA have presented an eponymous long player to signify a fresh start with 7 new songs and a rework from ‘1234’, the 1990 album featuring Betsi Miller as lead singer.

Of course, PROPAGANDA were best known in their “ABBA in hell” line-up fronted by Claudia Brücken and Susanne Freytag which produced ‘A Secret Wish’, the acclaimed 1985 debut album which is regarded as something of a cult classic in industrial pop. On ‘Dr Mabuse’, PROPAGANDA said “never look back” and as a totally different animal to either ‘A Secret Wish’ or ‘1234’, that is exactly what this enjoyable self-titled album is about.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK had the pleasure of talking to Michael Mertens and Ralf Dörper as the sun was setting on a lovely autumn day in Düsseldorf about the record’s lengthy genesis and content…

When did writing together for a new PROPAGANDA begin in earnest, what had been the spur?

Ralf: Quite a while ago, Holly Johnson had a new album out and asked for a remix of ‘Dancing With No Fear’. We were sitting together in the studio working on that playing with analog synths and that started some activity because we knew we had some stuff in the cupboard that was nearly forgotten but worthwhile to start again. But it was a long process as we didn’t know what kind of result we were expecting. We had in the back of our minds that it would be fine to have a record out with artwork and a booklet, not just a digital release. That took a bit of time as we were seriously interrupted by Covid and other thing. But I have to admit the net time and the gross time were totally different that was spent on this album.

Michael: There were huge gaps in between, we had some songs from 2012 for a reunion of the original PROPAGANDA set-up with Claudia Brücken and Susanne Freytag, but that did not come together in the end. But we wrote some material for this but that was left behind and we didn’t think we would do much with it or what the future would bring. We all did different things you know. The actual trigger was Holly Johnson’s asking for a PROPAGANDA remix and we realised we get on well in the studio, we’ve always got on well. But Ralf’s idea was for a series of physical EPs…

Ralf: I was pretty optimistic and there was still a market so I thought to reintroduce ourselves after so long, let’s start with an EP with one new song, another version of that song and a rework of something old that was not so well-known, maybe even a song that was not released on ZTT. The idea was to do 2 or 3 EPs but when reality knocked, record companies told us this was not possible anymore or it would have to be a 200 limited edition because that is what the EP market is!

You’ve mentioned that you have always had a good relationship, and this continued even with ‘1234’ which Ralf was not involved in?

Ralf: No No! I was!

Michael: He was under contract to Virgin as well.

Ralf: This is something from the outside which is not so clear because when I left in 1990, there was a bit of bad will involved. So if you look at the CD booklet, you won’t find me pretty much. But we actually started work on the album in 1987 with a new singer Betsi Miller and a deal with Virgin. When the recording was going on in 1988, I was living in London and I got a bit bored with pop music. I was sucked into a LWR pirate radio station which introduced me to Detroit techno and acid, it was similar to what John Foxx said because the analog electronics that these people were working with reminded me of the early stuff when started PROPAGANDA before Fairlights and LinnDrums. So my mindset was changing. I was tempted to do something that was not very well known in England with Andreas Thein who was an original PROPAGANDA member. We did a record called ‘Dr Acid & Mr House’ which was a Top20 hit in Germany, we did it in 3 days… we earned more from that than we did with ‘Dr Mabuse’!!

‘Vicious Circle’ from ‘1234’ has been reworked for the album, why was that particular one most suitable for the new phase of Propaganda and how did the new arrangement develop as it is quite different?

Michael: Very different, ja… we always liked that track, it was one of the first tracks we wrote for ‘1234’ and thought it was the signature track for the album although ‘1234’ was a difficult album to make. It was a very difficult period for all members of PROPAGANDA with these incredible changes as you can imagine. You have a different singer so you have to cater for a different vocal style…

Ralf: …and there was the different cultural background, it really makes a difference if you work with a European and an American because there are some references that an American doesn’t get easily.

Michael: So that changed a lot. Then there was a difficult legal period with ZTT which shook us fundamentally and made us insecure in a sense. Maybe the producers had a bit more say than they should have on ‘1234’ but I still think it is a good record, don’t get me wrong. But Ralf and me, we always maintained a good relationship although in 1990-1991, our ways separated but not in a hostile way.

Ralf: The plan of doing 3 EPs with something old, because of the contract, we wouldn’t have been able to do rework of something from ‘A Secret Wish’ because in the paperwork when we left ZTT, that was something we had to sign that we couldn’t do something like Taylor Swift did and re-record everything! *laughs*

The initial plan was to use guest vocalists but you settled on having Thunder Bae sing on the album, was there a particular song she sang that made up your minds for you?

Michael: It was more than one song, I don’t totally remember which the first song was that we asked her to put her vocal to, it might have been ‘They Call Me Nacebo’ or ‘Purveyor Of Pleasure’ but I know she had done ‘Tipping Point’. For us, the first song, she did us a favour as we had written it for a female voice. She was happy to do that because she was interested in what we were doing. She’s from a different generation and said “look, this music you are doing, I really like it but I would never write a song like this, it’s totally different from what I do”, we thought that was good as we could evaluate the song, we weren’t evaluating her singing. That only came on the third song she did and we suddenly looked at each other…

Ralf: It was like the picture was becoming visible…

Michael: …then we asked her if she would do more.

‘Purveyor Of Pleasure’ opened this new phase of PROPAGANDA, how did you find the reaction to it, particularly on social media?

Michael: It was a mixed reaction but the main positive thing was “ok, these guys are doing something…”

Ralf: There was no pre-warning…

Michael: We knew there was going to be a mixed reaction but to be perfectly honest with you, we have always had mixed reactions to our work! When we came out with ‘A Secret Wish’ in Germany we had a lot of mixed reaction, some people HATED us! You know with ‘Dr Mabuse’, there was Claudia with her special kind of voice and the music was so different to what the mainstream, it was polarising but in a sense, we are not afraid to polarise. So ‘Purveyor Of Pleasure’ polarised but there was a lot of people who liked it; it is one of my favourite songs from the record, I really like it. I am very happy with the sequence of song we released and the way we did it, that’s really good.

Ralf: There’s one thing that has to be understood, when we started and for a couple of years, the idea was we call it “Dörper & Mertens”, to use the name PROPAGANDA only came up a few years ago and we had access to the band’s Spotify account. Universal had acquired from the catalogue from ZTT and funnily enough, they also had the Virgin catalogue. A few years ago, PROPAGANDA became available digitally for the first time. On Spotify, you have the Top 5 tracks listed of an artist and when we first had contact with Spotify for the first time, we saw as expected ‘Duel’ at No1, ‘P-Machinery’ at No2 but then a track from ‘1234’ at No3! If you look deeper because you can get regional profile, you saw that this was a major hit in South America.

