Author: electricityclub (Page 1 of 411)

“I don’t like country & western, I don’t like rock music… I don’t like rockabilly! I don’t like much really do I? But what I do like, I love passionately!!”: CHRIS LOWE

“Good taste is exclusive”: NICK RHODES

BACK TO NOW: NOW 1981 Yearbook with ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK

16 September 2024 /

Hosted by self-confessed pop rambler Iain McDermott, ‘Back To NOW’ is a podcast that celebrates all things related to the variously compiled world of pop, how our favourite compilation albums shaped our lives and now fondly stand as time capsules for our own musical journeys.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s Chi Ming Lai and Ian Ferguson were extremely pleased to be invited as guests on ‘Back To NOW’ and opted to choose the 2022 release of the ‘NOW ‘81 Yearbook’ 4CD set and its companion 3CD set of “Extras”. One of the reasons it was chosen was because, as described by the Now Music official website , “it was a watershed year for pop with new British artists emerging from the ashes of punk and disco by way of the New Romantic movement”

1981 saw key albums by ULTRAVOX, SIMPLE MINDS, HEAVEN 17, THE HUMAN LEAGUE, JAPAN, NEW ORDER, OMD, DEPECHE MODE and SOFT CELL as well as Gary Numan and John Foxx, released within a 10 week period that Autumn. The year also saw the return of KRAFTWERK and Jean-Michel Jarre after an absence of 3 years while DURAN DURAN issued their self-titled debut long player.

Among the discussion points in this episode are how the affordability of synthesizers was changing the musical landscape, Midge Ure was becoming particularly ubiquitous as a producer, ABBA’s ‘The Visitors’ album and how progressive rock elements were seeping into the sounds of the year. This was the year 1981 B.C.C. – before CULTURE CLUB!

Of course, the ‘Now That’s What I Call Music’ series did not exist at the time so there is room for chat about the compilations of the period, in particular K-Tel’s ‘Modern Dance’ of 1982 which provided a near-definitive snapshot of electronic pop of 1980-1981. Featuring DEPECHE MODE, THE HUMAN LEAGUE, OMD, VISAGE, HEAVEN 17, JAPAN, SIMPLE MINDS, LANDSCAPE, FASHION and THE CURE, Radio1 DJ Peter Powell declared that ‘Modern Dance’ was “The best of total danceability, the sounds of modern dance, on one LP!”.

The trio also  get to discuss what songs are missing on ‘NOW ‘81 Yearbook’ and ‘NOW ‘81 Yearbook’Extra’ be it be to licensing or artist veto, and in a year when quite a few brilliant songs did not actually get chart recognition, they each choose their three tracks which they would like to have been included.

The broad church of the UK singles charts at that time meant that it was not all good, with easy listening Radio 2 tunes, soppy Motown ballads and medley records dispelling the rose-tinted myth often portrayed by today’s internet radio DJs that the 1981 charts was full of synthpop! This becomes one of the talking points, as does the fact that heavy metal, rock ‘n’ roll, soul, jazz funk, disco, reggae, ska, post-punk, AOR and mainstream pop sat significantly alongside the New Romantics and Futurists.

1981 was a dazzling 12 months where the decade began to take shape and form an identity that remains with us today. Grab some blank tapes, switch off one of the 3 channels on your TV and join us as we head back to a glorious year in pop, 1981.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Iain McDermott

Tune into past episodes of ‘Back To NOW’ wherever you get your podcasts via https://linktr.ee/poprambler

https://shows.acast.com/backtonow

https://www.facebook.com/poprambler

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Text by Chi Ming Lai
16 September 2024

BILL LEEB Model Kollapse

15 September 2024 /

Vancouver is a rainy city in the shadow of Grouse Mountain with beautiful views. Its citizens like to eat pancakes at Sophie’s Cosmic Café and cycle around UBC, while wearing clothes from Mountain Equipment Co-op or Patagonia.

The furthest point any Canadian could have been from the European bases of PORTION CONTROL and FRONT 242, it’s an unlikely cradle for the development of industrial electronics. Nevertheless, SKINNY PUPPY was born there, in a perfect storm of sequencers and hair spray. FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY broke through the membrane when Bill Leeb left to make music in a different vein.

With a changing cast that mostly revolved around Leeb and Rhys Fulber, FLA put less of a focus on gothic theatrics than SKINNY PUPPY. The band’s sound owed more to Neal Stephenson than Vincent Price. Cybernetics, media, and power complexes became themes around which intense electronic sounds were built.

