A purveyor of neo-classical piano and synth, Robin Hatch is a composer from Toronto.
Primarily known as a classical virtuoso and a touring keyboardist for Canadian alternative rock band OUR LADY PEACE, she effectively leads a triple life. She had experimented with synths previously on 2019’s Wendy Carlos influenced ‘Hatch’ which featured improvised instrumentals using a Jupiter 8, Prophet 12 and Malekko Industries Manther. It was all very different from her debut solo album ‘Works For Solo Piano’ which also came out earlier that year and an eponymous piano only follow-up that came at the end of a prolific 12 month period.
Recorded at home during the lockdown, ‘Noise’ is unlike her three previous works as an avant synth record that incorporates vocals and drum machine. It is also presented with some rather raunchy imagery, although this amusingly offset by the wry use of a Ford Focus! By way of an ‘Introduction’, the opening track of ‘Noise’ does not deviate too far from the experimentation of ‘Hatch’ although it contains more pulsing rhythmic elements.
‘Trophy’ though brings in vocals although this is far from a conventional format of song, with Hatch expressing herself poetically over a sparse backdrop of drones, ring modulation and minimal machine percussion. Meanwhile ‘Hivemind’ is instrumental avant pop with hints of Berlin based Nordic duo ULTRAFLEX and their ‘Olympic Sweat’. The incessant synth bass, sweetened with the flute of Alia O’Brien, provides a tune with a marvellous cosmic groove.
Slightly more gothic overtones make their presence felt on ‘Heatstroke’ in the shape of baroque vocals in the manner of a deeper AUSTRA crossed with BAT FOR LASHES; the percolating drum machine pattern is reminiscent a more minimal ‘Pearl’s Dream’ and compliments the bed of bubbling electronics.
The excellent hypnotic instrumental ‘Lake Water’ swoops like a sci-fi odyssey driven using an understated rhythmic passage, while the delightfully odd ‘Planetarium’ chills hauntingly over a metronome beat. But then over eight minutes comes the mysterious sound sculpture of ‘The Mirror’ before ‘Tie A Bow’ closes proceedings.
Structured around rumbling drones, some exquisite synth tones are displayed as well as an honest weary vocal for Hatch to provide a superb introspective set piece of ‘Twin Peaks’ proportions. Despite its disconcerting title, ‘Noise’ is an intriguing esoteric adventure that showcases an inherent musicality and documents the beginning of a journey into more accessible climes.
Across eight tracks, it develops Robin Hatch’s avant garde inclinations into pop, not unlike the Ana Klimova character in the wonderful independent French film ‘Le Choc Du Futur’ that celebrates female synth musicians.
A new companion release to ‘Under Mitt Skinn’ which came out in Summer 2020, PAGE issue their third EP in six months entitled ‘Aska’.
The trailblazing Swedish duo of Eddie Bengtsson and Marina Schiptjenko have been fairly prolific of late and partying like it’s 1979. In acknowledgement of Synth Britannia, TUBEWAY ARMY and early ULTRAVOX have been very much the key influence in the recent work of PAGE, most notably with the ‘Start’ EP and the long player ‘Fakta För Alla’.
In defence of his nostalgic but affectionate ethos, Bengtsson said to Zero Magazine: “Since neither Numan nor Foxx engage in that type of electronic pop anymore, PAGE is allowed to do it instead!”
Mixed by Richard Flow of MACHINISTA who ably assists PAGE into realising themselves as a retro-futuristic post-punk electronic band, Bengtsson added “All the music is made on synths, but I try to emulate different instruments and create the illusion that ‘here is a bassist, here is a drummer and here is a keyboardist’”.
A second cousin to ‘Saint Anastase’ from the ‘Under Mitt Skinn’ EP, ’Stefansplatz’ is an enjoyably progressive instrumental opening in the vein of THE HUMAN LEAGUE when Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh were at the synthesizer helm. But tackling the sensitive subject of burn out, the ‘Aska’ title song sees service resumed in the Vox ‘N’ Foxx department.
The delightful ‘En Kamera Ser’ though is quirky elektronisk pop bursting with synth hooks, echoing a more Motorik ‘Ett SOS’ and the nostalgic technological observations of KRAFTWERK where cameras were once tactile entities of their own, not a side function in a phone alongside bank accounts.
‘Hög Som Jag’ celebrates the joy of music that is classic PAGE, while ‘Bara Tryck På Play’ pays homage to TUBEWAY ARMY’s ‘Bombers’ or THE STRANGLERS’ ‘(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)’ where listeners are free to choose, depending on their thinking.
