(Photo by Alison Ahern) London-based indie electronic artist Rodney Cromwell has released his latest EP, “Exercise Class”, via Happy Robots Records. Known for his retro-futuristic synthpop, Cromwell’s new EP features his signature blend of melodic choruses and spoken-word lyrics. This release follows Cromwell’s 2023 EP, “The Winter Palace Remixes”.

The title track, “Exercise Class”, is accompanied by an animated video directed by Martin J Langthorne.

The EP also includes “Madeline Trip”, a 55-second electronic piece inspired by Marcel Proust’s seven-volume novel “À la recherche du temps perdu” (“In Search of Lost Time”). This track also serves as an introduction at Cromwell’s live shows.

Hailing from Catford in South London, Rodney Cromwell, the solo moniker of Adam Cresswell debuted with the album “Age of Anxiety” in 2015. Cresswell is also known for his previous work with the indie-folktronica band Saloon and the electronic duo Arthur and Martha.

The “Exercise Class” 4-track EP is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, and Bandcamp.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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!

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(Photo by Helen Kincaid) Out on 30 September via London Records is Blancmange’s upcoming album “Private View”. Benge returns as a key collaborator, and David Rhodes (Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Scott Walker) returns as the guitarist, having previously performed with the band on 1982’s debut “Happy Families” (as well as several other Blancmange albums). The new album will be followed by an extensive UK tour that runs from 1 October through to a London Assembly Hall appearance on 10 December, with Stephen Mallinder, Bernholz, Oblong, Rodney Cromwell and Alice Hubble as special guests across the tour.

But first they release a new single, “Reduced Voltage”, alongside a John Grant remix of the track. You can view the accompanying video, created by Harvey Wise, right below.

The new single is accompanied by a remix from long-time collaborator, John Grant who adds: “I have loved Blancmange for close to four decades, so it’s such an honor to be asked to remix a track off the new record. It was a blast and it’s my first. Hope you enjoy.”

You can listen to the John Grant remix below.

Blancmange formed in Harrow, London, in 1979. The band were a duo for much of their career, composed of Neil Arthur (vocals) and Stephen Luscombe (keyboards). Their first real exposure came via the track “Sad Day” on the “Some Bizzare Album” compilation, alongside acts such as Soft Cell and Depeche Mode. This led to them signing a recording contract with London Records. In December 1981 they supported Japan on their “Visions of China” UK tour. What followed were five UK top-20 singles: “Living on the Ceiling”, “Waves”, “Blind Vision”, “Don’t Tell Me” (their best single we would say) and of course also their excellent cover of ABBA’s “The Day Before You Came”. They released three albums during that decade: “Happy Families” (1982), “Mange Tout” (1984) and “Believe You Me” (1985).

The duo parted in 1986 but reformed in the late 2000s, and in 2011 released their fourth album, “Blanc Burn”. Luscombe left following the release due to ill health, and since then Arthur alone has continued to perform under the Blancmange name, releasing nine new studio albums along with a re-recording of the band’s debut album, titled “Happy Families Too…”. He has also been involved in a further three collaborative albums as Fader (with Benge) and Near Future (with Jez Bernholz).

An instrumental album by Blancmange, “Nil by Mouth II”, was released on 22 November 2019 as a limited-edition run of 1000 copies. The album was released on a larger scale on cd in June 2020. A new album, titled “Mindset”, preceded by a single with the same title in February, was released in June 2020.

Extensive UK tour throughout October, November and December

Here are the upcoming UK dates.

