A new song from France’s Minuit Machine pumps with life-giving dark minimal electronics.
The Ringö district of Gothenburg is full of warehouses, craft breweries, and construction firms. Techno can be heard bleeding through many doors on the weekend. Among the paper recycling firms and micropubs, the youth of today come from the city centre to rave like it is 1989.
Tonight, though, it is their parents’ turn. Monument 031, a cavernous club with a suitably industrial vibe, is hosting an event to mark the twentieth anniversary of Progress Productions. The Swedish label, which has released work by Kite, Saft, Johan Baeckström, and Cryo, is marking its birthday with two stages of back-to-back live performances.
The evening begins with a mystery act. The bill promises a five minute appearance, but the name of the artist is a secret guarded as fiercely as the recipe for Julmust. A giant video screen is erected, against which a dancer appears as a shadow. Spray paint is used to trace a pattern, before a knife cuts the screen. Two masked figures emerge to distribute red roses. Ladies and gentleman, Vintage Voltage – the duo of Chris Leaf and Pete Branch. A rumour goes around the room that their act of creative destruction was, pro rata, the most expensive part of the night.
The party really kicks off with a performance by Me the Tiger. It has been a while since we last saw them live – in Stockholm, on a cold night many years ago, with Britain’s Vile Electrodes. They haven’t lost their quiet-LOUD high-intensity formula. Vocalist Gabriella slays in every lane, while drummer Jonas Martinsson becomes one with his drum kit and guitarist Tobias Andersson bounces around like Zebedee on speed. They banish the chill of the Nordic winter with their new track, “Burn the Witches.”
Cosmic Overdose is the name that Twice a Man were forced to leave behind by a British promoter. It sounded too hippy for the post-punk scene in 1981, so they were told to pick from a list before supporting New Order. The return to the stage of Cosmic Overdose is a chance to air some of the songs that belonged to that era – a rare treat from the iconic Swedish musicians.
They get a feeling going that raises the hypnodelic quotient. The lead singer emerges with a bag on his head. Karl Gasleben appears wearing a brash paisley suit. The on-stage mixer acts like it is possessed. What we get is a trippy and expansive set, which ends with the suitable named, “Dada Koko.”
The spirit of Dada fills the stage. Dan Söderqvist’s guitar creates psychedelic atmospheres, while the combined unit dispenses with melody. What matters is the shamanic effect that otherwise comes from specific mushrooms.
Abu Nein appear without Andreas Catjar-Danielsson, who sadly left us this year. They create a mystical, dark vibe embossed with Eastern tones. Charles Manson seems to make an appearance at the end, at the climax of a set that dissolves into a churning groove.
Portion Control don’t always get the credit they deserve. One of the first synth-based industrial acts in the UK, they brought rhythm and melody to the genre with songs like “Raise the Pulse,” “Go Talk” and “Rough Justice.” They also mined the experimental use of electronics on tracks like “He Is a Barbarian.” cEvin Key points to them as the inspiration for Skinny Puppy. Nitzer Ebb can’t deny their role as progenitors, alongside DAF, of the hard electronic sound they developed.
The nice young men from a south London cooking school have refined their sound over the years. Reduced to the duo of John Whybrew and Dean Piavani, they have crafted their uncompromising electronic style into dancefloor-friendly beats.
Piavani prowls the stage confidently, like a drill sergeant, barking poetic commands. Behind him, Whybrew mans the console that controls the sound and vision. The onion jack symbol hovers above the proceedings, as a brand identity and statement of intent.
The set list is a career-spanning selection. “Refugee” and “Chew You to Bits” get the front rows excited, but it is the intensity of “Deadstar” that really gets the black-clad masses jumping. A novel addition is “Golden Halo,” which is being released on the Progress anniversary compilation CD.
Spark! take the stage as the closing act. Local EBM favourites, they fly the flag for their label internationally, too. Vocalist Stefan Bronsson is in good form. Christer Hermodsson had taken the mic ably during his extended absence, growing the band’s profile, but the restructured act meets the crowd’s needs tonight.
That’s Progress.
The Eurovision winner and Danish icon, Emmelie de Forest, is back with a track that is giving classic Goldfrapp. Elegant, eligiac, and expansive, it is a breathy and brooding release. A worthy song for the changing of the seasons.
Part of an installation at the Saatchi Gallery in London, “It’s Always…” comes from Martyn Ware‘s Illustrious Company. As a specialist in 3D sound design, Dr. Ware is the right person for the commission, which also shows video of waves across multiple panels. He is joined for the wider project by Gabriel Ware, Anna Söderblom, and Oscar Blustin.
