The Good Natured - Gothic Electro Pop Music

The Good Natured, recently signed to Regal / Parlophone Records, offer a catchy Gothic twist on Electro Pop music with their new EP entitled ‘Skeleton‘.

The Good Natured consists of Sarah McIntosh; the songwriter and front-woman; George McIntosh on drums and her brother Hamish McIntosh on bass.

In the songs featured on the Skeleton EP Sarah displays her compellingly mature command of the nuances of serious pop music, combined with the darker, and often more sensual, emotional and lyrical content of the Gothic.  Both ‘Skeleton‘ and ‘Wolves‘ are produced by Patrik Berger, known for his work with Robyn.

The title track ‘Skeleton’ has an energetic blend of raw passion, synth-pop and a murky, driving rhythm section. The track describes being stripped of emotional and physical coverings, leaving you with nothing to hide; metaphorically stripped down to two skeletons standing alone.

‘Wolves’ is a fast-paced, intimate dance track where we find Sarah in the deep dark wood, “dancing ’round fires, lost in desire” and ready to surrender to the howling of the wolves. The clarity of the interplay between the instruments is a stark contrast to the cheerfully morbid metaphor for escapism – feral and sensual.

The band have already been making a name for themselves with their previous EPs ; ‘Be My Animal‘, ‘Your Body Is A Machine‘ and their cover of Sufjan Stevens ‘For The Widows In Paradise; For The Fatherless In Ypsilanti‘.

The band have received strong support from Nick Grimshaw, Huw Stephens and Jo Whiley on Radio One amongst others.

The Good Natured release Skeleton EP on Regal / Parlophone Records on 20th June 2011.

Adam Williams and Heather Greene, the New York duo who make up the mellow, cyber-sounding Argon 40, created a handful of tunes simply by pressing the send button.

The 14-song record, celebrating Argon 40’s trademarked electro-synth style, boasts captivating melodies, cool grooves, and futuristic details all dancing alongside Heather Greene’s syrupy smooth vocals and airy keyboard work.

What started simply as a quirky experiment, the Argon 40 project soon developed into something significant. Williams would craft the electro lounge-friendly beats from his home studio in Los Angeles and send them to Greene, stationed in Edinburgh, Scotland, who would then write and record the catchy, infectious lyrics.

The combination of music and voice established a chemistry that was just too powerful to ignore. Upon returning stateside, Heather immediately contacted Adam, and the two finally began working together physically to create more of the magic they first generated over the web.  Over several months, the duo holed themselves in the studio using a hodgepodge of keyboards, drum machines, and other far out instruments to fashion the Argon 40 sound.

Within two months of wrapping, the group’s first single, When the Words Don’t Come released to critical acclaim. The single received BBC 6 Music support on Tom Robinson’s show and top UK music reviewer Toxic Pete lauded it as “…beautifully simplistic, yet thoughtfully complex.” The single is featured on their debut album Fair Lawn.

Argon 40 release the wonderful lo-fi track 44.66 Days in March 2011, here is the video to accompany the song:

Argon 40 – 44.66 Days

Prior to Argon 40’s inception, Adam Williams was one of the founding members of the platinum-selling rock band Powerman 5000, touring with the likes of Metallica and Kiss. The group’s commercial smash album “Tonight the Stars Revolt!” catapulted the band to mainstream success, due mainly to the huge popularity of their hit single “When Worlds Collide,” and the record went on to sell over one million copies.

Heather Greene, herself an accomplished musician and songwriter, already boasts two critically acclaimed albums – 2005’s “Five Dollar Dress,” recorded alongside guitar luminary Bill Frisell, and 2009’s “Sweet Otherwise,” a lauded success with audiences in Europe and the UK.

‘Shruburbia’ by Greg Bird & Flamingo Flame

Birmingham based label Speech Fewapy Records have this month released the ‘Shruburbia’ EP by Greg Bird & Flamingo Flame & is available for free download.

‘Shruburbia’ is pure synth- pop that takes you on a journey through one man’s record collection drawing on influences from Prince to the Cocteau Twins.

