Author: electricityclub (Page 2 of 415)

“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

FRANK CHICKENS Interview

18 November 2024 /

The recent release of ‘Ninja Legends 1983-1989’ by Cherry Red Records presented a deep dive into the creative legacy of cult Japanese act FRANK CHICKENS.

The comprehensive 4CD boxed set contained their first three albums and a compilation of BBC live sessions recorded for John Peel, Richard Skinner and Janice Long; it acts as a perfect (re)introduction to world of FRANK CHICKENS.

The classic duo of Kazuko Hohki and Kazumi Taguchi gained a cult following with their unique blend of pop, punk and traditional Japanese music with their humorous quirky songs often challenging racial and gender stereotypes to break down cultural barriers. Their best known songs in the UK are ‘Blue Canary’ and ‘We Are Ninja (Not Geisha)’

FRANK CHICKENS continue to be proudly led by Kazuko Hohki and have evolved into a multi-national ensemble with over 20 members. She kindly chatted to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK and spoke Frankly about getting Chickenized…

Today, South East Asian culture is now everywhere and part of the everyday, be it in cinema, music, gaming, food or fashion. But when FRANK CHICKENS started, Britain was a bit different?

People didn‘t know many Japanese words / things which are now very well known – like sushi, karaoke, matcha, udon, soba, anime, manga and even ninja! We could say anything about Japan and they believed us.

How did you come to the attention on John Peel and become one of his favourite acts?

John Peel must have been familiar with David Toop and Steve Beresford’s music in THE FLYING LIZARDS, THE SLITS. Also his producer, John Walters liked us and he came to see the performance of my other group called JAPANESE AMERICAN TOY THEATRE OF LONDON (JATTOL) which did a pastiche of Hollywood films using wind-up toys. He recommended JATTOL to John Peel for his birthday party’s act. So we went to his house somewhere outside of London and met his family and friends. I don’t remember much but have a very warm feeling about it so must have been a very nice party!

What inspired you do a cover of ‘Blue Canary’?

Sorry, I cannot remember. I have a vague feeling that the karaoke of that song might have been in one of the cassette tapes which I had bought in Thailand while on holiday. We started to use it in our gig and realised it was a very popular song. We were vaguely familiar with the tune as we had that song as a hit, sung by Izumi Yukimura in 50s. The tempo was much slower, though. Recently FRANK CHICKENS were invited to perform at somebody’s retirement party in the village hall in Devon. He is the collector of FRANK CHICKENS music but especially liked that song. We performed there in the same way as we did in 80s (Kazumi and I with toys) and he danced with his wife. Very sweet.

‘We Are Frank Chickens’ was your album title and song but ‘We Are Ninja (Not Geisha)’ became your signature tune and an independent chart hit. You have probably told the story dozens of times but what inspired it and did people get the message?

David Toop was one of the people who introduced hip hop culture in NY to the UK. He was telling us about the street scene in NY where black kids take out their ghetto blasters and rap over the music. It was a process of reclaiming the music and we all thought it was wonderful. David compared that to Japanese Karaoke scene where everybody could start to sing and feel like a pop star, using ready-made music. Steve Beresford and David suggested to us we should make a rap song.

I was reading a popular novel about ninja at that time. As rapping was often about boasting, I thought our rapping could be ninjas boasting their skills. Ninja and Geisha uses the same character (ja-sha) so the concept of “we are Ninja not Geisha” came naturally. We were aware of English expectation on Japanese women (demure, submissive etc) and wanted to comment on it. However it is not a message song, it is primarily for fun and intrigue. Some people get our feminist stance but some people just enjoy it as an interesting creation.

The first two albums ‘We Are Frank Chickens’ and ‘Get Chickenized’ were made in collaboration with David Toop and Steve Beresford, both from THE FLYING LIZARDS, was the creative process with them as fun as it would appear on paper? How do you look back on that classic period of FRANK CHICKENS?

Steve, David and I all belonged to LONDON MUSICIANS COLLECTIVE around that time. LONDON MUSICIANS COLLECTIVE was the first place to visit for me after arriving in England in 1978. It was an amazing place where we paid the membership fee of £7 for a year and could use the vast space – an unused warehouse for the National Rail – for a rehearsal or gig , free of charge. The members were mainly improvising musicians but there were some visual artists, dancers, theatre makers and performance artist. A lot of experimentations and playing – sometimes fooling – around was happening and FRANK CHICKENS came out of that. FRANK CHICKENS had to become less ‘fooling around’ as we were making pop songs but the spirit was always there.

FRANK CHICKENS were involved in supporting The GLC and Red Wedge, was the socio-political climate of the times in the UK become a particular motivator for you creatively? Did you feel like activists as well as artists?

Around that time, people’s interest in society or politics seemed more direct than now. Pop music was more keenly connected to social issues. We were influenced by that and thought it is so good compared to Japanese pop scenes where songs were mainly about lost love. I don’t think we could call us activists but we wanted to contribute something to change the world into a better place somehow.

Kazumi Taguchi took a break from FRANK CHICKENS in 1988 and there was a new singer Atsuko Kamura on the third album ‘Club Monkey’, with this reconfiguration, was this a good reason to make a fresh start with new producers? How did you find adapting to working with new people?

The producers of ‘Club Monkey’ (Grant Showbiz, Justin Adams and Clive Bell) were all old friends with whom we have been working together around that time, especially Grant who has been our sound man since we started. ‘Club Monkey’ was based on our Christmas musical produced by Peter Jenner who was our manager at that time and coming out from “Flying Lecords” (silly joke!) run by him. Peter was a good friend of Grant so it seemed more natural to work with Grant and his team then. I was very excited to work with Atsuko as she is from the legendary first all-female Japanese punk band POLKA DOTS FIRE BRIGADE.

This first phase of FRANK CHICKENS is now documented on this ‘Ninja Legends 1983-1989’ boxed set with Cherry Red, are you happy how it has been packaged and that there is a potential new audience to be found?

I am very happy with the packaging. Martina Elliott at Cherry Red worked very hard enduring many correspondences with me! I hope it reaches new audience especially as we are also digitally releasing all the tracks from the box set and singles of ‘We Are Ninja’ and its remix called ‘Ninja (Betamax Double Vision mix)’ remixed by Betamax, the drummer for THE COMET IS COMING.

