Category: Reviews (Page 168 of 206)

BLANCMANGE Nil By Mouth

20 September 2015 /

Hot on the heels of two instrumental albums by Synth Britannia veterans Martin Gore and John Foxx under the guises of MG and GHOST HARMONIC respectively, comes an addition to the tradition by BLANCMANGE.

‘Nil By Mouth’ was recorded by Neil Arthur from 2005 to the end of 2014. Now, while ‘Sad Day’ has been key part of the BLANCMANGE story, instrumentals have not had as prominent a role as in other bands such as ULTRAVOX, SIMPLE MINDS or DEPECHE MODE.

But when BLANCMANGE went into hiatus between 1985’s ‘Believe You Me’ and 2011’s ‘Blanc Burn’, Neil Arthur and Stephen Luscombe worked within the TV and film industry, scoring soundtracks and incidental music for a variety of projects. Although best known for his voice, instrumentals have been a continual art form for Arthur. So the release of a full length album, while not entirely a surprise, is perhaps unexpected.

To start the collection, ‘Eleanor’ is a musical dedication to his daughter who sang on ‘Paddington’ from ‘Semi Detached’; a rich combination of synth, rhythm box, minimal guitar and pretty bells like prime OMD, it is a perfect introduction to the wordless wonder that is ‘Nil By Mouth’.

‘Fall’ however, is not a vox free version of ‘The Fall’ from ‘Semi Detached’, but a completely new ambient composition utilising echoey piano and those low end flute approximations that THE HUMAN LEAGUE used to do when Martyn Ware was a member. It drifts into a beautiful neo-orchestral climax and a wonderfully cinematic fading piano section before rounding back.

The pulsing ‘R and P’ though is more eerie yet still very melodic. And this is the key to a good instrumental opus… it either has to be very melodic to make up for the lack of vocals, or very ambient so that while the music is interesting enough to be listened to, it is unobtrusive enough to be ignored.

Continuing on, the brilliant ‘Cistern’ comes over like an imaginary Bond Theme done in Sci-Fi synth stylee while ‘Gone’ is a pure Foxxy dystopian drama. ‘Crystals Of Zircon’ is the closest the album gets to having a dance track, the percussive backbone providing the soundtrack to what would be a chase scene in a futuristic crime thriller. Meanwhile, ‘The Son’ has a creepier outlook with snatches of vocoder making its presence felt over the yesterday’s tomorrow atmosphere.

The two minute ‘Matters Of Life’ is a steadfast trip-hop interlude with hints of Fender (as opposed to David) Rhodes that comes over like PORTISHEAD on Prozac before a 2005 reworking of ‘Holiday Camp’, a track which originally formed part of BLANCMANGE’s debut EP release ‘Irene & Mavis’. While still retaining the essence of Brian Eno with its grainy synth shimmers, the well produced six string interplay and vibrant bass sequence cut through to provide an aural sculpture to savour.

The lovely ‘Landsea’ merges acoustic guitar with drum machine and light synth vibrato in a piece that recalls the B-sides of CHINA CRISIS, another act well known for their great instrumentals. Coming towards the home straight, ‘So Long Ago’ harks back again to BRIAN ENO, but ‘Close Encounters’ is far more exuberant and almost goes funky with wah-wah guitar in a manner not dissimilar to AIR’s ‘Californie’ from ‘Premiers Symptomes’, before some muted trumpet samples politely interject.

Exceeding expectations and outstripping other instrumental albums which have perhaps come over more like Eurorack modular tutorials, ‘Nil By Mouth’ is a truly excellent album in its own right. It will be appreciated by the synth cognoscenti, but it deserves a wider audience.

‘Nil By Mouth’ is released by Blanc Check on CD and available via the usual retail outlets, download available from https://blancmangemusic.bandcamp.com/album/nil-by-mouth

https://www.blancmange.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/BlancmangeMusic

https://twitter.com/_blancmange_

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photo by Hana Knizova
27th May 2015

BEBORN BETON A Worthy Compensation

16 September 2015 /

Amidst the flood of superb electronic music from Sweden, which has become the “new Germany” in the realms of synthpopia, few German bands are fighting on to keep their pedestals standing erect, or doing a great job of it.

BEBORN BETON formed in 1989 in Essen, and to date Stefan Tillman, Michael B Wagner and Stefan Netschio have enjoyed great success with numerous studio releases as well as remixes for DE/VISION, CLAN OF XYMOX, CAMOUFLAGE, IN STRICT CONFIDENCE, WOLFSHEIM and many others.

