Tag: Mark Reeder (Page 5 of 12)

ALEX HUSH Interview

6 July 2020 /

Alex Hush is the noted dance producer best known for his work in DAYBREAKERS with Ric Scott and before that, KOISHII & HUSH with Simon Langford.

Based in Toronto, undoubtedly now one of the liveliest and most creative hubs for modern electronic music, Alex Hush has an impressive portfolio that includes U2, MADONNA, ERASURE, PET SHOP BOYS, YAZOO, DURAN DURAN and INXS among others.

His latest work has been with DAYBREAKERS and an excellent remix of ERASURE’s new single ‘Hey Now (Think I Got A Feeling)’.

Alex Hush was also behind the famed seven volume ‘Retro:Active – Rare & Remixed’ CD compilation series on Hi-Bias Records in Canada which dug deep in the vaults for rare tracks by VITAMIN Z, LEISURE PROCESS and SEONA DANCING as well as featuring notable extended versions from the likes of A-HA, DEAD OR ALIVE, CAMOUFLAGE, OMD and THE CURE.

Alex Hush spoke about his career to date with DAYBREAKERS, KOISHII & HUSH and a whole lot more…

All the projects you have been involved with are largely associated with a dance friendly sound, what sort of clubs, DJs and environments influenced your approach to music?

Good question. I suppose I would say I was shaped by the music I grew up listening to in the 80s and to this day. In Toronto, there was a station called CFNY which played a ton of new wave and house tracks that were hugely influential. After that, people like Judge Jules, Pete Tong, Armin Van Buuren etc, all had a big influence with the tracks they played.

Who were the artists that you grew up loving?

ERASURE, NEW ORDER, DEPECHE MODE, PET SHOP BOYS, DEAD OR ALIVE, THE CULT, THE CURE, DURAN DURAN and many more. Even artists that only had one or two songs made an impact. I suppose for most people, if you liked one of the bands I mentioned, you more than likely listened to all of them.

So you love songs and you love remixes?

I do. I am no different than anyone when it comes to remixes. Sometimes a remix will turn a good track into a great track and other times I may not love the remix that was done. When it comes to remixes, fans can be very passionate and very opinionated and I am no different.

Who are your favourite remixers?

So many great ones but off the top of my head, the ones that I really like(d) are Shep Pettibone, Matt Darey, Tin Tin Out, Mark Saunders, Ferry Corsten. Any time their names appear you know you are getting something special.

Your first big name remix as DAYBREAKERS was ‘Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way’ for U2, there were a lot of remixes commissioned for that, what was your approach to make it distinct?

For that mix, we wanted to try something with a bit of a deeper vibe to it while using the vocals in a unique way. We did two mixes and Bono really liked the ‘main’ mix and had an idea for an extra vocal. So he recorded it and sent it over and we incorporated it into the final mix which we were really pleased about. Nice to have his input and something unique.

How did you feel when MADONNA came calling for ‘I Rise’? Did you get to find out what she thought of your mix?

Just to work on U2 and MADONNA tracks was a thrill. We got the MADONNA mix right after the U2 one and it was a lot of fun to work on also. Because of the style of song, we took that in a different direction and was glad she and her team were happy with it.

No, we never got any direct feedback from her, but we were honoured that our mix was one of the ones chosen to be included on the RSD vinyl release.

DAYBREAKERS have produced a remix for ERASURE’s new single ‘Hey Now (I Think I Got A Feeling)’, do remixers get set a brief or is the point of being involved is that you are given artistic freedom?

I suppose that would depend on the project. We have never been given any sort of guidelines for a remix, but on occasion I have asked the label if they have any sort of direction for the mix. That can save a lot of time if you start out doing a mix in style a) and they really had style b) in mind. Other than that though, we have never had any sort of restrictions or template given to us.

The ERASURE mix was a lot of fun. We started out making a very progressive house sound and it was sounding good but neither Ric nor myself thought it was truly capturing the feel of the original. We completed that and set it aside, during which time Ric came up with a cool idea of a ‘pop’ mix, which ended up morphing into the final mix you hear now.

