An album called ‘United Kingdom Of Anxiety’ was never likely to be an easy listen…
However, Polish producer Natalia Zamilska has captured the state of her nation next door to Ukraine and the state of world in the face of conflict. Self-described as a “symphony of horror”, Zamilska has transformed violent emotions into an unsettling work of art. In her artistic ethos, she has parallels with the likes of GAZELLE TWIN and SIERRA.
As on the lead single ‘Odyssey’ featuring the guest voice of huskie aka Ola Myszor, bass envelopes are ominous and tensions run high over 17 pieces of music. Many are songs, but some are soundscapes and extended interludes like the post-punk unsettlement of ‘Golden Tooth’. ‘No Gods’ with the screeching aggression of Pachu from grindcore band HOSTIA ventures into fierce industrial metal. But this is familiar territory for Zamilska, as her most recent album ‘Incovered’ in 2019 ably demonstrated.
Featuring the vocals of Natalia Przybysz, ‘Persist’ does as its title suggests and stands proud as she makes the proclamation to “Let me rise like a mist”. Meanwhile a distorted huskie returns on ‘Shot In The Head’ for a updated electronic take on PORTISHEAD.
The warning sirens go off rather fittingly to ‘1984’ to exude fear and anger in a world of impending totalitarianism, before ‘Deadfall’ plays around with fierce percussive noise and ‘Dysponea’ closes with a no less suffocating barrage of turbulence.
In a year which has featured emotive works by a number of female artists, while Patricia Wolf preferred to let the music quietly speak and Julia-Sophie was driven to the point of solemn resignation, Zamilska doesn’t go down without at least a fight. Her opening for Kim Gordon of SONIC YOUTH on her European Tour is wholly appropriate.
‘United Kingdom Of Anxiety’ won’t be for everyone but with the projection of a potential dystopian outcome for Eastern Europe and the rest of the world after, this is a worthy listen that will be no form of escapism.
Yota is a Paris-based singer / songwriter hailing from Stockholm who first started recording collaboratively in 2005 and released her most recent solo album ‘Room 412’ via NewRetroWave in 2023; one of its highlights was the longing nu-disco flavoured popwave of ‘Holding On’ while it also contained a cover of ICEHOUSE’s ‘Hey Little Girl’.
Johan Agebjörn is the Swedish producer who is best known as the instrumental half of dreamy electronic disco duo SALLY SHAPIRO. He notably has maintained a parallel solo career that encompassed pop with songs for Samanatha Fox and Ryan Paris as well as more ambient material. His latest album ‘Dynamic Movements – Music for Exercise & Relaxation’ with Mikael Ögren celebrated the era of the exercise tape.
Both Yota and Johan Agebjörn relish collaboration so it was natural the pair would eventually work together to blend his melancholic electronic pop style to her sumptuous vocals for a moody EP entitled ‘Universe In Flames’.
Working with regular Yota producer Arnault Esteve aka Douze, the ‘Universe In Flames’ title song provides a telling global warning message. It is powerful statement and recalls Agebjörn’s own remix of YOUNG GALAXY’s ‘In Fire’ in a fine mix of Scandipop, synthwave and rock with sinister twists.
Produced in collaboration with American synthwave exponent BETAMAXX and co-written with Ian Schranz aka BARK BARK DISCO, ‘Did You Lose Your Mind?’ adopts more of a shuffling groove while Yota’s voice is silky and alluring throughout; however the remix from another regular Yota collaborator LIFELIKE makes it even more disco and cavernous for club consumption but although vocal phrases retained, this arrangement is much less song-oriented.
As the title suggests and taking in more higher vocal ranges, ‘Our Highs’ gets the trancey vibes in for a wonderfully euphoric slice of electronic dance pop. This is a fun EP that showcases the best of both talents and mixes classic synthpop styles with dance music. Please let everyone have more of this partnership, three songs isn’t enough 🙂
Vancouver is a rainy city in the shadow of Grouse Mountain with beautiful views. Its citizens like to eat pancakes at Sophie’s Cosmic Café and cycle around UBC, while wearing clothes from Mountain Equipment Co-op or Patagonia.
The furthest point any Canadian could have been from the European bases of PORTION CONTROL and FRONT 242, it’s an unlikely cradle for the development of industrial electronics. Nevertheless, SKINNY PUPPY was born there, in a perfect storm of sequencers and hair spray. FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY broke through the membrane when Bill Leeb left to make music in a different vein.
With a changing cast that mostly revolved around Leeb and Rhys Fulber, FLA put less of a focus on gothic theatrics than SKINNY PUPPY. The band’s sound owed more to Neal Stephenson than Vincent Price. Cybernetics, media, and power complexes became themes around which intense electronic sounds were built.
