Category: Introducing (Page 16 of 26)

Introducing BLACK NAIL CABARET

23 May 2015 /

Fresh from supporting German veterans CAMOUFLAGE on their recent tour are Hungarian duo BLACK NAIL CABARET. Having previously supported COVENANT and DE/VISION, the pair have been impressing audiences with their brooding form of electro.

Hailing from Budapest, Emese Illes-Arvai (vocals) and Sophie Tarr (keyboards) formed in 2008 and one of their first recordings was a darkwave cover of RIHANNA’s ‘Umbrella’. They released their debut album ‘Emerald City’ in 2012 with one of the highlights being the gothic trance pop of ‘Hangman’ and the single ‘Veronica’.

Unleashed last Autumn as a taster for their second album ‘Harry Me, Marry Me, Bury Me, Bite Me’, ‘Satisfaction’ is a magnificently moody example of how BLACK NAIL CABARET have made a sonic leap forward since their debut.

While the darkness remains, there is clarity amongst the melancholy as the lyrical couplet “Don’t you cry, don’t be whiney” demonstrates. Like DEPECHE MODE reimagined for a Weimar Cabaret set piece, ‘Satisfaction’ is wonderful synth noir laced with eerie string machine and a steadfast mechanical beat.

The new album develops on the promise of ‘Emerald City’ by being stern and unsmiling, yet embroiled in cautious optimism. This is best represented by the vibrant Marilyn Monroe tribute ‘Blonde’ which attaches some Casiotone bleeps to a template that is akin to THE CURE gone synthpop.

The appealing European melancholy of ‘Lovely Girl’ is bolstered by pizzicato violins and fizzy electronics while the Schaffel flavoured ‘Down Again’ will connect with anyone whose favourite track on ‘Delta Machine’ was ‘Should Be Higher’.

BLACK NAIL CABARET’s rich character undoubtedly comes from the deep vocal tones of Emese Illes-Arvai, but without Sophie Tarr’s intuitive backing, they would not have the sympathetic backdrop to prosper, as the solemn Gregorian allure of the excellent album closer ‘The Burial Party’ proves. It is a rather good period for dark female duos at the moment.

‘Harry Me, Marry Me, Bury Me, Bite Me’ is released by Basic Unit Productions on CD and download, available from http://basicunitproductions.bandcamp.com/

http://www.blacknailcabaret.com/

https://www.facebook.com/bncband/

https://twitter.com/Black_Nails

https://www.instagram.com/bncband/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Zsolt Ficsor and Josef Stapel
23rd May 2015

Introducing SYNTHDECADE

9 May 2015 /


SYNTHDECADE formed in Frankfurt in October 2012, going straight into the studio with an idea to produce an album which would revolutionise the “Electronic Pop music sector”.

Bred on the likes of DEPECHE MODE, CAMOUFLAGE and DE/VISION, and quoting those as their main influences, the trio promise to turn out pieces that will be difficult to resist, if what you like is the darker electronica.

They like to describe themselves as the Next Generation of Synth and define their production as modern, creative and melancholic, yet danceable. The band consists of Sean Dexter, who is in charge of programming and keyboards, Rick Pleasant on vocals and Marc Renard on keyboards. Signed up by 15c Avenue, two songs have been issued already with corresponding videos.

‘Lighten Up The Darkness’ was out on 12th January this year, featuring elements borrowed from DEPECHE MODE’s ‘Dream On’ video, presenting the band clad in dark leather and looking beyond cool, as well as incorporating a beautiful, mysterious blonde. Musically, elements of CAMOUFLAGE’s influence are clearly palpable, making this a rather engaging and striking tune.

The latest single ‘Facing My Fears’ was released on 24th April, and, again, opens with an elegant synth sequence and vocals resembling those of CAMOUFLAGE’s Marcus Meyn. Like a quasi ‘Enjoy The Silence’, the stark video features a blackened background with marching soldiers in a scene reminiscent of ‘People Are People’ and creates a perfect background to this highly competent song.

