Category: Transmissions (Page 6 of 7)

2013 END OF YEAR REVIEW

12 December 2013 /

The Correct Use Of VCOs

The year started appropriately enough with an electronic number ‘2013’ by Belgian duo METROLAND.

For the first six or seven months of 2013, it proved to be one of the most productive periods in electronic pop music. Not since the Autumn of 1981 when had so many significant releases coincided. It was strangely quality and quantity, a rare occurance in modern times for music, especially of the synth propelled variety.

That time saw THE HUMAN LEAGUE ‘Dare’, GARY NUMAN ‘Dance’, ULTRAVOX ‘Rage In Eden’, DEPECHE MODE ‘Speak & Spell’, SOFT CELL ‘Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret’, HEAVEN 17 ‘Penthouse & Pavement’, SIMPLE MINDS ‘Sons & Fascination’, NEW ORDER ‘Movement’, JAPAN ‘Tin Drum’ and OMD ‘Architecture & Morality’ all coming out within weeks of each other!

Interestingly from that list, only JAPAN and SOFT CELL are missing as currently performing entities although Marc ALmond himself made a number of concert and theatrical appearances during the year.

OMD got back to their Kling Klang roots with their best album in 30 years entitled ‘English Electric’. Although enthusiasts of the band’s pioneering work were satisfied, fans of OMD’s pop phase were confused as to why Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys had recorded an electronic album influenced by KRAFTWERK! This was an indicator of how the band have mutated and been perceived over the years.

But that was nothing compared with DEPECHE MODE whose single ‘Soothe My Soul’ was remixed by ZZ TOP’s Billy F Gibbons… although recognisably reworked, listeners could barely notice the join, thus fully confirming DM’s development into the world’s premiere stadium electro blues combo. Their album ‘Delta Machine’ was a big improvement on 2009’s ‘Sounds Of The Universe’, but it was no ‘English Electric’.

Among the other evergreens with new long players in 2013 were PET SHOP BOYS, BEF and Alison Moyet. Messrs Tennant and Lowe finally worked with the ubiquitous Stuart Price to produce an album that was ‘Electric’ by name and electric by nature. Meanwhile Moyet found her most musically compatible partner since Vince Clarke in Guy Sigsworth for the stunning return to form of ‘the minutes’.

Over at BEF, Martyn Ware assembled his most impressive cast of guest vocalists yet including ERASURE’s Andy Bell and CULTURE CLUB’s Boy George for the third volume of the ‘Music Of Quality & Distinction’ covers series; subtitled ‘Dark’, it featured some of Ware’s most starkly electronic work since he was in THE HUMAN LEAGUE.

Another welcome return came from electronic disco pioneer Giorgio Moroder. The icon is now 73 years old yet with his stomping track ‘Racer’, he proved could mix it with all the young pretenders. Indeed, his autobiographical contribution to DAFT PUNK’s tribute ‘Giorgio By Moroder’ reflected the respect and admiration he holds within the dance world.

Although only a few years younger, KRAFTWERK’s Ralf Hütter showed no real signs of moving his iconic brand forward despite the 3D spectacle of ‘Der Katalog 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8’ live retrospectives in Düsseldorf, London, Tokyo and Sydney. With the various hosting art spaces still seeing their ticketing systems collapse, was this really just an elaborate publicity stunt? After all, how many heritage acts get on the news for sending websites into meltdown?

It certainly didn’t do KRAFTWERK any harm as a headlining slot at Latitude Festival and its resultant BBC TV coverage proved. However, new material was still not forthcoming but such is the demand that several unscrupulous eBay dealers in Russia were passing off CD-Rs of three tracks from METROLAND’s 2012 album ‘Mind The Gap’ as KRAFTWERK demos! Meanwhile, former colleague Karl Bartos exorcised his Kling Klang ghost with ‘Off The Record’, a collection of his unreleased KRAFTWERK-era compositions which made a fine companion to OMD’s ‘English Electric’; his upcoming 2014 world tour is eagerly anticipated.

ULTRAVOX opened for SIMPLE MINDS but with Midge Ure spending most of the year doing the rounds with solo acoustic gigs, their synth lynchpin Billy Currie released his ninth solo offering ‘Balletic Transcend’. Meanwhile in a revival of a project that both had been involved in, a fragmented VISAGE unleashed their first album in nearly 30 years to a mixed reception.

With just Steve Strange remaining from the original line-up, ‘Hearts & Knives’ was essentially a solo project. There were heated exchanges on social networks between Strange and his estranged Blitz Club partner Rusty Egan about misappropriated royalties and the validity of the reconfigured brand. Whatever, the raw video recording of the new VISAGE performing ‘Fade To Grey’ live at London’s Hoxton Bar and Kitchen stood as possibly the most embarrassing moment of the year.

Artists who made their name during Electroclash such as ADULT. and MISS KITTIN made welcome returns in 2013 while also from that era, LADYTRON’s Helen Marnie released her first solo offering ‘Crystal World’ crowd funded via Pledge Music. It was a novel but effective way of securing a promotional budget that involved fans in the process by offering exclusive updates and an opportunity to purchase exclusive memorabilia. In MARNIE’s case, items on sale ranged from hand written lyric sheets to her Mini-Cooper and a bikini!

Meanwhile, former SNEAKER PIMPS sparring partners IAMX and Kelli Ali also went down the Pledge Music route, pointing the way forward to a music industry future without interference from record label middle men. But the failure of several crowd funding campaigns proved the model was not for everyone.

The Britpop era was not particularly known for its use of electronics but two acts who did indulge, REPUBLICA and DUBSTAR, made formal comebacks on the live circuit in 2013. Seeded from around the same time, Bristol’s MESH made possibly their best album yet in ‘Automation Baby’. Celebrating 30 years in the business, techno icon WESTBAM assembled a diverse cast including Iggy Pop, Lil’ Wayne, Hugh Cornwall, Bernard Sumner and Richard Butler for an intriguing set called ‘Götterstrasse’. It was the surprise electronic release of the year.

There were also sophomore albums from LITTLE BOOTS, HURTS and AUSTRA which all drew muted responses from fans following their well received debuts; the promising spark had been present in all three acts appeared to have faded although each album had strong highlights. But there were impressive debuts in 2013 by GHOST CAPSULES, COLLINS and MODOVAR; and all this happened before the summer had started!

On the more guitar driven end of the spectrum, NIGHT ENGINE pursued an art rock aesthetic that would have made Berlin-era DAVID BOWIE proud. And of course, The Dame himself returned with ‘The Next Day’ headed by the touchingly reflective ‘Where Are We Now?’. Adopting a more post-punk attitude, GIRL ONE & THE GREASE GUNS showed how battered synths, clanky guitars and motorik drums could still come together in perfect harmony while maintaining an air of mystery.