So there might be people in Europe who when they hear PROPAGANDA, they think of Claudia Brücken but then when people in South America hear PROPAGANDA, they think of Betsi Miller. Then we thought, for us that’s a reason to say this is a new phase in PROPAGANDA with a new singer, it makes sense.

Michael: When Claudia Brücken left PROPAGANDA, the band was in transition. It was always transitory, the second album is completely different from the first and we felt we really had the right to do this because the core elements that go through all the music we have released is pretty much the writing. Of course, every singer who was in PROPAGANDA left her mark and have their own fans. I know of people who prefer the second PROPAGANDA album because of the singing…

Ralf: …and these people are not only in South America *laughs*

The album opens with ‘They Call Me Nocebo’, is that the first use of the word which means “a harmless substance or treatment that may cause harmful side effects or worsening of symptoms because the patient thinks or believes they may occur or expects them to occur” in a song?

Ralf: I first heard the word “nocebo” in a medical document and there are just some words that look interesting when written down and you want to use; but that was many years ago. But I liked its meaning of having a negative effect, that is the opposite of a placebo which is a word known by everybody. But many people who do know about placebos ask what a nocebo is! In a way, it’s logical *laughs*

Michael: I like Ralf’s lyrics very much and they trigger the right part of my brain.

So did you already have a musical idea or were you inspired by Ralf’s words?

Michael: For me it’s nicer if I have the words before…

Ralf: …I normally write words to music, I can write lyrics before but I prefer it the other way around.

Michael: I prefer to have the idea of the song before I actually start to compose but it sometimes happens that I have a piece of music that is not totally defined which is an open space. I give it to Ralf who may already have a lyrics that he is working on and he will work on it if he likes it. But in general, it is important to have a meaning when you do something. If you do the sort of music we do, it is important to have an intellectual construction.

‘Tipping Point’ focuses on ecological concerns, had there been a particular flashpoint which inspired this?

Ralf: It’s not only about the environment, I also see it as about living on the edge in a lot of different things like when Covid came up, you have political living on the edge and you could be living on the edge with the impact of something from the universe, that civilisation could be tipping.

Is this why you have a ‘Dystopian Waltz’? is very filmic and orchestrated, had it inspired by any particular visual imagery?

Michael: No, I don’t think ‘Tipping Point’ triggered that but ‘Dystopian Waltz’ goes back a long way.

Ralf: I visualise things and this was a field of ruins and somebody is dancing in the ruins like ‘The Day After’ or Berlin after the war. It’s a waltz and you could imagine a skeleton dancing so that was the start of this title. But at the beginning, we had included one line from ‘Wenn Ich Mir Was Wünschen Dürfte’ but we had to skip that idea because we were interfering with other people’s work and it’s always a bit of a problem if you just use a little part and not the whole, you need to agree with the other party on it.

The album closes with a cover of the 1930 Friedrich Hollaender song ‘Wenn Ich Mir Was Wünschen Dürfte’, how did this idea come about and develop as a recording because while in many ways it is logical, it was something of a surprise?

Michael: Many people were surprised because it is a German song. When Ralf suggested it, I was very fascinated by it, there’s been a lot of cover versions, I think the Greta Keller version is earlier than the one by Marlene Dietrich and she was teaching her the way to sing. Again, I just fell in love with the lyrics, there was interesting aspects when you sing that you might be missing the facts. This idea that melancholy is a place that is desirable instead of something to be afraid of. It’s a choice you can make, I found that very interesting within that song. We were very lucky because we had the idea to involve some guest musicians and Hauschka was one of them. When Ralf talked to me about Hauschka, I told him I’d know Volker for a very long time.

Ralf: That was before Covid so not only was that a long time ago but also before the Oscars.

Michael: It was a tricky situation because we were though “Oh God, he’s got an Oscar, we cannot call him!”, he would think I was only calling him to play on our record because he’d won an Oscar!

Ralf: With the sticker “featuring Academy Award Winner Hauschka”! *laughs*

Michael: I rang him up as I know him quite well as a colleague and I explained I was shy to call him as he had won the Oscar. I said “This may look like this is the reason I’ve called you and this is not the case. We are very slow workers and you’ve been on our list for many years and now is the time to do this so will you do this?” He was laughing and he did it.

Ralf: There is no English word but if you translate, the song means “If I had a wish” so that is a bit of reference to ‘A Secret Wish’ because at that time, people were always asking “OK, what is your secret wish?” but at the time, we didn’t have an intellectual answer. But “Wenn ich mir was wünschen dürfte, käm ich in Verlegenheit” is the perfect link to ‘A Secret Wish’.

What struck me on this cover of ‘Wenn Ich Mir Was Wünschen Dürfte’ was how fantastic Thunder Bae sounded in German, so as this new phase of PROPAGANDA continues, will there be future songs in German?

Michael: You’re not the first person to ask that, because her delivery on this song is really really good and she was very serious about this. We did a recording and it was quite good but then a couple of days later, she came back and said “No, I want to do certain things again”, she was really diving into this. We worked on this quite a bit, but this was a straightforward delivery, she didn’t do this is snippets, she sang it though and we kept it the way she did it. She did a great job on this.

Ralf: I have to admit when we started in 1982, the very first things were in German like ‘Disziplin’ which got Paul Morley interested. Then when we went into the studio for the first time to do some demonstration recordings, we had a song called ‘Doppelganger’ which was in German and in the beginning, ‘Dr Mabuse’ was also in German, some lines were left like “Kein Zurück für dich”. I can imagine us to do a mix of English and German again as that was very much a PROPAGANDA signature at that time.

You have bonus tracks on the double album editions?

Ralf: These are versions, reworked more with emphasis on the instrumental parts and the atmosphere but it’s not a straight dub but hinting at soundtrack music.

Now you’ve had some distance from the album and it’s out in the public domain, how do you view it now as a body of work?

Michael: Well, now it doesn’t belong to us anymore, it belongs to the world. It’s nice and I’m happy about the reception and the development it took. It hasn’t been out for a long time but it has received some nice recognition which was an artist, when you realise you have an audience and they are responding to you work, then that is kid of fulfilling.

Ralf: Times have changed and there are no budgets anymore, especially for something like video. It’s really different to what you had in the 80s or 90s. We should really mention that we are really lucky that a lot of the visual ideas came from Thunder Bae because she has a background in video making. So that means for the songs, she comes up with storylines and worksheets and she even knows how to do it so what you’ve seen so far is her work. The first video came out of the blue because we didn’t want to appear in it. So we had a lyric video but we wanted to have this monument, this horse statue that was in ‘Dr Mabuse’, we wanted to do it like a secret, but give people a hint…

Like an Easter egg?

Ralf: Ja! That was the main idea for the first video…

Michael: Thunder Bae came along, put together and edited the first video, we were blown away. She really deserves the credit as a video artist and then she had the idea for the next video ‘They Call Me Nacebo’; we got people together, I asked a cinematographer I knew to join in for no money, that kind of thing, the album was made like that *laughs*

Ralf: It was a recruitment of a lot of people in Düsseldorf which is why we put on the album “Conceived and accomplished in Düsseldorf”.

