Tag: Yello (Page 1 of 6)

THE ELECTRONIC LEGACY OF 1985

9 January 2025 /

Electronic pop music laid slightly wounded in 1985.

It was a year of transition as DEPECHE MODE did not release a new album, but consolidated with a handy compilation ‘The Singles 81-85’ although its very weak new track ‘It’s Called A Heart’ was thankfully not a sign of things to come.

Meanwhile after the critical acclaim with their debut single, the Bobby Orlando produced version of ‘West End Girls’ in 1984, PET SHOP BOYS were struggling to gain traction despite signing a deal with EMI with their first single for the label ‘Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots Of Money)’ which stalled on its first release at No116; but a re-recorded version of ‘West End Girls’ produced by Stephen Hague issued towards the end of 1985 would change fortunes in time for the start of 1986.

One of the key singles of 1985 was ‘Slave To The Rhythm’ by Grace Jones; wonderful, sun-kissed funky pop in its radio version, producer Trevor Horn took the multiple remix approach he had piloted with FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD to its zenith with the parent album. Having worked endlessy to come up with the perfect version and therefore different approaches, rather than actually do a collection of songs, why not do an album that was effectively multiple remixes and interpretations of one song?

The rise of FM synthesis, sampling and computer controlled systems during 1984, sidechained to the success of more guitar driven acts such as U2 and THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS in America, meant that traditional instruments and realistic presets were now the new badge of honour as music made with the inventive electronic sounds prevalent during Synth Britannia faced a backlash. EURYTHMICS moved away from synths to a more conventional band sound while THE SMITHS would continue to be held up by the music press as purer flagbearers of “real music” with Morrissey having already declared “there was nothing more repellent than the synthesizer…”

An early indicator of where things were heading came when ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’ was released by SIMPLE MINDS in February 1985 in the US as the theme to a new teen angst movie ‘The Breakfast Club’. Written by Steve Schiff with Keith Forsey who already had co-writes for ‘Flashdance’ and ‘Never Ending Story’ to his name, Radio1’s Richard Skinner called the song “bland” but highly FM radio friendly, it was an American No1 before the start of the Summer and was one of centrepieces of the US leg of Live Aid at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. The event coincided with an explosion in corporate rock and “DDD” music made for the up-and-coming CD format by the likes of DIRE STRAITS.

This more rock-infused but technically polished new wave sound would be key to TEARS FOR FEARS’ huge success across the Atlantic with their second album ‘Songs From The Big Chair’. It saw bands like VITAMIN Z adopting that style and they even went as far as hiring Ross Cullum who co-produced TEARS FOR FEARS debut to helm their first album ‘Rites Of Passage’; despite a UK tour opening for Midge Ure, although sales were not forthcoming, singer Geoff Barradale would later use his experience to great effect when he managed ARCTIC MONEYS and took them to stardom.

The most disappointing record of 1985 was ‘Crush’ by OMD; while producer Stephen Hague made their sound more palatable for Trans-Atlantic consumption with more guitars, piano and acoustic drums as exemplified by the uninspiring single ‘So In Love’, the inner sleeve credit of “electronic keyboards” instead of individual synths as on ‘Dazzle Ships’ and ‘Junk Culture or “synthesizers” as on previous albums was a pointer to the blanding out of this once great band for a wider audience in the US.

Despite synths being less desirable in terms of Trans-Atlantic marketability in the move away from cooler European artistry, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK has been able to assemble a list of 20 albums seen as being part of the admittedly weaker electronic legacy of 1985. Listed in alphabetical order, there is a restriction of one album per artist moniker.

ABC How To Be A Zillionaire!

After the rockisms of ‘Beauty Stab’, the third ABC album sprung a major surprise in its New York electro flavoured lead single ‘How To Be A Millionaire’. “We saw it happening in Times Square, there were B-Boys doing that whole thing to KRAFTWERK which was just amazing. The minute the Emulator II came out, we bought one. No need to pay a Fairlight programmer £750 a day!” said Mark White; ‘Fear Of The World’ would later be sampled for the ELECTRONIC B-side ‘Lean To The Inside’.

‘How To Be A Zillionaire!’ is still available via Mercury Records

https://www.abcmartinfry.com/

A-HA Hunting High & Low

Despite being labelled a teenybop group, from the beginning A-HA were always so much more than just the catchy pop of ‘Take On Me’. Containing another three hit singles, there was the wistful ‘Hunting High & Low’ title song while ‘The Sun Always Shines On TV’ revealed a lyrical darkness as the combination of synths and edgy guitar put them in the same league as ULTRAVOX and ASSOCIATES. But ‘Living A Boy’s Adventure Tale’ was the track that outlined A-HA had longevity.

‘Hunting High & Low’ is still available via Rhino Entertainment

https://a-ha.com/

ARCADIA So Red The Rose

In response to THE POWER STATION, ARCADIA was Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes and Roger Taylor’s attempt to be JAPAN, smothered in an esoteric pond of lush arty indulgence. ‘Election Day’ featuring Grace Jones could have been a DURAN DURAN song, as could ‘The Flame’ which bore a resemblance to ‘A View To A Kill’. But ‘Goodbye Is Forever’ was art funk that pointed to where DURAN DURAN would head with ‘Notorious’.

‘So Red The Rose’ is still available via EMI Music

https://duranduran.com/

ASSOCIATES Perhaps

With the departure of Alan Rankine after ‘Sulk’, Billy Mackenzie recruited Martyn Ware and Martin Rushent on its follow-up ‘Perhaps’. Although more glossy in sound, the Rushent produced ‘Waiting For The Love Boat’ could have easily come off ‘Sulk’ while ‘Those First Impressions’ produced by Ware narrowly failed to crack the UK Top40. But the epic string laden drama of ‘Breakfast’ helmed by Rushent was possibly Mackenzie’s greatest single moment.

‘Perhaps’ is still available via Warner Music

http://www.billymackenzie.com/

BLANCMANGE Believe You Me

Despite good crossover songs such as ‘Why Don’t They Leave Things Alone?’ and ‘Lorraine’s My Nurse’, with synthpop now no longer in-vogue, there was a lukewarm reception for the third BLANCMANGE album ‘Believe You Me’. With a proclamation from Neil Arthur that “I feel like I’m losin’ my mind” in the electro-funk of ‘22339’, it led to him and Luscombe calling it a day in order to protect their friendship after a show at the Royal Albert Hall.

