Category: Reviews (Page 182 of 201)

SOFT METALS Lenses

15 July 2013 /


Los Angeles based duo SOFT METALS’ debut album was a promising collection of danceable bubbly electronics, with one foot in the squelch ‘n’ bleep framework of ORBITAL and the other in more experimental climes such as THROBBING GRISTLE.

Wonderful tracks like ‘Eyes Closed’, ‘Psychic Driving’, ‘Do You Remember?’ and ‘Voices’ showcased Patricia Hall angelically vulnerable voice over Ian Hicks’ inventive vintage synth and drum machine interplay. However, some of the album’s other tracks were slightly on the repetitive side so for their second album ‘Lenses’, the tracklisting has been rationalised to eight key musical constituents in just 37 minutes.

Layered with reverbed sequences and driven by the snap of analogue rhythm composers, ‘Lenses’ continues where ‘Soft Metals’ left off and visually, the artwork follows the continuity of its predescessor as if to indicate this. Like Astrud Gilberto gone electro with Chris & Cosey at the production helm, the ‘Lenses’ title track sets the scene and is vibrant yet dreamy. The wonderful launch single ‘Tell Me’ is one of the duo’s trademark adventures in hypnotism like earlier single ‘Voices’ but adds some unsettling bursts of portamento for an aural twist.

Easing off the tempo slightly with a strange, almost electro-reggae beat, ‘When I Look Into Your Eyes’ is sexily morbid with Patricia Hall exclaiming “I wonder how it ends?” when “I die and he dies, we all die!”. Following that, ‘No Turning Back’ builds with pulsing arpeggios but swathed in a bare, eerie atmosphere, it retains the ice maiden quality prevalent throughout the SOFT METALS sound.

SOFT METALS are adept as instrumentals as ‘Celestial Call’ from the debut and their ‘Close Encounters Of The Third Kind’ tribute ‘Implanted Visions’ have proved. ‘Hourglass’ allows Hall to take a breather and this beautiful wordless wonder sections nicely with some fabulous harmonic oscillations. This vibrancy continues on ‘In The Air’, another metallically tingly and danceable tune that harks back to the days of acid house.

Also, complimented by that hard acid squelch, ‘On A Cloud’ does what it says on the tin and ventures into neo-ambient territory despite its lively tempo construction. But ‘Interobserver’ goes the full hog with a lengthy surrealistic journey that throws in the spectre of cosmic legend Klaus Schulze. It’s all very brave but quite whether it belongs on an album of songs though is debatable.

But overall, where SOFT METALS will appeal over other girl / boy duos is that their approach is quite visceral. How many times is does it seem XENO & OAKLANDER are deliberately singing off-key, that CRYSTAL CASTLES are being as difficult as possible by piling on the distortion or that TOMORROW’S WORLD won’t up the tempo in case it’s seen as uncool?

With their Eurocentric influences, shadowy techno template and altered state of escapism, SOFT METALS make the best of what they’ve got and run with it. Between their first two albums, Ian Hicks and Patricia Hall have showed their potential and proved they can produce some excellent work. When they push all the right buttons, SOFT METALS are quite superb.

‘Lenses’ is available now on Captured Tracks as a CD, blue vinyl and download

https://www.facebook.com/softmetals

http://soundcloud.com/soft-metals

http://capturedtracks.com/artists/softmetals/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Suzy Poling
15th July 2013

PET SHOP BOYS Electric

13 July 2013 /

Bridging the gap between Synth Britannia and Acid House, PET SHOP BOYS first found international success with ‘West End Girls’ in 1986. They cleverly combined cool aloofness with pop stardom and achieved 4 UK No1 singles; they were only denied a fifth with their 1993 cover of THE VILLAGE PEOPLE’s ‘Go West’ by Will Smith! Preferring to “dance to disco” because they “don’t like rock”, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe also changed the whole concept of concert presentation in 1991 by removing from the stage, that one consistent element in the history of rock ‘n’ roll…the live musician!

