Category: Interviews (Page 1 of 109)

CHARLIE Interview

8 October 2024 /

Photo by Maidje Meergans

CHARLIE recently released her first EP ‘Spacewoman’. Not to be confused with the classic 1984 Italo disco track ‘Spacer Woman’ but named so in homage, the EP is the work of Berlin-based DJ, musician and producer Leona Jacewska.

She opened her account with ‘Polarity Walk’, a track on the various artists ‘Mechatronica Aid EPII’ in support of Berlin-based artists during the 2020 lockdown while her 2022 single ‘Cold Inside’ was remixed by the notable Danish DJ Flemming Dalum. She has also become notable for her series of SZUM electro events in Krakow as part of the Italo-Proto scene

An immensely satisfying retro-futuristic EP that works in the head as well as on the dancefloor, ‘Spacewoman’ showcases CHARLIE as a talented electronic dance producer of worth. She spoke to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about her background and creative ethos.

What attracted you to DJ-ing and making electronic dance music?

I was always passionate about music and loved playing instruments. Playing music with other people together or sharing a feeling through music always made me feel connected with them in a different way. Electronic Music does that on the dancefloor too. An experience witnessed together and connecting in a special way.

How did you decide Berlin would be the best place to relocate in the pursuit of your interests?

I grew up in Berlin and went to school here. The reason I came back was a grant that came through and allowed me to work in the studio.

Photo by Joanna Wzorek

In Berlin, there does appear to be a tight electronic community where everyone is happy to help each other out, how has this benefitted your development?

True, I love the music community in Berlin. In Poland we also help each other out a lot, but the main difference in my experience is, that the music scene in Poland is a family whereas in Berlin, the music infrastructure is more developed. Thanks to that I have discovered different sides of the music world and other possibilities for my personal development.

How did you become involved in Berlin’s Italo-Proto scene?

Good question! I think that has been the music direction I have been heading for years thus event offers as well as release offers came within that circle. I’d be also a part of it moving to another corner of the world. I think nowadays you are already part of different communities via internet, because the music connects you 🙂

You have organised numerous events, have any particular ones stood out which you gained the most satisfaction from?

Hosting any artist for a weekend or day gave me the biggest inspiration and sharing that with my friends and the audience was the cherry on it. Everything I wanted to learn about live set-ups, sequencers, synths and music production came mostly from other artists I have spent time with. The excitement about it was one of the best moments of my life and I am happy to be still friends with most of my guests.

Photo by Joanna Wzorek

You released your first track ‘Polarity Walk’ for the various artists ‘Mechatronica Aid EPII’ in support of Berlin-based artists during the 2020 lockdown, how did you decide that would be the most appropriate one to open your account with?

It was not a strategic decision. I had that track recorded for a while and initially thought to add it with other tracks in an EP, but as COVID changed so many plans, I accepted the kind offer of Mechatronica, a label and collective I love and respect and was doing a beautiful thing for the community with the Aid release.

You have just released your first EP ‘Spacewoman’ and the title song was a trailer single… were you aware there was the similarly titled cult Italo song ‘Spacer Woman’ by the other CHARLIE in 1984?

Yeah, ‘Spacewoman’ had a double fit. The track already had a space-ish vibe and in an unconscious stream I used the lyrics “I’m the spacewoman in the cosmic trance” in the break. It felt cheeky to call the track ‘Spacewoman’ afterwards, as a response to all the jokes and questions I’ve heard for years from people whether I did the old ‘Spacer Woman’. Finally I can say “No, I did ’Spacewoman’”

Photo by Wioletta Drozd

Is the theme of the song ‘Spacewoman’ autobiographical? What was the music inspired by?

Autobiographical in the sense that yes, I am sometimes lost in time. Still carrying synths from the 80s instead of moving on, but what can I do? I’m so nostalgic! The music itself is inspired by all the Italo I have been listening during the years and I wanted to add a DJ-able touch on it with a little drop and “harder” drums.

From the new EP, ‘Let Go’ is very hypnotic, like Chicago meeting Italy, how did the track come together?

I was preparing a new live show for the support act for Arnaud Rebotini. While programming a short bassline as a layer, I played it with just a kick, and realised I like the contrast of a bit less going on in the middle of the live show and thought maybe it’s cool to add only vocals on top of that. The vocals came from my mood that day and after the phrase “Let Go”, I knew I have to give the track some groove and energy, so people dancing to it can really let go.

How did you decide to sign this EP to Wrong Era, the sub-label of acclaimed Italian label Slow Motion who have been involved in the Italo disco revival?

 My first live show ever was booked with co-label boss Franz Scala, who asked me for a demo afterwards. At the time, I was perfectly familiar with Wrong Era, I have so many records from the label and it’s the perfect combo of New Beat, EBM and Italo, which I admire.

Your Instagram has plenty new and vintage synths in view, which have been your favourite synths?

Is it that obvious? 🙂

I love all of them for different reasons. First of all old synths like old furniture can be really stylish. While playing a synth physically without a computer being turned on I can escape a bit the every day chaos, enjoy the present and relax. I like the feeling knowing which music was created on a particular synth and that it connects me to those people and artists of that time. Currently my favourite synth is the Yamaha GX1, I don’t own it, but I have the luck to use it regularly for a project you’ll hear more about in November.

Photo by Fastfoodculture

The instrumental ‘Dark Waver’ does what it says in the title but are the melodic hints of ‘Oxygène IV’ accidental?

Haha, I am very proud of that title 😉

Jean-Michel Jarre is a legend and one of my top inspirations. I have watched and listened to ‘Oxygene – Live in Your Living Room’ many times before sleeping, but it was not my intention to put the melo in there. I already had the bass and chords and was jamming on it with different sounds. Somehow I played these notes on it and when I heard them I knew, yes why should there not be a little quote of Jarre in my music, as his music influences my approach to music.

What is your favourite moment or memory in the making of the ‘Spacewoman’ EP?

As with every new track, I love the moment of a harmony or a sequence that makes you excited and imagine what the outcome could be. That little gimmick melody in ‘In The Night’ made me happy. Also with every finished track you learn something new. There was a moment during the EP, I felt I am suddenly understanding a little bit more from production, and was shocked how little I knew at the same time and how much more there is to discover.

Who do you think the EP will appeal to and what are your hopes for it?

Probably it will appeal mostly to the Italo world and people that have been enjoying my live shows. I hope it will make people feel, dance, smile, forget and let go. I hope they hear freshness and familiarity at the same time.

Photo by Jovan Mrowiński

Will you do more EPs? Will an album be a possibility or is that now an outdated format?

