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?
Andreas Catjar-Danielsson didn’t make it to see the release of Abu Nein’s third album, but his contributions are deeply impressed into this single. The band have described “Wir Leben” as “glow-wave,” after Catjar-Danielsson’s statement that the song is a manifestion of his inner light. It certainly has a tone that merges with eternity. With proceeds to his children, there is every reason to buy it on Bandcamp.
The paparazzi linger near the entrance of the club, chewing gum and impatiently fondling their cameras while leaning against palm trees. Inside, the beautiful people mix at the bar, swapping glances and stories. They live the briefest of adventures on the dancefloor; catching the eyes of persons of interest. The DJ urges them on with the elegant new sounds of Julian Brandt and Marina Schiptjenko. Outside, the men with the cameras wait in vain for the party to end.
The LA-based duo of Anton and Rosselinni Floriano return with another anthem for the etheral folk who haunt Slimelight and Klubb Död.
It seems improbable that Bill Leeb has come this far without creating a solo album. The former Skinny Puppy keyboardist has spent four decades making music as Front Line Assembly. He has had global hits as a member of Delerium. Collaborations have led to productions as Intermix, Noise Unit, Cyberaktif, Equinox, Fauxliage, and Pro>Tech. Now comes news that the Vienna-born, Vancouver-raised maestro has finally released an album of his own.
Model Kollapse is named for the tendency of artificial intelligence systems to fall apart when asked to look at data regressively. Just as photocopies become blurred in subsequent generations, the data in AI systems decomposes and generates false results. Keep that in mind, the next time that you place your reliance on the decision-making of machines.
Leeb’s musical journey really began with Skinny Puppy – a band he left in 1986 to pursue a different vein of hard-edged electronic music. Where the Puppies focussed on gothic and horror imagery, Front Line Assembly took its inspiration from political events, social themes, and science fiction. Model Kollapse owes something to the early tapes that Leeb put together in his bedroom on Canada’s Left Coast, but it is also thoroughly modern in its absorption of darkwave, EBM, and hard electronica.
The opening track, “Demons,” finds Leeb warning “how much darkness and evil exist in the world, some of it created via technology that is here to stay, and how we have to carefully navigate our way through it all on a day-to-day basis.” It’s a tense, driving affair with an edge as sharp as obsidian.
The first single released from the album, “Terror Forms,” is present and correct with support from Shannon Hemmett (Leathers, Actors) and a blinding bassline. There are also turbo-charged rhythms in “Muted Obssession” and “Exotic Forms.” Leeb has a part of his brain that generates Vangelis-like ambient material, and there are hints of it in places, but this is mainly a collection of tracks that lead to the alternative dancefloor. If “Infernum” doesn’t get your black leather boots tapping, then nothing will.
The set concludes with “Erosion Through Time,” which takes a gentler, cerebral approach. Leeb has learned a thing or two through a lifetime in music, and there are delicate touches here that are invested with kinetic power. It is proof that you can thrill with kindness.
The Queen of N13 returns with a new track that is what it says on the tin. “Ethereal” drifts and soars like the breeze through autumn trees.
The Soviet Union was painted, for Western students, as a dull place full of tractor-driving babushkas and sullen men in old suits. For entertainment, they joined long lines to buy meat or ersatz coffee. The only music allowed was a politically-narrow selection of Shostakovich and lounge standards.
John Lennon knew better. There were elements of glamour and fun – and there were synthesisers. Disco had a place in the official playlist, and bands like Zodiac and Eolika were released by Melodiya in big numbers. Space from France was a big influence, and plenty of combine harvesters were driven to the sounds of Moogs and domestic versions.
Latvia’s glamorous popster, Katrīna Gupalo, has rescued one of the famous SovDisco classics and restored it for the modern ear. “Noktirne” is a song for Riga, and it works well as a post-Soviet driving song or a disco banger.
The original, Andropov-approved track is copied below for comparison.
It is the nature of the beast. The more you put into a film, the more it costs to clear intellectual property and polish it for release.
The producers of Nash the Slash Rises Again have appealed for additional funding to complete the project. They have recorded contributions from Iggy Pop, Gary Numan, Youth, Danielle Dax, Steve Hillage and others, but putting the final pieces into place requires fans to pitch in.
