Category: Transmissions (Page 2 of 10)

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s 30 SONGS OF 2022

12 December 2022 /

During lockdown, electronic music displayed its emotional empathy with isolation and solitary working.

But as during The Cold War in its breakthrough years, it read the room again with the onset of worldwide and domestic conflicts, both armed and political. There were times in 2022 that were as if The Cold War had never ended and in amongst the turmoil, artists reflected their anxieties on top of those already existing.

Jori Hulkkonen of SIN COS TAN said: “Overall, this decade has been a real downer with the pandemic and now the war, so if we are trying to look for silver linings here, I think it will be interesting for the creative community to get something out of it, the frustration, the fears and all that.”

As further pandemic songs were released as well, what emerged were songs of varying moods and while there was fresh optimising in the air, there were calls to arms and resignation looming too. Overall, 2022 saw many great individual tracks issued and mention must be made of NNHMN, NATION OF LANGUAGE, O+HER, DIE ROBO SAPIENS, DESIRE and MOTHERMARY who were among those shortlisted for this year’s listing.

As ever on ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK, rules help control the fun… so restricted to tracks available on the usual online retail platforms with a limit of one song per artist moniker, here are the 30 SONGS OF 2022 in alphabetical order by artist…

ANNIEE featuring VON HERTZOG Danger Electricity

Bubbling with a dynamic thrust, the angelic voice of Anniee evoked the excitement of a night clubbing while Von Hertzog provided the hypnotic backing and beautiful soundscape. “I was jogging in London and came across the words in the sidewalk ‘danger electricity’” she said, “I had always wanted to create a dance track – something that reflected my love for EDM”.

Available on the single ‘Danger Electricity’ via Anniee and Von Hertzog

https://www.instagram.com/anniee_music/

ALANAS CHOSNAU & MARK REEDER All You Need To Love

For Alanas Chosnau and Mark Reeder, the ongoing world tensions were a symbol of ‘Life Everywhere’. Like a Harry Palmer film given an electro soundtrack and hidden behind the facade of love songs, they poignantly made a statement on life during wartime. With a speedy conga mantra and a dominant digital clap, ‘All You Need Is Love’ entered funky electronic disco territory.

Available on the album ‘Life Everywhere’ via MFS

https://alanaschosnau.com/

https://www.facebook.com/markreeder.mfs

RODNEY CROMWELL The Winter Palace

Despite questioning selective memories on his second album ‘Memory Box’, with ‘The Winter Palace’, Rodney Cromwell was wanting to forget a former beau because “I dream of you regardless, whether I am asleep or awake”. With hints of classic NEW ORDER and OMD, the wonderfully icy number embraced motorik mechanisation and a glorious synth solo for a hopeful uplift.

Available on the album ‘Memory Box’ via Happy Robots Records

https://www.facebook.com/rodneycromwellartist

BOY HARSHER Machina featuring Ms. BOAN

BOY HARSHER made a short horror movie ‘The Runner’ and a soundtrack to go with it. Although comprising of their usual dark and danceable electronic pop, it featured several special guests. Sung in Spanish and English, ‘Machina’ featuring Ms. BOAN aka Mariana Saldaña was aimed at the dancefloor, recalling the Latino electronic disco of Bobby Orlando, particularly PET SHOP BOYS ‘A Man Could Get Arrested’.

Available on the album ‘The Runner’ via Nude Club / City Slang

https://boyharsher.com/

CIRCUIT3 Valentina Fly

For his third CIRCUIT3 album, Peter Fitzpatrick presented a retro-futuristic narrative on the world before the space shuttle. Valentina Tereshkova whose 1963 adventure in Vostok 6 made her the first woman in space was celebrated with ‘Valentina Fly’, the wonderful piece evoking OMD. “She’s not a celebrated as Yuri Gagarin” said the Dubliner, but “in some respects, what she achieved was much greater.”

Available on the album ‘Technology For The Youth’ via https://circuit3.bandcamp.com/

http://www.circuit3.com/

GEMMA CULLINGFORD Tongue Tied

If Yoko Ono’s ‘Walking On Thin Ice’ had been reconfigured as a Balearic friendly electronic disco number, then it would have come out like ‘Tongue Tied’, the title track of the second album by Gemma Cullingford. With a nonchalant but sensual vocal style reminiscent of Sarah Nixey, ‘Tongue Tied’ exuded a positive if nervous energy in a purer metronomic adoption of electronics. Shyness is nice…

Available on the album ‘Tongue Tied’ via Elmo Recordings

https://www.facebook.com/gemcullingford

DAWN TO DAWN Stereo

Canadian danceable dreampop trio DAWN TO DAWN celebrated the joy of music in times of adversity with ‘Stereo’. Driven by a Roland TR909, the song touched on the acceptance of confinement where “I wait for no one to ask ‘when do we go?’”. In its romantic reflection of good times, a breezy infectious allure was captured with a promise of better things to come.