Absolutely… I wouldn’t say it’s outdated and everything is possible.

What is next for you?

I have of course more music music music incoming!

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its grateful thanks to CHARLIE

Special thanks to Gabi Stanowska at Eclectica

‘Spacewoman’ is released by Wrong Era / Slow Motion as a 12″ vinyl EP from selected retailers, also available digitally from https://wrongera.lnk.to/Spacewoman

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61557049403213

https://www.instagram.com/charlieszum/

https://soundcloud.com/charlieszum

https://ra.co/dj/charlie

https://open.spotify.com/artist/3lJcC0aNyTGktyDdnu4Drf

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
8 October 2024

A Short Conversation with HARALD GROSSKOPF

27 September 2024 /

German music veteran Harald Grosskopf has lived a wonderfully busy life, working with noted fellow countrymen like Klaus Schulze, Manuel Göttsching, Eberhard Kranemann, Udo Hanten, Lutz Ulbrich, Steve Baltes, Thorsten Quäschning and Axel Heilhecker.

As well as the drumming for of WALLENSTEIN, THE COSMIC JOKERS and ASH RA TEMPEL, he is a respected solo artist whose 1980 debut album ‘Synthesist’ is now held up as an exemplary electronic work of the period; fans of the record have included Andy McCluskey, Mark Reeder and Jean-Michel Jarre.

Turning 75 this October, Harald Grosskopf celebrates the occasion by publishing his German language autobiography ‘Monsieur Séquenceur’ and releasing a brand new album ‘Strom’ on Bureau B. The album title translates from German as “electricity” and fuses his classic melodic synth sound with the virtual tools of today for a fully charged body of work.

Harald Grosskopf kindly spoke to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about the genesis of both his book and latest music creation…

The last time we spoke, it was for the expanded 40th Anniversary edition of ‘Synthesist’ in 2020, are you happy with how it was received?

Oh yes! The limited edition was sold out in weeks.

This new album ‘Strom’ has been a while coming, how did you decide it was time for a new solo creation?

I have to go into great detail to answer this question. I am a musician, and standing still is not part of my concept. Making music is a great passion that has grown throughout my life. Finally being able to work independently in my own studio is a privilege I had to wait a long time for until it finally became a reality in 2007.

After my first solo album ‘Synthesist’, the music industry sharply declined in the 1980s, and analog studios around the world closed in large numbers. I couldn’t afford the necessary recording equipment, and the few remaining studios were expensive. When the first Atari computers with built-in MIDI hit the market, things slowly started to pick up again. But it wasn’t until the late 1990s, when it became possible to record analog audio signals with relatively affordable music software, that things really began to move forward.

In the beginning I had virtually no experience, firstly with computers and secondly the complex subject of music software. The next step was to teach myself, step by step, and to create a physical space where I could work undisturbed. A studio. It always takes me quite a while to be emotionally satisfied with a track. Thank God I’m not under any commercial production pressure.

After producing an album with KRAFTWERK founder Eberhard Kranemann in 2018, and after we toured in England and performed in China, I began to focus on my solo work again. This led first to a remix album of my second solo album ‘Oceanheart’ (Sky 1985), ‘Oceanheart Revisited’. After that, I began working on the ‘Strom’ album. The entire album was mixed and mastered in an analog studio on reel to reel tape before digitalized again to get an analog feeling.

The title is ‘Strom’ which in English means “electricity”, does it share any conceptual heritage with ‘Synthesist’?

Well, I can’t change who I am. I never work with a musical concept. I always approach things emotionally. That means, unconsciously, there may be references to ‘Synthesist’. However, I certainly don’t try to repeat myself and always allow new experiences to influence my work.

‘Bureau 39’ has already been issued online as a trailer to ‘Strom’, you have your classic sweeping synth sound on it, are you still using your old synths or have you gone for virtual?

I haven’t owned any analog equipment for a long time. I never had a large collection of it anyway. I like the quick access that music software and virtual instruments offer. This way, I can always stay in the flow of spontaneous creativity without wasting time on wiring synths and dealing with tons of processing tools. That doesn’t mean I condemn analog synths. I just don’t use them. It also makes traveling easier. I don’t need to carry much to get to the stage!

‘Blow’ is quite fierce in places?

Deep in my heart, I am still a drummer. Physical intensity is a characteristic of drumming. That’s what drives me to make tracks like these.

There is a sharp use of rhythm on this album, as can be heard on ‘Später Strom’, had there been a particular approach? Did you manually trigger on a kit and quantise or was it all mouse and screen?

Always a mix of handmade drum loops and mouse editing.

‘After The Future’ and ‘Um Pah Pah Uh’ are quite experimental and almost do away with melody, featuring unsettling voices?

I have always seen it as a reminiscence of the early days of electronic music—Stockhausen, Pierre Schaeffer, Oscar Sala, etc, to include a little bit of this direction in my solo albums to keep it alive, without falling into banal copying.

What inspired the feel of ‘Stylo Kraut’?

That began in 2018 when I did a small tour of England with Eberhard Kranemann. We were invited by John Simpson, the CEO of Dubreq Ltd in Hastings, which reissued the legendary Stylophone Mini Synthesizer from 1967 in 2007, to perform a concert in Hastings. John provided us with this little synth buzzer, the Gen X-1 model. As a thank you, I produced this track, which I continued to expand and modify in the studio over time. It is, therefore, a small monument of reverence to this tiny, magical music machine, which was already honored by John Lennon, David Bowie, and KRAFTWERK in the past.

‘Stromklang’ wouldn’t sound of place in a club, doing you feel any affinity to techno or dance culture?

I wouldn’t have a problem if my music were played in techno clubs. I first came into contact with this music when techno reached its peak in the mid-1990s. That was probably due to my age. I was approaching 50 and hadn’t been going to clubs for a long time, so this culture more or less completely passed me by until then.

Steve Baltes, a young musician whom I invited to join us on two of our ASHRA Japan tours, played me tracks that gave me goosebumps. I like this music because it resonates with my drummer’s heart, physical and simple intensity. That has certainly influenced my music-making unconsciously. However, I’m far from making techno, as generally, I don’t care about other music at all when I’m in my studio.

How have you adapted your creativity to today’s equipment and music consumption environment?

Out of necessity, I turned to creating music with computers almost 30 years ago because, as I hinted earlier, I couldn’t afford studio equipment or expensive studio costs. The rapid technological development of digital recording tools and virtual synthesizers is breathtaking. However, I am open to all techniques. For example, I mixed my last albums on magnetic tape in the studio of my friend Tobias Stock before we digitally rendered the tracks for CD and vinyl. As a result, even the CD now sounds very analog.