‘Believe You Me’ is still available via London Records

https://www.blancmange.co.uk/

CHINA CRISIS Flaunt The Imperfection

Produced by Walter Becker of STEELY DAN, the influence of his band on ‘Flaunt The Imperfection’ resulted in much more of a live soulful feel with the contribution of accomplished session musicians while Gary Daly and Eddie Lundon focussed on the songwriting. Classic CHINA CRISIS songs like ‘Black Man Ray’ and ‘King In A Catholic Style’ secured two UK Top20 hits from a single album for the first time.

‘Flaunt The Imperfection’ is still available via Caroline International

https://www.facebook.com/chinacrisisofficial

DEAD OR ALIVE Youthquake

DEAD OR ALIVE looked like they’d missed the boat when their rivals FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD reached No1 with ‘Relax’. Having heard ‘You Think You’re A Man’ by Divine, Burns recruited the song’s production team of Stock, Aitken & Waterman to work on ‘You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)’ which hit the top of the UK singles chart. The eventual ‘Youthquake’ album was a mixed bag, but included another hit ‘In Too Deep’ and the gothic funk epic ‘It’s Been A Long Time’.

‘Youthquake’ is still available via Edsel Records

https://www.demonmusicgroup.co.uk/catalogue/releases/dead-or-alive-youthquake-40th-anniversary-edition-4cd/

ERASURE Wonderland

Andy Bell and Vince Clarke’s debut album ‘Wonderland’ was not an instant hit. The lead single ‘Who Needs Love (Like That)?’ was mistaken by some to be an unreleased YAZOO recording. Among the album’s highlights were the joyous ‘Reunion’ and the funky ‘Push Me… Shove Me’ . The record’s HI-NRG centrepiece ‘Oh L’Amour’ flopped as a single but undeterred, ERASURE toured the college circuit to build up a new fanbase from scratch.

‘Wonderland’ is still available via Mute Records

https://www.erasureinfo.com/

JANSEN BARBIERI Worlds In A Small Room

After JAPAN, drummer Steve Jansen and keyboardist Richard Barbieri formed a new creative partnership. ‘Worlds In A Small Room’ was an instrumental suite commissioned by JVC to accompany a documentary about the Space Shuttle Challenger. ‘Breaking The Silence’ was a beautiful opening piece with elements recalling Ryuichi Sakamoto while the more structured ‘Moving Circles’ had a Jansen vocal added for the Japanese release’s bonus song ‘Move In Circles’.

‘Worlds In A Small Room’ is currently unavailable

https://www.stevejansen.net/

http://www.richardbarbieri.co.uk/

HOWARD JONES Dream Into Action

Thanks to the success of his debut album ‘Human’s Lib’, the follow-up ‘Dream Into Action’ was written by Howard Jones on the road by necessity; “I was writing in dressing rooms on an Akai 12 track recorder…” he said, “we were experimenting a lot so it’s a much more complex record”. There were hopeful anthems in ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ and ‘Life In One Day’ while the plaintive ‘No One Is To Blame’ would become a huge Trans-Atlantic hit in a new version produced by Phil Collins.

‘Dream Into Action’ is still available via Cherry Red Records

http://www.howardjones.com/

NEW ORDER Low-life

‘Low-life’ saw for the first time, a single ‘The Perfect Kiss’ taken from a NEW ORDER album as a compromise following a new US deal with Qwest Records. ‘Low-life’ featured several other highlights and opened with the Country ‘n’ North Western ghost story ‘Love Vigilantes’. The mighty ‘Sunrise’ was another number in the tit-for-that exchange with THE CURE which was clearly influenced by ‘A Forest’ while the brilliant ‘This Time Of Night’ exuded a throbbing post-punk growl.

‘Low-life’ is still available via Rhino

https://www.neworder.com/

GARY NUMAN The Fury

Co-produced with PPG operators The Wave Team, ‘The Fury’ was the best Gary Numan album since ‘Telekon’. Although very much with the times and in line with acts like FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD and DEAD OR ALIVE, the hard but bright digital sound complimented Numan’s downbeat lyrical outlook. Among the highlights were ‘Call Out The Dogs’, ‘Tricks’ and ‘Miracles’ while the haunting closing track ‘I Still Remember’ was a vocal reimagining of the 1979 instrumental ‘Random’.

‘The Fury’ is still available via Eagle Records

https://garynuman.com/

PHILIP OAKEY & GIORGIO MORODER Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder

After the worldwide success of ‘Together In Electric Dreams’ and the lukewarm response to THE HUMAN LEAGUE’s ‘Hysteria’ in 1984, Virgin Records swiftly despatched Philip Oakey to record an album with Giorgio Moroder. ‘Now’ was Oakey’s heartfelt commentary on economic corruption while the thumping side one segue of ‘Why Must The Show Go On?’, ‘Good-Bye Bad Times’ and ‘Take A Chance’ was a thrilling train ride.

‘Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder’ is still available via Virgin Records

https://www.giorgiomoroder.com/

PROPAGANDA A Secret Wish

Düsseldorf’s PROPAGANDA were dubbed “ABBA in Hell”! The magnificent film noir of ‘Dr Mabuse’ was their opening salvo produced by Trevor Horn. The producer’s helm was handed over to engineer Stephen J Lipson for the album ‘A Secret Wish’. ‘Duel’ exuded an accessible ice maiden cool while the Teutonic ‘P.Machinery’ was full of state of the art technical tricks. With the lengthy and poetic ‘Dream Within A Dream’, the listener was taken on a massive sonic adventure.

‘A Secret Wish’ is still available via ZTT / BMG

https://propband.tilda.ws/

SCRITTI POLITTI Cupid & Psyche 85

The first major label SCRITTI POLITTI LP ‘Cupid & Psyche 85’ contained the 1984 Arif Mardin produced hits ‘Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)’ and ‘Absolute’, the latter also seeing input from Gary Langan and JJ Jeczalik of THE ART OF NOISE. Green Gartside embraced of mainstream dance pop and state-of-the-art studio production with new song writing partner David Gamson. Meanwhile self-produced reggae inflected ‘The Word Girl returned to sound of earlier Scritti.

‘Cupid & Psyche 85’ is still available via Virgin Records

https://www.scritti.net/

SIMPLE MINDS Once Upon A Time

After the harder new rock sound of ‘Sparkle In The Rain’ produced by Steve Lillywhite, SIMPLE MINDS brought the synths back in, albeit with a Trans-Atlantic sheen helmed by American production heavyweights Jimmy Iovine and Bob Clearmountain. Despite the modern FM rock bombast which even included a rhythm n blues flavour on ‘Sanctify Yourself’, ‘Alive & Kicking’ saw Mick McNeil’s Gaelic accordion virtuosity applied to electronic keyboards for a huge hit in the US and Europe.

