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.
Sad news reaches us that Andreas Catjar-Danielsson has passed away, aged 51, after a battle with cancer. The Swedish musician was closely associated with Covenant and Abu Nein, but he also created his own music and worked in theatre – at home and in Germany.
We send our condolences to his family and many friends.
There might be a heatwave in parts of Europe and the UK now, but the hottest news is the return of Electronic Summer, the Swedish music festival.
First organised in Gothenburg in 2012, the event quickly established itself as the best programmed festival in the Nordics. It was joined by slightly smaller Electronic Winter shows, with the same high quality of acts and organisation. The seasonal festivals attracted a loyal following among Swedish and European fans, as well as an international reputation. Featured acts included DAF, Covenant, VNV Nation, Portion Control, Page, Sista mannen på jorden, and Apoptygma Berzerk. The conclusion of the series in 2017 left a hole in the festival calendar that hasn’t been filled.
We are delighted, therefore, that Electronic Summer 2022 sees the event return to Gothenburg’s Brewhouse for a 10th anniversary take-over. From 4-6 August, a mix of EBM, futurepop and synth artists will take to the stage in front of an army of black-clad fans.
The organisers have published the following line-up and details of a special event sponsored by Cold War Night Life:
Lineup:
Thursday:
Covenant (SE)
Nattskiftet (SE)
Octolab (SE)
Friday:
Welle:Erdball (DE)
Mesh (alternative set) (UK)
Dive (BE)
Sierra (FR)
Göteborgselektronikerna (SE)
Aesthetic Perfection (acoustic with T.Jansson) (US)
Saturday:
Mesh (UK)
Aesthetic Perfection (US)
Piston Damp (NO)
Sex Kino (SE/UK)
Niels Gordon (SE)
A.Hofman & T.Jansson (SE)
+ A Talk With Brian Griffin on stage. Brian is the legendary photographer behind all the early Depeche-albumphotos and much more. During the festival Saturday we will have a chat with him on stage and we will also have 4 signed prints made in only 100 copies each for sale. More about these prints soon.
The Brian Griffin-appearance at the festival is arranged together with our friends over at Cold War Night Life.
More bands & DJs will follow.
August 4-6 2022 @ Brewhouse, Gothenburg
Age: 18+
Tickets: Tickster.com
Our festival hotel will be Spar Hotel Gårda as before! If you want to book now then you can do so by e-mailing or phoning the hotel and give the booking code: Electronic.
Spar Hotel Gårda
Norra Kustbanegatan 15-17,
416 64 Göteborg
Phone: +46 (0)31-752 03 00
E-mail: garda@sparhotel.se
Covenant are back with the Fieldworks Exkursion EP. A five-track collection, it shows the Swedes developing their interests in philosophy, sampling and rhythm.
With elements of the sound captured from environmental sources – a la Chris Watson – the band have turned their surroundings into sonic sources. The results are sculpted and moulded around the kind of synthetic scaffolding that they are known for.
For this EP, which is the first of a cycle of releases expected under the “Fieldworks” rubrik, each band member has taken the helm for one song. The resulting variations in style are more subtle than might be expected.
The opener, “Pantheon,” takes us to the sites of ancient temples via a Spanish airport and Kraftwerkian vocoder work. In places, it recalls Brian Eno’s commission from NASA, which makes sense if the temples connect us to spaces we can only glimpse from great distances.
“All That Is Solid Melts into Air” takes its name from a quote by Karl Marx. The lyrics focus on the dual horrors of capital and war, but Covenant manage to avoid the Pet Shop Boys’ bare didacticism. Eskil Simonsson’s distinctive vocals neatly carry the lines over the rhythm of small arms fire.
The French singer Grabyourface makes an appearance on “False Gods,” which pulses insistently with critical synths. The Mayan creation myth inspires “Popul Vuh,” which combines a tale of lost continents with industrial loops and a synth line evocative of Laurie Anderson’s own story-telling accompaniments.
