Tag: Wrangler (Page 5 of 5)

MUS_IIC Festival.01 Featuring WRANGLER, GAZELLE TWIN + MINNY POPS

23 October 2014 /

MUS_IIC-cover

MemeTune, the acclaimed London studio and label curated its first festival just down the road from its base in Hoxton at Shoreditch’s Red Gallery.

Although lacking in natural ventilation, the sociable art space proved to be a fine venue to host live electronic music with several luminaries from the music scene present including Hannah Peel, Serafina Steer, James Nice, Anais Neon, Martin Swan and err… Bobby Gillespie! Proceedings started at precisely 7.41pm with cult Dutch combo MINNY POPS who are probably best known for being signed to Factory Records and supporting JOY DIVISION at the notorious Bury gig in 1980 which ended in a riot.

Formed in 1978 and named after the 1967 Keio Minupops 7 rhythm box and not the dodgy children’s entertainment show produced by Mike Mansfield, it began with vocalist Wally van Middendorp standing in the audience, blindfolded and silent for what felt like 10 minutes before holding a placard which announced “FAC57 NOT FUC57… Secret Story revisited” and launching into the track itsellf.

It was all very art school and prolonged, but there appeared to be a glint of sly Low Countries humour lurking.

A new song ‘Patti Hurst’ followed as coruscating guitars, mournful string synths and the band’s trademark drum machine reverbed around the venue like INTERPOL trapped down a well.

Wally van Middendorp was charismatic if nothing else with his dead fly moves and deathly baritone… it all rather made JOY DIVISION sound like STEPS. With their early albums ‘Drastic Measures Drastic Movement’ and ‘Sparks In A Dark Roomm’ out now as 2CD deluxe packages via Factory Benelux, MINNY POPS’ polarising experimentation is being re-investigated by a new audience if nothing else.

With the level of the PA raised a notch, the rumbling sub bass caused part of the lighting rig to judder and drop off the front of the stage just before the fierce and uncompromising GAZELLE TWIN commenced her set. Sounding tune-based in comparison with MINNY POPS, GAZELLE TWIN aka Elizabeth Bernholz stalked the stage like a caged animal, occasionally dropping to her knees to (almost) worship her loop pedal.

MUS_IIC-GazelleTwin

In what was the most minimal of set-ups, a hooded programmer / sample player triggered and manipulated a tiny podium-based sample pad whilst Bernholz projected a completely asexual persona. With her facial features disguised with a sheer stocking mask and dressed in a deliberately unflattering hooded track suit tucked into a pair of sports socks, the cumulative effect was to focus the listener on the music.

Bernholz admits to being a nervous / anxious performer, donning a mask and anti-fashion dress code in an attempt to distance herself from the standard “LOOK AT ME!” stage persona – if anything, this unique approach makes GAZELLE TWIN even more voyeuristically watchable.

Unlike much current electronic music, there was very little common frames of reference here, songs from current album ‘Unflesh’ drifted into each other, shards of melody occasionally appearing, then disappearing and the vocal hook “It’s coming at me” of the album’s title track being the most memorable of the evening.

What impressed most was Bernholz’s vocal range and ability to switch into different styles, this combined with a charismatic stage presence meant that the Red Gallery crowd were held in rapture fully for the duration of their 40 minute set.

With the headline act WRANGLER approaching, it became apparent that most of the Red Gallery audience were here to see Stephen Mallinder’s new outfit as the crowd significantly filled out during the break after GAZELLE TWIN.

In the seminal ‘Made in Sheffield’ documentary, another former CABARET VOLTAIRE member Chris Watson ruminated as to what the ‘perfect Cabaret Voltaire performance’ would be, whether it was driving around Sheffield city centre in a van blaring out their music or even in a public toilet somewhere.

But tonight the Shoreditch venue with its superb sound system suited WRANGLER perfectly, the gloomy and arty ambience although initially intimidating, suiting the dark / dystopian sound of the band to a tee. On the left of the stage, John Foxx’s right hand man Benge spent most of the performance hammering away at a minimal twin pad drum synth whilst on the other side of a centrally placed Mallinder was Phil Winter who handled synths and MIDI controllers.

