“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
If Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake had not been part of The Disney Club but actually raised by The Addams Family, would they have ended up making a record like this?
Fresh from lending her voice to one of the songs of 2017 in AESTHETIC PERFECTION’s ‘Rhythm + Control’, NYXX begins her year with some ‘Voodoo’. Laced in lusty gothic tension with robotic voices and an almost evangelical middle eight from Daniel Graves, ‘Voodoo’ is like its predecessor ‘Diabolical’, co-written by the AESTHETIC PERFECTION main man.
The promo video, self-directed by NYXX, sees the striking tattooed starlet out in the dust and briars of the LA countryside, pondering how best to dispose of her latest victim because “that girl is psycho”!
The speedier Danny Armand Remix of ‘Voodoo’ with its stutters and drops, comes over like Britney gone dubstep so won’t be to everyone’s tastes.
But with its enticing pop sensibilities and a sinister animist backdrop of swirling electronics built around the rhythmic snap of imperial phase LADY GAGA, the single version of ‘Voodoo’ is the first truly happening tune of 2018.
‘Voodoo’ is released as a download bundle by Close To Human Music through the usual digital outlets
FAKE TEAK was founded by singer, bass player and synthesist Andrew Wyld back in 2011.
First name checked on ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK by Martin Swan of VILE ELECTRODES, the band has since evolved into a group of musicians whose ideas draw on diverse influences such as Krautrock, Afrobeat, funk, rock and electronica for a distinctive sound to soundtrack a dystopian present.
Completing the line-up of the London-based quartet are Alastair Nicholls on guitar, synthesizer, bass + vocals plus Joanna Wyld on synthesizer + vocals and Andrea Adriano on drums, production + vocals.
With a love of vintage hardware and a quirky new single ‘Post Office Tower’ b/w ‘Breathless’ just out, it was natural that FAKE TEAK would relish an opportunity for a round of Vintage Synth Trumps…
OK, first card, we have an Oberheim 8 Voice, does that spark any thoughts?
Joanna: There’s one in the Horniman Museum… I always ogle it even though it’s behind glass!
Alastair: They let you go into a side room where there are various instruments you can play, they have a thumb piano and some kind of tubes where you can whack them with flip-flops.
Andrea: My initial reaction was more notes, bigger chords!
Andrew: With the 8 Voice, it’s really hard to get it to do exactly what you want it to do because if you want to repatch, you have to do it eight times! It takes ages to do but it sounds amazing!
Andrea: Seven grand back in the day!!
Alastair: Isn’t there a HOT CHIP link here, because you played me ‘Flutes’ by them and you said it reminded you of the Oberheim?
Andrew: Yes, there’s a one line where an entire chord follows that line and it reminded me of what happened you play it set-up like a 16 oscillator synthesizer with 8 filters and 8 envelopes, or a chord using one note.
My first impression of FAKE TEAK as a band was that you were influenced by HOT CHIP?
Joanna: HOT CHIP is definitely one element, I actually prefer them live to their recordings.
Andrew: I think we have two strands, there’s the synthesizer sound from HOT CHIP, LCD SOUNDSYSTEM and CAN plus TALKING HEADS in the writing strand.
Alastair: I’d like to add THE CHEEKY GIRLS as well! *laughs*
Another card then, Gleemen Pentaphonic… even I don’t know what that is!
Alastair: My head is a blank!
Andrew: That sounds like something you would make up, if you were making up synthesizers!! *laughs*
OK, moving on… the next card is an ARP Axxe! *everyone cheers*
Alastair: We know a lot about ARP!
Andrew: This one is like the cut-down Odyssey… we have a full-sized Odyssey.
Joanna: Ours is the 1972 model…
Andrew: It’s the Mk1 before proportional pitch control came in and with the two pole filter. So seemingly it’s less desirable but I really like it.
KRAFTWERK used a Mk1 Odyssey, how did you acquire it?
Andrew: I’d been after one for a long time and a friend said there was one in Bedford, so I got the train up. There were keen on a quick sale and I mentioned that as it was a Mk1, could they sell it for a lower price and they gave me this figure… it was like the worst negotiation in the history of haggling! I took it home in a blanket that smelt of air freshener! *laughs*
Alastair: I don’t get to use it in the band but it can make some fantastic sounds, but it can sound horrendous too! And that’s the great thing about it, it can be beautiful and it can be horrific, you have to learn how to control it and I cannot!
