Daniel Miller &#8211; SIDE-LINE

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

Sunroof (Daniel Miller & Gareth Jones) launch remixes of ‘Ensnare’ – Out now

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 11:01:35 +0000

(Photo by Marta Ruly) Sunroof (Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones) have announced details of a new album, “Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 3”, set for release on vinyl, CD and digitally via the Parallel Series of Mute on 29 November 2024.

“Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 3” holds nine improvised tracks, recorded using the duo’s Eurorack modular systems, and builds upon the self-imposed parameters laid out on their 2021 debut. With nothing pre-planned or rehearsed, each of the nine tracks were recorded using four channels (two each) with no overdubs.

Note that “Splendid” was recorded using the original 4-track TEAC that Miller picked up second hand in the late 70s and used to record The Normal’s “Warm Leatherette” 7”.

Out now are two remixes of the track “Ensnare” by Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones. You can check out the original and the two remixes below.

This is the original version of “Ensnare”.

This is the Daniel Miller remix of “Ensnare”.

And here is the ElectroGenetic remix by Gareth Jones of “Ensnare”.

Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones have been collaborating for four decades. Their collaboration began in 1982 when Miller asked Jones to work with him on what became Depeche Mode’s “Construction Time Again”. After Depeche Mode had gone home for the day, the two would stay on to work on their own sessions, a practise that continues to this day. By the mid-nineties Sunroof had become a remix project, reworking the likes of Can, MGMT, To Rococo Rot, Kreidler and Goldfrapp, amongst others, and their first recordings appeared on a compilation paying tribute to Neu!

Sunroof album discography

Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 1 (2021)
Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 2 (2023)
Electronic Music Improvisations Live in London and Frankfurt (2023)
Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 3 (2024)

hackedepicciotto (Alexander Hacke & Danielle de Picciotto) announce details now of a best of live album

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 07:59:01 +0000

(Photo by Mara von Kummer) hackedepicciotto (Alexander Hacke & Danielle de Picciotto) have shared details of a new album, “The Best of hackedepicciotto (Live in Napoli)”, that collates over 20 years of collaboration over two live performances recorded at the Auditorium Novecento, one of the oldest recording studios in Europe.

The album will be released on double vinyl, limited to 500 copies with exclusive signed print, and digitally on 1 November 2024, via Mute.

The Best of hackedepicciotto (Live in Napoli) by hackedepicciotto

For over 20 years Alexander Hacke (Einstürzende Neubauten) and artist, musician and filmmaker Danielle de Picciotto (co-founder of Love Parade) have been working together. The album includes reinterpretations of tracks from all of their studio albums: “Keepsakes” (2023), “The Silver Threshold” (2021), “Perseverantia” (2016), “Menetekel” (2017), and “The Current” (2020).

This new collection is a mixture of industrial beats, electronic sounds with classical harmonies and melodies, with some throat singing, Hurdy-gurdy and spoken word. Daniel Miller of Mute goes on to say that “their music is a genre of its own, something new and very intriguing.”

Listen to “The Silver Threshold (Live in Napoli)”, the title track from their 2021 album.

hackedepicciotto Live Dates

1 Nov – Parma (IT), Borgo Santa Brigida
2 Nov – Pordenone (IT), Astro Club
3 Nov – Milan (IT), Arci Bellezza
5 Nov – Turin (IT), Blah Blah
7 Nov – Pescara (IT), Scumm
8 Nov – Campobasso (IT), Circolo Beatnik
12 Nov – Lyon (FR), Sonic Lyon
29 Nov – Malmö (SW), Inkonst
30 Nov – Odense (DK), Klub Golem
6 Dec – Athens (GR), Temple
7 Dec – Thessaloniki (GR), Eightball
12 Dec – Bratislava (SK), Pink Whale
13 Dec – Augsburg (DE), Provino Club
15 Dec – Bielefeld (DE), Movie Bielefeld
18 Dec – Berlin (DE), Berghain Kantine – Album Release Party

Will Gregory (Goldfrapp) presents new track of deluxe edition Will Gregory Moog Ensemble album ‘Heat Ray: The Archimedes Project’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 16:52:37 +0000

(Photo by Paul Heartfield) Goldfrapp co-creator Will Gregory has shared another track, “Parabolic Sleuth”, from the upcoming deluxe edition of the Will Gregory Moog Ensemble album “Heat Ray: The Archimedes Project” inspired by Archimedes’ work. “Heat Ray: The Archimedes Project” has been completely performed on analogue synths, with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

“Heat Ray: The Archimedes Project” is set for release on Mute on 27 September. The deluxe edition features insights from the recreational mathematician, comedian and author Matt Parker, best known for his YouTube series, “Standup Maths”. The nine pieces written and presented by Parker each introduce a track from the album.

The album has been augmented with two bonus tracks, “Heavy Logic” and the track we present today, “Parabolic Sleuth“.

A series of live dates will coincide with the release – starting with Hidden Notes festival in Stroud before three performances with the Britten Sinfonia at the Barbican, London Basingstoke and in Saffron Walden and a further date in Southampton for the ensemble.

The Will Gregory Moog Ensemble members include Portishead’s Adrian Utley, a longtime collaborator of Will’s, who co-produced and plays on the album. Mute’s Daniel Miller is its “kind of executive producer”, and he even played on one of the tracks. “Given he’s been into synths right from his early days, and is a genius with them, that was a good moment”, alongside John Baggott, Graham Fitkin, Simon Haram, Vyvyan Hope-Scott, Ross Hughes, Hazel Mills, Daniel Moore, Hinako Omori, Eddie Parker, Harriet Riley and Ruth Wall. Their instruments include Minimoog, Moog Voyager, Korg 700s, Prophet 6 and Roland JX3P.

Will Gregory Moog Ensemble dates

21-22 Sep – Hidden Notes Festival, Stroud
8 Oct – Barbican, London – with the Britten Sinfonia
9 Oct – Basingstoke, The Anvil – with the Britten Sinfonia
10 Oct – Southampton, Turner Sims
11 Oct – Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden – with the Britten Sinfonia

More information on Mortality Tables releases.

Interview with Mat Smith (The Engineer) on pop music articles and sleevenotes

János Janurik — Sat, 20 Jul 2024 17:51:40 +0000

(Interview by Janos Janurik) Ever since I got into online music journalism, I’ve always been interested in the background characters around my favourite musicians’ releases that add something important to the product we, the fans end up with.

With this in mind, over the years I have interviewed personalities such as Anton Corbijn (photographer of Depeche Mode and many other music greats), Gareth Jones and Mark Saunders (producers and mixmasters of Depeche Mode and Erasure amongst others).

About eight years ago I had the honour of helping to promote Vince Clarke’s then newly founded mini-record label (VeryRecords) and his releases. In addition to the artists whose albums have been released there in recent years, I also got in contact with Mat Smith, who, like me, is a freelancer – readers of Electronic Sound and Clash know him well – and works as a publicist for VeryRecords as well as being commissioned by Erasure and Mute for a number of press pieces. He also wrote the sleevenotes in the booklet of the new “Cowboy” Deluxe-Edition.

In addition to his journalistic work, he also has his own project “Mortality Tables”, which has just released a new mini-album on cassette and as a digital download. Last November, at the premiere of Vince Clarke’s solo album in London, I had the pleasure of meeting Mat in person and we had a lively chat about our shared passion for music. Knowing how important this project is to him, I approached him and asked him a few questions about it.

But then life, or rather death, intervened. I didn’t mean this as a cheap shot, but it was indeed a sad event that forced me to make changes to the interview I had with my friend and colleague almost three weeks ago. Now that the aforementioned label is going on holiday, and before I do the same, I would like to bring this exciting musical venture (“The Engineer”) to your attention – and this interview with the man behind it.

SL: Tell us briefly about how you became interested in music. Have you had any musical training, have you learnt to play any instruments? Do you remember the first record you bought?

I grew up in a house where music seemed to always be playing, either on the radio or on my parent’s stereo. My mother listened to a lot of ABBA. Nothing about that was exceptional, particularly. When I used to go to friends’ houses, they always seemed to have the TV switched on, which felt strange to me. My family chose music, and I’ve surrounded myself with it ever since.

I tried to play the recorder, which was the instrument that most of us learned as kids. My parents gave me a blue one for Christmas one year. I couldn’t play a single note. I briefly learned the basics of notation at school but very quickly forgot all of it. In early high school music classes I was more interested in recording real-life sounds into the Casio keyboard and using those to make compositions. Not long after that, I started making sample-based electronic music on my Amiga 500.

The first album I owned was Nik Kershaw’s ‘Human Racing’. I was given for my birthday the year it was released, along with a Sanyo portable cassette player. I played that album constantly. I wore out the cassette player after two weeks but I still have the ‘Human Racing’ tape and it still sounds incredible to me.

SL: When did you discover electronic music? And who was the first electronic artist who introduced you to the world of electronic music?

My father is responsible for switching me on to electronic music. There were three pivotal events, and they all relate to times I was with my father.

The first was one evening when my mother was at her restaurant job, and my father was looking after me. I was playing with Lego in the lounge and Gary Numan was performing ‘Cars’ on TV. That performance completely captivated me.

The next was driving around in my father’s car while he did his second job as a debt collector. A friend at work had recorded two tracks from OMD’s ‘Architecture & Morality’ album onto a cassette for him. The songs were ‘Joan Of Arc’ and ‘Maid Of Orleans’, and we’d listen to them over and over.

The third was Soft Cell’s ‘Non-Stop Erotic Videotape’, which he brought home from work one day. That was pretty mind-blowing for a five-year old, and I can only imagine he didn’t realise what it was. It was definitely not suitable for a kid of my age, but, looking back, I don’t remember the imagery – I only recall the music.

So I owe my father a huge debt for how he shaped my music tastes at a very early age. He was also the one who brought home a cassette copy of ‘The Innocents’ by Erasure and gave it to me. He had no idea quite what he started that day.

SL: When did you start writing journalistic texts for Mute Records and its artists? What was your first article for Mute and about which artist, which release?

I began a blog called Documentary Evidence in 2003, which was focused on my personal Mute Records collection. I’d just write about the releases from a mostly non-musical perspective, explaining how they made me feel. I still write reviews like that today for Electronic Sound. I also got really interested in telling the stories of specific releases or artists, and that led me to interview people who released music through Mute, or were somehow connected to the label. I have a natural curiosity and inquisitiveness, and that seems to mean people like talking to me and opening up.

From there I started writing for Clash, and then Electronic Sound and some other places. In 2017 I got asked to chair a panel discussion with Anton Corbijn, Daniel Miller, Paul A. Taylor and Steve Claydon (Add N To (X)) at Rough Trade East in London, about the visual identity of Mute. The first written Mute commission I got was to write a press biography for Chris Carter’s ‘Chemistry Lessons Vol. 1’. I couldn’t believe they asked me to do that, and I couldn’t believe I was being paid to write for the label I loved so much. The team at Mute liked what I did and I’ve been given a few more things to do since then, as well as with the team at BMG who look after the Erasure reissue programme, and Erasure themselves.

SL: Did Vince Clarke’s VeryRecords label and the associated promotion give you any impetus for your own project, which you called “Mortality Tables”?

Indirectly, yes, but perhaps not in the way you might expect.

My task with VeryRecords was to assemble the press releases. It was the first time I’d worked behind the scenes of a release, where I’d often get involved before the album was even mastered, or before the artwork had even been considered. So I’d be talking to the artists – Reed & Caroline, Alka and Brook – at a very early stage, generally when Vince felt that the album was finished enough for me to listen and for me to start engaging the artists.

It took a while for me to realise this, but the process of working with the artists to write a press release became a collaboration – between all of us, and between my words and their music. I wasn’t just a writer but part of the collective effort to put this music out into the world. I did the same with Nick Hook’s Calm + Collect label, working on releases by Gareth Jones, Spiritual Friendship and others.

In 2019, when I began forming Mortality Tables, I envisaged it as a creative community of collaborators. You can definitely draw a line between that and the ideas that began to form as I worked with VeryRecords and its artists. I also took a lot of inspiration from Vince, who didn’t feel that he needed to only focus on the music that people would expect him to release. That sense of freedom, which Daniel Miller also brought to Mute, directly fed into what Mortality Tables has become. I wanted something where I could work with people making sound art as well as people making images. It had to have artistic breadth.

I wanted Mortality Tables to be like a gallery, with a portfolio of artists in vastly different disciplines. That’s why Neil Coe deigned the first sleeve image to look like the description of an artwork on the wall of a gallery.

SL: The name of the project refers to the work of actuaries who measure the statistical probability of life insurance payouts. You do something like this in your everyday working life, don’t you?

That’s right. I work with insurance companies all around the world, and have done for over twenty years. I find lots of parallels between the worlds of insurance and electronic music, and the kinds of people I engage with in both of my jobs.

The story goes that I was meeting a friend in a café in Bloomsbury in London one morning. He runs a record label, which is another big inspiration for Mortality Tables. He wishes to remain anonymous, but he is actively involved, in the sense that he must approve anything we decide to do. I call him the Creative Consultant.

So I was meeting him and he had an LP of one of his releases to give me. He asked me if I had a bag to put it in, and I reached into rucksack and retrieved a tote bag. It was from the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and had been given to me by an actuary a few years before. The Creative Consultant saw the bag with its logo and Latin inscription (‘e peritia ratio’ – ‘reason from experience’) and asked what it meant. I replied, “It’s all mortality tables and shit like that.” The name stuck.

We created our first Mortality Tables Product that morning. It’s called FORKTALK and is a conversation between two friends. We do not publish the details of our conversations. Its entry in the Mortality Tables Catalogue is MTP0.

SL: Dave Clarkson, who is mostly active in electronic and experimental music and Wonderful Beasts, a sound art/electronic music duo consisting of the anonymous Xqui and Carl Knott (boycalledcrow, Spacelab) were your first artists, right? How did you get in touch with them?

The release that moved Mortality Tables from something conceptual to something ‘real’ was ‘Two Meditations For Freya’ by Goodparley (whose name has now changed to Please Close Your Eyes). That was in 2022. It signalled what I wanted Mortality Tables to be: I would come up with ideas and hand them to someone to ‘respond’ to.

That concept has stayed consistent through the first two years of Mortality Tables. I’ll come up with an idea and pick someone to get involved. At the last count, there are at least fifty people who are collaborators. And it isn’t just sound projects – Mortality Tables encompasses sound, art, and words. And insurance.

However, all rules in creativity are there to be broken, and I broke my own rules in 2023 with the release of Dave Clarkson’s ‘Ghosts Of Christmas Past (Music From Vintage Toys)’. I had nothing to do with the concept of that album, so I guess that’s a bit like Mortality Tables acting like a traditional record label, which is a description I never want to use. The same is true of Andrew Brenza and Alka’s ‘pod’ and boycalledcrow’s ‘Kullu’. However, all these releases only existed because of an earlier collaboration, and that’s how I got myself comfortable with releasing these projects. You’ll see a few more of those types of projects from Mortality Tables over the next few years.

In answer to your question about how I find artist, it’s actually really straightforward. Anyone involved with Mortality Tables is someone whose music I’ve written about. As for how I choose an artist for a particular project, that’s mostly a case of matching a collaborator to an idea that feels aligned to what they would usually do. However, some of the most enjoyable projects are where the artist is working a long way outside of what they might normally do.

SL: After artists like Andrew Spackman, Rupert Lally, Simon Fisher Turner and Veryan, two years ago you released a strange and experimental piece called “On Mortality, Immortality & Charles Ives”. The piece is a spoken word piece in which you read out the Mortality Tables’ manifesto: “In life, our one true certainty is death.” This narration, recorded by Gareth Jones, was then sent to Vince Clarke who recorded a musical response to the text, which forms the soundtrack to the release. How did you come up with this, somewhat absurd, idea?

I had bought a copy of a book by Alex Danchev called ‘100 Artists’ Manifestos – From The Futurists To The Stuckists’ at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in 2021. I read each of the manifestos from groups like the Surrealists, Dadaists and Situationists as if they were short stories, and it became a really profound experience. On the back of ‘Two Meditations For Freya’, people had started to ask me what Mortality Tables was all about, so it seemed completely natural (and not absurd at all) to write a manifesto.

Mostly it was designed to help me understand why I was doing this, and then I decided to explain it to everyone else. That’s when I asked Gareth to record my narration. At the same time I approached Vince and an anonymous sound artist called venoztks to create sound pieces to accompany it.

The listener can judge whether it successfully explains what this is all about, or not. It does explain why the composer and actuary Charles Ives is so critical to the evolution of Mortality Tables. In fact, the second Mortality Tables Product to be made available was a postcard containing an illustration of Ives in front of a mortality table from 1874, the year of Ives’s birth. That piece was a collaboration with Savage Pencil who had illustrated a lot of the Blast First sleeves.

SL: Released on June 16th, the 40-copy limited edition cassette “The Engineer” is a charity project for Alzheimer’s disease featuring Vince Clarke, Penelope Trappes, Chris Illingworth, Barney Ashton-Bullock, Lara Jones, Simon Fisher Turner, Hattie Cooke, Gareth Jones, Veryan and others. The title character is your father, isn’t he? Is that why you chose Father’s Day as the release date? Tell us a bit about this project!

The title character, the engineer, is based on my father. This project dates back ten years, probably longer, a long time before Mortality Tables was an idea.

I wrote a short story that tried to deal with my feelings about my father as he approached retirement. He lived for work, had no hobbies or friends, and I envisaged him struggling to cope with the concept of stopping work. I was angry when I wrote it, but I was also scared for him. It’s fiction, but it’s rooted in his reality. His actual retirement was very different to what happens in the story. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2018, and that’s why we’ll donate all profits from ‘The Engineer’ to the Alzheimer’s Society. Sadly he passed away shortly after ‘The Engineer’ was released.

When I published the story on my blog, an electronic musician called Laica (Dave Fleet) offered to create some music inspired by the story. He composed a beautiful piece but the project never got completed. A few years later, I came up with a different idea, which involved someone narrating the story with a piece of music behind it. That version also never got off the ground at all, but I liked the idea of asking someone to narrate the story. That’s when I asked Barney Ashton-Bullock if he would do it. He has a brilliant speaking voice, and it was perfect for this story.

It was Gareth Jones who suggested the idea of having different artists respond to different sections of narration. He said it was a bit like the Surrealist game ‘Exquisite Corpse’. I think of Gareth as my spiritual guru. He has a way of unlocking ideas, and freeing you from obstacles that are only there because you’ve put them there. ‘The Engineer’ wouldn’t exist in this form if it wasn’t for Gareth.

From there, it was a case of picking the collaborators and asking them to respond to a specific 30-second section of narration. No one heard the full story, and no one asked to hear the whole thing. The order the artists agreed to say yes determined which section they got. The only rule I gave them was that their sound response needed to last exactly thirty seconds.

There are two editions of ‘The Engineer’. One is a digital file that combines the narration and sound responses. The other is a cassette that splits the narration and responses apart. That means the only place you can hear Vince Clarke’s sound response without Barney’s narration is on the cassette, which has now sold out.

SL: Barney Ashton-Bullock (the creator of Andy Bell’s “Torsten” projects), Vince Clarke, as well as Reed Hays, Alka and Gareth Jones will be familiar to most of our readers, but who are the other contributors?

Again, everyone involved is someone I’ve written about. When I came up with my collaborator list for this, it was important to me to achieve some sort of diversity. So a lot of the artists here are electronic, but you have artists covering everything from pop to sound art. That was deliberate.

I also wanted diversity of textures. That’s why I included Charlotte Keeffe, Chris Illingworth from GoGo Penguin and Luce Mawdsley. When you put all 29 sound responses together as a single piece, it sounds like a right fucking mess. As the responses were coming in over a 30-month period, I realised that the sprawling, messy quality was a lot like my father’s Alzheimer’s – ideas form, are quickly forgotten before they develop, and are then replaced by something else. That wasn’t planned, at all, but now I can see it was a subconscious idea that must have been there from the moment that Gareth suggested involving lots of artists.

SL: What plans and ideas are currently circulating in your head? Will it be something journalistic or another Mortality Tables release?

I’m always writing, and I’ve got a few big things underway right now, including something for a label I’ve done a few pieces for before.

In terms of Mortality Tables, now that ‘The Engineer’ has been released, all activities will he paused until later in the summer. We’ve released a huge number of Products in just over two years and I need a break. We’ll return later in the summer with Season 03 of LIFEFILES, which is an ongoing project where artists respond to my really basic field recordings.

We’ll also release a single from Please Close Your Eyes, an album from Andrew Spackman and the full version of Andrew Brenza and Alka’s ‘pod’ collaboration. I’ve been working on one of several projects inspired by Charles Ives, ‘Central Park: A Picture-In-Sounds’, which will be issued as a ‘score’ in October, along with some additional performances of the piece. We’ll begin work on another large-scale collaboration called ‘The Impermanence Project’.

Other things will happen. Other things will not.

Use code janos for a 10% discount off anything in the Mortality Tables Catalogue.

I would like to end this article with a personal message from Mat Smith, who asks the readers and the music listeners to support, if they can, the Alzheimer’s Society, which has received the proceeds of the tape release mentioned in the interview. If you feel able to, please donate to alzheimers.org.uk directly.

