Starcluster - Starcluster EP

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  • A friend of mine recently e-mailed me with the subject heading "It's the most wonderful time of year!" In the note, he didn't write a word. Instead, he simply sent me a link to download the Cybernetic Broadcasting System Top 100 of 2007. Each year, the online radio show counts down the best 100 tracks (old and new) with an electro, Italo or new wave tinge. The catch? They don't allow tracks that have been used in previous polls to be voted into the list. Say what you will about any genre of music, but there comes a time when you've exhausted the classics. Which makes each year a little bit less interesting. Little glimmers of hope emerge, however, and in 2007 two singles from the fledgling Aube label were showcased on the program that caught my ear. Jupiter Black's 'Hold Me' and Roland Sebastian Faber's 'Hommage I' were among the few excellent new tracks that graced the countdown. Count on Starcluster's 'Smoke & Mirrors' making its way onto next year's list as well. On the B-side to Roland Faber and Kai Lüdeling's new-ish project, the duo enlisted Soft Cell's Marc Almond to take the vocal reins and he delivers. As ambiguous as ever, Almond spends the verses relating exactly what another person does for him. It's a long-ass list. (Caressing, needing, giving, indulging, fulfilling, thrilling, yadda, yadda, yadda.) Which is all followed up by a voice whispering in the background, "It's an illusion". And then a whole other list, which includes things like "bleeding" and "breaking". Yep. You guessed it. That love was just 'Smoke & Mirrors'. Almond handles this transformation expertly, biting as deliciously into the bad as the good over a cascading array of synths. 'Dachluke' and 'Winter of Ice' are the supporting players here, but there's no reason to skimp on playing them. The latter is a vocoded lament that wrings the pathos out the harshest season, the former carries the A-side in clichéd, but wonderful fashion. (If you were to build an instrumental electro track based on all past CBS Top 100 entries, you might come up with something like this.) In fact, it's possible that all three might make 2008's list. Sounds like the most wonderful time of year to me.
  • Tracklist
      A Dachluke B1 Smoke & Mirrors B2 Winter Of Ice
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