Author: electricityclub (Page 6 of 404)

“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

LLOYD COLE Interview

30 January 2024 /

Singer / songwriter Lloyd Cole is best known for his glum but jangly guitar-based tunes with his band THE COMMOTIONS.

With three Top20 UK albums to their name between 1984 to 1988, their best known songs were ‘Perfect Skin’, ‘Forest Fire’, ‘Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken?’, ‘Brand New Friend’, ‘Lost Weekend’ and ‘Jennifer She Said’. Scottish band CAMERA OBSCURA later paid tribute to Cole’s poetic cynical romanticism with the song ‘Lloyd, I’m Ready To Be Heartbroken’.

More recently however, Lloyd Cole has recorded two albums ‘Guesswork’ and ‘On Pain’ which have primarily been synthesizer-based. But his journey into electronic music has not been a recent artistic whim. While studying Law at University College London, his neighbour Morris Gould, now known as underground electronica DJ Mixmaster Morris, lent him an EDP Wasp synthesizer for Cole’s only solo music performance at LSU. Another student introduced him to KRAFTWERK whose magnificent ‘Computer World’ show Cole would later declare as one of his favourite gigs of all time.

Transferring to Glasgow University to study Philosophy and English, he met his future bandmates keyboardist Blair Cowan, guitarist Neil Clark, bassist Lawrence Donegan and drummer Stephen Irvine to become LLOYD COLE & THE COMMOTIONS. With Cole demoing his songs using guitar, drum machine and a Yamaha DX7, word got out to London about the band’s eloquent melancholic pop.

On the back of interest in the city’s music scene which had produced ORANGE JUICE, ALTERED IMAGES and AZTEC CAMERA, the quintet were signed by Polydor Records, releasing their acclaimed debut album ‘Rattlesnakes’ in 1984 and achieving their highest chart placing with second album ’Easy Pieces’ in 1985.

Relocating to New York, Lloyd Cole went solo in 1990, experimenting with orchestral, folk and country styles along the way and even returning to a band format with THE NEGATIVES in 2000. Always “excited to still be finding new methods, new perspectives, new sounds”, he had already bought a Sequential Circuits Prophet VS and featured it on the ‘Mainstream’ album in 1987.

Later acquiring a Minimoog and various samplers, Cole used them sparingly on the 1993 psychedelic rock flavoured long player ‘Bad Vibes’, although the album was not well-received by his fans. Considering the album an artistic failure, he kept his songs traditional and his electronic interests purely instrumental, leading eventually to the excellent 2002 ambient electronic album ‘Plastic Wood’ made at his attic studio in Massachusetts.

Photo by Camillo Roedelius

A fan of CLUSTER, the cult German duo comprising of Hans-Joachim Roedelius and the late Dieter Moebius, ‘Plastic Wood’ recalled the spacious vibe of their now classic 1976 long player ‘Sowiesoso’. With his synthesizer secret not so secret anymore, a mutual friend passed the album over to Roedelius who was impressed and set about doing his own remix. On sending over Cole his reinterpretation, while the remixed ‘Plastic Wood’ has yet to see the light of day, Cole was flattered and the two discussed working together on a project in a similar manner.

Having assembled his first Eurorack modular synth which was steadily expanding, Cole created a number of minimal electronic sketches for Roedelius to develop in isolation with neither being together during the creative process. The finished tracks became 2013’s ‘Selected Studies, Vol1’, a thoughtful union of the sorcerer and the apprentice released by Bureau B.

Following an invitation by Bureau B to curate ‘Kollektion 02’, a retrospective of Roedelius’ music, the German label suggested to Cole that he could release a solo electronic album based on the unused material originally constructed for his collaboration with Roedelius. Although Cole considered himself to still be very much a student of electronic music, the resultant ‘1D Electronics 2012-2014’ boosted his confidence. However, an attempt at ‘Live Electronics’ in 2015 proved to be too big a challenge; two performances in Portugal were cancelled while a German show with Roedelius saw a return to his usual guitar and vocal format for his solo part of the set.

Undeterred, Cole allowed time to develop his prowess with synthesizers and programming. Applying these electronic textures and techniques to traditional songwriting, 2019’s ‘Guesswork’ album was a triumph. Reuniting with Blair Cowan and Neil Clark, the album’s first single ‘Violins’ took cues from Robert Palmer’s cult electronic pop favourite ‘Johnny & Mary’ but included a guitar solo at its conclusion to not totally alienate Cole’s following.