To close the main act, PAGE take out full Numanoid membership on ‘Jag Var Så Nära’ as the dark but melodic adventure mines the glory that is ‘I Die: You Die’.
Using tracks originally featuring on its predecessors, ‘Aska’ is supplemented by a poppier remix of ‘Ta det som en man’ by SOCIAL AMBITIONS and a punk cover of ‘Under Mitt Skinn’ from ATTENTAT, but the best bonus comes from DATAPOP who adopt a minimal machine approach to ‘Panik’ that turns it into ‘Home Computer’.
Twinned with ‘Under Mitt Skinn’, ‘Aska’ forms a combination album that becomes reality via a limited vinyl edition that presents these sessions as a body of work with a clear vision. “Good music should be given all the time, attention and concentration it deserves!” says Bengtsson as he remains creatively in the Moog. After all, it is all just a matter of pleasure and principle.
It was something of a sign for 2020 when WE ARE REPLICA’s first attempt at a full length album was lost when a feral cat got into their studio over the New Year holidays and urinated all over their computer!
But the London-based Franco German dark synth duo of Nadège Préaudat and Martin Kinz soldiered on and now have ‘Cleared Vision’.
“We always liked heavy music as much as electronic music and therefore often use synths like electric guitars” said Kinz while Préaudat affirmed “That helps to capture emotions in its rawest state”.
So it is something of a pleasant surprise amongst all the intensity from life in isolation during a difficult 2020, WE ARE REPLICA have introduced an enchanting avant pop element to their sound. With a muted down aggression towards the mindset that the album’s title suggests, is this possibly some optimism finding its way in through the back door?
‘Only The Best’ brings in some piercing noise but there is a refinement to provide some accessible punky synth. ‘Miami’ though unexpectedly offers a comparatively sunny disposition with Kinz almost perky like a German Eno, although Préaudat offsets all that but even she sounds less intense compared to WE ARE REPLICA’s previous work.
‘Sanitize Me’ is kind of business as usual though and will connect with anyone affected by the lockdown. It may be a bit too close to home, but it is an honest statement and Préaudat is still strangely sexy despite the doom and gloom. Some relief comes from a delightful closing section of cascading keys.
Previous singles ‘Parallele Universen’ and ‘Angel’ feature lyrics in German and French respectively as a homage to Neue Deutsche Welle and French New Wave. But the language is no barrier, acting more like additional instrumental elements.
‘Parallele Universen’ nods towards Robert Görl and sees Kinz in previously unheard territory actually singing. Meanwhile despite the sinister discomfort of ‘Angel’, Préaudat is wonderfully alluring with her deep Gallic tongue. Like Siamese Twins thanks to their common concept, they are separated by the brooding ‘Opus 5’ which is more abstract like a schizophrenic gothic art piece.
Kinz and Préaudat have a deadpan exchange on the creepy and monotone ‘For Whom The Dove Cried’ for the most foreboding and experimental track on ‘Cleared Vision’, before the mantric drone-laden ‘Isolated Star’ screeches with sharp synth lines and a steadfast rhythmic lattice over a concluding eight minutes. Heavy music for heavy times, ‘Cleared Vision’ is like life, up and down and up before descending into a mental breakdown after a pop focussed start.
This album won’t be for everyone but in its enigmatic expression and artful sound sculpture, it reflects our strange dark times. There is light at the end of the tunnel, but whether that light is an escape the other side or a truck heading towards you is another story!
As the title suggests, ‘Fast Forward: Confessions Of A Post-Punk Percussionist – Volume II’ is the second book by Stephen Morris, best known as the drummer of JOY DIVISION and NEW ORDER.
Together with Ian Curtis, Peter Hook and Bernard Sumner, he co-founded JOY DIVISION. With the untimely death of Curtis in May 1980, the remaining trio continued as NEW ORDER with the addition of Morris’ girlfriend and now-wife Gillian Gilbert. Stephen Morris’ first book ‘Record Play Pause: Confessions of a Post-Punk Percussionist – Volume I’ demonstrated his abilities as an engaging storyteller.
While Peter Hook’s ‘Substance’ was an informative in-depth look inside NEW ORDER, it was not unsurprisingly tinged with bitterness and anger. Meanwhile, Bernard Sumner’s ‘Chapter & Verse’ was a good read but the story was expressed in very straight manner, perhaps in an attempt not to upset anyone.
Morris though laced his account with humour and entertaining dry wit, with his narrative of growing up in the North West of England being particularly amusing and relatable.
