At 74 years of age, GIORGIO MORODER has nothing more to prove, he’s back because he wants to be.
Da Maestro’s 21st Century musical return was launched in 2013 when he was commissioned by Google Chrome for their online game ‘Racer’. It was like the history of electronic dance music compressed into 4 minutes. But as these ideas have been mostly borrowed from Moroder anyway, it was only right for him to grab it all back. it showed the pretenders once again how electronic dance music should be done, and without stooping down to Guetta level.
Then at the backend of 2014 came Moroder’s statement of intent, ‘74 Is The New 24’. “Dance music doesn’t care where you live. It doesn’t care who your friends are” he said, “It doesn’t care how much money you make. It doesn’t care if you’re 74 or if you are 24 because… 74 is the new 24!” – distinctly Giorgio, it featured hints of his own ‘Chase’ from ‘Midnight Express’ as well as his defining productions for DONNA SUMMER, JAPAN and SPARKS.
‘74 Is The New 24’ comes in halfway through ‘Déjà Vu’, GIORGIO MORODER’s first album bearing his name since his 1985 collaboration with Phil Oakey from THE HUMAN LEAGUE. Although a vocalist in his own right on his solo material like his first single ‘Stop’ in 1966 to his 1977 UK hit ‘From Here To Eternity’, the Italian’s best known work has generally been in collaboration and in particular, with female vocalists. Thus ‘Déjà Vu’ is heavily biased towards an impressive roll call of well-known pop princesses such as SIA, BRITNEY SPEARS, KYLIE MINOGUE, CHARLI XCX, FOXES and KELIS.
First things first… ‘Déjà Vu’ is not a cutting edge club record, it is very much a Pop album with a capital P. Beginning with the wordless ‘4 U With Love’, it’s archetypal, thrusting Moroder although it also recalls ROGER SANCHEZ’s TOTO sampling ‘Another Chance’. It acts as a sparkling introduction to say “I’m back” before the title track fronted by the enigmatic Antipodean singer SIA. With rhythm guitars chopping away in the manner of CHIC’s Nile Rodgers, it is a good tune that LADY GAGA would be proud of.
Following on, CHARLIE XCX has certainly come a long way since ELECTRICTYCLUB.CO.UK first saw her in 2008 propping up third on the bill at a Popjustice showcase evening. Back then, she was a feisty Hertfordshire teenager with a Darth Vader obsession but now, she is rubbing shoulders with one of the most influential record producers of the last 50 years. Her appropriately titled ‘Diamonds’ is frantically paced, wobbling electro that comes over a bit like Marina on Quaaludes.
To tell the truth, the effervescent ‘Right Here, Right Now’ could be any one of KYLIE MINOGUE’s appealing electropoptastic numbers over the last two decades. But since ‘Light Years’ in 2000, the Australian pop pixie has been mining the Moroder treasure box, culminating in the Musicland meets Kling Klang amalgam of ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’… so in reality, everything has just come full circle.
Staying on the dancefloor, ‘Wildstar’ featuring the kooky Louisa Rose Allen aka FOXES enjoyably parties like its Studio 54. Along with a soaring chorus, there’s some throbbing synthbass and robot voices working in tandem for the middle eight. The stomping ‘Back & Forth’ sees KELIS processed to an almost masculine demeanour for an energetic slice of Europop, while Swedish chanteuse MARLENE adds a touch of Nordic soul to proceedings on the album’s most R’n’B leaning tune, ‘I Do This for You’.
The surprise of the collection is ‘Tom’s Diner’ featuring BRITNEY SPEARS. The original by SUZANNE VEGA was given a club treatment by DNA back in 1990 but here, not only does Moroder work some pulsing magic for the former teenage pop siren, he even adds a new bridge section featuring his deadpan vocodered phrasing alongside Miss Spears’ autotuned larynx.
However, the album’s two token male vocalists MIKKY EKKO and MATTHEW KOMA don’t fare so well, both sounding like generic boy band fodder on ‘Don’t Let Go’ and ‘Tempted’ respectively, with the former being the least irritating of the pair.
‘La Disco’ bookends ‘Déjà Vu’ with another instrumental in that classic Moroder-esque vein and when it finishes, it’s as if Da Maestro has never been away… the album does have a degree of familiarity to it and that’s because he more or less invented today’s format of modern dance friendly pop.
As the album title suggests, there are references to Moroder’s past glories… so listen out for those ‘Flashdance’ derived synth sounds! But overall, the various guest vocalists he has directly or indirectly influenced are the dominant players. Even in his absence, his sound has been around the ether. It’s a shadow that can’t be escaped now, so why fight it? ‘Déjà Vu’ is the sound of GIORGIO MORODER enjoying himself.
