Category: New Wave

Categories
New Wave Pop/Indie Pop

Premiere: F4ÇADE – Look Like Me

We’re super excited to announce that today a very favourite band of ours is back with a smashing new single. F4ÇADE are an Art-Wave band from London characterised by their psychedelic melodies and bold on-stage performance style. Their new single ‘Look Like Me’ is out right freaking now!

I’m here with the band who have come to tell us a bit about them, their new single and how this all came to be.

J: Hey guys! Great to speak to you, so for those who haven’t heard the music of F4ÇADE, introduce yourselves and tell us a bit about you and your music.

Angel: Hiya, we describe our sound as ‘Art Wave’; New Wave meets the art world meets the future..?

Henri: Yeah, and we’re inspired by lots of things, including romantic poetry, the surrealist art movement, David Sylvian, David Bowie, Dave Gahan – lots of Davids!

Angel: And David Byrne! Hahaha oh dear…

J: It’s great to hear how your sound has changed and developed since the band began, this new single feels different from your earlier stuff, tell me a bit about how this song came about.

Angel: I wrote this around the time I dropped out of Camberwell Art College. It’s kind of about being an outsider to those who have everything planned out for them and those who do things just because others do – usually my lyric writing is a bit more vague!

Sacha: This was the first song that me and Lani worked on just after we joined nearly a year ago. Our writing process is collaborative and I suppose we just fleshed out the demo in our own individual ways. My background is Jazz music and although you can’t really hear that on the record, my playing has developed through certain influences which has led to the sounds you hear on the track.

J: How have you been experimenting with instruments or your production techniques with this track? Has it been difficult or strange recording during lockdown?

Henri: We actually recorded this track in a studio January before the lockdown! But during lockdown we recorded a cover of ‘Tainted Love’ for fun, which we released a couple of months ago – We all recorded our tracks in our own houses and then sent the files to each other, which I then mixed and mastered. Pretty weird!

Lani: We had a lot of fun experimenting with instruments, especially as playing the fretless bass is relatively new to me so the whole thing was super fun. Once we finished recording all the track we had in mind we realised that we actually had some recording time left so we scrambled around the studio looking for some weird pedals to create a small hidden track for us to release another time. We found a Moogerfooger bass pedal and decided to use that to create some strange sounds. Everyone said ‘Alright Lani just fiddle around and Sacha will mess around with the pedal’. And we ended with this really strange almost robotic bass tone, it was an awesome time.

J: This year has been hard for almost every band, but how has it affected you guys and your creative process? It’s a shame it may be a little while longer before we can see this played live.

Angel: A big part of F4ÇADE is playing live!! We have met so many amazing people through gigs and it felt like we’d really started to progress. We had an ‘arty party’ gig at an amazing private art club called Vout-O-Reenee’s just before lockdown – anyone who remembers would agree that was a crazy night…

Henri: We’ve actually got our first post-lockdown gig coming up really soon! It’s on the 4th of October at Dalston Roof Park and we’re really excited to be able to play live again, it’s going to be so fun!

J: What’s been the most rewarding thing about being in the band together and your music so far?

Angel: Sacha drawing on a Salvador Dali moustache and insisting on a ‘pizza party’ on the night of the video shoot.

Sacha: We recorded this song just before lockdown and it’s been frustrating having to keep music that we’re so proud of under lock and key. It’s a great feeling to be able to release it into the wild.

Lani: The most rewarding thing for me about being in the band so far has been all the awesome opportunities, whether that’s playing gigs or recording music in the studio. Being in the band has also opened my eyes to some different styles of music that prior to being in the band I wouldn’t have listened to. And you also meet a lot of lovely peeps!

J: We loved this track and we’re dead excited to hear more! Can you give us any hints as to anything that may be on the horizon for the band?

Henri: All I’ll say is, we recorded more than one song in the studio in January…

J: Thanks, guys. We can’t wait!

Look Like Me is available on Spotify right now!

Categories
Jazz/Blues New Wave Pop/Indie Pop Punk/Rock Why We Love

Why We Love: The Avalanches

It’s rare to find a band who you can say do things truly differently, who create new tracks from chopped up old ones and who utilise comedy throughout their music, but what’s even rarer is finding a band who do that all as superb as The Avalanches – a band who come out with great tune after great tune, even some that are purely hysterical.

The Avalanches have been releasing music since the early 2000s, and their music videos online have drawn in millions of views for their sheer class and creativity.

The Australian electronic music group first became known for their highly creative use of sampling (using snippets of other records), something which was popularised in 80’s hip-hop music.

In recent years, sampling has perhaps been given a bad rep, mainly due to artists blatantly ripping off other songs and claiming it was ‘sampled’ (*cough* Drake *cough* Rizzle Kicks).

Avalanches, on the other hand, have truly brought this type of music back to what it was supposed to be, a band who truly use their brains to create new original songs out of the bits and bobs of other records.