The EP wraps with “Das Nibelunglied (Erstes Abenteuer).” A German voice intones a tale over piano and bass tones, in a form perhaps familiar to Neubauten fans. It is brooding, mysterious and dark. The sounds between the notes are where the feeling lies, and the resonance lingers well after the recording ends.
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Covenant
02 Academy Islington
17 March 2018
It is reported that a new kind of material has been developed by British researchers, which can absorb 99.5% of visible light. Commercial applications for Vantablack must surely include stage design for Covenant, Sweden’s biggest EBM export.
Spotting singer Eskil Simonsson in the darkened fog is a task for young eyes. While dedicated spots pick out Daniel Jonasson and Daniel Myer at opposite ends of the stage, Simonsson emerges from a shroud of smoke like an eel from a cavern; his figure revealed only by glints of light on his glasses. His lines intoned, Covenant’s front man recedes into the darkness.
Simonsson’s voice is another story. It fills the room, pushing its way through a large and enthusiastic crowd. It draws hands skyward and raises the pulses of the fans in their fishnets and elevator shoes. The pulse of Covenant’s synths is its heartbeat, but Simonsson’s vocals are its soul.
The show opens with “Death of Identity” from the Psychonaut EP, setting an experimental tone. What follows is a tour through Covenant’s back catalogue, drawing in early compositions like ”Edge of Dawn” and ”Shelter” from 1994’s Dreams of a Cryotank.
With decades of material behind them, Covenant are spoiled for choice in the compilation of setlists. Tonight’s touches on a lot of highlights without becoming a Greatest Hits event: from ”Like Tears in Rain” to the closing ”Call the Ships to Port,” fans have the chance to sing along to well-loved songs.
For the encore, Simonsson trades places with Daniel Myer on ”Lightbringer,” the Architect man put his own print on the track. ”Let’s do this!” roars the German, and the energy surges again before Simonsson takes back the lead microphone for ”We Stand Alone.”
By the time the house lights push back the darkness, Covenant have already withdrawn. A river of black files out into N1, the night finally ready to receive it.
Thank you to Frank Drake at Flag Promotions.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
The Curse of 2016 took a lot of artists from us. The year opened with Lemmy’s passing fresh in everyone’s minds, and the roll call of musicians claimed by the Grim Reaper kicked off from there: David Bowie, Prince and Vanity, Leonard Cohen, Pierre Boulez, Keith Emerson and Greg Lake, Gisela May, Craig Gill (Inspiral Carpets), Pete Burns, Caroline Crawley, James Woolley (Nine Inch Nails), Alan Vega (Suicide), Steven Young (M/A/R/R/S and Colourbox) and Richard Lyons (Negativland) all shuffled off this mortal coil. We’ve often said at Cold War Night Life that we need to show appreciation to artists while they are still with us, as you never know when the window to do it will close, and Death did its part to reinforce the warning.
Those who survived 2016 were confronted with the spectre of a Trump presidency and the consequences of the Brexit decision. It was as if Pinky and The Brain had finally succeeded, setting up 2017 to be the United Nations International Year of Incompetence. There will be dark times; but, as Brecht once noted, there will also be singing about the dark times. We will be there to critique the critiques. In the meantime, here are our sixteen picks for 2016.
16. Pieces of Juno – “Your Mouth Is a Dragon”
Norway’s Pieces of Juno went darker than usual for her year-closing single, “Your Mouth Is a Dragon.” The KOSO protagonist has impressed us with sets of more experimental material in the past, so it was a bit of a surprise to hear her exploring a traditional song structure with seductive, haunting guitar licks fit for a Tarantino movie. This is territory that John Fryer and Barry Adamson have explored previously, but Juno’s approach is feminine, subversive and underpinned by exotic rhythms that lift the material from smoke-filled nightclubs into a world of dreams.
