NIGHT CLUB have been active since 2011, and have since taken off enormously in Tinseltown, getting numerous gigs for television shows such as ‘Jersey Shore’, ‘XOX Batsey Johnson’, ‘Washington Heights’ and ‘The Mysteries Of Laura’.
The Comedy Central show ‘Moonbeam City’ saw the duo’s compositions utilised and the soundtrack was released in 2015.
Larger than life front lady Emily Kavanaugh, joined by the master of synth Mark Brooks, have produced a “more bombastic and aggressive” sound on their latest long player ‘Requiem For Romance’, seeing Kavanaugh’s voice undergo all sorts of experimentation.
Indeed, NIGHT CLUB offer a rockier, darker approach to synthpop, while still remaining true to the genre. ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK is chatting to the LA based duo about their latest offering and the highlights of their career.
‘Requiem For Romance’ is your first full length opus, however, you’ve been together since 2011. Some would say it is a long time to wait for a debut?
At first we were pretty content just making EPs and not worried about doing full albums. Then we spent a year and a half writing all the music for ‘Moonbeam City’ and a year scoring the feature film ‘Nerdland’.
So to us, it hasn’t been that long considering we put out 3 EPs, a TV soundtrack and a movie score. After that was all finished, we finally had time to sit down and write a full record.
How did the ‘Moonbeam City’ collaboration come about?
Chris Prynoski, a friend of ours who owns an animation studio, asked us to give him some music to make a teaser for an animated project that he was trying to bring into the studio. That project ended up being ‘Moonbeam City’ and the creator of the show, Scott Gairdner, liked the music so much that we ending up scoring the pilot for him. When the show got picked up, we ended up scoring the entire season and releasing a soundtrack. Scott loves music more than anyone we know, so it was a blast to make music for someone that had such eclectic taste.
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Given you’re based in LA and its accessibility to anything movie related, are you planning to supply your music to other TV programmes/films?
Yeah, we love to write original music for television and film as well as having our own songs placed in projects. Late last year, we scored our first film called ‘Nerdland’, written by Andrew Kevin Walker (‘Se7en’), that will be coming out this December.
It stars Paul Rudd and Patton Oswalt as two Hollywood losers willing to do just about anything to become famous.
Right now, our attention is 100% back on the band and we’re really just trying to tour as much as possible and promote the new record. We’re sure at some point we’ll pick up where we left off and score another project.
The album feel is rockier than the previous EP releases, is that the direction you are willing to pursue from now on?
There was no master plan when we started writing this record, we just fell in love with some of the new sounds we were making organically. The “rock” element came out of having a more aggressive live sound and we wanted to incorporate it into this LP. We love to keep pushing the boundaries of what’s expected and keep it interesting for the audience as well as ourselves. Just for the record, there are NO guitars on this album. It’s all synthesizers.
Your new single ‘Dear Enemy’ sounds like Britney Spears has joined NINE INCH NAILS…
We take that as a supreme compliment!
The album kicks off with ‘Requiem’. It does sound like a little brother to DEPECHE MODE’s ‘Shake The Disease’?
Actually that’s one of the last songs we wrote for the record and it was solely an instrumental until we thought it should have a simple little vocal line. Emily came up with the part on the spot and we finished the album. It wasn’t until the LP came out that people brought up its similarity to the intro of ‘Shake The Disease’, and we realised once again DEPECHE MODE just naturally runs through our veins. Could be worse.
Mark, what are your favourite synths to use? Do you sway towards the real thing or are soft synths your preferred medium?
I prefer to use soft synths as I find them more flexible and creative in the process of writing and recording. Even though I own quite a few old school synths, I find them to be very limiting in the songwriting process. With soft synths, you can change / tweak / destroy all the sounds up until the very last minute of mixing.
Emily, your voice sounds fantastic on the new album, how do you work on your voice?
Lots of pinot noir, spaghetti and channeling my inner neuroses. I don’t do any vocal exercises and I’ve never taken a lesson.
