S.P.O.C.K might look, on the outside, like a Star Trek-themed novelty act, but in fact it’s a complex and sophisticated blend of poptronica and philosophy. Like the best science fiction, their music tells us more about our life on Earth than any imaginary venue in space, but the message is hidden within layers of vintage synths that lure you towards the dancefloor. It turns out that this video was made by the same company who produced Ace of Base’s “All That She Wants”, which makes sense in a way.
The half of Throbbing Gristle who best got electronics and Abba, on stage in Berlin. There is an album coming in February 2015, based on this set, which will inevitably be astounding.
Chris & Cosey became Carter Tutti, but they have achieved great success performing their older music as Carter Tutti playing Chris & Cosey. The former Throbbing Gristlists have announced a new album under that title for 17 February 2015, mirroring the sets of their acclaimed live shows. The plan is to release CD and download versions, as well as a double album for vinyl lovers.
TRACK LISTING FOR CD / DL:
1 Lost Bliss
2 Retrodect
3 Driving Blind
4 Obsession
5 Beatbeatbeat
6 Workout
7 Watching You
8 Love Cuts
9 Sin
10 Dancing On Your Grave
Vengeance (Exclusive Remix – Compact Disc album only)
Synaesthesia (Exclusive Remix – Digital Download album only)
TRACK LISTING FOR DOUBLE VINYL:
1 Retrodect (2015)
2 Driving Blind (2015)
3 Obsession (2015)
4 Beatbeatbeat (2015)
5 Watching You (2015)
6 Love Cuts (2015)
7 Sin (2015)
8 Dancing On Your Grave (2015)
CARTER TUTTI REMIX CHRIS & COSEY
1 Cowboys In Cuba (Extended Remix)
2 Dancing Ghosts (Extended Remix)
3 Deep Velvet (Extended Remix)
4 Lost Bliss (Extended Remix)
5 October (Love Song) (Extended Remix)
To keep us warm until February, the duo have released a video for “Sin”:
I Satellite is the project of Kalamazoo’s Rod Macquarrie. It’s inspired by Numan, Foxx and Alphaville, but driven by the capabilities of his unique collection of vintage machines. This song was a firm favourite during I Satellite’s Nordic tour for the new cold war, earlier this year.
It’s been so long since Depeche Mode’s peak hour that it’s a joy to hear another artist pick up the stylistic touches that made them pre-eminent for so long. In this case, Magnus Norr’s deadbeat project hits the spot with “Mörk energi” [EN: “Dark Energy”]. Norr has previously worked with Compute’s Ulrika Mild and Fraulein Plastique, but here is in top form in solo mode. Or Mode.
The last stop on the European leg of Erasure’s “Violet Flame” tour brings them to The Forum in London’s Kentish Town. A line of fans snakes around the venue before door time, but the cold night and the promise of fabulous pop music drive them inside quickly. The air inside is warm and filled with anticipation. When the house lights go down, a black-clad trio steps forward and the first strains of “Eye in the Sky” fill the room. The keyboardist sings the lead from behind his Jupiter 6, while the glamorous vocalists on either side of him fill in the harmonies, lit by the glow of stage lighting and a pulsating Roland TR8. This is Parralox, the Anglo-Australian synthpop masters, taking pole position for the evening.
The audience know Parralox’s name from their red-hot remix of Erasure’s recent “Reason” single, and there are both long-time and new fans pressed against the barrier in front of the stage. The next song, “Black Jeans,” moves into glam stomp territory, and vocalist Johanna turns the girl power dial up a notch with a confident and dynamic rendition of the classic from Parralox’s first album, Electricity. The straight boys in the audience start getting their cameras out, too, and the glow of screens held aloft starts to add to the atmosphere. The normally aloof London audience begins to feel its way towards the rhythm, which has a comfortable familiarity.
Guest vocalist Francine, who featured on recent single, “Crying on the Dancefloor,” rounds out the sound with magical touches on Parralox originals like “Sharper than a Knife” and “Hotter.” The surprise addition of “Aeronaut,” Parralox’s next single, which is due for release in early 2015, raises the crowd’s collective pulse even higher. The cold outside is long forgotten when the set reaches its end, and for Parralox the connection has been made.
WIN PARRALOX’S NEW EP, HOLIDAY ’14!
