Author: electricityclub (Page 2 of 418)

“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

25 21ST CENTURY SYNTH COVERS – 2000 to 2014

“The medium of reinterpretation” is still very much present in the 21st Century.

There have been albums of cover versions from the likes of SIMPLE MINDS and ERASURE as well as Midge Ure and Claudia Brücken celebrating their influences, as well as numerous various artists collections paying tribute to particular acts. However, the phenomenon of covering an entire album happened for a few years, something which MARSHEAUX, BECKY BECKY and CIRCUIT 3 attempted on works by DEPECHE MODE, THE KNIFE and YAZOO respectively.

On the other side of the coin in recognition of the cultural impact of the classic synth era, the Anti-Christ Superstar Marilyn Manson covered SOFT CELL’s cover of ‘Tainted Love’ but added more shouting, while David Grey took their own ‘Say Hello Wave Goodbye’ and turned it into a lengthy Dylan-esque ballad.

There has also been a trend for girl groups to cover songs from the period with GIRLS ALOUD, THE SATURDAYS and RED BLOODED WOMEN being among those introducing these numbers to a new younger audience.

So as a follow-up to the 25 CLASSIC SYNTH COVERS listing, here is ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s selection taken from reinterpretations recorded from 2000 to 2014, restricted to one song per artist moniker and presented in chronological order.


SCHNEIDER TM va KPTMICHIGAN The Light 3000 (2000)

Morrissey was once quoted as saying there was “nothing more repellent than the synthesizer”, but if THE SMITHS had gone electro, would they have sounded like this and Stephen Patrick thrown himself in front of that ten ton truck? Germany’s SCHNEIDER TM aka Dirk Dresselhaus reconstructed ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’ to a series of minimal blips, blops and robotics to configure ‘The Light 3000’ with British producer KPTMICHIGAN.

Available on the SCHNEIDER TM album ‘Binokular’ via https://mirrorworldmusic.bandcamp.com/

http://www.cityslang.com/schneider-tm/biography


THE DROYDS Take Me I’m Yours (2002)

God Made Me Hardcore was a label set-up by Andy Chatterley and Richard Norris for electroclash tracks they had involvement in and as THE DROYDS, they covered ‘Take Me I’m Yours’ was the debut single by SQUEEZE. The original was notable for its use of synths inspired by KRAFTWERK, so the duo reinterpreted it as a full deadpan electronic number that truly revealed its Kling Klang roots.

Available on the compilation album ‘This Is Hardcore’ (V/A) via God Made Me Hardcore

https://www.discogs.com/release/289143-Various-This-Is-Hardcore


JAY-JAY JOHANSON Automatic Lover (2002)

‘Automatic Lover’ was a 1978 disco-flavoured hit by Dee D Jackson and exploring a more electronic direction after his original trip hop success, the song was perfect foil for his fifth album ‘Antenna’. Filmic with layers of melancholic vocal and vocoder treatments over the gently pulsing electronics, the end result had something of a doomed romantic quality in its beautiful resignation.

From the JAY-JAY JOHANSON album ‘Antenna’ via BMG Sweden

https://www.facebook.com/jayjayjohanson/


GOLDFRAPP Yes Sir (2003)

A breathy Euro disco classic made famous by sultry Spanish vocal duo BACCARA, Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory’s take on this cheesy but enjoyable disco standard came over like The Cheeky Girls at The Nuremburg rally! Now that’s a horrifying vision! All traces of ‘Yes Sir I Can Boogie’ apart from the original lyrics were rendered missing in action as the stern Ms Goldfrapp played the role of the thigh booted dominatrix on this highly original cover.

Available on the GOLDFRAPP single ‘Twist’ via Mute Records

http://goldfrapp.com/


INFANTJOY featuring SARAH NIXEY Ghosts (2005)

When BLACK BOX RECORDER went on hiatus, Sarah Nixey recorded a beautifully spacey cover of JAPAN’s ‘Ghosts’ with INFANTJOY whose James Banbury became her main collaborator on her 2007 debut solo album ‘Sing Memory’. The duo’s other member was ZTT conceptualist Paul Morley. MIDI-ed up and into the groove, Nixey later also recorded THE HUMAN LEAGUE’s ‘The Black Hit Of Space’.