Did the ‘Ninja Legends 1983-1989’ boxed set trigger off any nice memories that you had maybe forgotten about?

We had a brilliant designer called David Thomas with whom I used to share the communal housing in Archway. He designed our first two album covers and several single covers. The artworks of the covers of the box and 3 CD cases in this box set use his designs, so the box set has become a portable mini-exhibition of his work (which reminds me of Marcel Duchamp’s ‘Museum In a Box’. I like Duchamp as he is a real Punk!). This box set has made me realise again how good his design was.

You hosted ‘Kazuko’s Karaoke Klub’ for Channel 4 in 1989, it was sort of ahead of its time as because of Karaoke going into pubs and actual dedicated venues later, it led to more people wanting to be popstars and auditioning for those talent shows that were everywhere in the 21st Century?

I like the idea that everybody can fantasise being a pop star as it is a good exercise for our imagination and if Karaoke has helped people do that, that’s not a bad thing, but I hope they realise that the reality (of being a pop star) is quite boring (though I don’t actually know as I’ve never been a real pop star, but I have sniffed a little bit).

Although ‘Kazuko’s Karaoke Klub’ was exposing a Japanese cultural phenomenon to a British audience, the show really suited the eccentric British mindset… the episode with Frank Sidebottom and John Cooper-Clarke was really quite surreal don’t you think?

I love eccentric British mindset. It creates and accommodates the real multiculturalism! There are a lot of them about in my proximity though they are not famous. They help me to keep being creative, I believe.

When Spike Milligan was on ‘Kazuko’s Karaoke Klub’, you were really trying to hold back your laughter as he wasn’t answering questions conventionally and going off script… would you like to have done more shows if only to meet more characters like him or was being on TV regularly not for you?

That sounds fun but as you say, being on TV regularly is not for me. I prefer performing to people rather than a camera as cameras never smile.

FRANK CHICKENS still continue and now has a large rotating membership, how did this idea to reinvent the group come about?

It sort of naturally happened. I think FRANK CHICKENS should be a community where we can share our love of eccentric British mindset. There is a lot of potentiality for having fun, this way.

I saw FRANK CHICKENS perform at Japan Matsuri 2012 in Trafalgar Square, so did performing to such a big mainstream crowd feel like vindication for you or does that sort of thing not matter to you?

Thank you for seeing us!

We have performed on the Other Stage (second biggest stage at Glastonbury Festival) in 80s. It had 20000 people and I still remember the view of the mass audience from the stage, looking like the sea. It was exciting but a bit alienating at the same time. I have performed my solo theatre show to two people at Battersea Arts Centre, who responded so well all the way through. It was equally exciting (but a bit sad, obviously). I don’t know which is better. Each time we do a gig and feel like we are sharing the excitement with the audience, how many they are, that is vindication for what we do, I suppose.

Which would be your 5 favourite FRANK CHICKENS songs?

All good. I cannot choose. It’s like choosing a child from your children. However I must say I always slightly prefer our original songs to cover, because I am big headed. If I could go off from FRANK CHICKENS, I do like the song called ‘Omoi Ame’ which I wrote with Steve for the record called ‘Love In Rainy Days’ from the French NATO label. It was my first attempt to write Enka (Japanese pop ballad) and Steve’s arrangement is fabulous.

What is next for FRANK CHICKENS?

First, we have to survive Christmas!

We have been organising annual one day festival called Ura Matsuri featuring ESEA (East and South East Asia) artists based in UK including FRANK CHICKENS, since 2016. We have just finished our 8th version at Hoxton Hall in October and our next one in 2025 will be in the Southbank Centre in July. We have started working on that (mostly the fund application!) now.

We are going to have the launch event for the online streaming of Ura Matsuri 2024 at Hackney Chinese Community Service in Shoreditch on March 9th.

Before that we will be playing at Posh Club produced by Duckie in Peckham and Stoke Newington in January. They are the daytime swanky clubs for pensioners. Great audience!

Meanwhile I hope to put more songs in Bandcamp so please watch out!

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Kazuko Hohki

Special thanks to Matt Ingham at Cherry Red Records

‘Ninja Legends 1983-1989’ is released by Cherry Red Records as a 4CD boxed set, available from https://www.cherryred.co.uk/frank-chickens

https://www.kazukohohki.com/about-frank-chickens/

https://www.facebook.com/frankchickens001

https://x.com/FrankChickens_

https://www.instagram.com/frank_chickens_ninja/

https://frankchickens.bandcamp.com/

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
18 November 2024

XENO & OAKLANDER Via Negativa (in the doorway light)

14 November 2024 /

Minimal electronic duo XENO & OAKLANDER are back with their eight album ‘Via Negativa (in the doorway light)’.

Albums over the past 18 years like ‘Vigils’, ‘Sets & Lights’, ‘Par Avion’ and ‘Vi/deo’ have demonstrated and reinforced Liz Wendelbo and Sean McBride’s talents as the Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg of synth. From their Connecticut laboratory bubble, the new album sees a further refinement to their precise yet spirited productions.

With songs starting as embryonic piano sketches before McBride applied his modular and vintage synth knowhow, the opening title song makes a powerful statement in a cacophony of synths and percussion while the call and response duet between Liz Wendelbo and Sean McBride provides the fitting contrast of sweetness and starkness to play with the mindset. Less in your face but no less effective is the moodier ‘Mercury Mind’ with brighter hooks doing battle with far grittier distorted interventions.

Despite a seemingly impenetrable wall of synthetic sound, ‘The Unknown Side’ is gloriously bouncy, with Liz Wendelbo providing her alluring Je n’sais quoi to offset Sean McBride’s flatter snarl. ‘Lost & There’ takes XENO & OAKLANDER unexpectedly into a stuttering backdrop and the end result is something almost psychedelic as Wendelbo and McBride harmonise with their blend creating a Neil Tennant stylisation.

‘Actor’s Foil’ adopts a more rugged industrial synthpop template for some EBM sensibilities while with an immediate rhythmic bounce, ‘Magic of the Manifold’ is classic XENO & OAKLANDER reminiscent of ‘The Staircase’ from 2011’s ‘Sets & Lights’ with its squelchy bassline programming being a prominent feature.

