The year began with the housewives’ favourite astronomer Brian Cox naming several synth friendly classics like OMD’s ‘Messages’ and DURAN DURAN’s ‘Friends Of Mine’ in his choices for ‘Desert Island Discs’ as well as declaring an appreciation of ULTRAVOX.
The confessions of the one-time keyboard player of DARE and D:REAM proved once again that electronic music is the preserve of the intelligent, discerning listener. And as with the strap line to ‘Close Encounters Of The Third Kind’ which featured the use of an ARP 2500 to communicate with the aliens incidentally!), it proved to many a synth enthusiast that “we are not alone”!
Speaking of ULTRAVOX, they made the comeback of the year with ‘Brilliant’, the first long player featuring the classic line-up of Warren Cann, Chris Cross, Billy Currie and Midge Ure since 1984’s ‘Lament’. While the album could have probably done with being two tracks shorter, it was the best of the bunch in a line of returns from the last few years by Synth Britannia veterans OMD, BLANCMANGE and THE HUMAN LEAGUE; not bad considering most of the band are now in their early sixties! The Dreaded Pink Thing has now been truly buried!
Gary Numan continued to tour like there was no tomorrow and reunited with his old backing band DRAMATIS on several of his ‘Machine Music’ shows in tribute to the late Ced Sharpley who had drummed for both. From the same management stable, JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS unleashed their third album in 18 months entitled ‘Evidence’ while Claudia Brücken released only her second solo album in just over 20 years with a soothing collection of reinterpretations called ‘The Lost Are Found’.
With only Synth-Werk plug-in hoaxes and Belgian clones METROLAND to keep Klingklangers entertained with new material, KRAFTWERK themselves undertook a 3D residency at New York’s MoMA featuring their eight most recent works with a controversial two tickets per customer policy. As most of these albums clocked in at just over 30 minutes, there was still an hour’s other favourites to savour for those lucky enough to get their names on the list.
This electronic extravaganza will be reprised at London’s Tate Modern in February 2013. As a former power plant, the location is wholly appropriate although the occasion will be tainted by the ticket fiasco that preceded it! Ex-member Karl Bartos was probably observing with amusement as he will be returning in 2013 with a new album ‘Off The Record’ and world tour. Disgruntled fans who missed out on the Tate Modern shows are now likely to be venturing his way for their KRAFTWERK fix!
Danny Boyle’s London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony attempted to showcase the best of British so with UNDERWORLD as musical directors, OMD, NEW ORDER, PET SHOP BOYS, BRIAN ENO and EURYTHMICS all figured during the evening.
DEPECHE MODE themselves announced a new album and tour for 2013 in a bizarre press conference that appeared to have no actual news! But this was not before Dave Gahan guested with SOULSAVERS and Martin Gore did a cameo for MOTOR; He also reunited with former bandmate Vince Clarke for the rather polarising techno project VCMG. And in a year that saw all members of the extended DM family busy, former bandmate Alan Wilder helped compile a tribute album to one-time synthpoppers TALK TALK and released the RECOIL concert film ‘A Strange Hour In Budapest’.
MARSHEAUX returned to London with a triumphant performance featuring The Blitz Club’s legendary Rusty Egan on electronic percussion during an encore of ‘Come On’, a song from their forthcoming fourth long player ‘Inhale’.
They also released a double headed single with the marvellous TWINS NATALIA; Sophie and Marianthi covered their cult favourite ‘When We Were Young’ to compliment their rendition of ‘Radial Emotion’.
After the label and personnel upheavals of last Autumn, MIRRORS regrouped as a trio and made a welcome return with a starker sound. While this new material perhaps lacked the immediacy of their ‘Lights & Offerings’ debut, songs like ‘Between Four Walls’ and ‘Dust’ captured a depth of mood that grew with each listen. MIRRORS off-shoot LOVELIFE decamped to make their fortune in New York and unveiled a promising number in ‘Brave Face’ which crossed OMD with HARD-FI.
Sweden proved its prowess with COMPUTE who beefed up her sound for second EP ‘The Distance’ while IAMAMIWHOAMI took her mysterious audio visual experience into the physical album arena for the first time with ‘Kin’ where the enigmatic electronic soundtrack stood up on its own. Just down the road, there was the RAMMSTEIN reincarnated as DEPECHE MODE menace of TITANS.
Electro crooners JULIAN & MARINA showcased their lounge crooner synthpop with a cover of a Hollywood-era Elvis number ‘A House That Has Everything’ and DAYBEHAVIOR released their third album ‘Follow That Car!’ after a year’s delay.
Among the best songs of 2012 was ‘Trust’ by Finland’s SIN COS TAN, a new project from VILLA NAH’s Juho Paalosmaa and ace producer Jori Hulkkonen. The parent eponymous album was impressive too and showed once again that the Nordic region was the perfect environment for the genesis of inventive leftfield synthpop.
From across the Atlantic, Canadians CRYSTAL CASTLES and PURITY RING were the darlings of the hipster cognoscenti along with GRIMES who hit the black keys of her Juno-G and impressed with her latest album ‘Visions’. She also made a timely appearance on ‘Later With Jools Holland’ which recalled the TV debut of LITTLE BOOTS back in 2008.
Sadly, Victoria Hesketh left behind her synth girl persona to head for the less challenging climes of clubland. Big rival LA ROUX was taking her time recording her second album while LADYHAWKE proved that she was always a rock chick in the first place with her second long player ‘Anxiety’sounding like it had been recorded down a drainpipe!
But in Diamond Jubilee Year, QUEEN OF HEARTS flew the electro flag with a glitzy slice of electro schaffel appropriately entitled ‘Neon’. A further single ‘Warrior’ proved it was not a fluke as the young royal turned into CLAUDIA BRÜCKEN meeting Emo KYLIE!
