“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
Named after the goddess of light in Latvian mythology, AUSTRA were back in London for the first time since 2017.
The vehicle of Katie Stelmanis, the Canadian is now a veteran of six AUSTRA albums including the 2023 ballet commission ‘Swan Song’. Blessed with an outstanding operatic voice that conveys heartbreak yet is able soothe broken hearts, despite an enigmatic persona often perceived as “icy”, she has now revealed a playfulness not seen before with her most recent album ‘Chin Up Buttercup’, a cathartic recording capturing the aftermath of a relationship break-up.
With Kieran Adams co-producing, Stelmanis’ new studio partner introduced her to the often misunderstood melodramatics and escapism of Eurodance. Meanwhile Stelmanis also found solace in Madonna’s 1998 album ‘Ray of Light’ which was produced by William Orbit. The end result became a set of hypnotic dancefloor-friendly arias that offered glimmers of hope and optimism.
Opening for AUSTRA on this tour of the British Isles was fellow Canadian Tess Roby; releasing her debut album ‘Beacon’ in 2018 on Italians Do It Better, her second ‘Ideas Of Space’ came out on her own SSURROUNDSS imprint. Her danceable dreampop side project DAWN TO DAWN in collaboration with IDM duo THE BEAT ESCAPE drew much acclaim, as did her photography. Roby had teased photos on her socials of her working with the huge TONTO customised modular system now located at Canada’s National Music Centre in Calgary and is due to release her third album later this year.
Performing mostly new material, while her songs still retain a forlorn contralto introspection, what has been added to template are busy hypnotic electronic rhythms, as exemplified by the excellent opening number ‘Dream Q’. ‘Up 2 Me’ and the title song from ‘Ideas of Space’ provided points of familiarity to those who may have already been aware of her previous work, but another new track ‘High’ affirmed that what she previewed from her new record is sounding really good.
Utilising a streamlined band compared with past tours, drummer Germaine Png and bassist Charise Aragoza complimented the dynamic backing tracks showcasing the new dancier AUSTRA sound while allowing Stelmanis to take centre stage. Opening with the emotive ‘Siren Song’, the superb ‘Math Equation’ with its syncopated ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’ drive set the scene that this was to be a joyous evening with minimal wallowing. ‘Amnesia’ continued the Europop bounce while the avant operatic ‘Think Twice’ was lightened with hearty bursts of “oh whoops!”
Stelmanis is certainly more comfortable fronting a band than she had been in 2014 when she would often turn away from the audience to play keyboards but tonight, there were only occasional forays to enable her to face the crowd. While the set focussed on ‘Chin Up Buttercup’ with the ‘Hirudin’ album notable for its absence, ‘Utopia’ and ‘I Love You More Than You Love Yourself’ passionately revisited 2017’s ‘Future Politics’ album,
‘Blindsided’ began a section that offered respite from the dance along with the ivory-dominant Baroque of ‘Home’ from 2014’s ‘Olympia’, but it was 2010’s debut single ‘Beat & The Pulse’ that drew the first big cheers with the trio providing a suitably powerful rendition. With its melodic and uplifting atmospherics, ‘Fallen Cloud’ returned things to clubbier vibes while ‘The Hopefulness of Dawn’ pushed proceedings into happy hardcore rave. So it was fitting that a COMMUNARDS-inspired restyling of ‘Lose It’ was the perfect tonic to conclude the main set.
With that in mind, the three song encore was comparatively disappointing with one of AUSTRA’s best songs ‘Spellwork’ still not quite coming off live, a situation that afflicted the shows in 2014. But this did not detract from what was an excellent concert this was, with its moods of euphoria demonstrating that AUSTRA are now in the main, a compelling live act.
With thanks to Aoife Kitt at Domino Recordings
AUSTRA ‘Chin Up Buttercup’ is released by Domino Recordings, available on vinyl, CD and digitally
Canada’s leading independent synthy songstress Hayley Stewart is back as MECHA MAIKO.