A bilingual ode to bloodstones which are said to clear out negative energy, the speedy ‘O Vermillion’ is more minimal compared with other songs on the album and brings in Cossack chants for that Cold War edge that is suitably fitting with the spy drama end. The album concludes with the steadfast ‘Strange Fellows’ which lowers the tempo and plays around with shoegaze impressionism as Wendelbo and McBride vocally delightful spar.

This is another accessible and enjoyable XENO & OAKLANDER record that utilises technology and poetry with spikiness and sweetness, to present the dystopian and the utopian in a cerebral study of “what not to do, a negative image of a positive, the other side, the other”.

‘Via Negativa (in the doorway light)’ is released by Dais Records on 15 November 2024, available as a red, splatter or black vinyl LP, CD and download from https://xenoandoaklander.bandcamp.com/album/via-negativa-in-the-doorway-light

https://www.daisrecords.com/collections/xeno-and-oaklander

https://www.facebook.com/xenoandoaklndr

https://twitter.com/XenoOaklander

https://www.instagram.com/xenoandoaklander/

https://www.daisrecords.com/collections/xeno-and-oaklander

Text by Chi Ming Lai
14 November 2024

Michael Mertens & Ralf Dörper: The PROPAGANDA Interview

11 November 2024 /

Michael Mertens and Ralf Dörper starting a new chapter of PROPAGANDA was perhaps not on anyone’s bingo card at the start of 2024.

Featuring the sultry vocals of Thunder Bae, PROPAGANDA have presented an eponymous long player to signify a fresh start with 7 new songs and a rework from ‘1234’, the 1990 album featuring Betsi Miller as lead singer.

Of course, PROPAGANDA were best known in their “ABBA in hell” line-up fronted by Claudia Brücken and Susanne Freytag which produced ‘A Secret Wish’, the acclaimed 1985 debut album which is regarded as something of a cult classic in industrial pop. On ‘Dr Mabuse’, PROPAGANDA said “never look back” and as a totally different animal to either ‘A Secret Wish’ or ‘1234’, that is exactly what this enjoyable self-titled album is about.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK had the pleasure of talking to Michael Mertens and Ralf Dörper as the sun was setting on a lovely autumn day in Düsseldorf about the record’s lengthy genesis and content…

When did writing together for a new PROPAGANDA begin in earnest, what had been the spur?

Ralf: Quite a while ago, Holly Johnson had a new album out and asked for a remix of ‘Dancing With No Fear’. We were sitting together in the studio working on that playing with analog synths and that started some activity because we knew we had some stuff in the cupboard that was nearly forgotten but worthwhile to start again. But it was a long process as we didn’t know what kind of result we were expecting. We had in the back of our minds that it would be fine to have a record out with artwork and a booklet, not just a digital release. That took a bit of time as we were seriously interrupted by Covid and other thing. But I have to admit the net time and the gross time were totally different that was spent on this album.

Michael: There were huge gaps in between, we had some songs from 2012 for a reunion of the original PROPAGANDA set-up with Claudia Brücken and Susanne Freytag, but that did not come together in the end. But we wrote some material for this but that was left behind and we didn’t think we would do much with it or what the future would bring. We all did different things you know. The actual trigger was Holly Johnson’s asking for a PROPAGANDA remix and we realised we get on well in the studio, we’ve always got on well. But Ralf’s idea was for a series of physical EPs…

Ralf: I was pretty optimistic and there was still a market so I thought to reintroduce ourselves after so long, let’s start with an EP with one new song, another version of that song and a rework of something old that was not so well-known, maybe even a song that was not released on ZTT. The idea was to do 2 or 3 EPs but when reality knocked, record companies told us this was not possible anymore or it would have to be a 200 limited edition because that is what the EP market is!

You’ve mentioned that you have always had a good relationship, and this continued even with ‘1234’ which Ralf was not involved in?

Ralf: No No! I was!

Michael: He was under contract to Virgin as well.

Ralf: This is something from the outside which is not so clear because when I left in 1990, there was a bit of bad will involved. So if you look at the CD booklet, you won’t find me pretty much. But we actually started work on the album in 1987 with a new singer Betsi Miller and a deal with Virgin. When the recording was going on in 1988, I was living in London and I got a bit bored with pop music. I was sucked into a LWR pirate radio station which introduced me to Detroit techno and acid, it was similar to what John Foxx said because the analog electronics that these people were working with reminded me of the early stuff when started PROPAGANDA before Fairlights and LinnDrums. So my mindset was changing. I was tempted to do something that was not very well known in England with Andreas Thein who was an original PROPAGANDA member. We did a record called ‘Dr Acid & Mr House’ which was a Top20 hit in Germany, we did it in 3 days… we earned more from that than we did with ‘Dr Mabuse’!!

‘Vicious Circle’ from ‘1234’ has been reworked for the album, why was that particular one most suitable for the new phase of Propaganda and how did the new arrangement develop as it is quite different?

Michael: Very different, ja… we always liked that track, it was one of the first tracks we wrote for ‘1234’ and thought it was the signature track for the album although ‘1234’ was a difficult album to make. It was a very difficult period for all members of PROPAGANDA with these incredible changes as you can imagine. You have a different singer so you have to cater for a different vocal style…

Ralf: …and there was the different cultural background, it really makes a difference if you work with a European and an American because there are some references that an American doesn’t get easily.

Michael: So that changed a lot. Then there was a difficult legal period with ZTT which shook us fundamentally and made us insecure in a sense. Maybe the producers had a bit more say than they should have on ‘1234’ but I still think it is a good record, don’t get me wrong. But Ralf and me, we always maintained a good relationship although in 1990-1991, our ways separated but not in a hostile way.

Ralf: The plan of doing 3 EPs with something old, because of the contract, we wouldn’t have been able to do rework of something from ‘A Secret Wish’ because in the paperwork when we left ZTT, that was something we had to sign that we couldn’t do something like Taylor Swift did and re-record everything! *laughs*

The initial plan was to use guest vocalists but you settled on having Thunder Bae sing on the album, was there a particular song she sang that made up your minds for you?