‘Déjà Vu’ is released via Giorgio Moroder Music LCC under exclusive license to RCA in CD, deluxe 2CD, vinyl LP and download formats
German producer Zeus B Held may be not as well known as some of his contemporaries like Giorgio Moroder, Martin Rushent and Colin Thurston, but he has been a key presence in the development of electronic pop music with his edgy, danceable sound. In 2005, Uncut Magazine referred to him as “an artier Giorgio Moroder”.
His credits have included FASHION, DEAD OR ALIVE and DIE KRUPPS alongside John Foxx, Gary Numan and Nina Hagen, while he was also instrumental in the synthetic sheen for wanabee punksters TRANSVISION VAMP. But he first became more widely known as one half of GINA X PERFORMANCE whose 1979 cult classic ‘No GDM’ was a regular staple at The Blitz. Recorded in Japan, Germany and the UK, ‘Logic of Coincidence’ is Held’s first solo record since 1981’s ‘Attack Time’.
An intelligent and adventurous album, ‘Logic of Coincidence’ is worthy of investigation on its concept alone as Held explained: “I have always been fascinated by the mathematical and philosophical aspects of coincidence. For me, ‘The Dice Man’ by Luke Rhinehart is an all-time favourite book. It tells the story of a psychiatrist who begins making life decisions based on the casting of dice, and I was lucky enough to find a recording of Rhinehart himself reading from it”.
Photo by Andreas Lindlar
Indeed, this spoken narrative makes its presence felt on two tracks, ‘The Glass Bead Dice Man’ and ‘Surrender Your Soul’, the former of which sets the scene for this cinematic, almost ambient imaginary film soundtrack. “There’s nothing you HAVE to be…” announces Rhinehart, “be anyone you want to be… surrender your soul, let the dice roll”
The beautiful ‘Being & Time In Todtnauberg’ plays with Alpine Volksmusik, crossing it with a reversing shuffle beat; it could be ‘Ohm Sweet Ohm’ for the 21st Century. A bizarre rhythm section comprising of mouth pops holds the jazzier ‘Sho Pen How Air’ together with vocoder flourishes while ‘Who’s Happy Here?’ is a sumptuous piece in a modern style. Imagine Johan Strauss reimagined by a WILLIAM ORBIT versus TOMITA collaboration with added dubdrops for good measure. What is striking about the first third of ‘Logic of Coincidence’ is that it is experimental yet highly melodic.
‘Stay Epicure’ is more futuristic, recalling JOHN FOXX when the distorted vocaloid kicks in. Meanwhile ‘Wittgenstein’s Balaclava’ and ‘Kepos Garden’ keep the albums conceptual ambience maintained but the more progressive ‘Seven Answers By Robert M. Pirsig’ takes things a little too far and loses itself in self-indulgence.
Another jazz odyssey shapes ‘Five Beats On Tyche’ but with ‘Chaos In Sisyphus’, the tension builds to layers of gentle synthesized squelches. While the album is perhaps not wholly representative of Held’s past pop exploits, his artier Moroder template notably appears on ‘Kant Can’t Dance’. Its disco friendly outlook sounds strangely out of place on ‘Logic Of Coincidence’ though, but it is a fabulous track all the same.
“These are soundtracks for imaginary, usually abstract scenes – film, theatre or performance – all of which involve philosophers, thinkers and writers who dealt with issues of chance and coincidence” says Held. And ‘Descartes’ Dream of Lully’ certainly provides a fitting close with neo-classical interludes and abstract explorations that get more frantic towards the track’s conclusion.
At nearly 70 minutes including a bonus remix version of ‘Kant Can’t Dance’ by DREAM CONTROL and a hidden percussive sound sculpture, ‘Logic of Coincidence’ is a bit on the long side, but it is a well-crafted musical journey from Held, with a good number of enjoyable and accessible highlights.
If there was ever a musical statement of intent, it has been made by GIORGIO MORODER’s most recent offering ‘74 Is The New 24’, the calling card for his brand new album out in 2015.
It shows once again how electronic dance music should be done, and that there is no need to stoop down to guetta level or the retarded formulaic drops of harris and garrix… and no, their names do not merit the use of capital letters! Distinctly Giorgio, with hints of his own ‘Chase’ from ‘Midnight Express’ as well as his defining productions for DONNA SUMMER and SPARKS, ‘74 Is The New 24’ could almost be a medley of all his pioneering work.
But he has given plenty to music so it is now time for him to grab it all back. The record will be GIORGIO MORODER’s first solo album in 30 years and is set to feature SIA, BRITNEY SPEARS, KYLIE MINOGUE, CHARLI XCX and FOXES. Will ‘74 Is The New 24’ reach the heights of ‘From Here To Eternity’ or ‘E=MC2’? It really doesn’t matter because based on this single and its predecessor ‘Racer’, Moroder has shown those chancers on their laptops how it’s actually done!