Leeb and Fulber have also spent time in the mainstream as DELERIUM – a project that allows them to explore their interests in ambient and epic synth work. The Left Coast’s natural beauty is clearly impressed into the project, along with influences from Jean-Michel Jarre, Klaus Schulze and TANGERINE DREAM.
Leeb has just released his first solo album. ‘Model Kollapse’ sits between the intensity of FLA and the fluidity of DELERIUM. With guest vocals from a fellow Vancouverite, Shannon Hemmett (ACTORS, LEATHERS), and contributions from DELERIUM collaborator Mimi Page and Jason Corbett (ACTORS), it adds textures that don’t sit neatly in either bucket. It is also a deeply personal collection of songs, assembled during a period of transition for Leeb.
“All I ever wanted was to be with you” goes a line on ‘Muted Obsession’. Is it a statement of regret or an argument for forgiveness? The urgent bass line doesn’t resolve the question, but it is sophisticated dark poptronica. It butts up against ‘Simulation’ which is spiked with the essence of PORTION CONTROL. The material on ‘Model Kollapse’ combines the feel of classics from the Industrial bins at Vancouver’s Odyssey Imports with the lessons of a lifetime on global stages.
Photo by Bobby Talamine
You can detect the influence of FRONT 242 in ‘Terror Forms’ and NITZER EBB in ‘Infernum’ but these are not derivative tracks. They are built on the rhythmic foundations of EBM, but the edifice is a cathedral of reverb, distortion, and insistent vocal lines. Leeb’s stylings infuse the material with classic FLA definition and intensity.
‘Model Kollapse’ sounds a warning about the encroachment of technology on our lives. A description of the tendency of AI systems to fall apart when exposed to their own outputs, the term highlights that we take the good with the bad. A rainy winter in North Vancouver, contemplating the passing of friends and discomfort about the growth of Big Data could lead you there. So could 52 minutes in the company of the resulting album.
The history of PROPAGANDA does not need retelling, but their acclaimed 1985 debut album ‘A Secret Wish’ released on ZTT and produced by Stephen J Lipson is regarded as something of a cult classic in industrial pop.
However, internal friction between the “ABBA in hell”line-up of Claudia Brücken, Ralf Dörper, Susanne Freytag and Michael Mertens led to PROPAGANDA imploding. Signing to Virgin Records, Mertens continued as PROPAGANDA with a new singer Betsi Miller as well as two former members of SIMPLE MINDS, Derek Forbes and Brian McGee, releasing the album ‘1234’ in 1990.
There was an aborted PROPAGANDA reunion in 1998 and that was that until Brücken and Freytag presented a variation on the theme and performed as xPROPAGANDA, before releasing a new album ‘The Heart Is Strange’ with Stephen J Lipson producing that updated the ZTT-era sound in 2022.
Now in 2024, with a record “conceived and accomplished in Düsseldorf” and a resistance to nostalgia, Dörper and Mertens have started a new chapter of PROPAGANDA with an eponymous title to signify a fresh start. The initial plan was to use guest vocalists for particular songs but the pair came across the silky soulful tones of young German singer-songwriter Thunder Bae.
Despite the techno-robotic introduction, ‘They Call Me Nocebo’ drifts into a steadfast electronic groove with Thunder Bae delivering an accessible vocal crossover over the atmospheric synth programming and sustained guitar inflections that conjoin to still provide an air of mystery.
With a smoky pop presence, ‘Purveyor Of Pleasure’ continues the laid back mood using understated percussive loops and smooth electronic bass while reworked from ‘1234’, ‘Vicious Circle’ brings in a pacier snap and shuffle, differing by moving away from the harder rigidness of its earlier incarnation which featured Susanne Freytag by moving into a modern slice of European sophistipop.
With a hypnotic rolling sequence, ‘Tipping Point’ raises the tempo but keeps the beats subtle on this ecological poem. But recalling “life in a glass cage” during lockdown, the husky ‘Distant’ brings stylistic connections to ‘Cloud 9’, the co-write by Martin Gore with Claudia Brücken that had been demoed for the aborted 1998 PROPAGANDA reunion and was subsequently issued as a ONETWO track.
Although starting sparse, ‘Love:Craft’ builds up to a more dramatic neo-classical template with enticing synth solos and operatic background voicing while ‘Dystopian Waltz’ does as it says on the ration tin, a lengthy solemn instrumental with a haunting Cold War chill in its wonderful orchestrated arrangement.
The best is saved until last, ‘Wenn Ich Mir Was Wünschen Dürfte’ (translated into English as “If I had a wish”), a Weimar-era song written by Friedrich Hollaender in 1930; Dörper first heard it in the disturbing controversial movie ‘The Night Porter’ during a smoky cabaret scene with Charlotte Rampling performing the song made famous Marlene Dietrich.