Michael: It was more than one song, I don’t totally remember which the first song was that we asked her to put her vocal to, it might have been ‘They Call Me Nacebo’ or ‘Purveyor Of Pleasure’ but I know she had done ‘Tipping Point’. For us, the first song, she did us a favour as we had written it for a female voice. She was happy to do that because she was interested in what we were doing. She’s from a different generation and said “look, this music you are doing, I really like it but I would never write a song like this, it’s totally different from what I do”, we thought that was good as we could evaluate the song, we weren’t evaluating her singing. That only came on the third song she did and we suddenly looked at each other…

Ralf: It was like the picture was becoming visible…

Michael: …then we asked her if she would do more.

‘Purveyor Of Pleasure’ opened this new phase of PROPAGANDA, how did you find the reaction to it, particularly on social media?

Michael: It was a mixed reaction but the main positive thing was “ok, these guys are doing something…”

Ralf: There was no pre-warning…

Michael: We knew there was going to be a mixed reaction but to be perfectly honest with you, we have always had mixed reactions to our work! When we came out with ‘A Secret Wish’ in Germany we had a lot of mixed reaction, some people HATED us! You know with ‘Dr Mabuse’, there was Claudia with her special kind of voice and the music was so different to what the mainstream, it was polarising but in a sense, we are not afraid to polarise. So ‘Purveyor Of Pleasure’ polarised but there was a lot of people who liked it; it is one of my favourite songs from the record, I really like it. I am very happy with the sequence of song we released and the way we did it, that’s really good.

Ralf: There’s one thing that has to be understood, when we started and for a couple of years, the idea was we call it “Dörper & Mertens”, to use the name PROPAGANDA only came up a few years ago and we had access to the band’s Spotify account. Universal had acquired from the catalogue from ZTT and funnily enough, they also had the Virgin catalogue. A few years ago, PROPAGANDA became available digitally for the first time. On Spotify, you have the Top 5 tracks listed of an artist and when we first had contact with Spotify for the first time, we saw as expected ‘Duel’ at No1, ‘P-Machinery’ at No2 but then a track from ‘1234’ at No3! If you look deeper because you can get regional profile, you saw that this was a major hit in South America.

So there might be people in Europe who when they hear PROPAGANDA, they think of Claudia Brücken but then when people in South America hear PROPAGANDA, they think of Betsi Miller. Then we thought, for us that’s a reason to say this is a new phase in PROPAGANDA with a new singer, it makes sense.

Michael: When Claudia Brücken left PROPAGANDA, the band was in transition. It was always transitory, the second album is completely different from the first and we felt we really had the right to do this because the core elements that go through all the music we have released is pretty much the writing. Of course, every singer who was in PROPAGANDA left her mark and have their own fans. I know of people who prefer the second PROPAGANDA album because of the singing…

Ralf: …and these people are not only in South America *laughs*

The album opens with ‘They Call Me Nocebo’, is that the first use of the word which means “a harmless substance or treatment that may cause harmful side effects or worsening of symptoms because the patient thinks or believes they may occur or expects them to occur” in a song?

Ralf: I first heard the word “nocebo” in a medical document and there are just some words that look interesting when written down and you want to use; but that was many years ago. But I liked its meaning of having a negative effect, that is the opposite of a placebo which is a word known by everybody. But many people who do know about placebos ask what a nocebo is! In a way, it’s logical *laughs*

Michael: I like Ralf’s lyrics very much and they trigger the right part of my brain.

So did you already have a musical idea or were you inspired by Ralf’s words?

Michael: For me it’s nicer if I have the words before…

Ralf: …I normally write words to music, I can write lyrics before but I prefer it the other way around.

Michael: I prefer to have the idea of the song before I actually start to compose but it sometimes happens that I have a piece of music that is not totally defined which is an open space. I give it to Ralf who may already have a lyrics that he is working on and he will work on it if he likes it. But in general, it is important to have a meaning when you do something. If you do the sort of music we do, it is important to have an intellectual construction.

‘Tipping Point’ focuses on ecological concerns, had there been a particular flashpoint which inspired this?

Ralf: It’s not only about the environment, I also see it as about living on the edge in a lot of different things like when Covid came up, you have political living on the edge and you could be living on the edge with the impact of something from the universe, that civilisation could be tipping.

Is this why you have a ‘Dystopian Waltz’? is very filmic and orchestrated, had it inspired by any particular visual imagery?

Michael: No, I don’t think ‘Tipping Point’ triggered that but ‘Dystopian Waltz’ goes back a long way.

Ralf: I visualise things and this was a field of ruins and somebody is dancing in the ruins like ‘The Day After’ or Berlin after the war. It’s a waltz and you could imagine a skeleton dancing so that was the start of this title. But at the beginning, we had included one line from ‘Wenn Ich Mir Was Wünschen Dürfte’ but we had to skip that idea because we were interfering with other people’s work and it’s always a bit of a problem if you just use a little part and not the whole, you need to agree with the other party on it.

The album closes with a cover of the 1930 Friedrich Hollaender song ‘Wenn Ich Mir Was Wünschen Dürfte’, how did this idea come about and develop as a recording because while in many ways it is logical, it was something of a surprise?

Michael: Many people were surprised because it is a German song. When Ralf suggested it, I was very fascinated by it, there’s been a lot of cover versions, I think the Greta Keller version is earlier than the one by Marlene Dietrich and she was teaching her the way to sing. Again, I just fell in love with the lyrics, there was interesting aspects when you sing that you might be missing the facts. This idea that melancholy is a place that is desirable instead of something to be afraid of. It’s a choice you can make, I found that very interesting within that song. We were very lucky because we had the idea to involve some guest musicians and Hauschka was one of them. When Ralf talked to me about Hauschka, I told him I’d know Volker for a very long time.

Ralf: That was before Covid so not only was that a long time ago but also before the Oscars.

Michael: It was a tricky situation because we were though “Oh God, he’s got an Oscar, we cannot call him!”, he would think I was only calling him to play on our record because he’d won an Oscar!

