TINY MAGNETIC PETS were founded in 2009 in Dublin by Paula Gilmer on vocals and Sean Quinn in charge of electronic sound wizardry.
They were joined by Eugene Somers to take care of the percussion side of things and blossomed into a serious act, recognised by the likes of OMD, Michael Rother and Rusty Egan. A debut album and a couple of excellent EPs later, TINY MAGNETIC PETS, named after the collectible Japanese toy, gathered a significant interest with fans of krautrock, classic synthpop and Berlin-era Bowie.
Manufacturing their unusual sound to sit somewhere in between and to cater to the eclectic tastes of the more discerning lovers of pop, they have returned with their second full length album ‘Deluxe/Debris’, with Gilmer and co promising to deliver their best work to date, a “perfect soundtrack for complicated times”.
Kicking off with ‘Lost My Guiding Light’, which starts off with gentle pop sounds like MADONNA’s ‘Drowned World’, it slowly blossoms onto a warming blanket of the perfect musicality, encapsulating dreamy Badalamenti styled guitar, married with the clever use of trumpets and effortless vocals.
Following on comes the epic ‘Semaphore’, which takes the listener onto an eclectic musical journey in its eleven minutes length. From the krautrock beats, through to the sublime guitar interventions, the grandness of the percussion, the breathiness of MARSHEAUX like vocals where Gilmer pleads “please don’t wake me from this dream” to an experimental ending à la APOPTYGMA BERZERK, it’s a symphony of what’s best in the world of TINY MAGNETIC PETS.
None other than Wolfgang Flür guests on ‘Radio On’, a Kraftwerkian excursion on which the Gilmer’s vocal is perhaps reminiscent of Natalie Imbruglia’s. Flür also features on the closing ‘Never Alone’, which transcends a breezy dreamlike state. ‘Cold War Neon’ Frenches it up a little with a female narration over a ballad of suspense, while ‘All Yesterday’s Tomorrows’ introduces a voice reminiscent of Kylie work over some superb synth.
‘Here Comes The Noise’ is presented in two disguises; the first, ‘Pink’ is a magnificent piece, massaging the tiredness away with its floaty quality, while ‘White’ gets the percussion involved, presenting the track as a dance outing over the delicious electronics. ‘Shadow Street’ works perfectly well as a modern day electronic bossa nova with its undemanding rhythm and the consistently marvellous vocal from Gilmer.
Experimenting further, ‘Cloud Sequence’ glides and glows eloquently with a further dose of undiluted musical intentions. It has to be said that TINY MAGNETIC PETS have hit the jackpot with ‘Deluxe/Debris’. Certainly the most interesting production to date from the Irish trio, encapsulating the best in retro and contemporary synthpopia.
Gilmer’s voice has shaped up to be one of the best female vocals of the genre, and the execution by Quinn showcases the knowhow of the good old fashioned songwriting, but in a modern style.
A perfect pop record for the most discerning of tastes. Go Ireland!
‘Deluxe/Debris’ is released by Happy Robots Records in vinyl, CD and download formats on 25th August 2017
TINY MAGNETIC PETS open for OMD on the Ireland + UK dates of ‘The Punishment Of Luxury’ 2017 tour:
Dublin Vicar Street (23rd October), Belfast Mandela Hall (24th October), Liverpool Empire (29th October), Bristol Colston Hall (30th October) , Southend Cliffs Pavilion (1st November), Ipswich Regent (2nd November), Cambridge Corn Exchange (3rd November), Leicester De Montfort Hall (5th November), Nottingham Royal Concert Hall (6th November), Sheffield City Hall (7th November), Reading Hexagon (9th November), Southampton Guild Hall (10th November), Guildford G Live (11th November), London Roundhouse (13th November), Bexhill Del La Warr Pavillion (15th November), Manchester Academy (17th November), York Barbican (18th November), Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (19th November), Birmingham Symphony Hall (21st November), Gateshead Sage (22nd November)
Today, electronic instrumental music is everywhere, but often in the form of tedious dance tracks with no tunes all over Beatport and social media.
Luckily, there are still exponents of the classic synth instrumental, and thanks to the rise of the Synthwave sub-genre, there is currently a sympathetic environment for more esoteric and melodic musical offerings. The key to a good instrumental is it either has to be very melodic to make up for the lack of vocals or very unobtrusive so that while the music is interesting enough to be listened to, it can also be ignored. Thus a Eurorack modular tutorial cannot credibly count as a valid release… 😉
As a follow-up to TEC’s 25 SYNTH INSTRUMENTALS Of The CLASSIC ERA, with a limit of one track per artist, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK presents its 25 FAVOURITE SYNTH INSTRUMENTALS Of The 21ST CENTURY in chronological and then alphabetical order…
SYSTEM F Insolation (2000)
While Dutch producer Ferry Corsten hit paydirt with international club hits such as ‘Out Of The Blue’ and ‘Cry’ as SYSTEM F, the debut album pointed towards the Trance’s link to electronic pop. As well as a brilliant collaboration with Marc Almond entitled ‘Soul On Soul’, the long player included the beautifully majestic classic instrumental ‘Insolation’ which took a breather from the usual four-to-the floor format.
