Tag: Michael Oakley (Page 3 of 3)

OLLIE WRIDE The Driver

Although best known as the lead vocalist for FM-84, the San Francisco based vehicle for Scotsman Colin Bennett, Los Angeles domiciled Brightonian OLLIE WRIDE has been working with another Scot Michael Oakley on solo material.

And while ‘Running In The Night’ in 2016 with FM-84 made him more widely known within Synthwave circles, Wride’s ‘The Driver’ explores the synth assisted pop rock of BILLY IDOL and SIMPLE MINDS with a dynamic production from Michael Oakley, who himself could potentially develop into the next Keith Forsey, a one-time protégé of Da Maestro Giorgio Moroder.

Directed by Brad A Kinnan and filmed in Los Angeles, the visually accompaniment captures Wride as an outsider driving an open-top Buick who is living in the shadows of his past life and performing in seedy clubs.

With guitars by Chris Huggett who also co-wrote ‘The Driver’, the song follows up Wride’s previous popwave solo singles ‘Never Live Without You’ and ‘Overcome’. Also featuring THE NIGHT HOUR, the track shows how a Trans-Atlantic aesthetic can be applied effectively without wholly submitting to the insipid overtures of AOR.

Wride will be back in the UK with FM-84 for a sold out gig at The Garage in London on Saturday 16th February 2019, while Oakley has just released a new single ‘Control’ which will feature on his forthcoming debut album ‘Introspect’ and which was also co-written with Wride ?


‘The Driver’ is released by New Retro Wave and available from the usual digital outlets

https://olliewride.com/

https://www.facebook.com/olliewrideofficial/

https://twitter.com/OllieWride

https://www.instagram.com/olliewride/

https://www.facebook.com/fm84music/

https://www.facebook.com/MichaelOakleyOfficial/


Text by Chi Ming Lai
10th December 2018

2018 END OF YEAR REVIEW

2018 saw Jean Michel Jarre celebrate 50 years in the business and whether the world really needed another of his compilations, ‘Planet Jarre’ was probably one of the better collected representations of his work for casual admirers.

But not standing still and releasing his fourth new album in three years, ‘Equinoxe Infinity’ continued the story as the French Maestro tuned 70.

SOFT CELL made a totally unexpected return for a huge one-off farewell gig at London’s O2 Arena; and with it came a boxed set, the ‘Northern Lights’ single and other new recordings which have raised hopes for a new album.

From the same era, FIAT LUX announced plans for their debut album ‘Save Symmetry’ with an excellent lead track ‘It’s You’, while B-MOVIE came up with their most synth-propelled single yet in ‘Stalingrad’.

But one act who actually did comeback with a brand new album in 2018 were DUBSTAR; now a duo of Sarah Blackwood and Chris Wilkie, as ‘One’ they reminded audiences as to why they were the acceptable face of Britpop with their bridge to Synth Britannia.

IONNALEE finally released her debut opus ‘Everyone Afraid To Be Forgotten’ and her tour which included choice cuts from IAMAMIWHOAMI, proved to be one of the best value-for-money live experiences in 2018, one that was even endorsed by Welsh songstress Charlotte Church.

CHVRCHES offered up their third album ‘Love Is Dead’ and continued their role as international flagwavers for quality synthpop, while EMIKA presented her best album yet in ‘Falling In Love With Sadness’, an exquisite electronic record with a Bohemian aura.

JOHN GRANT was on an artistic roll both solo and in partnership with WRANGLER as CREEP SHOW with two new albums. However, he was beaten by Neil Arthur who managed three albums over a 12 month period as NEAR FUTURE and BLANCMANGE including ‘Wanderlust’, possibly the latter’s best body of work in its 21st Century incarnation.

It was a busy year for Steve Jansen with a new solo ambient work ‘Corridor’, the well-received vinyl reissue of JAPAN’s two Virgin-era studio albums and his epic, more organically flavoured band project EXIT NORTH with their debut long player ‘Book Of Romance & Dust’.

Sarah Nixey went on some ‘Night Walks’ for her best solo album yet, a wonderful collection of everything she had ever been musically all wonderfully rolled into one.

Meanwhile Tracey Thorn went back to the ‘Dancefloor’ with her ‘Record’ which content wise was right up there with some of Alison Moyet’s electronica output from the last five years.

Those who liked their electronic music darker were well served with NINE INCH NAILS, IAMX, KIRLIAN CAMERA and HELIX, but after experimenting with the single only format for a few years, Daniel Graves announced he was taking the plunge again with a new AESTHETIC PERFECTION album.

The Sacred Bones stable provided some quality releases from Hilary Woods, Zola Jesus and John Carpenter. Meanwhile, providing some fierce socio-political commentary on the state of the UK was GAZELLE TWIN.

Hungary’s BLACK NAIL CABARET offered some noirish ‘Pseudopop’ and promising Norwich youngsters LET’S EAT GRANDMA got more deeply into electronica without losing any of their angsty teenage exuberance on their second album ‘I’m All Ears’.

Less intense and more dreamy were GLASSHOUSE, the new duo fronted by former TECHNIQUE singer Xan Tyler.

Aussies CONFIDENCE MAN provided some wacky dancey glitz to the pop world and after nearly four decades in the business, Canadian trailblazers RATIONAL YOUTH finally played their first ever concert in London at ‘Non Stop Electronic Cabaret’ alongside dark wave compatriots PSYCHE and Numan-influenced Swedish poptronica exponents PAGE.

Sweden was again highly productive with Karin Park, Johan Baeckstrom and Val Solo while Norway took their own approach with FARAOSOFT AS SNOW and ELECTRO SPECTRE setting their standard. Veteran Deutschlanders THE TWINS and PETER HEPPNER returned with new albums after notable recorded absences while next door in Belgium, METROLAND presented themselves as ‘Men In A Frame’.

While the new HEAVEN 17 album ‘Not For Public Broadcast’ is still to be finished, Glenn Gregory teamed by with live keyboardist Berenice Scott as AFTERHERE. Their long-time friend Claudia Brücken performed as xPROPAGANDA with Susanne Freytag and partnered up with one-time TANGERINE DREAM member Jerome Froese, releasing the ‘Beginn’ album in the process.

It was a year of interesting collaborations all-round with UNDERWORLD working with Iggy Pop, U96 linking up with Wolfgang Flür for an excellent single called ‘Zukunftsmusik’ and German techno pioneer Chris Liebing recruiting Polly Scattergood and Gary Numan for his Mute released album ‘Burn Slow’.