15. I Am Snow Angel – “Losing Face”
As I Am Snow Angel, Julie Kathryn issues the kind of quirky and angelic pop that sometimes belies its more serious lyrical content. “Losing Face” sounds jazzy and jaunty, on one level, and the accompanying video of Kathryn spinning on a pole might pass for a sensual presentation designed for VH1, but when the singer laments being left feeling “dirty and incomplete” there is more going on. Sugar-sweet on the surface, “Losing Face” is deeper, more complex and richer than your usual music television fare.
14. Zanias – “Through This Collapse”
Zanias is the latest project from Alison Lewis, the mind-expanding, psychedelics-ingesting chanteuse of Berlin’s underground. The video for “Through This Collapse” is a stark, futuristic performance of the song, showing Lewis in a Vantablack dress surrounded by particles as fine as her voice. The song is tension itself: with needle-sharp vocals and a vein-scraping, bit-crushed instrumental track, it will play as intensely in caverns as it does in clubs.
13. Stephen Huss – Notes of a Lifetime
As the half of Psyche who handled the keyboards, Stephen Huss was a legend of Canadian alternative music. His spiky hair and hook-laden synth lines were instantly recognisable, and Psyche’s style became the template for a dozen imitators.
Huss withdrew from active participation in the band after illness made it impractical to continue, but in the background he didn’t stop recording original material. After his untimely death last year, brother and Psyche vocalist Darrin collected many of Stephen’s solo instrumental recordings and put them out for appreciative fans. Notes of a Lifetime is both a reminder of Stephen’s talent and the love that held Psyche together. The inclusion of a joint Huss brothers recording makes it even more poignant.
12. Parralox – Subculture/Holiday ’16
John von Ahlen’s Parralox project is as prolific as it is impressive. At the end of 2016, Parralox released two full albums: Subculture and a collection of covers, Holiday ’16. Subculture shows off von Ahlen’s growing list of celebrity connections, featuring vocal contributions from Marcella Detroit (Shakespears Sister) and bass work by Ian Burden (Human League), while Holiday ’16 re-interprets classic tracks by Pet Shop Boys, Cicero, Depeche Mode and Human League.
You don’t have to choose between the two, as Parralox’s label, Conzoom, offer a package deal, but the place we would take you first is von Ahlen’s take on Depeche Mode’s “Blasphemous Rumours.” It is positively fizzing with energy, turning a rather mournful piece about teen suicide into an energetic, acid-fueled dance track with a more positive vibe.
11. FRKTL – Qualia
Sarah Badr’s FRKTL project matured in 2016 with a proper second album. The first release from the Anglo-Egyptian digital pioneer was Atom, back in 2011: an electro-acoustic marvel that stretched sounds beyond recognition. Qualia, named for the psychological and philosophical categories of qualities that are always experienced but hard to explain, went further and incorporated Badr’s voice and world rhythms suitable for the dance club into mixes that were both exotic and intriguing.
We recently caught up with Badr to learn more about her approach, and our interview with the globe-hopping multi-instrumentalist will be coming out shortly. In the meantime, we can’t recommend Qualia strongly enough.
10. Covenant – The Blinding Dark
There are signs that Covenant, the Swedish darkwave legends, are slowly, collectively, morphing into Brian Eno. It’s certainly hard to avoid that conclusion when a feature of their new album is the sound of the sea and engines being focused by a parabolic sound mirror; particularly as they were attracted to it as a sonic and historical metaphor for Europe’s response to the Mediterranean refugee crisis. The Blinding Dark puts some of the experimentation that was reserved for the bonus disc on Leaving Babylon in the foreground, even as it showcases the band’s continuing deftness with energetic rhythms.
9. Black Needle Noise – “Warning Sign”/”Heaven”
John Fryer’s Black Needle Noise is really the reincarnation of This Mortal Coil, his most famous studio project. Fryer’s prolific writing and recording make it hard to keep pace with the new tracks that issue from his current base in Oslo, but there were two very exceptional songs beamed out by BNN this year: “Warning Sign” with Kendra Frost and “Heaven” with the dreampop cult figure, Jennie Vee.
