Tag: Page (Page 5 of 7)

A Short Conversation with PAGE

23 July 2018 /

Photo by Petro Vidberg

Alison and Vince, Annie and Dave, Karin and Olaf… and to that list of trailblazing female / male electronic duos can be added Marina and Eddie.

PAGE have had a loyal cult following back home in Sweden since their 1983 debut single ‘Dansande Man’. The duo of Eddie Bengtsson and Marina Schiptjenko released their self-titled debut album in 1992 while their final first phase release ‘Helt Nära’ came out in 1998. In some territories though, PAGE are best known for a version of OMD’s Electricity’ from the 1995 synth covers album ‘To Cut A Long Story Short’ and their take on ‘Dreaming Of Me’ for the DEPECHE MODE tribute compilation ‘Sometimes I Wish I Was Famous’, both released on Energy Rekords.

As well as PAGE, Bengtsson had his ongoing solo mission SISTA MANNEN PÅ JORDEN and found fame with as one of the crew in S.P.O.C.K, while Schiptjenko joined Alexander Bard from ARMY OF LOVERS in VACUUM and then BWO.

PAGE’s most recent trilogy of albums ‘Nu’, ‘Hemma’ and ‘Det Är Ingen Vacker Värld Men Det Råkar Vara Så Det Ser Ut’ have affirmed their position as one of the Nordic region’s leading electronic pop pioneers.

But deep inside his pysche, Eddie Bengtsson has always been something of a Numanoid and the new ‘Start’ EP sees PAGE going the full machine music hog with the ultimate homage to the imperial years of the man born Gary Anthony James Webb.

With the news of a live return to London for PAGE in September alongside RATIONAL YOUTH + PSYCHE, Eddie Bengtsson spoke about space and the synthesizer frontier…

Space travel and Sci-Fi has always been an interest for you but what came first, this or music?

Sci-Fi came first, if we are talking electronic music. Science Fiction got me in to early electronic music. Early electronic music, like French Space-Disco and stuff sounded like Sci-Fi and the future to me. If we not talking electronic music, then it was music that came in to my life before sci-fi. I grew up during Glam&Glitter, so there is where my “musical roots” are, and you can hear that pretty often listening to PAGE.

Glam Rock has been a key influence in PAGE and you’ve even covered ‘Coz I Luv U’ by SLADE, is this an under-appreciated era of music?

I think it is an under-appreciated era of music amongst lovers of electronic music at least.

Many Glam bands were early using synthesizers in their songs like THE SWEET and CHICORY TIP.

Did you grow up watching Gerry Anderson TV shows like ‘Thunderbirds’, ‘Joe 90’ and ‘Captain Scarlet’? The associated craft and vehicles were brilliant…

Swedish TV didn’t show an early Gerry Anderson, like ‘Stingray’, ‘Thunderbirds’, ‘Captain Scarlet’ or ‘UFO’ The first series they showed was ‘Space: 1999’, and then only 10 episodes, the episodes that the Swedish National TV thought was suitable for the Swedish audience!

So ‘UFO’ or ‘Space: 1999’?

If I have to choose, then it’s ‘Space: 1999’, but ‘UFO’ comes second on my list of best Gerry Anderson shows.

The ‘Start’ EP parties like it’s 1979, discuss! 😉

Well, I have listened to early electronic pop in the last few years. I made a “list” of what I still love and what still inspires me.

I came to the conclusion that there are around nine or so albums that still sounds as cool and fresh as it did then, around 1978 – 1980.

Electronic pop music (and New Wave) doesn’t sound like that anymore, and I wanted to. The artists that are still around are way off the track from what I loved about them.

So, I kinda tried to sound like I wish they still did, or did for more than one or two albums. It’s a silly thing to say, but I think I “found home”.

How important has Gary Numan been to you musically?

Lately, alot! Those three albums ‘Replicas’, ‘The Pleasure Principle’ and ‘Telekon’ are three of the best New Wave / electronic pop albums ever made. There also on my list of best albums ever. I think when they came out, that I didn’t really appreciate them for what they were. There was so much other stuff around, so I didn’t have the time to really LISTEN to them thoroughly. Right before our latest full length CD, I would listen to those three albums alot (and still do) and I discovered so much. Wonderful and perfect albums (and music).