Based in Berlin, THE KVB offered up some brooding gothic moods with ‘Only Now Forever’ while Valerie Renay of NOBLESSE OBLIGE released her first solo album ‘Your Own Shadow’.

Highly appealing were a number of quirky Japanese influenced female artists from around the globe including COMPUTER MAGIC, MECHA MAIKO and PLASMIC. But there were also a number of acts with Far Eastern heritage like STOLEN, FIFI RONG, DISQO VOLANTE and SHOOK who continued to make a worthy impression with their recorded output in 2018.

Heavy synth rock duo NIGHT CLUB presented their ‘Scary World’ on the back of tours opening for COMBICHRIST and A PERFECT CIRCLE while also from across the pond, NYXX and SINOSA both showcased their alluring potential.

At the poppier end of the spectrum, Holger Wobker used Pledge Music to relaunch BOYTRONIC with their most recent vocal incumbent James Knights in an unexpected twist to once again prove the old adage to “never say never” as far as the music industry is concerned.

Meanwhile, Chris Payne co-wrote and co-produced the excellent ‘Walking In West Berlin’ EP with KATJA VON KASSEL while also revealing plans for an autobiography and opening for his old boss…

The surprise album of the year was Chris Catrer with his ‘Chemistry Lessons Volume One’ while using a not dissimilar concept with their second album ‘Hello Science’, REED & CAROLINE took their folk laden synthpop out on a US tour opening for ERASURE.

IMMERSION provided a new collection of their modern Motorik as SHRIEKBACK, FISCHERSPOONER, THE PRESETS, HEARTBREAK and QUEEN OF HEARTS all made comebacks of varying degrees with audiences still eager for their work.

Steven Jones & Logan Sky harked back to the days when Gary Numan and OMD would release two albums in one year by offering ‘Hans Und Lieselotte’ and ‘The Electric Eye’ in 2016. Those veteran acts themselves celebrated their 40th anniversaries by going orchestral, something which SIMPLE MINDS also did when they opted to re-record ‘Alive & Kicking’ for the ’80s Symphonic’ collection although Jim Kerr forgot how a third of the song went!

With SIMPLE MINDS also performing a horrible and barely recognisable ‘Promised You A Miracle’ during BBC’s ‘The Biggest Weekend’, making up for the live joke that his former band have become was one-time bassist Derek Forbes with the album ‘Broken Hearted City’ as ZANTi with Anni Hogan of MARC & THE MAMBAS fame.

Other former members of high-profile bands were busy too with Ian Burden, formally of THE HUMAN LEAGUE returning with the Floydian ‘Hey Hey Ho Hum’ while A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS reformed briefly for an orchestral re-run of their catalogue.

With the release of their second album ‘Kinetik’, EKKOES handed over THE HUMAN LEAGUE support baton to SHELTER who came up with their best body of work yet in the more introspective shades of ‘Soar’

That darker approach manifested itself on singer Mark Bebb’s side project FORM with Keith Trigwell of SPEAK & SPELL whose debut long player ‘defiance + entropy’ also came out in 2018.

Having been championed by RÖYSKSOPP, Wales’ MAN WITHOUT COUNTRY returned with ‘Infinity Mirror’ while riding on the well-deserved momentum from opening for OMD, Ireland’s TINY MAGNETIC PETS embarked on their first headlining tour.

Representing North of the border were Ryan Vail and HANNAH PEEL, but hailing from Scotland were WITCH OF THE VALE who proved to be one of the most interesting new acts of 2018 having supported ASSEMBLAGE 23 on their most recent UK visit. There was a good showing from UK acts in 2018 with RODNEY CROMWELL, ANI GLASS, THE FRIXION and FAKE TEAK all issuing some excellent synth tinged songs for public consumption.

NINA’s long awaited debut album ‘Sleepwalking’ was a fine hybrid of synthpop and the currently fashionable Synthwave aesthetic; her live double billing with Canadian synthpopsters PARALLELS was one of the hottest tickets of the year.

The sub-genre was indeed making waves and there were some very enjoyable artists coming out of it like GUNSHIP, Dana Jean Phoenix and Michael Oakley.

However, the endless AOR excesses, moonlight sax breaks and highly unimaginative band monikers using numbers between 80 to 89 affixed to an archaic technology reference, illustrated by yet another neon sunset, VCR grid and Lamborghini, were becoming tiresome.

As Synthwave cynics, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s touch paper was being lit big time! The whole point of the synthesizer’s role during the Second British Invasion of the US was to fight against the insipid overtures of AOR like TOTO, CHICAGO and JOURNEY, NOT to make music coated with its horrid stench as THE MIDNIGHT did in 2018 with their long player ‘Kids’.

But there was naivety within some quarters too; electronic music did not begin in 2011 with ‘Drive’, an above average film with a good if slightly over rated soundtrack. However, its cultural influence has led to a plethora of meandering tracks made by gamer boys which sounded like someone had forgotten to sing on them; perhaps they should have gone back to 1978 and listened to GIORGIO MORODER’s ‘Midnight Express Theme’ to find out how this type of instrumental music should be done?

Many of the newer artists influenced by Synth Britannia that ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK has featured have sometimes been accused of being stuck in the past, but a fair number of Synthwave acts were really taking the soggy biscuit with their retro-obsession.

Rock band MUSE’s use of glowing artwork by Kyle Lambert of ‘Stranger Things’ fame on their eighth album ‘Simulation Theory’ sent sections of the Synthwave community into meltdown. There were cries that they had “stolen the aesthetics and concept” and how “it’s not relevant to their sound”!

But WHAM! had Peter Saville designed sleeves and never sounded like NEW ORDER or OMD, while electropop diva LA ROUX used a visual stylisation for ‘In For The Kill’ that has since been claimed by Synthwavers as their own, despite it being from 2009 when Ryan Gosling was peddling graveyard indie rock in DEAD MAN’S BONES 😉

This was one of the bigger ironies of 2018, especially as MUSE have always used synths! One of Matt Bellamy and co’s biggest musical inspirations is ULTRAVOX, indicating the trio probably have a better understanding of the fusion between the synthesizer, rock and classical music, as proven by the ‘Simulation Theory’ bookends ‘Algorithm’ and ‘The Void’, than any static laptop exponent with a Jan Hammer fixation.

It is interesting to note today how electronic music has split into so many factions, but there’s still the assumed generalisation that it is all one thing and that synthpop fans must also like Synthwave, Deep House, EDM, Industrial and those tedious beach chill-out remixes.

Back in the day and even now, some fans of THE HUMAN LEAGUE didn’t like OMD, DEPECHE MODE fans only liked DEPECHE MODE and rock fans had a token favourite electronic band.

