Tag: Warp Records

LONELADY (There Is) No Logic

15 October 2021 /


Hailing from Manchester, LONELADY released her first album ‘Nerve Up’ on Warp Records in 2010.

The nom de théâtre of songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Julie Campbell, her influences include post-punk, funk and electronic pop. Her stark urgent sound came from initially working with basic tools such an 8-track cassette recorder, Fender Telecaster, and Yamaha keyboard which triggered invention through enforced economy.

Embracing the funk, LONELADY’s second album ‘Hinterland’ came out in 2015 with the scratchy ‘Bunkerpop’ acting as kind of manifesto statement. She came to the attention of John Foxx and recorded a cover of ‘030’ from ‘Metamatic’ for the officially sanctioned ‘He’s A Liquid’ tribute EP saying “I live in a high-rise right next to a dual carriageway, so John Foxx’s music makes a lot of sense to me”.

Recorded in a basement bunker beneath Somerset House in London and released earlier in the summer, the third LONELADY album ‘Former Things’ saw an increased use of drum machines, sequencers and synths (particularly the ARP Odyssey and Korg MS10) in a lively but mournful eulogy to the lost golden age of childhood and youth.

Following opening for NEW ORDER, LONELADY was invited to perform ‘(There Is) No Logic’ on the BBC’s ‘Later… with Jools Holland’; the song itself is one of the highlights on ‘Former Things’, a hypnotic blippy slice of industrial funk which while adopting soulful Trans-Atlantic forms, is distinctly English in its art punk presentation, recalling CABARET VOLTAIRE and ‘Sensoria’ in particular.

Filmed in the desolate grandeur of Brunswick Mill where JOY DIVISION were captured for their ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ video, the charismatic performance also features James Field on electronic drums and Kendra Frost of KITE BASE on synths.

‘Former Things’ is without doubt, the most immediate and accessible LONELADY album yet. Previous single ‘Fear Colours’ crosses PRINCE with TALKING HEADS while using a LinnDrum and a straightforward synthbass pattern for its backbone, ‘Time Time Time’ is a passionate slice of post-punk funk featuring a Korg Triton given to Campbell by Brian Eno. Driven by a distant rhythm unit, ‘The Catcher’ takes on a sombre disposition despite the classic electro groove while the title song brings in hushed disco vibes.

As well as an upcoming European tour, LONELADY’s affinity with CABARET VOLTAIRE is taken to the next level in new collaboration with Stephen Mallinder and WRANGLER bandmate Benge for a six track mini-album ‘Clinker’ with the first preview track ‘Camouflage’ recalling A CERTAIN RATIO.

Out on Les Disques du Crepuscule, the project actually began a few years but the various commitments of the trio saw the recordings exiled on a hard drive until now.

‘(There Is) No Logic’ is from the album ‘Former Things’ released by Warp Records in CD, vinyl LP and digital formats

‘Clinker’ as Campbell Mallinder Benge is released by Les Disques du Crepuscule in vinyl and digital formats from https://lesdisquesducrepuscule.com/clinker_twi1256.html

LONELADY 2022 UK + European tour dates:

Hebden Bridge Trades Club (14 January), Liverpool 24 Kitchen Street (15 January), Sheffield Record Junkee (16 January), Birmingham Hare & Hounds (17 January), Paris Le Hasard Ludique (19 January), Ghent Charlatan (20 January), Hamburg Headcrash (22 January), Berlin Kantine am Berghain (23 January), Cologne Blue Shell (24 January), Amsterdam Paradiso Kleine Zaal (25 January), Cambridge Junction 2 (27 January), Cardiff Clwb Ifor Bach (28 January), Southampton The Joiners (29 January), Norwich Arts Centre (30 January), Nottingham Bodega (1 February), Edinburgh The Mash House (2 February), Glasgow Audio (3 February), Dublin The Grand Social (15 February), Ulster Sports Club (16 February)

https://lonelady.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/LoneLady

https://twitter.com/LoneLadyHQ

https://www.instagram.com/loneladyhq/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Alex Hurst
15th October 2021

APHEX TWIN Syro

6 October 2014 /

APHEX TWIN Syro01

For casual APHEX TWIN fans, it can be hard to separate the visuals from the music in Richard James’ two most significant / infamous tracks – ‘Come to Daddy’ and ‘Windowlicker’.

They have accompanying Chris Cunningham promo videos that are indelibly linked and arguably bigger than the tracks that they promoted – featuring James’ head superimposed respectively onto a) a set of school kids terrorizing a granny in a tower block and b) a booty-shaking group of buxom / bikinied models, both creating disturbing images that once seen, can’t be unseen.

So with no visuals and no real vocals to speak of, approaching the new 12 track release by APHEX TWIN is potentially a daunting one, especially with initially inscrutable titles such as ‘s950tx16wasr10 [163.97]’ [earth portal mix] and ‘4 bit 9d api+e+6 [126.26]’… however, scratch the surface and for synth geeks / musos, the titles do give up little tit-bits of information relating to both the tempo of the pieces and some of the equipment featured (for example, the former references Akai’s S950 sampler). Gear fetishists can also check out the enviable set of hardware used in the radial graphic on the album packaging…

aphex-twin-syro-spiral

Coming thirteen years after the last APHEX TWIN collection ‘Drukqs’, the weight of expectation for ‘Syro’ would be akin for many to the appearance of a new KRAFTWERK album, and as such, the possibility of it living up to the weight of the hype surrounding it was always going to be tough. What is evident from the off is that the overall APHEX TWIN sound has mellowed, those expecting a rush of synthetic abrasive textures will be surprised by some of the almost 70s jazz-funk like textures featured and also the amount of melodic elements used throughout.