As Da Maestro put it himself: “Dance music doesn’t care where you live. It doesn’t care who your friends are. It doesn’t care how much money you make. It doesn’t care if you’re 74 or if you are 24 because… 74 is the new 24!”
So if ‘74 Is The New 24’, then ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK must be the new teenagers!
’74 Is The New 24′ is available as a download single via Giorgio Moroder Music LCC under exclusive license to Sony
Bionic Bubblepunk duo HYPERBUBBLE made a rare visit to the UK recently when they were invited to play cult indie queen Helen Love’s ‘Does Your Heart Go Boom?’ all dayer at The Lexington in London.
It was their first gig in the capital and in front of an audience more used to feisty indie pop, they won over the audience with their quirky electronic performance art. HYPERBUBBLE arrived on stage with Jess attired in a black sequined blouse while Jeff was in full Texan state costume including matching ten gallon Stetson… those watching were convinced they were about to witness a mutant Country & Western duo.
But synthpop’s own CARTER & CASH launched into their calling card ‘Candy Apple Daydreams’ for a 45 minute performance of quirky electro. With the wacky manner of THE B-52s, HYPERBUBBLE soon had the crowd smiling and eventually bopping away to fun uptempo numbers such as ‘Synesthesia’, ‘Bionic Girl’, ‘Non Biodegradable Hazardous Waste Disposal’ and ‘Chop Shop Cop’.
With some finely tuned robotics, Jess even found time to play Theremin and venture over to Jeff to give him a good spanking during ‘Girl Boy Pop Toy’ as his larger than life personality charmed the crowd. And as a tribute to their host HELEN LOVE, HYPERBUBBLE also did an affectionate cover of her song ‘Better Set Your Phasers to Stun’ from 2000 which was appreciated by all present including ‘Never Mind The Buzzcocks’ team captain PHILL JUPITUS.
After their enjoyable set at ‘Does Your Heart Go Boom?’, HYPERBUBBLE kindly chatted about Synths, Justice and The American Way…
So how do you feel after your first gig in London?
Jess: I’m ecstatic, I’m giddy! *laughs*
I woke up this morning and had this visual of what it was going to be like and it was better than what I thought.
Jeff: The same… we have played other UK cities like Lancaster and Manchester but we were really excited when Helen Love asked us to play London.
It was quite an eclectic line-up for this event so I had the impression some of the audience hadn’t heard a synthesizer played in a pop context for about 20 odd years! What did you think?
Jeff: Ours was the only music that had space between the notes! Instead of the strumming, there was suddenly all this airiness in the room! *laughs*
Jess: I actually think we fit more with Helen Love’s aesthetic because there’s some punk in there and bubblegum pop… so we chose our set with her in mind.
Jeff: We were banking on the audience not knowing what to expect, we threw in a few things to throw them off…
Jess: And, as Jeff likes to say, “guitars are retro…”
Jeff: Whenever anybody plays a synthesizer, the ‘80s’ comes up and the word ‘retro’ gets used. But we’re believers in what we’re doing is a continuance of something that may have stopped a little too prematurely and that hasn’t been explored as much or as often as it should be.
So there’s technology today which does things that couldn’t possibly have been done back in the 80s… I mean, aren’t those guitars and the style of music most often played with them retro? But with electronic music, there’s always been a sense of looking forward, of building upon something instead of looking back.
There were a lot of smiles in the audience during your performance?
Jess: We definitely play upon that because we see ourselves as part-performance art, kitsch cabaret pop…
Jeff: We were taking band photos and coming up with costumes as part of the art concept before we bothered doing the songs… HYPERBUBBLE is very much an art / music project.
So what would you say to observers who might say “it should only be about the music, it shouldn’t matter what a band looks like”?
Jess: I have to say, and not being too irreverent here, but I’m so tired of ‘sincerity’… people say music has to be sincere but art can be anything. And it can be humourous, it can be dark humour, it can be political commentary like our song ‘Non Biodegradable Hazardous Waste Disposal’… when you put limitations on what art or music can be, then you can miss a whole lot.
Jeff: I think the bands should be the ones making up their own rules and not having someone else making them.
In the US at the moment, EDM is popular… is that helping or hindering HYPERBUBBLE?
Jeff: EDM gives the potential audience something they can relate to and creates an open-mindedness. So our music has a point of reference now for people who didn’t understand it. Little do people know but they have been weaned on electronic music since the 60s with television commercials and movie soundtracks so there has finally been a breaking down of barriers that this wasn’t music. People are recognising that “yes, this is a valid art form now”!
Jess: I have this memory when I got my first synthesizer, my sister who played French Horn said “you can’t make real sounds on that thing! You can’t make the sound of a saxophone or French Horn” but I told her “I’m not trying to, I’m making new sounds”… flash forward to 2014 and she’s HYPERBUBBLE’s biggest fan, you’ll find her all over Facebook liking everything we do.