Opening ‘Guesswork’, ‘The Over Under’ was reminiscent of the sparse nocturnal atmospheres of THE BLUE NILE during their ‘Hats’ period. The most KRAFTWERK influenced song ‘Moments & Whatnots’ was like a second cousin to ‘Neon Lights’ while ‘When I Came Down From The Mountain’ offered the biggest surprise as a bouncy drum machine driven slice of synthpop.

Produced by Chris Hughes who had notably helmed the first two TEARS FOR FEARS albums, 2023’s ‘On Pain’ saw guitars make a more prominent but limited return but whereas ‘Guesswork’ had largely been traditional songs made electronic, a number of the follow-up’s tracks were composed bottom-up using synthesizers.

In an artistic diversion, the shimmering ‘I Can Hear Everything’ utilised voice treatments and the title track provided an emotive hybrid of synth arpeggios and guitar. The standout song ‘The Idiot’ from the album gave a touching synth-laden narrative on the relationship between David Bowie and Iggy Pop as they relocated to Berlin in 1976 while ‘This Can’t Be Happening’ wonderfully stripped things down to gentle pulsing and minimal strings.

The ‘On Pain’ campaign also saw external remixes employed with Chris Hughes and Mark Frith’s ‘Unlimited mix’ of ‘Wolves’ providing an unexpected groovy disco delight. The 2023 UK tour saw Lloyd Cole bring his new direction to the stage for the first time with “No sequences. Just loops and arpeggiators” alongside acoustic and electric band performances that included an unexpected rendition of ‘Headlights’ from ‘Plastic Wood’.

Just back from a one man tour of New Zealand and Australia, Lloyd Cole took time out from the golf course and had a quick chat with ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about his electronic adventures…

You are widely known as a traditional musician who plays guitar with the usual Bob Dylan and Lou Reed influences, but many will not be aware that one of your favourite concerts of all time is KRAFTWERK in 1981 on the ‘Computer World’ tour, how did your interest in electronic music begin?

My interest started with Fripp and Eno’s ‘No Pussyfooting’, I suppose. But let’s not forget ‘Son Of My Father’ by Chicory Tip. Number 1 single in the UK 1972. Moog bass and lead melodies, produced by Giorgio Moroder (or maybe he was in the band, I forget)! Also the ‘Doctor Who’ theme tune… after ‘No Pussyfooting’, I pretty much went where Brian Eno and David Bowie led me – so to CLUSTER and KRAFTWERK and Conny Plank. Strangely I was never taken by YMO…

You had released instrumental electronic works ‘Plastic Wood’, ‘Selected Studies Vol 1’ with Hans-Joachim Roedelius and ‘1D’ in the past while you had also covered ‘Pocket Calculator’ live with THE NEGATIVES, but what had been the spark to introduce more prominent synth textures into your song based material?

I just wanted to make records which could sit next to music I was listening to. I was listening to THE BYRDS, Bob Dylan and Isaac Hayes in 1983. In 2018 I wasn’t listening to guitar driven music at all. Also, making ‘Selected Studies’ and ‘1D’ gave me more confidence in my abilities with synthesizers. I don’t think I was ready, before then, to try and bring the two things (songs and synths) together.

Would say ‘Violins’ on ‘Guesswork’ have been written traditionally before you applied the primarily electronic production and arrangement?

It was written, initially, on a guitar.

What synths and drum machines were you using for ‘Guesswork’ and ‘On Pain’? Are you into VSTs?

I’m always changing hardware. This is approximate. It’s about 50/50.

Hardware synths and drum machines on ‘Guesswork’ and ‘On Pain’:
Dave Smith OB-6
Moog Sub 37
Modor NF-1
(mostly) Make Noise Modular system
Lorre Mill Double Knot
Soma Lyra 8
Vermona DRM 1 Mk III (drum synth)

Software synths and VSTs:
Spectrasonics Omnisphere (this is the synth that gets used most)
Borderlands (iPad granular processor)
MicroTonic drum synth by Sonic Forge
Izotope Vocal Synth 2
Logic Pro Arpeggiator
SoundToys FX

Did you purchase any new equipment for ‘On Pain’ that allowed greater possibilities sonically? How did you maintain the balance of making sure the songs remained central?

