Category: Live Reports (Page 32 of 38)

DUBSTAR Live at The Lexington

DUBSTAR made their triumphant comeback at The Lexington playing to an eager crowd who had been waiting in anticipation as soon as the doors opened at this quaint but purposeful pub inside the capital.

The trio of Sarah Blackwood, Steve Hillier and Chris Wilkie were making their first public appearance on stage together since reforming, although Blackwood and Wilkie have been doing low key acoustic gigs including DUBSTAR songs for a while.

This was the first full gig featuring the force of Hillier’s programmed synth backing which was very much a distinctive feature of the DUBSTAR sound, drawing in admirers at the height of the guitar dominated Britpop era. But appropriately for start the show, they opened with their cover of ‘I’m In Love With A Germen Film Star’ which relaunched this new phase of their career back in 2010. With a combination of tension and power behind her, Blackwood coyly stared out to the crowd, sympathetically interpreting this now iconic song from the post-punk era.

With updated arrangements of hit singles and fan favourites like ‘Not So Manic Now’, ‘Stars’, ‘No More Talk’, ‘St Swithin’s Day’ and ‘Anywhere’, DUBSTAR pleased the crowd no-end and affectionate singalongs from them were signatures of their approval. Some additional fluid bass playing by Hillier on several of the songs also added a further freshness to the variation.

Having departed CLIENT in 2011 to focus on DUBSTAR’s return, what is quite apparent in Blackwood delivery on these types of songs is that it’s more Morrissey than Morrison. Add in Wilkie’s six string interplay and if it wasn’t for Hillier’s electronic gloss, these kitchen sink dramas could almost be like a female fronted version of THE SMITHS. The resigned tone of ‘Just A Girl She Said’ was a perfect example of that with echoes of the Mancunian quartet’s ‘That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore’. Indeed, Blackwood has performed ‘Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before’ at her gigs with Wilkie so the connection is not all that surprising.

One of Blackwood’s endearing appeals is her Northern lass charm and down-to-earth vulnerability. And this was there for all to witness during ‘I Lost A Friend’.

She simply could not hold the tears back as she recalled her loss but her genuine emotion had all the grown men in the audience feeling for her and cheering her on. Such bearing of the soul was perhaps almost inevitable after all the emotional detachment of CLIENT in the years previously.

But the period with CLIENT has had several other effects on DUBSTAR 2013 too. New number ‘Window Pain’ was driven by a more squelchy electronic edge than what the trio would have got away with back in 1998, while Blackwood was far more relaxed on stage than back in the day when her nervousness made DUBSTAR gigs very fraught occasions for her.

Another new number in the encore, aptly called ‘In The End’, had more organic overtones but still possessed the characteristic blend familiar from the albums ‘Disgraceful’ and ‘Goodbye’. And it was with the former’s title track that the evening’s proceedings were brought to a close. There was even a guitar solo from Wilkie but so restrained it was that it wafted in amongst the aural scenery.

But it’s the sum of its parts; synths, guitars, programmed rhythms and the delectable vocals of  Sarah Blackwood that make DUBSTAR. And with the comeback album ‘United States Of Being’, there is even the input of ‘Disgraceful’ and ‘Goodbye’ producer Stephen Hague, so there is much to look forward to.

With Claudia Brücken covering ‘The Day I See You Again’ on her recent album ‘The Lost Are Found’, DUBSTAR’s return is timely and may get them recognition they deserve which they didn’t get when everyone was more focussed on Liam and Damon bickering in the school playground! Actually, it was a shame that ‘The Day I See You Again’ didn’t get an airing tonight because the title summed up the occasion perfectly. Because yes, it really was great to see DUBSTAR again 🙂


Setlist
I’m In Love With A Germen Film Star
View From Here
Anywhere
Window Pain
St Swithin’s Day
I Lost A Friend
Not So Manic Now
No More Talk
Superstar
Just A Girl She Said
Self Same Thing
Ghost
Stars
—–
In The End
Disgraceful


http://dubstarofficial.co/

http://www.facebook.com/dubstaruk/

https://twitter.com/dubstarUK

https://www.instagram.com/dubstaruk/


Text and Photos by Chi Ming Lai
19th April 2013

KARIN PARK Live at The Lexington


Karin Park first found fame in Norway with her 2004 debut ‘Superworldunknown’ before exploring more electronic avenues with ‘Change Your Mind’ in 2006.

