It’s been ten years since Karl Bartos’ last album ‘Communication’. Released almost at the same time as his former colleagues’ rather pedestrian cycling travelogue ‘Tour De France Soundtracks’, his effort was far more impressive and rhythmically dynamic.
On leaving KRAFTWERK in 1990, he worked with British musicians such as Andy McCluskey, Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr. As a result, ‘Communication’ was a much more song based, lyrically expansive record that was still electronically pleasing.
The collaborative influence certainly made its presence felt, with ‘Life’ in particular sounding like one of NEW ORDER’s more instrumentally conventional tunes reprogrammed by Kling Klang while ‘The Camera’ and ‘I’m The Message’ were meatier developments of the template that Bartos was best known for.
1998’s guitar based excursion ‘Electric Music’ aside, Bartos has remained the beacon of hope for KRAFTWERK enthusiasts frustrated by the drought of fresh, new material since 1986’s ‘Electric Cafe’. After all, Bartos co-wrote ‘The Model’, ‘The Robots’, ‘Neon Lights’, ‘Numbers’ and ‘Computer Love’. If people can still hold enough regard for a version of the Düsseldorf quartett featuring just Ralf Hütter to crash the websites of the world’s art spaces, then Kark Bartos should at least be accorded some kind of equal status.
Photo by Markus Wustmann
Since ‘Communication’, there has been the move towards download culture and smart technology. But Herr Bartos said: “The change in music culture had no influence in the making of this album. It is true: the music industry has lost its business model but that did not change the power of music”.
Utilising musical sketches gathered during his period with KRAFTWERK, his post-KW project ELEKTRIC MUSIC and ELECTRONIC, ‘Off The Record’ is a fully realised collection with trademark robotics and warm melodics at its heart, driven by solid Minimoog basslines and snappy beats.
The frenzied first single ‘Atomium’ opens the album with orchestra stabs, frequency wobbles and the familiar tones first heard on ‘Computer World’ which have now become Bartos’ signature. Re-exploring themes first touched on with the ‘Radio-Activity’ album, it uses the giant model erected for the 1958 World’s Fair in Brussels to symbolise “the rise and fall of the atomic age”.
‘Nachtfahrt’ (or ‘Night Ride’) is nicely classic European synthpop with origins dating back to before ‘Computer World’. Meanwhile ‘International Velvet’ is OMD-like, a pretty melody fused to that romantic Retro-Futurist blueprint which KRAFTWERK pioneered… the flutey textures actually recall the Phillips-era prior to Bartos joining. There are also hints of ‘Kissing The Machine’, Bartos’ co-write with Andy McCluskey for the ‘Esperanto’ album.
Indeed, such is the sound of ‘International Velvet’ that if McCluskey had added his voice as on ‘Kissing The Machine’, it could be mistaken for a song on the new OMD album ‘English Electric’. The brilliant ‘Without A Trace Of Emotion’ sees Bartos conversing with his showroom dummy Herr Karl and confronting his demons as a member of the world’s most iconic electronic group.
As the most straightforward pop song on ‘Off The Record’, its autobiographical resignation is not unlike ‘Life’ from ‘Communication’. And whereas his former colleague Wolfgang Flür vented his spleen in book form with ‘I Was A Robot’, Bartos takes a more ironic musical approach with the line “I wish I could remix my life to another beat” being a wry reference to ‘The Mix’ project which drove him to madness and out of Kling Klang!
The blippy sonic cluster of ‘The Binary Code’ acts as an interlude before leading into ‘Musica Ex Machina’. A collaboration with Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr, it is heavily based on the ELECTRONIC B-side ‘Imitation Of Life’, the inherent mechanical nature now enhanced with the replacement of the looser percussion arrangement in the original. Despite its co-writer credentials, it again does not quite realise its potential. In fact ‘Musica Ex Machina’ starts a strange mid-album lull…
‘The Tuning Of The World’ is reminsicent of AIR and an attempt at the ‘Neon Lights’ staccato piano dressed with a softer ‘Moon Safari’ style of voice manipulation. Meanwhile ‘Instant Bayreuth’ could be a vintage science-fiction theme, the sweeps and steadfast tempo will polarise… it will be either seen as genius or retro-pastiche.
It all gets back on track in the final third though. ‘Vox Humana’ and its primitive organ rhythm box intro recalls Jarre’s ‘The Last Rumba’. With electronic drips providing an abstract backdrop, it then mutates into a more trip-hoppy outline and concludes with some spacey avant weirdness and schizophrenic voices. The percussive ‘Rhythmus’ revisits ‘Numbers and ‘Computer World 2’ complete with synth chorals and Votrax chants before some ‘Silence’, an amusing John Cage styled skit.
The best is saved until last and it all ends charmingly with the wonderful ‘Hausmusik’, its klanking core driven by the type of Farfisa Rhythm 10 backbeat heard on the ‘Autobahn’ and ‘Radio-Activity’ albums. With a lovely toyish lead line, it recalls its near namesake ‘Tanzmusik’ from ‘Ralf & Florian’. This, along with several other tracks on ‘Off The Record’ create a fantasy world of what KRAFTWERK might have sounded like had Bartos joined in 1973 instead of 1975.
‘Off The Record’ will have something for anyone who remotely likes electronic music. Bartos is known for his strong aversion towards the death by 4/4 pounding of modern dance music so there is plenty of melody and variation plus only one song exceeds five minutes.
While there are assorted tougher techno elements to keep it contemporary, there are enough traditional elements to please KRAFTWERK aficionados and synthpop fans alike.
Even using ideas from prior to 1996, Karl Bartos has produced a classic but modern electronic album… it makes you wonder what KRAFTWERK might have achieved if the RFWK team had not lost its way post-‘Computer World’ and stayed together.