Available on the INFANTJOY album ‘With’ via serviceAV

http://infantjoy.com


DIE KRUPPS featuring CLIENT Der Amboss (2005)

Of this mighty industrialised cover, Ralf Dörper said: “When I first heard ‘The Anvil’ (‘Der Amboss’) by VISAGE, I thought: “what a perfect song for DIE KRUPPS” – it just needed more sweat, more steel. And it was not before 2005 when DIE KRUPPS were asked to play a few 25-year anniversary shows that I remembered ‘Der Amboss’… and as I was a big CLIENT fan at that time, I thought it would be a good opportunity to ask Fräulein B for assistance in the vocal department”.

Available on the DIE KRUPPS album ‘Too Much History Vol1’ via Metropolis Records

http://www.diekrupps.de/


FROST Messages (2007)

Comprising of Aggie Peterson and Per Martinsen, FROST have described their music as “upbeat space-pop”. Much of their own material like ‘Klong’, ‘Alphabet’ and ‘Sleepwalker’ exuded a perfect soundtrack for those long Nordic nights. Meanwhile their ultra-cool cover of OMD’s ‘Messages’ embraced that wintery atmosphere, while providing a pulsing backbone of icy synths to accompany Peterson’s alluringly nonchalant vocal.

Available on the FROST album ‘Love! Revolution!’ via Frost World Recordings

https://www.facebook.com/frostnorway/


ONETWO Have A Cigar (2007)

In this “PINK FLOYD Goes To Hollywood” styled rework, Claudia Brücken revisited her ZTT roots with this powerful and danceable version of Roger Waters’ commentary on music business hypocrisy. ‘Have A Cigar’ showed a turn of feistiness and aggression not normally associated with the usually more serene timbres of Claudia Brücken and Paul Humphreys’ ONETWO project. But by welcoming pleasure into the dome, they did a fine cover version.

Available on the ONETWO album ‘Instead’ via https://theremusic.bandcamp.com/

http://www.theremusic.com/onetwo/onetwo


BLACK NAIL CABARET Umbrella (2008)

Budapest’s BLACK NAIL CABARET began life as an all-female duo of Emese Illes-Arvai on vocals and Sophie Tarr on keyboards, with their first online offering being a darkwave cover of Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’. Already very synthy in the Barbadian starlet’s own version, it showcased their brooding form of electro which subsequently impressed enough to earn support slots with COVENANT and CAMOUFLAGE while producing three albums of self-penned material so far.

Available on the BLACK NAIL CABARET album ‘The Covers’ via https://blacknailcabaret.bandcamp.com/

http://www.blacknailcabaret.com


CHINA CRISIS Starry Eyed (2008)

Liverpudlian easy listening crooner Michael Holliday was the second person to have a UK No1 written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, the first being Perry Como with ‘Magic Moments’. His second UK No1 penned by Earl Shuman and Mort Garson was a romantic guilty pleasure. CHINA CRISIS pledged their Scouse Honour with this jaunty synth / drum machine driven rendition of ‘Starry Eyed’ layered with reverbed synthbass warbles and harmonious vocals.

Available on the compilation album ‘Liverpool – The Number Ones Album’ (V/A) via EMI Records

www.facebook.com/pages/China-Crisis/295592467251068


LITTLE BOOTS Love Kills (2009)

LITTLE BOOTS gave a dynamically poptastic rendition of Giorgio Moroder and Freddie Mercury’s only collaboration from 1984, retaining its poignant melancholic quality while adding a vibrant and danceable electronic slant. The recreation of Richie Zito’s guitar solo on synths was wondrous as was the looser swirly groove. While Blackpool-born Victoria Hesketh didn’t have the voice of Mercury, her wispy innocence added its own touching qualities to ‘Love Kills’.