Over 25 years, Tobias has assembled a top-class analog studio in mint condition, which leaves nothing to be desired, and he maintains it at the highest level in his role as an electronic engineer and musician. The next step will be working with various AI tools. However, I definitely won’t be creating ‘prompt-to-music’ at the push of a button. The rejection of AI as a creative tool strongly reminds me of the incompetent reactions to the emergence of the first synthesizers in the late 1960s, early 1970s. Klaus Schulze always responded to these technology sceptics with irony: “Since when do violins grow on trees, or pianos in fields?”

How did the idea for a book come about? Did you keep diaries or has everything been recounted from memory?

I never kept a diary. About 30 years ago, I started writing down my memories sporadically, without any intention of ever publishing them. It was more for reasons of therapeutic self-reflection. Over time, when I shared stories from my life with friends and acquaintances, I kept getting asked why I didn’t publish them. When my label, Bureau B, became economically involved with Ventil Publishing Company, and I told Gunther Buskies, the CEO of Bureau B, about my writings, everything started falling into place.

Since I originally had around 700 pages, and no one would read such a long biography, we worked with a professional editor to condense it to an acceptable length. And now, the time has come. The version, which until now has only been available in German, will be released in parallel with the ‘Strom’ album. I’m working on an English translation.

Did you have a particular memory that was jogged by a conversation or research that for various reasons, you had forgotten about?

Writing takes longer than quickly recalling images, feelings, and dialogues. When you sit down to write down memories, you have to hold the image of the memory in your mind until you’ve formulated it. This apparently has the effect of bringing back seemingly long-forgotten content, which suddenly becomes alive again, and you can hardly stop yourself from holding it in your mind in order to get it down on paper or hammer it into the computer. It could happen that I sometimes wrote for 6 or 7 hours without a break. A phenomenon that others have also reported to me.

So, would you agree that if you can remember recording with THE COSMIC JOKERS, then you weren’t actually there??? 😉

Of course, memories can deceive us, and surely our brain alters our memories as well. Memories are always fragmented and sometimes hazy. Now to your question: Yes, I can recall those Cosmic Couriers sessions in Dieter Dierks’ studio, half a century ago fairly well.

Two of your most esteemed colleagues Klaus Schulze and Manuel Göttsching are sadly no longer with us, has this had any bearing on how you have approached the book or the album?

No, because I had already written everything related to the two of them during their lifetimes.

What is next for you?

The mastering of the next solo album, titled ‘Glitches Brew’, which will be released in the second half of 2025 on Bureau B. Two more albums featuring collaborations with other artists are also completed. We are still looking for a label for one of these albums. The second one of this kind will be released in March 2025 on the English DIN label. I am not yet allowed to reveal the title and protagonists. Additionally, I am already working on a third solo album and video projection materials for future live performances.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its sincerest thanks to Harald Grosskopf

Additional thanks to Sean Newsham at Bureau B

‘Strom’ is released by Bureau B on 18 October 2024 in CD and vinyl LP formats, available from https://shop.tapeterecords.com/records/bureau-b/

Download available from https://haraldgrosskopf.bandcamp.com/

Harald Grosskopf’s memoir ‘Monsieur Séquenceur’ is published in German by Ventil Verlag, available from https://www.ventil-verlag.de/titel/1967/monsieur-sequenceur

https://www.haraldgrosskopf.de/

https://www.facebook.com/Harald-Grosskopf-121526524593386/

https://www.instagram.com/harald_grosskopf/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/1yejR2Tszo9sGMXtmuq07K

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Markus Luigs
27 September 2024

GENEVA JACUZZI Interview

24 September 2024 /

Photo by David Zuckerman

Geneva Jacuzzi is an artist whose oeuvre includes music, live theatre, installations, set design, costume, makeup and set decoration.

Released recently by Dais Records, ‘Triple Fire’ is her third full-length album, following her official debut  ‘Lamaze’ in 2010 and 2016’s ‘Technophelia’. Based in Los Angeles, Geneva Jacuzzi brings a collaborative approach to ‘Triple Fire’ while vocally she continues to recall the delightfully odd mannerisms of Gina Kikoine, Lene Lovich and Jyl.

Quirky and fun, ‘Triple Fire’ presents a hit parade of playful avant pop and sly post-apocalyptic camp across 12 songs, each possessing an immediate if occasionally chaotic burst of energy. Geneva Jacuzzi spoke to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about her artistic process and her take on the state of the modern world…

You’re an artist with many facets, what attracted you to making music and particularly electronic music?

When I moved to LA at 18, I was fortunate to meet some incredible people who were true music heads, a little bit older, record collectors, book collectors, philosophy quoters, tellers of stories, owners of 10,000 rare obscure books and records kind of people leftover from the 80s and 90s art and music scenes who co-mingled with the hipsters of LA. Mind you, this is the early 2000s, no YouTube or internet music so prior to that, the only electronic music I had heard was 80s pop and disco (which I loved but always felt so produced and unattainable)

Then all of the sudden I was exposed to early CABARET VOLTAIRE, THROBBING GRISTLE, KRAFTWERK, LEGENDARY PINK DOTS, CHROME, HARDCORE DEVO, THE STRANGLERS, early CURE and HUMAN LEAGUE, WIRE, KRAUTROCK, SUN RA, CAN, THE HOMOSEXUALS, LOS MICROWAVES, PALAIS SCHAUMBURG, DER PLAN, DAF and Kate Bush. It all blew my mind because I had never heard anything like it before. But the minimal synth was what really hit my core at the time. I think because it was so simple, my little brain was like “I can make this” so I tried it… and was hooked.

I didn’t have money to buy gear but I would run thrift store keyboards through pedals to manipulate sound and sometimes friends would loan me synths and I would spend hours just designing sounds. I had no intention of being a musician. I was just playing around and challenging myself… for fun and escape. It became a compulsion. I think my lack of musical skill combined with a passion for sound manipulation and inclination towards pop melody started to yield interesting results and I discovered I had a knack for composition.

Did you have an epiphanal moment with a synth, and if so, with which one?

My first real synth I experimented with was a Sequential Prophet One and I feel really fortunate to have had a friend who loaned me one for a couple of years. I remember jamming on it and turning knobs without any knowledge of what does what until I got to the point where the synth would make no sound and I had to figure out WHY?? It literally forced me to learn about what each knob is doing. But it was a great way to learn. It was like being lost in a foreign city with no map and you have to go around asking for directions and looking at the position of the sun and buildings until one day, you just know where you are and how to get to where you wanna go instinctually.

