Out of all the British bands to emerge from the post-punk era, Liverpool’s A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS made one of the most lasting impacts on modern popular culture.
Noted by lead singer and keyboardist Mike Score’s outlandish hairdo, his distinctive bonce was sent up on ‘The Wedding Singer’ and ‘Friends’. Meanwhile, Samuel L Jackson’s “YOU! FLOCK OF SEAGULLS!” line from ‘Pulp Fiction’ in reference to an assassination target’s hairstyle was appropriated by the music press to mock the band!
But A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS have a musical legacy too. In 1983, they won a ‘Best Rock Instrumental Performance’ Grammy Award for the track ‘DNA’, at a time when The Second British Invasion had still yet to fully take hold in an America still drunk on TOTO and JOURNEY!
Then in 2005, THE MODERN released a single entitled ‘Industry’ which bore more than a passing resemblance to ‘The More You Live, The More You Love’. According to band member Nathan Cooper, better known these days as KID KASIO, this was purely accidental: “We didn’t realise until halfway through the promotional tour for it. We were doing an interview for a little radio station in Sheffield and the presenter pointed it out and played both back to back!!!! We were speechless and a bit embarrassed… the verse for both songs is almost EXACTLY the same!!”
Then bizarrely, the poacher met the gamekeeper! “We actually supported them years later” remembered Cooper, “we were so embarrassed, we were going to drop ‘Industry’ from our set! But in the end, I just went up to Mike Score and explained it and said ‘I’m really sorry, it was unintentional’. He was really lovely about it”. THE MODERN weren’t the only ones mining the Seagull Songbook.
In 2007, MARSHEAUX borrowed the main riff from ‘Space Age Love Song’ for their ‘Dream Of A Disco’, often thought of as the Greek synth maidens’ signature song. Indeed, imitation can be the sincerest form of flattery…
Mike Score unsurprisingly trained as a hairdresser, but music was where his ambitions lay. Joining forces with his drummer brother Ali and bassist Frank Maudsley, they rehearsed as a three-piece and began writing songs along the way. But it was not until after the recruitment of guitarist Paul Reynolds that things began to gain momentum.
By late 1979, Merseyside had become a hot bed of emerging musical talent with acts such as ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN, THE TEARDROP EXPLODES, DEAD OR ALIVE, WAH! HEAT, CHINA CRISIS and OMD. But with their Sci-Fi songs and penchant for dressing up as spacemen, A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS never fitted in with their local contemporaries.
So one could imagine the reaction of Mac The Mouth and Droolian when Mike Score and Co were the the first of the gang to break America when their eponymous debut album reached No75 in the US charts on the back of ‘Telecommunication’, a Bill Nelson produced song from it, becoming a No1 US Dance hit!
A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS had got their original break when Bill Nelson produced and released their debut single ‘(It’s Not Me) Talking’ for his Cocteau label in 1981. But it was with their fourth single ‘I Ran’ that they first nestled just outside the UK Top40. With an echoing guitar kick, this was futuristic synthesized rock along the lines of ULTRAVOX that crucially became a US Top10 in the Billboard Hot 100.
The embracement from America came via MTV; Mike Score’s memorable back combed hair style and the band’s unusual appearance appealed to a college demographic which was tiring of permed long hair and blue denim. With a sound that combined enough conventional rawk guitar to have mainstream appeal while adding a spacey sheen with prominent synths, A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS were onto a winning formula.
Produced by Mike Howlett, who also steered OMD, BLANCMANGE and CHINA CRISIS to chart success, ‘A Flock Of Seagulls’ was a concept album of sorts about an alien invasion that featured ‘I Ran’, ‘Space Age Love Song’ and ‘Telecommunication’, plus other great tracks such as ‘Modern Love Is Automatic, ‘Messages’ and the Grammy Award winning ‘DNA’.
Also produced by Howlett except for the album’s closer ‘(It’s Not Me) Talking’, ‘Listen’ released in 1983 made an even bigger impact, thanks to the song many consider to be A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS’ crowning glory, ‘Wishing (I Had A Photograph Of You)’.
With a percussively clanky backbone and using just black keys for its infectious melody line, it was the big home hit that A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS has been waiting for. Further singles ‘Nightmares’ and ‘Transfer Affection’ were good but did not reach quite the same heights, although that mattered little as at this point, the quartet were one of the most heavily rotated acts on MTV.
Their third album ‘The Story Of A Young Heart’ in 1984 was the beginning of the artistic and sales decline, although the lead single’ ‘The More You Live, The More You Love’ was classic A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS in the vein of ‘Space Age Love Song’.
By the time of the fifth long player ‘Dream Come True’, Reynolds had left the band as the remaining threesome settled into their new base of Philadelphia, but A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS had lost that distinctly British edge that made them so appealing to the US in the first place.
‘Heartbeat Like A Drum’ was a passable watered down digital pop song of a period when British acts like OMD and THE HUMAN LEAGUE were chasing the American dollar, but the Hi-NRG paced ‘Who’s That Girl (She’s Got It)’ was poor and the beginning of the end. By 1986, the Score brothers had fallen out and A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS had disbanded.
The legacy of A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS has now been bolstered by a new compilation on Cherry Pop with the self-explanatory title of ‘Remixes & Rarities’. Featuring most of the band’s singles in radio edit and extended format, it also acts as a document to some of the more hidden experiments of the band, and how popular music was changing under the spectre of MTV and club culture.
There were rumours that while ‘Dream Come True’ was being recorded, A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS were turning into a Mike Score solo act. Two lengthy instrumentals ‘The Last Flight Of Yuri Gagarin’ and ‘Rosenmontag’ that featured on the flip of ‘Nightmares’ certainly give the impression that this was starting to be the case, even back then. Having not been included on Cherry Pop’s album reissues, this pair of collage curios certainly haven’t been missed… also not much cop is the rather badly put together ‘Single Medley’.
