Tag: Rodney Cromwell (Page 4 of 6)

A Short Conversation with RODNEY CROMWELL

12 March 2018 /

Like the sound of Giorgio Moroder played through a Soviet Foxtrot submarine intercom system, ‘Comrades’ is the brand new single from Rodney Cromwell.

The musical vehicle of musician and Happy Robots Records CEO Adam Cresswell, it comes from ‘Rodney’s English Disco’ EP, the first all new material since the critically acclaimed ‘Age Of Anxiety’.

Dusting off his Boss DR-55 Doctor Rhythm and what appeared to have become his redundant MicroKorg to use alongside his vintage Moogs, the new Rodney Cromwell EP sees Cresswell take on wider issues inspired by the world’s confrontational political climate after the very personal lyrical statements of songs like ‘Black Dog’ and ‘You Will Struggle’ on his debut long player.

To support the upcoming release ‘Rodney’s English Disco’, Cresswell will shortly embarking on the ‘Ohm From Ohm’ tour. Adam Cresswell kindly chatted about life, synths and the Happy Robots way…

The new EP is called ‘Rodney’s English Disco’? Are you leaving the beany hat at home and donning a flared white suit instead?

Ha ha! Not at all. In fact the selection of beany hats has increased. I’ve not gone any more disco than previously. This record is very much inspired by these strange unsettled times living in England right now, and the juxtaposition of Englishness and Disco seemed to fit. And I would look terrible in a white suit.

But in many ways, Rodney Cromwell has always been disco, just in that detached SECTION 25 kind of way?

Absolutely. I mean ‘One Two Seven’ on ‘Age of Anxiety’ was a paean to the disco beat. In fact there is probably more direct Giorgio Moroder, Divine or BLACK DEVIL DISCO CLUB  influences in the Rodney Cromwell sound than there is DEPECHE MODE or Gary Numan. As for SXXV, well you know I’ve always been a fan; my favourite LP of theirs is probably ‘Love & Hate’, but ‘Dark Light’ is a close second these days.

Nearly three years on since its release, how do you look back on ‘Age Of Anxiety’?

Well I can’t say I’ve listened to it lately but after our first rehearsal in ages, I felt I probably should have. I still think very fondly of it. If I had known anyone would listen to it, I should have spent a bit longer mixing it, maybe corrected some of the mistakes, but equally that rough and ready-ness added to its honest confessional nature, it was part of its charm. I was incredibly happy how well it was received and I’m still really proud of it.

The vocoder laden ‘Comrades’ has a really chilling Cold War atmosphere, what inspired that?

I’d written ‘Dreamland’ but I was struggling with writers block – or at least I wasn’t writing anything I liked. One afternoon I ended up thumping at the MicroKorg and came up with the opening riff – I thought it sounded a bit Numan or Foxx-ish and I just built the song around that. Chilling is a good word for it. I wanted this record to be a bit darker and atmospheric – I was probably arguing with some alt-right crackpot on Twitter while recording, so that is likely what inspired it.

‘Barbed Wire’ appears to continue this sombre Cold War theme?

This was the first track I’ve ever written inspired by my Facebook wallpaper. I wanted to write something on the bass guitar mainly because I was listening to a lot of BLACK MARBLE at the time. But the track came out sounding much more ‘indie’ than I wanted. So when it came to producing, we tried to make it as sombre and austere as possible. Lots of reverb and synthy drones with a touch of ‘Deutschland 83’ vibe.

The neo-instrumental ‘Technocrats’ drops in some quite weird sounding chords?

I have no idea what the difference between a neo-instrumental and an instrumental is – but I like it!
This one started out really poppy and upbeat, in a ‘Popcorn’ meets ‘Pocket Calculator’ way; but by throwing in a couple of weird chords, it became a bit more whacky and disconcerting, like the rest of the record. I actually wrote this track really quickly – it went to concept to mixed in about three weeks which is a miracle for me. I have my producer Rich Bennett to thank for that. He described this one as a kraut-jam which sounds about right.

There’s a bit of an early OMD feel on ‘Dreamland’?

That’s probably due to the drums and the Solina strings. This was the first track written for the EP and I decided to dig out the old Boss DR-55 – it’s the drum machine on the first NEW ORDER album ‘Movement’. And anyway I just loved those sounds, so I decided to build the whole EP around them. ‘Dreamland’ is ultimately a break-up song and OMD do great breakup songs.

Are there any new synths in your armoury?

Nope. Don’t you know, I run a record label – I don’t have money for buying new synths. I’ve have actually succumbed to the convenience of soft synths though. After someone told me one of my very favourite albums LADYTRON’s ‘604’ was recorded entirely with soft synths, I got over my innate snobbishness and I use the Arturia Solina String Ensemble soft synth all over this record.

What do you think of those clones that Behringer are attempting to market?

I’m completely oblivious to what new synths are coming to market. But if Behringer want to send me a couple, I will happily test them extensively.