Your first official album release ‘Lamaze’ in 2010 was a collection of 4 track and 8 track recordings as well as demos, what inspired you to issue them “as seen” rather than polish them up?

Honestly, I didn’t think I had any other way of polishing them up. I didn’t own a computer and the songs were accidents trapped in tape so recreating them in a studio didn’t seem like an option. It’s not like I had a record advance or money to go into the studio either. I was just experimenting with music and then eventually someone wanted to press it on vinyl. I’m pretty sure at the time, I thought they sounded perfect as is. It didn’t occur to me to fix or change anything. It’s like having a kid with a crooked nose. What, are you going to take them to a plastic surgeon at age 6? I suppose you could but that would be weird. And what if the kids face grew and the fake nose stayed small? It would just be a bad idea.

Your second album ‘Technophelia’ took a few years and was much more of a produced record, how do you look back on its gestation?

That’s so funny. I recorded Technophelia on GarageBand and the vocals were done with the little microphone above the screen on my white MacBook. Not kidding. But I never used soft synths. I think Chris Coady levelled up the sound in mixing though. He’s a total boss.

I don’t know why the record took so long. Now that I think about it, all of my records take a long time. Not that I’m sitting and working on them for years or anything. I’m just recording songs and playing shows and making art and living life and things come together when they come together. I’ve never been one to wait for ideal situations before I do things. I’ve got my paws in lots of different projects and things come together when they do. My new record coming out is the first in 8 or 9 years but only because I was working on video projects and live performances for a few years. Then I came back to the music again only in the last two years.

The songs on ‘Technophelia’ ranged from synthpop like ‘Casket’ to dysfunctional disco like ‘Cannibal Babies’, could these be now seen as blueprints for where you are now with ‘Triple Fire’?

A little bit, yes. Except I had originally planned to do something totally different. Then when I got started, it sounded like the same kind of stuff that I’ve done in the past. Which is cool but not very interesting to me. I think I realized that I have my way of doing things and if I expect different results, I need to start including different people.

‘Technophelia’ was just me in my room and ‘Triple Fire’ was me with my friends. I brought in other producers and songwriters to collaborate on this record. My friends Roderick Edens and Andrew Briggs who have a great band REPTILE TILE in Virginia Beach. The three of us worked on the majority of the tracks together and it was fun blending skills and styles. Also worked with Josh da Costa on a track and Andrew Clinco from DRAB MAJESTY produced a track as well. This was my first time collaborating like this and it was really fun for me to move out of my comfort zone.

Many of your musical influences appear to be European?

It’s true. Love me some kraut and Italo disco. I don’t know what drew me towards that part of the world. Perhaps there is a depth to it that reflects a culture or history that Americans have yet to achieve. But many American bands like CHROME and DEVO hooked me as well. I think because there is a sense of humor and self-awareness that pokes fun at the insanity of America that I can really appreciate. After all, I am American and I am f*cking insane.

Quite a bit of time has passed since ‘Technophelia’, so has there been any changes in your creative and recording process for ‘Triple Fire’, be it from tech developments or collaborative opportunities?

It’s all about collaboration. ‘Technophilia’ was the peak of my loneliness’. Which I find beautiful but you can only go so far on your own before you start sounding repetitive. I also don’t feel the need to prove anything as far as my musical abilities go. I could of course become a better musician but I don’t think that song writing is about musical skill. It’s about sublimating a moment in time or an experience. ‘Triple Fire’ was me expanding into a collaborative space (which, honestly is a huge challenge for me because I never ever felt comfortable doing that in the past), Roderick has an amazing studio in Virginia Beach that we recorded at so having access to all of those synths also expanded the sound quite a bit. Andy brought in a bundle of synth racks so we had a bountiful bank of sound to choose from. It was such a fun experience working on this record.

‘Art Is Dangerous’ celebrates the subversive potential of all art, what inspired you make such a statement?

Funny enough, it was an accident. Roderick (who co-wrote) misread something on the TV screen one night after our recording session and yelled out “ART IS DANGEROUS?!?!” We looked at each other and both knew that it would be the title to the track that we were working on. Then the lyrics started flowing. I co-mingle with the art world and it was fun to play around with the absurdity of it all. Industry, ego, sensationalism, commodification, celebrity. The bridge vocals are all clichés. “All is fair in love and war”, “All that glitters isn’t gold”!

Cliché is a big theme on ‘Triple Fire’. We have songs like ‘Rock and a Hard Place’, ’Take it or Leave it’, I felt like pop music relies heavily on simplicity and stupid lyrics so I thought it would be interesting to go all in on using the most mundane phrases of the English language to describe something mysterious and deep.

You’ve said ‘Dry’ is about being ghosted after a date but is there a wider metaphor?

There always is lol. “Set it and Forget it” is a catch phrase from a 1990s infomercial selling a mechanical appliance. I suppose I felt that the modern approach to love via technology sort of mechanizes the magical. Not to say we are being dehumanized by dating apps or anything lol… But shopping for love on a cell phone can definitely alter amount of value we place on our human interactions thus creating a tricky landscape for a type of love that celebrates coincidence and the sweetness of imperfection. I’m an over thinker so when I get my heart broken by my cell phone, I tend to find the absurdity of it all and can’t help but see how funny it is when the mere chime sound of a text message is enough to ignite a Pavlovian flood of emotions… or in this case… No text message!

How did Andrew Clinco come to produce ‘Speed Of Light’? How was his approach compared with your own and was there something you learnt that you will continue with your own productions?

Andrew and I have been friends for years and have collaborated on different projects and bands in the past so when I told him I was making a new record and hoped to work with him on something, he was super down. I’m pretty sure he sat down one night with me in mind and cooked up the track to ’Speed of Light’. When I heard it, it was a definite “Yes!” And I heard the vocals / lyrics in my head almost immediately. I recorded the demo vox then we finished it up together in his studio.

Andrew is one of those special kind of humans that can do everything… but unlike me, he does it quickly and has some incredible production tricks up his sleeve that I have yet to master. He is a machine who compulsively makes music non-stop and I witnessed the effects of his skill with production. It’s almost effortless and our personalities really get along so it was super fun and easy to work together. When it comes to collaborating, it’s important to pick the right people. I’m fortunate to have friends like Andrew who are incredibly talented and funny who totally get it.

Is there a key track or favourite on ‘Triple Fire’ which summarises what you were hoping to achieve on this album?

It changes. ‘Art is dangerous’ and ‘Dry’ feel the most “Geneva Jacuzzi” but I definitely strayed from the box with tracks like ‘Heart Full of Poison’, ‘Rock and a Hard Place’ and ‘Keep it Secret’ which I love. But ‘Bow Tie Eater’ , ‘Nu2U’ and ‘Yo-yo Boy’ are secret favorites. I wish they were singles. ‘Laps of Luxury’ is also a strong track and I’m really excited for it to come out with the release.

