| LA ROUX HMV Forum Album Launch - Regardez Mon Visage |
| 3rd July 2009 |
Sister Elly Jackson (for it is she) has been making noises since LA ROUX were shortlisted for 'BBC Sound Of 2009'. And I'm not just talking about her falsetto voice! Of course, we haven't even talked about the music yet. Last Autumn's 'Quicksand' introduced LA ROUX as a contemporary sound influenced by the melodic bleeps of classic synthpop and the funky Minneapolis rhythm structures of PRINCE and JAM & LEWIS. Augmented by usual her boy/girl synthesizer line-up of 'Mikey' and Mickey O' Brien (who makes her own music under the name LADYBURDEN), Elly also welcomed the addition of electronic percussionist William Bowerman who played his first gig with the band a few weeks ago on Radio1's 'Live Lounge'.
The various tempo changes on 'Colourless Colour' are a refreshing alternative to the endless repetition of most dance music, adding a tension and vibrancy to the mix. Missing from the set though is the gorgeous ballad 'Cover My Eyes'; instead we get the slightly disappointing 'Armour Love'. But Elly's rather chipper mood makes up for it. Uncharacteristically smiling a lot, she thanked the crowd for getting her to No1 and even danced a bit, although usually with her back to the audience. There was certainly an air of 'well, how did I get here?' as she acknowledged all the cheers and applause. Ending with her two big singles, the crowd show their appreciation as a white brassiere and pair of knickers are thrown onto the stage. Elly looks a little embarrassed at this but gamely holds the brassiere to her chest and throws it back to a welcoming frenzy, recalling that infamous photo of SMITHS' fans fighting over MORRISSEY's shirt!
But as David Sylvian once sang: 'Les artistes de demain en desespoir agreable.' With thanks to Mr Blue Depeche Mode at Stade de France: Saturday 27 June 2009
In Paris it was a beautiful summer evening; perfect for a gig in the vast open-air stadium that is Stade de France. Here some 80,000 devotees had gathered to see Basildon's finest.
There has been genuine concern amongst the fanbase about Dave's recent ill health, which had forced the cancellation of several shows. So when a healthy smiling Dave first appeared on the giant video screens, the roar of delight from the assembled masses was both heartfelt and spine-tingling. And from that moment on, the band could do no wrong.
I won't give too much away, but the set list is, as the French say, 'formidable! If, like me, you're not a big fan of the current album, then don't worry. There are plenty of DM classics to warm the heart of even the most jaded fan, including a few very welcome surprises from the past!
If Stade de France had a roof, DM would've blown it off tonight. When the show finally came to an end and the house lights came up, one of my companions said 'that was the best EVER!' And I smiled, because I'd been thinking the same...
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| La Roux debut album: music for stowaways |
| 30th June 2009 |
After the very first listen, EY had already marked 'Tigerlily' as the (possible) 4th single. There was a bit of a buzz about this track from people who had seen La Roux live earlier in the year along with one or two others.
EY will now make another prediction. Track 6 'I'm Not Your Toy' is another future chart topper (we are certain that this will be single number 3 in the autumn).
Probably best to skip this one if you've just split up from a loved one.... Penultimate track 'Armour Love' threatens to break out into T'pau's 'China In My Hand' with the opening few bars but thankfully the similarities end as the main melody kicks in and it all begins to remind EY of The Assembly's 1983' hit 'Never Never' with fat synth lines and lovely instrumental breaks. There is always a dual vocal trick going on during the chorus that was used many times by Yazoo.
'Growing Pains' is a chirpy pop song with a bit of disjointed harmonica thrown in before the chorus and it all sounds much like The The's 1983 single 'This Is The Day' - a track we adore here at EY. 'O I make mistakes . And you just say it's growing pains' Electronically Yours Rating: 9.5/10 Human League's founding member Martyn Ware has even offered to produce Elly so that BEF collaboration could well become a reality later down the line.
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| 'Lumineux Noir' now at Musicnonstop |
| 28th June 2009 |
To pre-order your copy, please jump here. (Image © Out of Line)
Lady Victoria at Glasto!