Andrea: It’s like if someone took the autopilot out of a jumbo jet…
Andrew: I have a mathematical background so I got the hang of it after a while but there’s a lot of different things to it and quite complicated.
Joanna: It is key, especially with the Odyssey, that we have a good sound engineer because if the balance is wrong, it can sound really bad.
Alastair: We actually use a compressor live with the Odyssey to try and mitigate that problem so we try and make life easier for engineers.
Andrew: What I’ve found in the past is some engineers think the synths are used for decoration rather than a main part of the sound and that can be a problem. But music has changed a lot in the last 5-10 years, people are more used to the idea of synths as part of the backbone.
How did each of you first hear electronic sounds in music?
Andrew: When I was 6, a teacher of mine Miss Wickes played us ‘Autobahn’, this noise that I’d never heard before and I thought it was really cool. Then she played us ‘Numbers’!
Alastair: I don’t I’ve got anything as cool or fringe, but the first time I noticed electronics in music was ‘Bad’ by MICHAEL JACKSON, I was given a Walkman and a tape of the album.
Andrea: ‘Blade Runner’ and VANGELIS with the CS80, that was it for me. I’d always liked synths but Mellotrons were really cool for me and after my teens, I got heavily into APHEX TWIN and then later SQUAREPUSHER.
Joanna: It would be ‘Doctor Who’ and DELIA DERBYSHIRE, we went to see the talk and concert of THE RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP at the Science Museum but also, my dad’s collection of the ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA, on the back of one of these albums was the letters M-O-O-G and I became fascinated with Moogs and thinking “what is that?”
Andrew: VANGELIS and ELO used the CS80, so we just ordered a Deckard’s Dream which is a CS80 replicant, but we’ve since discovered we got to buy £1100 of components to build the thing!
Next card, it’s Roland Juno 106…
Andrea: We have a Juno 60 and I’m about to buy a 106… the Juno 6 didn’t have a memory patch pack, so the 60 had presets and when the 106 came out, they changed the output stage.
Why do you think the Juno, out of all the vintage synths, is still so robust?
Andrew: Because of the way it’s laid out, if you have a basic knowledge of analogue synths, it’s straightforward to use compared to the Odyssey. A lot of people say the Juno is not an analogue machine because of its digital control, but the way that the voices work, the actual oscillators are very similar to those in a Moog. The 106 was one of the first synths to have MIDI, so you have can have those wonderful warm sounds but controllable and easy to use.
Joanna: For me, it is straightforward to use and versatile, the practicality of playing on stage, you want to make it easier, not more difficult. On a Juno, the same voice will work in different contexts really well, there’s a ‘Chariots Of Fire’ sound I use…
Alastair: Oh, Patch 42? Every time you play something on Patch 42, it makes you kind of weepy! It’s got that quality of the Meaning Of Life!
Andrea: It goes very well with the Scottish Highlands!
When’s the FAKE TEAK album out?
Andrew: It’s recorded and Andrea did a wonderful job…
Joanna: It’s gone to Abbey Road for mastering…
Alastair: The band has been going a good while and the line-up has changed over the years, sometimes it takes a while to bring things together. With the four of us, we have the focus and found a sound and recording style that works for us. We’re releasing a few singles first and then the album should be out in 2018.
Your first single is ‘Post Office Tower’, why is this structure still so iconic?
Andrew: The Post Office Tower is an iconic part of the North London skyline and was bombed by the IRA in 1972, they were trying to destroy a publically visible monument… so my inspiration was the thought of “what if they had succeeded?”, would that have changed society in the way 9/11 did? The Post Office Tower is a brutalist piece of architecture and very idealistic, coming at the time of new towns and new motorways… of course, that was a very flawed ideal. What I wanted to do with the song was express admiration for the ideal of society as something you can improve, whilst saying it’s possible to make a mistake about the specific direction you’re at, and come back from that to move into a better direction, which is something I think we’ve lost sight of.