Out of all the acts from the Synth Britannia era, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK had very little time for THOMPSON TWINS despite their huge international success, but their leader Tom Bailey’s 2018 solo recorded return ‘Science Fiction’ was warmly received by many.

Just as COLDPLAY and SNOW PATROL fans don’t all embrace ELBOW, it is ok to have preferences and to say so. Not liking the music of an artist does not make you a bad person, but liking everything does not make you a better person either… in fact, it shows you probably have no discerning taste! In 2002, SOFT CELL warned of a ‘Monoculture’, and if there is no taste differentiation in art and music, it will spell the end of cultural enhancement.

Taste is always the key, but then not everyone who loves chocolate likes Hersheys… and with that analogy, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK bids farewell to 2018 and looks forward to a 2019 that includes the return of TEARS FOR FEARS and the first full live shows from Giorgio Moroder, plus new releases by VILE ELECTRODESKITE, VILLA NAH, I AM SNOW ANGEL and LADYTRON.


ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK Contributor Listings of 2018

PAUL BODDY

Best Album: MAN WITHOUT COUNTRY Infinity Mirror
Best Song: MAN WITHOUT COUNTRY Lafayette
Best Gig: TANGERINE DREAM at London Union Chapel
Best Video: THE SOFT MOON Give Something
Most Promising New Act: VOX LOW


IAN FERGUSON

Best Album: BLANCMANGE Wanderlust
Best Song: ELECTRO SPECTRE The Way You Love
Best Gig: OMD at Glasgow Kelvingrove Park
Best Video: NYXX Voodoo
Most Promising New Act: WITCH OF THE VALE


SIMON HELM

Best Album: DUBSTAR One
Best Song: PAGE Start (Poptronica Version)
Best Gig: DIE KRUPPS + FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY at O2 Academy Islington
Best Video: FIFI RONG Horizon
Most Promising New Act: ZANTi


CHI MING LAI

Best Album: EMIKA Falling In Love With Sadness
Best Song: FIAT LUX It’s You
Best Gig: SOFT CELL at London O2 Arena
Best Video: FAKE TEAK Bears Always Party The Exact Right Amount
Most Promising New Act: WITCH OF THE VALE


MONIKA IZABELA TRIGWELL

Best Album: GUNSHIP Dark All Day
Best Song: SHELTER Karma
Best Gig: IAMX at London Electric Ballroom
Best Video: JUNO REACTOR Let’s Turn On
Most Promising New Act: MECHA MAIKO


Text by Chi Ming Lai
8th December 2018

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s 30 SONGS OF 2017

It was a year when the veterans re-established their standing within electronic pop.

That was not to that comparatively newer acts weren’t making a good impression, it was just that a fair number of established acts gave their all and were producing some of their best work since their imperial heyday.

Great tracks by SPARKS, OUTERNATIONALE, SPACEPRODIGI, iEUROPEAN, PARALLELS, FEVER RAY, SOL FLARE, SOFTWAVE, KNIGHT$, 2RAUMWHONUNG, JORI HULKKONEN, FIFI RONG and KITE BASE made it onto the shortlist, but despite their quality, they did not make the final listing.

Also not included are songs from ‘Welcome To The Dancefloor’, the debut album from Rusty Egan; although gaining a physical release this year, it was reviewed by ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK in the Autumn of last year when download versions of the long player were distributed to those who had purchased it in advance via Pledge Music. Meanwhile, its closing track ‘Thank You’ was included in our 30 Songs Of 2016.

So restricted to purchasable releases only and one song per artist moniker, here are ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s 30 Songs Of 2017 in alphabetical order…


AESTHETIC PERFECTION Rhythm + Control – Electro Mix

Additionally featuring NYXX and WILLIAM CONTROL on vocals, ‘Rhythm + Control’ saw Daniel Graves take AESTHETIC PERFECTION’s industrial pop to the next level via his new singles only policy. The magnificent Electro Mix successfully realised this oddball blend of Darren Hayes, Britney Spears and Marilyn Manson. With a mightily elastic bassline, when asked whether The Electricity Club had gone crazy coming up with the comparison, Daniel Graves replied “God no. Spot on, guys!”

Available on the single ‘Rhythm + Control’ via aestheticperfection.bandcamp.com/track/rhythm-control-electro-version-feat-william-control-nyxx

http://aesthetic-perfection.net/


RICHARD BARBIERI Solar Sea

From only the third solo album in the long career of Richard Barbieri, ‘Solar Sea’ was a sleazy rhythmic excursion into another world. With the one-time JAPAN sound designer using a Roland System 700 for its bassline, the track’s atonal jazz feel was augmented by the haunting voice manipulations of Lisen Rylander Löve through a vintage Soviet submarine microphone and warping noises offset by soothing brass inflections and live drums.

Available on the album ‘Planets + Persona’ via by Kscope

https://www.facebook.com/RichardBarbieriOfficial/


BATTLE TAPES Control

The American electronic rock quartet BATTLE TAPES continued to develop from their 2015 debut album ‘Polygon’ via their ‘Form’ EP. The best track ‘Control’ hinged around a syncopated filtered synth bass and a brilliantly catchy chorus sung by Josh Boardman, with enough guitars for power and texture without distracting from the overall electronic aesthetic, and even coming over like a heavier Stateside version of SIN COS TAN.

Available on the EP ‘Form’ via battletapes.bigcartel.com

http://battletapesband.com/


CLIENT LIAISON Feat TINA ARENA A Foreign Affair

“International in flavour, cosmopolitan in style” and sounding like a long lunch followed by a round of cocktails, Australian duo CLIENT LIAISON roped in one-time TV talent show star Tina Arena to duet on a lush slice of romantic pop that also rode on the current fashion for Synthwave. ‘A Foreign Affair’ could have easily been a Rat Pack movie song.

Available on the album ‘Diplomatic Immunity’ via Remote Control Records

http://www.clientliaison.com


DAILY PLANET featuring MAC AUSTIN Heaven Opened

Johan Baeckström made positive waves with his debut solo album ‘Like Before’ in 2015 but reunited with his musical partner Jarmo Ollila, producing an excellent third album with more tempo variation than their 2014 offering ‘Two’. Featuring the guest vocals of Mac Austin from cult synth trio WHITE DOOR who were one of the inspirations for DAILY PLANET, ‘Heaven Opened’ was an uncomplicated but wonderfully poignant slice of classic synthpop.

