Category: Reviews (Page 158 of 200)

FIFI RONG Violently Silently EP

7 December 2015 /

She has become a favourite of YELLO’s Boris Blank, she is Fifi Rong…

The Swiss musician said of her musical unique aesthetic: “She opens slowly up in her songs as a miraculous flower that does not grow in any garden, and it’s unmistakably beautiful”. Following on from ‘Next Pursuit’, the Beijing-born artist and producer has a new body of work to showcase her ever developing hyrid electronica sound.

The crowdfunded five track EP’s title ‘Violently Silently’ is a more than apt description for her music, which the songstress describes as “subtly vulnerable and introverted, yet extremely emotionally powerful and brutal”. Mixed by Lee Slater, ‘Violently Silently’ is a cohesive statement where “the same set of sound elements were sampled, crafted and re-sampled to demonstrate a set of songs that people would conventionally consider to cross several genres”.

The eerie, abstract ‘Intro’ is actually a mutant taster of the following song ‘Once’, highlighting the conceptual theme of the EP. But ‘Once’ itself takes this breathy template into some exquisite electronic pop. Uptempo but engaging varying rhythm measures, it successfully avoids the repetition that plagues most trip-hop and downtempo dance forms which Miss Rong is often associated with.

Meanwhile, her family heritage in Chinese folk and opera makes its presence felt on the lovely ‘Slow Poison’. Playing around with a beautifully traditional topline, there is the bonus of a wonderful piano cascade towards the song’s conclusion.

‘Since When’ could be pretty PORTISHEAD. It is far less claustrophobic than Beth Gibbons and co, plus a whole lot more enjoyable too. With a string quartet, some fabulous stereo imaging on the electronic percussion and an unexpected cacophony of militaristic drums, it is quite a melting pot. The ‘Violently Silently’ EP concludes with another experimental piece in the glitchy dub trip-hop of ‘Outro’, effectively a remix of ‘Since When’.

Intimate and captivating, ‘Violently Silently’ continues Fifi Rong‘s development as one of the more unique artists in modern electronica.

The ‘Violently Silently’ EP can be downloaded via the usual digital outlets or purchased as a CD from http://www.fifirong.com/

https://www.facebook.com/fifirongmusic/

https://soundcloud.com/fifirong

https://www.twitter.com/fifirong

https://www.instagram.com/fifirong/

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/fifirong

Text by Chi Ming Lai
7th December 2015

BATTLE TAPES Polygon

3 December 2015 /


Let’s set one thing straight first, any band that has a song in their catalogue called ‘Sweatshop Boys’ is bound to have some sort of potential and thankfully Los Angeles four piece BATTLE TAPES have come storming out of the blocks with a fine (and long overdue) debut album in ‘Polygon’.

Although the said Tennant / Lowe parodying song is not present here (it was the title track on an EP released in 2012), there are ten tracks which do an excellent job at filling an electronic musical void that’s existed for quite a while now.

SOULWAX, SPLEEN UNITED, INNERPARTYSYSTEM and LCD SOUNDSYSTEM have all successfully managed the often tricky task of mixing live instruments with synths and sequencers in a seamless fashion, but with the former two in hiatus and the latter artists no longer around, there is a genuine gap in the market for an electronic-based act that isn’t overly self-conscious and isn’t afraid to rock out with their synths…

‘Polygon’ starts with a statement of intent in ‘Belgrade’, a high-octane track with a Motown backbeat and distorted synths which ape the NEW ORDER sampling ‘Operation Blade’. With a blistering opening which deploys the track’s breakdown section before the vocals kick in, ‘Belgrade’ gives a pretty implicit idea of the musical content that awaits the listener inside…

Following closely on its heels is the single ‘Valkyrie’ which has one of those earworm chorus melodies which once embedded in your skull will quite possibly keep you awake at night. Bass sequencers are let loose in the second verse and the oblique nature of the lyrics with reference to “swinging of d***s” and “dancing with the devil sweating gasoline” mean that repeated listens don’t diminish the appeal of the song one iota. An uplifting and ascending instrumental EDM-style middle eight helps break away from the Wall of Sound before the chorus returns at the end.

The cowbell-tastic ‘Solid Gold’ features guest vocals from PARTY NAILS singer Elena Belle Carroll and has more combined swagger than DAVID BOWIE and LOU REED at a seedy 70s Berlin nightclub.