We have three downloadable copies of Parralox’s seasonal EP, Holiday ’14, to give away! To be in with a chance, send an email to [ot-link url=”mailto:post@coldwarnightlife.com”]post@coldwarnightlife.com[/ot-link] with the subject line, “Parralox Contest” before 24 December 2014 and tell us what you like about Parralox. Winners will be notified by email on Christmas Day, 2014.
Good luck and Happy Synthmas from Cold War Night Life!
ELECTRIXMAS
Inkonst, Malmö
13 December 2014
Turnout for the annual electriXmas event in Malmö is traditionally strong, attracting legions of black-clad synthers from across Sweden and around Europe, many of them musicians coming to size up or show their appreciation for the competition. The line-up for this year’s event had real pulling-power, with the Belgian EBM legends, Front 242 and Suicide Commando, headlining a festival that also featured two of Sweden’s best home-grown acts, Sista mannen på jorden and Machinista. The highlights of the event came from these last two, who electrified the audience with poptronica of such strength and quality that the running order of the programme could easily have been reversed without any drop in energy.
Machinista are the duo of vocalist John Lindqwister and keyboardist Richard Flow. Lindqwister takes to the stage in typically stylish fashion, sporting an Aladdin Sane shirt and tattoos – a sartorial signal of what is to come, as he belts out crowd favourites like “Pushing the Angels Astray,” “Molecules and Carbon” and “Salvation.” Beside him, Flow drives the machinery and adds colour with a sonic palette boasting hues of Italo and industrial dance music. Their record label closed its doors earlier this year; but, with a brace of remixes in the vaults and new songs on trial, Machinista are clearly pregnant with a second album. You can tell by the glow on the faces of their fans.
Eddie Bengtsson’s SMPJ project has three studio albums behind it, along with a compilation of demos and rare tracks. Practically every one of the songs on those releases is suitable for a live show, so narrowing the choices down for a set list must be daunting. On this outing, classic hits like “Sekunder” [EN: “Seconds”], “Ögon” [EN: “Eyes”] and “Stanna kvar” [EN: “Remain”] are joined by “Leonov” from Ok, Ok, Ok. The most recent SMPJ single, “Stadens alla ljus,” [EN: “City Lights”] gets a make-over as “Malmös alla ljus” in a cheeky ad-lib, but it’s all in fun and the crowd happily take up the chorus. Behind Bengtsson, Christer Hermodsson does an impression of Ron Mael from Sparks; leaving his keyboard to offer some impromptu dancing before rushing back to hit his cues. The show is practiced but not predictable, and the crowd roar into life as they recognise the first notes of each song. Their only disappointment is that the band is on a schedule and its set has to come to an end.
Front 242 are soon lining up “Headhunter” for the black-armoured crowd. Their aggressive electronic rhythms are a hit, but the Front’s cyber-sonic assault stands in contrast to the layers and textures of the poptronica acts that came before them. There’s a light-hearted contest for the hearts and minds of the audience, but on this night the unending movement of hips and feet mean that everyone’s a winner.
Photo: Petter Duvander
As one-half of the Gothenburg-based, Yazoo-influenced duo, Alison, Karin Bolin Derne is known for having a vocal presence that can fill clubs and conquer dancefloors. Now, she’s effectively adapted the Dogme 95 rules to music, eschewing studio craft for a raw and direct recording technique. “90” is described parenthetically as “raw” because it isn’t yet polished by engineers, but it’s actually a good description of the emotional force of Bolin Derne’s material. This song is dedicated to her father, and it is delivered with the intensity of an exposed nerve. It’s a beautiful thing, but just try not to flinch as it touches you.
Anger, as John Lydon once pointed out, is an energy. At least, that was the message in the days before he started shilling for a dairy firm and making travel programmes for cable TV. Now, Lydon eats his crumpets in front of the fire grate and counts his money, as comfortable as the middle class he once set out to offend. Meanwhile, the DIY imagery of punk has become as much of a commodity as the stylised face of Che Guevara – appropriated by admen and repurposed to sell, sell, sell lifestyle products.
If punk can be reimagined and retooled by marketers, then why not by experimental artists armed with arrays of electronic hardware and batteries of VST synths? That’s the question now answered by a collective of Swedish musicians, organised under the banner of “Electronically Yours.” Page/SMPJ front-man Eddie Bengtsson set them the challenge, following the success of 2012’s tribute album, The Seventies Revisited. Their responses are collected on Electronically Up Yours, a compilation of songs from groups and laptop artists of varying notoriety, each tackling a legendary American or British punk classic.