The releases that came from Gary Numan after ‘Telekon’, starting with ‘Dance’ and then ‘Warriors’, I bought them when they came out but, they were really really bad. Gone was all the magic, the sound, the quality, everything. Last year when I sold most of my electronic vinyl collection, those two albums was not keepers. Actually, I had them on CD too and I threw them away. I don’t want to keep albums that I don’t like or have any connection to.

I like to remember Numan as he was, the music he made and how he looked (coolness), therefore I try to shut his new stuff out and therefore I didn’t go to his show when he played here is Sweden. That would have ruined the magic for me. Still… I do respect him as a musician and respect him for that he has fought hard and is still “going strong”.

You covered ‘Tracks’ in Swedish as ‘Spår’ and did a Numan tribute on ‘Utanför’ for your most recent album ‘Det Är Ingen Vacker Värld Men Det Råkar Vara Så Det Ser Ut’? What tricks did you use to pay homage to this imperial Numan sound?

Whenever I buy a new synth (though I have stopped doing that now, I bought probably my last one this Spring), one of the first things that I do is to “Numanize” it.

That means, that I listen to my favourite Numan tracks and try to make those sounds with my new synth. And later on, those are the sounds I use with PAGE.

I also listen to the production, the layers, the drums, the stereo panning, the harmonies. All that stuff fills me with inspiration. Then I mix that with the usual Eddie B touch… *laughs*

‘Stör Ej’ borrows from ‘Love Needs No Disguise’ which Numan did with his former backing band DRAMATIS for their ‘For Future Reference’ album. Were they an under rated band to you?

Oh yeah. DRAMATIS was very underrated. I think they contributed alot to Numan’s sound and arrangement on those three classic albums. And if you listen to ‘Dance’, it seems like that truth. GARY NUMAN, DRAMATIS, CUDDLY TOYS and Zaine Griff are my absolute favourites and the greatest of inspiration sources.

‘Nere För Räkning’ exposes more of an ULTRAVOX influence, although you have been here before with ‘Allt Är Klart’ as SISTA MANNEN PÅ JORDEN? How did this track come together?

Simple answer, I wanted to something that sounded like ULTRAVOX’s ‘Alles Klar’. Christer Hermodsson (the other part of SMPJ) is a big ULTRAVOX fan and really did a good work on that production and the solo.

With ‘Nere För Räkning’ , I don’t know really. Maybe I tried to mix ULTRAVOX and Numan there. But I don’t think the ULTRAVOX influence was intentional.

The Italo-styled remix of ‘Krasch’ by APOPTYGMA BERZERK is on paper unexpected but also simultaneously quite obvious… how did this union come about?

I never cared about APOPTYGMA BERZERK, because I knew what it was. Hard Electronica, stuff that I didn’t relate to at all. That was until… I got their latest album ‘Exit Popularity Contest’ from my friend and APOP-involvee Per Aksel Lundgreen. He gave it to me and said that should listen to it, because I might like it. And I was all “yeah right!”. What I later on heard in my car going home, totally blew me away! Wonderful electronic music and nothing at all like as had expected. It was electronic music that sounded if it was made in the early 70s and something that Jean-Michel Jarre would sell his soul for to be able to do today. It was obviously heavy inspired by, in my opinion, French early electronic music.

I just felt I had to write down and publish (on Facebook) my feelings about that record and it became in a sense a review of the album. Both Per Axel and Stephan Groth of APOP saw the “review” and from there on, contact was made. Stephan and I both realised that we have alot in common when it comes to preferences when it comes to electronic music. And, maybe there will come more out of this new friendship…

So how would you like PAGE to be described? Is it synthpop or is it poptronica or what?

I would say as I always do and have always done; PAGE is electronic pop music. But you can also call it poptronica if you want.

“Synthpop”, I don’t really know what that should be. Pop made on synthesizers?

