Loudness Contour Modifiers
In a far more productive year than 2014, many electronic music veterans returned to the fold in 2015 with their first new albums for many years. There were plenty of releases from independent acts too, with Nordic Europe being a particularly strong territory once again.
Nearly 40 quality songs made the shortlist and were eventually whittled down to 30. So mention must be made of ALICE IN VIDEOLAND, ANALOG ANGEL, BEBORN BETON, BECKY BECKY, CLUB 8, ELECTROGENIC, ME THE TIGER and SIN COS TAN who all released recordings in 2015 that would have easily made the listing in less competitive years such as 2012 and 2014.
So the decision has been made; with a restriction of one song per artist moniker, this alphabetical list comprises tracks released in physical formats, or digitally as purchasable or free downloads during the calendar year. Here are ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s 30 SONGS OF 2015…
A-HA She’s Humming A Tune
Despite splittinhg in 2010, A-HA reunited in a relaxed manner that recalled their days as a fledgling band. On ‘She’s Humming A Tune’, there were hints of 1986’s ‘Scoundrel Days’ in a lower key with sweeping synths, bottle neck six string and live drums moulding the chilling soundscape with that exquisite Nordic allure. ‘Cast In Steel’ was the antithesis of the misguided EDM blow-out that DURAN DURAN attempted on ‘Paper Gods’.
Available on the album ‘Cast In Steel’ via Universal Music
BLACK NAIL CABARET Satisfaction
Feeling gloomy? Then take heed to BLACK NAIL CABARET and “Don’t be sad! Don’t be whiney!” – this brooding slice of Gothtronica was the lead single from the Hungarian duo’s second album ‘Harry Me, Marry Me, Bury Me’. Laden with a delicious synth bassline like DEPECHE MODE reimagined for a Weimar Cabaret set piece and topped with eerie string machine, ‘Satisfaction’ was the duo’s best individual offering to date.
Available on the album ‘Harry Me, Marry Me, Bury Me’ via Basic Unit Productions
http://www.blacknailcabaret.net/
BLANCMANGE Useless
From Neil Arthur’s first BLANCMANGE album without long time bandmate Stephen Luscombe, ‘Useless’ was a brilliant hybrid of Eno circa ‘Here Come The Warm Jets’ with LCD SOUNDSYSTEM. “It’s about anyone who thinks they might be useless” said Arthur, “This song is about that whole idea that we’re all flawed and you’re ‘useless as you are’… there are just times when you think ‘f*cking hell, I couldn’t organise a p*ss up in a brewery’ or that whole thing about confidence”.
Available on the album ‘Semi Detached’ via Cherry Red Records
CAMOUFLAGE featuring PETER HEPPNER Count On Me
Although launch single ‘Shine’ indicated it was business as usual, as hinted at with the title, CAMOUFLAGE’s long awaited long player ‘Greyscale’ was their most mature artistic statement yet. The mellow and warm ‘Count On Me’ saw Marcus Meyn duet with Peter Heppner of WOLFSHEIM fame. The lush blend of vocals and atmospherics showcased two of Germany’s most highly regarded electronic acts at their best.
Available on the album ‘Greyscale’ via Bureau B
http://www.camouflage-music.com/
CHVRCHES Clearest Blue
CHVRCHES delivered what LITTLE BOOTS, LA ROUX, LADYHAWKE and HURTS failed to do… a decent second album! The propulsive four-to-the-floor action of ‘Clearest Blue’ shows how far CHVRCHES developed. Not unlike an amalgam of ‘Gun’ and ‘Science / Visions’, ‘Clearest Blue’ is more accomplished, wonderfully held in a state of tension before WHACK, there’s a dynamic surprise that recalls the classic overtures of Vince Clarke.
Available on the album ‘Every Open Eye’ via Virgin Records
RODNEY CROMWELL Black Dog
Rodney Cromwell is Adam Cresswell, formally of ARTHUR & MARTHA. ‘Black Dog’ recalled the pulsing post-punk miserablism of SECTION 25 and embellished by some Hooky styled bass. Cresswell said: “It’s all broadly linked to experiences in my life over the last ten years; themes of love, loss, depression, redemption”. As with NEW ORDER’s ‘Temptation’, despite the melancholy, there was light at the end of the tunnel that made ‘Black Dog’ a most joyous listening experience.