PPK were a Russian trance duo comprising of Sergei Pimenov and Alexander Polyakov. The original melody of ‘ResuRection’ came from Eduard Artemyev’s synthesized theme from the epic 1979 Soviet movie ‘Siberiade’ which won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival. Easily mistaken for Jean-Michel Jarre, the thrusting seven minute ‘Perfecto Edit’ in particular was like an exuberant rocket launch set to music.
Originally released by Perfecto Records, currently unavailable
With a piercing synthphonic riff, scat vocoder, robotic bass and a rigid programmed beat, ‘Turn It On’ saw LADYTRON take a bleep forward with an attempt at a KRAFTWERK track for the 21st Century via Liverpool, Glasgow and Sofia. But as it headed towards its final third, it detoured back to Liverpool and turned into ‘Electricity’ in a cheeky homage to Merseyside’s original electronic trailblazers OMD.
A Norwegian electronic duo consisting of Aggie Peterson and Per Martinsen, FROST released their second album ‘Melodica’ to a positive response, thanks to some production assistance by RÖYKSOPP on two tracks. The beautiful Arctic serenity of ‘Klong’ featuring local trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær alongside layers of gorgeous crystalline synths was one of the album’s highlights that easily outdid anything by GROOVE ARMADA and didn’t rely on using samples either.
Available on the album ‘Melodica’ via Frost World Recordings
‘Destroy Rock & Roll’ was the debut album by Scottish DJ Myles MacInnes that alongside DAFT PUNK and BASEMENT JAXX, summed up the sample laden dance music that was prevalent at the time. Produced on a computer in his own bedroo, the album’s best track however was the more downtempo, Moby-esque richness of ‘Emotion 96.8’ with its beautiful sweeping synth melodies and unobtrusive rhythm structure.
With a hypnotic Motorik rhythm, pulsating bleeps and spacey whirs driving a moodier template along the lines of cult German experimentalists EMAK, Phil and Paul Hartnoll continued their primarily instrumental template on their ‘Blue Album’, although SPARKS contributed vocals to a totally unrelated track called ‘Acid Pants’. The brothers split shortly after the long player’s release, but returned in 2009 to play The Big Chill Festival.
Available on the album ‘Blue Album’ via Orbital Music
From ‘Hymn’ to ‘First Cool Hive’ to ‘A Seated Night’, the man born Richard Melville Hall is a master of the instrumental. The solemn ‘Homeward Angel’ closed Moby’s sample-less song-based ‘Hotel’ album with a solemn yet uplifting slice of mood music that was incongruous with the main act. Since leaving Mute in 2008, his more recent self-released albums such as ‘Destroyed’ and ‘Innocents’ have displayed this more esoteric quality.
A ten minute instrumental epic, ‘Alpha Male’ came from RÖYKSOPP’s under rated second long player, a collection of music that saw Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland moving away from the chill-out climes of ‘Melody AM’ into much darker sonic territory. The track’s lengthy ambient intro was interrupted by a mighty metronomic beat and the sort of progressive synth overtures that would have made Jean-Michel Jarre proud.
Since his musical return in 1997 with ‘Shifting City’, John Foxx has practically had albums coming out of his ears in song-based, ambient and soundtrack formats, both solo and in collaboration with other artists. The spacey mechanical Schaffel of ‘Kurfurstdendam’ came from an imaginary soundtrack he called ‘Tiny Colour Movies’, inspired by a friend’s birthday screening of a private film collection comprising of random surveillance clips and offcuts from Hollywood.
Few acts actually genuinely sound like their name… SISTA MANNEN PÅ JORDEN, which translates as “the last man in space”, is the solo project of Swedish synthpop trailblazer Eddie Bengtsson, he of PAGE and S.P.O.C.K fame. The frantic ‘Space-Elevator’ with its swimmy string synths and Sci-Fi derived melody acted as an effective Moroder-esque interlude on his excellent sixth album ‘Tredje Våningen’ and also featured ‘Allt Är Klart’ which borrowed off the ULTRAVOX instrumental ‘Alles Klar’.
Borrowing the distinctive bassline from SIMPLE MINDS’ 1981 single ‘Love Song’, TENEK put together this lively instrumental for their debut EP. With a modern mechanical groove coupled to their trademark synth rock, the almost funky ‘Ice Fields’ became an early live favourite, although the duo have focussed on more song based adventures for their three albums to date, ‘Stateless’, ‘On The Wire’ and ‘Smoke & Mirrors’.