I think I’ve just developed a confidence from recording and touring over the past few years and maybe it came through a bit more on this record.
When I first recorded ‘Lovestruck’, which was our first single back in 2012, I was super intimidated and insecure about my voice, and the idea of being a lead singer in a band freaked the sh*t out of me. It’s taken a while, but I think I’ve finally come to accept myself as a vocalist and musician.
Speaking of working on voices, a lot of pitch shift effects have been used to make Emily sound more blokey… what inspired this?
We’ve always been using vocal effects as part of our sound, but on this record we decided to experiment a little more. We started coming up with vocal parts that seemed like they should have a different voice saying them. Once we recorded the bridge to ‘Bad Girl’, we got hooked on seeing how far we could push the effects on certain vocal parts. We love how that sound has added a dark, creepy, schizophrenic quality to the music.
Emily, you recently worked with Rusty Egan on his ‘Welcome To The Dancefloor’ collection, is lending your voice on other projects something we are to expect more of?
I’m always down to work with other artists and producers as long as it’s something that seems like the right fit.
Working with electronic legends Rusty Egan and Chris Payne on ‘Evermore’ was a complete no brainer.
Do you have any favourite electronic acts at the moment?
We’ve been listening to TR/ST quite a bit and recently have been getting into PRAYERS, who we just played a show with here in Los Angeles.
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to NIGHT CLUB
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. His first album ‘Like Before’ drew favourable comparisons to Vince Clarke. A competent vocalist himself, the long player’s title song 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’s ‘Diagram Girl’ was the work of Erol Alkan and Richard Norris, formally of THE GRID. 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.
BLACK NEEDLE NOISE featuring KENDRA FROST Warning Sign
It can be tricky keeping up with the prolific studio legend John Fryer. 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. Foxx’s work is still under-appreciated so ‘21st Century: A Man, A Woman And A City’ provided 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 sub-eight minute epic ‘Kabeldon’. A outstanding electronic 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 four minute pop tune. This Jean-Michel Jarre managed in a quirky collaboration with Cyndi Lauper. No stranger to electronic forms, particularly with her under rated ‘Bring Ya To The Brink’ album of 2007, ‘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 well-received 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
One-time label mates of MARSHEAUX, LIEBE are the electro disco duo comprising of George Begas and Dimos Zachariadis 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’.
Recorded in London and Athens, a new approach saw MARSHEAUX’s trademark wispiness blended in 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, ‘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 created from scratch as their way of paying homage to their fellow passenger. 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’ and ‘Don Juan’ that Tennant and Lowe always do so well. As 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 betters the original and reflects the decades 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 the template is undoubtedly derivative, ‘War’ is extremely well executed.
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
An appearance at the 2015 ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE in Düsseldorf reinforced TINY MAGNETIC PETS’ reputation as an intriguing live act by winning over 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 and featuring a poptastic four chord progression, ‘Believe In Love’ was TRAIN TO SPAIN’s first recording to feature producer Lars Netzel aka NOT LARS as a full-time member. It developed on the promise of songs like ‘Passion’ from their debut album ‘What it’s All About’ released in 2015 and significantly gave more space within Jonas Rasmusson’s classic synthpop framework for lead singer Helena Wigeborn to exude her charm in. 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 actually came to his home studio in Copenhagen 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. While some complained that ‘River In Me’ was 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
Tony Hadley is best known the lead singer of SPANDAU BALLET.
The Islington quintet were one of the bands to emerge from the vibrant and colourful New Romantic scene at The Blitz Club and went on to great success with albums such as ‘True’ and ‘Parade’. But on their 1981 debut album ‘Journeys To Glory’, they harnessed the pioneering sound of the synthesizer that formed part of the soundtrack at The Blitz Club curated by its resident DJ Rusty Egan.
Hadley has gone full circle and returns to his days at The Blitz Club by contributing vocals to ‘Lonely Highway’, a track on Rusty Egan’s debut solo album ‘Welcome To The Dancefloor’. Co-written by Chris Payne who also co-wrote VISAGE’s ‘Fade to Grey’, ‘Lonely Highway’ is possibly Hadley’s most overtly synthpop outing since ‘To Cut A Long Story Short’ back in 1980.
