“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
A product of Stuttgart and Los Angeles, ‘Neostalgia’ is the new collaborative album by CAMOUFLAGE’s Heiko Maile and composer Julian DeMarre.
The pair first worked together on the 1991 CAMOUFLAGE album ‘Meanwhile’ produced by Colin Thurston. It saw a musical diversion into more conventional instrumentation such as violin, saxophone, guitar and drums when the band from Bietigheim-Bissingen were reduced to a duo.
Outside of his dayjob with Marcus Meyn and their reunion with Oliver Kreyssig in 1999 which now sees CAMOUFLAGE celebrate their 40th Anniversary with the ‘Rewind To The Future & Goodbye Tour’, Maile and DeMarre partnered up to soundtrack the American action crime film ‘Killerman’ in 2019.
In 2020, the world was locked down by the Covid pandemic and with months of isolation at home, Maile and DeMarre got creative in each of their separate bases to create musical love letter to early electronic music from Wendy Carlos to Conrad Schnitzler and PINK FLOYD to YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA, Brian Eno to Vangelis with naturally TANGERINE DREAM and KRAFTWERK along the way. Despite ongoing soundtrack commissions for both delaying completion, the end result is the appropriately titled ‘Neostalgia’.
The opening piece ‘Patience’ is superb, originally written for ‘Killerman’ and titled ‘Leaving NY’, it has been reworked from the sweeping ambience of the soundtrack version to something more pulsating and percussive while there is a greater melodic presence.
Other tracks seeded from ‘Killerman’ like ‘Reflection (Dark Horses)’ and ‘Helios’ appear but another strong highlight is ‘Hollow Earth’ which utilises DeMarre’s Korg Lambda string machine alongside Maile’s hypnotic sequence. As the tempo rises, there comes a chilling drama enhanced live percussive rolls and textural guitar interventions which recall TANGERINE DREAM.
Meanwhile ‘Melancholia’ is a wonderful showcase for a number of vintage synth warhorses in the Yamaha CS60 and Korg PE-1000 although instead of a Mellotron, a real flute from Torsten Kamps provides the desired airy effect.
Featuring fretless bass and pretty synth, ‘Serengeti Ostinato’ rumbles rhythmically in tribute to the late Oscar winning German conservationist Bernhard Grzimek and his TV classic documentaries on African wildlife while ‘Universal Universe’ heads to the cosmos to illustrate the viewpoint of Stephen Hawking with a swinging neo-Schaffel backbone. But planet’s earth’s nature is the focus on ‘Between Trees’, a reflective ambient exploration to reflect the sense of openness between tree branches and how trees have defied changing climates before the arrival of humankind and civilisation.
Cosmic, spacey and occasionally ambient but mostly melodic, ‘Neostalgia’ blends of a variety of electronic styles with lengthy intros and outros forming key components. Tense yet hopeful, this is an album that will be appreciated by those who love the esoteric instrumental music of four or five decades ago.
Since their formation in 2017, MOLCHAT DOLMA gained a worldwide cult following with their first two albums ‘S Krysh Nashikh Domov’ and ‘Etazhii’.
From the off, the Belarusian trio had international ambitions and their popularity in Europe and the US led to the prestigious New York based independent label Sacred Bones signing MOLCHAT DOMA and releasing their third long player ‘Monument’ in 2020. Delivering a stark brand of post-punk that sounded like it had been demoed on a portastudio with dirty tape heads, with this highly derivative sound, MOLCHAT DOMA have been target of many jibing if affectionate memes by the @sounds.like.joy.division Instagram parody account.
But with ongoing political tensions in their homeland and having spoken out against the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Egor Shkutko (vocals), Roman Komogortsev (guitar, synthesizer, drum machine), and Pavel Kozlov (bass, synthesizer) relocated from Minsk to Los Angeles. The end result is their fourth album ‘Belaya Polosa’ which channels the anxiety and fear of that journey into exile to face a future of uncertainty.
