Category: Reviews (Page 178 of 206)

IRIS Radiant

8 November 2014 /

From Austin, Texas, IRIS are melodious synth pop as it should be.

Reagan Jones and Andrew Sega (who joined IRIS after Matthew Morris’ departure following the release of their first album ‘Disconnect’) have had a strong musical presence on both sides of the Atlantic for a considerable while now. With the second album ‘Awakening’ and its resonant, rounded songs like ‘Whatever’, ‘Unknown’ and the lush ‘Wait Move On’, Sega pushed the boundaries into a more experimental, leftfield, electronic sound.

The albums that followed were ‘Wrath’ and ‘Blacklight’, each with progressive, empowering, architectural songs that received great reviews in the US and Europe alike. The newest project from the duo, ‘Radiant’ is released on Dependent Records, the same label as MESH and COVENANT. It’s kicked off by the robust sounds of ‘Another Way’.

In true IRIS style, the uptempo, full bodied melody is interspersed with synthy tones and Reagan’s softly flowing voice. It’s a marvellous way to open the album. ‘Phenom’ follows, with rather interesting, powerful notes, resonant with the velvety quality of Jones’ vocals and an extremely atmospheric track, resembling those of ‘Blacklight’.

‘Wayseer’ is another distinctive offering from the band with its celestial qualities and almost buoyant textures. ‘In The Clear’ and ‘Sound Becomes Waves’ are analogous with tranquil and mellow tones of IRIS’ repertoire, with the latter culminating with compelling keyboard sounds, interspersed with eerie guitar. ‘Don’t Cry’ and ‘Infinite Yonder’ come in with stimulating melodies, captivating clean and bright tones, all put together to achieve yet another set of climatic pieces.

Photo by Dirk Eusterbrock

‘Cries Of Insanity’ resembles MESH at times, but with the definite IRIS stamp of uncluttered, harmonious purity. It is yet another dazzling gem, shining bright on this album. The first single from the record ‘Rewired’ is a magnificent use of synths, painting that distinguished IRIS sound, representing the duo so well with a booming, intense and climatic use of melody. ‘Sight Unseen’ follows and is a glowing example of what IRIS do best; rhythmic yet soft, rich yet warm. The mega atmospheric ‘Life In A Forest’ closes, a soothing, relaxing, rejuvenating and lush track, studded with real forest sounds; the perfect way to end the perfect record.

Yet again IRIS do not disappoint, the album leaves the listener in a tranquil, dream-like state (pardon the ERASURE pun), and involuntarily wanting more. Even though one could argue that nothing new has been provided to challenge the previous album ‘Blacklight’, this is a tight record, with constant, substantial tunes, sufficient to gain new blood as well as satisfy the hardcore IRIS fan.

As IRIS visit Europe frequently, having been a part of ASSEMBLAGE 23 and SEABOUND tours last winter / spring, it is hoped they will return to present the newest album live in the near future.

‘Radiant’ is released by Dependent Records on CD and available as a download album via the usual digital outlets

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Iris/55618397260

http://www.dependent.de/

Text by Monika Izabela Goss
8th November 2014

RÖYKSOPP The Inevitable End

3 November 2014 /

Royksopp-TheInevitable-art

With a typical gap of 4-5 years between most of their albums, RÖYKSOPP fans would certainly feel like its birthday and Christmas arriving all at once with the release of ‘The Inevitable End’.

The new collection comes hot on the heels of the ROBYN collaboration mini-album ‘Do It Again’.  In the accompanying press release, ‘The Inevitable End’ (the clue’s in the title) has been announced as the final RÖYKSOPP album, although one half of the duo Svein Berge explains that “We feel like this is a goodbye to the traditional album format… we’re not going to stop making music, but the album format as such, this is the last thing from us”.

