The Swedish dark pop band, Then Comes Silence, have announced their new album, Trickery. Now signed to Metropolis, the band are fresh from their sold-out Reptile Club show in London. This video, for the first song trailed from the album, “Ride or Die,” is directed by Gözde Duzer and Then Comes Silence. It features denizens of the Stockholm night whom you might recognise.
The Hungarian duo, Black Nail Cabaret, have announced a new album and UK tour dates. Chrysanthemum is out now, featuring the vocals of Emèse Árvai-Illes and the keyboard work of Krisztián Árvai. The dark pop favourites have also released this video for “Darkness Is a Friend,” lifted from the album.
04.04.23 MANCHESTER Rebellion
05.04.23 GLASGOW Classic Grand
06.04.23 BRISTOL Dareshack
07.04.23 NUNEATON Queens Hall
10.04.23 NOTTINGHAM The Chapel
11.04.23 NEWCASTLE Cluny 2
12.04.23 SHEFFIELD Corporation
13.04.23 LONDON Garage
The Swedish dream-pop act, Principe Valiente, have released the first video from their forthcoming album. In the Light is set to be unveiled in May 2024, but “Something New” provides a taster. The band has been reduced to the duo of Fernando Honorato (vocals) and Jimmy Ottosson (instrumentation), but on the strength of this track there is still plenty to look forward to.
Sweden’s Kite return with a magnificent new song. Debuted at their recent Dalhalla show, “Glassy Eyes” is a minor key tear-jerker. It is also begging for a remix as a trance anthem.
This is the live version. The studio version is being released as a vinyl 7″, coupled with “Losing” (featuring Anna von Hausswolff and Henric de la Cour).
Front 242, the legendary EBM act from Belgium, have taken to social media to announce their final tour. After the heart problems of Jean-Luc de Meyer in 2022, there was some speculation that the band would struggle to carry on, but de Meyer returned to the stage with impressive energy. Now, however, the group has decided it is time for one last round.
The full text of the message from Front 242 follows.
BLACK OUT – A Personal Message to Our Fans
Today, we reach out to you, our fans, with a heavy yet hopeful heart to share the news of our final concerts. Now, we are preparing to bring down the curtain on our live performances as FRONT 242, we find ourselves navigating a sea of emotions.
For nearly four decades, we’ve journeyed together, creating unforgettable moments and sharing the profound joy of music. You’ve been more than an audience; you’ve been a part of our extended family, witnessing our evolution and sharing in our highs and lows.
The decision to step back from performing live has not been easy, but we believe it’s important to end this chapter on a high note, preserving the essence of Front 242 that you’ve grown to love. We want to leave you with memories of our band at its peak, full of energy and passion.
So, we are extending our invitation to you: join us for one last adventure. Let’s make these final shows a celebration of the incredible journey we’ve shared. We promise to deliver performances that capture the heart and soul of Front 242, a fitting farewell to a story we’ve written together.
Our final concerts:
EU24
04 Aug LOKEREN – Lokerse Feesten – B
10 Aug HILDESHEIM – M’Era Luna – DE
US24
06 Sept TAMPA – Jannus Landing – US
07 Sept PHILADELPHIA – Union Transfer – US
08 Sept CLEVELAND – Agora Theater – US
13 Sept LOS ANGELES – Mayan Theater – US
14 Sept PORTLAND – Roseland Ballroom – US
15 Sept SAN FRANCISCO – Great American Music Hall – US
EU24
12 Oct HAMBURG – Markthalle – DE
17 Oct UTRECHT – Tivoli Ronda – NL
18 Oct BERLIN – Huxley’s Neue Welt – DE
19 Oct OBERHAUSEN – Turbinnenhalle – DE
25 Oct MÜNCHEN – Backstage Werk – DE
26 Oct LANGEN – Neue Stadthalle – DE
US24
08 Nov HOUSTON – Rise Rooftop – US
09 Nov DALLAS – Granada Theater – US
10 Nov DENVER – Reelworks – US
15 Nov CHICAGO – Metro – US
16 Nov CHICAGO – Metro – US
EU24
29 Nov GOTHENBURG – Film Studios – SE (FutureRetro)
30 Nov STOCKHOLM – Berns – SE (FutureRetro)
06 Dec LILLE – Black Lab – FR
07 Dec PARIS – Le Trianon – FR
08 Dec LONDON – UK
13 Dec BARCELONA – Sala Apolo – SP
14 Dec MADRID – Sala La Paqui – SP
25 Dec CHEMNITZ – Dark Storm Festival – DE
EU25
10 Jan COPENHAGEN – Pumpehuset – DK
24 Jan BRUSSELS – Ancienne Belgique – B
25 Jan BRUSSELS – Ancienne Belgique – B
The Swedish poptronica scene is not short of talent, but few of its participants can match the glamour of Page’s Marina Schiptjenko.