MUS_IIC-wrangler-by-EMP

With just one album under their collective belts, most of the evening material was taken up with tracks from ‘LA Spark’ with the title track, ‘Lava Land’ and a Kaoss Pad driven ‘Mus_IIC’ all getting strong outings. The biggest cheer of the evening was reserved for a faithful version of The Cabs’ ‘Sensoria’, the sequenced riffs and danceable drum patterns getting the crowd really moving.

What also impressed was the use of front screen projection onto a curtain in front of the act, the recognisable WRANGLER “W” logo and a variety of semi-3D computer graphics appeared to float hypnotically in front of the band during their hour set. Drawing the set to close, the final track of the night was a re-worked version of ‘Crackdown’.

Despite the dark nature of their material, Mallinder and the rest of WRANGLER seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves throughout and the combination of the diverse acts on the bill made this a perfect way to enjoy a Saturday nights electronic music. On the strength of tonight’s event, it can only be a matter of time before we get MUS_IIC Festival.02.

With thanks to Steve Malins at Random PR

WRANGLER ‘LA Spark’ is released by MemeTune

GAZELLE TWIN ‘Unflesh’ is released by Anti-Ghost Moon Ray / Last Gang

MINNY POPS ‘Drastic Measures Drastic Movement’ and ‘Sparks In A Dark Room’ are released by Factory Benelux

https://www.facebook.com/pages/We-Are-Wrangler/1389558817973207

http://www.gazelletwin.com/

http://minnypops.com/

http://memetune.net

Text and Photos by Chi Ming Lai and Paul Boddy
23rd October 2014

 

GAZELLE TWIN Discusses Unflesh

26 May 2014 /

GAZELLE TWIN premiered her new album ‘Unflesh’ with a special performance at Birthdays in London’s trendy Dalston district.

The live presentation showcased a heavier sound that has distinctly moved away from the cinematic hauntronica of debut album ‘The Entire City’ and interim EP ‘Mammal’.

The moniker of Elizabeth Bernholz, GAZELLE TWIN has acquired an impressive host of admirers and collaborators including John Foxx, Gary Numan and Clint Mansell. ‘Unflesh’ has with artistic violence allowed the Brighton based songstress to exorcise her demons.Indeed, the closing number of the evening is appropriately titled ‘Exorcise’; an impressively aggressive cross between PINK FLOYD’s ‘One The Run’ and KRAFTWERK’s ‘Home Computer’, it is accorded some extra uneasy resonance by Bernholz’s deadpan commentary.

Clothed in a school-blue goodie with a head stocking and brown wig replacing the mysteriously veiled Elephant Woman look of her shows supporting JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS in late 2011, GAZELLE TWIN’s new material has a more threatening intent, focussing on the more industrialised template introduced by ‘Belly Of The Beast’ and new single ‘Anti Body’.

The ‘Unflesh’ title track and ‘I Feel Blood’ are even barer but no less unsettling while ‘Guts’ follows a similar path but adds an almost PRINCE-like funk groove. Indeed, much of the material on ‘Unflesh’ is strangely danceable…

Elizabeth Bernholz kindly spoke with ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK before her ‘Unflesh’ showcase to discuss her latest incarnation of expression.

How would you describe the differences in the way you’ve conceived ‘Unflesh’ compared with ‘The Entire City’ and the ‘Mammal’ EP?

The writing process has simplified. I restricted myself so that I ended up with a more direct and quite a lo-fi sound. There are connections with ‘The Entire City’, the first full length thing I ever wrote and produced, but the relationship with ‘Unflesh’ is minimal. It has been written very much with live performance in mind.

Titles such as ‘Unflesh’, ‘Belly Of The Beast’, ‘Guts’ and ‘Anti Body’ indicate you still have metaphysical concerns?

That’s something I can’t switch off. But I don’t want to. There are rarely moments where I’m not considering the wider meaning of all things, on a day to day basis. I’ll make a sandwich and think of the former life of all the ingredients, all these particles that are being slammed together to ultimately end up as my sh*t…

I like that sort of thought process. I’m hypersensitive to everything around me all the time. This is not always useful. I suffer from anxiety and have numerous phobias that mostly arose from childhood. I have overcome most of them through making music, and this record is very much a continuation of that process.