“Warning Sign” was a revelation for listeners more attuned to Frost’s work with Kite Base (see number 3 in our list, below). It also featured the kind of spatial depth that has long been a signature of Fryer’s production style. Although it clocks in at 4’35”, the single seems to flash by and require a constant replay. Proof of progress: in the old days, you would have to return the needle to the groove by hand.
With “Heaven,” we got to hear Vee at her darkest, intoning a mantra for an unhappy state of mind. Vee’s voice is one of the most distinctive in modern pop, but with Fryer behind the controls it emerges with new textures that reveal painfully sensitive moments.
8. Nash the Slash – Dreams and Nightmares including Bedside Companion
Nash the Slash is sorely missed. A true Canadian original, he is known outside of his home and native land mainly for his early work with Gary Numan and an album produced by Steve Hillage. However, Nash was also a composer of soundtracks to surrealist films (“Un Chien Andolou”) and – so we argue – the inventor of the sounds that became signatures for The Orb and System 7.
A bold claim? Just listen to “Blind Windows” from Bedside Companion and try to make a counterargument. We’d go even further and point out that there are sounds in “Blind Windows” that can be found in Wamdue Project’s “King of My Castle.”
Thanks to Artoffact, both Dreams and Nightmares and Bedside Companion were re-released in 2016. We have it on good authority that 2017 will see a reissue of And You Thought You Were Normal, which will be an even bigger reminder of how big an influence Nash was on electronic music.
7. Various Artists – Heresy
Are we allowed to blow our own trumpet? Well, we’re going to, because the Heresy compilation blew many minds in 2016. A tribute to Rational Youth, it gathers no less than nineteen artists, including the Canadian electro-pioneers and two former members of the band, into three vinyl platters. There is a CD bundled into the package, but no downloads. There is no way not to touch the vinyl in order to play the material. You can almost hear Super Hans saying: “No downloads.”
Did we mention that it makes an excellent present? And that it can be ordered from Storming the Base, who also handle Psyche and Nash the Slash products, should you know a vinyl junkie who needs that final hit? We did? Then you are sorted.
6. Rational Youth – Future Past Tense
Speaking of Rational Youth, they made 2016 better with a new album up their sheer black sleeves, in the form of Future Past Tense. The first studio album from RY since To the Goddess Electricity, it proved that the Canadian pioneers have lost none of their sense of melody or political angst. The lead single, “This Side of the Border,” is influenced by Canadian nationalism, social democracy, nostalgia and The Who – a heady cocktail made more potent by the addition of Gaenor Howe’s vocals.
We caught up with RY on their European tour to support the album, and it was striking how much enthusiasm there was for the new material. Crowds in Sweden and Germany happily sang along to the new tracks with the same confidence and affection as the hits from 1982’s Cold War Night Life. They didn’t always give Tracy Howe his microphone back, but that’s another story.
5. Vile Electrodes – In the Shadows of Monuments
It is hard to believe that Vile Electrodes are only on their second studio album. Britain’s best synth band stunned with The Future Through a Lens, which established a benchmark for the island’s electronic scene with tracks like “Proximity” and “Nothing.” Now that the island has decided to sink into the Atlantic, rather than accept European influences, the Viles are setting the bar again in a less pop-oriented vein.
In the Shadows of Monuments sounds like an industrial title, and singer Anais Neon certainly channeled more Cosey than Debbie on the interim EP track, “Love Song for a Pylon,” but discogs.com thinks that the band is going in a “synthwave” style. It isn’t. From the opening, eponymous track, Shadows is part 4:00 am and part 4AD: dark, moody and sleep-deprived. You can dance to “The Red Bead,” but you’ll want to get the headphones back on for “As Gravity Ends.”
There is not a spot of magenta or cyan to be seen, nor a sample from the Tron soundtrack to be heard. This is not “synthwave” but dark ambient and experimental material of the highest standard.