So how have you been juggling making music, along with running Happy Robots Records and releasing acts like HOLOGRAM TEEN, PATTERN LAGUAGE, TINY MAGNETIC PETS and SINOSA? Is this why it’s just an EP?

Nah! Even at my most prolific I’ve never managed more than four or five good songs a year, so a new Rodders album was never going to happen.

Running the label has been great – and it has been awesome working with such great bands. But it is such a lot of work trying to make a success of it – particularly when juggling with a day job. You do sometimes feel trapped in a great endless cycle of work and it starts to make you go a bit crackers to be honest. And obviously, it’s even harder financially now that it was even two years ago – when I did the Hologram Teen 7” in 2016, I got 300 units for £700 but now the same is over a grand. It’s crazy and likely to get much worse.

‘Ohm From Ohm’? But Ohm is where the ARP is?

The ARP is in my new studio room in the loft. Gathering dust. I’m sure someone wrote a song about that once.

What can potential punters expect if they come along to any of your upcoming shows?

From me, three tracks from the new EP, three or four of the big hitters from ‘Age of Anxiety’, some nice looking visuals and maybe a costume change (or at least a hat change). With four bands, we’re going to be running a tight ship, so perhaps you won’t get as much banter as some RODNEY CROMWELL shows. It’s going to be fun though, all the bands are great and we get on really well (for now).

Where is electronic music heading? Are you happy that CHVRCHES have gone the full Taylor or are you more of a Chris Carter man?

I like pop music, but I’m not a Taylor Swift fan really. Not enough melody for me, she makes my stuff sound like Paul McCartney. I read something on Twitter saying she’s a Trump supporting neo-nazi, but even I think is going a bit far. I’ve not heard the new Chris Carter although it’s on the list and I’m sure the new CHVRCHES will be good.

As for where electronic music is heading; well it all seems to be getting a bit darker, doesn’t it. I listened to the new COMPUTER MAGIC yesterday and even that is a bit dark in places. It’s the creatives rallying together. The post post-truth pop revolution has begun.

ELECTRICITY CLUB.CO.UK gives its grateful thanks to RODNEY CROMWELL

‘Comrades’ is released by Happy Robots Records as a download single including a remix by VIEON via https://rodneycromwell.bandcamp.com/album/comrades

‘Rodney’s English Disco’ EP will be released on 25th May 2018 in a 7” vinyl+CD combo, pre-order from the Botshop at https://www.happyrobots.co.uk/product-page/rodney-cromwell-7-cd-rodney-s-english-disco-bot12

https://www.facebook.com/rodneycromwellartist/

https://twitter.com/robot_rocker

https://www.instagram.com/robot_rocker/

https://www.happyrobots.co.uk/rodney-cromwell

https://www.facebook.com/happyrobotsrecords

https://twitter.com/Happyrobotsrecs

https://www.instagram.com/happyrobotsrecords/

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
12th March 2018

PATTERN LANGUAGE Total Squaresville

14 May 2017 /

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…

‘Total Squaresville’ is released by Happy Robots Records on 16th June 2017 as a digital download via the usual outlets, a limited edition promo CD-R is available for pre-order from https://happyrobotsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/total-squaresville

https://www.happyrobots.co.uk/pattern-language

https://www.facebook.com/PatternLanguageMusic/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photo by Chris Sessions
14th May 2017

25 FAVOURITE SYNTH INSTRUMENTALS Of The 21ST CENTURY

25 April 2017 /

Today, electronic instrumental music is everywhere, but often in the form of tedious dance tracks with no tunes all over Beatport and social media.

Luckily, there are still exponents of the classic synth instrumental, and thanks to the rise of the Synthwave sub-genre, there is currently a sympathetic environment for more esoteric and melodic musical offerings.

The key to a good instrumental is it either has to be very melodic to make up for the lack of vocals or very unobtrusive so that while the music is interesting enough to be listened to, it can also be ignored. Thus a Eurorack modular tutorial cannot credibly count as a valid release… 😉

As a follow-up to TEC’s 25 SYNTH INSTRUMENTALS Of The CLASSIC ERA, with a limit of one track per artist, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK presents its 25 FAVOURITE SYNTH INSTRUMENTALS Of The 21ST CENTURY in chronological and then alphabetical order…

SYSTEM F Insolation (2000)

While Dutch producer Ferry Corsten hit paydirt with club hits such as ‘Out Of The Blue’ and ‘Cry’ as SYSTEM F, the debut album pointed towards the Trance’s link to electronic pop. As well as a collaboration with Marc Almond entitled ‘Soul On Soul’, the long player included the beautifully majestic classic instrumental ‘Insolation’ which took a breather from the usual four-to-the floor format.