Tony Hadley kindly chatted to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK from Copenhagen about this new collaboration and recalled his days at the Blitz Club.
How did the idea for you to record ‘Lonely Highway’ come about?
Rusty sent me a demo of the song and I just thought it had a really great sound and almost a retro feel to it. We then decided to make some slight changes and felt we needed an outro section/ middle eight.
Were there any particular influences with the way you approached the vocal?
The way to approach every song is to connect with the lyric and give it your own interpretation.
You actually recorded the vocal in the studio with Rusty and his producer Nick Bitzenis as opposed to remotely. Do you think this helped with your performance?
To be honest I like the personal approach and having Nick and Rusty there in the studio was just great. This album is Rusty’s baby and we recorded various takes until we felt the song had the right feeling.
‘Lonely Highway’ is possibly the most synthpop thing you’ve done since the early SPANDAU BALLET days. How did it feel to return to that sound?
I love synthpop and still one of my favourite songs is Spandau Ballet’s first release ‘ To Cut A Long Story Short’. I love the approach to ‘Lonely Highway’ and on my album out next year there are several references to that era.
You’re no stranger to collaborations having done ‘Moment’ with Gary Barlow and ‘Dance With Me’ with TIN TIN OUT? How did these experiences differ?
I love collaborating with other artists and have worked on techno tracks with other artists such as MILK INC, MARC & CLAUDE from Germany and CAPAREZZA from Italy. To be honest the writing and recording process is always really relaxed and creative.
Working with Rusty must have brought back a few memories from those heady days at The Blitz…
I’ve known Rusty since I was about 18 and he’s a great guy and a very genuine man. Rusty was there at the start of the whole Billy’s and Blitz scene and that was, an amazing post punk scene! There are lots of fond memories from those days and Rusty has always been a larger than life character.
SPANDAU BALLET did a ‘Blitz’ section on the last tour, is there any material from that ‘Journeys To Glory’ period that you still have affection for?
Our first album ‘Journeys To Glory’ will always be one of my favourite Spandau albums, we were just young excited lads trying to make our mark on the world. There’s a rawness and energy on that album that is impossible to recreate .
The ‘Journeys To Glory’ sleeve notes credit you with “synthesizer”, can you remember what tracks you played on and what instrument it was?
There was only one track and that was the instrumental ‘Age of Blows’.
The synth was a Yamaha CS10 that we bought on hire purchase as we were all pretty broke.
Have you had a chance to hear any of the other tracks on ‘Welcome To The Dancefloor’ yet?
I’ve heard a couple of demos and it sounds brilliant, really exciting, so hopefully Rusty will send me an old fashioned CD!
What’s next for you?
I’m on a short European tour, next year will be as busy as ever with UK and overseas touring including the US and South East Asia. I will definitely finish my new orchestral album and that will be released at Christmas 2017.
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its grateful thanks to Tony Hadley
Special thanks also to Matt Glover at Blue Print Management and Rusty Egan
‘Lonely Highway’ featuring the vocals of Tony Hadley is included on the Rusty Egan album ‘Welcome To The Dancefloor’ released by Black Mosaic in digital formats on 3rd December 2016
Tony Hadley plays Amsterdam Melkweg Oz (27th November), Cologne Gloria Theater (28th November), Bristol Christmas At The Spiegeltent (21st December)
After many years of trials and tribulations, Rusty Egan finally presents ‘Welcome To The Dancefloor’.
It’s a collection of thirteen songs that explore a varied range of topics, from the euphoria of clubland to the celebration of musical heroes to personal bereavement. This could have formed the basis of the fourth VISAGE album had Egan not been constructively ousted by the then-puppet masters of the late Steve Strange during its recording; sensing a quick buck on the back of ULTRAVOX’s ‘Brilliant’ but failing to understand anything about the music that made The Blitz Club collective a much loved act of the Synth Britannia-era, the end result was the very disappointing ‘Hearts & Knives’.
