Author: electricityclub (Page 76 of 420)

“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

MICHAEL OAKLEY Babylon

23 January 2022 /

Michael Oakley first came to wider prominence with his debut mini-album release ‘California’ in 2017 which the explored sun-kissed climes of its title like a musical driving travelogue.

Embraced by the synthwave community, for his debut album proper ‘Introspect’, he changed course slightly utilised the more Yamaha DX and Fairlight derived sounds to capture the spirit of polished pop producers such as Trevor Horn and Stephen Hague.

But for his 2021 long playing release ‘Odyssey’, ENIGMA, ACE OF BASE, HADDAWAY, THE BELOVED and MOBY became the new points of reference. The first single ‘Is There Anybody Out There?’ was inspired by Scottish dance act THE TIME FREQUENCY and even mixed by their Jon Campbell, but the new single ‘Babylon’ takes a more exotic laid back approach.

With a kiss like a rose, the video sees classic peroxide beauty Scarlot Fields in an appropriately vintage setting with a chess set, valve TV and the inevitable phone among the props. Meanwhile for the alternate scenes featuring our bearded tattooed hero, he had a specific brief for director Brad A Kinnan: “I told Brad that I wanted my scenes to have a similar look and feel to the DURAN DURAN ‘Come Undone’ video”. That 1993 track from Le Bon & Co clearly makes its presence felt musically on ‘Babylon’ too.

Contributing some soulful diva backing vocals on ‘Babylon’ is Dana Jean Phoenix and Haley Stewart aka MECHA MAIKO while THE MIDNIGHT’s sax player Jesse Molloy adds his talents to the tropical backdrop. Oakley himself has described the song co-written with Ollie Wride as sounding as “if Robert Palmer did a track with ENIGMA!” with the synth solo using the flute and Taj Mahal presets from a Roland JV1080 module.

“It’s about meeting my wife” added the now Canadian-based Glaswegian, “In biblical terms, Babylon was the first civilisation next to heaven, this is the closest to heaven you can get, it feels like Babylon being in this relationship”.

‘Babylon’ is from the album ‘Odyssey’ released by NewRetroWave, available as a neon pink or neon orange vinyl LP and cassette from https://newretrowave.bandcamp.com/album/odyssey

https://www.michael-oakley.com/

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Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photo by Brad A Kinnan
23rd January 2022

RATIONAL YOUTH Wavelength EP

21 January 2022 /

The ‘Wavelength’ EP celebrates 40 years of RATIONAL YOUTH.

Founded in Montréal by Tracy Howe and Bill Vorn, along with PSYCHE and MEN WITHOUT HATS, RATIONAL YOUTH were trailblazers for electronic music in Canada. Joined by Kevin Komoda, they opened for OMD and released their debut album ‘Cold War Night Life’ in 1982. Tracy Howe remains the main man of RATIONAL YOUTH with his wife Gaenor now in the line-up. The ‘Future Past Tense’ EP was released in 2016 and showcased ‘This Side Of The Border’ which captured the anxieties of the world’s current socio-political climate.

With the opening song on ‘Wavelength’, RATIONAL YOUTH’s observational ethos is poignantly relevant again with an epic political statement. ‘Kepler 48’ is a brand new composition that captures Tracy Howe’s boxed anger while Gaenor’s voice counterpoints with offers of hope over a dark backdrop of punchy synth that closes with a dropping crescendo.

The remaining tracks on ‘Wavelength’ are new recordings of three songs from the 1983 self-titled EP for Capitol Records after Bill Vorn departed; that fragmentation of RATIONAL YOUTH saw bassist Denis Duran and drummer Angel Calvo brought into the fold. Overshadowed by the mighty ‘Holiday In Bangkok’ at the time, those songs are realised with a purer electronic vision on Wavelength’ while also making them more widely available for the first time in nearly four decades.

‘Latin Lovers’ is a case in point, presented with a more pronounced Italo flavoured treatment over its 1983 post-punk funk, with the catchy timpani laden backing given a new twist with Gaenor opening on lead before her husband joins in for a duet.

‘The Man In Grey’ has all that angsty Cold War claustrophobia brought into the 21st Century but with another feminine counterpoint and while those chilling tensions are sadly relevant again, the swirly synth solo in the middle eight remains a delight.