Available on the album ‘Play Rewind Repeat’ via Progress Productions

https://www.facebook.com/dailyplanetband/


ELECTRONIC CIRCUS The Trapeze

ELECTRONIC CIRCUS is the musical vehicle of Chris Payne, the one-time Numan band member who also co-wrote ‘Fade To Grey’. With a symphonic theme bursting with melody and musicality like ULTRAVOX galloping across the plains of Normandy, the brilliant neo-instrumental ’The Trapeze’ was given a wondrous tone of humanistic unity when Payne’s wife and daughter joined in on the final straight in Latin.

Available on the EP ‘Direct Lines 2017’ via https://www.electroniccircus.co.uk/store/

http://www.electroniccircus.co.uk/


FADER 3D Carpets

FADER are the synth superduo featuring BLANCMANGE’s Neil Arthur and Benge; ‘3D Carpets’ captured an independent post-punk intensity, like JOY DIVISION or THE CURE but realised with analogue electronics rather than guitars. While the pair worked on their parts separately, their creative dynamic produced a great debut album in ‘First Light’.

Available on the ‘First Light’ via Blanc Check Records

https://www.facebook.com/WeAreFader


ANI GLASS Geiriau

From the Welsh synth songstress’ first EP, the fabulous ‘Geiriau’ was a driving sequential drama that had more than a passing resemblance to the first part of SPARKS’ ‘No1 Song In Heaven’. Revolving around ANI GLASS’ experience of flying the nest and returning years later to reconnect with her Welsh and Cornish heritage, it was a spacey and futuristic soundtrack for a wonderfully uplifting homecoming.

Available on the EP ‘Ffrwydrad Tawel’ via aniglass.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/aniglasscymru/


THE GOLDEN FILTER Rivers

‘Volupsa’, the promising Nordic flavoured debut album from THE GOLDEN FILTER came out in 2010, but the Aussie American duo of vocalist Penelope Trappes and synth programmer Stephen Hindman took their time with the follow-up ‘Still//Alone’, having relocated to London after spending several years based in New York. The hypnotic pulse of ‘Rivers’ with its precise drum machine pointed to a female fronted OMD, complete with a catchy riff and synthy jabbing bassline.

Available on the album ‘Still // Alone’ via Optimo

http://www.thegoldenfilter.com/


GOLDFRAPP Systemagic

The immensely catchy ‘Systemagic’ was a prize electronic gem from the seventh GOLDFRAPP album ‘Silver Eye’, reminiscent of the lusty and beat laden electronic material from ‘Black Cherry’. But its riff asked the question as to whether you will always find Alison Goldfrapp in the kitchen at parties? In the event of Jona Lewie filing a lawsuit, the lucrative income from the song’s use in a BMW advert may ease any potential net payout.

Available on the album ‘Silver Eye’ via Mute Artists

http://goldfrapp.com/


IONNALEE Not Human

After three acclaimed albums as IAMAMIWHOAMI with producer Claes Björklund, Jonna Lee went solo in 2017 although it was actually difficult to hear the join on the glorious ‘Not Human’, so seamless was the transition; there were still the icy electronic soundscapes, spacey dance beats and uplifting Scandipop vocals while the delightfully odd visuals were all present and correct.

Available on the download single ‘Not Human’ via To Whom It May Concern

http://www.ionnalee.com


I SPEAK MACHINE Shame

I SPEAK MACHINE is the audio / visual collaboration between musician Tara Busch and filmmaker Maf Lewis. Soundtracking their film ‘Zombies 1985’, the story was one of greed and self-obsession in Thatcher’s Britain as a businessman drives home, oblivious to the zombie apocalypse going on around him. Co-written and co-produced with Benge, the brilliant ‘Shame’ with its cascading synths and noise percussion was a wonderful hybrid of THROBBING GRISTLE, THE HUMAN LEAGUE and GOLDFRAPP.

Available on the album ‘Zombies 1985’ via Lex Records

http://www.ispeakmachine.com/


KATJA VON KASSEL In Little Rooms (Show Me Love)

After a number of years gigging around London, KATJA VON KASSEL finally unleashed released her electro Weimer Cabaret to the world. The pulsating ‘In Little Rooms (Show Me Love)’ captured an aesthetic which closely resembled that of RONNY, a former protégé of Rusty Egan. Attached to Alex Gray’s intricate filmic electronics, Fraulein von Kassel’s deep vocal detachment was art cool sexy.

Available on the EP ‘Katja von Kassel’ via katjavonkassel.bandcamp.com

https://www.facebook.com/katja.vonkassel


KITE Demons & Shame

Swedish duo KITE unleashed their darkest offering yet in ‘Demons & Shame’. Shaped by a ritualistic drum mantra and brooding bass drones, as the title suggested, the song confronted the despair that life occasionally throws up while pursuing visions and dreams. If Ennio Morricone composed music for Nordic Noir dramas, it would sound a bit like this. Vocalist Nicklas Stenemo literally screamed his frustration over an epic synthetic soundscape from Christian Berg, laced with nocturnal Arctic overtones and the spectre of THE KNIFE.

Available on the single ‘Demons & Shame’ is released by Progress Productions

https://www.facebook.com/KiteHQ


LCD SOUNDSYSTEM American Dream

James Murphy returned as LCD SOUNDSYSTEM after seven years with this widescreen musical statement reflecting on the political situation in the US. Glancing across the Atlantic and back to the Winter Of Discontent, this 3/4 synth laden tune that had more than a passing resemblance to THE HUMAN LEAGUE’s ‘Circus Of Death’. So did “The Clown” referred to in that song remind Murphy of someone in particular?

Available on the album ‘American Dream’ via DFA Records

https://lcdsoundsystem.com/


LIZETTE LIZETTE Rest

Having started out in a more rave inclined environment, Lizette Nordahl ventured into more synthy climes and her debut mini-album had the air of KITE is all over it, which was not entirely surprising as its co-producers were Nicklas Stenemo and Christian Berg from the acclaimed duo. ‘Rest’ with its swirling synth sounds and widescreen Nordic atmosphere had an optimistic air of acceptance despite the melancholic tone and majestic growls.

Available on the EP ‘Queerbody’ via lizettelizette.bandcamp.com/releases

http://lizettelizette.com/


LOST IN STARS Sky

Led by British born musician Dylan Willoughby, LOST IN STARS is a floating ensemble which also includes Elena Charbila aka KID MOXIE and producer/songwriter Darren Burgos. The latter takes the lead vocal on the spirited electronic pop of ‘Sky’; now if NEW ORDER were from Los Angeles instead of Manchester, they would have sounded like this.