With the inevitable comparisons to JOY DIVISION and THE CURE, MOLCHAT DOMA have always had a brutal gothic aesthetic that polarises in black and white. But on ‘Belaya Polosa’, in a new creative environment where the sun is shining on most days, the trio while remaining monochromatic have added some musical colour. While they have not turned into WHAM! or DURAN DURAN, the dancier but still sombre sequenced pulses of classic NEW ORDER and DEPECHE MODE have crept in for a more refined studio product that doesn’t come over like a third generation cassette duplication of THE WAKE or THE NAMES…
Full of front, ‘Ty Zhe Ne Znaesh Kto Ya’ is mighty as electronic body music dominates the mutant template with strident vocals on top to provide a punchy opening salvo. It highlights how MOLCHAT DOMA have grown from the band that released ‘Monument’ as synths stab and throb in a powerful cacophony of precise industrialised sound.
The magnificent ‘Kolesom’ offers glorious apocalyptic electronic disco with an obvious NEW ORDER influence although Bernard Sumner never sounded this foreboding! With an ominous baritone from Shkutko and minimal guitar, it is a commentary on the banality of modern life that acts as a dance in the dark.
‘Son’ is more of the expected MOLCHAT DOMA post-punk fare with its Doktor Avalanche backbone programmed by Komogortsev and accompanied by a gothic bass mantra from Kozlov. However, a surprise is sprung with a bubbly sequencer section appearing in the final third to provide a shimmering contrast to the largely morose mood.
The ‘Belaya Polosa’ title song heads into The Batcave, heavy drum loops and rumbling bass in post-Wilder ‘Ultra’ Mode while something of a sister song with a dominant rhythmic loop, ‘Chernye Tsvety’ is deeper and dreamier, dressed with Lynchian guitar and a hypnotic fretless bassline although in terms of execution, it recalls Swedish band LUSTANS LAKEJAR and their 1999 song ‘Cynisk’.
Fittingly by way of an extended interlude, ‘Beznadezhnyy Waltz’ captures a haunting Cold War atmosphere in a superbly eerie piano and synth instrumental with departing footsteps on wet cobbled paths to boot. But ‘III’ sees MOLCHAT DOMA doing sparkly New York electro dance influenced NEW ORDER with the keyboard solo action something a joy to behold before ‘Ne Vdvoem’ goes downtempo into the realm of THE CURE meeting TEARS FOR FEARS.
The excellent ‘Ya Tak Ustal’ utilises metallic samples that will be familiar to anyone who loved ‘Some Great Reward’ but MOLCHAT DOMA literally morph into Berlin-era DEPECHE MODE with only Shkutko’s vocals in Russian proving this is not Dave Gahan… if only DEPECHE MODE could still be this good today. Closing with the throbbing midtempo unease of ‘Zimnyaya’, this goes the full DEPECHE MODE hog with the chromatic six string interventions and digital drum computer beats authenticating the effect.
Having relatively polished up their sound and adapted to new environments both physically and musically, ‘Belaya Polosa’ is bursting with a chilling tension and drama that reflects the world at large from the point of view of those who have had to escape and find sanctuary. Sadness and defiance are simultaneously embraced as MOLCHAT DOMA leave behind their past. This timely musical document is undoubtedly their best album to date.
NASH THE SLASH was the late Jeff Plewman, a Canadian multi-instrumentalist adept at electric violin and mandolin.
He was also the first Canadian to ever use a drum machine on an album, while his music was a complex blend of prog, art rock, new wave and performance art. His persona was inspired by a killer butler that featured in the 1927 silent film ‘Do Detectives Think?’ starring Laurel and Hardy.
Plewman started performing as a solo artist beginning in 1975 and founded the progressive rock band FM in 1976. The NASH THE SLASH trademark look covered in surgical bandages began in 1979 to raise awareness of the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster; he walked on stage wearing bandages dipped in phosphorus paint and exclaimed: “Look, this is what happens to you!”