The band have kept everyone waiting since 1999 for the release of their latest album ‘A Worthy Compensation’, carefully planning, writing, engineering and producing the tracks with the help of celebrated producer Olaf Wollschläger, the very man behind the creations of MESH, YELLO, SEABOUND and IN STRICT CONFIDENCE. BEBORN BETON have immodestly hailed the production as “the best album we will probably ever make”, which raises the bar of expectations to the maximum for the “concrete” boys from urban Essen and promises to deliver a hearing experience like no other.

In such a fashion, the release is kicked off with ‘Daisy Cutter’ with its beefy synth and CAMOUFLAGE-like vocals of Netschio. Haunting and deep, monumental and marked, it is all laced with the “carousel of life” mark that the band want to portray in this production. ‘I Believe’ bears the stamp of the good old German electronica; untainted, magnificently programmed and produced, it is above all, musical and full of the melancholy so loved by the followers of the genre.

’24-7 Mystery’ speeds up into a dance track of the future, while ‘Anorexic World’ hits with poignant lyrics (“what if Jesus doesn’t care”, “we don’t mind at all this anorexic world is going down”) sung Steffen Keth style across the extravaganza of synth.

Taking its lead from CAMOUFLAGE, the title track emerges with futuristic images of a floaty world of tomorrow with an added dose of guitar and perfectly programmed drum patterns. A modern ballad of “the highs and lows, the happy moments”, the “carousel” has certainly now begun. ‘Last Day On Earth’ enters, grooming the listener with sensual male vocals painted on the canvas of consistently ingenious digital action.

A truly perfect electronic dance tune, ‘She Cried’ follows with a sharp club track feel. But a slightly predictable production can be fully excused, especially when there’s no time to stop dancing and getting lost in this uplifting harmony.

The first and only track performed in their native German, ‘Was Immer’ due to the choice of tongue, sounds as inviting as WOLFSHEIM’s gems. The track itself bears strong resemblance to Steve Naghavi’s performances on AND ONE’s ‘Virgin Superstar’; with wonderfully layered vocals, it embraces sensational synths and a skilfully constructed melody.

‘Terribly Wrong’ opens with the ominous “there’s something wrong with the world, I don’t know what it is, but it’s there, like a splinter in your mind”, but although something is “terribly wrong”, the track has a positive feel and brings a projection of hope while “standing at the edge of the world”.

Beborn Beton

The closing ‘Who Watches The Watchman’, while bearing a twisted title, promises some eerie content, which it indeed features on the track in bunches.

It has an eloquent musical substance covering a wide symphony of strings, drums, piano and elements of obscure synth interspersed with slight drum and bass. It is definitely a suitable track to round up the production.

There’s something earthy in German synth music, something which has been present since bands like CAMOUFLAGE, NEUROTICFISH, DE/VISION and WOLFSHEIM. This elusive element, when used by certain artists, makes them sound timeless and proves that Germany remains “über alles” in the electronic field. It may sound pompous and arrogant to call your creation ‘A Worthy Compensation’ and risk the obvious critique; however, the trio have hit the spot with this long awaited album.

The production bridges the pause between 1999 and now beautifully, with the songs having been written over many years and perfected to the point, where no more improvements could be made.

So, all in all, it is indeed “a worthy compensation” for the break in the Beton trade.

‘A Worthy Compensation’ is released by Dependent Records as a CD and download

http://www.bebornbeton.de/

https://www.facebook.com/bebornbeton

Text by Monika Izabela Goss
16th September 2015

DURAN DURAN Paper Gods

13 September 2015 /

‘Paper Gods’ is the 14th album from New Romantic survivalists DURAN DURAN.

It ropes in an expansive line-up of featured artists and collaborators – from fellow Birmingham artist Mr. Hudson (who additionally takes on production duties) through to ‘The Reflex’ remixer Nile Rodgers and one of their previous producers Mark Ronson. Less predictable are the appearances by ex-RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS guitarist John Frusciante and Lindsay Lohan who contributes spoken word elements to ‘Danceophobia’.