While her last album, 2022’s ‘NOT OK’, looked at various social-political flashpoints such as Black Lives Matter, misogyny, fake news, corruption and global warming, her ‘Nervous System’ is the theme this time round. It deals with more personal issues such as reclaiming anger, pleasure and all the mess in between. In short, as Stewart put it herself: “Boys are dumb. Let’s keep dancing”.
Appropriately opening with ‘Hello’, there are breakbeats galore and an eventual cacophony of a bleep ‘n’ squelch with appealing vocals in Stewart’s trademark kooky tradition. The less boisterous ‘Nervous System’ title song fittingly creates a more anxious melancholic backdrop over vintage drum machine for a wonderfully bittersweet slice of avant synthpop. ‘The Point’ follows a not dissimilar path, making use of some inventive rhythmic construction chained to a synthetic rumble and a vocal that exposes vulnerability.
There is an ominous punky stance to ‘Face to Face’ which is quite appropriate as it features Dan Werb of Canadian dance punk band WOODHANDS on lead synth. Meanwhile the feisty and rampant ‘Fool’ plays with the spectre of acid house, but in a style that is still very MECHA MAIKO with lots of bleeps and bop.
The chunky ‘Crawl’ is a fine slice of electro with whistling swoops enticing vocals and as our heroine declines a back-handed apology. Pushing the propulsive housey vibes with an oddly recurring ivory hit, ‘Don’t’ displays dismay with the assertive request to “DON’T F*CK WITH ME!”. ‘Tender’ goes thumping full-on techno to close another genre-fluid collection of delightfully odd electronic pop that is simultaneously naive, frivolous, tender, insightful and combative; so yes, like her 2018 debut, it is ‘Mad But Soft’!
After the world weary existential angst that characterised ‘NOT OK’, while ‘Nervous System’ displays mixed emotions, its 8 songs provide a motivating short and sharp statement that will connect with anyone looking find themselves again after a pattern of self-abandonment.
‘Nervous System’ is released by Right Click 2 Download, available as a kawaii pink vinyl LP, cassette and download from https://mechamaiko.bandcamp.com/
Paul Simon once sang that there were ’50 Ways To Leave Your Lover’ but for Zeus B Held and Claudia Brücken, there are ‘4 Ways To The Blitz’.
Originally making his name as the keyboard player of psychedelic rock band BIRTH CONTROL between 1973 – 1978, Zeus B Held is the producer, remixer and collaborator who can count GINA X PERFORMANCE, FASHION, DEAD OR ALIVE, ALPHAVILLE, DIE KRUPPS, SIMPLE MINDS, TRANSVISION VAMP, DREAM CONTROL and GURU GURU as well as John Foxx and Gary Numan among his credits.
Meanwhile Claudia Brücken undoubted queen of electronic avant-pop as the lead singer of PROPAGANDA, ACT, ONETWO and xPROPAGANDA as well as an acclaimed solo career and collaborations with Andrew Poppy and Jerome Froese to her name.
While the two Germans had not met until 2025, they came together to present an unofficial ode to The Blitz Club to coincide with an exhibition running at London’s Design Museum. ‘4 Ways To The Blitz’ offers 4 takes on the song ‘Dream Of The Blitz’. Recorded in London, Freiburg and Milano, Zeus B Held found he was bursting with ideas as to how this tune could sound, so created 4 different versions for a standalone release on his own newly inaugurated label Cisum Suez.
Zeus B Held and Claudia Brücken spoke to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about their own ‘Dream Of The Blitz’…
You had not met before making ‘Dream Of The Blitz’, but how did you become aware of the other musically for the first time?
Claudia: I heard the Gina X tracks, cool production and melodies. I especially like the ‘No GDM’ track. It’s amazing that I only found out now that this track was inspired by and dedicated to Quentin Crisp and ‘The Naked Civil Servant’ – when I was in ACT, Thomas Leer and I did a song called ‘Snobbery & Decay’ which came out as a single and we released a 12″ which we named ‘(The Naked Civil) Snobbery & Decay’, it featured Quentin Crisp on the cover artwork.