Meanwhile, WHITE LIES continued their New wave odyssey into how THE TEARDROP EXPLODES would have sounded had Julian Cope not got upset by BLANCMANGE’s ‘Happy Families’; they even borrowed a snatch of ‘Fade To Grey’ for the title track of their third album ‘Big TV’. This was despite the mainstream music media’s attempt to downplay their use of synths although the band countered that by declaring TEARS FOR FEARS, TALK TALK and THE BLUE NILE as kindred spirits rather than INTERPOL or EDITORS.

The second half of the year brought the much anticipated debut from CHVRCHES entitled ‘The Bones Of What You Believe’. The trio have moved the goalposts as far as modern synthpop is concerned but they were not without their flaws such as the inexplicable decision to use dreary indie-styled male lead vocals on a pair of tracks. But despite this, with sold out club tours, gigs supporting DEPECHE MODE in Europe and the might of Virgin Records behind them, world domination surely beckons and with it, a new raised profile for the synthesizer overall.

Virgin Records themselves celebrated 40 years in the business with a series of London concerts and its legacy in electronic music was represented by CHVRCHES, HEAVEN 17, SCRITTI POLITTI and SIMPLE MINDS. Although the label is now owned by the Universal Corporation (having been under the control of EMI since 1992), its colourful history remains associated with the championing of new and unconventional music forms during its fledgling years.

And in a diversion from music, one-time Virgin signee Thomas Dolby produced and directed ‘The Invisible Lighthouse’, a documentary on a monument local to his childhood home. In a novel style of presentation, the film went on a tour accompanied by a live narration and soundtrack from TMDR with some of his songs dispersed in between.

Gary Numan’s long delayed ‘Splinter (Songs From A Broken Mind)’ finally became a reality. A move to LA relaxed him to the point where he was posting his holiday photos on Twitter! Musically though, he was as intense as ever but luckily, ‘Splinter’ was not the one dimensional riff monster that had been threatened and contained some of his best work in over ten years. Interestingly NINE INCH NAILS, who have been a major influence on Numan and vice versa, also returned after a period of absence with ‘Hesitation Marks’.

Over at Mute, there was another Sorcerer versus Apprentice battle when GOLDFRAPP and Polly Scattergood both released new records in the same month. Now no longer on Mute but very much still part of the extended family, MOBY released the impressive ‘Innocents’ which didn’t tinker too much with his well established formula and included a great collaboration with Wayne Coyne of FLAMING LIPS that sounded like Gary Numan in a Pentecostal church!

In 2013, North America appeared to be turning into a new haven for synth talent. There was LA pop duo NIGHT CLUB while also based in the region, SOFT METALS continued their Detroit Techno inspired progression with ‘Lenses’. Slightly eastwards, Texan based FEATHERS made an impressive statement with their debut long player ‘If All Now Here’; a European tour supporting DEPECHE MODE in January 2014 was fine recognition of their talent.

Fellow Texans ELEVEN:ELEVEN finally got their debut album ‘Through The Veil’ out too. New Yorkers HOLY GHOST! sprung the enjoyable electronic disco of ‘Dynamics’ while also from the area, AU REVOIR SIMONE returned with their fourth album ‘Move In Spectrums’ after an extended break.

But one slow burning combo were Canada’s TR/ST; led by the enigmatic and moody Robert Alfons, at times he sounded like a young LEONARD COHEN updating the sleazy demeanour of SOFT CELL. They toured extensively and garnered some more well deserved attention for their grower of a debut ‘Trst’ which actually came out back in January 2012!

However, all the good work was undone by a ticket lottery fiasco for an end of year London gig in which unsuccessful applicants were not notified until three hours before the concert, this despite communications to the contrary telling people to arrive at the door with ID. In this ever more challenging music industry, artists have to be innovative with promotion. But restricting availability and tricking fans into what was effectively a marketing scam for a larger London concert in May 2014 only alienated audiences.

Like in previous years, Europe was again a centre of creativity. Athens based synth maidens MARSHEAUX were back with their maturer fourth album ‘Inhale’. Meanwhile, their production team FOTONOVELA gathered DUBSTAR’s Sarah Blackwood, MIRRORS’ James New, KID MOXIE and SECTION 25’s Bethany Cassidy for ‘A Ton Of Love’ while riding on a crest of a wave from ‘Helen Of Troy’, their acclaimed collaboration with OMD. The song ‘Our Sorrow’ featuring James New turned out to be particularly poignant as after a year of minimal activity, MIRRORS called it a day.

From their Berlin HQ, NOBLESSE OBLIGE delivered an ‘Affair Of The Heart’ with its stark funereal cover of ‘Hotel California’ while Slovenian trio TORUL impressed audiences opening for MESH. Still fiercely independent and uncompromising, THE KNIFE divided opinion with their performance art presentation of their experimental double opus ‘Shaking The Habitual’. From Demark, TRENTEMØLLER delivered his third album ‘Lost’, an adventurous blend of real and electronic instruments that more than proved his suitability as a future prospective DEPECHE MODE producer.

With the critical acclaim still resonant for her 2012 album ‘Highwire Poetry’, Karin Park continued to tour the world but found time to co-write Norway’s Eurovision entry ‘I Feed You My Love’. Sung by Margaret Beger and leftfield by pure pop standards, it came a respectable fourth but predictably, the UK gave it nul points! Following their wonderful eponymous debut album in 2012, SIN COS TAN swiftly followed it up with the more organic but still synth friendly ‘Afterlife’.

Never one to sit still, the duo’s Jori Hulkkonen also released an EP ‘European Splendour’ with John Foxx which sounded every bit as good as its title. Foxx didn’t sit still either and collaborated with THE BELBURY CIRCLE while also curating a covers EP of his own songs featuring GAZELLE TWIN and I SPEAK MACHINE. Back in the UK, ANALOG ANGEL, AUTOMATIC WRITING,  GAPTOOTH and MAPS flew the flag for the domestic scene.

But best of the local crew though were VILE ELECTRODES; they snagged a prestigious support tour with OMD in Germany where the local crowds connected with Anais Neon and Martin Swan’s analogue electricity and opened for John Foxx in Brighton on their return. Their long awaited debut LP ‘The future through a lens’ did not disappoint and from it, the closer ‘Deep Red’ was easily the best OMD song that Humphreys and McCluskey never recorded.