Much better though are the nine minute version of ‘Wishing (I Had A Photograph Of You)’, an edit of its B-side ‘Committed’ and the extended remix of ‘Never Again (The Dancer)’ which comes over like OMD but with more guitar. The ‘Full Moon Mix’ of ‘The More You Live, The More You Love’ fairs less well, being one of those horrid dub styled reworks that were prevalent from 1984 onwards and which featured very little of the actual song!
An assortment of live versions fill the remainder of this compendium and these recordings act as a reminder that despite the exposure on MTV, it was actually A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS’ ability as a live band and a willingness to tour as support to the likes of bigger acts such as GENESIS, THE POLICE and THE GO-GO’S in the US that cemented their success. A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS continue to play live today with Mike Score being the sole remaining original member.
While he might no longer have his hair or his Scouse accent, ‘Remixes & Rarities’ is evidence that despite how they were derided in their own country and have been sent up by popular culture, A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS have a significant number of great songs in their back catalogue that worldwide audiences still want to hear.
KID MOXIE, the musical vehicle of Elena Charbila has been making further crossover strides with her 2016 EP ‘Perfect Shadow’.
Comprising of six songs and an appendix of remixes including one of the lead track ‘Dirty Air’ by MARSHEAUX. This was used by lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret in an enticing Black Friday viral video. Remixes aside, this six song sequence of exquisite euphony with tunes such as ‘4am’ and ‘Still High’ is undoubtedly KID MOXIE’s best body of work to date. Elena Charbila kindly chatted about all the latest happenings in the world of KID MOXIE…
The ‘Perfect Shadow’ EP appears to have gained traction and attracted new listeners to KID MOXIE, why do you think that is?
Although it’s done in the same Cinematic Pop vein as ‘1888’ and not a big transition in sound, some of the remixers like MARSHEAUX and TAREQ plus the involvement of THE GASLAMP KILLER who’d just released his EP, have opened new avenues to other audiences. I did a track ‘Pathetic Dreams’ with THE GASLAMP KILLER for his album, so there was traction from that in the States.
You seem most comfortable in collaboration whether it’s with THE GASLAMP KILLER, LOST IN STARS or THE SOUL LESS PARTY? How would you describe you creative dynamic with these artists?
If it’s a remix, there’s a lot of freedom, I like to see what people do with the track and where they take it to. I don’t want to confine them to any kind of space. So if MARSHEAUX take a track, I trust them completely to deliver something killer and obviously, I’m not going to tell them what to do with it.
But I also trust the people that I co-write songs with. But it’s a very different dynamic with everybody. THE GASLAMP KILLER brings a very ethnic feel with a little more grime and acoustic sounds to the mix as he’s a big fan of horns and strings like I am; so he brings out that side of me.
Now with Dylan Willoughby from LOST IN STARS and my other producer Darren Burgos, those two guys have a lot of that synth mentality and were instrumental in getting that production value you’d get from an electronic record. I like to join forces because everybody brings out a different element of me into the music.
I’d like to think it has an arc and that every song doesn’t sound like a previous one. There’s a song called ‘Girl Without A Secret’ that was inspired by doing an electronic version of what ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ might sound like. ‘Still High’ is a big unabashedly romantic synth love song. What I love about the 80s is the fact that there was a lot of emotion punctuated with big synths and snares, they weren’t afraid of it.
The hipster culture is afraid to show too much emotion now, so everything is now really cool, cerebral things instead of obvious things like “YOU DIDN’T CALL ME!” and “I MISS YOU!” – the thing is, love is cheesy and love is simple, longing for something is universally geeky I think and it doesn’t come in a hipster package. So with ‘Still High’, I thought, “let’s not be afraid of emotion here and let’s make it really big”. I myself am afraid of emotion of my own fear of sounding cheesy.
Then there’s tracks like ‘Dirty Air’ that was a song about a big city and a girl being isolated in her room and looking out. Every song comes from an image in my head or a scene that I’m playing out, a feeling rather than a sound. So there’s very different sounding songs on the EP; ‘Perfect Shadow’ is very different from ‘Still High’, one is very instrumental while one is very synthy. So that’s why I like to cover my music under the Cinematic Pop umbrella.
Photo by Efi Gousi
Looking back, while the ‘1888’ album was a major leap forward artistically, the songs on ‘Perfect Shadow’ appear to be more mature?
Thank you, that’s great to know. You like to believe that the older you get, the more layered as an experience it becomes. It’s good to know that this sounds more multi-layered and more complete than before.
It’s more focussed than before…
Actually, that’s the best word to describe it… It feels more focussed. I’ve done KID MOXIE for about nine years; you keep trying things and seeing what works so that you can listen back and say “Hey! I actually like this”. But most of the first couple of release, I don’t… maybe of only 10% has value to me now. I think you mature into what you really want to put out there and who you want to work with. Again, collaborating with people that are going to understand you and bring out the best in you, it really shows in the final product.
Which songs have been your own favourites and why?
I have a soft spot for ‘Still High’, for me it was a venture into not being afraid to sing about simple, heartfelt emotions and punctuating them with big synth and snares. But it’s not a lot of people’s favourite which I’m surprised about, although people seem to really love ‘Dirty Air’.
The visual presentation for the ‘Perfect Shadow’ EP with the videos appears to have been an important consideration?
I always for my music, it’s better to have a visual piece than singing it live, because that’s what’s been driving it in the first place, an image or an atmosphere in my head. It serves the music better to have it coupled with something than fits the mood and generates the feeling that I originally wanted.
The ‘Dirty Air’ video led the release and was a very important aspect of the whole EP because you set the tone with a certain story. In that one, there’s a girl in downtown LA and we don’t know if she’s human or what, she’s collecting people in jars… there’s a certain symbolism and I think anybody can make it to be what they want it to be, but for me it’s about falling in love and collecting pieces of people through life, like how you devour them and get devoured by them.