‘Once Upon A Time’ is still available via Universal Music

https://www.simpleminds.com/

TEARS FOR FEARS Songs From The Big Chair

DespiteTEARS FOR FEARS adopting more guitar compared to its predecessor ‘The Hurting’, the more band oriented ‘Songs From The Big Chair’ were still characterised by electronics and rhythm programming in its backbone. Cold War angst provided the tension to ‘Shout’ and the big American driving hit ‘Everybody Wants To Rule The World’ while ‘Head Over Heels’ with its blistering synth solo was another Stateside hit, later in the 2001 psychological thriller ‘Donnie Darko’.

‘Songs From The Big Chair’ is still available via Universal Music

https://tearsforfears.com/

WINSTON TONG Theoretically Chinese

Produced by Alan Rankine, ‘Theoretically Chinese’ was as much of an electronic pop departure for Winston Tong from TUXEDMOON as Robert Görl’s ‘Night Full Of Tension’ was from DAF. The era’s inherent Cold War tensions also loomed large on the fine pulsing opener ‘Big Brother’ as well as an excellent uptempo cover of Marianne Faithfull’s ‘Broken English’ while ‘Reports From The Heart’ provided an elegant sweeping ballad.

‘Theoretically Chinese’ is still available via LTM

https://www.ltmrecordings.com/theoretically_chinese_ltmcd2382.html

MIDGE URE The Gift

Midge Ure finally took the solo album plunge with ‘The Gift’. Songs like ‘When The Wind Blows’, ‘That Certain Smile’ and the title track sounded like ULTRAVOX enough to potentially worry his bandmates. But ULTRAVOX would never have covered JETHRO TULL’s ‘Living In The Past’ or recorded the lovey-dovey UK No1 single ‘If I Was’ which was rescued from the unreleased vaults of MESSENGERS whose instrumentalist Danny Mitchell was Ure’s main collaborator on this great adventure.

‘The Gift’ is still available via Chrysalis Records

http://www.midgeure.co.uk/

YELLO Stella

‘Stella’ was the first album YELLO made without founder member Carlos Perón; Boris Blank and Dieter Meier headed towards a more cinematic style of experimental pop, making greater use of the Fairlight and digital synths. It included the delightful ‘Vicious Games’ featuring vocals by Rush Winters but the album’s biggest track was ‘Oh Yeah’ which ended up in ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’, ‘The Secret of My Success’ and ‘The Simpsons’.

‘Stella’ is still available via Universal Music

https://www.yello.com/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
9 January 2025

MUSIK MUSIC MUSIQUE 3.0 1982 | Synth Pop On The Air

13 February 2023 /

Cherry Red’s ‘Musik Music Musique’ series now reaches its third volume and 1982 when there was “Synth Pop On The Air”.

From the team behind the ’Close To The Noise Floor’ compendiums, the excellent ‘Electrical Language’ set but also the rather confused ‘Music For New Romantics’ box, this 3CD collection documents the year after SOFT CELL hit No1 with ‘Tainted Love’ in the summer of 1981 while THE HUMAN LEAGUE did likewise with ‘Don’t You Want Me?’ to bag that year’s Christmas topspot. 1982 began with KRAFTWERK belatedly reaching a No1 too with ‘The Model’, a track from 1978’s ‘The Man Machine’.

It was as if the world had caught up with the sound of the synth. The period was also notable for affordable silicon chip based polysynths such as the Roland Juno 6 and Korg Poly 6 entering the market. In tandem with the improvement in quality of cassette-based 4-track Portastudios, electronic music became more accessible with basic home studios now a hive of musical creativity.

While the big hitters such as SOFT CELL, OMD, BLANCMANGE, THE HUMAN LEAGUE and ULTRAVOX are represented by album tracks and B-sides alongside breakthrough singles by NEW ORDER, FASHIØN and HEAVEN 17, the curiosity value of ‘Musik Music Musique 3.0’ is boosted by a greater proportion of lesser known tracks and acts compared with the first two compendiums.

Often dismissed as a MOR act thanks to the Giorgio Moroder produced ‘Take My Breath Away, BERLIN are provided a platform for the provocative and more classically Moroder-esque ‘Sex (I’m A….)’. Meanwhile with a not dissimilar throbbing template, DEAD OR ALIVE’s ‘What I Want’ in previously unreleased demo form captures the band in transition from proto-goth to HI-NRG disco and sounding like both simultaneously.

Wonderful lost synthpop jewels include the melodramatic ‘Juliet’ from PASSION POLKA and the bouncy SPANDAU BALLET inspired instrumental ‘Profile Dance’ by SERGEANT FROG, an early alias of PWL mixmaster Phil Harding. Echoing the slightly overblown vocal styles of the period, ‘Future Shock’ by COMMUNICATION falls under the spell of ASSOCIATES while both ‘Climb Down’ from THIRTEEN AT MIDNIGHT and ‘Instant Feeling’ by AERIAL FX are percussively anxious.

The two best rare highlights both come with links to Glasgow; fronted by David Rudden, ENDGAMES played with a brand polished synthpop funk of which ‘First Last For Everything’ is a good example. Meanwhile, LEISURE PROCESS were the duo comprising of Ross Middleton and Gary Barnacle whose small portfolio of singles were all produced by Martin Rushent; although the vocals were virtually unintelligible over the clattering Linn Drum, pulsing synths, squawky guitar and sax, ‘Love Cascade’ remains a cool dancefloor friendly number reflecting the decadent spirit of the times.

The underrated COLOURBOX are represented by the 1982 single version of ‘Breakdown’ while DRINKING ELECTRICITY’s ‘Good Times’ explores a synth art funk hybrid that threatens to turn into ‘The Locomotion’. An actual cover version, JULIE & THE JEMS take on ‘1-2-3’ is a reflection of how commercial pop had become synthed up, especially when it is learnt that front woman Julie Harris was part of the line-up of TIGHT FIT that got to No1 later in 1982 with ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’; incidentally that rework was produced by Tim Friese-Greene who later became Mark Hollis’s writing partner in TALK TALK who themselves are represented on ‘Musik Music Musique 3.0’ by their slightly underwhelming debut single ‘Mirror Man’.

There is a surprise in that Arthur Brown of ‘Fire’ fame with his synth experiment ‘Conversations’ and it is suitably crazy and enjoyable in the manner of early FALCO. The late Austrian himself is represented by ‘Maschine Brennt’ while German neighbours DIE KRUPPS’ ‘Goldfinger’ is a welcome inclusion that exposes their more DAF-like origins.