The daughter of a Swedish mother and Ukrainian father, Schiptjenko was born in Malmö, the regional capital of Skåne. It was there that she met Eddie Bengtsson, a skateboarder and drummer with a taste for Silicon Teens and Devo. The two had already started dating when Bengtsson traded in his drum kit for two keyboards at the local music shop. Schiptjenko, who was classically trained, taught Bengtsson to play his monophonic synth. Together, they started Sweden’s pioneering poptronica band, Page.
Page quickly became one of the most significant acts in the emerging Swedish synth scene. It was effectively the house band at Stadt Hamburg, an all-ages club at the centre of Malmö’s social world for the emerging syntare culture. With bouncy pop singles sung entirely in Swedish, it was both a successor to ABBA and its antithesis. Page continues to release new music and grow its fan base to this day, but both members have taken time to focus on other projects.
For Schiptjenko, the most significant have been Vacuum and BWO – two Swedish hyperpop bands with a flair for the theatrical and chart-climbing skills. Schiptjenko has not lost her head in the dizzy heights of commercial success, however – she has also worked with close friends like Julian Brandt (Julian & Marina) and Claes Bang (This Is Not America) to make music for the love of it.
A gallerist who deals in modern art from Stockholm and Paris, Schiptjenko moved to Sweden’s capital in 1986 to study comparative literature and theatre. These interests were combined when she appeared in Ruben Östlund’s movie, The Square. A satire on the elitism of the art world and the attitudes of the rich, the film took the Palm d’Or at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.
An intellectual and multi-sided artist, Schiptjenko is a much-loved figure in Sweden. Through her activity in Page and her work as a gallerist, she returns the feeling. It is a virtuous circle that has kept her place in the hearts of the syntare community as fashions have changed and the years have passed.
10. Page – Dansande Man
Written with the third original member of Page, Anders Eliasson, “Dansande Man” became an early hit for the band. In this clip, we see its members, including Schiptjenko, in their youth.
9. Page – Står i din väg
Reduced to the core duo of Schiptjenko and Bengtsson, Page released this professional music video in 1995. Directed by Arvid Unsgaard, it shows off the band’s senses of melody and humour in equal measure.
8. Vacuum – I Breathe
Formed by Alexander Bard, after he dissolved Army of Lovers, Vacuum was designed for pop success. Bard told an interviewer, “Marina is the most creative and the best musician in the band.” She had to leave Page behind to focus on this project, which took her into the dance music stratosphere.
7. BWO – Lay Your Love on Me
After two albums with Vacuum, Schiptjenko left and joined Bodies Without Organs. Their hyperpop sound – curated, again, by the provocative philosopher Alexander Bard – found commercial success.
6. BWO – You’re Not Alone
BWO entered the Swedish Melodifestival – trials for Eurovision – in 2009 with this single from their fourth album. It was their second attempt at representing their country, but they narrowly missed out.
5. Page – Tick-Tack
This delightful clip recalls the innocence of Page in their early days. It is a contrast to the ultra-concentrated pop sensibilities of Vacuum and BWO in the heady days around the turn of the century. Schiptjenko was to reclaim her position in Page in 2010 for the album, Nu [EN: Now].
4. Julian & Marina – Moon & The Stars
Schiptjenko’s return to Page was not on an exclusive basis. She collaborated with Julian Brandt, the bassist in Lustans Lakejer, to produce a series of releases inspired by French romantic pop of the 1960s and perhaps a little Astrid Gilberto, mixed up with the Pet Shop Boys.
3. Julian & Marina – The Knight
Taen from their first album, this track from Julian & Marina shows off the elegant sound and style that the duo created.
2. This Is Not America – Your Love Is Wasted on Me
Schiptjenko met the Dutch actor, Claes Bang, on the set of The Square. The two became fast friends, and Bang invited Schiptjenko to join him for some recordings of his act, This Is Not America.
1. Page – Mia och Tom
Page have continued to release albums, getting more sophisticated as they mature, but on stage the crowds love to sing along to the classics. This clip captures the mutual love of the band and its audience. It is the spirit that Schiptjenko embodies.
If you don’t hear the new album from Zanias as the soundtrack to the next Dune movie, it will only be because someone else licensed it first. With its striking atmospheres and lush textures, Ecdysis is evocative, exotic, experimental, and awe-inspiring. It is a rock-solid demonstration of the immense talent of the Berlin-based Earth-child, Alison Lewis.
