Category: Reviews (Page 60 of 200)

THE SHOCK OF THE FUTURE – LE CHOC DU FUTUR

21 November 2020 /

1978: Un nouveau son arrive…

Dedicated to the female pioneers of electronic music Clara Rockmore, Wendy Carlos, Daphne Oram, Delia Derbyshire, Éliane Radigue, Laurie Spiegel, Suzanne Ciani, Johanna Beyer, Bebe Baron, Pauline Oliveros, Else Marie Pade and Beatriz Mercedes Ferreyra, ‘The Shock Of The Future’ or ‘Le Choc Du Futur’ is a wonderful independent French film celebrating the synthesizer.

Set in Paris 1978, ‘Le Choc Du Futur’ depicts a day in the life of a young fictional female synth musician Ana Klimova, following her fortunes as she struggles with creative blocks, networking, recognition and self-doubt, while also documenting the random happenings which spark her creativity.

A Bohemian elfin-like figure in the vein of Francoise Hardy or Jane Birkin, Ana Klimova is charmingly played by Alma Jodorowsky whose own family dynasty in cinema spans three generations. Her character uses electronics to make what she considers to be the music of the future, as she attempts to make herself heard in an ambivalent and lecherous male-dominated industry with its systemic patriarchy.

‘Le Choc Du Futur’ is the first film and screenplay by Marc Collin of NOUVELLE VAGUE, a musical project that has released five albums of new wave and synth covers rearranged in a continental longue bossa nova style; songs like ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’, ‘Don’t Go’, ‘Fade To Grey’, ‘A Forest’, ‘Say Hello Wave Goodbye’ and ‘Blue Monday’ have been amongst those getting the treatment. During that time, Collin has been notable for discovering female singing talent.

One of them has been Clara Luciani who sang on NOUVELLE VAGUE’s reinterpretation of ALTERED IMAGES’ ‘I Could Be Happy’ and she plays the role of the singer who is the voice of the film’s central tune ‘Future Shock’, composed by Collin himself.

In order to keep costs to a minimum, Collin directed ‘Le Choc Du Futur’ primarily as a chamber drama. Most of the scenes take place in a city apartment which is also the home studio of a famous musician Michel Manitovski who Ana appears to be housesitting for, with the benefit that she can use his collection of expensive synthesizers.

As two of France’s major electronic exponents of the period, the music of Jean-Michel Jarre and Cerrone feature prominently at the start of the film as historical context, with Ana innocently dancing along in just her T-shirt to ‘Supernature’ before chilling to ‘Oxygene 1’ as inspiration while getting down to work.

Working as a home masseuse to make ends meet, Ana however is focussed on making electronic music like a female Jean-Michel Jarre, much to the dismay of her manager Jean-Mi who has advanced her 1000 Francs to produce music for an advertising commission that he has got her.

As far as the acting is concerned in terms of playing synths and operating modulars or sequencers, Alma Jodorowsky is way more convincing than say Andy Fletcher of DEPECHE MODE. With her expressions and eye movements, she is compelling to watch as the viewer witnesses the start-stop-start nature of electronic composition. In these scenes, it is synth porn galore, with a Yamaha CS-80, ARP 2600, ARP 1601 sequencer and Moog modular units from the IIIP and Model 10 series figuring in the gear set-up.

But it’s when Ana finds one of the modules develops a glitch and calls an engineering boffin named Herve to help, that her Eureka moment happens. He has with him a Roland CR-78 Compurhythm and when it is demonstrated to her how it can sync with her ARP Sequencer, she can foresee her own future in electronic pop! Ana pleads with Herve to let her borrow the machine and he relents, despite his request for a kiss not being satisfied.

Jean-Mi is less convinced though and when Ana enthusiastically declares her vision of “dancing with atoms”, “moving with electronic circuits” and “a dance for oscillators”, her manager sceptically snorts “I know what a stupid beatbox is for. You think it’s going to replace a live drummer? The sound? The energy? You believe there won’t be studios anymore? Musicians? There’s just gonna be this poor guy alone doing music in his home?” – well, yes!

As Jean-Mi demands the return of his advance, Ana enters an existential crisis but her fortunes change with the arrival of a session singer played by Clara Luciani who turns up for the advertisement session that our heroine has forgotten about.