Available on the album ‘Age Of Anxiety’ via Happy Robots
DAYBEHAVIOR Cambiare
Utilising her Italian heritage, DAYBEHAVIOR’s lead singer Paulinda Crescentini gave a suitably alluring performance on ‘Cambiare’, the B-side of the Swedish trio’s single ‘Change’. Remixed to poptastic effect, the joyous yet melancholic tune took the best elements of Italo disco that recalled imperial phase PET SHOP BOYS. With a catchy chorus and seductive topline, Linguaphone language lessons were never this much fun…
Available on the single ‘Change’ via Graplur
DESTIN FRAGILE Run Away
An offshoot of Swedish EBM veterans SPETSNAZ, DESTIN FRAGILE are a very different animal with hints of CAMOUFLAGE and DEPECHE MODE in their sound. ‘Run Away’ opened their ‘Halfway To Nowhere’ opus, an album which some observers have hailed as one of the best of 2015. Featuring a fine vocal from Pontus Stålberg resembling MESH’s Mark Hockings, this is what modern synthpop should be like; pop music with synths and melody as well as dynamic synth solos.
Available on the album ‘Halfway To Nowhere’ via Dark Dimensions
https://www.facebook.com/destin.fragile.pop
DURAN DURAN Face For Today
After the success of 2011’s ‘All You Need Is Now’ album, DURAN DURAN again stole defeat from the jaws of victory with the gloriously under par ‘Paper Gods’ with the excruciatingly painful dance anthem ‘Last Night In The City’ being a particular low point. However, at least they proved they still had it with ‘Face For Today’, a catchy synth laden number in the vein of the classic DURAN DURAN people knew and loved.
Available on the album’Paper Gods’ via Warner Bros Records
EAST INDIA YOUTH Carousel
EAST INDIA YOUTH’s debut ‘Total Strife’ pointed towards William Doyle’s potential to pen sublime pop, and with the follow-up ‘Culture Of Volume’, this was more than realised. ‘Carousel’ reimagined OMD’s ‘Stanlow’ reworked during Brian Eno’s sessions for ‘Apollo: Soundtracks & Atmospheres’. With no percussive elements and over six minutes in length, Doyle gave a dramatic vocal performance resonating in beautifully crystalline melancholy.
Available on the album ‘Culture of Volume’ via XL Recordings
EMIKA My Heart Bleeds Melody
Berlin-based Emika is one of the dark horses of the UK electronic scene. A combination of her classical training, Czech heritage and use of modern technology has made for a provoking, brooding sound that has attained critical acclaim. From her third album, helpfully named ‘Drei’, ‘My Heart Bleeds Melody’ was its highlight, a concoction of intricate pulsing layers and solemn detachment that provided a captivating listening experience.
Available on the album ‘Drei’ via Emika Records
FFS P*ss Off
FFS proved collaborations do work. A total triumph, ‘P*ss Off’ was possibly the album’s most outstanding number. With the vibrancy of ‘Kimono My House’ and ‘Propaganda’ era SPARKS, there were plenty of jaunty ivories and camp vocal theatrics in the vein of classics like ‘Something For The Girl With Everything’ and ‘BC’. “It’s inexplicable” they all growled as the multi-track phrase of “HARMONISE” kicked in! A total joy, ‘P*ss Off’ was the ultimate two fingered art school pop anthem.
Available on the album ‘FFS’ via Domino Records
WOLFGANG FLÜR Cover Girl – The Ninjaneer Mix
A highlight in Herr Flür’s DJ sets has been The Ninjaneer Mix of ‘Cover Girl’, a swirling track that the former KRAFTWERK percussionist described as ‘The Model MkII’. He said: “Her story goes on and unfortunately shows her going downhill. She had bad experiences with drugs, alcohol and other things so had to dance in night clubs for earning money at least. A true story, a bad life… that’s sometimes the way how super models are knitting their career”
Available on the album ‘Eloquence’ via Cherry Red Records
JOHN GRANT featuring TRACEY THORN Disappointing
John Grant’s adventure into a solemn electronic template on ‘Pale Green Ghosts’ won him a BRIT Award nomination too. His collaboration with HERCULES & LOVE AFFAIR showed he understood disco. ‘Disappointing’ combined the two approaches and added funk for an enjoyable Bowie meets YAZOO styled workout. In a song full of surprises, not only was there slap bass, but there was the dulcet tones of Tracey Thorn too.
Available on the album ‘Grey Tickles, Black Pressure’ via Bella Union
GWENNO Calon Peiriant
Gwenno’s Welsh and Cornish heritage has allowed her to develop a unique brand of lo-fi electronica. Since her full-length Welsh language debut ‘Y Dydd Olaf’ was reissued in 2015, Gwenno has deservedly gained an increased profile for her music. With beautiful, traditionally derived melodies placed in a spacey yesterday’s tomorrow setting, the spacey ‘Calon Peiriant’ was one of the more immediate delights from a wonderful album.