Jeff: When we were in Glasgow a couple of tours ago, I was in an elevator and there was this guy in there with a mandolin case and I was holding my microKorg case. He said “what’s that?”. I replied “a synthesizer” and he said “when the electricity runs out, you’re f***ed!”. I was thinking, when the electricity runs out, the last thing I’m going to be worried about is where I can plug in my synth! *laughs*
You went to Moogfest 2014 which featured KRAFTWERK and Giorgio Moroder?
Jess: I didn’t go, Jeff went with his brother who’s in the band NITE RISK…
Jeff: Oh, it was like a disciple going to The Sermon On The Mount, it really was. KRAFTWERK were a band I first heard when I was 13 with this otherworldly sound…I listened to ‘Autobahn’ daily! In my mind, they are this perfect combination of music and art concept. To see it played out… I was actually weeping during ‘The Robots’! But the most poignant moment though was when they had a technical issue and you saw human beings behind the keyboards having to deal with an error… they were so graceful about it. And instead of sending out some flunkey to tell the audience to hold tight, Ralf Hütter took responsibility and came out to apologise. I think we were lucky to see the human part of this band. I think we saw one of the best KRAFTWERK shows ever because we got a little peek behind that mystique that has been built up.
Likewise, attending a seminar with Giorgio Moroder and watching him perform live laid to rest the mythology of him being a cold, robotic producer. He was warm, and actually quite funny. Also, like seeing KRAFTWERK, hearing Moroder speak about monumental singles like ‘I Feel Love’ and the soundtracks from ‘Midnight Express’ and ‘Cat People’ brought those early HYPERBUBBLE influences full circle.
Your main project this year has been the soundtrack for the film ‘Attack Of The Titans’, and you’ve won an award?
Jeff: Yeah, the award was for ‘Dee Dee Rocks The Galaxy’, a film that was made by the same crew as ‘Attack Of The Titans’. It won ‘Best Soundtrack’ at the 48 Hr Film Festival. It’s going to be coming out next year, because we’re trying to pace the releases a little.
With the soundtracks, we’re going back into what got us into this kind of music in the first place, listening to those TANGERINE DREAM soundtracks like ‘The Park is Mine’, ‘Sorcerer’, ‘Risky Business’ and ‘Thief’, which, by the way, worked great while riding the London Underground this trip.
We’d done ‘Drastic Cinematic’ which was a make-believe soundtrack, and it led us to being invited to do actual soundtracks. I just love being given a concept and a visual and asking myself “what are you going to do that suits this?” – ‘Dee Dee Rocks The Galaxy’ is the next step forward for us, because it’s a mini-synth rock opera which required us to work with singing actors.
Jess: Speaking of concepts, our costumes tonight are foreshadowing what’s to come… we plan to produce, mix and create the first electro Country & Western LP *laughs*
Jeff: Actually, ‘Switched On Nashville’ may have been the first! *laughs*
With our stage clothes, we’re playing up to people’s expectations, then throwing in a paradox… looking like their pre-conceived idea of what a Texan is and then sounding nothing like it! So now we’re going to flip it all the way over. Synthesizers with their pitch bend and portamento really lend themselves to that country twang! And the first three letters of “Moog” spell MOO! *laughs*
It’s been four years since the ‘Candy Apple Daydreams’ album and you’ve been doing these soundtracks and EPs. Has that been conscious? Do you think albums are an outdated concept?
Jess: My first thought is that we keep trying to do something new each time and not repeat it.
Jeff: Also, when we try to do something, we try to do the best version of that concept we can and we were really satisfied with ‘Candy Apple Daydreams’… it was like “let’s do an electronic pop rock opera with a theme and a storyline”. A lot of what we like about electronic music came from the ‘song’ bands that wrote pop tunes but much of it has also come from soundtrack and experimental music. Those first three albums were about establishing ourselves enough to have room to stretch out a little bit more.
Although Texas has a great crop of electronic based acts such as FEATHERS, ELEVEN: ELEVEN and IRIS, do you ever feel that being there that you’re out of sorts in terms of location as far as electronic music is concerned?
Jeff: Well, Texas is the home of NASA and you can’t get much more technical or electronic than that *laughs*
Jess: I think San Antonio has come along way since its heavy metal days, there’s a lot more up and coming bands who are duos or have a minimal set-up. But of course, we’re close to Austin which is the state’s music capital so it’s a great place to be. And our biggest supporters have been the visual art community in Texas so we really cross over into that realm.
Jeff: San Antonio actually has a secret synthpop history. Shortly after THE SEX PISTOLS played at Randy’s Rodeo in our hometown of San Antonio in 1978, you had this explosion of bands that were inspired by that, but who also listened to FAD GADGET and THE NORMAL. As a result, in the early 80s, there were actually a lot of San Antonio synth-driven acts like DEM VACKRA, BA SYNDICATE, INNOCENT X, CHARLES ATHANAS, MANNEQUIN, LUNG OVERCOAT (of which I was a founding member) and GET REAL. We tip our ten gallon hats to them. Yee-haw!
