Category: Reviews (Page 109 of 200)

FAKE TEAK Bears Always Party The Exact Right Amount

25 June 2018 /

When Andy Pandy and Teddy were “waving goodbye” at the end of each episode, what was actually going on once the box was shut? Was it really “time to go home” or were the pair partying the night away?

London-based combo FAKE TEAK with their brilliant new video ‘Bears Always Party The Right Amount’ show that like girls, bears just wanna have fun. Cleverly filmed around the city and on the London Underground with seemingly no strings attached, Bear joins his pals Monkey, Giraffe, Dolphin and FAKE TEAK themselves for a night of disco revelry.

Self-directed by the band themselves, their puppetry skills have certainly not been in vain and the end result is one of the best independent low-budget music videos to have been made in recent years.

Giving away some of their trade secrets, singer and instrumentalist Andrew Wyld recalled: “We used broom handles with fishing line on them—since the breaking strain on fishing line is quite high, it was enough for the weight of the stuffed animals, but it’s also very fine and mostly doesn’t show! For close up work, we also used coathanger wire, which we slid inside the stuffed animals’ arms, for example, as in the scene where they share a drink…guitarist Alastair Nicholls came up with the concept for the video, I storyboarded it and then between us we figured out the shooting script and how we were going to move the stuffed animals”

It’s proof that once a band puts their mind towards some inventive visual representation to accompany their music, anything is possible. The song itself is an appealing quirky mix of LCD SOUNDSYSTEM and TALKING HEADS, driven by synth-derived organ sounds and a groovy rhythmic backbone from Andrea Adriano.

The second single from FAKE TEAK’s upcoming debut album, the band’s ARP Odyssey Goddess Joanna Wyld said: “’Bears Always Party The Exact Right Amount’ is about everyone being welcome to be exactly who they are and to party exactly how they want. It’s about seizing the day and not caring how you look or whether you made a mistake. However much you want to dance: that’s the right amount. However we just played it: that was the right way”

Just a quick note that the Bear was not hurt during filming and even if he was, IT’S A PUPPET! 😉

‘Bears Always Party The Exact Right Amount’ will be available as a download single from the usual digital platforms

FAKE TEAK launch the single with a gig at The Finsbury, 336 Green Lanes, Harringay, London N4 1BY on Friday 29th June 2018 – nearest tube is Manor House on the Piccadilly Line

https://www.facebook.com/faketeak/

https://twitter.com/faketeak

https://www.instagram.com/faketeak/

https://soundcloud.com/faketeak

Text by Chi Ming Lai
25th June 2018

BLACK NAIL CABARET Bête Noire

22 June 2018 /

Ok, so BLACK NAIL CABARET have never sat on the brighter side of synthpop.

Not devoid of melody however, their monochromatic approach to electronica revels in minimalistic use of gizmos, positioning the one-time London domiciled Hungarians somewhere in the shadowed corners of the synth bubble.

Emese Illes-Arvai who partnered with Sophie Tarr in 2008, debuted with a surprising version of Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’, giving it the darker, edgier spin. Two and a half albums later (each gathering the pair wider and wider audiences), Tarr left, enabling Illes-Arvai to partner with her husband to drag ‘Dichromat’ over the finish line.

With BLACK NAIL CABARET continuing on and now fully established into the scene, they release a three song EP ‘Bête Noire’, this time going for the throat.

The title song, accompanied by the very poignant video directed and storyboarded by Emese hersele, is described as “a distorded mirror, where people are rising against a faceless dictator, to no avail” has been inspired by the current political situation in Hungary.

The flick sees Emese and her black clad followers, joined by a disgruntled factory worker in order to break the establishment. The heavy vibrating synth rises to parallel stomping EBM, with its gyrating qualities, leading to the punch line “I think I wanna kill you, but I believe in peace, bitch!”

The duo go for socialist connotations both in the video and the song’s lyrics (“If I march against you, I think I’ll have an army”), entering the dictator’s chambers, which strongly resemble the style of any communist headquarters, trying to look for something to provide a sign. Instead, they seem to fail…

The evident calm comes with ‘Lorraine’. We’ve had ‘Veronica’ and now ‘Lorraine’, the one who’s “always been so kind to my heart”, and now is experiencing her own tragedy over a melodic beat with gritty synth elements, which turn out to be not so calming after all. The production is concluded with the instrumental ‘Eleven’ which beautifully sums up the three piece outing with delicate dose of intricate sounds, gently piercing he surface with unearthly aspects and unusual sci-fi ingredients.

BLACK NAIL CABARET are surely on the roll with the new release, which heavily pierces through the sea of calmness with the punchy ‘Bête Noire’ and dwindles down through ‘Lorraine’ to the delicate blanket of ‘Eleven’.

Now, for the new album please…

‘Bête Noire’ is available as a download bundle from https://blacknailcabaret.bandcamp.com/album/b-te-noire

http://www.blacknailcabaret.com

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

https://twitter.com/Black_Nails

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

Text by Monika Izabela Trigwell
22nd June 2018

ARP Zebra

21 June 2018 /


ARP is back with a new eleven track instrumental album entitled ‘Zebra’.