‘Off The Record’ is released by Bureau B on CD, vinyl LP and download
Karl Bartos first came to the music world’s attention as a member of KRAFTWERK.
Along with Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider and Wolfgang Flür, he became part of what is acknowledged as the classic line-up of the pioneering Düsseldorf quartet. Recruited in 1975 to augment the live shows following the international success of ‘Autobahn’, Bartos was studying to be a symphony orchestra percussionist at the time and had to occasionally commute across the Atlantic to complete his exams while on tour in the US.
A now iconic appearance on ‘Tomorrow’s World’ showcased the future of music when the foursome demonstrated their customised instrumentation while smartly attired in suits. Using synthetic drum consoles triggered by metal rods, Bartos and Flür punctuated KRAFTWERK’s pioneering technology enhanced sound with a distinct uncluttered percussive snap. They continued their thematic fascination with science and technology, making major artistic leaps with the ‘Radio-Activity’ and ‘Trans-Europe Express’ albums.
Two of their fans were David Bowie and Brian Eno whose work on ‘Low’ and ‘Heroes’ in 1977 helped raise KRAFTWERK’s profile in the UK and led to a spate of new acts that were to become part of the Synth Britannia cultural revolution. But following the simultaneous high profile success of the Giorgio Moroder produced ‘I Feel Love’ for Donna Summer and his own ‘From Here to Eternity’, KRAFTWERK became fascinated by the throbbing sequenced electronic disco template and incorporated it into the album that many consider to be their crowning achievement, ‘The Man-Machine’.
Photo by Günther Fröhling
By this time, Bartos had graduated to become Hütter’s main writing collaborator at Kling Klang with his first contribution being ‘Metropolis’. On tracks such as ‘The Robots’, ‘Neon Lights’ and ‘The Model’, Bartos added a funky groove that hadn’t been apparent in KRAFTWERK’s previous work.
In 1981, KRAFTWERK predicted the world we now live in with ‘Computer World’, a conceptual work that looked at police surveillance, portable office technology, computer dating and home entertainment.
A much more tightly programmed work but with that all important vulnerable sense of humanity, the album was rhythmically strong thanks to Bartos’ contributions and tracks like ‘Numbers’ heavily influenced musicians in America who later went on to develop genres such as electro, hip-hop, house and techno.
Photo by Deb Danahay
However in 1983, with KRAFTWERK about to capitalise on the recognition they had been accorded by the success of synthpop throughout the world with the single ‘Tour De France’ and its accompanying album ‘Technopop’, Ralf Hütter had a near fatal cycling accident. While making his recovery, the release of ‘Technopop’ was postponed and the tracks reworked using more new digital sampling technology.
A rethink had manifested itself as computer based instruments such as the Fairlight and Synclavier were becoming increasingly prevalent in modern pop.
KRAFTWERK purchased the latter and the delayed result was eventually released as the disappointing ‘Electric Cafe’ album in 1986 which interestingly saw Bartos’ debut as a vocalist on one of the album’s highlights, ‘The Telephone Call’.
KRAFTWERK had clearly lost their way at this point and Flür was the first to leave in 1987. Bartos soldiered on and worked with Hütter, Schneider and new recruit Fritz Hilbert on a remix album entitled ‘The Mix’. Bartos played his last concert with the band in 1990 and left not long after. But despite having already put several years into the project, his name was missing in the credits… keen observers will have also noticed that within the artwork of ‘The Mix’, Fritz Hilpert’s robot image was duplicated in Die Quartett shot to give the impression of a new fourth member!
Wasting no time following his departure, Bartos formed ELEKTRIC MUSIC with Lothar Manteuffel from RHEINGOLD and released the album ‘Esperanto’ which at the time, was enthusiastically welcomed by fans desperate for the void in new KRAFTWERK material to be filled. “Kraftwerk were like a wonderful Jumbo Jet that almost never took off” he wryly said to Future Music in 1993, “Now I’d rather have my own little Messerschmitt… and make my own pirouettes”!
One of the erstwhile collaborators on ‘Esperanto’ was longtime KRAFTWERK fan Andy McCluskey from OMD who sang on ‘Kissing The Machine’, quite possibly the best song that both parties was involved with during the anti-synth backlash that was to eventually became Britpop.
The guitar dominated environment led to rather strange happenings with both musicians. In McCluskey’s case, it was forming ATOMIC KITTEN. Legend says it was Bartos who suggested that it was the vehicle McCluskey was using that was outdated rather than his songs, hence this new messenger! He said:“Andy, if you just write songs, you’ll be a whore and your publishers will control you. You really need to create a vehicle for your own songs… create a three-piece girl group”! To think that ATOMIC KITTEN are part of Kling Klang’s lineage is quite amusing in hindsight!
Photo by Katja Ruge
Meanwhile, Bartos went to Manchester to work with Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr on ELECTRONIC’s ‘Raise The Pressure’ album and returned to Germany with a Rickenbacker strapped to his back! Ironically, the resultant 1998 album was titled ‘Electric Music’ which Bartos himself described as “guitar pop out of the computer”. Although a song originally written for KRAFTWERK entitled ‘The Young Urban Professional’ was the first single, the album was not particularly well received by fans!
In 2003, Bartos made a triumphant comeback with his first proper solo album ‘Communication’. This saw a return to his electronic roots with lead track ‘The Camera’ in particular successfully updating the Kling Klang template of ‘The Robots’ for the new Millennium.
The album was far more of an artistic success than ‘Tour De France Soundtracks’ which had just been released by his former colleagues after a lengthy absence. Bartos’ own live show was a huge success too, mixing his new material with updated versions of his classic KRAFTWERK compositions in a striking but intimate audio/visual extravaganza.
