Jun 14 2013

[Audio] Garth Knight’s new EP

One of the top names in the new SynthWave scene is Glaswegian producer Garth Knight, has just released his new EP. Titled, Mandroid, the new record follows on from his slick Goliath album released earlier this year and sees Knight take his rough, cinematic, electronics to ever darker places.

The pulsating, synthesizer soundtrack to some long-forgotten Sci-Fi Horror flick, Mandroid oozes electronic menace as it ploughs though it’s five tracks. Kicking off with Construction, you can already feel an old school EBM influence infecting Garth Knight’s work as it lays down it’s rapid fire arpeggios and machine beats amidst a sea of haunting and abrasive tones. Escape works a little mid-80s Depeche Mode flavour into the EP with heavy synth bass and ringing chimes that builds up to a droning and evocative finale. The EP’s high energy centrepiece, On The Run once again shows of the EBM styling of the EP, right down to the Industrial purcussion, this is pure Front 242 territory, albeit updated for the SynthWave scene with lush cinematic chords. After the climactic onslaught of On The Run, the rest of the EP delivers a little respite with Sanctuary, a gentle and evocative synth piece where layers of melody wrap themselves around each other, and the EP’s outro, Shut Down a rousing, but ultimately final, cascade of deep synths. All in all, Mandroid is another settling body of work from Garth Knight and at a pay-what-you-like price, can;t really be beat.

♫ Garth Knight – On the Run

♫ Garth Knight – Construction

♫ Garth Knight – Escape

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Jun 5 2013

[Video] Goin’ Old School: Madonna, Front 242 & Taylor Dayne

Goin’ Old School isn’t a trip down music memory lane, it’s a mugging in the dark alleyway of nostalgia:

Some pure Pop with an EBM filling today, starting with Madonna’s Into The Groove from 1985.

And unexpectedly cropping up is one of EBM pioneers Front 242 finest moments, 1986’s Quite Unusual.

Back to the Pop to finish up, from 1987 it’s Taylor Dayne big moment, Tell It To My Heart.

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Jun 3 2013

[Audio] Freak You reMixes Dead Astronauts

Kick off your week with the latest from On The Fruit Records head honcho Freak You. This month Franck turns his attention to Seattle based Modern SynthPop outfit Dead Astronauts’ track Weathered Wolves, to be released soon on Nueva Forma. The track comes from Dead Astronauts’ forthcoming album, Constellations, which is due for a summer release.

Having not heard the original of Weathered Wolves we can’t really comment on the differences, but we’re getting a classic SynthPop with Goth overtones from the track. The vocals and lyrical content have a very mid-90s German SynthiePop vibe to them, a vibe wich Freak You plays to, bringing in big, undulating, euphoric, EBM-lite synths and growling bass tones. Of course, a Freak You reMix is going to a a lot funkier than dated 90s FuturePop, and Franck deliver with a stunning, dramatic rhythm section, loaded with flourishes and evolutions. Also, there’s a little drum fill in the first bar of every bridge that make us really happy.

♫ Dead Astronauts – Weathered Wolves (Freak You reMix)

Dead Astronauts’ Constellations is released this summer.

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May 3 2013

[MP3] The Other Tribe reMixed by Ryan Riot

Making us proud since last summer is Bristol’s The Other Tribe, who have had their recent free single We Should Be Dancing reMixed by one of Switzerland’s top Nu-Disco producers, Ryan Riot. Here he takes a lot tougher approach than we would expect from him with an almost EBM bassline and machine beats.

Really pumping up the originals bassline and washing it in militaristic synths, Ryan Riot brings a new aggressive groove to the track. It’s a track that compels you to the dancefloor, and you don;t want to think about the consequences if you don’t, which is fitting for the song’s content. Riot goes big with everything on this track, big bass, big beats and big sweeping synths. Rocking the originals purcussion to it’s fullest, this is one reMix for peak time when the crowd won’t know what hit them.

♫ The Other Tribe – We Should Be Dancing (Ryan Riot reMix)

The Other Tribe’s We Should Be Dancing is out now.

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Feb 19 2013

[Audio] Voltron & A.N.D.Y.

Taking their cues from the current wave of House and Electronic influenced R&B (or is that R&B influenced House and Electronic?) currently driving London crazy, and also from giant combining mecha lions, comes Belgian duo Voltron. This week they release their new single, Let Go, via Smile Recordings.

Sounding a bit like what would happen if AlunaGeorge spent a little too long in a Belgian EBM clubs, Let Go has got an underlying New Beat vibe but it’s mostly sumptuous, complex, rolling electronic Soul. Full of shifting rhythms, cut-up vocals and haunting electronic tones, oh, and a sudden distorted 909 kick. This is all wrapped up in a moody Pop sheen and in catchy vocal. Fellow Belgian A.N.D.Y. plays up the Housier elements for his sole reMix. Twisting the vocals into deep, involving Chicago warehouse jam.

♫ Voltron – Let Go (Extended)

♫ Voltron – Let Go (A.N.D.Y. reMix)

Voltron’s Let Go is out now.