Alastair: Yeah, I went to an exhibition about the utopian ambitions of the 60s and how great the world might be able to be, that’s fallen away slightly and now people are just trying to figure out good solutions to problems, rather than great ideas and big pictures.
Joanna: It also had a revolving restaurant which was just amazing, why has it not reopened? People would flock to it! *everyone laughs*
How did ‘Post Office Tower’ come together musically?
Andrew: I wrote it in Durham and started with a fairly specific skeleton but it’s evolved.
Joanna: Right at the beginning, I do some ‘sample and hold’ which creates the atmosphere and all the connections with the Post Office Tower.
How did you go about producing your drum sounds?
Andrea: When it came to the album, we wanted to record the drums live. I wanted to use a particular interface because it had better converters etc but just 8 inputs, so we were restricted to 4 tracks with 2 overhead mics for stereo drums which got the toms, plus a snare and a kick mic. I don’t think we’d have got away with it using more modern pre-amps, they don’t sound big. Everything sounds bigger on the old ones plus we had the luxury of recording onto tape.
Alastair: There are great drum samples these days but the important thing was to get the whole sound of the band breathing, not to be locked down to a metronome. To have that little bit of breathing just makes the whole track feel natural and exciting.
Andrea: In the original incarnation of the band, there was this view that everything should be to ‘click’, and I strongly disagreed with that! It was only when we started playing together and I recorded the rehearsals, I was like “can we concentrate a bit more?”
OK, another card, it’s a Roland SH3a…
Andrew: We were in a studio with one once…
Tell us about the track ‘No Shame’ which got a good response online in its demo form…
Joanna: It started as an affectionate parody of HOT CHIP; I came up with a few lines and Andrew said it was quite catchy and that I should try and do something with it. The start was quite sarcastic, but I built it from there with influences from ‘Ready For The Floor’ and LCD SOUNDSYSTEM’s ‘Us V Them’ and that disco feel. The lyrics evolved from that slightly odd beginning to about when people pretend to socialise together so that they don’t look like they’re on their own. But then, there’s that strange unity where you come together on the dancefloor.
Alastair: Yes, you’re having a good time whether you’re going to speak to them again, it’s that moment.
Joanna: People do seem to quite like ‘No Shame’ because it’s catchy, we did a wedding and they did a conga to it, which was a sort of peak for me.
That’s why I said on Twitter that it was “delightfully odd”, it was weird but it was nice and fun to listen to…
Joanna: …“weird but nice and fun”, I’m going to put that on a T-shirt! *laughs*
The next card is an Elka Synthex, much loved by JEAN-MICHEL JARRE…
Joanna: We listened to ‘Oxygene’ a lot at home, and along with our younger brother, we used to pretend we were space people!
Andrew: Didn’t we do a radio play? We had a reel-to-reel tape recorder that we speeded up and slowed down to use for sound effects! *laughs*
Joanna: I don’t know Elka stuff, I have to admit
Andrew: Elka did great strings machines and we have a Roland RS-202, that’s like the Rhapsody…
Alastair: …yes, it’s a string machine that inexplicably has a brass mode! That inspired ‘101’ on our album! *laughs*
Joanna: So was that inspired by the 202 divided by 2, because that would be amazing!
Alastair: I wish it was… you know in America, you do a class for the basics of something, like ‘English Language 101’? So the song ‘101’ is like learning the basics… of relationships!
Joanna: So deep! Why did I ever ask? *laughs*
One last card… yes, it’s a Roland Jupiter 8!
Andrew: Yes please, but I don’t have £8000 spare! *laughs*
Alastair: Originally, they were only £4000!
One of the members of the DEPECHE MODE tribute band SPEAK & SPELL has Alan Wilder’s old Jupiter 8…
Joanna: …I sometimes wonder about our Odyssey that because they’re so rare now, when I see things like a photo of Brian Wilson with one… could it be the same one? I get really excited at the idea! *laughs*
You’re a bit of a Brian Wilson fan aren’t you?