The ‘Unflesh’ project has been supported by a striking audio / visual component. The faceless girl in the school-blue sportswear… is the character in any way autobiographical?

100%. It’s from a memory of school, 16 years ago. I chose to confront a difficult experience from that time, by re-embodying it. The difference is that this time I’m in control. A pretty simple exercise in self-help when you think about it… people will continue to be baffled and weirded-out by it, but that’s OK. That’s the fun part of it. That makes me want to do it even more.

When we last spoke, you described recording an album as being “a bit like doing a thesis”. Has that still been the case with ‘Unflesh’?

I researched anatomy – more as a hobby than being very academic about it. I’m especially interested in disease and mutations in nature. I have always enjoyed finding rhymes in nature – in structures, behaviours, rhythms etc. I also researched a lot of artists and artworks that deal with similar themes. I find doing this really rewarding and enlightening. There is so much out there to absorb.

Since ‘The Entire City’ was released, THE KNIFE returned with the uncompromising ‘Shaking The Habitual’. What did you think of it and has it has any bearing on your own artistic directions for ‘Unflesh’?

I had pretty much finished writing most of ‘Unflesh’ by the time ‘Shaking The Habitual’ came out, but I love that album of course and proudly align myself with its stance on politics, including the politics of performance art and how gender is dealt with in popular culture. Uncompromising is the key. They are one of the best conceptual performance groups out there right now. I wish there were more.

Claire Boucher aka GRIMES fedback to you about the demo of ‘Anti Body’. I SPEAK MACHINE aka Tara Busch has also reworked ‘Anti Body’. Do you feel an affinity with any of the current crop of female artists in electronic music?

I am asked this a lot… I guess because I am openly challenging the gender issue in performance. In the end, my interest is only in ideas. I might feel a great affinity with a very aggressive, masculine, male performer like Stefan Burnett (DEATH GRIPS) as well as a female artist who is exploring similar territory.

I think it’s important not to make the distinction about gender being the reason behind it. Over emphasis can sometimes push the divide even further. I fully support other artists who are female of course, and I stand firmly behind the feminist and the LGBT debate which is very important to keep in the forefront of the mind.

GAZELLE TWIN, in its very essence, began as statement against a commercially driven world (and music industry), which constantly wants to remind me of my own sex and tell me what I’m supposed to do with it.

Your musical connections with JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS and the MemeTune collective have led to further collaborations with people such as Stephen Mallinder via the WRANGLER project. You’re building up quite an impressive CV of collaborators?

It’s insane… I was thinking about some of the people I’ve encountered or worked with over the last year and I’m incredibly lucky to have had introductions to legendary figures like John and Mal, and also GARY NUMAN. It’s heavily down to my manager Steve Malins who is the chief orchestrator of all these connections and is really talented at connecting people very naturally, from very quite different backgrounds. Robin Rimbaud (aka SCANNER) has also introduced me to some amazing people too, such as WIRE’s Colin Newman and Chris and Cosey of THROBBING GRISTLE. All of this is a privilege and I’m very grateful for that, but long may it continue.

I visited MemeTune a few months back and was strangely drawn to the Polymoog… was there a particular instrument or device that you saw out of the vast collection at MemeTune that particularly fascinated you?

Every time I go there, I notice something new and become lost in the awe of all these incredible instruments surrounding me. Of course I am impressed with the rare synths like the CS80 and the enormous wall of modulars, but the thing that blew me away most of all was actually the simplest… The Plate Reverb – which is just a huge wooden box containing one sheet of metal, an amp and a dampener, with one big metal dial on top to change the tension of the metal. You turn it on from downstairs in the studio and can hear everything going through it upstairs. It’s really, really incredible.

You’re known for experimenting with vocal processing in your music. Have there been any new techniques that you’ve discovered which have shaped this album and perhaps your approach to live work.