Ralf: With the sticker “featuring Academy Award Winner Hauschka”! *laughs*

Michael: I rang him up as I know him quite well as a colleague and I explained I was shy to call him as he had won the Oscar. I said “This may look like this is the reason I’ve called you and this is not the case. We are very slow workers and you’ve been on our list for many years and now is the time to do this so will you do this?” He was laughing and he did it.

Ralf: There is no English word but if you translate, the song means “If I had a wish” so that is a bit of reference to ‘A Secret Wish’ because at that time, people were always asking “OK, what is your secret wish?” but at the time, we didn’t have an intellectual answer. But “Wenn ich mir was wünschen dürfte, käm ich in Verlegenheit” is the perfect link to ‘A Secret Wish’.

What struck me on this cover of ‘Wenn Ich Mir Was Wünschen Dürfte’ was how fantastic Thunder Bae sounded in German, so as this new phase of PROPAGANDA continues, will there be future songs in German?

Michael: You’re not the first person to ask that, because her delivery on this song is really really good and she was very serious about this. We did a recording and it was quite good but then a couple of days later, she came back and said “No, I want to do certain things again”, she was really diving into this. We worked on this quite a bit, but this was a straightforward delivery, she didn’t do this is snippets, she sang it though and we kept it the way she did it. She did a great job on this.

Ralf: I have to admit when we started in 1982, the very first things were in German like ‘Disziplin’ which got Paul Morley interested. Then when we went into the studio for the first time to do some demonstration recordings, we had a song called ‘Doppelganger’ which was in German and in the beginning, ‘Dr Mabuse’ was also in German, some lines were left like “Kein Zurück für dich”. I can imagine us to do a mix of English and German again as that was very much a PROPAGANDA signature at that time.

You have bonus tracks on the double album editions?

Ralf: These are versions, reworked more with emphasis on the instrumental parts and the atmosphere but it’s not a straight dub but hinting at soundtrack music.

Now you’ve had some distance from the album and it’s out in the public domain, how do you view it now as a body of work?

Michael: Well, now it doesn’t belong to us anymore, it belongs to the world. It’s nice and I’m happy about the reception and the development it took. It hasn’t been out for a long time but it has received some nice recognition which was an artist, when you realise you have an audience and they are responding to you work, then that is kid of fulfilling.

Ralf: Times have changed and there are no budgets anymore, especially for something like video. It’s really different to what you had in the 80s or 90s. We should really mention that we are really lucky that a lot of the visual ideas came from Thunder Bae because she has a background in video making. So that means for the songs, she comes up with storylines and worksheets and she even knows how to do it so what you’ve seen so far is her work. The first video came out of the blue because we didn’t want to appear in it. So we had a lyric video but we wanted to have this monument, this horse statue that was in ‘Dr Mabuse’, we wanted to do it like a secret, but give people a hint…

Like an Easter egg?

Ralf: Ja! That was the main idea for the first video…

Michael: Thunder Bae came along, put together and edited the first video, we were blown away. She really deserves the credit as a video artist and then she had the idea for the next video ‘They Call Me Nacebo’; we got people together, I asked a cinematographer I knew to join in for no money, that kind of thing, the album was made like that *laughs*

Ralf: It was a recruitment of a lot of people in Düsseldorf which is why we put on the album “Conceived and accomplished in Düsseldorf”.

Finally, do you have any favourite tracks?

Michael: ‘Distant’ is very much a favourite now, it culminates in a nice way and has a strong atmosphere, also the instrumental version, I think you’ll like it. But also I love ‘Purveyor Of Pleasure’.

Ralf: It’s ‘Distant’ for now, as in autumn although it’s a bit warm at the moment. It’s a perfect song for grey days and it’s cold and you feel “distant”.

I remember when I first heard this album, I thought of autumn…

Ralf: We thought that was well, when we were discussing with the record company about the release date, I said “it’s not a summer album” as records companies sometimes like to release records in the summer when there are not many other records coming out so they chart easily. PROPAGANDA was always more autumn or winter.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its grateful thanks to Michael Mertens and Ralf Dörper

‘Propaganda’ is released 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 and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Thomas Stelzmann
11 November 2024

A Short Conversation with CZARINA

7 November 2024 /

Following up her acclaimed 2022 sophomore album ‘Arcana’, progressive darkwave artist and producer CZARINA returns with the interstellar ‘Empire’ released by the Franco-German goth-oriented label, darkTunes.

The Spanish-based New Yorker ventures further into the cosmos as well as embracing a range of visceral and cerebral themes such as death and rebirth, transhumanism, esoteric mysticism, spacetime and quantum mechanics. Co-produced again by Von Hertzog, ‘Empire’ sees CZARINA move from the earthy organic overtures of ‘Arcana’ to back into electronic and synth undercurrents while utilising more layered orchestral and gothic choir arrangements which have been made possible thanks to today’s virtual technologies.

From the transhumanist-themed drama of ‘Rebirth’, the timpani-laden intensity of ‘Dark Star’ and the frenzied darkness of ‘Ghost Machine’ to the Sci-Fi futurepop of ‘Exoskeleto’ and the title track’s epic orchestrated pop, with diversions into a synthed up baroque cover of A PERFECT CIRCLE’s ‘The Outsider’ and the wistful rhythmic stutter of ‘Metatronica’, this third CZARINA long player is not lacking in spirit, adventure or imagination.

CZARINA spoke from her seaside home in Galicia to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about the process of writing and producing ‘Empire’.

With your previous album ‘Arcana’, you appear to have found your tribe? Can you pin down where your audience has come from?

For the most part, I think my audience comes from lovers of dark music genres. I think that the dark genres tend to offer a greater variety of sounds and expressions- whether its darkwave, dark electro, synth pop, industrial, goth, post-punk, metal, pagan rock, dark alternative rock, prog metal. I am finding that the ones who particularly have developed fondness for this project usually are the type of music lovers who might have spent some time reveling in the dark clubs yet also have grown to transcend – having a deeper appreciation for musicality, and looking for catharsis and introspection. I think this project has created a bridge for that.

How was it to play Castle Party in Poland during the summer?

Castle Party was a magical and an incredibly beautiful festival. I don’t think I’ve experienced anything quite like it. The audience, the team behind Castle Party, their logistics and the whole vibe and aesthetic were superb. Bolkow is quite a gorgeous, storybook kind of town that seemed to have popped out of a fairy tale. Also, I had the best pierogies ever. It was truly an honor to have been invited to perform.

