Category: Reviews (Page 137 of 200)

RICHARD BARBIERI Planets + Persona

6 March 2017 / electricityclub

Richard Barbieri releases his most sonically expansive album yet in ‘Planets + Persona’.

But despite a recording career of nearly 40 years, which began as a member the innovative art muzak combo JAPAN, ‘Planets + Persona’ is only Barbieri’s third solo work. Over the intervening years, he has worked with his former band mates in various guises, Steve Hogarth of MARILLION and most notably, prog rockers PORCUPINE TREE.

‘Planets + Persona’ comprises of seven lengthy instrumentals which while primarily electronic in nature, encompass organic tones and voice manipulation. Steve Hogarth, Barbieri’s wife Suzanne and Swedish musician Lisen Rylander Löve are among the vocalists who have been morphed into these new sounds. In an interview with ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK, Richard Barbieri said of this ethos of innovation: “I layered up these voices that had quite interesting close harmonies so I manipulated them, put them into a sampler and further synthesized it… you know it’s real voices but it sounds slightly weird”.

Opening track ‘Solar Sea’ is a sleazy rhythmic excursion into another world. Using System 700 bass, the track’s atonal jazz feel is then augmented by the haunting voice manipulations of Lisen Rylander Löve; these warping noises are offset by soothing brass inflections and live drumming. Followed by the spacey avant jazz of ‘New Found Land’ which was originally written by Barbieri for PORCUPINE TREE, this one is probably the most melodically framed piece on the album, ideal for those who are perhaps a bit more cautious about sub-seven minute instrumental work.

The three movement ‘Night Of The Hunter’ begins sparsely with ‘(1) Summer’; cascading harps run in before some beautifully picked acoustic six string from Christian Saggese accompanied by Barbieri’s gentle orchestrations. However after those brighter beginnings, ‘(2) Shake Hands With Danger’ is much starker and sombre with the title’s announcer sample creeping in over the building percussive tension. The mood then subsides and on ‘(3) Innocence Lost’, sweeping synths, cacophonies of sax and a drum loop take things to their natural conclusion.

‘Interstellar Medium’ is the only piece that Barbieri performs totally solo on ‘Planets + Persona’ and here, he utilises the detuned pentatonic sound design that he pioneered on JAPAN’s ‘Tin Drum’ as well as more eerie manipulated voicing; it’s well-titled as it does what it says on the tin.

Meanwhile, the beautiful tinkling ambience of ‘Unholy’ is countered by unsettling Nordic voices before a deep synth bass rumble and acoustic guitars change the mood completely, aided by Löve’s soprano sax. As the album heads towards the final straight, ‘Shafts Of Light’ uses largely conventional instrumentation to achieve its icy atmospheric aims, featuring some lovely trumpet from Luca Calabrese.

Photo by Ben Meadows

Closing with the magnificence of ‘Solar Storm’, this is practically a full band jam with the legendary Percy Jones on bass and Kjell Severinsson on drums, while the ever versatile Löve blasts in with her sax. It’s all held together marvellously by Barbieri’s programming of bass and ethnic chimes, while what appears to be a guitar solo is anything but. As Jones solos with his fretless in the middle section over a mass of electronic sequences, it recalls why he was such a key influence on the late Mick Karn; JAPAN and ENO fans will love this!

‘Planets + Persona’ is not a one-paced ambient record, the variations in structure and tempo make this an enticing musical adventure outside of the conventional song format. Coupled with a sonic accessibility, this makes for a perfect mid-evening album of aural escapism.

As Barbieri himself put it: “‘Planets + Persona’ is more cinematic, it’s a wide spectrum of sounds so if I was a painter, you could say I’m using more colours”.