Joanna: Yes, I love Brian Wilson, I think he’s a genius… I under rated him at first like a lot of people, because the harmonies are apparently so simplistic and cheery and nice. But you go a bit deeper and realise that he’s touching on more emotion… in fact, there’s times when I have to take a break from listening to it because it’s so powerful. Also structurally, what he’s doing, his layers are so sophisticated yet it appears so effortless and not contrived in any way. There’s something so spontaneous and sincere in his character and that comes across in his music.
So what would you like to achieve as a band?
Joanna: Realistically, we understand it’s a very competitive field but we’d like to go as far as we can… we love to make it and tour, but it’s taking one step at a time and building on that. All joking aside, we really believe in the songs and the sound we create. I think the album sounds amazing so I can’t wait to share it with everyone.
Andrew: It’s something we take very seriously, we think it’s really worth listening to… it’s been a complex road to get to that so we’re taking it one step at a time, we really do believe in it.
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to FAKE TEAK
Philadelphia and subsequently New York City are home to BOOK OF LOVE.
The band, which created a stir with American synth music crowds, came into being in 1983 when Susan Ottaviano joined forces with Ted Ottaviano (no relation) in Philly, later recruiting Jade Lee and Lauren Roselli Johnson.
The name was adopted from a song by THE MONOTONES and soon the entire crew worked out of New York. Citing influences from anyone from Bowie, through COCTEAU TWINS, THE RAMONES, OMD to DEPECHE MODE, the quarter started writing their own material, and equipped with few demos, notably ‘Boy’, hoped for a label to take an interest.
And a label did… not just anyone but Sire Records, whose president at the time Seymour Stein loved the tubular bells and happy go lucky melody of the track. ‘Boy’ went on to become a notable dance hit, positioning itself at number 7 on the Billboard Dance Chart. Furthermore, it gave the band such success and exposure, that the group happily left their day jobs to dedicate themselves to the craft of music exclusively.
And that’s how their love affair with DEPECHE MODE took off. Having met Basildon’s finest, BOOK OF LOVE were invited to support them, not only on ‘Some Great Reward’ Tour, but to return for the ‘Black Celebration’ live shows as well.
BOOK OF LOVE’s second single ‘I Touch Roses’ was an instant head turner, with the additional kudos of being remixed in its single version by none other than Daniel Miller of Mute. The innovative feel to the song opened more doors for the group and enabled them to get a go ahead from Sire to finish the album. Delicately placed bells, chimes and quirky synth worked wonders for the moody vocals of Ottaviano.
By then the eponymous ‘Book Of Love’ was also recorded, bearing more alternative influences alongside the synths. With a nursery rhyme feel, and musicality recalling JOY DIVISION, it grabbed instantly, providing a fresh substitute to what was out there at the time, and yes, the bells were there too!
The album came, heralded with ‘You Make Me Feel So Good’, a typical dance oriented synth tune with a twist thanks to the vocals encapsulating a merger of SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES, KATE BUSH and all the BANANARAMA girls.
Self-confessed admirers of art, BOOK OF LOVE named the second single from the opus after an Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani. ‘Modigliani’ features wonderfully arpeggiated synth, delicate choirs and a plethora of noisy synth thrown in for good measure with a very PET SHOP BOYS-esque ending. A version was used in an episode of ‘Miami Vice’ and the 1987 film ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’.
Touring with the mighty DEPECHE MODE and didn’t leave much room for any studio work, therefore the continuum ‘Lullaby’ was recorded after the ‘Black Celebration’ Tour was completed. Mark Ellis aka Flood took the reins of production, fresh from working with ERASURE and U2.
The title track introduced somewhat folky elements to its composition and featured a gentler approach to the whole enterprise. The influences from ERASURE and DEPECHE MODE are clearly palpable, without stripping off the absolute uniqueness of what BOOK OF LOVE were about.
‘Pretty Boys & Pretty Girls’ which was the first single from ‘Lullaby’ openly tacked the hot topic of AIDS. The plea to practise safe sex was a novelty in synth music, and it was warmly received, given the candied feel of the track and its easy listening qualities. As the tubular bells were essential in BOOK OF LOVE’s proposition, a snatch of MIKE OLDFIELD’s classic composition also found itself on the production.
‘Witchcraft’ presented a notion of sampling, with the original series ‘Bewitched’ in its heart. Consisting the peculiar rapping from all the three girl members, combined with simple melody and candid vocals, it was the only single to fail to chart.