Built around a ‘Fame’-style guitar riff, the track grooves along seductively before hitting a wonderful middle eight / outro section giving the song a more contemporary edge and ending with a squealing synced oscillator synth solo.

‘Private Dancer’ takes some of its cues from French duo JUSTICE and also throws some vocoder into the mix. Once it fully reveals itself, the “You give me all your money, I’ll be your private dancer” vocal sounds like one of KRAFTWERK’s robots getting jacked up on cheap booze and moonlighting for extra Euros at a lap dance club.

The first of two instrumentals ‘Dreamboat’ is all rippling arpeggiators, whilst the other, the epic ‘Mulholland’ has the sort of Synthwave sound which wouldn’t have been out of the place on the ‘Drive’ soundtrack. Low slung Reese bass lines, handclaps and retro synth sounds put both of these tracks in the same sort of (electronic) club as CARPENTER BRUT and PERTURBATOR.

‘Graveyard Shift’ is probably the most conventionally rock track here, albeit with the sort of swampy guitar figure which Martin Gore would have been more than happy to have written – whilst the chorus and general vocal sound recall Josh Homme from QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE. Closing track ‘Again’ is a bit of a curveball, starting off low-key fashion and not unlike a long-lost ‘Golden Age of Wireless’-era THOMAS DOLBY track, building gradually with half-time drums before hitting the 4/4 button and climaxing with a formant vocal synth part.

BATTLE TAPES are SO needed right now, especially from a live perspective… too many synth-oriented acts have little or no idea how to translate their studio sound into a viable format that can be delivered to a live audience.

Unless you happen to be lucky enough to have the stage presence and songs of, say EAST INDIA YOUTH, a singer accompanied by a synth player looking apologetic whilst prodding buttons behind a laptop does not an entertaining live show make.

Although it’s taken a while to emerge (the band were formed in 2010), the wait has been worth it for ‘Polygon’ with what is one of the most consistently thrilling albums you’ll hear this year.

Let battle commence…

‘Polygon’ is released by Battle Arts

http://battletapesband.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Battletapes/

Text by Paul Boddy
3rd December 2015

KID KASIO Sit & Wait

1 December 2015 /

KID KASIO, or Nathan Cooper, formerly of THE MODERN and subsequently MATINEE CLUB, debuted as a solo artist with his 2012 album ‘Kasiotone’.

The idea of going bandless has always appealed to him, as it meant that his concepts were implemented into the music he produced, without having to answer to anyone or explain the reasons. If anything went wrong, he “only had myself to blame”.

Having previously worked with Stephen Hague, who produced ERASURE, NEW ORDER and PET SHOP BOYS, THE MODERN enjoyed a brief period of popularity with a few chart singles. Cooper and his partner-in-crime, Chi Tudor-Hart were subjected to some animosities resulting from the poor management and problems with the label, before he decided to go on his own.

Citing DURAN DURAN, JAPAN, NEW ORDER, OMD, Howard Jones and most of “80s music because I play synths, and that’s the era when synths dominated popular music” as influences, Cooper isn’t a stranger to vintage synthesisers such as the Roland Juno 60, Prophet 5, Korg Poly 800, SH101, Crumar Performer or DX7. Turning out, what only can be described as true synthpopia tunes, it’s been nearly four years since his last album. However, Cooper busied himself with contributing music to Drew Barrymore, his brother Dominic and Toni Collette’s film ‘Miss You Already’. Now KID KASIO is returning with his newest production ‘Sit & Wait’. The album took a few years to come to fruition, bearing in mind it was mastered back in 2013.

KID KASIO Shot Blue 1

It was the video to ‘The Kodo Song’ that pushed back the “mixed bag”, which had to be “refreshed”. But as he muses: “whether I release it in 2013 or 2016, it’s still going to sound like 1985!!” – not minding how long the long player took, given “I don’t have Simon Cowell beating my door down demanding a product”, and not too keen on the idea of just releasing an EP, Cooper embraced the concept of “an album as a chronological story with a beginning, middle and end”.

‘The Kodo Song’ opens the opus utilising the South African vibe “with an air of melancholy (….) through the story of the Anglo-Zulu war”, describing a relationship between two friends fighting on the frontline. With one of them dying, the other remembers his comrade through the song. The ethnic sounds on this production punctuate the story, which itself is an epic production, having taken two years to turn out with the accompanying video.

‘Letters Of Love’, an excellently synth driven piece of candy, bursts with boyish charm and magnificent vintage sounds, while ‘Full Moon Blue’ displays all the correct Nik Kershaw characteristics, being timeless and superbly modern at the same time. But it’s also a younger brother of ‘Two Minute Warning’, so much so that it even has an Alan Wilder co-writing credit!

If EIFFEL 65 had good enough voices to produce a track without the overkill of melodyne, it could have sounded something like ‘Blood Red Skies’; while the ballad-based ‘The Story of Kid Charlemagne’ probes the synth sounds to perfection, without indulgence. The title track kicks in, reminiscent of Howard Jones‘ signature vocals over something Vince Clarke would have produced for early DEPECHE MODE.

‘One Chance’ and ‘Drive (Some Kind Of Love)’ further explore the eclectic talents of Cooper, with the latter sounding as if it’s been a soundtrack to ‘Foot Loose’ or ‘Flashdance’. ‘One More Time’ could have easily been written for Eurovision, and it would probably win, carrying the biggest chorus ever. The trials to “capture the sound of that era, albeit with a 2015 slant” are continuing to be palpable on ‘Human Beings’, while the closing ‘The End’ is a coagulation of everything that was amazing during the best periods of DEPECHE MODE.

‘Sit & Wait’ is simply inspired. For those missing the lost tracks of the post-Synth Britannia; to those who simply cannot move on from the era when synthpop was at its best, with big hair, colourful clothes and camp moves, this is like going back in time, but still keeping it fresh and current. Many an electronica listener would have been waiting for an album like this, something to compare to the good, old classics; something that could easily have been written 30 years ago.

Congratulations KID KASIO; while many others are going into undefined directions resulting in mediocrity, you’ve achieved perfection, while going back to your roots. Your “mixed bag, albeit made out of that black, grey and red striped material that all 80s duvet covers were made out of” is straightforwardly genius.

‘Sit & Wait’ is released as a CD and download, please visit http://www.kidkasio.com/ for more deatils

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

https://twitter.com/KidKasio

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

Text by Monika Izabela Goss
1st December 2015

SYNTHDECADE Syndicator

30 November 2015 /

SYNTHDECADE SyndicatorBack in May 2015, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s radar pointed to a German band from Frankfurt, which formed in 2012 and promised to “revolutionise the Electronic Pop music sector”, SYNTHDECADE.

Self-proclaimed as “the next generation of synth”, which always invites interest and curiosity; the band, who already seem to have lost a member in Marc Renard on keyboards (perhaps he got tired of waiting!) is now consisting of the vocalist Rick Pleasant and programmer/keyboardist Sean Dexter.

Three years is a fair amount of time to write a decent album, especially one that has been heavily pushed on social media, with the accompanying photographs of immaculately groomed band members, pouting away at the camera, as if advertising a new aftershave.

Both tracks, which have been released with accompanying videos for the enjoyment of hungry electronica fanatics, ‘Lighten Up The Darkness’ and ‘Facing My Fears’ enjoyed more than moderate success, establishing the direction in which SYNTHDECADE had been heading. Heavily influenced by DEPECHE MODE, CAMOUFLAGE and DE/VISION, with these guidances clearly palpable on both songs, the hope was for ‘Syndicator’ to sound more original and fresh, and, indeed, to usher “the next generation of synth”.

‘Warm Welcome’ creates an interesting intro to the production, with steady, authentic beats, promising a dose of “the good stuff”, but is immediately followed with the, by now, familiar, ‘Lighten Up The Darkness’, totally CAMOUFLAGE-d up. The clean sounding ‘Perfect Day’ is an apt attempt at immaculate production, as is the following ‘Love & Understanding’. The latter, an electronic ballad, is skilfully executed, both musically and vocally, leads into the second previously issued track, ‘Facing My Fears’.

FRONT 242 meets PET SHOP BOYS on ‘Your Soul’, whereas ‘Back Again’ floats seamlessly over the sound of the harp, interwoven within magnificent synth. ‘Change Your Life’ is ultimately synthpop in a bottle. Melodious and dancey, it is much like its follower, ‘Open Your Mind’. The guitar is introduced on ‘Sons Of The Broken Bottle’ with some more or less harsh, trashy sounds. The track comes across as an eclectic mix of many genres and is messy at times, creating confusion and a departure from the otherwise electronic feel of this record.