As with last year, attempts were made within the industry to centralise electronic pop and dance music. But as the cancellation of the Playground Festival due to poor ticket sales proved, the two factions do not mix. Scheduled to appear on the Saturday, despite the technological influence of Gary Numan, John Foxx and Wolfgang Flür on the dance scene, the fans of those artists generally loathe the lifestyle and attitude of club culture.

Most just want to see the headline act and go home… the idea of paying an extra premium on the ticket price for a couple of DJs tagged on the see out the early hours of the morning simply doesn’t appeal! And those who are there for the DJs and larging it certainly aren’t interested in live bands. The sooner promoters and record labels realise that electronic pop and dance music are NOT the same thing, the better. That said, it was a difficult time for live events generally with a number of name acts playing to half full venues.

Elsewhere, the music press were on the backfoot with rumours that the once mighty Q Magazine and NME were in trouble. But lazy journalism and lack of adventure by both were as much to blame as any proliferation of the internet or smart technology. That aside, 2013 was a superb year where the music spoke for itself. Many of the veterans gave the best up-and-coming artists a real run for their money. And while the amount of new electronic music was at an all time high and the finest exponents rewarded with assorted high-profile opportunities as a result, a number of lesser accomplished acts suffered from the comparison with the best.

Helen Marnie said: “I think it’s great that electronic music is on a high right now but it’s so saturated as well. Everyone’s going it’s great cos it’s electronic and I’m like ‘I’m not so sure’… but there’s lots of good stuff”. In fact, the standard was so high in 2013 that some of the acts who ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK featured in 2012 probably wouldn’t have got a look in this year. From those who sounded like the middling bands featured on the Janice Long Show circa 1985 to 21st Century synthpop reincarnations of HUE & CRY, the volume of music available in many ways made it quite easy to distinguish the excellent from the pleasant but ordinary material that was, as the dreaded ‘Say Nothing Auntie Of Landfill Indie’ Jo Whiley would say, “alright”!

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK accepts the continuing mission to maintain a degree of quality control in 2014 as it has done since its inception. As @TheRobMo put it on Twitter: “gatekeepers / tastemakers… it’s what we go to you for”. Meanwhile on the site’s Facebook, regular reader Brian O’Malley correctly added: “Not all synth music is great, and not all guitar music is rubbish”.

But the final word on 2013 must go to BEF and Glenn Gregory (or HEAVEN 17 if you prefer) via their electronic cover of an Ervin Drake song made famous by Ol’ Blue Eyes: “And it poured sweet and clear… it was a very good year”

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK Contributor Listings of 2013

PAUL BODDY

Best Album: MAPS Vicissitude
Best Song: MAPS Built To Last (Free School Remix)
Best Gig: ALISON MOYET at London Royal Festival Hall
Best Video: HOLY GHOST! Dumb Disco Ideas
Most Promising New Act: JUVENILES

STEVE GRAY

Best Album: CHVRCHES The Bones Of What You Believe
Best Song: MARGARET BERGER I Feed You My Love
Best Gig: BAS 2013
Best Video: IAMX I Come With Knives
Most Promising New Act: TORUL

CHI MING LAI

Best Album: OMD English Electric
Best Song: FOTONOVELA feat MIRRORS Our Sorrow
Best Gig: OMD + VILE ELECTRODES at Cologne E-Werk
Best Video: FEATHERS Land Of The Innocent
Most Promising New Act: FEATHERS

SOPHIE NILSSON

Best Album: ALISON MOYET the minutes
Best Song: SPACEBUOY Breathe
Best Gig: DEPECHE MODE at Copenhagen Parken
Best Video: DEPECHE MODE Soothe My Soul
Most Promising New Act: CHVRCHES

RICHARD PRICE

Best Album: PET SHOP BOYS Electric
Best Song: OMD Dresden
Best Gig: KARIN PARK at The Lexington
Best Video: MONARCHY featuring DITA VON TEESE Disintegration
Most Promising New Act: CHVRCHES

Text by Chi Ming Lai
12th December 2013

2012 END OF YEAR REVIEW

16 December 2012 /

Close Encounters Of The Synth Kind

The year began with the housewives’ favourite astronomer Brian Cox naming several synth friendly classics like OMD’s ‘Messages’ and DURAN DURAN’s ‘Friends Of Mine’ in his choices for ‘Desert Island Discs’ as well as declaring an appreciation of ULTRAVOX.

The confessions of the one-time keyboard player of DARE and D:REAM proved once again that electronic music is the preserve of the intelligent, discerning listener. And as with the strap line to ‘Close Encounters Of The Third Kind’ which featured the use of an ARP 2500 to communicate with the aliens incidentally!), it proved to many a synth enthusiast that “we are not alone”!

Speaking of ULTRAVOX, they made the comeback of the year with ‘Brilliant’, the first long player featuring the classic line-up of Warren Cann, Chris Cross, Billy Currie and Midge Ure since 1984’s ‘Lament’. While the album could have probably done with being two tracks shorter, it was the best of the bunch in a line of returns from the last few years by Synth Britannia veterans OMD, BLANCMANGE and THE HUMAN LEAGUE; not bad considering most of the band are now in their early sixties! The Dreaded Pink Thing has now been truly buried!

Gary Numan continued to tour like there was no tomorrow and reunited with his old backing band DRAMATIS on several of his ‘Machine Music’ shows in tribute to the late Ced Sharpley who had drummed for both. From the same management stable, JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS unleashed their third album in 18 months entitled ‘Evidence’ while Claudia Brücken released only her second solo album in just over 20 years with a soothing collection of reinterpretations called ‘The Lost Are Found’.

With only Synth-Werk plug-in hoaxes and Belgian clones METROLAND to keep Klingklangers entertained with new material, KRAFTWERK themselves undertook a 3D residency at New York’s MoMA featuring their eight most recent works with a controversial two tickets per customer policy. As most of these albums clocked in at just over 30 minutes, there was still an hour’s other favourites to savour for those lucky enough to get their names on the list.

This electronic extravaganza will be reprised at London’s Tate Modern in February 2013. As a former power plant, the location is wholly appropriate although the occasion will be tainted by the ticket fiasco that preceded it! Ex-member Karl Bartos was probably observing with amusement as he will be returning in 2013 with a new album ‘Off The Record’ and world tour. Disgruntled fans who missed out on the Tate Modern shows are now likely to be venturing his way for their KRAFTWERK fix!

Danny Boyle’s London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony attempted to showcase the best of British so with UNDERWORLD as musical directors, OMD, NEW ORDER, PET SHOP BOYS, BRIAN ENO and EURYTHMICS all figured during the evening.