NASH THE SLASH opened for Gary Numan on his ‘Teletour’ and played violin on the tracks ‘Cry The Clock Said’ and ‘You Are You Are’ from his 1981 ‘Dance’ album; as well as this, he appeared as an onstage guest at Numan’s then-farewell concert at Wembley Arena in April 1981. Earlier in the year, he had released the Steve Hillage produced album ‘Children Of The Night’ on Dindisc Records, the Virgin Records funded imprint that brought OMD their initial commercial success.
This was the period when NASH THE SLASH had his highest mainstream media profile, with him even being given the honour of a profile interview by ‘Smash Hits’ where he stated his full name was “Nashville Thebodiah Slasher”! Indeed, NASH THE SLASH’s best known recording in the UK was an early stripped down version of ‘Swing-Shift’ alongside his label mates’ live rendition of ‘Pretending To See The Future’ on a blue flexi-disc given away free with ‘Smash Hits’.
NASH THE SLASH’s next album was ‘And You Thought You Were Normal’ in 1982 and featured the single ‘Dance After Curfew’ produced by Daniel Lanois; it fittingly became a radio hit in Poland as the country’s Communist government declared martial law.
NASH THE SLASH also later worked with Bill Nelson and opened shows for Iggy Pop, THE WHO, THE TUBES and DEVO. He rejoined FM but continued to perform solo and returned for a UK tour in 2008. He was also on stage with Gary Numan again in October 2010 for a rendition of ‘Complex’ at Toronto Opera House but announced his retirement via his website in November 2012, stating he was “rolling up the bandages”.
However, NASH THE SLASH sadly passed away in May 2014. But his work and legacy lives on; a number of his costumes and instruments were donated to the National Music Centre in Calgary while his custom skull mandolin is on display in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
In 2015, Artoffact Records reissued six of his albums and in 2017, filming began on the documentary ‘NASH THE SLASH Rises, Again!’. Written by Colin Brunton, Kevan Byrne and Tim Kowalski, the film has been produced in collaboration with The NASH THE SLASH Legacy; over 50 interviews have been conducted with his friends, collaborators and fans of his work, while archival footage and rare images have also been unearthed.
Featuring contributions from Gary Numan, Danielle Dax, Steve Hillage, Youth and Owen Pallett among others, it tells a universal story of artistic struggle. Several years in the making, a GoFundMe has been set up to help bring the project to completion with regards post picture lab and sound mix, legals, music rights, TV + Film licenses, publicity, accounting and insurance.
Back in 2010, Stephen Roper interviewed NASH THE SLASH for his Gary Numan book ‘Back Stage: A Book Of Reflections’; he has kindly given permission for ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK to publish edited extracts of his delightful conversation with a unique individual.
On his start in electronic music…
I started doing solo electronic music in 1975 and back then, I was probably the first guy in Canada using a drum machine when drum machines were illegal. People don’t seem to know all these years later but drum machines used to be illegal and according to The Musicians Union, anyone using an artificial device to make music would be barred from appearing on a union stage.
On performing at The Edge in Toronto 1980…
I was the second biggest draw at the club after MARTHA & THE MUFFINS. The club held 150 people and even the band THE POLICE had only attracted 35 people to what was their fifth gig ever. I asked to do a week-long show which I decided to call ‘The St. Valentine’s Week Massacre’. It played from Monday to Sunday night, the Thursday being St. Valentine’s Day, February 14th.
For the second part of my set I changed into a grey pinstripe suit with a grey fedora. I was doing a symbolic re-enactment of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre! At the end of ‘Danger Zone’ you could hear 1930’s gangsters talking and then gunfire on the backing tape.
Meanwhile, I jumped off the stage and as the music and gunfire continued, I pulled a blank-gun from my vest and began shooting at the stage at my imaginary assailants. I escaped through the crowd back to the dressing room, firing all the way. To say the least, it was dramatic and went down a storm.
Today, I would be arrested for carrying a concealed weapon and sued for causing extreme emotional trauma! I had no idea then, that I would be offered the gig to open for Gary Numan at The Toronto Music Hall on the following Monday.
On opening for Gary Numan…
This was my first big tour and I loved it. I was somewhere in age between Gary and his dad Tony and the whole family on the road thing suited my personality. Beryl was the tour mom and it felt nice to be part of their personal family dynamic.