La Roux is succeeding because she's co-writing brilliant pop songs that are reaching out to a very wide audience. It's good news all round. |
| 'Electronically Yours Vol 1' reaches Number 1 on MNS |
| 25th June 2009 - Updated |
Additional linear notes and insights into the making of 'EY VOL 1' will follow very shortly. 'EY VOL 1' can currently be purchased online from Musicnonstop in the UK and Undo Records in Greece. EY's top electro girl heading for UK Number One? Previous single 'In For The Kill' narrowly missed out on the top spot to spend over a month at Number 2 whilst the very clever Skream remixes reached out to ghrab an unsuspecting audience and could be heard everywhere.
Elly is...the girl from BEF!
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| 'Electronically Yours Vol 1' now on sale! |
| 21st June 2009 - UPDATED |
To celebrate this release, we've just added the lovely Extended Marshy Mix of 'Hanging On' to the EY Myspace player - jump here and have a listen.
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| Win copies of 'Lumineux Noir' and 'Electronically Yours Vol 1'! |
| 18th June 2009 |
Alternatively, you could simply dance till you drop to new anthems such as the achingly catchy 'Summer' followed by the equally instant and warm bleepy buzz of 'Radial Emotion' - and the giveaway doesn't end there as we also have four deluxe copies of the long awaited 'Electronically Yours Vol 1' to accompany 'Lumineux Noir'!
Innovative electro congratulations to: Michele Bowker Keep up with the very best Human League gossip over at the Secrets forum.
Love from a radial emotional orac x
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MARSHEAUX 'Lumineux Noir' - Sing The Song and Make Me Strong Again |
| 18th June 2009 |
With their contrasting vocal stylings; Marianthi: soft and sweet, Sophie: more alto and icy; they compliment each other in a similar fashion to Helen and Mira in LADYTRON or Claudia Brucken and Suzanne Freytag when they fronted PROPAGANDA. With a cinematic start in 'Exit', there are no bright lights but it builds. It's also a statement of intent as MARSHEAUX launch a darker approach to proceedings recalling how DEPECHE MODE opened their first black day with a 'Black Celebration'.
Sweetness presides in 'Summer' with an instant melody and hypnotic octave shifts. There's also vibratoed interludes which shows how the inventive use of virtual analogue sounds is very much part of MARSHEAUX's electro DNA, it's quite lovely.
The pace slows a little for 'Destroy Me' which is very dreamy with its (shock horror!) acoustic guitar samples sitting alongside the symphonic strings and Teutonic pulse. 'Thousand LEDs' is closest to the straightforward electro pop sound of early MARSHEAUX as heard on 'E-Bay Queen'. It's a rather nice way of saying 'Hey, this is what we were like but listen to the next one to hear how we've moved on'.
The magnificent closer 'Sorrow' is the best DEPECHE MODE song that Messrs Gahan, Gore, Fletcher and Wilder never recorded.
This album is technically very accomplished and has a dynamically Krafted sound, thanks to George Geranios and Nick Bitzenis of FOTONOVELA at the production helm.
'Simply the finest electro album since DEPECHE MODE's Violator'claimed The Fly when it wrote about THE PRESETS 'Beam'...NAH! EY RATING: 9.5 out of 10
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| Countdown to Marsheaux's 'Lumineux Noir'.... |
| 17th June 2009 |
CD 2 Breakthrough - Radio Edit
To pre-order this edition directly from Out Of line for just 14.99 (Euros)- please click here.
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| Little Boots HMV album launch |
| 9th June 2009 |
'It's exciting being the new girl, but the hype has put pressure on this album...it's all good though' said Victoria Hesketh to The London Paper.
A large and varied crowd gathered for a free concert and signing by BBC Sound of 2009 and EY fave LITTLE BOOTS. They were of all ages, genders, sexualities and races. But herein lays the potential pro and con of her appeal. Everyone wants their own version of LITTLE BOOTS. Whereas everyone is entitled to their opinion, one clueless criticism came on one forum: 'album is a bit meh...Next album, more pop production, less electro please'.