Available on the album ‘Lost In Stars’ via lostinstars.bandcamp.com/

https://www.lostinstars.space/


MARNIE Bloom

After releasing her first solo album ‘Crystal World’ in 2013, Helen Marnie added more prominent choruses and guitar onto her second, resulting in a catchy Scandipop style. ‘Bloom’ was an optimistic burst of synth laden pleasure and while not totally dissimilar to LADYTRON, it was without their usual hardness or gothic gloom.

Available on the album ‘Strange Words & Weird Wars’ via Disco Piñata

http://www.helenmarnie.com/


ALISON MOYET Alive

Having worked successfully in 2013 with Guy Sigsworth on ‘the minutes’, an acclaimed album which saw ALISON MOYET return to the synthesized music forms to compliment her powerful and self-assured voice, the follow-up ‘Other’ was a natural progression. The startling orchestrated electro-dub drama of ‘Alive’ gave Moyet’s two former classmates in DEPECHE MODE a stark lesson in how to actually fully realise electronic blues. Indeed, it was ‘In Chains’, the lame opener from ‘Sounds Of The Universe’ gone right…

Available on the album ‘Other’ via Cooking Vinyl

http://alisonmoyet.com/


GARY NUMAN When The World Comes Apart

With the narrative of ‘Savage’ provoked by Donald Trump’s withdrawal of the United States of America from the Paris Climate Accord, the mighty apocalyptic rock of ‘When The World Comes Apart’ was something of a revelation for GARY NUMAN. Using synths as the dominant instrument and having guitars less obviously prominent in the mix, with its richly anthemic chorus, this was the magnificent crossover song that both old and new Numanoids had been waiting for.

Available on the album ‘Savage (Songs From A Broken World)’ via BMG

https://garynuman.com/


MICHAEL OAKLEY Rabbit In The Headlights

MICHAEL OAKLEY is a talented Glaswegian who describes his music as “Melancholic postcards from my heart wrapped up in synthesisers and drum machines”. The melodic ‘Rabbit In The Headlights’ came complete with Italo “woah-oh” chants and whether it was Synthwave, synthpop, electropop, Italo or whatever, it showcased Oakley’s fine songwriting abilities, regardless of genre.

Available on the EP ‘California’ via michaeloakleysynthwave.bandcamp.com

https://www.facebook.com/MichaelOakleySynthwave/


OMD One More Time

The excellent ‘One More Time’ was a classic bittersweet OMD stomper, where “everything you gave me didn’t last”. Using electronic percussion as opposed to drum machines, the enticing verse and uplifting bridge were set to a plethora of gorgeous textures and distorted synth to add a touch of enigmatic weirdness. While Andy McCluskey cried “you can break my heart just one more time”, the track’s star was Paul Humphreys with his crystalline synth sounds laced with some portamento bounce.

Available on the album ‘The Punishment Of Luxury’ via 100% Records

http://www.omd.uk.com/


HANNAH PEEL Goodbye Earth

As well as keyboards and violin, HANNAH PEEL can also play the trombone. Featuring an array of analogue synthesizers and a 29-piece colliery brass band, ‘Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia’ was her instrumental story about a fictional elderly musical stargazer. Beginning with the lift-off of ‘Goodbye Earth’, Miss Peel’s electronic arpeggios and synthetic noise built up to a crescendo of brass and timpani for a quite unusual combination of two very different musical worlds.

Available on the album ‘Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia’ via My Own Pleasure

http://www.hannahpeel.com


RAINLAND Rainland

From the ashes of ANALOG ANGEL came forth RAINLAND. Their self-titled calling card was a vibrant synthpop statement, embroiled in a musicality that provided a journey through the Grampian Mountains. Ian Ferguson had already proved himself a worthy vocalist in his previous combo with dulcet tones not dissimilar to a certain Midge Ure and this was allowed to reign free on ‘Rainland’. Meanwhile, the ivories of Derek MacDonald stylistically aped the symphonic overtones of ULTRAVOX’s Billy Currie.

Available on the EP ‘Touch’ via rainland.bandcamp.com/

https://www.rainland.co.uk/


RHEINGOLD Paradieshafen

Between 1980 to 1984, RHEINGOLD were at the forefront of Die Neue Deutsche Welle, releasing three albums and achieving their first domestic hit ‘3klangsdimensionen’ in 1981. Led by Bodo Staiger, ‘Im Lauf Der Zeit’ was their first album of new material for many years. The melodic synth of ‘Paradieshafen’ drove along a beautiful instrumental that came over like a dream collaboration between OMD and Michael Rother.

Available on the album ‘Im Lauf Der Zeit’ via Lucky Bob Records / Soulfood

https://www.facebook.com/Rheingold-156171354461006/


SARAH P. Who Am I

With hypnotising hints of Kate Bush and percolating Ryuichi Sakamoto style textures, ‘Who Am I’ by electropop goddess SARAH P. was an ode to “humanity, the world we live in and our importance (or unimportance) as individuals and/or as a whole”. And as the Greek-born songstress announced that “I don’t know where I come from… do you know my name?”, a metronomic beat kicked in to lead a dramatic house-laden climax.

Available on the album ‘Who Am I’ via EraseRestart Records

http://sarahpofficial.com/


SHELTER Karma

The normally flamboyant Welsh duo SHELTER surprised all with their darkest and most accomplished song yet in ‘Karma’. “What you want is what you’ll get…” sang Mark Bebb, “…you will get a lot more that you planned”. A vibrant but edgy production from Rob Bradley complimented the sentiment as the message was relayed loud and clear…

Available on the single ‘Karma’ via Ministry Of Pop

http://www.shelterofficial.com/


SOULWAX Conditions Of Shared Belief

From ‘From Deewee’, the first new SOULWAX album since 2004’s ‘Any Minute Now’, ‘Conditions Of A Shared Belief’ was a modular synth lover’s wet dream from the Dewaele brothers. With a retro-futuristic collage of detuned blippy sounds and a backbone of smashing white noise percussion recalling THE HUMAN LEAGUE in their Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh phase, it was complimented by some suitably abstractly pitched TALKING HEADS inspired vocals.

Available on the album ‘From Deewee’ via PIAS

http://www.soulwax.com


TINY MAGNETIC PETS Never Alone

TINY MAGNETIC PETS had their best year yet with a UK tour opening for OMD and to accompany it was their second album ‘Deluxe/Debris’. Featuring Wolfgang Flür, the album’s best song ‘Never Alone’ sounded appropriately like SAINT ETIENNE fronting KRAFTWERK. Paula Gilmer has one of the best voices in modern synthpop and her alluring tone no doubt added to the song’s breezy dreamlike state.