‘Marigold’ by the NEW ORDER offshoot SHADOWPARTY was another track remixed by DAYBREAKERS, would you like to be asked to work on an actual NEW ORDER song one day?

Yes! That is definitely on our bucket list! ‘Marigold’ was a great track to work on. Loved the original and having known Tom and Phil from NEW ORDER and BAD LIEUTENANT and getting to know Josh, doing a mix for them seemed like a no brainer. They are very passionate about what they do and great musicians.

Speaking of NEW ORDER, you worked with Gillian Gilbert on ‘Lifetime’ in KOISHII & HUSH, how did that come together?

I have been friends with NEW ORDER management for ages, and when we sat down to come up with our dream collaborators list, Gillian was on it. Her vocals on THE OTHER TWO project are so good, we had to get her singing something for us, so we pitched the idea and luckily, she agreed! The entire NEW ORDER camp are great.

KOISHII & HUSH were known for using some unusual vocalists as in artists who were not known for singing. Had that been a conscious concept or did it evolve naturally?

Hmmmm. I don’t think we ever set out to make a ‘non singers’ list – it just kind of happened. We did have a running list of people we wanted to work with just because we thought the combinations would be unique and quite cool, but it was not really a concerted effort. I would say that of all the people we approached, we got about 90% of them on board. We still have many unreleased K&H tracks that will see the light of day at some point.

One example was DURAN DURAN’s John Taylor and ‘C’est Tout Est Noir’, what inspired the collaboration?

Well both Simon and I were fans of DURAN DURAN and I knew John had done stuff on his own and always liked his style.

His track ‘I Do What I Do’ from the ‘9½ Weeks’ soundtrack really stood out in my mind and he considers ‘C’est Tout Est Noir’ a follow-up to that song, which is very cool.

‘C’est Tout Est Noir’ had a superb remix by Mark Reeder, when you write and produce a song, can you get “possessive” about things or does your experience allow you to remain objective?

Yes and no. Like I mentioned before, I can have the same reactions to remixes as anyone. What I do try and do though is remove myself from the equation and listen to it as someone not involved, which is not always easy to do. If you love a remix someone has done of your work, then great. If at first it is not really grabbing you, you need to think “ok, maybe this is not MY style but it might be for someone else”.

To be honest, I can only think of one occasion ages ago where a remix was submitted and we were not enamoured with it, but as it was not ‘our’ sound, who were we to judge? In Mark’s case, yes, it’s a great mix and we were thrilled to have him involved. I know John really liked his mix too and used it as the backing track on a vlog he made flying from London to LA.

The KOISHII & HUSH track ‘Rules & Lies’ was sung by Sarah Blackwood, what was she like to work with?

Total diva. LOL just kidding! She was great. Super sweet and did a great job on the writing and vocals. We met with Sarah at a coffee shop in London and hit it off right away. We were thrilled to have her involved because I had been such a huge fan of DUBSTAR. She is an underrated talent and would love to work with her again.

Is the album dying art? In the dance environment where there is less focus on the long player format?

It certainly seems that way, which I think is unfortunate. With so much of music being based on quick hits on social media, and with songs getting shorter to take advantage of streaming services, I think the whole experience that an album used to bring is gone. It obviously started with the ‘death’ of the CD and it has only gotten worse. Music seems to be the only instance where this seems to happen. You don’t watch bits of a movie or only read a few chapters of a book…

You’ve remixed DURAN DURAN, PET SHOP BOYS, YAZOO, INXS, WHEN IN ROME and B-MOVIE among others in your various guises, do you have any particular favourites from your career?

Oh sure. The remix of INXS’ ‘Need You Tonight’ was a big one and I think it still holds up to this day. ‘Storm In A Teacup’ for ERASURE and others, but it’s tough to pick out individual ones. They are all different and hopefully special to the listener in their own way.