Heavy synth bass and catchy melodies are the order of the day throughout from the opening siren call of ‘Ambulance’ to the EP’s closer ‘Klutz’.

‘Cherry Choke’ just about pokes its head above the others as the EP’s stand out track.

‘Shruburbia’ Tracklisting

Wonderland
Autumnal Funk
I am the Garden
Klutz
Good in Leaves
Cherry Choke (lead track)
Ambulance

For more information visit the Greg Bird & Flamingo Flame MySpace page.

Katsen - It Hertz!

Katsen are the electronic synth pop duo of Chris Blackburn & Donna Grimaldi.

Their love of electronic pop music is analogue sounds, synthetic sounding drum machines.

The sound is distinctly 1980s synth pop while Donna’s look is more 1950s chic.

Donna and Chris became friends in 2001 while selling clothes at a craft market in Brighton. Donna’s brilliant mixtapes, with their bold collage covers, caught Chris’ attention and fired his imagination.

For for the first time, after playing two-fingered synth in various bands, he’d met someone with the tastes and talents to compliment his own.

Chris: “We’d get together to listen to records and, after exhausting Donna’s extensive and very cool collection, we’d get out my synths and toy keyboards and create our own sound long into the happy night.”

Interrupted only by Donna running away one summer to join the circus, and Chris teaching acting to ballet dancers, Katsen songs began to form, taking cues from 50s chic, 70s krautrock and the sharper edges of 80s pop.

Following on from cameo appearances in compilations such as Bot POP on Happy Robots records and Electronically Yours Vol.1 via Undo/ EMI, It Hertz! is the full-length offspring of Katsen’s eight-year partnership; the love of the square wave and all things Casio.

It Hertz is their 12 track debut album and includes the cover version I’m In Love With a German Film Star; a UK hit single for The Passion in 1981.

Pre-ordering the album

It Hertz! is available now to pre-order on CD in a gatefold digifile with immediate digital download from www.katsen.com

and the opening track on the album, Lets Build A City is available now as a free-download from Thee SPC website.

For more information and to currently hear cover versions German Film Star and the Cure cover version Play For Today visit the Katsen MySpace page.

Thirty years ago the UK music scene was alive and kickin’.  But the anger of post-punk Britain had turned to new explorative angles which were awkward boxed and termed as ‘new wave’.

The ripped up jeans and spiky hair of seventies punk was about to be replaced with the clean-cut and tidy mod and ska revival headed by The Specials and Madness.  Both of whom have reformed to play live this year.

With the 1980s came glamour, dressing up and synthesizers, the polar opposite to loud aggressive punk rock and a dress-down culture of 1970s.  A new pop sensation was in the making, and began playing sporadic, word-of-mouth live shows and a new scene began to grow around a small London nightclub called The Blitz.  Club regulars included Boy George, Steve Strange (the manager), and a band who were about to have their first Top 20 hit single with To Cut A Long Story Short.

From the New Romantics movement came Spandau Ballet, who like many other groups from the 1980s have recently reformed after officially breaking up in 1989.

Soon other pop groups were wearing make-up and flowery shirts.  Duran Duran jumped on the coat-tails of the New Romantic scene, while electro ‘Synth Pop’ music swamped the charts.  Bands like Soft Cell, Human League and Depeche Mode had hit after hit.

Depeche Mode went on to become one of the biggest bands in the world. Their last album, Playing the Angel topped the album charts in no less than 18 countries and the band’s subsequent tour saw them play to 2.5 million fans across the world.

The Depeche Mode 2009 Tour will be their first for six years.

Other artists from the 1980s that have recently resurrected their pop careers with new albums and announced live shows include Grace Jones and the Pet Shop Boys, who won the award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Music’ at the 2009 Brit Awards.

Grace Jones and the Pet Shop Boys are headlining this year’s Latitude Festival as well as playing live concerts in the UK this year.

Moonshot: No Sign Of Morning

Moonshot (Daniel Kent and Richard Wolfe) make dark, urban music with a strong influence from 80s electronic bands and early 90s trip-hop. Their new LP No Sign Of Morning is their latest in a long line of releases – they have produced five albums and two EPs since 2001.