Available on the album ‘Postcards From The Sun To The Moon’ via SSURROUNDSS

https://www.facebook.com/dawntodawnmusic

DUBSTAR Token

Since Sarah Blackwood and Chris Wilkie reconfigured DUBSTAR as a duo, there was always the impression that the comeback album ‘One’ was a warm-up. Opening album ‘Two’  was ‘Token’; co-produced by Stephen Hague, it pointed to his work with PET SHOP BOYS and ERASURE. Its narrative about leaving behind abusive relationships and minor gestures was a topic that many could relate to.

Available on the album ‘Two’ via Northern Writes

https://www.dubstarofficial.co/

EMMON The Battle

Since releasing her first sassy pop album ‘The Art & The Evil’ in 2007, Emma Nylen has got progressively darker and harder while still retaining an enigmatic presence. While most of her ‘Recon’ album headed in an EBM direction, synthpop was the sound on the ‘Black Celebration’ inflected mission that was ‘The Battle’, a timely commentary on world and deomestic events.

Available on the album ‘Recon’ via Icons Creating Real Art

https://www.facebook.com/emmonsweden

FADER Serpentine

As with previous FADER works, Benge worked alone on the instrumentation in Cornwall while Neil Arthur did his lyrics and vocals. Their third album together ‘Quartz’ was inspired by incidental atmospheric music used in vintage TV shows. Minimalistic structures provided a reflective and elegiac backdrop. The icy waltz ‘Serpentine’ opened the album with its sparse keys like Gary Numan meeting Brian Eno.

Available on the album ‘Quartz’ via Blanc Check Records

https://www.facebook.com/WeAreFader

THE GOLDEN FILTER Drive

A reinterpretation of THE CARS’ mournful classic’, this chilling version of ‘Drive’ by THE GOLDEN FILTER simply captured the zeitgeist in amongst the turmoil of world events… the work of Penelope Trappes and Stephen Hindman, the duo defied people not to well up on hearing the words “Who’s gonna tell you when it’s too late? Who’s gonna tell you things aren’t so great?”.

Available on the single ‘Drive’ via The Golden Filter

https://www.thegoldenfilter.com/

H/P Vicinities

H/P were formally known as HAPPINESS PROJECT, issuing their first album in 2008. For their H/P debut ‘Programma’, the trio not only shortened their moniker but also adopted a minimal synth approach. Acknowledging the debt of influence to cult French act MARTIN DUPONT, ‘Vicinities’ appled a complex spiral of delicate blips, while was enclosed is an emotional centre that recalled OMD.

Available on the album ‘Programma’ via BOREDOMproduct

https://www.facebook.com/hp.programma

I SPEAK MACHINE War

Adopting the dishevelled persona of a satanic Libertas, ‘War’ by I SPEAK MACHINE was another album that captured the zeitgeist. With hints of Gary Numan, the screeching title song set the scene. “It definitely has ‘Metal’ in there as an influence” she said, “It came about from me messing with my Casio SK1 and then running that through a Moogerfooger ClusterFlux to make it all bendy and provide actual notes from the feedback.”

Available on the album ‘War’ via https://ispeakmachine.bandcamp.com/

https://www.ispeakmachine.com

KAREN HUNTER Don’t Call My Name

Karen Hunter was a Gary Numan live band member between 1984-85 and recorded a wonderful cover of the ballad ‘Don’t Call My Name’ in support of The Ced Sharpley Drumming Bursary. The original was on the 1988 album ‘Metal Rhythm’ and given a serene feminine twist. Produced by music veteran Steve Hunter, Numan associates Chris Payne and Andy Coughlan also contributed.

Available as a digital single ‘Don’t Call My Name’ via Living Ornaments

https://karenhunter.hearnow.com/

KAVINSKY Outsider

Vincent Belorgey aka Kavinsky made his name with ‘Night Call’. But it was featured in the cult movie ‘Drive’, the Frenchman found it was an albatross around his neck. He upset people when he said “f*ck that ‘synthwave’ stuff as u name it”.  Now ‘Reborn’, channelling his inner Moroder circa ‘Midnight Express’, ‘Outsider’ was a magnificent instrumental laced with orchestrated drama and tension.

Available on the album ‘Reborn’ via Record Makers / Protovision

https://kavinsky.com/

KID MOXIE Shine

Taking both musical and lyrical inspiration from DEPECHE MODE’s ‘Never Let Me Down Again’, there were darker and harder aesthetics at play on ‘Shine’ with KID MOXIE assertively declaring “I’m taking the lead in the back seat”. “We definitely channelled some DM vibes” she remembered, “it was even a running joke while we were in studio recording it with FADERHEAD”.

Available on the album ‘Better Than Electric’ via Pasadena Records

http://www.facebook.com/kidmoxie

KITE Panic Music

“Sweden’s best kept pop-secret” returned with ‘Panic Music’ and exuded a fierce anxiety with front man Nicklas Stenemo presenting his characteristic screaming delivery. Over an epic neo-gothic backdrop now associated with KITE, Christian Berg continued his fascination for electronic drones and swoops while there was also the surprise of a guitar solo. The stress and strain of the past two years was captured in song.