Finally, do you have any favourite tracks?

Michael: ‘Distant’ is very much a favourite now, it culminates in a nice way and has a strong atmosphere, also the instrumental version, I think you’ll like it. But also I love ‘Purveyor Of Pleasure’.

Ralf: It’s ‘Distant’ for now, as in autumn although it’s a bit warm at the moment. It’s a perfect song for grey days and it’s cold and you feel “distant”.

I remember when I first heard this album, I thought of autumn…

Ralf: We thought that was well, when we were discussing with the record company about the release date, I said “it’s not a summer album” as records companies sometimes like to release records in the summer when there are not many other records coming out so they chart easily. PROPAGANDA was always more autumn or winter.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its grateful thanks to Michael Mertens and Ralf Dörper

‘Propaganda’ is released by Bureau B in CD, limited double CD, vinyl LP, limited double vinyl LP and digital editions

https://propband.tilda.ws/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61560582914718

https://www.instagram.com/propaganda_official_/

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Thomas Stelzmann
11 November 2024

PROPAGANDA Propaganda

14 September 2024 /

The history of PROPAGANDA does not need retelling, but their acclaimed 1985 debut album ‘A Secret Wish’ released on ZTT and produced by Stephen J Lipson is regarded as something of a cult classic in industrial pop.

However, internal friction between the “ABBA in hell” line-up of Claudia Brücken, Ralf Dörper, Susanne Freytag and Michael Mertens led to PROPAGANDA imploding. Signing to Virgin Records, Mertens continued as PROPAGANDA with a new singer Betsi Miller as well as two former members of SIMPLE MINDS, Derek Forbes and Brian McGee, releasing the album ‘1234’ in 1990.

There was an aborted PROPAGANDA reunion in 1998 and that was that until Brücken and Freytag presented a variation on the theme and performed as xPROPAGANDA, before releasing a new album ‘The Heart Is Strange’ with Stephen J Lipson producing that updated the ZTT-era sound in 2022.

Now in 2024, with a record “conceived and accomplished in Düsseldorf” and a resistance to nostalgia, Dörper and Mertens have started a new chapter of PROPAGANDA with an eponymous title to signify a fresh start. The initial plan was to use guest vocalists for particular songs but the pair came across the silky soulful tones of young German singer-songwriter Thunder Bae.

Despite the techno-robotic introduction, ‘They Call Me Nocebo’ drifts into a steadfast electronic groove with Thunder Bae delivering an accessible vocal crossover over the atmospheric synth programming and sustained guitar inflections that conjoin to still provide an air of mystery.

With a smoky pop presence, ‘Purveyor Of Pleasure’ continues the laid back mood using understated percussive loops and smooth electronic bass while reworked from ‘1234’, ‘Vicious Circle’ brings in a pacier snap and shuffle, differing by moving away from the harder rigidness of its earlier incarnation which featured Susanne Freytag by moving into a modern slice of European sophistipop.

With a hypnotic rolling sequence, ‘Tipping Point’ raises the tempo but keeps the beats subtle on this ecological poem. But recalling “life in a glass cage” during lockdown, the husky ‘Distant’ brings stylistic connections to ‘Cloud 9’, the co-write by Martin Gore with Claudia Brücken that had been demoed for the aborted 1998 PROPAGANDA reunion and was subsequently issued as a ONETWO track.

Although starting sparse, ‘Love:Craft’ builds up to a more dramatic neo-classical template with enticing synth solos and operatic background voicing while ‘Dystopian Waltz’ does as it says on the ration tin, a lengthy solemn instrumental with a haunting Cold War chill in its wonderful orchestrated arrangement.

The best is saved until last, ‘Wenn Ich Mir Was Wünschen Dürfte’ (translated into English as “If I had a wish”), a Weimar-era song written by Friedrich Hollaender in 1930; Dörper first heard it in the disturbing controversial movie ‘The Night Porter’ during a smoky cabaret scene with Charlotte Rampling performing the song made famous Marlene Dietrich.

Hauntingly melancholic, the translated title provides a link to the past while there is even a cheeky musical reference to THE ART OF NOISE’s ‘Moments In Love’ in the intro. Thunder Bae gives a superbly enticing performance in Deutsch over appropriately Autumnal backing to highlight the contradictory emotions expressed. And when Volker Bertelmann, best known as Academy Award winner Hauschka, brings his frozen piano motifs in, it is the icing on the cake.

Ralf Dörper and Michael Mertens have made a cinematic European electronic pop record while adopting modern influences. However, some listeners may find Thunder Bae’s voice too similar to today’s pop starlets like Dua Lipa. Saying that, she stylistically suits these songs and particularly comes into her own on the finale ‘Wenn Ich Mir Was Wünschen Dürfte’, which ultimately prompts craving and secret wishes for more songs in German.

On ‘Dr Mabuse’ they said “never look back” and that is exactly what this enjoyable album is about; a totally different animal to either ‘A Secret Wish’ or ‘1234’ or the aborted 1998 material, a few long standing PROPAGANDA and ZTT enthusiasts may not embrace this album’s younger generation vocal stylings while the lack of Teutonic industrialisation may be a disappointment to others. But those who buy into this new vision will want the double editions with bonus tracks…

‘Propaganda’ is released on 11 October 2024 by Bureau B in CD, limited double CD, vinyl LP, limited double vinyl LP and digital editions

https://propband.tilda.ws/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61560582914718

https://www.instagram.com/propaganda_official_/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Thomas Stelzmann
14 September 2024

CURSES Presents: Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX

7 November 2023 /

Berlin-based musician and DJ Luca Venezia, better known as CURSES, presents ‘Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX’, his second curated compilation exploring the darker side of club music though the decades. The first volume had been a lockdown inspired exploration of his own record collection.

Released by Eskimo Recordings and featuring 49 tracks, the music is split into three distinct chapters with more than half being previously unreleased; “Many of these songs come from friends close of mine, or artists I perform with and tour with a lot, whose music and craft I admire and champion.” Luca Venezia told ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about the set, “We are all making a very niche style of music, and everyone is approaching it in their own unique way, it is only natural we migrate to be friends and share the stage together… like a primal instinct.”

Conceived with his ideal night out in mind, compiling such an compilation was not without its headaches; “Fortunately with the help of Eskimo and N.E.W.S., the licensing team are an absolute powerhouse” recalled Venezia, “It wasn’t easy, especially the older material, like Malcolm McLaren’s ‘Madame Butterfly’… and yes, there was SO much music I wanted but couldn’t get the rights to. Not because the artists said no, but because it was impossible to find WHO owned the rights now. Members in bands split up, some pass away, some vanish… it’s a puzzle at times to license the 80s underground electronic gems”.