The UK found itself a few promising female-led electronic acts in the charmingly kooky …OF DIAMONDS, the Italo-led KOVAK and the dark but dreamy EVOKATEUR. But virtually out of nowhere came Glasgow’s new synth sensations CHVRCHES.
Despite only unleashing two songs ‘Lies’ and ‘The Mother We Share’ for public consumption, both were corkers; their much vaunted live performances met expectations, displaying both inventive synth arrangements and a vital pop sensibility.
The boys weren’t idle either with BRIGHT LIGHT BRIGHT LIGHT and KID KASIO unleashing their long awaited debut albums while on the newer side of the tracks, there was the angry OMD of AUTOMATIC WRITING, the FAITHLESS gone rock of SINESTAR and the ERASURE for the new millennium of MODOVAR.
After the excitement of the years between 2008 and 2011, this was a comparatively quiet year for the sound of the synth with regards special events. There was no Short Circuit or gatherings on the scale of Tomorrow Is Today, the Vintage Electronic Phuture Revue or the BEF Weekender.
Within the mainstream, the majors were keen to support electronic music just so long as it was dance oriented. Notably, EMI pushed the generic foil of SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA and the ubiquitous David Guetta as the new acceptable faces of electronic music via their flawed ‘Electrospective’ promotional campaign; by default, this also involved Daniel Miller, Martyn Ware and Andy McCluskey due to the label’s ownership of the Virgin and Mute back catalogues! But some glaring schoolboy errors on their website and the use of quotes from COLDPLAY’s Chris Martin showed they didn’t really understand electronic pop…
There had been signs at the end of 2011 that the major record companies thought a rave revival would save their corporate bacons. Swedish synthpop duo THE SOUND OF ARROWS said that during their brief tenure with Geffen Records, the A&R had wanted them to sound more Ibiza club friendly. Their one-time label mate SUNDAY GIRL, who originally had a promising GOLDFRAPP meets JOY DIVISION sound, was reduced to covering dance numbers made famous by STEPS… her debut album originally slated for 2010 is still nowhere to be seen!
Meanwhile, MARINA & THE DIAMONDS‘ very good in places second album ‘Electra Heart’ had several of its songs spoiled by overdriving club beats! Is this really the only way to make people dance? It all seems a little brain dead! “NAME THAT TUNE…” snarled Rusty Egan on Facebook, “…if you can hear one?”
So should ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK settle down with a pipe and slippers? While we prefer to “dance to disco” cos we “don’t like rock”, there must be more to electro than shallow repetitive four-to-the-floor thuds and glowsticks?
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK likes a tune and doesn’t pretend to love every variation of the electronic theme. And from conversations with several DJs, it would appear clubland doesn’t want to be associated with the classic synthpop world anymore than the classic synthpop world wants to be lumped in with dance culture… so why attempt to centralise everything?
Modern beat driven flavours and other influences can be appreciated but a full blown experience is not always what is required! As the marvellous new Texan duo ELEVEN:ELEVEN have proved, danceable electronic music can be made that is subtle and syncopated. And all this without the need of an annoying dubstep remix, or a 10 minute techno rework with no melodic elements!
It’s cool to be discerning…
ELECTRICTYCLUB.CO.UK Contributor Listings of 2012
PAUL BODDY
Best Album: DEADMAU5 >album title goes here<
Best Song: ORBITAL New France (Tom Middleton Cosmos remix)
Best Gig: RAMMSTEIN at London O2 Arena
Best Video: SPLEEN UNITED Days Of Thunder
Most Promising New Act: TITANS
STEVE GRAY
Best Album: ULTRAVOX Brilliant
Best Song: CHVRCHES Lies
Best Gig: HEAVEN 17 at London Shepherds Bush Empire
Best Video: SINESTAR I Am The Rain
Most Promising New Act: CHVRCHES
CHI MING LAI
Best Album: SIN COS TAN Sin Cos Tan
Best Song: SIN COS TAN Trust
Best Gig: HEAVEN 17 at London Shepherds Bush Empire
Best Video: IAMAMIWHOAMI Drops
Most Promising New Act: CHVRCHES
RICHARD PRICE
Best Album: SIN COS TAN Sin Cos Tan
Best Song: ULTRAVOX Rise
Best Gig: BAS II
Best Video: KID KASIO Telephone Line
Most Promising New Act: KARIN PARK
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK came into being on 15th March 2010 following the HEAVEN 17 aftershow party at Sheffield Magna.
The year also saw the release of a new album by OMD in ‘History Of Modern’, their first since 1996 while there was a long awaited single by THE HUMAN LEAGUE. Meanwhile there was the emergence of new acts such as VILLA NAH, MIRRORS, THE SOUND OF ARROWS and HURTS.
At the end of 2009 when LITTLE BOOTS and LA ROUX heralded a renaissance in the sound of the synth, KRAFTWERK’s Ralf Hütter said to Mojo Magazine: “From all our work comes inspiration. We have been very lucky because the music we envisioned, the ideas we had of The Man-Machine and electro music, have become reality and technology has developed in our direction… and electro is everywhere!”
In a tremendous year for all things electro, here are our 30 songs of 2010 in alphabetical order by artist:
CHRISTINA AGUILERA & LADYTRON Birds Of Prey
In 2008, there was much talk of Christina Aguilera going electro and collaborating with LADYTRON. The two finished tracks ‘Birds Of Prey’ and ‘Little Dreamer’ were relegated to bonus track status on her album ‘Bionic’, with the latter only on iTunes. ‘Birds Of Prey’ softens the percussive noise that dominated ‘Velocifero’ with Ms Aguilera showing some great vocal restraint herself, with an almost hypnotic Middle Eastern feel.