Available on the digital single ‘Panic Music’ via Astronaut Recordings

https://www.facebook.com/KiteHQ

LEATHERS Runaway

From Vancouver in British Columbia, ACTORS keyboardist Shannon Hemmett continued with her more synth focussed solo project LEATHERS. Not completely divorced from the main band family, frontman Jason Corbett acts as producer and collaborator, just as Daniel Hunt did with Helen Marnie on her solo work during the LADYTRON hiatus. ‘Runaway’ was gorgeous dreamy synthpop to elope to.

Available on the digital single ‘Runaway’ via Artoffact Records

https://www.facebook.com/leathersmusic

MECHA MAIKO Sunny, Softly (I Feel Love)

Hayley Stewart returned as MECHA MAIKO with ‘NOT OK’ to highlight the social-political flashpoints that emerged during the pandemic. But focussing on warmer moments and feeling the force of some mighty electro, ‘Sunny, Softly (I Feel Love)’ threw in the iconic throb from the Giorgio Moroder produced Donna Summer hit for a glorious beat driven statement enhanced by an angelic delivery.

Available on the album ‘NOT OK’ via New Retro Wave

https://www.mechamaiko.com/

MINIMAL SCHLAGER Submission

Sister and brother duo MINIMAL SCHLAGER began in 2020 as a consequence of the pandemic. Based between London and Berlin, Alicia Macanás and Francisco Parisi began to develop a brand of synth heavy dreampop. While bubbling with glistening synths, ‘Submission’ was a more of a new wave number with subtle guitar and a rhythmic bounce that set it apart from the other songs on their first album.

Available on the album ‘Love, Sex & Dreams’ via Duchess Box Records

https://www.facebook.com/minimalschlager

R.MISSING New Present City

Fronted by enigmatic Sharon Shy, having released some fabulously ethereal singles in the past 18 months, New York-based darklings R. MISSING presented the sinister beauty of ‘New Present City’. In their embracement of the fragility of life with gently propelled soundscapes swathed in icy melancholia, this slice of electronic pop noir fittingly filled a gap left by the now disbanded CHROMATICS.

Available on the digital single ‘New Present City’ via Terminal Echo

https://rmissing.com/

RÖYKSOPP & ALISON GOLDFRAPP Impossible

‘The Inevitable End’ in 2014 was said to be the final RÖYKSOPP album but after various singles and soundtracks, they returned with the ‘Profound Mysteries’ trilogy. Featuring Alison Goldfrapp, the delicious ‘Impossible’ was a mighty avant disco excursion with a seductive high soprano middle eight drifting into an intergalactic twist.

Available on the album ‘Profound Mysteries’ via Dog Triumph

http://royksopp.com/

HANNA RUA Light In Your Dark

Swedish songstress Hanna Rua has a dreamy electronic pop sensibility with the emphasis on the pop, but her debut EP ‘Light Up Your Dark’ also demonstrated her scope and capability using darker aesthetics. With a wonderfully gritty austere, the title song played with gothier influences while remaining melodic, coming over like a Nordic NINA in her more recent work in a battle against the demons.

Available on the EP ‘Light Up Your Dark’ via Aztec Records

https://www.hannarua.com/

SALLY SHAPIRO Fading Away

Although they announced a retirement of sorts in 2016, Swedish duo SALLY SHAPIRO joined the Italian Do It Better family in 2021 to make an unexpected return. ‘Fading Away’ was an epic dance tune where an atmospheric template was merged with a relentless disco synthwave hybrid, utilising a glorious plethora of trancey electronics and thumping rhythms across its seven minutes.

Available on the album ‘Sad Cities’ via Italians Do It Better

https://www.facebook.com/shapirosally

SIN COS TAN Endless

With the bear next door, the title of SIN COS TAN’s fourth album ‘Living In Fear’ resonated with anyone resident in Finland or anywhere in the civilised world; “Do you fear the dark, love, war, or yourself? Whatever the answer, you can be certain: Fear is a powerful thing.” The windswept electro-motorik of ‘Endless’ used the melodic synthy highs of OMD to counter the melancholic expression.

Available on the album ‘Living In Fear’ via Solina Records

http://solinarecords.com/sincostan/

SOFT CELL Nighthawks

The tense industrialised pulse of ‘Nighthawks’ recalled the sweaty alternative club overtures of one-time Some Bizzare stable mates CABARET VOLTAIRE. Featuring a deranged expletive laden rap from drag performance artist Christeene, SOFT CELL fans were even treated to the deep growly voice of Mr Ball himself alongside Marc Almond while ‘Staying Alive’ backing vocals provided another counterpoint.