Together they collaborate on some chic disco synthpop that comes over rather like CHROMATICS meeting a deeper MARSHEAUX under the influence of Galouises smoke. While stoned, they talk about using the name CHAPI CHAPO, after a cartoon they are watching! The pair decide to premiere their track ‘Future Shock’ at a party that Ana is throwing, to which Dominic Giroux, a producer from the prestigious real-life label Barclay Records has been invited.

The party goes down a storm with its hip eclectic playlist, as does ‘Future Shock’ which has all of Ana’s friends and associates dancing and applauding. But as Giroux prepares to depart, Ana nervously asks the producer for feedback, although he seemingly becomes more interested in another lady present.

Despite being told “there’s something there”, Giroux shatters Ana by dismissing her potential, stating “I’m afraid there is no market for such music in France”. In despair, her friend Paul takes Ana for a walk to assure her that her work is valid and to maintain her artistic integrity while “what matters in life is not how many times you fall, it’s how many times you get back up”.

To this end, Paul uses his music industry contacts to arrange a visit to a recording session by Corine who complete with her trademark blonde curly mane, plays a character named and based on herself in a bit of timewarp dramatic licence. Here the real life pop starlet tells Ana that the producer from Barclay doesn’t know what he is talking about and gives her encouragement to persist. Loving Ana’s concept of electronic disco, the two swap contacts in anticipation that they might become future sisters in arms.

Nominated for ‘Best Feature Film’ at the Torino Film Festival 2019, ‘Le Choc Du Futur’ captures the beauty of the synthesizer, providing a seductive and uplifting 100 minutes that offers a snapshot of a developing popular culture, while also focussing on female empowerment and passion for music. Although the film’s storyline might be a bit too basic and niche for some, it is made with love and will be immensely appealing to synth enthusiasts for its observations on the creative process and the battles against the rockist real music fraternity.

Meanwhile the soundtrack presses all the right buttons. Most will be able relate to the scene when Ana’s seasoned New York mentor visits her for one of their regular new music listening sessions and plays THROBBING GRISTLE ‘United’, THE HUMAN LEAGUE ‘Dance Like A Star’ and the cosmic collage of AKSAK MABOUL ‘Saure Gurke’ to her for the first time. However, there will be amusement as Ana gives a muted response to ‘Frankie Teardrop’ by SUICIDE which she feels is “too rock”.

While ‘Le Choc Du Futur’ does not speculate as to how Ana Klimova’s musical career may have panned out, her story is inspirational and although it is fictional, her electronic revolution inside her head did become real.

‘The Shock Of The Future (Le Choc Du Futur)’ is available in Europe via 606 Distribution as a PAL DVD in French Language with English Subtitles only from https://606distribution.co.uk/shock-of-the-future/

The North American NTSC DVD edition is released by Cleopatra Records, available via https://www.amazon.com/ or direct from https://cleorecs.com/store/shop/le-choc-du-futur-the-shock-of-the-future-dvd/

The soundtrack to ‘‘Le Choc Du Futur’ is released by Kwaidan Records via the usual digital platforms

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Text by Chi Ming Lai
21st November 2020

SCARLET SOHO Programmed To Perfection – Best Of & Rarities

14 November 2020 /


Although SCARLET SOHO went into hiatus after the release of their third album ‘In Cold Blood’ in 2015, interest in them has been rejuvenated thanks to the success of front man James Knights and his Britalo focussed exploits with his solo vehicle KNIGHT$.

Two tracks on ‘In Cold Blood’, ‘Two Steps From Heartache’ and ‘Gigolo’ were effectively blueprints for KNIGHT$ and are usually mainstays of his live set. But although SCARLET SOHO began with a more post-punk sound dominated by guitars, there was always a pop element throughout their career despite the darkness and that is evident on their new updated retrospective compilation ‘Programmed To Perfection – Best Of & Rarities’.

At the start of the 21st Century, electronic pop was making something of a resurgence with the likes of LADYTRON, GOLDFRAPP and THE KNIFE proving that “synthesizer” was not a dirty word. Alongside them were bands such as THE FAINT, THE KILLERS and THE BRAVERY who all had synths as a rogue element within their conventional instrumentation. There were also emergent acts such as IAMX, THE MODERN, PROTOCOL, DELAYS and BOY KILLS BOY, and it is perhaps in this group that SCARLET SOHO slotted in.