Available on the album ‘Bionic (Deluxe Edition)’ via RCA
ARP is New Yorker Alexis Georgopoulos who crafts gorgeous contemporary kosmische musik for the 21st century. ‘The Soft Wave’ was a glorious work and from it, ‘High Life’ was a cute instrumental with beautiful synth strings dominated by the spectre of KRAFTWERK and CLUSTER. Minimal guitar adds texture to the pulsing accompaniment, recalling other German heroes such as Michael Rother and Manuel Göttsching.
Available on the album ‘The Soft Wave’ via Smalltown Supersound
AU REVOIR SIMONE Tell Me (Un Autre Monde Remix by MIRRORS)
Although AU REVOIR SIMONE have a wispy girls next door demeanour, this remix by MIRRORS recrafts the originally bare ‘Tell Me’ into a dense apocalyptic ditty which makes Erika Forster, Annie Hart and Heather D’Angelo sound almost suicidal! With its heavy synthetic percussive backbone, this is definitely dance music from another world! Like an alternative gothic disco soundtrack to Sofia Coppola’s ‘The Virgin Suicides’!
Shimmering Emulator type strings, pulsing sequences and a rousing chorus make this a very immediate slice of synthesized pop. BRIGHT LIGHT BRIGHT LIGHT mainman Rod Thomas reworks the template of ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ and gives it a bit of a sensitive new man outlook. ‘Love Part II’ is NEW ORDER’s disco music for lager louts taken back to its slightly camper Italo roots. Not one for those who wear football shirts to the pub!
Available on the single ‘Love Part II’ via Popjustice Hi-Fi
Assisted by I Monster’s Dean Honer who also co-produced THE HUMAN LEAGUE’s Night People, THE CHANTEUSE & THE CRIPPLED CLAW’s first single ‘Are You One?’ has Candie Payne’s very classic pop presence coupled with Adrian Flanagan’s eccentronic backing. It wonderfully sounds like Sandie Shaw being backed by a BBC Radiophonic Workshop collaboration with Lalo Schifrin!
Available on the single ‘Are You One?’ vai Arms Controller
Usually dealing in a brand of “8-bit Casiotone drone-disco” sounding like YEAH YEAH YEAHS with synths, CHEW LIPS look like OMD being led by Debbie Harry! And they take the OMD thing further here with their best track ‘Rising Tide’. The haunting piano, precise drum machine and bass with sparkling synth-harp runs and a spirited vocal come together nicely to build up to a rousing crescendo.
Available exclusively as a download on the album ‘Unicorn’ from iTunes.
Here are the young men of DELPHIC, continuing the electronic dance / rock fusion pioneered by the legend of Factory Records. The backing is pure NEW ORDER and reinforced by a great klanky guitar solo which would do Bernard Sumner proud. Now, if DELPHIC could just develop things into great pop songs like ‘Halcyon’ rather than some of the prolonged jams and grooves that dominate their debut album ‘Acolyte’.
With their melodic and glacial electronic disco, you’d think they were Scandinavian, but THE GOLDEN FILTER consist of an Aussie in Penelope Trappes and a Yank in Stephen Hindman. Penelope’s vocals have an uplifting quality on the chorus while still retaining a distant chill but the counter melodies compliment the danceable twists. A little I Feel Love creeps in during the chorus to give a wonderful dancefloor adrenalin rush.
Available on the album ‘Voluspa’ via Brille Records
As the title suggests, this is gorgeous and dreamy with a distinct European flavour from the enjoyable album ‘Head First’ which perhaps is more focused on mid-Atlantic AOR. Alison’s voice still resonates as one of the best in the business and back to being accompanied by primarily electronic instrumentation which is where it belongs. The pulsing sequences and string machine washes of ‘Dreaming’ make this perfect dancefloor material.
Available on the album ‘Head First’ via Mute Records
Mr Ferry has certainly been astute in recognising how much of an influence he’s been on younger musicians and accepting collaborative opportunities with modern dance luminaries such as HELL and GROOVE ARMADA. DJ HELL provides U Can Dance’ with some hard electronic backing, complimenting Ferry’s trademark vocals. Ferry recorded his own Roxy styled version for his solo album ‘Olympia’.
Available on the single ‘U Can Dance’ via International Deejay Gigolo Records
Hypnotic in the spirit of Giorgio Moroder crossed with Arthur Baker and featuring the guest vocals of Jerry Valuri who first collaborated with Jori Hulkkonen on his 2005 album ‘Lo-Fiction’, this dark club track’s spacey rolling sequences make this almost like a dancefloor take on THROBBING GRISTLE’s ‘Hot On The Heels Of Love’ before launching into a bit of New York electro disco in an unexpected middle section!
After Philip Oakey’s collaborations in 2009 with LITTLE BOOTS and PET SHOP BOYS, THE HUMAN LEAGUE returned with the lead track from their forthcoming album ‘Credo’ sounding very electronic and very modern. Punchy with an elastic bassline and chanting chorus, the lyrical couplet “leave your cornflakes in your freezers, leave your chocolates and your cheeses…” shows Mr Oakey hasn’t lost his touch for off-the-wall symbolism. So “Join us now my friends we hail you!”
Available on the single ‘Night People’ via Wall of Sound
HURTS have been certainly accused of style over substance. ‘Wonderful Life’ looked like being a one-off but luckily they have some other magnificent songs to back up their European art house film via the Weimar Republic persona. With ‘Stay’, the heartfelt intensity of the lush arrangement captures the understated but epic sophistication. With the symphonic grandeur of ULTRAVOX fronted by the melodic sensibilities of TAKE THAT, is this a ‘Vienna’ for the early 21st Century?
Available on the album ‘Happiness’ via Major Label
From the album of the same name, Texan duo HYPPERBUBBLE have an almost cartoon-like take on synthpop in the vein of that great lost combo VIC TWENTY who released only one single on Mute. ‘Candy Apple Daydreams’ is fun and quirky with Jess as the electro Emma Peel and Jeff as the obedient robotic version of John Steed.
