Latest issue of electronic newsletter Earplug is out today. This week: previews of ballet techno CD 'Shut Up and Dance', the Dissonanze fest in Rome plus reviews of Gabriel Ananda's 'Bambusbeats' and Wighnomy Bros 'Remikks Potpourri II'.
Banks of keyboards, beards and sci-fi cover art - Simon Reynolds charts the history of seventies synth gods Tangerine Dream, Jean Michel Jarre and Vangelis.
Overlooked these days in favour of more fashionable genres like krautrock and Italo disco, the bearded keyboard gods of the seventies seem to have been written out of the history of electronic music. Yet most of us would have been more likely to have heard ‘Oxygene’ before we heard ‘Trans-Europe Express’ or ‘I Feel Love’. To this day, it's still a genre without a proper name. Is it a beard thing?
Simon Reynolds attempts to set the record straight in the Guardian this week, so I thought a few YouTube videos might be in order too. First is the Goliath of the movement, Jean Michel Jarre, who has actually got a new album out this week, but I’m guessing that it’s not going to live up to the majesty that was 'Oxygene':
Of course one problem with synth worship is its hideous expense, not to mention the challenge of performing live. In the article, the very reverend Klaus Schulze recalls how the settings on his synthesisers would constantly drift on stage. “Nobody could make the same sound two days in a row. At the same time, the Moog needed two hours just to warm up; you had to plug it in as soon as you lugged it into the hall.” Here’s Klaus in his late seventies sitting on a fluffy rug phase:
Schulze started out as the drummer for Tangerine Dream, whose early albums such as Phaedra’ and ‘Electronic Meditation’ get all the love from the critics, but whose later more commercial soundtrack work can be excellent too. Many of these big men went onto do soundtracks (most obviously Vangelis with ‘Blade Runner’ and ‘Chariots of Fire’) – maybe it was an expenses thing? – but my favourite remains Tangerine Dream’s sinister score to William Friedkin’s remake of 'Wages of Fear' as 'Sorceror' [1977], which is a great movie to boot: perhaps as epic, uncontrolled and beautifully overblown as the space gods themselves. Here’s the trailer with TG upfront on the soundtrack:
'Dr. Love' is the single from The Bumblebeez forthcoming 'Don't Sweat It' LP on Modular. If you're not a fan of fat dudes bouncing their tattooed up man-boobs around to the beat, chances are you won't enjoy this one. Release date is June 16.
Joel Martin, the non-Radio Slave half of The Quiet Village Project, picks twenty classic disco tracks over at Fact. “Identikit indie rock and minimal German techno,” says Joel “Are both devoid of any soul in my humble opinion.” Okay, fine but…Demis Roussos?!
Boy George narrates a BBC radio doco about Studio 54 in the seventies, the famously decadent New York home of disco, divas and dudes in tight shorts. All very fabulous, but Boy George doesn't like the Boy George that I know.
Adam Beyer, Misstress Barbara, Marco Carola and many more spin at Ibiza's biggest club this summer.
Wednesdays at the world’s biggest club, Privilege, sees the return of Misstress Barbara, Christian Smith, Marco Carola, Gabry Fasano, Marco Bailey and Riccardo Ferri and many more spin alongside resident Mauro Picotto.
Meganite season schedule
June 20 – Opening party w/ Mauro Picotto, John Acquaviva, Adam Beyer, Obi Baby June 27 - Mauro Picotto, John Acquaviva, Deetron July 4 - Mauro Picotto, Paco Osuna, Gabry Fasano July 11 - Mauro Picotto, John Acquaviva, Adam Beyer July 18 - Mauro Picotto, Misstress Barbara, Marco Carola July 25 - Mauro Picotto, Francesco Farfa, Davide Squillance Aug 1 - Mauro Picotto, Claudio Coccoluto, Gabry Fasano Aug 8 - Mauro Picotto, Adam Beyer, Boosta Aug 15 - Mauro Picotto, Misstress Barbara, Obi Baby, Riccardo Ferri (live) Aug 22 - Mauro Picotto, Marco Carola, Adam Beyer Aug 29 - Mauro Picotto, Christian Smith, Marco Bailey Sept 5 - Mauro Picotto, John Acquaviva, Gabry Fasano Sept 12 - Mauro Picotto, Adam Beyer, Gabry Fasano Sept 19 – Closing Party w/ Mauro Picotto, John Acquaviva, Obi Baby, Riccardo Ferri (live)
I saw him DJ this weekend and he was bumpin', so very psyched to hear that Mr. VonStroke has been chosen to follow up James Holden and M.A.N.D.Y. with his own 'At the Controls' mix. Due out June 25th.
This week's recommended listening is a live set from Ellen Allien and Apparat.
Ellen's take on techno might be too scatty and brash for some, and if you're of the anti-IDM persuasion you might not have welcomed Apparat into your heart just yet, but as last year's 'Orchestra of Bubbles' showed, in the studio the pair can come up with some cracking techno. If you've ever wondered whether tracks like 'Jet', 'Rotary' or 'Floating Points' from that album sound as good live, grab this. It's great. This summer you can catch the Bpitch Control pair playing together at a string of festivals include Reworks [Thessaloniki], Radar [Istanbul], Les Ardentes [Brussels] and Summer of Love [Pardubice]. Enjoy.
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