Chapter 1 contains the pioneering acts of the past that were occasionally signed to major labels and even flirted with the mainstream pop charts. The set opens with ‘Distant Dreams Pt 2’, a wonderful suitably obscure 1980 B-side from THROBBING GRISTLE, while another lesser known gem comes from BIG AUDIO DYNAMITE with ‘The Big V’, the instrumental variant of the 1986 single ‘V. Thirteen’.

The first name likely to be recalled when dark club music comes to mind, especially to Taylor Swift fans, are CABARET VOLTAIRE and they fit like a glove on this compendium with ‘Blue Heat’ from ‘Micro-Phonies’, as do Dutch band CLAN OF XYMOX with ‘Obsession’, an excellent example of classic electro-goth disco.

Of course, NITZER EBB are present and correct with ‘Hearts & Minds’ while DAF stand firm with their declaration as ‘Brothers’ in their appealing but less heralded English language disco phase.

Collecting superb tracks from various acclaimed cult acts, ‘The Murder Of Love’ by PROPAGANDA and the I Dream Of Jeanne Mix of ‘Modigliani (Lost In Your Eyes)’ by BOOK OF LOVE demonstrate how the developing digital technology enabled powerful sampled sounds effectively at the flick of a switch. However, best of all are former SOFT CELL backing singers VICIOUS PINK who really should have had a huge worldwide hit with the brilliant Tony Mansfield produced ‘Cccan’t You See’

Chapter 2 moves the night on starting with ‘Voloczny’, an unreleased song from back in day by BOYTRONIC towards the present with modern day electronic producers such as Jennifer Touch and Kris Baha. In a new 2023 version, THE KVB come over like THE JESUS & MARY CHAIN with synths on ‘Still Warm’ while YEARS OF DENIAL capture plenty of stark menace on ‘It Sucks.

Canadian wife-and-husband duo ESSAIE PAS provide enigmatic prose en Français over a cascade of pulsing synths on ‘Retox’ while Berlin-based trio DINA SUMMER update the gothic disco template on ‘Darkness’. Affirming the international cast of ‘Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX’, Spain’s DAME AREA go on a heavier industrial club excursion via ‘Buon Cittadino’ but on the opposite side of the coin and Atlantic, DESIRE offer enigmatic coyness on ‘Love Races On’ outside of their Italians Do It Better stable.

Chapter 3 is the part of the night you probably should go home but don’t… a wilder, harder and more aggressive energy is here if you so desire. There is naturally a Dark Remix of ‘Machina’ from BOY HARSHER with guest vocals by Mariana Saldaña. But utilising tense triplets and brassy melodramatic stabs, CURSES revamps J.W.B. HITS THE BEAT’s ‘Body On Body’. CURSES returns to remix NUOVO TESTAMENTO’s ‘Heartbeat’ and there is an enjoyable instrumental in ‘Non Fiction’ by SILENT SERVANT.

Two of the best tracks come via Australia; ‘Burning Eyes’ is a Hi-NRG romp with wispy voice ad-libs courtesy of NEU-ROMANCER and ZANIAS’ ‘Tryptamine Palace’ is a tremendous textural dance track. ANDI VS RANDOLPH & MORTIMER make their presence felt with big beats on ‘Formidable Truths’ while Michel Amato aka THE HACKER does not disappoint with the previously unreleased ‘Monopoly’. To end, Greek synth duo PARADOX OBSCUR make a beefy contribution in ‘Evo-Devo’ that recalls French art pop duo LES RITA MISOUKO.

On the spiritual and musical thread that helped make this cohesive collection, Luca Venezia surmised: “Every artist involved has their own personal and unique take on the timeless love affair between human and machine. All the music on ‘DEUX’ also embraces the punk and DIY raw energy of live music into electronic music; artists LIKE YEARS OF DENIAL, BOY HARSHER, NUOVO TESTAMENTO, NITZER EBB, BOYTRONIC and DINA SUMMER are all good examples of how the music is very personal, verse chorus verse song-based concert music, yet can also be DJ’d in a club at 4am in a dusty thriving warehouse rave.”

Music from the past and present can sit comfortably together in the same place and ‘Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX’ proves it.

With thanks to Luca Venezia and Mirren Thomson at Eclectica

‘Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX’ is released by Eskimo Recordings, available now as three separate chaptered double vinyl albums, a three chapter vinyl combo pack, a triple CD box set and high quality download direct from https://cursesforever.bandcamp.com/album/next-wave-acid-punx-deux-2

https://link.eskimorecordings.be/NWAPDEUX

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Text by Chi Ming Lai
7 November 2023

A Beginner’s Guide To ANDY RICHARDS

28 August 2023 /

Photo by Lizzy Ellis

Producer, keyboardist and composer Andy Richards may not be as widely known as his mentor Trevor Horn, but listeners have certainly heard his work as a significant number his contributions appear on singles that reached No1.

Born in 1952, Richards studied piano, classical organ piano and composition at The Royal College Of Music and The Royal Academy Of Music. After graduating, he taught music at South Cheshire College and began playing in various local bands before in 1977, he joined the folk-rockers THE STRAWBS who were best known for their hit ‘Part Of The Union’.

After THE STRAWBS split up in 1980, Richards became a session musician and in 1983 played keyboards for the heavy metal band DEMON who were signed to Clay Records, a Stoke-based independent record label. It had been established by Mike ‘Clay’ Stone who had been a champion of punk, taking early photographs of Gary Numan which appeared on the first TUBEWAY ARMY releases before later signing DISCHARGE and THE LURKERS to Clay.

It was via Clay Records that Andy Richards was to get his big break. Stone invited Richards to produce the debut of local synthpop trio WHITE DOOR who had morphed out of the prog band GRACE. Mixed at Sarm East Studios, the engineer was Julian Mendelsohn who was also working with Trevor Horn on the YES album ‘90125’.

With recommendations from Mendelsohn, Richards was then contacted by both. Although he auditioned for YES, he chose to work with Trevor Horn in October 1983; his first job was to play keyboards on the FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD cover of ‘Ferry ‘Cross the Mersey’ and subsequently the eventual single version of ‘Relax’ which featured Richards’ European sounding Roland Jupiter 8 chords while another key element he provided was the huge orgasmic sound at the song’s climax!

Working as part Trevor Horn’s dream team that included engineer Stephen Lipson and Fairlight programmer JJ Jeczalik, the world became Richards’ oyster with significant roles on the notable ZTT albums ‘Welcome to the Pleasure Dome’, ‘A Secret Wish’ and ‘Slave to the Rhythm’.

A master of the Roland Jupiter 8, Roland MC4 Micro-composer, PPG and Oberheim DMX, Richards became in demand as musician, programmer and producer, thanks to his astute investment in the Fairlight Series III in 1984; this was a particularly useful production tool as the artists he worked with could easily understand its concept easily as all its 16 tracks and their relationship in real time could be seen on screen at once.