Available on the album ‘Out Of The Blue’ via Premier

http://www.ferrycorsten.com/

PPK ResuRection – Perfecto Edit (2001)

PPK were a Russian trance duo comprising of  Sergei Pimenov and Alexander Polyakov. The original melody of ‘ResuRection’ came from Eduard Artemyev’s synthesized theme from the epic 1979 Soviet movie ‘Siberiade’ which won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival. Easily mistaken for JEAN-MICHEL JARRE, the thrusting seven minute ‘Perfecto Edit’ in particular was like an exuberant rocket launch set to music.

Originally released by Perfecto Records, currently unavailable

http://promodj.com/ppk

LADYTRON Turn It On (2002)

With a piercing synthphonic riff, scat vocoder, robotic bass and a rigid programmed beat, ‘Turn It On’ saw LADYTRON take a bleep forward with an attempt at a KRAFTWERK track for the 21st Century via Liverpool, Glasgow and Sofia. But as it headed towards its final third, it detoured back to Liverpool and turned into ‘Electricity’ in a cheeky homage to Merseyside’s original electronic trailblazers OMD.

Available on the album ‘Light & Magic’ via Telstar

http://www.ladytron.com/

FROST Klong (2003)

A Norwegian electronic duo consisting of Aggie Peterson and Per Martinsen, FROST released their second album ‘Melodica’ to a positive response, thanks to some production assistance by RÖYKSOPP on two tracks. The beautiful Arctic serenity of ‘Klong’ featuring local trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær alongside layers of gorgeous crystalline synths was one of the album’s highlights that easily outdid anything by GROOVE ARMADA and didn’t rely on using samples either.

Available on the album ‘Melodica’ via Frost World Recordings

https://frostnorway.com/

MYLO Emotion 96.8 (2004)

‘Destroy Rock & Roll’ was the well-received debut album by Scottish DJ Myles MacInnes that alongside DAFT PUNK and BASEMENT JAXX, summed up the sample laden dance music that was prevalent at the time. Produced on a computer in his own bedroo, the album’s best track however was the more downtempo, MOBY-esque richness of ‘Emotion 96.8’ with its beautiful sweeping synth melodies and unobtrusive rhythm structure. A follow-up to the long player has yet to appear.

Available on the album ‘Destroy Rock & Roll’ via Breastfed

http://www.mylo.tv/

ORBITAL Pants (2004)

With a hypnotic Motorik rhythm, pulsating bleeps and spacey whirs driving a moodier template along the lines of cult German experimentalists EMAK, Phil and Paul Hartnoll continued their primarily instrumental template on their ‘Blue Album’, although SPARKS contributed vocals to a totally unrelated track called ‘Acid Pants’. The brothers split shortly after the long player’s release, but returned in 2009 to play The Big Chill Festival.

Available on the album ‘Blue Album’ via Orbital Music

http://orbitalofficial.com/

MOBY Homeward Angel (2005)

From ‘Hymn’ to ‘First Cool Hive’ to ‘A Seated Night’, the man born Richard Melville Hall is a master of the instrumental. The solemn ‘Homeward Angel’ closed MOBY’s comparatively conventional and sample-less ‘Hotel’ album with a solemn yet uplifting slice of mood music that in retrospect, was incongruous with the main act. However, since leaving Mute in 2008, his more recent self-released albums such as ‘Destroyed’ and ‘Innocents’ have displayed this more esoteric quality.

Available on the album ‘Hotel’ via Mute Records

http://moby.com/

RÖYKSOPP Alpha Male (2005)

A ten minute instrumental epic, ‘Alpha Male’ came from RÖYKSOPP’s under rated second long player, one that moved away from the chill-out climes of ‘Melody AM’ into much darker sonic territory. The track’s lengthy ambient intro was interrupted by a mighty metronomic beat and the sort of progressive synth overtures that would have made JEAN-MICHEL JARRE proud.

Available on the album ‘The Understanding’ via Wall Of Sound Records

http://royksopp.com/

JOHN FOXX Kurfurstdendam (2006)

Since his musical return in 1997 with ‘Shifting City’, JOHN FOXX has practically had albums coming out of his ears in song-based, ambient and soundtrack formats, both solo and in collaboration with other artists. The spacey mechanical Schaffel of ‘Kurfurstdendam’ came from an imaginary soundtrack he called ‘Tiny Colour Movies’, inspired by a friend’s birthday screening of a private film collection comprising of random surveillance clips and offcuts from Hollywood.

Available on the album ‘Tiny Colour Movies’ via Metamatic Records

http://www.metamatic.com/

SISTA MANNEN PÅ JORDEN Space-Elevator (2007)

Few acts actually genuinely sound like their name… SISTA MANNEN PÅ JORDEN, which translates as “the last man in space”, is the solo project of Swedish synthpop trailblazer Eddie Bengtsson, he of PAGE and S.P.O.C.K fame. The frantic ‘Space-Elevator’ with its swimmy string synths and Sci-Fi derived melody acted as an effective Moroder-esque interlude on his excellent sixth album ‘Tredje Våningen’.