In 2007, Andreas Kleerup, producer and one-time drummer for THE MEAT BOYS, undertook his first mainstream collaboration with fellow Swede Robyn. The success of ‘With Every Heartbeat’ led to the recording of his self-titled debut album which featured a number of brilliant instrumentals. ‘Hero’ was its perfect start and with a solid bassline and strong choral timbres, it had the vibe of how OMD might have sounded if they had formed in the 21st Century.
While most of the ‘Tron Legacy’ soundtrack was orchestrated by Joseph Trapanese, DAFT PUNK’s spiky electronics and drum machine were kept in alongside the epic strings for the end titles of the sequel to the 1982 movie ‘Tron’. There were nods to Wendy Carlos who composed the original film score, with Thomas Bangalter focusing on the heroic themes while Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo was more inclined to generating the darker elements.
Available on the soundtrack album ‘Tron Legacy’ via Walt Disney Records
Forming in 2001, Swedish duo 047 began their chiptune experiments thought a mutual appreciation of vintage video games. But after their debut long player, Peter Engström and Sebastian Rutgersson began to incorporate melodic song based elements and vocals into their music. The end results led to the impressive second album ‘Elva’, but they celebrated their chiptune influenced roots with the jolly YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA salute of ‘Kanpai!’
‘The E-Bay Queen Is Dead’ was collection of rarities from the MARSHEAUX archives. While Marianthi Melitsi and Sophie Sarigiannidou have done a fair number of cover versions in their time, they are not really known for doing instrumentals. But the electro-boppy ‘Now & Never’ was a very promising wordless demo that Vince Clarke would have approved of; as one of his former DEPECHE MODE colleagues once sang: “words are very unnecessary…”
Fusing Detroit techno with more European experimental forms, Patricia Hall and Ian Hicks’ second SOFT METALS album ‘Lenses’ featured the fabulous instrumental ‘Hourglass’. As Hall put it: “I really wanted to write lyrics for that one, but was never quite satisfied with what I came up with. I decided it would be better to let that one be an instrumental. I think it holds up on its own. It’s nice to give the listener a chance to interpret its meaning on its own rather than direct them with words”.
Available on the album ‘Lenses’ via Captured Tracks
Anais Neon and Martin Swan’s tribute to ‘Assault On Precinct 13’, ‘The future through a lens’ was a moody but booming instrumental that began their excellent debut longer player of the same name, which later netted a Schallewelle Award for ‘Best International Album’ in 2014. With their vast array of analogue synthesizers and exquisite taste for sound textures, it won’t be too surprising if VILE ELECTRODES aren’t offered some soundtrack opportunities in the near future.
Although making his name within EDM circles, the Norwegian producer born Todd Olsen paid a musical tribute to ‘Back To The Future’ and its futuristic gull-wing doored Delorean DMC-12 car with this suitably driving Synthwave instrumental. Unlike other so-called dance producers, Terje is conversant with electronic music history and possesses a wry sense of humour, as evidenced by the witty wordplay of track titles like ‘Inspector Norse’ and his own DJ moniker.
After the first phase of BLANCMANGE, Neil Arthur and Stephen Luscombe worked within the TV and film industry, scoring soundtracks and incidental music. Although best known for his voice, Neil Arthur’s instrumentals have been a continual form of expression. The brilliant ‘Cistern’ comes over like an imaginary Bond Theme for a retro-futuristic world. The wordless wonder that is the parent album ‘Nil By Mouth’ is an unsung masterpiece.
Adam Cresswell’s sombre vocals and the darker lyrical themes on his debut Rodney Cromwell album ‘Age Of Anxiety’ took a breather with the bright and breezy ‘Baby Robot’. With sweet synthesizer melodies, pretty glints of glockenspiel and a bouncy beatbox, the instrumental was inspired by birth of his son. “Yes, ‘Baby Robot’ is the one track on the album that’s 100% upbeat as it is about the experience of being a father” he gleefully said.
While Danish duo DARKNESS FALLS are better known for their melancholic Nordic vocals and neo-gothic overtones on songs like ‘The Void’, the dark synthy instrumental ‘Thunder Roads’ proved to be one of the most striking tracks on their second album ‘Dance & Cry’. With a punchy drum machine mantra and menacing reverberant sequence, it was augmented by guitar screeches and sombre six string basslines reminiscent of JOY DIVISION and THE CURE.