Available on the album ‘Candy Apple Daydreams’ via Bubblegum Records
Electro Weimar Cabaret is the easiest way to describe the music of Katja von Kassel. Lies’ features strong traditional European influences like French accordions and ‘Vienna’ piano but also has hints of Grace Jones ‘I’ve Seen That Face Before’. Not entirely surprising as both songs are routed in the same dance… the tango. LADYHAWKE collaborator Alex Gray’s intricate production alongside Katja’s magnificently deep vocal presence is like the “1930’s meets the future”.
From what appears to be the only electronic based act that the real music purists positively fawn over, this is a superbly guitar free number that sounds like ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN mashed up with Gary Numan and early DEPECHE MODE. The wonderfully wobbly synths and steady drum machine beat take the lead in the poptastic style of Vince Clarke while James Murphy’s vocal hits a soaring falsetto after initiating a ‘Mac The Mouth’ tribute.
Available on the album ‘This Is Happening’ via DFA
LOLA DUTRONIC are a duo who adapt classic Anglo-Gallic pop with modern electronic arrangements. ‘Best Years Of Our Lives’ borrows from the more recent past with quite obvious references to OMD, ERASURE and even PULP. It’s cutesy pop, perhaps reminiscent of prime SAINT ETIENNE and Lola’s accent is just alluring!
Using a bit of Fe-Mael intuition, Marina Diamandis adds eccentricity to some catchy keyboard led pop helmed by the ubiquitous Greg Kurstin. “I have become my own self fulfilled prophecy” she proclaims before she screams up two operatic octaves taking a nod towards classic SPARKS while the coda turns into a Cossack dance! Frankly, this is brilliantly bonkers!
Available on the album ‘The Family Jewels’ via 679 Recordings
Aided by Stuart Price at the mixing helm, ‘All The Lovers’ was Ms Minogue’s best single since the KRAFTWERK-tinged ‘Slow’ is euphoric Euro-disco with some wonderful synthetic tones, especially on the solo. There’s something for everybody here in this fabulous pop song. But what a shame about the parent ‘Aphrodite’ album though.
MIRRORS hail from Brighton, the UK capital of hedonism but their intense and artful approach to dancing is very different to the ‘hands in the air’ culture of their home base. Synthetic chill and pulsing effects dominate this brilliantly uptempo electro number. Rhythmically this recalls TALKING HEADS ‘Crosseyed & Painless’ while the claustrophobic production is very post-punk, wonderfully dense but melodically dramatic. A brilliant introduction to The World of MIRRORS.
Available on the single ‘Ways To An End’ via Skint Entertainment
In the true innovating spirit of their classic era, the sparse percussive framework of ‘New Holy Ground’ is merely the sound of footsteps. This is the nearest they have come to the lost B-side and fan favourite ‘The Avenue’. The wonderful piano line and virtual choirs contribute to the beautiful melancholy that characterised OMD’s best work where Paul Humphreys concentrated on the musical backbone while Andy McCluskey provided the narrative focus.
Available on the album ‘History Of Modern’ via Blue Noise
WILLIAM ORBIT featuring SARAH BLACKWOOD White Night
In period which has seen a flurry of solo activity and the reformation of DUBSTAR, the lovely Sarah BLACKWOOD took time out to work with on a track from his album ‘My Oracle Lives Uptown’. Although a version without her ended up on the final tracklisting, her take was offered as a free download in 2010. More accessible than some of CLIENT’s recent offerings but more purely electronic than DUBSTAR, this was a priceless pop gem from our Sarah which lyrically was “full of pain”.
More bittersweet heartbreak from Ms Carlsson, this is driven by wonderful, edgy electronics while the simultaneous dancing and mourning reflects the vulnerability everyone experiences in the loss of love. Solemn synthetic disco at its best from the feisty, independently spirited Swede who is slowly turning into a modern day GINA X PERFORMANCE.
Available on the album ‘Body Talk’ via Konichiwa Records
Euphoric sensualism captured in three and a half minutes, the chunky pulsing sequences to a solid dance beat and a rousing chorus add a blissful optimism full of Latin spirit. ‘Wonderful Night’ is bouncy danceable electropop that does what it says on the tin. As their own mission statement announces, it’s “Electronic pop, Buenos Aires style!”
Available on the album ‘Gaucho Boy’ via Sin Dormir Records
Described as “the HURTS you can dance to” and “Disney meets Brokeback Mountain”, the opening lines “I’m going to work my way out of this town, I’m going to be someone and know who I am” of ‘Into the Clouds’ are quite a mission statement. THE SOUND OF ARROWS are a duo based in Stockholm presesnting dreamy widescreen synthpop, swathed in beautiful Nordic melancholy. Their musical subtlety is an essential and enlightening listen.
Aavailable on the single ‘Into The Clouds’ via Labrador Records
Following up SUNDAY GIRL’s previous two singles ‘Four Floors’ and her cover of ‘Self Control’, ‘Stop Hey!’ saw overdriven drum sounds and a piercing trebly riff dominate this piece of icy Eurocentric electro, sounding not unlike Ellie Goulding with a 20 cigarettes a day habit backed by MIRRORS and MGMT! This was kooky and stylish avant pop that hinted at something much darker going on in Jade Williams’ mind.
Available on the single ‘Stop Hey!’ via Geffen Records
No, this isn’t a misprint! The hidden track on the reunited Manchester boy band’s Stuart Price produced opus ‘Progress’ is an electronic gem. In a rare lead vocal for Jason Orange, he comes over all apologetic in the manner of Al Stewart over a dreamy backing track that possesses the glacial Scandinavian quality of ROYKSOPP with a sprinkling of Eno-esque textural ambience. Beginning with soothing vocoder before building to a percussive climax, this is simply quite beautiful!