So when the human drum machine released an audio book of ‘Record Play Pause: Confessions of a Post-Punk Percussionist – Volume I’, it was like the story of JOY DIVISION being told on ‘Jackanory’, the BBC children’s television series conceived to stimulate an interest in reading. Morris’ eager-to-please if occasionally sarcastic manner was captured like a spoken word art piece.
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK interviewed Stephen Morris in March 2011 and many of the topics from that conversation are expanded on in ‘Fast Forward: Confessions Of A Post-Punk Percussionist – Volume II’, as well further observations on the politics behind being in a band and its inherent hierarchy that inevitably places the singer at the top.
Despite his own existential crisis and possibly doing himself out of a job with all the incumbent new technology that manifested itself into the evolving sound of NEW ORDER, it was Morris who ultimately had the patience to read the manuals and persevere as an early adopter of video, drum machines and computers.
There are trailblazing tales of grappling with the Powertran 1024 Note Composer home-built from a kit by Bernard Sumner and customised by the band’s electronic boffin Martin Usher.
First used on the ‘Temptation’ B-side ‘Hurt’, it had to be programmed and operated in hexadecimal! Morris also recalls his life changing experience watching Stevie Wonder demonstrate the Linn Drum Computer on ‘Old Grey Whistle Test’, before eventually plumping for the slightly cheaper Oberheim DMX.
But as he points out, “I always found the record and erase buttons a little too close together for comfort!”. The original programme for the iconic digital drums on ‘Blue Monday’ were indeed wiped, but not as persists in legend, by Morris tripping on the DMX mains lead.
Meanwhile, describing his own factory setting as “dubious”, Morris amusingly recalls how the Arthur Baker collaboration ‘Confusion’ was an apt title as the band set off to New York to record with the producer without any gear and without any ideas ready, not even a bassline.
‘Movement’ producer Martin Hannett fell out with Factory Records when the label and NEW ORDER opted to open The Haçienda club rather than buy a Fairlight, but the band did try out the computer music instrument for a week with mixed results. Although the session produced the seed of an idea that became ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’, the band instead opted to stick with their Yamaha sequencer, drum machine and rack mount combination.
NEW ORDER had something of a lucky escape not to be stuck with what quickly became a technological white elephant. However, the taxman along with the well-documented financial woes of Factory Records and The Haçienda were things that couldn’t be escaped, with the cash mostly passing through NEW ORDER’s bank account like quicksilver almost as soon as it was earned.
The most cynical about the initial idea of The Haçienda in the first place, Morris felt a return ticket on the Titanic was a better bet and his fears were justified when he was initially declined entry on its opening night. It would take the drummer several years to even get a complimentary drink at the establishment he co-owned, while Gillian Gilbert’s sister Kim was able to get on the guest list by pretending to be her!
But Morris is an endearing character who accepts his lot, especially the joys of making music and being in a successful band. However as NEW ORDER got bigger, he was still not being recognised despite his face being on the ‘Low-Life’ album cover and the tour’s corresponding AAA passes. Hilariously recounting being refused entry into venues that NEW ORDER were performing at, at Factory Records’ Festival of the Tenth Summer with THE SMITHS at Manchester G-Mex, Morris only got into the former railway station by saying he was his near namesake Steven Morrissey!
Photo by Trevor Key
Despite being a self-confessed man who sits on the fence and turns whichever way the wind blows, Morris is very honest in his frustration about his fellow band members. He recalls being particularly bemused by Peter Hook’s solo project REVENGE which was supposed to be striking a blow for “real guitar music” as a reaction to NEW ORDER’s “synthesized sequenced sh*t”, but ended up sounding nothing like MOTÖRHEAD and instead used… yes, you’ve guessed it, synthesized sequenced sh*t!
Morris and Gilbert bought a 200 year old farm near Macclesfield and settled into domestic bliss with a home studio, doing TV soundtrack work and their own solo project THE OTHER TWO. And in this section, readers cannot help but laugh out loud when our hero discovers that the 10 mile shooting range of his newly acquired ex-British Army Abbot FV433 self-propelled gun will make Bernard Sumner’s house in Alderley Edge an easy target!
NEW ORDER went into hiatus after the lukewarm ‘Republic’ album in 1993, but against the odds, they reunited in 1998. There were triumphant shows at Manchester Apollo and Reading Festival in the summer, although the quartet were less than impressive at Manchester Arena for the ‘Temptation’ dance event before New Year’s Eve.