Is there anyone else who you would really like to work with or remix?

I would really like to remix DEPECHE MODE or A-HA. I know we would love to work with a bunch of other people but I am not going to mention any names in case I jinx something ?

What’s next for DAYBREAKERS or anything else you are working on?

We have our first single signed to a label and that will be coming out soon. We are really excited about this one. We think it sounds great and hopefully others think so too!

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its grateful thanks to Alex Hush

DAYBREAKERS’ remix of ERASURE’s ‘Hey Now (Think I Got A Feeling)’ is released by Mute Artists and available now via the usual digital outlets

https://www.facebook.com/We.Are.Daybreakers

https://twitter.com/Daybreakers__

https://www.instagram.com/we.are.daybreakers/

https://www.facebook.com/Koishii.and.Hush

https://twitter.com/koishiiandhush

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
6th July 2020

ALANAS CHOSNAU & MARK REEDER Children of Nature

26 May 2020 /

Mark Reeder first met Alanas Chosnau at the Lithuanian International Film Festival in 2015.

Chosnau was born to a Lithuanian mother and Iraqi-Kurdish father, growing up in Baghdad before returning to Lithuania to be raised by his grandparents in what was then part of the Soviet Union. When The Iron Curtain came down, he became the singer of the DEPECHE MODE influenced duo NAKTINĖS PERSONOS before embarking on a successful solo career and becoming a national celebrity.

Meanwhile Reeder’s musical past of bringing JOY DIVISION to perform at Kant-Kino in Berlin, introducing NEW ORDER to electronic dance music, co-managing DIE TOTEN HOSEN and establishing the MFS label which introduced Paul Van Dyk to the club masses is well documented. Attending the screening of Reeder’s documentary film about his life before the fall of the wall ‘B-Movie (Lust & Sound in West Berlin)’, Chosnau connected with what he saw and sharing some common ground, the two discussed working together.

Reeder remembered: “Alanas wanted to make an album in English, an album that reflected upon a time when he was a kid growing up in the Soviet Union, and not able to absorb the sounds of synthpop coming from the West”. So the pair conceived to make a retro-modern sounding album evoking an illusion of a creative music era that was initially denied to Soviet citizens, while simultaneously presenting a record for today. That record being ‘Children of Nature’.

‘How Do You Feel?’ is a fine start, with cimbalom samples amongst the steadfast programmed electronics for an authentic Eastern European flavour. Hinting at a circus of death with its stark rhythmic swing punctuated by white noise, ‘Fade On’ comes over as more texturally resonant than much of DEPCEHE MODE’s output in the 21st Century.

Reflecting the worldwide lockdown, ‘All Alone’ uses a classic four chord progression shaped by sequencers, chilling string synth and a midtempo Compurhythm. And when Chosnau emotively asks “Does anybody feel the same way like me?” in a chillingly forlorn manner recalling Peter Heppner of WOLFSHEIM, it captures the physical and mental emptiness of solitude.

Raising the tempo, the ‘Children of Nature’ title song uses a lively percussive lattice for some appealing Europop with a spy drama edge bolted on, thanks to some NEW ORDER derived six string and trancey keyboard stabs.

Meanwhile, bathing in an atmospheric lake of OMD allows Chosnau to provide what can only be described as a heroic start to ‘Drowning in You’. As the Synare lightning crashes point south of Berlin to Vienna, it all paces up with a splendidly uplifting second half that vocally recalls ‘I Feel It’ by LORRAINE, a lost Norwegian band whose artwork was designed by Peter Saville.

The guitar based intro to ‘Stand Up’ provides a chromatic spin and Chosnau’s diction suits the dark but rousing backdrop that could be interpreted as a call to arms for resistance. Despite some sparkling synths, ‘Tonight’ though doesn’t quite hit the heights of the impressive run of tunes gathered in the first half of the album.

But Reeder revisits his SHARK VEGAS past by dusting off ‘I Can’t Share This Feeling’, a previously unreleased number from a period when his combo opened for NEW ORDER; with a solemn electronic bassline and minimal fretwork, it rings with a nostalgic air of longing despite a wall blocking the passage of love.