How does ‘Empire’ differ from ‘Arcana’ in approach and formulation?

‘Arcana’ is very earthbound, hopeful and grounded with themes of renewal and oneness with nature and the cosmos, and is imbued with gnosis and mysticism. It is also the record where I introduced a new sound and ambitious compositions that had a particular epic grandeur yet still mostly organic in sound. The song ‘Atomic: Ad Initivm’ in ‘Arcana’ carries some futuristic Sci-Fi themes and vibe which I felt I needed to expand on further. This is how the new record ‘Empire’ was developed.

As a follow up to ‘Arcana,’ I wanted to give the songs in ‘Empire’ a more futuristic, Sci-Fi and cinematic quality to them, and for the record to play like a film or an outer space journey. I took inspiration from Sci-Fi films and animes I grew up watching. There are metallic, machine-like and dystopian qualities and lush outer space atmosphere in the composition and production, while the introspective songwriting and lyrics dove deeper inwards into dark liminal spaces. The writing process was similar to shadow work and looking deep into your own personal primordial abyss that could feel absolutely terrifying at times – embracing themes of death, rebirth, and transformation.

‘Rebirth’, the opening song of ‘Empire’ is quite an appropriate title…

When I wrote and produced ‘Rebirth’, I already knew I had to open the record with this track. It was inspired by the intro sequence of the anime film ‘Ghost In The Shell.’ I’ve always wanted to write about what goes on in the human mind in the process of being brought back to life and then awakening into a simulation and a new body – a cyborg. At the end, all we carry that is of value are our memories, and how grand would it be to be preserved and be given another chance at life.

‘Ghost Machine’ is very energetic and epic, what was its inspiration?

‘Ghost Machine’ was meant to follow ‘Rebirth’ and this time we see the cyborg in action and the reasons why she was created. It’s meant to play like an action-packed, fight sequence just like in the music video, and I had to pull from an amalgam of several influences from prog rock, Electro-D’n’B bands like THE PRODIGY, OSTs of Sci-Fi films like what Hans Zimmer did for ‘Dune’ and video game soundtracks like what Nobuo Uematsu did for the ‘Final Fantasy’ series.

How was the dynamic between yourself and co-producer Von Hertzog this time round, what lessons had you learnt since ‘Arcana’ in the making of ‘Empire’?

Von has been such a fantastic partner in engineering the development of the sound for this project. If I’m the creative and artistic freak, he’s the mad scientist, and I think that’s why it works. My writing and production are ambitious, often huge and multi-layered with large dynamics, and I know they could be daunting to tackle when it comes to mixing. ‘Arcana’ was a beast and a hairy monster. It was like bootcamp and a science project, requiring a lot of experimentation in spectral mixing in analog to get all the layers and instruments to sit well.

It’s in this technical end of production where Von has been extremely instrumental, adding to the production’s uniqueness and flavor. He gives respect and enhances the original production without sacrificing any of it, while adding further depth and dimension to the sound and layers to get to that multi-faceted spectral mix. And ever since ‘Arcana’, we have locked in a particular work flow that made the production for ‘Empire’ run a lot faster as we now know what to expect.

Speaking of Von Hertzog, how did he contribute as a featuring artist to ‘Metatronica’ which appears to show more restraint compared with some of the other material on ‘Empire’?

A collaboration featuring Von was long overdue as we’ve been working together over the last few years. Von utilizes a specific sound and textural palette for his own projects like VH x RR, and I’ve always wanted to see how our respective sound palettes and arrangements collide. Since he and I talk about science and math topics a lot, I thought that for this feature collaboration, it would be a cool challenge to produce a song that employs certain fundamentals of mathematics such as The Golden Ratio, while still carrying a perceptive meaning and message related to it.

I drafted the initial production of ‘Metatronica’ using the Fibonacci sequence (topline 1/16th notes starting at 2:00). (This draft ended up being called the “Kitsuné Demo” and is included as a bonus track on the Deluxe Extended Edition of ‘Empire’). Knowing Von was going to add his own arrangements and production, I purposely left the draft open, minimal and restraint to give him free rein. He gave ‘Metatronica’ a particular color and more electricity, created a different vibe to the beats, and added a mirroring (ascending / descending scale) topline melodies to portray the topic of symmetry noted in the lyrics. ‘Metatronica’ literally became the most ‘meta’ of all songs for this project so far where the production literally mirrored the theme and expression of the lyrics.

‘The Outsider’ appears to have a slight melodic reference to ‘Lullaby’ by THE CURE, was this intentional or totally coincidental?

It was purely coincidental – and a jolly one! My head was in orchestral and string section mode, and it didn’t dawn on me as I was writing the section descending to complete the scale. But I was channeling ‘Burn’ by THE CURE when I was working on the drums and percussion sequences for ‘The Outsider’. THE CURE is a huge influence.

Would you say you are making use of more orchestrated elements this time round, like on the ‘Empire’ title song, ‘Dark Star’ and the closer ‘Beyond The Veil’? Were there any particular classical or soundtrack influences?

I felt like I’ve completely found my stride and sound with the mix of orchestral work, and I immensely enjoy writing them. I buried myself in orchestral, cinematic, Sci-Fi and video game soundtracks the past couple of years. I tend to take refuge in them because these kinds works are primarily concerned with retaining musicality and conveying emotional depth and range. They’re not trying to be hip, trendy or cool – a trait which I feel has grown malignant amongst many wave genres, resulting in a lot of music sounding the same and linear. I listen to a lot of Hans Zimmer (‘Dune’ and ‘Dune 2’), Clint Mansell and THE KRONOS QUARTET (my favorites are ‘The Fountain’ and ‘Requiem for a Dream’ OST), Nobuo Uematsu (‘Final Fantasy’ 7 and 8), Joe Hisashi’s works for Ghibli Studio, and Junkie XLs work in ‘Rebel Moon’.

What virtual sound packs were involved as these sound pretty authentic or is this a trade secret?