Available on the album ‘Y Dydd Olaf’ via Heavenly Recordings
IAMX Happiness
Depression despite apparent material success has been an ongoing lyrical theme for Chris Corner as IAMX. And with ‘Happiness’
Available on the album ‘Metanoia’ via Caroline International
JEAN-MICHEL JARRE & VINCE CLARKE Automatic Parts 1 + 2
The French synth maestro’s first album for since 2007 was an opus entitled ‘Electronica 1 – The Time Machine’ featuring TANGERINE DREAM, AIR and MASSIVE ATTACK among many. But the two part ‘Automatic’ with Vince Clarke was the highlight, taking in the best of the tune based elements of both artists while not letting one party dominate. VCJMJ was more artistically realised than the polarising techno of VCMG!
Available on the album ‘Electronica 1: The Time Machine’ via Columbia Records
KID KASIO Full Moon Blue
“Whether I release it in 2013 or 2016, it’s still going to sound like 1985!” said KID KASIO main man Nathan Cooper. Plainly honest about where his influences lie, his love of classic synthpop permeates throughout his work. Now imagine if DEPECHE MODE was fronted by Nik Kershaw instead of Dave Gahan? With ‘Full Moon Blue’, that musical fantasy became realised with a clever interpolation of ‘Two Minute Warning’, one of Alan Wilder’s compositions on ‘Construction Time Again’.
Available on the album ‘Sit & Wait’ via Kid Kasio
KITE Up For Life
Despite having been around since 2008, Swedish synth duo KITE have tended to be overlooked internationally. But the duo’s wonderfully exuberant array of sounds and rugged, majestic vocals deserve a much larger audience. Issuing only EPs, KITE’s most recent release ‘VI’ opened with the magnificent progressive electronic epic ‘Up For Life’. The passionate and sublime first half mutated into a beautifully surreal journey of Vangelis-like proportions for the second.
Available on the EP ‘VI’ via Progress Productions
https://www.facebook.com/KiteHQ
MACHINISTA The Bombs
The syncopated electro disco feel of ‘The Bombs’ from MACHINISTA’s second album came almost by accident. Instrumentalist Richard Flow remembered: “Actually the first version of ‘The Bombs’ had a completely different rhythm in the drums… I wasn’t happy at all about the music. Once I did change the bass drum to a simple 4/4, I was back on track again. So perhaps a simple 4/4 bass drum mixed with the sounds for this original rhythm created this ‘disco’ feel…”
Available on the album ‘Garmonbozia’ via Analogue Trash Records
http://www.machinistamusic.com/
MARSHEAUX Monument
A worthy of re-assessment of DEPECHE MODE ‘A Broken Frame’ has been long overdue and MARSHEAUX have certainly given a number of its songs some interesting arrangements. Their version of ‘Monument’ borrowed its bassline from latter day DM B-side ‘Painkiller’. Combined with some wispily resigned vocals, it provided a tense soundtrack that could be seen as metaphoric commentary on the economic situation in Greece.
Available on the album ‘A Broken Frame’ via Undo Records
METROLAND (We Need) Machines Without Romance
METROLAND’s second album ‘Triadic Ballet’ was a triumphant celebration of the Bauhaus art movement led by Walter Gropius. He had theorized about uniting art and technology and on the B-side of the single ‘Zeppelin’, METROLAND worked towards the 21st Century interpretation of that goal. Now imagine if Gary Numan had actually joined KRAFTWERK in 1979? Then the brilliantly uptempo ‘(We Need) Machines Without Romance’ would have been the result.
Available on the EP ‘Zeppelin’ via Alfa Matrix
http://www.metrolandmusic.com/
NEW ORDER Plastic
After the last few guitar dominated NEW ORDER albums, Bernard Sumner promised a return to electronic music for the first album of new material without estranged founder member and bassist Peter Hook. That was certainly delivered on with ‘Plastic’, a full-on throbbing seven minute electro number mixed by Richard X with blippy echoes of ‘Mr Disco’. Dealing with the issue of superficiality, it declares “this love is poison, but it’s like gold”… yes, beware of anything plastic and artificial!