I’m sure I did. I’m always replacing synths with other synths. Since I made ‘Guesswork’, I replaced the Moog Sub 37 with the Moog Matriarch. Keeping the two things balanced is always a challenge, but quite often synth sounds inspire compositions. For example, the synth at the beginning of ‘The Loudness Wars’.

In terms of concept, writing and production, how did ‘On Pain’ differ from ‘Guesswork’?

Not much really. I was just trying to take the concepts to greater extremes. I suppose a major difference would be the vocal treatments. There are no ‘natural’ vocal tracks on ‘On Pain’.

Using voice treatments can be seen as anathema to music purists, but how do you consider its applications?

When I’m working alone in an attic and I’m not great at singing harmony vocals, these synths and treatments opened up a whole new world of musical opportunity for me. It took a LONG time to become comfortable with them, though. This can’t be happening in one vocal and, I think, 8 more virtual harmonies all automated to change the feeling from somewhat naturalistic to almost completely synthesized.

‘The Idiot’ was ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s Top Song Of 2023, while there is the narrative about David Bowie and Iggy Pop relocating to West Berlin in 1976, how did the song come together musically, what were the inspirations?

The music was written, almost completely by Blair Cowan. My job was just to rearrange slightly to make it into a song rather than an instrumental and fine tune the sounds. 80% of those synths are Blair’s original recordings.

Was it a challenge to bring the more electronic material into your live shows on your most recent tour? Have your older fans accepted it?

It was a big challenge and we didn’t try to reproduce any songs exactly as we were just a four piece. But we got pretty close on ‘The Idiot’. We used some drum machines and click tracks for Signy (the drummer/percussionist) to play along with so we could use arpeggiators, but this was quite a challenge. I think next time we will have a drum machine for those songs and Signy can play percussion with it.

‘Guesswork’ and ‘On Pain’ have started a new phase in your career, which songs are your favourites from them?

I don’t really have favourites. I suppose ‘The Over Under’ and ‘Wolves’, because they were the two exploratory pieces which established the possibility of the projects. The songs I wasn’t able to play live that I missed the most were ‘The Loudness Wars’ and ‘More Of What You Are’. Hopefully we can figure a plan to play these in 2025.

Will you continue in this electronic song direction? Is another album in the works? What is next?

I think there is a third. And then I have an idea to go somewhere else for the one after that.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its grateful thanks to Lloyd Cole

Special thanks to Ted Cummings at Cloud PR

‘On Pain’ and ‘Guesswork’ are released by earMUSIC in vinyl LP, CD and digital formats

‘Selected Studies Vol 1’ and ‘1D Electronics 2012-2014’ are still available in vinyl LP, CD and digital formats via Bureau B

‘Plastic Wood’ is still available in digital formats via earMUSIC

http://www.lloydcole.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Lloyd.Cole.1961

https://twitter.com/Lloyd_Cole

https://www.instagram.com/thelloydcole/

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
30 January 2024

CAT TEMPER Happy Tails

27 January 2024 /

Behind the alter-ego of CAT TEMPER is the prolific Boston-based synth meowsician Mike Langlie.

With 13 full length albums since 2019 including the DURAN DURAN endorsed ‘Furio’, there is a new CAT TEMPER long player on the way entitled ‘Nineteen Eighty-Fur’. From it as the first single is the fast-paced catchy electronic pop instrumental ‘Happy Tails’ which owes more than a musical debt to early A-HA.

‘Happy Tails’ comes with a delightful video directed and animated by Jim Ether which takes a trip through the music video hiss-tory of classic MTV as Cat Temper scampers into pop promos including ‘Money for Nothing’, ‘Take On Me’, ‘Billie Jean’, ‘When Doves Cry’, ‘I Ran’, ‘Sweet Dreams’, ‘Faith’, ‘Once in a Lifetime’, ‘Lightning Strikes’ and ‘Whip It’.

Incidentally the ‘Sweet Dreams’ section even includes a computer modelled reproduction of the prototype Movement Mk1 Drum Computer used by EURYTHMICS with the iconic Felix The Cat making a cameo on the monitor while the end sees CAT TEMPER a-a-a-a-a-as-as-as Max Headroom! Among the humorous Easter eggs (and fuzzy mice) are a Furlitizer juke box and a Meowg synth based on the Micromoog.