Having dipped his toe into the world of cinema in 1986 with ‘Biggles: Adventures in Time’, the bulk of Richards’ more recent work has been in mixing film scores from his own Out of Eden digital complex, including ‘Bridget Jones’ Diary’, ‘Ali G Indahouse’, ‘Johnny English’, ‘Shaun of the Dead’, ‘The Last King of Scotland’, ‘Hannibal Rising’, ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and ‘Frankenweenie’. He has more recently been working on his first solo project entitled ‘This Time… An Imaginary Soundtrack’

Perhaps something of an unsung hero in music, here are 18 tracks that ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK has selected from the vast career of Andy Richards with a restriction of one track per artist moniker, assembled in chronological order…

WHITE DOOR Jerusalem (1983)

With shades of ALPHAVILLE who Andy Richards would later work with, the beautiful choir boy synthpop of ‘Jerusalem’ was one of the highlights of the ‘Windows’ album. “We would turn up at Andy’s house with very basic demos and spend long days with him on his mini grand piano working out the arrangements and programming…” said WHITE DOOR singer Mac Austin about the relationship with their producer.

Available on the WHITE DOOR album ‘Windows’ via Cherry Red Records

https://www.facebook.com/whitedoorband

PROPAGANDA Dr Mabuse (1984)

‘Dr Mabuse’ was the impressionistic masterpiece that was the debut single and second ZTT release by PROPAGANDA, at the time a Düsseldorf-based five piece. Produced by Trevor Horn in the days before MIDI, Richards’ work involved spending days in the studio connecting up two Roland Jupiter 8s, two Roland MC4 Micro-composers, three Oberheim DMXs and a Roland TR808 to JJ Jeczalik’s Fairlight Series II.

Available on the PROPAGANDA album ‘A Secret Wish’ via Salvo

https://www.xpropaganda.co.uk/

FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD Two Tribes (1984)

As FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD’s eagerly awaited follow-up to ‘Relax, ‘Two Tribes’ sent the Cold War paranoia of the times into overdrive. Richards’ blistering bassline sequence was programmed multiple times with differing feels, eventually settling on a hard PPG bass sample doubled with a slightly softer sequence from a Synclavier. The end result acted as a leadline and tribal powerhouse.

Available on the FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD album ‘Bang!’ via Salvo

https://www.frankiesay.com/

GEORGE MICHAEL Careless Whisper – Full length version (1984)

Premiered live on the 1983 ‘Club Fantastic’ tour, although George Michael’s debut solo single was characterised by a fluid sax solo by Steve Gregory, when the WHAM! singer opted to produce ‘Careless Whisper’ himself after an abortive session with Jerry Wexler, he invited to Richards to overdub a chilling string synth intro and voice samples using a PPG Waveterm A. It would become the third No1 of 1984 on which Richards performed.

Available on the WHAM! album ‘Make In Big’ via Sony Music

https://www.frankiesay.com/

THE ADVENTURES Send My Heart – Extended remix (1984)

Belfast’s THE ADVENTURES were one of the first bands managed by pop Svengali Simon Fuller,  opening for the likes of TEARS FOR FEARS and FLEETWOOD MAC. On the back of FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD’s success came remix and session work for Richards. His extended remix of the sprightly ‘Send My Heart’ included additional keyboard flourishes, a new voice sample solo section and drum breakdowns while keeping the song intact.

Available on THE ADVENTURES album ‘Theodore & Friends’ via Lemon Records

https://www.discogs.com/artist/219292-The-Adventures

STEPHEN ‘TIN TIN’ DUFFY Kiss Me (1985)

‘Kiss Me’ had been originally released by Stephen Duffy’s band TIN TIN in 1982. Reissued in several incarnations, the Fairlight heavy hit version was produced by Nicholas Froome and JJ Jeczalik who brought Richards in along with Danny Schogger to provide musicality to the various sample derived gimmicks used. Duffy would later become the writing partner of Robbie Williams and ‘Kiss Me’ would be covered in 2006.

Available on the STEPHEN DUFFY album ‘The Ups & Downs’ via Cherry Red Records

http://stephenduffy.com/

TRIO Ready For You (1985)

Germany’s TRIO became known worldwide for their novelty song ‘Da Da Da’. Much more aggressive than their big hit and with the invitation “If you want some lovin, come and get it”, the expletive laden sexually charged ‘Ready For You’ was a co-production by Richards and JJ Jeczalik alongside Klaus Voormann, the noted musician who worked on all the TRIO albums as well as with Lou Reed and was the graphic designer of THE BEATLES ‘Revolver’.

Available on the TRIO album ‘Whats The Password’ via Mercury Records

http://www.stephan-remmler.de/

GRACE JONES 5. SLAVE TO THE RHYTHM (1985)

Not the familiar groovy Go-Go hit single version that became Grace Jones’ signature tune, but a more aggressive take with big beats, rumbles and swoops actually designated “5. SLAVE TO THE RHYTHM” on the same titled album, Andy Richards’ distinct chord interventions can be heard in the brassy synth stabs. The song had been originally demoed by FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD in an uptempo fashion.

Available on the GRACE JONES album ‘Slave To The Rhythm’ via Island Records

https://www.gracejones.com/

BERLIN You Don’t Know (1986)

Although effectively a solo Terri Nunn track produced by Giorgio Moroder, ‘Take My Breath Away’ was issued as a BERLIN single and became a worldwide hit. While the parent album ‘Count Three & Pray’ was helmed by Bob Ezrin, the sultry art rock follow-up ‘You Don’t Know’ was primarily produced by Richards. But the band were unhappy with their sojourn in London for their new album and scrapped the recordings, bar this.

Available on the BERLIN album ‘Best Of 1977 – 1988’ via Geffen Records

https://www.berlinpage.com/

NIK KERSHAW Radio Musicola (1986)

Credited with “Keyboards, Computers” for the first song of Nik Kershaw’s self-produced third album, the percolating title track saw Richards’ Fairlight Series III programming take a central role emulating LEVEL 42’s Mark King style of bass playing. A cautionary warning about mass-produced run-of-the-mill pop music, ‘Radio Musicola’ also featured a brass section including Peter Thoms of LANDSCAPE and Iva Davies of ICEHOUSE on backing vocals.

Available on the NIK KERSHAW album ‘Essential’ via Universal Music

https://www.nikkershaw.net/

PET SHOP BOYS Heart – Single mix (1988)

Originally recorded with Shep Pettibone and written with Madonna in mind, having programmed the Fairlight on ‘Always On My Mind’, ‘It’s A Sin’ and ‘Rent’, Andy Richards was called on to produce a new version of ‘Heart’ in a classic disco vein for the ’Actually’ album. A re-edit mixed by Julian Mendelsohn featuring classic syndrums and extra wah-wah guitar by JJ Belle gave PET SHOP BOYS another UK No1 single.