Their debut album Since I Left You is considered by the wider music industry to be one of the best albums of the early 2000s – Robbie Chater, one of the founding members of the band, estimated in an interview with Sound On Sound magazine that the entire album contained around 3,500 samples, all of which were ripped from vinyl records using equipment at Sing Sing Studios in Melbourne.

The Avalanches are truly a band that offers something for everyone. Each of their songs seems almost worlds apart from the next, but each still retains that same playfulness we’ve come to love.

Their ever-changing lineup of multi-instrumentalists has changed frequently throughout the years and ensures their music never sounds the same.

Since the rise of YouTube, their viral music videos have seemed to play a more major role in people finding their music. Their mind-boggling video for ‘Frontier Psychiatrist,’ the band’s second-ever release, was the video that first caught my attention. Robbie Chater’s background as a film student at the time of the band’s formation may have been one of the biggest contributing factors to the creation of their now-famous videos. Since then, the band have won many film awards for their humorous, creative and at times positively bewildering concepts.

We’ve seen many bands ‘get big quick’ by releasing music videos which go viral. Today, for a lot of bands, this seems to be an attractive way to getting yourself noticed (if your video concept is good enough that is). Bands like PSY and OKGO are a prime example of artists whose music you probably wouldn’t have heard if it weren’t for their online presence.

Although The Avalanches videos are just as brilliant, they’ve proven that unlike other bands, people come for the videos but stay for the music.

Since the release of their second album in 2016, which followed a long hiatus since the band’s debut in 2001, we’ve seen them to be incredibly active this year; releasing single after single and collaborating with various artists including Denzel Curry.

The Avalanches have often relied on playing with the sounds of other artists, but this is the first time we’ve seen them extensively collaborate with established acts.

We’re very excited to see what lies in wait for this awesome band and hope that their next album lives up to their previous 18-22 track LP’s. The Avalanches music is quite simply a treat, from their lyrics to their videos, their creative, playful personas shine through in almost every aspect of the band, and we’re glad to have them back!

Categories
New Wave Pop/Indie Pop Reviews

Review: New Order – Be A Rebel

New Order in more recent years are a bit like Marmite. You either love them or you can’t stand them. Once the pioneers of ’80s dance and club music, now seen more an icon in British music as to what was. But despite members leaving and 2 breakups, the band are still making music, playing to audiences and showing continued success. After 2015’s ‘Music Complete’ with the odd live album released here and there, fans were wondering whether breakup number 3 could be on the way, curious as to whether the ’80s electronica power group would have any sort of real presence in the 2020’s. But here we are with the new single ‘Be A Rebel’.

‘Be A Rebel’, if you’ve been listening to New Order for the last 10 years wont come as any sort of surprise in terms of the sound, in fact I think it sounds like a B-Side to ‘Music Complete’, perhaps the 2015 album wasn’t as complete as we once thought, with Bernard Sumners saying the new single was a “leftover” that “didn’t make the cut” for 2015’s ‘Music Complete’ which you can tell just by listening. This isn’t inherently a bad thing though, I really liked the thematic sounds of the last album, and so hearing ‘Be A Rebel’ after 5 years of radio silence from New Order sparked some joy in my eye. If you liked the sound of the last album then you’ll probably love the new tune just as well. For me? I can appreciate using older work that never saw the light of release for future music, plenty of bands have done that, and done it marvellously well. But here, I don’t know how well it holds up. 

Now I’m not suggesting the song should have stayed a leftover, but it’s not the typical boom you get from New Order singles of the past. Tracks like ‘Krafty’, ‘Restless’ and ‘Regret’, they stick out, there’s a real sense of motion within those tracks, whereas here, ‘Be A Rebel’ is more of a quiet, dreamy, foot tapper than what we’ve heard from the band before. And I’m not comparing to the likes of ‘Blue Monday’ because that would be unfair, the band released that almost 40 years ago, and have gone through many musical changes since then, but one consistency I feel is missing here, is the power behind the track. It doesn’t sound too unlike the sounds from their last album and it doesn’t go off with a bang, which after 5 years, you would expect a bit of a rework when it comes to older music that never saw the light of day being released half a decade later. 

I’ve heard the comparison to the likes of Sumner and Johnny Marr’s supergroup duo ‘Electronic’ which you could argue the similarities sure, but there were already similarities to New Order back in Electronic’s heyday, so it all comes full circle, so of course work that heavily involves Bernard Sumner, will have sounds that Bernard Sumner is known for using. Perhaps I’m expecting too much from a band with such a high legacy. Perhaps the track is a grower not a shower. All I can say, is that if you’re expecting the next big wave of sound from New Order, then prepare to be disappointed. That being said, if you loved Music Complete, then you’ll probably really enjoy this. It’s by no means a bad single, but definitely feels a tad lacklustre. Opinions can change though, quite drastically, let’s not forget the certain “punch-your-TV-obnoxious” band that a particular music magazine once hated and now absolutely cherish. So in terms of changing tone on something you like or you don’t, I’m not going to be rash here. But I do think if we’re to expect a new record from the Mancunian monsters, I wouldn’t bet any money on ‘Be A Rebel’ being a part of a new and evolved sound. 