His mum and dad weren’t prudish and didn’t tut tut over people doing strange rock ‘n’ roll things – they knew what it was about. I was just another performer whom Beryl wanted to make sure looked his best on stage. She would send my stage-clothes along with everyone else’s to the dry cleaners.
I wasn’t that familiar with Gary’s music when we first set out. I’d heard ‘Cars’ and ‘Down In The Park’ but I didn’t know his other TUBEWAY ARMY stuff but I certainly got a quick lesson in it! I really did love the music and I still love it today. Not everything that Gary’s done has been that memorable but I think that period of time when he was writing those tunes was just killer stuff.
On touring the UK…
I didn’t think twice about it if I’m honest. For me, the UK was all about the intensity. I’d already established myself opening for Gary at big venues on the North American tour.
I was just pleased to be playing to these rabid British crowds. In North America, the audiences were good but at the same time, they were just getting into Gary.
When I got to England, his crowd were already well established and enthusiastic to say the least. They were also very respectful of me in the opening slot so that was very nice.
Photo by Paul Till
The only low point for me on the tour was having my mandolins stolen from the Hammersmith Odeon. As we were doing two consecutive nights there, the equipment was left set-up on the stage overnight. Unfortunately for us, someone broke in and stole three of Gary’s keyboards, a few guitars and my mandolins. Keyboards and guitars were relatively easy to replace but custom-built electric
mandolins were a different matter.
Scotland Yard came to the venue to take statements from everyone. They got a police artist to do a drawing of my mandolins and showed the picture on the TV on a show called ‘Crimewatch’. I managed to get by using a cheap electric mandolin I found in a shop in London.
I managed to modify it so that it sounded half-decent. My mandolins eventually turned up four months later in a park. They were found by a little old lady walking her dogs and luckily, weren’t seriously damaged.
On signing to Dinsdisc and recording with Gary Numan…
After the tour, I stayed on in London and managed to get a deal with Dindisc who were a subsidiary of Virgin. I went in the studio in December 1980 and recorded the album ‘Children Of The Night’. In January 1981 I was doing my own one-man shows in London and I got a call from Gary. “How would you like to play on my new album ‘Dance’?” I went to the studio and met Gary and QUEEN’s Roger Taylor and the three of us sat around and mucked about on the piano and came up with some ideas.
I’d been forewarned about the phenomenon of QUEEN and their status but it turned out that Roger Taylor was totally non-pretentious. I found him to be a really nice guy. Although it was fun to play on the tracks, I don’t think ‘Dance’ was one of Gary’s strongest albums. Considering its title, the LP just doesn’t make me want to DANCE! I found it all too laid back for my tastes. It was as if Gary wanted to sound like the band JAPAN which frankly, I can’t stand.
We were recording the ‘Dance’ album in February 1981 and not long after that, Gary became busy formulating his big farewell concert at Wembley. Knowing I was available, Gary asked me to be part of it. Gary said to me “I don’t want you to be the opening act, I want you to be in the band”.
On performing with Gary Numan…
It was still a lot of work though and as I remember, the big film studio we were rehearsing in had no heating and April that year was particularly cold. The crew brought in these giant heaters for us that looked like jet engines but they barely made any difference. I remember we rehearsed every day for a week. When you have such a monstrous stage show, you can imagine the amount of preparation needed.
My part was to stand on-top of the massive rig and play ‘Cry, The Clock Said’, (reprising my role from the new album) and then my big moment would be to come running out onto the stage for ‘The Joy Circuit’ and join the rest of the band with my violin. We did three nights but the last was just a bit more special and would definitely be one of those unforgettable moments for me.
On the UK music press…
It’s wonderful that Britain has a passionate music press but on the other hand they can take their role too seriously. There’s the praising you one week and crucifying you the next. I think that has a lot to do with power tripping. I became aware of the bad press Gary was getting when I got over there and started to tour with him.