I began my career in online music journalism in 2001, writing about artists I had followed since the late ’80s and early ’90s, including Depeche Mode, Erasure and The Cure. I later edited the Hungarian Mute microsite for EMI Music Hungary. This led to interviews with Erasure, Nitzer Ebb and Alan Wilder, and some of those collaborations developed into lasting friendships. Since 2014, I have been part of the editorial team of depechemode.de. I also contribute interviews to Reflections of Darkness, Peek-A-Boo Magazine and Kaput Mag. I maintain a close connection to Mute Records artists and have also supported releases on Very Records. I am proud to collaborate with Side-Line Magazine, where I regularly publish interviews and features.

Louis Carnell and Marta De Pascalis collaborate on ‘Twelve’ single to mark release of ‘111’ full length (incl. Daniel Miller)

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 06:53:39 +0000

(Photo by George Nebieridze) London-based electronic music producer Louis Carnell and Marta De Pascalis share a collaborative single today, “Twelve”, marking the release of the 15-track double vinyl “111” which brings together all of the collaborations from the series: Keeley Forsyth, Lee Ranaldo, Ben Vince, Yasa Asmar, Coby Sey, KMRU, Okkyung Lee, Wu-Lu, Green-House, Daniel Miller, Laraaji, Marta De Pascalis, Leila, Nailah Hunter and Damsel Elysium.

Carnell explains the project: “As the engine of modern life funnels us into states of loss and isolation, 111 aims at a utopian poetics of hope. Re-aligning connections by exploring mutual spaces 111 attempts to empower its listener & forms an equivalent environment for each collaboration. Each artist that features on 111 has provided me with multiple moments of solitude and resilience & I’m thankful to them all. Visually there are no obvious signifiers of hope, a reflection on the feeling or practice is individual to its arbitrator, but in their existence, we form a foundation of promise & possibility.”

Each track in the series is accompanied by one of three visual works by Arcin Sagdic (Maison Margiela, COMME des GARÇONS, Burberry) and Louis Carnell, extending Carnell’s visual collaborations that have included Daniel Sannwald, Frederik Heyman and Peter De Potter.

Carnell is scheduled to perform at the ICA, London on 23 May on a bill with Keeley Forsyth, his first collaborator for the series. 111 live events have included performances at Café OTO and Stoke Newington Old Church in London and the Volksbühne in Berlin.

Here are a few more tracks.

Robert Görl (DAF) and Hanna Rollmann hold exclusive event in London for new book

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Tue, 02 Jan 2024 14:01:06 +0000

Here’s an exclusive event we co-present with Cold War Night Life in London. Robert Görl (DAF) and Hanna Rollmann will read from their book, “The Voice That Dwells Within”, on Saturday, January 27, 2024, at The Strongroom in London (tickets available here). The duo will also sign copies of their book during this intimate event.

Robert Görl co-founded DAF (Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft) in 1978 — 45 years ago — with vocalist Gabi Delgado. The band started as a punk/experimental outfit, using a combination of conventional instruments and electronics, before relocating from Dusseldorf to London. After meeting Mute Records’ Daniel Miller, they released “Die Kleinen und die Bösen,” featuring production by Conny Plank. The group consolidated as the duo of Görl and Delgado, made the jump to Virgin Records, and released three albums that changed the face of German (electronic body) music. They formed the template for a line of bands, including Front 242 and Nitzer Ebb. They were working towards a new album at the time of Delgado’s sudden death in 2020, which Goerl completed alone as “Nur Noch Einer.”

Robert Görl (DAF) holds book reading for ‘The Voice That Dwells Within’ in London

In the spaces between DAF releases, Görl and Delgado each released separate material. Görl’s 1984 solo album, “Night Full of Tension,” featured an appearance by Annie Lennox of Eurythmics — returning the favor after Görl played drums on that band’s Conny Plank-produced debut, “In the Garden.”

“The Voice That Dwells Within” uses Görl’s memories to reconstruct stories from all these events. The book is centered around the 1989 car crash that almost killed Görl and led him to Buddhism.

The event will take place at The Strongroom, Curtain Road, London EC2A 3SQ, on Saturday, January 27, 2024. The starting time is 7 pm. Tickets are £15 in advance / £20 on the door.

Here’s a video trailer.

How interesting was the Vince Clarke Q&A session in London? Find out here on video!

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Fri, 22 Dec 2023 15:22:01 +0000

(By our UK correspondent Simon Helm of Cold War Nightlife) A few days ago we posted a review of the first solo concert of Vince Clarke at the LSESU in London, with Sunroof (comprising Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones), and today we present you a review of the additional Q&A session featuring Daniel Miller which took place at Rough Trade East on Sunday, November 19th.

Vince Clarke needs no introduction, so Daniel Miller didn’t give him one. The mastermind behind Depeche Mode, Yazoo, The Assembly, and Erasure, Clarke was in London to perform his solo album, Songs of Silence. A Q&A session at Rough Trade East allowed the Mute label boss to put some questions to Clarke and talk about their shared history.

Update: Mute in the meantime posted a video of the Q&A.

When Vince Clarke met Daniel Miller

The first time Clarke and Miller met was a bit of a disaster. Dressed up in futurist clothes, Clarke had travelled from Basildon with Dave Gahan to pitch Depeche Mode’s demo tape to London-based labels. When they tried Rough Trade, the counter staff pointed them at Miller, who was in the back preparing the artwork for a Fad Gadget record. When the Mute man emerged, he took one look at the Mode boys and kept walking.

Miller chuckles at the lost opportunity, which he recovered from when Depeche Mode supported Fad Gadget at the Bridgehouse in Canning Town. He notes a controversy that has arisen because Stevo, the notorious Soft Cell manager and Some Bizarre label boss, has claimed that he “let” Miller “have” Depeche Mode for Mute. Rubbish. Depeche Mode did what they wanted – and, as Clarke confirms, that was to work with the genius behind The Normal, Silicon Teens, and the sound of Fad Gadget.

The lockdown stopped Erasure from working together

On to the new album. Clarke explains that lockdown stopped Erasure from working together. Inspired by repeated viewings of Bladerunner 2049, he decided to make the soundtrack for a sequel in his basement studio using modular kit. Drones provided the fluidity, while additional elements were layered on top. “It was never intended as a record,” Clarke said. “It was really just for me to learn to use the synthesizer.”

When Miller asked Clarke what he was up to, some tracks were passed across, and Miller suggested they become an album. “I was in total shock, because it wasn’t what I intended,” Clarke told the audience.

The only track with lyrics used a recording of a traditional miner’s union song, which Clarke had struggled to set to music previously. Miller explained that it proved impossible to track down the rights holder for the vocals – drawing a laugh when he explained that Mute would “Take care of them.”

New Erasure album in the making

Clarke revealed that there is a new Erasure album planned for release next year, but he has not played the music to Andy Bell, yet. “We never write remotely. It just doesn’t work for us. We have to be in the same room, at the same time, to make a complete song.”

Miller let on that there is more coming from the Erasure camp. “Andy [Bell] is also working on a solo album at the moment.” No word whether it will also feature Eurorack modules or found sound, but it will undoubtedly come with its own stories.

Exclusive interview with Vince Clarke and Reed Hays – Solo debut out now

János Janurik — Mon, 18 Dec 2023 09:02:07 +0000

(Interview by János Janurik) Vince Clarke just released his first solo album “Songs Of Silence” in late autumn 2023. The fact that he has now recorded his first solo album after more than forty years in the pop business was long overdue. Our editor Janos Janurik contacted Vince Clarke and his partner in crime, Reed Hays, regarding this solo debut that opens up new listening perspectives into Vince Clarke’s previously unknown parallel universe, and a special concert in London.

Although the ingenious composer and sound wizard had several side projects alongside his main band Erasure – just think of the countless remixes, the collaborations with Martyn Ware, Paul Hartnoll and Martin Gore, and his label boss activities at Very Records, or the almost unknown album of instrumental compositions called “Deeptronica” – this is still the first time that he has released an LP under his own name. And on the parent label Mute Records. A feast for fans of electronic music!

Even the first appetiser was a shock for some fans: Vince ventured to the dark side, his solo track “The Lamentations of Jeremiah” sounding darker and sadder than ever before. The accompanying music video, shot in black and white, only reinforced the gloomy mood of the first pre-release track. This was anything but the dynamic electro-pop that Vince Clarke is known for.

The second pre-release single “White Rabbit” is already more similar to the typical musical style of the Erasure mastermind. Intelligent pop at its best, where hypnotising, shimmering electronic beats keep up the tempo with electric guitar sounds and thundering drums at the end. The visual backdrop this time is an animated film, with educational content about how we are “modern humans”. After the break since “The Neon” sound cosmos, fans of Vince Clarke’s music are eagerly awaiting their musical hero’s first solo LP.

„The joy for me has been the process of making the music… Everything else is a bonus.”

SL. When I heard and saw the track “The Lamentations of Jeremiah” for the first time, I was deeply touched by the experience. Although you mentioned to me in an earlier interview (around the time of the release of “2Square”) that you “still like to write “nobody understands me” songs”, you’ve waited so long to show this side of yourself. If there’s no pressure from the label, these songs might stay in the drawer. Is that really true? Did Daniel Miller persuade you to release these compositions as your first solo album on Mute?

Vince: The tracks I recorded during lockdown were never meant as an album. I was spending time in the studio just experimenting with sound and mood. I sent some of these ‘experiments’ to Daniel Miller, owner of Mute records and he suggested that perhaps this collection of soundscapes could be released as an album. Up to that point I was purely making the music for myself.

SL. As for the album title (“Songs Of Silence”), it wasn’t too hard to work out that it was some kind of homage to the legendary film score by Simon & Garfunkel. They were a big inspiration for you to compose music yourself, weren’t they? And what inspirations did you take this time? Or did everything follow your inner voice?

Vince: Yes, the title is a tiny homage to “The Sounds of Silence” and I’m a huge fan of Paul Simon. At the same time “Songs Of Silence” describe exactly what the album is about.

SL. The music of Vince Clarke lives without bombastic sound or glittery synth pop effects too, that was my first thought after listening to this album. What equipment did you use in your home studio this time?

Vince: For all the tracks I just used my Eurorack Modules. It was an opportunity to learn about the technology and really focus on the precise sounds I needed without being distracted by all the other sound sources in my studio.

SL. The opening track (“Cathedral”) already takes the listener out of the real world and frees them from the matrix. The whole thing has something religious and spiritual about it, in which the wholeness of the world is connected with one’s own existence. Such a process is necessary for mental health and for dealing with negative feelings. Was it the same for you?

Vince: I’m not religious but the word Cathedral suggested to me something huge and wondrous. I found the process of recording all these tracks to be cathartic and helpful to cope with the stresses I was experiencing at the time.

SL. One of my favourites is the track “Red Planet”. Relaxing ambient music with ethereal voices. I think a lot of fans – especially Depeche Mode fans – will say it’s their favourite track. Do you have your own favourite track from the album?

Vince: “Cathedral” is my favourite track and I’m also very fond of “Passage” which is all about a difficult/impossible journey.

SL. Not only “The Lamentations of Jeremiah”, but also “Scarper” has an acoustic touch – flamenco-like guitar. Once again a highlight of the album for me. Did you use samples here or did someone play the guitar live?

Vince: Reed Hays played cello on “The Lamentations of Jeremiah” and the guitar parts were played by my friend Steve Walsh.

SL. “Blackleg” is inspired by the traditional folk song “Blackleg Miner”. Your label mate, Frank Tovey, who died too soon, dedicated an entire album to workers’ songs in 1989 (“Tyranny And The Hired Hand”). Music and resistance was the main theme of this album. And what about you? What did you find inspiring about this folk song?

Vince: The song has a real raw edge to it. The lyrics are quite violent and paint a stark picture of the misery of the mining community during and after the Industrial Revolution. It was interesting to mix a very synthetic soundscape with something so organic.

SL. “Last Transmission” could also be related to the Erasure song “Turns The Love To Anger”, especially with the instrumental intro of its live version. It’s like a radio signal into space, with the hope that it will find a recipient with empathy. Do you still believe in the good in these difficult times?

Vince: No. I find it difficult to feel optimistic.

SL. You have always been known to be rather reluctant to appear in video clips. But for the first promo video, you had to stand alone in front of the camera. Where and how did the filming of “The Lamentations of Jeremiah” take place?

Vince: I wanted the video to convey a certain gravitas that reflected the sadness of “The Lamentations of Jeremiah”. It was shot in Brooklyn New York in a day.

SL. An animated video was made for “White Rabbit” – another favourite track of mine. You recently uploaded funny cartoons (“Günter Finn” and “Bacon And Eggs”) to the internet yourself. How did you find the cartoonist Daniele Arcuri for the second clip?

Vince: I saw his show reel on Fiverr and was instantly attracted to his irreverent and bonkers style of animation.

SL. At the special album release event in London the support band was the duo of Gareth Jones and Daniel Miller (called Sunroof), who play electro-improvisation music. Both of them have played a big role in your career. Was it natural for you to invite them to support you?

Vince: I was delighted that they agreed to do the show with us. I think the combination made for a really interesting evening.

SL. A month has passed since that concert in London. Your first solo album has received very good reviews, it’s also at the top of the album charts. Looking back on the whole process, what are your feelings now? Did you expect such positive feedback?

Vince: To be honest, I didn’t expect any feedback. The joy for me has been the process of making the music… Everything else is a bonus.

Reed Hays, the synthesiser specialist and master of the Buchla synthesiser, and long-time friend of Vince Clarke, also joins the conversation.

SL. Reed, you and Caroline were the first to sign a label contract with Vince’s Very Records. So far you’ve released two albums on his label and you then supported Erasure on their 2018 tour. Now you’ve played cello as a guest musician for Vince’s solo album. How did this invitation come about?

Reed: During the Reed & Caroline years Vince had me put together a couple instrumental tracks to promote Veryrecords on Soundcloud. One was called “Buchla and Cello” and the other was called “Cello and No Buchla”, so he was already familiar with my playing. While working on “Songs of Silence” he asked in his usual polite English manner, “Would you mind terribly if I sent you something, and maybe consider if it needs some sort of cello on it?” I purposely overplayed the part, thinking he would edit most of it out, but to my surprise he kept the whole thing!

SL. Were you there – as an expert advisor – for the entire creative period, or did you only hear the final result?

Reed: He played me some of the tracks while he was working on them, but I’m afraid I had no “expert advice” to give, because they already sounded amazing. I remember thinking only Vince Clarke could call something a “drone piece” but you’d still walk away from it with a catchy part in your head!

SL. Do you have your own favourite tracks from Vince’s solo album? If so, what are they and why?

Reed: Vince’s friend Steve does some great acoustic guitar work on “Scarper”. There’s a little blippy part on “Cathedral” that sounds Buchla-inspired, so of course it makes me smile every time I hear it. I love the sequencer in “White Rabbit” and of course his treatment of the “Blackleg Miner” song is wonderfully haunting.

SL. On release day you shared the stage with Vince in London. What was your role at that concert?

Reed: In a very un-Vince reversal, nothing was rigidly synchronized. We were playing drones and triggering elements from the album by hand. The timing was totally based on the feel of the evening and the impressions of the visuals. And, of course, I had my cello with me. J

SL. For a while you had a joint radio show on a New York alternative radio station called “The Synthesizer Show”, which was very popular among fans of synthesiser music. Do you miss these radio shows? Do you talk to each other privately about what’s new in the genre?

Reed: It’s funny to think that for close to a decade “The Synthesizer Show” was an important anchor for both of us. It was a great way to break up the grinding tour schedule with Erasure, and during Covid it was the only activity either one of us had apart from family lockdown life. I’m sure we haven’t seen the end of “The Synthesizer Show” yet, but right now we have a couple ambient concerts to deal with!

SL. Do you currently have something in progress? Will there be another Reed & Caroline album?

Reed: I’ve been spending a lot of time with the Buchla 100, the earliest Buchla instrument. It’s also the rawest and most visceral of Mr. Buchla’s creations. I like to think of Reed & Caroline as a magical pre-Covid time capsule, but in a couple years her girls and my son will be out of high school, so never say never!

Vince Clarke and Sunroof live at London School of Economics – An exclusive review

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Sat, 18 Nov 2023 15:07:09 +0000

(By our UK correspondent Simon Helm of Cold War Nightlife) This is a review of yesterday’s event at the London School of Economics where Vince Clarke did a debut solo show supported by Sunroof (comprising Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones).

Vince Clarke admits that he is a little nervous. The confession comes as he adjusts his set-up between songs. Normally, Andy Bell would step into these gaps, but this is not an Erasure show. It is a performance of “Songs of Silence”, Clarke’s album of songs based on drones. There is no need for concern: the sold-out crowd in a basement venue at the LSE is a friendly one (look – there is Neil Arthur from Blancmange!); and the spaces between tracks are exactly what the album’s title promises.

The event is billed as Vince Clarke’s first ever solo performance – but, of course, it is not. Clarke is a serial collaborator, who has spent his career working with other talents. Depeche Mode, Yazoo, The Assembly, Erasure, The Illustrious Company, VCMG – even when the prime mover, Clarke has sought out others to share the experience and the credits. Tonight, the limelight is shared with his friend, Reed Hays, and a cameo from the indomitable Sarah-Jane Dale, while Richard Evans from the Erasure Information Service tweaks the lighting. Clarke is more exposed than usual, but he is not alone.

The title of the new album is a reminder that Clarke is a life-long Simon & Garfunkel fan. It might also be a reference to the recent losses of his friends, Robert Marlowe and Andy Fletcher. The cover photo shows Clarke in stark relief, and the cruelty of time is written into the songs. Performed live, they lose none of their emotive content, and Hays’ cello underlines the sadness of “The Lamentations of Jermiah.” Even “Blackleg,” a version of the traditional miners’ song made popular in a more combative form by Steeleye Span and the PCA Band, is ominous and melancholy. Grainy footage of miners walking from a pit invokes something lost – like Test Dept without their fine-tuned debris.

The appearance of Sarah-Jane Dale for “Passage” adds a touch of glamour to the otherwise spectral drones and haunting rhythms. Clarke seems relieved to have the focus on another part of the stage, but he warms to the experience as the show continues. By the time of “Last Transmission,” he can’t hold back a full-on smile. The audience – most of whom have followed Clarke’s career for more than four decades – never doubted that it would be a special night. Clarke, it seems, has to pass through it to agree.

Support came from the Sunroof project of Gareth Jones and Daniel Miller. Facing each other across blinking panels of Eurorack modules, the two great producers embarked on a journey into improvised electronics that led down unpredictable tributaries of blips and webs of bloops. Sunroof’s shows are as unique as snowflakes and even cooler, as they harness the flow of electricity to weave magical textures. On a stage filled with Mute’s main superconductors, they played their roles as human Tesla coils with inspiration.

Pictures of Vince Clarke and Sunroof live sets

Vince Clarke launches debut solo album ‘Songs of Silence’ – Out now

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 16:30:28 +0000

(Photo by Eugene Richards) Vince Clarke unveils his first solo album today, titled “Songs of Silence”. This ambient album, spanning 10 tracks, is now available in vinyl, CD, and digital formats through Mute. Clarke celebrates this release with his debut solo show tonight at the LSESU in London, with Sunroof (comprising Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones) as the opening act. Additionally, a Q&A session featuring Daniel Miller is scheduled at Rough Trade East on Sunday, November 19th.

After writing numerous hits for prominent bands like Erasure, Yazoo, and Depeche Mode, Clarke has finally ventured into a solo project. The album, recorded in his New York home studio, showcases photography and artwork by renowned Magnum photojournalist Eugene Richards. Originating as a lockdown diversion, Clarke delved into the possibilities of Eurorack, a modular synthesizer known for its expansive and engaging configurations. “The process was incredibly enjoyable, and it was solely for my own pleasure initially. I never contemplated others hearing it. The learning and creative journey in my studio was the highlight,” Vince reflects. “It was a surprise when Mute decided to release it.”

Songs of Silence by Vince Clarke

As previously mentioned, Clarke adhered to two self-imposed guidelines for this album: exclusively using Eurorack for sound production and constructing each track around a single note, maintaining a consistent key. Vince humorously notes, “No one in my family, not even the cat, showed much interest in my studio work, especially after hours of drone sounds.”

Vince Clarke video singles

Here are the two previously released videos from the album.

Depeche Mode to release all ‘Strange/Strange Too’ videos on DVD & Blu-Ray

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 20:24:27 +0000

This has been a long time in the waiting. Depeche Mode and Anton Corbijn‘s iconic film collection “Strange/Strange Too” are to be released for the first time ever on DVD & Blu-Ray. The release will be available via Sony Music Entertainment on Friday, December 8. In the USA, Canada and Mexico the title will be released through Warner Music Group. Previously available as individual titles in VHS and Laserdisc formats (now out-of-print and highly collectible), “Strange” (1988) and “Strange Too” (1990) are now available for the first-time as a single collection.

The material on the set has been freshly restored from the original Super 8 sources and will include 11 music videos and 6 previously unreleased outtake ‘Vignettes’. When assembling the final edits for “Strange” and “Strange Too”, Corbijn created a visual running order where the individual music videos are perceived as one continuous film, with additional interstitial content not seen in the original clips.

The digipak release will come with a 16-page concertina booklet featuring photographs and new liner notes penned by Anton Corbijn

Will the grainy quality of the videos be lost?

Sony Music Entertainment will release Depeche Mode’s Strange/Strange Too (a much sought-after collection of music videos directed and filmed in Super 8 by Anton Corbijn) on Friday, December 8. Strange/Strange Too will be released through SME worldwide, excluding USA, Canada and Mexico (where the title will be released through Warner Music Group).