Indeed, several of the songs included on ‘Welcome To The Dancefloor’ started off as recordings for the rebooted VISAGE. Chris Payne who co-wrote ‘Fade To Grey’ had submitted several compositions, but these great songs remained on the cutting room floor… until now. Also key to this album being fully realised is Nick Bitzenis, best known as NIKONN and one half of FOTONOVELA, the production duo behind MARSHEAUX.
Contributing the album’s opening salvo is Peter Hook with ‘The Otherside’; comparisons with Hooky’s previous band are perhaps inevitable and the song’s melodic basslines again show how much his sound was a vital part of NEW ORDER.
Hooky’s vocals are delivered passionately, but exude a vulnerability that will be loved by some and disliked by others.
Another artist firmly associated with his band is Tony Hadley; but the sublime ‘Lonely Highway’ sounds nothing like SPANDAU BALLET. A prime example of classic synthpop, it begs the question as to how the Islington quintet might have developed had they not been soul boys? The first of five Chris Payne co-writes, Tony Hadley’s booming vocals are perfect for this catchy little tune.
The superb ‘Hero’ featuring the voice of Andy Huntley sees Egan exploiting a dancier groove, but is just a great song featuring the sort of memorable melodies and counter-melodies that are absent from much of today’s music.
Erik Stein from post-punk balladeers CULT WITH NO NAME adds his voice to two numbers with the first ‘Love Is Coming My Way’ being a superb slice of machine pop.
Meanwhile, the second Stein voiced number ‘Ballet Dancer’ is a vocodered eulogy to Egan’s late ex-wife, laced with the most beautiful Polymoog Vox Humana synth lines from Chris Payne.
The air is taken down further with ‘Be The Man’ featuring the voice of Kira Porter; this serene orchestrated ballad with its spacey synth solo could easily have come from Midge Ure’s most recent long player ‘Fragile’.
The pace ups considerably and heads towards clubland with the ‘Welcome To The Dancefloor’ title track. Dynamically uplifting, it comes over like GIORGIO MORODER meets DAFT PUNK via THE HUMAN LEAGUE with the track’s root being an interpolation of TENEK’s single ‘Blinded By You’ from their 2010 album ‘On The Wire’.
With a new topline was co-written by Egan with Gerard O’ Connell, The Blitz Club’s legendary DJ said: “’Dancefloor’ is an example of how I have always worked. TENEK had an amazing bassline with synth stabs that grabbed me, but what I could hear was an electro style uplifting track and I wrote this on the roof of the villa in Ibiza … I just looked and thought ‘Welcome To The Dancefloor of THE WORLD’”
The slightly more rock flavoured ‘Evermore’ featuring NIGHT CLUB’s Emily Kavanaugh is another co-write with Chris Payne and features former ULTRAVOX guitarist Robin Simon. The end result comes over feisty and frisky.
The following ‘Dreamer’ is a track originally written and recorded by Arno Carstens. Appropriated by VISAGE for ‘Hearts & Knives’, the song was initially discovered by Egan while listening Carstens’ set at the Isle Of Wight Festival. But this improved reworking makes a misjudgement in keeping Carstens’ voice; grouchy singer/songwriters do not go well with synthpop! However, a newly composed bridge features Andy Huntley and based on this evidence, he really should have sung the whole song.
Chris Payne reunites with Midge Ure for ‘Glorious’ in a revisiting of the New European ethos that produced ‘Fade To Grey’. Attached to a triplet percussive mantra and Ure’s distinctive fret work, this is a seasoned anthem with gigantic choral pads and an honest vocal from the ULTRAVOX front man. To continue the mood, Anni Hogan contributes ‘Love Can Conquer All’ which includes a marvellously soulful vocal from Nicole Clarke and a cameo from Egan impersonating Dieter Meier from YELLO.