And that can be very dangerous as you can get lost in a back mass, but it’s also pretty playful in that love can be dangerous. I always think that pretty much everything I do has a duality to it as pretty playful but also dangerous, it’s never too sweet and never too sombre.
Your music does possess an erotic tension…
I think sex and love is something that has always been a big concern in me, something that’s has affected decisions in my life, for better or worse! You can’t deny that love and attraction guide things that we do in life, Freud used to say that it’s the core thing that guides everything we do! I’m not sure about that but for myself, it’s a very big part of my life and that I give value to, it’s something that’s very important. I’ve always tried to express it through the atmosphere that my music creates, but maybe as you grow older, you mature into your sexuality, you become more comfortable with a lot more aspects of yourself and it gets reflected in what you create.
So the use of the MARSHEAUX remix of ‘Dirty Air’ by Victoria’s Secret for a viral ad was quite apt?
Yes, my label and publisher West One were approached. They were given a few tracks and they went for the MARSHEAUX remix of ‘Dirty Air’.
What’s happening with the ‘Twin Peaks’ reboot? Is your version of ‘The Mysteries of Love’ in it and have you got a part?
I’m not sure why people were sure that was happening, I think that was more wishful thinking because honestly, everything was so hush-hush about ‘Twin Peaks’ that I wouldn’t have even known at that stage if I was going to get involved or not. Obviously I would have loved to, I’m not. I’m still trying to get involved in the music side but I’m not acting in it, which is what I really wanted to do! *laughs*
What’s next for you?
As far as music is concerned, I’m going to do something which I’ve not ventured into before, which is a full soundtrack of a whole movie by myself. So I am going to work on a soundtrack to a Greek film which is in keeping with the style of the music that I already do, so a little bit of a ‘Stranger Things’ / ‘Drive’ feel. It’s a great movie and cast, there’s a Japanese actress in it and it’s a really cool project, I’m really excited to be doing it. I’m also going to be acting one of the key parts in it.
I’m also working with a DJ Luxxury who is more Balearic, he’s been touring with Giorgio Moroder.
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to KID MOXIE
2016 will forever be remembered as the year when a significant number of cultural icons and popular musical figures left us; David Bowie, Prince, Isao Tomita, Pete Burns, Colin Verncombe, Keith Emerson, Don Buchla and Leonard Cohen were just some of the names who sadly departed.
But despite sadness that loomed, the year did produce some good music, particularly in the second half of the year.
GARY NUMAN launched an ambitious Pledge Music campaign and released some excellent collaborations with JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS, JEAN-MICHEL JARRE and TITÁN. But with his retrospective tour of material from his three most popular albums taking up much of his year, his new crowdfunded album did not meet its planned October release deadline.
Meanwhile Jean-Michel Jarre had an excess of material and issued the second volume of his ‘Electronica’ project which also featured YELLO and PET SHOP BOYS, plus a third instalment to his classic opus ‘Oxygène’.
YELLO and PET SHOP BOYS also released new albums to a positive reception, proving again that partnerships featuring personnel over the age of 60 can still create music that is fresh and relevant. Incidentally, one of YELLO’s young vocalists FIFI RONG continued to maintain her artistic profile with successful campaigns for her releases ‘Forbidden Desires’ and ‘Alone’.
2016 saw two concept albums emerge in ‘The Ship’ from Brian Eno, a solemn art piece with poignant anti-war messages and ‘Awake But Always Dreaming’, a very personal musical statement by Hannah Peel on the traumas of dementia. It was a busy year for Miss Peel with her also contributing her voice to BEYOND THE WIZARDS SLEEVE and JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS, as well as showcasing her own Mary Casio side project.
WRANGLER released a new album ‘White Glue’ which exuded a less rigid format compared to its predecessor ‘LA Spark’ and collaborated with Johm Grant at the Rough Trade 40 live celebrations, while the prolific Neil Arthur issued another new BLANCMANGE album in ‘Commuter 23’ while also launching a new side project NEAR FUTURE with BERNHOLZ.
The Manchester veteran Eric Random issued ‘Words Made Flesh’, the second album of his recent return to the music while Rusty Egan finally presented ‘Welcome To The Dancefloor’ which despite its title, was actually a collection of classic styled synthpop. After many years of trials and tribulations for the co-founder of VISAGE, the long player featuring Midge Ure, Tony Hadley and Chris Payne who co-wrote ‘Fade to Grey’ exceeded expectations.
Space travel and synths were just made to go together, so JØTA and VANGELIS conceived projects covering The Cold War space race and the more recent Rosetta probe respectively. Meanwhile, WHITE LIES again showed they are as synthy as they are guitary on their ‘Friends’ album, and even started to sound like A-HA!
Fellow blog Cold War Night Life released ‘Heresy: A Tribute to RATIONAL YOUTH’ which featured PSYCHE and MACHINISTA as well as the Canadian trailblazers themselves. Meanwhile Ireland staked its claim as a new territory for synthpop talent; CIRCUIT3 ‘siliconchipsuperstar’ and EMBRACE THE CRISIS ‘Black Heart’ were good examples of what was on offer from the Emerald Isle.
So again, Sweden still proved it was special with SILENT WAVE exhibiting degrees of potential. But it was REIN in particular who was causing a stir within the ranks of EBM, while the country’s best kept secretKITE toured North America and Asia. However, neither of these two latter artists figured in the line-up of Gothenburg’s Electronic Summer 2016 festival.
The Nordic region saw the welcome return of VILLA NAH with the album ‘Ultima’ after a five year absence, while TRENTEMØLLER made the case again as to why he is still the perfect producer for DEPECHE MODE with his new long player ‘Fixion’. However, Norwegian acts APOPTYGMA BERZERK and ELECTRO SPECTRE ensured the Swedes, Finns and Danes did not have it all their own way.