Zeus: In 1984, I worked with JJ Jeczalik on the fourth Gina X album ‘Yinglish’ – at the same time he worked with Trevor Horn on PROPAGANDA’s first album – that’s when I heard the first time of the band – I remember, for me Claudia was the voice and the face of the project.
Photo by Steve Schroyder
What track is your favourite involving the other?
Zeus: I remember very vividly ‘Dr Mabuse’ and its song / melody, voices und production – and I love Claudia’s voice on ‘Duel’. I listened to it earlier on , it’s a damn Ohrwurm…
Claudia: It’s gotta be ‘No GDM’.
As Germans, how did you become you aware of The Blitz Club, did it remind you of scenes that you were involved in closer to home?
Claudia: Growing up in Düsseldorf, I spent a lot of time in the Ratinger Hof – which in a way was a parallel to The Haçienda in Manchester.
Zeus: Towards the end of the 70s, I got a bit bored with rock music and the typical clichés – so the GINA X PERFORMANCE started as a pure studio project – looking for new expression in sound and melodic approach – I heard the 1st time of The Blitz when EMI Cologne told me that tracks from the ‘Nice Mover’ album were played at this club. That’s when I also heard the name Rusty Egan for the first time.
What particularly influenced ‘Dream Of The Blitz’ musically and lyrically in the compositional process?
Zeus: Claudia and I spent some time of mutual brainstorming via phone – a lot of lyrical and melodic ideas ended up in the bin…
Claudia: Once we started working together in Zeus’ Freiburg studio, the breakthrough came with a mutual musical picture – and melody lines fitting to the words.
How did you filter all the ideas for the various different versions for this release? How would you describe them?
Claudia: When Zeus was doing a few dub mixes, we phoned and he said “pity we didn’t do a recording of you just reading the lyrics “ – well, so I went to work and became the story teller – I overdubbed my voice at my home studio – that became the Poetic Mix.
Zeus: Those were mainly different rhythmic and dynamic approaches – including half-time sections and more experimental outbursts. We also enjoyed changes in the harmonic content in various sections.
Photo by Steve Schroyder
The DREAM CONTROL Mix sees you reunite with Steve Schroyder? What was the concept for this version?
Zeus: Steve paid us a visit in the studio when we were in the middle of chasing a result – guess, he was the first person to hear a sketch of the song. And he also had the pleasure (and pressure) to do a spontaneous photo session of Claudia and me –
Claudia: With the DREAM CONTROL Mix of ‘Dream Of The Blitz’, we tried to give the song a somehow urgent and sequencer based dance flavour. My initial reaction when I heard it was “…it sounds a bit like DEAD OR ALIVE” – in a good way…
Do you each have a favourite version of ‘Dream Of The Blitz’?
Zeus: I love the Poetic Mix – where Claudia recites the words, tells the story and then launches into the singing…
Claudia: I like all of them….!
Will the two of you do any more music together?
Zeus + Claudia: We hope so, we are under no pressure and we’re both looking for the same thing: magic music transporting us and the listeners into new places.
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its sincerest thanks to Zeus B Held and Claudia Brücken
Just before the start of the 21st Century following the hangover of Britpop, LADYTRON formed in Liverpool and brought the-then unfashionable sound of synthesizers into their own DIY indie punk sound.
Since their debut long player ‘604’ in 2001 up to their most recent album ‘Time’s Arrow’ in 2023, their sound has evolved. LADYTRON have embraced synthpop, electroclash, electronic shoegaze and industrial goth. Now reconfigured as a trio, Helen Marnie, Daniel Hunt and Mira Arroyo explore more explicitly dance-based templates on their eighth album ‘Paradises’.
While LADYTRON were once labelled electroclash with ‘Seventeen’ being considered an anthem within that scene, they have never been club-oriented as such despite their origins in the DJ sphere. But Daniel Hunt has described ‘Paradises’ as “a ‘disco’ record” but this being LADYTRON, their take on ‘disco’ is wide ranging. About the making of the album, Hunt said “The key motivation was fun” while Mira Aroyo expressed a desire to “channel that fun feeling of first working together back in the late ’90s when we had nothing to lose.”