Who is ‘The Scene Ballerina’? Has this “main character syndrome” become worse since the advent of social media influencers or has it always been one of those social diseases particularly prevalent in the entertainment industry?

I think everyone knows a “Scene Ballerina”. That person who loves to make it all about themselves and craves drama. It’s so funny, I never really thought to write about those sorts of people but Andy and Roderick invented the term and we just ran with it for fun. I wasn’t expecting it to be a single but it ended up so poppy and fun that it made the cut. I don’t think that social media has anything to do with it. There have been Scene Ballerinas since the beginning of time. It’s just a weird personality type. So silly and obnoxious.

Before ‘Lamaze’ was released, MySpace was the social media of choice while Facebook and Twitter were beginning to gain traction but now, there’s TikTok and algorithms prioritising reels on Instagram… do you find this aspect overwhelming or does this all slot in nicely with your artistic ethos?

Yeah, it took me two and a half hours yesterday just to announce a show because I had to log into 20 different apps and tag everyone lol. So yeah, that can be overwhelming but I’m not ungrateful!!! Social media, like anything else has its pros and cons. It’s just bigger and faster. You can reach more people but good luck holding anyone’s attention. I think every artist over the age of 25 has a love-hate relationship with it because it’s real / not real and emotions and expectations get tangled up into algorithms and AI. I find it to be neutral in the artistic sense. Good and evil depending on how you look at it. I think it’s just an energy, like money. Best to not overthink it and play with the fun of it all. Because as much as I like to talk shit about it, my Instagram feed is full of probably the funniest memes on the planet and I find it deeply entertaining at times so there you go. I’m a tool like everyone else.

Walter Gropius said “Today’s luxuries are tomorrow’s norm” but has the world become more culturally ignorant despite it getting smaller due to the indirect consequence of smart tech becoming ubiquitous?

Great question! It’s such a fascinating phenomenon. Things getting smaller when everything gets bigger. Or slower when the world speeds up. Isn’t it crazy to think that art and music looked and sounded sooooo drastically different between the 1960-1980 verses 2004-2024. I think technology is creating the illusion of things speeding up but everyone is oddly slowing down as a result. At least as far as culture goes. And when it comes to ignorance? I don’t know if people are more ignorant as much as they place less value on things because of the amount of accessibility we have to it all at any given time with little effort and little investment.

Yeah, everything is going to shit but it’s always been going to shit. I think the pendulum swings but now the swing will be more subtle and unconscious / abstract. I believe that we will start to crave a deeper and more meaningful connection to things and each other which will tip things over in time. It will never be like how it was in the past. I’m rambling here. Probably not making any sense but I do believe it is the duty of the artist to keep making art regardless of it all and to strive to be authentic. Otherwise humanity is lost.

Have you any fears as an artist with the advent of AI and seemingly more conservative attitudes being shouted out louder than ever?

So much of that is outside of my scope. But I think about it often. I’m fascinated by it all.

Back to the pendulum, it will always swing left and right as long as we believe in the binaries of good and evil. Duality processors lol. I’m convinced AI is nothing more than parasitic intelligence or a self-cannibalising mechanism of the collective unconscious feeding back and eating itself alive.

What are your hopes? Can music, art and chaos energy save mankind?

Music and Art is the only thing that can. It is the only thing that has this far. Without it we would have destroyed ourselves thousands of years ago.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Geneva Jacuzzi

Additional thanks to Frankie Davison at Stereo Sanctity

‘Triple Fire’ is released by Dais Records in various vinyl LP, CD + digital formats, available from https://found.ee/TripleFire

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Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
24 September 2024

NASH THE SLASH Rises, Again!

28 August 2024 /

NASH THE SLASH was the late Jeff Plewman, a Canadian multi-instrumentalist adept at electric violin and mandolin.

He was also the first Canadian to ever use a drum machine on an album, while his music was a complex blend of prog, art rock, new wave and performance art. His persona was inspired by a killer butler that featured in the 1927 silent film ‘Do Detectives Think?’ starring Laurel and Hardy.

Plewman started performing as a solo artist beginning in 1975 and founded the progressive rock band FM in 1976. The NASH THE SLASH trademark look covered in surgical bandages began in 1979 to raise awareness of the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster; he walked on stage wearing bandages dipped in phosphorus paint and exclaimed: “Look, this is what happens to you!”

NASH THE SLASH opened for Gary Numan on his ‘Teletour’ and played violin on the tracks ‘Cry The Clock Said’ and ‘You Are You Are’ from his 1981 ‘Dance’ album; as well as this, he appeared as an onstage guest at Numan’s then-farewell concert at Wembley Arena in April 1981.  Earlier in the year, he had released the Steve Hillage produced album ‘Children Of The Night’ on Dindisc Records, the Virgin Records funded imprint that brought OMD their initial commercial success.

This was the period when NASH THE SLASH had his highest mainstream media profile, with him even being given the honour of a profile interview by ‘Smash Hits’ where he stated his full name was “Nashville Thebodiah Slasher”! Indeed, NASH THE SLASH’s best known recording in the UK was an early stripped down version of ‘Swing-Shift’ alongside his label mates’ live rendition of ‘Pretending To See The Future’ on a blue flexi-disc given away free with ‘Smash Hits’.

NASH THE SLASH’s next album was ‘And You Thought You Were Normal’ in 1982 and featured the single ‘Dance After Curfew’ produced by Daniel Lanois; it fittingly became a radio hit in Poland as the country’s Communist government declared martial law.

NASH THE SLASH also later worked with Bill Nelson and opened shows for Iggy Pop, THE WHO, THE TUBES and DEVO. He rejoined FM but continued to perform solo and returned for a UK tour in 2008. He was also on stage with Gary Numan again in October 2010 for a rendition of ‘Complex’ at Toronto Opera House but announced his retirement via his website in November 2012, stating he was “rolling up the bandages”.

However, NASH THE SLASH sadly passed away in May 2014. But his work and legacy lives on; a number of his costumes and instruments were donated to the National Music Centre in Calgary while his custom skull mandolin is on display in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

In 2015, Artoffact Records reissued six of his albums and in 2017, filming began on the documentary ‘NASH THE SLASH Rises, Again!’. Written by Colin Brunton, Kevan Byrne and Tim Kowalski, the film has been produced  in collaboration with The NASH THE SLASH Legacy; over 50 interviews have been conducted with his friends, collaborators and fans of his work, while archival footage and rare images have also been unearthed.