‘It’s Who You Are’ sees Chosnau in a spiritually majestic mood with Reeder’s sparse synth and guitar backing not that far off Brian Eno-produced U2 numbers such as ‘With Or Without You’ or ‘Promenade’.

Hypnotically rigid, ‘Love of My life’ is perhaps more typical of Mark Reeder’s ‘Reordered’ restylings for BLANK & JONES and perfect for a European dancefloor. Continuing the club friendly vein, ‘Heavy Rainfall’ could be a grooving NEW ORDER disco number with Reeder’s rhythm guitar syncopating off an exquisite range of electronic patterns while some spacey magic flies within the soundspace.

With a further reflection on the worldwide lockdown, ‘Losing My Mind’ is the cinematic number that Chosnau and Reeder contributed to the French Cold War movie ‘Le Chant Du Loup’. Its sonic arrangement wouldn’t have sounded out of place on a Bond film soundtrack, especially with the virtual brass ensemble and string cascades. And when the cimbalom solo kicks in, a widescreen vision of Maurice Binder’s iconic title sequences cannot be avoided.

After Chosnau announces “Everybody wants to feel love”, ‘A Loving Touch’ has looming vocal topline references to Shannon’s ‘Give Me Tonight’, while its catchy tech-house template is not unlike the work of the Hungarian DJ Corvin Dalek, a past collaborator and close associate of Reeder.

Chosnau offers some confessional yearning on ‘Heartburn’ to close and the entry of piano motifs over a minimal arpeggio and sparing guitar before synthetic strings sweep towards the horizon with the sombre demeanour of a less apocalyptic take on Gary Numan’s ‘My Last Day’.

As Mark Reeder and Alanas Chosnau have outlined, ‘Children of Nature’ is a reflection of their personal experiences and hopes for the future. But while the album has a melancholic air, it is optimistic and hopeful. It is a record that does not hide its multi-generational influences, but uses them to present quality songs with superlative vocals and sympathetic instrumentation, marrying East and West European approaches.

Surmising the context, Reeder concludes that: “Over the decades, solitary dancing in a club has become the norm. After months of isolation, to be dancing and the desire to hold and touch each other is probably even greater than before. Dancing on your own is no longer an attractive prospect and that will change once the clubs reopen again. Maybe people will appreciate what that feeling is like to actually hold someone in your arms on the dancefloor?”

Because this album has been made by two people who personally experienced the divisive spectre of the Cold War head on, ‘Children Of Nature’ symbolically captures that emotion of desiring love and intimacy in isolation, something that is very relevant in these strange times.

‘Children of Nature’ is released by MFS on the usual digital platforms including direct from Bandcamp at https://markreeder.bandcamp.com/album/children-of-nature

https://alanaschosnau.com/

https://www.facebook.com/alanaschosnau/

https://www.instagram.com/alanaschosnau/

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

https://twitter.com/markreedermfs

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

https://mfsberlin.com/

https://open.spotify.com/album/6QinQBH8STYT86s59YRO8t

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Martyn Goodacre
26th May 2020

ALANAS CHOSNAU & MARK REEDER All Alone (Single Mix)

16 May 2020 /

The worldwide lockdown has produced a number of fitting and poignant musical responses from muscians and artists.

SNS introspectively told of their ‘Small World’, while Zachery Allan Starkey was much fiercer in his appraisal as he reflected in collaboration with Bernard Sumner on how New York had become ‘Fear City’

The latest song on the topic is ‘All Alone’ by Lithuanian-Kurdish singer Alanas Chosnau and Berlin-based producer Mark Reeder. Following on from the equally relevant ‘Losing My Mind’, a cinematic number that Chosnau and Reeder contributed to the French Cold War movie ‘Le Chant Du Loup’, ‘All Alone’ comes from the pair’s upcoming album ‘Children of Nature’.