TENEK have successfully smoothed off some of their more industrial edges to deliver their most immediate and accessible song yet. A rousing chorus and a structure not dissimilar to THE HUMAN LEAGUE’s ‘The Things That Dreams Are Made Of’, there are further synth anthems galore on their album ‘On The Wire’ with nods to the MTV-era of TEARS FOR FEARS and A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS. “Heartbeat? Get down!” Synthetic dance rock at its best.
Available on the album ‘On The Wire’ via Toffeetones
VILE ELECTRODES are a colourful trio consisting of Anais Neon, Loz Tronic and Martin Swan who formed due to an unhealthy obsession with analogue synthesizers and fetish porn. ‘Deep Red’, a title inspired by Dario Argento’s ‘Profondo Rosso’, is a gorgeous seven and a half minute synth ballad that comes over like CLIENT fronting classic OMD… tremendously dramatic stuff in the vein of Statues and Stanlow!
Have you ever heard Gary Numan almost jaunty? The fantastic ‘Remains Of Love’ is the poppiest thing that the former Gary Webb never recorded. Juho Paalosmaa is next to crying in the wonderful chorus but it almost sounds like Numan on prozac over Tomi Hyyppä’s crystalline melodies. With that all important air synth factor, VILLA NAH took the important elements of classic electronic pop and connected it to sharp, complimentary dance rhythms.
Sarah Blackwood has been a striking presence on the music scene since 1995.
First as the singer of DUBSTAR, she scored hits with lush Stephen Hague produced kitchen sink dramas such as ‘Not So Manic Now’, ‘Stars’ and ‘No More Talk’. Following three albums ‘Disgraceful’, ‘Goodbye’ and ‘Make It Better’ on Food Records and increasingly muted interest from a public still drunk on ‘Cool Britannia’, DUBSTAR disbanded and in 2002, Sarah was recruited to front female synthpop duo TECHNIQUE.
The brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Kate Holmes, TECHNIQUE’s superb ‘You & Me’ was massively popular in the Far East via a cover version by Chinese songstress Coco Lee. They had been booked to support DEPECHE MODE in Europe when original singer Xan Tyler went AWOL.
Somewhere in Leipzig of what became a 15 date tour with Basildon’s finest, Kate and Sarah chose the name CLIENT and adopted a musikarbeiter approach in the tradition of KRAFTWERK’s ‘The Man Machine’. They also initially shunned using their real names, choosing to be mysteriously referred to as Client A and Client B in a ‘1984’ inspired Orwellian twist.
Photo by Corinna Samow
Signed to Mute Records via the Toast Hawaii imprint curated by DEPECHE MODE’s Andy Fletcher, CLIENT released two well received albums ‘Client’ (2003) and ‘City’ (2004). With their eponymous manifesto, they announced “Client… satisfaction guaranteed… innovate never imitate… we aim to please… .at your service”. This impressed all the right people and they were invited to play prestigious supports slots with electronic godfather KARL BARTOS.
Achieving greater success in Europe than in the UK with their own brand of gritty electro, CLIENT signed to German label Out Of Line who issued their last two albums ‘Heartland’ (2007) and ‘Command’ (2009) on the continent.
Meanwhile back home, they established their own Loser Friendly label and a fashion line. In the interim during 2008, Sarah issued a Client B solo EP ‘Acoustic At The Club Bar Dining’ which featured former DUBSTAR bandmate Chris Wilkie. Included were stripped down versions of both DUBSTAR and CLIENT songs plus covers of NEW ORDER’s ‘True Faith’ and THE SMITHS’ ‘Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before’.
Playing live shows with both CLIENT and DUBSTAR in Europe throughout 2010, Sarah Blackwood aka Client B gave a highly insightful interview to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK over coffee about her influences, her career so far with her two acclaimed bands and women in electro…
How did you first get into electronic pop music and who inspired you?
I can remember the first I saw KRAFTWERK on ‘Top Of The Pops’. I can’t remember how old I was, but I remember my dad getting hold of me and dragging me in front of the TV going “listen to this, this is fantastic” and that’s one memory that kinda sticks in my head. And the other one was seeing Grace Jones with a cigarette in her mouth… she’s not really electronic but she’s just that glacial sort of cool, I thought was she was the coolest thing ever.
When you’re kids and you’re all growing up, you all share music and my mates were really into Lionel Richie and Whitney Houston and I was like “it’s alright” . And then PET SHOP BOYS ‘West End Girls’ hit and I was like “Oh! That’s me!”. And friends who realised I liked PET SHOP BOYS said “you might like THE CURE, THE THE, DEPECHE MODE” and I got into it through all that.
But I love all sorts of music, not just electronic. But it’s more electronic that pushes my buttons, cos I was a real rock girl when I was growing up. I liked LED ZEPPELIN and things like that, I used to hang out in rockers’ pubs and now I just can’t listen to it! Just completely OD-ed on 70s excessive guitar!
And that was the whole thing about DUBSTAR, Chris Wilkie’s guitar playing was so restrained but on tour, he was sometimes “I’m so miserable, I just want to do a Jimmy Page solo just to let out all my fury! I need some catharsis”. But he just doesn’t play like that cos he’s such a modest guy that he wouldn’t play like that anyway!
I think it’s sometimes difficult to get guitarists to hold back, they’re quite egocentric.
Yeah, but Chris is not like that, he was so understated and I was always trying to push him forward in DUBSTAR but he was very low in the mix. This time I’ve gone more Chris driven.
You’ve heard this guitarist joke haven’t you? What have premature ejaculation and a guitar solo got in common? You know when it’s coming and there’s sod all you can do about it!!
Ha! Ha! I mean it’s just like that dinosaur sort of… y’know, Jimmy Page playing bloody guitar with a bow! It’s just like making noise, it’s not even clever! It’s just… UGH! Not that it’s anything against Jimmy Page cos he was a childhood idol and all that, but so was Madonna!
