Category: Introducing (Page 15 of 25)

Introducing JØTA

12 September 2016 /

JØTA Photo by Vasil Dzhagalov

Space travel and synths were just made to go together.

JEAN-MICHEL JARRE, A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS, KOMPUTER, SISTA MANNEN PÅ JORDEN, DRAMATIS, OMD and DAVID BOWIE are just some of the acts that have musically documented those pioneering adventures. Joining this roll of honour, JØTA is the cosmic solo project of Peter J D Mason, instrumentalist with feisty synth duo BECKY BECKY.

Inspired by the Soviet Space Programme of the Cold War era, his forthcoming album ‘КОСМОС НАШ’ soundtracks the exploits of Laika The Space Dog, Alexey Leonov, Yuri Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova among others. The latter pair were respectively of course, the first man and woman in space; they are coupled together for JØTA’s second single on FEINT Records.

The octave shift driven ‘Tereshkova’ recounts her trailblazing journey around the earth 48 times in 1963. Not only was she the first woman to enter space, but she was the first civilian too. The track takes a more abstract approach compared with KOMPUTER’s tribute ‘Valentina’ released in 1996.

On the B-side ‘Gagarin’, while it is neither the first or even the second instrumental to be conceived around the legend of Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, it is a goody and the trancey template goes well with the visuals borrowed from the film ‘Gagarin: First In Space’.

When asked about why he found the exploits of the Soviet Space Programme more fascinating than those of NASA, Mason said: “I’ve always had a soft spot for the Soviets, as they had the great ‘firsts’ of the Space Race. The first satellite, first animal, first man, first woman, first spacewalk, even the first casualty with the tragic story of Vladimir Komarov who knew he wasn’t coming back to Earth alive, yet chose to go to save Gagarin…” 

Laika+Gagarin

The JØTA mission controller added: “Most people just don’t know these names, these achievements so it felt right to honour them”.

And it’s not just cosmonauts that interest Mason. JØTA’s debut single ‘Korolev’ was a celebration of the leading Soviet rocket engineer and spacecraft designer who mastermined the Sputnik and Vostok programmes.

Swathed in swoops, buzzes and bleeps, JØTA is danceable electronica that uses synth hooks rather than beats as its main focal point.

‘Tereshkova’ b/w ‘Gagarin’ is released by FEINT Records as a download single via http://feintrecords.com/shop

JØTA live dates include: Brighton The Hope & Ruin (16th September with SOCCER96 + MERLIN TONTO), OSC at the Brighton Digital Festival (22nd September + talk), Brighton The Joker (15th October)

https://www.facebook.com/J0TAmuzk/

https://twitter.com/Jota_mzk

https://soundcloud.com/jotamuzk

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photo by Vasil Dzhagalov
12th September 2016

Introducing ANI GLASS

29 June 2016 /

Forget football, it would seem Wales are beating England in the new avant electro stakes too.

ANI GLASS is the stage persona of Cardiff-based musician Ani Saunders. She is the younger sister of acclaimed songstress GWENNO. Like her sibling, ANI GLASS sings in her native languages of Welsh and Cornish. Having served her apprenticeship with girl groups GENIE QUEEN and THE PIPETTES, working with Andy McCluskey and Martin Rushent respectively along the way, Ani was a member of indie band THE LOVELY WARS before releasing her first solo single ‘Ffôl’ ( ‘Foolish’) in 2015.

Recalling London’s PAWWS, ‘Ffôl’ was a pleasant opening gambit with a tinge of electro R’n’B, Cymru style. Its flipside ‘Little Things’ was a multi-lingual Eurodisco anthem in the making, full of simultaneous joy and melancholy.

But the brilliant new single ‘Y Ddawns’ (‘The Dance’) is a wonderfully exhilarating pop art adventure. Produced by W H Dyfodol, the song is a rallying call for those seeking inspiration in language and art.