Available on the album ‘Dance & Cry’ via Fake Diamond Records
JEAN-MICHEL JARRE & BOYZ NOISE The Time Machine (2015)
Jean-Michel Jarre’s first album for since ‘Teo & Tea’ in 2007 was a two volume opus entitled ‘Electronica’; it features collaborations with a number of synth pioneers and modern day dance artists including BOYZ NOISE aka Berlin DJ Alexander Ridha. This climactic track took on a new life as the set closer on the French synth maestro’s ‘Electronica’ world tour, with a lasered 3D visual feast that required no special glasses! BUT BEWARE OF FLASHING IMAGES! 😉
Available on the album ‘Electronica 1 – The Time Machine’ via Columbia Records
The horror film king recorded his ‘Lost Themes’ series in collaboration with his son Cody and his godson Daniel Davies as standalone pieces, without the pressure of having to put the music to moving images. The second volume was completed on a tighter schedule to accompany a world concert tour and thus replicated some of the challenging moods in his soundtrack work with tracks like ‘Utopian Façade’ recalling his classic movie soundscapes.
Dixon and Stein are members of the Texan group SURVIVE and their accompanying music to ‘Stranger Things’, a cross between ‘ET’, ‘The Goonies’ and ‘Alien’, sent electronic music fans into online meltdown with its use of vintage analogue synths. With a soundtrack influenced by the horror flicks of Dario Argento and of course John Carpenter, the one minute opening title music to the acclaimed drama series said all that was needed to be said in its brooding dissonant tones.
As would be expected from a title like ‘Klangfarben’, this vibrant instrumental from Dublin trio TINY MAGNETIC PETS is an enjoyable homage to Germanic music forms, with a loose percussive feel that still maintains that vital degree of Motorik. A word meaning “soundcolour”, it refers to a technique whereby a musical line is split between several instruments, rather than assigning it to just one instrument, thereby adding timbre and texture to proceedings.
Since their well-received live appearance at Düsseldorf’s ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE in 2015, Dublin’s TINY MAGNETIC PETS have been on an upward trajectory.
With the city emerging as a haven for synth talent, the threesome of Paula Gilmer, Seán Quinn and Eugene Somers have made their most of their head start with luminaries such as Rusty Egan, Andy McCluskey and Wolfgang Flür providing their support.
Having already issued one album ‘The Return Of The Tiny Magnetic Pets’ and the ‘Stalingrad’ EP, ‘The NATO Alphabet’ released last year was undoubtedly their best body of work to date. From it, there was the accessible sub-NEW ORDER pop of ‘Everybody Knows’ alongside the Dublin goes to Düsseldorf instrumental ‘Klangfarben’. Meanwhile, the reggae inflections of ‘Not Giving In’ and ‘No One At The Safe House’ were evidence of a willingness to experiment with rhythm structures. TINY MAGNETIC PETS kindly took a quick break from rehearsals to chat with ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK
How would you describe the creative dynamic of TINY MAGNETIC PETS?
We’re friends first, so we work together with mutual respect – plus we all know the boundaries…
What influences do each of you bring to the table?
We’re all DAVID BOWIE freaks.
Paula: MOBY, GOLDFRAPP.
Seán: LA DÜSSELDORF, KRAFTWERK, HARMONIA, UNDERWORLD, BRIAN ENO, PINK FLOYD, THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS, THE MONKEES, KING CROMSON, JOHN FOXX era ULTRAVOX, JEAN-MICHEL JARRE, TANGERINE DREAM.
Eugene: THE SMITHS, DEPECHE MODE, THE BEAT, GARY NUMAN, RADIOHEAD, THE SPECIALS, ORBITAL
The earlier TMP material was perhaps more minimal, what was the genesis of your more expansive current sound?
The first album was created within very strict parameters: we have a load of vintage instruments from the 60s and 70s so we only allowed ourselves to use instruments and recording techniques that would have been around in the 70s, so no side- chaining compressors, no multi-comping vocals to make a performance – Paula always gets it in one go! We had James Byrne from VILLAGERS on drums on the album but then VILLAGERS signed to Domino and took off leaving us without a drummer.
The more expansive sound came about when Eugene joined as he’s also a synth player and he brings different influences to the mix, plus we established who we are with ‘ROTTMP’ so we kind of knew what we sounded like this time ‘round.
‘The NATO Alphabet’ appears to be the release has received the most acclaim, how would describe your satisfaction with it as a body of work?
We’re very proud of it. The ‘Stalingrad’ EP and Rusty Egan’s mash-up of ‘Control Me’ opened the doors for us in the UK and Germany where we played our first shows outside Ireland at Electro London and Electri_City in Düsseldorf. We were so buzzed by the reception we got from everyone that we took that buzz into the studio.
It was a great experience but also daunting, because we had expectations this time but getting e-mails of encouragement from Wolfgang Flür, Andy McCluskey and the omni-present Rusty Egan just set the vibe. We had a lot of fun doing ‘NATO…’
So how would a song like ‘Everybody Knows’ have come together in the studio?