There is a link to the fundraising initiative here: https://gofund.me/e96c232b
We strongly encourage fans to contribute, if they are able.
We have repeatedly described Karin My as “Sweden’s secret weapon.” Raised in the south of the country, she absorbed the futuristic sounds of Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream, sitting alone in a room with vinyl provided by a family friend. The kling-klang and ambient pads of German synthesists inspired her life in music: from busking in Gothenburg to sprinkling magical dust on the works of leading artists. My writes delicate and poignant songs of her own, but she has a reputation for transforming the material of collaborators with elegant alchemy.
The multi-instrumentalist is self-taught, having built up her knowledge in steps. As My told ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK in an interview:
From the money I got picking strawberries, I bought my first piano. Then I found a drum kit in a garage, got it for free and spent one year torturing the neighbours, but at least I got good enough to play drums and sing in a jazz n’ blues band, with some good old silver foxes. I then bought my first cello, learned how to use it and that was a long-time dream coming true.
My was “discovered” several times over, busking near Gothenburg’s largest shopping mall. Local promoters stopped to listen to her unplugged covers of futurepop bands, including Apoptygma Bezerk and VNV Nation. The TV4 channel included her in a feature about unusual street artists. Twice a Man’s Dan Söderqvist found her at an event where she appeared directly from her normal patch in an underpass. My’s modesty prevented her from pushing herself to the front of the pack, but it was clear from the beginning that her talent is something special.
10. Twice a Man feat. Karin My – High in the Clouds
Twice a Man are Swedish legends. They changed their name from Cosmic Overdose when they supported New Order, because the promoter thought it sounded too hippy-like. In fact, the band combined psychedelic and new wave elements in equal measure. Their sound has evolved over the decades, but the group continues to bear fruit that reflects their roots. My’s vocals blend to add generous notes that highlight the terroir.
9. Xenturion Prime – Distant Voices
The Swedish/Norwegian duo picked up My for their 2022 Prisma album, including her on this fragile, haunting track. The magic dust was sprinkled generously.
8. Carbon Based Lifeforms – Gryning
We know Johannes Hedberg and Daniel Vadestrid best as the amazing Thermostatic, but their ambient electronic work as CBL has gone on for longer and reached much larger audiences. My is one of their key collaborators, adding a sensitive touch that doesn’t overwhelm the base material.
7. Karin My – Mia och Tom
An acoustic cover of the classic Page track, slowed down by My and reduced to its core elements. Page regularly produce poptronica perfection, and this version shows off the quality of Eddie Bengtsson’s songwriting and My’s skills as a performer.
6. AEX – Endless Night
No, not the Christian metal act. This AEX is Æon deuX, the Danish group launched on Claus Larsen’s LÆBEL. My adds atmospheric cello here that is unmistakably her own.
5. Rekk feat. Robert Enforsen and Karin My – The Man in Grey
Recorded for the Rational Youth tribute, Heresy, this version of “The Man in Grey” was organised by Kevin Komoda with Elegant Machinery’s Robert Enforsen and My providing input.
https://on.soundcloud.com/fEr6E
4. Gasleben & Electric Friends – Sunday
Karl Gasleben of Twice a Man formed this side project to work with close friends and collaborators. My is one of his go-to artists, and she joins Peter Davidson to add vocals here.
3. 20Hz – Exit North
Erik Ångman is 20Hz. Of this track, we said in our review:
Exit North” approaches the sensibility of Ryuichi Sakamoto, with its considered but artful use of piano. The delicacy of the keyboard is supported by atmospheric cello work provided by Karin My – Sweden’s secret weapon. It’s a beautiful, enveloping track that unfolds like fine linen.
2. Machinista – Astrid
John Lindqvister wrote this song with his daughter in mind. Originally set to electronics by Richard Flow, the band decided to take it in a different direction. My’s contribution gave it the cinematic feel it needed.
1. Karin My – The Silence
My’s first solo album was released in 2022. Silence Amydala was a surprisingly restrained but unified set of songs. Crafted together with her producer, D. Kaufeldt, it was a very personal experience for My. As she explained to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK, “Every story I tell has a grain or a mountain of truth to it.”