Comprising the nucleus of James Knights and Amy Brown aka Scarlet with Lee Kinrade on guitar and augmented by a drum machine, SCARLET SOHO’s debut release was the ‘Ruthless Animation’ EP in 2001. This led to support slots for THE FAINT and DELAYS, attracting the attention of the latter’s producer Justin Callaway to record their debut album ‘Divisions Of Decency’ issued in 2004 by Human Recordings. The excellent trio of ‘Skin Trade’, ‘Disconnected’ and ‘Modern Radio’ from ‘Divisions Of Decency’ were slabs of fuzzy machine rock in the vein of THE FAINT.

Meanwhile taking a slight diversion, ‘Programmed To Perfection’ came over like Alvin Stardust fronting SWEET produced by THE RAH BAND!

With Stuart Key replacing Nick Haynes who joined the SCARLET SOHO after the departure of Lee Kinrade, it would be 2009 before ‘Divisions Of Decency’ was followed up by ‘Warpaint’, released by Major Records, the German label who had issued albums by IAMX and LADYTRON.

Included on this collection, the galloping disco sequences and gritty determination of ‘I Dare’ signalled a significant progression towards the dancefloor and this was further affirmed by ‘Analogue Dialogue (Kill The Beat)’ which imagined Giorgio Moroder going indie and collaborating with THE KILLERS.

Reflecting some of their contemporaries, ‘Speak Your Mind’ was a rousing slice of synth indie in the vein of THE BRAVERY with a magnificent whirring keys solo, while ‘Is Growing Up The Best That We Can Do?’ was almost a Numan-esque take on PROTOCOL. But it is ‘Lights Out London’ which stands out from ‘Warpaint’ with a frantic electro-goth vibe up there with IAMX who SCARLET SOHO were to tour with extensively in Europe.

Released in 2015, ‘In Cold Blood’ was the third and so far final album by SCARLET SOHO. Despite the six year gap between long players, much of what became ‘In Cold Blood’ had been released in advance on the EPs ‘When The Lights Go Out’, ‘Solo KO’ and ‘Two Steps From Heartache’.

The self-produced and self-released ‘In Cold Blood’ looked set to be SCARLET SOHO’s breakthrough as it heralded a greater interest in electronic pop with fewer guitars in evidence. Much more immediate than any of their previous work, although the material appeared to be less angsty and fraught, it was still a gloomy album lyrically.

‘When The Lights Go Out’ demonstrated more of a  disco sound while ‘What You Need’ even flirted with synthwave as showcased on the ‘Drive’ soundtrack by KAVINSKY and COLLEGE. However, the sombre ‘Solo KO’ showed that SCARLET SOHO had not totally vacated their dark aesthetic, but leaving a lyrical signal of what was to come.

Indeed the bridge to KNIGHT$ came with ‘Gigolo’, a song on ‘In Cold Blood’ that was so wonderfully poppy, Knights and Scarlet had initially felt it was not suitable for SCARLET SOHO and the glorious house-laden ‘Two Steps From Heartache’ which appears on the double set as a vocoder-assisted James Yuill remix with a more tightly incessant rhythmic base.

Any good retrospective set features rarities or unreleased songs and ‘Programmed To Perfection’ satisfies both requirements. Among the best of the bunch is ‘Into The Night’ in collaboration with Loic Rathscheck; recorded for the 2011 German film ‘Bauernfrühstück’; it features the “Classic meets Pop” singer Isgaard replicating the soprano from Ennio Morricone’s ‘Ecstasy Of Gold’ to strangely compliment the track’s intense electronic backdrop. The moody ‘Children Of The Sun’ with its European grandeur was written in the same sessions but didn’t get used, so is a welcome inclusion for SCARLET SOHO and KNIGHT$ completists alike.

Of the other rarities, there are remixes by !DISTAIN, TOKYOTRON and CANDIDE amongst others but the tracks that will attract most interest are the B-sides and previously unreleased demos.

‘Daylight’ is an electronic indie rock hybrid with a snarl that is very much of its time while ‘Pseudo Sushi’ is very guitar-driven, but ‘Useless Information’ will be a shock to some as it is almost heavy metal!