Every song has a different genesis. ‘Everybody Knows’ was unusual in that it started with the synth solo and the tune just mushroomed from there.
You’ve experimented with different formats live, having tried both acoustic and electronic drums; what were the pros and cons of each, and how did you settle on how TMP should sound within a concert context.
We all tend to be of one mind on this one: small venue – electronic percussion only, big venue – full drum kit and electronic percussion. On-stage the sound of the live kit provides such an energy but it has to be mixed out front properly otherwise the live kit can overpower the electronics – which we don’t want. We’ve very dyed-in-the-wool electronic musicians! It’s great when you listen to artists who use both, like ULTRAVOX, VISAGE, GARY NUMAN, OMD, SPARKS etc who do that mix of acoustic & electronic well. Then again Klaus Dinger only used live drums…
Choosing a setlist was described by Warren Cann of ULTRAVOX as like four people trying to paint with the same brush at the same time. How will you choose what you will play at Synth Wave Live and what songs are your favourites?
In our case two people! Paula and Eugene usually decide the set list and Paula comes up with the visuals. We like to do a slow start and build it up to a climax. The more uptempo numbers tend to be the most fun to play live because we’re hyped up on stage, but I think everyones’ live favourite is ‘Semaphore’.
It’s over 10 minutes long and shifts in mood and has been compared to LA DÜSSELDORF, but new songs like the slow set opener ‘Here Comes The Noise (Pink)’ have a great live feel.
What’s next for TINY MAGNETIC PETS?
We’re currently ensconced in our studio finishing our new album and possible third EP plus as you know, we’ve been working with Wolfgang Flür which is great. The man has a great ear and is a true gent. We also want to get on as many stages as possible this year as that’s where we really live.
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to TINY MAGNETIC PETS
‘The NATO Alphabet EP’ is available on CD and download
The follow-up to their ‘Stalingrad’ EP, the Cold War referencing title ‘The NATO Alphabet’ indicates it’s business as usual for Dublin trio TINY MAGNETIC PETS.
They were founded in 2009 by vocalist Paula Gilmer and synth wizard Sean Quinn. Both were experienced hands on the music scene; Gilmer was session singer, while as a member of EG signed rock band DUBH CHAPTER, Quinn worked with noted producer and guitarist Steve Hillage. TINY MAGNETIC PETS underwent a number of guises before percussionist Eugene Somers settled into the line-up.
The end result has been a kosmische driven hybrid of classic synthpop and more esoteric acts such as STEREOLAB. Indeed, it has been a steady musical progression from their minimalist 2010 debut album ‘Return of the Tiny Magnetic Pets’ to ‘On An Inter-City Train’, the undoubted highlight from ‘Stalingrad’. Things have gone well for TINY MAGNETIC PETS since the release of the latter, with luminaries such as Rusty Egan and Andy McCluskey giving their endorsement.
An appearance at in Düsseldorf’s prestigious ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE last October, opening for MICHAEL ROTHER and WRANGLER, reinforced their reputation as an intriguing live act, with Paula Gilmer’s impressive voice and seductive stage presence sitting well alongside Sean Quinn’s progressive synth solos. However, TINY MAGNETIC PETS have overall been less convincing in the studio; does ‘The NATO Alphabet EP’ do anything to change that opinion?
The EP is the perfect modern format, as it documents the artistic mindset of an act within a small body of work, without raising the unnecessary expectations that a full-length album would. Opening ‘The NATO Alphabet’, ‘Everybody Knows’ is immediately accessible NEW ORDER-esque pop, with some pretty vocals from Gilmer and delightful slices of Hooky bass. It also learns from the lessons of their previous releases, utilising a tighter production while still retaining the essence of the manual interventions that characterise the TINY MAGNETIC PETS sound.
As can be expected from a title like ‘Klangfarben’, this instrumental is an enjoyable homage to KRAFTWERK, but taking its lead from the looser ‘Radio-Activity’ era rather than the more robotised period that say, METROLAND are musically connected to. The German for “soundcolour”, it refers to a technique whereby a musical line is split between several instruments, rather than assigning it to just one instrument, thereby adding timbre and texture.
It’s an approach that has served OMD well over the years and explains why TINY MAGNETIC PETS went down so well at the ELECTRI_CITY_Conference. It’s playfully Dublin goes to Düsseldorf via THE VELVET UNDERGROUND’s ‘What Goes On’… but the revelation of the EP is the soulful ‘Not Giving In’. Attached to a stuttering reggae inflected beat, it incorporates some shuffling syncopation from Somers to enhance the atmosphere. With detuned pulses contrasting the digital chimes and staccato voice samples, it’s a developmental triumph.