Photo by Mark McNulty
Realised over 5 months with work starting in late 2023 and again mixed by long-time collaborator Jim Abbiss, ‘Paradises’ is a fully international record that befits the multi-cultural foundations of LADYTRON, with recording taking place in Liverpool, São Paulo, Montrose and London.
The first hypnotic single ‘I Believe in You’ was a statement of intent. With the trio themselves describing it as “high-priestess disco” and shaped by an infectious house groove previously not heard from LADYTRON, it is still undoubtedly recognisable as them so makes a perfect opener to signal this dancier direction.
‘A Death In London’ strengthens this resolve and falls under the influence of A GUY CALLED GERALD but with the final outcome being more song-based; and if that wasn’t enough of a surprise, there are even oceanic sax breaks in a ‘Pacific’ fashion which provide an altered state of 808. While it appears seemingly escapist, the line “a place where dreams go to die…” provides that darker LADYTRON twist in its Balearic noir.
With an octave-drive, ‘I See Red’ clatters out of that Manchester clubbing-era with a hallucinatory mindset while ‘Caught In The Blink Of An Eye’ provides some subtle techpop with a not an entirely different aesthetic.
The red theme is reflected again on ‘In Blood’ to show that ‘Paradises’ is not just dance songs, with ‘Secret Dreams of Thieves’ sung by Mira Arroyo, the feminine PET SHOP BOYS of ‘Sing’ and the lush ‘Ordinary Love’ all exuding the more atmospheric approaches heard on 2011’s ‘Gravity The Seducer’.
Meanwhile, ‘Kingdom Undersea’ not only brings in a steady Balearic house piano riff and a ghostly Fairlight choir but the voice of Daniel Hunt alongside Helen Marnie in his first vocal turn since ‘Versus’ from 2008’s ‘Velocifero’. There’s a return to the influences of A GUY CALLED GERALD but in a more sedate manner on ‘Free, Free’ while the percussive ‘Metaphysica’ adds some subtle gothic drama. ‘We Wrote Our Names in the Dust’ utilises club rhythms but the sonic romance is almost ambient.
Into the home straight, ‘Solid Light’ moves away from clubland for a more straightforward slice of classic girl group pop with Mira Aroya returning to take lead and declaring “we will dance again”, while to close, ‘For A Life In London’ falls under the spell of THE BELOVED for LADYTRON’s own ‘Sweet Harmony’ complete with sax, albeit as a united spoken word declaration in the face of divisive far right politics.
Like the new MESH long player ‘The Truth Doesn’t Matter’, there is a lot of new LADYTRON to consume across the 16 tracks on ‘Paradises’. Yes it’s a less aggressive LADYTRON than in the past, but this is a new LADYTRON with a spellbinding dance-inflected direction that suits them who are also equally worthy of a listen.
‘Paradises’ is released by Nettwerk in the usual formats including CD and double vinyl LP on 20th March 2026
LADYTRON 2026 UK live dates include:
Liverpool Arts Club Theatre (19th March), Newcastle Digital (20th March), Manchester Gorilla (21st March), Halifax Piece Hall (31st July – with Gary Numan), London Crystal Palace (6th August – with Gary Numan + Marc Almond)
Richard Barbieri is best known from his work with JAPAN and PORCUPINE TREE but despite having been a recording artist since 1978, his new studio album ‘Hauntings’ is only the fifth long playing solo release of his long career.
After 5 albums with JAPAN, Richard Barbieri worked with all his former bandmates David Sylvian, Mick Karn and Steve Jansen with a close creative partnership being developed with the later, both as an experimental instrumental duo and in a more song-oriented project called THE DOLPHIN BROTHERS.
There was a brief JAPAN reunion as RAIN TREE CROW in 1991 but when that ended amid acrimony, Jansen, Barbieri and Karn formed JBK, issuing a number of albums on their own Medium Productions label between 1993 and 2001. During that time, the trio were invited to be live musicians to back NO-MAN, the art pop duo comprising of Tim Bowness and Steven Wilson in 1992. Significantly, Barbieri would continue to work with both and joined Wilson’s progressive rock band PORCUPINE TREE in 1993.