Adding a less confrontational continental tone, ‘Par Hasard’ by MIKADO is a slice of delightful electro-lounge, while Belgium’s TELEX bring swing into the mix with ‘Sigmund Freud’s Party’ and Switzerland’s YELLO exude their quirky playfulness on ‘Heavy Whispers’, albeit with a darker disposition.

It is interesting to look back at the lesser remembered Kim Wilde single ‘Child Come Away’ and Toyah’s 1982 re-recording of ‘Ieya’ which were both synth dominated but failed to crack the Top 40 despite the sound being ubiquitous on the airwaves. There was the beginning of a notable synth backlash after the triumph of 1981 and DEXY’S MIDNIGHT RUNNERS fiddly ‘Come On Eileen’ becoming the best-selling UK single of 1982 was a surefire sign. And that was without the Musicians Union motion to ban synths from recording and live performance.

Cult acts of the period FAD GADGET, THE PASSAGE, FIAT LUX, SECTION 25 and POEME ELECTRONIQUE along with the two Thomases, Dolby and Lang don’t miss out on the party, but notably absent are bands who had been part of earlier sets such as NEW MUSIK and VISAGE whose 1982 albums have worthy material to mine.

Closing with OMEGA THEATRE and the quite bizarre but entertaining ‘Robots, Machines & Silicon Dreams’, its classic pop theatrics are not entirely surprising as its creator John Carter co-wrote the 1970 Eurovision runner-up ‘Knock, Knock Who’s There?’ for Mary Hopkin, ‘Let’s Go to San Francisco’ for THE FLOWER POT MEN and ‘Beach Baby’ for THE FIRST CLASS.

However, as before, there are minor quibbles; while the correct 1982 versions of NEW ORDER’s ‘Temptation’, TEARS FOR FEARS ‘Pale Shelter’ and Paul Haig’s ‘Justice’ feature, ‘European Son’ by JAPAN comes in the earlier John Punter B-side version rather the snappier 1982 Steve Nye single remix. And then having mentioned in the booklet that OMD’s ‘She’s Leaving’ was released as a slightly remixed 1982 single in Benelux territories, the compilation goes with the familiar 1981 ‘Architecture & Morality’ album cut. Meanwhile the inclusion of ‘Sex Dwarf’ from 1981’s ‘Non Stop Erotic Cabaret’ is a head scratcher when the 1982 SOFT CELL B-sides ‘Insecure Me’, ‘….So’ or ‘It’s A Mug’s Game’ would have been more interesting.

Lessons have still not been learnt from previous booklets with photos of OMD from 1984 and DEAD OR ALIVE from 1985 appearing. Again, the booklet notes are a mixed bag; why bother to bang on about the John Foxx-era of ULTRAVOX with the limited word count when by 1982, the Midge Ure-led version were an established hit machine? Also, why does the story of JOY DIVISION need to be repeated ad nauseam  in the context of NEW ORDER?

Meanwhile, DRAMATIS (who are represented by their best single ‘The Shame’) returned to being Gary Numan’s live backing band in 1983, not 1982! Then with the biggest gaff in the TEARS FOR FEARS section, Curt Smith played bass NOT guitar and vice versa for Roland Jaime Orzabal de la Quintana to give his full name!

So full marks for the amount of lesser known material gathered on ‘Musik Music Musique 3.0’, but please get the accompanying booklet sorted out for ‘Musik Music Musique 4.0’ as there have been enough opportunities now to get that side of the operation right. Roll on 1983…

‘Musik Music Musique 3.0: 1982 – Synth Pop On The Air’ is released by Cherry Red on 17th February 2023 as a 3CD boxed set

https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/musik-music-musique-3-0-1982-synthpop-on-the-air-3cd-box-set/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
13tn February 2023

MUSIC FOR NEW ROMANTICS

5 November 2022 /

The phenomenon of the New Romantics can be said to have begun in Autumn 1978 with the foundation of a “Bowie Night” by Steve Strange and Rusty Egan at Billy’s nightclub in London’s Soho.

The youth movement that emerged aimed to find something new and colourful to escape the oncoming drabness in The Winter Of Discontent. Like Edwardian dandies meeting the Weimar Cabaret with extras from ‘Barbarella’ in between, they did a strange swaying arms dance, so as to not mess up their theatrical bouffanted hair. But after a disagreement with the owners of Billy’s, the pair moved their venture to The Blitz Club in Holborn.

Despite names such as Futurists, The Blitz Kids and The Movement With No Name, it was the term “New Romantics” coined by producer Richard James Burgess that became the widely used press description for this flamboyant group of outsiders. It was to eventually stick on anything from synthpop, art rock and peacock punk to Latin grooves, jazz funk and cod reggae provided the artist wore make-up, zoot suits, frilly blouses, smocks, headbands or kilts. Parallel club scenes developed at The Rum Runner in Birmingham, Crocs in Rayleigh near Southend and The Warehouse in Leeds from which DURAN DURAN, DEPECHE MODE and SOFT CELL respectively emerged.

To celebrate this era in popular culture, Cherry Red Records release an eclectic boxed set entitled ‘Music For New Romantics’. But while it contains some fantastic music, the tracklisting is a confused affair, having been originally conceived around comings and goings of The Blitz Club. It was here that Steve Strange acted as doorman and fashion policeman, while Rusty Egan was its resident DJ providing the soundtrack for a scene which became the catalyst for several bands including SPANDAU BALLET, CULTURE CLUB and VISAGE as well as assorted fashion designers, visual artists and writers.

Everything was centred around fashion-obsessed and some would say self-obsessed individuals; while the story about turning away Mick Jagger is well documented, one of the ironies of Steve Strange’s gatekeeping antics was that he refused entry to Chris Payne, then a member of Gary Numan’s band in 1979; Strange was to have his biggest hit with a song that Payne co-wrote entitled ‘Fade To Grey’ while another refused entry that evening was Ced Sharpley who played the drums on it!

Contrary to legend, the playlists of the various New Romantic establishments did not comprise exclusively of electronic music as those types of tracks were comparatively scarce at the time. So international synthworks from the likes of KRAFTWERK, YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA, SPARKS, SPACE and TELEX sat alongside soundtracks, punk, disco and relatable glam rock tunes by David Bowie, Brian Eno and Bryan Ferry.

Rusty Egan declined to be involved in the collection after initial discussions led to conceptual differences. In the absence of The Blitz Club’s resident DJ who is now planning his own curated collection, one of the regulars Chris Sullivan, who himself ran a similar but less electronically focussed night at Le Kilt in Soho, steps in to provide commentary while the set was put together by the team behind Cherry Red’s ‘Musik Music Musique’ synthpop series and ‘Electrical Language’ boxed set.