Available on the album ‘*Happiness Not Included’ via BMG

http://www.softcell.co.uk

UNIFY SEPARATE Closure

Documenting a period of personal struggle, the new UNIFY SEPARATE album attempted ‘Closure’ which set the scene with a building atmospheric trance tune that simply mesmerised, especially when front man Andrew Montgomery hit his trademark falsetto. Instrumentalist Leo Josefsson cited influences such as MODERAT, NITZER EBB, UNDERWORLD and FRONT 242.

Available on the album ‘Music Since Tomorrow’ via How Music Group

http://www.unifyseparate.com

BELLA UNWIN Cold Breeze

With shades of Alison Goldfrapp, Hannah Peel and the often forgotten Stella Grundy, the positively feline and angelic ‘Cold Breeze’ was the London-based Aussie Bella Unwin’s best song yet. The additional production and mix by Finlay Shakespeare boosted the punchy and immediate machine funk that was laced with wispy and alluringly coy vocals.

Available on the single ‘Cold Breeze’ via GOTO Records

https://www.facebook.com/bellaunwinmusic

THE WEEKND Less Than Zero

THE WEEKND again reminded the mainstream of the emotive beauty that can come from classic synthpop with ‘Less Than Zero’. ‘Less Than Zero’ itself sounded not unlike Michael Jackson produced by Tony Mansfield. The cross of catchy hooks, glorious counter-melodies and acoustic strums were reminiscent of Mansfield’s own combo NEW MUSIK who went produced most of A-HA’s debut album.

Available on the album ‘Dawn FM’ via by XO / Republic Records

https://www.theweeknd.com

xPROPAGANDA The Wolves Are Returning

Porduced by Stephen J Lipson, a stark warning on rise again of the far right was highlighted on ‘The Wolves Are Returning’. The message coming from two Germans whose grandparents’ generation had made the mistake of opening up the door to the Nazis and “did nothing” was poignant. Claudia Brücken and Susanne Freytag provided a worthy follow-up to ‘A Secret Wish’ as xPROPAGANDA.

Available on the album ‘The Heart is Strange’ via ZTT Records

https://www.xpropaganda.co.uk/

A selection of ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s favourite music of 2022 is featured in its ‘Stay Negative To Be Positive’ playlist

Text by Chi Ming Lai
12th December 2022

MANUEL GÖTTSCHING 1952 – 2022

12 December 2022 /

The pioneering German musician Manuel Göttsching sadly passed away peacefully on 4th December 2022 aged 70.

During a career spanning over five decades, he released over 30 albums in a variety of guises, working with the likes of Conny Plank, Harald Grosskopf, Lutz Ulbrich and the late Klaus Schulze who died earlier this year. His website simply said in tribute: “When your fingers touched the strings of a guitar, the world stood still. May it stands still and bring you back to us whenever we hear you play. The void he leaves behind we want to fill with his music and loving memories.”

Having studied classical guitar from an early age but with ambitions to be a drummer, Göttsching began his recorded career with Klaus Schulze in ASH RA TEMPEL; their self-titled album in 1971 was engineered by Conny Plank and seeded from sessions of free-form improvising. Comprising of just one track per side of vinyl, the building eerie atmospheres of ‘Traummaschine’ and the noisier rock of ‘Amboss’, the record was hailed as a Kosmiche landmark.

After Schulze departed, Göttsching continued ASH RA TEMPEL with other musicians and collaborated with psychedelic advocate and acid guru Timothy Leary on ‘Seven Up’ in 1972. But it was obvious that the Berlin-based multi-instrumentalist felt restricted by the band format, as evidenced by a solo record ‘Inventions For Electric Guitar’ which was billed as the sixth ASH RA TEMPEL album.

Signing to Virgin Records in 1977 who also had other German acts like FAUST and TANGERINE DEAM on their roster, he shortened the moniker to ASHRA and released what many consider to be his first masterpiece ‘New Age Of Earth’.

Exploring more progressive instrumental territory, Göttsching used an Eko Rhythm Computer, ARP Odyssey and his signature keyboard, a Farfisa Synthorchestra to compliment his meditative transient six string style that was for texture as much as it was for melody. The wonderful 20 minute ‘Nightdust’ and the gently percussive ‘Sunrain’ were just two of the jewels on this beautiful treasure trove of a record while ‘Ocean Of Tenderness’ captured a glorious widescreen ambience.

While Göttsching continued solo on 1978’s worthy follow-up ‘Blackouts’, he expanded the line-up of ASHRA to include drumming synthesist Harald Grosskopf and guitarist Lutz Ulbrich on the next two Virgin albums ‘Correlations’ and the more rock and vocal-led ‘Belle Alliance’. In a 2020 interview with ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK, Harald Grosskopf remembered: “We never talked about commercial intentions. Our main interest was having fun and producing something original. I liked the freedom of not thinking about whom we could reach or sell to what we had made. The combination of the three of us simply made it what it was. Everybody had ideas and had the chance to put them into the album. Manuel played a very melodic guitar. In those days, maybe Carlos Santana was a bit of an influence on him.”