Leeb and Fulber have also spent time in the mainstream as DELERIUM – a project that allows them to explore their interests in ambient and epic synth work. The Left Coast’s natural beauty is clearly impressed into the project, along with influences from Jean-Michel Jarre, Klaus Schulze and TANGERINE DREAM.

Leeb has just released his first solo album. ‘Model Kollapse’ sits between the intensity of FLA and the fluidity of DELERIUM. With guest vocals from a fellow Vancouverite, Shannon Hemmett (ACTORS, LEATHERS), and contributions from DELERIUM collaborator Mimi Page and Jason Corbett (ACTORS), it adds textures that don’t sit neatly in either bucket. It is also a deeply personal collection of songs, assembled during a period of transition for Leeb.

“All I ever wanted was to be with you” goes a line on ‘Muted Obsession’. Is it a statement of regret or an argument for forgiveness? The urgent bass line doesn’t resolve the question, but it is sophisticated dark poptronica. It butts up against ‘Simulation’ which is spiked with the essence of PORTION CONTROL. The material on ‘Model Kollapse’ combines the feel of classics from the Industrial bins at Vancouver’s Odyssey Imports with the lessons of a lifetime on global stages.

Photo by Bobby Talamine

You can detect the influence of FRONT 242 in ‘Terror Forms’ and NITZER EBB in ‘Infernum’ but these are not derivative tracks. They are built on the rhythmic foundations of EBM, but the edifice is a cathedral of reverb, distortion, and insistent vocal lines. Leeb’s stylings infuse the material with classic FLA definition and intensity.

‘Model Kollapse’ sounds a warning about the encroachment of technology on our lives. A description of the tendency of AI systems to fall apart when exposed to their own outputs, the term highlights that we take the good with the bad. A rainy winter in North Vancouver, contemplating the passing of friends and discomfort about the growth of Big Data could lead you there. So could 52 minutes in the company of the resulting album.

‘Model Kollapse’ is released by Metropolis Records in vinyl LP, CD + digital formats, available from https://frontlineassembly.bandcamp.com/album/model-kollapse

https://bill-leeb.com/

https://www.facebook.com/bill.leeb.3

https://www.instagram.com/leebbill/

Text by Simon Helm
15 September 2024

PROPAGANDA Propaganda

14 September 2024 /

The history of PROPAGANDA does not need retelling, but their acclaimed 1985 debut album ‘A Secret Wish’ released on ZTT and produced by Stephen J Lipson is regarded as something of a cult classic in industrial pop.

However, internal friction between the “ABBA in hell” line-up of Claudia Brücken, Ralf Dörper, Susanne Freytag and Michael Mertens led to PROPAGANDA imploding. Signing to Virgin Records, Mertens continued as PROPAGANDA with a new singer Betsi Miller as well as two former members of SIMPLE MINDS, Derek Forbes and Brian McGee, releasing the album ‘1234’ in 1990.

There was an aborted PROPAGANDA reunion in 1998 and that was that until Brücken and Freytag presented a variation on the theme and performed as xPROPAGANDA, before releasing a new album ‘The Heart Is Strange’ with Stephen J Lipson producing that updated the ZTT-era sound in 2022.

Now in 2024, with a record “conceived and accomplished in Düsseldorf” and a resistance to nostalgia, Dörper and Mertens have started a new chapter of PROPAGANDA with an eponymous title to signify a fresh start. The initial plan was to use guest vocalists for particular songs but the pair came across the silky soulful tones of young German singer-songwriter Thunder Bae.

Despite the techno-robotic introduction, ‘They Call Me Nocebo’ drifts into a steadfast electronic groove with Thunder Bae delivering an accessible vocal crossover over the atmospheric synth programming and sustained guitar inflections that conjoin to still provide an air of mystery.

With a smoky pop presence, ‘Purveyor Of Pleasure’ continues the laid back mood using understated percussive loops and smooth electronic bass while reworked from ‘1234’, ‘Vicious Circle’ brings in a pacier snap and shuffle, differing by moving away from the harder rigidness of its earlier incarnation which featured Susanne Freytag by moving into a modern slice of European sophistipop.

With a hypnotic rolling sequence, ‘Tipping Point’ raises the tempo but keeps the beats subtle on this ecological poem. But recalling “life in a glass cage” during lockdown, the husky ‘Distant’ brings stylistic connections to ‘Cloud 9’, the co-write by Martin Gore with Claudia Brücken that had been demoed for the aborted 1998 PROPAGANDA reunion and was subsequently issued as a ONETWO track.