Since their imperial phase, they have shown their versatility in projects ranging from producing other artists and running their own label to assorted theatre, film and ballet commissions. Becoming the esteemed funny uncles of the British music scene, they have managed to acquire the sort of public recognition that has been denied to Depeche Mode. Although both can count a Brit Award for Best Single on their mantelpieces, it would appear publicly in the UK at least that PET SHOP BOYS are held in greater affection. With a Brits Outstanding Contribution to Music Award in 2009 and an invitation to appear in the 2012 London Olympics Closing Ceremony alongside Ray Davies, PET SHOP BOYS can now be regarded as quintessentially English as much as THE KINKS.

And now the elder statesmen of danceable synthpop are “back-back-BACK” (as Tennant used to put it when he was deputy editor of Smash Hits). It’s sooner than expected too following last year’s underwhelming ‘Elysium’ album. In hindsight, that now appears to have been a contract breaker ending their 27 year partnership with EMI. And with the sudden arrival of ‘Electric’ which is released on their own label x2, it’s as if Neil and Chris got bored in LA halfway through making ‘Elysium’ and decamped back to Europe to make something “pretty banging” with producer Stuart Price.

So here we are now, PET SHOP BOYS… Electronically! ‘Electric’ certainly harks back to their more dance based remix collections like the ‘Disco’ trilogy, but also via their lengthier song constituents, the albums ‘Introspective’ and ‘Relentless’. Laced with House, Italo and Eurotrance references, it fuses vintage synths and drum machine programming with modern computerised techniques. It takes a few risks too with the opening track and launch single ‘Axis’ being virtually instrumental. It’s a marvellous taste of what is to come as it re-imagines Bobby Orlando in the 22nd Century. ‘Bolshy’ continues the edgier approach with piano stabs and tangy electronics over a rhythm section that’s the dog’s Balearics.

The brilliantly titled ‘Love Is A Bourgeois Construct’ though is more classically euphoric in that Hi-NRG fashion and recalls ‘I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind Of Thing’ albeit stretched to 12 inch format. But then comes the hypnotic ‘Fluorescent’, basically a wonderful dancefloor makeover of ‘Fade To Grey’ with the chilling Polymoog string preset from Visage’s original remaining in the mix while waves of synth sirens attack it like a Martian invasion.

A return to harder percussive electro comes in the shape of ‘Inside A Dream’ before a Bruce Springsteen cover ‘The Last To Die’! In the tradition of Tennant and Lowe’s camped out reworkings of U2 and COLDPLAY, the rockist nature of the original is neutered but the sense of irony is strangely missing from this disappointing reworking of The Boss. It all snaps back though as ‘Thursday’ re-explores the New York club scene with the distinctive squelch of a TB303. Capturing the vibrant excitement of what is now the new Friday, Lowe deadpans the four days of the long weekend alongside Brit Award winning rapper Example who chips in with his Fulham exempli gratia.

The slightly berserk ‘Shouting In The Evening’ takes an uncomprising romp into “banging” techno with a number of manipulated voices and faulty vacuum cleaners thrown in for good measure before the comparatively conventional ‘Vocal’. With the vivid sentiment “I like the singer, he’s lonely and strange – every track has a vocal…and that makes a change”, the album closer’s ironic narrative almost gets lost in the blistering sawtooth war but it is fun and exhilarating. It’s a befitting conclusion of what this album is about; ‘Electric’ by name and electric by nature.

‘Electric’ is released by x2 / Kobalt on 15th July 2013

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

https://www.facebook.com/petshopboys

Text by Chi Ming Lai
13th July 2013

MARNIE Crystal World

16 June 2013 /

LADYTRON’s Helen Marnie has finally released her long awaited debut solo album ‘Crystal World’. Going under the moniker MARNIE, the project has, like recent releases by IAMX and Kelli Ali, been crowd funded by Pledge Music.

A new music business model which allows an artist complete independence, it also enables fans to become involved in the process with opportunities to purchase exclusive memorabilia but most importantly, hear the new material before anyone else.