You been spotted at recent YAZOO and HEAVEN 17 gigs? Are the bands of your youth still something that you’re very passionate about?
Yeah, they’re part of your fabric of your growing up. For me it would be ABBA I think, I was a massive ABBA fan. I suppose they’re more pop than electronic, but that song Madonna did ‘Nothing Really Matters’ on ‘Ray Of Light’, it’s so ABBA it’s just wonderful. And the new Sophie Ellis-Bextor song ‘Bitter Sweet’, that’s so ABBA, the harmonies! It’s what I grew up with, ABBA and THE BEATLES.
You joined TECHNIQUE in 2001 for the DEPECHE MODE tour, were you singing songs like ‘You & Me’ from the Pop Philosophy mini-album?
Yeah, that’s a great song!
I’d love to hear a recording of you singing it.
That’s a good idea! And ‘Quiet Storm’, that was a really good one!
Photo by Corinna Samow
When CLIENT first started in 2002, the musical landscape was quite different and you were fighting a battle for the synthesizer with LADYTRON, MISS KITTIN and GOLDFRAPP.
We didn’t know all this was going on. Me and Kate shut ourselves away and just started making music together. Then we took it to our publisher and he just went “Have you listened to MISS KITTIN?” and we went “No, who’s MISS KITTIN?”, “Have you listened to LADYTRON?” and we went “Who are they?” And it was like, “oh my god”, there’s something going on out here and we felt like we were just treading in the water.
And then all the electroclash struck with a vengeance and suddenly it was PEACHES because GOLDFRAPP hadn’t actually embraced the scene at that point, they were still doing ‘Felt Mountain’, which I think really was better. I love Alison Goldfrapp’s voice, it’s great but I don’t like it when it’s all about the sound as opposed to what she’s singing about. I don’t like singers who don’t pronounce the words properly!
When you heard all about these girls, did you ever feel any kind of affinity with them like you were sisters in arms?
Yeah, I mean like the LADYTRON girls. I was a bit disappointed with them on tour cos they weren’t that friendly, but then I realised they’d been sat on a bus for three months and we hadn’t! They didn’t really want to socialise. I thought they were so cool and I was a bit starstruck by them I guess! The lads were really friendly. But then I could see it from their point of view; when you’re felling like, really mucky and you’ve been on a bus for three months, it’s just horrible!
But the landscape has changed now…
I think we’ve paved the way but to be honest, people are seeing it as a fashion thing again, that women in electronic music is yet another passing fashion and it isn’t I’m afraid! WE’RE HERE TO STAY!!
What do you think of the recent bunch electropop girls like LITTLE BOOTS and LA ROUX that you helped open the doors for?
I really admire them, they have far more balls and self awareness than I had when I was their age and that helps to make them good songwriters. I’m in awe. Go girls!!
What did you think their albums?
The LITTLE BOOTS one I liked and LA ROUX, I went “oh god, it’s an 80s pastiche”, but actually it’s the LA ROUX one I’m still playing. I think she’s really got it and she’s made my DJ set. I also love LADYHAWKE.
And what do you think of the new crop of boys like MIRRORS, HURTS and VILLA NAH?
I’ve heard HURTS, it’s like JOY DIVISION meets PET SHOP BOYS so they can’t go wrong but I can’t find anything! It’s so difficult to know about music these days. I just go on iTunes and Spotify and let it lead me. That’s quite exciting, but I always end up at THROBBING GRISTLE somehow!!
CLIENT are well known for their sexy Cold War Chic. Where did the original inspiration for the uniform look come from?
Cold War Chic… oh, I like that!
Basically, it started because we didn’t know what to wear on tour with DEPECHE MODE and we just thought “we’re not trying to upstage them, we just want something that will blend us in, we don’t want to look the height of fashion, we don’t want to spend too much money and we want to feel like everyone”. Plus if they threw anything at us, we wanted it to be something that was sort of disposable so we thought of the uniforms!
It was then kind of the Miss Moneypenny thing; secretary, sexually frustrated, all repressed because I had a very religious upbringing. Kate was like “God, your childhood sounds just like ‘Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit'”! I mean it wasn’t… my poor mum and dad, no it wasn’t! But it was kind of religious!
With the uniforms, it felt like we were going to work in the music industry and it’s a play on that as well. “Cheap cotton outfits” as Brix Smith-Start kindly observed! She came on tour with us and was so much fun. She has since re-invented herself as a successful style guru but she was one of the first iconic girl bass players… sod all the grunge girls, Brix was there first and so cool in THE FALL.
Photo by Corinna Samow
CLIENT’s success in Germany continues and you seem much happier with Out of Line Records there. Why do you think you’re more appreciated in the spiritual home of modern electronic music than in the UK?
People in the UK perceive electronic music as cheating I think. They like to see the blood sweat and tears and guitar music is seen as more emotionally honest… striking a chord on the heartstrings haha!!! I don’t think people can appreciate the skill in electronic music… it’s more of a behind the scenes construction as opposed to an in-your-face performance and because we have no real tradition of electro, I think they think we all mime!!!!
It’s not until people like Kylie and Madonna use electronic music and really hit producers that people see it as integrated in pop music. But the actual women doing electronic thing, it still seems to people to be a fashion thing and it isn’t! People just can’t seem to take it seriously. They either want to put you in the pop box or they want you to be guys in drainpipe jeans with a drug problem playing guitar… sort of four chords and the truth kind of thing!
I don’t think people can really get their heads round women doing it for themselves, running their own record label or running their own management or running their own merch business which is what me and Kate do. Y’know; doing our own DJ-ing, production, all that!
One thing I’ve experienced on fan forums and talking to supposed electro fans on the scene is they can’t seem to accept women on synthesizers. One person compared women doing electro to straight men doing show tunes or white men doing rap! Have you experienced that kind of prejudice?
