LATEST NEWS
Video Premiere: Primitive Heart’s “Colours”
We are pleased to present the new video from Primitive Heart, the synth-pop project from multi-genre producer and visual artist, Dani Mari. The title song from her second album, Colours, is a charming, dreamy track set over a motorik beat. It is also an example of the stripped-down electronic sound that Primitive Heart excels at;...
Wire Turn Tables on Bootleg
Ripping off Wire is how a whole generation of indie bands came to be. From their first three albums for Harvest/EMI to their later psychedelic material, the masters of pith have left a rich line of musical templates in their trail. Wire's riffs and rhythms come with more hooks than a tackle box, and their...
Don’t Fear the Reeder
The Cold War is back, and that puts Mark Reeder squarely in his comfort zone. Having spent his adulthood at Ground Zero in Berlin, waiting for SS20s and Pershings to stop the party, the electronic artist has moved from pulling cultural pranks on the East German authorities to writing pop with Lithuania's Alanas Chosnau. The...
Delerium Revisited and Remastered
Originally a side project for the members of Front Line Assembly, who had more than the hard electronics of Total Terror up their sleeves, Delerium swiftly developed a life of its own. Things really took off with the Y2K hit, "Silence," which featured fellow-Canadian, Sarah McLachlan, on vocal duty. It went to number one in...
Here to Go: Gasleben & Electric Friends
SIlicon Teens once asked, "Why walk on the moon / if you could fly to the Sun?" Twice a Man's polymath, Karl Gasleben, is half way there. A Vessel Out of Here, the second solo album from Gasleben &Electric Friends, is an ark constructed with a frame of taught, tense rhythms. Around them, a scaffolding...
Dubstar’s Investment in Token Pays Off
Dubstar are back with a new album, Two. It comes on the heels of One, which saw Sarah Blackwood and Chris Wilkie reunited to hammer out dreampop hits with the classic Dubstar vibe. The first single from Two is "Token," a banger that takes over from the Pet Shop Boys just before the point where...
I Start Counting Open Archives
I Start Counting should have been the next Depeche Mode. Recording for the same label (Mute), working with the same producer (Daniel Miller), and writing songs filled with melody and pathos (see: "Letters to a Friend"), they ought to have nestled easily into the slipstream of the Basildon boys. Instead, their brand of detuned synths...
Lets Get Digital: Page Singles Hit Platforms
Sweden's Page are back on release, with a selection of their early singles finally going onto the major streaming platforms. The choice cuts include "Som en vind" [EN: "Like a Wind"] from 1989 and "Som skjuten ur en kanon” [EN: "Like the Shot from a Cannon"] from 1986. Sandwiched between them is the 1987 split...
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
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...
The 50 Albums Strage Should Have Included
Fredrik Strage, the Swedish culture journalist, has published his list of the 500 best albums of all time. Appearing in Dagens nyheter under the title, "From The Congos to Alphaville - Here Are Fredrik Strage's Best Albums," the list includes plenty of classics, but we couldn't help noticing that there were some big gaps. Everyone...
Still Life: Estelle Moughton
Born and educated in Australia, but living on the other side of the planet, Estelle Moughton is a self-taught painter. She has worked as a model for fashion editorial, music videos and fine art projects, but she is most often found with brush in hand. From her base in Stockholm, Moughton creates abstract works that...
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...