On the squelch fest of ‘Wonderwerke’, Egan reclaims some of his lost history. “I have re-recorded this fantastic electronica I first made in Germany on my trip to Zurich to meet YELLO. In 1982 I first discovered a sampler in the studios of Wonderwerke and away I went.” he said of the track that was appropriated by TIME ZONE as ‘The Wildstyle’, “Now without the samples or the Afrika Bambaataa rap, it’s a fantastic electro beat”. Featuring Egan’s voicing in robotic Deutsch with reprogrammed drums and electronics, the track serves a similar role to ‘Falling Down’ on JEAN-MICHEL JARRE’s ‘Electronica2’.
The wonderful closer ‘Thank You’ uses some ‘Endless Endless’ vocodered stylings and does what it says on the tin. Over layers of sweeping ambience à la MOBY and a gentle metronomic pulse, it is Egan’s list of musical heroes and associated beneficiaries in no particular order. Egan’s tone poem is a touching acknowledgement of that marvellous electronic music history. A simple yet highly effective idea, the beauty is in its realisation. Appropriately, it ends with a poignant “VISAGE… thank you”.
As JEAN-MICHEL JARRE put it recently “Electronic music has a family, a legacy and a future…” and for anyone to think that new electronic acts pop-up out of nowhere without any link to the past is naïve and ignorant.
There are some outstanding songs on ‘Welcome To The Dance Floor’. But despite the title, this is NOT a dance record. To all intents and purposes, it is a SYNTHPOP album! Unfortunately the general public will not listen to electronic stuff unless it is labelled dance, so Egan probably feels this is the only way to sell his product. This is the situation that the club-focussed mainstream music media has sadly created.
But fans of classic synthpop need not worry. Even the album’s club courting title track has its core root in synthpop, thus proving how much the genre is owed by the sniffy dance obsessed electronic music press…
Rusty Egan has successfully united a range of talents to produce a highly enjoyable collection of work, like one of your favourite electronic music compilations, but curated with new(ish) songs. And in the veteran DJ / guest vocalist album stakes, ‘Welcome To The Dancefloor’ certainly beats GIORGIO MORODER’s 2015 effort ‘Déjà Vu’ hands down.
Yes, despite 38 years since The Blitz Club, synthpop still rules!
‘Welcome To The Dance Floor’ is released by Black Mosaic and available as a download from the usual digital retailers
The ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE held its second event at Düsseldorf’s CCD following the success of the inaugural gathering.
With impressive line-up that read like a ‘Who’s Who?’ of electronic music, former NEW ORDER bassist Peter Hook, OMD’s Andy McCluskey, HEAVEN 17, WRANGLER, MICHAEL ROTHER, VILE ELECTRODES, METROLAND and TINY MAGNETIC PETS were among those who took part in 2015.
For the 2016 event, JOHN FOXX, STEVE D’AGOSTINO, RUSTY EGAN, MARSHEAUX, JIMI TENOR, JORI HULKKONEN and ERIC RANDOM played live while among the speakers were DANIEL MILLER, CHRIS LIEBING, MARK REEDER and CHRIS PAYNE.
The conference coincided with co-organiser Rudi Esch publishing ‘ELECTRI_CITY – The Düsseldorf School of Electronic Music’, an English language version of his acclaimed book documenting the development of the city’s innovative and inspiring music scene which spawned acts such as KRAFTWERK, DAF, RIECHMANN, NEU! and LA DÜSSELDORF. With Jochen Oberlack of Bellerophon Records acting as the weekend’s Master of Ceremonies, the first of the special international guests was MARK REEDER.
But as Reeder explained in his charmingly fluent Mancunian lilted German to Tassilo Dicke in the Q&A afterwards, the enclosed conscription free environment allowed a creative melting pot to emerge where everything and anything seemed possible.
Next up was CHRIS PAYNE in an interview hosted by ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK. Best known as a member of GARY NUMAN’s band between 1979-1990 and for co-writing VISAGE’s ‘Fade To Grey’ with Billy Currie and Midge Ure, the Cornishman began by demonstrating his bass Cornamuse, a double reed instrument from the 14th Century.
