Category: Reviews (Page 153 of 200)

MOBY Long Ambients 1: Calm. Sleep.

17 April 2016 /

Ironically, Moby’s ‘Ambient’ from 1993 wasn’t very ambient, with far too many beats to actually provide any profound relaxation…

But since then, the former Richard Melville Hall has properly explored the true environmental tradition first made popular by Brian Eno, issuing limited companion releases such as ‘Underwater’, ‘Little Idiot’, ‘Hotel.Ambient’ and the ‘alt.quiet.version’ of ‘Hymn’, alongside his more high profile and commercial work as exemplified by the multi-million selling opus ‘Play’.

Entitled ‘Long Ambients 1: Calm. Sleep.’, these eleven pieces with their very simple numbered titles, each with an average length of twenty minutes, are to be ignored as much as they are to be listened to.

‘LA1’ is reminiscent of OMD’s lengthy instrumental ‘66 & Fading’, but fourteen minutes longer; gorgeously ethereal, this is aural escapism at its best. On the other side of the coin, ‘LA3’ offers what could be considered almost a melodic motif and recalls the cerebral qualities of BEF’s ‘The Old At Rest’, although it retains the impressionistic ethos of ‘Long Ambients 1: Calm. Sleep.’

‘LA9’ has reverbed piano over drifting sweeps in a haunting but relaxing atmosphere, while ‘LA4’ is largely atonal with its manipulated gong textures. The minimal drone based ‘LA5’ has an almost ecclesiastical demeanour as parts of ‘Underwater’ did, while the slow crystalline movements of ‘LA11’ provide a perfect conclusion to the collection.

Moby said via his website: “over the last couple of years i’ve been making really really really quiet music to listen to when i do yoga or sleep or meditate or panic”. He added:  “i ended up with 4 hours of music and have decided to give it away. it’s really quiet: no drums, no vocals, just very slow calm pretty chords and sounds and things for sleeping and yoga and etc. and feel free to share it or give it away or whatever”

Eno experimented with low tape speeds for his work, and these low bitrate productions each have a hazy, grainy quality that adds a strange surface warmth to proceedings. Best listened to on shuffle at the end of a hard working day, ‘Long Ambients 1: Calm. Sleep.’ is a worthy addition to the ambient artform.

‘Long Ambients 1: Calm. Sleep.’ is available as a free download from
http://little-pine.myshopify.com/products/ambient

Moby’s book ‘Porcelain: A Memoir’ is published in print, digital and audio formats by Penguin Press on 17th May 2016, further information at http://www.moby.com/

https://www.facebook.com/mobymusic

https://twitter.com/thelittleidiot

Text by Chi Ming Lai
17th April 2016

TAYLOR SWIFT New Romantics

16 April 2016 /


A conceptual opus based around George Orwell’s ‘1984’ but looking at the spectre of ‘Big Brother’ five years on, Taylor Swift’s ‘1989’ sold over a million physical copies during its first week in the US.

This was a release which was confined to CD and digital download variants with no concessions towards streaming and, initially in the first few months of release, vinyl. Moving away from her Nashville roots, tracks like ‘Blank Space’ and ‘Out Of The Woods’ flirted with synthpop in the manner of CHVRCHES. Meanwhile ‘Style’ and ‘Clean’ took the electro mode even further, with the latter being a collaboration with modern day technology queen Imogen Heap.

One track that did not fit in with the ‘1989’ concept and therefore restricted to deluxe bonus track status was ‘New Romantics’. But the now New York based pop princess’ celebration of the most colourful of youth movements in the 20th Century has been released as a single in its own right.

Miss Swift’s opening gambit of “We’re all bored, we’re all so tired of everything” quite vividly references The Winter of Discontent, increasing unemployment and the onset of Thatcher’s Britain, although PET SHOP BOYS’ Neil Tennant recently referred to Swift as the “Margaret Thatcher of pop music”. With the social economic purge by the current Cameron government, these lyrics also resonate in the current climate.

But on the packed dancefloor of The Blitz Club, people were forgetting their troubles and “too busy dancing to get knocked off our feet”, while with eyeliner in abundance (and that was just the boys!), Miss Swift recalls the “tears of mascara in the bathroom”. With “trains that just aren’t coming”, the lack of all-night public transport for club goers in London back then was only too apparent. And it is a problem that sadly still afflicts the capital today.

Closing with the profound line “The best people in life are free”, it is a reflection of the creative spirits that emerged from within the outrageously attired clientele like VISAGE, SPANDAU BALLET, CULTURE CLUB and LANDSCAPE. And of course “every night with us is like a dream”.

Coupled to a classically rigid Linn Drum derived beat, if Miss Swift’s inherent Americanisms were not so apparent, this enticing electropop number could easily be mistaken for the dreamy allure of Scandipodean twins SAY LOU LOU, thanks to the input of Swedish producers Max Martin and Shellback. It was LANDSCAPE’s Richard James Burgess who first coined the term “New Romantic”.

And with this historic narrative on The Blitz Club, ’New Romantics’ has become the original resident DJ Rusty Eagan’s favourite Taylor Swift song.