Available on the LITTLE BOOTS EP ‘Illuminations’ via Elektra Records

www.littlebootsmusic.co.uk


PET SHOP BOYS Viva La Vida (2009)

Yuck, it’s Chris Martin and Co but didn’t Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe do well? Merging possibly COLDPLAY’s best song with the synth riff from their own Latino disco romp ‘Domino Dancing’, ‘Viva La Vida’ was turned into a stomping but still anthemic number which perhaps had more touches of affection than PET SHOP BOYS’ marvellous but allegedly two fingers Hi-NRG rendition of U2’s ‘Where The Streets Have No Name’. So altogether now: “Woah-oh, ooh-ooah!”

Available on the PET SHOP BOYS album ‘Yes: Further Listening 2008-2010’ via EMI Records

http://petshopboys.co.uk


DURAN DURAN Boys Keep Swinging (2010)

No strangers to raiding the Bowie songbook having previously tackled ‘Fame’ in 1981, DURAN DURAN however blotted their copy book with their 1995 covers LP ‘Thank You’. They refound their stride with the return-to-form album ‘All You Need Is Now’, but just before that, this superb reinterpretation of ‘Boys Keep Swinging’ reconnected them to their New Romantic roots with washes of Nick Rhodes’ swimmy Crumar string machine and John Taylor’s syncopated bass runs.

Available on the compilation album ‘We Were So Turned On: A Tribute To David Bowie’ (V/A) via Manimal Vinyl

http://www.duranduran.com


LADYTRON Little Black Angel (2010)

This frantically paced cover of controversial neofolk band DEATH IN JUNE was recorded for the LADYTRON ‘Best Of 00-10’ collection and purposely uncredited. The antithesis of the midtempo atmospherics of ‘Gravity The Seducer’, this cutting four-to-the-floor romp was the last of the quartet’s in-yer-face tracks in a wind down of the harder ‘Velocifero’ era. With the multi-ethnic combo subverting the meaning of ‘Little Black Angel’, it deliberately bore no resemblance to the original.

Available on the LADYTRON album ‘Best of 00-10’ via Nettwerk Records

http://www.ladytron.com


GAZELLE TWIN The Eternal (2011)

‘The Eternal’ from ‘Closer’, the final album by JOY DIVISION, was one of the most fragile, funereal collages of beauty ever committed to vinyl. But in 2011, the mysterious Brighton based songstress GAZELLE TWIN reworked this cult classic and made it even more haunting! Replacing the piano motif with eerily chilling synth and holding it together within an echoing sonic cathedral, she paid due respect to the song while adding her own understated operatic stylings.

Available on the GAZELLE TWIN EP ‘I Am Shell I Am Bone’ via Anti-Ghost Moon Ray Records

http://www.gazelletwin.com


MIRRORS Something On Your Mind (2011)

MIRRORS revealed an interesting musical diversion with this haunting take of a rootsy country number originally recorded by Karen Dalton. Written by Dino Valenti of psychedelic rockers QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE, ‘Something On Your Mind’ was a touching ballad with its tortured yearning suiting the quartet’s pop noir aspirations. Ally Young said: “It was very nice for us to be able to apply our aesthetic to someone else’s song.”

Available on the MIRRORS album ‘Lights & Offerings’ via Skint Records

http://mirrorsofficial.bandcamp.com/


OMD VCR (2011)

THE XX had a minimalist approach which Andy McCluskey said was “really quite impressive”. This bareness made their material quite well suited for reworking in the style of classic OMD. ‘VCR’ had Paul Humphreys taking charge of the synths while McCluskey dusted off his bass guitar and concentrated on vocals. McCluskey added: “People go ‘how did OMD influence THE XX?’… but have you listened to ‘4-Neu’? Have you listened to some of the really simple, stripped down B-sides?”