Although starting sparse, ‘Love:Craft’ builds up to a more dramatic neo-classical template with enticing synth solos and operatic background voicing while ‘Dystopian Waltz’ does as it says on the ration tin, a lengthy solemn instrumental with a haunting Cold War chill in its wonderful orchestrated arrangement.

The best is saved until last, ‘Wenn Ich Mir Was Wünschen Dürfte’ (translated into English as “If I had a wish”), a Weimar-era song written by Friedrich Hollaender in 1930; Dörper first heard it in the disturbing controversial movie ‘The Night Porter’ during a smoky cabaret scene with Charlotte Rampling performing the song made famous Marlene Dietrich.

Hauntingly melancholic, the translated title provides a link to the past while there is even a cheeky musical reference to THE ART OF NOISE’s ‘Moments In Love’ in the intro. Thunder Bae gives a superbly enticing performance in Deutsch over appropriately Autumnal backing to highlight the contradictory emotions expressed. And when Volker Bertelmann, best known as Academy Award winner Hauschka, brings his frozen piano motifs in, it is the icing on the cake.

Ralf Dörper and Michael Mertens have made a cinematic European electronic pop record while adopting modern influences. However, some listeners may find Thunder Bae’s voice too similar to today’s pop starlets like Dua Lipa. Saying that, she stylistically suits these songs and particularly comes into her own on the finale ‘Wenn Ich Mir Was Wünschen Dürfte’, which ultimately prompts craving and secret wishes for more songs in German.

On ‘Dr Mabuse’ they said “never look back” and that is exactly what this enjoyable album is about; a totally different animal to either ‘A Secret Wish’ or ‘1234’ or the aborted 1998 material, a few long standing PROPAGANDA and ZTT enthusiasts may not embrace this album’s younger generation vocal stylings while the lack of Teutonic industrialisation may be a disappointment to others. But those who buy into this new vision will want the double editions with bonus tracks…

‘Propaganda’ is released on 11 October 2024 by Bureau B in CD, limited double CD, vinyl LP, limited double vinyl LP and digital editions

https://propband.tilda.ws/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61560582914718

https://www.instagram.com/propaganda_official_/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Thomas Stelzmann
14 September 2024

IONNALEE Close Your Eyes

10 September 2024 /

Jonna Lee is back as IONNALEE after the more organic IAMAMIWHOAMI record ‘Be Here Soon’ in 2022 which saw her return to her folk singer-songwriter roots.

What’s the difference between the two one may ask? IAMAMIWHOAMI is a full duo effort between Jonna Lee and Claes Björklund who himself works solo as BARBELLE; thus IONNALEE is the solo moniker of Lee although perhaps confusingly to some, Björklund is still closely involved on instrumentation as well as occasionally production and mix.

‘Close Your Eyes’ sees Jonna Lee return to the electronic sound which she launched with IAMAMIWHOAMI in 2009 and continued as IONNALEE from 2018. But this third IONNALEE long player after ‘Everyone Afraid To Be Forgotten’ and  ‘Remember The Future’ and comes with a twist in that it has a Swedish Language twin in ‘Blund’; “I recently moved out of Stockholm back to the area where I grew up in Östergötland” she said, “Singing in my mother tongue gives my artistry a different angle and that feels really exciting – it’s like exploring a new language!”

Lush and airy, opening tune ‘La La love’ begins like classic IONNALEE with a stutter but then bursts into a straight passage of synth bass and strums while questioning whether the physical disconnect in today’s virtual world has muted the ability to feel love.

‘Innocence Of Sound’ is slightly more chilling, reinforced by a rumbling engine room that recalls her earlier IAMAMIWHOAMI albums ‘Kin’ and ‘Blue’ with rich toplines to compliment the delightful oddness with a breathless energy in an anthem for today’s troubled times.

‘Not Your Cherry’ steadies the pace with a zing and a declaration to not play second fiddle using a delightful cake baking metaphor. A combination of droning synths and ethnic instrumentation colours ‘Forgive Her’ and while the vocals dominate, a cutting drum loop takes hold at the end.

The beautiful avant Scandipop of ‘Luminary Rainbows’ is a sumptuously widescreen highlight that declares it is good to chase the dream and thrive. Another is ‘The End Of Every Song’ which surprises with a thumping rhythm and a cacophony of chunky sequences and piercing electronics, the vocals sitting brilliantly like ABBA on helium in outer space!