I think there was a lot of jealousy in the industry at the time. I noticed it being bantered about at Virgin and Dindisc in general conversation. It seemed that anytime I went into those offices and we’d be talking about electronic pop music, if Gary’s name came up the reaction would be “Gary Numan’s just a poser, a w*nker, you know a David Bowie wannabe…” and all that stuff. I would just reply “Yeah but he’s had hit songs; what about you?”
I’ve always been offended by the term “one-hit-wonder”. Not from the perspective to condescend to these people but to say to people who comment “well what f*cking hit did you ever have?”
One hit is more than nothing. I wish I was a one hit wonder! Gary certainly rose above that, I think he was bugged by the slagging personally, (I know I sure as hell was) but regardless, he rose above it. He just got on with doing what he does.
On his impact in the UK…
It was great to have the opportunity to come back and play in the UK in 2008. I had an epiphany from when I was there. What happened was that every night, these guys were coming up to me and telling me the same thing. “I was going to my very first rock concert to see my new idol Gary Numan, I was 14 years old and what’s the first thing I see? Not Gary Numan but this guy in white tails, top hat and bandages playing solo electric violin and ripping my face off, and I never forgot it.”
All of these guys were telling me this 28 years later and I’m thinking, Gosh you people have a helluva memory. It wasn’t that at all… it was that I’d brainwashed them all when they were 14!
Interview by Stephen Roper
Additional Text by Chi Ming Lai with thanks to Simon Helm
28 August 2024 reworked from an article originally published 25 November 2018
1982 saw the release of the Diana Ross single ‘Work That Body’ and Jane Fonda’s ‘Workout’ video which cashed-in on the phenomenon of home exercise and aerobics. On the soundtrack of the latter were disco tunes by the likes of THE JACKSONS and BROTHERS JOHNSON.
But with participants seeking a more communal experience to fitness, there was an explosion in health clubs and gyms as captured in the storyline to the Jamie Lee Curtis and John Travolta film ‘Perfect’ in 1985. People wore lycra bodysuits, headbands and legwarmers, now often ubiquitous as the retro fancy dress image of “The 80s” and leading to the midlife Peloton pop of today.
Almost simultaneously, the New Age movement was blossoming using downtempo and ambient music for inspiration, relaxation and optimism during yoga, massage and meditation. Such was its expansion that Tower Records in Mountain View, California introduced a “New Age” section in 1981 while major labels like Geffen Records signed artists such as Japanese electronic composer Kitaro and American crossover jazz musician Pat Metheny to capitalise.
Inspired by the music and exercise tapes of that period, and in tribute to those times, Swedish producers Johan Agebjörn and Mikael Ögren present ‘Dynamic Movements – Music for Exercise & Relaxation’. Agebjörn is best known for his work in Sally Shapiro and has made two ambient albums ‘We Never Came To The White Sea’ and ‘Artefact’ with Ögren over the last few years.
“Sometimes throbbing and at other times gently lapping at your toes”, the result is a limited edition cassette contrasting ‘music for exercise’ on side A and ‘music for relaxation’ on side B. But ‘Dynamic Movements – Music for Exercise & Relaxation’ has an interesting concept, in that other than the inclusion of their 2020 single ‘A Tribute To Florian Schneider’, the tape is made up of remixes and reworkings of their cosmic Scando-disco track ‘Dynamic Dance’. These have been provided by musicians and producers from around the world to create an album of diverse interpretations and deep sonic nourishment.
In their happy place, Johan Agebjörn and Mikael Ögren spoke to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about making ‘Dynamic Movements’.
Photo by Lasse Nilsson
How did you first come to be aware of each other and then work together?
Johan: We were neighbours between 2011 and 2018, but it took a few years until we became friends and discovered our common musical taste in 90s electronic music (techno, IDM, ambient etc), and still a few years before we started to make music together. The first track we made was a remix for TOMMY ‘86 ‘Aurora’, that was in 2015. It went so well that we started to work on our first album.
Mikael: I think it started out with Johan borrowing one of my synths and then we just thought it could be a trip trying a collab together. And that most certainly was the case.
Which was, at that time, your favourite piece of music by the other?