In 2009, the Swedish born songstress released her third long player ‘Ashes To Gold’ before signing to UK label State Of The Eye for her acclaimed 2012 album ‘Highwire Poetry’.

Co-produced and mixed by Christoffer Berg whose credits include THE KNIFE, FEVER RAY and DEPECHE MODE, it has been a steady burner embraced through word of mouth. But even this combination of industrial, dubstep, ambient and synthpop couldn’t prepare for the spectacle of a Karin Park live show.

A druid pig arrived to overture with a most unsettling voice collage, before Karin Park took to the stage for the starkly discordant ‘6000 Years’. Easing the crowd in, the blasting schaffel stomp of ‘Restless’ suddenly snapped in like a strike to the head, provoking animated stares and jerky movements from her. Vocally quite obviously from THE KNIFE and BJÖRK school of song, Karin’s fervent concentration though was quite unlike FEVER RAY or GAZELLE TWIN who each prefer to project an enigmatic detachment from the audience. Despite her towering demeanour, Karin Park was welcoming and inclusive.

Relishing the art of performance, her smiles certainly didn’t lie and the enjoyable rapport observed with her brother David on drums was often just a knowing look or a nod of appreciation as together, the siblings enthusiastically entertained.

Visually, Karin’s striking androgynous persona contrasted heavily with that of her metal head sibling, the pair looking like a mutant genetic experiment to cross LADYTRON with SLAYER! But the incongruous combination worked and was probably one of the most refreshing presentations of electronic music within a concert setting for a quite a while! The difference was one of the key elements in the energetic but tight chemistry of the show.

Both Parks were impressive multi-taskers with David primarily on drums but also providing backing vocals and even venturing onto keyboards while Karin was the perfect front woman who dabbled with a Korg MS20 and keytar. The esoteric mood pieces such as ‘Tension’ provided important spatial counterpoints to the evening, showing real melancholic depth and raspy emotion.

But there was also a real pop sensibility as quirky but danceable synthpop tunes like ‘Explosions’ proved. This was none more apparent than with ‘Can’t Stop Now’, a superb electro funk number that came over like Michael Jackson gone Goth! Meanwhile ‘Ashes’ was cut from a similar disco vibe and musically DURAN DURAN Nordic style! And these qualities made Karin Park more Robyn than THE KNIFE, yet she still managed to maintain her mistress of darkness credentials.

But would the other Karin (Dreijer Andersson that is) have actually written a song for the Eurovision Song Contest? Although not part of the set, ‘I Feed You My Love’, which is being sung by Margaret Berger as Norway’s entry in 2013, displays an accessibility in Karin Park that will either subvert conventional pop forms or open up intense musicality, depending on one’s artistic standpoint.

As Marc Almond once said, one cannot be truly subversive unless there is access to the mainstream and there can perhaps be nothing more mainstream than Eurovision! So ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK wishes her the best of luck in Malmö.

As the set continued, the trancey ‘Out Of The Cage’ played with lovely panoramic textures to add another dimension to proceedings while ‘Fryngies’ was boosted by some feisty aggression that included even more MS20 action. The superb ‘Thousand Loaded Guns’ finished the main set with a dramatic climax that saw both Karin and David frantically drumming in unison before the formal conclusion via her own favourite song, the beautiful ‘Bending Albert’s Law’.

It was a dynamic hour long set that had the crowd transfixed with a powerful, resonant soundbase. It’s not often that a superlative such as awesome is appropriately used, but tonight, it was pretty damn close with how KARIN PARK performed on that stage in London.


‘Highwire Poetry’ is released by State Of The Eye Recordings on CD, vinyl and download

http://www.karinpark.com/

http://www.facebook.com/karinpark

https://twitter.com/karinpark


Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Richard Price
12th April 2013

KRAFTWERK Radio-Aktivität Live in Düsseldorf

Most of their Düsseldorf shows sold out within 10 minutes.

