If Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen got together at David Lynch’s house, the result might be this cinematic, poetic, flowing and dark track from Mute’s latest signing, On Dead Waves. “Blackbird” is the first release from the band, which appears to be a collaboration between Maps and Polly Scattergood, also on the Mute roster, and it heralds deep things to come.
A frontal assault on your senses, “There Is No Authority But Yourself” shakes you from your PBR-fuelled complacency and kicks you out onto the dancefloor with old school EBM patterns. From her forceful, electro-Amazon vocals, we’d say that Joanna Rein’s not compromising, so you’ll need to let someone else feed your sourdough starter and get your heavy boots on. You’re not a trend-following, peer-pressure absorbing hipster – you’re the Authority. And there isn’t another one but you.
On paper, New Order‘s re-emergence on Mute is a marriage made in Heaven. The departure of Depeche Mode left Mute without a flagship act, and New Order’s path into the stratosphere had run on a zig-zig path that was essentially parallel to the Basildon trio’s own. They even used the same record plugger for many years. The link-up allows New Order to maintain an indie base while getting the label’s full attention, which can’t be good for smaller acts like Polly Scattergood but will give Manchester’s best export long-term presence.
Bassist Peter Hook has left to pursue a Joy Division/New Order tribute project of his own, but that works out well for fans: New Order (Official) don’t play much from the back catalogue, so Hook’s New Order (Provisional) – also called Peter Hook & The Light – fills an enormous gap. Although some fans can’t accept a New Order without him, the reality is that it is Bernard Sumner’s voice and songwriting that is at the core of the band now.
“Restless,” the first single from Music Complete (Mute), arguably comes across better in this Agoria remix than in the original version: Sumner’s voice is even more fragile and languid with the synthetic bass and orchestration behind him. This is promising, indeed.
The latest release from Finland’s Lau Nau is the album, Hem. Någonstans [EN: Home. Somewhere], which is also the soundtrack from a film of the same name. As with Lau Nau’s previous work, the boundary between modern classical music and experimental electronics is blurred in a haze of strings and chorus. The sounds make as much sense on a hot summer day, when the heat is bending the light, as on a frozen winter morning, when the sap cannot move in the trees, because they stroke your senses with the most sensitive of timbres.
Gary Gilmore murdered two men and was put before a Utah firing squad. His last words were a Christian blessing, but they are remembered in popular culture as “Let’s do this.” His corneas were donated for transplants, and this act inspired The Adverts’ classic punk hit, “Gary Gilmore’s Eyes.” TV Smith of The Adverts has now teamed up with Martin Bowes of Attrition for an updated re-telling of the tale.
John Foxx and his sometime-collaborator, Louis Gordon, made some formidable music together. The title track from 2006’s From Trash is notable for the emphatic, glam-stomp of the bass line and Foxx’s distinctive and heart-felt vocals. DJs, shame on you, if you don’t get this out once in a while.
For everyone with a Eurovision hangover, we’d recommend taking a listen to this fine Spanish electropop and forgetting you stayed up to watch the voting. Destino Plutòn [EN: Destination Pluto] have a foot firmly in the space disco camp, and there are enough sweeps and bounces in here to satisfy fans of SMPJ and Vision Talk alike. This track, “Césped Artificial” [EN: “Artificial Turf”], is remixed from their most recent release, which translates as “The Importance of Virtual Contact.”
Keluar come from Berlin, where they are one of the most compelling of the new generation of warm wave acts. If the duo of Zoè Zanias and Sid Lamar seem familiar, it could be because Zoè was Alison Lewis of Linea Aspera and Sid is also known as Jonas Förster. This is the title track from their second EP, and it shows off Zoè/Alison’s magnificent vocals to fine effect.
You can catch Keluar live at the following events, which are curated by and feature Twice a Man:
A Warm Wave Concert (Stockholm): 30 May 2015, Facebook event page
A Warm Wave Concert (Göteborg): 29 May 2015, Facebook event page
Naked Lunch recently warmed up for Covenant, but they are stalwarts on the UK electronic scene, having appeared on the famed Some Bizarre album alongside Depeche Mode. Eddie Bengtsson of Page and Sista Mannen pa Jorden (playing in London on 19 April 2015 at The Lexington) has remixed one of the tracks from Rabies!, the most recent EP from the Lunch, and it’s a classy slice of dancefloor-friendly poptronica.
My God Damn Territory are back with new material. After The Stabby Sessions album comes a remix by Eddie Bengtsson of Page and Sista Mannen på Jorden (who are playing in London on 19 April 2015, don’t you know) of a track from their previous release, Who Are You Talk Show? Bengtsson and the band have met in the mix before: their third album, released in 2012, was billed as My God Damn Territory vs. Page. The combination is still potent, as this track shows.