The majority of my new material is about spoken and often whispered lyrics rather than sung. There’s a certain skill to achieving that in a live setting because it requires a different kind of performance. In contrast, I have also included a lot of chest voice passages which feel great to perform. I have tried to emulate techniques from Bulgarian Folk singers for these elements, bending my voice into new shapes. There’s still a fair amount of processing going on in this record, but it’s more upfront than anything I have done before.

You’re playing live to showcase the album. How do you feel about live work? Is it something you want to do, or feel you have to do?

Performing live requires so much effort. Not just working the songs into a live format, then rehearsing over and over and over again (which I really hate), but to then have to get through the nerves, deal with the gamble of the sound being alright after soundcheck (it SO often isn’t), and then to recover quickly after all that stress and do it all over again… It’s a hard job, but I consider it a challenge. I do want to perform more and try to garner more satisfaction from the process.

What are your hopes and fears for the future?

Good Health / Bad Health (respectively)

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its sincerest thanks to Elizabeth Bernholz

Special thanks also to Jeff Schofield at Type PR

‘Anti Body’ is released by Anti-Ghost Moon Ray / Last Gang as a digital download and limited 12″ vinyl. It features the exclusive track ‘Phobia’ plus remixes by WRANGLER and I SPEAK MACHINE

GAZELLE TWIN antibody‘Unflesh’ will be released later in 2014

Forthcoming GAZELLE TWIN 2014 live appearances include: St Gallen Grabenhalle (28 May – with PLANNINGTOROCK and BERNHOLZ), Hamburg Vogel Ball Festival (2nd August) and Glasgow Old Fruitmarket (3rd October – with WRANGLER and SCANNER)

http://www.gazelletwin.com/

https://www.facebook.com/gazelletwin

http://www.antighostmoonray.com

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Esther Springett except live photo by Chi Ming Lai
26th May 2014

WRANGLER LA Spark

5 May 2014 /

At this point in time, WRANGLER are probably the nearest we have to an electronic supergroup.

It’s hard to think of a similar set-up since either ELECTRONIC or VISAGE before them, although this line-up featuring Benge (JOHN FOXX’s sideman in THE MATHS), Stephen Mallinder (one half of CABARET VOLTAIRE) and Phil Winter (from folktronica group TUUNG) is a far more experimental proposition than the two aforementioned outfits.

‘LA Spark’ is the first collection of tracks from the trio and is an analogue synthesizer tour de force, putting to good use the enviable collection of vintage equipment housed at MemeTune studios in Hoxton Square.

It is not a pristine piece of work, because of its source material, there is a lot of analogue hiss and distortion here, but this is part of the album’s charm. Every good band deserves to have their own theme and ‘LA Spark’ bursts into life with ‘Theme From Wrangler’, its ‘Astradyne’ style hi-hats introducing a gliding synth lead and speaker quaking bassline which eventually give way to a ghostly vocal which (because of its low mix level) becomes another texture in the track – this song pretty much sets the template for the rest of the album.

The spring-reverbed kicks from ‘Theme from…’ then lead into ‘Lava Land’, a track which shares distant DNA with KRAFTWERK’s ‘Autobahn’ and JOHN FOXX’s ‘Metamatic’, the accelerated electronics overlayed with Mallinder’s pitch-shifted vocals and a wonderfully retro Logan String Melody part, a keyboard which was a favourite with such luminaries as JOY DIVISION, NEW MUSIK and YELLO. The expertly placed percussion hits are eventually joined by another warped vocal, Mallinder in places sounding like one of Clive Barker’s demonic Cenobites from ‘Hellraiser’, especially on the “Burn, Babylon burn line!”

‘LA Spark’ introduces a lighter, more melodic and 4/4 sound to the proceedings with hypnotic interwoven monosynth lines and another flanged string synth wash joining the proceedings.

This track features probably the nearest thing to a sung vocal hook and provides some light relief from the darker textures which permeates through most of the work on show here.

‘Music IIC’ is probably the most experimental track on ‘LA Spark’, reminiscent of YAZOO’s ‘I Before E (Except After C)’ with its cut-up vocal parts, the track itself being inspired by the work of Jean-Claude Risset and Max Matthews, both pioneers of computer generated music and employees of Bell Laboratories.