If so then that genre is huge. Because most commercial contemporary pop music today is made solely using synthesizers.

What do you make of this Synthwave thing coming out of North America in the wake of ‘Drive’?

I don’t know anything about that at all.

The first and last time PAGE played live in London was 2014, how are plans coming together for a return?

There are plans. We are coming in September!

Photo by Simon Helm

How do you think PAGE have developed musically since the early days and then your comeback with ‘Nu’ in 2010, particularly in the creative dynamic between you and Marina?

I think the music has become less naive, both music wise and lyrics wise. I have grown older and that reflects in the music of course. I have also narrowed in what I do love about electronic music (and pseudo-electronic music) and with that has evolved the sound and the style of PAGE’s music.

Still, there is the element that people recognise and like. It’s not that we have changed altogether like most bands do. Marina does what she always has done, she is my creative feedback giver. She has always given me good honest feedback to the music and always given me advice on things musically.

Was there ever any likelihood that PAGE could have become more of a pseudo-rock band like DEPECHE MODE did?

No. We found our roots, evolved, grew up and matured right from the start (well, almost at least…)

You worked with MY GOD DAMN TERRITORY and transformed them into an electronic pop act?

Yeah, that was fun! They was originally something totally different. In start it was more like a “just for fun” thing when I made a redux of one of their songs.

But they liked it so much so, we continued the collaboration and it became what it is; Sweden’s coolest indietronica act. I still do reduxes for them and soon there will be a new single released.

You have started a project THE VOLT with Ulrika Mild aka COMPUTE, how is this progressing and can we expect an EP or album soon?

We did a follow-up to the single, but I think it’s temporarily (I hope) stuck in production “somewhere”.

Referencing ‘Lyssnade På Min Radio’ from the 2013 PAGE album ‘Hemma’, “They don’t play good songs on the radio anymore…”, do we need radio anymore or are streaming playlists the way to go?

Well, I Iike radio, just not the music that the huge stations play. Radio is good, because many people are hearing the same thing at the same time and that’s nice. There is always the joy in knowing that it’s not just you hearing this right now. But, maybe I’m old-fashioned and people today don’t think that way anymore. Everybody is an individualist, or like to think they are. Because what they have on their playlist is just what everybody else have on theirs, it’s just that they don’t hear it at the same time. Maybe I’m exaggerating here I don’t know, but that’s the way I feel that it is.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its grateful thanks to Eddie Bengtsson

‘Start’ is released by Energy Rekords as a limited edition CD, available direct from https://hotstuff.se/cdm-page-start-ep-digipack-limited-edition-300-copies/68573

PAGE, RATIONAL YOUTH + PSYCHE will play ‘Non Stop Electronic Cabaret’ on Saturday 29th September 2018 at The Islington in London. Presented by Cold War Night Life – tickets available from https://billetto.co.uk/e/non-stop-electronic-cabaret-with-rational-youth-page-and-psyche-tickets-300983

https://www.facebook.com/PageElektroniskPop

https://www.instagram.com/page_svensk_pop/

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
23rd July 2018

A Short Conversation with JOHAN BAECKSTRÖM

30 June 2018 /

Some might say Johan Baeckström has already found his utopia with his fabulous collection of synthesizers at his studio in Örebro, Sweden.

Best known as a member of DAILY PLANET with vocalist Jarmo Ollila, the duo have three acclaimed albums to their name, the first being ‘The Tide’ issued as far back as 1996. But in 2015, Baeckström began a parallel solo career with the release of his debut long player ‘Like Before’.

Capturing the melodic spirit of classic Vince Clarke, he surprised listeners not just with his accomplished songwriting but his vocal capabilities too. His new album ‘Utopia’ is a natural progression of ‘Like Before’ but is perhaps weightier, both in its production and lyrical content.

Taking time out from preparations for upcoming live appearances in Europe, Johan Baeckström kindly spoke about the making of his ‘Utopia’.