For those who fear that the grainy quality of the videos will be lost, don’t worry, the physical nature of Super 8 film means that the stock’s rough and grainy quality becomes part of the finished film’s inherent aesthetic. The film restoration itself underwent a rigorous process over the course of several years with the participation of personnel involved in making the original films including Anton Corbijn. Because this Blu-Ray/DVD release was created from the original Super 8 film stock, the final result may seemingly lack the visual clarity that modern viewers associate with contemporary HD 4k reproduction. In some occasions where the original footage had deteriorated too much, the next best source was used.

First released in 1988 as “Strange – A Black and White Mode by Anton Corbijn,”, “Strange” featured the first five Depeche Mode music clips directed by Anton Corbijn, who shot them mostly in black and white Super 8. “Strange” included the three main singles from “Music for the Masses”, the final “Black Celebration” single (“A Question of Time”) and “Pimpf,” the instrumental closing “Music for the Masses”.

Released in 1990, “Strange Too” (aka “Strange Too – Another Violation by Anton Corbijn”) was shot in full-color and has the bonus videos for “Halo”and “Clean” next to “Personal Jesus”, “Policy Of Truth”, “Enjoy The Silence” and “World in My Eyes”.

Anton Corbijn commented as follows on this release: “To be seen as ‘strange’ in a creative field is no bad thing as it probably means ‘different’ which I find is a very positive description of one’s struggle to be just that. The idea to make this into a connected series of little films and fake interviews came late into the process of shooting these,” wrote Corbijn. “I was shooting all the films myself on black/white Super 8 film. We put all this together on a shoestring budget; those were that kind of days. We have to look at these films in the light of us being young; we were experimenting and I am happy we were given that space at the time by Daniel Miller.”

“Strange/Strange Too” track lists

STRANGE

A Question Of Time
Strangelove
Never Let Me Down Again
Behind The Wheel
Pimpf

Outtake vignettes:

Strangelove
Behind The Wheel
Behind The Wheel (Shep Pettibone Mix)

STRANGE TOO

Personal Jesus
Policy Of Truth
Enjoy The Silence
Clean
Halo
World in My Eyes

Outtake vignettes:

Personal Jesus (Acoustic)
Policy Of Truth
Policy Of Truth (Trancentral Mix)

For more on Depeche Mode, see The last Depeche Mode show with Vince Clarke on Side-Line.

Depeche Mode photographer Brian Griffin talks about his new photo book ’Mode’ – Out now

János Janurik — Sun, 24 Sep 2023 17:31:37 +0000

(Photos by Brian Griffin, Interview by Janos Janurik for Side-Line) Brian Griffin was responsible for the visual perception of Depeche Mode for a while in the early eighties. He made record covers so interesting, you wanted to own them before you even heard the music. He also photographed one of the most famous record covers from pop history for our favourite group. He waited with his finger on the shutter release – then the perfect moment had come. The final result was then voted the best photo of the 1980s by LIFE magazine. Several years later, the music of “Only When I Lose Myself” was accompanied by his mystical video clip. And now his unforgettable artwork is being collected for Depeche Mode and these pictures, which are actually beautiful impressions of a wonderful journey through time, deserve to be immortalised in an album forever.

Brian Griffin book on Depeche Mode

The photo book is called “MODE” and made by one of the most important British photographers of his generation, who is also a poet and performance artist, Brian Griffin. I was very honoured when he responded positively to my contact request. In 2009, I had the opportunity to interview Anton Corbijn on the occasion of his exhibition opening in Budapest and now I was privileged to have the interview below with Mr Griffin, whose work I have admired since my teenage years. I asked him about his years with Depeche Mode and about this elaborate photographic book project. Enjoy the read!

SL: For more than 35 years, Anton Corbijn’s name has been closely associated with Depeche Mode as the band’s artistic director. From image photos to video production to stage design, he has done everything for the visuals and for the strong band branding. He took over this role in 1986, in the ‘Black Celebration’ era, when you were last responsible for the cover design. Did you meet him back then, did you exchange ideas?

BG: I have never met Anton. Maybe after more than 35 years of Anton, Depeche Mode needs a change to freshen up. What ideas could I exchange with Anton…?

SL: Your work with Depeche Mode began in 1981 when you created the album cover for their debut album. How long had you been in the pop biz? Which famous artists have you worked with?

BG: I had been in the Pop business for only 2 years. It was only a small part of my photographic output when I shot “Speak And Spell”. In fact it remained that way throughout the 80’s. I worked with Iggy Pop, Queen, OMD, Echo & The Bunnymen, Kate Bush. Elvis Costello, John Foxx, Billy Idol, Devo, Ultravox and the list goes on and on. I think something like 200 to 300 record covers.

SL: Ultravox – a musical role model for Vince, Martin & Co – released their masterpiece ‘Vienna’ even before your collaboration with the newly established Depeche Mode, who were signed by Daniel Miller to his recently created Mute label. The record sleeve for ‘Vienna’ was also your work and it shows – at least for me – a bit of similarities to Depeche Mode’s ‘Speak And Spell’ album cover. With Ultravox you used wrapping paper for the cover photo and with Depeche Mode a plastic foil. The difference is that with ‘Vienna’ you wrapped the band Ultravox itself with wrapping paper and with ‘Speak And Spell’ a swan was wrapped in a plastic bag. Did you want to visualise the ‘cool’ synthesizer sound – described by some critics as ‘plastic pop’ – of these two bands?

BG: I really loved the sound of the synthesiser from when I first heard Krautrock, and still do. However with “Speak And Spell” and “Vienna” I was not influenced in any way that can be connected with my use of wrapping paper or plasticated foil.I just did what I felt would be a good idea at the time.

SL: The album cover with the swan is perhaps not your most famous and most recognised work. But the subsequent album cover of ‘A Broken Frame’, which you photographed for Depeche Mode in 1982, has already stood the test of time. Almost everyone knows the story behind this breathtaking photo of the woman in the wheat field with the sickle in her hand, but maybe there are still ‘little stories about this big subject’ that you have rarely told… So what would be your personal story in connection with this record cover?

BG: “A Broken Frame” is probably one of the most famous photographs on earth. I am so proud that I had the talent to produce that photograph. The secret being is there is something or someone watching over me. I have always felt that.

A Broken Frame (Alternative)

SL: The next time you were commissioned to do a Depeche Mode album cover, you had to go to Switzerland, to the Alps. The once again socialist realism photo was shot on top of the famous Matterhorn. By the way, my favourite photo of you would be the cover photo for the single ‘Love In Itself’ from that era. It was 40 years ago. Looking back, how strong do you find this artistic period?

BG: I never listened to Depeche Mode’s music prior to photographing the covers for them. This period was certainly one of my most creative, especially with my ability in employing artificial light.

Love In Itself

SL: The next chapter of Depeche Mode’s adventure in the world of ‘Industrial Pop’ was the ‘Some Great Reward’ album, to which they also owe their world fame. A young married couple in the middle of an industrial estate, perfectly fitting the album motto ‘The world we live in and life in general’. Romantic-dark, like Martin Gore’s lyrics. Most of the songs were about love, but not in the style of traditional pop music. They were self-experienced love and life stories of Martin Gore, in which thousands of fans could define themselves. Depeche Mode has been using this magical recipe for pop songs ever since, with great success. If you could just name one favorite song of Depeche Mode, which song would it be?

BG: “Somebody”

SL; Another milestone in the band’s history was the ‘Black Celebration’ album. The main songwriter, Martin Gore, has repeatedly emphasized that he counts the most important and significant period of the band from the release of this record. Most fans also count this ‘black and gloomy’ album among their personal favourites. You came up with your last cover design idea for Depeche Mode for this record. If I’m not mistaken, the final cover art wasn’t exactly the same as your concept art. Please tell us a bit about this cover story!

BG: All is revealed in my new book MODE.

SL: And now a few words about your band portraits of Depeche Mode. Were the boys – from a photographer’s point of view – treatable? Anton Corbijn once said that Alan Wilder showed the most interest in his work as a photographer/director at that time, the others almost didn’t care what he wanted to get out of a clip or a photo. And how did the band behave in front of your camera?

BG: Their attitude towards me was very similar to what Anton experienced. I preferred that attitude believe it or not, and found it most inspiring.

Depeche Mode portrait 1982

SL: You also shot a clip for Depeche Mode, the music video for ‘Only When I Lose Myself’. At that time the band was experimenting with other directors, because they had only worked with Anton Corbijn for more than 10 years and wanted to change the routine a bit. How did you get into the picture? Did you get a free hand in the production? What memories do you have of the shooting?

BG: It was wonderful in every way. I gave up photography for film making from 1991 to 2003. “Only when I lose Myself” is one of the best tracks by DM, it is also one of my best films by far. Daniel Miller freaked out when he saw the rough edit, as he had left me to let the creative juices flow. He made us cut the film drastically, but its strengths still shine through!

SL: Speaking of Anton, he has already released two photo albums (‘Strangers’, ‘Depeche Mode by Anton Corbijn’) about Depeche Mode, the latter shortly before Andy Fletcher’s death. Why did you wait so long with your photo album (‘MODE’)? You were part of the band growing up and also contributed to their image.

BG: My friend Vaughn George inspired and encouraged it to happen.

“MODE” Photography Book by Brian Griffin

SL: This beautifully designed photo book of yours is the result of a huge fundraiser from the fans. I don’t think you could ask for more recognition as an artist. Please tell us about this project!

BG: This book “MODE” has been made with very little financial reward, and financed by the generosity of the fans. They have not been exploited, but have been rewarded with a beautiful book.

SL: According to your info mail, the photo album ‘MODE’ will eventually be available in stores. Where can the book be ordered by those who did not participate in the fundraising?

BG: This book is self published and distributed by me and will not be available to be purchased in bookshops. For people who did not pledge to the Kickstarter of “MODE”, you can buy the book by visiting the the shop section of my website.

Depeche Mode photographer Brian Griffin

SL: Depeche Mode are currently on tour with their latest album, ‘Memento Mori’, which – albeit unintentionally – is heavily affected by Fletch’s death. When did you last meet the band – with or without Fletch? How will you keep them in your memory?

BG: I met Martin at the Olympic Stadium gig in London before lockdown. I will remember Depeche Mode as the band that inspired me to produce some of my finest album cover photographs.

Side-Line also covered Depeche Mode’s ‘Untitled’.

About Depeche Mode

Depeche Mode formed in Basildon, Essex, England, in 1980, initially under the name Composition of Sound. The lineup that became Depeche Mode came together that year around Vince Clarke (keyboards, guitars), Andy Fletcher (keyboards, bass) and Martin Gore (guitars, keyboards), with Dave Gahan joining shortly after as lead vocalist. The band adopted the name Depeche Mode at a gig at the Bridge House in Canning Town on 24 September 1980, where Mute Records founder Daniel Miller saw them and signed the group.

Depeche Mode’s debut single, “Dreaming of Me,” was recorded in December 1980 and released on Mute in February 1981, followed that October by the debut album “Speak & Spell.” Vince Clarke left the band that November, going on to form Yazoo and later Erasure; Alan Wilder joined on keyboards in 1982 and became an official member from the 1983 single “Get the Balance Right!” The band’s catalog through the 1980s includes “A Broken Frame” (1982), “Construction Time Again” (1983), “Some Great Reward” (1984), “Black Celebration” (1986) and “Music for the Masses” (1987), the latter turning the band into arena headliners in the US off the back of their Rose Bowl concert, later documented in the film “101.”

“Violator” (1990) and “Songs of Faith and Devotion” (1993) marked the band’s commercial peak, but Wilder departed in June 1995, continuing his own project Recoil, leaving Gahan, Gore and Fletcher as a trio. The band released “Ultra” (1997), “Exciter” (2001), “Playing the Angel” (2005), “Sounds of the Universe” (2009), “Delta Machine” (2013) and “Spirit” (2017) as a three-piece, touring with long-serving live members Christian Eigner (drums, keyboards, since 1997) and Peter Gordeno (keyboards, bass, since 1998). Alongside the band, Gahan released solo albums “Paper Monsters” (2003) and “Hourglass” (2007), and Gore released “Counterfeit²” (2003).

Depeche Mode was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 7 November 2020. Andy Fletcher died on 26 May 2022, and Gahan and Gore continued as a duo, releasing “Memento Mori” in 2023 with Eigner and Gordeno again on the road. The band has sold more than 100 million records and placed 54 singles on the UK charts. Brian Griffin’s photography dates to the band’s early-1980s period, alongside director Anton Corbijn’s later, longer-running visual collaboration with the group.

Working with Fad Gadget and Daniel Miller was an exciting treat says Jean-Marc Lederman

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 06 Sep 2023 08:41:10 +0000

(Photos from the personal archives of Jean-Marc Lederman) This article draws from various updates posted by Jean-Marc Lederman (The Weathermen, Kid Montana, Jules et Jim, Ghost & Writer, Lederman / De Meyer, Rohn-Lederman…) on his Facebook profile, which we’ve consolidated into a comprehensive piece. This compilation offers a profound understanding of the workings of the indie music industry during its ‘golden era’. Additionally, it provides specific insights into Mute Records, the label of Daniel Miller, as numerous individuals, including Fad Gadget, mentioned in this article have significant associations with the iconic UK label.

Digital Dance (1978-1979) / Daniel Miller

The year was 1979 and I had just quit, well I was sacked tbh, from Digital Dance , the first band I was in.

We were doing post punk/cold wave/new wave stuff and it was really exciting. I started doing bass with them on a..ARP 2600 whci I had bought working on building sites, yeah, far too much of an overkill I agree. We were rehearsing here and there but did a time at the famous Plan K where we supported Joy Division. Actually, that day I went to pick up Ian and Bernard Summers at the very seedy hotel they were in and I drove them to the gig.

They were laughing like kids, you know, young musicians being happy to play abroad. It was such a cold day, everyone was freezing and Ian even came close to Stefan Barbery (Digital Dance guitar player) who was close to an electric heater to tell him “Well, I guess this is why they call it Cold Wave…”

We also opened to Magazine and Fisher-Z and it was becoming too much of a routine for me: the Brussels band that does all the new wave support slots but hasn’t even got a decent recording contract…

Oh, we had one, and they made us record our very fast cover version of Kraftwerk’s “RadioActivity”. At the end of the session, they made me do some terrible sound effects, hoping to catch on the fad of the moment, and it just ruined the whole song. Tells you that if a thing sounds bad and contrived and cheesy on monday, still sounds the same the day after and 40 years later. Sorry Stefan, my fault.

Then Phil Wauquaire (whom I had met from Streets, the punk band he was in and I actually played with them live on a couple of songs with a…AKS, another overkill) joined us and I played synth with a Korg MS20 then with a Yamaha CS50M who weighted like half an olifant after a drinking binge.

Anyway, after a couple of gigs with Digital Dance at the Gibus in Paris, i was let go (which was fine, really). Two days later, I call Daniel Miller whom I had met in London a few months ago. Digital Dance had been foolish and crazy enough to believe that if you go to London you can pretty much be sure you’ll find a gig. All we did was rehearsing (below Beggar’s Banquet where I met Peter Kent from the future 4AD label) and waiting in our hotel off Kings Road. Anyway, we were trying to get Geoff Travis from Rough Trade to listen to our demo and he stopped it 20 seconds in and tell us: if you go to “Better Badges” now, you’ll see a man called Daniel Miller (from label MUTE RECORDS) and maybe he’ll like your stuff….

So, off we went to Better Badges and there we met Daniel, with a green basket full of The Normal badges.

Daniel and I hit directly like if it was an “International Conference Of Synths Fanatics”. I mean: synths weren’t as known or popular then as they were then. It was still a relatively rare sight on stage or in gigs or in bands that weren’t poppy or progrock. No, we’re talking new industrial scene in the UK: noisy and determined, not minimoogs played by long haired musos…

So, Daniel and I exchanged phone numbers and we traded letters and phone calls here and there. So, remember, I’m sacked from Digital Dance and I then realize that if I wanted to really go anywhere in music, Brussels isn’t the place to be and I must move to where things are happening. At that time, London was THE center of music in Europe and I decide that I want to try my luck and the two major chords I know there. I pick up the phone and call Daniel, asking him if he knew any musician that would be interested in moi ?

Yeah, I know someone, he’s on my label now, he’s looking for musicians, call him… His name is Frank Tovey….

Frank Tovey / Fad Gadget #1 (part 1)

The audition was simple: we didn’t even play a note or try to do a song, we just sat and drank coffee and laughed a lot. But there was no try-out, no keyboard or synths tickering… And that’s how Philippe Wauquaire and I became members of Fad Gadget #1 for a few months in 1980: a simple coffee cup meeting and an unmistakable good chemical feeling between us. Frank had played a few gigs on his own but wanted musicians around him so he could concentrate a bit more on being a little bit less concentrated if you know what I mean.

There was Frank: clever, astute, open, funny, with a lot of wit doubled with a good dose of sarcasm: totally my alley. But he knew what he wanted musically, there was no doubt about what he wanted to sound like. The plan was: rehearse at my place in Brussels, a first gig here, then play a few gigs as support for Deutsche Amerikanische Freundschaft in Germany and going to tour the UK as support for The Monochrome Set.

So, we start rehearsing in my attic: Frank on vocals, Pearl Syncussion and distorted electric piano, Phil on Fender bass and Korg MS 20 and myself on handling the cassette player (each song had its drums/rhythmic parts on a single cassette and I would feed the machine with a new cassette every song) and my 4 notes polyphonic, Yamaha CS 50M. Again, an overkill.

After a few hours of rehearsals, we have our first gig: support-act for Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark. We are all extremely nervous but the gig goes well: Frank doesn’t go into the mad behaviours he’s known for yet but you can see he’s holding up something big inside, something is boiling there. After the gig, we proceed to the German border and sleep in a motel there. In the morning, I’m being handed an envelope with my per diem (every day allowance a musician gets when on tour): it is the first time someone hands me money for doing something I love doing: playing music. I couldn’t believe it and I took a second piece of bacon and refilled my coffee cup. We are about to go to Dusseldorf to play The Ratinger Off as support for Deutsche Amerikanische Freundschaft.

Something started to happen at the Ratinger Hof: maybe it was the roughness of the place, the German lager (naaaaah) or the history of the place but this thing Frank had inside him but it slightly came out at that gig. See, there was an animal inside Frank, and that animal was as extrovert as Frank was introvert: Frank was then frontal and loud and, yes, obnoxious but in a gentle and friendly way but he wasn’t the shy Frank. In response to Frank’s changing live attitudes, Phil and I started to play loser and noisier and wilder (and there were far more bump notes on my part) but the band started to make sense.

The crowd wasn’t there for us, they were there for what would later become DAF, but the reaction was good and people liked us. I recall Frank and I going out in front of the place and that guy comes out dressed as a mod, full parka mode with a patch “Remember Brighton” which made Frank laughed a lot, people were out there with their beer and… Omg what am I saying: IT JUST FELT GREAT.

Deutsche Amerikanische Freundschaft at the time was a five piece band and they were fun and chaotic. You couldn’t miss Chris Haas, the synth guy, who was classy and special. He had a very specific body language when playing live: he would stand back, have a smile and just come here and there to play a few notes…He is the real grandfather of EBM as he introduced the famous 1/16th bass line (Korg MS 20 and SQ 10 sequencer) that will be the bone of so many records later on.

The morning after, we went out to the next gig. Daniel, Phil, Chris and myself embarked in my mum’s yellow Civic and we went down the motorway, singing loudly “Fahn Fahn Fahn Auf Der Autobahn” laughing and laughing… I guess Chris must have done that thousand of times before but, for Daniel, Phil and I it meant something different: we were doing it. We were travelling in Kraftwerk’s motherland and going to play electronic music there: it was immense.

We only played one more gig in Germany and then the whole tour was somehow cancelled… Roland Beelen: I saw the animal in Frank I guess a few months later at the Paasfestival in Koninfshooikt (organized by my friend Guy Vanwoensel) I was a stagehand there. Frank smashed a crucifix that was hanging above stage in the hall (parochiezaal)with his magic stick. The whole village was in shock when the news spread the next morning. The vicar organized a special service the next day to please the smashed fallen Christ ! they say he resurrected a few weeks later! All end, good end !

Frank Tovey / Fad Gadget 1980 (part 2)

Something had clicked in Frank after a few gigs: it’s like he had been showed by practice that it could work, that the songs were good, the voice was good but even more than that his FG personnae and ideas had an impact on the crowd. He would go out, do his thing, see people respond to his songs, lyrics and theatrics and then he would retrieve after the gig in the gentle and shy Frank Tovey. Phil and I were providing a background that wasn’t perfect but for Frank it was a great practice for FG future.

When we toured as support for The Monochrome Set, we were sometimes in fire and I could really feel people’s amazement at that born-to-be showman. He would play with the crowd and slowly take them into the show. Our sound might not have been very sophisticated but with Frank’s distorted piano, the CS50 brutal in and out sounds, Phil’s impeccable swirling bass, we were like The Stooges with synths and Frank was a perfect bionic Iggy Pop….I began to be very proud of us, we were quite something indeed and I was going on stage with a mission: to show people the songs and to let them fall in Frank’s performance.