The amount of collaborators here could be viewed in two ways, either to set off warning bells of a band potentially struggling to produce material as a self-contained unit or as a way to stay relevant and appeal to a wider demographic; but look on the positive side though, at least Pitbull and Akon aren’t featured…

The opening eponymous title track is certainly a statement of intent, clocking in at 7 minutes, ‘Paper Gods’ is a wildly adventurous piece which starts off as lo-fi gospel with counterpointed vocals before a drum machine and synth combo straight out of DEPECHE MODE’s ‘Delta Machine’ takes the track in a completely different and unexpected direction. The addition of guitar and John Taylor’s bass give the track more of a DURAN-style feel but the electronic drums never quite propel the song to the heights required. A half-hearted dub-style middle section eventually leads back into what is undeniably a strong chorus, but one which would have fitted better into a shorter, more conventional song structure.

‘Last Night In The City’ showcases Kiesza’s vocals and ditches the live bass of John Taylor for more of an electronic EDM-style one, but the song itself comes across as a failed attempt to cross-fertilize current electronic elements into the DURAN DURAN sound.

‘You Kill With Me Silence’ is the first track to potentially get old school Duranies excited as its intro section alludes to elements of ‘The Chauffeur’ from ‘Rio’ with its synth-driven intro before morphing into a 10CC styled chorus with electric piano and layered vocals. Again this song feels like a wasted opportunity, a big melodic chorus wasted on a mismatched production style…

’Pressure Off’ brings a slice of funk with CHIC’s Nile Rodgers adding his trademark guitar sound and what is the most cohesive track on the album so far. But compared to, say, ‘Get Lucky’ or ‘Uptown Funk’, this is a second division effort. Just as the listener is getting ready to give up on the album, ‘What Are the Chances’ finally delivers what we know DURAN DURAN are capable of… more in the downtempo vein of ‘Come Undone’ or ‘Ordinary World’ and not trying overly hard to be down with the kids.

THIS is the direction that the band sound most comfortable with and is easily the strongest song and production on show here. Lyrically the track explores themes that recall the film ‘Sliding Doors’ where fate dictates the outcome of a relationship depending upon a person’s location at a certain time. The fact that out of all the songs here, this is the only one which is hooky enough to stay ingrained in the memory once the listener has walked away from the album, speaks volumes…

‘Sunset Garage’ with its urgent snare work has an uplifting Motown / pop feel about it, and with the autobiographical line “Whatever happens we’ll be ok!” showcases a sound (as on ‘What Are the Chances’) that feels more natural to the band. Of the remaining songs, ‘Change The Skyline’, ‘Butterfly Girl’ and ‘Only In Dreams’ scream FILLER! and it’s left to ‘The Universe Alone’ to end the album in emotional but downtempo fashion – at its climax, Frusciante’s guitar solo melting under a wall of track distortion.

‘Paper Gods’ showcases how important the right producer choice is – in comparison with Mark Ronson’s work on the revitalised ‘All You Need Is Now’ (which steered the band back into a more ‘Rio’-like sound), Josh Blair and Mr. Hudson’s work doesn’t seem to fit the band dynamic, songwriting and SOUND of DURAN DURAN.

Some credit must be given to the band for taking a risk and giving the album to a pair of relatively untested producers (Hudson is more known for his collaborative artist work than his production), but throughout, there is a lack of ‘band’ cohesion with drummer Roger Taylor and John Taylor’s signature bass sound both feeling under-utilised.

This album was two years in the making, but with its stream of featured artists feels paper thin and sadly far from God-like…

‘Paper Gods’ is available in a variety of formats internationally via Warner Music

http://www.duranduran.com/

https://www.facebook.com/duranduran

https://twitter.com/duranduran

Text by Paul Boddy
13th September 2015

DESTIN FRAGILE Halfway To Nowhere

10 September 2015 /

DESTIN FRAGILE Halfway To NowhereSome bands crop out of nowhere, quickly put together the material, not knowing what the real direction of the album they’re writing is, then place high hopes for a fast success.

Other musical creatures work for years to develop their sound and perfect their trade, while branching out into other projects, just to come up with a masterpiece. The formation of DESTIN FRAGILE dates back to 1993 when Swede Pontus Stålberg started collaborating with various musicians before joining forces with Daniel Malmöf and Stefan Nilsson for live performances.

Nilsson and Stålberg ran a side project, the EBM inclined SPETSNAZ, who released four albums and enjoyed fair amount of popularity. Malmöf returned to complete the DESTIN FRAGILE cycle, which has culminated in the release of ‘Halfway To Nowhere’ on Dark Dimensions.