So with that intriguing signing off statement, how does ‘The Inevitable End’ sound? The overture to the album ‘Skulls’ combines a swung rhythm pattern with spiky analogue synth percussion and unlike most of the other album tracks, relies exclusively on heavily vocodered vocals, almost an evil twin to those much loved by DAFT PUNK. ‘Monument’ first made its appearance on ‘Do It Again’ in an epic 10 minute incarnation featuring AIR-like textures and live sax, but the version here is more energized with an edgy octave-jumping bassline. The lyrics “this will be my monument, this will be a beacon when I’m gone” take on a deeper significance bearing in mind the intention of this being (potentially) RÖYKSOPP’s swansong…

The MAN WITHOUT COUNTRY collaboration ‘Sordid Affair’ recalls THE BELOVED with its restrained and lush synthetic textures, the bitter-sweet lyrics recalling a doomed love affair, heartbreakingly soundtracked with a beautiful descending sixteen note melody. Jamie McDermott from THE IRREPRESSIBLES takes vocal duties on a third of the album tracks, ‘You Know I Have to Go’ is the aural equivalent of taking the central section of 10CC’s ‘I’m Not in Love’ and stretching it over 7 and a half minutes, whilst the more uptempo ‘I Had This Thing’ introduces a 4/4 kick drum into the proceedings but again features another melancholic vocal motif over a chord progression recalling ‘Do It Again’.

Susanne Sundfør, who vocalled RÖYKSOPP’s superb cover of ‘Ice Machine’, guests on ‘Save Me’ which conjures up a blend of Giorgio Moroder’s ‘The Chase’ combined with one of Timbaland’s productions with his trademark gated “du-du-dah” synth chord present throughout.

‘Rong’, the other track to showcase ROBYN, is pretty bizarre, a short two minute track who’s main vocal hook is “What the f*** is wrong with you?”… and at this point in the album (if you hadn’t clocked it before) the realization kicks in that this really isn’t going to be an uplifting party album. The other Susanne Sundfør song ‘Running to the Sea’, which was a single last year, is a more piano-led track which builds to a snare driven climax, yet still retains the overall wistful and downbeat atmosphere of the tracks that preceded it.

The album ends with the instrumental ‘Coup de Grace’ and then ‘Thank You’, the latter’s vocoder eerily echoing ‘Europe Endless’ with the vocal hookline providing a fitting closing melody of gratitude to a person or person(s) unknown – it could be speculated this is parting gesture aimed at their fans, but the interpretation is left to the listener to make their minds up as to who the recipient is.

In summary, this is a VERY introspective album, if you are going through any sort of emotional turmoil, then ‘The Inevitable End’ is a pretty hard ride from start to finish. There are glimmers of light here, but the overriding ambience is that of despair, heartbreak and desolation, but wrapped up in some really beautiful downbeat electronic textures.

The ‘Marmite’ factor is also provided by Jamie McDermott’s vocals, listeners will either love the downbeat crooning or will quite possibly be reaching for some LEONARD COHEN for some light relief… it will certainly be interesting to see what RÖYKSOPP do next.

They have certainly left behind a superb body of work, from their early chilled out selections through to the more electronic pop direction of their ROBYN collaborations. Whatever pathway they choose to take next, they will surely be followed by those with an interest in quality electronic music, and despite the downbeat album title, this may be ‘The Inevitable End’ of one era and the start of a new one…

‘The Inevitable End’ is released by Dog Triumph through Wall Of Sound and Cooking Vinyl in CD, vinyl and download formats on 10th November 2014

http://royksopp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Royksopp

https://twitter.com/royksopp

Text by Paul Boddy
3rd November 2014

KLEERUP As If We Never Won

15 October 2014 /

Having delivered one of the best synth based debut albums in recent years, musician and producer Andreas Kleerup is back with two new mini albums, the first of which is entitled ‘As If We Never Won’; the second set to be released sometime in 2015 while a full length album is to follow afterwards.

Seven years between albums is a long time even by today’s standards but Kleerup has been busy with his own, more conventionally focussed band ME & MY ARMY who released their debut album ‘Thank God For Sending Me Demons’ in 2011, the soundtrack for the Stockholm Stadsteatern’s production of the Swedish opera ‘Aniara’ and incidental music for Eurovision 2013.

Any new KLEERUP recording now lives with a high degree of expectation following the stupendous 2008 self-titled debut that included noteworthy singers like Robyn, Lykke Li, Marit Bergman, Neneh Cherry and her half sister Titiyo in its full expanded edition.