There are vocals here, but a la ‘Windowlicker’ they are heavily manipulated and were sourced from James, his wife and his sons (one of whom coined the album title from a made-up word ‘Syrobonkus’ that he used to describe the sound of the project during its making).

The opening track (and first single) ‘minipops 67 [120.2]’ gives a pretty good feel for the overall sound of the album, an ever so slightly dissonant, yet melodic track which breaks down to a beautiful arpeggio synth at 1min 48secs – at a time when so many people use synthesizers, trying to sound unique or different is pretty damn hard, but James is still able to apply a signature sound here, even if it is at times that of several different tracks from a variety of sources being forcibly jammed together! Percussively, ‘minipops’ is akin to having JEAN MICHEL JARRE, KRAFTWERK and mid-period MASSIVE ATTACK all thrown together in the mix with the musical elements of some old-school acid house thrown over the top – on paper it shouldn’t work, but somehow James pulls it off.

‘minipops 67 [120.2]’acts as a suitable aperitif for ‘XMAS_EVET10 [120][Thanaton3 Mix]’, an epic ten minute track which crams in 303 squelches, real piano and disembodied vocoder vocals. The stop-start / timestretched rhythm throughout helps the track from not getting monotonous until around the four-minute mark a YMO-style monosynth melody enters the mix to join a suitably oriental bell motif. Throughout the album, there are little elements of rave culture that subtly creep in, ‘produk 29 [101]’ features a melodic nod to fellow Warp Records artists LFO’s seminal self-titled track.

Whilst the DNA of Acid House is present throughout with ‘4 bit 9d api+e+6 [126.26]’recalling Mute / Rhythm King artist BABY FORD’s ‘Crashing’ and the unmistakable sound of the Roland TB303 is never far from the mix too. Album closer is the Erik Satie inspired ‘aisatsana [102]’ which recalls the KANYE WEST sampling ‘Avril 14th’ from ‘Drukqs’ – the audio of birds and ambient noise can be heard in the background and it brings ‘Syro’ to a tranquil conclusion.

The sound of this album is probably not for everyone, it does take a few listens to appreciate the subtleties of its production and the occasional clashing musical harmonics take a bit of getting used to. But give it a few listens and the album slowly reveals its charms…

Despite giving several recent interviews, the whole APHEX TWIN mystique still remains intact to a degree, with speculation as to when many of these tracks were actually recorded. James himself has admitted that some of the music on ‘Syro’ is at least six years old and certainly gives weight to the speculation that there is still a huge library of unreleased APHEX TWIN music which (if he wished) could be delved into for his next release.

Ultimately this pinpoints how on the periphery of most contemporary electronic music trends Richard James is, there are no particular nods to any current fads or genres here (you’ll find no Trap beats or Dubstep), yet ‘Syro’ broke the UK Top 10 album chart with ease, at one point battling ALT-J midweek at the number two position before settling at number eight. Richard James may no longer be the enfant terrible of electronic music (he infamously DJ’d with a sandpaper disc once), but ‘Syro’ still shows there is a huge interest in his work and that it is still possible to make synth-based music which is at the same time a) chart-worthy and b) innovative.

‘Syro’ is released by Warp Records in a range of formats including CD and vinyl

http://syro2eznzea2xbpi.com/

https://www.facebook.com/aphextwinafx

http://warp.net/records/aphex-twin

Text by Paul Boddy
6th October 2014

Introducing THE HUNDRED IN THE HANDS

3 June 2012 /


Hailing from Brooklyn, THE HUNDRED IN THE HANDS are Eleanore Everdell and Jason Friedman, a girl-boy duo who combine the electronic and the organic into a sultry new wave fusion.

Following their debut single ‘Dressed In Dresden’ on Pure Groove in 2009, they signed to the ultra-hip Warp Records and released their first EP ‘This Desert’.

Both showcased their sensibility for occasional gothic overtones a la JOY DIVISION and SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES.

Their self-titled debut came in late 2010 and on it, the fantastic opener ‘Young Aren’t Young’, produced by Richard X, was a dreamy Italo disco number layered with the type of chordial guitar that would have made Bernard Sumner proud, although on this live version for KEXP, it is rather cranked up to the max!

Also produced by Richard X, ‘Commotion’ possessed a brilliant dynamic energy which sounded like THE CURE at Studio 54 fronted by THE MOTELS, all very New York while simultaneously London or even Berlin.

Speaking of whom, while she doesn’t belt her voice in the way BERLIN’s Terri Nunn did in the manner of HEART fronting ULTRAVOX, Everdell’s more resigned tone complimented the spikey textures, pulsing sequences and the dance-friendly beats. The first single from the album entitled ‘Pigeons’ was another Richard X production which continued this enigmatic but accessible pop formation.

For their forthcoming new album ‘Red Night’, Everdell and Friedman have handled production themselves. From it, ‘Keep It Low’ is a development of their avant pop style with a steadier groove and heavier loom while ‘Faded’ is quite sparse, shaped by synth drones and dressed with Friedman’s harmonics while Everdell is cocooned in reverb valley.

It appears THE HUNDRED IN THE HANDS are venturing into territory once occupied by Warp label mates BROADCAST who were fronted by the late Trish Keenan. The duo themselves have said ‘Red Night’ is centred around “all heartbreak and fear of losing something special”

‘Red Night’ is released through Warp Records on 12th June 2012, while ‘The Desert’ and ‘The Hundred In The Hands’ are still available via the usual outlets.

http://thehundredinthehands.com

https://www.facebook.com/thehundredinthehands

https://twitter.com/TheHundredInThe

https://www.instagram.com/thehundredinthehands/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
3rd June 2012, updated 4th June 2012

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