Category: Introducing (Page 17 of 25)

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

Introducing LIEBE

21 August 2014 /

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK have just returned from a visit to Undo Records HQ in Athens.

One of the acts they discussed were LIEBE, a Greek electro disco duo comprising George Begas and Dimos Zachariadis who coincidentally released their second album ‘Somewhere in Time’ on Undo back in 2012. Hailing from the Hellenic art capital Thessaloniki, LIEBE released their debut album ‘Club Royal’ in 2010 on Planetworks.

Their sound really does hark back to somewhere in time when Giorgio Moroder and Bobby Orlando were models of dancefloor cool, sitting on that difficult bridge between pastiche and post-modern. Brilliant songs such as ‘Strangers’, ‘Another Story’ and ‘Flamingo Nights’ all highlight the pairing’s love of synthpop and Italo, both much maligned music forms in the eyes of hipsters.

But whatever retrospective tendencies LIEBE have, what Begas and Zachariadis do is fun, melodic and danceable but with a tinge of melancholy… and they do it with panache and style, as can be seen from their promo videos.

‘I Believe In You’ is LIEBE’s most recent single and the video has been gaining traction on MTV Europe. Filmed by Nikos Tsaldaris and choreographed by Nadia Koutziabasi, the visuals see four dancers practicing their art for the cameras while a monochromatically captured Begas stares upwards at the screen, looking strangely disinterested. The music ain’t bad either…imagine if PULP’s Jarvis Cocker had joined PET SHOP BOYS in 1987 and actually tried to sing instead of speak 😉

Already onto their third album, entitled ‘Airport’ and featuring ‘I Believe In You’, it continues on the sunny, synth assisted holiday vibe as showcased on ‘Somewhere in Time’. ‘Airport’ also features highlights such as ‘Save The World’, ‘Into Your Arms’ and ‘The Distance’ which reinforce why classic European pop can still have a place in people’s hearts.

LIEBE Airport‘I Believe In You’ is taken from the album ‘Airport’ released by Hawaii Records and available from iTunes

‘Somewhere in Time’ is still available as a CD via Amazon or Undo Records online shop at http://www.undorecords.com/

http://www.liebe.gr

https://www.facebook.com/pages/LIEBE-official-page/257440579094

Text by Chi Ming Lai
21st August 2014

Introducing PAWWS

9 May 2014 /
PAWWS_press_shot_credit-SIMON_WISBEY

Photo by Simon Wisbey

With LITTLE BOOTS having gone dance and LA ROUX brandishing a guitar on her forthcoming second album, there is now a vacancy for a new kooky homegrown talent to take on the female electropop challenge laid down by Norway’s ANNIE back in 2007.

One of the possible candidates is PAWWS, otherwise known to her parents as Lucy Taylor.

PAWWS is what CHVRCHES would sound like if they were an all-female concern ie a blokey free zone. Throw in some Scandipop influences plus a dose of second hand Roland JX-8P and the end result is some sweet, sugary electronically driven pop.

Certainly those on a calorie controlled diet will need to be careful. Sparkling and sprightly, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK was drawn to the coy, feline magnetism of ‘Slow Love’, a track that was the B-side of her 2013 debut single ‘Time To Say Goodbye’ while several of the team spotted her supporting HURTS.

Slightly moodier, ‘Time To Say Goodbye’ took on a more dramatic pace but was no less impactful, like LYKKE LI or IAMAMIWHOAMI on extra helium. Whether the classically trained North Londoner will last the course eventually to take on ROBYN and ANNIE or disappear into the wilderness like SUNDAY GIRL is not important right now. That her music exists and is good is all that really matters.

Her new EP ‘Sugar’ uses the short-chain, soluble carbohydrate as a metaphor for the pitfalls of love… after all, who hasn’t pursued something that may actually be harmful for you in the long term? The title track has been described “As if Kylie had worked with OMD” by The Sunday Times.

Meanwhile Lucy Taylor herself has labelled her music “upsetting disco” and ‘Give You Love’ from the EP lives up to that template. Certainly those who prefer their music with rough edges and have an aversion to female fronted synthpop will have their touch paper lit even further with the rich, smooth offerings that are ‘Sugar’ and ‘Give You Love’ 😉

‘Sugar’ is released on 16th June 2014 as a download EP by Best Fit Recordings but there will also be a limited edition 12” pink vinyl and most importantly, a CD… yes, at last, there is an artist and label who together are seeing sense and recognising there is still a demand for the silver digital discs!

The ‘Sugar’ EP is released by Best Fit Recordings

PAWWS plays The Lexington in London on Monday 12th May 2014

https://www.pawwsmusic.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/PawwsMusic

https://www.instagram.com/pawwslucy/

https://www.soundcloud.com/pawws

Text by Chi Ming Lai
9th May 2014, updated 7th July 2014

Introducing FIFI RONG

31 March 2014 /

FifiRong-01With trip-hop back in the ether thanks to the success of LONDON GRAMMAR, one lady taking a fresh, more electronic based approach to the sub-genre is Beijing born singer and musician FIFI RONG.