Mikael: Back then, I really hadn’t released that much, and I wasn´t familiar with Johan´s music. But as soon as I started exploring his discography I instantly got sucked into his more ambient soundscapes. His ambient releases ‘Mossebo’ and ‘The Mountain Lake’ in particular, are albums that were an inspiration to me.
Was there any “synth envy”, did one of you have a piece of equipment that the other didn’t have and was fascinated by?
Johan: If there is one of Mikael’s synths that I would like to own then it would be the Roland JD-800. Our ambient music would not sound the same without that synth, it has such a calming mellow sound. Some pad sounds from it that Mikael has programmed have been used for some Sally Shapiro tracks as well.
Mikael: Well, ever since I heard Johan’s stunningly beautiful ‘Swimming Through The Blue Lagoon’, I´ve had a special eye for the Casio MT-52. The things he does with that home keyboard sound! Such an inspiration to me, and a reminder that it´s not always the fancy Stradivarius of synths that does the trick.
Photo by Lasse Nilsson
In terms of your creative dynamic, do you compose together from the bottom up or is it remotely?
Johan: Since we live in the same city, there is always at least one session where we work on a track together, either from scratch or based on some idea that I or Mikael have. Usually it’s me who then makes the final mix. We both compose, and if we have different production roles then Mikael is leaning more towards sound synthesis and I more towards arrangement and mixing.
Mikael: It´s funny, because more than one time, a collab has started out with me sitting in my studio noodling around and then Johan shows up from nowhere asking “Hey, what’s this?” and we start off from that point. Usually, Johan has such skills refining our studio sessions, that I rarely have that much to do with the final steps of the process.
How do you look back on the two albums you have made together so far ‘We Never Came To The White Sea’ and ‘Artefact’?
Johan: We are proud ha ha 🙂 It’s cool that both of these are concept albums with a soundtrack vibe. ‘We Never Came’ is a soundtrack to a road trip to Russian Karelia. ‘Artefact’ is a soundtrack to the novel ‘Rendezvous With Rama’ by Arthur C Clarke. ‘We Never Came’ is more warm and nature romantic, ‘Artefact’ is more cold and spacey.
Mikael: It’s been a beautiful ride completing these two concept albums. Whereas ‘We Never Came’ was more of a “building the road while we travel it” kind of project, we had kind of an ultimate aim with ‘Artefact’ (since it was based on Clarke´s beautiful novel). Both projects were exciting processes to work together on.
Photo by Lasse Nilsson
In 2020, you did a re-edit of PET SHOP BOYS ‘The Man Who Has Everything’ which was from the ‘Relentless’ bonus album that came with ‘Very’, was there any particular reason for this?
Johan: ‘The Man Who Has Everything’ is my favourite track from ‘Relentless’ and actually one of my favourite PET SHOP BOYS tracks overall. I thought the production of the original could be a bit updated and I also got some musical ideas playing on one of Mikael’s programmed Schulze-like sounds on the JD-800. We took these ideas and added some drums and a bassline from the Alesis Micron. This was during a period when we didn’t work on any other musical projects, so it was just a spontaneous in-between thing that we were so happy with that we gave it an unofficial release.
Mikael: Both I and Johan are long time PSB fans (even though Johan is much more of a hardcore fan than me). And I think the one thing we both fancy with this relatively unknown release is its more dark and melancholic approach. Both of us are kind of “minor” rather than “major” guys, so it was exciting to experiment with this one.
The new album ‘Dynamic Movements – Music for Exercise & Relaxation’ has two distinct moods, what was the idea behind this?
Johan: The project rotates around the track ‘Dynamo Dance’ and different interpretations of that one, and since that track has both nu-disco and ambient qualities (a one-minute ambient intro followed by a dance arrangement), it fit very well for being interpreted in both dancey and chilly ways. So it was a perfect departure for the idea of an exercise tape where you can exercise to side A and chill / stretch to side B!
Was there a Swedish equivalent of the Jane Fonda Workout or Jamie Lee Curtis’ ‘Perfect’ film?