My favorites have been the strings and orchestral library on Native Instruments’ Kontakt 7. I find them more nuanced in the performance and the textures to be more authentic. Surprisingly, sometimes the standard studio library on Logic has given some fabulous results. I find with strings and orchestral work, the performance of the actual writing matters a lot, especially the velocity and timing. Every delicate nuance in the movement does its job.

Now you have had a small bit of distance since signing off ‘Empire’ for release, are there any key tracks for you?

This is a hard question, because I look at the record as a whole and each track plays a role ‘til the very end. My favorite tracks are ‘Rebirth’, ‘Dark Star’, and the title track ‘Empire’ as they carry a certain transportive liminality to them, and they’re very fun to perform. But ‘Beyond The Veil’ is also a powerful closer, and that the production incorporates the sounds of Saturn’s rings, captured by sound artist China Blue for NASA, makes the song authentic. The message of the song itself is something that I want to leave listeners with, especially those who really need to hear it in this current timeline.

What is next for CZARINA? Will there be any live shows supporting this?

I am performing at the Subversonica Festival here in A Coruña in Galicia on November 9th which is the first performance to support ‘Empire’. Shows for 2025 are currently being scheduled. Aside from that, I am working on more music videos and visual narratives for the tracks in ‘Empire’.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its sincerest thanks to CZARINA

‘Empire’ is released by darkTunes Music Group in vinyl LP, deluxe extended edition CD and digital formats, available from https://czarinaofficial.bandcamp.com/

https://www.czarinaofficial.com/

https://www.facebook.com/czarinanyc

https://twitter.com/CZARINAnyc

https://www.instagram.com/czarinaofficial/

https://open.spotify.com/album/1ositTcJKzO2IldX1PhEAn

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
7 November 2024

Vintage Synth Trumps with JOHN FOXX

4 November 2024 /

Photo by Benge

While Gary Numan is often seen as the synthesizer’s first major pop star, his biggest influence was the first incarnation of ULTRAVOX! lead by John Foxx.

Following that self-titled 1977 debut with tracks co-produced by Brian Eno like ‘My Sex’, ULTRAVOX! gradually increased their use of synthesizers as part of a sound that stood out at the height of punk. The leadlines and soloing on ‘The Man Who Dies Every Day’ from their second album ‘Ha! Ha! Ha!’ demonstrated how powerful and fierce synths could be.

After the third album ‘Systems Of Romance’ in 1978 produced by Conny Plank which spawned standout moment such as ‘Slow Motion’, ‘Quiet Men’ and ‘Just For A Moment’, the technology had become so affordable and straightforward to use that Foxx saw he could realise his future musical vision without a band. Using just synths and drum machines with occasional bass guitar, the end result was the seminal 1980 debut solo album ‘Metamatic’ engineered by Gareth Jones. “It was minimal, primitive technopunk” said Foxx, “Car crash music tailored by Burtons”

For a short period with singles like ‘Underpass’, ‘No-One Driving’ and ‘Burning Car’, John Foxx became an unlikely pop star in his grey suit with Top40 hits, appearances on ‘Top Of The Pops’ with a band all equipped with Yamaha battleship keyboards and a previously unreleased track from the ‘Metamatic’ sessions ‘My Face’ given away free on a flexidisc attached to the front cover of ‘Smash Hits’ magazine.

Despite what appeared to be a long hiatus between 1986 to 1990 which can now be seen as nothing by today’s standards, John Foxx has been extremely prolific in his solo work and collaborations with the likes of Tim Simenon, Louis Gordon, Jori Hulkkonen, Jim Jupp, Robin Guthrie, Theo Travis, Steve D’Agostino, Steve Jansen, the late Harold Budd and his main partner-in-crime during the 21st Century Ben ‘Benge’ Edwards aka THE MATHS.

John Foxx is not just known for his music but he is also an esteemed visual artist. He recently published a 224 page book ‘Electricity & Ghosts’ collecting reproductions of the varied artistic media he has worked in, including drawing, photography, painting, graphic art, sculpture and collage. Created in collaboration with Grammy award winning graphic designer Jonathan Barnbrook, it includes a unique first-person narrative of his early college artworks and the creation of ULTRAVOX! which was initially conceived as an art project.

With ‘Metamatic’ soon to celebrate its 45th Anniversary, this was the perfect time for ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK to chat to John Foxx about his close encounters with synthesizers through the years over a game of Vintage Synth Trumps in Düsseldorf, the spiritual home of modern electronic pop.

Photo by Chi Ming Lai

OK John, the first card is a Sequential Circuits Pro-One… had you ever used much equipment from them before?

Not personally no, but Duncan Bridgeman who played on ‘The Garden’ album did. There were some very fine sounds he came out with.

On ‘The Garden’, there was a lot more of a band sound like on ‘Dancing Like A Gun’ and ‘Walk Away’, so were they shaped by jamming together?

I’d bring the song in and play it, then Duncan and Jo Dworniak who is a great bass player,  together with Robin Simon from ULTRAVOX! So we’d get together and go through the song a couple of times and then record it.

Duncan Bridgeman and Jo Dworniak were from this Britfunk band I-LEVEL, so how did you come across them?

It was in the studio, I’d heard them recording and thought “these guys are good” so I had a chat with them and it turned out they knew about my music and particularly liked the song ‘Metal Beat’ because it wasn’t regular time, it wasn’t “funky” but it had a broken up rhythm and they enjoyed that. So we got together to try out a few songs and it worked really well.

Next card and it’s a Korg 770…

I liked Korg stuff, a lot of people used it. I had some Korg keyboards although I preferred Roland. THE HUMAN LEAGUE had quite a bit of Korg and profited greatly from it. I remember having a conversation with Martyn Ware about the early synths they got, his first one was a Korg I understand…

The affordability of Korg made things more accessible so could you see a wave of creativity coming with these cheaper synths?

Yes! Because much earlier, the first people I knew who got a synthesizer were GLORIA MUNDI from which Eddie and Sunshine came. Sunshine bought a synthesizer and she put that through an amplifier, it was a knockout sound, so I thought “I’ve got to get one of those!”. It was that which started my interest in actually buying one. This was before ULTRAVOX! had recorded anything.

Did the rest of ULTRAVOX! need much persuading at the time to get into synths and technology?

