SHOOK is a composer, producer and musician based in The Netherlands.
Real name Jasper Wijnands, vintage keyboards within his studio set-up include a Polymoog, Siel Orchestra, Yamaha DX7 and Roland Juno 60, while there is also more modern hardware like the Dave Smith Prophet 12 and Nord Electro 4.
His electronically tinged work is influenced by jazz, funk and anime soundtracks; this led him to be commissioned to remix Ellie Goulding’s ‘Lights’ in 2011 and JAMIROQUAI’s ‘Lifeline’ in 2013. Despite this, SHOOK’s most recent album ‘Continuum’ has captured a more moody virtuoso ambience, recalling AIR and Ryuichi Sakamoto’s ‘async’ long player which was released earlier this year.
A key track from the ‘Continuum’ album, ‘Tidal’ has been accorded its own visual presentation directed by Anise Mariko of mikineko productions, who was responsible for the ‘Been Waiting’ video for COMPUTER MAGIC. Filmed by Sony Ambassador Ivan Wong, it is a picturesque travelogue capturing the essence of Tokyo, Hong Kong and New York.
With a musical backdrop of gentle marimba-like textures and soothing synths, cityscapes, malls and markets are captured alongside more serene gardens, forests and cultural focal points.
Mariko said to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK: “We explored rooftops and alleys around the world. Shook has been hospitalized for the past year and is a dear friend of ours – We wanted to dedicate the freedom and beauty of this video to him”.
Wijnands was diagnosed with Pancreatitis in 2016, but is determined to continue making music as he makes his recovery. ‘Tidal’ is a fine projection of his positive spirit in the face of adversity.
From Happy Robots Records, the stable that brought the world ARTHUR & MARTHA, RODNEY CROMWELL and HOLOGRAM TEEN, comes PATTERN LANGUAGE.
The debut mini-album ‘Total Squaresville’ offers an optimistic melodic take on the synth instrumental without going into full symphonic JEAN-MICHEL JARRE territory, while also avoiding some of the electronic dirges that often pass for avant-garde experiments in sound.
The man behind PATTERN LANGUAGE is Chris Frain from Boulder, Colorado who dabbled in indie-pop and prog-rock bands until a chance viewing of the BBC4 documentary ‘Synth Britannia’ reminded him that inventive music could be made just using synthesizers.
While partying like it’s 1978, albeit a party with only the host present, ‘Total Squaresville’ uses basic modern technology like an iPad, running apps such as the FunkBox drum machine, Moog Animoog and Genome MIDI sequencer to achieve its aims. Meanwhile, hardware like the Korg Volca, Waldorf Streichfett and Moog Little Phatty provide the tactile interplay.
Opening track ‘By the Time We Get There’ comes complete with cascading bass and straightforward synth melodies over clattering electronic percussion. Each element has its place in a retro-futurist fusion, perfect for dancing if you like to dance weirdly!
With a primitive drumbox shuffle, the moody minimalist piece ‘Deeply Recessed Windows’ recalls early HUMAN LEAGUE instrumentals with plenty of bend to add a Sci-Fi edge.
The oddball percussive template of ‘The Castellers’ glides along in waltz fashion, the rimshot processed to such effect that it resembles a castanet in outer space. The inventive programming proves again that rhythms do not have to be that inane 4/4 nonsense in dance music. Motorik rhythms shape ‘Squaresville’ in the manner of HARMONIA although the swirling interplay takes it to another world.
Meanwhile on ‘A Pattern Language’, the superbly sequenced synthbass hops up and down the scale while coupled to a syncopated backbone that fizzes to a wonderful climax.
For the AIR-tribute ‘Les Choc De Etoilles’, treated electronic bongos melt with spacey Mellotron string vibes for a lunar lounge effect.
In his book ‘Retromania: Pop Culture’s Addiction to its Own Past’, Simon Reynolds commented that the minimal synth sub-genre consisted “of groups who would have been DEPECHE MODE or SOFT CELL if they could have come up with a tune!”, even suggesting that it was invented by record dealers to get rid of vinyl they couldn’t shift!