And for those who were lucky enough to get their names on the list tonight at Die Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Ralf Hütter, Fritz Hilpert (now celebrating his 21st year with KRAFTWERK), Henning Schmitz and new live video technician Falk Grieffenhagen delivered the ‘Radio-Aktivität’ album in full along with other favourites in a comprehensive retrospective set.

KRAFTWERK played an emotional second show as part of their ‘Der Katalog 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8’ residency to an expectant hometown crowd which included PROPAGANDA’s Ralf Dörper and members of DIE KRUPPS.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s on-location witness said: “It was a breathtaking moment for a synth music lover like me who was much too young to see them in the earlier days. This was the place to be. It was exactly two hours of synth and 3D joy which started with ‘Die Roboter’. They brought us ‘Radioactivity’ with a tribute to the people of Fukushima, took us on the ‘Autobahn’ in a VW Beetle and rode the ‘Trans Europa Express’ with ‘Das Modell’ and ‘Die Mensch-Maschine’. Via La ‘Tour De France’, they provided with some ‘Vitamin’ pills as well. It was a fantastic gig tonight”.

The ‘Radio-Activity’ album (as it is known in the UK and US) has a special resonance with ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK as its title track inspired the song from which this website gets its name. OMD’s ‘Electricity’ was written by Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys as a homage to KRAFTWERK and is basically the title composition speeded-up!

It was also the first album to feature the classic line-up of Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider, Wolfgang Flür and Karl Bartos, names which have gone down in folklore as the godfathers of modern electronic pop music… indeed OMD did another KRAFTWERK tribute entitled ‘RFWK’ for their 2010 comeback album ‘History Of Modern’ and Andy McCluskey described the two combos first personal encounter back in 1981 at the Zeche Club in Bochum as “like meeting your parents”!

‘Radio-Activity’ is also significant as it was KRAFTWERK’s first album with English lyrics and it was their first achieved by wholly electronic means. ‘Autobahn’ may have been the breakthrough LP but that featured guitar, violin and flute! KRAFTWERK’s fifth album saw the debut of a then-new keyboard contraption, the Vako Orchestron which amplified sounds pre-recorded on optical discs instead of tapes like with the Mellotron.

Creating the shimmering choir and string textures that were to become the retro-futuristic blueprint of acts such as OMD, ULTRAVOX and NEW ORDER, the Vako Orchestron complimented Kling Klang’s existing arsenal of Minimoog, ARP Odyssey, EMS Synthi A, Vocoder, Votrax, Farfisa Rhythm 10 and customised electronic percussion kits.

The  concept had originally been themed around radio activity as in broadcasting as opposed to nuclear physics; the hyphen had been added to illustrate the point. But the band courted controversy on the album’s release with a series of promotional photos in atomic power stations. Their ambiguity with regards the politics of this sensitive issue angered the strong Green lobby in Germany and may have even contributed to their lack of popularity at the time in their home country.

However, the ‘Radio-Activity’ song itself was updated for the 1991 album ‘The Mix’ with an overt anti-nuclear message highlighting Tschernobyl, Harrisburgh, Sellafield and Hiroshima. Tonight in Düsseldorf, the recent Fukeshima disaster gave a stark resonance to this still evolving track with a reprise of the additional Japanese lyrics composed for the Tokyo ‘No Nukes’ concert last summer…

The romantic overtones, melodic synthpop, Teutonic tone poems and abstract sound collages of ‘Radio-Activity’ were to prove influential. DAVID BOWIE had it as his pre-show music on the 1976 ‘Station To Station’ tour and it clearly laid some of the groundwork for his legendary ‘Low’ and ‘Heroes’ albums while later in 1983, NEW ORDER sampled ‘Uranium’ for ‘Blue Monday’.

In that same year, OMD borrowed the concept for their now-highly regarded ‘Dazzle Ships’ album. While the ideas were clearly replicating sections of ‘Radio-Activity’ (see ‘The Romance Of The Telescope’ for ‘Radioland’, ‘Radio Waves’ for ‘Airwaves’, ‘Time Zones’ for ‘News’, ‘Telegraph’ for ‘Antenna’ and ‘Radio Prague’ for ‘Intermission’), whereas KRAFTWERK’s gist had been in almost blind praise for technological enhancements and wider communication, OMD’s lyrical focus cast doubt, cynicism and fear.