‘Planets + Persona’ is released in CD, double vinyl and digital formats by Kscope

RICHARD BARBIERI appears at Exeter Phoenix on Thursday 16th March and London Hoxton Hall on Tuesday 28th March 2017. He will also perform as part of The Seventh Wave Festival of Electronic Music in Birmingham on Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th March 2017.

https://www.facebook.com/RichardBarbieriOfficial/

http://www.kscopemusic.com/artists/richard-barbieri/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Ben Meadows
6th March 2017

BRUCE WOOLLEY & POLLY SCATTERGOOD Video Killed The Radio Star

6 March 2017 / electricityclub

Featuring the haunting afflicted vocals of Essex songstress Polly Scattergood, Bruce Woolley reimagines his classic ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’ in a new epic arrangement with the fitting subtitle of ‘Dark Star’…

Recorded with THE RADIO SCIENCE ORCHESTRA, Woolley introduces them with the proclamation: “Listen to The Sound of Tomorrow – Today!”

A number co-written with Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes, Bruce Woolley recorded ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’ first with his band THE CAMERA CLUB in 1979 and originally released as the B-side to the single ‘English Garden’. But it was THE BUGGLES featuring Horn and Downes who scored the UK No1 in a version with slightly different lyrics later that Autumn.

The song was to become prophetic and when MTV launched in August of 1981, the very first music video broadcast on the new channel was ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’. Fast forward to 2017 and while radio maintains a presence via the internet, video continues to rule via platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo.

The spacey monochromatic visual accompaniment for ‘Video Killed The Radio Star (Dark Star)’ sees Scattergood clad like Barbarella in thigh length boots, while enticingly twiddling with an EMS VCS3 in the ultimate homage to retro-futurism and vintage Sci-Fi. She said in an interview with ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK in 2014: “I have always been fascinated by electronics. When I made my first album, although I enjoyed experimenting, it was all fairly new to me. But by the time I made ‘Arrows’, I guess I felt more confident in the sound I wanted to make”.

Polly Scattergood is no stranger to cover versions, having previously offered reinterpretations of ‘Hurt’, ‘New York, New York’, ‘The Look Of Love’, ‘Comfortably Numb’ and ‘Only You’ in her various guises. Meanwhile, THE RADIO SCIENCE ORCHESTRA sees Woolley reunited with Thomas Dolby who played keyboards with THE CAMERA CLUB.

‘Video Killed The Radio Star (Dark Star)’ is released as a download single by Gramophone Records

http://www.radioscience.com/

http://www.pollyscattergood.com/

https://www.facebook.com/brucewoolleyhq/

https://www.facebook.com/polly.scattergood/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
6th March 2017

AVEC SANS We Are

4 March 2017 / electricityclub

‘We Are’ is the latest single from London based pairing AVEC SANS.

Remixed from their debut album ‘Heartbreak Hi’ released in 2016, it is beefed up considerably from the original; the self-directed video to ‘We Are’ acts as an excellent visual accompaniment with the duo cast in a series of fast cut strobe-induced settings.

Certainly, it’s been visually in a live setting that AVEC SANS have made the biggest impression, with vocalist Alice Fox’s enigmatic SIA-like presence and Jack St. James’ use of three flashing Novation Launchpads on stage.

Forming in 2012, AVEC SANS quickly garnered the support of the influential web publication Popjustice and secured a support slot with LITTLE BOOTS in 2013 while more recently, they were spotted opening for LADYHAWKE. Their other supporters include RUSTY EGAN and RODNEY CROMWELL.

Their appearance at the Butlins ‘Electric Dreams’ weekender last December alongside OMD, HEAVEN 17, MARC ALMOND, BLANCMANGE and MARSHEAUX won them new fans.

However, AVEC SANS have polarised electronic music audiences… while some consider them the best new synth act since CHVRCHES, other observers point to their lack of hooks and immediacy compared with their Glaswegian contemporaries.

Whatever, what cannot be doubted about AVEC SANS is the quality of their vocals and production. As they tour North America this spring, their trajectory can only head upwards.

‘We Are’ is released as a limited edition CD single on 3rd April 2017 by Beverly Martel, the debut album ‘Heartbreak Hi’ is still available

http://avecsans.com/

https://www.facebook.com/avecsansband/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
4th March 2017

KITE Demons & Shame

2 March 2017 / electricityclub

Swedish duo KITE have unleashed their darkest offering yet in ‘Demons & Shame’.