I think in the UK, yeah! People don’t take you seriously because they think there’s a bloke behind the scenes pulling all the strings. And they think guys are writing the songs! We do have a bit of help with the programming from Joe Wilson from SNEAKER PIMPS. He is brilliant, his drum programming is absolute genius. A lot of people didn’t get songs like ‘Son Of A Gun’ until they hear it live. That drum loop is just superb!
All of SNEAKER PIMPS are doing alright for themselves aren’t they? Kelli Ali’s solo, Chris Corner is IAMX and Liam Howe is producing MARINA & THE DIAMONDS.
Yeah, Chris Corner is so good. His voice is incredible, he leaps around on stage and people think that he’s miming because he doesn’t miss his pitch. All I have to do is clap my hands above my head and my pitch is like… everywhere, let alone dancing!
Oh, I didn’t know that was Liam was producing MARINA & THE DIAMONDS, good for him.
How do you think the internet has helped sustain CLIENT’s profile and fanbase internationally?
Without the internet, we’d be nothing. We really embraced it. CLIENT were one of the first bands to get on MySpace. We just went for it because we saw it as a marketing tool as opposed to something to be shoved under the carpet and be scared of.
But it does p*ss me off with all the illegal downloading because how are we supposed to survive? Never would I have thought there would be someone talking in the House of Parliament for musicians but this guy from BIG COUNTRY just said “Imagine if we just opened the doors to HMV and come and take what you want?”
Photo by Corinna Samow
You’re working with Steve Hillier and Chris Wilkie again as DUBSTAR with a cover of THE PASSIONS ‘I’m In Love With A German Filmstar’ being your first release as part of a project for Amnesty International Catalunya. How did this come about and how will this develop alongside CLIENT?
Somebody approached Steve and he said to me and Chris “do you fancy doing this?” and we were like “OK”. So we all had to go away and think of what songs we wanted to do. I’d just done this thing for Kirsty MacColl with Mark Nevin who wrote with her. And he asked me to sing some songs when it was a tribute for Kirsty on her birthday.
So I did that and that was the scariest gig of my life because her ex-husband Steve Lillywhite was there. My knees were just shaking. I’m a fan myself and I think she’s very underrated, as a lyricist she’s just amazing. What a f*cking tragedy!
So I said I’d love to do ‘New England’ or ‘There’s A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis’. Chris wanted to do ‘Under My Thumb’ because he loves THE ROLLING STONES. Steve said why don’t we do THE PASSIONS? And this is where the three of us come from. So Steve did this backing track but it was a really good song to sing. We played it to THE PASSIONS and they really liked it as well.
Is there any more DUBSTAR stuff coming up?
Yeah, that kind of got us back together because we had a false start. We’ve done a few more songs and demos. We’ll just see what happens. It so difficult because which way do you turn? Do you take them to a major or just do it yourself on the internet? We’re just getting a body of work together and we’ll think about playing live and see what unfolds rather than trying to force anything. We’ll see if anything comes to us.
I saw you in DUBSTAR in Cambridge supporting ERASURE in 1996. You didn’t look very happy?
Really? I remember that gig… bloody hell, I was terrified! No, I was never happy! DUBSTAR songs were always very hard to sing. And Steve did confess to me two weeks ago that he use to make them deliberately hard for me as a sort of game! *laughs*
That bit in ‘I Will Be Your Girlfriend’, “I’m the person with a plan” … I mean bloody hell! Incredible strain on the voice! Just having to jump around! I get so frustrated by my lack of range. The things I want to do with my voice, it’s just AAAGH! Can’t do it! Just really drives me insane! I think my voice is just there to sing words to cynical love songs!
Then in 2003, I saw CLIENT supporting Karl Bartos and I remember being pleasantly surprised how happy you were on stage. You were winking to the crowd and smiling which never seemed to be the case with DUBSTAR?
No, it was always quite fraught in DUBSTAR. There was always some trauma going on and we were all hungover because we did an awful lot of drinking in those days! Another reason DUBSTAR never did too well because we were never properly managed. We had six managers in seven years and the time we did really well, we were managed by Food Records.
I loved a DUBSTAR B-side called ‘Unchained Monologue’…
We always took a lot of care with the B-sides. One we did called ‘View From Here’ should never have been a B-side. ‘Unchained Monologue’ was me and Steve at our most cynical!
With CLIENT and DUBSTAR, you’ve done a lot of cover versions from acts as varied as Billy Bragg, Billy Idol, PET SHOP BOYS, Gary Numan, NEW ORDER, THE SMITHS, Adam Ant, Astrud Gilberto and Charles Aznavour. Of course, ‘Not So Manic Now’ was a cover too, it was originally by BRICK SUPPLY. You must have a very diverse record collection?
Yes, I’ve got all sorts. I like 60s Garage, cheesy house is a guilty pleasure. I like Country music; Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Hank Williams!
Where did THE LIBERTINES collaborations with CLIENT on City come from? As an electro fan, I found that alienated me.
Well, Kate’s husband Alan McGee was managing The LIBERTINES. Carl Barat and Pete Doherty really liked us. They called me ‘Sarah Bapples’ because I was quite fat in DUBSTAR and had quite big boobs.
Ha! Ha! I tell you who’s got enormous boobs… MARINA & THE DIAMONDS! They are f*cking huge!
Lucky girl… so’s Alison Goldfrapp! She’s got great legs! *laughs*
DUBSTAR launched right in the middle of guitar-led Britpop explosion with a polished synthesized sound. Often in your career, you do seem to find yourself regularly in the face of adversity from the real music police. Is the acoustic thing possibly motivated by a need to prove yourself?
Yes, I just think a good song will work if you can do it acoustically. Just like ‘I’m In Love With A German Film Star’, me and Chris did that acoustically at a club in Cologne. The acoustic gigs are just something to keep my hand in.