DEPECHE MODE themselves announced a new album and tour for 2013 in a bizarre press conference that appeared to have no actual news! But this was not before Dave Gahan guested with SOULSAVERS and Martin Gore did a cameo for MOTOR; He also reunited with former bandmate Vince Clarke for the rather polarising techno project VCMG. And in a year that saw all members of the extended DM family busy, former bandmate Alan Wilder helped compile a tribute album to one-time synthpoppers TALK TALK and released the RECOIL concert film ‘A Strange Hour In Budapest’.

MARSHEAUX returned to London with a triumphant performance featuring The Blitz Club’s legendary Rusty Egan on electronic percussion during an encore of ‘Come On’, a song from their forthcoming fourth long player ‘Inhale’.

They also released a double headed single with the marvellous TWINS NATALIA; Sophie and Marianthi covered their cult favourite ‘When We Were Young’ to compliment their rendition of ‘Radial Emotion’.

After the label and personnel upheavals of last Autumn, MIRRORS regrouped as a trio and made a welcome return with a starker sound. While this new material perhaps lacked the immediacy of their ‘Lights & Offerings’ debut, songs like ‘Between Four Walls’ and ‘Dust’ captured a depth of mood that grew with each listen. MIRRORS off-shoot LOVELIFE decamped to make their fortune in New York and unveiled a promising number in ‘Brave Face’ which crossed OMD with HARD-FI.

Sweden proved its prowess with COMPUTE who beefed up her sound for second EP ‘The Distance’ while IAMAMIWHOAMI took her mysterious audio visual experience into the physical album arena for the first time with ‘Kin’ where the enigmatic electronic soundtrack stood up on its own. Just down the road, there was the RAMMSTEIN reincarnated as DEPECHE MODE menace of TITANS.

Electro crooners JULIAN & MARINA showcased their lounge crooner synthpop with a cover of a Hollywood-era Elvis number ‘A House That Has Everything’ and DAYBEHAVIOR released their third album ‘Follow That Car!’ after a year’s delay.

Among the best songs of 2012 was ‘Trust’ by Finland’s SIN COS TAN, a new project from VILLA NAH’s Juho Paalosmaa and ace producer Jori Hulkkonen. The parent eponymous album was impressive too and showed once again that the Nordic region was the perfect environment for the genesis of inventive leftfield synthpop.

From across the Atlantic, Canadians CRYSTAL CASTLES and PURITY RING were the darlings of the hipster cognoscenti along with GRIMES who hit the black keys of her Juno-G and impressed with her latest album ‘Visions’. She also made a timely appearance on ‘Later With Jools Holland’ which recalled the TV debut of LITTLE BOOTS back in 2008.

Sadly, Victoria Hesketh left behind her synth girl persona to head for the less challenging climes of clubland. Big rival LA ROUX was taking her time recording her second album while LADYHAWKE proved that she was always a rock chick in the first place with her second long player ‘Anxiety’sounding like it had been recorded down a drainpipe!

But in Diamond Jubilee Year, QUEEN OF HEARTS flew the electro flag with a glitzy slice of electro schaffel appropriately entitled ‘Neon’. A further single ‘Warrior’ proved it was not a fluke as the young royal turned into CLAUDIA BRÜCKEN meeting Emo KYLIE!

The UK found itself a few promising female-led electronic acts in the charmingly kooky …OF DIAMONDS, the Italo-led KOVAK and the dark but dreamy EVOKATEUR. But virtually out of nowhere came Glasgow’s new synth sensations CHVRCHES.

Despite only unleashing two songs ‘Lies’ and ‘The Mother We Share’ for public consumption, both were corkers; their much vaunted live performances met expectations, displaying both inventive synth arrangements and a vital pop sensibility.

The boys weren’t idle either with BRIGHT LIGHT BRIGHT LIGHT and KID KASIO unleashing their long awaited debut albums while on the newer side of the tracks, there was the angry OMD of AUTOMATIC WRITING, the FAITHLESS gone rock of SINESTAR and the ERASURE for the new millennium of MODOVAR.

After the excitement of the years between 2008 and 2011, this was a comparatively quiet year for the sound of the synth with regards special events. There was no Short Circuit or gatherings on the scale of Tomorrow Is Today, the Vintage Electronic Phuture Revue or the BEF Weekender.

Within the mainstream, the majors were keen to support electronic music just so long as it was dance oriented. Notably, EMI pushed the generic foil of SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA and the ubiquitous David Guetta as the new acceptable faces of electronic music via their flawed ‘Electrospective’ promotional campaign; by default, this also involved Daniel Miller, Martyn Ware and Andy McCluskey due to the label’s ownership of the Virgin and Mute back catalogues! But some glaring schoolboy errors on their website and the use of quotes from COLDPLAY’s Chris Martin showed they didn’t really understand electronic pop…

There had been signs at the end of 2011 that the major record companies thought a rave revival would save their corporate bacons. Swedish synthpop duo THE SOUND OF ARROWS said that during their brief tenure with Geffen Records, the A&R had wanted them to sound more Ibiza club friendly. Their one-time label mate SUNDAY GIRL, who originally had a promising GOLDFRAPP meets JOY DIVISION sound, was reduced to covering dance numbers made famous by STEPS… her debut album originally slated for 2010 is still nowhere to be seen!

Meanwhile, MARINA & THE DIAMONDS‘ very good in places second album ‘Electra Heart’ had several of its songs spoiled by overdriving club beats! Is this really the only way to make people dance? It all seems a little brain dead! “NAME THAT TUNE…” snarled Rusty Egan on Facebook, “…if you can hear one?”

So should ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK settle down with a pipe and slippers? While we prefer to “dance to disco” cos we “don’t like rock”, there must be more to electro than shallow repetitive four-to-the-floor thuds and glowsticks?

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK likes a tune and doesn’t pretend to love every variation of the electronic theme. And from conversations with several DJs, it would appear clubland doesn’t want to be associated with the classic synthpop world anymore than the classic synthpop world wants to be lumped in with dance culture… so why attempt to centralise everything?

Modern beat driven flavours and other influences can be appreciated but a full blown experience is not always what is required! As the marvellous new Texan duo ELEVEN:ELEVEN have proved, danceable electronic music can be made that is subtle and syncopated. And all this without the need of an annoying dubstep remix, or a 10 minute techno rework with no melodic elements!