SYNTHDECADE 01 by Carsten Riedel‘Angels Are Calling Me’ opens with an über interesting sequence, returning to the elegant synth dominated template. It’s possibly the most interesting track on the album, with DE/VISION, CAMOUFLAGE and DM influences audible. This time, however, the song is as original as it gets; nothing is pushed to sound like something else and French horns wrap up the track, adding to the deepened mood magnificently.

The twelfth track, ‘Home’ brings back the uptempo feel, perfect for dancing, punctuated with a clever drum pattern and gentle piano. The closing ‘Facing My Fears’, this time in the ‘Hypnotic Mix’, concludes the production, thanks to a magnificent synth and cleverly enhanced vocal, at times sounding as if DE/VISION’s Steffen Keth bumped into the boys from Italy’s EIFFEL 65.

Anyone claiming that they’re reinventing the electronic music is perhaps dreaming, and maybe “all men are dreamers”. The claim that “the new generation of synth” is ushered is also a far-fetched fantasy.

All this said, SYNTHDECADE have pleasantly surprised; while one expected a blueprint of CAMOUFLAGE with added elements of DEPECHE MODE, shamelessly delivered with a ‘Syndicator’ sticker on it; one has got a grown-up, well produced and excellently balanced album, which is worthy of recognition of, clearly, hard work and proficient studio skills.

Well done SYNTHDECADE, you’ve obviously done your homework.

‘Syndicator’ is released by 15c Avenue via the usual digital outlets

http://www.synthdecade.de/

https://www.facebook.com/Synthdecade

Text by Monika Izabela Goss
30th November 2015

SUDDEN CREATION Synth Boys Don’t Smile

27 November 2015 /

SynthBoysDon'tSmile coverOne man synth operation SUDDEN CREATION aka Chris Mines deserves an award or a straitjacket or something!

After several years of video previews and gigs showcasing his satirical but very musical songs, the Cambridgeshire based singer/songwriter has finally delivered his debut album, ‘Synth Boys Don’t Smile’. Long standing synthpop fans will also have fun listening out for geeky reference points and in-jokes. And while Mines might not be the greatest singer in the world, his delivery is sharp and honest while his lyrics make great stories, even without the music.

The actual ‘Synth Boys Don’t Smile’ title track is a joy, sending up the likes of Vince Clarke, Dave Ball, Stephen Luscombe, Chris Lowe and Ron Mael. Those with man buns and a preference for hipster hosiery need not apply… and that could be the title of a SUDDEN CREATION song in itself!

Of course, the stoney faced ERASURE and YAZOO synth maestro was the subject of one of the first SUDDEN CREATION songs to have been previewed back in 2013. ‘I Never Met Vince Clarke’ is an amusing tale of managing to meet all your heroes, except that elusive one. “Every time I’ve tried to meet Vince I have missed him…” says Mines, “And to clarify, yes I have met everyone else mentioned in the song, but no, I still haven’t met Vince …”

Lazy journalists, bloggers and ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK are the target on the highly amusing ‘Shouldn’t I Be A Girl?’ while remaining with the fairer gender, ‘The Girl Rocks’ is those rarest of things, a synthpop number using the blues scale!

Inspired respectively by MORRISSEY and MANIC STREET PREACHERS, ‘Repellent Me’ and ‘Electric Light’ explore some conventional musical avenues despite the use of synths, while also sending up the forthright miserablist overtures of the two.

Of the former, Mines says: “When someone like Morrissey makes a comment like ‘There’s nothing more repellent than a synthesizer’, it’s a bit like a red rag to a bull to me… the lyric is definitely taking comments he has made in several interviews and turning them around and firing them back at him …”

The amusing mid-life crisis referencing ‘Fat Forty & Fashion-Free’ explores the plight of older musicians in a music industry obsessed with the young, the thin and the trendy… with most artists performing synthpop being enclosed in this mature category, this most frustrating but real scenario will strike home. But it’s not all tomfoolery and high jinks on this diverse observational collection of synthpop, as the closing numbers ‘Goodnight God Bless Goodbye’ and ‘It Is What It Is’ both testify. Inspired by loss and grief, despite the mournfulness, they are melodic and hopeful. Funny, technostalgic, deadpan and tragic, all within a space of 45 minutes… yes, ‘Synth Boys Don’t Smile’ but you possibly will!

‘Synth Boys Don’t Smile’ is available on CD or download from
http://suddencreation.bigcartel.com/

http://www.suddencreation.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/SuddenCreationOfficial

https://twitter.com/SuddenCreation

https://www.instagram.com/suddencreation/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
27th November 2015

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