Available on the PET SHOP BOYS album ‘Smash – The Singles 1985 – 2020’ via EMI Music

https://www.petshopboys.co.uk/

PREFAB SPROUT Hey Manhattan (1988)

Having achieved their breakthrough with the Thomas Dolby produced ‘Steve McQueen’, the East Anglian electronics boffin was unable to work on the entire of PREFAB SPROUT’s follow-up album ‘From Langley Park to Memphis’ so other producers were sought. Richards did ‘Hey Manhattan’ but band leader Paddy McAloon later remarked “I’m dissatisfied with the way we realised it. It’s pretty but it’s a failure”.

Available on the PREFAB SPROUT album ‘From Langley Park To Memphis’ via Sony Music

https://www.sproutology.co.uk/

HOLLY JOHNSON Americanos (1989)

Co-produced by Andy Richards and Steve Lovell with Dan Hartman, ‘Americanos’ was a catchy Latin tinged number complete with Mariachi horns that saw Holly Johnson achieve a second succesive solo hit peaking at No4. Despite being aspirational in tone, the former FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD singer provided an ironic observation of the widespread discrimination against the Hispanic community in the USA.

Available on the HOLLY JOHNSON album ‘Blast’ via Cherry Red Records

https://www.hollyjohnson.com/

FUZZBOX Pink Sunshine (1989)

Outrageously catchy, ‘Pink Sunshine’ was the best single from the alternative rock band once known as WE’VE GOT A FUZZBOX & WE’RE GONNA USE IT!! Reinventing themselves as a sexy pop vocal group for their second album ‘Big Bang!’ produced by Andy Richards, their first hit came with the ‘Thunderbirds’ inspired ‘International Rescue’ while ‘Self’ featuring QUEEN’s Brian May provided a third.

Available on the FUZZBOX album ‘Big Bang!’ via Cherry Red Records

https://www.facebook.com/OfficialFuzzbox

MALCOLM McLAREN & THE BOOTZILLA ORCHESTRA House Of The Blue Danube (1989)

In tribute to New York’s voguing scene, ‘Waltz Darling’ was Malcolm McLaren’s fourth album, fusing Johann Strauss with funk and house. It spawned the hit ‘Something’s Jumpin’ in Your Shirt’ but opening it was the mad if joyous instrumental ‘House of the Blue Danube’. Produced by Andy Richards, it featured the seemingly incongruous combination of Bootsy Collins and Jeff Beck within a pumping “Frankie Say Strauss” backdrop.

Available on the MALCOLM McLAREN & THE BOOTZILLA ORCHESTRA album ‘Waltz Darling’ via Epic Records

https://www.malcolmmclaren.com/

DUSTY SPRINGFIELD Reputation (1990)

Having played keyboards on Liza Minnelli’s ‘Results’ album with PET SHOP BOYS, for a similar project this time with Dusty Springfield, while Messrs Tennant and Lowe produced half the ‘Reputation’ album, Richards was assigned the title song written by Brian Spence. Although overshadowed by the hits ‘Nothing Has Been Proved’ and ‘In Private’, the end result was a production of equal quality that recalled FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD.

Available on the DUSTY SPRINGFIELD album ‘Reputation’ via Cherry Red Records

https://www.dustyspringfield.co.uk/

OMD All That Glitters (1991)

By 1988, advances in computer technology and software had made the Fairlight redundant. But Richards was sticking with his warhorse, causing tensions when working with Andy McCluskey on his new solo OMD by recreating what was on the demos formulated on a MIDI-compatible Atari. But the elegiac ‘Sugar Tax’ album closer ‘All That Glitters’ managed to capture the beautiful melancholic OMD magic of old.

Available on the OMD album ‘Sugar Tax’ via Virgin Records

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

ALPHAVILLE Wishful Thinking (1997)

Produced by Andy Richards, ALPHAVILLE’s fifth album ‘Salvation’ came as the trio fragmented, leaving Marian Gold and Bernhard Lloyd to helm the ship. Energetic gothic dance music, ‘Wishful Thinking’ had a dramatic presence reminiscent of ‘Forever Young’, aided by a string arrangement by Anne Dudley which provided plenty of pomp and circumstance.

Available on the ALPHAVILLE album ‘Salvation’ via WEA Records

https://www.alphaville.earth/

More information on Andy Richards and ‘This Time… An Imaginary Soundtrack’ can be found at http://www.andyrichards.com/

The June 1988 Music Technology article ‘Programmer’s Protocol’ on Andy Richards was a key reference and can be read via the mu:zines music magazine archive at http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/programmers-protocol/1104

Text by Chi Ming Lai
28 August 2023

25 SONGS NOT SUNG BY THE LEAD VOCALIST

31 December 2022 /

Wikipedia says “The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard”.

It also adds “The lead vocalist may also be called the main vocalist or lead singer. Especially in rock music, the lead singer or solo singer is often the front man or front woman”. A BBC Radio 4 parody series ‘Radio Active’ first made the joke in 1981 that “Ringo Starr isn’t the best drummer in THE BEATLES” and in a similar way, it could be said that Bernard Sumner is not the best singer in NEW ORDER.

However, the lead vocalist is considered the figurehead and often the character of a band so regardless of what is said publicly about democracy, a hierarchy inevitably ensues.

But what happens when another member of the band takes their turn at the front? In most cases, it is just a one-off although sometimes it becomes recurring feature over successive albums. These tracks can meet with varying degrees of success, but there have even been occasions where the second vocalist eventually becomes lead singer! However, there have been strange situations where a less vocally competent instrumentalist is unhappy about the attention that a singer is getting and insists on switching roles, thus ensuring that the band does not play to any of its strengths!

So taking things back to front and with a limit of one track per act, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK presents a list of 25 songs not sung by the lead vocalist in chronological, then alpnabetical order…

ULTRAVOX Mr X (1980)

Having been an idea that dated back to the John Foxx-era of ULTRAVOX just before his departure, the KRAFTWERK influenced robotic spy story of ‘Mr X’ was voiced by Warren Cann while Midge Ure was settling in as the band’s new lead vocalist. The track had begun as ‘Touch & Go’ and been premiered live. In a gentlemen’s agreement, keyboardist Billy Currie gave his melody of ‘He’s A Liquid’ in return for Foxx’s melody to ‘Touch & Go’, hence the structural similarity to ‘Mr X’.

Available on the album ‘Vienna’ via Chrysalis Records

http://www.ultravox.org.uk/

DEPECHE MODE Any Second Now (1981)

Although now known as a songwriter, Martin Gore had contributed an instrumental ‘Big Muff’ and one song with lyrics ‘Tora! Tora! Tora!’ on DEPECHE MODE’s debut album. Written by Vince Clarke like most of ‘Speak & Spell’, ‘Any Second Now’ was a beautiful minimalist set piece that stood out amongst the dance friendly synthpop tunes and suited an understated tone of expression. And so began a tradition of Gore taking on DM’s ballads instead of front man Dave Gahan.