‘Music For New Romantics’ comes with three loosely themed discs with CD1 focussing on glam, art rock and early electronic disco while CD2 covers Synth Britannia and new wave. CD3 though is a hotch-potch of soul, funk and electro with SISTER SLEDGE and LIPPS INC being rather incongruous inclusions; with their hit songs being readily available on any ‘Night Fever’ type compilation, there were many more suitable alternatives that could have been considered.

But it is CD2 that most will revel in and the tracklist has no fault as a listening experience. Standards such as the eponymous song by VISAGE, SIMPLE MINDS ‘Changeling’, OMD’s ‘Electricity’, ‘Moskow Diskow’ from TELEX, THE NORMAL’s ‘Warm Leatherette’, JAPAN’s Giorgio Moroder produced ‘Life In Tokyo’, ‘Bostich’ by YELLO, ‘Being Boiled’ from THE HUMAN LEAGUE and THROBBING GRISTLE’s ‘Hot On The Heels Of Love’ are present and correct. But it was SPANDAU BALLET’s ‘To Cut A Long Story Short’ and LANDSCAPE’s ‘Einstein A-Go-Go’ that were to confirm that the New Romantics were able to hit the charts in their own right after Steve Strange’s cameo in Bowie’s ‘Ashes To Ashes’ video.

CD1 features scene heroes such as Iggy Pop, Lou Reed and Mick Ronson, but heroines come in the avant cabaret glamour of Nina Hagen with ‘TV-Glotzer’ and Grace Jones’ reinterpretation of Édith Piaf’s ‘La Vie En Rose’. The most welcome track on this disc though is RAH BAND’s ‘The Crunch’ which all but invented the sexy electro-Schaffel of GOLDFRAPP, while one obscure jewel is ‘The Ultimate Warlord’ by THE WARLORD. And when today’s synthwave fanboys go on and on ad nauseam about how influential the ‘Drive’ soundtrack is, then just throw ‘Chase’ by Giorgio Moroder from ‘Midnight Express’ at them!

Despite being a mess of styles, the highlights of CD3 are Marianne Faithfull’s terrorism commentary ‘Broken English’ and Gina X with the Quentin Crisp tribute ‘No GDM’ which both fit into the avant cabaret category. Although ‘M Factor’, the B-side of M’s ‘Pop Muzik’ was regularly played at The Blitz Club, ‘Everything’s Gone Green’ by NEW ORDER sticks out like a sore thumb… Peter Hook would likely scoff at being considered a New Romantic!

The move towards funk in the New Pop of late 1981 is reflected in ABC with ‘Tears Are Not Enough’ (full marks for using the CORRECT Steve Brown produced single version), HEAVEN 17’s ‘We Don’t Need This Fascist Groove Thang’ (in a rare radio version with the lyric “fascist god” changed to “cowboy god”) and TOM TOM CLUB’s ‘Genius Of Love’. But those who consider New Romantics to be discerning studious types into synth and new wave will find the likes of Coati Mundi and Don Armando extremely alienating; after all, it was THE HUMAN LEAGUE’s Phil Oakey who said to Smash Hits around this time “I hate all trends like all this Ze Stuff”! 

When the New Romantic magazine ‘New Sounds, New Styles’ launched as a monthly publication in Summer 1981 after a promising launch edition, its content was confused with one angry punter later exclaiming via letter: “You’re meant to be a Futurist mag so leave all this Latin and jazz funk sh*t out of it!” – with the embarrassing novelty party act MODERN ROMANCE also being lumped in with the New Romantics, it was obvious the rot had now set in. Tellingly within a year, ‘New Sounds, New Styles’ folded…

From 1982, ‘Club Country’ by ASSOCIATES which notably highlighted the observations of  Billy MacKenzie on what he saw as the posey vapid nature of The Blitz Club is a fitting inclusion. Meanwhile as the ‘Music For New Romantics’ essay writer, Chris Sullivan gets to include his own style over substance combo BLUE RONDO À LA TURK with ‘Klactoveesedstein’, a single that came in with a blank at No50 that same year!

Of course, Sullivan went on to establish Le Beat Route and The Wag Club because he loved salsa and was less than enthused about synthpop, highlighting that despite the New Romantics seeming to be a united voice of expression, like any movement, it had its factions. Not featuring in the set, it was another scene regular Marilyn who said on the recent ‘Blitzed’ Sky Arts documentary that “I hated the music, all that electronic crap” while Steve Strange imposed a ban on Gary Numan being played at The Blitz Club, thus prompting Mr Webb’s lines “These New Romantics are oh so boring” in the 1981’s ‘Moral’ and “I like romantics but I don’t like Steven” in 1982’s ‘War Songs’.

A range of key New Romantic godfathers are missing from Bowie to Eno although MOTT THE HOOPLE’s hit take on ‘All The Young Dudes’ makes up for the former while ROXY MUSIC’s ‘Do The Stand’ effectively covers off the latter. KRAFTWERK, YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA and SPARKS are also absent and of the lesser known cult figures, Wolfgang Riechmann undoubtedly deserved inclusion, while New Romantic staples such as ‘Hiroshima Mon Amour’, ‘RERB’ and ‘Magic Fly’ are more preferable to the likes of ‘Funky Town’ or ‘Ai No Corrida’.

Although only a single disc, 2006’s ‘Only After Dark’ compiled by Nick Rhodes and John Taylor of DURAN DURAN based around the music played at The Rum Runner, managed to feature Bowie and Eno as well as YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA and KRAFTWERK so did more with less. While ‘Music For New Romantics’ is flawed and will cause some head scratching, this set is a reminder of those more innocent aspirational times and a scene that DID actually play its part in changing the world.

The Blitz Club’s tenure was short and after vacating it, Steve Strange and Rusty Egan started Club For Heroes and then in 1982 came The Camden Palace; it was the UK’s first modern superclub; music and clubbing were never the same again, and it was not for the better. However, the New Romantics had made their mark.

An elitist movement that was exclusive at its core despite the protestations of some, one amusing modern day legacy of the New Romantics and the Blitz generation in particular is how some try to ride on the scene’s trenchcoat tails, despite the fact that even if they had been old enough to visit licenced premises back in 1980, they almost certainly would have not been allowed in, thanks to the door policy of the man born Stephen John Harrington.

Taylor Swift did a song in 2014 called ‘New Romantics’ and when you google “New Romantics” these days, it’s what often springs up at the top of the searches… but that’s another story 😉

‘Music For New Romantics’ is released by Cherry Red as a 3CD Clamshell Box Set on 25th November 2022

https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/music-for-new-romantics-3cd-clamshell-box-set/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
5th November 2022

FIFI RONG Interview

20 December 2021 /


While Beijing-born avant-pop songstress Fifi Rong released her debut self-released album ‘Wrong’ in 2013, she actually made her first UK TV appearance on ‘The Paul O’Grady Show’ in 2008 as a member of THE TENORIONS.