Co-produced by Mark Reeder with his regular studio partner Micha Adam, ‘All Alone’ uses a classic four chord progression shaped by sequencers, chilling string synth and a midtempo Compurhythm.

Meanwhile, Chosnau projects the solemn vocal air of Peter Heppner of WOLFSHEIM as he emotively asks “Does anybody feel the same way like me?”. ‘All Alone’ of course comes in a single mix because as can be seen in the striking video crafted by award winning director Aleksandras Brokas, he is in on his own…

Reeder first met Alanas Chosnau at a film festival and have put together a collection of retro-modern love songs which now feel prophetic in the current situation, so much so that they probably could have named their project CORONA CRISIS.

Alanas Chosnau was born to a Lithuanian mother and Iraqi-Kurdish father, growing up in Baghdad before returning to the then Soviet-governed Lithuania to be raised by his grandparents. After the fall of communism, he became the singer of the domestically popular DEPECHE MODE influenced duo NAKTINĖS PERSONOS. He said: “We had no idea what was to come, but it seems we touched on a frequency from the future and the song appears to have been derived from a deep, inner-feeling we both had at the time”.

Dedicated to all currently living a life in lockdown, Mark Reeder told ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK: “I’ve been in isolation-lockdown for 59 days now. I’ve actually not been outside at all in this time, except for the occasional quick breath of fresh air on the balcony. I’m treating this like being in a spaceship. As if I was on my way to a new world.”

‘All Alone (Single Mix)’ is released digitally by MFS on 18th May 2020

https://alanaschosnau.com/

https://www.facebook.com/alanaschosnau/

https://www.instagram.com/alanaschosnau/

https://mfsberlin.com/

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

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

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Martyn Goodacre
16th May 2020

STOLEN Lockdown Live From Chengdu

29 March 2020 /

With the release of their excellent breakthrough album ‘Fragment’ on MFS in Autumn 2018, STOLEN solidified their position leading the new generation of Chinese artists combining East and West.

‘Fragment’ was produced by Mark Reeder and Micha Adam in Berlin. Their Sinomatic techno-rock sound impressed NEW ORDER enough to invite the Chengdu sextet to open for them in Europe during Autumn 2919.

STOLEN were due to open for NEW ORDER again in Spring 2020 in Japan but with the escalating corona crisis, these dates along with an extensive tour of China were cancelled and the band was forced into lockdown for over six weeks.

After the restrictions were lifted in China, the moment that the band were allowed to go out, they immediately went to their practice studio and performed an live internet lockdown gig, in solidarity with all those people still in lockdown, or at worst, facing the prospect of one.

Led by the growly vocal presence of Liang Yi, songs from the NEW ORDER support set like the KRAFTWERK inspired ‘Why We Chose to Die in Berlin’, the mighty PINK FLOYD gone Techno of ‘Turn Black’, the buzzy extended jam of ‘The Loop Sin’ and the band’s hypnotic signature tune ‘Chaos’ were performed.

Other tracks featured included the poignant electro-metal rush of ‘Why We Follow?’ and the Middle Eastern flavoured ‘Aamir’ from their debut record ‘Loop’ which may appeal to modern day Numanoids. But proceedings were emotively concluded with the haunting Eno-esque ‘Drown With Me’.

The hour long set was broadcast live on 16th March 2020 and attracted over 200,000 viewers worldwide on social media. With virtually the whole world now in a state of isolation, this show has now been made available for all to stream via YouTube. Capturing aspects of the exhilarating audio-visual nature of their live presentation, it acts as a fine introduction to those who are curious about STOLEN.

With 2020 being the 40th anniversary of his passing, the late Ian Curtis of JOY DIVISION eerily captured the current situation in the lyrics of ‘Isolation’: “In fear every day, every evening – He calls her aloud from above – Carefully watched for a reason – Painstaking devotion and love – Surrendered to self preservation from others who care for themselves – A blindness that touches perfection but hurts just like anything else”

Stay safe everyone ??