4. Hannah Peel – Awake But Always Dreaming
Hannah Peel shifted gears half-way through her latest album, moving from delicate pop into more industrial sounds, layers and loops. The arc of the album mirrored the dementia that eventually claimed her grandmother, and many of the songs are both raw and unnerving for anyone who has lived through a similar experience. It turns out that many people have, as Awake But Always Dreaming received substantial attention and acted as the focal point for an Alzheimers-related culture event in Shoreditch to general acclaim.
It was Peel’s performance of the new material at the Troika! show that led us to include her in our Live Act of the Year selection. It might have a serious motive, but the songs of Awake But Always Dreaming work best when you can feel the rhythms and see the hair flicks up close.
3. Kite Base – “Soothe”/”Dadum”
We first saw Kite Base warming up for Hannah Peel in deepest, darkest hipster territory. First impressions were very promising with dueling bass guitars, natty electronics and Kendra Frost’s vocals forging an original and deep sound. Bandmate Ayşe Hassan also plays in Savages, so you’d expect them to be loud, but Kite Base has subtlety as well as rhythm.
This year, we finally got a 7″ single to spin, and it turned out that the duo were just as good in the studio as on stage. “Dadum” has the kind of hook that sticks in your ear for days on end, while the accompanying video highlights the band’s interest in origami. It’s on the flip side, however, that the promise of Kite Base really starts to kick off with Frost’s voice opening up over bass lines that throb like the veins of a long-distance runner.
Along with Hannah Peel and I Speak Machine, Kite Base were our joint choice of Live Act of the Year for their Troika! show at London’s Shacklewell Arms. The rumble outside would have been only a partial clue to the intensity of their performance, which has been crafted through shows in Europe and America alongside Savages. The sonic fractals really fly when Kite Base are plugged into their DI boxes, and they expand and shift with a deft psychedelic touch that is anchored by the tautest of bass lines.
2. Page – “Är det jag som är en idiot?”
Eddie Bengtsson has promised a new Page album in 2017. Until then, we have the band’s midsummer single, “Är det jag som är en idiot” (EN: “Is it Me Who Is an Idiot?”), to keep us company through the Nordic winter. Produced and mixed by Richard Flow of Machinista, this is Page’s only official release since 2013’s “Som ett skal” (EN: “Like a Shell”), and it’s a tease that it was accompanied by only one B-side. We know what’s coming next, and we can’t wait.
1. Eric Random – Words Made Flesh
Pole position for 2016 didn’t go to an obvious choice with a hipster following on Facebook. Eric Random has come and gone from the music scene over the years, but is most closely associated with Cabaret Voltaire and its Doublevision label. Random’s return in 2016 with Words Made Flesh kept some of the indie-industrial vibe from his earlier recordings, but was notable for repositioning dance music as something with character and texture. With influences drawn from world music, Random breathed new life into electronica, as this stand-out track demonstrates.
Sound mirrors are acoustic devices that reflect sound to a focal point. Prior to the advent of radar, large versions were built to pick up the sound of incoming enemy planes along the British coastline. Operators would listen to the drone of the sea, captured and focused by the mirrors, and put out an alert if they detected changes introduced by the sound of aircraft engines. So why would the Swedish darktronica pioneers, Covenant, name a single after them?
According to the band’s Joakim Montelius, the inspiration came from an article on the devices while reflecting on the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean:
My reading coincided with the refugee situation in Europe. The fact that we all knew about the reasons for it since years, without doing anything to help, made me think of this pattern. How we, humans in general, do everything in our power to try and predict future threats. That ability to anticipate possible scenarios is of course key to our survival, from an evolutionary point of view.
The track is lifted from Covenant’s new album, The Blinding Dark. It sits nestled among tracks of remarkable strength, pointing out the sounds of burning homes and broken souls. It is a unique statement from Covenant, and sits alongside Portion Control’s “Refugee” as a song about mass displacement that you can dance to. Perhaps, if we weren’t bombing their homes and arming the mercenaries who attack them, the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa wouldn’t need to move to colder countries – a point your DJ can make by spinning one of the excellent remixes that feature on the single release.