Featuring contributions from Gary Numan, Danielle Dax, Steve Hillage, Youth and Owen Pallett among others, it tells a universal story of artistic struggle. Several years in the making, a GoFundMe has been set up to help bring the project to completion with regards post picture lab and sound mix, legals, music rights, TV + Film licenses, publicity, accounting and insurance.

Back in 2010, Stephen Roper interviewed NASH THE SLASH for his Gary Numan book ‘Back Stage: A Book Of Reflections’; he has kindly given permission for ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK to publish edited extracts of his delightful conversation with a unique individual.

On his start in electronic music…

I started doing solo electronic music in 1975 and back then, I was probably the first guy in Canada using a drum machine when drum machines were illegal. People don’t seem to know all these years later but drum machines used to be illegal and according to The Musicians Union, anyone using an artificial device to make music would be barred from appearing on a union stage.

On performing at The Edge in Toronto 1980…

I was the second biggest draw at the club after MARTHA & THE MUFFINS. The club held 150 people and even the band THE POLICE had only attracted 35 people to what was their fifth gig ever. I asked to do a week-long show which I decided to call ‘The St. Valentine’s Week Massacre’. It played from Monday to Sunday night, the Thursday being St. Valentine’s Day, February 14th.

For the second part of my set I changed into a grey pinstripe suit with a grey fedora. I was doing a symbolic re-enactment of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre! At the end of ‘Danger Zone’ you could hear 1930’s gangsters talking and then gunfire on the backing tape.

Meanwhile, I jumped off the stage and as the music and gunfire continued, I pulled a blank-gun from my vest and began shooting at the stage at my imaginary assailants. I escaped through the crowd back to the dressing room, firing all the way. To say the least, it was dramatic and went down a storm.

Today, I would be arrested for carrying a concealed weapon and sued for causing extreme emotional trauma! I had no idea then, that I would be offered the gig to open for Gary Numan at The Toronto Music Hall on the following Monday.

On opening for Gary Numan…

This was my first big tour and I loved it. I was somewhere in age between Gary and his dad Tony and the whole family on the road thing suited my personality. Beryl was the tour mom and it felt nice to be part of their personal family dynamic.

His mum and dad weren’t prudish and didn’t tut tut over people doing strange rock ‘n’ roll things – they knew what it was about. I was just another performer whom Beryl wanted to make sure looked his best on stage. She would send my stage-clothes along with everyone else’s to the dry cleaners.

I wasn’t that familiar with Gary’s music when we first set out. I’d heard ‘Cars’ and ‘Down In The Park’ but I didn’t know his other TUBEWAY ARMY stuff but I certainly got a quick lesson in it! I really did love the music and I still love it today. Not everything that Gary’s done has been that memorable but I think that period of time when he was writing those tunes was just killer stuff.

On touring the UK…

I didn’t think twice about it if I’m honest. For me, the UK was all about the intensity. I’d already established myself opening for Gary at big venues on the North American tour.

I was just pleased to be playing to these rabid British crowds. In North America, the audiences were good but at the same time, they were just getting into Gary.

When I got to England, his crowd were already well established and enthusiastic to say the least. They were also very respectful of me in the opening slot so that was very nice.

Photo by Paul Till

The only low point for me on the tour was having my mandolins stolen from the Hammersmith Odeon. As we were doing two consecutive nights there, the equipment was left set-up on the stage overnight. Unfortunately for us, someone broke in and stole three of Gary’s keyboards, a few guitars and my mandolins. Keyboards and guitars were relatively easy to replace but custom-built electric
mandolins were a different matter.

Scotland Yard came to the venue to take statements from everyone. They got a police artist to do a drawing of my mandolins and showed the picture on the TV on a show called ‘Crimewatch’. I managed to get by using a cheap electric mandolin I found in a shop in London.

I managed to modify it so that it sounded half-decent. My mandolins eventually turned up four months later in a park. They were found by a little old lady walking her dogs and luckily, weren’t seriously damaged.

On signing to Dinsdisc and recording with Gary Numan…

After the tour, I stayed on in London and managed to get a deal with Dindisc who were a subsidiary of Virgin. I went in the studio in December 1980 and recorded the album ‘Children Of The Night’. In January 1981 I was doing my own one-man shows in London and I got a call from Gary. “How would you like to play on my new album ‘Dance’?” I went to the studio and met Gary and QUEEN’s Roger Taylor and the three of us sat around and mucked about on the piano and came up with some ideas.

I’d been forewarned about the phenomenon of QUEEN and their status but it turned out that Roger Taylor was totally non-pretentious. I found him to be a really nice guy. Although it was fun to play on the tracks, I don’t think ‘Dance’ was one of Gary’s strongest albums. Considering its title, the LP just doesn’t make me want to DANCE! I found it all too laid back for my tastes. It was as if Gary wanted to sound like the band JAPAN which frankly, I can’t stand.

We were recording the ‘Dance’ album in February 1981 and not long after that, Gary became busy formulating his big farewell concert at Wembley. Knowing I was available, Gary asked me to be part of it. Gary said to me “I don’t want you to be the opening act, I want you to be in the band”.

On performing with Gary Numan…

It was still a lot of work though and as I remember, the big film studio we were rehearsing in had no heating and April that year was particularly cold. The crew brought in these giant heaters for us that looked like jet engines but they barely made any difference. I remember we rehearsed every day for a week. When you have such a monstrous stage show, you can imagine the amount of preparation needed.

My part was to stand on-top of the massive rig and play ‘Cry, The Clock Said’, (reprising my role from the new album) and then my big moment would be to come running out onto the stage for ‘The Joy Circuit’ and join the rest of the band with my violin. We did three nights but the last was just a bit more special and would definitely be one of those unforgettable moments for me.

On the UK music press…

It’s wonderful that Britain has a passionate music press but on the other hand they can take their role too seriously. There’s the praising you one week and crucifying you the next. I think that has a lot to do with power tripping. I became aware of the bad press Gary was getting when I got over there and started to tour with him.

I think there was a lot of jealousy in the industry at the time. I noticed it being bantered about at Virgin and Dindisc in general conversation. It seemed that anytime I went into those offices and we’d be talking about electronic pop music, if Gary’s name came up the reaction would be “Gary Numan’s just a poser, a w*nker, you know a David Bowie wannabe…” and all that stuff. I would just reply “Yeah but he’s had hit songs; what about you?”

I’ve always been offended by the term “one-hit-wonder”. Not from the perspective to condescend to these people but to say to people who comment “well what f*cking hit did you ever have?”