‘New Romantics’ is available on deluxe edition of ‘1989’ via Big Machine Records

TAYLOR SWIFT plays the United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas on Saturday 22nd October 2016

http://www.taylorswift.com/

https://www.facebook.com/TaylorSwift/

https://twitter.com/taylorswift13

https://www.instagram.com/taylorswift/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
16th April 2016

BEYOND THE WIZARDS SLEEVE Diagram Girl

10 April 2016 /

BEYOND THE WIZZARD’S SLEEVE Diagram GirlIt’s only April, but could ‘Diagram Girl’ by BEYOND THE WIZARDS SLEEVE be one of the songs of 2016?

The psychedelically monikered sonic brotherhood of DJ Erol Alkan and Richard Norris, who is best known for his partnership with Dave Ball in THE GRID, BEYOND THE WIZARDS SLEEVE are set to release their debut album proper ‘The Soft Bounce’ on 1st July 2016, following establishing their reputation as remixers with their series of ‘Re-Animations’. ‘Diagram Girl’ is the gorgeously enticing lead track from the album and comes over as a blissfully sequenced electronic take on M83 or MAPS, but with the twist of unisex vocals by HANNAH PEEL.

Directed by BAFTA winner Kieran Evans, the wonderful monochromatic video for ‘Diagram Girl’ is a wonderful surreal homage to Nouvelle Vague cinema, capturing a forlorn woman surreally trapped in a derelict house stalked by a ghost and assorted crow-like beings; meanwhile the delightful Miss Peel also makes a cameo appearance.

Released as a single, the bundle also contains a Re-Animation which takes off the male lead vocal and leaves just Peel’s natural dreamily breathy tones over the extended electronic workout.

The Craigavon-born songstress and composer herself has been very busy of late. As well as  juggling projects such as THE MAGNETIC NORTH and MARY CASIO, there will also be the live debut of a collaborative work called ‘In The Shadows Of Steam’, celebrating the lost railways of Donegal at the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival on Thursday 5th May 2016.

Hannah Peel - Diagram GirlAnd this is without Peel’s own upcoming second solo album ‘Awake But Always Dreaming’, contributing her vocals to a new JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS song ‘A Man & A Woman’ which will feature on a new compilation ‘21st Century: A Man, A Woman And A City’ and a South Coast tour of eight record shops in support of her ‘Rebox 2’ mini-album release on gold vinyl for RSD2016 on Saturday 16th April.

Meanwhile, promising an album of “pleasure and pain, doubt and transcendence” with other guest such as Blaine Harrison of indie rockers MYSTERY JETS, Euros Childs from GORKY’S ZYGOTIC MYNCI, Jane Weaver and Holly Miranda, BEYOND THE WIZARDS SLEEVE launch ‘The Soft Bounce’ with a 4 hour DJ set at The Moth Club in London on the evening of its release.

‘Diagram Girl’ is available now on 12 inch turquoise vinyl with a download key via https://shop.phantasysound.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/beyondthewizardssleeve/

https://soundcloud.com/beyond-the-wizards-sleeve

http://www.hannahpeel.com/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
10th April 2016

SPRAY Enforced Fun

7 April 2016 /

SPRAY ENFORCED FUNartworkJenny McLaren and Ricardo Autobahn (aka John Matthews) jokingly describe themselves as “Synth folk straight outa Lancashire”.

Having been members of THE CUBAN BOYS, with whom they topped the singles charts in the UK, the twosome took on an off-shot project, SPRAY.

Autobahn has also been involved in a venture called BARNDANCE BOYS with Daz Simpson aka Darren Sampson, infamous for their exaggerated papier-mâché heads.

Two albums have been released since, followed by further EPs. And now, the good mates of Nathan Cooper aka TEC favourite KID KASIO, have returned with a lengthy production mischievously entitled ‘Enforced Fun’.

The hilarious ‘Prologue’ by Jane Badler introduces the light hearted approach of this record, which is a happy and bright amalgamation of cheerful dance tracks, such as ‘Hit The Applause Light’, ‘Overdramatic’ (with vocals sounding like Sarah Blackwood’s), ‘Rotating The Square’ and ‘The Magic 8 Ball Lies’ (loaded with Eurovision worthy qualities and varying vocals).

‘You Show Me The Way’ slows the tempo somewhat, resembling DUBSTAR or CLIENT, thanks to the clear, competent vocals and pleasant melody.

KID KASIO features on ‘It’s Not Enough’; an über electric come back to the synthier years. A refreshing approach to the old style electronica is what’s expected of Nathan Cooper and this track certainly provides that in bunches.

‘Diabolical Mastermind’ provides political connotations interwoven within an efficient synthravaganza, while ‘It’s The Night Of The Long Knives, Charlie Brown’ musically turns into a more folk and reggae inspired number, laced with clubland rhythms.

SPRAY-02‘Into A Tunnel’ drifts away from the discotheque into a dream land and ‘The 80s Never Died’ is ERASURE in a can, followed by ‘Fake Controversy Coincidentally Moves Product’ and ‘The Biggest Pool In LA’ (a sarcastic answer to any problem).