Then there is ‘Professionals’ from the ‘Two Steps From Heartache’ EP which was something of a dubstep experiment while off the ‘When The Lights Go Out’ EP, ‘Retail Therapy’ was an electro new wave hybrid that was more typically SCARLET SOHO.

‘Programmed To Perfection’ acts as a fine introduction to SCARLET SOHO, gathering them at their most accessible. For anyone who appreciates the shades donning solo persona of James Knights as KNIGHT$, it documents an interesting and significant part of the artistic journey that led to ‘Dollars & Cents’, one of the best albums of 2019.

‘Programmed To Perfection – Best Of & Rarities’ is released on 16th November 2020 by Scentair Records as a double CD or download, signed copies available for pre-order direct from https://scarletsoho1.bandcamp.com/album/programmed-to-perfection-best-of-rarities-2020

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Text by Chi Ming Lai
14th November 2020

WE ARE REPLICA Angel

11 November 2020 /

WE ARE REPLICA present an uncomfortable if slightly alluring visual accompaniment for their song ‘Angel’.

The London-based Franco German dark synth duo of Nadège Préaudat and Martin Kinz have always been into the idea of translating the intensity of the world into music. “That helps to capture emotions in its rawest state” said Préaudat while Kinz added “We always liked heavy music as much as electronic music and therefore often use synths like electric guitars.”

From the unforgiving electronic post punk twins recently released EP ‘Parallel Angels’, ‘Angel’ is a homage to French New Wave and features Préaudat on lead vocals in her native tongue. “I always found that voice is just another instrument” she said, “Listen to a song in a different language you don’t understand. It becomes an instrument.”

The video directed by LUXXXER is art reflecting life and the state of not just the nation, but the entire world. Having lost her mind, Préaudat is sectioned and a patient in a new dimension, yet in her confinement, bound in a straitjacket, she is disturbingly sexy. Meanwhile Kinz is an angel who maintains a sinister voyeurism as he watches her bathe… but of what kind of angel? As Préaudat stares into a crystal ball, is she foreseeing her fate?

The ‘Angel’ audio visual presentation is a powerful statement. “What I like in art and music is the atmosphere and feeling” added Préaudat, “Therefore I always try to replicate that in my life using music, art as well as fashion to express myself.”

Reflecting his musical partner’s ethos, Kinz affirmed “I generally find bands with a strong image more interesting than those that don’t care about that. And in our case there is a lot more to come in that respect. No boundaries!”

WE ARE REPLICA’s debut album is currently being mixed again following the first attempt being lost when a feral cat got into their studio over the New Year holidays and urinated all over their computer!

‘Angel’ is from the digital EP ‘Parallel Angels’, available from https://wearereplica.bandcamp.com/album/parallel-angels

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Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photo by Atlanta Rascher
11th November 2020

STEVEN WILSON King Ghost

9 November 2020 /

“People” sang Jim Morrison, “Are Strange” and none more so than the dedicated music fan. This has been shown in the past couple of weeks with the backlash against Steven Wilson with the new single ‘King Ghost’.

This has been rumbling on for a while, in fact since ‘Permanating’ from 2017’s ‘To The Bone’, and has percolated via recent singles ‘Personal Shopper’ and ‘Eminent Sleaze’ to the fury unleashed in certain quarters against this latest release online. And the thing is, the pitchfork wielding mob who want to torch the new album ‘The Future Bites’ before it is released are wrong.

“Where are the guitars?” they moan… “It needs real drums” they cry through gnashing teeth… “Isn’t what I signed up for”, they wail as they wrap themselves in their ‘Tales of Topographic Oceans’ blanket. The answer to this and the pages and pages of other comments is, you haven’t been paying attention.

Despite being the leader of PORCUPINE TREE all these tears, Wilson has never hidden his love of pop music, this is made all the more clear in his excellent podcast ‘The Album Years’ which he hosts with NO-MAN band mate Tim Bowness. The pointers were there on his last release, especially with the aforementioned ‘Permanating’ and, more pertinently, the brooding electronica of ‘Song of I’.

‘King Ghost’ is a natural progression, something which a recognised progressive performer should always be looking to do. The track is the sound of the artist taking himself and by extension the listener in new directions. Wilson has stated it may be one of the best things he has ever done and I have to agree.