I also remember that after the last show of the tour, possibly at the YMCA gig, one of the roadie came at the CS 50 and started to play some Bach’s prelude. I was stunned and shameful of the snobiness i may have shown the roadies on that tour, or before tbh. I learned a lesson that night and never again would I be feeling above anyone on a stage, or in studio, be them multiple charts success artists or simple roadie.

Something wild happened after our gig at the 100 club. Jock Mac Donalds (from the future Bollock Brothers) was very drunk and he started to look for a fight with us and being extremely aggressive, a bottle in his hand, waving it at us. Phil, FG’s bass player, was a karate black belt and he was looking very calm, coming closer to Jock inch by inch. Suddenly he jumped at Jock, put two fingers on his Adam’s apple and said with a slow voice: “OK, let’s kill”, his eyes deep into Mac Donald’s eyes.

The bottle instantly fell on the ground and the guy just ran out the club swearing loud and clear… Phil and I were sleeping at Daniel’s mom place for a few days and we were making music late at night. One of these nights, Daniel was on Phil’s MS 20, I was trying Daniel’s infamous Korg 700S (the one that was on TVOD and Warm Leatherette) and Phil was on the CS 50M but it was visibly too loud and too late as Daniel’s mum came down and asked us to PLEASE STOP !

Next gig to come was going to be the Clarendon, but we were told this would be our last gig with Frank as he wanted a full band behind him to totally free him from any other duties but vocals. I was devastated…

Frank Tovey / Fad Gadget #1 (part 3)

So, we were invited to headline Stevo’s kinda festival at the Clarendon, on June 27 1980. Stevo was a very colourful character who will make himself known later when managing bands like Soft Cell and The The. The bill was very symptomatic of the time: DAF, Naked Lunch, B.Movie, Vice Versa, Clock DVA,…

So, Fad Gadget #1 had started touring as a relative unknown a few months ago and we were by now talk of the town and headline this festival. It felt good and it felt also important and I was nervous. Everybody was. Frank had a song by Georges Folmby playing before we would go on. Folmby was a Lancarshire working class comedian and he was famous for playing double entendre ukulélé songs. It was a known and safe thing for British people and Frank used it as contrast as chaos would start when we would cut Folmby and go straight into “State Of The Nation” and follow that with most of what is on the album Fireside Favourites.

State Of The Nation
Back To Nature
The Box
Fireside Favourite
Newsreel
Pedestrian
Coitus Interruptus
Ricky’s Hand
Back To Nature

Yes, Frank wanted shock and chaos, and he got that except that at the Clarendon it went a bit further than expected. During one of the early songs, Fad had already taken over Frank, he smashed up his face with one of the two Syncussion drums and it started pouring blood. Phil and I looked at him and he made us understand it was fine and let’s continue…So we continued until someone took Frank off stage as it was just like a fountain of blood by now. The gig was stopped.

We went backstage and Frank was adamant he was fine but Babra (his wife) disinfected the wound and placed a cloth on it. We went back on stage.

The crowd went MAD. Frank was standing there, his white clothes with red blood all over it, singing to the public that was all won. It was an incredible sight, and being on stage, playing the songs with a singer that went beyond the call of duty was something unexplainable. After the gig, we had to take the 5 am ferry. I was sitting on the stairs of the Clarendon and, yes, I was crying, letting all the tension, the fears of the gig off my system but also the sadness I felt after having lived some incredible times with
Frank, as synth player in Fad Gadget. I saw Frank playing with Fad Gadget #2 a few months later and he invited me to play in the encore: we were cool.

Still, I wasn’t done with London and would come back later…

Side-Line also covered Jean-Marc Lederman’s ‘Sci-Fi Revisited’.

About Fad Gadget

Frank Tovey (8 September 1956 – 3 April 2002), an English electronic musician and performance artist, recorded as Fad Gadget, becoming the first artist signed to Daniel Miller’s Mute Records after the two met at the Rough Trade shop in London. His recorded work combined synthesizers with found-object sounds and dark, comic lyrics. Studio albums as Fad Gadget include “Fireside Favourites” (1980), “Incontinent” (1981), “Under the Flag” (1982) and “Gag” (1984), after which he continued recording under his own name, releasing six further albums on Mute between 1985 and 1992. He died of a heart attack at his London home in 2002.

Belgian musician Jean-Marc Lederman played with Fad Gadget in the band’s touring lineup during the early-to-mid 1980s and has recounted memories of touring with Tovey, Daniel Miller and DAF’s Chrislo Haas in interviews, describing Tovey as bringing something unheard in electronic music at the time. Lederman has credited Daniel Miller and Fad Gadget’s early-1980s touring band, including Chrislo Haas of DAF, as formative to his own career.

John Came sees mysterious 90s electronic experimentation ‘Rhythmicon’ album reissued on Mute

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 17:11:03 +0000

Releasing on the 8th of September via Mute is John Came’s “Rhythmicon” album. The album, conceptually designed, sees Came utilising computer software and synthesisers, shrouded in enigma since its original pre-web launch in July 1995.

The comprehensive – obviously fake – biography of John Came portrayed him as an artist born in London, who emigrated to Australia seeking improved life conditions, then returned to the UK, and ultimately found inspiration in the northern Scottish isles, cycling from Skye to London.

The Rhythmicon, also termed the Polyrhythmophone, was an electro-mechanical musical device, conceptualised and crafted by Leon Theremin for composer Henry Cowell. The instrument was designed to expose the relations between rhythms, pitches and the harmonic series. It employed a series of perforated rotating disks, akin to a Nipkow disk, to disrupt the light flow between bulbs and photoreceptors in alignment with the disk perforations. The resulting interrupted signals created oscillations that were interpreted as rhythms or tones, contingent on the speed of the disks. Though capable of generating both pitches and rhythms, it is often labelled the world’s inaugural drum machine.

Nick Cope, member of the electronic band Pnin, introduced Came to the instrument. Nick, possessing the Rhythmicon, decided to reverse the logic and deduce harmonic and melodic data from rhythmic information, and conversely.

By employing sound and theory, John Came articulated ideas through a sequence of illustrative films that showcased Came executing his compositions (in an arhythmic fashion) into a Rhythmicon simulacrum, hence producing the rhythmic data for the pieces.

From this point, the rhythmic data of the pieces was translated into notes; subsequently, the two distinct threads of altered data were overlaid and fed into a computer capable of music notation/playing.

Who was John Came?

The identity of John Came was speculated upon, it was even suggested this could be a side-project for Alan Wilder, Vince Clarke or Daniel Miller.

There was an immediate conjecture that John Came was a pseudonym and his rhythmicon a product of the fertile creativity of an artist well-versed in electronic experimentation. Indeed, John Came was an alias, with the brains behind the concept being Simon Leonard and David Baker (known also as Komputer / Fortran 5 / I Start Counting), though the precise details concerning the instrumentation and the unusual album’s conception remain subject to speculation.

The album from John Came surfaced at a juncture when Leonard and Baker were transitioning from Fortran 5 to Komputer. In the current context, David Baker is diligently working on his solo endeavour, lonelyklown.

Here is the video for “Ink Tank”.

Jules Maxwell (Dead Can Dance) releases new single featuring Polly Scattergood

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 12:37:40 +0000

Jules Maxwell has a new single out via Archangelo Recordings, “A Rose On The Road (At The Traffic Lights)”, featuring Polly Scattergood. Next to the title track it also holds a remix from Glowlines.

“A Rose On The Road” first appeared as an instrumental on Jules Maxwell’s 2022 album “Cycles”. The title however had originated from a suggestion made by Polly Scattergood and, after the “Cycles” release, she and Jules continued to develop this vocal version.

Jules Maxwell is a multi-instrumentalist composer and songwriter. He plays keyboards for Australian band Dead Can Dance and in May 2021 released an album with Lisa Gerrard, entitled “Burn”. In 2021 he also released “Nocturnes” on Archangelo Recordings, a collection of instrumental pieces, much of it written in collaboration with the UK dance company Vincent Dance Theatre. This was followed in 2022 by a second volume of instrumentals entitled “Cycles”.

Polly Scattergood is a British-based indie electronic artist and was signed with Daniel Miller’s Mute label. She has released four studio albums, three under her own name and one as a side project called onDeadWaves with Mercury-nominated MAPS. She set up her own label and studio, Future Paradise, based on the Kent Coast and released her last album and EP through FP. Polly’s latest full-length album was “In This Moment”. She is currently in the process of writing her fifth studio album.

Here’s the video for the track.

And this is the single itself.

Mark Stewart passed away in early hours of Friday 21 April 2023

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Sat, 22 Apr 2023 18:51:25 +0000

Mark Stewart, a pioneering figure in post-punk and industrial hip-hop, passed away in the early hours of Friday, 21 April 2023. Born on 28 April 1960, Stewart was an English singer and founding member of The Pop Group.

Mute label boss Daniel Miller, a close friend of Stewart, shared his fond memories: “I’ve known Mark as a mate and fellow traveller for over 40 years since he was the lead singer of The Pop Group. I have countless brilliant memories of him – some odd, some outrageous, but always inspiring and somehow purposeful. His musical influence has been far greater than often recognised. He was always supportive of young artists, particularly those local to him in Bristol – many have gone on to become international stars. His warmth and kindness as a friend have always been incredibly important to me. We had so many laughs together, and he had such creative energy. The last time I saw Mark was a few months ago in Bristol, performing an improvised set with Lee Ranaldo. He was nothing short of hilarious, his piece essentially a stand-up routine, and after the show, we spent hours putting the world to rights, a fantastic memory. I’ll miss him dearly. Mark, I can’t imagine you being anything other than restless, but I hope you find your unique peace.”

Gareth Sager, founding member of The Pop Group adds: “Mark was the most brilliant mind of our generation, rest in peace.”

Adrian Sherwood, who collaborated with Stewart via his On-U Sound Records label, expressed his heartfelt appreciation: “Cheers, my brother. You were the most significant musical influence in my life, and our extended family will miss you dearly. Eternal love.”

Stewart formed The Pop Group in Bristol in 1977 as a teenager. Influenced by dub and reggae, driven by political conviction and sonic experimentation, the band released their debut album, “Y”, that same year – a defining album of its era. After The Pop Group disbanded following a final performance at a significant CND rally in 1980, Stewart continued working with CND and, inspired by the emerging hip-hop scene in New York, collaborated with dub pioneer Adrian Sherwood to create the 1983 album “Learning to Cope with Cowardice”. His solo discography continued with 1985’s “As the Veneer of Democracy Starts to Fade” and spanned the next two decades, culminating with 2012’s “The Politics of Envy”.

In 2010, The Pop Group reformed, driven by renewed political disillusionment, and delivered a series of incendiary live performances, recording two new studio albums. Their last performance with Stewart took place in the ruins of Coventry Cathedral, invited by Terry Hall for Coventry UK City of Culture 2021.

Stewart recorded for On-U Sound Records and Mute Records during his career. He leaves behind a unique and significant body of work, encompassing The Pop Group, his solo efforts, collaborations with artists such as Trent Reznor, Tricky, Massive Attack, Chicks on Speed, ADULT., and Primal Scream, and his conceptual art. Mark Stewart’s creative impact has been immense – as Nick Cave stated, he “changed everything” – and his influence will continue to resonate through the music, art, and political activism of generations of artists inspired by his creative work, energy, and spirit.

A night with Telex and Mute Records founder Daniel Miller in Brussels (BE)

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 13:09:17 +0000

BXL Central and Pias are collaborating to host a special musical event that brings together Dan Lacksman and Michel Moers of the renowned Belgian synth-pop trio Telex, and Daniel Miller, the founder of Mute Records.

The event aims to provide an insight into Telex’s lasting impact on electronic pop music and their groundbreaking contributions. Olivier Monssens, a respected journalist and filmmaker, will be interviewing the artists during the discussion. The event is free to attend, however, reservations are required.

Event Details:

Title: A Night with Telex & Daniel Miller
Date: April 17
Venue: BXL CENTRAL [CHEZ PIAS], Rue Saint-Laurent 36-38, 1000 Brussels

Schedule:

6:00 PM – Doors open
6:30 PM – Talk and interviews
8:00 PM – Event concludes

The event is free to attend; however, reservations are required.

Telex, consisting of Marc Moulin (1942-2008), Dan Lacksman, and Michel Moers, formed in 1978 in Brussels. As electronic pop pioneers, they played a key role in popularizing the genre. Their discography includes six albums, which Mute Records is reissuing in various formats on April 14, 2023.

Daniel Miller founded Mute Records in 1978 with his 7″ single ‘Warm Leatherette,’ released under the name The Normal. Mute has since evolved from a one-man label to a global group, with Miller remaining focused on the creative output. The label’s catalog features prominent artists such as Fad Gadget, Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Erasure, Goldfrapp, and Yann Tiersen.

Einstürzende Neubauten co-founder FM Einheit returns with all new album in March: ‘Radal Angel’ – and there is a Depeche Mode link

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Tue, 28 Feb 2023 13:24:28 +0000

(Photo by Thomas Rabsch) Out on March 3rd via Rustblade is the all new album by FM Einheit. Released in a limited edition of 499 copies on grey marbled vinyl, it shows the co-founder and ex-percussionist of Einstürzende Neubauten mixing experimentation and metal percussions with art rock. You can expect a dissonant guitars mix with pianos, trumpets, and tightly wrapped rhythms with vocals by F.M. Einheit and Rica Blunk.

Rica Blunk is a German choreographer, dancer, singer and voice actress, and also the sister of that other musician Timo Blunk. And for the Depeche Mode fans, Blunk was the bassplayer in Palais Schaumburg, a new wave and post-punk band that gained some popularity in Germany in the early 80s. In 1981 the band signed with Daniel Miller’s Mute Records, after which they played support for Depeche Mode.

FM Einheit (real name Frank Martin Strauss) is a German musician and composer. He is best known as the former percussionist and “industrial” drummer for the influential German experimental rock band Einstürzende Neubauten. Einheit joined the band in 1981 and was a member for over a decade, during which time he played on some of their albums, including “Halber Mensch” and “Tabula Rasa.”

In addition to his work with Einstürzende Neubauten, Einheit has also collaborated with a number of other musicians and artists, including Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, the German electronic musician Alva Noto, and the experimental filmmaker Heinz Emigholz. Einheit’s work often incorporates unconventional percussion instruments and found objects, and his music has been described as “industrial,” “experimental,” and “avant-garde.”

Side-Line also covered Depeche Mode’s ‘s ’.

About FM Einheit

FM Einheit, born Frank-Martin Strauß on 18 December 1958 in Dortmund, Germany, is a self-taught percussionist who began his career in the punk scene, joining the Hamburg band Abwärts in 1979. In the early 1980s he joined Einstürzende Neubauten as percussionist, becoming central to the band’s sound through custom-built metal instruments and its confrontational live shows. He left Einstürzende Neubauten in the mid-1990s during the recording of “Ende Neu.”

After Neubauten, Einheit formed the band Gry with Danish vocalist Gry Bagøien, releasing “The Touch of E!” (1998) and “Public Recording” (2000), and has collaborated with KMFDM, Goethes Erben, Diamanda Galás and Mona Mur. His new solo album features vocals from Einheit and Rica Blunk, who was bassist in Palais Schaumburg, a German post-punk band signed to Daniel Miller’s Mute Records that supported Depeche Mode on tour. Rica Blunk’s earlier band, Palais Schaumburg, supported Depeche Mode on tour after signing to Daniel Miller’s Mute Records – the Depeche Mode link referenced alongside the new album.

Sunroof (Daniel Miller & Gareth Jones) announce their second album, ‘Electronic Music Improvisations Vol. 2’ – watch the first video

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Tue, 29 Nov 2022 18:34:11 +0000

(Photo by Paul Husband) Out on 17 February 2023 via the Parallel Series of Mute is the all new Sunroof (Daniel Miller & Gareth Jones) album, “Electronic Music Improvisations Vol. 2”. The album will be out on limited edition white vinyl and digitally. The album artwork is a watercolour painting by Gareth.

The new album is a set of eight improvised modular pieces recorded at the duo’s respective home studios following the release of their debut, “Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 1” (2021). This new album came together in a relatively short space of time.

“I suppose this is the difficult second album,” jokes Gareth, “it took 40 years to make the first album and just nine months to create this one!” Daniel expands, “We got on a roll and didn’t really stop recording once we had that momentum.”

Here’s already the video for “January #2”, created by Sunroof. The video imagery depicts manipulated sequences triggered by software connected to the audio – a technique that they introduced into their live performance during a short run of live shows after their first album was released.

Phew announces reissue of 1992 album, ‘Our Likeness’ on Mute Records

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 18:05:16 +0000

(Photo by Jürgen Sieckmeyer) Out on February 17 2023 on Mute is the reissue of Phew’s 1992 album, “Our Likeness” which was recorded at Conny Plank’s studio in Cologne. On this album avant-garde vocalist, electronics innovator and post-punk artist Phew was joined by Jaki Liebezeit, Alexander Hacke, Chrislo Haas and Thomas Stern.

Phew first came to the fore as the vocalist of Japanese post-punk group Aunt Sally (whose 1979 debut was reissued last year on Mesh-Key) before going on to record a solo single with Ryuichi Sakamoto. Her 1981 self-titled album, recorded with Liebezeit and Holger Czukay, was engineered by Conny Plank, and was followed by 1987’s “View”.

It was Chrislo Haas (D.A.F. / Liaisons Dangereuses / Der Plan), who had met Phew briefly when Plank engineered her debut solo album in 1981, who arranged for Alexander Hacke (guitar / Einstürzende Neubauten) and Thomas Stern (bass / Crime & the City Solution) to join. Can’s drummer Jaki Liebezeit also reunited with Phew to collaborate alongside this new generation of German experimental musicians. Chrislo Haas also introduced Phew to Daniel Miller, for the original release of “Our Likeness”.

Phew remembers: “When I was recording at Conny’s Studio in 1981, a young German man came to visit, sat quietly in the studio for a while and left without saying a word. His politeness was long remembered and can still be recalled. It was when he came to Japan that I discovered he was Chrislo Haas of D.A.F. At the end of the 1980s he visited me in Tokyo, then we decided to make something together, and a few months later we were recording at Conny’s Studio. Chrislo contacted the musicians who took part, Alex Hacke, Jaki Liebezeit and Thomas Stern, told Mute about the project and Our Likeness was released. I often wonder what kind of music Chrislo would have made if he had still been here on earth. Twenty-four years later, I met Alex Hacke again at a festival in Poland, where I got to play with hackedepicciotto. And now I am working with Danielle de Picciotto. More to come!”

You can check out the title track below.

New book on electronic pop: ‘Listening To The Music The Machines Make’ (Foreword by Vince Clarke)

János Janurik — Thu, 27 Oct 2022 14:09:02 +0000

(By Janos Janurik) Temperatures are dropping, days are getting shorter and from now on the umbrella is a permanent accessory when you leave the house. Nevertheless, you can also love autumn. One reason for this can be a good book that you can pick up and read in front of the fireplace without a feeling guilty.

For us, lovers of electric music, the book by Richard Evans, published on 17^th November, would be the perfect read.

Setting out to chart a unique chapter in the history of popular music, “Listening To The Music The Machines Make” tells the story of a single generation of post-punk musicians, mavericks, visionaries and opportunists tinkering with primitive synthesisers in bedrooms, bedsits and basements around Britain, who assembled a potent cocktail of ideas and influences, took them apart, mixed them up, and reassembled them in entirely new ways to create a genuine golden age of British pop, and along the way creating some of the most enduring, iconic and influential records in pop history.

Drawing from years of extensive research, as well as from conversations with many of the movement’s key movers and shakers, “Listening To The Music The Machines Make” sets out to examine the multitude of influences that led to the synthpop revolution that spanned 1978 to 1983; tell the definitive story of a true golden age of British pop through the careers, releases and stories of the movement’s pioneers, mavericks and superstars; and explores the era’s lasting musical impact and enduring influence, including it’s role in the development of hip-hop, house, techno and beyond.

Richard Evans has worked in the music industry for over thirty years in a variety of roles, including positions at London Records, Factory Records and MTV Europe. In 1998 he set up marketing consultancy The Fan Base and has been connecting musical artists with their audiences ever since. He is the founder of the This Is Not Retro website and record label and has worked for Andy Bell, Vince Clarke and Erasure since 2009. Richard is based in Dorset where he lives in perpetual fear of being asked what his favourite record is.

I have known Richard for several years as a result of being an Erasure fan for many years. I emailed him a few questions about his upcoming book and you can read his answers here. Of course, I also asked him about his favourite record.

SL: Richard, you have been the leader of the international Erasure fan club (EIS) and the webmaster of Erasure’s homepage for several years. I think your name has become known to the general public through this activity. Did you make it to the top of your career?

It’s quite complicated to talk about my career as at any given time I’m usually working on a few different projects simultaneously and it’s always very likely that they are all shooting off in different directions. But you’re right that Richard from the EIS is much better known than the Richard Evans who wrote the book! I also think that having worked with Erasure for as many years as I have definitely represents a career peak.

SL: With a background like that, one would have thought that you would write a book about Vince and Andy, about Erasure. Have you ever thought about anything like that?

Vince and Andy get offers to write books every year, on their own or as part of Erasure, but at this point in time neither of them feel the time is right to tell their stories. However when the time is right I very much hope that I will be involved in some way.

SL: You must have a lot of funny or exciting stories about your collaboration with Erasure. Could you tell us a short story that you particularly like to think back to?