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Feb 11 2013

[Audio] Douglas J. McCarthy’s ‘Kill Your Friends’

It was released last November on CD and Vinyl, so it’s not exactly a new release, but it’s about to see a digital unleashing and it’s was on our playlist toward the end of 2012, so let’s have a little revisit with Kill Your Friends, the début solo album from one of our favourite artists of all time, Douglas J. McCarthy. Doug is, of course, one half of the legendary Nitzer Ebb, of whom we have been fans since we were crazy teens, having first seen them live in 1991. It’s not unconceivable to say that in some mirror universe where we didn’t discover Nitzer Ebb through Bong, the official Depeche Mode fanzine, that electronic rumors, the website, the record label, might not exist. They were, particularly the Showtime and Ebbhead albums, a massive influence.

That said, Douglas’ Kill Your Friends is actually a more satisfying record than Nitzer Ebb’s 2012 comeback album, Industrial Complex. Where Industrial Complex seems to be pandering to the expectations of black clad, stomping fans (something that Nitzer Ebb had never done, just look at Big Hit), Kill Your Friends feels like a much more personal and authentic affair. From the album’s opener, Death Is King, the album deliver what I would have like to hear from Nitzer Ebb, not trying to be Nitzer-Ebb-by-numbers, but producing something with real passion, and musically, making EBM for grown ups. Take The Last Time, one of the albums standouts. Fresh beats and shimmering stabs are paired with the expected synth growl allow McCarthy’s voice, probably one of the most recognisable in electronic music, to shine. And it’s his voice, the Essex-Americana drawl that made Nitzer Ebb so special, that ties the record together. Waxing lyrical on his favourite topics, control, religion, dysfunctional relationships, freedom, Douglas appears as a introspective co-pilot on a road trip through the seedy backstreets of electronic music. Backstreets that lead you through myriad influenced, from the Dubbed-out Evil Love to the Deep Acid House of Taken. Of course, the jackhammer EBM still rears it’s head in the form of All Kinds Of Wrong and Move On, both classic EBB, but on the whole Kill Your Friends is an album for everyone who grew up with, but grew out of, EBM. If you love Nitzer Ebb, but really can’t be bothered with distorted kick drums, arpeggios and shouting anymore then this is definitely the album for you.

♫ Douglas J. McCarthy – The Last Time

♫ Douglas J. McCarthy – Nothing After This

♫ Douglas J. McCarthy – Death Is King

♫ Douglas J. McCarthy – Taken

Douglas J. McCarthy’s Kill Your Friends is out now on CD and Vinyl and released digitally 18th February.

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Jan 21 2013

[Video] Mesh’s new single

Here’s the video for the new single from Bristolian SynthPoppers Mesh. Born To Lie is the first single taken from the soon to be released new album Automation Baby.

The clip features a load of live footage set to a track which, although you can hear hints on good-old Fragile Mesh in there (especially in the chorus), continues down the bands rockier path.

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Jan 18 2013

[Audio] Marsheaux’s ‘Alone’

Greek ElectroPop queens Marsheaux have had one of the tracks from their forthcoming new album, Inhale, premièred on their label, Undo Records, soundcloud. Other than some demos of tracks which won;t be making the album, this is the first we’ve heard of the new material.

Alone, starts off worryingly nu-EBM, and for a brief second our hearts sank, but the track soon descends into a majestic Ladytron-esque verse followed by a lusciously epic-Pop chorus. Despite it’s reliance on a lacklustre arpeggio, Alone is a wonderfully charismatic track that sticks with you all day. Sweeping Pop songs suit Marsheaux well. It’s a fantastic song, only slightly marred by under-produced EBM beats, and bodes well for the new album. Also, we’d love to hear this reMixed.

♫ Marsheaux – Alone

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Jan 8 2013

[Audio] Factory Floor’s ‘Fall Back’

It’s been about a year since UK Indie-Electro/Post-Punk/Post-Industrial outfit Factory Floor’s last single. The first hit of their début album, slated for release in May, is finally here. Getting a little Minimal Synth groove on, Fall Back is released on DFA later this month.

Clocking in it just under nine minutes, Fall Back is a hypnotic Elektro Industrial excursion. Combining the sparse electronic assault of early Industrial, the listless vocals of Minimal Synth and the pounding of EBM, all wrapped up in Factory Floors’ effortless cool, Fall Back delivers an aural experience that could have easily come out of Sheffield in 1980. It’s an interesting hint of what to expect when Factory Floor’s album drops, and a track you can completely loose yourself in.

♫ Factory Floor – Fall Back

Factory Floor’s Fall Back is released 15th January.

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Sep 24 2012

80s Stallone’s ‘Out Of The Blue’

London SynthWave master 80s Stallone’s new track, Out Of The Blue, might just be his most dancefloor friendly to date. We’d even go so far as to say there’s a load of Italo-Disco up in there. 80’s Stallone producing big dancefloor tracks is definitely something to get excited about, Check it out!

Pounding machine drums and a rapid fire Italo bassline rule this track, bringing the big 80s sounds straight to the middle of the dancefloor and making it bounce in unison. There are time in this track, that it is so relentless in it’s groove that it boarders on EBM, but it tempered with some sweet lead lines and distant vocoding. We can’t stop listening to this track, it takes us back to the New Beat and EBM dancefloors of our childhoods with a really nice 80s Italo sheen.