Hannah Peel took the third position in CWNL’s Top 10 Songs of 2013, as we highlighted an excellent song from her Nailhouse EP. With the release of Fabricstate, a four-track EP, Peel is early off the mark to chart again this year.
It’s not just that the record is pressed in red vinyl, mirroring the colour of her hair; nor that it contains Chloe, the award-winning song already heard in a British television production – the thing that sets Fabricstate apart is that it is infused with distillates of folk music but is a thoroughly modern musical cocktail. Take the title track, which begins with a piano accompaniment, but quickly develops a martial rhythm underpinned by Test Dept-esque metal, before razor-sharp sawtooth waveforms come in. Peel’s voice has a delicate quality, which sits against the more dangerous sounds of the instrumental track, setting them off by highlighting just the slightest hint of menace. Folk music for urban living, let’s call it.
Another song, Desolation Row, builds up with an anthemic quality that could fill a stadium in a live outing, but it is restrained on record by the use of strings and brass that are intimate, rather than bombastic. It’s a hard balance to maintain, but Peel keeps the tension going while showing off her ability to add power to her vocals when necessary. It could be a radio hit or remixed for clubs, but it’s going to sound best sung-along to by a large audience.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.