From behind his Meowg, Mike Langlie chatted to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK with some ‘Happy Tails’.

This is a fabulous audio visual presentation paying tribute to the classic era of MTV when MTV actually played music… how much of a collaboration was it with animator Jim Ether regarding the storyboard etc?

Thank you! Jim Ether and I are both 80s kids and we jumped at the idea of doing an homage to classic MTV hits. I put together a video storyboard of clips and stills from the originals as a guide for my alter ego taking a trip through music video hiss-tory.

Each shot is different and presented unique challenges that Jim solved quite creatively. We wildly underestimated the amount of time and effort it would take and Jim went way beyond what I expected. I’m blown away by his attention to detail and ability to give so much purr-sonality to masked animated characters.

How did you choose the videos to pay homage to? Are these songs that have a special place in your heart or was it about choosing the most visually striking?

Both actually. Also ones with cool costumes and environments. It was fun compiling that list and then figuring out how scenes would flow together.

The Klaus Nomi ‘Lightning Strikes’ reference is a comparatively obscure one but welcome, was he an MTV discovery?

Most of the references are quite well-known but we couldn’t make it all too easy! People like Klaus Nomi and other innovative bands like THE RESIDENTS and DEVO focused on visual art as much as music and were already making experimental videos before there was a platform to distribute them. MTV gladly took them in to fill airtime as the channel got off the ground, providing them with a huge audience they may have never found otherwise. Many of my favorite musicians and albums are from that moment in time when the outsiders invaded the mainstream.

The ‘Happy Trails’ track itself is inspired by ‘Take On Me’, what synths / software were you using to construct it and how did it develop?

I started making music in the 1980s and my style hasn’t changed much through the years. Thankfully retro synthpop is back in fashion! I still use gear I’ve had since then and a lot of soft synths recreating classic hardware I sold or could never afford. Roland Juno basses and pads, Yamaha DX7 bells and leads, Jupiter-4 arpeggios, LinnDrum and Simmons drums among others. Also plenty of weird sounds from my first and favorite synth, the Casio CZ-101 which appears on almost all of my songs.

Your album ‘Furio’ with its ‘Rio’ inspired artwork got featured on the DURAN DURAN website, how was that for you and are you hoping for an endorsement from A-HA?

DURAN DURAN’s ‘Rio’ is my all-time favorite album and artwork so I couldn’t resist doing my own take on the sleeve design. I braced myself for backlash from Duran fans, but was thrilled to find it embraced by them as well as the band and their cover designer Malcolm Garrett. I can’t imagine A-HA will ever see the ‘Happy Tails’ video but if they do I hope they consider it a loving tribute!

‘Happy Trails’ is from the new CAT TEMPER album ‘Nineteen Eighty-Fur’, what’s the concept or is that blindingly obvious? Will there be more videos?

‘Nineteen Eighty-Fur’ is the third album in my trilogy of classic album art tributes, after ‘Furio’ and ‘Mystic Kitten’ which is based on Alice Cooper’s ‘Welcome To My Nightmare’. Jennifer Maher Coleman of the band ARCHITRAVE painted a great cover that I can’t wait to reveal in March. You can probably guess what album inspired it from the title. Several songs have musical nods to 80s staples that I hope listeners have fun picking out.

No plans for more videos yet but I hope to do at least one more. Jim Ether is still recovering from the work this one took!

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its feline thanks to Mike Langlie

‘Happy Tails’ is available as a download along with other releases in the CAT TEMPER back catalogue from https://cattemper.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/cattemper

https://twitter.com/cattempermeow

https://www.instagram.com/cattempermeow/

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
27 January 2024

LOULA YORKE Volta

22 January 2024 /

Music made with “kind and gentle ears”, Suffolk-based modular synthesist and Oram Award Winner Loula Yorke has described her luminous second solo album ‘Volta’ as being like “Laurie Speigel meets AUTECHRE”.

Inspired by pioneering ‘Sisters With Transistors’ such as Suzanne Ciani, Laurie Spiegel and Caterina Barbieri, Loula Yorke has altered her approach to music making for her new long player. While her debut album ‘Florescence’ emerged from patching and routing experiments coupled with melodic content reliant on improvised pseudo-random quantised pitches, ‘Volta’ is born out of composed sequences.