It’s cool to be discerning…

ELECTRICTYCLUB.CO.UK Contributor Listings of 2012

PAUL BODDY

Best Album: DEADMAU5 >album title goes here<
Best Song: ORBITAL New France (Tom Middleton Cosmos remix)
Best Gig: RAMMSTEIN at London O2 Arena
Best Video: SPLEEN UNITED Days Of Thunder
Most Promising New Act: TITANS

STEVE GRAY

Best Album: ULTRAVOX Brilliant
Best Song: CHVRCHES Lies
Best Gig: HEAVEN 17 at London Shepherds Bush Empire
Best Video: SINESTAR I Am The Rain
Most Promising New Act: CHVRCHES

CHI MING LAI

Best Album: SIN COS TAN Sin Cos Tan
Best Song: SIN COS TAN Trust
Best Gig: HEAVEN 17 at London Shepherds Bush Empire
Best Video: IAMAMIWHOAMI Drops
Most Promising New Act: CHVRCHES

RICHARD PRICE

Best Album: SIN COS TAN Sin Cos Tan
Best Song: ULTRAVOX Rise
Best Gig: BAS II
Best Video: KID KASIO Telephone Line
Most Promising New Act: KARIN PARK

Text by Chi Ming Lai
16th December 2012

ULTRAVOX Rise of the Soft Synth

4 October 2012 /

GForce Software have just issued a fascinating viral film of soundcheck footage and a brief backstage chat with ULTRAVOX during the ‘Brilliant’ tour about using the company’s plug-in synths to recreate the sounds from their classic albums live.

In the interview, the band’s two main synthesists Billy Currie and Chris Cross discuss the VSM, Oddity, impOSCar2 and Minimonsta. Chris Cross particularly enthuses about the VSM’s (Virtual String Machine) ability to replicate the Elka Rhapsody 610; its colder shrill can be heard on ‘Mr X’ (plus ‘Hiroshima Mon Amour’ and also throughout John Foxx’s ‘Metamatic’), while Billy Currie jokes about using the VSM on every track, especially for the swimmier tones of the Yamaha SS30 which forms the prominent sound on ‘The Voice’.

However, Currie also explains that he tried to stay clear of it during the recording of the new album ‘Brilliant’ to avoid overdoing this vintage element of ULTRAVOX’s distinct sound. It did however appear on the Kraftwerkian / Moroderesque hybrid stomper ‘Rise’, although it was ironically pushed back into the mix by “our guitarist/producer” Stephen J Lipson but now brought forward for the concert version!

Of course, no ULTRAVOX live set would be complete with Billy Currie’s ARP Odyssey soloing and to do this, he has engaged G-Force’s Oddity via his Novation workstation using control features such as portmento and autobite. Currie also mentions the impOSCar2 which he uses for ‘Rage in Eden’ era material like ‘We Stand Alone’ which was recorded using an Oberheim OBX. Of course, the original OSCar was actually designed by British synth innovator Chris Huggett with Billy Currie very much in mind.

Meanwhile Chris Cross reflects on his new mainstay, the Minimonsta which is used for the pulsing basslines on tracks such as ‘All Stood Still’, ‘Sleepwalk’ and ‘The Thin Wall’ in place of his now long lost Minimoog. “Out of all the Minimoog plug-ins, that’s the one I find most like the Minimoog…” he says. However, Currie adds that to recreate the analogue “bounce” of their back catalogue is “not easy to do”! But the current 27 song live set on the ‘Brilliant’ tour is among one of the band’s best ever.

When it is considered that at the height of their powers, ULTRAVOX had 27 keyboards and electronic devices on stage including the PPG Wave 2.2, Emulator, Yamaha electric piano, various Yamaha CS series synths and Warren Cann’s infamous percussion console ‘The Iron Lung’, to have been able to slim down the set-up to suit the practicalities of a nationwide tour AND virtually recreate their powerful electronic rock sound of old on stage has been one the joys in the advances of music technology.

‘Brilliant’ is released by Eden Recordings/EMI Records, a clear vinyl double album edition is released on 15th October 2012.

ULTRAVOX tour the UK and Europe in Autumn 2012. Dates include:

Sheffield City Hall (4th October), Blackpool Opera House (6th October), Glasgow Clyde Audiotorium (7th October), Gateshead The Sage (8th October), Paris Trabendo (10th October), Tilburg 013 (12th October), Hamburg Docks (14th October), Sundbyøster Amager Bio (15th October), Malmö KB (16th October), Helsinki Tavastia (18th October), Oslo Rockefeller (21st October), Heden Trädgår’n (23rd October), Berlin Columbiahalle (25th October),  Mainz Phoenixhalle (26th October),  Leipzig Haus Auensee (27th October), München Kesselhaus (29th October), Vienna Gasometer (30th October), Memmingen Stadthalle (3rd November), Milan Alcatraz (5th Novermber), Köln E-Werk (7th November), Bielefeld Ringlokschuppen (8th November)

http://www.ultravox.org.uk

https://www.facebook.com/UltravoxUK/

http://www.gforcesoftware.com

Text and Photos by Chi Ming Lai
4th October 2012, updated 25th February 2018

OMD Synthetic Engineering

16 March 2012 /

OMD’s existing performance set-up with two Roland Fantom X8 workstations actually has its roots in the 1983 ‘Dazzle Ships’ Live Presentation.

Some of the more purist observers complain about the lack of analogue instruments in the current live shows but Andy McCluskey said recently: “Who says that digital can’t be a beautiful as analogue?”

Even in the pioneering days, OMD were thinking carefully about how best technologically to present themselves in a live context to an audience that was still growing accustomed to electronic based music. It is well documented that the success of ‘Architecture & Morality’ tour had taken its toll on the band emotionally and functionally. Extended touring had robbed the band of time in their studio The Gramophone Suite to compose new material.

As Andy once remarked: “you can’t sit up the back of a tour bus and strum your synthesizer…”. But there was also their reliance on the equipment they took out on the road. Paul Humphreys had his ever faithful Korg Micro-Preset but also the Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 first used on the single version of ‘Messages’ and the subsequent ‘Organisation’ campaign.

In addition, there was the hefty sky blue Elgam Symphony dual action organ and the huge, even more cumbersome Novatron which was an updated version of the Streetly Mellotron M400 that had been during the recording of the album. “We used a Mellotron Mk1 on ‘Architecture & Morality’ but were advised that if we were going on the road to get a Novatron.” said Andy, “The Mk1 had a very bad whine created by the power supply. Streetly told us it was a design fault.”

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The Mellotron aka Novatron was an electro-mechanical keyboard that played tape loops of sounds such as choirs, strings and brass. The name Novatron was adopted for instruments produced after 1976 due to a legal blunder which meant the name Mellotron could not be used. It was the dominant texture of ‘Joan Of Arc (Maid Of Orleans)’ as well as several other tracks on ‘Architecture & Morality’ so was considered a necessity on tour sonically. But it was extremely heavy, weighing in at 55 kg and due to its delicate systems, was vulnerable to malfunction under the heat of stage lights.