Greece was still the word with LIEBE, KID MOXIE and MARSHEAUX all presenting brand new releases, while Sarah P. maintained her profile with a series of inventive promo videos highlighting the ongoing issues of equality for women within the music industry. Embracing the same issue on the other side of the Atlantic, I AM SNOW ANGEL immersed herself in setting up the FEMALE FREQUENCY collective while also releasing her own music.
2016 was a good year for female acts with EMIKA, KALEIDA, ANI GLASS, THE HEARING, KITE BASE, HOLOGRAM TEEN among those making a positive impression. There was also ‘SVIIB’, the final album from SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS and the emergence of CHRISTINE & THE QUEENS, while LADYHAWKE remembered what a good album sounded like with ‘Wild Things’.
Over in LA, NIGHT CLUB developed on the promise of their EP trilogy and got a bit heavier on their debut long player ‘Requiem For Romance’, ending up sounding not unlike Britney fronting NINE INCH NAILS in the process! After gestation periods of nearly six years, both EKKOES and THE MYSTIC UNDERGROUND finally released their debut albums.
Meanwhile the instrumental front, Texan couple HYPERBUBBLE provided some ‘Music To Color By’, Brussels duo METROLAND touchingly paid tribute to their late friend Louis Zachert with ‘Things Will Never Sound The Same Again’ and Ulrich Schnauss went ‘No Further Ahead Than Today’. And MOBY offered a gift to profound relaxation with his free ‘Long Ambients 1: Calm. Sleep.’ download package.
PERTURBATOR’s ‘The Uncanny Valley’ became a flag bearer for the synthwave movement, along with the acclaimed soundtrack by SURVIVE members Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein for the absorbing Netflix drama ‘Stranger Things’. Less well-received though was ‘2Square’ by Vince Clarke & Paul Hartnoll with its banal experiments in electro swing. This was a supposed new dance sub-genre that in reality was just computerised jazz… nice! But one artist who did manage to pull off fusing synthpop and jazz successfully was DISQO VOLANTE.
New material from veterans MESH, AESTHETIC PERFECTION, ASSEMBLAGE 23, DE/VISION, IAMX, COVENANT and ROTERSAND kept the black clad European audiences happy, while Mari Kattman and BLACK NEEDLE NOISE added some trip-hop and rock edges respectively to their already dark templates. Expressing slightly less intensity were two surprise packages in Germany’s DAS BLAUE PALAIS with ‘Welt Am Draht’ and Canada’s DELERIUM with ‘Mythologie’.
But totally unexpected was ‘Silver City Ride’, a full length electro album from Marc Almond in collaboration with STARCLUSTER featuring his most synth laden body of work since SOFT CELL. The biggest surprise of 2016 was ‘Fly’ the soundtrack souvenir to ‘Eddie The Eagle’, the light hearted biopic of the bespectacled Olympic ski jumper; featuring new material by members of FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD, SOFT CELL, SPANDAU BALLET, ULTRAVOX, ERASURE and OMD in collaboration with TAKE THAT’s Gary Barlow, this looked like a terrible idea on paper. But it was brilliantly executed and the resultant album was a largely enjoyable collection of retro flavoured pop.
Electronic acts actually got to headline the Glastonbury Festival in 2016, albeit on The Other Stage as opposed the main event; NEW ORDER and CHVRCHES wowed the crowds when they shared the bill on the Saturday night. There were rumours that KRAFTWERK and DEPECHE MODE might feature in 2017 but this was not to be, although both acts sent social media into overdrive when they announced major tours.
Among those accorded career spanning multi-disc boxed sets were ERASURE, MARC ALMOND, DEAD OR ALIVE and THE HUMAN LEAGUE. Somehow though, SIMPLE MINDS managed to milk a six disc variant of ‘New Gold Dream’ in the third of their classic album deluxe box editions; it was an amazing feat seeing as only ten songs were completed during the original sessions! The collection boasted no less than twelve takes of the aptly titled ‘Promised You A Miracle’; but the latest incarnation of the Glaswegians combo’ first big hit with KT TUNSTALL for their ‘Acoustic’ album proved to be one version too many.
Much better value for the money for the discerning music fan were the four ASSOCIATES double CD reissues, supervised by Alan Rankine and Michael Dempsey. Based around their first three albums and a ‘Very Best Of’ compilation, each additionally featured a plethora of rare and previously unreleased songs; they were a fitting tribute to the late Billy MacKenzie.
Nostalgia was very much a part of 2016, with HEAVEN 17, OMD and PETER HOOK & THE LIGHT all touring popular albums. And following the success in recent years of retro festivals such as ‘Rewind’ and the strangely named ‘Let’s Rock’, classic synthpop finally found itself part of the holiday camp circuit.
Part of the Butlins Music Weekender series, ‘Electric Dreams’ featuring OMD, HEAVEN 17, BLANCMANGE and Marc Almond almost went badly off-piste with the addition of GO WEST and THE ZOMBIES (!?!) to the programme. But the organisers pulled an unexpected surprise and booked modern synth acts like MARSHEAUX and AVEC SANS to support the bill.
Hardened retro festival goers are notorious for not embracing new music, but this ethos has to be welcomed and could provide an interesting new model for the future of event based entertainment. However, based on photographic evidence, the presence of inflatable pink flamingos and coloured wigs indicated the crowd atmosphere might have been no different to any of the usual nostalgia outings, but with a roof and central heating added!
Elsewhere, the second ELECTRI-CITY CONFERENCE in Düsseldorf boasted yet another impressive line-up that read like a ‘Who’s Who?’ of electronic music with John Foxx, Daniel Miller and Mark Reeder among those taking part in talks. One of the highlights of the weekend came with Mr Foxx chatting about working with the legendary Conny Plank.