‘Harder’ showcases a huge range of interlocking / synthetically produced percussion sounds and melodic string shift which recalls KRAFTWERK’s ‘Spacelab’, this track has arguably the most upfront vocal too with Mallinder’s chanting vocal drenched in reverse reverb.

Throughout the album, the warmth of the analogue synthesizers and drum machines are counterpointed by a harsh vocal sound which unlike most contemporary productions, sound deliberately un-de-essed, the sibilants being preserved, making Mallinder’s words cut through the mix with ease, but also making them sound dark and disturbing at the same time.

The other thing which resonates about ‘LA Spark’ is that it doesn’t pander one iota to any particular musical fad or fashion, and with the exception of the sampled/cut-up vocals on ‘Music IIC’, there is little here to suggest that this album couldn’t have been recorded 35 years ago… and for many potential listeners, this should be seen as a positive.

Very often, there can be nothing worse than established artists trying to “get down with the kids” by flirting with Trap or Dubstep or [insert your own flavour of the month genre here] and potentially coming off like an embarrassing relative twerking at a wedding…

This is an album that isn’t instant ear candy, it takes a few listens for its riches to be revealed and for the listener to be drawn into its world. However, once ushered in, ‘LA Spark’ shows that today’s electronic music doesn’t necessarily have to be saccharine and hook filled to be listenable and enjoyable.

With thanks to Steve Malins at Random PR

‘LA Spark’ is released by MemeTune in vinyl, CD and download formats

WRANGLER plays as part of the COM TRUISE all nighter at Shapes in Hackney, London on Saturday 31st May 2014. They also play The Hare & Hounds in Birmingham on Saturday 23rd August 2014

https://www.facebook.com/pages/We-Are-Wrangler/1389558817973207

https://twitter.com/wearewrangler

http://memetune.net

Text by Paul Boddy
5th May 2014

WRANGLER Interview

22 April 2014 /

With aims to harness “lost technology to make new themes for the modern world”, WRANGLER are the electronic trio that many have been waiting for.

With vintage synths and drum machines creating a soundtrack for a dissident future landscape, WRANGLER’s debut album ‘LA Spark’ is one of most anticipated electronic releases of 2014. Certainly the pulsing screech of ‘Lava Land’ signifies this is future music harnessing the uncharted possibilities of the past. In effect, it is akin to visiting the moon again, post-Apollo.

The trio all have noted histories in music. Phil Winter has been recording, playing and DJ-ing for a number of years and is a member of folktronica exponents TUNNG who released their fifth studio album ‘Turbines’ in 2013. Synth collector extraordinaire and producer Benge released the acclaimed aural synth encyclopaedia ‘Twenty Systems’ in 2008 and is best known for his part in the collaborative project JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS. And Stephen Mallinder (or Mal as his friends like to call him) needs no introduction as founder member of post-punk pioneers CABARET VOLTAIRE who recently reissued their ‘Collected Works 1983-85’ on Mute.

Building their profile steadily with a BBC 6 Music live session, a special performance at Proof Positive and discussion panels celebrating the work of the Radiophonic Workshop, WRANGLER kindly spoke about the genesis of ‘LA Spark’…

What drew you towards working with each other?

Mal: Friendship, respect, common interests in music, technology, sounds, processes and how much we agree on crap uninspiring music that generally fills the sky. A band has to have a core belief – a code where everybody instinctively knows how things should be done, what’s right and what’s not in the sound, how it is presented and be able to say if someone played something crap or was wearing inappropriate trousers.

How does it feel for you Mal to become part an existing project as opposed to organically forming a new one?

Mal: I suppose that’s better answered by Phil and Benge, but we have been working together for over three years so all WRANGLER material is with the three of us – I’d hate people to think I just arrived at the end. We have done quite a few remixes for other people which was an important part of Wrangler developing a good working process. Ultimately it’s not when but what – what we all contribute.

Phil: Benge and I had been working on stuff in his studio, and I guess in retrospect we were looking for another element to tie our ideas together. I had been in touch with Mal while he was abroad and always thought he would get what we were doing, so when he returned and had a chance to settle himself, we got him down to the studio, job done .