With a sonic palette that recalls Jean-Michel Jarre’s Zoolook and Peter Gabriel’s Last Temptation of Christ, the album moves even further forward than last year’s Chrysalis. Vocally, Zanias releases have been powerful, raw, and soaring. From the opener, “Earthborn,” this element has been enhanced and amplified. The songs have been shorn of lyrics, as Lewis’ voice is abstracted, sampled, and taken into the stratosphere.
Comparisons to Lisa Gerrard are borne out on the majestic “Duneskipper,” but the magic spun by Madonna on her Ray of Light album is a closer reference point on “Acacia.” William Orbit recently said that he dreams of working with Ms Ciccone again, but the creative center of gravity should draw him to Zanias, instead. The power of the project has been refined and restrained, so that it sweeps like a sandstorm seen from a distance, and the material is more at home in a concert hall than a club.
Where we really expect to hear Zanias turning up is on soundtracks. Ecdysis is as cinematic as anything Lewis has done. Tracks like “Habenula” offer the kinds of resonances and moody textures that should get music directors in Hollywood in a complete lather. The title track opens with the kind of sensitivity that characterised Orbital’s “Halcyon,” before hardening slightly, like the formation of a new exoskeleton. If that doesn’t add lustre to scenes on celluloid, we don’t know what does.
First Law: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
To get to the ten songs on Sci-Fi Revisited, you need to solve a puzzle on a computer screen. Jumping through this hoop is a throw-back to the primitive games that people used to make with Macromedia Flash. As well as adding a nostalgic touch, it is a reminder of how mich artists thought about the overall experience when creating albums in days gone past. With streaming, music is just part of a giant data pool, and even cover art has been replaced by a thumbnail.
Jean-Marc Lederman isn’t happy just throwing his creations into the pond with all of the other data. Whether making lenticular images or books, he takes care to link his music with other objects. He is also keen to involve many of his collaborators and contacts – to share the vision and broaden the scope of his projects. As The Jean-Marc Lederman Experience, an ever-shifting band of artists add their parts to the Belgian composer’s instrumentation with something close to a free hand.
Second Law: A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
On this outing, we find readings of science fiction literature, voiced by Emileigh Rohn (Chiasm), Tom Shear (Assemblage 23), Christina Z, Mari Kattman, Mira Shear, Ken Magerman (Amaranth), Julianne Regan, Daz Sharp, Jim Marcus (Die Wurzau), Sapphira Vee (Die Wurzau), and Lederman (Kid Montana, The Weathermen) himself.
It’s a Who’s Who (which always should have been Who’s Whom, surely?) of one corner of alternative music. The material comes from various sources, but it is unified by its retro take on the future. The result is a public radio show for goths and cybers.
Third Law: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
Buyers on Bandcamp can get their hands on an exclusive comic book made to accompany the album. Together with the video game and high-resolution downloads, it represents three eras of science fiction.
<The real joy of Sci-Fi Revisited lies in the musical fragments distributed by Lederman to his cohort. He has made techno and EBM, but Our Man in Brussels also has a good line in cinematic, expressive ambience. Hans Zimmer hasn’t snatched him up yet, but there is still time.
On a Gothenburg street, a tourist stopped two men and asked for help taking a picture of her. The men complied, and her photo was captured, smiling for friends, against a wall with some street art. Little did she know that the one who took the snap with her little camera had also shot Iggy Pop, Depeche Mode, John Foxx, Mark Stewart, and Margaret Thatcher.
Brian Griffin was one of the world’s best known photographers – and for good reason. His images were strong, distinctive, and purposeful. Whether shooting a construction site or pop stars, his eyes found the angles that invited questions or deeper responses. A theme of his work was the common worker, and he received high-profile commissions to document those who built Broadgate and the St Pancras Channel Tunnel Rail Link.
Brian’s interest in imagery involving workers led to two iconic album covers for Depeche Mode: one featuring a peasant with a sickle; the other showing a worker with a hammer. The former was so striking that it was selected by Life magazine for the cover of The World’s Best Photographs, 1980-1990.
In all, Brian shot five album covers for Depeche Mode, beginning with their debut, Speak & Spell, and ending with Black Celebration. He constructed a visual identity for the band as they were achieving worldwide fame. Later, when he moved into video, Daniel Miller commissioned him to create the promotional film for “Only When I Lose Myself.” His memories of this side of his activity were captured in the recent book, MODE.
Echo & The Bumnymen were another popular act who leaned heavily on Brian. His images featured on the covers of Crocodiles, Heaven Up Here, and Porcupine. The latter was part of his love affair with Iceland, which led to many trips to the North Atlantic rock. One such adventure was commissioned by Reykjavik Energy, which led to experimental images he called The Water People.
Brian worked in commercial and fine art, but there was no compromise in the quality of his output. Examples can be found in the National Portrait Gallery and the V&A collection. He has been recognised for his body of work by the Royal Photographic Society, which awarded him its Centenary Medal in 2013. He held an Honorary Doctorate from Birmingham City University for his contribitions to the city. His photographs of Depeche Mode continue to find homes on posters in bedrooms around the world.
Brian was a giving and open personality. He never put on airs or closed himself off from fans who wanted to hear his stories or pick up a pointer or two. Sometimes, an obsessive music fan would stake out his street, hoping to catch him for a chat, and he gave them some of his time without reservation. Brian celebrated the craftspeople he worked with, and made sure to give credit to the printers, framers, and book designers who contributed to his projects.
A long-time resident of Rotherhithe, Brian’s flat had a view, across the Thames, of Canary Wharf. As he looked at the bankers over the river, Brian always knew which side he was on: his last exhibition showcased his work for Depeche Mode, with a worker knocking down the Matterhorn. This was one of his favourite images, for its confidence and strength. Its audacity is his legacy.
RIP Brian Griffin (1948-2024)
(via Mute)
A CERTAIN RATIO have announced details of a new album, produced by Dan Carey, and an extensive UK tour for spring 2024. It All Comes Down to This, their thirteenth studio album, will be released via Mute on 19 April 2024.
Listen to the exuberant call-to-arms that is the album’s opener, ‘All Comes Down to This’, positive proof that the band have, once again, been able to tap into a new artery of life.
The new album, due out almost exactly a year after their acclaimed release, 1982, is further evidence of the mentality that defines A Certain Ratio, one that has always set them apart from their peers – a dogged, relentless demand to evolve, re-assess and reinvent with every new release. After the confident, sprawling, pan-genre strut of 1982 and a tour that celebrated 45 years of ACR performing live, comes this new record from completely out of leftfield. The record’s ten tracks present ten distinct moods, every bursting moment of it is defiantly, resiliently alive. It All Comes Down to This, for now at least, is the sound of the current incarnation of A Certain Ratio. The purest distillation of their essential sound ever committed to tape, and the first time they have recorded as just the core trio of principle band members – multi-instrumentalists Jez Kerr, Martin Moscrop and Donald Johnson.
“It’s the Ratio removing the safety net,” Kerr says, explaining the decision to strip away the excess and return to the band’s base ingredients. “Every element of everything we’ve done on this album has been a change.”
“It wasn’t a matter of rubbing everyone else out, it was, ‘let’s find the thing that makes us work’,” adds Johnson. “And we know that’s just the three of us being as basic as possible – no frills, no major overdubs. Just visceral and happening in the moment.”
The other essential difference between It All Comes Down to This and its immediate predecessors is the recording process: after already working together on a remix for Loco Remezclada (2021), the band turned to the doyen of contemporary underground rock producers, Dan Carey (Black Midi, Kae Tempest, Black Country New Road) to work on the album. Known for his rejection of sonic clutter and his uncompromising focus on the central tenets of the bands and artists he produces, Carey’s instincts closely aligned with ACR’s desire to return to the basics.
By honing in on the band’s essential building blocks, Carey has teased out a brittle, inner darkness that has always been latent in ACR, but not always at the surface. And if there is a residual darkness in the album’s sonic aesthetic, then it pervades the subject matter, too.
“We wrote the album while the world was in turmoil,” explains Moscrop. “Which it still is. If you think about climate change, corporate war, the environment, Trump in power, Johnson, the Ukraine war, Israel and Palestine, it really does all come down to this. It’s probably the most political album we’ve written.”
In addition, Jez Kerr was dealing with specific personal darkness after an accident left him with a broken pelvis and fractured hip, and, on the day he was released from hospital, he contracted septic arthritis. His recovery meant that the recording of the album was delayed by six months, and the lasting impact of the experience inevitably dictates part of the album’s mood.
Far from deterred, though, Kerr, Moscrop and Johnson have come through with a renewed mission statement, and this spring the trio will be joined on bass by Viv Griffin for an extensive UK tour. The band intend to play the album in its glorious entirety, an endeavour they have never previously attempted, underscoring the unrivalled cohesion that this particular body of work possesses. Many jewels from the past will also adorn the set lists too, and, like ever, reworked and remodelled, the band proud of their past, rather than dependent upon it – full details below.
As a snapshot of where A Certain Ratio stand in 2024, It All Comes Down to This is a towering testament to their staying power. For a band whose path has intersected with the lives of Joy Division, The Fall, Talking Heads, Madonna and Grace Jones, to now be immersed in their most creative and prolific period since the early 1980s, puts the great majority of their contemporaries to shame. But then again, when you have always been preoccupied with laying the groundwork for your next steps, you’re unlikely ever to derive much satisfaction from standing still.
It All Comes Down to This is out on Mute on vinyl, CD, and digitally on 19 April 2024.