Much speedier with frantic beats and sparkling arpeggios, ‘In Your Eyes’ recalls fellow Canadians MEN WITHOUT HATS while Tracy Howe lets rip with his enjoyable Bob Geldof mannerisms. These reworkings are different enough to appeal to RATIONAL YOUTH enthusiasts but with the arrangements essentially kept intact, the essence of the originals retain the character of their initial appeal.

‘Wavelength’ is a worthy body of work pertinent to the present while also highlighting the “environmental destruction for profit” ethos of the giant corporations and their space travelling billionaire owners. Yes, ‘Don’t Look Up’ really is becoming a closer reality and RATIONAL YOUTH are again on the ‘Wavelength’ of the concerned world citizen.

‘Wavelength’ is released by Rational Music Group and available on the usual online platforms inlcuding https://rationalyouth.bandcamp.com/album/wavelength

https://open.spotify.com/album/5u1el3uoUDcaiSLTjhSQwV

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photo by Susana Meza
21st January 2022

POLYCHRON+ She’s Always Been There

19 January 2022 /


POLYCHRON+ is the new electro-acoustic project by veteran Italian producer Gabriele Gai with songwriter, musician and vocalist Aurelio Menichi.

To say their debut album ‘She’s Always Been There’ is something a bit different and unusual would be an understatement.

Not only does it mix electronically derived Mediterranean dance music with Tuscan folk and classical forms, it has an impressive cast of guests including Anna Domino, Blaine L. Reininger and Luc Van Lieshout from TUXEDOMOON.

It is a cultured and sophisticated album that includes the synthetic torch cabaret of ‘Alaska Drive’ sung by NicoNote and the arty jazz-inflected Italo disco of ‘Twist The Knife’ featuring crooner Alex Spalck and Luc Van Lieshout on trumpet. Standing next to them is the brilliantly understated house of ‘Lighter Than The Blue’ which sees Blaine L. Reininger not only offer his pronounced Leonard Cohen-esque baritone but also bring a virtuoso violin performance to the party.

‘Yeh-Teh’ springs a surprise with some enjoyable avant garde rapping and a snarling sample from a BBC interview with John Lydon declares “I want everything in life to be transparent… let us as human beings determine our own journey in life!”

What is contained on ‘She’s Always Been There’ is nothing but diverse, with melancholic piano assisted instrumentals like ‘Morbid Love’ and the delicate Anna Domino voiced flutey guitar ballad ‘Pocketknife’ figuring. Meanwhile ‘Gum, Le Blue Jar’ could be a reggaefied YELLO while a cover of Italian post-punk band GAZNEVADA’s ‘Tij-U-Wan’ throws in spikey rock and the influence of DEVO halfway through!

Seeded by life, disappointments and grief with cinematic reference points to the Les Disques Du Crepuscule and Crammed Records catalogue as well as Italian New Wave, ‘She’s Always Been There’ will appeal to fans of the TUXEDOMOON axis with its refined electronic base embellished by a variety of traditional instrumentation.

‘She’s Always Been There’ is released in CD and digital formats by Totem Taboo and distributed by Materiali Sonori

https://www.facebook.com/polychronplus/

https://open.spotify.com/album/4FzDi2KbpvajkEmDZohmlL

Text by Chi Ming Lai
19th January 2022

BOY HARSHER The Runner

17 January 2022 /

With the challenges of the past two years, it is perhaps unsurprising with the brooding menacing aura omnipresent in their music that BOY HARSHER have made a short horror movie and soundtrack.

Entitled ‘The Runner’ and written, produced and directed by the duo, it is a classic slasher attached to a meta-style documentary about the BOY HARSHER recording process, so think ‘Scream’ or ‘Fight Club’ but with a music studio. The film will premiere on the horror streaming platform Shudder on January 16th with screening events planned across the globe.

The duo Augustus Muller and Jae Matthews see this project as an artistic exorcism rather than their fifth album. The chaos and uncertainty of the times provided the mood, but Matthews was also diagnosed with multiple sclerosis with added anxieties closer to home. This provided inspiration for a sinister character, a woman running through the woods.

The soundtrack stands up as an album in its own right and is their most diverse collection yet, featuring their usual dark and danceable electronic pop with some special guests and alongside eerie instrumentals.