Although having been comparatively silent for the last few years musically, Bartos has been working as a visiting Professor at the Berlin University of the Arts having founded its Master of Arts course in ‘Sound Studies – Acoustic Communication’. But now comes the release of ‘Off The Record’, the first album from Karl Bartos in ten years.
It sees lost material being reconceived and recontextualised within a 21st Century setting. The story behind the album’s concept is that during his time with KRAFTWERK, Bartos wrote – off the record – a secret acoustic diary.
Based on his rhythmical and melodic sketches, he has come up with twelve songs that could be perceived as KRAFTWERK compositions in all but name. Indeed ‘Nachtfahrt’ has its origins in the late 70s while the new single ‘Atomium’ re-explores themes first touched on with the ‘Radio-Activity’ album. Using the giant model of an iron crystal erected for the 1958 World’s Fair in Brussels as symbolism for the rise and fall of atomic power in Europe, its mantra is “what does iron crystal music sound like?”
For those who missed out on seeing KRAFTWERK’s art space album retrospectives, Karl Bartos will be touring in 2013. “Forget about technical nostalgia in 3D” says his press release, “instead tune into LiveCinema: 90 minutes of music and film – rhythmical, modern, intelligent”. So with the imminent release of ‘Off The Record’ on the prestigious German label Bureau B, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK is proud to be able to bring you a short conversation with one of the Godfathers of modern electronic music…
Photo by Clynt Garnham
In KRAFTWERK from ‘The Man-Machine’ onwards, you were credited with co-writing. When did this shift come about and what sort of parts were you contributing?
I played electronic drums on ‘Radio-Activity’ and ‘Trans Europe Express’. I got my first contribution as a composer for the album ‘The Man-Machine’. On this recording and all subsequent recordings my input included all parts of the musical content ie drums, bass, sequencer, chords, melody, voice, lyrics.
You left KRAFTWERK in 1990 but you got to work straight away as ELEKTRIC MUSIC releasing the ‘Esperanto’ album in 1993. You wrote ‘Kissing The Machine’ with OMD’s Andy McCluskey. How do you feel about him reviving it for the new OMD album ‘English Electric’?
Sometimes we all love nostalgia because it’s safe. One interesting point; the process of listening to music incorporates what we have learned before, all our lives, what we know. If you listen to a track in a club, or at home, or a concert, it doesn’t matter where, always what our brain does is we remember what we have learned about music, then we have this very second, this very moment, and our expectations about how the music will evolve in the future. Listening to music incorporates all three times.
Back to Andy, when I left KRAFTWERK in the early 90s, I got a call, “Hi I’m Andy, I’d like to visit you”. I showed him part of my archive. He suggested we do something together and I was up for it, so we went through this archive [which became ‘Off The Record’]. We picked some cassettes and finally I found *sings the opening notes of ‘Kissing The Machine’*.
I’m always after melodies, and so is he. He heard this, and then we had a really good time in Düsseldorf, we had dinner with Wolfgang in his flat, and a month later he sent me a demo, “Hey Karl, what so you think of this?”
He wrote the whole song and the lyric and the robo voice and I produced it for my first album. And now, we are always in touch, and when he plays Hamburg, he invites me. Last time he asked me if I had the old vocal recording which is 20 years old. I found this, because at the time I was really well organised. I sent him the vocal track but I haven’t heard the production. Maybe the link is in my inbox. I’m looking forward to hearing it.
In 1995, you worked with Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr on ELECTRONIC’s ‘Raise The Pressure’ album but it was reported at the time you were getting disillusioned with music technology. What had happened to make you feel like this?
It was this idea of techno music with people making a track every day, another tune, releasing a record every other week, just fours-to-the-floor with no melody or structure, with no thought going into it really. I found it boring and depressing and it was the technology that was allowing it to happen.
But then I worked with Johnny and Bernard who were able to use synthesisers and machines but were bringing so much melody and feeling into it as well. That really helped to make me feel positive again, it was such a great experience.
Did you have any dilemmas about how many KRAFTWERK songs to include when you first went out with your live show in 2003 in support of the ‘Communication’ album, especially as your former colleagues were returning with ‘Tour de France Soundtracks’?
Well, since I have co-written many of the hits, I always had too many of them for just one concert. The real problem was to sort out the redundant tracks.
It’s been 10 years since ‘Communication’. During that time, there has been the move to download culture and smart technology. How have these advances shaped ‘Off The Record’, bearing in mind its background?
The change in music culture had no influence in the making of this album. It is true: the music industry has lost its business model but that did not change the power of music.
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its grateful thanks to Karl Bartos
Renowned remixer Mark Reeder’s first flirtation with near fame was when he was in punk band THE FRANTIC ELEVATORS with SIMPLY RED’s Mick Hucknall.
In 1978, he moved to Berlin and became Factory Records German representative in Germany while also working in the studio with bands such as all-girl avant noise terrorists MALARIA! who he co-managed and DIE TOTEN HOSEN.
In 1981, Reeder formed post-punk duo DIE UNBEKANNTEN while in 1983, he helped put together the Berlin Special of ‘The Tube’ TV music show which featured acts such as DIE ÄRTZE. Later on, DIE UNBEKANNTEN changed their name to SHARK VEGAS and toured Europe with NEW ORDER.
In 1990, Reeder established his own electronic dance music record label Masterminded For Success (MFS) and discovered Paul Van Dyk who he guided into becoming an internationally famed DJ and recording artist. His passionate approach and highly respected reputation for care and attention in all areas including concept, artwork, PR and sound gained many notable admirers within the music industry. So when Reeder focused on remixing in the late noughties, he was given the opportunity to work for a number of major artists including John Foxx and PET SHOP BOYS.