Available on the OMD EP ‘History Of Modern (Part I)’ via Blue Noise

http://www.omd.uk.com


WELLE: ERDBALL Ein Bißchen Frieden (2011)

Using a logo that was based on the DDR motor company that produced the Trabant, when German chiptune quartet WELLE: ERDBALL made their tenth album ‘Der Kalte Krieg’, they included numerous German schlager style covers as an ironic nostalgic trip back to the nuclear angst of that era. One of those was a joyous synthpop cover of ‘Ein Bißchen Frieden’, the 1982 Eurovision Song Contest winner sung by Nicole, known in its English version as ‘A Little Peace’.

Available on the WELLE: ERDBALL album ‘Der Kalte Krieg’ via Synthetic Symphony

https://www.facebook.com/WelleErdball


COMPUTE Goodbye (2012)

Folk-oriented songs are just made for electronic reinventions and as COMPUTE, Sweden’s Ulrika Mild did just that on ‘Goodbye’, a song made famous by Mary Hopkin which was written by Paul McCartney who had also produced her debut hit ‘Those Were the Days’. The track formed part of a charity compilation under the supervision of Eddie Bengtsson from PAGE who covered ‘Cos I Luv U’ while it also included versions of ‘Silver Machine’ and ‘Heart Of Gold’.

Available on the compilation album ‘Friends Of Electronically Yours Present The Seventies Revisited’ (V/A) via Electronically Yours

https://www.facebook.com/computopia


SIN COS TAN My Blue Heaven (2012)

‘My Blue Heaven’ was a popular song written by Walter Donaldson with lyrics by George A Whiting. A 1927 song used in the Ziegfeld Follies and a hit crooner Gene Austin, this atmospheric synth reinterpretation by the Finnish duo of Juho Paalosmaa and Jori Hulkkonen was recorded to celebrate the end of their first year as SIN COS TAN as a seasonal gift following the acclaimed for their self-titled debut album.

Available as a free download from https://soundcloud.com/sugarcane/sin-cos-tan-my-blue-heaven

https://www.facebook.com/homeofsincostan


I SPEAK MACHINE My Sex (2013)

As I SPEAK MACHINE, Tara Busch has been known for her haunting and downright bizarre live covers of songs as diverse as ‘Cars’, ‘Our House’, ‘The Sound Of Silence’ and ‘Ticket To Ride’. For a John Foxx tribute EP which also featured GAZELLE TWIN, she turned ‘My Sex’, the closing number from the debut ULTRAVOX! long player, into a cacophony of wailing soprano and dystopian synths that was more than suitable for a horror flick.

Available on the EP ‘Exponentialism’ (V/A) via Metamatic Records

http://www.ispeakmachine.com


NOBLESSE OBLIGE Hotel California (2013)

French theatrical performer Valerie Renay and German producer Sebastian Lee Philipp are NOBLESSE OBLIGE. Together, they specialise in a brand of abstract Weimer cabaret tinged with a dose of electro Chanson. Their lengthy funereal deadpan cover of THE EAGLES ‘Hotel California’ highlighted the chilling subtext of the lyrics to its macabre conclusion! The synthesizer substitution of the original’s iconic twin guitar solo could be seen as total genius or sacrilege!

Available on the NOBLESSE OBLIGE album ‘Affair Of The Heart’ via Repo Records

http://www.noblesseoblige.co.uk/


I AM SNOW ANGEL I’m On Fire (2014)

I AM SNOW ANGEL is the project of Brooklyn based producer Julie Kathryn; her debut album ‘Crocodile’ was a lush sounding affair and could easily be mistaken as a product of Scandinavia were it not for her distinctly Trans-Atlantic drawl. Already full of surprises, to close the long player, out popped a countrified drum ‘n’ bass take of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘I’m On Fire’! Quite what The Boss would have made of it, no-one is sure but it was quietly subversive…

Available on the I AM SNOW ANGEL album ‘Crocodile’ via I Am Snow Angel

http://iamsnowangel.com/


MACHINISTA Heroes (2014)

Reinterpreting Bowie is fraught with the possibility of negative feedback and MACHINISTA taking on ‘Heroes’ set tongues wagging. Recorded as the duo’s calling card when experienced Swedish musicians John Lindqwister and Richard Flow first came together, electronic pulses combined with assorted synthetic textures which when amalgamated with Lindqwister’s spirited vocal, produced a respectful and yes, good version.