It’s amazing to think that when you started ‘Like Before’, you were returning to music after nearly 18 years but in the last 4 years, there have been two DAILY PLANET albums and two solo works…

Yes, you are right. I’ve had a very productive period in the last 5 years. I guess staying away from music for 18 years has something to do with that. Apart from the 4 albums, I’ve also done a number of remixes for other bands and a collaboration track with my friends in RATIONAL YOUTH. However, since finishing ‘Utopia’, I’ve actually felt quite “drained out”. I haven´t spent much time at all in my studio and, to be honest, not much music has been produced in the last 6 months.

In terms of writing, what do you think are the key differences between what you would do for DAILY PLANET and what you would do on your own?

Most of the DAILY PLANET songs start off with a brief idea from Jarmo – a chord progression and a vocal melody draft. From there, I take over and start building the rest.

The interesting thing with this method is that I never know what Jarmo intended with the song draft. For example, the two fastest of all our songs, ‘Set Me Free’ and ‘Milky Way’, were actually intended to be ballads, in his mind. When I write for my solo project, I mostly start off by making a cool sound on a synth which often leads me to playing something.

Sometimes this “something” ends up in a song idea. In that case, I force myself to turn this idea into a full song, at least I need to finish all the different components of the song, so I can start recording the synths I´ve used into my computer. Since many of these old instruments don’t have any memory to save sounds, I need to record the parts before I can even touch that particular synth again.

The topline melodies, vocals and lyrics are usually not written until I have a pretty complete arrangement. There have been times however when I haven´t come up with any vocal melodies that are good enough, and I’ve asked Jarmo to give it a go. ‘Goodbye Late Nights’, ‘Forgiven’, and ‘Silver Moon’ are examples of such songs. Once Jarmo’s melodies and voice were added, they turned into obvious DAILY PLANET songs instead of solo songs.

Despite its title, ‘Utopia’ as an album appears to have darker, more worldly matters in its heart after the escapist optimism of ‘Like Before’?

I never intended to make a darker album, but I´ve had this comment from a few people. I suppose it´s true in the sense that the general tempo is a bit slower than the first album, and with a little heavier sound perhaps. Some of the lyrics touch upon rather deep subjects too.

For example ‘Blood Red Moon’ which was written in the evening after attending the funeral of my close friends’ young daughter who lost a long, brave fight against cancer. I wouldn’t describe the album as “dark” though – it´s absolutely a pop album.

The title track at the start sets the scene of the album, what’s the song about?

It can probably mean different things, depending on who the listener is. I guess I tried to say that sometimes we’re going way too far to find whatever we’re desiring. Look a bit closer and you may find it right where you are.

You’re influenced by Vince Clarke´s earlier productions and now you’ve even included a song named ‘Into The 80’s’ on the album? What´s the story here?

‘Into The 80s’ is a cover of a song from 1979, by the Canadian rock artist Nick Gilder. I had never heard it before, but Eddie Bengtsson from PAGE introduced me to the song and suggested I´d do a cover version of it. I fell in love with the song right away, and the cover turned out very good I think, which is why I included it on the album.

‘I Can Read Your Mind’ almost goes full YAZOO?

Really? Hmm, it must be the Linndrum samples. Jokes aside, yes, I guess it goes down that path a bit. The YAZOO stuff is what made me discover electronic, synth based music in the first place, back in the 80s, and it has continued to inspire me up until this day. I still think those two albums are perfect in every sense of the word. It´s only natural that this will sometimes reflect in my own music.

‘Better Stories’ pays tribute to ‘Any Second Now’?

I don’t know, I’ve had that comment from some friends as well. Actually, it´s just the bass figure and sound that´s perhaps flirting a wee bit with said song. The rest of it isn´t even close, I’d say. But hey – ‘Any Second Now’ is a great song, so I don´t mind the comparison, haha.

‘Cassini’ is a fine filmic instrumental, what inspired it and does soundtrack work interest you in the future?

I was looking at those amazing videos and photos from Nasa´s Cassini mission to the planet Saturn and its moons, which led me to try to make almost like a film score for those lovely images. I must admit, I was a bit nervous to put an instrumental piece on the album, since I have never done that before. I hope people will like it and I can certainly see myself doing something more in that direction.