Set-up by Yamaha to demonstrate their flagship portable electronic sequencer, when the trio disbanded, Fifi Rong relocated to Bristol in pursuit of her own sound.

Immersing herself in the world of trip-hop and working with the likes of Tricky, she came up with a sensual East West blend that placed her Chinese operatic trained voice within a modern technologically-driven musical backdrop.

One person impressed by her melancholic vocal presence was Boris Blank of YELLO who invited her to sing on the duo’s ‘Toy’ and ‘Point’ albums. Performing at the Swiss electronic pioneers’ live shows in Europe, she met Berlin-based British producer Mark Reeder who she later collaborated with on the track ‘Figure Of 8’, opening his 2021 ‘Subversiv-Dekadent’ collection which also featured his remixes of YELLO and NEW ORDER as well as the Fifi Rong track ‘Future Never Comes’

But Fifi Rong’s ambitious second album ‘There is a Funeral in My Heart, For Every Man I Loved’ is very much her own work. Recorded in English and her native Mandarin versions, it sees her reconnecting with her heritage in a concept album about doomed romance, a favourite subject in Chinese mythology and theatre. Heavy in heart, her haunting vocals are the prime focus of this beautiful listening experience.

Fifi Rong kindly spoke to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about the making of her second long playing work and why there has been a five year gestation period, plus her thoughts on art and commerce in the digital world….


Your first album ‘Wrong’ was released in 2013, so why has it taken such a long time to follow-up with another long playing work?

I have made 22+ releases since 2013. The world of Spotify and playlist music don’t really invite albums. So it’s not the best way to go concerning exposure for every single song but I wanted to do it anyway and so people can always come back to this album in the future. A humble release without playing the ‘game’ so to speak.

It’s not like you have been idle over these years, with various EPs, singles and collaborations with Mark Reeder, Lo and YELLO, but have all the different working methods and time constraints made things more challenging?

Yeah, definitely slowed the album down. Touring, one of deals like with W Records, and a Chinese EP release side-track excitement and all. Collaborated with over 50 producers over the years. It’s been beautiful. No regrets.

The album begins with ‘Out Of Clock’, is running out of time our worst enemy?

Time is the most valuable assets to human lives. It’s in true melancholic beauty to appreciate and mourn for passed time. The song is most singing about the heart is running out of love after being broken time and time again.

Having once said ‘Love Is A Lonely Thing’, now ‘There Is A Funeral In My Heart, For Every Man I Loved’?

‘Love Is A Lonely Thing’ was going to be a part of this double album, but the album got too long so I had to let ‘Love Is A Lonely Thing’ be a single / EP leading into the album. They are very much on the same vibe.

You’ve delved into your Chinese heritage much more creatively than before, did you feel the time was right in many ways?

Yeah it’s like I didn’t miss Chinese food till much later in life here in the UK. Growing up through self-realisation, I feel the Chinese heritage part of me needed to be further developed. I miss China, my parents, and my root, and only writing in English is only half of me.

So were these songs written in Mandarin first?

No, English. I think in English, and then rewritten into Mandarin. I wouldn’t be encouraged to do the other way round. I also FEEL in English, and I have the ability to turn something into Chinese. This is a recent ability I discovered I had 🙂

Mandarin is such a beautiful language? Do you dream in Mandarin?

Yeah it’s beautiful. Hmm depends on if I dream about childhood or family. Then yes in Mandarin.


This album captures the notion of doomed romance…

Yeah, melancholic romanticism is almost an abstract feeling even without context I wanted to encapsulate. And I think I really have done it the way I wanted to. Very proud to a point I don’t care if others don’t like it. I’m just happy I did it.

Have you ever seen the 1963 Hong Kong film ‘梁山伯与祝英台’, known in English as ‘The Love Eterne’ based on the legend of ‘The Butterfly Lovers’? That was the first film I saw in Mandarin when I was a child!

Yes I have. That’s very ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Unfortunately, I never met someone I wanted to run away with. I only know how to bury them 🙂

Your voice is central to your music; how do you prefer to produce your vocals for recorded work, are there any particular tricks or equipment you can tell us about?

Yes the vocal production took hundreds of hours to compare itself to the big records out there. RX7, thanks to my friend Robert R Smith who introduced it to me, I would have manually edited all the imperfections out one by one. Also both my mixer Oskar Vizan and Robert told me to not record directly to the mic but to do an angle to avoid proximity effect whilst remaining intimate.


Was the album’s concept quite traditional in that it is 12 songs with a similar theme, feel and tempo?

I’d say it’s a concept album. And no. Traditional concept from my understanding (in recent times) is to have a BIG SINGLE, faster tracks to mix with some downtempo album songs. This is the opposite. I see it as sonic painting, fine art music that will really last, so I can’t care less what the industry expects. But if you are talking about traditional in terms of PINK FLOYD times, then yeah, I fully respect that. But still, they had ‘Money’ that was a huge single, and my least fave on the album. They were pressured to make a single all the same.

So the stylistic jumping around of a modern pop album was not really figuring your mind?

No, I don’t create within a framework of I should or should not and try to please a ‘market’. I please me first and foremost, and like-minded people will come and find great value in it.

Most of the album’s backing is very sparse, ‘Beg For Me’ in particular, how did you select the instrumental colours you wanted to use? Do you have any favourite VSTs?

Yeah Arturia is the most frequently used virtual instrument, and I have a tendency to go with dusty retro sounds. I was inspired by the Peruvian shaman who cracked my heart open with just Acapella. I wanted to use as little instrumentation as possible, but to make the double album interesting enough, I use some sounds to decorate the vocals. But like you said, this is a vocal-led album for sure.

‘Dream On’ captures some understated filmic drama, had there been any particular influences musically on this song?

Nah it’s a song I’ve kept for very long… sometimes when the song is so significant, I don’t know how the production falls into place. It has a spell on me though every time I listened to it, it took me away till the end and made me forget what I was looking for, such as a mistake in the mix etc. The song came from a dream, it had to be written, it begged itself to come out into the world. Putting on the clothes (production) for this song is just satisfying its own craving.

Do you have any particular favourite songs on the album?

‘Another Me’, ‘Love Yourself First’, ‘Dream On’, ‘Beg For More’, ‘Stay Away’, and several on the Chinese side of the album too. ‘I’m Enough’ is nice too.