Available on the MACHINISTA album ‘Xenoglossy’ via Analogue Trash

http://www.machinistamusic.com


NIGHT CLUB Need You Tonight (2014)

Comprising of frisky vocalist Emily Kavanaugh and moody producer Mark Brooks, NIGHT CLUB simply cut to the chase with their enjoyable electronic cover of INXS’ ‘Need You Tonight’. Here, the familiar guitar riff was amusingly transposed into a series of synth stabs before mutating into a mutant Morse code. It wasn’t rock ‘n’ roll but we liked it! Purists were horrified, but history has proved the best cover versions always do a spot of genre and instrumentation hopping.

Available on the NIGHT CLUB EP ‘Black Leather Heart’ via http://nightclubband.com/album/black-leather-heart

http://www.nightclubband.com


ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s ‘A Fistful Of Electronic Covers’ playlist featuring reinterpretations through the ages can be heard via Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/playlist/12XFwF5iuLj3Jl7Tj2GTpE


Text by Chi Ming Lai
10th March 2025

Introducing SPIKE

Spike is the nom de théâtre of London-based singer-songwriter Hannah McLoughlin.

Under her own name, she released an experimental electronic soundscape EP ‘The Tower’ in 2020 and has been a regular performer at London’s Cafe Oto. But Spike is a much more song-based and avant popcentric, influenced by Irish composer Roger Doyle and his songs as part of OPERATING THEATRE like ‘Spring Is Coming With A Strawberry In The Mouth’ and ‘Queen Of No Heart’ which featured the vocals of Elena López and were released by U2’s Mother label in 1986.

Adept at flute, EWI and synth, Spike delivers a brand of macabre disco dealing with the undead and the inhuman. It’s therefore perhaps no big surprise that her debut self-titled EP opens with a deadpan electronic cover of Warren Zevon’s ‘Werewolves Of London’. A gothic reimagining, this will be seen as sacrilege to some but it is certainly more inventive than Kid Rock’s pick ‘n’ nick hatchet job ‘All Summer Long’!

The video for ‘Werewolves Of London’ was filmed by McLoughlin on 16mm and included many of the London Soho landmarks referenced in Zevon’s lyrics except the Lee Ho Fook Chinese restaurant in Gerrard Street which was part of the original lyrics and closed in 2008. Incidentally, this was 3 doors away from the now-also closed Gooseberry Studios which was where Gary Numan recorded ‘Are Friends Electric?’

The promising EP also includes the enjoyable melancholic Motorik rave of ‘Tiquetonne’ which delightfully interpolates ‘Con Te Partiro’ aka ‘Time To Say Goodbye’ as made famous by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli. More rhythmically metronomic and possibly the stand-out song, the wonderful ‘You’re Missing’ offers a slice of glorious angelic oompah and vocally recalls the sadly departed Trish Keenan of BROADCAST.

‘Voca Me’ brings in a deeper ghostly atmosphere but as it shuffles along, it deals out more choir girl resonances in the second half. The EP closes with the eerie vocodered tone poem ‘I Could Wait’ where the cerebral approaches of Laurie Anderson loom large.

Short and sweet, this varied debut showcasing an intriguing new talent provides a fresh take on electronic avant pop seeded by that uniquely British eccentricity.


The ‘Spike’ EP is released by God Nation, available digitally from https://gobnation.bandcamp.com/album/s-t-4

https://www.instagram.com/__s.p.i.k.e.__/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/39uMUO8aGb1e8smPZBb6fd


Text by Chi Ming Lai
5th March 2025

MARIE DAVIDSON City Of Clowns

First a member of the duo LES MOMIES DE PALERME but becoming more widely known in ESSAIE PAS with her husband Pierre Guerineau and issuing her first solo album ‘Perte D’Identité’ in 2014, Montreal’s Marie Davidson has returned to electronics and clubland.