Mikael: Actually, the big work out icon in Sweden was Susanne Lanefelt. She appeared regularly in her work out programs on public television (back in the day, there only existed two channels in Swedish television, and they were both public service). You could say that she was a perky, considerably more commonplace counterpart to Jane Fonda´s significantly more exotic, sexy and suggestive persona. But to me as an 11 year old boy, I found Susanne´s shows kind of arousing and the music pretty exciting.
Photo by Lasse Nilsson
‘Dynamo Dance’ is now out as a single, what inspired it and in particular, the slinky sax passage?
Mikael: ‘Dynamo Dance’ is a new musical direction for us. We have mostly worked on ambient music before, as well as some excursions to 90s trance. This single is something different, more like Norwegian space disco, but still with our trademark of mighty soundscapes. Actually, we played live on a festival in Norway in 2023, and were inspired by the space disco we heard there.
Johan: We thought the track needed “something else”, and for a while we considered turning it into a vocal track, but we decided to keep it more of an instrumental dancefloor track and instead a section with some funky solos, first a sax solo and then a synth solo. We asked my long-time friend / collaborator Steve Moore to play a saxophone solo for it. He has played the sax a few times in tracks I’ve been involved in already – on his Sally Shapiro ‘Down This Road’ remix and on the Sally Shapiro ‘Rent’ remix by NICOLAAS – so the choice came naturally.
The other tracks on ‘Dynamic Movements’ are remixes and reinterpretations by other artists and producers which is an interesting approach, did you give them a brief or were they given a totally free rein including the titles used?
Johan: We wanted these interpretations to work together as a compilation album, so we asked them to divert quite a lot from the original and to keep it danceable for side A and chilly / ambient for side B. The titles were decided together, sometimes the ideas came from us and sometimes from the artist.
Mikael: Yeah, and we’re happy that we gave them a lot of freedom to do their own interpretations. In that way it was easier to avoid that their contributions went down a more generic road with less space for artistic room for manoeuvre. The result was exciting to say the least.
How did you choose each of the artists?
Mikael: To me, several of the artists have been true inspirations, and their contributions to the release has been an honour for us. For example I’ve been an admirer of Dr Atmo’s work since the early 90s, and many of the releases of Patricia Wolf have been touching me on a deeper level. Jarle Bråthen we met when we performed on a Norwegian festival, and felt like an obvious artist to include on this specific release. Every single artist in this project are producers who, each and everyone, has contributed with one important piece to ‘Dynamic Movements’ with their own unique characters and approach.
Johan: We chose the artists in close collaboration with Jon Tye of Lo Recordings (who is also 50% of SEAHAWKS, so that selection came naturally) with the aim to be of high artistic quality and fitting for the project and for the Lo Recordings sound. Steve Moore / Lovelock is a longtime collaborator / remixer for both my solo work and Sally Shapiro. CAUSEWAY is a label mate from Italians Do it Better. It was also nice to ask some artists from the new ambient scene (Mary Yalex and One Million Eyes) on the A Strangely Isolated Place label.
Photo by Lasse Nilsson
You have included a previous single ‘A Tribute To Florian Schneider’ from 2020 on the album, how did this fit into the concept, or was it just too good a track to not get a wider audience for?
Mikael: Since this is one of our favourite productions, we always felt that it deserved more love and attention than was the case when it was dropped. In addition, we think that one of the icons that by far has been the greatest inspiration to us, really deserves as much tribute and acclaims as ever possible.
Johan: In addition to this, including the track made the project reach exactly 32 minutes on each side of the tape. On cassettes, it’s always a challenge to avoid a few minutes of silence at the end of the side… so it felt like fate wanted it to be included!
Is there a conceptual reason that ‘Dynamic Movements’ is a cassette only release in the physical realm?
Johan: Since the project is clearly divided into two halves, it felt like a must to release it on a medium with two sides, like cassette or LP. A cassette release fits very well in tradition with “exercise tapes” of the 70s and 80s.
What is next for you both, individually and together?