But the death of long standing manager Rob Gretton in 1999 and the departure of Gillian Gilbert for family reasons changed the dynamic of NEW ORDER considerably. Ultimately, that left a power struggle between Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook to fester, with Morris stuck in the middle and unable to referee.
Perhaps surprisingly, ‘Fast Forward: Confessions Of A Post-Punk Percussionist – Volume II’ ends in 2007 just as Peter Hook announces to the world that NEW ORDER have split up, all while Bernard Sumner is in the middle of the Atlantic on his yacht. By this time though, Morris had more pressing things to worry about such as his wife’s critical illness and the well-being of his family.
But in March 2011, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK asked Stephen Morris about the unsatisfactory manner in which NEW ORDER ended. His reply was surprising and in hindsight, gave clues as to what was to come. “I never say never really. I personally after ‘Republic’, I thought that was it, I really did” he quipped, “And then something happens and all of a sudden, you’re back doing it again for another 10 years!”
Gillian Gilbert returned to the NEW ORDER fold for a well-received comeback concert in October 2011 at Le Bataclan in Paris and the band have been more or less on the road ever since. Signing to Mute Artists, the band’s ninth album ‘Music Complete’ in 2015 was a far better record than its two predecessors ‘Get Ready’ and ‘Waiting For The Sirens’ Call’, re-establishing NEW ORDER as a credible creative force.
As Morris concludes, “the band that raised itself from the ashes of JOY DIVISION raised itself from the ashes of NEW ORDER”, but “that’s a whole other book. Maybe one day…”
She’s the artist formally known as COMPUTER MAGIC and ‘Idea of You’ is her first single under her new moniker of DANZ CM.
Behind the music is Danz Johnson whose first album proper ‘Davos’ came out under the name COMPUTER MAGIC in 2015. She said on social media: “In the beginning I didn’t know what to call myself. I was so uncomfortable in my own skin, was so sure no one would believe it was just one person making the music…”
New York-based producer added “I wanted to change it because I outgrew COMPUTER MAGIC. I outgrew the shy bedroom pop girl a long time ago. COMPUTER MAGIC might mean something different to you, but to me it represents a skin that I need to shed.”
Capturing a sombre electronic disposition, ‘Idea of You’ develops on the darkness that was apparent on the last COMPUTER MAGIC album ‘Danz’ with its self-referencing title a pointer of things to come. It is all quite distinct from the enjoyably escapist ‘Obscure but Visible’ EP and its utterly charming highlight ‘Lonely Like We Are’.
With her stark statement that she’s “Gotta step back to put things in perspective” summing things up, in the collaborative video for ‘Idea of You’, Danz Johnson and director Matthew James Reilly set off to the desolate location of Death Valley in Nevada to see our heroine take on the role of The Girl Who Fell To Earth.
While recording ‘The Absurdity of Human Existence’, her upcoming first album as DANZ CM, Danz Johnson launched her ‘Synth History’ platform celebrating musicians who have embraced the sound of synthesizers in their work. To date she has interviewed Pete Townshend, Suzanne Ciani, James Murphy, Rick Wakeman, Vince Clarke, Dave Smith and many more.
She then began a crowdfunding campaign to expand ‘Synth History’ into a podcast series and the first acclaimed episode in Summer 2020 discussed the pioneering legacy of Wendy Carlos.
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was an informative in-depth look inside NEW ORDER, it was not unsurprisingly tinged with bitterness and anger. Meanwhile, Bernard Sumner’s 
was a good read but the story was expressed in very straight manner, perhaps in an attempt not to upset anyone.
album cover and the tour’s corresponding AAA passes. Hilariously recounting being refused entry into venues that NEW ORDER were performing at, at Factory Records’ Festival of the Tenth Summer with THE SMITHS at Manchester G-Mex, Morris only got into the former railway station by saying he was his near namesake Steven Morrissey!
album in 1993, but against the odds, they reunited in 1998. There were triumphant shows at Manchester Apollo and Reading Festival in the summer, although the quartet were less than impressive at Manchester Arena for the ‘Temptation’ dance event before New Year’s Eve.
in 2015 was a far better record than its two predecessors ‘Get Ready’ and ‘Waiting For The Sirens’ Call’, re-establishing NEW ORDER as a credible creative force.
is published in hardback by Constable
came out under the name 
develops on the darkness that was apparent on the last COMPUTER MAGIC album 
with its self-referencing title a pointer of things to come. It is all quite distinct from the enjoyably escapist 
EP and its utterly charming highlight ‘Lonely Like We Are’.
released on 12th March 2021 by Channel 9 Records
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