He also collaborated with popular German dance duo BLANK & JONES on a musical restyling project entitled ‘Reordered’ which featured among its vocalists NEW ORDER’s Bernard Sumner, Robert Smith from THE CURE, Steve Kilbey of THE CHURCH and Claudia Brücken. Its highlights however were probably the ‘This Time Of Night’ aping Alone In The Dark Mix of ‘Loneliness’ sung by Bobo and the Save Yourself Mix of ‘Manifesto’ featuring Vanessa Daou.
Reeder is about to release his brand new labour of love entitled ‘Five Point One’. It is a dream compilation album of new, rare and unreleased remixes by his own hand of established heavyweights such as DEPECHE MODE, PET SHOP BOYS, BLANK & JONES and BAD LIEUTENANT alongside cult favourites DIE TOTEN HOSEN and Anne Clark plus comparative newbies like MARSHEAUX, MAY 68, NOBLESSE OBLIGE and ELECTROBELLE.
Comprising of a deluxe DVD and 2CD package, the DVD is remastered in Dolby 5.1 surround sound to create a listening experience to enhance the depth and radiance of the original stereo mixes. What shines through particularly is Reeder’s intuitive approach which adds a developmental enhancement to proceedings while retaining the all important compositional essence of the originals.
Mark Reeder kindly spoke about ‘Five Point One’ and added a few thoughts about the welcome return of the song in modern electronic pop plus some stories about his days with Factory Records… “anything can happen in the next half hour…”
What was your inspiration particularly for this compilation?
I’ve always been a fan of surround technology and love the idea of multi-dimensional cinematic wrap-around sound. Although I’ve never owned a Quad system I have Quad versions from the 60s and 70s of ‘Switched-On Bach’ by Wendy Carlos (she was called Walter back then) and ‘Quadrophenia’ by THE WHO and I released a couple of B.A.S.E super spacial stereo and surround albums on my MFS label too.
So making my own 5.1 album was, I suppose, a natural process. I confess, I was definitely inspired by the 5.1 releases of PINK FLOYD, DAVID BOWIE and DEPECHE MODE, which I immediately snapped up.
However, making a 5.1 mix is a complex and expensive undertaking. I first made a 5.1 mix for my remix of ‘German Film Star’ for The PET SHOP BOYS and Sam Taylor-Wood and one for ‘Sink or Swim’ for BAD LIEUTENANT and then ‘Underpass’ for John FOxx, then followed MARSHEAUX and we just went from there. The idea that the album was to have some of my all-time fave bands and all my remixes for them together on one 5.1 surround album just started to happen. It was initially intended to be an audio only album, but when John Foxx said I could use his original 80s video, then we also had a visual element to the album too.
You’ve remixed the songs in DVD 5.1 Surround sound for one disc, how did you the motivate yourself for this endeavour?
The motivation was the challenge. Micha Adam, my studio partner and I wanted to see if we could do it. We wanted to push our own boundaries and test our abilities. Our aim was to re-remix our remixes in 5.1 surround and hopefully release them on one album. Most people, especially in the music industry, currently can’t see the reason behind making a 5.1 album, but that is because there is not that much 5.1 music about and nothing to really compare it with and therefore no visible market for it. That’s most probably because of the cost involved, not only in making a 5.1 mix, but for the consumer too.
It is early days still and just a matter of time. Once the technology gets cheaper and 5.1 becomes easier to make then more music will emerge. It took stereo over 30 years to reach the household in the late 60s and when 5.1 systems eventually become cheap and affordable, then people will also want something to play on them.
Also new and futuristic technological developments aim to make 5.1 available on every mobile phone too. That was another inspiration. Once we all have the 5.1 DolbyMobile chip in our smartphones then we will want to hear music in 5.1 too, which was a further driving force for us. This special chip means that you can listen to music in 5.1 on your phone, on normal stereo headphones, albeit in simulated 5.1, but if you connect your phone to a real 5.1 sound system, it will play back in true 5.1 surround. Fascinating!
Making the actual 5.1 remixes was the real challenge though, as it is all about getting the balance right so that the mix sounds like the original remix, but the music comes from all around you, just like in the cinema. That was the thrill. Yet, mixing an album in surround is not as easy as you might think and the end result will probably sound a bit different to everyone, especially considering that each home system is set up individually to taste. By the way, mixing a track in stereo is much easier too, as you can layer and hide things within the mix, whereas surround is much more revealing.
You are featuring several new acts on ‘Five Point One’ such as MARSHEAUX and NOBLESSE OBLIGE alongside established luminaries such as PET SHOP BOYS, DEPECHE MODE and John Foxx. I can see the newer artists being very co-operative but how straightforward was it to persuade the established acts to allow you to rework their material with your instrumentation and methods?
Yes, I’ve tried to create a balance between the more established acts and a crop of newer artists. Some of which have their debut on ‘Five Point One’. I thought this way I could bring them to a wider audience.
Generally, I think I’ve been very very lucky, as it wasn’t really all that difficult for me to obtain the clearances, as it might have been for other people. The artists that I have initially done the remixes for know who I am and obviously respect me and my work and my idea. They appreciate the amount of time, dedication and creativity that has gone into preparing this project. I guess they know I would also try and do my best and that I would take great care remixing their song. They also know the kind of music that I make.
Mind you, remixing a well-known and legendary song like ‘Underpass’ was still very nerve wracking. I’ve always loved this song and getting the chance to remix it for the first time after 30 years was such an honour. At first I was elated, then came the feeling of fear! Naturally, I wanted to do it justice without destroying it too much, as these days it seems so simple to take a great track, whack it into Ableton and strip it of all its atmosphere and identity, then add a techno beat and scatter a sprinkling of the original vocal over it, so it becomes totally unrecognisable and in most cases, disappointing.