‘Ask Them Why’ is quite aggressive by your standards?

Yeah, it´s got some attitude with a high tempo, 3-4 different bass sounds and even slightly distorted lead vocals, which is a first for me. On the other hand, I guess my friends in POUPPEE FABRIKK, WULFBAND or LUCIFER´S AID probably wouldn´t find it very aggressive…

Melody is still the key in your work, do you have any views on other forms of electronic music like dubstep or EDM?

No, not really. EDM is nothing I can listen to for more than a few minutes. Dubstep? I don’t even know what that is, to be honest. I could definitely see myself exploring other genres though, but these are not the hottest candidates, I can tell you that much.

You’ve used a Korg Volca Bass synth on the album and it does get a look a lot of good feedback from musicians, what do you like about it?

On this album, it´s not used for much more than a few small sounds here and there. Not because I don’t like it, but mainly because I prefer working on other stuff I have. The Volca is however a great little synth. I mean, a 3 oscillator analog synthesizer with a built-in sequencer, for the price of a decent bottle of scotch!

What other of the newer synths have you found to be a revelation in your creativity?

Most of the new synths I have are actually re-issues of old designs, like the Minimoog or the ARP Odyssey and MS-20s from Korg. I´ve realized I tend to always go to synths that give me a fast result.

For example, I have a Prophet ’08 from DSI, which is a really great synthesizer but I actually don´t use it very much – since it is quite advanced, and you now and then need to look on a screen to know what you´re doing, I´d rather turn to my Jupiter or Juno which both are very “what_you_see_is_what_you_hear”, with no sub menus or displays whatsoever.

So on the whole, you appear to have stuck to your trusty vintage synths like the older Rolands and the Pro-One?

Yeah, these are my work horses for sure. They sound amazing and like I said in the previous question – I get superfast results from them. The Minimoog is also used quite a lot on this album.

Interestingly ‘Nightbird’, one of ERASURE’s best albums of recent years used just softsynths… have you ever been tempted to go the exclusively software route?

Indeed I have – in the early 2000s I sold all my hardware gear to use software instead. I thought it sounded like a great idea to have everything in the computer. The only, small problem was that they didn’t sound very sexy at all back then, and the interaction with them didn’t inspire me at all. I basically didn’t write anything longer than 4-8 bars on that system since I lost interest within an hour, every time. Today, some 15-20 years on, software synths surely sound better than they did back then. They´re still totally uninspiring to work with though, for me, so I will certainly stick to my big old hardware instruments.

What inspired the PCB derived graphic artwork for the album?

The artwork was done by Mr Peter Nyborg, who also did the cover for our latest DAILY PLANET album, ‘Play Rewind Repeat’. Since I was very happy with that design, Peter was free to come up with pretty much whatever he wanted for ‘Utopia’. This PCB idea was the first thing he presented to me and I loved it right away. I am sure there is some clever thoughts behind it, but I guess you´ll have to ask Peter about that. To me it´s just a great looking artwork which I think suits the music very well.

You’ve been doing other covers, like ‘Cry Softly (Time Is Mourning)’ for the album ‘Night City Tribute – The Songs of SECRET SERVICE’, so for those reading outside of Sweden, why do you think this band was popular back in its day and why did you choose this song?

I would think the reason for their success must be the quality of the song material. They did some stunningly crafted pop tracks. The production was also spot on for that time, which probably also contributed to their success. I was asked if I would be interested in contributing to this tribute and ‘Cry Softly’ was an obvious choice for me. I think that it’s one of their best songs and I have thought about covering it for a long time actually. It certainly was a challenge vocally though – Ola Håkansson has a very wide vocal range!

Is it true you are working on a new WHITE DOOR album?

I can´t say that much about this, but I can confirm that I am working on something with the fine WHITE DOOR gents. What, and when, is to be seen.

What are you up to next?