‘Total Squaresville’ is nothing like that! With a perfect title, its six tracks of enjoyable synth geekery sans voix successfully get round the weak point of many a minimal synth record sitting dormant at a record fair…
For the last eight years, French synthesist JEAN-MICHEL JARRE has mainly focused on his live work and reworking past glories, touring the world with a greatest hits set featuring most of the iconic pieces of equipment that were used on the holy trinity of albums he is most associated with – ‘Oxygène’, ‘Equinoxe’ and ‘Magnetic Fields’.
Despite nearly pushing 70, the creative urge has sparked JEAN-MICHEL JARRE to release some new material and ‘Electronica 1: The Time Machine’ sees his welcome return with 16 tracks and 15 collaborators.
Whilst for other artists (hello DURAN DURAN!), the collaboration option is often one which is resorted to a) when the creative fire has started to splutter out and b) when you cynically try to “get down with the kids” to attract a new audience, for Jarre it is the obvious and perfect route to take.
The album was a lengthy four years in the making, mainly because of his insistence to work in the same space as the collaborators, avoiding the internet route preferred by many electronic artists. All of the guests featured here are either ones who Jarre admires or who have been influenced by him, some of them are obvious choices, others are a little left of field, but more on that later.
The opening title track created with BOYS NOIZE is classic Jarre, both compositionally and sound wise, a very hooky melody with driving drums and sequencer parts that keep the piece moving throughout.
Entertainment for some can be had on this album by playing synth-spotting and seeing which sounds have been previously been used by Jarre.
‘The Time Machine’ features the Laser Harp sync bass sound used on the second half of the epic ‘Second Rendez-vous’ and works brilliantly here on what is an excellent album opener.
Unfortunately, the M83 song ‘Glory’, as well as being desperately mistitled, kills the momentum generated by the opener and still feels as plodding and pedestrian as when it was released as one of the lead-off tracks of the album earlier in the year. It’s not a bad song per se, it would surely have been preferable to have placed it towards end of the album… so for those of you that love to generate custom Spotify playlists, you know what to do!
The AIR pairing is a musical no-brainer, the duo being arguably the best electronic act to come out of France since Jarre first broke through. ‘Close Your Eyes’ features typical AIR chord progressions and ethereal vocals, both live and vocodered. But the surprise here is the rhythm track which lopes along like something from ‘Autobahn’; this is a good thing though and there are enough musical ideas in this piece which could easily have seen it extended by another 3-4 minutes.
The outro features classic pitch modulated synths and burbling EMS sound effects (both Jarre trademarks) and the song itself is sung from the perspective of a synthesizer “Switch me on, play my song and close your eyes”. On the strength of this track, one can only wish that there could be a whole collaboration album in the pipeline, it’s easily one of the most cohesive fits here and works beautifully.
For many, the VINCE CLARKE collaboration is a match made in synthetic heaven, and fans will be rewarded with two tracks here – ‘Automatic Part 1’ and ‘Automatic Part 2’. ‘Part 1’ is centred around an electro drum beat before leading seamlessly into ‘Part Two’ which goes 4/4 with the energy level being raised with another classic Jarre melody. Both pieces feature wonderful interlocking sequencer parts and they are everything that a follower of both musicians could hope for.
LITTLE BOOTS, whose recent profile in the UK has waned significantly, pops up with a typical piece of electropop fluff – ‘If..!’ sounds very MARSHEAUX-like in its conception with an ultra-hooky chorus and is only let down by some dubious tuning on some of Miss Hesketh’s ad-lib vocals.
‘Suns Have Gone’ featuring MOBY starts off like a long lost PHILIP GLASS piece, interlocking arpeggios recall the iconic minimalist composer before the former Richard Hall’s world-weary vocals and a solid beat take the track into more into EDM territory, but still with a melancholic feel to it.