Deepening the dark immersion of its predecessor ‘Under A Spell’ from 2021, ‘Hauntings’ sees Barbieri present a diverse double collection influenced by a nostalgia for the past and future, and for things that didn’t happen, with questions as to what is real and what is simulation. Alongside the electronic sound sculptures of Barbieri are a renowned international cast of musicians including Morgan Ågren (drums and percussion), Percy Jones (bass guitar) and Luca Calabrese (trumpet).
Richard Barbieri sat down with ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK for a round of Vintage Synth Trumps to talk about the ideas behind ‘Hauntings’ and his close encounters of the synthesizer kind…
The first card is the ARP 2600, does that trigger any thoughts?
I did have a go at one in the studio when we were making JAPAN’s second album ‘Obscure Alternatives’. That was probably just before I got my own modular, the Roland System 700 Lab series. The ARP 2600 had a similar kind of layout, semi-modular… I used it on a track called ‘Deviation’, some kind of noise and sequency thing! I was well fascinated by it but it always looked quite ugly to me and still does… I don’t know why but I’m still not drawn to the look of it. It’s not clear, you’ve got all these faders and things, but it doesn’t tell you exactly what’s going on. I don’t warm to it. I think Steven Wilson of PORCUPINE TREE got a reproduction one…
Of course, the ARP 2600 has got an amazing history to it, it’s on so many records but those metal sliders and the way it was laid out didn’t draw me in…
Deviating slightly, you mentioned when we last spoke in 2017 that your Oberheim OB-X disappeared back in the day… did you ever think about replacing your OB-X with something like the XPander or newer editions of like the OB-X-8 or copies such as the UB-Xa by Behringer?
The OB-X was too much in the ball park of the Prophet 5 to be honest… to me, they are fairly similar. Yes, the OB-X has that slightly thicker sound, it’s a bit warmer but in terms of having a polyphonic synth, I’m happy enough with the Prophet.
Artistically, did losing the OB-X end up being a positive in that you had to investigate a new instrument and using different techniques?
Yeah, it breaks my heart now losing stuff, especially my Wurlitzer electric piano, I don’t know what happened to that! But in those days, there wasn’t this emotional attachment to the instruments, they were tools, there to do a job. You would give away a synth to someone or let them borrow it. So it was very much wanting the technology of the times and it was more about what it could do for you than actually fetishising over it! But now, it’s all nostalgic, it’s all about the feelings and emotions.
Next card and it’s an EDP Wasp Deluxe… did you ever consider this as a possible purchase before you acquired the MicroMoog?
No, it never was… I know people who speak lovingly about the Wasp… are they the ones with the touch sensitive keyboard?
The Deluxe had a proper keyboard but the standard one had this touch sensitive strip…
I was more drawn to the Moog name and the MicroMoog was the cheapest one. In hindsight, I’m glad I got that and not a Minimoog because it’s got a lot more programming possibilities and more routing. I love it! *laughs*
Your new record is called ‘Hauntings’ and your previous one was called ‘Under A Spell’, what has brought you musically into the supernatural world?
Lockdown started that whole thing of introspection and thinking a lot about things. It meant we couldn’t go out and do much, so everything became internalised. Also my age, it’s the age when you start thinking about your life, where you are and how you’ve got to this point. It brought all these new feelings into my mind which were haunting me. I’ve called them ‘Hauntings’ but they are feelings of nostalgia, things from the past and things that didn’t happen. When you have very vivid dreams, you have recurring dreams, you go to places you’ve never really been to in real life and there’s people you’ve never really met but they’re very real to you in that moment.
So it was playing around with that reality and how much can you bend the two realities… are we part of some simulation where it’s possible that other realities exist in a parallel dimension? I was getting all kind of heavy with that and there was also this nostalgia for the future, for a future that might not happen. So it was quite intense feelings that were influencing this music.