The other songs on The Blinding Dark are similarly bleak, even if they are less tied to the day’s headlines. It has been pointed out that Eskil Simonsson’s vocals in “Dies Irae” owe something to the style of Leonard Cohen, but the bard of Montreal rarely ventures into territory this dark. The title refers to the “day of wrath” in Christian mythology, and in the hands of Covenant it is also “a day of loss and mourning.” It will be the soundtrack to a thousand Goth funerals.
The filters work hard on “Cold Reading,” another dancefloor-oriented track infused with fizzing electronics. “I’m not the one to fear,” intones Simonsson over a trance-inducing pattern, but it sounds like he is. Stripped down and minimal, the electronics are sinister and tense, creating an atmosphere of darkness and dread transported from a Grimm tale.
Covenant’s experimental side comes out at several points on the album. The opening track, “Fulwell,” replicates the experience of listening to an acoustic mirror, in what might be the first industrial track featuring a seagull. There are two “Interludes”: the first tying together loops of machinery, pulses from modular kit and crushed vocals; the second sounding like a distant cousin of the sketches from New Order’s Power, Corruption and Lies. The peak of this thread, however, is found in a cover of Lee Hazlewood’s “Rider on a White Horse”: static, loops, drones and a duet combine to refract the imagery of the original, returning it to the Book of Revelations.
Theatrical, experimental and moody, The Blinding Dark is a compelling follow up to Leaving Babylon that captures the mood of 2016 to a T.
Photo credits: Chris Ruiz.
The lightning storm over Gothenburg this past weekend can only mean one thing: Electronic Summer is coming. One of Europe’s best-programmed festivals, ES turns a large venue in Sweden’s second city into a hive of ~tronica for three days, starting on August 28. This year, as an added bonus, Deb Mann will be taking part to share her memories of Depeche Mode’s first years. To help accompany the celestial light-show, we’ve put together some tracks from our favourites among this year’s featured artists.
COVENANT – “Prime Movers”
EMMON – “Smalltown Boy”
DAILY PLANET – “Nobody’s Friend”
CLIENT – “Refuge”
LEGEND – “City”
CANDIDE – “Änglar”
AESTHETIC PERFECTION – “Big Bad Wolf”
The last weeks of 2013 are ticking by, and it can already be declared a vintage year for fans of electronic music and culture. Not only was there a steady stream of high-quality releases from established artists; there were encouraging signs of new artists taking the field, armed with sequencers and bags of groovy waveforms. The cassette format started to make a come-back, encouraged by artisan labels like Flexiwave and Nachos!, while vinyl, special edition CDs and box sets all made headway against the tidal forces of subscription-based streaming. Even promoters got into the act, by putting on festivals that were properly curated, instead of being kitchen-sink events.
Against this backdrop, Cold War Night Life paused to pick out some of the best songs of 2013. From an unusually strong field, we managed to select ten stand-out tracks to make our playlist for the year. If we had a crush on you, this is the mix-tape we would give you for Christmas.
1. Page: Som ett skal
After 2010’s Nu (EN: Now) revived the musical partnership of Eddie Bengtsson and Marina Schiptjenko, the profile and creative output of Page have been reaching new heights. Sweden’s original synthpop act, Page went through several transitions before bowing out at a performance in 2000. The reunion of Bengtsson and Schiptjenko, a decade later, surprised many by reinvigorating their music with mature themes and catchy melodies. Nu came across as a reboot, rather than a simple refresh, of Page’s sound.
The release of Hemma (EN: At Home) in 2013 went even further, showcasing the growing strength and sophistication of Bengtsson’s songwriting while fusing modern and vintage influences. His signature “glamtronica” sound draws upon the best punk, disco and glam rock influences and runs them through a bank of Moog synths. Underpinned by dancefloor-friendly rhythms, the songs on Hemma all come across as having come from a place five minutes into the future.