However, ‘Radio-Aktivität’ (or ‘Radio-Activity’) still remains an under rated triumph. Other than the title track, very few of its songs are cited in most people’s KRAFTWERK Top 10. One case in point is ‘Ohm Sweet Ohm’. From its steady vocodered intro and classic drifting hook, it builds to a crescendo over the pulsing Minimoog bass and improvised virtuoso section to perhaps be one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever composed! ‘Airwaves’ and its whirring Odysseys over the frantic percussive backbone are a delight while the eerie chill of ‘Radioland’ is short wave experimentation at its best.

The last word has to go to KRAFTWERK’s remaining founder member. As the evening finished with the striking ‘Music Non Stop’, each member departed in turn following their section of improvisation. To sustained applause, the last man – Ralf Hütter – left the stage. His first and only words to the audience were “Bis morgen”. Or as they say in English “see you tomorrow”… the show will go on.


Setlist:

Die Roboter
Geigerzähler
Radioaktivität
Radioland
Ätherwellen
Sendepause
Nachrichten
Die Stimme Der Energie
Antenne
Radio Sterne
Uran
Transistor
Ohm Sweet Ohm
Autobahn
Trans Europa Express
Abzug
Metall Auf Metall
Spacelab
Das Modell
Die Mensch-Maschine
Nummern
Computerwelt
Heimcomputer
Tour De France
Tour De France Étape 1

Vitamin
Planet Der Visionen

Boing Boom Tschak
Technopop
Music Non Stop


‘Radio-Activity’ is available on Mute/EMI Records

KRAFTWERK play ‘The Catalogue 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8′ at Tate Modern, London from Wednesday 6th February to Thursday 14th February 2013

www.kraftwerk.com/

www.facebook.com/KraftwerkOfficial

https://twitter.com/kraftwerk


Text by Chi Ming Lai
13th January 2013

RECOIL A Strange Hour In Budapest – London Premiere with Alan Wilder Q&A

Following a successful series of worldwide screenings, RECOIL ‘A Strange Hour In Budapest’ had the first of its UK Cinema premieres at Everyman’s Screen On The Green in Islington.

Its comfortable surroundings provided the ideal setting for this lavish high definition film directed by Attila Herkó. Released earlier this year exclusively on Blu-Ray, in Alan Wilder’s words it was “to supply the most accurate experience of being at the concert”. 

Intercut with picturesque views of the Danube city, live footage filmed at the venue and the special projections directed by Steve Fabian, Igor Dvorský & Dmitry Semenov,  ‘A Strange Hour In Budapest’ is a powerfully resonant audio/visual document that presents many highlights from Alan Wilder’s career in a concert setting.

In addition to bespoke computer generated graphics, there are illustrations ranging from monochromatic erotica, abstract space photography and austere footage of crashing aircraft. The latter are particularly poignant as they reflect Wilder’s own near death experience when an RAF Tornado jet crashed in front of him while he was on a driving holiday in Scotland back in 1994. Although those shocking memories are musically captured in the track ‘Black Box’ from 2000’s ‘Liquid’ album, that trauma is highlighted in the live presentation with the pulsing Shotgun rendition of ‘Prey’, the tension exasperated by its disturbing images.

Trippy grooves as on the haunting Siobhan Lynch vocalled ‘Drifting’ and the cosmic vibes of the Tangerine Dream sampling ‘Allelujah’ dominate the first part of the show but inevitably, it is the song based material such as ‘Faith Healer’ featuring Nitzer Ebb’s Douglas McCarthy and the reworkings of Depeche Mode that get the Szikra audience into a frenzy, particularly with the Aggro Mix of ‘Never Let Me Down Again’ and the late Johnny Dollar’s superbly powerful Jeep Rock take on ‘In Your Room’.