Mikael: Together, Johan and I have three new ambient tracks pretty finalized – two of them will appear on Johan’s forthcoming ambient album, the third one will most likely be released as a single. There´s also a nice deal of other projects that calls for my attention. I´ve produced an electronic interpretation of a classic Bach masterpiece that´s in the final mixing stage and will drop in late 2024. Furthermore there´s an old school acid trance collaboration that I aim to release further ahead. In addition to that there´s a number of parallel productions that I´m about to give the final touch. These are truly exciting and productive times.
Johan: I’m currently focusing on finishing the new Sally Shapiro album, which is currently in mixing stage (actually Mikael has co-produced two of the tracks on it). I’m also working on a new ambient album which is about 90% finished, but moving forward quite slowly – that one will be my first solo album with completely new material in about ten years. Before those two albums, I’m releasing an EP with the synthwave singer Yota in early October (on 12” via Keytar Records), the first single from it ‘Universe In Flames’ is already released.
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Johan Agebörn and Mikael Ögren
US independent label Dais Records are on a roll with a roster now including acts such as KITE, TR/ST, ADULT. and DRAB MAJESTY; the latest signing is Los Angeles-based multimedia artist Geneva Jacuzzi.
With a detached Eurocentric poise reminiscent of Gina X, her oeuvre includes not just music, but performance art, live theatre, installations, set design, costume, makeup and set decoration. Her full length debut came in 2010 with ‘Lamaze’ which was assembled from various lo-fi recordings and demos made over the years. Featuring the eerie synthpop of ‘Casket’ and the dysfunctional disco lento of ‘Cannibal Babies’, her second more polished long player ‘Technophelia’ followed in 2016.
‘Triple Fire’ is her third full-length album which she has primarily written and produced with the additional input of a cast including Roderick Edens and Andrew Briggs. It is something she has described “as a hit parade of wildcard synthpop and sly post-apocalyptic camp” as well as “the record that’s going to save mankind”. While all these cheeky proclamations are in the name of art, what Geneva Jacuzzi does definitely possess is catchy hooks in her own surrealist world.
With chunky New York disco influences, the opening salvo ‘Laps Of Luxury’ presents propulsive art pop in the sultry vein of Jyl. More detached but revealing some squawky guitar, ‘Art Is Dangerous’ is Geneva Jacuzzi’s joyous celebration of the art community and its potential for cultural subversion.
Produced by Andrew Clinco of coldwave exponents and label mates DRAB MAJESTY, ‘Speed Of Light’ is jagged and more nonchalant vocally while displaying an enigmatic demeanour, ‘Nu2U’ introduces a deep groove. Brilliantly catchy, ‘Dry’ is alluring danceable synthpop but although it goes weirdly discordant halfway through, it works as it highlights the song’s lyrical gist about dating disconnection following being ghosted.
In ‘Scene Ballerina’, there are cascading modular lines and even jazz piano inflections over the strong rhythmic centre while ‘Take It Or Leave It’ provides glorious new wave pop. ‘Keep It Secret’ adds mystery and a chill to an offbeat bounce with a feline touch recalling Eartha Kitt.
With a vintage drum machine backbone and understated vocals sections duelling with a bizarre gothic backdrop, ‘Rock and A Hard Place’ is oddball and fun in the manner of Lene Lovich, before ‘Bow Tie Eater’ gets some electro funk in to provide another flavour.
The playful ‘Heart Full Of Poison’ parties like its 1983 and could be a synthier Cyndi Lauper but then there’s a sax break to authenticate that desired effect. ‘Yo-Yo Boy’ provides a moody conclusion to ‘Triple Fire’ with cascading synths and Geneva Jacuzzi’s vocal both appropriately soothing.
With Geneva Jacuzzi herself saying the album is “Funny, sexy, sad, scary, witty, hopeful, menacing. Eventually it deconstructs, turns into a party, and then ends sweet and soft”, ‘Triple Fire’ is enjoyably quirky in its delightfully odd mix of accessible electronic pop and energetic art chaos.
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on Dindisc Records, the 
in 1982 and featured the single ‘Dance After Curfew’ produced by Daniel Lanois; it fittingly became a radio hit in Poland as the country’s Communist government declared martial law.
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