LATEST NEWS
Machinists Reunited: FLA and Die Krupps on Tour
Bill Leeb of Front Line Assembly (Photo: Simon Helm) Front Line Assembly and Die Krupps are back together for The Machinists Reunited Tour 2022. The two electro-industrial acts previously toured in 2018, shaking European venues with their intense performances. Both bands have released two albums since their last tour. FLA have released Wake Up the...
Front 242 Announce Second London Show
Front 242, the Belgian EBM pioneers, have announced a second show in London, extending the UK leg of their 40th Anniversary Tour. They will perform at the 02 Academy on 17 July 2022, having sold out their first show on the 16th. Their press release tells the tale: Front 242 began in 1981 when Daniel...
Electronic Summer Returns for 2022
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,…
Solo Pop Missile Strikes 80s Pose
Billy Bragg’s “Help Save the Youth of America” was written under the threat of nuclear Armageddon, at a time when Ronald Reagan was threatening the security of countries all over the planet. The lunatic actor famously used a sound check to threaten, “We begin bombing in five minutes.” Bragg’s song appealed to the peoples of…
On the Tracks with Nille Nyc
The Danish singer, Nille Nyc, has revealed her new single and video. “Looking Out (The Train Song)” finds the artist chasing after a train filled with young women, in a nostalgic impression lifted from Nyc’s youth. As ever, Nyc’s vocals and arrangement are woven with skill and a developed pop sensibility.
Orbit Releases New Single with Polly Scattergood
William Orbit has released a new single with Polly Scattergood. “Colours Colliding” is the first track to be revealed from his forthcoming album, The Painter. Orbit has been showing his paintings, which use day-glo colours and psychedelic images, for several years. His palette is bright and warm – rather like the sonic shape of this…
Cosey Up with Delia and Margery
Cosey Fanni Tutti has announced her second book for Faber, the publishers. RE-SISTERS: The Lives and Recordings of Delia Derbyshire, Margery Kempe and Cosey Fanni Tutti is released on 18 August 2022. The press blurb tells us: In 2018, boundary-breaking visual and sonic artist Cosey Fanni Tutti received a commission to write the soundtrack to...
In Sleep, In Dreams: Mute Reissues Or So It Seems
If you rearrange the letters of the words, Mute and Dome, one result is Duet Emmo. If you put Daniel Miller, Graham Lewis and Bruce Gilbert in a studio, the result is also Duet Emmo. If you try to imagine the most hauntingly beautiful electronic song ever made, the only possible result is "Or So...
REVIEWS
Dubstar: Take Two
Dubstar never wore the labels of the 90s well. They weren’t Britpop, nor really dreampop. They weren’t all synthpop, and no one would have called them triphop. Their infectious, melodic brand of pop combined elements of these without settling into one style. Singer Sarah Blackwood’s sophisticated Northern presence set the band off from the mod-haired...
Mark Stewart’s Collisions Against Conformity
The howl of human misery is Mark Stewart's fellow traveller. It is in his voice. It is in his words. Even when he lets love lead the way (e.g., the magnificent "Stranger Than Love"), the rasp and rattle of anxiety and despair shape his sound. Then there is the anger. Stewart's eyes see the deeds...
Totally Wired: Sunroof’s Modular Improv
Before you break the plastic seal around Electronic Improvisations Vol. 1, you are already back in the 1970s. The golden age of modular music saw sleeves that imparted important information about the sound and artist. They might have featured signposts in the form of waveforms or patches. The records were as often found in libraries...
Notes from the Underground: Karin My’s Silence Amygdala
Karin My was discovered by the promoters of Gothenburg's legendary Electronic <Seasons> events, busking in the underpass leading from the city's main shopping centre to the Central Station. What first caught their ears were My's clever renditions of songs by Depeche Mode, Apoptygma Berzerk, VNV Nation and other alternative artists. The autodidactic musician was clearly...
From the Ashes: Page Tend the Flame of Synth Britannia
The first cold, robotic phase of electronic music did not last long. Initiated by Ultravox! and distilled by Gary Numan, the use of synthesisers as cybernetic extensions of alienated musicians lasted for only a few short years before the instruments were defrosted and humanised. John Foxx retreated to The Garden, in search of a more...
Lederman Stein: Optional Lessons for the Future
Erik Stein The singer for Cult With No Name, Erik Stein, has the kind of smooth vocals and cowboy-movie good looks that get the girls in a tizzy. Textbooks for Tomorrow pairs Stein with Jean-Marc Lederman, the Belgian composer who has played live with Fad Gadget and The The, had hits with The Weathermen, and...
FEATURES
Shine On: Martyn Ware
Dr Martyn Ware recently joined a growing list of luminaries from the 1980s alternative music scene in acquiring an honorary doctorate. The University of Sheffield awarded the degree to Ware in recognition of his contribution to music; particularly in Sheffield, his hometown. It's a long way from the NME's review of his first proper album,...
Shine On: Dave Ball
As the half of Soft Cell charged with operating the machines, Dave Ball has played a crucial role in the popularisation of electronic pop music. With Ball leering on the keyboards and Marc Almond prowling with his microphone, Soft Cell was a futuristic panto made with equal measures of soul and sleaze. They looked like...
The Top 21 of 2021
For a while, it looked like things would open up in 2021. Heaven 17 finally had a chance to stage their Human League shows. Bands like Duran Duran were able to get back in front of live crowds. Bjork finally revealed her symphonic shows. Even Dave Gahan left his Battery Park apartment for a run...
Plague Songs: The Top 20 of 2020
2020 - the Year of Cancellations Who ordered the year of plague and misery? Just as things were getting interesting, musically, many parts of the world were forced to shut down in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic. Shows were postponed, one after the other, and then cancelled or pushed into 2021. Simple Minds came...
INTERVIEWS
Twenty Years of Alfa Matrix
It has been twenty years since the label, Alfa Matrix, started to issue material from its base in Belgium. From the trip-hop of Hungry Lucy through to the solo projects of EBM’s godfathers, Front 242, the label has covered a lot of ground. Artists on their roster include Nitzer Ebb, Recoil, Psy’Aviah, Leaether Strip, and…
Brian Griffin: Black Country Dada
Self Portrait (Photo: Brian Griffin) Brian Griffin's camera has captured some of the most iconic images of the past century. His image of a Soviet-style peasant in a wheat field for Depeche Mode's second LP, A Broken Frame, was selected by Life for the cover of their collection, The World's Greatest Photographs. He was proclaimed...
Claus Larsen: Going Hell for Leæther
Interview with the Danish musician better known as Leæther Strip.
Back to the Future with Page
It is the 40th anniversary of Page this year. From their beginnings as a Swedish version of Silicon Teens brought to life, to a mature poptronica duo keeping the spirit of futurist electronics alive, they have a scrapbook filled with enduring songs of love and lust. With Under mitt skinn [EN: Under My Skin], the...
S.P.O.C.K Beam in from the Neutral Zone
Sweden's poptronica legends, S.P.O.C.K, will make a rare London appearance on Saturday, 1 February 2020. They have been orbit above Scandinavia and Germany for many years, but they will appear right at the moment of Brexit to show that the planets are still united, even if Europe is not. Actually, it is a party at...
December Love Song: Facket Strejkar
One of the great things about Chris & Cosey is that the project was partly artistic and partly romantic. The love affair between the two musicians is what took them out of Throbbing Gristle and into each other's arms. The same combination of oscillators and hormones is evident in the work of Facket Strejkar. The...