• 1 Oct – Rough Trade East, London
• 6 Oct – The HMV Empire, Coventry – w/ Bernholz
• 7 Oct – The Junction, Cambridge – w/ Oblong
• 8 Oct – Subscription Rooms, Stroud – w/ Oblong
• 13 Oct – Arts Centre, Colchester – w/ Oblong
• 14 Oct – University Y Plas, Cardiff – w/ Oblong
• 15 Oct – Cheese and Grain, Frome – w/ Oblong
• 20 Oct – Sub 89, Reading – w/ Oblong
• 21 Oct – The Level, Nottingham – w/ Oblong
• 22 Oct – Glassbox Theatre, Gillingham – w/ Oblong
• 27 Oct – The Fleece, Bristol – w/ Alice Hubble
• 28 Oct – The Boilerroom, Guildford – w/ Alice Hubble
• 29 Oct – Tivoli Theatre, Wimborne – w/ Alice Hubble
• 4 Nov – Exeter Theatre, Exeter – w/ Rodney Cromwell
• 5 Nov – The Brook, Southampton – w/ Rodney Cromwell
• 10 Nov – The Mill, Birmingham – w/ Alice Hubble
• 11 Nov – Kanteena, Lancaster – w/ Alice Hubble
• 12 Nov – The Forum Theatre, Barrow-in-Furness – w/ Alice Hubble
• 17 Nov – Corn Hall, Diss – w/ Rodney Cromwell
• 18 Nov – Gorilla, Manchester – w/ Stephen Mallinder
• 19 Nov – Hangar 34, Liverpool – w/ Stephen Mallinder
• 24 Nov – The Wardrobe, Leeds – w/ Stephen Mallinder
• 25 Nov – The Leadmill, Sheffield – w/ Stephen Mallinder
• 26 Nov – The Riverside, Newcastle – w/ Stephen Mallinder
• 1 Dec – The Lemon Tree, Aberdeen – w/ Stephen Mallinder
• 2 Dec – The Liquid Room, Edinburgh – w/ Stephen Mallinder
• 3 Dec – Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow – w/ Stephen Mallinder
• 9 Dec – Concorde 2, Brighton – w/ Stephen Mallinder
• 10 Dec – Islington Assembly Hall, London – w/ Stephen Mallinder

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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!

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Dublin synthpop artist Circuit3 has released his new “Overview Effect” EP and video for the title track via Manchester’s AnalogueTrash label.

The EP is a teaser for the “Technology For The Youth” LP (out July 15 via AnalogueTrash) and was mastered by Richard Dowling known for his work with amongst many others New Order and Sparks. On the EP we find 5 tracks including 4 versions of “Overview Effect” by by KeX/1 (Lloyd Price of The Frixion) and AnalogueTrash label-mates Vieon next to a radio-edit and the non-album track “Ariane 5”. On vocals we find Alessia Turcato.

Peter Fitzpatrick explains the meaning of the title track: “After observing our planet from space, astronauts feel obliged and responsible for the care of this tiny fragile ball of life, shielded only by a paper-thin atmosphere. The cool rich kids are going to space. It’s all the rage. Maybe we should protect what’s left of this planet before playing space tourists? The universe isn’t going anywhere. The earth certainly is. Our house is on fire.”

This new EP follows the lead single “Future Radio”, which was co-produced by Wolfgang Flür (Kraftwerk) collaborator iEuropean (Sean Barron) and was co-written with Brian McCloskey. It also features a remix by Ricardo Autobahn (AKA John Matthews), best known as one half of Spray and the UK act The Cuban Boys.

Circuit3 debuted with the “Siliconchipsuperstar” LP (2018), followed by “The Price Of Nothing & The Value Of Everything” (2019). He also recently featured on Rodney Cromwell’s “Opus Three” EP.

Here’s the video for the title track “Overview Effect”.

You can download the full EP below.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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!

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Genre/Influences: Synth-pop.

Background/Info: Rodney Cromwell is a new solo-project set up by Adam Cresswell. This artist was formerly involved in Saloon while he later on was member of the duo Arthur & Martha. “Age Of Anxiety” was already released a few months ago now and appears to be an irresistible piece of electro-pop.

Content: The main influences of this artist are clearly evoking the good-old 80s electro decade and some leading British formations like New Order, but also Heaven 17. Rodney Cromwell has been also introduced as getting back to the ‘krautrock’ of Kraftwerk. I have to admit that “The Blue Cloud” is definitely into Kraftwerk music.

“Age Of Anxiety” also features real weird passages like the opening cut, which is an adapted version sounding like a music box of the famous hymn “The Internationale”. I also refer to the final part of “You Will Struggle” for the pure disco gimmick reminding me of, “I Feel Love”. In the end I would say Rodney Cromwell simply mixes different elements of 80s electronic music.

The main essence of this release clearly appears to be a kind of fascination and even devotion for 80s electro-pop. Several of the bass lines are clearly inspired by New Order while some of the vocals are into a familiar robotic style. We quickly feel like we’ve traveled back in time to awake in the magic sound universe of the 80s.

↑↑↑: This work sounds like an ode to some early electro-pop music and reveals a few cool songs in the genre.

↓↓↓ : This is of course not the most original electro-pop production, but the main point that hurts is the lack of highlights. I get the impression that the songs haven’t been fully achieved, sometimes remaining in a demo format.

Conclusion: I like the influences running through this album, but I’m convinced there’s much more potential in it.

Best songs: “You Will Struggle”, “Barry Was An Arms Dealer”.

Rate: (DP:6)DP.

Band & Label: www.happyrobots.co.uk / www.facebook.com/happyrobotsrecords

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

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