Continuing along a similar rhythm path, if THE POLICE had used a drum machine on ‘Outlandos D’amour’, it might have sounded a little like ‘No One At The Safe House’. Using some haunting muted trumpet sounds in the vein of THE BLUE NILE, it’s a tense Cold War dissident narrative reminiscent of ABBA’s ‘The Visitors’. Meanwhile the line “There is no love at the safe house” echoes the eponymous calling card of Australian combo ICEHOUSE. Eerily, it concludes with an unsettling broadcast collage. As a result, the short slice of noise ambience that forms ‘2 Delta Bravo’ makes for a fitting EP closer.
‘The NATO Alphabet’ is TINY MAGNETIC PETS’ best body of work to date. The trio have engaged their potential audience, welcomed feedback and accepted criticism. From that, they have responded and delivered; the positive outcome is now present for all to hear. It’s a process that many independent acts could learn from.
Düsseldorf paid homage to its electronic music history with a three day event of lectures, discussions and live music.
The ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE celebrated the work of pioneers like KRAFTWERK, DAF, RIECHMANN, NEU! and LA DÜSSELDORF, as well as reflecting the city’s worldwide influence on bands such as NEW ORDER, THE HUMAN LEAGUE, DEPECHE MODE, CABARET VOLTAIRE, VISAGE and OMD.
A year in the planning, organisers Rudi Esch and Carsten Siewert assembled an impressive line-up of artists, musicians and academics which read like a ‘Who’s Who?’ of electronic music.
It included names such as Benge, Gabi Delgado, Ralf Dörper, Rusty Egan, Harald Grosskopf, Peter Hook, Stephen Mallinder, Andy McCluskey, Daniel Miller, Mark Reeder, Michael Rother and Martyn Ware.
Also present was Dr Uwe Schütte, whose academic conference ‘Industrielle Volksmusik for the Twenty First Century – Kraftwerk & the Birth of Electronic Music in Germany’ at Aston University helped inspire the seeting up of the event.
While there have been numerous books about Germany and in particular KRAFTWERK, few have been written by people who were actually there at the time. Esch’s own book ‘Electri_City: Elektronische Musik aus Düsseldorf’ was published in 2014 and provided a much needed eyewitness account.
It fully related the Cold War tensions within Der Bundesrepublik that inspired many young Germans into pursuing adventures in art, music and cinema as a matter of self-expression and cultural identity.
The book’s success in Germany provided much of the impetus and momentum to curate this lavish gathering of kindred spirits. The first of the special guests taking part was Peter Hook who talked to Rob Keane about German influences on the UK’s post-punk scene and in particular, JOY DIVISION.
It was Ian Curtis who first introduced the others to KRAFTWERK. After the charismatic vocalist’s passing, the surviving band members became NEW ORDER and as they became more electronic, they acquired five Prophet 5s costing £2000 each.
This had only been made possible by the posthumous success of JOY DIVISION.“God bless him, Ian… without him, we wouldn’t have been able to afford these machines to make electronic music…” Hooky said, “what happened in NEW ORDER was as the technology developed, it enabled you to buy the machines that KRAFTWERK were using. I’d love to watch them do something, I really would. Because for all the coverage you get of KRAFTWERK, you never actually know HOW they did it!”
But despite KRAFTWERK being the pioneers of electronic music, Ralf and Florian had been so impressed by ‘Blue Monday’, they arranged to meet its engineer Michael Johnson at Britannia Row Studios where it was recorded. “They wanted to book into the studio we used…” remembered Hooky, “and they wanted to use our engineer, because they wanted their next record to sound like ‘Blue Monday’, which is most ironic because we spent years trying to sound like them!”
KRAFTWERK had a look round Britannia Row but unimpressed with the old fashioned, faded grandeur of the studio, they cancelled the session. “I took that as quite a compliment” quipped the Salford Bass Viking playfully.
Hooky also reminisced about how he was very impressed by fellow Mancunian Mark Reeder’s mastery of speaking German while on JOY DIVISION’s only visit to Berlin in 1980.
But when he asked how Reeder had become fluent so quickly, the then Factory Records representative in Germany answered: “you can learn any language when you’re starving!”
Mark Reeder himself formed part of panel discussion on the German impact of the Düsseldorf Schule to give his ‘Englishman in Berlin’ point of view. As the man often credited with introducing Italo disco to NEW ORDER, Reeder’s recent film ‘B-Movie – Lust & Sound In West Berlin 1979-1989’ captured the spirit of the divided city and highlighted how a similar document about Düsseldorf would now be quite timely.
The ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE was not just about lectures and talks, but about live music too. Cologne’s EMOTIKON opened proceedings with some incongruous generic pop funk, so it was a welcome relief when HEAVEN 17 took to the stage at Zakk for the sold-out show.
Headlining their first ever concert in the German art capital, HEAVEN 17 gave one of their now famous electronically focussed sets which also featured material that had spawned from THE HUMAN LEAGUE Mk1 when Martyn Ware was a member.