One hit is more than nothing. I wish I was a one hit wonder! Gary certainly rose above that, I think he was bugged by the slagging personally, (I know I sure as hell was) but regardless, he rose above it. He just got on with doing what he does.

On his impact in the UK…

It was great to have the opportunity to come back and play in the UK in 2008. I had an epiphany from when I was there. What happened was that every night, these guys were coming up to me and telling me the same thing. “I was going to my very first rock concert to see my new idol Gary Numan, I was 14 years old and what’s the first thing I see? Not Gary Numan but this guy in white tails, top hat and bandages playing solo electric violin and ripping my face off, and I never forgot it.”

All of these guys were telling me this 28 years later and I’m thinking, Gosh you people have a helluva memory. It wasn’t that at all… it was that I’d brainwashed them all when they were 14!

Photo by Paul Till

In memory of NASH THE SLASH 1948 – 2014

To contribute to the completion of ‘NASH THE SLASH Rises, Again!’ go to https://www.gofundme.com/f/nashtheslashrisesagain

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A selection of the NASH THE SLASH back catalogue is available via Artoffact Records from https://nashtheslash.bandcamp.com/

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Interview by Stephen Roper
Additional Text by Chi Ming Lai with thanks to Simon Helm
28 August 2024 reworked from an article originally published 25 November 2018

JOHAN AGEBJÖRN & MIKAEL ÖGREN Interview

23 August 2024 /

Photo by Liora Havstad

1982 saw the release of the Diana Ross single ‘Work That Body’ and Jane Fonda’s ‘Workout’ video which cashed-in on the phenomenon of home exercise and aerobics. On the soundtrack of the latter were disco tunes by the likes of THE JACKSONS and BROTHERS JOHNSON.

But with participants seeking a more communal experience to fitness, there was an explosion in health clubs and gyms as captured in the storyline to the Jamie Lee Curtis and John Travolta film ‘Perfect’ in 1985. People wore lycra bodysuits, headbands and legwarmers, now often ubiquitous as the retro fancy dress image of “The 80s” and leading to the midlife Peloton pop of today.

Almost simultaneously, the New Age movement was blossoming using downtempo and ambient music for inspiration, relaxation and optimism during yoga, massage and meditation. Such was its expansion that Tower Records in Mountain View, California introduced a “New Age” section in 1981 while major labels like Geffen Records signed artists such as Japanese electronic composer Kitaro and American crossover jazz musician Pat Metheny to capitalise.

Inspired by the music and exercise tapes of that period, and in tribute to those times, Swedish producers Johan Agebjörn and Mikael Ögren present ‘Dynamic Movements – Music for Exercise & Relaxation’. Agebjörn is best known for his work in Sally Shapiro and has made two ambient albums ‘We Never Came To The White Sea’ and ‘Artefact’ with Ögren over the last few years.

“Sometimes throbbing and at other times gently lapping at your toes”, the result is a limited edition cassette contrasting ‘music for exercise’ on side A and ‘music for relaxation’ on side B. But ‘Dynamic Movements – Music for Exercise & Relaxation’ has an interesting concept, in that other than the inclusion of their 2020 single ‘A Tribute To Florian Schneider’, the tape is made up of remixes and reworkings of their cosmic Scando-disco  track ‘Dynamic Dance’. These have been provided by musicians and producers from around the world to create an album of diverse interpretations and deep sonic nourishment.

In their happy place, Johan Agebjörn and Mikael Ögren spoke to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about making ‘Dynamic Movements’.

Photo by Lasse Nilsson

How did you first come to be aware of each other and then work together?

Johan: We were neighbours between 2011 and 2018, but it took a few years until we became friends and discovered our common musical taste in 90s electronic music (techno, IDM, ambient etc), and still a few years before we started to make music together. The first track we made was a remix for TOMMY ‘86 ‘Aurora’, that was in 2015. It went so well that we started to work on our first album.

Mikael: I think it started out with Johan borrowing one of my synths and then we just thought it could be a trip trying a collab together. And that most certainly was the case.

Which was, at that time, your favourite piece of music by the other?

Mikael: Back then, I really hadn’t released that much, and I wasn´t familiar with Johan´s music. But as soon as I started exploring his discography I instantly got sucked into his more ambient soundscapes. His ambient releases ‘Mossebo’ and ‘The Mountain Lake’ in particular, are albums that were an inspiration to me.

Was there any “synth envy”, did one of you have a piece of equipment that the other didn’t have and was fascinated by?

Johan: If there is one of Mikael’s synths that I would like to own then it would be the Roland JD-800. Our ambient music would not sound the same without that synth, it has such a calming mellow sound. Some pad sounds from it that Mikael has programmed have been used for some Sally Shapiro tracks as well.

Mikael: Well, ever since I heard Johan’s stunningly beautiful ‘Swimming Through The Blue Lagoon’, I´ve had a special eye for the Casio MT-52. The things he does with that home keyboard sound! Such an inspiration to me, and a reminder that it´s not always the fancy Stradivarius of synths that does the trick.

Photo by Lasse Nilsson

In terms of your creative dynamic, do you compose together from the bottom up or is it remotely?

Johan: Since we live in the same city, there is always at least one session where we work on a track together, either from scratch or based on some idea that I or Mikael have. Usually it’s me who then makes the final mix. We both compose, and if we have different production roles then Mikael is leaning more towards sound synthesis and I more towards arrangement and mixing.

Mikael: It´s funny, because more than one time, a collab has started out with me sitting in my studio noodling around and then Johan shows up from nowhere asking “Hey, what’s this?” and we start off from that point. Usually, Johan has such skills refining our studio sessions, that I rarely have that much to do with the final steps of the process.

How do you look back on the two albums you have made together so far ‘We Never Came To The White Sea’ and ‘Artefact’?

Johan: We are proud ha ha 🙂 It’s cool that both of these are concept albums with a soundtrack vibe. ‘We Never Came’ is a soundtrack to a road trip to Russian Karelia. ‘Artefact’ is a soundtrack to the novel ‘Rendezvous With Rama’ by Arthur C Clarke. ‘We Never Came’ is more warm and nature romantic, ‘Artefact’ is more cold and spacey.

Mikael: It’s been a beautiful ride completing these two concept albums. Whereas ‘We Never Came’ was more of a “building the road while we travel it” kind of project, we had kind of an ultimate aim with ‘Artefact’ (since it was based on Clarke´s beautiful novel). Both projects were exciting processes to work together on.

Photo by Lasse Nilsson

In 2020, you did a re-edit of PET SHOP BOYS ‘The Man Who Has Everything’ which was from the ‘Relentless’ bonus album that came with ‘Very’, was there any particular reason for this?