You’ve ramped up your fan engagement online, how have you found balancing the time meeting their requests and demands?

I’ve done far more than this for music. But I have opened my heart this year for my supporters, and enjoying the journey!

You’ve got involved in the brave new world of NFTs?

Involvement is an understatement. I’m in it full time now, I urge everyone to come with me and thank me later 🙂

What’s next? Is a live presentation of ‘There Is A Funeral In My Heart, For Every Man I Loved’ on the cards?

Due to the unpredictability of the pandemic, live tour is not too likely, but maybe something small in London is possible. However, it’s more likely to make it a virtual metaverse experience.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Fifi Rong

‘There is a Funeral in My Heart, For Every Man I Loved’ is available via the usual digital platforms and physically from https://fifirong.bandcamp.com/

http://www.fifirong.com/

https://www.facebook.com/fifirongmusic/

https://twitter.com/fifirong

https://www.instagram.com/fifirong/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/64yPy2kBAhOJSRxOEtL3Qk

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Dylan Chubb
20th December 2021

2021 END OF YEAR REVIEW

17 December 2021 /


As the world steadily emerged from a painful pandemic that put many lives on hold, nostalgia appeared to be the commodity most in demand as the music industry took steps to recover.

No matter which era, anything musically from the past was more desirable that anything that reminded the public of the past 20 or so months. The first escape destination in the summer for many restricted to staying on their own shores were the established retro festivals.

Meanwhile television provided an array of documentaries ranging from chart rundowns of past decades and informative classic song analysis on Channel 5 to Dylan Jones’ look at ‘Music’s Greatest Decade’ on BBC2 and Sky Arts’ ‘Blitzed’ with all the usual suspects such as Boy George, Philip Sallon, Marilyn, Gary Kemp and Rusty Egan.

SPARKS had their own comprehensive if slightly overlong film ‘The SPARKS Brothers’ directed by Edgar Wright, but the Maels’ musical ‘Annette’ starring Adam Driver was a step too far. Meanwhile the acclaimed ‘Sisters With Transistors’ presented the largely untold story of electronic music’s female pioneers.

It was big business for 40th anniversary live celebrations from the likes of HEAVEN 17, THE HUMAN LEAGUE, OMD and SOFT CELL, while other veterans such as NEW ORDER and ERASURE returned to the live circuit with the biggest indoor headlining shows of their career.

Meanwhile for 2022, Midge Ure announced an extensive ‘Voices & Visions’ tour to present material from the 1981-82 phase of ULTRAVOX.

Also next year and all being well, GOLDFRAPP will finally get their belated 20th Anniversary tour for their marvellous debut ‘Felt Mountain’ underway while there are rescheduled ‘Greatest Hits’ live presentations for PET SHOP BOYS and SIMPLE MINDS.

Always money for old rope, but also giving audiences who missed them at their pioneering height an opportunity to catch up, ‘best of’ collections were issued by YELLO and TELEX while JAPAN had their 1979 breakthrough album ‘Quiet Life’ given the lavish boxed set treatment. Meanwhile, while many labels were still doing their best to kill off CD, there was the puzzling wide scale return of the compact cassette, a poor quality carrier even at the zenith of its popularity.

“Reissue! Repackage! Repackage! Re-evaluate the songs! Double-pack with a photograph, extra track and a tacky badge!” a disgraced Northern English philosopher once bemoaned.

The boosted market for deluxe boxed sets and the repackaging of classic albums in coloured vinyl meant that the major corporations such as Universal, Sony and Warners hogged the pressing plants, leaving independent artists with lead times of nearly a year for delivery if they were lucky.

But there was new music in 2021. Having achieved the milestone of four decades as a recording act, DURAN DURAN worked with Giorgio Moroder on the appropriately titled ‘Future Past’ while not far behind, BLANCMANGE took a ‘Commercial Break’ and FIAT LUX explored ‘Twisted Culture’. David Cicero made his belated return to music with a mature second album that was about ‘Today’ as Steven Jones & Logan Sky focussed on the monochromatic mood of ‘European Lovers’. Continuing the European theme but towards the former Eastern Bloc, Mark Reeder gave a reminder that he was once declared ‘Subversiv-Dekadent’ and fellow Mancunians UNE became inspired by the ‘Spomenik’ monoliths commissioned by Marshal Tito in the former Yugoslavia.

For those who preferred to immerse themselves in the darker present, Gary Numan presented ‘Intruder’, a poignant concept album produced by Ade Fenton about Mother Earth creating a virus to teach mankind a lesson! Meanwhile ITALOCONNECTION, the project of Italo veterans Fred Ventura and Paolo Gozzetti teamed up with French superstar Etienne Daho to tell the story of ‘Virus X’! The video of the year came from UNIFY SEPARATE whose motivation message to ‘Embrace The Fear’ despite the uncertainty reflected the thoughts of many.

Despite the general appetite for nostalgia, there was some excellent new music released from less established artists with the album of the year coming from Jorja Chalmers and her ‘Midnight Train’ released on Italians Do It Better. The critical acclaim for the UK based Aussie’s second long playing solo offering made up for the disbandment of the label’s biggest act CHROMATICS, as it went into its most prolific release schedule in its history with albums by GLÜME, JOON, DLINA VOLNY and LOVE OBJECT as well as its own self-titled compilation of in-house Madonna covers.

As Kat Von D teamed up with Dan Haigh of GUNSHIP for her debut solo record ‘Love Made Me Do It’, acts like DANZ CM, CLASS ACTRESS, GLITBITER, PRIMO THE ALIEN, PARALLELS, KANGA, R.MISSING, I AM SNOW ANGEL, XENO & OAKLANDER, HELIX and DAWN TO DAWN showed that North America was still the creative hub as far as electronically derived pop songs went.

Attracting a lot of attention in 2021 were NATION OF LANGUAGE, who with their catchy blend of angst, melody and motorik beats welcomed synths as family in their evolving sound while also providing the song of the year in ‘This Fractured Mind’, reflecting the anxieties of these strange times. At the other end of the spectrum, DIAMOND FIELD went full pop with an optimistic multi-vocalist collection that captured the spirit of early MTV while BUNNY X looked back on their high school days with ‘Young & In Love’.

ACTORS delivered their most synthy album yet while as LEATHERS, they keyboardist Shannon Hamment went the full hog for her debut solo effort ‘Reckless’. FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY released a new album and some of that ‘Mechanical Soul’ was brought by their Rhys Fulber into his productions this year for AESTHETIC PERFECTION.