‘Fragment’ is released by MFS as a double vinyl LP, available from https://mfsberlin.com/

Digital formats available now direct via https://stolenmusic.bandcamp.com/album/fragment

https://www.facebook.com/STOLENfromChina/

https://www.instagram.com/stolen_official/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
29th March 2020

10 Years of ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK – STILL PUSHING THE ENVELOPE

16 March 2020 /

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK celebrates its tenth birthday and it really has been synthly the best.

At the HEAVEN 17 aftershow party for their triumphant gig at The Magna Science Park on 6th March 2010, following chats with Glenn Gregory, Martyn Ware, Paul Humphreys and Claudia Brücken, interview opportunities opened up. It was obvious there was gap waiting to be filled for a quality web publication that featured the best in new and classic electronic pop without having to lower itself to using the dreaded “80s” label.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK was it and became reality on 15th March 2010. Electronic pop music didn’t start in that Thatcher decade and certainly didn’t end there either. So there was even an editorial diktat which banned ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s writers from using the lazy”80s” term as a reference. Tellingly, several PR representatives said that one of the site’s main appeals was that it avoided the whole nostalgia bent that had been presented by both virtual and physical media.

At the time, kooky female fronted keyboard based pop like LA ROUX, LITTLE BOOTS, LADYHAWKE, LADY GAGA and MARINA & THE DIAMONDS were among those touted as being the future at the time. But it proved to be something of a red herring, as those acts evolved back into what they actually were, conventional pop acts. ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK preferred the sort of innovative synthpop as outlined in BBC4’s Synth Britannia documentary.

With the next generation of artists like MARSHEAUX, VILE ELECTRODES, VILLA NAH and MIRRORS more than fitting the bill, that ethos of featuring pop music using synthesizers stuck too.

Meanwhile, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s portfolio expanded swiftly with key personalities such as Rusty Egan, Sarah Blackwood, Richard James Burgess, Warren Cann, Chris Payne, Thomas Dolby, John Foxx, Andy McCluskey, Neil Arthur, Alan Wilder, Mark Reeder, Gary Langan, Jori Hulkkonen, Howard Jones, Mira Aroyo, Sarah Nixey and Hannah Peel among those giving interviews to the site during its first two years.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK has always prided itself in asking the questions that have never usually been asked, but which fans want to know the answers to. And it was with this reputation for intelligent and well researched interviewing that in March 2011, the site was granted its biggest coup yet.

Speaking to Stephen Morris of the then-on hiatus NEW ORDER, the drummer cryptically hinted during the ensuing chat that Manchester’s finest would return by saying “I never say never really”.

And that is exactly what happened in Autumn of that year and the band have been there since, as popular as ever and still making great music with the release of ‘Music Complete’ in 2015.

Monday 21st March 2011 was an interesting day that partied like it was 1981 when it saw the release of albums by DURAN DURAN, THE HUMAN LEAGUE and JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS. Also in 2011, Mute Records celebrated their influential legacy with a weekender also at London’s Roundhouse which culminated in ERASURE, YAZOO and THE ASSEMBLY performing in the same set.

Despite the ‘Brilliant’ return of ULTRAVOX, 2012 paled in comparison after such a fruitful year and several acts who were featured probably would not have gained as much coverage in more competitive periods. With pressure from outsiders as to what was hot and what was not, this was the only time ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK felt it was obliged to support a domestic scene.

But realising acts like HURTS and STRANGERS were actually just jumping on an apparent synth bandwagon and possessing more style than substance, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK decided to change tact and only featured acts it felt truly passionate about, even if it meant upsetting the wider synth community. The reasoning being that just because a band uses a synthesizer doesn’t mean it is good.

During this time, MIRRORS sadly disbanded while VILLA NAH mutated into SIN COS TAN. But the year did see the launch of CHVRCHES who stood out from the crowd with their opening gambit ‘Lies’.