The impressive production on both numbers stresses the studio skills of Sean Dexter and promises a rather inviting proposition to those who love the likes of DEPECHE MODE and CAMOUFLAGE. Hopefully the upcoming album ‘Syndicator’ will have innovative elements of its own, something which SYNTHDECADE are surely capable of.

‘Facing My Fears’ is released as a digital single by 15c Avenue

http://www.synthdecade.de/

https://www.facebook.com/Synthdecade

Text by Monika Izabela Goss
9th May 2015

Introducing RODNEY CROMWELL

23 March 2015 /

Back in 2009, ARTHUR & MARTHA released ‘Navigation’, a promising debut album by the quirky duo of Adam Cresswell and Alice Hubley.

The highlight was ‘Autovia’, a synthetically motorik soundtrack that was ideal for motorway journeys north of Watford Gap.

Although the pair have been silent since then, Adam Cresswell has remerged as RODNEY CROMWELL, a solo project inspired by Belgian artist Stromae and centred around vintage synthesizers and old drum machines. But the lo-fi aesthetic of ARTHUR & MARTHA is still very much in evidence on the debut album ‘Age Of Anxiety’.

“For about six months this was going to be the second ARTHUR & MARTHA record” Cresswell told ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK, “the sounds are all made on the same collection of synths. There is the same simple approach to song-writing; why use two chords when you can use one, as long as there is plenty of melody”

Although the title may seem a little heavy, its calling card ‘Barry Was An Arms Dealer’ is an upbeat number with references to the Cold War and THE SILICON TEENS. “I just wanted an excuse to rhyme the words ‘love’ and ‘Kalashnikov’” recalled Cresswell, “ in fact it started as a one chord Krautock drone thing until I reluctantly introduced the second chord. The idea of using the name Barry came from my two year old son who randomly shouts out the name Barry all the time. It seemed like a good electro-synthpop name to use, a-la Barry from ADD N to X. Although I don’t know him and I’m sure he’s not an arms dealer too!”

Incidentally, one of the album’s highlights ‘You Will Struggle’ features a duet with Alice Hubley, now a member of COSINES, indicating the wind-down of ARTHUR & MARTHA was amicable. “I hated the whole emerging MySpace driven social networking self-promotion aspect of being in a band too. I’ve never wanted to connect with my people, being aloof and difficult is so much more fun, even if it is an act. Alice loves gigging though, so she rightly moved onto other projects rather than wait for me to sort myself out”. The pair sing together again on the album’s lengthy but tremendous closer ‘Black Dog’ which recalls SECTION 25.

Meanwhile the sombre and aptly solitary ‘Fax Message Breakup’ features the sort of mournful melodica and doomy six string that embellished many an early NEW ORDER record.

But ‘Age Of Anxiety’ is not all about vocals or doom, as the pretty and bouncy instrumental ‘Baby Robot’ demonstrates.

The remainder of the album is a must for those who like their synthpop lo-fi but with tunes. “I just didn’t want to sound like every other autotuned soft-synth electro-pop record …” says Cresswell, ”the vocals might not always be pitch perfect, the guitars and synths a bit rough round the edges, but those records got soul!”

‘Age Of Anxiety’ is released by Happy Robots and available as a CD or download via https://rodneycromwell.bandcamp.com/

https://www.happyrobots.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/rodneycromwellartist/

https://twitter.com/robot_rocker

Text by Chi Ming Lai
23rd March 2014

Introducing TRAIN TO SPAIN

10 March 2015 /


First spotted sharing a stage with PAGE and MACHINISTA at Cold War Night Life’s ‘An Evening With The Swedish Synth’ last March, promising Gothenburg synthpop duo TRAIN TO SPAIN are finally set to release their debut album.

Named after a lyric from THE HUMAN LEAGUE’s ‘The Things That Dreams Are Made Of’, synthmeister Jonas Rasmusson has been making music for a while as TRAIN TO SPAIN.

Having previously used a variety of different singers since 2001, he subsequently met “a girl on a boat” and recruited the sultry Helena Wigeborg as vocalist. Combining their love of DEPECHE MODE and LADYTRON, the journey got underway again for TRAIN TO SPAIN.