Setting herself hard rules of no granular synthesis – no vocals – no drums, each track however had to be reproducible live with the minimum of repatching in-between. The end result is a wonderfully cohesive body of work with an appealing aesthetic.

For those who may be put off by the perceived self-indulgent nature of the modular synthesizer world, the beauty of ‘Volta’ is its melodic accessibility while still maintaining an experimental ethos. Born out of composed sequences, Loula Yorke keeps her set-up basic, using two Arturia Rackbrute 84hp 6U cases with the main sounds coming from a Verbos Harmonic Oscillator, controlled by a Erica Synths Black Sequencer.

A bittersweet meditation on overwhelm, the wonderful opener ‘It’s been decided that if you lay down no-one will die’ exudes a deep hypnotism with subtle entries into higher spectrums. Inspired by nature ‘The grounds are changing as they promise to do’ provides subtle cyclic changes before building into pulsating bliss to evoke the feeling of autumn leaves underfoot. ‘Staying with the trouble’ is shaped by a cascading array of engaging electronics while ‘The hidden messages in water’ comes at a slower pace with mystical zaps.

The longest track ‘An example of periodic time’ is a magical experiment, varying in tempo and bursting with bleepfests but the cerebral ‘Anecdoche’ offers a dreamy Terry Riley ‘A Rainbow In Curved Air’ feel. ‘Falling apart together’ closes ‘Volta with minimal structures and a very slow-moving sequence with glide applied for pause and effect.

With its carefully woven patterns of colourful sound, ‘Volta’ is wonderfully immediate. If you have never tried instrumental modular synth music before, then this is a very good place to start.

‘Volta’ is released on 23 January 2024 via Truxalis as a CD, cassette and download, available from https://loulayorke.bandcamp.com/music

Loula Yorke 2024 live dates include Norwich Arts Centre (27 January)*, London Cafe Oto (30 January)**, Leeds Howard Assembly Room (23 February)***

*opening for Mary Ocher
**opening for Vito Ricci + Lise Vachon
***‘Sister With Transistors’ screening plus live sets including NikNak + Gracie T

https://loulayorke.com/

https://www.facebook.com/loulayorke

https://twitter.com/loulayorke

https://instagram.com/iamloula

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
22 January 2023

NO-MAN Housekeeping: The OLI Years 1990 – 1994

19 January 2024 /

NO-MAN, the long-term musical collaboration between Tim Bowness and the musical juggernaut that is Steven Wilson is now amazingly well into its fourth decade and this retrospective boxset takes us way back to the beginning to cover the early output on the OLI label.

Featuring the band’s first two studio albums, ‘Loveblows & Lovecries’ and ‘Flowermouth’ alongside with the singles compilation ‘Lovesighs – An Entertainment’, the deluxe 5CD collection is rounded off with outtakes, alternate versions and the sessions for radio from the period.

Taking things chronologically, we come first to the ‘Lovesighs’ mini album which includes the band’s debut two singles with additional material from that era. This is where I came in having heard the cover of the Donovan hit ‘Colours’ in my local record shop (remember those?) one rainy afternoon and being taken by the spin on a song which I was all too familiar with.

Also featured here is the wonderful ‘Days in the Trees’ in various guises. A staple of Tim’s solo shows to this day, this is still one of Bowness’s finest vocal recordings and includes some wonderful early guitar work from Wilson. ‘Heartcheat Pop’ and ‘Kiss Me Stupid’ are also on this disc, both great slices of pop with a darker edge and even at this point, interesting instrumentation to make them stand out. That instrumentation is further augmented by Ben Coleman’s violin which at times is driving on these songs and at other points haunting as a counterpoint to the upfront beats offered.

Disc 2 is an expanded version of the full debut album ‘Loveblows & Lovecries’. In this remastered state, the album is returned to, I feel, its rightful place as not only a evergreen NO-MAN release but also an essential 1993 cut, acting as counterpoint to the grunge overload of the part of the decade. Coleman instrumental workout ‘Loveblow’ segues into the single ‘Only Baby’ which gives more than a passing nod to the Moroder produced Donna Summer who Wilson is such a fan of. This really is a great slice of pop which deserved so much more exposure than it received back in the day.