And while MARSHEAUX, KID KASIO and RODNEY CROMWELL in Norwich was not in the same league, it was a fine showcase for the best in independent synthpop.
Both events proved again that the best electronic music events are those actually curated by electronic music enthusiasts, something that is not the case with several other events.
In all, 2016 was not a vintage year for electronic pop. If there was a lesson this year, it’s been to cherish and appreciate great life’s moments where possible, especially with the number of music figures that have been lost in the last 12 months.
Things cannot go on forever sadly…
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK Contributor Listings 2016
PAUL BODDY
Best Album: PERTURBATOR The Uncanny Valley
Best Song: SOULWAX Transient Program for Drums & Machinery
Best Gig: JEAN-MICHEL JARRE at London O2 Arena
Best Video: BATTLE TAPES featuring PARTY NAILS Solid Gold
Most Promising New Act: VOX LOW
IAN FERGUSON
Best Album: VILE ELECTRODES In The Shadows Of Monuments
Best Song: ASSEMBLAGE 23 Barren
Best Gig: ASSEMBLAGE 23 at Denver Oriental Theatre
Best Video: I AM SNOW ANGEL Losing Face
Most Promising New Act: VOX LOW
SIMON HELM
Best Album: ERIC RANDOM Words Made Flesh
Best Song: RATIONAL YOUTH This Side Of The Border
Best Gig: Troika! featuring KITE BASE, HANNAH PEEL + I SPEAK MACHINE at Shacklewell Arms
Best Video: I AM SNOW ANGEL Losing Face
Most Promising New Act: ZANIAS
CHI MING LAI
Best Album: VILLA NAH Ultima
Best Song: VILE ELECTRODES The Vanished Past
Best Gig: JEAN-MICHEL JARRE at London O2 Arena
Best Video: BEYOND THE WIZARD’S SLEEVE Diagram Girl
Most Promising New Act: ANI GLASS
STEPHEN ROPER
Best Album: MARSHEAUX Ath.Lon
Best Song: RODNEY CROMWELL Baby Robot
Best Gig: GARY NUMAN at Norwich UEA
Best Video: MARSHEAUX Like A Movie
Most Promising New Act: DISQO VOLANTE
MONIKA IZABELA TRIGWELL
Best Album: APOPTYGMA BERZERK Exit Popularity Contest
Best Song: KID KASIO Full Moon Blue
Best Gig: SPEAK & SPELL at Islington Academy
Best Video: BLACK NEEDLE NOISE featuring JENNIE VEE Heaven
Most Promising New Act: JOHAN BAECKSTRÖM
But there were plenty of quality songs on offer throughout the year and a number were significantly outstanding.
Rounding down to a final 30 songs is always difficult and among the acts in the initial shortlist were ADAM IS A GIRL, DELERIUM, EMIKA, KALEIDA, LADYHAWKE, METROLAND, PRESENCE OF MIND, REIN, FIFI RONG, SPRAY, WHITE LIES and the now disbanded ANALOG ANGEL.
After much deliberation and with a restriction of one song per artist moniker, here are ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s 30 Songs of 2016 in alphabetical order…
APOPTYGMA BERZERK Rhein Klang
Futurepop veteran Stephan Groth certainly put his head on the line releasing an instrumental Sci-Fi concept album as an APOPTYGMA BERZERK long player. But with influences like KRAFTWERK, TANGERINE DREAM and Jean-Michel Jarre, ‘Exit Popularity Contest’ was an artistic success. Full of Groth’s electronic lifeblood, ‘Rhein Klang’ was a wonderful oscillating slice of synth motorik in tribute to NEU!
Johan Baeckström first gained recognition as part of DAILY PLANET with vocalist Jarmo Ollila in 1994. His first album ‘Like Before’ in 2015 drew favourable comparisons to Vince Clarke. A competent vocalist himself, the long player’s title song got a stand-alone release in 2016 and instantly recalled the glory days of ERASURE with its precise, yet emotive synthpop with a message to “swim the oceans like before”.
Available on the album ‘Like Before’ via Progress Productions
BEYOND THE WIZARDS SLEEVE are Erol Alkan and Richard Norris, formally of THE GRID. Possibly one of the songs of 2016, ‘Diagram Girl’ featuring the unisex vocals of Hannah Peel, a deeper pitch shift provided a psychedelic out-of-this-world feel which bizarrely fitted in alongside the songstress’ dreamily breathy tones. Meanwhile the pulsing electronic soundtrack had surreal echoes of OMD and their minor hit ‘Secret’.
BLACK NEEDLE NOISE featuring KENDRA FROST Warning Sign
It can be tricky keeping up with the prolific studio legend John Fryer. Following his projects MURICIDAE and SILVER GHOST SHIMMER, his BLACK NEEDLE NOISE project employed a flexible lead vocal policy and focussed on just single songs. Magically breathy, ‘Warning Sign’ employed the soaring vocals of Kendra Frost from KITE BASE against a spacious backdrop of synths, beats and guitars for a brooding sonic amalgam.
With a mighty Linn Drum engine room that would make Martyn Ware proud and some rugged lead synth, ‘Hundred Hands’ was the best track on CIRCUIT3’s debut album. The work of Dublin-based Peter Fitzpatrick, he even dropped in hints of KRAFTWERK’s ‘Showroom Dummies’. The parent album ‘siliconchipsuperstar’ was classic styled synthpop made by someone weaned on classic synthpop.
The elegiac ‘Thank You’ utilised some ‘Endless Endless’ vocodered stylings over layers of sweeping synthetic strings and a gentle metronomic pulse. A list of Rusty Egan’s musical heroes, this tone poem was a touching acknowledgement of electronic music’s marvellous history. A simple yet highly effective idea, the beauty is in its realisation. Appropriately, it ends with a touchingly poignant “VISAGE… thank you”.