One comment on a recent YouTube post said “…it could never be as emotional as played by analog instruments” before suggesting adding a guitar solo or fretless bass. And here we have the crux of the issue taken by some listeners; the track is synthetic so must be lesser than a full band production.

Again these folk haven’t been listening. This is by a mile the best single of the year especially when married to the stunning Jess Cope video that accompanies the release.

I have been listening with interest and a fair bit of excitement, so can’t wait until the turn of the year to hear what the delayed full album has in store, with or without a full drum kit. The tasters we have had so far promise, it will be worth the wait.

‘King Ghost’ is from the album ‘The Future Bites’ released by SW Records / Caroline Records on 29th January 2021 in limited edition deluxe boxset, CD, red or black vinyl LP, cassette, Blu-ray and digital formats, pre-order from https://store.thefuturebites.com/

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Text by Ian Ferguson
9th November 2020

BRIAN ENO Film Music 1976 – 2020

3 November 2020 /

Although Brian Eno released a 1978 studio album called ‘Music For Films’, only its final track ‘Final Sunset’ was written for an actual film as it was effectively a soundtrack show reel proposing cinematic usage.

A compilation of fragments and sketched recorded between 1975 to 1978, ‘Music For Films’ was like a cart coming before the horse, with many of its pieces later ending up in movies such as the remake of Jean-Luc Goddard’s ‘Breathless’ and John Woo’s ‘A Better Tomorrow’; ‘Film Music 1976 – 2020’ is different and could have been titled ‘Music From Films’.

Gathering 17 tracks from the five decade career of Brian Eno, the best known two are from his 1983 album ‘Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks’ which comprised of material composed for the moon landing documentary film which later became known as ‘For All Mankind’.

The hovering aural sedative of ‘Deep Blue Day’ was sweetened by countrified twang of Daniel Lanois and used in the infamous toilet scene from ‘Trainspotting’. Meanwhile, closing ‘Film Music 1976 – 2020’, ‘An Ending (Ascent)’ featured a drifting but dramatic church organ-like passage that acted as the blueprint to the intro of U2’s ‘Where The Streets Have No Name’. And talking of Bono & Co, ‘Beach Sequence’, the PASSENGERS collaboration with U2 also makes an appearance.

The electro-nautical journey of ‘Under’ will be familiar to owners of Eno’s vocal album ‘Another Day On Earth’ from 2005, although the song appeared in the 1992 Kim Basinger movie ‘Cool World’ which also featured David Bowie and Moby in the soundtrack.

From Derek Jarman’s films, there are the transient sound sculptures of ‘Dover Beach’ from ‘Jubilee’ and ‘Final Sunset’ from ‘Sebastiane’. However, ‘Prophecy Theme’ off David Lynch’s ‘Dune’ sounds like it could have come from the ‘Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks’ album. All three pieces though document that 1976-1984 period when Eno all but left art rock aside to indulge in more ambient forms, apart from in a production capacity with the likes of DEVO and TALKING HEADS.

‘Ship In A Bottle’ from ‘The Lovely Bones’ is serene in its presence while ‘Decline & Fall’ from ‘O Nome da Morte’ displays some exquisite sound design. From 2020, ‘Reasonable Question’ from ‘We Are As Gods’ explores a lesser heard electro-rhythmic side to Eno. Also rhythmic but in a more understated manner is ‘Late Evening In Jersey’ from ‘Heat’, where brushing is the tool to add tension.

An almost acoustic folk ballad comes in the shape of a cover of William Bell’s ‘You Don’t Miss Your Water’ from ‘Married to the Mob’ which was directed by Jonathan Demme, but the two song inclusions do spoil the flow for listeners seeking a more environmental instrumental tracklisting. But these are offset by ‘The Sombre’ from ‘Top Boy’ which does as its title suggests and the wonderful ‘Undersea Steps’ from the 2004 George Chan movie ‘Hammerhead’ which will delight Eno’s ambient fans.

This collection is of supreme quality throughout and with the majority of ‘Film Music 1976 – 2020’ being gathered from material not on Eno’s own albums or previously unreleased tracks, it is essential for completists and acts as a fine introduction to his more esoteric work.

‘Film Music 1976 – 2020’ is released by Universal Music on 13th November 2020 in double vinyl LP, CD and digital formats

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Text by Chi Ming Lai
3rd November 2020, updated 12th November 2020

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