I think the best stories are the ones that I can’t tell…

SL: Have you always been a big fan of electro music? Where did your interest in this music genre come from?

I kind of have and I haven’t. My book covers the period 1978-1983 which coincides with the time I was starting to discover music for myself and I always consider my musical tastes extremely varied. Looking back however and I can see that the music that I was drawn to often had a very noticeable electronic element even when it wasn’t electronic music as such, so although I would enjoy, for example, rock music, the actual songs I was listening to would be things like ‘Owner Of A Lonely Heart’ by Yes, or tracks from ZZ Top’s ‘Eliminator’ album. It turns out that those electronic elements run through a huge amount of my favourite music but I hadn’t really noticed it before. But I did always love ‘pure’ electronic music too. I can remember being blown away the first time I heard things like Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’ and Kraftwerk’s ‘The Model’ for example.

SL: On 6^th November there will be a special event in London to launch your book “Listening To The Music The Machines Make” where you will interview Andy Bell and Martyn Ware (The Human League, BEF, Heaven 17) about their lives in electronic music. We already know about your connection with Andy, but what about Martyn? Have you known him for a while too?

I first met Martyn through a website I used to run called This Is Not Retro and I interviewed him a few times for that website, but I got to know him better through Vince Clarke who has a side-project with Martyn called Illustrious. Illustrious released a boxset called ‘House Of Illustrious’ under the name The Clarke & Ware Experiment a few years go and I was involved on the periphery of that release and got to know Martyn a little better through doing that. Then Martyn was working on his book, ‘Electronically Yours Vol. 1’, at the same time I was working on mine and I was able to introduce him to some helpful publishing people and also to share some of my research with him. We’ve only met in real life a couple of times so I’m looking forward to doing that at my launch in London and then again when we’re doing a joint event at the Louder Than Words Festival in Manchester the following week.

SL: Both Martyn Ware and Vince Clarke have special podcasts and radio programmes where they talk about synthesizer music, play such tracks and talk to famous artists. Do you listen to these programmes regularly?

I always listen to The Synthesizer Show, Vince’s radio show with Reed Hays, for pleasure of course because it can be very entertaining, but also so I can talk about it in the Erasure newsletter. I try to keep up with Martyn’s podcast Electronically Yours but he does so many of them that I’m always a few episodes behind!

SL: The foreword in your book was written by Vince Clarke who has been a living legend in the music industry over the last 40 years. How did he like your book? Has he already read it?

I sent Vince the manuscript so he would have an idea about what was in my book and I know that he has dipped into it, but I don’t know if he’s actually read it all… the book is 528 pages long so it takes a lot of reading and Vince is a busy man with a lot on his plate. I was delighted that he agreed to do the foreword though, as you say he is a legend and I’m extremely lucky to be able to call him a friend.

SL: Could you please name artists you met during your research or with whom you had conversations on the topic? By the way, who is your biggest hero from the electro music scene?

When I first started work on the book I did intend to talk to as many people from that time as possible, but I actually changed direction quite early on in the process simply because a lot of those people don’t actually remember the details very well after all these years. Instead I went to the original music and popular culture media from 1978 to 1983 and collected as many interviews, reviews, features and news pieces as I could – literally thousands of them – from magazines and papers from the NME, Sounds and Melody Maker to Smash Hits, The Face and ZigZag and constructed the narrative of the book from those original materials. Where I was fortunate was in having access to a number of those people who were available to answer questions, join the dots and provide extra clarification when I needed it. Vince Clarke and Andy Bell of course but also people like Martyn Ware, Neil Arthur, Rusty Egan and Daniel Miller.

I don’t know that I have a biggest hero as such, but in the summer Karl Bartos from Kraftwerk published a book, ‘The Sound of the Machine’, with Omnibus Press, the same publishers who are putting out my book ‘Listening to the Music the Machines Make’, and I was able to go to one of Karl’s events and was introduced to him afterwards which was a huge thrill. He was absolutely lovely and very funny.

SL: You jokingly said about yourself that you live in constant fear that people will ask you about your favourite record. Is that really such a difficult question to answer? Could you name at least three records that have had a big impact on your life?

It really is a difficult question to answer. There are so many great records and my favourite one day might not be favourite the next day depending on what I’m listening to, how I’m feeling and what sort of a mood I’m in. So here are three electronic records which I absolutely love and which I never get tired of listening to: The League Unlimited Orchestra’s ‘Love & Dancing’, Propaganda’s ‘A Secret Wish’ and Depeche Mode’s ‘Ultra’… but it really is an impossible question. If you were to ask me again in half an hour I would probably choose three completely different records!

SL: In the last two years, the music industry has also been hit hard by the pandemic. Many tours had to be cancelled or postponed. Which band did you see live for the last time from the electro music scene? Are there still concerts on your personal wish list?

A few weeks ago I saw Front 242’s concert in London which I think I was supposed to see in 2020 and which had been rescheduled four or maybe five times before it finally happened. It was a great show though. And I’m off to see Blancmange next week which I’m looking forward to as I really like their new album. As for a concerts wish list, I never saw the Eurythmics so I think they would be top of the list for me.

SL: We, electro music fans, are already very excited about your upcoming book. And what are you reading right now when you have a little “me time”?

I’m currently reading Martyn Ware’s ‘Electronically Yours Vol. 1’ as I will be interviewing him about the book at my event in a few weeks time. It’s very good, he has done some extraordinary things and has been involved in some amazing projects, so I’m very much enjoying it.

Duet Emmo share remastered version of ‘Heart Of Hearts (Or So It Seems)’ – Out now

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 15:10:35 +0000

(Photo by Angela Conway) Duet Emmo have shared a new track from the remastered reissue of Daniel Miller, Edvard Graham Lewis and B.C. Gilbert’s sole collaboration, “Or So It Seems”, which is out 19 August 2022. “Or So It Seems” has been remastered from the original analogue tapes by Stefan Betke.

Available on vinyl for the first time since its original release, the album has been expanded to double vinyl and is released on special edition white vinyl, as a limited edition of 400 on orange vinyl via Bleep (both with high-definition download), CD and digitally on 19 August 2022.

This is a true classic which should be in your collection without any doubt. You will also recognize where Alan Wilder sampled some of the material for his very first Recoil album “1+2” from 1986. A must-have, and that first Recoil album too.

“Heart Of Hearts (Or So It Seems)” is an 8-minute remix of the album’s title track, originally available on the b-side of the 12” of “Or So It Seems”. You can check the remastered version below.

About Duet Emmo

Duet Emmo was a notable collaboration formed in 1982, comprising Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis, both members of Wire and Dome, and Daniel Miller, the founder of Mute Records and a member of The Normal. The name “Duet Emmo” is an anagram of “Dome” and “Mute”, reflecting the origins of the members.

Their only album, “Or So It Seems”, was released in 1983 by Mute Records and featured a unique blend of the abstract, minimal textures of Gilbert and Lewis, and the rigid, song-based electronics of Miller. This combination promised an engaging hybrid of styles. The title track of the album was also released as a 12″ single, and its B-side, “Heart of Hearts”, was included as a bonus track in CD releases of the album.

First reactions on death Andy Fletcher (Depeche Mode) from former colleagues and friends

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Fri, 27 May 2022 10:48:35 +0000

The sudden death of Andy Fletcher yesterday has – as predicted – caused a big shockwave throughout the electro pop community. Several former colleagues and people close to the band have in the meantime posted condolences.

We picked the most relevant ones.

Alison Moyet was one of the first to react: “I have just heard the news. Since we were 10. Same estate. Class mates to label mates. He who kept faith with all the old gang and they with him. It doesn’t compute. Fletch. I have no words.”

Andy Bell and Vince Clarke from Erasure posted a picture of Andy Fletcher with as text an emoji of a broken heart.

Fletcher’s former Depeche Mode colleague Alan Wilder (Recoil) posted this: “A real bolt from the blue to hear about former Depeche Mode colleague Andy Fletcher yesterday. My thoughts and condolences are with his wife Grainne and all the family at this distressing time. RIP ‘Fletch’.”

Mute and Daniel Miller: “We mourn the loss of our dear friend Andrew Fletcher who passed away yesterday. Such an integral part of Depeche Mode from the very start of their remarkable journey, he will be missed beyond words. Our hearts go out to his family, Dave and Martin and to all the wonderful fans and friends who loved him. With love from Daniel and his entire Mute family.”

Phil Burdett who used to form a band, Norman & The Worms, with Martin Gore and who went to the same school as Fletcher posted the following: “So very sad to learn of the passing of Andy Fletcher my old school pal & eventual member of Depeche Mode. Whilst I have never been a fan of the band I have many good memories of the times at the end of my fourth/fifth form at St. Nicholas & he was an integral part of a very fertile period in Basildon at that time & somehow when contemporary friends are lost the sadness felt is made more vivid. He used to come & see me & Martin play at Norman & The Worms gigs & I always thought it odd that he was positioned in between us in this photo…out of all three in the picture two thought they would make it big…couldn’t have happened to a nicer chap…RIP Fletch…”

Deb Danahay who was very close to the band during its earliest history posted the following: “I’m still in shock… Andy never took drugs or even hard alcohol… he just loved a pint or two of lager with the boys… He never learned how to drive. He’d get the train back to Basildon to meet up with his old mates… he was a fiercely loyal friend… Something I’d love to tell devotees… that they’d travelled the same route on the same trains… I was at a DM event in Berlin with Gareth Jones and someone asked what Andy brought to the recording sessions, Gareth Jones was adamant that Fletch brought the whole process together…”

Orchestral Manoeuvres: “Tonight we are celebrating selling out The Greek Theatre in LA but it will be touched by a great sadness as all of us say farewell to Andy Fletcher from Depeche Mode. A beautiful person in an amazing band. We send alll our love to his family.”

Jurgen Engler: “Crazy news… R.I.P. Andy Fletcher… we hung out in Dusseldorf way back in the 80s on DM’s Some Great Reward tour… the band had invited me to meet them after the show… he was such a nice guy, easy going and curious… it’s hard to believe he left so young… I know the world won’t forget him 🖤”

Pet Shop Boys: “We’re saddened and shocked that Andy Fletcher of Depeche Mode has died. Fletch was a warm, friendly and funny person who loved electronic music and could also give sensible advice about the music business. Our sincere condolences to his family and friends and to Dave Gahan and Martin Gore. Neil & Chris xx”

Blancmange: “Very sad news. I have great memories of times we shared all those decades ago. On tour I never won a single game of chess against him. Before either of us signed record deals we both worked at London Bridge. me under that railway arch as a graphic designer and he in a suit, at a solicitors I think, or may be an accountants. I’d quite often bump into him, each of us doing a double take to process the sight of each other not standing on some tiny stage next to synths and tape machines.
A lovely man. A gentleman.”

Soft Cell: “We are so sad to hear about the passing of Andy Fletcher. Depeche Mode and Soft Cell will forever be part of each other’s early histories and genre-defining the early 80’s. What a band, and what a success story. We send our love to Dave, Martin, Daniel and all the Depeche Mode team.”

New Order: “We are saddened to hear of Andy Fletcher’s passing. Our thoughts are with Depeche Mode, their crew, his family and friends at this difficult time.”

This article will constantly be adapted with new quotes.

For more on Depeche Mode, see DJ 7rym releases 2hr long Depeche Mode mix honouring Andrew Fletcher… on Side-Line.

About Depeche Mode

Depeche Mode was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 7 November 2020. Andy Fletcher died on 26 May 2022, and Gahan and Gore continued as a duo, releasing “Memento Mori” in 2023 with Eigner and Gordeno again on the road. The band has sold more than 100 million records and placed 54 singles on the UK charts. Fletcher had been a member since the band’s 1980 formation, and his death left Gahan and Gore to continue as a duo.

Cult trio project Duet Emmo gets its ‘Or so it seems’ album reissued in a remastered version

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Thu, 26 May 2022 11:24:08 +0000

(Photo by Angela Conway) Duet Emmo was a project that emerged in 1982, and it consisted of Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis (in a hiatus in the trajectory of the group Wire of which they were part) together with Daniel Miller. The name Duet Emmo is actually an anagram of the words Mute and Dome. Dome was the band Graham Lewis and Bruce Gilbert had started in 1980 (originally under the name Cupol) which published a couple of albums.

So how did these three musicians end up together? All three had been friends for a long time as they had all been using Blackwing Studios sharing the same engineer, Eric Radcliffe. An initial project had been suggested in 1980 but the success of Depeche Mode and Yazoo had kept Miller busy until the end of 1982.

Duet Emmo released the – excellent – album “Or So It Seems” in 1983, from which the single of the same name was released. The original 8-track album was recorded in the periods between Boxing Day and New Year’s Day in ’81 and ’82 with legendary engineer Eric Radcliffe at their favoured studio, Blackwing in London. The album’s artwork was a collage by the Brothers Quay redesigned by Bart van Damme. Later, Gilbert and Lewis returned to Wire, while Miller ultimately pursued a career as a producer through Mute.

Coming up now on August 19th is the long-awaited remastered release of the 1983 album “Or So It Seems” on double vinyl, CD and digitally. The reissue has been recently remastered from the original analogue tapes by Stefan Betke and the double vinyl also includes the 8-minute re-mixed 12” b-side version of the title track, “Heart of Hearts (Or So It Seems)” which previously was only available on CD.

Listen to the title track right below.

Here’s how the release will look like.

I Start Counting release two albums of rare tracks and demos from 1985 and 1986

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Tue, 25 Jan 2022 15:57:07 +0000

I Start Counting announce the CD and digital release of two albums of rare tracks and demos from 1985 and 1986. “Re-fused” and “Ejected” will be out March 25 via Mute Records. Previously only available on (sold out) cassette for the 2021 Independent Label Market in London, the albums compile unreleased tracks and demos recorded in 1985 and 1986 for their albums “My Translucent Hands” (1986) and “Fused” (1988).

About I Start Counting

I Start Counting are David Baker and Simon Leonard. The duo formed in 1982 and signed to Mute in 1984, although their history with the label started much earlier when Simon Leonard jumped on stage in 1979 to break up a tussle between Daniel Miller and Robert Rental at a Paris performance of The Normal & Robert Rental.

I Start Counting’s first singles, “Letters to a Friend” and “Still Smiling”, were both produced by Miller and preceded two album releases, “My Translucent Hands” (1986) and “Fused” (1989). By the beginning of the ‘90s, Baker and Leonard had become Fortran 5 and released three albums for the label before reincarnating in 1996 as Komputer, the name they continue to record under.

Check out these two tracks from the releases, “Million Headed Monster” and “Talk About The Weather”.

Thomas Leer and Robert Rental ‘From The Port To The Bridge’ exhibition launch with Daniel Miller on 21 January

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 15:55:20 +0000

Coinciding with the reissue of “The Bridge” on 8 April 2022 is a Thomas Leer and Robert Rental ‘From The Port To The Bridge’ exhibition launch with Daniel Miller on 21 January. The exhibition takes place at the Horse Hospital in London from 21 January till 10 February.

Limited tickets are available – to attend, please book here – and are free, but a donation towards The Horse Hospital would be appreciated. Tickets to view the exhibition are available throughout the day, for tickets to the Private View Launch Event, book for 6pm.

On 21 January Simon Dell (music archivist and curator of ‘The Port To The Bridge’ exhibition) will host a talk and Q&A with Mute owner and founder Daniel Miller, discussing his friendship with Robert Rental, their work together and his recollections of the UK around the time of the recording and release of “The Bridge”. They’ll also discuss the legacy of these important works and their impact on electronic music in the current era. In addition, a new filmed interview with Thomas Leer is showing for the first time. The talk and Q&A is at 7pm.

Out via The Grey Area, the reissue of Thomas Leer and Robert Rental’s 1979 album, “The Bridge”, will be out on a limited edition white vinyl for the first time since its original release, and on CD for the first time since The Grey Area of Mute’s release 30 years ago. Recorded at Rental’s home over two intense weeks using equipment provided by Throbbing Gristle (with only rudimentary explanation of how to use it), their groundbreaking album was cited by a number of electronic musicians at the time as being of a big incluence, including John Foxx, Matt Johnson (The The) and ABC.

This is the opening track, “Attack Delay”.

Thomas Leer And Robert Rental get reissue of ‘The Bridge’ on vinyl via The Grey Area (Mute)

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 13:02:14 +0000

(Photo by Chris Carter) Out on 28 January 2022 via The Grey Area (Mute) is the reissue of the 1979 album “The Bridge” by Thomas Leer And Robert Rental. This new reissue will be available on limited edition white vinyl and CD, both featuring new sleevenotes.

The reissue of Leer and Rental’s sole collaboration will coincide with “From The Port To The Bridge”, an exhibition detailing the duo’s work and legacy, due to run at The Horse Hospital in London from 21 January through to 10 February 2022.

Discovered by Throbbing Gristle

Thomas Leer and Robert Rental, both from Port Glasgow in Scotland, were at the vanguard of a DIY electronic scene that went on to influence and inform the 80s synth-pop movement. After self-releasing two solo 7” singles, they came to the attention of Throbbing Gristle and signed to their label, Industrial Records. Their one and only collaboration, “The Bridge”, was originally released in 1979, the first non-TG / associated release for the label.

Recorded at Rental’s home over two intense weeks using equipment provided by Throbbing Gristle (with only rudimentary explanation of how to use it), their album was cited by a number of electronic musicians at the time, including John Foxx, Matt Johnson (The The) and ABC.

Listen to “Monochrome Days”.

The late Robert Rental retired from the music industry

Robert Rental (who sadly died in 2000), went on to collaborate with The Normal – Daniel Miller and Rental’s live album, “Live at West Runton Pavilion, 6-3-79”, was released in 1980 by Rough Trade. Rental also released a single on Mute, “Double Heart” / “On Location” in 1980 and produced music for the Comic Strip’s “A Fistful of Traveller’s Cheques”, before retiring from the industry.

Thomas Leer continued to release music

Thomas Leer went on to release albums on Cherry Red and Arista, formed Act with Claudia Brücken (formerly of Propaganda) in the late 80s who released on Trevor Horn’s ZTT label. After a hiatus, he re-emerged with a series of releases from 2001, and currently lives in Greenock.

About The Grey Area

The Grey Area was founded in 1990 to restore and reissue albums by important and influential artists, initiated by catalogue deals between Mute and Throbbing Gristle, Can and Cabaret Voltaire.

The label went on to be the home for the catalogues of DAF, Virgin Prunes, SPK, Swell Maps, Dome, The Radiophonic Workshop and The Hafler Trio as well as key early works by Wire, Buzzcocks and Einstürzende Neubauten.

Dormant for a few years during the 2000s, The Grey Area emerged again quietly in 2013 with the re-release of Cabaret Voltaire’s Virgin period work, Richard H. Kirk’s solo work, the Sandoz catalogue and a new agreement with Throbbing Gristle.

Depeche Mode to re-release the concert film ‘101’ in a Blu-Ray and deluxe edition – get it now

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 17:38:39 +0000

Out on December 03 is a Blu-Ray edition, as well as a double DVD and deluxe version from Depeche Mode’s live concert film “101”. The concert featured was the final show of the “Music For The Masses” world tour recorded at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, on June 18, 1988. That’s 33 years ago… time flies!

The documentary, co-directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus included the winners of a contest who won an appearance in the Depeche Mode film.

The deluxe edition comes in a new HD edition based on 4K scans of the original film reels. The Blu-Ray includes 3 unreleased bonus performances of “A Question of Lust”, “Sacred” and “Something To Do”, as well as the official promotional video for “Everything Counts”.

And that’s not all, the set comes accompanied by a 48-page behind-the-scenes photo book featuring never-before-seen footage; a replica of the original American cinema poster (20 “x 30”); a 16-page book with the photos of Anton Corbijn, as included in the original version of the album; a double CD of the original concert version with 20 tracks from the concert and a download card giving access to 4K downloads of the movie and bonus performances, as well as 24-bit audio files from the live recording.

Although the Blu-Ray and DVD will have 5.1 mixes, there is no sign of audio-only surround sound as we got on the SACD in 2004. A standalone Blu-Ray and a two-DVD sets will also be available. Alos, included are interviews with Dave Gahan, Andy Fletcher, Martin Gore, Daniel Miller and Jonathan Kessler, but none with Alan Wilder. Rather weird…

Here’s a glimpse of what to expect.

Side-Line also covered Depeche Mode’s ‘All Too Familiar’.

New DAF album ‘Nur Noch Einer’ to be released

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 15 Sep 2021 13:05:27 +0000

Out soon via Grönland Records is the new release “Nur Noch Einer” by Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft (DAF).

On vocals we find Robert Görl, as Gabi Delgado died in March 2020 just when Görl and Delgado had reunited to record a new album aided by producer Sylvie Marks. Sound wise this album features a lot of the band’s unfinished 80s sequences which Görl found on old tapes and used for this release. After the death of Delgado, Görl started writing and recording the lyrics.

The album holds 15 tracks and will be released on November 26th on CD and vinyl.