Göttsching’s next masterpiece came almost by accident; having reunited with Klaus Schulze for a concert tour and returned home, he decided to improvise an extended piece based around an understated Prophet 10 sequence as something to listen to on his recently purchased Walkman for an upcoming flight. Influenced by minimalist trailblazers Steve Reich and Philip Glass, the end result was the hour long ‘E2-E4’ which was eventually released in 1984.

Using a gentle but hypnotic backbone and an extended guitar solo in the second half, despite press criticisms on its initial release that it was inconsequential muzak, ‘E2-E4’ became an influence in the development of Balearic house and ambient techno, so much so that it was sampled for the club track ‘Sueño Latino’ in 1989 which was a favourite at New York’s Paradise Garage. Manuel Göttsching also composed music for fashion designers such as Claudia Skoda and Wolfgang Joop as well as theatre productions like ‘Dracula’ while continuing to perform live; an ASHRA band reunion in Japan with Harald Grosskopf and Lutz Ulbrich resulted in the release of two live documents in 1998.

Previously unreleased archive recordings such as the wonderful ‘Dream & Desire’ collection and the six volume series ‘The Private Tapes’ would also attract interest. 2000 saw Manuel Göttsching and Klaus Schulze return as ASH RA TEMPEL to play the Royal Festival Hall in London for Julian Cope’s Cornucopea Festival and release an album ‘Friendship’. A few years later, there were live performances of ‘E2-E4’ including one at the esteemed Berlin techno club Berghain in 2006 to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of its recording. In 2013, Göttsching returned to London to perform at Oval Space with deep house producer Henrik Schwarz.

Manuel Göttsching appeared live as recently as September 2022 performing with Hans-Joachim Roedelius of CLUSTER at the Zodiak festival in Berlin.

https://www.manuel-goettsching.com

Text by Chi Ming Lai
12th December 2022

DAVE SMITH 1950 – 2022

2 June 2022 /

Dave Smith, the synthesizer pioneer and one of the Godfathers of MIDI has sadly passed away aged 72. 

Through his company Sequential Circuits, the American revolutionised electronic music with his practical solutions and a unifying spirit within a very competitive marketing environment. In a statement, Sequential announced “It is with heavy hearts that we share the news that Dave Smith has died. We’re heartbroken, but take some small solace in knowing he was on the road doing what he loved best in the company of family, friends, and artists.”

The list of acts who used his instruments over the years reads like a who’s who of music: YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA, KRAFTWERK, PINK FLOYD, TANGERINE DREAM, DEVO, JAPAN, OMD, NEW ORDER, SOFT CELL, DURAN DURAN, YAZOO, ULTRAVOX, ERASURE, THOMPSON TWINS, TALKING HEADS, BERLIN, PAGE, PSYCHE, KID KASIO, MIRRORS, VILE ELECTRODES, MAISON VAGUE, RADIOHEAD, SOFT METALS, KITE BASE, FM ATTACK, BETAMAXX, ULTRAFLEX and CIRCUIT3 among many.

Born in San Francisco, Smith became fascinated by music via the family piano. He later played guitar and bass in bands while studying Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California in Berkeley. Mesmerised by ‘Switched On Bach’ by Wendy Carlos, he visited a music store to try out a Minimoog and ARP Odyssey. He favoured the Bob Moog instrument and securing a credit union from his then-employer Lockheed, he acquired one with the serial number 1340.

Exploring his Minimoog while using a TEAC 4 track reel-to-reel, he identified a need for a low price analogue sequencer to work with Moog and ARP synths, so launched a company in 1974 to produce a 16 step machine called the Model 600. The microprocessor controlled Model 800 digital sequencer followed.

But his 8-step Model 700 Programmer, which set up sounds on Moog and ARP synths that could be recorded to memory and recalled at the touch of a button, sparked Dave Smith’s epiphanal moment; why not combine microprocessors with synthesizer integrated circuits to create a programmable synthesizer?

With neither Moog or ARP seemingly on the ball to come up with such an instrument, Smith gave up his day job to work full-time on designing what became the Prophet 5. Demonstrated at the popular NAMM trade show in 1978, it was the world’s first fully programmable polyphonic synthesizer. Among the first purchasers were veterans such as Rick Wakeman, David Bowie and Tony Banks but with its use of silicon chip technology, it was also affordable compared with the Polymoog or Yamaha CS80. The new guard such as Gary Numan, David Sylvian, Richard Barbieri, Dave Ball, Nick Rhodes and Paul Humphreys made it top of their shopping list when their record label advances came in.

Commenting on its usability, Paul Humphreys remarked “The Prophet 5 is one where I can imagine a sound and build it myself. I can programme it inside out” while Richard Barbieri said “I’ve never found anything that sounds as lush, warm and beautiful”.