The EP’s launch single ‘Let Me In’, featuring Susanne Sundfør who sang on M83′s ‘Oblivion’ and RÖYKSOPP’s cover of DEPECHE MODE’s ‘Ice Machine’, moves away from the dreamy synth melancholy of the ‘Kleerup’ debut and delivers a more organic template, sounding like Karin Park if she had joined ROXY MUSIC to record ‘The Space Between’ from ‘Avalon’. It is a superb calling card, showing progression but retaining the original appeal of Kleerup’s debut. ‘Let Me In’ is brilliantly classic and yet still very contemporary.

Opening proceedings though is ‘Sad Boys’, a beefier version of the more tranquil ‘Northern Lights’ issued last year as interval music for Eurovision 2013. A vibrant but emotive instrumental in the vein of ‘Hero’ from the ‘Kleerup’ debut, live drums give some syncopated punch which appears to be the main change in the Kleerupsound after the distorted machine beats of its predecessor. ‘Nothing Left To Die For’ sees Jenny Wilson, formally of FIRST FLOOR POWER, in a deliciously melancholic disco romp with her haunting vocals accompanied by some pretty synth tones. Despite the sadness, like with ‘Sad Boys’, there is a wonderful groove that reveals Andreas Kleerup’s roots as a drummer.

Meanwhile, the pace mellows for ‘Rock U’ featuring Malin Dahlstrom of NIKI & THE DOVE. The witchy growl that featured on ‘DJ, Ease My Mind’ and ‘Mother Protect’ is omnipresent in this more guitar focussed rock ballad that sounds like a Nordic Cyndi Laiper, not entirely surprising as Kleerup produced her song ‘Lay Me Down’ for her great comeback album ‘Bring Ya To The Brink’ and which eventually morphed into ‘Thank You For Nothing’ on the ‘Kleerup’ album.

The pace slows even further with the ‘As If We Never Won’ title track, a stark but epic ballad with Kleerup himself moodily duetting with Maja Ivarsson from THE SOUNDS. It takes a while to get going but evolves into something more satisfying with each listen. And in a nod to his ME & MY ARMY project, the EP finishes with ‘Thank God For Sending Demons’ in a raw, stripped down version of the original. Coming over a bit like Johnny Cash if he had been born near the Arctic Circle and with just an acoustic guitar for company, it is however the least essential number of this short set and can only be really be considered as a charming, if slightly incongruous filler.

Overall as a taster for the next KLEERUP album proper, ‘As If We Never Won’ contains a number of fine songs and is a welcome pop return for one of the best electronic music producers in Europe.

‘As If We Never Won’ is released as a download EP from the usual digital outlets via Warner Music

http://kleerup.net/

https://www.facebook.com/kleerupmusic

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Kleerup Portrait by Mats Bäcker
15th October 2014

CLAUDIA BRÜCKEN Where Else…

8 October 2014 /

CLAUDIA BRUCKEN Where Else

In a career of thirty years, Claudia Brücken has released just seven full length albums including what turned out to be one-offs with PROPAGANDA, ACT and ONETWO.

Her third solo album ‘Where Else…’ sees a development of the more conventional musical template showcased on 2012’s ‘The Lost Are Found’. Unlike that album though, apart from a single cover, ‘Where Else…’ comprises of original compositions, her first since ONETWO’s ‘Instead’ which was recorded with OMD’s Paul Humphreys.

Her partnership with Humphreys is now over so naturally, there are different approaches and the biggest surprise musically is Ms Brücken’s adoption of the guitar. But despite this album’s occasional forays into folk, country and blues, her usual evocative sensibilities and electronic references remain, albeit more abstract. As well as this, ‘Where Else…’ follows the lyrical thread of her 1991 debut solo album ‘Love: And A Million Other Things’, dealing with the subjects of emotion, beginnings, endings, past life and future hopes.

New collaborators always bring fresh results and in the case of ‘Where Else…’, the co-writer and producer is John Owen Williams whose past credits have included BLANCMANGE, THE PROCLAIMERS, THE HOUSEMARTINS and more recently Petula Clark. And it would appear ‘Where Else…’ is a reaction to the synthetic nature of ONETWO.