Available on the album ‘Deluxe/Debris’ via Happy Robots Records

https://www.facebook.com/Tiny-Magnetic-Pets-69597715797/


VANBOT Collide (Krasnoyarsk)

The adventurous third VANBOT album ‘Siberia’ was composed and recorded during a 17 day journey on the Trans-Siberian railway. The crystalline ‘Collide (Krasnoyarsk)’ though captured a more Nordic vibe with its gorgeous melodies, while the surrounding rhythmic pace of a train ride made its presence felt. An aural exploration of the relationship between time, location and emotion, ‘Siberia’ was a bold musical experiment.

Available on the single ‘Collide (Krasnoyarsk)’ via Lisch Recordings

http://www.vanbotmusic.com/


Text by Chi Ming Lai
11th December 2017

MICHAEL OAKLEY Interview

Whether he’s categorised as synthwave or synthpop, Glaswegian singer / songwriter Michael Oakley is one of the best new talents of have emerged within electronic pop in 2017.

Oakley’s EP ‘California’ is one of the strongest debut releases of the year, featuring a sextet of “Melancholic postcards from my heart wrapped up in synthesisers and drum machines”.

Michael Oakley kindly chatted about his new life in Canada, growing up in Scotland where he was a pupil at Williamwood High School in East Renfrewshire and how the emergence of synthwave as an entity of its own has allowed Oakley to find an outlet for his love of music…

So, how are you settling in Canada?

It’s good, I’ve probably settled in better now that the weather’s shifted and it’s colder! Yesterday when I was out I felt “Oh this is comfortable” and it was like 2 degrees! We had a heatwave recently where it was hotter than any of the days I’ve been in California recently and I had to stay indoors…

So to start a bit of history… tell us about how you got to where you are today…

I loved music from when I was a wee boy. The first band I really got obsessed with was NEW ORDER. As far as becoming a musician I loved picking out melodies on a keyboard, the likes of Michael Jackson, I loved his melodies, really catchy.

My father pushed me towards doing lessons which I hated, at the time you don’t see the benefit of them and did that for a couple of years, then moved more towards teaching myself as I was far more interested in synthesizers and how to make sounds and stuff.

So were you a musical family? Did you have a piano at home or was it that you were interested and like most of us started with a Casio at Christmas?

Exactly a Casio, a CT-310 that was my mother’s which was passed to me. My dad is musical and is still playing in his 70s. As I said, he pushed me towards doing lessons but I felt I would have become one of those guys stuck on a piece of paper reading music not playing and for me, I would play by ear and do my own thing with what I heard.

I started buying cheap synths, learnt how to use them and sell them on and buy something else. So one month I’d have a Yamaha DX7, sell that and get a Korg M1 or a Poly 800…

So you were getting these secondhand?

That’s right yeah, and they were really cheap, I got my Poly800 for 80 quid. The guy I got my M1 from, you could tell was selling it cos he needed the money…

We’ve all done it…

Yeah I had a full setup before I bought a laptop; I had Juno 106, Akai Samplers, a Roland XP-80 and I sold all of it in order to buy a laptop for 1500 quid that could barely run 5 instruments. In hindsight though, I’m more productive now I have everything in a computer rather than having a hardware set-up.

On a laptop, you can press ‘save’ when you are working on an idea and load up the next file immediately, whereas with hardware you have to repatch things, find sounds etc and it take 10 minutes as opposed to 10 seconds and then you’re like “Sh*t, what was it I wanted to do again…?”

It’s way easier, for me it’s finding stuff that works… initially you want to get an idea off the ground, even a 16 bar loop to get things going. It’s what DEADMAU5 does, takes a 32 bar loop and work that, extending it, dropping bits out, changing sounds

I like his stuff a lot…

Yeah he’s one of the better ones. I find a lot of modern EDM sounds the same, homogenised, generic, and formulaic. There’s not a lot of new stuff coming out of that area that catches my attention and he is one of the ones that is always interesting.

I prefer folk like ULRICH SCHNAUSS, those guys make synthesizers talk. It’s funny as this morning, I bought a software recreation of the Emulator 2 and it’s amazing that so many of my favourite artists have used that keyboard: DEPECHE MODE, TANGERINE DREAM, DAVID BOWIE, PET SHOP BOYS. I’m not really interested in new synthesizers. it’s the ones from yesteryear that I like

That moves us on to my next question nicely. You’re a bit younger than me, so your influences wouldn’t have been current bands for you…?

Absolutely, when I was getting into music it was the early 90s and I had this whole back catalogue of stuff to shift through. The first bands I got into were NEW ORDER, I was obsessed with them and PET SHOP BOYS, blown away by them. DURAN DURAN, TEARS FOR FEARS AND DEPECHE MODE. Depeche are one of the bands I listen to now and still feel the same way when I hear their music, just wow…

So was it an older sibling that had those records that got you listening to them…?

Yeah my sister had a large record collection and she had all the ‘Now’ compilations and I’d be like ‘oh right, who’s STARSHIP? Who are FOREIGNER? ‘I Want to Know What Love Is’? That’s great.’

I’d discover all these sounds… I found 80s music far more colourful and interesting than 90s music, I’ve come to appreciate a lot of that now, but at the time, I found 90s music so dull and boring and depressing.

A lot of the bands from that synth period at that time either split, went into hiatus or were less prolific because of the ‘Britpop’ backlash against technology etc?

The only band that survived during that period were Depeche and I guess bizarrely PET SHOP BOYS who have this weird ‘Art School’ vibe about them. I’m not a fan of the newer stuff but they rode it out.

Then you’ve got folk like the guy from OMD. It’s hard to believe he wrote all that ATOMIC KITTEN stuff, but that’s how he survived that period.

And OMD are back some would say now better than ever…

Exactly!

So was it always you intention to be a musician? You went to University in Glasgow?

Yeah I went to Strathclyde and did a BA in Applied Music. I did that which was my formal training, but nothing I learned on that course has benefitted me in what I’m doing now.

Was that because of the way the curriculum was put together or that the course itself wasn’t able to keep up with the technology…?

Funny you should say that, as the course wasn’t particularly catered to individuals, it was very structured and formal. The first course I went to was showing off the Yamaha digital mixer we were going to use and everyone was “Wow!!!” and 2 years later it was superseded.

I was already working as a musician and the course was geared more towards how to read notation, working on your instrument which for me was singing, I did find a benefit there as I had a great vocal coach, but apart from that I don’t remember much from it so…

So your business model is based around an online presence?