Track listing

Erste DAF Probe
Im Schatten
Kunststoff
Wir Sind Wild
Das Pur Pur Rot
Gedanken Lesen
Du Bist So Zart
Ein Kind Aus Dem Ratinger Hof
Loslassen
Neue Welt
Kein Ausweg
Es Muss Ans Licht
Holland Road
Das Geschenk
Nur Noch Einer

About Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft

Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft or DAF, was an influential German electropunk/Neue Deutsche Welle band from Düsseldorf, formed in 1978 featuring Gabriel Delgado-López (vocals), Robert Görl (drums, percussion, electronic instruments), Kurt Dahlke (electronic instruments), Michael Kemner (bass-guitar) and Wolfgang Spelmans (guitar). Kurt Dahlke was replaced by Chrislo Haas (electronic instruments, bass guitar, saxophone) in 1979. Since 1981, the band has consisted of Delgado-López and Görl.

Their first album, “Ein Produkt der Deutsch-Amerikanischen Freundschaft”, was released in 1979 on Dahlke’s Ata Tak label (then called Warning). The album was 22 improvised untitled instrumentals, Delgado having temporarily left the band at the time.

The band then moved to London, met Daniel Miller and signed to Mute Records. DAF recorded “Die Kleinen und die Bösen” for Mute, one side held studio material and most of the other side of the album were live recordings. DAF then shrank to just Delgado and Görl, and the duo signed to Virgin Records where they released “Alles ist gut” which became their breakthrough album.

The next two albums, “Gold und Liebe” and “Für Immer” followed by by then the band had reached its limits and they split during the recording of “Für immer”. Delgado and Görl reunited in 1985 to record “1st Step to Heaven”, their only album in English.

When DAF reformed for the 2003 album “Fünfzehn neue D.A.F.-Lieder” their style had shifted to a fusion of the classic Plank-produced DAF sound with elements taken from Robert’s techno work. The band prepared more music, but split before they could make another album. In 2010, the band returned with a new single “Du bist DAF”, limited to 2010 copies. The band announced its 5th split in January 2015, with another farewell tour.

Retro-futurist homage to Wendy Carlos on new Jean-Marc Lederman album ‘The Bad-Tempered Synthesizer’ with sleeve notes by Daniel Miller (Mute Records)

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Tue, 20 Jul 2021 14:56:06 +0000

Jean-Marc Lederman has recorded a retro-futurist homage to an iconic 1969 album by Wendy Carlos: “The Bad-Tempered Synthesizer”. The physical release holds a rather interesting 21x21cm 3D cover which you can check out below. The album features 12 tracks, all original except the last one, “that one is by some random guy called JS Bach or something” says Jean-Marc Lederman. Daniel Miller (from Mute Records) has also penned the sleeve notes.

We asked Jean-Marc what is behind the concept: “”The Bad Tempered Synthesizer” idea came after seeing the sleeve of the iconic 1969 Wendy Carlos album called “The Well Tempered Synthesizer”. I began to think about it and came with a concept that was both funny and interesting to me: how about making an album where every song would be one semitone and 4 bpm less than the previous one? That meant starting from C at 92 bpm and finishing at C# nearly one octave lower and at 48 bpm…Intriguing, no?”

Lederman also re-created the artwork as you can see below, but there is more…

The release is out as a download and as a physical release via Bandcamp, the later is holding the below 3D print.

You can check the full album below.

The Bad Tempered Synthesizer by Jean-Marc Lederman

Side-Line also covered Jean-Marc Lederman’s ‘Night music for seahorses and manatees’.

I Start Counting gets two limited edition cassette releases, “Re-Fused” and “Ejected”, via Mute Records

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 15:32:24 +0000

I Start Counting will release two limited edition cassette releases of demos from 1985 and 1986. The cassettes, limited to 150 and signed by the duo, will be exclusively available from Mute at the 10th Anniversary Independent Label Market on Sunday 18 July at London’s Covent Garden, before they’re available from Mute Bank and Bandcamp from 3 September 2021.

I Start Counting are David Baker and Simon Leonard. The duo formed in 1982 and signed to Mute in 1984. Their first singles, “Letters to a Friend” and “Still Smiling”, were both produced by Daniel Miller and preceded two album releases, “My Translucent Hands” (1986) and “Fused” (1989). By the beginning of the 90s, Baker and Leonard had become Fortran 5, releasing three albums for the label, before reincarnating in 1996 as Komputer, the name they continue to record under.

These cassette releases collate a selection of demos of songs from 1985 and 1986 respectively, some of the songs have never been heard before, others went on to be recorded and released.

Here’s an idea what to expect with the track “Talk About The Weather”.

Chris Liebing offers yet another track from his forthcoming album ‘Another Day’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 16:52:14 +0000

(Photo by Edith Bergfors) Chris Liebing has shared the latest track to be taken from his forthcoming album, “Another Day”, due out November 19 on Mute: “Something Half Way”. “Another Day” will be available on double clear vinyl and CD – both with a silver finish and 16-page booklet – as well as digital platforms.

The new album launched last month with “Whispers and Wires” featuring Ladan – formerly known as Cold Specks – and was followed by a club remix of the track. The club mix was first in a series by Liebing powered by Beatport in collaboration with Microsoft Surface for Game Changers.

Watch the documentary featuring Liebing and Mute’s founder Daniel Miller right below.

“Another Day” sees Liebing once again collaborating with a wide range of artists, including several who were involved with his 2018 album “Burn Slow”: Miles Cooper Seaton (in one of his last performances following his passing earlier this year),Polly Scattergood, and the duo Ralf Hildenbeutel and Ladan on production. Tom Adams and Maria Uzor (Sink Ya Teeth) are new collaborators for Liebing.

Here’s the official video for “Something Half Way”.

Chris Liebing presents first track from new album, ‘Another Day’, feat. Miles Cooper Seaton, Tom Adams, Maria Uzor, Polly Scattergood and Ladan (formerly known as Cold Specks)

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 12 May 2021 04:55:00 +0000

(Photo by Edith Bergfors at Studio Bergfors) Chris Liebing has announced details of a new album, “Another Day”, set for release on Mute on 19 November 2021. The new album will be available on double clear vinyl and CD, both with a silver finish and 16-page booklet, as well as digitally.

“Another Day” is the follow up to his 2018 debut for Mute, “Burn Slow” and launches with “Whispers and Wires” featuring Ladan (formerly known as Cold Specks) on vocals. Watch the video, directed by Edith & Anna Bergfors at StudioBergfors.

“Another Day” sees Liebing collaborating with a wide range of artists, including several who were involved with “Burn Slow”. Miles Cooper Seaton, in one of his last performances following his sad and untimely passing earlier this year, and Polly Scattergood lend vocals to a track each, while Ralf Hildenbeutel returns to produce. Ladan (formerly known as Cold Specks), Tom Adams and Maria Uzor (Sink Ya Teeth) are new collaborators for Liebing. Also Mute’s Daniel Miller contributed to the project: “Daniel’s input was just incredible, he brought his modular setup in our studio and he added this extra flavour.”

About Chris Liebing

Chris Liebing is a German techno DJ, music producer, radio host and founder of the record label CLR.

In the early 1990s, Liebing became active on the Frankfurt dance music scene where he also opened the Spinclub techno club in 1994. He furthermore worked at Eye Q Records in Frankfurt and formed his first label, Audio in 1996, which was followed in 1999 by CLR.

In 2004, he released the philosophy-themed Evolution, which took two years to make. In 2005, he worked with Speedy J on the “Collabs 3000: Metalism” album, released by Novamute. In 2009, he launched the CLR Podcast, which was made available every Monday via iTunes and CLR’s own website. The podcast was voiced by Liebing and featured guest mixes from a wide variety of techno DJs. Amongst the more notable guests was Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore. The podcast ran weekly until 2015 when the 315th and final episode was broadcast. It was replaced by a new weekly podcast entitled am/fm, which features only mixes and live recordings by Chris Liebing himself.

In 2018, Liebing launched his first album in eight years, “Burn Slow”, on Mute Records. The album included vocal contributions from artists such as Gary Newman and Polly Scattergood.

Mute-founder Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones reveal new track from joined Sunroof project’s debut album

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 15:29:48 +0000

(Photos by Diane Zillmer & Gareth Jones) Out May 21 via the newly revived Parallel Series of Mute is the debut album by Sunroof (aka Daniel Miller & Gareth Jones), “Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 1”.

The new album, their first after four decades of friendship and collaboration, is a collection of eight improvised modular pieces recorded as live in various studio spaces across London. “Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 1” will be available on limited edition clear vinyl, CD, and digital platforms.

You can listen to “1.2 30.5.19” right below.

Check also the previously released “1.1-7.5.19”.

About Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones

Daniel Miller (founder of Mute) met Gareth Jones back when Miller asked Jones to work with him in late 1982 on what became Depeche Mode’s “Construction Time Again”. After the band had gone home for the day, they would stay to work on their own sessions. That practice continued and, by the mid-nineties, Sunroof had emerged as remix project reworking the likes of Can, MGMT, To Rococo Rot, Kreidler and Goldfrapp, and appeared on a compilation paying tribute to Neu!.

Back in 2019, Miller and Jones were heading to a György Ligeti concert at the Barbican and beforehand – as they often do when together in the same city – the pair spent a couple of hours improvising with modular systems. Unusually, this time they decided to record the session and, over a pre-concert meal, Gareth asked a question that seems logical after all these years: “Are we actually going to make a record together before we die?”

The following day, they set themselves some rules: “We decided to get together to do a bunch of improvisations,” explains Gareth. “We said we’d work in a number of different physical spaces but always together, in the same room. We were keen to do shorter pieces because we were both very inspired by Chris Carter and Martin Gore’s electronic music projects, where the pieces were very concise and compact.”

Key to their manifesto was a distinction between an improvisation and a jam session. “With modular systems, you can just go on and on forever and never actually complete anything. Sometimes that’s okay – part of the joy of a modular is that you can just keep going indefinitely. But with this we were keen to actually finish something, so setting that timeframe became a really important rule for us,” adds Daniel.

Tracklisting

This will be the tracklisting of the tracks on “Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 1”.

1.1 – 7.5.19
1.2 – 30.5.19
1.3 – 30.5.19
1.4 – 18.6.19
1.5 – 9.7.19
1.6 – 7.5.19
1.7 – 30.5.19
1.8 – 2.3.19

Gareth Jones interview: ‘Go the whole journey with me and listen to the LP’

János Janurik — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 18:25:39 +0000

(Interview by János Janurik) About a year ago, I had the honour to ask Gareth Jones about his studio work on Erasure’s legendary “Wild!” album. Back then he mentioned his upcoming solo electronic music project. The long wait is finally over. The studio magician’s long-awaited debut album will be released on the 18th September. On that occasion, I asked him my questions again.

SL: In our last conversation last year, you summarized your memories of working on Erasure’s “Wild!” album. The Erasure guys have just released their new album “The Neon”. At the online launch party they also mentioned your name concerning a new remix to “Nerves Of Steel”. Could you please tell us a few words about this project?

GJ: Andy had an idea for an approach to a remix, and I was delighted to help him realise that idea. It is a mix full of respect. It’s an homage in fact. I love Andy and Vince. It’s family. It’s always amazing to work with them, so I jumped at the chance to collaborate on this remix. I also created a second ElectroGenetic remix, which is a different kind of thing. Darker perhaps.

SL: When we run back over the past and take a look at your massive CV, we can see that you have been active in the music biz for four decades. You were the sound engineer on John Foxx’s cult debut album from 1980. Do you remember how you got your first studio job?

GJ: A musician and record producer called Mike Finesilver owned a small 8 track studio in Newington Green called Pathway. He generously gave me a chance to work in his studio. Thank you Mike! I’m forever grateful.

SL: Your name is closely linked to the Hansa Studios in Berlin where you experimented with recording atmospheres and the method of sampling. In 2018 the film “By The Wall” was screened, which narrated as a kind of documentation what had happened musically in the Hansa Studios between 1976 and 1990. What are your most noteworthy experiences about these legendary Hansa times?

GJ: So many great musicians from whom I learned so much. Diamanda Galás, Depeche Mode, Einstürzende Neubauten, Adrian Sherwood, Ideal, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Conny Plank, Roma Baran, Daniel Miller, Fad Gadget, Palais Schaumburg, Wire, Holger Hiller, Crime and the City Solution. These are my teachers.

SL: Through your work with Depeche Mode, Erasure, Einstürzende Neubauten, and also with Nick Cave you have made a name for yourself among music producers. But your portfolio also includes younger artists and bands like Apparat, Wovoka Gentle, Compact Disk Dummies, and Polly Scattergood. Do you receive these requests for joint work directly from the newer generation of musicians? I mean, do they know you and your previous work well? And vice versa, do you have your finger on the pulse of contemporary pop music? Could you name some new pop artists who you think are exciting enough?

GJ: I do get approached directly and many of the younger generation know some of the amazing musicians I have worked with in the past. I don’t have my finger on the pulse. I’m a drifter. A feather on the breath of God.

SL: When I got the news about your solo album, I immediately got interested. I belong to the generation that not only appreciates albums of their favourite bands, but also the work of those who work in the production background. So you’ve always been a hero of mine. As I said, I was curious how this personal work would sound from you. How long have you been working on this album? What was the main motivation behind its creation?

GJ: I made a commitment to myself to complete an album in the year 2019. This personal contract with myself helped me to cross the finish line. I’ve been working on the album for 50 years. The motivation was not to let myself down.

SL: To what extent was this work different from your previous studio works on the albums of different artists? How did it feel for the first time being your own boss and that having an opportunity to realize your own ideas without compromise?

GJ: I really enjoy working with collaborators. And getting hired to work for other artists. One of the great things about it is that the person you are working with always inspires you and pushes you forward. My ELECTROGENETIC project is a solo work, so I was stuck alone with myself (and my dreams and fantasies) and this meant that I had to inspire and encourage myself. Not always easy. I learnt a lot about the creative process, the joy and pain of commitment, and had to negotiate intensively with my inner critic in order to get anything done. Also, I acquired an even deeper understanding of the challenges that so many of my dear friends and colleagues have been through over the years in making their own music and art.

SL: The album title “Electrogenetic” can have several meanings. Through creation we, humans, are similar to God – at least for a certain period of time. I thought of something spiritual when I had a first look at the album cover. What about you? What were you trying to say with it? What`s behind the title and the cover?

GJ: With the title I am trying to express my feelings about the generative power of modular electronic synthesiser patches. Often, when working with modular synthesisers, we build a patch and it offers something beyond what we could imagine or expect. This certainly happens for me often and it is part of the deep power of the modular synth creative process. So in a sense the electronics give birth to the music, and I am a kind of midwife, a birth father to the process. I am trying to emphasise and echo this process in my choice of name: ELECTROGENETIC.

The ankh and the wedding ring in the photograph on the cover hang of a lamp over my desk where I write my journal and create music at home, so I see them every day and when I took a series of photographs of these powerful symbols I realised I had my album cover right there. The wedding ring was my father’s. The font that I use for ELECTROGENETIC is from an old fashion stencil that I found in the basement of my father-in-law’s house. I love the dirty analogue outlines of the font – it enhances and reflects my aesthetic and music.

SL: When I first listened to the album, I immediately got a “this is the kind of atmospheric electronic music with goose-skin effect I’ve long missed” thought. Everything is very poetic and the listener is immediately tied up. Where did your ideas, themes and musical expression come from to this work?

GJ: This is my first solo LP, so it probably contains images and feelings from my entire life, and it is inspired by everything I have experienced, so that would be a very long list!

The album emerged because I made a commitment to myself to complete a project within that year. I found this to be a very powerful process, the contract with myself. I really wanted to honour that contract and this which drove me forwards to completion, to the finishing line. Also my mother and my mother-in-law had recently died (my father and father-in-law died some years before) so in some way everything changed. This experience distilled into the entire project. In some sense I hope it is a loving Requiem for my parents and all the ancestors, the four billion year chain of life that precedes me.

SL: It’s hard to choose “favourite tracks” from the album because it’s a coherent musical concept, but are there parts of the whole that are of very personal importance to you?

GJ: Every track on my LP connects to every other track. In some sense they’re all important to me, and in another sense it’s “all for nothing“ – supremely important, and completely insignificant at the same time. That’s my life. I hope some listeners will go the whole journey with me and listen to the LP from top to bottom, that is how it is designed to be listened to. And I hope you will enjoy the journey.

SL: The last thing I want to ask is about your collaboration with Daniel Miller under the pseudonym “Sunroof”. Your special performance of the Depeche Mode album “Construction Time Again” 10 years ago in Berlin attracted the attention of Depeche Mode fans. Just as popular are your joint remixes. Are there such works still to be expected from you? And what are your further plans for the near future?

GJ: “Sunroof” goes back many years now and I hope it will extend many years into the future. My musical relationship with Daniel is one of the great important relationships of my life and we have always enjoyed making music together, and I hope we always will. Watch this space!

For more information on ELECTROGENETIC, including Gareth’s notes on each track, visit the album website .

Track list:

The Beginning
Trinity
Mercury
Michigan
Farewell
Goonhilly
Safe Travels
I Believe
Alone Together

You can pre-order / buy the album on Bandcamp.

Electrogenetic by Gareth Jones

A visit at ‘Electronic: from Kraftwerk to The Chemical Brothers’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Sat, 01 Aug 2020 13:37:43 +0000

(Photo & Text by UK correspondent Simon Helm) If you are curating an exhibition on electronic music and design, how do you choose what to leave out?

You need to acknowledge the path from the theremin and experimental devices made by pioneering tinkerers to today’s digital synthesisers. You can’t drop Daphne Oram and early adopters of the Moog.

Subtitling the show, “From Kraftwerk to the Chemical Brothers,“ risks excluding essential artists working outside of those brackets.

Have some sympathy, therefore, for London’s Design Museum in their attempt to select materials for their new show, Electronic. After all, they did obtain a laser harp and build Jean-Michel Jarre’s dream studio. They also collected some awesome hardware, from the Korg MS20 to the Quadrantid Swarm. There is a lot of artwork for fans of Designers Republic and Peter Saville Associates.

The main focus of the show, however, is hinted at in the subtitle. What really lies between Kraftwerk (represented here by a 3D film) and the Chemical Brothers (who appear to have contributed an epilepsy test) is the story of Detroit techno and Chicago house.

“Say nice things about Detroit!” reads a slogan on a wall. By all means, let’s celebrate the Motor City personalities who built its influential techno scene – but for every Depeche Mode record cover there are three objects from DJ Jeff Mills. Better make that four.

First the US, then the UK

In the town where Mute Records was founded, there are only passing signs of the legacy the label’s founder, Daniel Miller, who was just as inspired by the Kling Klang sound as the Detroit/Windsor pioneers. There is part of a Synclavier – as used by Miller on many early Mute releases – in the hardware section, and there are smatterings of Mute artists included in the show; but, in Electronic, the UK’s main innovators play second fiddle to the US club scenes.

That just highlights the challenge of curating a show on electronic music. There is so much of it about, and pulling on any thread leads to another. Anyway, Mute has Kraftwerk and New Order, these days, and they feature prominently. The Chemicals presented Bernard Sumner with a lifetime achievement award a few months ago, so everything converges in the end.

The design elements have been organized to coincide with the sounds. Richie Hawtin (Plastikman) appears in a video. Underworld have a significant display of their cover art. Flyers, club membership cards, fashion and dance performances inspired by the music are carefully set out to capture the feelings of different scenes. The masks used in Aphex Twin’s “Window Licker” video are there behind glass.

There is less to look at for fans of Fad Gadget, Silicon Teens, Laurie Anderson or OMD. Stock, Aitken & Waterman, Front 242, Rational Youth, Skinny Puppy and a small army of influential disco producers could have used more attention, too. But, if the beats of underground techno are your thing, then there is Philip Topolovac’s scale model of Berghain, along with plenty of record covers and photographs, to look at. There are also dramatic light works to draw your attention and induce grand mal seizures.

Luckily there’s the gift shop

The balance is restored slightly in the gift shop. Merchandise includes books on Mute’s visual history, Kraftwerk (with Uwe Schütte’sexcellent book on prominent display), and the story of rave culture. In the vinyl record section, New Order are represented by Movement – their least club-friendly album, but also the launching pad for their turn towards dance music.

It is just a reminder that, as fascinating as many of the exhibits are at the Design Museum, the best story of electronic music is always going to be the one that is told by your own record collection.

What to expect visually?

Event details

Electronic: from Kraftwerk to The Chemical Brothers
Where: Design Museum, London
When: On from 31 July 2020 to 14 February 2021 (advance booking essential)

Swans to release ‘Where Does A Body End?’ DVD, Blu-ray, and deluxe Blu-ray on September 11th

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 17:18:13 +0000

Out in September is “Where Does a Body End?”, an intimate portrait of the band Swans, from their roots as a brutal, confrontational post-punk band that emerged from the same early 1980s era NYC that gave us Sonic Youth (and, somehow, Madonna) through their ill-fated bid at mainstream success in the 90s indie-rock gold rush. You’ll also get a glimpse of the breakups and chaos (on and offstage), in short the whole package.

For this concert film the editor waded through hundreds of hours of Swans (and singer-songwriter Michael Gira’s) archives of never-seen-before recordings, videos, and photographs. “Where Does A Body End?” has enjoyed festival success around the world from Chicago Underground Film Festival, Doc N Roll Festival (London and several other UK cities), Cinemateket Music Film Festival (Copenhagen), In: Edit Festival (Barcelona), Taoyuan Film Festival (Taiwan), Pop Kultur (Berlin), Sydney Underground Film Festival, Dok Station Film Festival (Bucharest), LUFF Lausanne Underground Film Festival (Switzerland) and many others.