If Ennio Morricone composed music for Nordic Noir dramas, it would sound a bit like this. Shaped by a ritualistic drum mantra and brooding bass drones, as the title suggests, the song confronts the despair that life occasionally throws up while pursuing visions and dreams.

Vocalist Nicklas Stenemo literally screams his frustration over an epic synthetic soundscape from Christian Berg, laced with nocturnal Arctic overtones and the spectre of THE KNIFE.

Following the triumph of their sixth EP ‘VI’, KITE are now making in-roads internationally with their second tour of the US and early summer dates in Germany. Stenemo said in late 2015: “Now we feel we have a great position in Sweden and are going to focus on Europe. It’s like starting from the beginning, but we are really excited to start touring and bring our ridiculously oversized live set-up to the small clubs all over. I guess Germany will see a lot of us”.

With the leaps of progression on ‘IV’ as evidenced by mighty songs like ‘Up For Life’ and ‘It’s Ours’, the new EP ‘VII’ looks likely to be a blinder. With Stenemo and Berg also working on a song for the upcoming Steven Seagal movie ‘Perfect Weapon’, “Sweden’s best kept pop-secret” is not so secret anymore…

‘Demons & Shame’ is released by Progress Productions via the usual digital platforms including https://kitehq.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/KiteHQ

https://www.instagram.com/kitehq/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photo by Anders Nydamn
2nd March 2017

M.I.N.E One

1 March 2017 / electricityclub

CAMOUFLAGE are a cult German synth band, whose career has grown bigger and bigger over the years, thanks to excellent releases and the fact that no song has been similar sounding or routinely written.

‘Greyscale’ marked album number eight, and it astonished once more with full, architectural sounds and the deep quality of the writing. Yet, the face of CAMOUFLAGE, Marcus Meyn has decided to step into his own side project M.I.N.E The collaboration with Jochen Schmalbach and Volker Hinkel, both members of CAMOUFLAGE’s live setup, promises a nod towards newer, darker electronica. As Schmalbach and Hinkel’s input into CAMOUFLAGE has been mainly limited to live events, Meyn gave them a chance to develop something new.

Schmalbach is indeed an international producer, who contributed to ‘If…’ on ‘Greyscale’, and whose style Meyn appreciates greatly. Since CAMOUFLAGE aren’t touring at the moment and no new material is being produced, M.I.N.E are hoping to fill the gap and entice new fans with an EP and plan to release a long player before this summer.

‘Things We’ve Done’ heralds the project and offers four different mixes to add to the variety. This easy listening track nods towards Dave Gahan’s solo achievements on ‘Paper Monsters’, but clear DEPECHE MODE influences are also palpable, especially from around the ‘Ultra’ era. Not necessarily that dissimilar from recent CAMOUFLAGE singles, it is loaded with ample amount of magnificent electronica and capable production by Schmalbach.

‘Dangerous’ follows with a dose of edginess, conveying a message of enticing relationships, while ‘Lean On’ exercises synth a la AND ONE and a variety of noises, that some again are quite DM sounding. “You’ve been hiding from life” actually brings back Basildon’s finest “you’ve been hiding from love” from ‘Free Love’ thanks to the way of its execution. A fair amount of guitar has been introduced into this one towards the end, awakening the moods somewhat.

The last track, ‘White Trash’, is fairly minimalist until the entrance of the chorus and is probably the best number on the EP. Mellow and not overly sophisticated, it rounds up the production nicely, without being too busy or in your face.

M.I.N.E will most probably bridge the gap between a break in action for CAMOUFLAGE, but compared to its daddy, it is fairly lacklustre. Meyn’s vocals are as always more than capable and the production from Schmalbach is indeed proficient, yet none of the songs seem to leave a profound mark.

The promised nod towards a darker electronica feel simply isn’t there; they’re decent songs, but they’re not CAMOUFLAGE quality. Still, Meyn and Co deserve to harvest new fans, with the upcoming album hopefully fulfilling the expectations a little bit more.

‘One’ is released by M.I.N.E Music via the usual digital outlets

http://www.mine-music.com/

https://www.facebook.com/minemusicband/

Text by Monika Izabela Trigwell
1st March 2017