Revealing that he studied Medieval music, he even treated the audience to a quick burst of ‘Cars’ before reflecting on its limitations and therefore highlighting the expansive possibilities of synthesizers.
Now domiciled in Normandy, he happily chatted about his period with Numan, recalling how he had 21 keyboards in his armoury and some of the practical jokes he played on the 1979 support act OMD.
At this time, OMD were a duo comprising of Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys plus a third member Winston. Despite some electronic music publications stating Winston was a drum machine, Payne confirmed that Winston was most definitely a tape recorder. And on the final night of the UK leg of ‘The Touring Principle’ at Hammersmith Odeon, Payne thought it would be amusing to put on the lock of the TEAC A344 4-track reel-to-reel to stop it from playing.
The genesis of ‘Fade To Grey’ occurred during soundchecks on ‘The Touring Principle’, but Payne recalled how the song’s cyclic structure had been composed during his time at music college.
With regards the song’s female French voice, while the eventual German No1 featured RUSTY EGAN’s then-girlfriend Brigitte, the idea had come from Monsieur Payne and featured on the original recording made at Martin Rushent’s Genetic Studios with a different lyric.
Mute Records impresario DANIEL MILLER and techno guru CHRIS LIEBING followed and while Miller reflected on his love of German music which inspired his own recordings, he highlighted the musical kinship he had with Liebing and even joked that they would probably want to play exactly the same tracks during their DJ sets later that night at the Time Warp club night hosted by Salon des Amateurs.
The ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE was about live music too and Manchester electronic veteran ERIC RANDOM had the honour of opening proceedings.
Random recently released his new album ‘Words Made Flesh’ on Austrian record label Klanggalerie, but the one-time CABARET VOLTAIRE and NICO collaborator made his return in 2014 with ‘Man Dog’, having last issued a long player using his own name in 1986 as ERIC RANDOM & THE BEDLAMITES.
Opening with his set with the groovy ‘Knock Yourself Out’, he captured the ethos of the weekend with his sinister but funky, voice sample laden electro. Occasionally adding vocoder and his own FAD GADGET inspired vocals as on the hard beat driven ‘Let It Go’, the Germanic environment more that suited his stark style of presentation.
MARSHEAUX’s appearance prompted dancing in the aisles and despite monitor issues, the duo delivered a fine performance which can soon be witnessed in the UK at TEC004 in Norwich.
The brooding aggression of ‘Burning’ from the new album ‘Ath.Lon’ proved to be a highlight, while other newbies such as ‘Safe Tonight’ sat well next to slightly reworked fan favourites like ‘Breakthrough’, ‘Dream Of A Disco’ and ‘Come On Now’.
A beautiful rendition of DEPECHE MODE’s ‘The Sun & The Rainfall’ won over anyone who wasn’t already convinced, with two new converts being Claudia Schneider-Esleben, sister of KRAFTWERK co-founder Florian and JOHN FOXX who sat absorbed throughout the entire set.
Augmented by NIKONN and CHRIS PAYNE, it began with a marvellous dual overture where the latter performed instrumental piano based renditions of ‘Down In The Park’ and ‘Fade To Grey’.
He even sneaked in snatches of Numan evergreens ‘Are Friends Electric?’ and ‘Cars’ as well.
Seguing into the ‘Nu Cinematic’ ambient version of VISAGE’s German No1 featuring Payne on violin, there was then the surprise inclusion of the beautiful VISAGE instrumental ‘Whispers’; this was not entirely successful as the monitor problems continued, but it was a brave choice and more than welcome for that very reason.
Erik Stein joined the ensemble for ‘Ballet Dancer’ and ‘Love Is Coming My Way’, his voice more than complimenting the two synth heavy tunes before the video playback section. Featuring the lead vocals of Andy Huntley, Midge Ure, Emily Kavanaugh and Tony Hadley, such was his enthusiasm, Egan couldn’t resist joining in on the mic. But Egan got his turn on lead when he morphed into an MC for ‘Wonderwerke’, adding a “was ist das?” snarl shaped by his inimitable London swagger.