Following her last two albums, the “egotistical” techno of ‘Working Class Woman’ and the exploration of different musical styles on the largely conventionally flavoured ‘Renegade Breakdown’ with L’ŒIL NU both on Ninja Tune, ‘City Of Clowns’ is her first on SOULWAX’s DEEWEE imprint following a chance meeting with the Belgian brothers at Sónar 2017 that led to a remix of ‘Work It’.

Co-written and co-produced with SOULWAX and Guerineau, the album is Marie Davidson’s first in over 4 years. Inspired by Shoshana Zuboff’s book ‘The Age of Surveillance Capitalism’ and reflecting on how big tech is changing the way everyone lives, ‘City Of Clowns’ is not only more English than French but also more song-based, although her characteristic spoken word allure remains. A feisty and energetic live performer, her pre-album release showcase at London’s Hackney Oslo was a sell-out.

Davidson’s might first single for DEEWEE was ‘Y.A.A.M.’ and standing for “Your Asses Are Mine”, it expletively punches down at the music business in a cathartic response to a condescending email she was sent. Poetry in techno motion, our heroine wants “all your asses on the floor” as she decides she is happier to “stick with the weirdos”.

With a stark dynamic tension and a repeated French-Canadian deadpan of “DAMAGE”, ‘Demolition’ is absorbing dark electro centred around repetition with a synth tom break. Much fiercer and in direct reaction to her past declaration that she would stop making dance music, ‘Contrarian’ is less song based as a raw barrage of bleeps, squelch and faulty circuitry to a mighty breakbeat thump. Meanwhile the oddball minimal synth disco of ‘Sexy Clown’ has Davison embracing her inner clown, in a delightful exploration of her conflicted feelings around her treatment as an outsider.

But ‘Validations Weight’ provides the ominous conceptual introduction to the album, using real and computer generated speech but by its conclusion, it is the latter that has taken over.

With expletive laden attitude, ‘Push Me F*ckhead’ gets the snappy electro-funk while in English and French, Davidson has some ‘Fun Times’ on a spiky vibrant number about not having children and challenging the now-prevalent far right view that a woman’s only meaningful role in society is reproducing… why bother with all that when her babies can be her art and her fun? The superb electro instrumental ‘Statistical Modelling’ provides an interlude from all the lyrical concerns before ending with the stuttering rhythmic collage of ‘Unknowing’.

‘City Of Clowns’ is an album for people who don’t fit in by someone who herself doesn’t fit in and is happy about that. Rather like her persona, the music of Marie Davidson won’t be for everyone but despite some important existential questions, for those who get it, this is a joyous and sexy collection of club-friendly avant-pop.


‘City Of Clowns’ is released by DEEWEE as a transparent vinyl LP, CD and download and available from https://mariedavidson.bandcamp.com/album/city-of-clowns

https://www.deeweestudio.com/marie-davidson

https://www.facebook.com/mariedavidson.official

https://www.instagram.com/mariedavidson.official/

https://www.youtube.com/@mariedavidson


Text by Chi Ming Lai
28th February 2025

GENEVA JACUZZI, RIKI + SPIKE Live in London

The home of KITE, TR/ST, ADULT. and DRAB MAJESTY, US independent label Dais Records sent two of their acclaimed female synthpop acts Geneva Jacuzzi and Riki out on a UK and European tour.

Based in Los Angeles, Geneva Jacuzzi first brought her brand of avant-pop to the world with the bedroom recorded ‘Lamaze’ in 2010. Her second more polished long player ‘Technophelia’ followed in 2016 but while her third album ‘Triple Places’ didn’t appear until 2024, during the interregnum, she was working in performance art, live theatre, set design, costuming, makeup and set decoration.

Also from Los Angeles, Riki was the synth player of goth punk band CRIMSON SCARLET before taking the plunge to go solo in 2017 with the single ‘Hot City’ and releasing her self-titled debut in 2020. With a vibrant punchy style of synthpop incorporating Italo disco and new romantic influences, her most recent album ‘Gold’ came out in 2021.