‘Candy Carol’ was the third album, released in 1991, and with the changing musical landscape and introduction of new genres, there was a need for Ottaviano and co to provide a quirky alternative. Inspired by carols and the need for a decent melody, tracks like ‘Alice Everyday’ and ‘Counting The Rosaries’ performed by Lauren Roselli or ‘Sunny Day’ with harps, bells and simple guitars added up to an uncomplicated proposition against rap, hip hop and the raise of Seattle’s grunge.
Ted Ottaviano produced the fourth BOOK OF LOVE’s album ‘Lovebubble’ himself, with the band members doubting their place in the current musical climate, and the record proved to be the quartet’s last. ‘Boy Pop’ was a big dance club hit and an ode to gay love, while ‘Sunday A.M.’ represented a beautifully sculptured melody and gentile additions.
‘Hunny Hunny’ brought the tempo up to speed with a punctuated arpeggiated synth beat a la ERASURE, American style. ‘Chatterbox (Pt 2)’ was a part of the double single with Jade Lee on vocals.
BOOK OF LOVE have previously released couple of ‘Best Of’ style compilations and now, Susan and Ted Ottaviano are back by popular demand, releasing and touring ‘The Sire Years: 1985-1993’, with all the aforementioned tracks and more, to relive and enjoy the quirkiness, simplicity and joy of their heyday.
If you weren’t a fan back then, or it slipped your radar, jump on the bandwagon now, because BOOK OF LOVE are just what the doctor ordered.
BOOK OF LOVE play Miami The Kitchen Club (13th January), Orlando The Social (14th January), Seattle The Crocodile (9th February), Dallas Granada Theater (16th February), New Orleans One Eyed Jacks (24th March), Atlanta Aisle 5 (7th April), Denver Herman’s Hideaway (21st April)
With the release of her debut EP ‘Ffrwydrad Tawel’, ANI GLASS has added a gorgeous ethnic resonance to the aesthetics of modern synthpop.
The stage persona of Cardiff-based musician, photographer and artist Ani Saunders, she sings in her native languages of Welsh and Cornish to provide a politically charged soundtrack for the times. Having served her apprenticeship as a member of the Andy McCluskey managed GENIE QUEEN and then THE PIPETTES with her older sister Gwenno under the production guidance of the late Martin Rushent, she became a member of indie band THE LOVELY WARS before eventually releasing her first solo single ‘Ffôl’ (‘Foolish’) in 2015.
But it was her follow-up single ‘Y Ddawns’ (‘The Dance’) that made its presence felt as a wonderfully exhilarating pop art adventure, swathed in synths and emblazoned with hope. A new single ‘Generaduron’ (‘Generators’) has just been unleashed and with the recording of a full-length album currently in progress, ANI GLASS kindly chatted about her artistic ethos and musical journey…
The new single ‘Generaduron’ is quite different from the material on your debut EP ‘Ffrwydrad Tawel’, what was the inspiration and why the ‘new direction’?
Until relatively recently, production was something that I always appreciated and admired but wasn’t something I thought I could do or wanted to do for that matter. I felt it was always attached to people, or dare I say men, who were far more technical or interested in the process than I was and so for years it didn’t even cross my mind. However, from my experience, when you get a bit older you lose a bit of that self-consciousness and self-doubt that you drag around during your early twenties and I just thought to myself “What the hell, I want to make my own record and I know how I want it to sound” … and so here I am. ‘Generaduron’ (‘Generators’) is me at the start of my journey.
It’s a taster for your debut long player, do you have a theme or concept for it yet? How’s it coming along?
I’ve recently embarked on a Masters course at Cardiff University studying Urban and Regional Development, and as a result, reading the works of people such as Jane Jacobs and Jan Gehl has really impacted on the way I view city and urban living which in turn has had an impact on my approach to music. A lot of us live in cities now and although we live in different places, many of our experiences are the same. In short, my album has a very loose concept about a day in the life of a city girl and all that comes with it. It will have all that you expect from a busy city – fast-paced, slow, abrupt, noisy, happy, joyful, sad, chaotic and peaceful. I have a fair amount of work yet to do but it’s well on its way.