Benge: And I have always been a fan of CABARET VOLTAIRE’s work – so it was really cool to actually get to work with Mal – I remember the moment Phil said “I know Mal really well – we go back years – shall I give him a call?” and I kind of fell off my chair.

‘Lava Land’ is a key track on the album. What inspired that one?

Mal: The words followed the music, it was a lively track shall we say and the words responded. The sounds confront people’s complacency and I hope the lyrics are similarly words of warning to shake us out of torpor.

Phil: For me it wasn’t just one thing, that’s for sure. I remember it starting as a sort of dark carnival tune, and through jamming it in the studio it just got stranger, Tom Rogerson came in and did some extra synth bits , and we ended up in ‘Lava Land’.

Benge: It’s always exciting when you hear a track suddenly come to life and take on its own character – and this happened on ‘Lava Land’ when Mal started singing through the pitch shifter – it all fell into place really quickly after that.

How have the new developments affected you as a vocalist in the way you might approach a track?

Mal: I think the synergy between voice and music is something that happens, I don’t tend to conceptualise it, music is better being instinctive if it is a collaborative thing. I think I have found a good way of working with the guys and we all work together on the music and how the voice fits, so it evolves rather than me doing vocals on a finished track – it’s a very organic process.

The most abrasive sound on the new album is the vocals, at what point in the writing process did the lyrics integrate with the music?

Mal: This probably follows on from my last answer and it explains how the voice works in WRANGLER – we try to integrate it in the early stages of developing a track. So just as a particular rhythm, bass part, or top line, may shift and change as the track evolves, so the voice shifts and bits get redone as the recording progresses.

Plus a lot of the ideas are worked out in a live situation playing together loud, through the PA, working things out – voice and sounds need to gel.

I don’t know that the voice is the intended to be the most abrasive component but our approach to how a vocal works in a track is intended to push boundaries. The voice is often the least explored dynamic in music, offering a saccharine element to the aggression of a piece. It’s good to occasionally invert that formula.

The screeching, dystopian string machine on ‘Lava Land’ is amazing… what is it and what did you do to it?

Mal: It’s a Roland Angle-Grinder I believe?

Phil: Yep , that’s right , but you’ll have to check with Benge on the specific model number.

Benge: It is a Logan String Melody II, the one used a lot by JOY DIVISION and loads of bands in the mid to late 70s. I bought this one year ago from Sound On Sound magazine classifieds – before eBay existed. Coincidentally I drove all the way to Sheffield to pick it up! The guy selling it said it used to belong to Phil Oakey, but I think he made that up.

What sort of advantages and limitations are there when making an album with primarily modular / analogue synthesizer gear?

Mal: The only thing that limits you really is your imagination. In most creative situations reducing your options is a challenge to optimise what you can, and wish, to do. Freedom from choice is the usually most important part of making something good. If it’s not a struggle to rinse the most out of anything – technology, or yourself, – it’s generally not very good.

Phil: As Mal says the limitations become the advantages, we try not to get too distracted by multiple options and stick to an almost band type set up, four sound sources generally does us.

Benge: When we started me and Phil decided we would only use one synth per track – that’s where the name came from because we would wrangle with each synth until we got a whole track out of it. A lot of those initial experiments ended up on the album, and we’ve got a ton more stuff waiting to be worked on.

With its Aladdin’s Cave of vintage synthesizers, what was the experience like of clocking in to work at the MemeTune studio?

Mal: Well the studio doesn’t have a doorbell and if anyone’s in there and they don’t hear the phone, you can’t get in … so we spend the start of most days down the Hoxton Spark – a café round the corner. Nice tea – they use loose tea not bags and it’s 90p. Once we manage to get in there it’s pure enjoyment, with the occasional dispute when something doesn’t work, which usually turns out to be a dodgy lead.

Phil: It’s f*cking great, once you get in obviously. Sometimes it can be a bit scary after a long session, you get there the next day and realise how much damage you’ve done to the place .

Benge: If you’re stuck outside you could always page me, or maybe send a TELEX!

In contrast to 99% of current electronic music, ‘LA Spark’, despite its dark overtones is a very ‘warm’ sounding album… was that a conscious decision?