The most accessible of these is Som ett skal (EN: Like a Shell), which was released by Wonderland Records as a series of limited edition 3″ CD-singles with additional remixes. In a bumper year for electronic music, Page’s effort was peerless.
[button link=”http://www.amazon.co.uk/Som-ett-skal/dp/B00FBHTHUG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385200814&sr=8-1&keywords=som+ett+skal” icon=”none” icon=”9835″ target=”blank” color=”c0c0c0″ textcolor=”ffffff” size=”small”]Listen/buy on Amazon[/button]
2. Rational Youth: Ring the Bells (Live in Ottawa)
Sitting for thirty years in the attic of Kevin Komoda, a box of memorabilia collected from his days in Rational Youth yielded some expected treasures when opened earlier this year. Besides pictures from Kraftwerk’s 1981 show in Montreal, Komoda found recordings from Rational Youth’s 1983 cross-Canada tour. Tapes from shows in Ottawa and Winnipeg were promptly digitised and released as cassettes and CDs, including bundles with rare and unreleased tracks from the RY archives.
The stand-out song from the live recordings is the version of Ring the Bells played in the Ottawa show. One of the best tracks from the classic Cold War Night Life album, singer Tracy Howe’s vocals and the synthetic strings played by Komoda combine to spine-tingling effect. With live Rational Youth shows being organised for Canada and Sweden in 2014, this is a taster of the magic to come.
[button link=”http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ring-the-Bells/dp/B00GH8J6YU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1385201075&sr=8-2&keywords=ring+the+bells+rational+youth” icon=”9835″ target=”blank” color=”c0c0c0″ textcolor=”ffffff” size=”small”]Listen/buy on Amazon[/button]
3. Hannah Peel: Harbour
Irish-born and Barnsley-raised, multi-instrumentalist Hannah Peel is best known in the electronic music community for her work with John Foxx & The Maths. With her amplified violin and keyboard work, Peel has brought an iridescent quality to Foxx’s stage shows, complementing the contributions of drummer and modular-synth master, Benjamin “Benje” Edwards. Peel’s solo material occupies a different place from Foxx’s, ranging from music-box versions of classic synthpop to ethereal, sweeping pop tracks that are more obviously inspired by a mixture of the Cocteau Twins and Irish folk traditions.
At the end of 2013, Peel won an award for another track, Chloe, which was used in a British television programme, but the song we chose for our mix-tape was Harbour, which comes from Peel’s Nailhouse EP – one of the independent stand-outs in 2013.
4. Cryo: The Portal
The release of Cryo material is always special, but the first single from the forthcoming Retropia album, In Your Eyes, came with an outstanding bonus track. While the A-side single is a definite alternative dancefloor-filler, The Portal is solid evidence that Martin Rudefelt has a deep well of compelling songs to draw upon. Although released in the position of a B-side, The Portal could easily have been a single in its own right. Dark, brooding and uplifting at the same time, it shows why Cryo continue to set the benchmark for EBM.
[button link=”http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Portal/dp/B00FAU8U8O/ref=sr_1_1?s=dmusic&ie=UTF8&qid=1385202723&sr=1-1&keywords=cryo+portal” icon=”9835″ target=”blank” color=”c0c0c0″ textcolor=”ffffff” size=”small”]Listen/buy on Amazon[/button]
5. Julian & Marina: Count the Stars
One of the surprises of 2013 was the low-key release by the electro-crooner duo, Julian & Marina, of their Distance EP, which included this exceptional track. Count the Stars is a wonderful pop song: elegant and charming in equal amounts. It goes a long way to preserve the feeling of early Pet Shop Boys songs, at a time when the PSB are borrowing ideas from Michael Nyman while singing Fabien Society pamphlets, and deserves wider exposure.