The first single is the steadfast ‘Keep On Running’, a wonderfully melodic number driven by thumping synth drums and a solid octave shift bassline that allows Wigeborg’s raspy voice to run free like a female fronted version of BRONSKI BEAT.

In variations to the theme, TRAIN TO SPAIN’s developing brand of uptempo, energetic pop utilises classic synthesizer sounds in the vein of Vince Clarke and a metronomic rhythm structure akin to the 1985 ‘Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder’ album. These are best represented by the crashingly immediate ‘Blip Bop’ and the enticingly uplifting ‘All About’.

Coming over like LANA DEL REY fronting YAZOO, Wigeborg’s cooingly vulnerable vocals on ‘Passion’ let rip on a suitably complimentary electronic backbone from Rasmusson. And for the B-side of their first single release, ‘Passion’ has been superbly remixed by MACHINISTA for some beefy gothic disco goodness.

The release of ‘Keep On Running’ ends a period of uncertainty for the pair following business upheavals at the record label they had originally signed to following ‘An Evening With The Swedish Synth.

It would have been a shame if this material had not seen the light of day so thankfully, TRAIN TO SPAIN’s first album is now slated for a Spring 2015 release via Sub Culture Records, the Norwegian label that recently issued the single ‘Activity Of Sound’ by iEUROPEAN featuring WOLFGANG FLÜR.

The single ‘Keep On Running’ b/w ‘Passion (Machinista Club Remix)’ is available via the usual digital outlets

http://www.traintospain.se/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Train-To-Spain/252355014792419

Text by Chi Ming Lai
10th March 2015

Introducing AZAR SWAN

29 November 2014 /

Azar Swan

Kate Bush’s return to live performance this year has highlighted the debt owned to her by any number of female fronted musical projects. THE KNIFE take their lead from Bush’s uncompromising stances while GOLDFRAPP’s avant pop instincts show that while Ms Bush pushed boundaries, she had tunes as well.

More recently, the kooky demeanour of the lady who came up with ‘Babooshka’ has also been omnipresent in Sweden’s IAMAMIWHOAMI but the more epic, gothic overtones of Bush’s work have now appeared in a new Brooklyn based electro duo called AZAR SWAN.

Comprising of Zohra Atash and Joshua Strawn, AZAR SWAN’s drum machine laden, synth and sample assisted template dominates their second album ‘And Blow Us A Kiss’. The immediately appealing title track is a dance friendly death rattle with a beautifully feline vocal from Atash backed by string machine chills and sombre brass tones.

Meanwhile, the brilliant new single ‘We Hunger’ borrows melodically from GOLDFRAPP’s ‘Strict Machine’ and adds some eerie exotic vocal timbres reminiscent of KELLI ALI, whose most recent album ‘Band Of Angels’ is possibly the one most comparable with ‘And Blow Us A Kiss’.

AZAR SWAN’s other cited influences include cult industrialists FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY and Essex’s own sonic experimentalists THESE NEW PURITANS; this is quite evident in their cavernous sound. The tribal ‘Bury The Sun’ brings in contemporary sonic references such as GAZELLE TWIN and NIKI & THE DOVE while the exotic drama of ‘Kiss Of Life’ is a marvellously percussive number that comes over like a modern Bond Theme sans strings and even breaks down to percapella at various stages of the song. And with a detuned rhythmical backbone, the minimal ‘Sugar’ makes the most of Atash’s passionate voice around some rich synthesizer moods.

Benefiting from a more streamlined compositional nucleus following the frustrations of multiple musicians slowing the writing and performing process in their previous band RELIGIOUS TO DAMN, the pair’s mutually revived interest in electronic music and hip-hop has blended to form a dark but accessible hybrid that will be enjoyed by those who like their music to be brooding.

Azar Swan-and blow us a kiss‘And Blow Us A Kiss’ is released by Zoo Music in CD, LP and download formats

http://azarswan.com/

https://www.facebook.com/AzarSwan

https://twitter.com/azarswan

Text by Chi Ming Lai
29th November 2014

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