Incidentally, the sound reproduction throughout the film is outstanding and at times in the cinema, it was actually difficult to distinguish between the applause in the film and that of the audience watching! Other highlights of ‘A Strange Hour In Budapest’ include the grainy projections of Wilder’s live partner Paul Kendall practicing robotics during a great cover of ‘Warm Leatherette’ and a superb mash-up of ‘Jezebel’, the Grungy Gonads Mix of ‘Walking In My Shoes’ and ‘Are Friends Electric?’.

Asked about it by ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK during the post-film Q&A, Wilder replied:  “It was when we did the American leg of the tour, I wanted to make a few changes to the set to keep it more interesting having learnt from the first leg of the tour that there was a dip that needing picking up…so I came up with the idea of using ‘Walking in My Shoes’ . At the same time, we were going to play a gig with Gary Numan in Chicago so I thought it be fun to throw that track in and see if he noticed…and he didn’t!!” The cinema cracked up with laughter.

“He watched the set but he didn’t even notice his bit of music in it… ‘Cloth Ears’ I call him,” Wilder affectionately quipped. He added: “’Jezebel’ and ‘Walking In My Shoes’ just happened to fit tempo-wise, I had to change ‘Jezebel’ by a semitone to make it work with the ‘Walking…’ key signature but it worked well”.

Alan Wilder’s Q&A was an entertaining experience with him superbly articulating his thoughts and views. “No! I’m not going back to Depeche Mode!” he announced, setting the scene. On the subject of the loudness war, he was also forthright: “Just turn the volume knob up!” But on the future of RECOIL though, he was less specific: “All I know is I want to make some new music but whether it’s for an album, I’m just not sure because the concept of albums seems to be something people are losing interest in and they way people are listening to music is changing…I would like to work with film, a couple of people have approached me about that”.

When one attendee mentioned how 2011’s auction sharing Wilder’s memorabilia connected with the fans, he candidly answered: “Shared?!?  I’d like to share my stuff with you…for this much!”

Wilder’s honesty is one of his many traits that have made him such a revered and respected figure in the music scene. However, some present seemed rather perturbed when Wilder gave answers that perhaps they didn’t want to hear.

On Beck’s new album campaign where fans have been recording their own backing tracks via sheet music provided online, he observantly commented: “It’s up it’s a*se isn’t it? How easy a life does he want?” However, he did concur that he is always open to exploring innovative ways for musicians to connect with their fanbase.

On the move away from hardware synths to software, he replied: “I’m not that nostalgic… we were struggling to get clicks to synch together and would spend three days on something that you can do in five minutes on a computer now…some of these plug-ins are amazing and stay in tune! Let’s not get over nostalgic about the past…but there are some great bits of vintage gear of course”.

On the studio process and how adversity can produce great music, he remembered ‘In Your Room’ as being “a tough track to record”, eventually being a combination of three different versions. By the opposite token though, ‘Enjoy The Silence’ “came together (like that) within a couple of hours”, the bassline achieved simply by playing around with a sequencer.

What was less enthralling during the evening however were some of the more inane lines of questioning by attendees who seemed to be more interested in talking as much as possible while NOT actually listening to the replies of the evening’s humble host. Wilder rightfully called it “random cr*p”. There is an etiquette to these things and sorry, “’Construction Time Again’, how exciting was that!” is NOT a great question!

But despite this, there was a warm family atmosphere with Wilder being the consummate professional, answering questions intelligently and with humour throughout. Figures from the DM fan community mingled alongside fans while Mr Wilder gave his time to everyone readily and happily. It was a memorable evening for all concerned and a fascinating selected event to boot…


ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Alan Wilder

‘A Strange Hour In Budapest’ is released on Blu-ray by Shunt Production in conjunction with Umatik Entertainment. Please see www.store.recoil.co.uk for full product details.

http://www.recoil.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/recoilofficial/

https://twitter.com/recoilofficial


Text and photos by Chi Ming Lai
8th December 2012

Ja Ja Ja featuring MØ , SIN COS TAN + HIGHASAKITE

London based Nordic website and music night ‘Ja Ja Ja’ celebrated its third birthday at The Lexington in Islington with the first live performance outside Finland of SIN COS TAN, the acclaimed duo who released their self-titled debut recently to great acclaim. In short, it is one of the best albums of 2012.