Available on the album ‘Tredje Våningen’ via Energy Rekords

http://www.moonbasealpha.space/

TENEK Ice Fields (2007)

Borrowing the distinctive bassline from SIMPLE MINDS’ 1981 single ‘Love Song’, the British duo put together this lively danceable instrumental for their debut TENEK EP. With a modern mechanical groove coupled to their trademark synth rock, the almost funky ‘Ice Fields’ became an early live favourite, although the duo have focussed on more song based adventures for their three albums to date, ‘Stateless’, ‘On The Wire’ and ‘Smoke & Mirrors’.

Available on ‘EP1+’ via https://tenek.bandcamp.com/album/ep1

http://www.tenek.co.uk/

KLEERUP Hero (2008)

In 2007, Andreas Kleerup, producer and one-time drummer for THE MEAT BOYS, undertook his first mainstream collaboration with fellow Swede ROBYN. The success of ‘With Every Heartbeat’ led to the recording of his self-titled debut album which featured a number of brilliant instrumentals. ‘Hero’ was its perfect start and with a solid bassline and strong choral timbres, it had the vibe of how OMD might have sounded if they had formed in the 21st Century.

Available on the album ‘Kleerup’ via EMI Music

http://kleerup.net/

DAFT PUNK Tron Legacy – End Titles (2010)

While most of the ‘Tron Legacy’ soundtrack album was arranged and orchestrated by Joseph Trapanese, DAFT PUNK’s spiky electronics and drum machine were kept in alongside the epic strings for the end titles of the sequel to the 1982 movie ‘Tron’. There were nods to Wendy Carlos who composed the score to the original film, with Thomas Bangalter focusing on the heroic themes while Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo was more inclined to generating the darker elements.

Available on the soundtrack album ‘Tron Legacy’ via Walt Disney Records

https://www.daftpunk.com/

047 Kanpai! (2011)

Forming in 2001, Swedish duo 047 began their chiptune experiments thought a mutual appreciation of vintage video games. But after their debut long player, Peter Engström and Sebastian Rutgersson began to incorporate melodic song based elements and vocals into their music. The end results led to the impressive second album ‘Elva’, but they celebrated their chiptune influenced roots with the jolly YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA salute of ‘Kanpai!’

Available on the album ‘Elva’ via Killing Music

http://www.047.se/

MARSHEAUX Now & Never (2012)

‘The E-Bay Queen Is Dead’ was collection of rarities from the MARSHEAUX archives. While Marianthi Melitsi and Sophie Sarigiannidou have done a fair number of cover versions in their time, they are not really known for doing instrumentals. But the electro-boppy ‘Now & Never’ was a very promising wordless demo that Vince Clarke would have approved of; as one of his former DEPECHE MODE colleagues once sang: “words are very unnecessary…”

Available on the album ‘The E-Bay Queen Is Dead’ via Undo Records

http://marsheaux.com/

SOFT METALS Hourglass (2012)

Fusing Detroit techno with more European experimental forms, Patricia Hall and Ian Hicks’ second SOFT METALS album ‘Lenses’ featured the fabulous instrumental ‘Hourglass’. As Hall put it: “I really wanted to write lyrics for that one, but was never quite satisfied with what I came up with. I decided it would be better to let that one be an instrumental. I think it holds up on its own. It’s nice to give the listener a chance to interpret its meaning on its own rather than direct them with words”.

Available on the album ‘Lenses’ via Captured Tracks

https://www.facebook.com/SOFTMETALS/

VILE ELECTRODES The future through a lens (2013)

Anais Neon and Martin Swan’s tribute to ‘Assault On Precinct 13’, ‘The future through a lens’ was a moody but booming instrumental that began their excellent debut longer player of the same name, which later netted a Schallewelle Award for ‘Best International Album’ in 2014. With their vast array of analogue synthesizers and exquisite taste for sound textures, it won’t be too surprising if VILE ELECTRODES aren’t offered some soundtrack opportunities in the near future.

Available on the album ‘The future through a lens’ via
https://vileelectrodes.bandcamp.com/album/the-future-through-a-lens

http://www.vileelectrodes.com/

TODD TERJE Delorean Dynamite (2014)

Although making his name within EDM circles, the Norwegian producer born Todd Olsen paid a musical tribute to ‘Back To The Future’ and its futuristic gull-wing doored Delorean DMC-12 car with this suitably driving Synthwave instrumental. Unlike other so-called dance producers, Terje is conversant with electronic music history and possesses a wry sense of humour, as evidenced by the witty wordplay of track titles like ‘Inspector Norse’ and his own DJ moniker.

Available on the album ‘It’s Album Time’ via Olsen Records

http://toddterje.com/

BLANCMANGE Cistern (2015)

After the first phase of BLANCMANGE, Neil Arthur and Stephen Luscombe worked within the TV and film industry, scoring soundtracks and incidental music. Although best known for his voice, Neil Arthur’s instrumentals have been a continual form of expression. The brilliant ‘Cistern’ comes over like an imaginary Bond Theme for a retro-futuristic world. The wordless wonder that is the parent album ‘Nil By Mouth’ is an unsung masterpiece.