But there were also power supply issues as Andy recalled from a gig in Italy: “All the power was from a small generator and every time the lights got really bright on stage, the power supply to equipment reduced making the Novatron flywheel slow down so the notes went very flat. Once our lighting guy realised the problem, we did the rest of the show with reduced lights to keep the Novatron in tune.”

Meanwhile, the Prophet 5 had been a godsend as one of the first programmable polyphonic synths and used integrated circuits to make it more compact and versatile compared with say, a Polymoog or Yamaha CS50. It played an important role in the pioneering OMD sound as much as the Mellotron, with tracks such as ‘Romance Of The Telescope’. “’Romance…’ is actually a Prophet 5 factory preset for the out of tune brass sound but the choir is Mellotron” remembered Andy.

Previously, cheaper synths either had presets like Paul’s little Korg which restricted the number of sounds they could make, or they would have no memory like their Korg MS20. Synths like the latter were largely impractical for live use as a keyboard although Mal Holmes had the MS20 to generate fixed sounds for percussive effects triggered by his drum pads. But now with a programmable synth and patch memories at their disposal, a sound could be created or found, stored and then recalled for its corresponding song at a touch of a button.

However, it was still early days for developments in chip based technology and while the Prophet 5 was invaluable for studio work, the oscillators which generated the sound source would destabilise over the time it was switched on, thus causing tuning difficulties. Also the precious memories could be scrambled due to voltage spikes. To add an extra headache, the Prophet 5 had a reputation for reliability issues which necessitated two examples being taken out on the road.

Martin Cooper’s set-up included Roland SH09 and SH2 monosynths for basslines and melodies plus a Vox Jaguar organ for chords. While this organ had been an essential part of the early OMD sound, especially on the first album, it was of 1960s vintage, large and of transistor construction. So again, it was extremely delicate and not suited for the perils of a world tour.

Mal Holmes’ percussion complex consisted of a big Tama bass drum, large Pearl snares and conventional Paiste hi-hat alongside an array of electronic percussion pads triggering the aforementioned Korg MS20 and a pair of Pearl Syncussion units which controlled two percussive timbres each. With minimised microphone spill allowing very loud acoustic drums to combine with the raw electronic noise, these helped give OMD a uniquely crunchy live sound.

But this system was also very fragile due to the exposed ceramic piezoelectric sensors on the pads. Ceramics are not a naturally malleable material so therefore prone to breakage when hit hard. Famously, a home made electronic kit designed by Paul Humphreys and Paul Collister fell to pieces while being used by Mal during OMD’s first show as a live quartet. “I hit the crystal microphone inside the pad and smashed it to bits!” remembered Mal.

The practicalities of a one and a half hour show had shown various shortcomings and provided unnecessarily stress for a group of young musicians still fighting with a music press and audience that didn’t consider synthpop real music and thought synth bands couldn’t play live! So with the future in mind, OMD looked for an instrumental set-up that was more streamlined and practical for live work.

They found it with the E-mu Systems Emulator. Founded in 1971 by Scott Wedge and Dave Rossum, E-mu began making modular synthesizers whose users included jazz virtuoso Herbie Hancock. At a convention, Wedge and Rossum saw the Fairlight CMI, the world’s first computerised digital sampling synthesizer and set about making a less expensive sampler.

 

The Emulator was released in 1981 at a price of £5000, considerably less than the £20,000 Fairlight. It was a floppy disk-based keyboard workstation which enabled the recording of any sound to non-volatile media and allowed these samples to be played back as musical notes. As an instrument, the Emulator had no sound of its own.

Each aural palette had to be loaded into its memory separately, whether it was from a factory disk of sounds produced by E-mu themselves like the symphonic strings used on ‘Silent Running’, the sound of OMD’s own synths such as the Prophet 5, the voice of Andy McCluskey crooning “blue” on ‘Dazzle Ships’ or the bugle from the BBC Sound Effects record used on ‘This Is Helena’. But by wanting to make life easier for themselves on the road, OMD also entered the brave new world of sampling and were now able to realise some of their more musique concrete ambitions as was apparent on the ‘Dazzle Ships’ album.

But with regards touring, the Mellotron, Elgam, Vox Jaguar and the Prophet 5 could now be retired and replaced by two of these wonder machines on stage. However, the samples were low resolution and grainy at only 8 bits. While these sounds were suitable for chords and effects, the live punch required from the rhythm section meant that Martin’s Roland SH2 was retained as its phat twin oscillator bass sound was formidable in a live context.

Also kept was the similar looking but single oscillator SH09 which was OMD’s preferred synth bass in the studio. Meanwhile, Paul’s Korg Micro-Preset also remained. This was an important artistic gesture as when layered with suitable effects, it provided a cutting melodic bite that was in keeping with OMD’s original garage band ethos. In that spirit, a reel-to-reel tape machine containing things such as the sequence of ‘Messages’ and the Speak & Spell Machine on ‘Genetic Engineering’ was still very much part of the line-up although this was upgraded to a new Tascam from the older Revox.

With Andy, there was no equipment change at all with his trusty Fender Jazz bass guitar. Martin however had his own Fender Jaguar bass for use on ‘Julia’s Song’ as Andy’s was strung in an unconventional manner with the lowest string ‘E’ at the bottom due to first learning to play on a left handed Wilson Rapier bass turned upside down!

For Mal, his new toy came with three Simmons SDS-V drum synths. Co-designed by LANDSCAPE’s Richard James Burgess, these replaced two of the pads hooked to one of the Pearl Syncussion units. The Simmons was very sturdy, having already been road tested on tour by acts such as JAPAN and ULTRAVOX. It was also less of a headache to soundcheck than normal drums.

The SDS-V’s distinctive hexagonal pads were actually made from the same material as police riot sheets.Although he didn’t use the whole Simmons kit, Mal later complained of aching arms. This was from a ‘shock’ that came from hitting the Simmons pads as they did not have the natural give of skinned acoustic drums or even the earlier electronic pads that controlled the Syncussion units and MS20 which to all intents and purposes, were tiny but amplified drums!

Although a fuller Simmons kit was used subsequently on the ‘Junk Culture’ tour, it was only later as OMD made in-roads into breaking synthphobic America with the more conventional sounding ‘Crush’ that Mal started to use a full acoustic drum kit and was allowed to have one of the ultimate percussive symbols of rock ‘n’ roll, the cymbal! This would explain why Mal’s early drum kit always looked like it had been raided by thieves between the soundcheck and gig! Mal remembered “So many people like the road crew said ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with your drum kit but it looks really different! NO CYMBALS, THAT’S IT!’”