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to HYPERBUBBLE
‘Better Set Your Phasers To Stun – The Next Generation’, the ‘Attack Of The Titans’ soundtrack and HYPERBUBBLE’s four albums ‘Drastic Cinematic‘, ‘Candy Apple Daydreams’, Solid Pop’ and ‘Airbrushed Alibis’ are available on CD from http://www.hyperbubble.net/
In one of the most productive years ever for electronic pop music, it has been extremely difficult to whittle down the list to 30 songs.
The standard has been extremely high and songs which would have made the listing in previous years have been left off. This has meant the controversial omission of DEPECHE MODE. Despite being as popular as ever, grossing over $99 million during the ‘Delta Machine’ tour, once a shortlist for 2013 was drawn, the competition was so stiff that nothing from the album even scraped in!
Yes, 2013 has been that good and wonderful songs by the likes of KELLI ALI, ELEVEN:ELEVEN, GAZELLE TWIN, GHOST CAPSULES, GOLDFRAPP, HANNAH PEEL, IAMX, KOVAK, MOBY, NIGHT ENGINE, NINE INCH NAILS, SAY LOU LOU, and SOFT METALS have just missed inclusion too!
So the songs on this alphabetical list have been released in physical formats, or digitally as purchasable or free downloads during the calendar year with a limit of one song per artist moniker.
ADULT. Idle (Second Thoughts)
The new ADULT. album ‘The Way Things Fall’ was fittingly described by one observer as “a snuff film version of Speak & Spell”. The fears of relationships and the outside world have very much fuelled the dystopian demeanour of ADULT. While still retaining their distinctive edge, their mutant love songs have a magnetic charm. This was particularly evident on the fabulous single ‘Idle (Second Thoughts)’, a vibrant electro hybrid of GINA X PERFORMANCE and SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES which showcased a strange blend of menace and melody.
Available on the album ‘The Way Things Fall’ via Ghostly International
Moving away from the industrial battleground in which they made their name, ANALOG ANGEL began the year with the enjoyably immediate ‘We Won’t Walk Away’, a laudable tribute to OMD’s classic ‘Organisation’ era. Complete with primary chord structures, one-fingered melodies and motorik rhythm programming, there was even a hint of the dulcet tones of Andy McCluskey in John Brown’s vocal. But just one thing though… Paul Humphreys wants his Prophet 5 back 😉
Available on the download EP ‘Pride’ via Carbon 12 Records
‘Without A Trace Of Emotion’ saw KARL BARTOS conversing with his showroom dummy Herr Karl and confronting his demons as an ex-member of the world’s most iconic electronic group. The most straightforward pop song on the ‘Off The Record’ album, its autobiographical resignation was not unlike ‘Life’ from ‘Communication’. But whereas his former colleague Wolfgang Flür vented his spleen in book form with ‘I Was A Robot’, Bartos took a more ironic musical approach with the line “I wish I could remix my life to another beat”, a wry reference to ‘The Mix’ project which drove him to madness and out of Kling Klang!
Available on the album ‘Off The Record’ via Bureau B
The concept of BEF’s ‘Music Of Quality & Distinction Vol3 – Dark’ is dark interpretations of perceivably upbeat songs using a variety of guest vocalists. One of the beauties of this type of project is how seemingly incongruous elements are fused together for a blissful whole. Here, melodramatic Sheffield singer/songwriter DAVID J ROCH tackles BILL WITHERS’ ‘Same Love’ via Martyn Ware’s wonderful arrangement blending a neo-acapella intro into a meaty electro-disco tune with spacey whistles and haunting invader games like GIORGIO MORODER producing SPACE’s ‘Magic Fly’.
Available on the album ‘Music of Quality & Distinction Vol3 – Dark’ via Wall Of Sound
Co-written by Swedish electro songstress KARIN PARK, Norway’s Eurovision Song Contest 2013 entry came fourth. ‘I Feed You My Love’ was like ROBYN and KELLY CLARKSON fronting ‘Songs Of Faith & Devotion’ era DEPECHE MODE. In fact, its performer MARGARET BERGER came second in the 2004 series of Norwegian Idol so the description was quite apt. The on-paper incongruous outcome was leftfield by Eurovision standards but perhaps not entirely shockingly, it got nul points from the United Kingdom; it summed up mainstream tastes in the UK and the country’s general Euro scepticism if nothing else!