Moonshot’s influences include Pet Shop Boys, Massive Attack, Pink Floyd and Depeche Mode, showing their interest in making pop rooted in electronic music. No Sign Of Morning uses dark keyboards, chilly electronic drums and electronic drums to create the kind of backings associated with the likes of Tears For Fears and Duran Duran.

At times No Sign Of Morning is dance-inspired, such as on the throbbing ‘Gifted’. This is possibly the most modern that Moonshot go. Otherwise this is the music that the 80s forgot.

The vocals are staunchly earnest and their lyrics aim to be poetically psychedelic – at one point a spooky voice utters “so many gifts / watch my soul as it lifts / and shifts / and splits /and slips / upon your lips” seemingly having exhausted that particular entry in the rhyming dictionary.

The best track is probably ‘Black B’ or ‘Midnight In Dover’, which hold strong tunes and good choruses, making the most of Moonshot’s pop sensibilities – surely their strongest selling point.

Sometimes No Sign Of Morning is personal, sometimes it is topical. The dark atmospheres and narratives paint pictures of urban life in the 21st century.

No Sign Of Morning comes out on April 6th. ‘Toxic Pete’ gave them five stars. See what you think on Moonshot’s MySpace page.

Fischerspooner : Entertainment

Fischerspooner release a brand new album simply titled Entertainment on 4th May on Lo Recordings.

The album was recorded over a two-year period with Jeff Saltzman who has received commercial success with The Killers.

The album entwines elements of synth pop with at times, more sophisticated electro tendencies to deliver a very polished, produced sound that falls between the eloquent pop music of The Killers and the commercial electro dance pop of the Pet Shop Boys. No more visible is this fusion than on tracks such as Supply & Demand and Infidels Of The World Unite.

In between recording the album, Casey Spooner has spent the last two years touring with a theatre group performing Shakespeare’s Hamlet; something quite bizarre but not surprising to anyone familar with the artist.  Fischerspooner has always sought to blur distinctions between art, music and performance. Last year saw a video installation for the track Get Confused at the It’s Not Only Rock And Roll Baby exhibition in Brussels along with work from Brian Eno, Laurie Anderson & Yoko Ono.

And who remembers Casey Spooner & Kylie Minogue performing the excellent Fischerspooner remix of Kylie’s hit single Come Into My World on Top Of The Pops in 2001?

Entertainment twists and turns between the swirling electronic psychedelic Amuse Bouche, guitar-driven pop of We Are Electric, the downtempo Danse En France and the rock pop of To The Moon.

Entertainment by Fischerspooner is a diverse electronic pop album that will wash away the credit crunch blues and rainy grey days.

Headtapes release Love is Suicide

Headtapes – Love is Suicide (Doga Music) released on 6th October

Headtapes release the debut single, Love is Suicide, on their own Doga Music label.  G aka Ginger is the man behind the voice and synthesized pop sound Coventry-based Headtapes.

Love is Suicide is a two and a half minute pop song reminiscent of the lighter side of New Order circa 1990’s with a synthesized fuzz guitar.

Love is Suicide will be released as a limited edition 7″ orange vinyl (just like the good old days) and a digital download with the option of a free remix with every download.

Listen to Love Is Suicide by visiting the Headtapes MySpace page.

Violator, is the most extraordinary song you will listen to in quite some time.

White Williams has somehow managed to combine a contemporary indie vibe with 80’s synth pop, and a Gameboy, and made a very intriguing, easy to listen to, catchy pop single.

The tracks’ repetitive lyrics will have you singing along within seconds, but be careful not to drown out White Williams’ amazing voice.

Retro drum machine, up-tempo beats and twangs of indie guitars go together to make a beautiful melody.

However, be warned. The ending of this track is what only can be described as ‘out of this world’, an infusion of almost every sound known to man. Arcade guns can definately be heard, as well as screaming women, and screaming synths.

White Williams is wonderfully imaginative and ‘out there’!

Listen to White Williams

Watch the promo music video for White Williams – Violator, taken from the album Smoke by White Williams (Director – Jon Leone)