I really don’t make my remixes like that. I’m old school. I like to still be able to hear the song, but give it my own signature and atmosphere, while at the same time use as many of the original elements as possible.
Luckily, John really liked my ‘Underpass’ remixes and he was very cooperative. In fact all the artists and labels were. Making a remix for a well-known song though is definitely much more daunting than making a remix for a new song. The obvious comparison aspect is overwhelming and the expectation is so great.
Obviously, I know I could never ever better the original and I don’t try to, I just make my interpretation. I also understand that my remixes won’t appeal to everyone, but I really only make a remix in the hope the artist themselves will like it and I suppose in the end, it’s for all those people who do actually like it. If you don’t like it then that’s fine too, just don’t listen to it. I always strive as much as I can to at least give the song I’m going to remix, the respect it deserves, regardless of its status.
Remixing ‘Sweetest Perfection’ was also very precarious. Daniel Miller gave me the chance to remix ‘Sweetest Perfection’ for the last DEPECHE MODE remixes album, but due to family problems I was unable to complete it on time. So I asked if I could use it on my own remixes album. My DEPECHE MODE remix actually took the longest to clear, simply because EMI / Mute were in the process of releasing their own DEPECHE MODE remixes album.
You also feature cult singer/songwriter Anne Clark who worked with John Foxx in 1985. For those who have not heard of her, how would describe her music and why do you like it?
It is quite interesting the threads between the artists on the album, in some obscure way they are all connected. I think Anne is very unique. She is a poet, who sets her poems to music. Although she is from England, she is probably more well-known outside of the UK. Her legendary status was formed in the early 80s and her brilliant song ‘Sleeper in Metropolis’ was huge in the new wave clubs across Europe at that time. It eventually became a Goth anthem and inspiration for many to follow. Its analogue synth sequencer sounds have never been bettered. Of course, her music today is very delicate but still powerful and anyone who has seen her perform live, knows exactly how beautiful her music is. I remixed two of her songs off ‘The Smallest Acts of Kindness’album which I really liked. I was inspired. They were intended for a remixes album, but that album hasnt yet materialised and so they are now on mine. I really like this spoken word matched with music idea.
You’re credited with introducing Bernard Sumner to Giorgio Moroder and Italo disco through the cassettes you used to send him from Berlin. How do you feel about his more rocky material with BAD LIEUTENANT? And is featuring remixes of them a way of you putting Bernard back into that electronic dance thing that he does so well but rarely touches now?
Well, I know Bernard is still very much into electronics and club music and he promised there will be more to be heard on the next BL album, but he wanted to show a different side with BAD LIEUTENANT and distance his band from NEW ORDER, which is understandable. I thought their album was really excellent.
I’m not just saying that because Bernard is a friend, but because I really think it is. It is a bit of an unpolished jewel. Anyway, I played it to death. I think it was a very optimistic album and if you give it the chance, it gets better every time you play it.
Anyway, Bernard asked me to film some sequences for their ‘Sink Or Swim’ video and then I was asked if I wanted to do a remix for it too. I thought there are probably a few fans out there, like myself and Micha, who would also like to hear a more electronic, dancier type version of the song. So I made one. The same goes for my remix for the PET SHOP BOYS. They also wanted a more traditional PSB sounding remix without having to return to that style themselves.
Then Bernard asked me if I could do a quick remix for ‘Twist of Fate’, which was a track I also really liked and wanted to remix. I made two variations, one is a heavy-ish sounding half tempo mix with a pulsating bass and the other is a more uptempo dance mix variation. Both mixes are featured on ‘Five Point One’. I thought Steve Young made a truly brilliant sci-fi puppet video for that track too, with very scary looking puppets. You can see the love, care and dedication he has put into making this Gerry Anderson inspired video and I wanted to applaud his work and so we feature the video on the DVD too. He was kind enough to recut his video and add newly created footage just so that it would fit to my 5.1 remix.
Making these BAD LIEUTENANT remixes was much more difficult than we had imagined, as all the songs were played-in live by the band and there was lots of natural speeding up and slowing down within the track, which you don’t usually get with a precise timed 4/4 techno record. I had a great time with Micha making these two remixes, as we had to slice every single word and every note of every instrument and move them into position by hand to make them still sound organic, which took forever. It was good practise, as it turned out, because the BAD LIEUTENANT remixes were still easier than making the DEPECHE MODE or TOTEN HOSEN remixes.
Your Lange Hosen remix of DIE TOTEN HOSEN’s ‘Disco’ was very interesting. You go back a long way with them. They are known as being a punk band, but when did it occur to you that their material could be tailored for the dancefloor?
Actually, I realised that their music could be tailored for the dancefloor back in the 80s with ‘Hip Hop Bommi Bop’, which they made with legendary New York rapper Fab Five Freddy.
We used to listen to a lot of disco music on tour mixed in with AC/DC and plenty of punk classics. It just seemed natural to me that their track ‘Disco’ should have a real Italo-rock-disco-esque sounding remix.
As usual, I wanted to retain as much of their original song as possible though, so that it is still recognisable as a TOTEN HOSEN song. So the guitars and vocals are all in there. I’ve just changed the tempo and groove and added a straight driving bass guitar and pulsating synth so it can be played in a proper disco type of disco.
You’ve worked with MALARIA! in the past and there was a collaboration with CHICKS ON SPEED a few years back of 1981’s ‘Kaltes Klares Wasser’. Could their material work on the contemporary dancefloor and have you ever considered remixing them?