Chris Payne who played with Gary Numan remembered “I bought my first Prophet 5 whilst touring in the States. I spent an entire night messing around with it editing sounds and trying desperately to create some cool strings. Sadly with the tiredness and overwhelming enthusiasm I created a string sound which was a lot worse than the preset. But having said that, this synth was a game changer and I purchased another one for live work. Our other keyboard player Denis had the Prophet 10 and I’d love to know what happened to that…”

The Prophet 10 was the twin keyboard variant of the Prophet 5 which was prone to overheating problems, but it was the ProOne, a monophonic version of the Prophet 5, that proved to be more popular, with Vince Clarke, Howard Jones and Tom Bailey among its exponents.

In 1981, after meetings with Tom Oberheim and Ikutaro Kakehashi of Roland, Smith presented a paper outlining the idea of a Universal Synthesizer Interface to create a standard means of synchronising electronic instruments manufactured by different companies. He and Sequential engineer Chet Wood designed an interface based on Roland’s Digital Control Bus. Also working in association Yamaha, Korg and Kawai, the Musical Instrument Digital Interface or MIDI was born in 1983 and remains in use today. Smith and Kakehashi were awarded a Technical Grammy for their innovation in 2013.

Despite these successes and presenting the first MIDI compatible digital drum machine in the Drumtraks, Sequential’s fortunes were taking a downturn thanks to success of the Yamaha DX7 and E-mu Emulator samplers.

The very expensive Prophet T8 with its wooden piano weighted velocity sensitive keyboard turned out to be a white elephant and although Howard Jones liked using it to control his DX7, Billy Currie of ULTRAVOX remarked “I got it thinking it would be a competitor to the Yamaha CS80 but the action was always far too heavy.”

The Prophet 2000 sampler and the Prophet VS using vector synthesis were unable to regain the lost commercial momentum and Sequential closed in 1987 with the brand purchased by Yamaha, although the Japanese company never issued any products with that name. In 1989, Smith joined Korg to refine the vector synthesis concept of the Prophet VS on the Wavestation which was subsequently used by ENIGMA, ORBITAL, THE FUTURE SOUND OF LONDON, DUBSTAR, OZRIC TENTACLES and on the soundtrack of ‘The X-Files’.

After working on the software side of synthesis, Dave Smith Instruments was established in 2002 with the analogue-digital hybrid Evolver being the first in a new product line. Meanwhile the bright yellow Mopho was a compact but powerful monophonic that proved to be very versatile when used in a live context. Martin Swan of VILE ELECTRODES described it in 2011 as ”a modern take on the Sequential Circuits ProOne. The Mopho is a combination of that and the Moog Source, which was the first monosynth that had memories. Obviously, it really helps for playing live to switch from one patch to another. It’s kind of old school vintage synth in one way but it’s got a modern aesthetic as well. It’s very muscley!”

Reviving the Prophet name, the 08 polyphonic featured a 100% analogue signal path and a front panel with rotary controls using potentiometers while maintaining digital interfaces. It was popular with the next generation of synth musicians; James New of MIRRORS was particularly enthused, saying in 2010 “it seems to do a bit of everything. It sounds like an old Moog and it’s part digital so it doesn’t go ridiculously out of tune!” while bandmate Ally Young added “the way the sound is created in the DS is totally analogue and the pretext of the Prophet is that it’s not a homage to the Prophet 5 which Dave Smith and Sequential Circuits obviously made… it’s if he never made the Prophet 5 and was going to make one now, this is what it would be”

The expansive bi-timbral Prophet 12 combined two hybrid analogue-digital six voice synths into one package and was endorsed by Taylor Swift. Ever the one for collaboration, Smith brought in Roger Linn to co-design the Tempest drum machine sequencer while he teamed up with Tom Oberheim for the OB6 inspired by his classic SEM sound.

But in a gesture of goodwill and with the encouragement of Roland’s Ikutaro Kakehashi, Yamaha returned the Sequential Circuits brand to Smith in 2015. The Prophet 6 and Prophet X followed as the first genuine Sequential products in several decades while in 2018, the Prophet 5 was reissued to mark its 40th anniversary. In a far cry from the company’s 1987 demise, its multi-million dollar revenue streams led to Sequential being bought in 2021 by Focusrite, the British audio technology company which had been established by recording studio trailblazer Rupert Neve.

Dave Smith had been scheduled to appear at NAMM 2022; his untimely passing will not only leave a void at that event but throughout the music world. Often pictured smiling and occasionally enjoying a Margarita, his impactful life can be truly said to have changed music making forever.

Text by Chi Ming Lai
2nd June 2022

VANGELIS 1943 – 2022

19 May 2022 /

The esteemed Greek composer Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou, best known to the world by his stage name of Vangelis has sadly passed away aged 79.