‘Travelator’ is probably the biggest surprise on ‘Electronica 1’; despite being well known for his electronic experiments with THE WHO, few would expect Pete Townsend to appear on a Jarre album. The result is more successful than the pairing would suggest, although the sound of the rock vocalist surrounded by driving synths takes a few listens to get used to!
‘Zero Gravity’ is one of the other collaborations here that got fans of instrumental electronic music excited, it features TANGERINE DREAM and possibly one of the final pieces that Edgar Froese contributed to before sadly passing away earlier this year. Full of classic TD sequencer parts, it takes a few listens to truly appreciate, but once it has sunk in, acts as a fitting memorial.
In many eyes, Jarre is recognised as The Godfather of Trance, so a joint venture with a current artist from that genre would seem like a safe bet. ‘Stardust’ featuring ARMIN VAN BUUREN sounds pretty much as you would expect it to, very melodic with a thumping kick, descending synth melody and a hands in the air breakdown section.
The last couple of tracks on ‘Electronica 1’ will be welcomed by those that prefer Jarre’s mainly instrumental work, both the pieces with JOHN CARPENTER and LANG LANG are truly superb; ‘A Question of Blood’ (given its co-creator’s background) is a movie theme waiting to happen whilst the latter (‘The Train & The River’) combines classical piano over an extended electronic backdrop with one of Jarre’s classic sequencer riffs.
At approximately 4 minutes into ‘The Train & The River’, you WILL get goosebumps when Jarre drops in a descending phased Eminent string chord and just for good measure brings back THAT sync bass sound again… again this is another collaboration that is crying out for more pieces.
The only missed opportunity with ‘The Time Machine’ is that despite many of them being well known in their field, none of Jarre’s collaborators here could be classified as exceptionally strong vocalists; it would have been intriguing to have (for example) someone of the calibre of SUSANNE SUNDFØR vocalling, but it’s understandable why he chose the people he did.
Jarre has an embarrassment of musical riches here and with more saved up in the bank, a second volume is due next year due to the sheer volume of artists agreeing to work with him like HANS ZIMMER, SEBASTIEN TELLIER and GARY NUMAN.
This work, and hopefully ‘Volume 2’, will be a wonderful addition to the tradition and provides what is one of the best electronic albums that you will hear this year. As Jarre himself mentions in his sleeve notes, “Electronic music has a family, a legacy and a future…” and ‘Electronica 1: The Time Machine’ comfortably ticks all three boxes with consummate ease…
‘Electronica 1: The Time Machine’ uses the following electronic instruments: ARP 2600, EMS AKS, EMS VCS3, Fairlight CMI, Minimoog, Memorymoog, Moog Modular 55, RMI Harmonic, Roland Jupiter 8, Korg Micro-Preset, Theremin, Korg MS20, Roland AXS, GRP Modular, Elka Synthex, Laser Harp, Eminent 310, Mininova Vocoder, DigiSequencer, Coupigny GRM, Swarmatron, ARP Omni, ARP Pro-Soloist, ARP Odyssey, Waldorf Blofeld, Alesis Ion, Roland VP330, Virus Access, Clavia Nord Lead 1, Clavia Nord Lead 2, Clavia Nord Lead C2D, Emulator II, Korg PA500, Moog Taurus, Farfisa Pro 2, Vox Continental, Mellotron, Keio Minipops, Korg KR55, Roland TR808, Roland TR909, Roland CR8000, Eko ComputeRhythm, Keio Doncamatic, Linn LM-1, Linn LM-2, Metasonix D1000, Native Instruments Maschine
Hot on the heels of two instrumental albums by Synth Britannia veterans Martin Gore and John Foxx under the guises of MG and GHOST HARMONIC respectively, comes an addition to the tradition by BLANCMANGE.
‘Nil By Mouth’ was recorded by Neil Arthur from 2005 to the end of 2014. Now, while ‘Sad Day’ has been key part of the BLANCMANGE story, instrumentals have not had as prominent a role as in other bands such as ULTRAVOX, SIMPLE MINDS or DEPECHE MODE.