MARNIE told her Pledgers: “I am humbled that so many of you had faith in me and were patient when the project was dogged by delays… I am proud of what we have achieved. This is just a small example of the power people have when they come together.”

Recorded in Iceland, ‘Crystal World’ captures the island’s beautifully relaxed but volatile atmosphere… after all, volcanoes look serene when dormant but when they erupt! With Daniel Hunt in the co-producer’s helm alongside Icelandic musician Barði Jóhannsson, ‘Crystal World’ will inevitably draw comparisons with LADYTRON as half the band are involved in its making. But the first thing to be noticed is how much lighter and brighter this album is than anything the quartet have ever done.

The high density brooding and gothic tensions of ‘Velocifero’ and ‘Witching Hour’ are largely absent, indicating that the darker perspectives of LADYTRON come from Mira Aroyo and Reuben Wu. While this album is not quite SAINT ETIENNE, the thunderstorm that was occasionally LADYTRON has cleared for now, allowing for some fresh air to enter and a warm front to move in.

Certainly classic pop tendencies are apparent with ABBA and Mama Cass being the obvious influences while MARNIE’s love of contemporary synthpop act and fellow Weegies CHVRCHES has also played its part. Opening track ‘The Hunter’ is a tremendous calling card for ‘Crystal World’, the vibrant electropop single that LADYTRON never quite got round to releasing. It is simply gorgeous and delectably glacial.

‘We Are The Sea’ takes to a steadier tempo and pulses along like one of CHVRCHES’ recent offerings. It hits with a magical chorus that is almost like THE HOLLIES as whirring synths do battle while the closing string machine recalls Dindisc-era OMD. More vintage string machine layers colour ‘Hearts On Fire’, its structure possibly a cousin to atmospheric songs such as ‘White Elephant’ and ‘Ace Of Hz’ from ‘Gravity The Seducer’, an album that saw MARNIE assert her stamp vocally more than any other LADYTRON album.

But with her distinctive voice, even on ‘Violet Affair’ which is musically as far from LADYTRON as one can possibly go with its soulful Summer Of Love feel, thoughts hark back to the last LADYTRON album although her pristine MAMAS & THE PAPAS harmonies do make it more Kópavogur Dreaming than ‘Destroy Everything You Touch’.

Electronic bass propels ‘The Wind Breezes On’ and could be MARNIE’s ‘Love Is A Stranger’ but her higher register larynx keeps it distinct. ‘Sugarland’ is percussively dominant and perhaps the closest ‘Crystal World’ veers to the dark side as it ventures towards windier, more chilling climes with some infinite guitar textures adding some menace. It lightens up again as some marvellous Scandipop makes its presence felt on the wonderful ‘High Road’ before the neo-acappella ‘Laura’.

Using a variety of voice effects, MARNIE switches octaves on this lush centrepiece reminiscent of GOLDFRAPP circa ‘Felt Mountain’ before a detuned sequential passage interrupts for the coda. It’s back to pop on the extended drama of ‘Submariner’ before the climax of ‘Gold’. This closing track could be HURTS ‘The Water’ re-written from a female perspective as some lonely piano chords set the tone before an epic orchestration augmented by guitars and drums steadily kicks in.

‘Crystal World’ achieves MARNIE’s objective “to create an electronic album with more of a pop element and pristine vocals” but it is more than that. Like MARNIE herself, this album is pretty. Vocally and musically expansive, it is like a dreamy Arctic escapist fantasy.

The final word on ‘Crystal World’ must go to the lady herself: “For now, I am going to rest my ears, but my advice to you would be to play it loud and proud!!!! I owe you. Love Marnie xxxx”

‘Crystal World’ is released available as a download via Amazon and iTunes or CD via Les Disques Du Crépuscule

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

http://www.facebook.com/helen.marnie.official

http://www.helenmarnie.com

http://www.ladytron.com

http://lesdisquesducrepuscule.com/marnie.html

Text by Chi Ming Lai
16th June 2013, updated 25th June 2013

FEATHERS If All Now Here

9 June 2013 /


It had to happen but has the world found its female DEPECHE MODE?

