Kanga returns with a new album on 6 October 2023. In the meantime, we have the title track, “Under Glass,” to enjoy. In the vein of Sarah McLachlan’s “Into the Fire,” it is ultrasmooth pop with a California twist.
The Danish artist, Ras Bolding, is back with his popular HCA Suite, which celebrates The Snow Queen, The Shadow, The Fir Tree, The Story of a Mother, The Little Mermaid, and The Little Match Girl. The next performances are scheduled to take place at 1700 and 2000 on 25 August 2023 at Kulturmaskinen Odense, and admission is free.
Drawing on the source material by Hans Christian Andersen, the HCA Suite interprets the stories through electronic music combined with goth, punk, classical music, folk music, 8-bit, and Asian sounds. The line-up features Bolding (vocals, synthesizers and Commodore 64), Olivia Obskur (extra vocals and synthesizer), and Alex Anarki (synthesizer). Together with the music, American Max Kaos will perform live hologram graphics specifically designed and updated for the shows, while screens with illustrations created for the performances by Italian Penelope Ramon add to the multimedia experience.
Bolding says, “The musical project is an enduring attempt to delve into Hans Christian Andersen as the writer rather than the tourist icon. It is an attempt at highlighting the dark aspects that are also central to Andersen’s storytelling and are very much part of many of his classic fairy tales we believe we know so well.”
(Via Mute)
Mute have announced the release of John Came’s Rhythmicon album, out on 8 September 2023. The album – a concept album using computer software and synthesisers – was shrouded in mystery on its original release in July 1995. Who was John Came (theories included Alan Wilder, Vince Clarke and Daniel Miller), and what exactly was the Radiophonic wizardry concealed in the Rhythmicon? At a time before the world wide web would proport to answer any question we could possibly think of, and in a world before fake news would become so every day, listeners could only guess…
John Came’s detailed biography pointed to an artist born in London, one of the “ten-pound pommies” who emigrated to Australia in search of a better life, returning to the UK, then seeking inspiration in the islands of Northern Scotland before cycling from Skye to London.
And what of the mysterious rhythmicon? Came was introduced to the instrument by Nick Cope of the electronic group Pnin. The Rhythmicon was a machine co-designed by the American composer Henry Dixon Cowell (1897-1965) and Leon Theremin (inventor of the Theremin). The instrument aimed to realise one of Cowell’s musical theories, in which intervallic and rhythmic relationships could be reduced to common mathematical ratios; in effect, a “harmonic” approach to rhythmic organisation. Having the Rhythmicon as a ‘given’, Nick decided to invert the logic and derive harmonic and melodic information from rhythmic information, and vice versa.
Using sound and theory, John Came introduced their ideas to the world via a series of instructive films showing Came playing his compositions (arhythmically) into a simulacrum of the Rhythmicon thereby generating the rhythmic data of the pieces. From there the rhythmic information of the pieces was turned into notes; and then the two separate strands of transformed data are overlaid and entered into a music notating/playing computer.
The wild theory and deadpan delivery gave rise to a suspicion that John Came was a pseudonym and his rhythmicon the result of the fertile imagination of an artist knowledgeable in the fields of electronic experimentation. Happily we can now answer: ‘yes’ and ‘sorry, we still don’t know’. John Came was indeed a pseudonym, the masterminds behind the concept were Simon Leonard and David Baker (aka Komputer / Fortran 5 / I Start Counting), but the exact details of the instrumentation and how this unusual album came about is still the subject of some conjecture.
Listen for yourself to a long-lost album of classic electronic experimentation. Its composer’s deep immersion in the worlds of electronic pop are evident, as is their long history with Mute. The artists, who started working together in 1982, released their first music on Mute in 1984 [I Start Counting’s ‘Letter to a Friend’, produced by Daniel Miller], before segueing into the more dance / techno focussed Fortran 5 [notable tracks include the Midnight Cowboy sampling ‘Time To Dream’ and the club hit of ‘Heart on the Line’]. The John Came album arrived at a time when Leonard and Baker were transitioning from Fortran 5 to Komputer, who would go on to record their wonderful paean to Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space [‘Valentina’, 1997]. David Baker is currently working on his solo project, lonelyklown.
Rhythmicon tracklisting
Root
Heavenly Clean
Yellow
Transit Authority
Hapsburg Chin
Mosaic
Coffin Filler
On The Reef
Nitrogen Narcosis
Dan Söderqvist is best known as the singer in Twice a Man. He is also a prolific artist in his own right, with not one but two new albums on release. A New Victorian Age captures some of Söderqvist’s unreleased instrumental music from the 1990s, demonstrating his work for video games and dance. Murmures is an installation work that was created to accompany the art exhibition of the same name in the summer of 2023. Between them is a space, both temporal and stylistic, that illuminates Söderqvist’s creative range.
A New Victorian Age includes early versions of the material that found its way into the soundtrack used in the three-dimensional video game, Kula World. Made by a Swedish studio for the PlayStation One in 1997, the game involved navigating a ball in a puzzle maze that grew in complexity as the player progressed. Söderqvist’s sound design was more progressive and trippier than a lot of soundtracks from that time, making extensive use of the Roland TB-303. It might have said “computer controlled” on the face, but the silver box was able to respond very well to human interaction. Söderqvist married it to soaring quitars and keyboards for an electro-acoustic journey that was a whole lot hipper than Mario’s own backing music.
The Kula World sketches are collected on the album together with material originally intended for the computer game, OBAFGKM, and the dance performance, Pleiades. Fans of Ozric Tentacles and Juno Reactor will find a lot to like in this set, but it is also essential for any follower of Twice a Man.
Murmures was originally recorded for the show of the same name at the gallery, La Part du Rève, in Perpignan, France. Consisting of twelve pieces, based upon portraits of 19th-century persons, the installation was created together with the French visual artist, Tempora Flow (aka Jenny van den Arend). Intended to be played in a quiet room at low volume, the material is based upon field recordings, gathered at a variety of locations, ranging from a fountain in Salamanca, Spain, a church in Greffeil, in the south of France, the Swedish island of Öland, and other sites across Europe. Over them is read a poem in Swedish by Eric Johan Stagnelius, “The Poet.” Each of the sections is based upon a graphic piece, reflecting the appropriate theme by Tempora Flow, which can be seen online at temporaflow.eu
Murmures contains contributions from Tempora Flow, Noiz Elfje, and Maria Ericsson. The field recordings flow into each other, while Söderqvist mixes them with synthesisers and reverb. Insect musicians call to each other while bells chime and water splashes. Birds and bees combine with voices and what might be sampled strings. The results are deftly handled, and Söderqvist’s sensitivity to both natural and human sounds keeps them in balance. It is a tightrope walk, but there is serenity on the other side.
Stockholm’s Gözde Düzer produces dark wave material from her Nordic lair as aux animaux. Armed with theremin and bass guitar, Düzer has built up an impressive discography as a solo artist, but she has also collaborated with Abu Nein and Tobias Bernstrup. The latest aux animaux release finds Düzer setting up moody and tantalising atmospheres for the children of the night.
Aux animaux will be on tour shortly, starting with 8 August 2023 at Øyafestivalen in Oslo. Further dates that have been announced include:
- 2 September 2023 – Rüsselheim, Das Rind (with Then Comes Silence)
- 4 September 2023 – Paris, La Boule Noir (with Then Comes Silence)
- 5 September 2023 – Lille, La Bulle Cafe (with Then Comes Silence)
- 6 September 2023 – Bielefeld, Movie (with Then Comes Silence)
- 7 September 2023 – Oberhausen, Kulttempel Oberhausen (with Then Comes Silence)
- 8 September 2023 – Saint-Ghislain, Studio Canal 10 (with Then Comes Silence)
- 9 September 2023 – Liège, Le Garage (with Then Comes Silence)
- 23 September 2023 – Linköping, Nuclear Nation (with A Projection)
- 30 September 2023 – Stockholm, Bodyfest, Nalen
- 8 December 2023 – Stockholm, FutureRetro, Slaktkyrkan (with She Past Away)
Lau Nau normally divides her activity between recordings in a remote corner of Finland and performances in towns across the globe. Her music draws on the influences of the wind through the pines and the flow of high-voltage power lines. It combines the overwhelming drama of isolation and the sensitivity of crowded cities. From these tensions emerge works of delicacy and beauty, which grow like crystals or float on the wind like dandelion seeds.
5×4 finds Lau Nau engaged with that great West Coast synthesiser, the Buchla 200. Installed at EMS in Stockholm, Lau Nau added an AKG BX20 spring reverb to frame the distinctive sound of the vintage equipment. The title refers to the Buchla’s sequencer, which has five steps and four tracks, but what emerges is an organic, drifting series of pieces based on different moods. The Buchla’s flexible patching parameters have been shaped to generate songs that respond to the flow of current with emotional resonances.
This is an album that took years to create, as Lau Nau left her island home to visit the EMS and explore the creative possibilities of the Buchla. It’s safe to say that it will stay with the listener even longer.
The Swedish songstress, Anna Öberg, returns with a pop number for the delayed summer. “Njut en minut” [EN: “Enjoy a Minute”] bounces with energy and verve just as the Sun starts to reappear.
Sweden’s Twice a Man were one of the most prominent groups of the Swedish New Wave. They emerged from the angular post-punk of Cosmic Overdose; creating a template of funky and experimental music mixed with ecological and social politics.
As this clip from a 1984 show demonstrates, their funkiness was never secondary. They continue to make excellent music to this day, but it is a joy to see them in regulation 80s clothes and with old school keyboards to hand.
Brian Griffin, the world-famous photographer, has announced a crowdfunding campaign for his new book, MODE. Gathering his pictures from the band’s first five albums and promotional materials — including some versions that have never been published before — MODE promises to be the definitive collection of the band’s early images.
Appearing together with his collaborator, Vaughn George, Griffin recently announced the book and Kickstarter on Youtube. Fans, who have been waiting for decades for Griffin to focus on the boys from Basildon, were invited to commit to buy a signed copy of the book, which will include a list of supporters. Other options include premium prints of Griffin’s images and a boxed edition with a gelatin print.
Griffin’s cover shot for A Broken Frame appeared on the front cover of Life magazine’s special issue, The World’s Best Photographs, 1980-1990. One of the most iconic images associated with Depeche Mode, it was shot in a grain field in rural England during a break from a storm. It could be put down to luck, had Griffin not gone on to shoot the magic, mountainous cover of Construction Time Again with just as much artistry.
Griffin’s last album cover for Depeche Mode was Black Celebration. He went on to have a career in video, and the promotional video for “Only When I Lost Myself” was one of the most unique for the band.
The cut-off for the Kickstarter is 16 June 2023.
We asked Griffin a few questions, on the back of the announcement:
What is your favourite Depeche Mode song?
Only When I Lose Myself.
What inspires you about Depeche Mode?
Freedom.
What is your favourite moment in the book?
The story about the making of “Only When I Lose Myself.”
Machinista are back with a new track. “Stranger” finds the Swedish trio in fine form; making use of Italo-influenced electronics, fiery guitars, and a growling vocal line. It is the kind of material that Machinista excel in producing, and their hiatus can be forgiven.
Machinista play the WGT festival on Monday, 29 May 2023, on the Moritzbastei stage.