Available on the album ‘Nil By Mouth’ via Blanc Check

http://www.blancmange.co.uk

RODNEY CROMWELL Baby Robot (2015)

Adam Cresswell’s sombre vocals and the darker lyrical themes on his debut RODNEY CROMWELL album ‘Age Of Anxiety’ took a breather with the bright and breezy ‘Baby Robot’. With sweet synthesizer melodies, pretty glints of glockenspiel and a bouncy beatbox, the instrumental was inspired by birth of his son. “Yes, ‘Baby Robot’ is the one track on the album that’s 100% upbeat as it is about the experience of being a father” he gleefully said.

Available on the album ‘Age Of Anxiety’ via https://happyrobotsrecords.bandcamp.com/

http://www.happyrobots.co.uk/

DARKNESS FALLS Thunder Roads (2015)

While Danish duo DARKNESS FALLS are better known for their melancholic Nordic vocals and neo-gothic overtones on songs like ‘The Void’, the dark synthy instrumental ‘Thunder Roads’ proved to be one of the most striking tracks on their second album ‘Dance & Cry’. With a punchy drum machine mantra and menacing reverberant sequence, it was augmented by guitar screeches and sombre six string basslines reminiscent of JOY DIVISION and THE CURE.

Available on the album ‘Dance & Cry’ via Fake Diamond Records

http://darknessfallsmusic.com/

JEAN-MICHEL JARRE & BOYZ NOISE The Time Machine (2015)

JEAN-MICHEL JARRE’s first album for since ‘Teo & Tea’ in 2007 was a two volume opus entitled ‘Electronica’; it features collaborations with a number of synth pioneers and modern day dance artists including BOYZ NOISE aka Berlin DJ Alexander Ridha. This climactic track took on a new life as the set closer on the French synth maestro’s ‘Electronica’ world tour, with a lasered 3D visual feast that required no special glasses! BUT BEWARE OF FLASHING IMAGES! 😉

Available on the album ‘Electronica 1 – The Time Machine’ via Columbia Records

http://jeanmicheljarre.com/

JOHN CARPENTER Utopian Façade (2016)

The horror film king recorded his ‘Lost Themes’ series in collaboration with his son Cody and his godson Daniel Davies as standalone pieces, without the pressure of having to put the music to moving images. The second volume was completed on a tighter schedule to accompany a world concert tour and thus replicated some of the challenging moods in his soundtrack work with tracks like ‘Utopian Façade’ recalling his classic movie soundscapes.

Available on the album ‘Lost Themes II’ via Sacred Bones

http://www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com/

KYLE DIXON & MICHAEL STEIN Stranger Things (2016)

Dixon and Stein are members of the Texan group SURVIVE and their accompanying music to ‘Stranger Things’, a cross between ‘ET’, ‘The Goonies’ and ‘Alien’, sent electronic music fans into online meltdown with its use of vintage analogue synths. With a soundtrack influenced by the horror flicks of Dario Argento and of course John Carpenter, the one minute opening title music to the acclaimed drama series said all that was needed to be said in its brooding dissonant tones.

Available on the soundtrack album ‘Stranger Things – Volume 1’ via Invada Records

https://www.facebook.com/survivesurvive/

TINY MAGNETIC PETS Klangfarben (2016)

As would be expected from a title like ‘Klangfarben’, this vibrant instrumental from Dublin trio TINY MAGNETIC PETS is an enjoyable homage to Germanic music forms, with a loose percussive feel that still maintains that vital degree of Motorik. A word meaning “soundcolour”, it refers to a technique whereby a musical line is split between several instruments, rather than assigning it to just one instrument, thereby adding timbre and texture to proceedings.

Available on the EP ‘The NATO Alphabet EP’ via https://tinymagneticpets.bandcamp.com/

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

Text by Chi Ming Lai
25th April 2017

MARSHEAUX, KID KASIO + RODNEY CROMWELL Live at Norwich Epic Studios

12 November 2016 /

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Athens-based synth maidens MARSHEAUX returned to the UK by gracing the beautiful Norfolk city of Norwich at Epic Studios.

The day was kicked off by a marvellous memorabilia exhibition of items from the Synth Britannia era. Deb Danahay’s collection mainly depicted the early years of DEPECHE MODE circa 1981. Deb shared her very first DM fan club information sheets, photos, backstage passes and newspaper cuttings.

As well as that, there were YAZOO fan club photos, backstage passes and personal notes too while one of the UK’s most devoted fans of DEPECHE MODE, Michael Rose treated eager observers to some excellent pieces of rare memorabilia.