Casual readers of ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK will have their interest piqued by the track ‘Sweetheart Raw’ featuring as it does JAPAN members Mick Karn on bass, future Wilson bandmate Richard Barbieri on keys and drum programming by Steve Jansen. Once again presented in remastered form which has breathed new life into this whole album, it allows the listener to be immersed in the true depth of the soundscape offered by the musicians here and is a piece you will find yourself returning to again and again as Bowness flexes those wistful vocal chords to fabulous effect.

There is so much to enjoy on this album, from the beautiful ‘Housekeeping’ to ‘Break Heaven’ and ‘Babyship Blue’ from the ‘Heaven Taste’ compilation alongside songs like ‘Tulip’ and ‘Painting Paradise’. This album in reworked form would be worth the price of admission alone but there is more to savour in this set and savour we must.

Disc 3 entitled simply ‘Singles’ pulls together the orphaned tracks not featured thus far and, as a collection works well as a standalone album in its own right, which is a testament to the writing and performing of the core members of the band and their invited guests. ‘Swirl’, an early NO-MAN track, features at its close a sample from the 1971 movie ‘Klute’ which starred Donald Sutherland and Jane Fonda so elevates this already great track to essential listening in my eyes / ears. This sample augments a building evolving arrangement that rewards repeat listening.

Also included is the aching ‘Long Day Fall’ and the 20 minute plus closer ‘Heaven Taste’. Once again featuring the trio of JAPAN alumni mentioned above, this is a piece full of twists and turns that demands a listen with headphones. ‘Heaven Taste’ also acts as a suitable off ramp to the next part of this set, a remaster of ‘Flowermouth’.

‘Flowermouth’ has been an album I have returned to over and over since I specially ordered it from that local record shop more years ago now than I care to mention on its original release. The musical ideas, execution and production on ‘Flowermouth’ make it one of those long players I tell folk who will listen that they should have in their collections and I make no apology for evangelising as such.

Is this new remaster worth the time to listen? The answer is a resounding yes. Opening with the ambitious ‘Angels Get Caught in the Beauty Trap’, this is perhaps what listeners of later NO-MAN albums will find more familiar ground. The track rises and falls, leaving you emotionally drained and there’s more to come!

The funky workout that follows in the shape of ‘You Grow More Beautiful’ once again showcases one of no-man’s biggest strengths and that is the vocal of Tim Bowness. Alongside TALK TALK mainman Mark Hollis and Paul Buchanan of THE BLUE NILE, he is one of the few singers with the ability to emotionally charge the seemingly simplest of songs. Every track on this album highlights this wonderfully.

There is so much here to revel in, from the treated rhythms of ‘Soft Shoulders’ to ‘Shell of a Fighter’ with yet another wonderful violin performance to the driving programming on ‘Teardrops Fall’. Closing this disc is perennial favourite ‘Things Change’ which is one of a number of tracks that has not only benefitted from a remaster polish but also a slightly revised mix. ‘Flowermouth’ is a classic and in this guise cements that claim with a sparkling remaster that sounds fresh and vital.

The fifth and final disc in the set fills out an already bursting at the seams collection with a number of Radio Sessions from 1992-1994. Like much of the output from Bowness and Wilson, these songs really come alive when performed live. Augmented across the various sessions by guest musicians, the most interesting cuts are from BBC Radio’s Hit the North featuring as they do those pesky JAPAN chaps that have popped up time and again on this set. The version of ‘Days in the Trees’ from this session in particular is wonderful with the tightest of tight Jansen drumming allowing the much missed Mick Karn to duck and weave around Tim’s vocal. A taste of what might have been…

Other tracks here feature PORCUPINE TREE alumni Chris Maitland and Colin Edwin to offer sufficiently different spins on familiar tracks to command repeat listening. This disc elevates an already great set above a mere quick buck compilation, proving this has been properly curated, something many could learn from. To underscore this even more, the set is rounded out by the inclusion of a hardback book designed by Carl Glover featuring essays from NO-MAN All The Blue Changes blog author Matt Hammers, Tim Bowness and Steven Wilson along with rare photos and memorabilia.

The importance Tim Bowness has had on independent music distribution with Burning Shed cannot be overstated, giving many acts that would struggle to find a route to market exactly that, a true outlet run by artists for artists. That is before we consider his excellent body of solo work.