Although access to digital representations of their old synths and keyboards were now available using the Emulator live, the fledgling technology was prone to reading errors with the then state-of-the-art 5 ¼ floppy disks. These visually did make interesting artefacts however as Peter Saville found when he saw NEW ORDER’s Emulator and designed the iconic ‘Blue Monday’ sleeve as a coded 12 inch floppy complete with cut-outs!

The Emulator would seem to take forever to load in the context of a show and the setlist needed be arranged to accommodate this. One interesting consequence of the Emulator’s loading time was that Andy’s between song banter increased to cover it up!!! Later when the band upgraded to the Emulator II with its then innovative hard drive in 1985, Andy would often joke about Paul’s problems with his hard disk!!

Despite the expected glitches with the new Emulators, on the whole they gave the band less to worry about, especially after the difficult gestation of ‘Dazzle Ships’ and the critical mauling it received from the press. It allowed for the band to deliver a more confident and professional performance that when combined with Ken Kennedy and Peter Saville’s impressive stage set, would later be recognised as their best live tour to date. But that’s another story although strangely, brass sections and America were only just round the corner…

Special thanks to Alex Machairas for his valued help and granting permission for the use of the archive photographs

‘Dazzle Ships’ is still available in a number of formats via Virgin Records

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Text by Chi Ming Lai
16th March 2012

2011 END OF YEAR REVIEW

30 December 2011 /

The Year Of Capacitors

It was a year which saw classic and new stand side-by-side as comrades in arms for the synthesizer. In possibly the event of the year, April’s ‘Back To The Phuture ­- Tomorrow Is Today’ at London’s Troxy saw godfathers Gary Numan and John Foxx supported by the best new UK synthpop act for many years, MIRRORS.

The Brighton quartet reappeared in the summer over on the South Bank when the Vintage Festival Electronic Phuture Revue gave us a celebration of synthpop cool with performances by ONETWO, RECOIL, HEAVEN 17 and Thomas Dolby. Speaking of the latter, they premiered ‘The Luxury Gap’ at The Roundhouse in 3D sound no less while their production alter-ego BEF presented ‘Music Of Quality & Distinction Live’.

Meanwhile, Mute Records celebrated their influential legacy with a weekender also at London’s Roundhouse featuring ERASURE, YAZOO and THE ASSEMBLY in the same set, plus acts such as RECOIL, NITZER EBB and LAIBACH. With an electro documentary weekend before Easter on the Sky Arts TV channel featuring Gary Numan, DURAN DURAN, NEW ORDER, Jean-Michel Jarre and the late Rorbert Moog electronic music’s cultural legacy was being recognised the world over.

Indeed, Gary Numan’s Inspiration Award from Mojo magazine finally acknowledged those trailblazing Synth Britannia years. There were complaints by one well-known blog however about wrinkly electropop but without these pioneers who changed music, where would we be today? As KRAFTWERK’s Ralf Hütter said: “From all over the world comes inspiration. We have been very lucky, because the music we envisioned, the ideas we had of The Man Machine and electro music, have become reality and technology has developed in our direction and electro is everywhere”.

Shouldn’t the imperial phase of Synth Britannia and its earlier Germanic influence therefore be celebrated in the way that senior blues musicians have been revered within the world of rock ‘n’ roll? Missing from the Mute evening’s proceedings as a collective were DEPECHE MODE who gave the world a U2 cover and a second instalment of their remix collection as part of their year’s work.

One rework that provoked enormous debate was Alan Wilder’s improved rework of 2009’s ‘In Chains’ which added speculation as to whether he would be rejoining the band. Certainly, it would induce some much needed creative tension that has mostly been missing from DEPECHE MODE since the start of the noughties.

But one act truly excelling in the darker side of electronic based music was IAMX who continued to conquer Europe while remaining largely ignored in the UK. Martin Gore could seriously learn from Chris Corner about how to make melodic, accessible music that doesn’t compromise artistically and retains a gritty edge. Meanwhile, Gore rekindled a working relationship with Vince Clarke on a techno project under the banner of VCMG.

Monday 21st March was an interesting day as it saw the release of albums by DURAN DURAN, THE HUMAN LEAGUE and John Foxx. As concert celberity Mr Normall amusingly recalled in his Facebook status “this is 2011, not 1981”! At least two of those albums were the best and most immediate bodies of work from those artists for many years. The bar has certainly been raised for acts such as ULTRAVOX and VISAGE who both announced forthcoming new albums. BLANCMANGE made their welcome return with Neil Arthur’s sense of humour as sharp as ever but sadly, he was unable to be joined for the live shows by his bandmate Stephen Luscombe due to illness. One hopes Stephen is making a good recovery.

MIRRORS showed their promise and delivered the superbly seamless long player ‘Lights & Offerings’. While the band themselves admitted it may have been a touch derivative, it was enjoyed by a small but loyal fanbase who embraced their whole intelligent pop noir aesthetic. However, just as they were about to make a breakthrough, a second high profile tour supporting OMD in Germany was cancelled along with an appearance at Bestival.

Then founder member Ally Young announced he was leaving the group. The situation has been likened by some observers to when Vince Clarke left DEPECHE MODE. Of course, the end result of that was both parties mutated into highly successful acts and ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK is hopeful something similar may occur here. Certainly an excellent new darker tune called ‘Dust’ from the remaining trio indicates MIRRORS are not finished yet!

The similarly smartly attired HURTS continued their domination of Europe and while not as adored in the UK, they still did the business touring wise with sell-out shows at Somerset House and Brixton Academy with Kylie Minogue making a surprise guest appearance at the latter.

Of the ladies, Beth Ditto went superbly electronic with her debut solo EP while Claudia Brücken went jazz for the soundtrack of ‘LA Noire’, but not before celebrating the electronic part of her career with a fine retrospective Combined and a fantastic show at The Scala which saw a three quarters reunion of PROPAGANDA plus special guests ANDY BELL and HEAVEN 17.

Another acclaimed German chanteuse Billie Ray Martin returned with her new project THE OPIATES and an album ‘Hollywood Under The Knife’ while LADYTRON released a definitive Best Of ’00-10′ and a new album ‘Gravity The Seducer’. The latter was a glorious, lush masterpiece of aural subtlety which was not universally embraced by their fanbase but is likely to become a cult favourite in the future.