HYPERBUBBLE feature on ‘The Very Nerve Centre of Art Video Cliché’, a song laced with ABBA’s ‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!’ synth line and scarce guitar elements. The production closes with ‘The Final Song’, a measured ballad, peacefully wrapping this eclectic collection of “perfect songs for every mood”.

SPRAY are well regarded and part of many collaborations, some of them including Autobahn’s co-writing and production of ‘Teenage Life’ with Daz Sampson, which was UK’s 2006 Eurovision entry; others have McLaren performing guest vocals on club records. KID KASIO, as well as many others, like LOLLY POP, POP INC and HELEN LOVE pride themselves with having worked alongside the duo.

‘Enforced Fun’ is a masterful dance gem, but without the sugary beats and need of overbearing vocal enhancement. What you hear is what you get, get it?!

‘Enforced Fun’ is released as a CD and download on 29th April 2016 via
http://spray.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/spraynet/

https://twitter.com/spraypopmusic

Text by Monika Izabela Goss
7th April 2016

PET SHOP BOYS Super

1 April 2016 /

petshopboys-superIt is debatable whether number thirteen will be lucky or not so much for PET SHOP BOYS, but after the album number twelve, ‘Electric’ in 2013, with its return to the good old, if ever so slightly camp (of course!) electronica, one expects perfection.

The predecessor to ‘Electric’, ‘Elysium’, nearly put the group alongside the likes of DEPECHE MODE, with their dwindling reputation and the general feeling that one cannot expect a decent long player anymore. ‘Elysium’ was stripped of the energy and the vitality, one has grown to expect from the London duo.

‘Electric’ raised the bar, mainly thanks to the superb production by Stuart Price, restoring the belief that PSB still had it. And now comes ‘Super’. Also produced by Price, well known for his collaborations with MADONNA, HURTS, SCISSOR SISTERS, KYLIE MINOGUE and GWEN STEFANI amongst many others, together with ‘Electric’, ‘Super’ is another comeback to the inherent PET SHOP BOYS that has been around since their first outing ‘Please’.

Price, who was the musical director on PSB’s ‘Pandemonium Tour’, and toured with the duo during showcasing ‘Electric’, has added a fresh approach to the established act that Tennant and Lowe are.

‘Happiness’ kicks off the club tracks collection with the ever optimistic lyric “it’s a long way to happiness, it’s a long way to go, but I’m gonna get there, boy, the only way I know”; against all odds they’re trying to keep good old pop alive. Excellently mixed, layered sounds burst into a comatose of euphoria, marking a great start to something worth pursuing.

‘The Pop Kids’ descends, being a quintessential PET SHOP BOYS track; carefree, but complicated, resembling the story of ‘Being Boring’ – the youth who never missed an opportunity for classy fun. Tennant and Lowe have never changed, they remain “the pop kids”.

‘Twenty-something’ tells a further tale which the duo are celebrated for. Their story telling tracks have become a kind of delicacy and this time, it’s about Londoners in their prime of life, “twenty-something hard to beat… feel the heat” within a slower paced beat.

‘Groovy’ picks up the tempo once again, leading onto ‘Dictator Decides’, which marks another of the politically laced numbers that the PSB boys do so well. Like their previous gems such as ‘Don Juan’ or ‘I Get Along’, this one hits the truth, that any politician is just a regular person underneath, sometimes wanting to live a normal life; a life without having to make decisions influencing nations. The plea to end his life to stop the tyranny clearly rings in “if you get rid of me we can all be free”.

petshopboys2016The instrumental ‘Pazzo’ introduces the next track, ‘Inner Sanctum’ which reacts to German techno pop scene based in Berlin’s Berghain, the ultimate night club with its cavernous main room. The track is heavy, punchy and dizzy, perfect for a pounds, shillings and pence induced rave.

‘Undertow’, ‘Burn’ and ‘Say It To Me’ hold onto the disco idea once more, with the latter being somewhat of an excellently executed ‘Domino Dancing’ style dance piece.

In the realm of fast paced tracks, ‘Sad Robot World’ is the ballad this album needs as a slow coma, and it is actually about robots! The final credit, ‘Into Thin Air’ calls for a collective disappearance to escape the mundanity, to “create new identities and fly into the unknown, we’ll vanish no one would know where”. Being different isn’t always easy; it creates misunderstandings and unnecessary pain, therefore the idea of avoidance and escapism sounds inviting.

The kings of pop, having turned out the biggest synth anthems over the last thirty years, have proven again that given the correct production, their mission can be accomplished.

No fillers, no ballads (which according to Lowe are to be featured on the next Price produced album), no nonsense… it’s a notion many of their contemporaries should adhere to.

Pop isn’t dead yet. With albums like ‘Super’ it never will be.

Never mind their age, PET SHOP BOYS are the eternal “pop kids” and their music reinvents itself in the best possible way. ‘Super’ is SUPER!

‘Super’ is released by in CD, vinyl and digital formats

http://www.petshopboys.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/petshopboys/

https://twitter.com/petshopboys

Text by Monika Izabela Goss
1st April 2016

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2017 ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK | Email: [email protected]
Privacy Policy

Up ↑