But when BLANCMANGE went into hiatus between 1985’s ‘Believe You Me’ and 2011’s ‘Blanc Burn’, Neil Arthur and Stephen Luscombe worked within the TV and film industry, scoring soundtracks and incidental music for a variety of projects. Although best known for his voice, instrumentals have been a continual art form for Arthur. So the release of a full length album, while not entirely a surprise, is perhaps unexpected.
To start the collection, ‘Eleanor’ is a musical dedication to his daughter who sang on ‘Paddington’ from ‘Semi Detached’; a rich combination of synth, rhythm box, minimal guitar and pretty bells like prime OMD, it is a perfect introduction to the wordless wonder that is ‘Nil By Mouth’.
‘Fall’ however, is not a vox free version of ‘The Fall’ from ‘Semi Detached’, but a completely new ambient composition utilising echoey piano and those low end flute approximations that THE HUMAN LEAGUE used to do when Martyn Ware was a member.
It drifts into a beautiful neo-orchestral climax and a wonderfully cinematic fading piano section before rounding back.
The pulsing ‘R and P’ though is more eerie yet still very melodic. And this is the key to a good instrumental opus… it either has to be very melodic to make up for the lack of vocals, or very ambient so that while the music is interesting enough to be listened to, it is unobtrusive enough to be ignored.
Continuing on, the brilliant ‘Cistern’ comes over like an imaginary Bond Theme done in Sci-Fi synth stylee while ‘Gone’ is a pure Foxxy dystopian drama. ‘Crystals Of Zircon’ is the closest the album gets to having a dance track, the percussive backbone providing the soundtrack to what would be a chase scene in a futuristic crime thriller. Meanwhile, ‘The Son’ has a creepier outlook with snatches of vocoder making its presence felt over the yesterday’s tomorrow atmosphere.
The two minute ‘Matters Of Life’ is a steadfast trip-hop interlude with hints of Fender (as opposed to David) Rhodes that comes over like PORTISHEAD on Prozac before a 2005 reworking of ‘Holiday Camp’, a track which originally formed part of BLANCMANGE’s debut EP release ‘Irene & Mavis’. While still retaining the essence of BRIAN ENO with its grainy synth shimmers, the well produced six string interplay and vibrant bass sequence cut through to provide an aural sculpture to savour.
The lovely ‘Landsea’ merges acoustic guitar with drum machine and light synth vibrato in a piece that recalls the B-sides of CHINA CRISIS, another act well known for their great instrumentals. Coming towards the home straight, ‘So Long Ago’ harks back again to BRIAN ENO, but ‘Close Encounters’ is far more exuberant and almost goes funky with wah-wah guitar in a manner not dissimilar to AIR’s ‘Californie’ from ‘Premiers Symptomes’, before some muted trumpet samples politely interject.
Exceeding expectations and outstripping other instrumental albums which have perhaps come over more like Eurorack modular tutorials, ‘Nil By Mouth’ is a truly excellent album in its own right. It will be appreciated by the synth cognoscenti, but it deserves a wider audience.
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‘Tidal’ is from the album ‘Continuum’
The debut mini-album ‘Total Squaresville’ offers an optimistic melodic take on the synth instrumental without going into full symphonic 
uses basic modern technology like an iPad, running apps such as the FunkBox drum machine, Moog Animoog and Genome MIDI sequencer to achieve its aims. Meanwhile, hardware like the Korg Volca, Waldorf Streichfett and Moog Little Phatty provide the tactile interplay.
, Simon Reynolds commented that the minimal synth sub-genre consisted “of groups who would have been DEPECHE MODE or SOFT CELL if they could have come up with a tune!”, even suggesting that it was invented by record dealers to get rid of vinyl they couldn’t shift!
is released by Columbia / Sony Music
is released by Blanc Check on CD and available via the usual retail outlets, download available from
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