The punchy digital computer grooves continue on ‘Run Wild’ but as ‘Darkness Is A Real Place’, IONNALEE sounds forlorn on a song that if orchestrated could be Celine Dion; but over a sparse backdrop of chilling synthetic strings and drum machine, it comes over marvellously otherworldly.

The sampled cello and guitar sees ‘You Hold Me Like Water’ project an ominous mood but the bubbling synths provide the contrast that pushes song structure conventions. The cinematic closer ‘Who’ seeks sanctuary and a request to “take me somewhere safe” within a glorious pool of sound design.

By going back to crystalline electronic backdrops on ‘Close Your Eyes’ after the folk and jazz inflected excursions of ‘Be Here Soon’, Jonna Lee has highlighted, whether as IONNALEE or IAMAMIWHOAMI, what actually sets her part for any number of Nordic singer-songwriters. In placing her traditional voice in an otherworldly setting, the contrast is what helps to provide that mysteriously emotive resonance in her sound.

‘Close Your Eyes’ is about how to dream during dark times and maintaining hope in a less than certain future. While there is much melancholy throughout, there are many moments of lifting optimism as well.

‘Close Your Eyes’ and ‘Blund’ are released on 13 September 2024 by to whom it may concern in various formats, available from https://twimc.se/release/448437-ionnalee-close-your-eyes

https://ionnalee.com/

https://www.facebook.com/iamionnalee/

https://www.instagram.com/ionnalee/

https://twitter.com/ionnalee

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by John Strandh
10 September 2024

CHARLIE Spacewoman EP

6 September 2024 /

Not to be confused with the classic 1984 Italo disco track ‘Spacer Woman’ but no doubt in homage, ‘Spacewoman’ is the new EP by Berlin-domiciled DJ, musician and producer Leona Jacewska, best known by her stage name CHARLIE.

She has become known for her notable series of SZUM electro events and being one of the spearheads of the Italo-Proto scene in Berlin which has also seen acts such as DINA SUMMER, NEU-ROMANCER, CURSES and PARADOX OBSCUR emerge.

With a Roland Juno 60, Moog Source, ARP Solina, Roland VP770, Crumar Bit 99, Moog Minitaur, Moog Little Phatty, Oberheim OB6, Sequentix Cirklon, Roland TR808 and Pearl Syncussion SY-1M in her arsenal, Charlie’s most recent release was 2022’s impressive ‘Cold Inside’ which included a remix by the notable Danish DJ legend Flemming Dalum. She opened her account with ‘Polarity Walk’, a track on the various artists ‘Mechatronica Aid EPII’ in support of Berlin-based artists during the 2020 lockdown.

Photo by Jovan Mrowiński

With a hearty rhythmic snap, the ‘Spacewoman’ title song utilises powerful kicks and throbs with sparkling synth hooks galore and suitably detached vocals that are both spoken and sung with treatments for a brilliant thumping club track.

With Chicago meeting Italy, ‘Let Go’ is hypnotic bliss, a sexy and sweaty number that swings and shifts tonally and rhythmically; this perfect strobe-lit slice of dark disco possesses a thrust and mood in the vein of fellow Berlin residents DINA SUMMER that bursts with groove and energy.

With colder trancier elements, the instrumental ‘Dark Waver’ is metronomic but bubbles infectiously as hints of ‘Oxygène IV’ threaten to breakthrough but it is jagged in all the right ways with a percussive barrage to close! ‘In The Night’ though is not a PET SHOP BOYS cover but its energetic combination of big beats, solid basslines, invader blips and spacey swirls concoct another fine instrumental, revealing a kinship with other young producers in Berlin such as Laura Bailey aka NEU-ROMANCER.

Sonically, ‘Spacewoman’ is immensely satisfying and works in the head as well as on the dancefloor. This retro-futuristic EP showcases CHARLIE as a talented electronic producer of worth, with an ability to bring workable changes within her exhilarating melodies and patterns while retaining the necessary repetitious elements essential to good club friendly music.

‘Spacewoman’ is released by Wrong Era / Slow Motion on 6 September 2024 as a 12″ vinyl EP from selected retailers, also available digitally from https://wrongera.lnk.to/Spacewoman

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61557049403213

https://www.instagram.com/charlieszum/

https://soundcloud.com/charlieszum

https://ra.co/dj/charlie

Text by Chi Ming Lai
6 September 2024

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