The cast for this concert film includes: Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth), Jehnny Beth (Savages), JG Thirlwell (Foetus), Blixa Bargeld (Einstürzende Neubauten), Karen O (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Kid Congo Powers (The Cramps / The Gun Club), Jim Sclavunos (The Bad Seeds), Daniel Miller (Mute Records), Steve Von Till (Neurosis), Dana Schechter (Angels Of Light), Devendra Banhart, Anna Von Hausswolff, Amanda Palmer, Ben Frost and Martin Bisi.

Below is a preview.

Laibach releases ‘Bremenmarsch – Live at Schlachthof 12.10.1987’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 12:45:07 +0000

In 1987 Laibach signed a long-term contract with Daniel Miller’s London Mute Label and had finally found their musical home. Mute released “Opus Dei” which would put the band for good on the musical map. On 12th October 1987 Laibach made a stop at the Bremen Schlachthof where they recorded the live album “Bremermarsch”. It’s that radio broadcast recording which is now released 33 years later. For the occasion Laibach edited the old original recordings and digitally mastered them in their studio.

Bootleg copies of this release have been floating around for years, but nothing beats the sound you’ll be able to hear on this album which will be out in late August.

Laibach was founded on 1st June 1980 in the then heavy industrial Yugoslavian town of Trbovlje (today a city in central Slovenia)and took their name after the German designation of the Slovenian capital Ljubljana which was undesirable in Yugoslavia during the Tito’s and post-Tito era. In 1982 the group played its first concerts in Ljubljana, Zagreb and Belgrade on their “Tour of the Three Capitals”. On 23rd June 1983, Laibach appeared for the first time on Slovenian television in the political program TV Tednik. The band’s provocative performance led to a ban on the name and a ban on performing in Yugoslavia until 1987.

Below is a visual from the 1987 show in Bremen, Germany.

Side-Line also covered Laibach’s ‘Ich will ein Deutscher sein’.

Electronica duo Komputer reboot for London show

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Tue, 05 Nov 2019 18:27:02 +0000

Komputer, the Mute artists who joined the influential label in 1984 as I Start Counting, are rebooting for a live show in London.

Komputer will appear at TEC 006 together with the Queen of hard dance music, Rein (SE), and IMI (UK). Co-sponsored by Cold War Night Life and The Electricity Club, TEC 006 is the latest in a series of curated music events showcasing the best of current poptronica. It takes place at Electrowerkz, Torrens St EC1, London, on the 30th of November, 2019.

Tickets are available right here.

The chameleons of electronic music

The duo of Simon Leonard and Dave Baker developed a quirky, infectious style of poptronica that captured the imagination of label boss, Daniel Miller. He used his Synclavier to produce their first singles, “Letters to a Friend” and “Still Smiling”, which became classics of detuned, minor key pop.

Like Depeche Mode, who had just started to break into the US market with the harmonies of “People Are People”, I Start Counting’s style grew from experimental roots. Sampling technology gave them the opportunity to expand their sonic palette, but they avoided the trap of reproducing the sounds of other acts. They instead, recrafted sounds into sparkling, underground hits.

As their music developed, becoming more focused on the dancefloor, they evolved into Fortran 5. Shedding the skin of I Start Counting gave the duo relative anonymity in the emerging rave and acid house scenes, and they made a mark with groovy tracks like “Look to the Future” and “Persian Blues”. As Britpop consumed the rave scene, Baker and Leonard decided that it was time for another change.

If Oasis could ape The Beatles, then they could certainly make songs in the image of their own makers: Kraftwerk. Komputer was born with a sound that developed on the heritage of the German electronic pioneers. The project kept the duo’s sense of whimsy intact, and they drew from inspirations as diverse as the walking trail from Archway to Alexandra Palace (“Looking Down on London”) and the first woman in space (“Valentina Tereshkova”).

The band toured with Erasure and provided a remix of their hit, “Victim of Love”. Blancmange (“Cruel”) and Metroland (“Enjoying the View”) have also been reworked by Komputer.

Depeche Mode and the railway arch

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Mon, 16 Sep 2019 14:14:59 +0000

(By our UK correspondent Simon Helm) When Depeche Mode recorded Construction Time Again, they left the studio in order to find sounds for sampling. Armed with producer Gareth Jones’ Sony Professional Walkman, they roamed through East London construction sites in search of metal to strike.

In the recent documentary, Hansa Studios: By the Wall 1976-90, Jones returns to the location the band used for a lot of their field recordings. In an archway leading from a dead-end street to a set of stairs, covered in graffiti, he rattles metal panels and explains the simple methods used to generate the sounds brought back to nearby Garden Studios.

Daniel Miller’s Synclavier, which had been brought into the studio, had sampling capabilities, as did the band’s E-MU Emulator I. The band had the tools to play with found sounds, and they took inspiration from an Einsteurzende Neubauten concert to combine industrial noise with pop. This approach also added some grit to their sound: as Martin Gore explains in the Hansa Studios documentary, their field trips sometimes attracted the attention of workers or watchmen, one of whose “Oi!” cries became part of their set.

The Pedley Street Arch, as the location is known, currently sits under the London Overground railway in the E1 post code. It sometimes appears on maps as Fleet Street Hill, part of the Bethnal Green district. In the past, it was slum area, and it still has not been properly gentrified, despite the hipsters partying on a nearby allotment.

Because it is relatively unused and has an oppressive feel, the location has been used in many TV shows and films, including Luther and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Thanks to Jones, we now know that Depeche Mode got there first, kicking at corrugated steel and worrying watchmen to make “Pipeline.”

Side-Line also covered Depeche Mode’s ‘Spirits in the Forest’.

The Normal returns on Mute Records after 40 years of silence… with more silence

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 09:39:49 +0000

Earlier this year, in January to be precise, we posted this article “When an April Fools prank becomes reality: ‘STUMM433’ (feat. Laibach, Depeche Mode, …)” describing how Mute would release a box set featuring 50 Mute artists giving their interpretation of John Cage’s silent track “4’33”.

Today, The Normal aka Daniel Miller, has shared his tribute to John Cage’s “4’33””. It will be the first ‘music’ released by The Normal on Mute since the debut 7”. On Mute that is indeed because “Live at West Runton Pavilion”, The Normal’s second release, done with another Mute Records act Robert Rental, was released on Marat Records in Germany as Daniel Miller Robert Rental Live, with a black and white picture sleeve.

But back to 2019. Miller recorded his piece at a site in North London that will be familiar to fans of the label as the site of its foundation: 16 Decoy Avenue. Listen to The Normal’s take on “4’33”” right below.

Daniel Miller: “John Cage’s 4’33” has been present in my musical life for as long as I can remember as an important and inspiring composition. When the idea of every Mute artist doing their own interpretation of the piece came up during a conversation with Simon Fisher Turner, I immediately thought this was the perfect way to mark the label’s MUTE 4.0 (1978 > TOMORROW) series.”

Ironically, last year we had the idea to create an April Fools prank with a fake compilation with a lot of famous musicians covering John Cage 4’33 silent track. We decided not to do it, not sure if most of you would grab the irony.

Which Mute artists are featured in the boxset?

The boxset will feature over 50 Mute artists including A Certain Ratio, A.C. Marias, ADULT., The Afghan Whigs, Alexander Balanescu, Barry Adamson, Ben Frost, Bruce Gilbert, Cabaret Voltaire, Carter Tutti Void, Chris Carter, Chris Liebing, Cold Specks, Daniel Blumberg, Danny Briottet, Depeche Mode, Duet Emmo, Echoboy, Einstürzende Neubauten, Erasure, Fad Gadget, Goldfrapp, He Said, Irmin Schmidt, Josh T. Pearson, K Á R Y Y N, Komputer, Laibach, Land Observations, Lee Ranaldo, Liars, Looper, Lost Under Heaven, Maps, Mark Stewart / Sonskrif / The New Banalist Orchestra, Michael Gira, Mick Harvey, Miranda Sex Garden, Moby, Modey Lemon, Mountaineers, New Order, Nitzer Ebb, NON / Boyd Rice, Nonpareils, The Normal, onDeadWaves, Phew, Pink Grease, Pole, Polly Scattergood, Richard Hawley, ShadowParty, Silicon Teens, Simon Fisher Turner and Edmund de Waal, The Warlocks, Wire, Yann Tiersen and Gareth Jones.

The designers behind the visuals

Contributing designers include Simone Grant who worked with Miller on a lot of the early Mute artwork (The Normal, Fad Gadget and Depeche Mode); Steve Claydon, a member of Add N To (X) who designed for Goldfrapp; Slim Smith, who worked with Mute through the 1980s and 1990s; Malcolm Garrett, who designed the “House of Illustrious” box set for Vince Clarke and Martyn Ware; Tom Hingston, who has worked with Erasure and created the majority of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Grinderman artwork since the early 2000s; and Anton Corbjin, who has worked closely with Mute on many campaigns since the early 1980s, including those of Depeche Mode, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Fad Gadget.

Martin Gore (Depeche Mode) to receive 2019 Moog Innovation Award

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 24 Apr 2019 10:55:30 +0000

Moog Music has announced that Depeche Mode songwriter Martin Gore will receive the 2019 Moog Innovation Award.

Here’s what Moog Music has to say about it:

“Musical pioneer Martin Gore’s masterful electronic meditations on the human condition have illuminated the connection between transformative sound and pure emotion for decades. A founding member of the band Depeche Mode, Gore’s sensual electronic compositions and introspective lyrics have resonated with faithful audiences around the world and impacted the direction of countless visionary artists from Trent Reznor to Johnny Cash.
Gore’s enduring ability to connect the rawest aspects of the human experience to the dance floor defined an era and perpetually reminds us what it means to be human through the emotional power of electronic sound. For his contributions we are honored to name Martin Gore as the recipient of the 2019 Moog Innovation Award.”

Martin Gore will be presented with the award during the Moogfest which takes place on Friday, April 26 at the Carolina Theatre immediately following his keynote conversation with Mute Records founder Daniel Miller. Since 2004, Moogfest has brought together artists, futurist thinkers, inventors, entrepreneurs, designers, engineers, scientists, and musicians. By day, Moogfest is a platform for conversation and experimentation. By night, Moogfest presents cutting-edge music in venues throughout in Durham, North Carolina. Performing artists include early pioneers in electronic music, alongside pop and avant-garde experimentalists of today.

The Moog Innovation Award recognizes artists who have contributed to the exploration of sound in popular music and beyond for the past 50 years, exemplifying the bold, innovative spirit of Bob Moog. Past recipients include visionary artists Gary Numan, Devo, Suzanne Ciani, Brian Eno, Bernie Worrell, synth designers like Herb Deutsch, last year’s recipient Bernie Krause, and Thomas Dolby, who will also be performing and presenting this year.

Side-Line also covered Depeche Mode’s ‘Master and Servant’.

Interview with Erasure ‘s Vince Clarke, Mark Saunders and Gareth Jones on re-release ‘Wild!’ LP

János Janurik — Thu, 28 Mar 2019 09:02:29 +0000

(Interview © Janos Janurik) 2019 is a year full of anniversaries and anniversary releases and tours, just think of bands and records or special concerts such as Alphaville (“Forever Young” (Super-Deluxe-Box)), the anniversary tour to A-ha`s debut album “Hunting High And Low”, special live performances of The Cure to their legendary “Disintegration” album – just to name a few…

This series is complemented by the re-release of Erasure’s “Wild!” LP. The album was originally released in October 1989 and put the duo of Vince Clarke and Andy Bell on the top of the charts. According to Erasure’s fan base this record is still one of their best and contains timeless classics like “Drama!”, “You Surround Me”, or “Blue Savannah”, which are still part of their concerts.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of “Wild!”, our contributor, Janos Janurik, invited three people involved in that project for an interview: the unique and unrepeatable Vince Clarke and his right hands, who also have a good reputation among Depeche Mode fans: the two producers, Gareth Jones and Mark Saunders.

They were all ready for a discussion and answered the questions of our colleague as follows.

(Erasure press photo by David Scheinmann (1989))

Vince Clarke

SL: In the series of the Mute album re-releases the last Erasure LP of the eighties, “Wild! ” will be published on the occasion of its thirtieth anniversary. Which (not only musical) memories of the autumn of 1989 are still awake in you?

VC: – I remember the music was recorded in my very first home studio in London. Mark Saunders worked with me whilst Andy recorded with Gareth Jones at the ‘Church’ studio.

SL: The producer of this album was Gareth Jones, a long-time studio employee of Mute Records artists like Depeche Mode, Wire, and Nick Cave. His partner in the production team was the legendary mix master Mark Saunders. You worked together with Gareth on other Erasure albums. Which cooperation do you remember best? Do you have a favourite remix of Mark’s Erasure catalogue?

VC: – Mark did a fantastic remix of ‘You Surround Me’. He was/is very easy going and we got on well. At that point I didn’t really know Gareth.

SL: The single releases “Drama!” and “Blue Savannah” are still fix parts of your live setlists. On the Violet Flame Tour you performed remixes of the rarely played “Wild! ” singles “Star” and “You Surround Me”. Except “2000 Miles” you actually played all album songs at your previous concerts. Are you still satisfied with this material? How do you rate this album after 30 years of time?

VC: – Not bad. 🙂

SL: The “Wild! Tour” has perhaps been the biggest of your tours so far. You toured the world with a gigantic stage set. For the first time you had dancers on stage besides the background singers and there were also several costume changes and two different setlists. During this tour you also played live behind the iron curtain in Prague and then in exotic places like South America, Japan and Australia for the first time. Not to mention the legendary finale at the Milton Keynes Bowl. Do you have any special souvenirs from this tour that will bring back good memories?

VC: – I don’t have any souvenirs, but I remember that the tour was very exciting, especially play to such big crowds.

SL: The second disc of the forthcoming re-release will feature 14 bonus B-sides, remixes, rarities and live recordings, five of which are previously unreleased, including a brand-new remix of “Drama!” by Richard Norris and a recently discovered unreleased mix of “How Many Times?”. This song is my favourite song from the album and which one is yours?

VC: – “Blue Savannah”.

SL: But Erasure is not a nostalgia band of the 80s, because in the meantime you have released more than a dozen albums that have all been received positively – by fans as well as critics. What does the band-future of Erasure look like? Are there any plans for new material yet?

VC: – We hope to be writing for a new album in 2019.

SL: What would your message be for your fan base?

VC: – THANK YOU!

(Gareth Jones photo by GJ)

Gareth Jones

SL: Gareth, you’re supposed to be the in-house producer for Mute Records. Before working with Erasure, you’ve worked with renowned Mute artists such as Depeche Mode, Wire and Nick Cave. How do you remember the first meeting with label boss Daniel Miller and the studio work in Berlin with Depeche Mode on their „Construction Time Again” album?

GJ: – I have told this story many times, so I will keep it brief.

I was introduced to Daniel Miller and Depeche Mode by my friend and mentor John Foxx. He owned a studio called “The Garden” in Shoreditch in East London, and Daniel and Depeche Mode were interested in recording there. I was working for John at the time and he sent me over to the MUTE Records office, which at that time was in Kensington Gardens Square in West London, to meet the whole team. I was a bit nervous, but they were all super nice and normal people, and agreeably weird. Luckily for me they felt good about me too, and offered me the job.

SL: How did the request to produce Erasure’s „Wild!” album come about? Have you had contact with Vince Clarke and Andy Bell before?

GJ: – Before we started working on the “Wild” album I didn’t know Vince or Andy very well at all. For this record they had decided to make sure that there was plenty of time for Andy to work on his vocals. They were looking for someone to engineer and produce the vocals. I had already been working in Berlin with the incredibly talented Diamanda Galas. She had met Andy a couple of times I believe (I don’t know where) and she was kind enough to recommend my vocal production skills to him. So that is how I join the team.

SL: How was it working with them compared to Depeche Mode?

GJ: – This was a very different process from working with Depeche Mode. Initially I was hired to record and produce Andy’s vocals. Vince was in another studio with the other co-producer of the record, Mark Saunders. We were in the church studio and I think Mark and Vince were in Swing Studios.

The studios were both in North London so we were able to have meetings often, and we were continually exchanging musical and vocal ideas.

When it came to mixing it was decided that Mark and I would both mix the album. I was mixing in the Church and Mark was mixing in Konk. We were all determined to get the best out of the songs, so we all pushed each other to do our best like a Sound System contest.

I remember the first single “Drama!” went back and forth between our two studios a few times! Eventually we were all happy.

SL: Are there any favourites from this album that you are still proud of today?

GJ: – The whole record was an amazing experience. Vince and Andy are such strong song writers, talented musicians and all around wonderful people that it was a real pleasure and privilege to be a part of this great record.

I loved the whole process and I have a special affection for “Drama!” and” Blue Savannah”.

SL: You were not only involved in the „Wild!” project as a producer, but also as a remixer, for example the „Syrinx Mix” from „You Surround Me”, which is one of my favourites. Do you have a favourite remix from Erasure`s discography that you particularly enjoyed working on?

GJ: – I did 2 remixes of “Blue Savannah” (“Der Deutsche Mix 1 & 2”) in Berlin with my friends Sun Electric – Stephan Fisher, Max Loderbauer and Tom Thiel. I really enjoyed this – they are all so musical, creative and professional. It was truly a fantastic experience.

SL: After the „Wild!” album you had numerous co-productions with Erasure – among them you worked on one of my favourite albums from them, on the self-titled „Erasure”. And how about you? Do you have a favourite album from Erasure?

GJ: – The first album, “Wild!”, is dear to my heart. I also love the “Erasure” album. It was such a pleasure to work with my friend Thomas Fehlmann as a co-producer on the album and he bought so much to the table. I was so happy that Diamanda agreed to do a guest vocal on the record. We also had the pleasure of an amazing LP mix by Francois Kevorkian.

– The „Wild!” album also included an extensive world tour. Did you see Erasure live back then? If so, where? What did you think of them as a live act?

GJ: – I saw the Wild tour in Hamburg I think. I invited my parents to come along. The show was incredible. I am always impressed by Erasure live shows. The love between the band and the audience is so tangible and touching. Andy is an outrageously talented frontperson, and Vince is always Mr Cool. What a great combination!

SL: What are you currently working on and what are your plans for the future?

GJ: – I am currently writing and recording a solo electronic music project and a new collaboration that I am very excited about.

This year I will also be writing and releasing a new LP for the “Spiritual Friendship” project – an ongoing collaboration with the amazing Nick Hook.

I am also producing an exciting and enjoyably weird electronic pop album with American and European musicians for a new project called “Of Love And Lust”.

I will be back in Yann Tiersen’s fantastic new studio on the island of Ushant (Ouessant) later in the year, helping out with a new recording.

(Mark Saunders photo by MS)

Mark Saunders

SL: Among your early outstanding works is the engineering of some of David Bowie’s songs from 1985 and 1986, who was the idol of several generations of musicians, including Erasure’s Vince Clarke. How do you remember this studio work?

MS: – I feel incredibly lucky to have been in a studio to witness the true legend, David Bowie at work. It was just under a year from starting at West Side Studios in London when Bowie first came in to work on songs for the movie that he was also acting in – „Absolute Beginners”. Before that, I’d been making demos on a Tascam 8-Track tape machine in a dilapidated cow shed on my dad’s farm. Working with Bowie was an unfathomable step up! When the Bowie sessions started, I was transitioning from assistant engineer to house engineer. My bosses, producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley (Madness, China Crisis, Elvis Costello, Bush, Bowie & Jagger), were constantly throwing me in the deep end on sessions. There were quite a lot of jazz songs that we recorded for the Absolute Beginners soundtrack were and there would often be drums, bass, piano, guitar, and sometimes up to 9 brass players all playing together in the studio. It was intense as a newbie engineer to get thrown in on those sessions. I remember one session feeling somewhat overwhelmed and turning around to my boss Alan to get some confirmation that I was doing ok and he was asleep on the sofa behind me! For Bowie’s songs for the soundtrack, when the band were laying down the backing track for Bowie to sing on, Bowie would always sing along a ‘rough’ vocal to keep the band inspired. His vocals were always brilliant and as far as I was concerned, nearly every one could have been the master vocal take. But surprisingly, when Bowie was happy with the backing track, he would approach singing lead vocals in quite a clinical way. He would often sing one line, stop, and listen back to it before moving on to the next line. He would also quite regularly check his vocal on the demo version of the song to during this process. His vocals always sounded fantastic though. The pinnacle of those Bowie sessions was when on one day, we recorded the epic title track „Absolute Beginners” and then late in the afternoon, Mick Jagger came in to record „Dancing In The Street” for Live Aid! This was incredible for me – this was a year and one day from starting in a professional studio – and I was working with Bowie & Jagger! This being before cellphones and frustratingly, I had no way to text friends and say – „You’ll never guess who I’m working with today!”. „Dancing In The Street” was one of the first records I ever got an engineering credit on.

SL:Erasure are part of the success story of Mute Records. Your first commissions with the record company included remixes of Depeche Mode`s „Strangelove” and „Everything Counts”. These tracks are – after 30 years – still firm parts of the Depeche Mode club evenings. Did you like making them (with Tim Simenon)?