Hauntingly melancholic, the translated title provides a link to the past while there is even a cheeky musical reference to THE ART OF NOISE’s ‘Moments In Love’ in the intro. Thunder Bae gives a superbly enticing performance in Deutsch over appropriately Autumnal backing to highlight the contradictory emotions expressed. And when Volker Bertelmann, best known as Academy Award winner Hauschka, brings his frozen piano motifs in, it is the icing on the cake.
Ralf Dörper and Michael Mertens have made a cinematic European electronic pop record while adopting modern influences. However, some listeners may find Thunder Bae’s voice too similar to today’s pop starlets like Dua Lipa. Saying that, she stylistically suits these songs and particularly comes into her own on the finale ‘Wenn Ich Mir Was Wünschen Dürfte’, which ultimately prompts craving and secret wishes for more songs in German.
On ‘Dr Mabuse’ they said “never look back” and that is exactly what this enjoyable album is about; a totally different animal to either ‘A Secret Wish’ or ‘1234’ or the aborted 1998 material, a few long standing PROPAGANDA and ZTT enthusiasts may not embrace this album’s younger generation vocal stylings while the lack of Teutonic industrialisation may be a disappointment to others. But those who buy into this new vision will want the double editions with bonus tracks…
‘Propaganda’ is released on 11 October 2024 by Bureau B in CD, limited double CD, vinyl LP, limited double vinyl LP and digital editions
Jonna Lee is back as IONNALEE after the more organic IAMAMIWHOAMI record ‘Be Here Soon’ in 2022 which saw her return to her folk singer-songwriter roots.
What’s the difference between the two one may ask? IAMAMIWHOAMI is a full duo effort between Jonna Lee and Claes Björklund who himself works solo as BARBELLE; thus IONNALEE is the solo moniker of Lee although perhaps confusingly to some, Björklund is still closely involved on instrumentation as well as occasionally production and mix.
‘Close Your Eyes’ sees Jonna Lee return to the electronic sound which she launched with IAMAMIWHOAMI in 2009 and continued as IONNALEE from 2018. But this third IONNALEE long player after ‘Everyone Afraid To Be Forgotten’ and ‘Remember The Future’ and comes with a twist in that it has a Swedish Language twin in ‘Blund’; “I recently moved out of Stockholm back to the area where I grew up in Östergötland” she said, “Singing in my mother tongue gives my artistry a different angle and that feels really exciting – it’s like exploring a new language!”
Lush and airy, opening tune ‘La La love’ begins like classic IONNALEE with a stutter but then bursts into a straight passage of synth bass and strums while questioning whether the physical disconnect in today’s virtual world has muted the ability to feel love.
‘Innocence Of Sound’ is slightly more chilling, reinforced by a rumbling engine room that recalls her earlier IAMAMIWHOAMI albums ‘Kin’ and ‘Blue’ with rich toplines to compliment the delightful oddness with a breathless energy in an anthem for today’s troubled times.
‘Not Your Cherry’ steadies the pace with a zing and a declaration to not play second fiddle using a delightful cake baking metaphor. A combination of droning synths and ethnic instrumentation colours ‘Forgive Her’ and while the vocals dominate, a cutting drum loop takes hold at the end.
The beautiful avant Scandipop of ‘Luminary Rainbows’ is a sumptuously widescreen highlight that declares it is good to chase the dream and thrive. Another is ‘The End Of Every Song’ which surprises with a thumping rhythm and a cacophony of chunky sequences and piercing electronics, the vocals sitting brilliantly like ABBA on helium in outer space!
The punchy digital computer grooves continue on ‘Run Wild’ but as ‘Darkness Is A Real Place’, IONNALEE sounds forlorn on a song that if orchestrated could be Celine Dion; but over a sparse backdrop of chilling synthetic strings and drum machine, it comes over marvellously otherworldly.
The sampled cello and guitar sees ‘You Hold Me Like Water’ project an ominous mood but the bubbling synths provide the contrast that pushes song structure conventions. The cinematic closer ‘Who’ seeks sanctuary and a request to “take me somewhere safe” within a glorious pool of sound design.
By going back to crystalline electronic backdrops on ‘Close Your Eyes’ after the folk and jazz inflected excursions of ‘Be Here Soon’, Jonna Lee has highlighted, whether as IONNALEE or IAMAMIWHOAMI, what actually sets her part for any number of Nordic singer-songwriters. In placing her traditional voice in an otherworldly setting, the contrast is what helps to provide that mysteriously emotive resonance in her sound.
‘Close Your Eyes’ is about how to dream during dark times and maintaining hope in a less than certain future. While there is much melancholy throughout, there are many moments of lifting optimism as well.
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‘United Kingdom Of Anxiety’ is released by NoPaper Records / !K7 as a vinyl LP, CD and via the usual digital platforms including https://zamilskaofficial.bandcamp.com/
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