She first came to prominence as a member of THE TENORIONS, an all female trio created to showcase Yamaha’s then new hand held box of sequencing tricks also used by LITTLE BOOTS and EMILIE SIMON; they made an appearance on The Paul O’Grady Show in 2008.

When THE TENORIONS disbanded but under her moniker of FIFI RONG, she has been building her repertoire using a wide range of influences such as dubstep, trip hop and Chinese folk music while also name checking the likes of COCTEAU TWINS and MAZZY STAR.

She collaborated with TRICKY on his 2013 album ‘False Idols’, with the tracks ‘If Only I Knew’ and ‘Chinese Interlude’ being the end results. Meanwhile she also released her debut single ‘Over You’, a laid back soulful number that acted as a sultry platform for her versatile talent.

Her first album ‘Wrong’ came not long after and songs such as ‘Addicted To Water’ harked back to the sound of PORTISHEAD’s ‘Dummy’ but minus its claustrophobia. Meanwhile there was her own rework of her TRICKY track retitled as ‘Only If I Knew’ which was by far a more beautiful interpretation and fully exploited the song’s potential.

Now resident in London, FIFI RONG has just released a 6 track EP ‘Next Pursuit’, her first new material since ‘Wrong’. The superbly breathy title track takes on a crisper passage combining the vocal mystery of KELLI ALI and the quirkiness of MOLOKO. There’s even a touch of LANA DEL REY about it too. Crucially, it also adds in rhythmical variation, something that many trip-hoppers were inherently adverse to in their quest for that stoner vibe.

By avoiding those clichés, FIFI RONG has manifested her own dream laden underground electronica template with her hypnotic vocals as a focal point. She says her new EP “is a reinforcement of who I am, and a platform for me to set out on a musical journey toward the future and grow with it, always thriving to retain the freedom of making something new, exciting and better in one way or another”.

FifiRong-nextpursuit‘Next Pursuit’ is released on 4th April 2014 by Ditto Music as a CD or download via the usual digital outlets. The album ‘Wrong’ is available now from Amazon and Bandcamp at http://fifirong.bandcamp.com/

http://www.fifirong.com

https://www.twitter.com/fifirong

https://www.instagram.com/fifirong/

https://soundcloud.com/fifirong

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Portrait Photo by Paris Seawell
31st March 2014

Introducing QUIETER THAN SPIDERS

12 March 2014 /

Little is known about the mysterious combo QUIETER THAN SPIDERS, other than they are to have their debut album released by Anna Logue Records, home to the Anglo-German collective TWINS NATALIA, and that VILE ELECTRODES have done a remix of a forthcoming single release.

Further investigation has uncovered that QUIETER THAN SPIDERS appears to be the project of Leon Robinson-Zhang.

Piloting a brand of “Shanghai Synthpop… using home-made electronic sounds played by hand”, the first track unveiled back in 2013 was ‘Shanghai Metro’.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK reader Si Wooldridge remarked “You could put this on the last OMD album and no one would notice it was by QTS…”, but while the obvious melodic elements recall Messrs Humphreys and McCluskey’s recent return to form, the beautiful electronics certainly come with a fresh, dynamic slant on the station announcer sample laden tune.

The dreamscape of ‘Hibakusha’ merges the sounds of FOTONOVELA, SOLVENT and MICHAEL ROTHER while a modern, processed masculine twist is proof that male vocals on electronic songs do not have to be off-key monotone whines and snarls. Another positive that sets QUIETER THAN SPIDERS apart in male fronted electro is that Dave Gahan impersonations, both vocally and physically, are absent.

The simply wonderful ‘The Land Of The Lost Content’ just glides with a glacial beauty that not only is appealing to the ear, but can be danced to as well. ‘No Illusion’ keeps up the standard but has a harsher, robotic tone that is at times, reminiscent of Jyoti Mishra’s WHITETOWN.

QUIETER THAN SPIDERS are a prime example of how to get things right when starting out… compose a body of work, record the songs as well as possible, edit together some accompanying videos and let the music do the talking without spamming Facebook with some grandiose manifesto and poorly designed artwork.

A few bands could learn from this process… how can you be taken seriously if you shout like you are the best thing since sliced bread after just one song and have never played live? Funnily enough, the title ‘The Land Of The Lost Content’ seems to sums things up 😉

With thanks to Marc Schaffer at Anna Logue Records

https://www.facebook.com/QTSpiders

https://soundcloud.com/quieterthanspiders

https://www.facebook.com/annaloguerecords

Text by Chi Ming Lai
12th March 2014, updated 5th August 2015

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