Meanwhile, the spectre of FEVER RAY’s Karin Drejer-Andersson lurked, both musically and politically, within several darker female fronted combos such as AUSTRA, THE HORN THE HUNT and GAZELLE TWIN. The brooding unsettlement of this Hauntronica (or witch house as it was sometimes referred) won favour with some while John Foxx named GAZELLE TWIN’s ‘The Entire City’ as his album of the year. However, this fairly uncompromising strain of electro wasn’t for everyone although it was definitely more preferable to dubstep, the trendy new dance form that even the usually club friendly Chris Lowe of PET SHOP BOYS was having trouble embracing!

But Nordic influences weren’t just about tonal gloom and witchery. Greek maidens MARSHEAUX adopted some FEVER RAY styled percussive moods on their only song of the year ‘Can You Stop Me?’ but remained synthpop while American duo NIGHTLIFE borrowed Sally Shapiro’s sweeter template.

Over at The Finland Station, producer Jori Hulkkonen’s PROCESSORY project delivered an 18 track electronic Sci-Fi concept album entitled ‘Change Is Gradual’. TIGER BABY from Denmark returned with the dreamy single ‘Landscapes’ while from Sweden, both THE GIRL & THE ROBOT and Emmon delivered enjoyable new material. There was also the mysteriously kooky IAMAMIWHOAMI but best of all from the region were THE SOUND OF ARROWS with the cinematic crystalline pop of their debut album ‘Voyage’.

At the pure pop end of the spectrum, Lady Gaga plotted her next move into world domination with new album ‘Born This Way’. With religious lyrical imagery were very much in evidence throughout, this was her ‘Like A Prayer’ with a Eurocentric sound being very much the dominant factor in the music. With her ear firmly on the inventive UK music scene, GOLDFRAPP, HURTS and MIRRORS were commissioned to deliver remixes of ‘Judas’.

LITTLE BOOTS returned with a bouncy house number called ‘Shake’ while SUNDAY GIRL had her album delayed again and didn’t appear to know whether she wanted to be a singer or a fashion designer. Her pop thunder has now potentially been stolen by the similar raspy timbres of Lana Del Rey whose pair of remixes by NIKONN became favourites with many electro enthusiasts. Embracing couture but with her head fully focussed on the music, QUEEN OF HEARTS brought some intelligent sparkle to electropop. With mentions in The Guardian and The Times, her superb EP ‘The Arrival’ realised the potential that was apparent in her earlier girl group days.

Several acts introduced by ELECTRICTYCLUB.CO.UK in 2010 gained prestigious supports slots as a sign of their steady progress. SHH were billed with former BLACK BOX RECORDER vocalist Sarah Nixey whileTHE VANITY CLAUSE opened for a solo Andy Bell performance and Electro Weimar songstress Katja von Kassel did the same at two of ERASURE’s shows in Germany.

VILLA NAH were due to play the biggest gig of their career with DURAN DURAN but Simon Le Bon’s illness, which also caused the postponement of the entire UK tour in May, unfortunately put paid to that. So it could be said that “Synthpop’s Alive” and this was exemplified by Essen based American act MAISON VAGUE who gave the world probably the best wholly independent release of the year.

Clark Stiefel’s wonderful cross of Gary Numan and DEVO was the work of a man brought up in the avant-classical world with hands-on experience of vintage Moog and Buchla modulars. Using the concept of “living in a dream since 1983”, despite the vintage influences, it was electronic music as imagined by the eccentricity of Oscar Wilde crossed with the thoughtful demeanour of late classical composer Franz Liszt.

Over the year, American based electronic acts were starting to come to the fore with XENO & OAKLANDER, SOFT METALS, HIGH PLACES, THE MYSTIC UNDERGROUND and Tara Busch all gaining notable acclaim.

A question that has to be asked though is whether there is too much synth based music at the moment? Interestingly, Thomas Dolby and Sarah Nixey moved away from the electronic world and released new albums that had a more personal, organic quality. Some observers were complaining about “synthpop by numbers” and “Synth Britannia throwbacks”, but as OMD’s Andy McCluskey once said on that very programme, if there was a magic button for a hit single, he’d have pressed it more times than anyone else.

While improvements in technology have made it much easier for the public at large to make music and interesting noises, not everyone has the ability to write proper songs. Not only that but the iPod/notebook generation have been listening to compressed mp3s on tinny speakers for such a long time now that they have no grasp of dynamics. This has hampered many new acts who have taken to doing everything themselves and as a result, produced some average pieces of work.

There is nothing like a second opinion and creative tension to help a new piece of music along. And it is this willingness to understand the cores of songwriting, production and arrangement that ultimately separates the good from the bad, and ultimately the outstanding from the good.

ELECTRICTYCLUB.CO.UK Contributor Listings of 2011

MIKE COOPER

Best album: MUERAN HUMANOS Mueran Humanos
Best Song: VELVET CONDOM Rouge City
Best Gig: KRAFTWERK at Die Alte Kongresshalle, Munich
Best Video: LADYTRON Mirage
Most Promising New Act: MUERAN HUMANOS

STEVE GRAY

Best album: GARY NUMAN Dead Son Rising
Best Song: TENEK What Do You Want?
Best Gig: Back To The Phuture – Tomorrow Is Today at The Troxy, London
Best Video: DURAN DURAN Girl Panic!
Most Promising New Act: QUEEN OF HEARTS

CHI MING LAI

Best album: MIRRORS Lights & Offerings
Best Song: VILE ELECTRODES My Sanctuary
Best Gig: Back To The Phuture -Tomorrow Is Today at The Troxy, London
Best Video: TIGER BABY Landscapes
Most Promising New Act: QUEEN OF HEARTS

NIX LOWREY

Best Album: SANDWELL DISTRICT Feed Forward
Best Song: JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS Summerland
Best Gig: KRAFTWERK at Die Alte Kongresshalle, Munich
Best Video: LADYTRON Mirage
Most Promising New Act: MUERAN HUMANOS

RICHARD PRICE

Best album: MIRRORS Lights & Offerings
Best Song: JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS Shatterproof
Best Gig: HEAVEN17/BEF Weekender at The Roundhouse
Best Video: QUEEN OF HEARTS Shoot The Bullet
Most Promising New Act: QUEEN OF HEARTS

JOHAN WEJEDAL

Best album: AUSTRA Feel It Break
Best song: MIRRORS Into The Heart (Greek Girls Are Not Easy extended remix)
Best gig: AUSTRA at Stockholm Debaser Medis
Best video: EMMON Ghost Dance
Most promising new act: LOUISE (ex-THERMOSTATIC)

Text by Chi Ming Lai
31st December 2010

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