Yes, I did briefly consider it, but then again I didn’t just want to have a kind of oldies only album. I wanted a mixture of established artists and new ones. I wanted to give the unknown artists the opportunity to be on an album with some very well-known ones.
Was there any track that you really wanted on ‘Five Point One’ but were unable to use due to the usual contractual stuff?
Yes, there was. I really wanted to include my remix of ‘A Forest’ on ‘Five Point One’ that I made for the ‘Reordered’ album. In fact, I already made a 5.1 mix of it in the hope that I could use it, but unfortunately, BLANK & JONES said they couldn’t license it to me due to their strict contractual obligations with Robert Smith. So that particular remix remains exclusively available on ‘Reordered’ in normal stereo.
Are there any particular favourites for you on this compilation?
Yes, tracks 1-25.
Who do you hope ‘Five Point One’ will appeal to?
I guess it’s for all those people who like the artists featured on the album and wish they were all on one album. Now they are. Then it is also for those who enjoy this kind of retro sounding synthpop style of music and its especially for all those with a thirst for 5.1 Dolby digital surround sound. For the moment, it seems only major label artists like DEPECHE MODE, KING CRIMSON, DAVID BOWIE, PINK FLOYD or THE MOODY BLUES have been able to release surround albums.
I thought why can’t my favourite artists also have a 5.1 release too? I wanted to put all my own remixes for some of my favourite bands together on one 5.1 album. After all, who wouldn’t like an album that featured new mixes for legends like DEPECHE MODE and PET SHOP BOYS as well as John Foxx and Anne Clark all together on one album and all in 5.1? I certainly would.
How do you think electronic pop music has been developing over the years and where do you see it heading in the future?
After 20 years of electronically driven techno, trance and the many derivatives spawned from it, I feel that the current style of electronic pop music is quite refreshing. Of course, club music will always be there in one form or another and DJs and dancing will never go out of fashion. But for myself, I’m really enjoying hearing artists making songs again. Maybe in the future the synthpop sound will finally have its renaissance, one that it so rightly deserves. It seems more and more people are yearning for it. After all, the 80s appear to represent a time not only of political balance and security but of experimentation in fashion and music.
Back in the 80s, synth music was mainly European and futuristic sounding, but the overwhelming influence of major label funded American rock music was able to stamp synthpop into the ground. Also the synth technology sadly had its limitations too, I remember back then our Moog and Korg synths were terribly temperamental when it came to temperature or humidity change.
Today synth music is much easier to produce. We are living in that future, now. So why not make 80s sounding futuristic music? What I find interesting today is the current mixture of retro sounds of old synths being played in a contemporary way. I suppose the availability of new software for long forgotten analogue synths and the amazing technical plug-ins which have been getting better and better, all help to form the current sound of the music. All I know and care about really, is that there have been some great songs and cool new artists emerging recently and that is very inspiring.
Is there a favourite story you can tell from your days as Factory’s German representative?
Many. I remember Rob Gretton sent me a huge roll of posters to promote the first NEW ORDER album in Germany. To save on postage because the roll was so bloody big and heavy, he sent them by land and not airmail… well, they eventually arrived, three months later!
There are many funny stories and this interview would be longer than my Myspace page if I told them all. What many people don’t realise is that it was very difficult trying to promote Factory’s records in Germany back in the late 70s and early 80s. No one really wanted to know. This was due to the fact that Germany was rediscovering its own musical ability and creating its own new wave scene.
Early German punkbands like TEMPO, PVC or DAF had been fuelled by the UK punk movement, they in turn paved the way for the alternative avant-garde like MANIA-D, P1/E, DER PLAN or EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN and later, the more commercial new wave pap like NINA HAGEN, SPLIFF or IDEAL. No one was particularly interested in a small indie label from Manchester and certainly not in a miserable sounding band called JOY DIVISION.
Sure, there was some interest from the dedicated anglophiles but it was very small and it appealed to a few. Of course, this attitude changed somewhat when Ian died.
Have you heard SECTION 25’s new single ‘Colour, Movement, Sex And Violence’ which is released on Peter Hook’s Fac51 The Haçienda label? What do you think of the spirit of Factory Records being kept alive and kicking?
Yes, I have heard it and I think it’s a great tune. Love it. Very Manchester. I’ve always enjoyed SECTION 25 and this song is one of their best in ages. The spirit of Factory will be kept alive by the numerous fans of the sound the label had and by the new fans who are discovering it for the first time. Without Factory, the Manchester music scene wouldn’t be what it became and is today and most boys would probably still not know how to dance. In Germany, Strut have just released a new ‘Factory Dance’ 12″ double CD compilation, which introduces some of the lesser known Factory dance artists together with a few better known ones. It has very striking looking artwork and is a must-have for any Factory fan.
What are your own upcoming plans after Five Point One?
I plan to release a remastered version of DIE UNBEKANNTEN’s ‘Don’t Tell Me Stories’ album finally on CD, this might include some SHARK VEGAS tracks too and also in 2012, I hope to release a deluxe version of DIE VISION’s ‘Torture’, the last album to be recorded in communist East Berlin that I produced there in 1989. As for my own projects, now that would be telling wouldn’t it?
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its sincerest thanks to Mark Reeder
‘Five Point One’ is released on 25th November 2011 by Kennan Limited and distributed in Germany by Rough Trade Deutschland.
For more information on Five Point One including the full tracklisting and how to order this deluxe 2CD/DVD set, please visit http://www.five-point-one.co.uk/
BBC4’s marvellous ‘Synth Britannia’ celebrated the rise of the synthesizer and how it changed popular music forever, particularly in the UK.