MS: – I think that these remixes occurred just after or around the time that I worked with Tim on Neneh Cherry’s brilliant debut album „Raw Like Sushi”. Tim was great to work with, he was young and came from the DJ-ing aspect of music rather than being a studio musician or an engineer and he had a naive (in a good way) approach to making records that kept things moving along and fresh sounding – particularly noticeable on „Buffalo Stance” by Neneh Cherry – her first hit. The „Everything Counts” Depeche remix was a pretty simple affair. I seemed to remember hiring in a Roland SH-01 for that session which was definitely used for the bass. Personally I would have preferred to have made the remix more musical – but Tim was happy to keep it more of a hardcore club track. Our Strangelove remix was much more complicated and fraught with technical difficulties.

In those days I was syncing my Atari 1040st computer, running Cubase, to a timecode track (SMPTE) which was recorded on one track of the multitrack tape that contained the song.

This quite often lead to difficulties because after hours or playing and rewinding the tape, the tape would start to wear out. Usually the code track was on the edge of the tape and the edges wore out faster.

So as it go late into the night, we had real problems syncing the computer to the tape machine. And the computer was running all the new parts and samples that Tim and I were adding for the remix. I think this one turned out pretty well though!

SL: Before the release of “Wild!” you also made remixes for Erasure songs like „A Little Respect”, „Stop!” and „Knocking On Your Door”. Did you follow the band`s history from the very beginning?

MS: – I’d been a fan of Vince since the early Depeche days and the Yazoo era but I missed the early Erasure days. My first Erasure work was a remix of „A Little Respect”. I’m sure this came about because of my work for Tim Simenon who was signed to Rhythm King records which was based out of Mute’s offices. I didn’t meet the band though until I mixed the „Crackers International EP” which included the songs „Stop!”, „Knocking On Your Door”, „God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman” and – my favourite – „The Hardest Part”. I mixed „The Hardest Part” first and that was the first time I met Vince – when he came in to check the mix. I was nervous and nobody had warned me about his very dry, deadpan sense of humour. For one thing, when he listened to the mix, he barely moved. He barely even seemed to blink! He didn’t tap his feet, smile or turn around to me to give me an assuring look – nothing! He sat like a robot with his head between the speakers. I took this as a sign that he must absolutely hate the mix – I was literally pacing back and forth behind him wondering how I’d got the mix so horribly wrong! Eventually the song finished, Vince stopped the tape and then paused for what felt like an eternity before turning around and saying „I love it!” And then with a dead straight face he said – „Just one thing… Did you not like like the kick drum?” My heart nearly stopped! Had I really missed out the entire kick drum track on an Erasure record! But before I had a chance to respond, he said „Just kidding… there’s no kick drum on this song!”

SL: In 1989, Erasure`s „Wild!” album was released that still belongs to the fans’ favourites and includes such classics as „Drama!” and „Blue Savannah”. What memories can you recall of these studio works with Erasure?

MS: – As Erasure had time constraints for the making of „Wild!”, I was hired to co-produce the tracks with Vince Clark and Gareth Jones (Depeche Mode, Wire, Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, Interpol) was hired to work on vocals with Andy. When Vince and I finished a track in his basement studio in his house in Notting Hill, London, the multitrack would be whisked off to The Church studios in Crouch End in the north end of London for Andy to sing on. On the first day of the recording, Vince sat me down and said – in his deadpan way, „Do you want to know how much money you’re going to make from this album?” Before I could utter much more than „Oh… well… err”, he’d tapped away on a calculator for a few seconds and was holding up the resulting calculation to show me and said „How’s that?” To which I gulped and said „Err… that looks just fine… thanks.” Vince’s basement studio contained nearly every great synth known to man and it was beautifully laid out, with a mixing board against one wall facing the window, and the other three walls had floor to ceiling racks laden with all the synths. One thing completely stunned me on day one though. We decided on what song to start with and Vince then proceeded to expertly get a kick drum sound from one of his synths – an ARP 2500 I think. When he was happy with it, he said, „OK let’s print that to tape (an Otari 24 track 2in Tape machine)”. I said „Are you sure you want to record it now?” He frowned and said „Why not?”.

I said, „Well, wouldn’t you prefer to hear the kick drum in context with a bass and maybe a couple of synths before you commit it to tape?” He still looked completely baffled – like I was asking him to pilot a space craft to the moon or something else outside of his comfort zone.

He replied „But this is the way I’ve always done it.” – which is a fair response from someone whose already produced a shed load of mega hits! „OK”, I said, „but surely, you have more than enough excellent gear here to have all the parts running live from your sequencer and refine all the sounds in context with each other before we need to commit to tape – right?” Long pause and more deep frowning – followed by „I’ve never thought about doing it like that”. This blew me away! This was Vince Clarke, the guy that I watched on Tomorrow’s World many years before I got into the music biz explaining how the Fairlight could sample sounds and play them musically on a keyboard and then sequence them to create a song – all inside a massive computer. Ground breaking stuff! And yet here was the same guy who hadn’t thought of running multiple parts on his sequencer before! Anyway, luckily, rather than kick me out of his studio, Vince gave my suggestion a go and after a couple of hours he said „I like this way of doing it…” and so that’s how we worked from then on. Vince is a musical genius and I loved working with him. He was all about keeping stuff dead simple and keeping songs short… He would quite often say „That’ll do”, like a builder who’s just skimped on the bolts holding some majorly important steel beams together. An example of the Vince Clark genius was the rising and descending piano riffs in „Blue Savannah”. Vince, during the programming/recording said „This needs a piano riff”. Then he just seemed to sit there and stare into space. After a while, I said „Why don’t you just try and play something?” He said… „Sshh… I’m thinking!” After what seemed like an eternity, he started furiously typing numbers into his ancient BBC UMi computer. Minutes later, he sat back and said „Right, let’s have a listen then.”… and my jaw dropped when the brilliant piano riffs popped out of the speakers. He had worked it all out in his head and then had typed in – numerically – each note, the position of the note, the note length and the velocity. Bloody brilliant! At the beginning of the record, Daniel Miller, the Mute Records boss, said to me „I want you to try and get Vince to try some new sounds on this record – experiment a bit more. He’s been using the same sounds for years.” So I tried, but I didn’t push the idea with Vince because I loved all his tried and trust analog synth sounds. We did use some samples from my Akai S1000 sampler a few times, like the acoustic guitar sample on „Star” – although Vince had no interest in using a sampler, as far as I remember. When the recording was finished, both Gareth and I started mixing the songs. I can’t remember if we both mixed all of the songs or not – and I can’t remember exactly who’s mixes ended up on the record – but I think it was a fairly even split between Gareth’s and mine. I mixed in Konk Studios, just up the road from The Church where Gareth was mixing. Konk, owned by The Kinks, had a great big room with a full size snooker table in it which was fab. Vince drove up from Notting Hill one day during the mixing and said „Come on, take a break… Let’s have a game of snooker!” So that’s what we did – we played at least two games and then I said, „OK, let me play you some mixes then”, to which he replied ‘nah, I only came up here for a game of snooker’. I assumed he was joking because, for one thing, the drive from his house to Konk was a fairly arduous journey across a big chunk of London. He told me he was deadly serious though and it took a great deal of effort to persuade him to stay and listen to a mix. I decided to play him „Blue Savannah”. Now, if you’ve ever heard the acoustic slide guitar samples in my 12” remix of this song… well, I had originally put them in the album version. I found the samples in my library while I was working on the song and when I loaded them into the Akai S1000, I loved them! They fit the key of the song perfectly. But somehow I had a feeling that I might be on shaky ground when Vince heard them. My instinct was right. When I played him my album mix, he assumed his normal position… stone faced, and dead still in front of the speakers. But when the first slide guitar riff came in, he positively flinched… like someone had slapped him around the face! But amazingly he kept listening without moving again until the end of the song.

Then he turned to me and said „Yeah, it’s good… but… I would never, ever, have a slide guitar in any of my songs… ever!” So that was the end to the slide guitar in the album mix. And now I think about it… how did I ever get away with putting them in the 12” version?!

Vince had an unerring confidence in what he was doing. If Daniel Miller, the Mute Records boss, had any doubts about anything to do with the record, Vince would say „Don’t worry Daniel, it’s going to go to number 1” – which of course it did, in it’s first week of release!

SL: A remix of „You Surround Me” also bears your name. You made a danceable club hit out of that original ballad. Erasure even played this version live on their Violet Flame Tour 2014. Please tell us a little about it! Which song, by the way, is your favourite from the „Wild!” album?

MS: – I was in Mayfair studios in London for this remix. I remember getting depressed because for quite a long time I couldn’t get anything going that I liked – mainly because of the tempo of the track I think. Then I tried playing double tempo drums along with the song and all of a sudden I was up and running and excited about the mix! I’m pretty sure I was thinking Billy Idol when I did this version. I was pretty happy with the result and was very flattered to learn that the band played my version live. My favourite song from „Wild!” is definitely „Blue Savannah”. My next favourite song that I worked on with Erasure was „All This Time Still Falling Out Of Love” from the album „Nightbird”.

SL: Not only for Erasure, but also for Yazoo you made a remix for their hit „Situation”. Did you see the duo live during their reunion 10 years ago?

MS: – Working on the remix of „Situation” with Daniel Miller was a great honour. What an absolutely perfect pop song… and less than 2 minutes and 30 seconds long! On my website is an extended edit of the song that never got released… actually, I don’t think I ever played it to the band or Mute. I was lucky enough to see them in New York during their reunion tour. They sounded great. Alison Moyet is awesome… I got to work with her too a couple of times and she, like Vince, has a very dry sense of humour and is very down to earth.

SL: What future plans and current works in progress do you have?

MS: – I moved back from the States in 2017 which was a big deal after 21 years of living there. I feel much more inspired musically in the UK. I’m in love with the BBC 6 Music radio station… best radio station I’ve ever heard. They play the most eclectic range of music that you could possibly imagine but they somehow nearly always play stuff that appeals to me! I have two young boys and for a few years now life has been more about family life than pursuing my career but I feel that as they are getting older there is going to be room for both – hopefully soon!

P.S.: A short info for all those who have missed a conversation on the topic with Andy Bell, he is currently very busy with his new solo project “Torsten in Queereteria” (release date: 12 April 2019) and therefore unfortunately could not be at our disposal.

“Erasure – Wild! – 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition”, is out Friday, 29th March 2019 via BMG / Mute Records.

CD1 Track Listing:

Piano Song – Instrumental
Blue Savannah
Drama!
How Many Times?
Star
La Gloria
You Surround Me
Brother and Sister
2000 Miles
Crown Of Thorns
Piano Song

CD2 Track Listing:

Sweet, Sweet Baby – The Moo Moo Mix
Drama! – Richard Norris Mix (unreleased)
Blue Savannah – Mark Saunders 12″ Mix
Piano Song – Live at the London Arena (unreleased)
Runaround On The Underground – Remix
How Many Times? – Alternative Mix (unreleased)
Supernature – Daniel Miller & Phil Legg Remix
Star – Soul Mix
No GDM. – Unfinished Mix
Drama! – Act 2
Brother and Sister – Live at the London Arena (unreleased)
Dreamlike State – 7″ A Cappella Mix (unreleased)
You Surround Me – Gareth Jones Mix
91 Steps – 6 Pianos Mix

Erasure announce 30th anniversary deluxe edition of ‘Wild’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Mon, 10 Dec 2018 19:55:18 +0000

Erasure are restarting the series of remastered and expanded album editions that started with “Wonderland”, “The Circus” and “The Innocents”. Available soon is a brand new 30th anniversary of “Wild!” which will be released in a deluxe 2CD hardback book package on March 29th next year.

The new edition features the original album, fully remastered, on one disc and then a selection of b-sides, remixes and rarities on the the other. Note that the second disc includes no less than five previously unreleased tracks (see below).

The tracklisting:

CD1
Piano Song – Instrumental / Blue Savannah / Drama! / How Many Times? / Star / La Gloria / You Surround Me / Brother and Sister / 2000 Miles / Crown Of Thorns / Piano Song

CD2
Sweet, Sweet Baby (The Moo Moo Mix) / Drama! (Richard Norris Mix) previously unreleased / Blue Savannah (Mark Saunders 12″ Mix) / Piano Song (Live at the London Arena) previously unreleased / Runaround On The Underground (Remix) / How Many Times? (Alternative Mix) previously unreleased / Supernature (Daniel Miller & Phil Legg Remix) / Star (Soul Mix) / No GDM (Unfinished Mix) / Drama! (Act 2) / Brother and Sister (Live at the London Arena) previously unreleased / Dreamlike State (7″ Acappella Mix) previously unreleased / You Surround Me (Gareth Jones Mix) / 91 Steps (6 Pianos Mix)

‘The synthesisers in the early days of EBM’ – Back in time with Lederman / De Meyer

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Tue, 24 Jul 2018 15:52:44 +0000

The recently released “Eleven Grinding Songs”, the debut album by Lederman / De Meyer is one of the best EBM releases which have been released this year so far. Lederman / De Meyer is the brand new project between 2 electronic music legends Jean-Marc Lederman and Jean-Luc De Meyer.

“Eleven Grinding Songs” is released in 4 versions. Besides the regular CD album (available here), there is also the 2CD set (with an 11-track bonus disc with 4 exclusive additional songs plus 7 remixes or alternative versions) (available here) and a deluxe download (available here) plus also a black vinyl edition (including a carton sleeve CD edition with the same track-list) (available here).

Side-Line decided to go to the roots of the project together with Jean-Marc Lederman. In today’s article we talk with Jean-Marc Lederman about the synthesisers in the early days of EBM.

SL: Things were very different than they are now when one sees the equipment available for musicians back in the early 80’s.

JM: It’s very simple: most synths were monophonic and had no memories or presets back then if you exclude the more expensive synths like Oberheim or Prophets .

These machines couldn’t easily talk to each other unless you used techniques that one had to invent or try such was the infancy of electronic music. As an example, Daniel Miller used to lay on a track a slow square pulse that would later on trig the equipment: needless to say the results were on a on-by-one basis, some equipment not liking being triggered by outside machinery.

SL: The arrival of cheaper Japanese synthesizers…

JM: …would indeed provide a welcome alternative to musicians and alternative electronic music started to be happening round 1978/1979 by musicians embracing the punk attitude of DIY: Cabaret Voltaire, Human League, Throbbing Gristle, The Normal etc…were soon going to be the guiding lights of people into new sounds and new attitude towards music and art.

One decisive instrument was the Korg MS 20 (1978) who, under the genius hands of Chris Haas, was sculpting the sound of a band destined to start the entire EBM genre: Deutsch Amerikanischen Freundschaft, later called DAF.

SL: And in Belgium?

JM: In Belgium, Daniel Bressanutti, working in a music shop in Brussels, Hill’s Music, which was instrumental in the development of punk in Brussels, was already making musical experiments and Front 242 would release its first record in 1981.

1983 would see two very important stepping stones in electronic music as it was that year when MIDI ( a language linking synthesizers together) was released and it was also the release of the Yamaha DX7, a very powerful midi polyphonic synthesizers with strong dynamic possibilities) which would be like honey of the busy bees of EBM. The final icing on the electronic music scene would happen in 1985 with the availability of the Atari ST computer, bringing easier sequencing possibilities to the musicians.

Side-Line interviews Mute label boss Daniel Miller: ‘The Lederman / De Meyer version (of ‘Back To Nature’) is very good!’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Mon, 14 May 2018 17:23:42 +0000

(Photo by Diane Zillmer) Out next month is the debut album by Lederman / De Meyer. On that album (titled “Eleven grinding songs” – available here) but also on the band’s first release, the download EP “A tribe of my own” (available here), the band covered Fad Gadget’s “Back To Nature”.

Since Jean-Marc Lederman has been working with Fad Gadget in the past we decided to hail London and have a small chat with Daniel Miller, the Mute Record label boss himself, about Fad Gadget and Jean-Marc.

SL: How did you meet Jean-Marc Lederman, Daniel?

DM: We met at Better Badges (a mall at Nothing Hill Gate which is a badges manufacture), where Geoff Travies from Rough Trade sent Jean-Marc as he thought we should meet: synths fans were few at the time. Jean-Marc gave me a Digital Dance 7″ and we have been in contact ever since.

SL: You worked with Frank Tovey as part of Fad Gadget early 1980. Was Frank an easy guy in the studio and on stage ?

DM: In studio, Frank had very clear ideas on what he wanted or didn’t want and my task was to help him achieve that. It wasn’t easy because we were both untrained musicians and we were learning as it went. On stage, Frank was a very different person: he was then completely transformed in the Fad Gadget character. He was a performance artist from his days at Art School.

SL: And how was Jean-Marc, Daniel?

DM: Jean-Marc was very easy to work with and a good add to the early days of the Fad Gadget band.

SL: “Back To Nature” is the trademark song of Fad Gadget. How do you look back on it ?

DM: It was my very first time in a studio so I was very inexperienced. Plus it was also my first time as a producer. The same for Frank: it was his first time in a studio. It took us a day to record and mix, it was in a small 8 tracks studio (RMS Studios) near Crystal Palace, a studio doing lots of punk bands.

The equipment used was very basic, electronics were rough at that time. We had a minipops rhythm machine, the Korg 700s I used on “Warm leatherette/TV OD”, a Roland SH1 and Frank’s piano and distortion fx pedal. Plus the ARP 2600 I just bought from Elton John’s live rig, I think it was the first time I was using it. I’m very proud of what we achieved. The B-side, “the box”, was actually recorded with Frank inside a box in the studio…

SL: What’s your take on Lederman De Meyer’s version of “Back To Nature” ?

DM: It’s very hard to do a cover version but the Lederman / De Meyer version is very good!

SL: You are also familiar with Front 242 since they toured with Depeche Mode. Never thought about getting them on the Mute roster back in the days ?

DM: I thought F242 was very interesting, but they were already on PIAS and I didn’t want to interfere with that. Plus we already had Nitzer Ebb on Mute.

SL: Jean-Marc is now also part of Mute Songs’ roster. What does this mean for an artist ?

DM: Mute Songs is a publisher company. they have Mute Records artists but not only. They are very pro-active, and have a creative and personal relationship with their artists.

Chris Liebing signs to Mute Records – here’s a first new track

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Thu, 05 Apr 2018 17:20:47 +0000

Chris Liebing has signed to Mute records and now the label has released a brand new track, “Novembergrey”. “Novembergrey” was co-produced by Ralf Hildenbeutel. You can listen to the track below.

Liebing explains his relationship with the label: “A lot of the music I was into came from just one label, Mute. I vividly remember dancing around to songs by Depeche Mode and Yazoo and banging my head in dark basements to the likes of DAF, Laibach and Nitzer Ebb. Things came full circle when I found myself in the Mute office and I’m delighted to be working with Daniel Miller, someone I’ve known for years and Mute, a label I have known for longer still.”

CAN gets immortalized in 2 new books: ‘All Gates Open’ and ‘Can Kiosk’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 31 Jan 2018 15:16:29 +0000

Faber & Faber have announced the publication (later on in April) of 2 books, “All Gates Open” and “Can Kiosk”. The 2 books are being described as the ‘definitive story of the most influential and revered avant-garde band of the late twentieth century’. It consists of two books and previously unseen art and photos.

In book one, “All Gates Open”, Rob Young gives the full biography of the band that emerged at the vanguard of the Krautrock scene in late sixties Cologne. Rob Young’s account draws on interviews with all the founding members of Can, their vocalists, friends and music industry associates.

Book two, “Can Kiosk”, has been assembled by Irmin Schmidt, founding member and guiding spirit of the band, as a “collage” – a technique long associated with Can’s approach to recording. There is an oral history of the band, collated by former Electronic Beats and Spex editor Max Dax, and Robert Defcon, drawing on interviews Irmin conducted with musicians who see Can as an influence. These musicians include the likes of Bobby Gillespie, Geoff Barrow, Mark E. Smith, Daniel Miller and many others, but also with artists and film-makers like Wim Wenders and John Malkovich, where Irmin reflects on more personal matters and his work with film.

Extracts from Irmin’s notebooks and diaries from 2013–14 are also reproduced as a reflection on the creative process, and the memories, dreams and epiphanies it entails. Can Kiosk offers further perspectives on a band that has inspired several generations of musicians and film-makers.

Legendary label Mute Records visually documented in hardback book ‘Mute: A Visual Document’ incl. Depeche Mode, Erasure, …

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 04 Oct 2017 18:00:34 +0000

Mute and Thames & Hudson have announced details of “Mute: A Visual Document”, a 320-page hardback book, available November 28, 2017 and ready for ordering right here.

“Mute: A Visual Document” is packed with artwork and photography – much of it previously unseen – from the Mute Archives and from Daniel Miller’s own archives, including photography and video stills from legendary photographers, conceptual artworks, rare ephemera and equipment.

The book features comprehensive discographies, a family tree of Mute artists, an extensive introduction and commentary by Daniel Miller – who has curated the materials for the book – plus anecdotal and photographic contributions from key figures in the label’s story, including Moby, Alison Goldfrapp, Anton Corbijn, Bleddyn Butcher, Brian Griffin, Jon Spencer, Barry Adamson, Ivan Novak (Laibach), Angus Andrew (Liars), Adrian Shaughnessy and Tom Hingston.

Mute was created by Daniel Miller to release his debut single as The Normal, “Warm Leatherette” / “T.V.O.D”, in 1978. The label quickly grew and established its reputation through the music of its community of artists – ranging from Fad Gadget, Goldfrapp, Moby, Can, Diamanda Galás, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds to Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Erasure, Laibach, Liars and Ben Frost.

Here are a few teasers:

Side-Line also covered Depeche Mode’s ‘Where I Wait’.