American quartet FEATHERS are certainly in the running and in March, had the honour of supporting the Basildon boys at their SXWS gig in Austin, Texas. They have also recently supported LITTLE BOOTS in the US. Led by vocalist / songwriter / programmer Anastasia Dimou, FEATHERS became an electronic based project largely out of practicality after she left her previous band CRUEL BLACK DOVE. Bassist Courtney Voss, keyboardist Kathleen Carmichael, drummer Jordan Johns and alternate guitarists Alex Gehring and Destiny Montague joined to augment the live presentation.

Combining modernism, dystopia and deserts, titles such as ‘Dark Matter’ and ‘Night Seances’ provide the setting for a moody but accessible gothic allure that runs through the debut album ‘If All Now Here’. First single ‘Land Of The Innocent’ is a wondrous epic based around the arpeggio of ‘Ice Machine’ and is like LADYTRON’s ‘Black Cat’, driven by a hard incessant beat complimented by deep synth squelches.

Possessing an industrial gloom with an enlightening pop sensibility, it’s rather like MARSHEAUX borrowing from ‘Playing The Angel’ rather than ‘Violator’. And as Dimou is of Greek ancestry, the description is not wholly inappropriate. It’s the sound of a post-apocalyptic BANGLES going down to Berlin rather than ‘Going Down To Liverpool’!

The brilliant second single ‘Soft’ recalls the single version of ‘Behind The Wheel’ with its tightly sequenced synth bass and staccato vocal samples. Dimou’s dreamy middle eastern overtones nicely layer in the second half for that euphoric lift. Meanwhile ‘Some Great Reward’ era metallic samples permeate through ‘Dark Matter’, a tune with a Latino dancefloor heart but reimagined by NITZER EBB!

The electro disco of ‘Familiar So Strange’ is appropriately FEATHERS’ ‘Enjoy The Silence’ but of course, no DEPECHE MODE influenced act would be without a rousing 6/8 Schaffel stomper. A pair of those come with ‘Fire In The Night’ and ‘Believe’, the latter adding some raunchy blues slide guitar too. These rockier ditties showcase the album’s more organic middle section from which ‘Dream Song’ points to a conventional, rootsy side reminiscent of HOPE SANDOVAL.

But the shimmering synths and percussive programming return on ‘Leaves Start Trembling’ with cool atmospheres recalling Billie Ray Martin’s new project THE OPIATES and their ‘Anatomy Of A Plastic Girl’. One of the album’s highlights, while it shares its eerie sparseness, it does so with a more Trans-Atlantic stance. The drama of ‘Welcome Possession’closes a great debut album with some vibey filmic impressionism punctuated by icy pulsing sequences and octave shifts.

Despite first impressions, ‘If All Now Here’ is not entirely DM sounding and FEATHERS do possess an aural template that also references CURVE and NINE INCH NAILS while displaying a kinship with acts like AUSTRA and GHOST CAPSULES.

While DEPECHE MODE may be the first port of call on ‘If All Now Here’, from the moment Anastasia Dimou reveals her dulcet tones, FEATHERS become something else.

They may be Sisters Of Night, but FEATHERS have their own, very promising and enjoyable identity.

‘If All Now Here’ is released as a download album by Nyx

http://www.feathers.fm/

http://feathers.bandcamp.com/music

http://www.facebook.com/feathersmusic

https://twitter.com/ffeatherss

Text by Chi Ming Lai
9th June 2013

VILE ELECTRODES EP Trilogy

1 June 2013 /


To coincide with VILE ELECTRODES’ high profile support slots with OMD and JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS, the south coast duo of Anais Neon and Martin Swan have released an EP Trilogy to showcase their sumptuous brand of electronic pop to a potential new audience.