Johan: ‘The Man Who Has Everything’ is my favourite track from ‘Relentless’ and actually one of my favourite PET SHOP BOYS tracks overall. I thought the production of the original could be a bit updated and I also got some musical ideas playing on one of Mikael’s programmed Schulze-like sounds on the JD-800. We took these ideas and added some drums and a bassline from the Alesis Micron. This was during a period when we didn’t work on any other musical projects, so it was just a spontaneous in-between thing that we were so happy with that we gave it an unofficial release.

Mikael: Both I and Johan are long time PSB fans (even though Johan is much more of a hardcore fan than me). And I think the one thing we both fancy with this relatively unknown release is its more dark and melancholic approach. Both of us are kind of “minor” rather than “major” guys, so it was exciting to experiment with this one.

The new album ‘Dynamic Movements – Music for Exercise & Relaxation’ has two distinct moods, what was the idea behind this?

Johan: The project rotates around the track ‘Dynamo Dance’ and different interpretations of that one, and since that track has both nu-disco and ambient qualities (a one-minute ambient intro followed by a dance arrangement), it fit very well for being interpreted in both dancey and chilly ways. So it was a perfect departure for the idea of an exercise tape where you can exercise to side A and chill / stretch to side B!

Was there a Swedish equivalent of the Jane Fonda Workout or Jamie Lee Curtis’ ‘Perfect’ film?

Mikael: Actually, the big work out icon in Sweden was Susanne Lanefelt. She appeared regularly in her work out programs on public television (back in the day, there only existed two channels in Swedish television, and they were both public service). You could say that she was a perky, considerably more commonplace counterpart to Jane Fonda´s significantly more exotic, sexy and suggestive persona. But to me as an 11 year old boy, I found Susanne´s shows kind of arousing and the music pretty exciting.

Photo by Lasse Nilsson

‘Dynamo Dance’ is now out as a single, what inspired it and in particular, the slinky sax passage?

Mikael: ‘Dynamo Dance’ is a new musical direction for us. We have mostly worked on ambient music before, as well as some excursions to 90s trance. This single is something different, more like Norwegian space disco, but still with our trademark of mighty soundscapes. Actually, we played live on a festival in Norway in 2023, and were inspired by the space disco we heard there.

Johan: We thought the track needed “something else”, and for a while we considered turning it into a vocal track, but we decided to keep it more of an instrumental dancefloor track and instead a section with some funky solos, first a sax solo and then a synth solo. We asked my long-time friend / collaborator Steve Moore to play a saxophone solo for it. He has played the sax a few times in tracks I’ve been involved in already – on his Sally Shapiro ‘Down This Road’ remix and on the Sally Shapiro ‘Rent’ remix by NICOLAAS – so the choice came naturally.

The other tracks on ‘Dynamic Movements’ are remixes and reinterpretations by other artists and producers which is an interesting approach, did you give them a brief or were they given a totally free rein including the titles used?

Johan: We wanted these interpretations to work together as a compilation album, so we asked them to divert quite a lot from the original and to keep it danceable for side A and chilly / ambient for side B. The titles were decided together, sometimes the ideas came from us and sometimes from the artist.

Mikael: Yeah, and we’re happy that we gave them a lot of freedom to do their own interpretations. In that way it was easier to avoid that their contributions went down a more generic road with less space for artistic room for manoeuvre. The result was exciting to say the least.

How did you choose each of the artists?

Mikael: To me, several of the artists have been true inspirations, and their contributions to the release has been an honour for us. For example I’ve been an admirer of Dr Atmo’s work since the early 90s, and many of the releases of Patricia Wolf have been touching me on a deeper level. Jarle Bråthen we met when we performed on a Norwegian festival, and felt like an obvious artist to include on this specific release. Every single artist in this project are producers who, each and everyone, has contributed with one important piece to ‘Dynamic Movements’ with their own unique characters and approach.

Johan: We chose the artists in close collaboration with Jon Tye of Lo Recordings (who is also 50% of SEAHAWKS, so that selection came naturally) with the aim to be of high artistic quality and fitting for the project and for the Lo Recordings sound. Steve Moore / Lovelock is a longtime collaborator / remixer for both my solo work and Sally Shapiro. CAUSEWAY is a label mate from Italians Do it Better. It was also nice to ask some artists from the new ambient scene (Mary Yalex and One Million Eyes) on the A Strangely Isolated Place label.

Photo by Lasse Nilsson

You have included a previous single ‘A Tribute To Florian Schneider’ from 2020 on the album, how did this fit into the concept, or was it just too good a track to not get a wider audience for?

Mikael: Since this is one of our favourite productions, we always felt that it deserved more love and attention than was the case when it was dropped. In addition, we think that one of the icons that by far has been the greatest inspiration to us, really deserves as much tribute and acclaims as ever possible.

Johan: In addition to this, including the track made the project reach exactly 32 minutes on each side of the tape. On cassettes, it’s always a challenge to avoid a few minutes of silence at the end of the side… so it felt like fate wanted it to be included!

Is there a conceptual reason that ‘Dynamic Movements’ is a cassette only release in the physical realm?

Johan: Since the project is clearly divided into two halves, it felt like a must to release it on a medium with two sides, like cassette or LP. A cassette release fits very well in tradition with “exercise tapes” of the 70s and 80s.

What is next for you both, individually and together?

Mikael: Together, Johan and I have three new ambient tracks pretty finalized – two of them will appear on Johan’s forthcoming ambient album, the third one will most likely be released as a single. There´s also a nice deal of other projects that calls for my attention. I´ve produced an electronic interpretation of a classic Bach masterpiece that´s in the final mixing stage and will drop in late 2024. Furthermore there´s an old school acid trance collaboration that I aim to release further ahead. In addition to that there´s a number of parallel productions that I´m about to give the final touch. These are truly exciting and productive times.

Johan: I’m currently focusing on finishing the new Sally Shapiro album, which is currently in mixing stage (actually Mikael has co-produced two of the tracks on it). I’m also working on a new ambient album which is about 90% finished, but moving forward quite slowly – that one will be my first solo album with completely new material in about ten years. Before those two albums, I’m releasing an EP with the synthwave singer Yota in early October (on 12” via Keytar Records), the first single from it ‘Universe In Flames’ is already released.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Johan Agebörn and Mikael Ögren

‘Dynamic Movements – Music for Exercise & Relaxation’ is released on limited edition cassette and didgital formats via Lo Recordings, available direct from https://agebjorn.bandcamp.com/album/dynamic-movements-music-for-exercise-relaxation

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Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
23 August 2024

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