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These included tour programmes from the ‘Some Great Reward’, ‘Music For The Masses’ and ‘Violator’ eras. There were the Bong fan club publications as well, plus letters and assorted promo photographs. And there was the famous jacket Dave Gahan wore on the iconic ‘The World We Live In and Live In Hamburg’ video of nearly from the 1984 ‘Some Great Reward’ Tour, and also the first ever live concert release by the Basildon band.

Stephen Roper provided his keepsakes relating to Gary Numan. He collated a book about the Numan’s imperial era entitled ‘Back Stage-A Book Of Reflections’, which featured contributions from the man himself. More recently, Roper has ventured into gig promotion, hosting a successful live appearance by former KRAFTWERK member Wolfgang Flur.

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The happy crowd milling around the venue consisted of diehard fans of electronica, studded with the likes of Sarah Blackwood ex-CLIENT and DUBSTAR, Anais Neon and Martin Swan from VILE ELECTRODES and George Geranios of Undo Records. Also along for the fun were Keith Trigwell of SPEAK & SPELL and Simon Helm of Nordic friendly music blog Cold War Night Life.

The compère for the evening was the lovely Caroline Rose, who was probably the only person in the venue who could pronounce “Les Disques du Crépuscule” and managed to get the audience properly geared up for the evening’s festivities as well as provided interesting info on the night’s acts.

Guest DJ James Nice graced the gathering with a variety of new and vintage tunes. He recently resurrected the prestigious Belgian label Les Disques du Crépuscule and its sister Factory Benelux offshoot, as platforms to issue a plethora of archive and experimental material, as well as releasing new music by MARNIE, MARSHEAUX, DEUX FILLES and LES PANTIES.

Nice, who is a music publisher and writer, with an accomplished 2010 book ‘Shadowplayers: The Rise And Fall Of Factory Records’, now looks after both labels, curating its heritage as well as taking care of new acts. The sleeve notes for these releases are written by the man himself, but as he told ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK in his recent interview: “My notes tend to be honest rather than gushing or pseudo-academic, and that’s probably why I rarely get commissioned to write liner notes for other releases!”

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In front of an audience that had gathered from as far as Switzerland, Holland, Ireland, Liverpool and London, RODNEY CROMWELL took to the stage first. Led by Adam Cresswell, his short but sweet set of tunes including ‘Baby Robot’ and ‘Black Dog’ from debut long player ‘Age Of Anxiety’, chronicled his own personal problems with depression. There was also the terrific bonus of his older ARTHUR & MARTHA track ‘Autovia’ featuring bandmate Alice Hubley on lead vocals.

He was pleased with the early crowd turnout as he had told ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK earlier this year: “I think it’s harder to get gigs now… maybe that’s because electronic music’s not as fashionable, because back in the mid-noughties, it was on the back of Electroclash and that hipster thing!”. Well, it was a very successful set too and he managed it without blowing up one of his Korgs, like he had done at the warm-up gig in London the day before!

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The golden boy of 2016, Nathan Cooper aka KID KASIO showcased his talents next during a lively 40 minute set. Cooper has had a successful couple of years, releasing his stunning retro-inspired album ‘Sit and Wait’ with such gems as ‘Full Moon Blue’ and ‘The Kodo Song’, which were both performed to a rather appreciative audience.

Previously of THE MODERN and MATINEE CLUB, Cooper has been involved in electronic music for years and worked with all the big names like Stephen Hague. Most recently, he opened a fabulous recording studio Fiction Studios in London, together with his oh-so-famous actor brother Dominic. Cooper managed to pick up a parking fine during rehearsals, so he amusingly pleaded to the audience to buy at least six CDs to cover his losses! His set went down tremendously well; with massively upbeat and entertaining tracks like ‘The Story Of Kid Charlemagne’ and the über fast ‘The End’, the crowd did not want to let KID KASIO off stage.

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KID KASIO certainly prepared the audience for Greek Goddesses MARSHEAUX, whose hour-long set was simply stunning. The duo are soon to play at the first African electronic music festival in Senegal and kicked off with tunes from their latest acclaimed album ‘Ath.Lon’, accompanied by arty background projections. But the big hits like ‘Breakthrough’ from ‘Lumineux Noir’ were also included and inevitably got the audience pumping.

Apart from being pleasing to the eye, Marianthi Melitsi and Sophie Sarigiannidou also know how to get the crowd going and a few certainly got involved in a very articulated manner. The audience were dancing and singing to the brilliant ‘Inhale’ and the mood continued with DEPECHE MODE’s ‘The Sun & The Rainfall’. With exquisite harmonies brought by the girls, a few people in the audience actually said they preferred MARSHEAUX’s cover album of ‘A Broken Frame’ to the original.

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After the show, many rushed to purchase ‘Ath.Lon’ with its stunning sleeve, dutifully signed by the duo. The demand was such that certain items on the merchandise stand flew out so fast, that a few missed out on goodies such as the lush luminous sleeved ‘Ghost’ 7 inch vinyl.

The happy crowd was entertained and everybody was having a great time. Now, this is what happens when electronic music events are curated by electronic music enthusiasts.