But opening the evening as the local support was Spike, the synthcentric nom de théâtre of London-based singer-songwriter Hannah McLoughlin. With her macabre disco dealing with the undead and the inhuman, it was perhaps no big surprise that her set included a deadpan electronic cover of Warren Zevon’s ‘Werewolves Of London’. In an idiosyncratic live presentation including taped snippets of other’s songs inbetween her own, one of her tunes ‘Tiquetonne’ interpolated ‘Con Te Partiro’ aka ‘Time To Say Goodbye’ as made famous by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, and captured her enjoyable melancholic eccentricity.

Dressed mostly in black but contrasted with a white T-shirt and red gloves, Riki arrived on the stage like she had just been to a West Berlin night club circa 1984. Suitably Germanic songs such as ‘Strohmann’ and ‘Böse Lügen’ fitted in that image perfectly with big industrialised percussive sounds, while her most recent single ‘SAS (For Those Who Speak and Spake)’ exuded that Mittel Europa chic. The aural template of songs like ‘Lo’ and ‘Napoleon’ recalled American band BOOK OF LOVE who opened for DEPECHE MODE and were produced by Flood back in the day but to close, Riki went back to her punkier roots with a feisty energetic rendition of ‘Earth Song’.

Geneva Jacuzzi made a statement from the start that this was to be no mere gig as she appeared with a black and white cone over her face as part of a striking costume that also inventively featured flexible ducting hose for arms. Flanked by two male dancers in leotards vogueing and assisting when appropriate, it was like watching ‘The Masked Singer’ on hallucinogenics!

After venturing into audience and declaring ‘Art Is Dangerous’, the time came to “TAKE IT OFF! TAKE IT OFF!” but the show delightfully did not get any less weirder. Combining the mannerisms of Gina X, Lene Lovich and Jyl vocally and visually, this was an ironic celebration of the subversive potential and absurdity of all art.

As the DAF flavoured ‘Casket’ provided an appropriately horror film edge, the bouncy arty Italo of ‘Cannibal Babies’ saw Geneva Jacuzzi peak over a circular spiral screen but ‘Laps Of Luxury’ saw her make shadow movements behind it along as her dancers pulled shapes behind their own square and triangle variants.

During ‘One Colored Rooms’, she beckoned the crowd to create channel for her to parade with her dancers to the far end of the Moth Club while beach balls and balloons flew over people’s heads. If there were any health and safety concerns, no-one really cared as smiles and astonishment were on faces all around.

A song about being ghosted following a date, ‘Dry’ observed how the modern approach to love via technology can alter amount of value placed on proper human interactions. However, this brilliant actually tune provided an immediate connection to the audience with its memorable repeatable chorus.

‘Do I Sad?’ brought a YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA sparkle despite its title while dangling her ducting hose arms to the oozy ballad ‘Yo-Yo Boy’ to finish, the quirky spectacle summed up Geneva Jacuzzi and her surreal brand of entertainment. With a brilliant presentation of theatrics and performance art, this was a joyous experience that also happened to include catchy hook-laden synthpop.

Witnessed by lively diverse audience of all ages, ethnicities and sexualities, it was a fabulous evening showcasing three talented artists who proved once again that in modern synthpop, the feminine touch really is best.


With thanks to Frankie Davison at Stereo Sanctity

‘Triple Fire’ by Geneva Jacuzzi is released by Dais Records, available from https://genevajacuzzi.bandcamp.com/music

https://www.genevajacuzzi.com/

https://www.facebook.com/genevajacuzziofficial/

https://www.instagram.com/genevaxjacuzzi/

Riki’s ‘Gold’ is released by Dais Records, available from https://riki.bandcamp.com/music

https://www.facebook.com/riki.la.band

https://www.instagram.com/riki.band/

The ‘S/T’ EP by Spike is released by God Nation on 25 February 2025, pre-order from https://gobnation.bandcamp.com/album/s-t-4

https://www.instagram.com/__s.p.i.k.e.__/


Text and Photos by Chi Ming Lai
19th February 2025

CAUSEWAY Anywhere

If THE BLUE NILE captured the image of cold rainy pavements and blurred headlights passing by, then CAUSEWAY are “In a reality where the sun is neon and the streets are lit with lasers…”