I am, like I said earlier, not very productive at the moment as for writing new music. I’m working on other stuff instead, such as preparing and rehearsing for a couple of live shows coming up. Hopefully there will be more gigs added as well – I’ve done a private gig in France, but I would really love to meet my audience in other countries!

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its grateful thanks to Johan Baeckström

‘Utopia’ is released by Progress Productions in CD and digital formats, available direct from https://johanbaeckstrom.bandcamp.com/album/utopia-2

https://www.facebook.com/bstrommusic/

https://twitter.com/bstrommusic

https://www.instagram.com/johanbaeckstrom/

http://www.progress-productions.com/product/johan-baeckstrom-utopia/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0WEshg2xV9AYJrXlLQ685r

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Helene Shippey and Johan Baeckström
30th June 2018, updated 30th April 2019

PAGE Start EP

27 June 2018 /

The Count and Countess of Swedish electronic pop are back-back-BACK!

Eddie Bengtsson and Marina Schiptjenko initially came together in PAGE as far back as 1980, releasing their first single ‘Dansande Man’ in 1983. Since then, the pair have parted and reunited on a number of occasions although both continued to make sine waves at home and internationally.

Bengtsson had his ongoing solo mission SISTA MANNEN PÅ JORDEN but found fame with S.P.O.C.K while Schiptjenko joined Alexander Bard from ARMY OF LOVERS in VACUUM and then BWO. More recently as PAGE, the pair released an enjoyable trilogy of albums ‘Nu’, ‘Hemma’ and ‘Det Är Ingen Vacker Värld Men Det Råkar Vara Så Det Ser Ut’ which have affirmed their position as one of Sweden’s leading electronic pop pioneers.

Their latest EP ‘Start’ comprises of three new songs plus a remix by Norwegian EBM trailblazers APOPTYGMA BERZERK. Having already covered Gary Numan’s ‘Tracks’ in Swedish as ‘Spår’ and paid an initial Numanoid tribute on ‘Utanför’ for ‘Det Är Ingen Vacker Värld Men Det Råkar Vara Så Det Ser Ut’, PAGE have gone the full hog with the ultimate homage to the imperial years of the man born Gary Anthony James Webb.

The appropriately named ‘Start’ remembers a time before ‘Dance’ ever happened with buzzing Minimoog basslines and swirling Polymoog strings coming over like a mash-up of ‘Tracks’ and ‘Metal’. Yes, there are machine music overtures but there is melody too, a skilful trait often forgotten with vintage Numan.

Photo by Simon Helm

‘Stör Ej’ goes a step further and as well as borrowing from ‘This Wreckage’, it actually samples the Compurhythm pattern from ‘Love Needs No Disguise’ halfway through. But despite the familiar aesthetics, this is a song that stands up on its own with a fabulous retro-futuristic tone.

Best of all though is ‘Nere För Räkning’, an urgent slice of pulsing synthrock with a piercing vibratoed lead line akin to the keyboard acrobatics of Billy Currie from ULTRAVOX who was part of the Numan band for the UK leg of ‘The Touring Principle’.

Assisted by Per Aksel Lundgreen, Stephan Groth of APOPTYGMA BERZERK provides a redux of ‘Krasch’ from ‘Det Är Ingen Vacker Värld Men Det Råkar Vara Så Det Ser Ut’. Now while the union with PAGE may seem unlikely, APop’s most recent long player ‘Exit Popularity Contest’ was a wonderful instrumental retreat into the territory of Jean-Michel Jarre and NEU! It showed that Groth had as much of a sweet ear for electronic melody as PAGE, even if it was usually hidden by noise and aggression. With an Italo-derived octave shift bassline replacing the more rigid structure of the album version, APOPTYGMA BERZERK’s rework greatly improves on the original.