Inviting him to join the band, Phil Oakey remembered how Ware turned up at his house with ‘Trans-Europe Express’ under his arm and told him “Look, we can do this!”. The song that best summed up the occasion was ‘I’m Your Money’, a synthetic train ride with multi-lingual business phrases that captured the essence of a European Union.
To follow a fine performance from HEAVEN 17, Daniel Miller’s aftershow DJ set reflected his influences and subsequent signings for Mute Records to conclude an excellent first day.
With a packed second day, Friday’s numerous academic and theoretical proceedings were concluded with a Krautrock discussion in German by a panel of veteran musicians that included one-time ASHRA member Harald Grosskopf, Michael Rother from NEU! and WALLENSTEIN’s Jürgen Dollase.
Whereas Germany has usually been associated with purer forms of electronic music, its kosmische outlook has influenced many rock and alternative bands too. However, Dollase’s continual ranting about the joys of LSD proved tiresome and was exemplary evidence to children as to why they shouldn’t do drugs!
The panel was later opened up to questions from the audience so ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK took the opportunity to ask Michael Rother about his first three solo albums.
‘Flammende Herzen’ , ‘Sterntaler’ and ‘Katzenmusik’ were produced by the late Conny Plank and featured CAN’s Jaki Liebezeit on drums. Did he have a favourite?: “I don’t really have favourites, there are individual tracks I enjoy more, it depends on mood and circumstances. It would be unfair really to have a favourite album” Herr Rother replied, “Of course, I try to highlight Conny Plank’s contribution, he was so valuable… we wouldn’t have been able to record NEU! or the second HARMONIA album or my solo albums without Conny, so he’s all over the place in my music… thank you Conny”
Opening the second evening’s musical line-up, Dublin’s TINY MAGNETIC PETS have been championed by Rusty Egan and their appearance in Düsseldorf was their first in Europe.
The trio’s main strength was their engaging lead singer Paula Gilmer, while Sean Quinn’s synth soloing was also enjoyable. But the occasional rattle of an acoustic drum kit was a distraction and the trio sounded much better when Eugene Somers took to exclusively electronic percussion.
WRANGLER, fronted by Stephen Mallinder who had lectured earlier in the day, delivered a screeching set of dystopian vibes and cold wave mechanics, demonstrating how the Düsseldorf gene has mutated into marvellous pieces such as ‘Lava Land’. Mallinder’s drowning gargoyle vocal was particularly striking within the venue’s effective stereo panning capability.
Incidentally, the trio’s incumbent synth collector extraordinaire Benge has recently relocated his MemeTune studio to rural South West of England, in an echo of Conny Plank’s legendary countryside complex which KRAFTWERK, NEU! and LA DÜSSELDORF all recorded in.
Michael Rother delivered a career spanning set of his works including NEU! evergreens like ‘Hallogallo’, ‘Neuschnee’ and ‘Seeland’. There was also the welcome airing of material from his HARMONIA days too. Accompanied by Hans Lampe, formally of LA DÜSSELDORF, the drummer was unbelievably metronomic throughout, providing the hypnotic heartbeat to these much loved numbers. With assistance on bass and synth from a computer, the glorious symphony of ‘Karussell’ from ‘Flammende Herzen’ was a joy to behold. Watching enthusiastically in the crowd was OMD’s Andy McCluskey who remarked in passing to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK that ‘Flammende Herzen’ was the most played album on his iPod!
With another fine evening of live music over, proceedings then moved over to the famous club Dr Thompsons for the aftershow party featuring Rusty Egan.
Originally a location for a factory making floor wax, Egan’s DJ set reflected electronic music’s past and present, much to the approval of both TINY MAGNETIC PETS and METROLAND whose tunes got an airing on the dancefloor.
Day three featured SØLYST aka Thomas Klein who warmed up early attendees with an ambient percussive soundtrack that suited the time of day perfectly. Meanwhile, the Rusty Egan vs ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK discussion about the influence of Düsseldorf, Berlin and Bowie on the New Romantics brought up some amusing anecdotes from his Blitz Club and VISAGE days. “KRAFTWERK was all in time!” he retorted in a fascinating and at times, hilarious chat. On DAFT PUNK, he said “The reason why DAFT PUNK wear robot helmets is cos they can’t show their faces… cos THEY STOLE EVERYTHING! But they did it brilliantly!”
The conversation even turned to THIN LIZZY’s Phil Lynott who frequented the scene and recorded the synth friendly single ‘Yellow Pearl’ co-written with Midge Ure that featured Egan on drums. Also featuring Billy Currie, Egan confirmed that it was a VISAGE song in all but name. ‘Yellow Pearl’ was heavily influenced by LA DÜSSELDORF and was to later gain iconic status as the theme music to ‘Top of the Pops’ from 1981 to 1986, showing just how far reaching the influence of German electronic music had become.