In turn the impact that Steven Wilson has had across the musical landscape in the last decade plus cannot be underestimated from PORCUPINE TREE to solo work through the remasters of acts as diverse as KING CRIMSON, XTC, TEARS FOR FEARS and ULTRAVOX, oh and tours, further no-man releases and production work, the man clearly never sleeps… that’s before we take into account their always listenable and enjoyable podcast ‘The Album Years’. True music fans.

And all of the above had its seeds in these early NO-MAN releases. Whether you are new to this early work, revisiting after a few decades break or a long-term fan, there is much here to recommend ‘Housekeeping’, the first indispensable release of 2024.

Tim, if you are reading this can we please get the rest of the back catalogue given the same treatment?

‘Housekeeping: The OLI Years 1990 – 1994’ is released as a boxed set on 26 January 2024 via One Little Independent Records, available from https://burningshed.com/store/noman/

http://no-man.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/nomanofficial/

https://twitter.com/nomanofficial

https://www.instagram.com/nomanhq/

https://timbowness.co.uk/

http://stevenwilsonhq.com/

Text by Ian Ferguson
19 January 2024

A Short Conversation with KALEIDA

16 January 2024 /

Vocalist Christina Wood and keyboardist / producer Cicely Goulder are the brooding electronic duo who go by the name of KALEIDA.

The title song of their first EP ‘Think’ was included in the soundtrack of the 2014 Keanu Reeves action thriller ‘John Wick’ while in 2015, there were dates opening for Róisín Murphy. The pair also notable became for their stark minimal covers of songs such as ‘Take Me To The River’, ‘A Forest’, ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and ‘99 Luftballons’ which subsequently appeared in the 2017 Charlize Theron spy drama ‘Atomic Blonde’.

After two EPs and two albums ‘Tear The Roots’ and ‘Odyssey’, KALEIDA are back with their third album ‘In Arms’; the record captures 3 years of perseverance that has seen the duo nurture a long distance creative partnership across an ocean that has withstood the pressures of parenting and the shifting patterns of life.

With the release of a new single ‘Stranger’ which showcases a new direction for KALEIDA in its use of 808 beats alongside their usual haunting demeanor and a prayer-like chorus, Christina Wood and Cicely Goulder took turns to answer questions from ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about the making of ‘In Arms’ and their future course.

After the 2021 album ‘Odyssey’ which was released into the Covid world, KALEIDA experienced something of an existential crisis, what happened and how did you get through it?

Christina: It just felt hard to keep going at that point. We’d put out an album during Covid and we hadn’t toured it, and we were asking ourselves whether our music was any good, whether we had enough of a following to justify the continued uphill battle. This project is truly a labor of love. But in the end making music means more to us, and so we got back to it. We’ll never stop.

While KALEIDA could not ever be accused of being overly cheerful, ‘In Arms’ does feel like fresh air has come out of the storm?

Christina: It feels more confident and more mature… it’s hard for us to say though, we don’t have much perspective on it, or space from it…

Did you do anything different for the making of ‘In Arms’ that was different to your previous albums to keep the remote collaboration process as fresh and united as possible?

Christina: We worked with Johan Hugo on a few tracks, and that was a great way to get us together in another location (Margate), bring some fresh ideas in and be really productive in short bursts. We also worked with some incredible live musicians, including two drummers, which really added a lot of energy.

How does your creative dynamic work in your virtual studio world?

Christina: We often email fragments of ideas back and forth – and then work on them, send them back, and so on, and they gradually take shape. But to get the core structure down on something we write together, we often need to be in the same room. Then after that a lot of the production and vocals we can do separately, and Cicely will tie it all together.

‘Hollow’ has this immediacy that perhaps hasn’t been heard from you since ‘Think’? Any thoughts?

Christina: It started as a simple piano idea… and we intended to keep it simple and initially make what we were calling a nostalgic sounding ‘house’ track out of it. It went through many metamorphoses production-wise but it must have retained some of that immediacy.

Going back to your days as a fledgling act, you’ve found a place for ‘Seagull’ which was the first song you made together? What made ‘In Arms’ the right place for it on after 10 years?

Christina: We were relistening to it during the period we were writing material for this album and just thought it had some kind of dark power to it. We must be more confident now so we decided it should make the cut.

How have the themes and aesthetics of your songs changed over the years in your minds?

Christina: It feels like one long story… they are all connected, maybe just getting clearer, bigger, more colorful. We’re always writing about whatever we’re going through, thinking about, reading about, feeling. The events change as we get older but the humanity is the same. The production evolves and hopefully the songwriting as well, but the themes all seem to be related.