The album kicks off with a curl of the lip from Biomekkanik. “Young Savage,” an early Ultravox! track (from their days with John Foxx), hits the sweet spot that Billy Idol missed on his most recent album. Christer Hermodsson is a unique talent, having spent time in S.P.O.C.K and next to Bengtsson in SMPJ. Here, he’s in full Biomekkanik mode, putting the cyber into punk with an aggressive attitude.
Some of the songs, like Radio Stars’ “Nervous Wreck” and Dickies’ “Fan Mail,” benefit from an electronic make-over (provided by The Future and Den där killen, respectively); the technology lifting them neatly into the twenty-first century. Others, like Counterfeit‘s version of XTC’s “I’ll Set Myself on Fire,” go in very different directions from the originals, deconstructing them and teasing out elements that emphasise particular characteristics, like the results of a selective breeding programme. If you thought you knew “God Save the Queen,” then Amusik‘s version will throw you the way that Frazier Chorus’ take on “Anarchy in the UK” once did for an earlier generation.
Things really get interesting with Sista mannen på jorden‘s take on Alternative TV’s self-referential “Action Time Vision.” Alternative TV were one of the first punk bands to have their eyes caught by synthesizers, and guitarist Alex Ferguson even put out an electronic pop track produced by Daniel Miller (of The Normal and Mute Records fame). Bengtsson’s returned the compliment by performing his trick of making synthesizers do the work of guitars, keeping the frenetic energy of the original while infusing it with punktronica stylings.
The American school is represented here by Mr Doonut and Page, tackling classic tracks by The Ramones. Mr Doonut is Håkan Hultberg’s nom de musique, and his version of “The KKK Took My Baby Away” is pure poptronica: blips and bleeps replace the sculptured feedback of the original, while arpeggiators blur over the start-stop riffs that were characteristic of the godfathers of punk. Page round off the album with a sleek cover of “Commando,” speeding it up and armouring it for the dancefloor.
If anything is missing from Electronically Up Yours, it is the anger that fuelled punk and carried it for 2:01 along a path paved by a single chord. The happy fact is that no one is going to gob at the vocalists of the EY acts to show appreciation, nor pour beer over their keyboards to demonstrate their contempt for Tangerine Dream. Parents aren’t going to fret about the influence of this CD on their teenagers, nor take knitting needles to it to assert their authority. This is middle class rebellion in the twenty-first century, from IT team leaders and educators who like butter on their crumpets just as much as Johnny Rotten, and it’s quite lovely.
The full track listing is set out below:
1. Biomekkanik – Young Savage (Ultravox!)
2. 12th House – No More Heroes (The Stranglers)
3. The Future – Nervous Wreck (Radio Stars)
4. Counterfeit – I’ll Set Myself On Fire (XTC)
5. Sista mannen på jorden – Action Time Vision (Alternative TV)
6. Den där killen – Fan Mail (Dickies)
7. Clark Gable – Ready Steady Go (Generation X)
8. Compute – Hong Kong Garden (Siouxsie & the Banshees)
9. Arachnophobias – London Girls (The Vibrators)
10. Steelberry Clones – Watching the Detectives (Elvis Costello & The Attractions)
11. Amusik – God Save the Queen (The Sex Pistols)
12. Dvala – Problem Child (The Damned)
13. Angaudlinn – Just Thirteen (The Lurkers)
14. AlphaKenny-1 – Ever Fallen in Love (The Buzzcocks)
15. 319T – Don’t Push Me Around (The Zeros)
16. DJ Man-Machine feat Sleezy – Gary Gilmore’s Eyes (The Adverts)
17. Mr Doonut – The KKK Took My Baby Away (The Ramones)
18. Independent State – Borstal Breakout (Sham 69)
19. Page – Commando (The Ramones)
I believe in Father Christmas. I believe in music being coded into holes punched on scrolls, which are wound through hand-cranked music boxes. I believe in divine vocal accompaniments, distortion and the soundtrack to a million mobile phone company ads. OK, so the B-side to Hannah Peel’s “Find Peace” single hasn’t made it onto Vodafone’s radar yet, but it was only just released. Give it 12 months and this is going to be the song you can’t escape from, even if it’s a statement against the commercialisation of the holiday. In the meantime, Ms Peel’s version of Greg Lake’s classic, “I Believe in Father Christmas,” is just for us.
Update 21/12/2014: Hannah’s released a charming video with a live take, to add to your merriment: