Category: Reviews (Page 164 of 206)

SARAH P. Free

14 December 2015 /

Sarah Anna Psalti aka SARAH P. started her music career in 2010 as the frontwoman of KEEP SHELLY IN ATHENS.

Working with the mysterious producer / musician RΠЯ, the pair actually did hail from the Greek capital, but sounded like they’d emerged from a frozen Fjord in Narvik. With hints of MARSHEAUX crossed with Polly Scattergood, their best track was possibly the dream laden chillwave of ‘Oostende’; it was what COCTEAU TWINS might have actually sounded like had they been a synth duo.

Called an “Electro pop Goddess” by Sound Injections, after she parted company with KEEP SHELLY IN ATHENS in early 2014, she relocated to Berlin to explore a pop / R’n’B hybrid direction while collaborating with artists including THE NEW DIVISION, THE BILINDA BUTCHERS and SUN GLITTERS.

Her debut eight song mini-album ‘Free’ is an artistic diary chronicling “a couple of years that have been rough and weird”, where she was “shyly and slowly moving from the ultimate darkness towards the light”. Fully utilising her gorgeously spooky voice, the end result is somewhat more direct than her previous work, maintaining a stark beauty while remaining eerie and sinister.

Opening song ‘Dirty Sunday’ gathers together a cacophony of abstract half beats and ethereal atmospheres like Polly Scattergood collaborating with Fifi Rong. There are hints of a sparser GOLDFRAPP too with ‘You’ll Never Know’ being an obvious reference point. The following ‘Let It Go’ has haunting Bush-like mannerisms over the inflected sub-bass, while the passionate, piano marked ‘Little Soul’ is almost a declaration of anger.

The immediate but avant statement of ‘I’d Go’ is wonderful slice of modern pop with a great chorus. With an afflicted demeanour of optimism, she announces “I’m not afraid, why should I be? Now I’m free…”

The kooky ‘Dishes’ is delightfully odd and uptempo, a brilliantly buzzy vintage synth solo making its presence felt towards the climax. ‘Moving On’ is even more driven and dramatic, possibly a comment from SARAH P. on leaving KEEP SHELLY IN ATHENS or even the economic-political situation in Greece. An incessant arpeggio dominates and with sweeping layers also joining proceedings, ‘Moving On’ is quite a captivating listen.

More subtle GOLDFRAPP references adorn ‘Golden Deer’ which is also great slice of dreamy electronic disco, before ‘Free’ closes with the off-kilter, leftfield electronica of ‘You Wouldn’t Understand’.

Varied and enticing, ‘Free’ is a vivid commentary on relationships and politics. As SARAH P. herself put it: “FREE is for all the lost souls out there. FREE is for my broken generation. FREE is for everyone who ever wished to start over. FREE is for everyone who ever felt lost. You’re not alone. We’re not alone. We have each other. And we’ll always have music!”

‘Free’ is released by EraseRestart as a download via the usual digital outlets, 12 inch vinyl available from http://eraserestart.bigcartel.com/product/sarah-p-free-vinyl

http://sarahpofficial.com/

https://www.facebook.com/sarahpofficial/

https://soundcloud.com/sarahpofficial

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photo by Bertrand Bosrédon
14th December 2015

CIRCUIT3 siliconchipsuperstar

12 December 2015 /

CIRCUIT3 is the synth laden project of Irish musician Peter Fitzpatrick.

The Dubliner was recently spotted confessing his love for all things electronic in the BLANCMANGE documentary ‘You Keep Me Round & Round’.

‘siliconchipsuperstar’, the debut album from CIRCUIT3 is unashamedly synthpop in that classic 1978-1982 vein. The calling card ‘New Man’ is a statement of intent, ERASURE’s ‘You Surround Me’ reimagined with the assistance of 21st Century technology alongside vintage bleeps and beats.

With a vintage rhythm machine as its backbone, second track ‘Ghost Machine’ interestingly features lyrics by LA based Irishman Brian McCloskey who hosts the blog ‘Like Punk Never Happened’ which features back issues of the magazine ‘Smash Hits’. Layered in string machine, its treated vocal styling does slightly hint at Midge Ure, as does the vox on ‘Those Who Were Dancing’ with it distinctive DX7 bass sounds dominating proceedings. Meanwhile, ULTRAVOX musically lingers over ‘Reverberate’, thanks to a great Odyssey solo and pads of sweeping vibrato.

‘Darkroom’ adopts some atmospheric detuned pentatonics but parradoxically, ‘One Night In Tokyo’ drives along like a more aggressive ERASURE. The beautiful ‘Blue Diary’ brings together synthetic claps and crisp bell-like counter melodies sourced from a JX8P while on the rich ballad ‘In Your Shoes’, HOWARD JONES makes his influence felt.

Ironically ‘Running Out Of Time’ goes on for far too long and makes an irritating filler but thankfully, the percussive closer ‘Hundred Hands’ is much better. With the sort of mighty Linn Drum engine room that would make Martyn Ware proud and punctuated with some rugged lead synth, there are even some hints of KRAFTWERK’s ‘Showroom Dummies’ dropped in as a musical tribute.

‘siliconchipsuperstar’ is classic styled synthpop made by someone weaned on classic synthpop. This well-produced album is undoubtedly a labour of love and while there are echoes of the past like Clarke, Foxx, Jones, Numan or Dolby, the album is full of futuristic sounds that warble off and on.

Alongside KID KASIO and SUDDEN CREATION, CIRCUIT3 is another modern day disciple of the one man and his synth template made possible back in the day with MIDI and digital sequencing. And long may that continue; after all, who wants a drummer taking up all that room in the tour van?

CIRCUIT3 ‘siliconchipsuperstar’ uses the following synthesizers: Roland Juno 106, Roland D50, Korg Poly800, Roland JX-8P, Roland JP-8000, Yamaha DX7, Arturia MiniBrute SE, Arturia Spark Vintage Drum Machine, Arturia Mini V

‘siliconchipsuperstar’ is available now as a download or CD from
https://circuit3.bandcamp.com/album/siliconchipsuperstar

http://www.circuit3.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Circuit3music

https://twitter.com/Circuit3Music

https://soundcloud.com/circuit3/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
12th December 2015, updated 1st May 2020

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

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