The saviours of synthpop had an amazing year with sold out club shows and five dates supporting DEPECHE MODE in Europe. CHVRCHES‘ most accessible track ‘The Mother We Share’ was synthpop perfection with the concept of TAYLOR SWIFT gone electro having uprooted to Berlin. It deservedly scooped Popjustice’s Twenty Quid Music Prize for best UK single. Despite its wonderfully catchy chorus, it was not wholly bubblegum with its plethora of futuristic sounds and strange noises! Lauren Mayberry, Iain Cook and Martin Doherty delivered on their promise with an impressive debut album ‘The Bones Of What You Believe’, save the two incongruous indie synth numbers sung by Doherty!
Available on the album ‘The Bones Of What You Believe’ via Virgin Records
ELECTRONIC CIRCUS are led by Chris Payne, the keyboard and viola virtuoso who was a member of GARY NUMAN’s band between 1979 to 89 and featured prominently on the Top10 single ‘Complex’. He notably co-wrote ‘Fade To Grey’ which became a huge international hit for VISAGE. With his adopted home surroundings very much the backbone of ‘Roundabout’, the track itself possessed a sexy and authentic Gallic charm, courtesy of Chris’ wife Dominique. The exquisite, almost naïve vocals over the most incessant synth riff either had listeners dancing with delight or irritated to the point of submission… the seemingly banal words were actually a very clever metaphor for midlife!
Available as a download single via Coverdrive Records
It had to happen and the world found its female DEPECHE MODE! Led by vocalist / songwriter / programmer Anastasia Dimou, the sound was probably more like post-apocalyptic BANGLES or BELINDA CARLISLE with gothic overtones in hindsight. The first single ‘Land Of The Innocent’ was a wondrous epic based around the arpeggio of ‘Ice Machine’ and driven by a hard incessant beat. Possessing an industrial gloom with an enlightening pop sensibility, it was what LADYTRON would have sounded like if they had formed in a Texan desert rather than spectre of Merseyside!!
Not content with producing MARSHEAUX and collaborating with OMD on ‘Helen Of Troy’, Greek production duo FOTONOVELA unveiled a new sophomore opus which was more song based using a number of prominent international vocalists. One of the numbers ‘Our Sorrow’ featured the majestic voice of James New from the missing-in-action MIRRORS. The string synth laden ditty was in the vein of classic OMD and with the South Coast combo calling it a day in 2013, this was a fitting way to depart The Hall Of Mirrors.
Available on the album ‘A Ton Of Love’ via Undo Records
JOHN FOXX and JORI HULKKONEN had worked together previously but never before on a body of work with a conceptual theme. Their latest collaboration took on a grainier downtempo template and the lead track ‘Evangeline’was all the more beautiful for it. Full of depth, coupled with an anthemic chorus and vibrant exchange of character throughout, this rousing yet soothingly futuristic number was quite otherworldly. The title of the parent EP said it all…
Available on the EP ‘European Splendour’ via Sugarcane Records
Nobody really knows for sure who are GIRL ONE & THE GREASE GUNS but names like Sissy Space Echo, Warren Betamax, Charles Bronson Burner and Bruce LeeFax are commensurate with their manifesto “to thrive on causing confusion with a mixture of pure synth pop and more experimental electronic sounds”. ‘Jessica 6’ is a tribute to the cult Sci-Fi favourite ‘Logan’s Run’. The eerie post-punk cacophony laced with icy Yamaha string machine makes it the perfect belated choice for the soundtrack. Add in a frantic reverbed backbeat and it all comes over like THE PIPETTES fronting collaboration between JOY DIVISION and OMD.
Available as a download single via Squirrel Records
From a long player with distinctly orchestrated and acoustic overtones, ‘Thea’ was the most overtly electronic song on ‘Tales Of Us’. Alison Goldfrapp’s vocal soared angelically, surrounded by very subtle synthetic dance textures and layers of percussive craft. While the beat was mechanical, it didn’t sound out of place on the very organic parent album.
Available on the album ‘Tales Of Us’ via Mute Records
KID MOXIE is the musical vehicle of Los Angeles based Elena Charbila. Her first full length album ‘Selector’ was bolstered by a MARSHEAUX remix of its best song ‘Medium Pleasure’. Always sounding her best when adopting a breathy continental vocal style, Elena Charbila recorded possibly her best song yet as KID MOXIE with ‘The Bailor’, a dreamy and sexy tunes that glistened in the Aegean Sea. The Wayfarer remix of the song was also issued later in the year in aid of The David Lynch Foundation .
LADYTRON’s Helen Marnie released her long awaited debut solo album ‘Crystal World’ in the summer. Recorded in Iceland, it suitably captured the island’s beautifully relaxed but volatile atmosphere. Its opening track ‘The Hunter’ was a tremendous calling card and the vibrant electropop single that LADYTRON never quite got round to releasing. Very pretty and delectably glacial, the tune was vocally and musically expansive like an Arctic escapist fantasy, melancholic but free of doom.