‘A Man & A Woman’ was a surprise in that it was less rigid than previous JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS recordings. Featuring some enchanting whispers from the seemingly ubiquitous Hannah Peel, it was an interesting departure that even featured some subtle acoustic guitar flourishes from Isobel MacDonald. Foxx’s work is still under-appreciated so ‘21st Century: A Man, A Woman And A City’ was a chance to catch up.
Welsh songstress Ani Glass served her apprenticeship with girl groups GENIE QUEEN and THE PIPETTES and worked with Andy McCluskey and Martin Rushent respectively along the way. ‘Y Ddawns’ (‘The Dance’) was a wonderfully exhilarating pop art adventure. Swathed in synths and driven by a metronomic beat, it was a declaration of hope, deeply voiced in the verse with a gorgeous soaring resonance in the chorus, about “finding solace and meaning in music, dance, art and culture”.
Helsinki-based Ringa Manner has been making crystalline sine waves as THE HEARING. Her second album ‘Adrian’ boasted the epic ‘Kabeldon’. A outstanding work with an affinity to Norwegian songstress Susanne Sundfør, there were also bows to David Bowie’s ‘I’m Deranged’ when the mad cascading piano kicked in alongside the frantic drum ‘n’ bass and steadily building cacophony of noise. Then, when it appeared all over, the song mutated into an eloquent Nordic dubstep ballad!
Available on the album ‘Adrian’ via Solina Records
The project of Julie Kathryn, the haunting tension of ‘Losing Face’ accentuates a variety of electronic and organic colours. A muted chop’ n’ chuck provides the percussive backbone while an eerie soundscape is steadily configured as Kathryn succumbs to lust. “You’re different when you’re on top of me… how I hate the state I’m in” she paradoxically reflects, as bubbling detuned synth swirls and acoustic guitar penetrate the foreboding atmosphere in the vein of ‘Felt Mountain’ era GOLDFRAPP.
JEAN-MICHEL JARRE & CYNDI LAUPER Swipe To The Right
After decades of composing lengthy synth symphonies, there must have been times when the French maestro must have just wanted to do a pop tune. This Jean-Michel Jarre managed in a quirky collaboration with Cyndi Lauper. No stranger to electronic forms, particularly with her ‘Bring Ya To The Brink’ album, ‘Swipe To The Right’ had big bass riffs galore for a great poptastic exploration, while reflecting on the use of Tinder in modern relationships.
KID MOXIE is Elena Charbila, the Greek born singer and actress who likes to make music with friends. Working best in collaboration, her album ‘1888’ showed she had blossomed and displayed an inventive maturity following the gutter pop of her early releases. From her best body of work yet in ‘Perfect Shadow’, the seductive ‘Still High’ was gloriously cinematic synthpop with a touch of maiden iciness that affirmed this artistic progression.
Available on the mini-album ‘Perfect Shadow’ is via West One Music Group
LIEBE are the electro disco duo who could be considered the Greek PET SHOP BOYS. Sitting on that difficult bridge between pastiche and post-modern, their romantic disco friendly sound mines Europop while adding the vocal drawl of Jarvis Cocker. The magnificent Jean-Michel Jarre goes Italo disco of ’The Box’ was the highlight of their wonderfully escapist pop album ‘Revolution Of Love’.
A new approach saw MARSHEAUX’s trademark wispiness blended with a subtle tone of aggression. The opening song on ‘Ath.Lon’, the album title of which was derived from the cities of Athens and London it was recorded, ‘Burning’ was a harsh but sexy slice of synth expressionism. While clearly referencing darker electronica forms with its hypnotising percussive motif, it crucially maintained the essence of a good tune.
With their new album ‘Looking Skyward’, MESH alleviated any fears that they might not be able to sustain the artistic momentum seeded by 2013’s ‘Automation Baby’. Despite the lyrically negative nature of ‘The Fixer’, a driving bass triplet attached to a solid four-to-the-floor beat and an anthemic topline shed a light of optimism amongst the gloom. MESH have firmly carved their own niche and any disillusioned DEPECHE MODE fans should consider joining the fold immediately…
In August 2015, METROLAND’s sound engineer and close friend Louis Zachert, aka Passenger L, passed away. The Brussels based duo recorded ‘Things Will Never Sound The Same Again’, a musical eulogy in homage. The uplifting ’Music / Machine’ with its Jarre-esque melodies started as a METROLAND remix of MUSICOCOON, a project involving Louis and his friend Philippe Malemprée. Kindly donated, its presence is in honour of Louis as the last piece of music he ever worked on.
Buoyed by the acclaim of their EP trilogy and their power as a live act, NIGHT CLUB experimented with a more aggressive synth rock disco sound for their debut long player ‘Requiem For Romance’. Playing around with a range of unsettling vocal pitch shifts and religious imagery for the sinister overtones of ‘Pray’, Emily Kavanaugh and Mark Brooks have more than substantiated their position as one of North America’s best independent electronic pop duos.
It’s been a busy year for Hannah Peel; layered with staccato voice samples and uplifting bursts of symphonic strings, the driving arpeggio laden ‘All That Matters’ was her calling card, not just as her most synthpop offering yet but also as a mantra to live in the moment. The opening track of her second album ‘Awake But Always Dreaming’, her very personal musical journey themed around memory and the effects of dementia was a startling artistic triumph.
Never mind their age, PET SHOP BOYS are still ‘The Pop Kids’ and ‘Twenty-something’ ones at that. But on the moodier ‘The Dictator Decides’, there comes one of those politically laced introspective numbers in the vein of ‘My October Symphony’ that the duo always do so well. As Neil Tennant deadpans “if you get rid of me, we can all be free”, the song provides an amusing surreal narrative of a tyrannical politician bored of his outright power and wanting to live a normal life.