Yeah, it’s something I’ve worked on in the last year. I’ve been really surprised as when I started, I wasn’t intending to do anything with the songs, I was just making the music I loved when I was growing up.

I used to write in bands before and it’s funny as the retro thing was taboo and you could do a little bit, but had to keep what you were doing mainstream and that bored me.

The last thing I did in a band didn’t work out, so I hadn’t written for the best part of 5 years. I did a few demos which didn’t really go anywhere. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, then I discovered this wonderful scene, synthwave music, a homage to the decade and it was the perfect opportunity to have a place the music would be accepted.

I wasn’t particularly planning to release the material, it was more I could make the music I grew up with making the sounds I love. It was just for to enjoy and that’s where all the stuff on ‘California’ came from…

…that brings us nicely to the EP. It seems to come from quite a personal place?

I came out of a long term relationship which ended quite badly and had to move back to my father’s place for a while which was quite humbling. Getting used to being on my own again, waking up daily and doing things for one person, not two. I started writing as in the previous years, I didn’t feel as though I had much to talk about. I didn’t know what I was going to say, the words came as I was making the music. The songs came from a lot of heartache but also new love, meeting someone else, all types of different love songs.

The mainstream Adult Oriented Rock sound comes from my background, when I was writing in a band… I love pop music, old school pop music, when pop was about great songwriting and musicianship. People like Elton John and Billy Joel are my songwriting heroes. If I’m looking for inspiration for songwriting, the guys I listen to are Elton john, Don McLean, Bruce Springsteen… the classic 70s song writers.

The song writing was better in the 70s but the sonic palette reached its peak in the 80s.

I agree up to a point in the 80s, it all went a bit wrong for me after about ‘87…

Absolutely! But it was all brand new. Synthesizers were out of reach for most people. Only people like Trevor Horn or Peter Gabriel could buy things like the Yamaha CS-80 or the Fairlight. Then things became affordable, couple of 1000 quid and then folk could afford it. Then you had the likes of Gary Numan getting hold of a Polymoog, DURAN DURAN etc… Numan suffered though at the hands of the press and his career never really recovered though he is out here on tour at the moment.

That happened to a lot of those acts. It’s interesting you mention that as one of the things I wanted to ask was if you have noticed a difference between the ‘scene’ in the UK in comparison to North America in terms of support etc

There’s a huge difference. One of the things I’m relieved about leaving the UK is that there is way more support, more grassroots encouragement. Back home, there’s a negative, glass half empty mentality, a “don’t put all your eggs in one basket mindset”…

That’s a very West Coast of Scotland / UK thing though?

Totally!

There are a lot of Scots making this style of music like Col Bennett and FM-84, THE VAN DAMMAGE and even CHVRCHES to an extent. What is it about this style of music that attracts Scots, is it because you can see the glass is capable of being full…?

I think it’s not so much the style, it’s really more like we are writing a love letter to the 80s. We all wish this music was still being made and now with the technology available to us, we can do it and do it ‘better’ as a lot of people couldn’t afford studio time whereas now… you can buy a Windows laptop for 400 quid and instantly start recording, there’s no limitations so a lot of guys that wouldn’t have had the opportunity to express themselves can now, which is great.

I’m not long away from Glasgow but I can already start to see the differences. There’s not really any sort of a scene in Scotland or Glasgow. I don’t know if that’s symptomatic of negativity or whatever… the last big band to come out of Glasgow were FRANZ FERDINAND, yeah CHVRCHES too… FF get played regularly in clubs here and are very popular. I didn’t come into the world to do the 9 to 5 and go home and watch Netflix, the potential for something to maybe happen keeps me going. I see a lot of people back home that have had their spirits crushed.

It’s the same across all genres in the UK sadly, be it Prog, Punk, Metal…

Yeah, venues are closing etc. Funny you mention that though. I was in a band and one of the things that started my enthusiasm to wane was the whole pay to play thing.

It was ridiculous, I’d play a wedding on a Friday night and get paid £250 and the following night, pay that away to play my own music. It’s one of the things that is killing music. Albeit you may not get paid but when you bring folk along who will be putting money across the bar too… it’s like what the f*ck…??

It’s interesting you say it’s a lot more supportive in North America…

Most of my support comes from North America, California most ironically. Then it’s Germany, Brazil and France. I’ve been very fortunate to have the support of New Retro Wave… I’m not even an artist on their label, but every track I’ve released has been put on their station. That’s done wonders for me, without that support I wouldn’t have continued. I sent them ‘Rabbit In The Headlights’ and since then, it’s had 160K plus plays on the site which is gratifying but saddening too as that sort of exposure you would think would lead to an act breaking out.

Music has changed, in some ways for the better as the playing field is much more level for independent artists, but you can’t make a living from it. It’s madness. I know we spoke about the fact some of the big bands that you assume are doing great business their members have day jobs.

I remember one of the guys that was in a 90s boy band ended up working in Footlocker… all right I suppose boy bands aren’t real musicians but they aren’t making any money, they are expendable, part of the product, It’s all about how many units you can sell, bums on seats!

Talking of bums on seats, do you sit at the piano to write, strum on a guitar… what’s your approach?

I have a couple of ways I do it… I may sit at the piano and get a chord progression and melody down most of the time. However, it comes from when I’ve set the mood, layering various synthesizer sounds and creating I guess a world. Usually at that point I know I’m onto something especially when I get that emotional connection and the words come to me.

Usually those revolve around how I feel at the time. I will as I say sit at the piano but it’s most often the sonic landscape, the atmosphere, the mood. I approach each song almost as a standalone and each of the songs on the EP sounds different because of that. One of my biggest influences are power ballads, it’s the only genre you can get away with the cheesier lyrics as the music reflects and supports that sort of approach

So is everything done on a computer now?

It is, I have a fast MacBook, a soundcard and a couple of controller keyboards. Strangely, I have a little Korg controller which I find I work better using, as when you’re confined to just 2 octaves, it forces you to find melodies, that’s what it’s all about, finding a melody.

I’m unusual as I use Propellerhead’s Reason as my DAW, I do use Ableton too but very seldomly, that’s mostly for collaborations out here as it’s the software of choice of a lot of guys so we can bounce things back and forth.

Reason for me sounds fantastic, the in-box synths are great. I have a large sound library and the latest version supports VST so I can use standalone softsynths… so I have Sylenth, the TAL-Juno softsynth and Darklight which is a Fairlight emulation… I’m obsessed with the Fairlight. So few folk could afford a Fairlight, it was guys like Gabriel, Trevor Horn, Kate Bush now I have one!