Mal: I think all music that stands the test of time has to be complex, drawing on ideas from lots of different areas. Making something that can be both seductive but equally needs a listener to work at it is the goal. Warmth and darkness offer a pleasing tension in music – enticing but rather unsettling, it’s a balance worth aiming for.

Phil: I think we’re a pretty unconscious unit in that regard but saying that, we do have an unspoken regard for what is possible with the people and equipment we have at our disposal .

Benge: That warmth sort of oozes out of some of this equipment – things like the Moog Modular going through a plate reverb and into an old analogue console – that’s always going to sound warm and fuzzy to me, in a really good way.

Many musicians work together via the internet without having to meet up in person – was the music you created with WRANGLER literally three guys sitting in a studio jamming out ideas or did you often collaborate remotely?

Mal: The only things we tend to do remotely are in very early stages of tracks – just rough sketches or embryonic ideas of sounds and rhythms. The most enjoyable part is all of us coming together and figuring out how each track should evolve and when it’s cooked. Part of that process for the album was all of us interacting – we were playing all the tracks live before they were properly recorded.

Phil: I don’t remember much remote action, we might bring basic sketches, vocal ideas or simple beats stuff into the studio from our homes. But the vast majority is created by the three of us working together in the room.

Benge: Yeah, towards the end of the process we set up in the live room and played together a lot (partly because we were rehearsing for a gig if I remember rightly) and this really helped focus some of the tracks. Also when it came to doing the final mixes we all got on the console together and turned each mix into a live performance, playing with faders, EQ settings and FX sends and stuff. You can’t do that via Skype!

Does the cut-up vocal track ‘Music IIC’ refer to the first portable Apple computer or is there too much being read into the title?!

Mal: I’ll leave that for anyone who buys the album to decide for themselves. And for Phil and Benge to explain…

Phil: Benge?

Benge: No, it was more an homage to Jean-Claude Risset and Max Matthews.

How did you pick ‘Crackdown’ to perform live as WRANGLER as opposed any other track in the CABARET VOLTAIRE back catalogue?

Mal: Well for me it seems the most appropriate – a track which sonically seems right for Wrangler and lyrically seems right for the times. ‘The Crackdown’ is a constant global theme.

Phil: It was quite spontaneous, as performing live should be… we had (sort of) worked out a couple of Cabs tunes for live, just in case it felt right and ‘Crackdown’ seems to have fitted in with the other stuff sonically we are playing at the moment live. And as mentioned, it’s still, for me anyway, a very relevant lyric for these times.

Benge: Yes, it seemed to work last time we played it. Plus, we ran out of our own songs at the end there.

Mute’s box set of Cabaret Voltaire material between 1983 to 1985 and joining WRANGLER have given you Mal, the highest profile since those heady days on Some Bizzare / Virgin… how are you handling all the attention?

Mal: Oh I cope 😉

To be honest, the Cabs made a lot of music and over a long period of time, so there always seems to be some period of our work being analysed for is continuing relevance or reissued in some form.

In fact, and for various reasons, I’ve not really had much to do with the reissue. The WRANGLER recordings and gigs have been going on for a few years so it was funny that our album followed on from the box set – I’ve had no control over the timing, it just happened that way. We planned on having WRANGLER out for a while but these things take time.

I’m happy to know the music I’ve been involved in – past and present – has resonance. Understandably I get more excited about the present and working with Phil and Benge is the primary thing. Because I’ve BEEN living overseas, I think people forget that I’ve been doing lots of stuff between CABARET VOLTAIRE and WRANGLER – I had my own label with about thirty releases, did the HEY RUBE album last year and have the KULA album, LOOPED FOR PLEASURE and various collaborations all due for release. Plus lot of other stuff.

It’s been over 20 years since you played live with CABARET VOLTAIRE, how was the experience of the recent Wrangler gig at the Servant Jazz Quarters in London?

Mal: Well I’ve always played live – the KU-LING BROS in Australia were a very live thing – I played with I MONSTER etc and I’ve DJ’ed constantly so it wasn’t too odd – and we’ve done a few WRANGLER gigs so we seem to be on top of it. It’s better when we can use the visuals which we didn’t at Jazz Quarters but we’ve done a couple of shows with Tom Rogerson at Proof Positive and that’s been good. A good night, we enjoyed it – WRANGLER function as a band and we love playing.