Superbly produced and directed by Ben Whalley with interlinking cultural commentary provided by ‘Rip It Up And Start Again’ author Simon Reynolds, it was an empathetic documentary that captured the spirit of a golden era.
The contributors to the programme read like a ‘Who’s Who?’ of electronic music: Wolfgang Flür; Daniel Miller; Richard H Kirk; John Foxx; Gary Numan; Phil Oakey; Martyn Ware; Andy McCluskey; Paul Humphreys, Martin Gore; Vince Clarke; Andy Fletcher; Midge Ure; Dave Ball; Alison Moyet; Susanne Sulley; Joanne Catherall; Bernard Sumner; Neil Tennant; Chris Lowe.
They were to become the heroes of the revolution, rebels with a cause, poster boys and girls of the VCO! Although there were a few errors, especially with regards dates like when OMD signed to Factory and the single of ULTRAVOX’s ‘Vienna’ was released, this was an entertaining 90 minutes.
The new attitude brought about by punk in 1977 was still a bit too rock’n’roll for some like the young Daniel Miller, learning three chords was still three too many! But armed with newly affordable silicon-chipped technology by Korg and Roland from Japan, the true DIY spirit encouraged by the new wave would be fully exploited. Wonderful and weird sounds could be made using just one finger, knob twiddling would become the new art! Daniel Miller and Martyn Ware gleefully tell of their first synth purchase, in both cases it was the Korg 700s. The accessibility of the budget priced synthesizer offered the ultimate challenge to musical convention. It was electric dreams over acoustic nightmares!
Like some on this programme, my first introduction to the sound of the synthesizer came via KRAFTWERK and Walter (now Wendy) Carlos. In the summer of 1976, my junior school teacher was the young and pretty Miss Neilson.
She’d already shown her Bohemian colours by naming our pet guinea pig ‘Bilbo’!! But one day in PE, she made Class4 interpret movement to ‘Autobahn’ and the soundtrack to ‘A Clockwork Orange’!!!
Although too young to really appreciate what was going on, my aural palette was being shaped by this fantastic cacophony of electronics. Noveltyinstrumental hits like Jean Michel Jarre’s ‘Oxygene Part VI’ and SPACE’s ‘Magic Fly’ soon followed and caught my pre-teen futuristic mind as I eagerly waited for the next episode of ‘Space 1999’! The importance of science fiction in the development and imagination of electronic music cannot be underestimated with ‘Dr Who’ and the writings of JG Ballard being particularly important influences.
Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’ was Year Zero for modern electronic pop music as we know it. Producer Giorgio Moroder‘s throbbing sequencers and dance beats were “the future of the future”.
But Gary Numan’s first appearance in May 1979 on ‘Top Of The Pops’ was for many including myself, their ‘Ziggy Stardust’ moment in the birth of synthpop, ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’ was cold and detached, the discordant Moog machinery and the haunted vocal sneer connected with many during this gloomy period in Britain.
It seems unbelievable now, but it was the talk of school the following morning. Electronic music had just found its first pop star!
Unemployment in the UK was at an all time high. Margaret Thatcher was now in power while across the Atlantic, Ronald Reagan was “President Elect”! With fascist gods in motion, the Cold War had heightened to the point where no-one’s future on this earth could be guaranteed. Whilst OMD’s ‘Enola Gay’ related to the nuclear holocaust paranoia of the time via some incongruous melodic warmth, there were a number of other pop-orientated bands just around the corner.
The new Mk2 version of THE HUMAN LEAGUE, SOFT CELL and DEPECHE MODE all possessed a defiant spirit of optimism in the face of adversity because ultimately “everybody needs love and affection”! The music was emotive and avant, all at the same time! “We never wanted to be KRAFTWERK” says Phil Oakey, “we wanted to be a pop band!”
The use of synthesizers was a statement of intent, like an act of artistic subversion. But as Marc Almond once said, you can only truly subvert when you have access to the mainstream. How can you change the world if no-one hears you? Musically, the best way to achieve this was going to be through pop songs! Whilst owing a debt to KRAFTWERK and taking advantage of the door opened by Gary Numan, these acts managed to appeal to people who didn’t necessarily know what a Linn Drum Computer was! Joanne Catherall and Susanne Sulley amusingly recalled when the UK’s first Linn LM-1 was delivered to Martin Rushent’s Genetic Studios for the making of ‘Dare’: “They were all very excited… OK boys!”
There are several technology driven insights like Paul Humphreys playing ‘Enola Gay’ on the Korg Micro-Preset, John Foxx demonstrating the ARP Odyssey and Daniel Miller operating the ARP 2600 which was used on all the early DEPECHE MODE albums. There were often misconceptions about how this stuff worked though. “The number of people who thought that the equipment wrote the song for you: ‘well anybody can do it with the equipment you’ve got!'” remembers Andy McCluskey, “F*** OFF!!”
“You’ve got to remember it was the first time ever that someone could sit and make a record on their own” says Midge Ure, stating the recording of EURYTHMICS ‘Sweet Dreams’ in a basement on an 8 track tape machine as an example! But as the success of synthesizer continued, the backlash set in. Numan was particularly the victim of some venomous media attacks; not only was he doing electronic music but he had none of the anti-hero stance of punk… he wanted to be a popstar: “I don’t speak for the people because I don’t know them!” he exclaimed!
Andy Fletcher tells of the Battle Royale that DEPECHE MODE were always having with the press. People insisted it wasn’t proper music. The Musicians Union even tried to ban the use of synths in studios and live performance!
I remember fellow classmates unceremoniously smashed up and burned a copy of ‘Cars’… AND THEN presented me with the remains! If I wasn’t already feeling isolated, then this sort of intimidation was certainly going to seal it!