How did the opening ‘Hauntings’ track ‘Snakes & Ladders’ develop?
Funnily enough, that track is not built on any particular concept or feeling or nostalgia, it has a definite musical theme to it. I gave it the title because to me, when you listen to it, it’s a lot of crescendos and falls. Trying to visualise the track, it looked to me like a ‘Snakes & Ladders’ board where you’re getting these musical ascending parts and then suddenly there’s this drop and you fall down the ladder or slide down the snake. So that was a very vivid thing of rise and fall. There’s a slight time travelling concept in there as well, so you could look at it falling into different time lapses.
You mentioned this sort of “imagined nostalgia” and “imagined future” but also real nostalgia and haunting stuff, it made me think of when you did the telephone ring on ‘The Tenant’… it’s imitating a telephone ring but it’s not what a telephone ring sounds like… is this part of the subconscious nostalgia creeping in?
It’s a sound design thing, this album has more sound design than any other album that I’ve made. The specific thing you’re talking about on ‘The Tenant’ was my interpretation, in fact a very good copy, of the Tannoy signal that they used to have at Charles De Gaulle Airport… so every time there was an announcement, you would have this little rise and fall of these electronic digital notes. I did it with a Polymoog where you have a slider to slide through an octave thing. I just did that to recreate this sound that fascinated me.
But on this new album, there’s a lot of sound design, like on ‘Victorian Wraith’ and ‘1890’, they are based in the Victorian era. ‘Victorian Wraith’ is a recollection of a child I used to see, I used to see apparitions in my room, maybe many children do… and suddenly you stop seeing them. Your parents say you’ve had a fever but I could see these ghosts walking around my room although I wasn’t scared. They were wearing this Victorian attire, it was a very vivid image so that influenced ‘Victorian Wraith’.
The other track ‘1890’ is a sound design piece around that time, that’s one of my recurring dreams which I go back to, it’s obviously from that Victorian era in London and there’s lot of fog and mist, it’s got a dark grainy atmosphere and it’s all connected around the river near Big Ben and the Houses Of Westminster. I got a sample of the very first chimes of Big Ben from 1890, it was made on a wax cylinder or something and I’ve got an announcement on the radio of those first chimes, I put that in as well as a lot of old radio broadcasts that I had coming and going. That, mixed with a storm recording I had of really heavy rain and thunderstorms, really worked perfectly together. It just created this whole thing that I go though in my dreams. I managed to provide a sound version of what I visualise.
Another card and it’s the ARP Axxe… you used to use an ARP Solina didn’t you?
Yes I did, and an ARP Omni… David and I used the ARP Omni, it had a lovely sound, there’s a voicey choir sound that worked really well. The ARP Axxe? No, that would have been a choice at the time, did you go ARP or did you go Moog? So there was the choice between the ARP Odyssey or the Minimoog. Because I went the Moog route, that was my monosynth and it wasn’t a time where you could just easily afford to go through all the stuff.
Photo by Steve Jansen
You’re known for “mixing your own colours”, how did you become more interested in sound design as opposed to just being a “keyboard player”?
Well! It was not being able to play keyboards very well! *laughs*
I think you do yourself down, you can play a lot better than you make out… *laughs*
I think there’s been periods where I wasn’t too bad for a while but I think now I’m on the decline! *laughs*
Was getting into sound design like an Eno-inspired thing?
Yeah, Brian Eno showed the way that you could use abstract sound and put that in the context of pop music…
There’s a track on the album called ‘Reveille’ which is very ‘Another Green World’, was that a conscious intent?
I’ll take that as a compliment, that particular track is just 2 channels, a stereo live recording of this new synth I’ve been playing with of late, the Solar 42f. It’s a drone synth…well, it’s more than that but it’s quite incredible really. I can’t compare it to much, it’s just something all out there on its own. But you can get a lot of things going on at the same time. I just got this little thing going and it created this sound world, it reminded me of the sun coming up. Sometimes, the real simple minimal things are the best.