Since it’s been a 20 year wait for the album, the expectations run high; ‘Run Away’, which opens the production, immediately brings to mind a mixture of vintage DEPECHE MODE and elements of Germany’s AND ONE with a clear vocal by Stålberg, that is quite different from what SPETSNAZ ‘s fans are used to hearing. Ethereal and gentler in tone, it somewhat resembles Mark Hockings of Bristol’s own UK electronica masters MESH.

Clever, heavier synth follows on ‘In Your Eyes’; burly, very AND ONE and decadent, it leads to ‘In the Frame’, which is characterised by CAMOUFLAGE-like landscape, off beat drum patterns and irregular keys. ‘Alive (It’s Up To You)’ opens with a recognisable Gahan influence, a definite gloomy love affair, bearing Doug McCarthy’s vocal stamp, with a filthy synth finish. The poppier and gentler title track floats in, with TEARS FOR FEARS meets ‘Ultra’ era DM qualities. Rather superb in its simplicity, it is roughly interrupted by the incoming ‘April Light’, which couldn’t be more AND ONE in its texture.

DESTIN FRAGILEThe rhythmic ‘Change’ brings out qualities of SPETSNAZ at first, to transcend into the perfect synth pop tune, just before ‘Worlds Apart’ breaks the beat, followed by ‘In Plain Sight’.

Unsurprisingly, elements of FROZEN PLASMA are rather palpable; many a band this year has used their influence in their own creations. A dance tune at its best – fast, to the point, not over complicated with unnecessary filler sounds and simple enough to please.

‘Out Of The Darkness’ is delicious vocally and musically alike. The PET SHOP BOYS styled production is marked with eloquent formulation of synths from the lost era, combined with AND ONE’s ‘Virgin Superstar’ style of manufacture of a superior electronic track.

The closing bonus ’11’ is fabulously surprising, a vintage Merry- Go- Round, Victorian music box, horse cart and choir certainly aren’t a concoction one would expect as the culmination of this record. But that’s exactly what you get. Truly inspired and wonderfully wrapping this excellent album up.

To some, the obvious DEPECHE MODE and AND ONE characteristics, so often audible on this production, could be a turn off. It has to be said, however, that DESTIN FRAGILE have made those influences their own and the overall effect is highly pleasing.

Sweden certainly doesn’t cease to give birth to some excellent acts in the genre. Stålberg and friends have the aura of the weathered, grown up daddies of electronica about them, which differentiates them from many an act on the scene.

DESTIN FRAGILE recently showcased their material at Gothenburg’s Electronic Summer 2015 Festival at The Brewhouse with considerable success. Let’s hope they continue creating synthpop soundscapes worthy of the ever expanding electronic Swedish music scene.

‘Halfway To Nowhere’ is available as a CD or download via Dark Dimensions

https://www.facebook.com/destin.fragile.pop

Text by Monika Izabela Goss
10th September 2015

047 featuring DANIELLA KRUTH Follow Me Home

9 September 2015 /

Forming in 2001, Swedish duo 047 began their chiptune experiments through a mutual appreciation of vintage video games.

After a couple of self-released albums, ‘Robopop (Vi Tar Cdn Dit Vi Kommer)’ was their first proper long player in 2006. But Peter Engström and Sebastian Rutgersson began to evolve from their minimalistic beginnings to incorporate melodic song based elements and even pop. Collaborating with other artists, 047 started to incorporate vocals into their music.

The end results led to the impressive debut album ‘Elva’; released in 2011 on the Gothenburg independent label Killing Music, it featured the YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA musical salute ‘Kanpai!’ and the rich Lisa Pedersen vocalled Scandipop of ‘Everything’s Fine’.

Combining blurry soundscapes and pulsing reality, Engström and Rutgersson are back with a new single ‘Follow Me Home’. Featuring Östersund born vocalist Daniella Kruth whose debut album ‘Kill It Slow’ was released in 2014 , it is a story about standing strong despite inherent vulnerabilities.

Encased with a syncopated pop structure, the whispering tones soon break out loud and clear with Kruth’s more indie inclined sensibilities adding a fresh slant to the electronically derived backbone. With further vocal based recordings on the horizon, all bodes well for 047’s follow-up to ‘Elva’.

‘Follow Me Home’ is released as a download via Killing Music

http://www.047.se/

https://www.facebook.com/047music

Text by Chi Ming Lai
9th September 2015

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