With their Taylor Swift gone electro template, Lauren Mayberry and Co managed to engage an audience who didn’t know or care what a Moog Voyager was, to listen to synthpop!

2013 turned out to be one of the best years for electronic pop since its Synth Britannia heyday. What ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK achieved during this year would take up a whole article in itself… there were high profile interviews with Alison Moyet, Gary Numan and Karl Bartos while OMD released the album of the decade in ‘English Electric’. PET SHOP BOYS made up for their ‘Elysium’ misstep with ‘Electric’ while there was finally a third volume in BEF’s ‘Music Of Quality & Distinction’ covers series.

Although 2014 started tremendously with ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK being invited to meet Karl Bartos and Wolfgang Flür in Cologne, the year suffered next to the quality of 2013. The interviews continued, particularly with key figures from the Synth Britannia era including Midge Ure and the often forgotten man of the period Jo Callis who was a key member of THE HUMAN LEAGUE during their imperial phase.

But the year saw grandeurs of delusion at their highest. There was the clueless Alt-Fest debacle which saw the organisers play Fantasy Festival with no cash to underwrite the infrastructure to enable it to actually happen!

Sadly today, there are still egotistic chancers organising events with zero budget and the money from ticket sales being fleeced to fund their holidays. But these artificial factors are rarely considered and so long as there are lower league artists desperate to play for nowt and a misguided enhancement in profile that is often on a platform that provides minimal exposure anyway, then the confidence tricks will continue.

2015 saw the local emergence of Rodney Cromwell and Gwenno, while the majestic Swedish duo KITE proved that they were the best synth act in Europe with the ‘VI’ EP and their impressive live show. It was also the year when ERASURE front man Andy Bell gave his first interview to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK to offer some revealing insights.

Making something of a comeback after a recorded absence of nearly eight years, Jean-Michel Jarre presented his ambitious two volume ‘Electronica’ project which saw collaborations with a varied pool of musicians including Pete Townsend, Lang Lang, John Carpenter, Vince Clarke, Hans Zimmer, Cyndi Lauper, Sebastien Tellier and Gary Numan.

VILLA NAH returned in 2016, as did YELLO with Fifi Rong as one of their guest vocalists while APOPTYGMA BERZERK went instrumental and entered the ‘Exit Popularity Contest’. Riding on the profile generated from their ‘A Broken Frame’ covers album, MARSHEAUX released their biggest-selling long player to date, a two city concept in ‘Ath.Lon’. This was also the year that ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK first became acquainted with the analogue synthesizer heaven of Johan Baeckström, a modern day Vince Clarke if ever there was one.

2017 saw a bumper crop of great albums from the likes of I SPEAK MACHINE, LCD SOUNDSYSTEM, SOULWAX, IAMX, GOLDFRAPP and DAILY PLANET, while veterans such as Alison Moyet and Gary Numan produced their best work of the 21st Century.

However DEPECHE MODE unleashed their most dire record yet in ‘Spirit’, a dreary exercise in faux activism bereft of tunes. Salt was rubbed into the wound when they merely plonked an underwhelming arena show into a stadium for their summer London show. The trend was to continue later in 2019 as DEPECHE MODE just plonked 14 albums into a boxed set, while OMD offered an album of quality unreleased material in their ‘Souvenir’ package.

And with DEPECHE MODE’s sad descent into a third rate pseudo-rock combo during the last 15 years to appease that ghastly mainstream American institution called The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame with guitars and drums, Dave Gahan in particular with his ungrateful dismissal of the pioneering synth-based material with which he made his fortune with, now has what he has always coveted.

And don’t get ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK started on the 2019 Moog Innovation Award being given to Martin Gore, a real insult to true synth pioneers if ever there was one, including Daniel Miller, Vince Clarke and Alan Wilder, the three men who actually did the electronic donkey work on those imperial phase DEPECHE MODE albums! Gore may have been a very good songwriter during that time, but a synth innovator? Oh come on!?!