Yes, this EP does party like it’s 1979, but that familiarity helps it to possibly be one of PAGE’s most immediate and accessible bodies of work in their long career. If you have never checked out the work of Eddie Bengtsson and Marina Schiptjenko before, then this release is no better way to start…

‘Start’ is released by Energy Rekords as a limited edition CD, available direct from https://hotstuff.se/cdm-page-start-ep-digipack-limited-edition-300-copies/68573

https://www.facebook.com/PageElektroniskPop

https://www.instagram.com/page_svensk_pop/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
27th June 2018

Lost Albums: S.P.O.C.K Five Year Mission

9 August 2017 /

During their ‘Star Trek’ careers, both William Shatner and the late Leonard Nimoy made various excursions into the musical world with mixed responses. Nimoy gave the world ‘The Ballad Of Bilbo Baggins’, while Shatner’s melodramatic cover of Elton John’s ‘Rocket Man’ had to be heard to be truly believed.

But one noted musical offshoot inspired by the long running franchise were a bunch of Swedes who traded under the moniker of S.P.O.C.K

Alongside bands such as PAGE, ELEGANT MACHINERY and SISTA MANNEN Å JORDEN, they were to become key players in the Swedish electronic pop scene. The project started in 1988 when Eddie Bengtsson of Svenske synth trailblazers PAGE put together some ‘Star Trek’ themed songs for his friend Finn Albertsson to perform at his birthday party; another friend Alexander Hofman provided the vocal accompaniment.

Calling themselves MR SPOCK, the performance was well-received and unexpectedly led to further local live bookings with Bengtsson now also incorporated into the line-up. Formal approaches were made to Paramount Pictures to use the name of the Vulcan Science Officer, but unable to reach agreement with the studio giant, the trio opted to call themselves STAR PILOTS ON CHANNEL K, otherwise abbreviated to S.P.O.C.K.

Releasing their debut single ‘Silicon Dream’ in 1990, the S.P.O.C.K crew adopted character personas with Hofman, Bengtsson and Albertsson calling themselves Android, Captain Eddie B Kirk and Cybernoid respectively to fully immerse themselves into their conceptual vision.

1992 saw the release of their signature song ‘Never Trust A Klingon’ on Energy Rekords. A frantic robotic synthpop number with a hypnotic dance feel, Hofman’s detached but theatrical vocal style told the message loud and clear. A magnificent blip splurge in the middle eight was further enhanced with samples of Captain James Tiberius Kirk from ‘Star Trek III: The Search for Spock’.

‘Never Trust A Klingon’ bordered on nerdiness, but presented with a straight face and accompanied by a brilliant synthetic backing track, it strangely came over as a work of genius even with lines about “evil barbarians” who “if you ever give them a helping hand… can be sure they’ll chop off the arm”. Klingons on the starboard bow? THE FIRM’s 1987 novelty hit ‘Star Trekkin’ this most certainly wasn’t and ‘Never Trust A Klingon’ became an alternative club favourite in both Sweden and Germany.

The parent long player ‘Five Year Mission’ appeared in 1993. Predominantly based around the cult of ‘Star Trek’, it began by exploring the ‘Neutral Zone’ in a steadfast ERASURE-ish recollection of a mission where the USS Enterprise responded to a distress call sent from the no-man’s land dividing The Federation from The Klingon Empire.

Continuing the Trekkie theme, ‘Mr Spock’s Brain’ utilised Android’s processed Numan-esque drone with some enjoyably daft lyrics, while the bleeps and chattering drum machines on ‘Charlie X’ accompanied the story of a disturbed teenager who appeared in a first season episode causing mayhem aboard the Enterprise while stalking one of the female crew members. But it was a story that could be related to any aspect of society, not just in outer space.

The deadpan drama of ‘Black Hole’ saw the USS Enterprise trying to get more warp speed to prevent being sucked into oblivion, while ‘Edge Of Forever’ with its distinctive tones of mechanical vocal expression was great spacey Eurocentric synthpop.

Despite the concept of ‘Five Year Mission’, not all the tracks were based around ‘Star Trek’ but most were still Science Fiction based. ‘Space Race’ borrowed from Vince Clarke-era DEPECHE MODE and S.P.O.C.K were later to pay tribute to Basildon’s most famous sons when they recorded ‘Ice Machine’ for the Svenske DM tribute ‘Sometimes I Wish I Was Famous’.