Have you watched the new Benge-featuring modular synthesizer documentary ‘I Dream Of Wires’? And if so, what was your opinion of it?

Mal: Well Benge (and a few other people who I know are in it) will shout at me but no, I’ve still not seen it… mea culpa!! I was hoping I could get a copy.

You also work at the University of Brighton, does lecturing the new generation give you hope for the future of music / media production?

Mal: I talk to people all over in lots of places about media, film, music, art, creativity – I think there are some very talented folk coming through. I think the opportunity and mechanisms for creating and sharing are limitless now but this in itself is a challenge. Popular culture has a long history now and any artist has to carry that burden of familiarity. The key is no longer making but remaking – finding new contexts and connections.

The tools of production have been democratised, we all have the opportunity to create but need to decide for ourselves why we wish to do it because in a world of plenty, it is not as easy to monetise creative production and is increasingly competitive. But if something is good, it will shine and be seen or heard.

I would like to see more respect given – we seem to be downplaying and marginalising the arts in education in the push to make everyone happy worker bees. But imagination is what defines us – there is nothing better than experiencing the fulfilment of making and sharing great ideas and creations. That will never change.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives it warmest thanks to WRANGLER

Special thanks also to Steve Malins at Random PR

‘LA Spark’ is released by Memetune in vinyl, CD and digital formats on 5th May 2014. There is a free download of the song ‘Theme From Wrangler’ with pre-orders via Cargo Records at http://cargorecordsdirect.co.uk/products/wrangler-la-spark

https://www.facebook.com/pages/We-Are-Wrangler/1389558817973207

https://twitter.com/wearewrangler

http://memetune.net

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
22nd April 2014

WRANGLER Live at Proof Positive

21 February 2014 /

With their debut mini-album ‘LA Spark’ now set for release in May, WRANGLER previewed material at a special live showcase for Proof Positive, an experimental improvisation evening curated by musician Tom Rogerson of THREE TRAPPED TIGERS who has also collaborated with the trio.

The trio themselves are Stephen Mallinder ex-CABARET VOLTAIRE, TUNNG’s Phil Winter and synth collector extraordinaire Benge, best known for his work in JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS whose aims for the project are to harness “lost technology to make new themes for the modern world”.

The intimate location was the ultra-hip Servants Jazz Quarters in Dalston, a bar with an open basement for live acts to play in.

Eschewing the vast arrays of analogue kit for which is particularly Benge is known for, WRANGLER use a more practically workable softsynth arrangement augmented by live electronic drums, a variety of touch pad controllers’ and in the latter half of the set, Tom Rogerson on his trusty Juno 60.

The key WRANGLER track has to be ‘Lava Land’, a superb cross between CABARET VOLTAIRE and prime ‘Metamatic’ era JOHN FOXX but with a modern twist. Mallinder’s voice manipulations up and down the scale are a particularly now statement, ranging from demonic gargoyle to stern drowning robot. The frantic pace is strangely danceable but the mood is distinctly unsettling, especially when the screeching string machine kicks in. Another highlight is the dystopian electro funk of ‘Harder’ with its cacophony of phased percussive effects. Meanwhile the leftfield but club friendly ‘LA Spark’ title track will meet the approval of Cabs fans circa 1983-85.

At the close of a short set to which Mallinder amusingly quipped “what do expect for a fiver?”, there was an unexpected rework of CABARET VOLTAIRE’s ‘Crackdown’. With the audience shouting for more, Mallinder appreciated the response but told everyone that he had to catch the last train back home to Brighton. With vintage synths and drum machines given space to create a soundtrack for a dissident future landscape, WRANGLER’s ‘LA Spark’ promises to be one of most eagerly anticipated electronic releases of 2014.

‘LA Spark’ is released by Memetune on vinyl, CD and digital formats on 5th May 2014

https://www.facebook.com/pages/We-Are-Wrangler/1389558817973207

http://memetune.net

http://proofpositivegig.com/

Text and Photos by Chi Ming Lai
21st February 2014

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