None more so than with the superb lead single ‘Nevermind’. It could be considered a response to ‘Stay With Me’ from OMD’s ‘English Electric’. But whereas ‘Stay With Me’ was a cry for reconciliation, ‘Nevermind’ accepts the end of the road and optimistically moves on. Musically, while there is a six string dominating, a wonderfully whirring synth solo makes an unexpected appearance.

Of course, Ms Brücken has done the acoustic thing before on ‘Another Language’ with Andrew Poppy but those cover versions worked on a minimalist principle. While the songs on ‘Where Else…’ were written to be sung accompanied only by piano or guitar, they are recorded in a much more expansive manner. Proceedings begin with ‘I Want You’ and its cinematic chanson melody.

A lonely melancholic piano leads proceedings alongside some beautiful strings while looming over it lyrically is the spectre of the late Lou Reed. But after this solemn start comes the precise mechanical beat on ‘Nothing Good Is Ever Easy’. But a twist is provided with the kind of countrified outlook that was explored by ERASURE on ‘Union Street’.

‘I Lay All Night’ is another departure with its Hammond organ textures and continues the inherent moodiness of the album. The short Nick Drake cover ‘Day Is Done’ recalls ‘The Road To Happiness’ from ‘The Lost Are Found’; the latter’s writer Stephen Duffy is a big Drake fan so this in a way completes the spiritual connection. ‘Walk Right In’ brings in a Chamber orchestra and is very English, laced with harpsichord runs and psychedelic overtones plus affectionate mentions of “tea, toast and jam”.

Continuing the quintessentially English theme, the excellent ‘How Do I Know’ rather bizarrely has sonic parallels with Morrissey although Ms Brucken did cover THE SMITHS ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’ with ACT so this isn’t entirely a surprise. Meanwhile, ‘Moon Song’ comes over like CHINA CRISIS with a pretty hybrid of strumming and atmospheric synths. Slightly more uptempo, ‘Letting Go’ is the closest it gets to Claudia Brücken’s electro material despite some bluesy guitar while the title says it all.

The final two songs are possibly the sparsest songs on ‘Where Else…’ – ‘Time to Make Changes’ makes a statement of intent both musically and emotionally while ‘Sweet Sound Vision’ drifts along to finish in a manner not dissimilar to most of GOLDFRAPP’s recent organic material on ‘Tales of Us’.

With ‘Where Else…’, Claudia Brücken adds another string to her bow and the variation will please her loyal fans. However, for those into her more electronic material, this album may not be so straightforward to appreciate.

But ‘Where Else…’ is sophisticated and emotive, capturing an important crossroads in Claudia Brücken’s life both musically and personally. “I want to explore different styles” she said recently, “a big reason why the title ‘Where Else…’ suits me – where else will I go? What will I do next?”. Indeed, wherever she goes next, it will have integrity and honesty as it always has done.

‘Where Else…’ is released by Cherry Red Records in CD, vinyl and download formats

http://www.claudiabrucken.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/ClaudiaBruckenMusic

https://twitter.com/ClaudiaBrucken1

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Anton Corbijn
8th October 2014

APHEX TWIN Syro

6 October 2014 /

APHEX TWIN Syro01

For casual APHEX TWIN fans, it can be hard to separate the visuals from the music in Richard James’ two most significant / infamous tracks – ‘Come to Daddy’ and ‘Windowlicker’.

They have accompanying Chris Cunningham promo videos that are indelibly linked and arguably bigger than the tracks that they promoted – featuring James’ head superimposed respectively onto a) a set of school kids terrorizing a granny in a tower block and b) a booty-shaking group of buxom / bikinied models, both creating disturbing images that once seen, can’t be unseen.