Exhibited as part of the FOCUS Art Fair, the thirty minute soundtrack is an experimental dive into watery and industrial rhythms for the aquatic apes that we are.
Illustrious Company · It’s Always Ourselves We Find In The Sea / Installation Soundscape
William Freaking Orbit – is that what WFO stands for? It should, as the man sometimes known as Billy Bubbles is back with a smashing new album.
A self-produced and self-released affair, WFO dropped on Bandcamp, instead of through one of the monopolies. It features artwork by Orbit, in his familiar fluoro style, and his new logo. Stylistically, it spans the gamut – from Strange Cargo to Pieces in a Modern Style. Instead of seeking out vocalists to collaborate with, as he did on 2022’s The Painter, Orbit has decided to let the music speak for itself.
The great thing about Orbit’s approach is that he dabs in delay and fills in the lines with epic electronics. He knows his way around a symphony, but also how to pull out the strings for the dancefloor. Orbit is as happy with plant-based dub (“Babel Fish”) as he is with four-to-the-floor bangers (“Concrete Butterfly”). The focus of WFO is on the staring-at-the-stars end of the scale, but there are tracks like “JD 800 ooo” that remind you this is an artist who can shake the walls and test the limits of the largest sound systems.
Orbit’s former home and studio, just around the corner from Cold War Night Life Towers, was in London’s Crouch End. It gets checked in “Crouch End Massive,” which sounds like an amped-up version of “Scorpion.” Left to his own devices, this is what ends up on Strange Cargo albums or gets lifted by major artists for their own glories.
There are musical hints and Easter eggs galore throughout the album. “Royal Flush” references two Orbit-produced Madonna tracks – “Ray of Light” and “Beautiful Stranger” – but there are more gems buried in the arrangements. “My Way” is in there, somewhere. And there is a message in that.
Sunroof – the all-modular duo of Daniel Miller and Tonmeister Gareth Jones – have announced Volume 3 of their Electronic Music Improvisations series. The album will be released on vinyl, CD and digitally via the Parallel Series of Mute on 29 November 2024.
A missive from Mute tells us:
Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 3 is a collection of nine improvised tracks, recorded using the duo’s Eurorack modular systems, and builds upon the self-imposed parameters laid out on their 2021 debut. With nothing pre-planned or rehearsed, each of the nine tracks were recorded using four channels (two each) with no overdubs. Explaining that, “Our practice is more abstract than thematic. Every time we meet, we attempt a fresh start,” Miller and Jones arrived to each recording session with the spirit, energy and discipline of improvisation and recorded the tracks as live performances, with very little post-production work done once the tracks are recorded.
One exception is on ‘Ensnare’. The original, where glassy percussion works alongside submerged rhythmic beats, has been given two separate remixes by Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones, allowing listeners a glimpse into their very different but intrinsically intertwined processes.
Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones have been collaborating for four decades. Although neither dwell on their past work, preferring to constantly explore new ways to create, Miller and Mute’s legacy is given a nod on ‘Splendid’ which opens with the distinct hiss of analogue tape over a rhythmic heart beat before oscillators burst and collide. This track was recorded using the original 4-track TEAC that Miller picked up second hand in the late 70s and used to record The Normal’s Warm Leatherette 7”.
Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones’ collaboration began in 1982 when Miller asked Jones to work with him on what became Depeche Mode’s Construction Time Again. After Depeche Mode had gone home for the day, the two would stay on to work on their own sessions, a practise that continues to this day. By the mid-nineties Sunroof had become a remix project, reworking the likes of Can, MGMT, To Rococo Rot, Kreidler and Goldfrapp, amongst others, and their first recordings appeared on a compilation paying tribute to Neu!
In 2019, Miller and Jones were heading to a György Ligeti concert at the Barbican and beforehand the pair spent a couple of hours improvising with modular systems. Unusually, this time they decided to record the session and over a pre-concert meal, Gareth asked, “Are we actually going to make a record together before we die?”
The resulting album, Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 1 (2021) was followed by Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 2 (2023), and since 2021, Sunroof have been performing select live shows – at venues such as Café OTO (London), the London School of Economics, the Museum of Modern Electronic Music Frankfurt, Silent Green in Berlin, Ombra Festival (Barcelona), Oslo Cathedral, Golden Pudel (Hamburg), DG Kunstraum (Munich), and IKLECTIK (London) – allowing their live performance to feed back into their recordings. Some of these recordings were released last year as a Bandcamp exclusive, Electronic Music Improvisations Live in London and Frankfurt.
From Östermalm comes news that Julian & Marina are preparing for the release of a new EP. Titled &, the first track – “Pinup Boy” – has already been unveiled.