From the Cold War Night Life curated ‘Heresy: A Tribute To Rational Youth’, one of the highlights from the collection is PSYCHE’s take on ‘Ring The Bells’ from appropriately, RATIONAL YOUTH’s ‘Cold War Night Life’ debut. The clattering 808 beat and elegantly haunting sweeps combined with Darrin Huss’ mournful vocal provide an atmospheric reworking that reflects on the long kinship between RATIONAL YOUTH and PSYCHE.
Greek electropop goddess Sarah P. started her music career as the frontwoman of KEEP SHELLY IN ATHENS. With ‘I’d Go’ she said: “Most of the people do not get that this song is not as happy as it sounds at a first listen”. In her own words she confesses: “I’m a childish woman and nobody can stop me from being one” and adds “If there’s anything I stand for with all my heart is the ‘Go be you’ motto!” – her full length debut long player ‘Who Am I?’ is eagerly awaited.
Available on the mini-album ‘Free’ via EraseRestart
Enigmatic Gothenburg electronic trio SILENT WAVE possess the hauntronica hallmarks of fellow Swedes THE KNIFE. ‘War’ is a reminder of how that sibling duo once combined tunes with their experimentation. With a suitably dark Nordic vibe, it could easily have come off ‘Silent Shout’ and while undoubtedly derivative, ‘War’ was well executed. But singer Tildeh Hjelm never felt comfortable, declining to appear at the band’s only London show.
Available on the download single ‘War’ via Silence Records
With his career spanning 10 CD box set ‘Trials Of Eyeliner: Anthology 1979-2016’, the last thing anyone expected from Marc Almond this year was an electronic pop album. Almond first recorded with Anglo German production duo STARCLUSTER in 2008. A great cover version, ‘To Have & Have Not’ was originally recorded by RONNY and retains the stern manner of the former Parisian model, while giving this slice of modern Weimar Cabaret a new lease of life.
Available on the album ‘Silver City Ride’ via Closing the Circle / Private Records
The 2015 ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE in Düsseldorf showcased TINY MAGNETIC PETS as an intriguing live act by winning over g=figures such as Rusty Egan and Andy McCluskey. The soulful ‘Not Giving In’ makes the most of Paula Gilmer’s enticingly wispy voice. With detuned pulses contrasting the digital chimes and staccato voice samples, an unusual stuttering reggae inflected beat enhances the atmosphere.
Highly exuberant with a poptastic four chord progression, ‘Believe In Love’ was TRAIN TO SPAIN’s first recording to feature Lars Netzel as a new member. It developed on the promise of songs like ‘Passion’ from their debut ‘What it’s All About’ and significantly gave more space within Jonas Rasmusson’s classic synthpop framework for lead singer Helena Wigeborn to exude her charm. But it seems TRAIN TO SPAIN are back to a duo again…
Available on the download single ‘Believe In Love’ via Subculture Records
‘River In Me’ was an unusual Trentemøller recording in that Jehnny Beth from SAVAGES came to his Copenhagen home studio to lay down her vocals. The end result possessed a Gothic intensity, yet was vibrant and melodic with Beth’s Siouxsie-like tones complimenting the hybrid synth laced soundscape. Not as dark as the Dane’s previous work, it was his most immediate offering yet with a fine balance of accessibility and mood.
It’s the avant pop approach reminiscent of early OMD that sets VILE ELECTRODES apart from and makes them so captivating. ‘The Vanished Past’ is a potent successor to the drama of ‘Deep Red’, complete with a mighty drum cacophony à la OMD’s ‘Navigation’. Bleak and wonderful, “not everything is as it seems” as a forlorn stranger joins in. As the seven minute adventure unfolds like a lost OMD epic, that stranger begins to sound like a certain George Andrew McCluskey!
From their superb second album ‘Ultima’, ‘Stranger’ was a brilliant return for VILLA NAH after a five year absence. Front man Juho Paalosmaa said: “‘Stranger’ is a play on words; how somebody you’ve known can turn stranger over the span of time… and end up as a complete stranger in the process. I don’t think it’s a track I would’ve written as a 20 year old. It requires some years of age and experience to really understand how time can change people, including yourself.”
Available on the album ‘Ultima’ via Solina Records
If CABARET VOLTAIRE had hijacked Compass Point Studios in The Bahamas while TALKING HEADS were recording ‘Speaking In Tongues’, the end result might have ended up sounding a bit like this. ‘Stupid’ sees Stephen Mallinder in warped falsetto mode over a hypnotic sequence of menacing synths from Benge and Phil Winter. The track’s rhythmic heart creates an almost robotic, yet electro-funk feel for one of the undoubted highlights on WRANGLER‘s ‘White Glue’ album.
Despite 37 years of making music together, the distinctive sound of YELLO remains intriguing and distinctly European and the new album ‘Toy’ delighted fans. On the superb ‘Electrified II’ (the original version appeared on Boris Blank’s boxed set of the same name), Dieter Meier has his mind blown by the velvet voice of Malia. As she exclaims “Life’s a bitch and I’m no witch”, this could be Shirley Bassey indulging in some seductive energetic electro-cabaret.
Available on the album ‘Toy’ via Polydor / Universal Music
Athens-based synth maidens MARSHEAUX returned to the UK by gracing the beautiful Norfolk city of Norwich at Epic Studios.
One of the UK’s most devoted fans of DEPECHE MODE, Michael Rose treated eager observers to some excellent pieces of rare memorabilia. These included tour programmes from the ‘Some Great Reward’, ‘Music For The Masses’ and ‘Violator’ eras. There were the Bong fan club publications as well, plus letters and assorted promo photographs. And there was the famous jacket Dave Gahan wore on the iconic ‘The World We Live In and Live In Hamburg’ video of nearly from the 1984 ‘Some Great Reward’ Tour, and also the first ever live concert release by the Basildon band.