Available on the album ‘Music Complete’ via Mute Artists
KARIN PARK Stick To The Lie
In 2015, the Norge domiciled Swedish songstress’ Karin Park finally released her fifth album, the profanity laden fifth ‘Apocalypse Pop’. While less harsh in sound to some of the other tracks on the long player, ‘Stick To The Lie’ was no less angry. The most overtly synthpop track on the collection, this accessible yet emotive song was one of the highlights on a collection that affirmed her place in modern electronic pop.
Available on the album ‘Apocalypse Pop’ via State Of The Eye
PURITY RING Begin Again
With CHVRCHES taking PURITY RING’s template and pushing it into the mainstream, the Edmonton duo’s sophomore album ‘Another Eternity’ was going to be watched with interest. Certainly it was more focussed than its predecessor ‘Shrines’. Still utilising glitch techniques, booming bass drops and Corin Roddick’s rattling drum machine programming, the album’s best song ‘Begin Again’ made the most of Megan James’ sweet and dreamy voice.
Available on the album ‘Another Eternity’ via 4AD Records
SISTA MANNEN PÅ JORDEN All The City Lights
Sweden’s SISTA MANNEN PÅ JORDEN are led by Eddie Bengtsson of S.P.O.C.K and PAGE fame. The themes of space travel and Sci-Fi are regular lyrical gists and while all of SMPJ’s songs are voiced i Svenska, Bengtsson opened up his Vince Clarke influenced synthpop to the English language in 2015 with the ‘Translate’ EP. Brilliantly produced, ‘All The City Lights’ (a version of ‘Stadens Alla Ljus’) was its highly enjoyable opening gambit.
Available on the CD EP ‘Translate’ via SMPJ
http://www.moonbasealpha.space/
SUSANNE SUNDFØR Delirious
Susanne Sundfør’s ‘Ten Love Songs’ album developed on the electronic focus of its predecessor ‘The Silicone Veil’. With an eerie, droning intro with echoes of THE WALKERS BROTHERS’ ‘The Electrician’, ‘Delirious’ thundered with fierce electronics bolstered by dynamic orchestrations like THE KNIFE meeting DEPECHE MODE. It captured love as a reluctant battle of the emotions as she declared “I’m not the one holding the gun”.
Available on the album ‘Ten Love Songs’ via Sonnet Sound
TRAIN TO SPAIN Passion – Machinista Club mix
TRAIN TO SPAIN’s energetic pop utilises classic synthesizer sounds in the vein of Vince Clarke coupled to a metronomic rhythm structure akin to the 1985 ‘Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder’ album. Like Lana Del Rey fronting YAZOO, Wigeborg’s cooingly vocals on ‘Passion’ let rip over a suitably complimentary electronic backbone. The superb remix by MACHINISTA added some gothic disco goodness.
Available on the download single ‘Keep On Running’ via Sub Culture Records
TREGENZA The Partisan
Manchester based Ross Tregenza co-wrote ‘Diaries Of A Madman’ with Dave Formula and Steve Strange when he was a member of VISAGE II in 2007. He surprised electronic music audiences with a Spartan cover of ‘The Partisan’, a song made famous by Leonard Cohen. While many may despair at the mention of the droll Canadian, his work has strong parallels with many Gothic veined musical forms, especially with this harrowing tale of fighting for La Résistance.
Available on the album ‘Into The Void’ via Tregenza Music
https://www.facebook.com/tregenzamusic
VILE ELECTRODES Captive In Symmetry
On VILE ELECTRODES’ mesmerising ‘Captive in Symmetry’, “Filmic” is indeed a very apt description with the booming synth bass motif possessing echoes of the ‘Twin Peaks’ theme ‘Falling’. As beautiful sequences, eerie strings and Anais Neon’s hauntingly alluring vocals take hold, it all comes over like a dreamboat collaboration between Julee Cruise and OMD that could be used in the revamp of the surreal North American drama.
Available on the EP ‘Captive In Symmetry’ via Vile Electrodes
http://www.vileelectrodesco.uk/
Text by Chi Ming Lai
9th December 2015
, ‘See You’, which Martin Gore wrote whilst still at school, and originally released in January 1982. A poppy and candy-coated version from MARSHEAUX is exactly what the doctor prescribed, lacking, however, the obvious beefy bass line DM provided on this record. Tonally, it sounds more like SHANK & BIGFOOT’s ‘Sweet Like Chocolate’, rather than The Kings of Electronica’s version. This could potentially limit the likability factor for some, but it certainly increases the danceability element over its predecessor.
follow, which again, has all the elements of a good synthpop tune that is fuller and even more interesting than the original.
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