Available on the album ‘Speak & Spell’ via Sony Music

https://www.depechemode.com/

DRAMATIS Turn (1981)

DRAMATIS were the former Gary Numan live band and while they were musically virtuoso, the band’s Achilles’ heel was vocals. RRussell Bell and Denis Haines were the quartet’s main singers and Numan himself guested on their biggest hit ‘Love Needs No Disguise’. The classically trained multi-instrumentalist Chris Payne found himself a reluctant vocalist on a song he had written called ‘Turn’; “I have never felt comfortable about my own voice” he clarified.

Available on the album ‘For Future Reference’ via Cherry Red Records

https://www.discogs.com/artist/45761-Dramatis

NEW ORDER Doubts Even Here (1981)

After the end of JOY DIVISION, Peter Hook, Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris reconvened as NEW ORDER while recruiting Gillian Gilbert on keyboards and guitar. Synths and drum machines were taking greater prominence but not entirely. While Sumner did the majority of the vocals on their debut album ‘Movement’, it was Hooky’s fraught delivery on ‘Doubts Even Here’ and words from The Bible spoken by Gilbert that provided the album’s most glorious moment.

Available on the album ‘Movement’ via Rhino

http://www.neworder.com/

KISSING THE PINK Watching Their Eyes (1982)

Best known for the profound anti-war statement ‘The Last Film’ which entered the Top20 in 1983, KISSING THE PINK had Nick Whitecross as their lead singer. Produced by Colin Thurston, the baroque opera tinged ‘Watching Their Eyes’ saw saxophonist Josephine Wells provide a haunting impassioned vocal. Wells went on to play live with TEARS FOR FEARS but sadly, she was to later battle her own traumas as a survivor of the Marchioness boat disaster in 1989.

Available on the album ‘Naked’ via Cherry Red Records

https://www.facebook.com/kissingthepink/

CHINA CRISIS Wishful Thinking (1983)

After his OMD success, Mike Howlett produced the most synth based CHINA CRISIS long player. Utilising Emulator strings and a pizzicato sample derived from plucking an acoustic guitar string close to the bridge, ‘Wishful Thinking’ was written and sung by guitarist Eddie Lundon. A sweetly textured, melodic pop single that deserved its hit status, lead singer Gary Daly responded with ‘Never Too Late’ but that song was shelved to B-side status for sounding too similar.

Available on the album ‘Working With Fire & Steel – Possible Pop Songs Volume 2’ via Caroline Records

https://www.facebook.com/chinacrisisofficial/

TEARS FOR FEARS The Hurting (1983)

While Roland Orzabal is more or less seen as TEARS FOR FEARS lead singer now, that is not how it was perceived at the start even though he sang their debut single ‘Suffer The Children’. Following three Top10 hit singles prior to the release of their debut album ‘The Hurting’, Curt Smith was considered the face and the voice of the band. Orzabal was main songwriter and sang lead on the title track with a more angst-ridden take than was heard on the Smith-fronted singles.

Available on the album ‘The Hurting’ via Mercury Records

https://tearsforfears.com/

YAZOO Happy People (1983)

Of Vince Clarke’s most polarising song since ‘What’s Your Name?’ for DEPECHE MODE, Alison Moyet said “That could have been the beginning of the end for us… in fact, no it wasn’t because Vince had already decided to leave. ‘Happy People’, I just tried singing it a couple of ways and I just hit him with ‘I can’t do this, you want it sung, you sing it yourself mate!’… so he sang it himself, fair play to him”. The song was an ironic send-up of middle aged political activists.

Available on the album ‘Three Pieces’ via Mute Records

https://yazooinfo.com/

BERLIN Rumor Of Love (1984)

Multi-instrumentalist John Crawford had proved himself a capable if almost anonymous singer when duetting with BERLIN front woman Terri Nunn on their 1982 breakthrough track ‘Sex (I’m A…)’. But for the B-side of the 1984 Giorgio Moroder produced single ‘No More Words’, Crawford did a lead vocal turn on the Mike Howlett-helmed ‘Rumor Of Love’ which echoed Scott Walker and ended up as a bonus track on the original edition of the ‘Love Life’ album

Available on the album ‘Love Life’ via Rubellan Records

https://www.berlinmusic.net/

OMD Never Turn Away (1984)

While Andy McCluskey was the lead singer of OMD, Paul Humphreys would see his less frequent vocalled tracks released as singles with ‘Souvenir’, ‘Secret’ and ‘Forever Live & Die’ becoming international hits. While their fifth ‘Junk Culture’ saw forays into brass sections, calypso and reggae, ‘Never Turn Away’ was a more traditional OMD ballad with Autumnal atmospheres but while it was a fine album track, it made little impression as a single release.

Available on the album ‘Junk Culture’ via Virgin Records

https://www.omd.uk.com/

PROPAGANDA Dream Within A Dream (1985)

While Susanne Freytag was the original PROPAGANDA vocalist with her stark narrative style, she soon stepped back in favour of her friend and TOPOLINOS bandmate Claudia Brücken. While Freytag’s Germanic prose remained vital on songs such as ‘Doctor Mabuse’ and ‘P-Machinery’, her vocal style suited the lead role on ‘Dream With A Dream’, a 9 minute epic which put a mighty soundtrack to accompany an Edgar Allan Poe poem which was first published in 1849.

Available on the album ‘A Secret Wish’ via ZTT Records

https://www.xpropaganda.co.uk/

KRAFTWERK The Telephone Call (1986)

On the disappointing ‘Techno Pop’ née ‘Electric Café’ album, Karl Bartos gave an assured performance in his only lead vocal for KRAFTWERK on ‘The Telephone Call’. While the assertive automated phone messages were a sharpened metaphor for female empowerment, band politics were at play when Ralf Hütter refused to let Bartos lip-synch his part on the monochromatic video although Wolfgang Flür got to mime a single phrase while cast in shadow.

Available on the album ‘Techno Pop’ via EMI Music

https://kraftwerk.com/

PET SHOP BOYS Paninaro (1986)

“Passion and love and sex and money – Violence, religion, injustice and death” went the opening phrases of Chris Lowe’s debut lead vocal for PET SHOP BOYS. Dryly spoken rather than sung, the track was a celebration of an Italian fashion cult. The middle eight featuring an ‘Entertainment Tonight’ interview saw Lowe deadpan: “I don’t like Country & Western. I don’t like rock music. I don’t like Rockabilly. I don’t like much, really, do I? But what I do like, I love passionately!”

Available on the album ‘Alternative’ via EMI Music

https://www.petshopboys.co.uk/

NITZER EBB Let Beauty Loose (1987)

With Douglas J McCarthy fronting NITZER EBB, the singing abilities of instrumentalist Bon Harris only came to the fore with his ‘Songs From the Lemon Tree’ lockdown live streams of solo covers often tinged with falsetto. But on the ‘That Total Age’ album, he had shouted his way through ‘Let Beauty Loose’, a typical slice of frantically paced EBM. Acting as a supersub in late 2021, Harris stood in for a hospitalised McCarthy at two NITZER EBB shows in Palm Beach and Toronto.