[button link=”http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00D4VUDMM/ref=dm_dp_trk2_B00D4VUDMM” icon=”9835″ target=”” color=”c0c0c0″ textcolor=”ffffff” size=”small”]Listen/buy on Amazon[/button]
6. Candide: Lustfyllda nätter
They’ve been around since 1984, but Candide aren’t stuck in an old-school groove. They released two singles in 2013, both of which were excellent; but, if pressed, we preferred this tribute to influential Swedish new wave act, Lustans Lakejer.
7. Train to Spain: Passion
After a line-up change, which saw a new vocalist come into the fold, Train to Spain started to write and release uptempo, energetic pop songs with renewed vigour. Live dates across Sweden gave audiences a chance to experience their developing brand of synthpop; a combination of classic electronic sounds and driving sequences that sits somewhere on the spectrum between Yazoo and Front 242. This was one of our favourite songs of 2013, and the combination of Jonas Rasmusson’s music with Helena Wigeborg’s vocals holds out great promise for future releases.
8. Acute Onset: Nosology
Hanna Kihlander and Johan Söderling revealed their musical project with a bang, a bleep, clicks and pulses. Nosology showed that their eclectic combination of keyboards and modular components could be deployed to make infectious dance music infused with influences from DAF to A Guy Called Gerald. The DIY spirit behind this project is exactly right for the time.
9. Vive la fête: La Vision
Belgium’s number one party band, Vive la fête went all Vicious Pink for this sultry but rhythm-infused remix. We made it a Track of the Day, but in truth it is one of the top songs for the year. A bouncy synth line, laid in by remixer Pantser Fabriek, gives it a minimal wave feel, but the vocals of model Els Pynoo take it over the top. More of this for 2014, please.
10. Machinista: Pushing the Angels Astray
The duo of Richard Flow (ex-Vision Talk) and John Lindqwister (ex-Cat Rapes Dog) have conjured up a number of high-quality songs in their short time together, and with Pushing the Angels Astray they have established their place among the most exciting new acts of 2013. Their performance at Electronic Summer was one of the highlights of the festival, and with their signing to Juggernaut in the UK, we’ll be seeing a lot more of them next year.
You know what’s brave? Putting on a show in London and hiding the band members among dancers as a conceptual art project, so that no one can tell if they are even in the room. Like The Knife did. You know what else is brave? Including a 76 minute spoken word CD with your new album, featuring poet Helena Österlund intoning in Swedish over a Middle Earth soundtrack. Take a bow, Covenant – the Skånian hard-electronics band that is best known for its futurepop stylings. Breaking with conventions can be controversial and alienate fans who are set in their expectations; but, for those with an open mind, following a band on its journey can be an interesting and head-expanding experience.
Don’t worry – Covenant haven’t lost the plot. What they have done is expand the boundaries of their new album, Leaving Babylon, in new and unexpected directions. There are still intense sequencer patterns and thumping drums, but the album is book-ended by tracks at the experimental end of pop. Their name is Covenant, not Conventional, so it doesn’t hurt to indulge a little exploration – especially when the tracks at the core of Leaving Babylon are such high-quality, edgy material.
Take Prime Movers, which is a gothic aerobics instructor’s dream: dark, stabbing bass; a euphoric lead and a growling vocal. It brings the feeling of the album back into the normal fan’s comfort zone. There should be no complaints arising from tracks like Ignorance and Bliss, either, with sparkling pads and lush choirs draped like muslin over a pulsing bass and galloping rhythm track. Likewise, Auto Circulation is custom-designed to be dropped into a late-night mix – a heady concoction of filters and tension.
The stand-out song on the album is a more complex affair. For Our Time might be too dark for daytime radio, but don’t be surprised to hear it on a soundtrack in a cinema near you: it’s moody, elegant, and tailor-made for that spot when the hero realises he’s all alone in the world. This is Covenant’s sweet-spot, and they hit it so neatly that you can easily forget that you’ve still got a 76 minute spoken word CD to listen to.