Deeply voiced in the verse with a gorgeous soaring resonance in the chorus and bridge, the lyrics refer to “finding solace and meaning in music, dance, art and culture”. Swathed in synths and driven by a metronomic beat, ‘Y Ddawns’ is a declaration of hope, something much needed in these turbulent, uncertain times.

With more material on the way, ANI GLASS is currently working on an EP inspired by Welsh artist Ivor Davies and his exhibition ‘Ffrwydrad Tawel’ (‘Silent Explosion’).

Ani Glass - Y Ddawns (photo by Rhodri Brooks)‘Y Ddawns’ is available as a download single from https://aniglass.bandcamp.com/

ANI GLASS 2016 live dates include Cardiff Castle’s Tafwyl Fair on 2nd July and the Swn Festival on 23rd October

https://www.facebook.com/aniglasscymru/

https://twitter.com/Ani_Glass

https://www.instagram.com/ani_glass/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Rhodri Brooks
29th June 2016

Introducing THE HEARING

20 April 2016 /

Over at The Finland Station, Helsinki-based musician Ringa Manner has been making crystalline sine waves with her project THE HEARING.

There are obvious parallels with SUSANNE SUNDFØR, as a singer / songwriter from a folk laden tradition influenced by Freddie Mercury and Kate Bush, slowly developing with enhanced technological support and innovation. Like MARSHEAUX, THE HEARING has also opened for 30 SECONDS TO MARS. Her debut album, ‘Dorian’, was released in Finland in 2013 by Gaea Records. The solemn but frantically percussive ‘Wohu Wohu’ was a good representation of her initial template while ’Sands’ utilised synths and drum machine.

Now signed to Solina Records, home of SIN COS TAN, ‘Backwards’ from the new album ‘Adrian’ is a great bleep forward. Romantic and dreamy, yet harmonically tense in the way that makes Nordic electronic pop so intriguing, ‘Backwards’ sets the tone for ‘Adrian’ with an expanded palette of synths, soaring pop melodies and busy rhythm construction.

‘Straight Teeth’, the opening song on Adrian’ is sharp with profanity, while a stark arpeggio provides the backbone for the sub-bass laden ‘Rehearsal’. Both ‘Too Happy’ and ‘Color Code’ are songs of many intricate layers that recall GRIMES and THE KNIFE respectively before the lively percussive chant of the album’s title track.

But the highlight is the sub-eight minute ‘Kabeldon’, the most frantically electronic item on the album and perhaps the one with the closest affinity SUSANNE SUNDFØR’s more recent work with bows to DAVID BOWIE’s ‘I’m Deranged’. A mad cascading piano kicks in alongside the steadily building drum ‘n’ bass cacophony of noise before it all slows down into an eloquent Nordic dubstep ballad!

After all that, there comes the comparatively conventional and sweet Scandipop of ‘Faint’ while the dramatic closing number ‘I Dream Of Demian’ wouldn’t sound out of place on an IAMAMIWHOAMI long player. A worthy sophomore offering, ‘Adrian’ paves the way for THE HEARING to make even further artistic gains; after all, SUSANNE SUNDFØR’s international breakthrough ‘Ten Love Songs’ was her fifth album proper.

‘Adrian’ is released by Solina Records as a vinyl LP and download on 22nd April 2016

The HEARING plays The Great Escape in Brighton on 20th and 21st May 2016

http://altagency.fi/artists/the-hearing/

https://www.facebook.com/Ringasofi/

http://solinarecords.com/the-hearing/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
20th April 2016

Introducing JOHAN BAECKSTRÖM

17 March 2016 /

Johan Baeckström has been an active writer and producer of electronic music for several decades.

It was 1994 when he started his project DAILY PLANET with vocalist Jarmo Ollila. Hailed as the top voice of electronica, Ollila’s distinctive tones featured on two albums that the band released, even though there had been an 18 year break between them. In 2015 Baeckström outed his solo project ‘Like Before’; an analogue gem, which brought upon him comparisons to Vince Clarke himself.