Meanwhile ‘E-Lectric’ celebrated future technologies in a typically Kling Klang fashion and the HG Wells inspired ‘Time Machine’ told of a trapped time traveller whose survival supplies were running on empty.

‘Five Year Mission’ ended appropriately enough with ‘Last Man On Earth’, a dystopian doomscape about machines taking over the earth. “The robots are now out of control” muttered Android dispassionately in a tone that could have easily come from TUBEWAY ARMY’s ‘Replicas’.

S.P.O.C.K’s music could on first impression be seen as bordering on parody. But expanding on the sly deadpan humour of KRAFTWERK and combining it with Bengtsson’s melodic synth laden compositions, S.P.O.C.K’s music possessed enough authentic weight to complement Hofman’s amusing wordplay.

In a period when the UK had more or less given up on synthpop and Britpop was rearing its ugly head, Sweden and Germany were still keeping the genre alive on ‘Planet Earth’. Rather fittingly, the inter-galactic adventures of S.P.O.C.K would later lead them to reinterpret that same titled DURAN DURAN track for the ‘To Cut A Long Story Short’ synthpop covers collection in 1995 alongside ELEGANT MACHINERY and PAGE.

In the end, everyone comes back down to earth…

‘Five Year Mission’ was released as a CD by Energy Rekords

http://www.subspace.se/spock/

https://www.facebook.com/StarPilotOnChannelK

Text by Chi Ming Lai
9th August 2017

PAGE Det Är Ingen Vacker Värld Men Det Råkar Vara Så Det Ser Ut

1 July 2017 /

Formed in 1980 in Sweden by Eddie Bengtsson and Marina Schiptjenko, PAGE marked the entry point of synthpop into the Nordic country, leading to decades of producing the best pop acts in Europe.

Quickly influencing the masses and creating a cult following, the group released numerous singles before finally the first album in 1991; they have been active on and off since then.

Returning with their new album ‘Det Är Ingen Vacker Värld Men Det Råkar Vara Så Det Ser Ut’, which translates as “There’s No Beautiful World But It Happens To Look Like That”, the veteran boy / girl combo ensure that they are still very valid, even 37 years on.

‘Det Är Ingen Vacker Värld Men Det Råkar Vara Så Det Ser Ut’ promises its building blocks are based on a “classic pop concept”, and the opening ‘Krasch’ certainly fits the analogue blueprint of the Swedish essence. ‘Spottar Långt’ carries on the idea of simple, yet wholesome electronic noise, while ‘Lågger Av’ speeds everything up.

‘Sånt Som Inte Går’ introduces the feel of underground synth with an alternative sound, at times reminiscent of the works of GARY NUMAN. Talking of Numan, his ‘Tracks’, translated into Swedish ‘Spår’, finds its way onto the opus, as well as now soiled glam classic ‘Hello Hello I’m Back Again’ in the form of ‘Så Skönt Att Va Här’.

‘Låt Det Gå’ melodiously invites to the classic disco meets with extravagant synth while ‘För Någon’ rocks grit-tingly onto ‘Tid För En Kyss’, originally released in 2015. ‘Det Var Ingenting’ tells us that “it was nothing” with busy sequences and droning repetitive rhythms. The only track performed in English is ‘I Know You Know’, which closes the outing with the additional dose of ear friendly synthpop and a positive dose of dancebility.

PAGE are back with an album which will take you back to the classic years of synth with a twist. If Swedish is one of the languages you speak, you will understand the reflection on the things going on in today’s world. If not, you will revel in the classic signature sound of PAGE.

Not for everyone, this is a good, alternative take on synthpop, clearly very sought after since 1980.

‘Det Är Ingen Vacker Värld Men Det Råkar Vara Så Det Ser Ut’ is released by Energy Rekords as a CD with bonus tracks and vinyl LP, available from http://hotstuff.se/page/x-7640

PAGE perform at Electronic Summer 2017 in Gothenburg on Saturday 2nd September, details at http://electronicsummer.se/

https://www.facebook.com/PageElektroniskPop

Text by Monika Izabela Trigwell
1st July 2017

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