The organisers give their warmest thanks to all the bands, DJs, venue crew, team, helpers and attendees who made the evening such a great success

http://www.marsheaux.com/

http://www.kidkasio.com

http://www.happyrobots.co.uk/

http://www.lesdisquesducrepuscule.com/

http://factorybenelux.com/

http://www.epic-tv.com/

Text by Monika Izabela Trigwell
Photos by John Newstead and Simon Watson
12th November 2016

RODNEY CROMWELL, ARTHUR & MARTHA Too

8 October 2016 /

 

ARTHUR&MARTHA

A Short Conversation with Adam Cresswell and Alice Hubley…

Behind the persona of RODNEY CROMWELL is London based synth aficionado, Adam Cresswell. His debut long player ‘Age Of Anxiety’ was a concept album chronicling his problems with depression and anxiety that had affected his life and creative muse. It became an unexpected cult favourite in 2015, with a post-punk template echoing the spectre of acts such as SECTION 25 and NEW ORDER.

However, Cresswell is a seasoned hand, having been part of synth duo ARTHUR & MARTHA with Alice Hubley. They released an album ‘Navigation’ in 2009 but disbanded a year later; Hubley went on to form the indie band COSINES while Cresswell took a musical break.

Several of the RODNEY CROMWELL songs began as ARTHUR & MARTHA recordings, so it was wholly appropriate that the pair reunited for RODNEY CROMWELL’s inaugural gig last summer. One of the highlights of the set was ‘Black Dog’, a pulsing part duet with Hubley embellished with the beauty of Cresswell’s Hooky bass.

Performing together on several occasions since with guitarist Richard Salt, the band have even revived ‘Autovia’, a synthetically motorik soundtrack ideal for motorway journeys north of Watford Gap that was the key song on ARTHUR & MARTHA’s debut.

With RODNEY CROMWELL’s upcoming appearance on SATURDAY 5TH NOVEMBER alongside MARSHEAUX and KID KASIO, both Adam Cresswell and Alice Hubley kindly chatted to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK during a break in rehearsals.

‘Black Dog’ started as an ARTHUR & MARTHA track, is it the best song NEW ORDER never recorded?

Adam: Oh! I wouldn’t go that far, the best song NEW ORDER never recorded was ‘Let’s Go’, but they did finish it in the end…

Alice: …maybe some of THE KILLERS songs as well! *laughs*

Adam: ‘Black Dog’ is knowingly NEW ORDER-ish anyway… it was about my safe space, it was about going through a bad period but wanting to be reminded of the music that made me feel good about things.

Alice: I can’t remember recording the vocal!

Adam: It was one of those one-take wonder jobs!

Alice: I’m such a pro! But there so many records today that are over produced, having something that’s a little bit rough around the edges is kind of nice now.

RODNEY CROMWELL Alice+Adam

The acclaim for ‘Age Of Anxiety’s means you’ve toured together as RODNEY CROMWELL, how have the dates you’ve played gone so far? Any strange occurrences you can report?

Alice: You got to learn about the joys of Justin Bieber!

Adam: Yes, we watched a lot of Justin Bieber videos with some bad wine in Liverpool! *laughs*

Alice: It’s just been nice hanging out with Adam; we had not really seen each other since we stopped doing ARTHUR & MARTHA. Before when we toured, he only had a Smart car so we couldn’t take friends with us. Now he’s upgraded and has four seats in his car.

Adam: The RODNEY CROMWELL gigs now feel much less pressured than with ARTHUR & MARTHA.

How do you think the live environment has changed?

Adam: I think it’s harder to get gigs now… maybe that’s because electronic music’s not as fashionable, because back in the mid-noughties, it was on the back of Electroclash and that hipster thing!

Alice: We did lot of good shows in Shoreditch at the Old Blue Last and stuff in that electro scene alongside cool acts like LO-FI FNK and PLASTIC OPERATOR. In the last year we’ve mostly played indie scene events, we’ve not really had the chance to play with other synth bands.

What advice would you give to anyone aspiring to use vintage synths live in the 21st century?

Adam: Get a tuner Alice! *laughs*

Alice: I have a Korg MS10 and a Roland Juno 60… we used to use MicroKorgs in ARTHUR & MARTHA, but I look at them and shudder! I can’t deal with them anymore!

Adam: When we did ARTHUR & MARTHA, we were rocking up with the Moog and a MicroKorg because it was more convenient. But other every other band seemed to be using MicroKorgs too, but just the presets! I hate it! I wiped all the sounds!

Alice: YES! We can’t play ARTHUR & MARTHA stuff because Adam wiped all the sounds, I spent ages programming that sh*tty little instrument! He had obviously forgotten the blood, sweat and tears I went through! That was like an end of an era! *laughs*

Adam: We would upgrade if we ever did ARTHUR & MARTHA again.