Available on the album ‘That Total Age’ via Mute Records

http://www.nitzer-ebb.com/

BOOK OF LOVE With A Little Love (1988)

Originally from Philadelphia, BOOK OF LOVE were started by school friends Susan Ottaviano and Ted Ottaviano who were not actually related. Jade Lee and Lauren Roselli Johnson joined later on and the quartet were invited to support DEPECHE MODE on two US tours while their single ‘I Touch Roses’ was reissued in a Daniel Miller remix. Although Susan Ottaviano was lead vocalist, Ted Ottaviano impressed on ‘With A Little Love’ which was co-produced by Flood.

Available on the album ’Lullaby’ via Noble Rot

https://www.bookoflovemusic.com/

CAMOUFLAGE Sooner Than We Think (1989)

German trio CAMOUFLAGE named themselves after a YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA track. While Marcus Meyn was lead singer and the voice of hits like ‘The Great Commandment’, on their second album ‘Methods Of Silence’, both instrumentalists Heiko Maile and Oliver Kreyssig did a vocal turn, with the latter’s ‘Sooner Than We Think’ considered worthy enough to include on their first two Best Of compilations ‘We Stroke The Flames’ and ‘Rewind – The Best Of 95-87’.

Available on the album ‘Methods Of Silence’ via Universal Music

https://www.camouflage-music.com/en/News

KON KAN Move To Move (1989)

Despite Kevin Wynne being the voice on KON KAN’s sample heavy NEW ORDER inspired international hit ‘I Beg Your Pardon’, he was a hired hand as the mastermind behind the project was Canadian producer Barry Harris. The surprise success led to an album for which Wynne did most of the vocals for. However, Harris took the lead on the album’s title track. For the next two KON KAN albums ‘Syntonic’ and ‘Vida!’, Wynne was not recalled.

Available on the album ‘Move To Move’ via Atlantic Records

https://www.facebook.com/konkanofficial

THE HUMAN LEAGUE One Man In My Heart (1995)

Phil Oakey has often cited Susanne Sulley as the best singer in THE HUMAN LEAGUE. While she famously did a verse on the UK and US No1 ‘Don’t You Want Me?’ as well as various solo phrases on ‘(Keep Feeling) Fascination’ and ‘Heart Like A Wheel’, she didn’t get a lead vocal turn until ‘One Man In My Heart’. The format of the song fitted right in with the rise of female fronted trios like DUBSTAR, SAINT ETIENNE and PEACH.

Available on the album ‘Octopus’ via EastWest

https://thehumanleague.co.uk/

DURAN DURAN Medazzaland (1997)

After their panned 1995 covers album ‘Thank You’, DURAN DURAN were in a state of turmoil; Simon Le Bon was experiencing writer’s block while John Taylor was suffering from depression. This state of affairs led to Nick Rhodes working more closely with guitarist Warren Cuccurullo and the keyboardist taking a spoken word lead on the title track of the ‘Medazzaland’ album. Taylor left halfway through recording while the end product was only released in the US.

Available on the album ‘Medazzaland’ via Tape Modern

https://duranduran.com

LADYTRON True Mathematics (2002)

With a template similar to PROPAGANDA, LADYTRON had a singing vocalist in Helen Marnie while Mira Aroyo provided stark spoken prose in her native Bulgarian. While the latter had been an enticing subplot to ‘Discotraxx’ on the debut album ‘604’, Aroyo took the deadpan lead on the fierce ‘True Mathematics’ which opened their next album ‘Light & Magic’. Owing a debt to THE NORMAL’s ‘Warm Leatherette’, it premiered a much harder LADYTRON sound.

Available on the album ‘Light & Magic’ via Nettwerk

https://www.ladytron.com/

KID MOXIE Medium Pleasure – Marsheaux remix (2009)

KID MOXIE began as a duo comprising of Elena Charbila and Erica Zabowski, recording an EP ‘Human Stereo’ and album ‘Selector’. Although Charbila took the majority of the lead vocals in her airy continental style, Zabowski adopted more of a snarl on ‘Medium Pleasure’ with a lyric attacking cultural mediocrity. By the time ‘Selector’ was released, the pair had already parted.

Available on the album ‘Selector’ via Undo Records

https://www.facebook.com/kidmoxie

DE/VISION Kamikaze (2012)

Forming in 1988, German duo DE/VISION have been a mainstay in Europe for enthusiasts of darker electronic climes. Comprising of Steffen Keth on vocals and Thomas Adam on synths, their vast majority of their songs have been sung in English. For their 2012 album ‘Rockets & Swords’, there was a surprise in the penultimate song ‘Kamikaze’ which was not only voiced by Adam but also in Deutsch.

Available on the album ‘Rockets & Swords’ via Popgefahr Records

http://www.devision-music.de

TWINS NATALIA I Avoid Strangers (2014)

TWINS NATALIA comprised of Marc Schaffer, Steve Lippert, synth wizard Dave Hewson and singers Sharon Abbott and Julie Ruler, with the latter three from cult combo POEME ELECTRONIQUE. With classic Weimar Cabaret melodies and vibrant Kling Klang interplay, they conjured memories of holiday romances. But the uptempo ‘I Avoid Strangers’ featured Hewson on vocals, possessing a paranoia that suited the song perfectly.

Available on the album ‘The Destiny Room’ via Anna Logue Records

https://www.facebook.com/twinsnatalia

CHVRCHES High Enough To Carry You Over (2015)

The two Martin Doherty vocalled tracks on ‘The Bones Of What You Believe’ polarised opinion and his voice made an appearance again on the synth driven funk of ‘High Enough To Carry You Over’ for CHVRCHES second album ‘Every Open Eye’. While nowhere near as accomplished as main vocalist Lauren Mayberry, by taking on a more Americanised drawl in the vein of MISTER MISTER, this was a big improvement on the stoner vibe of his previos two singing attempts.

Available on the album ‘Every Open Eye’ via Virgin Records

http://chvrch.es/

APOPTYGMA BERZERK Nearest (2019)

The project of Norwegian Stephan Groth, APOPTYGMA BERZERK went Deutsch on the ‘Nein Danke!’ EP while displaying a prominent “NEWWAVESYNTHPOP” legend on its artwork. ‘Nearest’ saw Stephan’s live bandmate and brother Jonas step into the limelight on a chilled electronic ballad ‘Nearest’ that possessed the same ethereal qualities as the best known APOP track ‘Kathy’s Song’. Jonas Groth has since stepped fully up to the front in his own synthpop duo PISTON DAMP.

Available on the EP ‘Nein Danke!’ via Pitch Black Drive

http://www.theapboffice.com/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photo by Catrine Christensen
31st December 2022

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