That is interesting as your stuff doesn’t sound as though it’s all done ‘in box’. All power to your programming skills, I imagined you had a load of hardware sitting on an A-Frame in your studio…

That probably my Ulrich Schnauss influence, he makes synths sound really organic. The sounds evolve and have more movement. I will try and make the sound less static. I have a really good sound library. You need to make your own library, they can be presets but having instant access to sounds means ideas can happen right away with sounds that support them, you can change the sound later…

I layer a lot of stuff. It’s better to have melodies that compliment and counter one another. A lot of folk stuff things together, they sound alright but arrangements get cluttered. It’s better to have layers and let the track breath in and out. I get obsessed, it’s easy to buy a softsynth and never use it. I fell out of love with for example the Arturia stuff, I gave the license away as I wasn’t using it…

Are you going out to do any live work?

I’m currently working on a live show but I don’t want to just turn up and hit play on a sequencer, I want to build something different. You can buy the record if you want to hear that. It will be with a couple of other guys. I just want to build the fan base, get more people to hear the music and get as many folk to share it which is more important to me.

A lot of the shows are getting excellent crowds. I was at THE MIDNIGHT show on Saturday at the Globe, a really prestigious venue in Los Angeles, and it was a sell-out, 1500 paying customers… sold all the merchandise which has inspired me for my own live shows.

What’s next…?

I’m working of new material but that musician insecurity of how will I do that again is kicking in… hopefully ready by summer 2018. I’m releasing an instrumental version of ‘California’ and there are a remixes in the pipeline too in time for my birthday on the 3rd January. Just keeping pushing the EP, find ways of getting folk to listen to my music

Meant to ask, what’s the day job…?

Believe it or not, I actually do sound design for companies like the Patchbay and Samplemagic, I create patches for synths and I do the occasional cover set here in bars etc at the weekend.

So do you ever when you’re doing sound design hit a patch and think, I’m keeping that one for myself?

I think of it in terms of nobody will use that sound the way I use it. I released a soundbank for Spire with a load of my own patches on there and there was a time in my life when I would have been quite egotistical and said “Hell no, they aren’t getting my sounds!” but I won’t use that sound again, so if they are willing to pay for that sound why not. You can’t be too precious!


ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Michael Oakley

‘California’ is available as a download EP in song and instrumental variants from https://michaeloakleysynthwave.bandcamp.com

A limited edition purple vinyl and cassette edition is released by Timeslave Recordings, available at https://timeslaves.bandcamp.com/album/california

https://www.michael-oakley.com/

https://www.facebook.com/MichaelOakleyOfficial

https://twitter.com/MichaelOakleySW

https://www.instagram.com/michaeloakleyofficial/


Text and Interview by Ian Ferguson
30th November 2017, updated 20th January 2018

MICHAEL OAKLEY California

Michael Oakley is a talented Glaswegian who describes his music as “Melancholic postcards from my heart wrapped up in synthesizers and drum machines”.

His debut EP ‘California’ rides on the current craze for Synthwave, which emerged following the cult acclaim for the neon-noir thriller ‘Drive’ in 2011 and its soundtrack featuring CHROMATICS, ELECTRIC YOUTH and KAVINSKY. Since then, TV series like ‘Stranger Things’ and their stark backdrop of vintage electronics have maintained the synthwave propagation.

Now virtually every new electronic pop act using widescreen synths from SOL FLARE and NINA to KNIGHT$ and PERTURBATOR is being labelled Synthwave. But what is Synthwave? To ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK, it appears to be synthpop but dressed with sunglasses or Italo disco with neon signs and American accents.

But didn’t Giorgio Moroder do all this in 1980 on the soundtrack to ‘American Gigolo’? And it could be argued that John Hughes’ adoption of British new wave acts like SIMPLE MINDS, THE PSYCHEDLIC FURS, NEW ORDER and OMD for his soundtracks is another stray gene in synthwave? Indeed, the excellent ‘Without You’ by ELECTRIC YOUTH wouldn’t have sounded out of place on ‘The Breakfast Club’ soundtrack?

Speaking of which, Oakley says of his debut EP: “Imagine for a second this is 1985, you’ve just came out of the cinema from watching ‘The Breakfast Club’ and you’re driving home in your DeLorean and flicking through the radio stations looking for some more John Hughes movie soundtrack music…. Well here it is.”

Much in the same way his fellow Scots like WET WET WET, HIPSWAY, LOVE & MONEY, DEACON BLUE, TEXAS and GUN looked Stateside to realise their aspirations, Oakley is doing something similar in the 21st Century.

But that’s not to detract from the fact that ‘California’, where some of the recording also took place, features some very good songs.

‘Rabbit In The Headlights’ begins with the nostalgic sound of a cassette going into the in-car player while the straightforward rhythmic pulse leads into a glorious tune recalling ‘Get Closer’ by Valerie Dore, complete with Italo “woah-oh” chants. Arranged more conventionally, one could imagine this being sung by Taylor Swift.

Meanwhile, ‘Turn Back Time’ is catchy rock elettronico,  bursting with hooks and melodies while complimented by a classic synthetic percussion framework and a guitar solo. Call it Synthwave, synthpop, electropop, Italo or whatever, this first pair of songs on ‘California’ reveals Oakley’s songwriting chops, regardless of genre.

The title track is more of a rock ballad, but continuing at this more moderate pace, ‘Devotion’ is reminiscent of CHVRCHES on their most recent album ‘Every Open Eye’ and pleasingly, Oakley has a far superior singing voice to Martin Doherty.

‘Here Comes The Night’ doesn’t quite hit the heights of ‘Rabbit In The Headlights’ or ‘Turn Back Time’, but ‘End Of Summer’ is musically what a collaboration between TANGERINE DREAM and NEW ORDER might have sounded like.

This is an impressive first salvo from Oakley which shows great promise and potential. His love of ‘Miami Vice’, ‘Blade Runner’, ‘Back To The Future’ and ‘Drive’ quite obviously glows from his work.

But what he needs to do now is stand up from his influences and perhaps be cautious of throwing in too much towards the current fashion for Synthwave… after all, we know what happened with Romo, Synthcore and Electroclash.


‘California’ is available as a download EP from https://michaeloakleysynthwave.bandcamp.com

A limited edition purple vinyl and cassette edition is released by Timeslave Recordings, available at https://timeslaves.bandcamp.com/album/california

https://www.michael-oakley.com/

https://www.facebook.com/MichaelOakleyOfficial

https://www.instagram.com/michaeloakleyofficial/

https://twitter.com/MichaelOakleySW


Text by Chi Ming Lai
13th November 2017, 20th January 2018

Newer posts »