Available on the album ‘Crystal World’ via Les Disques Du Crespuscle
MARSHEAUX’s fourth album ‘Inhale’ had been a long time coming. And it appeared as though the Greek financial crisis had loomed heavy over its making, resulting in moodier, midtempo numbers taking centre stage. ‘August Day’ though was a grower, developing on the maturer outlook apparent on the album’s concept, with a hint of CHVRCHES’ steadier paced output. Less immediate but overwhelmingly dreamy, it captured the senses after multiple listens.
MESH’s founders Mark Hockings and Richard Silverthorn know their audience so the lattice of danceable electro-rock continued on their best album yet ‘Automation Baby’. But the beautiful ‘The Way I Feel’ showed a more sensitive side with hints of Ennio Morricone. Shaped by acoustic guitar and string machine washes, the atmospheric maturity that MESH were now showcasing was a welcome surprise.
Available on the album ‘Automation Baby’ via Dependent
MONARCHY’s ‘Disintegration’ featured the sexy burlesque queen DITA VON TEESE on vocals. With its vampish disco crashing into elements of GIORGIO MORODER, it sounded like the SCISSOR SISTERS gone right and even threw in a few VISAGE frequency warbles! ‘Disintegration’ was a rather excellent, stomping floor filler of the first degree with some hook laden energy and cooing feline appeal.
GIORGIO MORODER is now 73 years old but is as vital as ever having produced the dance track of the year! Commissioned by Google Chrome for their online game ‘Racer’, the piano line was like ULTRAVOX reworked for Studio 54 while the whirring synths and trancey elements made it come over like history of modern electronic dance music squashed into 4 minutes. But as these ideas were mostly borrowed from Da Maestro himself, it was now his time to grab it all back. Moroder easily rivalled any young hopeful with a set of double decks and a laptop.
ALISON MOYET made a return to the electronic experimentation that made her famous as one half of YAZOO on her new album ‘the minutes’. With contemporary synthesized backing over a powerful rhythm construction and stuttering guitar textures courtesy of new collaborator Guy Sigsworth, Moyet’s deep emotional vocal resonated on ‘Changeling’ with a confidence and energy that dispelled the public’s perception of her as just a jazz singer!
Available on the album ‘the minutes’ via Cooking Vinyl.
Positively feline but dysfunctionally dark like Britney gone emo, NIGHT CLUB‘s cutely subversive ‘Poisonous’ based itself, like STEFY’s lost 2007 single ‘Chelsea’, around the riff of ‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)’. This superb slice of catchy electronic pop from the LA combo of Emily Kavanaugh and Mark Brooks roused with a huge crossover potential while possessing a sinister edge.
Available on the download EP ‘Love Casualty’ via Gato Blanco
NOBLESSE OBLIGE are French theatrical performer Valerie Renay and German producer Sebastian Lee Philipp who specialise in a brand of abstract Weimer cabaret tinged with a dose of electro Chanson. NOBLESSE OBLIGE’s lengthy funereal deadpan cover of THE EAGLES’ ‘Hotel California’ highlights the chilling subtext of the lyrics to its macabre conclusion! The synthesizer interpretation of the original song’s iconic twin guitar solo will either be seen as total genius or sacrilege!
Available on the album ‘Affair Of The Heart’ via Repo Records
‘Who Are You?’ is one of those great uptempo anthemic songs in the vein of ‘Listen To My Voice’ from 2000’s ‘Pure’ that confirms when GARY NUMAN hits the target, he hits bulls-eye! Written for a film about a musician with schizophrenic personality, it fitted well with the parent album ‘Splinter’ and its ‘Songs From A Broken Mind’. The album wasn’t just one-dimensional riff monsters and the varied material was some of Numan’s best work for years.
Available on the album ‘Splinter (Songs From A Broken Mind)’ via Mortal Records / Cooking Vinyl
The standard of ‘English Electric’ was so high that any one of its song based tracks could have made the list. But ‘Stay With Me’ is the album’s hidden gem. The first Paul Humphreys lead vocal for OMD since 1986’s ‘Forever Live & Die’, the song was originally demoed as ‘Idea 3’ and voiced by Andy McCluskey. Ever the master of melody and inspired by events around him, Humphreys reworked it into a more straightforward love song but added a beautiful cinematic resonance. It came over like ‘Love Theme From St Elmo’s Fire’ meets ‘Souvenir’ with subtle lashings of white noise!