First featured back in summer of 2010, while they had a quiet 2012, their rise in 2013 has been phenomenal. Spotted on these very web pages by a certain George Andrew McCluskey, they were invited to support OMD on their German tour where they went down extremely well with local audiences intelligently nurtured in synthesizer heritage.

And it was with this opportunity to impress that this trio of beautifully packaged CD EPs has been released. These EPs act as an appendix to their eagerly awaited debut album ‘The Future Through A Lens’. And in the fine tradition of NEW ORDER and THE SISTERS OF MERCY’s early release manifestos, none of these EP songs will be included on the upcoming long player.

The first EP was issued in 2011 as ‘Vile Electrodes’ and its brilliant lead track ‘Play With Fire’ is like THE SMITHS reincarnated as CLIENT. So as told in that ironic Morrissey/Marr ditty ‘Paint A Vulgar Picture’, this 3 track EP has undergone the “Re-issue! Re-package! Re-package!” treatment although it has to be pointed out that there is no “tacky badge”. Meanwhile the frantically panic stricken ‘Headlong’ finds singer Anais Neon referring to “a rabbit in the headlights” as syndrums are whipped to a frenzy!

The beautifully dramatic ‘My Sanctuary’ though displays VILE ELECTRODES’ more chilling, atmospheric side, a retro-futuristic epic that could have easily come off OMD’s ‘Dazzle Ships’.

Continuing this early OMD template, the lead track of their second EP ‘The Last Time’ features a waltz time signature, military drum tattoos and shimmering synth melodics. It more or less confirms that VILE ELECTRODES are indeed the love child of Paul Humphreys and Sarah Blackwood!

The stark ‘Little Death Capsule’ continues the emotive melancholy but instrumentally borrows more from KRAFTWERK with Martin Swan doing a sterling job in the sort of sparse analogue treatments that would do Kling Klang proud. As a bonus, the Vile rarity ‘Fatal Error’ (originally from the ‘One Life Left Presents – Music to Play Games By Too’ compilation) is rescued and gleefully displays Anais Neon’s nonchalantly sexy allure to a prominent percussive backbeat and squelch-laden bass odyssey.

The belting Hi-NRG of ‘Re-Emerge’ begins the third and newest EP with bursts of throbbing sequenced goodness that turns into ‘Blue Monday’ halfway through, complete with the stuttering drum break in the lead up to the swirling coda. Following on, there’s the fan favourite ‘Office Politiks’ which discusses what it says on the tin.

Adopting the cynicism of SOFT CELL, the amusing narrative on workplace relationships sees Anais Neon viciously attack her hapless colleagues. Everyone can relate to “pointless banter” but “you’re such f***ing wan*er!” is not the most serious expletive used! And “If looks could kill, I’d f***ing massacre you all” is possibly the lyrical couplet of the year! The closing number ‘Tell Me, Honey’ is a claustrophobic cocoon of drones that reveals the more experimental side of VILE ELECTRODES with icy string machine adding to the doomy, unsettling vibe.

The trilogy wonderfully sets the scene with a variety of enjoyable styles for the debut VILE ELECTRODES album ‘The Future Through A Lens’. They are setting the benchmark for what can be achieved by a quality UK synthesizer act. With great tracks such as ‘Proximity’, ‘Empire Of Wolves’, ‘Damaged Software’, ‘Nothing’, ‘Drowned Cities’ and the gorgeous ‘Deep Red’, it is set to be one of the best independent electronic releases of 2013.

VILE ELECTRODES’ 3 Track EPs ‘Play With Fire’, ‘The Last Time’ and ‘Re-Emerge’ are available as downloads are available via http://vileelectrodes.bandcamp.com/

Please note the 9 tracks from this EP Trilogy are exclusive to these releases and will NOT be appearing on the album ‘The Future Through A Lens’ available from their online store as a CD at http://vileelectrodes.bigcartel.com/

http://www.vileelectrodes.co.uk

http://www.facebook.com/vileelectrodes

https://twitter.com/vileelectrodes

http://vileelectrodes.blogspot.com/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
1st June 2013, updated 19th March 2020

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