A self-taught musician, although Vangelis found fame as the keyboard player of prog rockers APHRODITE’S CHILD who were fronted by Demis Roussos, he first became known in Greece for writing a song called ‘Summer Dream’ which featured in the 1968 film ‘Operation Apollo’. While a member of APHRODITE’S CHILD, he composed a number of soundtracks including ‘L’Apocalypse des Animaux’ which accompanied a 1970 French documentary series directed by Frédéric Rossif.

After APHRODITE’S CHILD disbanded, Vangelis was invited by Jon Anderson to join YES to replace Rick Wakeman. Although he opted for what was to become a remarkable solo career, it was the beginning of a friendship that would lead to occasional collaborations and later, three unlikely hit singles in ‘I Hear You Now’, ‘I’ll Find My Way Home’ and ‘State Of Independence’.

Releasing his first album ‘Earth’ as Vangelis in 1973, his style involved him playing virtually everything including guitar, various ethnic instruments, drums and percussion. Relocating to London, he established his iconic Nemo Studios complex near Marble Arch. There he recorded 1975’s ‘Heaven & Hell’ to start what was to be a series of imperial albums. 1976 saw Vangelis’ first space themed long player ‘Albedo 0.39’, the key track of which was the cosmic ‘Pulstar’ whose stabby synth lines were later sampled by Gary Numan for the song ‘Strange Charm’ in 1986.

Vangelis’ wider breakthrough came with the 1977 album ‘Spiral’ and it was here that he debuted the Yamaha CS80. An incredibly complex synthesizer, the CS80 boasted a ribbon controller which allowed for the application of pitch-bends and glissandos polyphonically, while also boasting velocity-sensitive and after-touch qualities. He put these to effective use on ‘To The Unknown Man’, a three part piece over nine minutes which was to become one of his most captivating recordings. But while much of Vangelis’ work possessed a sedate symphonic quality, he proved he could funk it with the best of them on ‘Dervish D’, which utilised a spinning Roland System 100 sequencer core with a brilliantly played jazz-inflected solo.

In 1979, Vangelis was to present his best work yet in ‘China’; although he had not visited the country at the time of record, he became fascinated by its people and culture while observing a connection between ethnic Greek and Chinese music. Using traditional instruments and compositional styles alongside ring modulated synthesizers, ‘The Tao Of Love’ was to be the album’s centrepiece.

Vangelis was continuing to make his name in soundtracks and ‘Opéra Sauvage’ featuring the mighty ‘Hymn’ was to become his most successful album in the US to date. However, it was in 1981 with ‘Chariots of Fire’, the David Puttnam produced movie which told the story of two British athletes at the 1924 Paris Olympics that set him towards a lucrative career in cinema. Composed after watching three run throughs, the film’s opening ‘Titles’ with its iconic six note melodic phrase became an international hit single. The soundtrack won an Oscar for Best Original Music Score.

His next soundtrack for 1982’s ‘Blade Runner’ was to be his most celebrated work but also most troubled. Capturing the futuristic dystopian unsettlement of the story based on Philip K Dick’s ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’, although nominated for a BAFTA and Golden Globe as Best Original Score, Vangelis felt unable to issue a soundtrack album at the time of the film’s release due to creative differences with director Ridley Scott.

The magnificent ‘End Titles’ would not appear until 1989’s ‘Themes’ compilation, while the 1994 ‘Blade Runner’ album omitted much of the original music that appeared with previously unheard tracks such as ‘Rachel’s Song’ featuring the voice of Mary Hopkin now included; the evocative piece was later sampled by THE FUTURE SOUND OF LONDON for their single ‘My Kingdom’.

Rarely giving interviews, Vangelis’ preference for low profile made him an ideal film composer with ‘Missing’, ‘Antarctica’, ‘Bounty’, ‘Bitter Moon’, ‘The Plague’, ‘1492: Conquest of Paradise’, ‘Alexander’ and ‘Twilight of Shadows’ among his other movie credits.

Vangelis adopted a more classical approach on ‘El Greco’, ‘Mythodea – Music for the NASA Mission: 2001 Mars Odyssey’ and ‘The 2002 FIFA World Cup Official Anthem’ but following an inspirational video call with Dutch astronaut André Kuipers from the International Space Station, 2016’s ‘Rosetta’ saw a return to the electronic music to celebrate the European Space Agency probe launched in 2004 to perform a detailed study of comet 67P while flying past Mars and several asteroids along the way.

‘Nocturne: The Piano Album’ from 2019 was another recording inspired by Vangelis’ passion for space, while his final album ‘Juno to Jupiter’ in 2021 continued the theme with a work inspired by NASA’s mission with the Juno space probe to explore Jupiter, featuring opera star Angela Gheorghiu as the “voice” of Juno.

Vangelis leaves behind a vast legacy with some of the best electronic instrumental music ever recorded.

Text by Chi Ming Lai
19th May 2022

KLAUS SCHULZE 1947 – 2022

27 April 2022 /

The German electronic music legend Klaus Schulze has sadly passed away at the age of 74 after a long illness.