So with no visuals and no real vocals to speak of, approaching the new 12 track release by APHEX TWIN is potentially a daunting one, especially with initially inscrutable titles such as ‘s950tx16wasr10 [163.97]’ [earth portal mix] and ‘4 bit 9d api+e+6 [126.26]’… however, scratch the surface and for synth geeks / musos, the titles do give up little tit-bits of information relating to both the tempo of the pieces and some of the equipment featured (for example, the former references Akai’s S950 sampler). Gear fetishists can also check out the enviable set of hardware used in the radial graphic on the album packaging…

aphex-twin-syro-spiral

Coming thirteen years after the last APHEX TWIN collection ‘Drukqs’, the weight of expectation for ‘Syro’ would be akin for many to the appearance of a new KRAFTWERK album, and as such, the possibility of it living up to the weight of the hype surrounding it was always going to be tough. What is evident from the off is that the overall APHEX TWIN sound has mellowed, those expecting a rush of synthetic abrasive textures will be surprised by some of the almost 70s jazz-funk like textures featured and also the amount of melodic elements used throughout.

There are vocals here, but a la ‘Windowlicker’ they are heavily manipulated and were sourced from James, his wife and his sons (one of whom coined the album title from a made-up word ‘Syrobonkus’ that he used to describe the sound of the project during its making).

The opening track (and first single) ‘minipops 67 [120.2]’ gives a pretty good feel for the overall sound of the album, an ever so slightly dissonant, yet melodic track which breaks down to a beautiful arpeggio synth at 1min 48secs – at a time when so many people use synthesizers, trying to sound unique or different is pretty damn hard, but James is still able to apply a signature sound here, even if it is at times that of several different tracks from a variety of sources being forcibly jammed together! Percussively, ‘minipops’ is akin to having JEAN MICHEL JARRE, KRAFTWERK and mid-period MASSIVE ATTACK all thrown together in the mix with the musical elements of some old-school acid house thrown over the top – on paper it shouldn’t work, but somehow James pulls it off.

‘minipops 67 [120.2]’acts as a suitable aperitif for ‘XMAS_EVET10 [120][Thanaton3 Mix]’, an epic ten minute track which crams in 303 squelches, real piano and disembodied vocoder vocals. The stop-start / timestretched rhythm throughout helps the track from not getting monotonous until around the four-minute mark a YMO-style monosynth melody enters the mix to join a suitably oriental bell motif. Throughout the album, there are little elements of rave culture that subtly creep in, ‘produk 29 [101]’ features a melodic nod to fellow Warp Records artists LFO’s seminal self-titled track.

Whilst the DNA of Acid House is present throughout with ‘4 bit 9d api+e+6 [126.26]’recalling Mute / Rhythm King artist BABY FORD’s ‘Crashing’ and the unmistakable sound of the Roland TB303 is never far from the mix too. Album closer is the Erik Satie inspired ‘aisatsana [102]’ which recalls the KANYE WEST sampling ‘Avril 14th’ from ‘Drukqs’ – the audio of birds and ambient noise can be heard in the background and it brings ‘Syro’ to a tranquil conclusion.

The sound of this album is probably not for everyone, it does take a few listens to appreciate the subtleties of its production and the occasional clashing musical harmonics take a bit of getting used to. But give it a few listens and the album slowly reveals its charms…

Despite giving several recent interviews, the whole APHEX TWIN mystique still remains intact to a degree, with speculation as to when many of these tracks were actually recorded. James himself has admitted that some of the music on ‘Syro’ is at least six years old and certainly gives weight to the speculation that there is still a huge library of unreleased APHEX TWIN music which (if he wished) could be delved into for his next release.

Ultimately this pinpoints how on the periphery of most contemporary electronic music trends Richard James is, there are no particular nods to any current fads or genres here (you’ll find no Trap beats or Dubstep), yet ‘Syro’ broke the UK Top 10 album chart with ease, at one point battling ALT-J midweek at the number two position before settling at number eight. Richard James may no longer be the enfant terrible of electronic music (he infamously DJ’d with a sandpaper disc once), but ‘Syro’ still shows there is a huge interest in his work and that it is still possible to make synth-based music which is at the same time a) chart-worthy and b) innovative.

‘Syro’ is released by Warp Records in a range of formats including CD and vinyl

http://syro2eznzea2xbpi.com/

https://www.facebook.com/aphextwinafx

http://warp.net/records/aphex-twin

Text by Paul Boddy
6th October 2014

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