You’ve sung with some electro legends such as Gary Numan on ‘Redirected Mail ‘with DUBSTAR and DEPECHE MODE’s Martin Gore on ‘Overdrive’ with CLIENT…
I have actually! A lot of the new DUBSTAR stuff is being done on GARY NUMAN’s electric piano that Steve bought off him. I was in Manchester when we recorded Redirected Mail but Steve and Chris actually went down to Gary’s and sat and had ham and chips with him. They had a right laugh and had a really good time.
And then the Martin Gore one, that came about because Andy Fletcher played him some demos and Martin said he liked ‘Overdrive’. So Kate said to me “You’ve got lovely handwriting, you write him a letter” so I wrote him a letter going “Dear Martin… “*laughs*
And the next thing we knew, Martin had this newly set-up studio and recorded himself. The thing is, when we mixed the two vocals together, that was a moment! I didn’t know how it was going to work but when you heard it, it was like “woo!”… it was a bit spine tingling really!
BBC6 Music recently arranged live collaborations for LITTLE BOOTS with Gary Numan and LA ROUX with HEAVEN 17. You’ve kind of “done it before” but is there anyone who you’d like to perform with, either as CLIENT or DUBSTAR?
I think most of them are dead actually! I’m a massive admirer of Janis Joplin. Anyone who can just open their mouth and sing in two octaves is just incredible. Bjork is amazing, but sometimes it gets on my nerves… f*cking sing properly!!
Actually, Stephen Hague always said me and Barney Sumner of NEW ORDER would be good together. I think his voice is just raw and honest. And that honesty I admire far more than vocal gymnastics!! With CLIENT, the song kind of formulates as it’s going along and that’s a really exciting process. I like flying by the seat of my pants and you’re just making stuff up. I like that reaching for something but it’s not quite formed.
I hate it when emotion is perceived as vocal dexterity. It’s like w*nky guitar solos to me! I can’t bear that, it’s just showing off and it’s not about the song. You read the lyrics and you appreciate the lyrics and you just try and convey them in a way that’s sincere, and mean it. And I think that’s what singing’s about. It’s not about “hey, listen to me, I can sing in top C and then in E flat.”
Photo by Corinna Samow
You’ve toured with MARSHEAUX in 2007 who are also your Out Of Line label mates. How was that tour and how do you like the concept of forming an all-girl electro supergroup with them?
All in the uniforms? They’re lovely! They sort of copied us, but it was the biggest form of flattery because they’re such lovely girls! It’s nice to think I’ve inspired something! We do love MARSHEAUX, it was a really nice tour actually that!
I remember the guy from the agency came back and there was like MARSHEAUX in various states of undress; there was me, Kate and Charlotte Heatherley from ASH in various states of undress, and there was our web designer Corinna Sanow and her girlfriend having a massage in the corner! And the guy walked in and he was like “oh my god”… he must have thought it was like Sodom and Gomorrah or something! He was just like “bloody hell!”*laughs*
You just painted a really amazing picture for me there… this supergroup has got to happen!! Can I have a backstage pass? So tell us about your brilliant collaboration with William Orbit entitled ‘White Night’. What’s going to happen with that?
I don’t know, we put it on Soundcloud. It got put out on his album but not with me. Ironically, it was a song that Brix Smith-Start sang as well, she did a version of it. It was written by one of William’s really good mates and we had an afternoon working together… he looked at my notebooks and said “ooh, they’re very full of pain!”, I was like “oooh, brilliant!”. It was so lovely but he’s so in demand!
But I do think eventually, we should do something together because just his way of production. DUBSTAR were always massive fans but BLUR got to work with William on 13 because we said “please can we work with William Orbit?” and Andy Ross of Food Records said “yeah-yeah-yeah but you’re not ready for an album but BLUR are!”. And then William was going to do us and Madonna stepped in… that was ‘Ray Of Light’! And DUBSTAR split!
Was that just a natural parting of ways? Musical or personal differences?
I think at the time, me and Steve weren’t getting on at all! We were both really jealous of each other. He was jealous of me singing and I was jealous of him being able to write songs! And the two things were just… we’ve made friends again now and everything but like he said to me the other day, he’d deliberately try and make the songs difficult as a kind of test which I think is quite hilarious actually. It’s very sweet of him to admit it… he was like “what the f*ck was I doing, making you jump from that to that?”
I was neurotic on tour with DUBSTAR. I get a bit like that with CLIENT as well but as soon as you get nervous, your neck tenses up, your vocal chords tense up so you’ve got to stay as unstressed as possible and just focus. On tour, it starts the moment you wake up that you’ve got to perform! Whatever happens during the day, that is the end goal so everything lead up to that.
What’s immediately happening next for you?
I am DJ-ing throughout UK and Europe. I have just finished some gigs supporting Alan Wilder’s RECOIL project. I’m doing some writing, some acoustic gigs with Chris… in fact the next one is June 6th in Hamburg at a book launch for Ian Curtis. I think it’s going to be a really lovely event.
What are your current favourite songs or albums, electronic or otherwise?
I bribe and bargain myself into running with the promise of listening to music!
So at the moment, I’m listening to Jermaine Stewart’s ‘We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off’!! It’s a brilliant song! I’ve got Roisin Murphy ‘You Know Me Better’, SNEAKY SOUND SYSTEM ‘Cancer City’, ‘Romeo’ by Donna Summer, ‘Physical Attraction’ by Madonna. Also some CHROMEO mixed by Tiga. That’s my running playlist for today!
There’s also a great song I like by a French girl named SOKO called ‘I’ll Kill Her’. It’s a girl and a guitar, check that out, it’s great! It’s how Kate Nash should have been!
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its sincerest thanks to Sarah Blackwood
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