The moniker of New York based multi-instrumentalist Alexis Georgopoulos, things have been quiet for ARP over the last couple of years, although there was a collaborative album with Jefre Cantu-Ledesma under his own name. ‘The Soft Wave’ in 2010 proved to be ARP’s breakthrough release and featured the wonderful kosmische melodies of ‘High Life’, the  beauty of ‘Summer Girl’ and the progressive clustered sonics of album opener ‘Pastoral Symphony_ I. Dominoes II. Infinity Room’.

2013’s ‘More’ ventured into primarily song based territory and Georgopoulos’ own Eno-esque green world with ‘Judy Nylon’ coming over as the ultimate homage to the art rock of ‘Here Come The Warm Jets’. The cassette album ‘Inversions’ from 2016 explored ambient via Moog and violin, as well as arpeggio driven rhythmic trance.

Never one to sit still and keen not to brand himself with any particular style, Georgopoulos continues his aural exploration and like the zebra itself, his latest work sees him revelling in contrast and duality, using a wider spectrum of musical colours than previously.

With the minimalistic air of Terry Riley and Steve Reich, the gorgeous ‘Halflight Visions’, held together by a marimba arpeggio and some tinkling Fener Rhodes, sets the scene for ‘Zebra’.

Meanwhile the African flavoured ‘Nzuku’ continues use of the marimba derived backbone with a live percussive swing, guitars and an assortment of buzzy synths for a jam of extended cosmic jazz. Using tribal drum mantras, ‘Flourescences’ and ‘Folding Water’ both continue on the theme.

The combination of sweeping synths and marimbas gives ‘Parallelism’ a distinctly spacey vibe while the two minute long ‘Ozu’ adds flutes and string bass to the soundtrack. At nearly nine minutes, the piano laden ‘Reading A Wave’ ventures into avant jazz and perhaps overindulges.

Utilising the Fourth World tremors of Jon Hassell and Brian Eno, ‘Fiji’ combines a variety of textures including snatches of double bass, shimmering string machine and bleepy electronics for a pleasingly hypnotic ride to the terminus.

Eclectic to say the least but less instantly engaging and melodic than ‘The Soft Wave’, ‘Zebra’ sees Georgopoulos continue his path towards jazzier territory.

Those who preferred the pan-European overtures of ‘The Soft Wave’ might be disappointed, but those in for the long haul on the ARP journey will appreciate the ambition, the musicianship and the masterful quality of its production.

‘Zebra’ is released by Mexican Summer on 22nd June 2018 in double vinyl LP, CD + digital formats

http://www.studioalexisgeorgopoulos.com

https://www.facebook.com/arpsoundss/

https://twitter.com/arpsounds

http://www.mexicansummer.com/artist/arp/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Shawn Brackbill
21st June 2018

ROMO NIGHT RECORDS Vol 1: A Collection Of The New Brat Pack

19 June 2018 /

Sweden is one territory where without doubt, some of the best synth based music has emerged.

With the standard set back in the day by PAGE, LUSTANS LAKEJER, ELEGANT MACHINERY, THE MOBILE HOMES and COVENANT, the tradition has continued via THE KNIFE, KITE, KARIN PARK, IONNALEE and DAILY PLANET. But a few years ago, some strange things were happening within the Swedish electronic music community as it began to eat itself… a number of promoters, purveyors and performers were observed to be going through some kind of an existential crisis, unsure whether synthpop was a dirty word and success was a sin of principle.

Thankfully, one faction who are very much of the view that the synth is not dead is Romo Night Records, a label born out of a long standing club night founded in Gothenburg by Tobbe Lander and Tony Ersborg. Their roll of honour has included hosting the likes of THE HUMAN LEAGUE, KARL BARTOS, MESH, CLIENT and S.P.O.C.K amongst others.

Their first fruit of labours is ‘Romo Night Records Vol 1’, a collection of unreleased material from a variety of new acts and veterans. Fittingly enough with the latter, Eddie Bengtsson of PAGE appears under the pseudonym of Jeddy 3 on ANYMACHINE’s ‘To See A Man Like Me Go Down’ for a sombre number that is laced with the darker side of early OMD in its gothic overdrones.

It’s unusual to hear Bengtsson in English, so when another voice normally heard in English sings in her native Swedish, it’s something of a revelation as Helena Wigeborn’s new project GLAS proves.

The stunning TRAIN TO SPAIN frontwoman actually speaks English with a delightful Edinburgh accent from having lived in the city for several years and ‘Hjärta’ is marvellous slice of sparkling midtempo synthpop which allows her vocal to breathe within the backing.