ARTHUR&MARTHA-live

So how do you perform ‘Autovia’ in RODNEY CROMWELL now?

Adam: Oh, we do it totally differently because Alice used to play the clarinet while I played the Moog. But now we’ve dropped the clarinet and we do it with MS10, Moog and guitar to give it that added HARMONIA feel.

Alice: It’s a bit more of a synth jam, more droney… I like to make the most awful sound I can on the MS10 which is always a lot of fun.

Adam: It’s become our experimental track in this live set. For the last 2-3 minutes of that song, we just wig out!

Sort of like STEREOLAB meets NEU! ?

Adam: TOTALLY! Maybe it’s a reaction to bands whose synths aren’t even plugged in where there’s nothing improvised and they don’t add anything new to what they do… we go the opposite and take it as far away from the record as we can…

Alice: I really like it when bands do that, like HOT CHIP always reinvent their songs…they’ll still be playing ‘Boy From School’ but they’ll do it in a different kind of feel every time you go and see them.

Adam: With RODNEY CROMWELL as opposed to ARTHUR & MARTHA, we’ve tried to bring something of the live band back to the sound, it’s about us enjoying it. Using analogue synths and a load of effects pedals brings in all these variables, things wobbling in and out.

Who came up with ‘Autovia’?

Adam: That was me! I was on tour with my previous band SALOON in Spain and I saw the word ‘Autovia’ on the road; it sounded a bit like ‘Autobahn’ and so I wrote a song called that. Most of it was recorded in the downstairs toilet of my house! I did the first half of it with SALOON and it was going to be a B-side to a single that never happened, so I took it to ARTHUR & MARTHA.

The ex-SALOON members call it my ‘Ceremony’, in that it’s a song I took from one band into the next. It was just a 4 minute ploddy pop song, but Alice came along and added the last three minutes to it with the clarinet and it mutated into something more epic.

ARTHUR&MARTHA Autovia

How did Alice end up singing on it?

Alice: I just like singing, I was listening to a lot of OMD, SECTION 25 and SAINT ETIENNE… originally, I was meant to join SALOON…we met when we were 12 when our bands at the time were on the same bill! My band were called THE SEVEN INCHES! We kept in touch and was moving to London but SALOON broke up before I moved. So me and Adam talked about doing a two-piece, Adam had more of a bank of songs ready and ‘Autovia’ was in the first set we did live.

Adam: She connected with the song straightaway.

Alice: Adam didn’t really sing much initially. ‘Kasparov’ on ‘Navigation’ was the first song Adam did sing, I kind of had to talk him into it, partly because he made it sound more like THE POSTAL SERVICE. He was always in the background with SALOON even though he wrote a lot of the songs.

Adam: For the video, we borrowed my mum’s car so that we could take the film director down. We had no plan whatsoever! We just drove to the Isle of Sheppey, set-up in this playground and stuck a green sheet in the back of the car. These kids were kicking a ball at it while we were filming! *laughs*

What’s next for each of you with your various projects?

Adam: There’s a new RODNEY CROMWELL single ‘Fax Message Breakup’ which has some really cool remixes on it by HOLOGRAM TEEN, CHRIS FRAIN, AUW and THE LEAF LIBRARY. We’re doing a London warm-up gig with RÉMI PARSON. And next year will see if I can actually write another album.

Alice: COSINES have just released an EP called ‘Transitions’ and are finishing the second album. If you like RODNEY CROMWELL and ARTHUR & MARTHA, you may like COSINES… it’s guitary but there’s still a lot of synthesizers and keyboards on it. I think with the new album, we’re experimenting with new sounds and doing things a bit differently.

The scene COSINES play in is a lot more guitar based and a lot of it is people that I’ve known for the last 15-20 years. I don’t really know enough about the electronic music scene at the underground level, but everyone I’ve met has been very nice and whenever we play gigs, I get people coming up to me and saying nice things about ARTHUR & MARTHA.

Adam: In the indie scene, nobody says nice things! They just look at their shoes! *laughs*

Alice: It’s kind of passive / aggressive… they’ll smile at you and then say something nasty about you online *laughs*

Is an ARTHUR & MARTHA release possible?

Adam: I’ve got the concept of an album in my head *laughs*

Alice: Every so often, Adam tries to get me to do something, I don’t know… never say never!

RODNEY CROMWELL ‘Fax Message Breakup’ EP is released on 11th November 2016

RODNEY CROMWELL ‘Age Of Anxiety’ and ARTHUR & MARTHA ‘Navigation’ are available on major download platforms and CDs are available via http://www.happyrobots.co.uk/#!botshop/luv44

COSINES ‘Transitions’ EP is out on Fika Recordings, available as a download or 10” vinyl via http://shop.fikarecordings.com/album/transitions

https://www.facebook.com/rodneycromwellartist/

https://www.facebook.com/happyrobotsrecords/

https://www.facebook.com/arthurandmarthaband/

http://www.cosines.co.uk/

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
8th October 2016

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