Not really, Chris Cross particularly was great at getting hold of synths, Billy Currie did it slightly later because we needed to spend more money and we didn’t have any. I remember suggesting to Warren Cann about getting involved is using a drum machine and when he got to grips with it, he really enjoyed it, this was when we were recording ‘Hiroshima Mon Amour’. I asked him to switch in rhythms live which he did really well as I played guitar and sang it. That was the beginning of it.

You mentioned Eddie and Sunshine earlier and they did your first ‘Top Of The Pops’ appearance with you… this was visually significant because they all had big Yamaha CS80s. Although they weren’t actually on ‘Underpass’, did you have to hire those in?

No, I couldn’t afford to! The BBC kindly did it for us, they didn’t actually ask us, they planted these things there because they looked good. I use one now because Benge has one, I don’t know how much he paid for it, something like £5 I think but it’s worth a fortune now because it’s one of the most complex synths ever made!

Next is a Roland SH101, did you ever own one?

I have used a 101 but triggered with a rhythm to make bass parts. It was very useful for that but I never used it for anything else… I sold it after I used it which was foolish! I did that quite often!

They’re worth quite a bit now!

I know! Everything I sold is worth quite a bit now! *laughs*

Obviously working with Benge, he has massive synth armoury but when you owned The Garden studio, did you have a stash of synths for artists who hired it used?

They usually brought their own stuff although I did have quite a collection by that time. I particularly loved the Jupiter 8 and I didn’t want anybody to touch it! But when Matt Johnson of THE THE came in, he surreptitiously took it out of the store room and started using it. He had a really great time with it apparently but I didn’t mind, it’s what happens in studios! *laughs*

Ah, the next card is a Korg Poly 6, I seem to recall when you started working with Benge that you quite liked the Korg Mono/Poly?

Yes, although it’s not that I favour one synth over another, some are appropriate for what you are doing. Benge is usually the one who says “let’s try this one” and I’ll try a few synths out and one will sound right. There’s no particular favouritism going on, far from it, you just want the right sound.

You have the 45th anniversary of ‘Metamatic’ coming out and there’s a new vinyl remaster??

Yes, we’re trying to digitise the old tapes but we might have re-digitise it because digitisation changes in quality over the years, so it’s better now than it has been.

A lot of the stuff that was in the ‘Metamatic’ vaults is out now but is there anymore left?

Well, there are lots of bits because Gareth Jones and I used to put things down at the end of tapes to see if we got a good sound, you could never get the same sound back again. So we put things down like drum machine and processing though flangers and phasers and all that, sounds on the ARP or whatever sounded interesting to remind ourselves what we were doing because quite often when you’re making sounds, you don’t get to the sound you want but halfway there, something interesting happens so you want to keep it, but you still need to go on get to the sound you want. So there are lots of moments like that which we recorded.

Another card and it’s the EMS VCS3… as a youngster, did that fascinate you seeing it being used on the telly?

Oh yeah, Brian Eno had one when we were in the studio with him and Chris Cross enjoyed playing with that, I think he used it on ‘My Sex’ for one of the parts. So he later bought the compact AKS suitcase version, that was the first synth we got so that’s the memory of that one. Eno used it extensively on all his records like ‘Another Green World’, it was a great record, I thought it was like a new kind of jazz, it was non-conventional jazz, it was kind of freeform music. There were pieces on that record like ‘Sky Saw’ which even now sounds tremendous. And ‘Becalmed’ is a lovely track so it was the beginning of Eno finding his feet properly in the studio, moving away from rock ‘n’ roll into something else.

Now ‘Another Green World’ was notable for being half vocal – half instrumental and paved the way for similarly structured albums like David Bowie’s ‘Low’, is that something you would ever consider in your future works?

No, I don’t like mixing the two. I think they should be separate because I don’t think albums should be like a variety show. I think they should set a mood or a world that you go into, and I don’t want any disturbance in that.

That’s an interesting answer…ok, final card and it’s an EDP Wasp…

Ah yeah, Wasps, great fun! I used to borrow one because lots of people had them. I knew where to borrow things from. You can get some beautiful sounds from them.

Photo by Chi Ming Lai

You have this book ‘Electricity & Ghosts’ out compiling your graphic designs, what was the idea behind this?

Like all these things, when I pop my clogs, it’ll all get shuffled into the dustbin if I don’t do anything with it! And it’s as simple as that really!

Your visual art uses a lot of collage like the artwork for the ULTRAVOX! singles ’Slow Motion’ and ‘Quiet Men’. Leading up to your third solo album ‘The Golden Section’, the preceding singles ‘Endlessy’ and ‘Your Dress’ had collage art but for the album cover, you opted for a striking portrait photo taken by the late Brian Griffin, what was your thinking behind that?

It was just me trying to look my best, I was trying to look good! *laughs*

Was the photo intended for the cover or was it you had the photo taken for some other purpose and you liked it?

No, I wanted it to be like that and I already had the name ‘The Golden Section’. I thought “what can I do visually for that?” and then I realised I could do it with Brian Griffin because he used tungsten lighting in his photography and I’d used a lot of it, so it gave you that very rich “golden” effect. I felt it would be right so I had a word with Brian and he said yes.

Photo by Chi Ming Lai

Finally, your favourite synth of all time and why?

Oh, the ARP Odyssey… it’s the best noise making little brute you can ever come across. I still haven’t exhausted it, I’ve been using it for 50 years now and it still surprises me.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to John Foxx

Special thanks to Steve Malins at Random Management

‘Metamatic’ is released as a 45th anniversary a grey vinyl edition on 17 January 2025, pre-orders through the Official Store will include a limited edition signed print of the album artwork at https://johnfoxx.tmstor.es/product/152300

‘Electricity & Ghosts’ is published as a hardback book available from https://eu.rocket88books.com/products/electricity-and-ghosts-classic-edition

Vintage Synth Trumps is a card game by GForce that features 52 classic synthesizers, available from
https://www.juno.co.uk/products/gforce-software-vintage-synth-trumps-2-playing/637937-01/

http://www.metamatic.com

https://www.facebook.com/johnfoxxmetamatic

https://twitter.com/foxxmetamedia

https://www.instagram.com/johnfoxxofficial/

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
4 November 2024

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