“Incandescent…”; yes the hypnotic ‘Fluorescent’ was basically a buzzy dancefloor makeover of ‘Fade To Grey’ with the chilling Polymoog string preset from VISAGE’s original remaining in the mix while waves of synth sirens attacked it like a Martian invasion. The parent album was ‘Electric’ by name and electric by nature, and easily the PET SHOP BOYS‘ best body of work since ‘Very’. It more than made up for 2012’s lame duck ‘Elysium’…
Available on the album ‘Electric’ via X2 / Kobalt Records
A stomping electro disco number produced by Mark Reeder who previously has remixed JOHN FOXX, DEPECHE MODE and PET SHOP BOYS, QUEEN OF HEARTS‘ cooing Bush-like howls and breathy euphoria are a total delight to the ears while the mighty cavernous sound provides the heat! Yet ‘United’ has ended up as the B-side of the less satisfactory ‘Secret’. However, if songs like this are being seen as outtakes, this is all a good sign for her debut album in 2014 which is eagerly awaited…
Available on the download EP ‘Secret’ via Night Moves
Originally, written by Saffron with noted producer Andy Gray, ‘Christiana Obey’ had been doing the airplay rounds in 2012 but finally secured a formal release to coincide with REPUBLICA’s touring comeback this year. With its suitably big chorus, Saffron was on good anthemic form while a meaty remix from TENEK enhanced the song even further and made it ready to go!
Available on the EP ‘Christiana Obey’ via Republica Music
POLLY SCATTERGOOD made her debut in 2009 with a self-titled album released on the iconic Mute Records. With key influences such as BJORK and KATE BUSH, it combined jubilant experimental pop with her innocent, affected vocals. From her second album ‘Arrows’, ‘Wanderlust’ realised her potential with a slice of deliciously wired avant pop in the GOLDFRAPP vein, although closer scrutiny revealed it to be more like electronic COCTEAU TWINS with that rousing air of fragility.
The Finnish duo of Juho Paalosmaa and Jori Hulkkonen swiftly followed up their acclaimed eponymous debut of 2012 with ‘Afterlife’. Hulkkonen told The Electricity Club back in 2011 that it was being a fan of PET SHOP BOYS that inspired him to make music. ‘Moonstruck’ is a fine melancholic beat ballad in the Tennant/Lowe tradition where Paalosmaa’s emotive lost boy demeanour blends wonderfully with the sweeping drifts and building swathes of synth strings. It is also possibly the best song of its type that Neil and Chris never recorded.
Available on the album ‘Afterlife’ via Solina Records
Like ‘Twin Peaks’ meets ORBITAL, ‘Damaged Software’ was an enticing piece of electro from Anais Neon and Martin Swan which affirmed their status as Britain’s premiere independent synth duo. With a tour supporting OMD in Germany where they encountered the likes of Karl Bartos and Wolfgang Flür backstage, their vile adventure of meeting former KRAFTWERK members continued when they shared the bill with Michael Rother at Elektrofest. Three years in the making, the parent album ‘The future through a lens’ was well worth the wait.
Techno DJ WESTBAM celebrated 30 years in the music business with an intriguing mature collection of songs under the title of ‘Götterstrasse’. While the theme of the album centred on the joy and euphoria of underground nightlife, the album’s magnificent launch single ‘You Need The Drugs’ was not actually a celebration of illicit substance use. Voiced brilliantly by THE PSYCHEDLIC FURS’ Richard Butler, WESTBAM himself said it was “the first explicit electronic appeal AGAINST the use of drugs with a clear message: drugs are a bore!”. From a brilliant album that also featured vocalists as diverse as Iggy Pop, Bernard Sumner, Brian Molko, Lil’ Wayne and Kanye West, ‘Götterstrasse’ was the surprise electronic release of the year.
Available on the album ‘Götterstrasse’ via Warner Music Germany
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At 74 years of age, GIORGIO MORODER has nothing more to prove, he’s back because he wants to be.
The surprise of the collection is ‘Tom’s Diner’ featuring BRITNEY SPEARS. The original by SUZANNE VEGA was given a club treatment by DNA back in 1990 but here, not only does Moroder work some pulsing magic for the former teenage pop siren, he even adds a new bridge section featuring his deadpan vocodered phrasing alongside Miss Spears’ autotuned larynx.
is released by Les Disques Du Crépuscule, CD available from 
? It really doesn’t matter because based on this single and its predecessor ‘Racer’, Moroder has shown those chancers on their laptops how it’s actually done!
tour, once a shortlist for 2013 was drawn, the competition was so stiff that nothing from the album even scraped in!
was basically a buzzy dancefloor makeover of ‘Fade To Grey’ with the chilling Polymoog string preset from VISAGE’s original remaining in the mix while waves of synth sirens attacked it like a Martian invasion. The parent album was ‘Electric’ by name and electric by nature, and easily the 
has ended up as the B-side of the less satisfactory ‘Secret’. However, if songs like this are being seen as outtakes, this is all a good sign for her debut album in 2014 which is eagerly awaited…
was an enticing piece of electro from Anais Neon and Martin Swan which affirmed their status as Britain’s premiere independent synth duo. With a tour supporting OMD in Germany where they encountered the likes of Karl Bartos and Wolfgang Flür backstage, their vile adventure of meeting former KRAFTWERK members continued when they shared the bill with Michael Rother at Elektrofest. Three years in the making, the parent album ‘The future through a lens’ was well worth the wait.
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