Lyrically the song comes across as pretty relevant, perhaps the recent Black Lives Matter protests are what sparked Bernard and company to revisit the track. The song talks about how the world can be a “dangerous place” but it’s “all we’ve got”, referring to people being “different” and that being okay. “Be a rebel, not a devil”. Clearly there’s a key element to rebelling against what we know is wrong, but doing so peacefully. Echoing terms we’re all grown up with like ‘two wrongs don’t make a right’. It’s a clear outlook on the world from Sumner’s eyes, and from that regard is a very welcome conversation. Allies and Rebels are what the world needs right now to really make a change, so it’s a particularly prevalent topic that we should all take on board.  

If you want to hear a modern and more evolved take on the alternative dance, techno and club sound, I highly recommend listening to artists such as fellow Manchester band ‘Everything, Everything’, the Scottish trio ‘Chvrches’, London’s own ‘Georgia’ or simply go back and listen to New Order’s older material. Music has no expiry date, and it’s never the wrong time to stick on a classic, or discover a band that you don’t know much of the deeper cuts of their discography. 

The good news to take away from ‘Be A Rebel’ is that New Order have not slithered away into nothingness, and there’s hope for more music still to come. You can see New Order on tour in 2021 across the pond with the Pet Shop Boys, and a special one off UK show at London’s 02 Arena in November next year. Until then, let’s hope our Monday’s aren’t so blue. 

 

 

Categories
New Wave Pop/Indie Pop Why We Love

Why We Love: Georgia

Georgia is a producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who is lighting a fire under the feet of Electro-Pop fans in the UK. Her self-titled debut album, released in 2015, was recorded and produced single-handedly at her home studio in north-west London. After years of silence perfecting her sound and a nomination for a mercury prize under her belt since then, Georgia hits back with her brand new album ‘Seeking Thrills’ and has quickly gained recognition as one of the UK’s most exciting up and coming new talents.

Georgia’s music is exhilarating and energetic. Her sound combines the best of modern technology with classic synthesisers used on some of the most legendary 80’s records from Depeche Mode to Yazoo. Her rich, catchy melodies twist through Electro-Pop and House groves creating something irresistible to stomp along to. Both her albums are a true homage to the 80’s club scene. In many ways, Georgia’s sound feels almost a blend of the very best parts of older bands such as New Order and modern artists like MIA. This unique amalgamation has quickly earnt Georgia great attention from the UK music industry.

Growing up as the daughter of Leftfield co-founder, Neil Barnes, it’s clear that many of the inspirations of her father have influenced her own music. But make no mistake, Georgia has been pioneering her own fresh ideas independent from her fathers legacy.

Georgia studied music at The BRIT School where she developed herself as a drummer. I remember first hearing about Georgia while I myself was a student at BRIT. So I suppose I was given a very unique insight into the excitement she created at the school when she first hit the scene. After her single ‘Started Out’ was released, word spread through the school, and indeed around the rest of the industry, like wildfire. A proud moment for her peers, and by the time I had left, her picture was hung proudly inside the school.

I had the pleasure of meeting Georgia at BBC Introducing Live last year where she spoke in great detail to a room of young musicians about her process of writing and recording. It was an incredibly enlightening talk that she gave, and she showed these young creators that they no longer need to be able to hire a studio or sound engineers if they want to create music. I could see the confidence she installed in the eyes of the audience and she seemed to genuinely care about hearing the stories of young artists.

My favourite part about her talk at BBC Introducing was hearing her nerd out about her collection of classic synths. I especially love artists who know their stuff, and it’s that knowledge which has allowed her to create her special sound.

I think the biggest thing that Georgia and her music represent is the shift in the music industry over the last 20 years – no longer do you even need to leave the house to have a hit record, but don’t let it be said that it’s any easier. The thing that sets Georgia apart from DJ’s or other producers is her knowledge of classic production techniques and her talents for mixing songs as well as playing and singing, not to mention her incredible ability for lyric writing, which she says finds most difficult but takes inspiration from her idol Kate Bush.

I also need to mention her incredible on-stage performance. This is definitely what intrigued me about her – and whoever said a female drummer couldn’t perform live on Jools Holland AND sing AND look totally cool doing it?

At least through what I’ve seen, Georgia has been so incredibly inspirational to a lot of young musical, especially female talent, and shows that a young woman from London can accomplish so much without the need of assistance – Georgia is an artist who deserves our attention.

Her new album ‘Seeking Thrills’ is available to listen to right now.