ERASURE inspired indeed, the original mix of ‘Like Before’ brings back the likes of sweetly synthesised tracks from ‘I Say, I Say, I Say’; with a competent vocal from the man himself, proving that he, too, can hold his own as the main singer.

Songs like ‘Come With Me’, ‘Great Unknown’ and ‘Running Away From Myself’ maintained the standard on a very promising debut that also included a blippy cover of RATIONAL YOUTH’s ‘Saturdays In Silesia’. A label mate of KITE, March 2016 marks the return of the Swedish wizard with the ‘Like Before’ EP, featuring four versions of the title track, as well as a cover of WHITE DOOR’s ‘Jerusalem’.

‘Jerusalem’ gently envelops the proficient vocal with an adequate number of synth sounds, before three further remixes of ‘Like Before’ produced by DELAYKLINIKEN, WAVE IN HEAD and QUANTUM SYMPHONICS respectively, show off an efficient concoction of electrifying elements.

This short and sweet production will certainly appeal to the fans of DAILY PLANET, but should hopefully introduce new listeners to Baeckström’s endeavours, and deservedly so. Has Sweden done it again?! Yes! Yes, they have 🙂

The ‘Like Before’ album and EP are both released by Progress Productions

https://www.facebook.com/bstrommusic/

https://twitter.com/bstrommusic

http://www.progress-productions.com/

Text by Monika Izabela Goss
17th March 2016

Introducing KALEIDA

7 March 2016 /

London based duo KALEIDA first gained wider attention while supporting Róisín Murphy on her 2015 European tour.

Some have compared vocalist Christina Wood and synthesist Cicely Goulder to PURITY RING, AUSTRA and LADYTRON. ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK thinks their brooding demeanour is more akin to BLACK NAIL CABARET, EMIKA and early EURYTHMICS.

Formed in 2013, Goulder had been working in the film industry and her contacts no doubt helped KALEIDA’s first single ‘Think’ to be considered for inclusion on the soundtrack of the 2014 noir action thriller ‘John Wick’, starring Keanu Reeves. With hints vocally of LONDON GRAMMAR and KOSHEEN, the thoughtful synthpop approach of ‘Think’ contrasted the violence it accompanied. It became the title track to their eventual EP issued in April 2015.

From it, the almost spritely ‘Tropea’ maintained the standard of ‘Think’, with a bass synth motif seemingly borrowed from the middle section Jean-Michel Jarre’s ‘Second Rendez-Vous’. Meanwhile ‘Aliaa’, a tribute to women’s rights activist Aliaa Magda Elmahdy, showcased their developing downtempo sound and a haunting drum machine driven reinterpretation of Al Green’s ‘Take Me To The River’ illustrated the breadth of their musical knowledge and a knack for inventive cover versions.

While some acts have been trying to make a big noise about themselves after just a handful of singles, KALEIDA have been biding their time, letting the music and visuals do the talking for them. They have gradually and carefully built up a mystique that provokes curiosity.

From their recently released second EP ‘Detune’, the marvellous ‘It’s Not Right’ stands head and shoulders above much of the output that has been released independently in the UK during the last 18 months. With a contemplative atmosphere providing resonance, a spike in tempo utilising sequences and variation in percussive colours provides an access point for those intrigued by KALEIDA.

The deeper stance displayed on ‘Aliaa’ makes its presence felt on the mellow title track and ‘Power’; both show a close affinity with EMIKA, with the prominent use of multi-layered voices, sub-bass and inventive percussion programming on the former. However, be prepared for a surprise with the vocal arrangement for THE CURE’s ‘A Forest’, which is almost from the folk tradition and barely recognisable from the original.

KALEIDA are in the studio to record their debut album for 2017 release. Based on the evidence of the two EPs so far, it will be eagerly anticipated.

‘Detune’ is released as digital EP by Lex Records, available from http://shop.lexrecords.com/products/detune-ep

https://www.kaleidamusic.com/

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

https://soundcloud.com/kaleidamusic

https://kaleida.bandcamp.com/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
7th March 2016

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