Do you think the album still has a place in modern music consumption?
Absolutely. There’s a strong sense in society that we’re all searching for somewhere or something to belong to. I don’t think it’s a new thing, perhaps it’s just become a bit more prominent in recent times. But as a result, I think music has a strong role to play in helping people to feel like they’re a part of something, that they belong or that they’re understood and so that’s where I think the album comes in. The way I see it, a good single or a song is like a holiday but a great album is like a home and we all need one of those.
The ‘Ffrwydrad Tawel’ EP took a while to come together, how do you look back on it and what it achieved for you artistically?
It was really important for me to create and present a solid body of work on which to build on and working with producer Haydon Hughes (W H Dyfodol) was a brilliant experience, especially with regard to creating a sonic statement.
I’m ever so pleased with how it turned out, there will always be parts I would want to change or improve but I don’t see that as a weakness, it’s an important part of developing as an artist.
‘Y Ddawns’ was a fine statement of hope, but also had a great rousing tune?
I wrote ‘Y Ddawns’ (‘The Dance’) after reading ‘We’ by Yevgeny Zamyatin. It was a dystopian vision of the future created partly in response to my experience in THE PIPETTES – it was, in essence, my version of a space-age pop tune. My favourite songwriter of all time is Paul McCartney – he was the reason I picked up the bass and started writing music. His wonderful ability to take melodies to places you don’t quite expect is always something I try to aspire to and it was certainly something I had in mind when writing ‘Y Ddawns’.
The pulsating ‘Geiriau’ recalled Moroder–era SPARKS but was about reconnecting with your Welsh and Cornish heritage?
Although ‘Geiriau’ (‘Words’) is about by personal journey of moving to England, questioning my identity only to return and re-connect to my Welsh and Cornish roots, I feel that it’s also symptomatic of what is happening to us all. It feels as though the whole world is going through some sort of an identity crisis and some of the results of this are quite frightening (Brexit, Trump etc).
My personal and political reaction to this has been to delve into my cultural heritage – to gain a deeper understanding of my past, to learn to appreciate the value of language and culture in order to take ownership of my identity. This journey has not been about looking inward or become insular, but understanding myself and my place within a culture in order to best placed to understand others. The UK has a terrible reputation for its weak linguistic skills, the numbers studying foreign languages is decreasing year upon year and so we’re losing our ability to understand the value of ‘other’ and so it can’t be a coincidence that as globalisation grows and language skills decline, tension is increasing.
Had you found yourself becoming detached as you immersed yourself in the pop world when you were in GENIE QUEEN working with Andy McCluskey and THE PIPETTES working with Martin Rushent? Is it like living in a bubble?
Quite possibly, although it didn’t feel like that at the time. I absolutely love pop music, and although I don’t like a lot of chart music at the moment, I will always defend it. The dynamics of GENIE QUEEN was what you would consider ‘traditional’ for a pop band – very little creative involvement and input from the artist themselves whilst THE PIPETTES was the exact opposite; complete artistic control.
Those experiences were invaluable but although they perhaps existed within their own bubbles, I think I’m probably in as much of a bubble now. My motivations and perspective may differ but my commitment is still unwavering and I’m conscious that I will have to remain vigilant to ensure that my focus does not encourage a blinkered vision.
I use my Chinese name Chi Ming Lai rather than anglicising myself and taking a Western first name, to preserve my cultural heritage. So was singing in Welsh always going to be an essential component of ANI GLASS? What does it mean for you?
I think it was an essential. When you consider the slow decline of your native language, you begin to question your role in either helping to reverse or speed up this process. I’ve always felt that learning the language is important, however if there is no living culture to talk about, then what is the language for? There is no question that understanding the past is important but the present is equally as important if not more so. It was with this in mind that I decided that Welsh and Cornish would have to be my focus – I wanted to contribute to these living cultures, to add an extra voice and narrative. Although it is entirely possible, I think it would be very difficult to be a Welsh or Cornish language musician or artist and for it not to be a political act.
Photo by Rhodri Brooks
More artists are starting to sing in their native languages again, do people just need to get a bit braver?