Despite this, his passing was unexpected as Schulze was set to release a new album ‘Deus Arrakis’ this summer on SPV. He had collaborated with Hans Zimmer on ‘Grains of Sand’ aka ‘Herbert’ for the end credits of the new ‘Dune’ 2021 film adaptation directed by Denis Villeneuve.

Trained as a classical guitarist, Schulze took up the drums and was a member of TANGERINE DEAM and ASH RA TEMPEL, remaining with them for only their debut albums.

Disillusioned with both drums and guitars, he embarked on a solo career using keyboards and electronics, simply because it would take him on a creative journey into the unknown. Coinciding with the advent of synthesizers and sequencers to free him from the constraints of a conventional band where the discussions that went on were often longer than any music being played, his own improvised compositions lasting for almost half an hour at a time were the antithesis of modern pop songs and more akin to his musical hero Richard Wagner.

Schulze saw synthesizers as an opportunity to develop original tone colours and saw little point in using them to imitate real instruments like trumpets as Keith Emerson had done, reasoning that if he wanted to have the sound of an orchestra, he would then use one. He even occasionally donned a full face helmet for live appearances in the days when DAFT PUNK were still in short trousers!

Whenever cultural commentators talk about vintage synthesizers stacked up like telephone exchanges in the formative years of electronic music, Klaus Schulze is likely to be one of the key figures they are referring to. Unlike his contemporaries, Schulze had a playful approach with a physical element that encompassed a minimalist groove, a legacy of his earlier explorations as a drummer. During his concerts where he usually performed new material, he would sit crossed legged in front of his complex with his back to the audience while the cosmic trance-like soundscapes poured out.

His 1972 debut solo album ‘Irrlicht’ had been organ driven but its follow-up ‘Cyborg’ brought an EMS VCS3 into the armoury. Acquiring an ARP Odyssey, ARP 2600 and assorted Crumar keyboards, the wider breakthrough came with 1975’s ‘Timewind’ which was released internationally via Virgin Records and its associated imprint Caroline.

Winning the prestigious Grand Prix Du Disque International in France, the success of ‘Timewind’ allowed Schulze to up-the-ante with the purchase of a Moog IIIP modular system and the opportunity to record 1976’s ‘Moondawn’ in a multi-track studio having used just two-track equipment previously; the album was also notable for featuring Harald Grosskopf on drums with the union sparking the WALLENSTEIN sticksman’s own interest in synthesizers to record his acclaimed 1980 solo debut ‘Synthesist’.

Schulze was by now well into what many consider his imperial phase and adding PPG modules to his set-up, released his wintery 1977 masterpiece ‘Mirage’ on Island Records, supported by two lavish concerts at the London Planetarium and planting the seed for New Age in the process.

Harald Grosskopf rejoined Schulze for the ambitious 1978 double opus ‘X’ which also incorporated strings in a record comprising of “Six Musical Biographies” in honour of figures such as philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, King Ludwig II of Bavaria, composer Friedemann Bach and ‘Dune’ author Frank Herbert. Interest in the latter was developed further on an actual album called ‘Dune’ featuring Arthur Brown on vocals in 1979.

The next two albums ‘Dig It’ and ‘Trancefer’ saw Schulze embrace new digital technology and the Crumar GDS system while 1991’s ‘Beyond Recall’ brought in sampling. A reunion with Manuel Göttsching of ASH RA TEMPEL came on the appropriately titled ‘Return Of The Tempel’ on 1995’s ‘In Blue’. Then released in 1996 on the Eye Of The Storm label founded by the production team behind SNAP!, ‘Are You Sequenced?’ saw Schulze venture into dance music in his own inimitable way with perceptively shorter pieces – “My style of music is always the same” Schulze once said, “but the expression is different with each piece…”

With almost as many live documents as studio recordings, soundtracks, classical, opera and his alias Richard Wahnfried, Schulze’s portfolio contained over 130 albums in many guises including collaborations such as ’The Dark Side Of The Moog’ series with the late Peter Namlook and the supergroup GO with Steve Winwood, Michael Shrieve and Stomu Yamashta, as well as productions for ALPHAVILLE and DEAD CAN DANCE’s Lisa Gerrard.

Schulze even made a cameo appearance in the 2001 German TV murder mystery ‘Klassentreffen – Mordfall Unter Freunden’ as a member of a fictional band THE WANDERING STARS performing at the school reunion, alongside KRAFTWERK’s Florian Schneider on double bass and ALPHAVILLE singer Marian Gold for a cover of ‘Those Were The Days’!

Literally never one to sit still, ‘Deus Arrakis’ was his next musical salute to Frank Herbert, remaining true to his characteristic style and dreamy sheen while remaining open to sonic experimentation. The crystal lake is somewhat emptier tonight but somewhere up there right now, Klaus Schulze is probably having one almighty synth jamming session with Florian Schneider, Edgar Froese and Peter Namlook…

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photo by Guido Harari
27th April 2022

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