Headlining the event was Danish post-R’n’B songstress MØ, plus there was additional support from Norway’s HIGHASAKITE. Showcasing the best emerging talents from Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Finland, ‘Ja Ja Ja’ has become an established cultural beacon for the Nordic region and in a totally packed out venue, the beautiful and the bearded mingled alongside musical figures from different generations. The legendary Rusty Egan could be also spotted chatting with up-and-coming electro chanteuse Karin Park.

The evening began with indie popsters HIGHASAKITE, notable for their use of zither in their textural soundboard by vocalist Ingrid Helene Havik. While veering more on the organic spectrum, they have that common thread with many Scandinavian acts of chilly melancholy and a knack for melody plus that dash of Arctic Circle oddness.

SIN COS TAN bring the Finnish weather with them and are dressed appropriately for the conditions. Despite being a new act by definition, the pair are actually experienced hands. On the left is Jori Hulkkonen, the ace music producer who has collaborated with John Foxx  but found Top30 fame as part of TIGA & ZYNHTHERIUS with an electroclash cover of ‘Sunglasses At Night’.

On the right meanwhile is Juho Paalosmaa, lead vocalist with VILLA NAH who supported OMD and produced an album of superbly crystalline pop entitled ‘Origin’. It was ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s favourite long player of 2010. Although Hulkkonen was VILLA NAH’s co-producer on ‘Origin’, SIN COS TAN are somewhat different with indie, lounge and R’n’B influences on the table alongside the usual synthpop and dance colours.

For the live showcase however, the audience gets a bias towards the latter, melodic hooks blending with the danceable drum machines and grainy string samples that are very much a Hulkkonen trademark. ‘Sooner Than Now’ acts as a funereal introduction before ‘Bittersweet’ opens out with more conventional instrumentation alongside the synths.

The tracks are segued using dialogue from cult British TV shows with the dulcet tones of Patrick McGoohan among the voices adding a schizophrenic mystery to proceedings. SIN COS TAN make an interesting pair; Paalosmaa – all very intense and committed, Hulkkonen – laid back and almost nonchalant. It’s a classic combination resulting in “a synthesized duo of great promise, broken dreams and long nights”.

A more classic synthpop template a la PET SHOP BOYS arrives appropriately enough with ‘History’, but the brilliantly off-kilter ‘All I Ever Dream Of’ throws people who are looking to dance slightly off the scent. However, the audience is rewarded with the neo-Balearic ‘Calendar’ and an extended workout of ‘Trust’. ‘Trust’ captures a bite that pushes forward the definition of retro-futurism like a 21st Century answer to ‘Enjoy The Silence’. Those who think there are no longer any new ideas in electronic music, please listen again…it’s time to rethink one’s trigonometric functions.

What SIN COS TAN perhaps lack in projection, they make up for in the strength of their songs and their sound. But then again, when you put one of the best producers and one of the best tunesmiths from the Finland station together in a room, this should not be entirely unexpected. The Nordic region is where it’s at with electronic music at the moment. Cold dark evenings and synthesizers…it’s a concoction made in heaven.

Concluding the evening, headliner MØ is impressive. Karen Marie Ørsted’s biography simply says: “The snow nation is eating your brain and your young heart – dark as the apocalypse. So just go perish in the snøw”! She defines her music as “Electronic Soul” and on hearing her live on the singles ‘Maiden’ and ‘Pilgrim’, she comes across like Lana Del Rey trapped in a frozen Fjord.

The resonant synthesized backing hops from hybrid dubstep to Phil Spector gone Sci-Fi while there are also elements of how Amy Winehouse would have sounded under Northern Lights. She uses the stage well to give a charismatically spirited performance which is kooky and profound but very immediate.

Scandinavia may be geographically cold and dark but ‘Ja Ja Ja’ provided a wonderful evening of ambassadorial warmth and intriguing music to savour. So here’s to its fourth year as an influential artistic platform and continuing this Nordic Affair.


With thanks to Debbie Ball at Create Spark

http://www.jajajamusic.com

http://www.facebook.com/MOMOMOYOUTH

http://www.facebook.com/homeofsincostan

http://www.highasakite.no


Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Richard Price
5th December 2012

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