With regards Synth Britannia veterans, new albums in 2017 from Richard Barbieri and Steve Jansen saw a revived interest in JAPAN, the band with which they made their name. Despite releasing their final album ‘Tin Drum’ in 1981, as a later conversation with one-time guitarist Rob Dean proved, cumulatively from related article views, JAPAN became the most popular act on ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK.

The return of SOFT CELL dominated 2018 with a lavish boxed set that was not just comprised of previously released long players, new songs, new books, a BBC documentary and a spectacular farewell show at London’s O2 Arena.

Meanwhile, adopting a much lower profile were LADYTRON with their comeback and an eventual eponymous sixth album. A Non Stop Electronic Cabaret saw Canadian veterans RATIONAL YOUTH play their first ever UK gig alongside PAGE and PSYCHE, but coming out of Brooklyn to tour with ERASURE was REED & CAROLINE.

EMIKA was ‘Falling In Love With Sadness’ and Swedish songstress IONNALEE showcased one of the best value-for-money live presentations in town, with a show that surreal imagined Kate Bush at a rave!

But from China came STOLEN, one of the most exciting bands in years who were then later rewarded for their graft with a European tour opening for NEW ORDER.

2019 was the year when synthwave graduates Dana Jean Phoenix and Ollie Wride were coming into their own as live performers, while electronic disco maestro Giorgio Moroder embarked on a concert tour for the first time with his songs being the true stars of the show.

Gary Daly of CHINA CRISIS gave his first interview to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK to tie in with his solo album ‘Gone From Here’, while a pub lunch with Mark White and Stephen Singleton mutated into an extensive chat about their days in ABC. Lloyd Cole adopted a more synthesized template on ‘Guessworks’ and Britpop went synth as GENEVA’s Andrew Montgomery formed US with Leo Josefsson of Swedish trio LOWE.

If ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK does have a proudest achievement in its first ten years, then it is giving extensive early coverage to VILLA NAH, MIRRORS, VILE ELECTRODES, METROLAND, TINY MAGNETIC PETS and SOFTWAVE, six acts who were later invited to open on tour for OMD. Partly because of this success, some of those who were less talented felt aggrieved despite feeling an entitlement to be featured. If an act is good enough, the fact that ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK hasn’t featured them should not matter, especially as other electronic and synth blogs are available. After taking its eye of the ball once before in 2012, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK maintained a trust of its own gut instinct.

Meanwhile, its stance has been tested by those shouting loudest who instantly champion what they perceive as the next big thing like sheep, without really looking ahead at a wider picture. However, TRAVIS on VSTs is just not ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s thing frankly…

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s participation in the annual ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE in Düsseldorf for on-stage interviews with Rusty Egan, Chris Payne, Mark Reeder and Zeus B Held was another high profile engagement to be proud of. Then there were six live events and five rounds of hosting ‘An Audience with Rusty Egan’ in one of the most unenviable but highly entertaining refereeing assignments in music!

Other highlights over the last ten years have included ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s 2015 career retrospective on German trio CAMOUFLAGE being edited and used as booklet notes for the Universal Music sanctioned compilation CD ‘The Singles’.

As 2020 settles in, highly regarded artists within the electronic community continue to engage with ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK. Neil Arthur recently gave his seventh interview as BLANCMANGE and his tenth interview overall, taking into account his side projects FADER and NEAR FUTURE. Not far behind, Martyn Ware has also been a regular interviewee having spoken to the site on six occasions while Paul Humphreys has been interviewed no less than five times.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK is still pushing the envelope, continuing to reflect the interests of people who love the Synth Britannia era and have a desire to hear new music seeded from that ilk. With artists like ANI GLASS, IMI, KNIGHT$, NINA, MECHA MAIKO, GEISTE and PLASMIC among those on the cusp of a wider breakthrough, there is still more excellent music still to be created, discovered and savoured.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its sincerest thanks to everyone who has taken the time read any article on the site over the last ten years, it is greatly appreciated.

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Image Design by Volker Maass
16th March 2020, updated 29th January 2021

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