Opening track ‘Tower’ offers a slow gothic presence with an impending doom though Jae Matthews’ distraught vocals although this is offset as often or not with many BOY HARSHER tunes by Augustus Muller’s keyed brightness alongside the sombre bass and fierce percussive attack, combining desire with destruction. ‘Give Me A Reason’ is classic BOY HARSHER and could be from any of the more recent albums, dark but melodic and hooky,

But ‘Autonomy’ featuring Cooper B Handy from the band LUCY. The track is a surprise, not just vocally but when the pulsing sequences and optimistic synthetic string tones kick in alongside the simulated Hooky bass, it is more reminiscent of NEW ORDER after they ditched the raincoats and started wearing shorts!

By contrast with its foreboding rhythmic mantra, ‘The Ride Home’ is far gloomier and more expected for a horror soundtrack. Following on, ‘Escape’ is a midtempo song captures a nocturnal tension that sees Matthews declaring “What’s done is done, my old friend” with something of a fatalistic density having already optimistically suggested “Maybe, we can escape?”.

Sung in Spanish and English, ‘Machina’ with Ms. BOAN is aimed at the dancefloor, recalling the Latino electronic disco of Bobby Orlando, particularly PET SHOP BOYS ‘A Man Could Get Arrested’ with the vocal interplay between the vocodered phrases and Mariana Saldaña being particularly seductive

The wholly instrumental ‘Untitled (Piano)’ sees BOY HARSHER go ambient and it works brilliantly while ‘I Understand’ is cut from a similar cloth but with the addition of a resigned and heartbroken Matthews cocooned in a box for a disturbing claustrophobic effect.

A cathartic collection, the duo said on their social media that “BOY HARSHER fans are the clear waves that keep us afloat”; while the soundtrack of ‘The Runner’ not a traditional album in the vein of ‘Careful’, they will not be disappointed.

The official soundtrack of ‘The Runner’ is released on 21st January 2022 via Nude Club / City Slang in various formats, pre-order available direct from https://boyharsher.bandcamp.com/album/the-runner-original-soundtrack

Information on independent screenings and streaming at https://therunner.film

https://boyharsher.com/

http://facebook.com/boyharsher

http://twitter.com/boyharsher

http://instagram.com/boyharsher

Text by Chi Ming Lai
17th January 2022

THE WEEKND Less Than Zero

15 January 2022 /


After ‘Blinding Lights’ and ‘Save Your Tears’, THE WEEKND have done it again and reminded the mainstream of the emotive beauty that can come from classic synthpop with ‘Less Than Zero’.

‘Less Than Zero’ has been co-produced and co-written by Swedes Max Martin and Oscar Holter; the ubiquitous Martin is the man behind hits by Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and Britney Spears but Holter was formally a member of industrial act NECRO FACILITY. Studio hands from a darker electronic background getting involved in pop is not unusual with Dave “Rave” Olgilvie from SKINNY PUPPY having helmed the final mixes of Carly Rae Jepsen.

Taken off the new album ‘Dawn FM’, ‘Less Than Zero’ itself sounds not unlike Michael Jackson produced by Tony Mansfield. The cross of catchy hooks, glorious counter-melodies and acoustic strums are reminiscent of Mansfield’s own combo NEW MUSIK who had UK hits with ‘Living By Numbers’, ‘This World Of Water’ and ‘Sanctuary’ in 1980; Tony Mansfield himself later went on to produce most of A-HA’s debut album ‘Hunting High & Low’.

The lush tones of ‘Less Than Zero’ even recall Cliff Richard’s appealing Alan Tarney produced synth period and of course, Tarney also went on to work with A-HA on a number of their biggest hits including ‘Take On Me’, ‘The Sun Always Shines On TV’, ‘Cry Wolf’ and ‘Stay On These Roads’.

Over pop history, mainstream acts going through a period of synthpop or at least doing a synth-driven song or two has been a rock ‘n’ roll rite of passage. While the likes of Cliff Richard, Robert Palmer, Paul McCartney, Rod Stewart, Leonard Cohen and even Neil Young have entered the mysterious world of electronics in the past, with the assistance of that renowned Nordic melancholy and folk tradition, Abel Tesfaye appears to be enjoying his synthpop adventures as THE WEEKND more than most.

In ‘Less Than Zero’, he has created more magnificent earworm magic that harks back to the tradition of A-HA and others who came before them. No kids, the synth was not invented by Ryan Gosling in 2011 for the film ‘Drive’ ?

‘Less Than Zero’ is from the album ‘Dawn FM’ released by XO / Republic Records

https://www.theweeknd.com

https://www.facebook.com/theweeknd

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Text by Chi Ming Lai
15th January 2022

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