Following their well-received debut album ‘We Were Never Lost’ released on Italians Do It Better in 2022, American noir synth duo CAUSEWAY are back although there have been a few changes. The new album ‘Anywhere’ is issued on Sprechen Music, a British label based in Manchester while they have been exploring some different sonic territory.

Having evolved as a collaborative team, vocalist Allison Rae and synthesist Marshall Watson have streamlined their writing process and kept it remote, allowing a more vulnerable creative mindset with space to reflect, for a work that is authentic and deeply personal.

Maintaining their cinematic dreamwave sound, although the classic slow mo CAUSEWAY is prevalent on ‘Anywhere’, the title track is a key statement that goes all Motorik and minimal with the guitar of Dale Hiscock from ENDLESS ATLAS contributing the West Coast meets Düsseldorf flavour; eschewing the density of most of the tracks on the album, “To me it feels very ‘out of the box’ for CAUSEWAY but it fits in our universe” said Marshall Watson in an interview with ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK

Photo by Khoa Nguyen

Opener ‘Love Me Like Your Last Time’ punches through with a determined power not previously heard on of their debut album ‘We Were Never Lost’ although elements such as the string machine textures and ominous basslines, along with Allison Rae’s resigned vocals remain. Elsewhere, ‘Human’ sees Hannah Lew of COLD BEAT guesting on vocals and its feisty rhythmic propulsion shapes some dark disco as the question is asked “what does it feel to be human?”

But not rocking the boat and not veering too much away from the CAUSEWAY template, the single ‘Dancing With Shadows’ reflects the shady mystery fitting of its title, throbbing and biting in a wonderful hook laden slice of popwave.

Not a cover of THE CURE, ‘It’s Never Enough’ is moodier but shuffles along percussively with various offbeats and obscure timing points which puts it in an intriguing sonic capsule with recollections of Moby. Meanwhile ‘Criminal’ takes on a more funereal pace and almost shoegaze in its wall of harsher frequencies.

Photo by Khoa Nguyen

Adopting a hypnotic triple bass drive and sparkling crystalline figures, the superb ‘Lightyears’ offers Allison Rae’s alluring feminine melancholy as someone “doesn’t want to change”… yes “maybe we’ll be alright in another life” but why carry on? But as she said to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK: “Having to leave someone that I loved was the hardest thing I have ever done.”

‘Put Up A Fight’ recalls the sound of ‘We Were Never Lost’ in its floaty melodramatic aura although the gothic resonances of THE CURE appear in its guitar interventions which reinforce the paranoia that “they’re coming for me…”

Although the droning gloom is offset by shinier pulses, ‘Ruin Me’ soundtracks an impending submission for better or worse that fittingly acts as what appears to be the closing number. However, the final act comes with a cover of ‘Nobody’s Diary’ that will polarise… the YAZOO classic beloved of many and written by Alison Moyet at the age of 18 will be seen as sacred to some but to their credit, CAUSEWAY go for a different percussive synth rock arrangement with everything thrown in.

Although CAUSEWAY had been originally intending to make a “Mean dirty break up album”, while ‘Anywhere’ is anguished and melancholic, it is also hopeful with a message of love. “It captures the complexity of moving through pain toward something brighter” said Allison Rae; certainly it’s an enjoyable reverb-laden one at that and a more than worthy follow-up to ‘We Were Never Lost’.


‘Anywhere’ is released by Sprechen Music, available in vinyl LP and digital formats from https://sprechen.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/wearecauseway

https://www.instagram.com/weare_causeway/

https://wearecauseway.bandcamp.com/


Text by Chi Ming Lai
14th February 2025

« Older posts Newer posts »