Photo by Debbie Zornes
The ‘Hauntings’ album is not just minimal things, there is some quite boisterous and uptempo stuff like ‘Anemoia’ which is playing with drum ‘n’ bass rhythms?
Yes, it is and it did have an original drum ‘n’ bass programmed pattern throughout but I really wanted a drummer to be playing it. There was a Swedish drummer who I was looking at for a long time, Morgan Ågren who although he’s a very technically gifted rock jazz player, he also has a sensibility towards electronic music. I could tell with his videos and all these little things he was doing to create his percussive sound worlds, it was really interesting to me.
So I thought it would be great to have a drummer playing a drum ‘n’ bass pattern, to give it that feeling and when it goes into that second section of the track, that’s a combination of the drummer then reverting to percussion and the electronic drum ‘n’ bass programme kit coming through more strongly. I think that worked well.
How did you become interested in drum ‘n’ bass?
I liked SQUAREPUSHER and APHEX TWIN, I also liked that quite extreme Jungle drum ‘n’ bass but I also played a lot with a band called THE BAYS, an improvisational band led by Andy Gangadeen, he’s the drummer with CHASE & STATUS. He’s very into drum ‘n’ bass and electronic rhythms, he has an electronic kit and vibes off all kinds of loops and stuff. So I did a lot of live shows with them, it’s was all improvised dance music, Jungle drum ‘n’ bass with a little bit of techno.
You mentioned you worked with a Swedish drummer, you’ve worked with a Swedish saxophonist Lisen Rylander Löve and your first album production was a Swedish band LUSTANS LAKEJER on their 1982 album ‘En Plats I Solen’. You did a tour in 2017 with them performing that album…
It was the 35th anniversary of ‘En Plats I Solen’, we’d always been in touch anyway, I’d seen some of the LUSTANS LAKEJER guys over the years and it seemed like a great idea to go out and play that album, they thought “let’s go and invite the producer”…
Although you didn’t produce the pre-album single ‘Diamanter’, it was the track that won you over to take the producer role and you got to perform that buzzy solo live…
Yes, it was a different one each night, basically it was noise solo and some nights, I would just lean on the keyboard with my elbow, twist a few knobs and just have a drink! *laughs*
That was fun, I love those guys… what I love about them is that they SO 80s, they haven’t tried to update or reimagine themselves at all, they’re strictly 80s! They slap on all the make up before they go on stage, all the synths playing the right sounds from that era and it’s great!
I actually got to see LUSTANS LAKEJER in Malmö near the end of 2019 and they’ve got this new late teen fanbase who go to gigs dressed like front man Johan Kinde from that era…
Yeah! *laughs*
The next card is a Yamaha CS-60… have you flirted with Yamaha equipment before?
Yes, I played a CS-80 and a CS-60, , I’d put them in the Top 5 of synths of all time, so lovely. It was in a studio in Sweden, a guy who collects a lot of vintage stuff and they couldn’t get me away from them! So beautiful and very expressive, just different… they’re a world of their own. I’ve never owned either one unfortunately, I wish I did. If I could, I would love to get one of those. But the Yamaha I do own is a CS-01… and that sounds amazing! *laughs*
So Steven Wilson’s never hired a CS-80 for you to use in PORCUPINE TREE?
Actually, that’s not a bad idea! Of course, there is good emulation available!
John Foxx has done this Vintage Synth Trumps interview format before and he did the photo on the cover of the PORCUPINE TREE album ‘Lightbulb Sun’, do you know how he got involved?
It must have been somebody who knew someone else! It was a case of the photo John Foxx took was actually of his son, and it was exactly right for the title… I wish I knew, you’re gonna have to ask Steven Wilson because I can’t really tie that all together, it’s quite weird.
But as a coincidence, I’ve been working with Steve D’Agostino, he’s just mixed the surround sound for ‘Hauntings’ and I’ve known him a while… so he’s now worked with every member of JAPAN! I was the last one to complete the set! *laughs*
He worked with Mick Karn on DALI’S CAR, he remixed David Sylvian’s ‘Manafon’ in surround and he worked with Steve Jansen and John Foxx on the album ‘A Secret Life’.