Wolfgang Flür’s now famous video messages on the world wide web have been a delight to many in electronic music circles and in his absence, a special broadcast was prepared by the former KRAFTWERK percussionist for the conference.
Following on, Andy McCluskey and Rudi Esch presented some light hearted but music fan friendly banter in what was billed as The Electri_City Show. Discussing a variety of records Esch had brought along from his own personal collection, the OMD frontman mentioned how he was a big fan of LA DÜSSELDORF: “Thinking about LA DÜSSELDORF and NEU! – the biggest loss to the scene is Klaus Dinger”. Following his death in 2008, Klaus Dinger was hailed as a legendary drummer, having popularised the Motorik beat.
But as Michael Rother once pointed out, before 2004 nobody cared about NEU! “It’s great that people are thinking about NEU! and LA DÜSSELDORF” said McCluskey, “they should be up there with KRAFTWERK”. However as documented in Esch’s ’Electri_City_Musik_Aus_Düsseldorf’ book, Dinger was known to be a difficult character and that didn’t help his reputation. “It’s the Van Gogh thing” added McCluskey, “you have to bloody die before people think you’re a genius”
Of course, OMD combined various influences to achieve their distinctive template. But what is not often realised is that it is closer to LA DÜSSELDORF than it is to KRAFTWERK, especially on ‘Architecture & Morality’: “It is great that the city of Dusseldorf has woken up to the fact that KRAFTWERK and other musicians changed the world. Whilst KRAFTWERK cement their position in the pantheon of the museums and the books, LA DÜSSELDORF and NEU! were very important. They also did something that was beautiful and different. And OMD unconsciously were combining the two, the electronic sound with the organic…”
The Techno / Industrial panel in Deutsch fittingly included DAF’s Gabi Delgado and DIE KRUPPS’ Ralf Dörper as well as Ramon Zenker, the man behind FRAGMA. It would be fair to say that neither sub-genre could have had its roots in any country other than Germany. Delgado caused some amusement when he casually lit up a cigarette in the middle of the discussion, reinforcing the rebellious and confrontational aura of DAF.
During the interlude, many went to take a look at the Monster Formant modular synthesizer, owned by local enthusiast Siegfried Brückner, which was being demonstrated in the foyer. Six years in the making and featuring a gobsmacking sixteen VCOs plus many other features too numerous to mention, it was an impressive sight that looked like one of those vintage telephone exchanges.
To begin Saturday night’s live music proceedings were Zurich based combo LEN SANDER; their languid style of trip hop has become a favourite of Rusty Egan who also lists LONDON GRAMMAR among his current favourites. They provided a cerebral build before the appearance of two of the most impressive synthesizer duos in Europe at the moment.
With the amount of equipment VILE ELECTRODES possess, they could fill Klingklang itself. Using their more streamlined European touring set-up, the Home Counties couple are now effectively adopted Germans having impressed enough during their tour of Germany supporting OMD in 2013 to land two Schallwelle Awards. Splendid new songs like ‘Pulsar Timing Array’ and ‘Stark White’ from the just released EP were evidence of their continuing progression.
With a more minimalist set-up, METROLAND were the perfect act for the weekend to honour the artistic legacy of Düsseldorf. Their second long player ‘Triadic Ballet’ was a conceptual audio installation themed around das Staatliche Bauhaus. The perfect realisation of Walter Gropius’ theory of uniting art with technology, with a combination of crisp electronics and art school visuals, the Belgian duo gave a wonderful presentation that was appreciated by all those present including Andy McCluskey and Rusty Egan.
Closing the event, escapist trio DELTA turned out to be the most disappointing of all the bands participating, their landfill indie totally at odds with the weekend’s ethos. Meanwhile Düsseldorf duo BAR fared much better, their synth laden dreampop augmented on occasion by singer Christina Irrgang’s use of a recorder. However, these two acts highlighted the lack of a clear headliner to finish the weekend on a true high.
Overall though, the ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE was fabulous weekend with representation from both sorcerers and apprentices of the Düsseldorf scene. With the English translation of the ’Electri_City_Musik_Aus_Düsseldorf’ book due in 2016, the story of what the city has contributed to the world can only spread further.
French icon Jean-Michel Jarre said recently: “Electronic music has a family, a legacy and a future…” and there was nothing more truer than over these three days by der Rhein.
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Rudi Esch and Carsten Siewert
Additional thanks to Tom Steinseifer, Roger Kamp and Tapio Normall for the use of their photos
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. Things have gone well for TINY MAGNETIC PETS since the release of the latter, with luminaries such as 
do anything to change that opinion?
is due to be published in English by Omnibus Press sometime in 2016
compilation is released by Grönland Records.
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