You’ve said that Joan of Arc has been a pivotal figure in the making of ‘In Arms’?

Christina: It must have been towards the end of the process that we connected with some images of Joan of Arc, before we had a name for the album. She was a woman driven by a higher purpose, and she bravely kept on with her mission when many would have questioned the value in doing so. I guess sticking with music just feels that way a lot for us.

You have used an interesting array of bass textures on ‘In Arms’, how were these constructed and implemented into the overall sound?

Cicely: We worked with an incredible Jazz bassist called Tom Mason who brought a lot of the lines to life. Often I will demo stuff out on MIDI but there is nothing like a talented player to elevate and modulate the basic tune. I love a good bass line, particularly as it implies so much without having to rely on chords.

How involved do you get into constructing your own sound design as opposed to the modern way which appears to rely on sample packs? What are your preferred instruments?

Cicely: I don’t think there is anything wrong with sample packs as sometimes the best ideas come quickly so it’s great not to kill the vibe by tinkering around trying to find the ‘perfect’ sound. Having said that, I do end up re-doing a lot of the sounds, particularly basslines, on an analog synth or with a live player. In the studio we have a Moog Voyager, Juno 60, D50 and a few other synths but we might record others if we’re working in hired studios.

The new single ‘Stranger’ springs a surprise with its New York electro drum machine rhythms, how did this come to about?

Cicely: I think I was working on the middle 8 of a completely different track and made that organ chord loop – it sounded so nostalgic that I threw some 808s together and it just seemed to match well. I wanted to make the song go on some completely different tangent in that section but when I played it to Christina she thought we should make it into a new track. She went away that night and demo’d some vocals and the next day it was basically done!

Was ‘Hansaplast’ inspired by Berlin as it has this Cold War tension about it? Does that resonate with all that is going on in the world for you?

Christina: It was just a pretty personal track to be honest, not inspired by Berlin. But yes, we find it hard not to be deeply affected by the horrors happening in Ukraine and the Middle East.

What is ‘Endless Youth’ about?

Christina: That nostalgia we all feel for our youth, summer loves, that time when you felt more connected to your body compared to when you have young kids and other focuses and responsibilities!!

The folky side of KALEIDA is still very present but is more prominent on ‘Kilda’ despite its hip-hop beats while ‘Don´t Turn Me Out’ has this acoustic feel with deeper harmonies, is this aesthetic something you were more eager to push on this album?

Christina: We didn’t think about that… we just made the music that was in us. The folky roots will always be there – must be my Kentucky heritage or past Celtic lives…

Which are your favourite songs on the new album?

Christina: My favorites are ‘Generation’, because I love the groove, ‘Kilda’ also because I love the drums… combined with the bagpipes, and ‘Don’t Turn Me Out’ for its simplicity.

You are touring ‘In Arms’ in March 2024, how are preparations going and is there a new found zest for performing again after everything that’s happened?

Christina: Yes! And new-found nerves! We are working with a drummer this time, which adds a lot of energy and we are very excited to perform with her. It’s going to be amazing to do shows again.

What does the future hold for KALEIDA?

Christina: Releasing the album, shows, connecting with fans as much as possible, and then we’ll see! We’re trying not to put too much expectation on the release, and just take it as it goes. But we do hope that people connect with it.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to KALEIDA

Special thanks to Alix Wenmouth at Wasted Youth Music

The singles ‘Stranger’, ‘Seagull Nun’ and ‘Hollow’ are all available through Embassy One on the usual online platforms

‘In Arms’ is released on 22 March 2024 in blue vinyl LP, black vinyl LP, CD and digital formats via https://lnk.to/KaleidaInArms

KALEIDA 2024 live dates include:

London Oslo (22 March), Prague Cross Club (23 March), Brno Kabinet Múz (24 March), Cologne Artheater (27 March), Berlin LARK (28 March), Hamburg Hääkken (29 March), Warsaw Chmury (30 March)

https://www.kaleidamusic.com/

https://www.facebook.com/KALEIDAMUSIC/

https://twitter.com/kaleidamusik

https://www.instagram.com/kaleidamusic/

https://kaleida.bandcamp.com/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/6zyPKJ4ePhYLsBEy4A6BVX

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Benjamin Hampson
16 January 2024

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