It’s all very incestuous isn’t it? *laughs*
Yeah! Amazing! *laughs*
Photo by Steve Jansen
I don’t know if you have been misquoted but you once remarked that the YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA sounding parts on ‘Tin Drum’ were all David Sylvian while you did the weird interesting stuff, is there any truth in that?
Well, it’s not to say that David’s parts were interesting! *laughs*
A lot of his parts on ‘Tin Drum’, I can hear similarities to the YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA album ‘Technodelic’; what’s weird about that is that both albums were released at the same time so it’s almost by osmosis, this exchange of ideas and influence that went on at that time. I would say my sounds were probably a bit more off-the-wall and possibly a bit stranger…
Haunting? *laughs*
Haunting, there you go! Yeah! *laughs*
The next card is the Roland Juno 106?
I’m very associated with Roland, but I didn’t have any of the early Jupiter or Juno series, anything like that. I’ve got the big Roland System 700 and I used the Space Echos, all that kind of stuff. But it wasn’t until later with the V-Synth that I really got involved with Roland again. Before that, there was the D-50, David Sylvian and I used D-50s for the ‘In Praise Of Shamans’ tour in 1988. He did some great D-50 stuff on a track called ‘Pop Song’, all that weird scale-straight micro tuning stuff going on in the background. I used the D-50 until quite recently, but the V-Synth all the time.
Photo by Sheila Rock
On ‘Pushing The River’ by THE DOLPHIN BROTHERS, there were those synthetic brass bursts, was that sound design or sampling?
It was a pattern that I came up with on a Casio SK-1!! It sounded like an EARTH WIND & FIRE or Phil Collins type of brass section and we decided to go with that. I think we might have used a bit of the original sound as well. Sometimes, these sorts of things, you just sample something and it’s just got a melody that’s gonna work. These Casio lo-fi samplers are very collectable now! *laughs*
Ah, next card is a Polymoog which I know you’ve used a few times…
Yeah! I used it in that interim period between ‘Obscure Alternatives’ and ‘Quite Life’ where I didn’t really have an established set-up as such. At the beginning, I had the Wurlitzer piano, the MicroMoog and the Solina string synth as well. Then I got the System 700 which did all the abstract and sequencer-driven stuff. I didn’t have a set-up until we came to ‘Quiet Life’ so at the time, when you walked into studios, there was always stuff around, they had all kinds of kit there or you could hire stuff in.
There was a Polymoog and I started to use it a lot during that period. It was very user friendly, it was quite inspirational, you could get interesting things going quite quickly. I do like the Moog stuff a lot, it’s not accurate, it’s not forensic. The Prophet is forensic in that the filter is so musical and you can make such tiny incremental moves on it to obtain real interesting tones. The Moog is just a big thick thing, the filter just opens and closes, you lose all the bass in it when you open it. But it’s this huge textural sound which I’ve always quite liked. I’m thinking of getting this new Moog called the Muse, it’s a new 8 voice polysynth, it’s like the be-all-and-end-all of Moog products, I think it’s amazing.
You did the JAPAN track ‘Life Without Buildings’ as JBK with Steven Wilson live in 1997, what made you pick that one?
Well, mainly because it was instrumental! There’s only a little bit of vocals in the middle which we knew the audience would sing! *laughs*
It just made sense, it would have been odd to do a JAPAN song with somebody else singing, especially if me, Steve and Mick were up there. It’s such a great track and went down so well live, it was epic and immense. We had Theo Travis on flute and saxophones, Steven Wilson was doing the melodic parts, it was great! I wish we’d done more of those shows really, it was a good band.
What’s next, are you playing live with this new album or going onto your next recorded work?
I think I’m going to promote it with listening events, that I think is a nice way to get people involved, do some informal gatherings, we can do some nice studio surrounds for playback as it’s in Dolby Atmos or some intimate vinyl lounge playbacks, maybe get someone to interview me and do a Q&A with the audience. People like to come to that as much as a gig sometimes.
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its sincerest thanks to Richard Barbieri
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