In Europe, long playing debuts came from PISTON DAMP and WE ARE REPLICA while NORTHERN LITE released their first album completely in German and FRAGRANCE. presented their second album ‘Salt Air’. There was also the welcome return of SIN COS TAN, KID KASIO, GUSGUS, MARVA VON THEO, TINY MAGNETIC PETS and MAN WITHOUT COUNTRY.

Featuring second generation members of NEW ORDER and SECTION 25, SEA FEVER released their eclectic debut ‘Folding Lines’ as fellow Mancunian LONELADY added sequencers and drum machines to her post-punk funk template. But Glasgow’s CHVRCHES disappointed with their fourth long player ‘Screen Violence’ by opting to sound like every other tired hipster band infesting the land.

The most promising artist to breakthrough in 2021 was Hattie Cooke whose application of traditional songwriting nous to self-production and arrangement techniques using comparatively basic tools such as GarageBand found a wider audience via her third album ‘Bliss Land’. In all, it was a strong year for female synth-friendly artists with impressive albums from Karin My, Laura Dre, Alina Valentina, Robin Hatch and Catherine Moan while comparative veterans like Fifi Rong, Alice Hubble, Brigitte Handley and Alison Lewis as ZANIAS maintained their cult popularity.

In 2021, sometimes words were very unnecessary and there were fine instrumental synth albums from BETAMAXX, WAVESHAPER, КЛЕТ and Richard Barbieri, with a Mercury nomination received by Hannah Peel for ‘Fir Wave’. But for those who preferred Italo Noir, popwave, post-punk techno and progressive pop, Tobias Bernstrup, Michael Oakley, Eric Random and Steven Wilson delivered the goods respectively.

With ‘The Never Ending’ being billed as the final FM ATTACK album and PERTURBATOR incorrectly paraphrased by Metal Hammer in a controversial “synthwave is dead” declaration, the community got itself in a pickle by simultaneously attacking THE WEEKND for “stealing from synthwave”, yet wanting to ride on the coat tails of Abel Tesfaye, misguidedly sensing an opportunity to snare new fans for their own music projects.

With THE WEEKND’s most recent single ‘Take My Breath’, there was the outcry over the use of a four note arpeggio allegedly sampled from MAKEUP & VANITY SET’s ‘The Last City’. But as one online observer put it, “Wow, an arpeggiated minor chord. Hate to break it to you but you might want to check out what Giorgio Moroder was doing 50 years ago. We’re ALL just rippin’ him off if that’s how you think creativity works”. Another added “If a four note minor key arpeggiated chord can go to court on the basis of copyright law, we are in for a hell of a few years my synthy friends”. It outlined once again that there are some who are still under the impression that music using synths was invented by Ryan Gosling in 2011 for ‘Drive’ soundtrack ??

There were also belated complaints that 2019’s A-HA inspired ‘Blinding Lights’ had a simple melody and needed five writers to realise it… but then, so did UTRAVOX’s ‘Slow Motion’ and DURAN DURAN’s ‘Rio’! Collaboration, whether in bands, with producers or even outsiders has always been a key aspect of the compositional process. If it is THAT simple, do it yourself! As Andy McCluskey of OMD said on ‘Synth Britannia’ in 2009 about the pioneering era when Ryan Gosling was still in nappies: “The number of people who thought that the equipment wrote the song for you: ‘well anybody can do it with the equipment you’ve got!’ “F*** OFF!!”

Over the last two years, THE WEEKND has become the biggest mainstream pop act on the planet, thanks to spectacles such as the impressive gothic theatre of the Super Bowl LV half time showcase while in a special performance on the BRITS, there was a charming presentation of the ERASURE-ish ‘Save Your Tears’ where he played air synth in a moment relatable to many. But everything is ultimately down to catchy songs, regardless of synth usage.

So ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK would like to present a hypothetical case to consider… if someone uses the arpeggio function with a sparkling patch from a Juno 6 synth in a recording, does Cyndi Lauper sue for infringing the copyright of ‘All Through The Night’ or the original songwriter Jules Shear or even the Roland Corporation themselves as they created it? More than one producer has suggested that THE WEEKND’s soundbite came from a hardware preset or more than likely, a software sample pack, of which there are now many.

However, sample culture had hit another new low when Tracklib marketed a package as “A real game-changer for sample based music. Now everyone can afford to clear samples” with rapper and producer Erick Sermon declaring “Yo, this is incredible. They’re trying to put creativity back into music again. By having samples you can actually pay for and afford”.

Err creativity? How about writing your own songs and playing or even programming YOUR OWN instrumentation??!? One sampling enthusiast even declared “I might go as far as to say you don’t really like dance music if you’ve got a problem with adding a beat to a huge (even instantly recognizable) sample”… well guess what? ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK LOATHES IT!!! ?

In 2021, music promotion became a bit strange with publicists at all levels keen more than ever to have their clients’ press releases just cut ‘n’ pasted onto online platforms, but very reluctant to allow albums to be reviewed in advance in the event of a potential negative prognosis.

While cut ‘n’ paste journalism has been a disease that has always afflicted online media, in a sad sign of the times, one long established international website moved to a “pay to get your press release featured” business model.

The emergence of reaction vloggers was another bizarre development while the “Mention your favourite artist and see if they respond to you” posts on social media only added more wood to the dumbing down bonfire already existing within audience engagement.

It was as if the wider public was no longer interested in more in-depth analysis while many artists turned their publicity into a reliance on others doing “big ups” via Twitter and Facebook. But then, if artists are being successfully crowdfunded with subscriptions via Patreon, Kickstarter, Bandcamp and the like, do they need a media intermediary any longer as they are dealing direct with their fanbases?

However, it wasn’t all bad in the media with ‘Electronically Yours With Martyn Ware’ providing insightful artist interviews and the largely entertaining ‘Beyond Synth’ podcast celebrating its 300th show. Due to their own music commitments, Steven Wilson and Tim Bowness were less prolific with their discussion show ‘The Album Years’ but it was still refreshing for commentators to be able to say that a record was sh*t when it actually was, rather than conform to the modern day adage that all music is good but not always to the listener’s taste!  And while various programmes came and went, other such as ‘Operating//Generating’, ‘KZL Live’ and ‘Absynth’ came to prominence.

Post-pandemic, interesting if uncertain times are ahead within the music industry. But as live performance returns, while the mainstream is likely to hit the crowd walking, will there be enough cost effective venues to host independent artists? Things have been tough but for some, but things might be about to get even tougher.

However, music was what got many through the last 18 months and as times are still uncertain, music in its live variant will help to get everyone through the next year and a half and beyond.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s year in music is gathered in its 2021 Playlist – Missing U at
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4rlJgJhiGkOw8q2JcunJfw

Text by Chi Ming Lai
17th December 2021

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