Closing the main set with ‘Thank You’, Egan’s vocodered list of musical heroes over layers of sweeping synths even prompted him to walk into the audience to encourage their additional robotised contributions.
The following day began with artists and journalists being given an informal tour of Düsseldorf by Rudi Esch. The landmarks included Düsseldorf HBF where KRAFTWERK had their iconic monochromatic photo on Gleis 17 taken and the entrance to the former Kling Klang studios.
Among those present were JOHN FOXX and MARSHEAUX, with one particularly memorable moment taking place outside Der Ratinger Hof, when Foxx held court as he chatted about working with Conny Plank on ‘Systems Of Romance’.
But afterwards, a familiar character from Berlin reappeared. The scheduled speaker MARTYN WARE had unfortunately been taken ill, so MARK REEDER kindly stepped in with an interview in English conducted by ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK; this chat differed from the day before, focussing on Reeder’s own music career and his long association with NEW ORDER.
Interviewed by German journalist Ecki Stieg, JOHN FOXX gave a marvellously eloquent talk covering his entire career. Working with Brian Eno on the first ULTRAVOX! album, the one-time ROXY MUSIC synthesist told Foxx it was important to keep a space at the end of an album to make a new song out of nothing; that nothing of course became ‘My Sex’. Reflecting on the recording of ‘Systems Of Romance’ to applause from the attentive audience, Foxx also declared Conny Plank as the most important record producer since George Martin.
Despite the innovation of his debut solo album ‘Metamatic’, Foxx moved away from pure electronics due to criticism that his music was cold.
At the time he thought “Maybe I’ve done the wrong thing… it made me afraid of my own music in a way… I’ve never been any good at judging the quality of what I do, I like it but don’t know if it’s any good or not!” – this led to the more band oriented sound of the follow-up ‘The Garden’ which included the actual ‘Systems Of Romance’ song.
Talking about his third solo album ‘The Golden Section’, Foxx said “I wanted to combine electronics with psychedelia… I think I failed because I tried to fit too many favourite things together. It’s always a mistake, it’s like having a meal with all your favourite food, you have fish and pudding and cake and soup and it’s not good! You might love them all, but if you put them on the same plate… but it was out of enthusiasm so I can forgive my younger self for making mistakes like that!”
Premiered in 2014 at London’s South Bank, JOHN FOXX and STEVE D’AGOSTINO supported by visual artist KARBORN gave an assured performance of ‘Evidence Of Time Travel’, “a unique investigation of the terrors and pleasures of temporal displacement. A sinister sonic architecture of drum-machine-music and analogue synthesizers”.
KARBORN’s cut-up images and filmed segments complimented the stark and stoic soundtrack.
A continually evolving audio / visual experience, the finale of ‘Empty Clothing Blows Across A Beach’ saw Katia Isakoff join the trio on a Moog Theremin.
Locking into a wonderfully trippy improvisation, disturbing schizophrenic voices also reverberated around the enclosure.
The second day concluded with a unique presentation of the silent art movie ‘Nuntius’. Featuring a live improvised soundtrack from Finnish musicians JIMI TENOR and JORI HULKKONEN, the film stars MR NORMALL as its central, alien character. Seemingly manufactured in outer space, MR NORMALL explores the woods, stares intensely and even rides a motorcycle sidecar combination through a tunnel in Helsinki with a Shetland sheepdog named Louis.
The film’s accompanying music ranged from blippy ambient to frantic motorik, with Tenor occasionally taking to a flute while Hulkkonen brought out his portable Trautonium, an electronic instrument with a pressure sensitive glided board and whose conceptual origins date back to 1929.
The whole experience was totally mindbending and when MR NORMALL appeared on stage with Tenor and Hulkkonen, things became even more surreal.
It was fabulous weekend that was a reminder of Düsseldorf’s importance as a centre for art, culture and fashion. With the rising profile of the ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE, the 2017 event will be a must-attend date in next year’s diary.
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Rudi Esch and Carsten Siewert
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