I’m not sure if it’s about being brave, it’s more about recognising what you’re really in it for. Of course, if you sing in Welsh as opposed to English, your potential reach is considerably smaller but on the other hand you also have a much smaller chance of being drowned out in a sea of noise.
A lot of modern Welsh music is still predominantly male rock and guitar focussed (though this is slowly changing) and so any diversion from this does tend to raise a few eyebrows which of course I love! I think the main thing is being true to yourself and if that means singing in a language that fewer people understand, then so be it.
Patriarchy is a theme you have dealt with in your songs. With all the recent stories of abuse and harassment in the entertainment world, what do you think needs to be done within the music industry to provide a safe comfortable environment for women to work in as equals?
I think there needs to be a more honest and open discussion within the industry with both women and men leading discussions. Most of what I’ve personally encountered is (or was) so normalised that you would be made to feel that any reaction, other than to brush it off or worse still, to laugh along, would be seen as disproportionate. I think these are some of the most difficult things to address and recognise because it is so ingrained in our culture, it involves everybody, our whole dynamic system is warped and needs to shift. Women in the industry are not ‘women musicians’ or ‘girls in tech’, we’re just musicians and technicians. That’s the equality we must strive for.
Apart from finishing your debut album, what’s next for ANI GLASS?
I’m really excited about curating the presentation of this album; conceptually and visually. I have a lot of ideas about how I might involve and engage with people who may not be instinctively interested in Welsh electronic music. It’s quite an exciting time to be making music in Wales – something is afoot; I couldn’t tell you what it is but I think it’s going to be exciting and I really want to be a part of it.
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to ANI GLASS
‘Generaduron’ is released as a download single by Recordiau Neb
If you describe your influences as the “softer” side of synthpop and cite Nik Kershaw, Howard Jones, YAZOO, HEAVEN 17, together with ABBA and ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA as your inspirations and have been making popular synth music since 1983, the good chance is that your name is Val Solo.
Valdi Solemo started up in Sweden in a Malmö band POP-OUT, before deciding to relocate to Bulgaria to work with some of the cream of local musicians, producing and writing there.
The music hungry sound shifter produced DR. FONKENSTEIN, before coming back home after ten years to join S.P.O.C.K. Now, Val Solo presents his “alone” project, with the exception of remixes from such recognised figures as Johan Baeckström of DAILY PLANET and NASA’s Patrik Henzel in charge of mastering.
‘Songs from Another Time… And Space’ can be best described as a younger brother to the UK’s own KID KASIO, where the prevailing love affair with the synth during its most prolific era is the theme. The album cover features the music magician surrounded by good old vintage cars depicted in black and white, where Val looks into the future, preserving the feel of the times when life was simpler.
If you’re after a sophisticated, masterfully poignant electronica, you won’t find it here. If however, you’re looking for a cheery, uncomplicated and easy listening pieces to take you back in time, ‘Songs From Another Time… And Space’ are for you.
Is it the super vintage ‘Why Would You Tell Me’, the era love affair of ‘Dream Girl (Purple Eyes)’, or the ‘Star Wars’ inspired ‘Party Like A Stormtrooper’ with its synths a la AND ONE, there’s something for everyone here. The latter even bears the musical blueprint of Essex boys MODOVAR.
‘I’m In Space (Cabdriver Dreams)’ is a perfect disco track with its mantric refrain and fun execution in such a way, there’s nothing left to do but let your hair down and party. The opening ‘Why Don’t You Talk To Me’ with its additional three remixes, notably one by Johan Baeckström, is the most accomplished number on the opus, reminiscent of YAZOO and early DEPECHE MODE. Who says synthpop has to be serious… VAL SOLO proves that having fun isn’t a bad thing, especially in the world of today, where we are all bombarded with negativity, politics and dystopian ideas.
Solo’s “solo” is unostentatious, modest and not at all fussy. It’s music for those willing to be transported to much simpler times, with much purer ideas and uncomplicated rhythms.
‘I Believe’ it’s vital to shed the shackles of the ordinary existence and let yourselves go… “let it happen, life is just what you want it to be”.
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‘Voodoo’
is available as a download single from 
is released as a CD by Note For Note Music on 19th January 2018
can be best described as a younger brother to the UK’s own 
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