Stephen Roper provided his keepsakes relating to Gary Numan. He collated a book about the Numan’s imperial era entitled ‘Back Stage-A Book Of Reflections’, which featured contributions from the man himself. More recently, Roper has ventured into gig promotion, hosting a successful live appearance by former KRAFTWERK member Wolfgang Flur.
The happy crowd milling around the venue consisted of diehard fans of electronica, studded with the likes of Sarah Blackwood ex-CLIENT and DUBSTAR, Anais Neon and Martin Swan from VILE ELECTRODES and George Geranios of Undo Records.
The compère for the evening was the lovely Caroline Rose, who was probably the only person in the venue who could pronounce “Les Disques du Crépuscule” and managed to get the audience properly geared up for the evening’s festivities as well as provided interesting info on the night’s acts. Guest DJ James Nice graced the gathering with a variety of new and vintage tunes. He recently resurrected the prestigious Belgian label Les Disques du Crépuscule and its sister Factory Benelux offshoot, as platforms to issue a plethora of archive and experimental material, as well as releasing new music by MARNIE, MARSHEAUX, DEUX FILLES and LES PANTIES.
Nice, who is a music publisher and writer, with an accomplished 2010 book ‘Shadowplayers: The Rise And Fall Of Factory Records’, now looks after both labels, curating its heritage as well as taking care of new acts. The sleeve notes for these releases are written by the man himself, but as he told ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK in his recent interview: “My notes tend to be honest rather than gushing or pseudo-academic, and that’s probably why I rarely get commissioned to write liner notes for other releases!”
In front of an audience that had gathered from as far as Switzerland, Holland, Ireland, Liverpool and London, RODNEY CROMWELL took to the stage first. Led by Adam Cresswell, his short but sweet set of tunes including ‘Baby Robot’ and ‘Black Dog’ from debut long player ‘Age Of Anxiety’, chronicled his own personal problems with depression. There was also the terrific bonus of his older ARTHUR & MARTHA track ‘Autovia’ featuring bandmate Alice Hubley on lead vocals.
He was pleased with the early crowd turnout as he had told ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK earlier this year: “I think it’s harder to get gigs now… maybe that’s because electronic music’s not as fashionable, because back in the mid-noughties, it was on the back of Electroclash and that hipster thing!”. Well, it was a very successful set too and he managed it without blowing up one of his Korgs, like he had done at the warm-up gig in London the day before!
The golden boy of 2016, Nathan Cooper aka KID KASIO showcased his talents next during a lively 40 minute set. Cooper has had a successful couple of years, releasing his stunning retro-inspired album ‘Sit and Wait’ with such gems as ‘Full Moon Blue’ and ‘The Kodo Song’, which were both performed to a rather appreciative audience.
Previously of THE MODERN and MATINEE CLUB, Cooper has been involved in electronic music for years and worked with all the big names like Stephen Hague. Most recently, he opened a fabulous recording studio Fiction Studios in London, together with his oh-so-famous actor brother Dominic. Cooper managed to pick up a parking fine during rehearsals, so he amusingly pleaded to the audience to buy at least six CDs to cover his losses! His set went down tremendously well; with massively upbeat and entertaining tracks like ‘The Story Of Kid Charlemagne’ and the über fast ‘The End’, the crowd did not want to let KID KASIO off stage.
KID KASIO certainly prepared the audience for Greek Goddesses MARSHEAUX, whose hour-long set was simply stunning. The duo are soon to play at the first African electronic music festival in Senegal and kicked off with tunes from their latest acclaimed album ‘Ath.Lon’, accompanied by arty background projections. But the big hits like ‘Breakthrough’ from ‘Lumineux Noir’ were also included and inevitably got the audience pumping.
Apart from being pleasing to the eye, Marianthi Melitsi and Sophie Sarigiannidou also know how to get the crowd going and a few certainly got involved in a very articulated manner. The audience were dancing and singing to the brilliant ‘Inhale’ and the mood continued with DEPECHE MODE’s ‘The Sun & The Rainfall’. With exquisite harmonies brought by the girls, a few people in the audience actually said they preferred MARSHEAUX’s cover album of ‘A Broken Frame’ to the original.
After the show, many rushed to purchase ‘Ath.Lon’ with its stunning sleeve, dutifully signed by the duo. The demand was such that certain items on the merchandise stand flew out so fast, that a few missed out on goodies such as the lush luminous sleeved ‘Ghost’ 7 inch vinyl.
The happy crowd was entertained and everybody was having a great time. Now, this is what happens when electronic music events are curated by electronic music enthusiasts.
The organisers give their warmest thanks to all the bands, DJs, venue crew, team, helpers and attendees who made the evening such a great success
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and not a big transition in sound, some of the remixers like MARSHEAUX and TAREQ plus the involvement of THE GASLAMP KILLER who’d just released his EP, have opened new avenues to other audiences. I did a track ‘Pathetic Dreams’ with THE GASLAMP KILLER for his album, so there was traction from that in the States.
is released on CD by Amour Records, available via 
via Hard: Drive
via Progress Productions
via Phantasy Sound
via Metamatic Records
via Solina Records
The project of 
via I Am Snow Angel
via Columbia / Sony Music
via Emerald & Doreen Recordings
via Undo Records
via Dependent Records
My Own Pleasure
via x2
via EraseRestart
via Silence Records
via Subculture Records
via In My Room
via Solina Records
via MemeTune
via Polydor / Universal Music
, chronicled his own personal problems with depression. There was also the terrific bonus of his older 
with such gems as ‘Full Moon Blue’ and ‘The Kodo Song’, which were both performed to a rather appreciative audience.
were also included and inevitably got the audience pumping.
to the original.
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