Influenced by Italo disco and lethal live, Vision Talk were one of Sweden’s best-loved poptronica acts. Richard Flow, the singer, moved on to be the keyboardist in Machinista, while Krister Petersson started the SwedIT project with different singers (including Flow and his bandmate, John Lindqwister). Karin Hallberg joined Vanguard’s live show. When they were together, they knocked out this rather beautiful dance track, which got the remix treatment from John von Ahlen of Parralox.
Track of the Day
Melina Merkouri was the popular Minister for Culture in a series of Greek governments after the restoration of democracy. Her credentials for the post included her work as an actress and singer. Mikro is a Greek electronic band on the Undo Records label, home to Marsheaux. They recently contributed this remix for a tribute album, released twenty years after Mercouri passed away. Their touch on this mix is discreet, letting Merkouri’s voice shine through. She was known to some as “the last Greek goddess,” but we are sure there are others – there just isn’t another Melina Merkouri.
Mark Stewart’s rage is key to the sound of The Pop Group and most of his solo output, but in 1987 he offered a combination of Satie and Tackhead hip-hop rhythms as the setting for an incantation of unpredictable beauty. The righteous rage returned in short order, but for a moment (in love) Stewart tamed his beast and gave us sight of his soft side.
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.
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.
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:
Kord is a firm favourite at CWNL. Sweden’s Johan Sturesson occupies the space between dance and experimental music like few others. In this new release, part of a sonic Advent calendar from Repartiseraren, he’s channeling the ghosts of Chris & Cosey, Kraftwerk and space disco. Cooler than January in Umeå.
We are all, as Moby pointed out, made of stars; the scattered debris of dead suns, spread across the universe. Aurora Aksnes’ latest track is about the distance between the living and the dead, who are just sleeping under the stars. If she’s right, then this slickly produced song by the Norwegian prodigy will penetrate their dreams with folk-flecked vocals and an instrumental track that is right on the money.
Mankind, Brecht once noted in song, is kept alive by bestial acts. Reading the papers, it is hard to find evidence to the contrary: we have always, it seems, been at war with Oceania, and the only possible response to one murderous outrage is to launch another. Drones and mercenaries are part of the ecosystem now; as ubiquitous as images of Kim Kardashian or Miley Cyrus.
A poptronica single isn’t going to clean up this mess, but Hannah Peel’s “Find Peace” mutes the rattling of sabres for 4:00 with Brechtian directness. Released in time for the winter holiday season, it’s a special edition 7″ from the Snowflakes Christmas Singles Club, a Dutch label, on white vinyl. Mercenaries, drone pilots and Westminster armchair warriors will dislike its pacific sentiment, but nothing about Peel’s delicate, ethereal vocals nor the modular instrumental underpinning of collaborator Benge Edwards is suited to their ambitions. There’s something of a Robert Wyatt vibe to the piece, in places, which makes it feel as subversive as it is sentimental.
The single is available in a signed edition through the divine Ms Peel’s Web shop.
From what we can tell, Sean Barron of Empire State Human has a new project called iEuropean, into which he has pulled Wolfgang Flür (ex-Kraftwerk, Yamo), while tapping Clive Pierce and Rob Doran (both of hard CORPS notoriety) with Phen for remix support. “Activity of Sound” sounds a little bit like Torch Song borrowing the voice-over from a Juno Reactor track in places, which is no bad thing, and it has been more than competently repurposed for the dancefloor in this mix. Flür, of course, was a robot once, but there is an organic warmth in this song that suggests the machines are evolving.