Located somewhere on the spectrum between Bardot and disco, the duo has established a reputation for smooth, electronic music with the soul of the Riviera. “Pinup Boy” glitters under the neon lights, hinting at good things for the new collection.
Marina Schiptjenko is the cofounder of the Franco-Swedish modern art gallery, Andrehn-Schiptjenko. One of the pioneers of Nordic poptronica, she is well known as a member of Page, Vacuum and BWO.
Julian Brandt currently plays bass in Sweden’s answer to Duran Duran, Lustans Lakejer. He is also known for his solo work and as a member of the legendary acts, Bobby and Kamera.
No live shows have been announced, but both artists will be on stage separately when Lustans Lakejer and Page play together in Malmö on 26 October 2024.
Volkan and Doruk are back with a new track straight from the Temple of Love. The Turkish duo have created a dynamic and throbbing song that surges with urgency. The video is from the mind of the amazing Nedda Afsari (Muted Fawn), who directs an homage to silent films with Michael Linn.
Inspired by the sounds of Ennio Morricone, Twin Peaks and Rosemary’s baby, Emmelie de Forest returns with a dreampop song that channels the coolness of the 60s and 70s. The winner of Eurovision in 2013, de Forest has reshaped her sound with a maturity and sensitivity that only the years can add.
Propaganda’s “Mabuse” debut single hit the shops around the same time as Depeche Mode’s “People Are People.” Both were influenced by industrial music and the evolving preferences of the alternative dancefloor. Like SPK’s “Metal Dance,” which preceded their path to the charts, they put a polish on the harsher sounds of the genre, but these March 1984 releases were as different as chalk and cheese. “People Are People” was catchy but burdened with lyrics as wet as the English Channel. “Mabuse” was sleek, sophisticated, referenced Expressionist film and Faust, and had Teutonic cheek bones.
In the UK charts, the boys from Basildon had the home advantage, but the challengers from Germany could not be ignored. Over in Notting Hill, Propaganda built on their pop foundations with an edifice that would outlast the commercialised industrial trend in the mainstream. The result was an album, A Secret Wish, that represents the very best of the 1980s: potent and poignant.
Forty years later, Propaganda are back, but they are not living in the past. The gap involves disputes with the label, changes in the line-up, a merger with the original rhythm section of Simple Minds, and trademark claims – but let’s not rehearse those. The present brings back together Ralf Dörper and Michael Martens to create the music that they want to make today.
Some will be unhappy that Official Propaganda isn’t picking up where A Secret Wish left off. The Provisionals of xPropaganda tried to do that, recruiting producer Stephen Lipson to the cause, but you can’t bottle lightning. A Secret Wish was of its time, and it can be remade no more than the Berlin Wall can be restored.
Don’t go looking on the self-titled Propaganda for a new “Duel” or “p:machinery.” That is neither the group’s ambition nor interest. Dörper and Mertens have constructed a sound suited to 2024, in which few care for the sampled metal of “People Are People” or the sirens of SPK. What is on offer is a mature and considered set of pop material comes across darker than much of the preceding two albums.
There is also a new vocalist on the team. Thunder Bae is not a Canadian town on the shores of Lake Superior but a Dusseldorf-based Brit from another generation. She adds dimensions of glamour and intensity to the instrumentation and words contributed by the Mertens amd Dörper.
So, what of the material? Most of the tracks pressed into the grooves are originals, but there is a new version of “Vicious Circle” from the last album, 1234. There is also a cover of “Wenn Ich Mir Was Wuenschen Duerfte” [EN: “If I Had a Wish”], the German standard popularised by Marlene Dietrich. These selections provide a link to the band’s past, directly and indirectly, but the true core is in the new songs.
The first single to be released from Propaganda, “Purveyor of Pleasure,” demonstrated the group’s approach. The song is invested with throbbing, sparse electronics, and a dramatic tension that could open any Bond film.
“They Call Me Nocebo,” which followed, takes pole position in the track listing. A “nocebo” is the opposite of a placebo – an otherwise neutral substance that may cause the symptoms of a patient to worsen because they believe it is harmful. It’s also the name of a film starring the Bond girl, Eva Green. There could be a theme developing here.
Propaganda is an album of cinematic sweep, touching on dance, art, and sensuality. In that respect, it shares plenty of DNA with A Secret Wish, but it stands on its own merits. It is a sturdier team that has pieced it together – one that isn’t competing with Depeche Mode for spaces in the charts or Paul Morley over his cover art scrawlings. Propaganda have taken chances with this album, but they have succeeded to make something vital. Why live in the past when you can live on the edge?