Martin Gore quotes a disgruntled rock journalist who described the genre as being for “alienated youth everywhere, and Germans!” As an outsider with a typical post-war ‘Boys Own’ fascination for Airfix kits and Messerschmitts, this music would define me! What did these narrow-minded hooligans know?
Worshipping America was not what I wanted! To me, soul and jazz funk (much like R’n’B today) was the horrid soundtrack of the school bully! SYNTHPOP and its Mittel Europa romanticism appealed to my sense of elitism. I could wear my intelligence on my sleeve, it would become my badge of honour! Pretentious… MOI?
The move towards today’s electronic based dance music as pioneered by Giorgio Moroder is symbolised by the success of NEW ORDER and PET SHOP BOYS. Legend has it that KRAFTWERK were so impressed by the sound of ‘Blue Monday’, they sent an engineer down to Britannia Row Studios to check out the equipment only to find out it was comparatively unsophisticated! But ‘Synth Britannia’ actually goes on to suggest that the success of the third generation acts like Howard Jones and THOMPSON TWINS was the death of this fantastic period.
“There was too much synthpop around, it was all very well being on a synth but actually the melodies and how some of the songs were structured was quite traditional and trite…” sighs Simon Reynolds, “it wasn’t that inventive as electronic music!” – he was right!
Unfortunately by the mid-80s, most of our heroes had given up the fight and went conventional. “We were all a bit lost by then” says Phil Oakey, “like we didn’t have anything to prove!” After declaring in 1980 that ‘Travelogue’ contained “synthesizers and vocals only”, THE HUMAN LEAGUE had by the disappointing ‘Hysteria’ credited Jo Callis with “guitars, keyboards, vocals”, sadly in that order!
Meanwhile OMD went from listing all their equipment on their ‘Dazzle Ships’ and ‘Junk Culture’ albums to Paul Humphreys simply being on “vocals, electronic keyboards, piano” for ‘Crush’! The lure of dollars to water down the synthesized sound for synthobic America just couldn’t be resisted anymore! This classic era of quality synthpop was sadly now over!
However, while the others fragmented, DEPECHE MODE got darker and stuck to their electronic blueprint, eventually achieving massive success in the US from 1988. So it would seem these pioneering acts’ original Eurocentric electronic manifestos had been right after all.
Their legacy is evident today: LITTLE BOOTS and LA ROUX have hit the Top 10, and collaborated on the marvellous BBC6 Music ‘Back To The Phuture’ live sessions with Gary Numan and HEAVEN 17 respectively; rock band MUSE credit “synths and programming” on their new album while featuring a song that sounds like ‘Vienna’; and a girl group cover of ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’ is a ‘Comic Relief’ charity single!
Meanwhile, the synthpop era’s big international No1s ‘Don’t You Want Me?’ and ‘Tainted Love’ are still being played at weddings and night clubs, ironically often being sung along to by the same bully boys who were setting fire to Gary Numan records years earlier!! “It was exciting to be part of a musical movement that had never been done before, it was a fine time” smiles Vince Clarke.
‘Synth Britannia’ ends appropriately enough with ‘Together in Electric Dreams’ and this final quote from Andy McCluskey: “We were trying to do something new, that is specifically why we chose electronics, we wanted to sweep away all of the rock clichés! And then what happens towards the end of the 80s and even worse, the mid 90s? Everybody decides guitars are back, synthesizers are somehow old fashioned AND, we get Oasis!!”
McCluskey holds his hand to his head in despair but today, most of the acts featured in ‘Synth Britannia’ are still playing to packed audiences around the world.
What was originally an electric dream is now a full blown reality. JUSTICE and a job well done 🙂
Ohm Sweet Ohm! The ‘Synth Britannia’ Soundtrack
DEPECHE MODE New Life
WENDY CARLOS William Tell Overture
WENDY CARLOS Title Music from ‘A Clockwork Orange’
KRAFTWERK Autobahn
THE CLASH White Riot
THE NORMAL TVOD
THE NORMAL Warm Leatherette
THE FUTURE 4JG
THE HUMAN LEAGUE Being Boiled
DONNA SUMMER I Feel Love
CABARET VOLTAIRE Seconds Too Late
CABARET VOLTAIRE Nag Nag Nag
OMD Messages
OMD Enola Gay
JOY DIVISION Atmosphere
JOHN FOXX Underpass
THROBBING GRISTLE Still Walking
THROBBING GRISTLE Hot on the Heals of Love
FAD GADGET Back to Nature
SILICON TEENS Memphis Tennessee
TUBEWAY ARMY Are ‘Friends’ Electric?
GARY NUMAN Cars
VISAGE Fade to Grey
THE FLYING LIZARDS Money
DEPECHE MODE New Life
DEPECHE MODE Just Can’t Get Enough
DEPECHE MODE Sometimes I Wish I Was Dead
THE HUMAN LEAGUE Don’t You Want Me
HEAVEN 17 – Penthouse & Pavement
CABARET VOLTAIRE Landslide
SOFT CELL Tainted Love
YAZOO Only You
YAZOO Don’t Go
OMD Maid of Orleans
EURYTHMICS Sweet Dreams
ULTRAVOX Vienna
KRAFTWERK The Model
DEPECHE MODE Everything Counts
DEPECHE MODE Master and Servant
PET SHOP BOYS West End Girls
NEW ORDER Ceremony
NEW ORDER Blue Monday
PHILIP OAKEY & GIORGIO MORODER Together in Electric Dreams
Text by Chi Ming Lai
27th March 2010, updated 29th November 2014
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In 1995, you worked with Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr on ELECTRONIC’s ‘Raise The Pressure’ album but it was reported at the time you were getting disillusioned with music technology. What had happened to make you feel like this?
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