Another superb highlight is ‘The Pattern’ by HILTIPOP who impressed with a solo late afternoon live set at Electronic Summer in 2015. Dark but accessible via a lattice of hypnotic arpeggios, SEM Hilti Johansson was a member of the YAZOO influenced ALISON and does not compromise on the hooks despite his gloomier vocal outlook. He is definitely an artist to watch.

No synth compilation would be complete without a melodic instrumental work and that is provided by RELIEF with the brilliant ‘Trough The Wires’ which even throws in an unexpected key change.

Elsewhere and unsurprisingly, DEPECHE MODE influences are omnipresent and can be heard on SISTER ELECTRA’s ‘The Quiet Room’ where the Basildon sound is given a female twist by Luna Joyce, while ‘Nasa’ from STRANGE TALES mines the earlier era and comes over like a cross between THE MOBILE HOMES and CAMOUFLAGE.

‘Romo Night Records Vol 1’ though is not all exclusively synths; NORTHERN LONER in their use of live instruments alongside their stabbing electronics have obviously listened to a lot of classic SIMPLE MINDS on ‘Break In Two’, but the track is spoilt slightly by a stilted drum track and the vocals being too loud. Meanwhile PARK & NATUR stick out like a sore thumb with the indie guitar afflicted ‘Mörka Sidan’.

NEO NURSES add plenty of creepy detuned electronic noises to their gothic demeanour on the enjoyable ‘A Crown Of Thorns To Keep Me Warm’ and cut from a similar opaque cloth, UNCREATED provide some chromatic mystery with the resonances of a deep male choir on ‘We Never Met’.

Subtitled as “A collection of the new brat pack” complete with artwork referencing ‘The Breakfast Club’, could this be Sweden’s 21st Century answer to the ‘Some Bizzare Album’? Of course, that compilation unearthed DEPECHE MODE, SOFT CELL, BLANCMANGE, THE THE and B-MOVIE.

Whereas it is too early to assess its potential, ‘Romo Night Records Vol 1’ as a first compendium does a good job of keeping synthpop alive and making that crucial link between past and present, something which other platforms have failed to accept, thus imploding in its self-inflicted confusion.

As the respected Factory Records biographer and historian James Nice said: “I have no problem at all with something new being imitative, as long as it’s good” – good music and good songs, synthpop or otherwise is really all that matters.

‘Romo Night Records Vol 1’ (V/A) is available as a clear vinyl LP with download key only from http://rnr.lupp.se/product/rnr001/

http://www.romonightrecords.com

https://www.facebook.com/tobbeorama/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
19th June 2018

KID KASIO & KAL-Q-LUS One Chance

18 June 2018 /

The video for the final single from KID KASIO’s 2015 ‘Sit & Wait’ album has an interesting back story as mainman Nathan Cooper told ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK:

“Back in 1991, Lewisham Council ran a ‘Search For A Video Star’ competition.

The idea behind the initiative was to provide a platform for young local performers to showcase their talent and foster a sense of community between local musicians and the beleaguered council, who had recently had their arts funding slashed.

The ‘video’ angle set the contest apart from your run of the mill talent showcase, and tied in neatly with the launch of a local cable TV station, which was scheduled for later in the year (it never happened).

Woolworths had got on board, and a futuristic looking booth was erected in the Riverdale shopping centre and the whole affair advertised in the pages of the local Newshopper. I turned up one sunny summer morning in that July of 1991 with my friend KAL-Q-LUS clutching a cassette demo of a song we had recently recorded.

It took some persuading to let the engineer put our tape into the overdubbing machine, as most people turning up that day had been encouraged to sing over popular hits of the time, but after 20 renditions of RIGHT SAID FRED’s ‘I’m Too Sexy’ and BEVERLY CRAVEN’s ‘Promise Me’, I think he was secretly quite pleased to be hearing something different.”

“We stepped inside the booth and stood in front of the green screen as the sound of our scratchy demo drifted over the speakers. It was a shame that my mum, who had accompanied us on the day, insisted that my young cousin Toby joined us in the booth. In hindsight though it was Toby’s dancing that really stole the show that day.

As we exited the booth we were asked to choose a backdrop for the video that would be super imposed onto the green behind us. We chose a random series of acid house style patterns called something like ‘future rave’ and we headed home excitedly clutching a VHS tape of our masterpiece. The following week the local paper printed a Top 10 of what they deemed were the best performances from the weekend of the booths stay at the Riverdale centre. We didn’t make the Top 10…”

Now some of the facts in this story may not be entirely true… but as the late and much missed Tony Wilson of Factory Records fame once said: “When forced to pick between truth and legend, print the legend”. Directed by Ed Crofts and filmed at the synthtastically equipped Fiction Studios in Central London, this tongue-in-cheek video certainly helps perpetuate this KID KASIO myth.

Special thanks to Nathan Cooper

‘One Chance’ is from the album ‘Sit & Wait’, both are available via the usual digital platforms

http://www.kidkasio.com/

https://www.facebook.com/kidkasio/

https://twitter.com/KidKasio

https://www.instagram.com/kidkasio/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
18th June 2018

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