One thing for sure is that LITTLE BOOTS needs to be experienced live. Victoria gave her all during the short set on the small shop stage as she had done at Heaven several weeks previously.
Afterwards, Victoria met the fans to sign copies of 'Hands'. Record store signings can be distinctly impersonal affairs through no fault of the artist.
Earlier this week, BBC reporter Ian Young posted an article on the 'new pop divas' with amusing pye charts to explain and introduce the new electro sound to an audience whose ears have been repeatedly bashed and damaged by R'n'B. To read Ian's article in full, please click here.
A year ago she was singing covers on YouTube. Now she's rolling out dream duets with 80s pop outfit The Human League on her debut album, Hands. "I'd written this song called Symmetry and it just felt like it needed some male vocals on there," she explains. 'I'm a huge Human League fan and I just didn't think it would happen. When Phil Oakey said he would do it, I was like, 'Wow, incredible', because I'm just a massive fan. As for joining her hero onstage at one of the mountain of festivals she's playing this summer, Victoria had this to say: 'In my dreams it may happen, in my electric dreams boom boom.'
The Tour of The Universe moves on to Berlin on June 10th and Depeche release their new single 'Peace' on June 15th.
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| LITTLE BOOTS 'Hands' - We Click Album review by Chi Ming Lai / pics - Richard Price |
| 4th June 2009 |
'The goal, I suppose, is to sell records'. Victoria Hesketh, from interview with Popjustice 'I really clearly thought 'We are going to be the new Roxy Music'. There was a band at the time in Sheffield called The Extras and they had the same idea. But they did it by having one guy be like Bryan Ferry, getting in a sax player like Andy MacKay, getting in a synth guy like Eno! What we thought was 'What would Bryan Ferry do now if he was coming out of art college and wanting to make music? 'That's what THE HUMAN LEAGUE did - notice what was going on and what had changed with technology!' So what would Joanne Catherall and Susanne Sulley do today if they were coming out of school and wanting to make music? With the cheap laptop / keyboard technology available and a taste for quirky pop forms, they probably would have come up with something like LITTLE BOOTS and wouldn't have bothered going on tour with a fragmented synth boy band!
LITTLE BOOTS has commanded a lot of attention having been voted 'BBC Sound of 2009'. With every act who has been awarded the 'Sound' accolade going on to major success (except notably, electro-influenced THE BRAVERY), expectations for her debut album 'Hands' have been high. 'New In Town' was the first song Victoria wrote with Greg Kurstin in LA having been left behind by her former Dead Disco bandmates. She goes into semi-shouting mode because she wants to 'show you a good time'.
The mood subsides for 'Click' which is full of bubbling effects to a precise chattering rhythm. Victoria is not afraid to use old style analogue sounds and placed together with her sweet voice, a warmth presides through all her songs despite all the incumbent circuitry. 'Remedy' starts with some terrific scaling synth riffage reminiscent of CYNDI LAUPER's 'She-Bop'. And yes, the soaring singalong chorus is pure ABBA! In 'Ghost', we have the world's first electro Argentine Tango. Anyone remember Pythagoras? His formula helped calculate the size of the different sides of a triangle. Victoria loves her space triangles and 'Mathematics' manages to cleverly mix in numerically correct bleeps with a Sylvia Plath poem. Strange subjects and strange sounds but unlike Fourier analysis, it's all very accessible. The formula for love? 'A heart plus a heart'....that 'nothing can divide'.
Tune Into My Heart' shows how machines can have a pulse too. Despite some fairly cold wave Moogy backing, Victoria's feminine instincts add charm, colour and melody.
On closer 'No Brakes', love overtakes as a female interpretation of 'Love Comes Quickly' provides the 'L-Word' electro generation with a PET SHOP BOYS tribute. Victoria delivers a Northern lass monologue over the beautiful strings which then build around the pulsing bass sequences like classic Tennant and Lowe. But just as you think the CD ends, there's a hidden track that brings us a token piano ballad. Victoria said she didn't want to make a Tori Amos type 'girl on a piano' album but here she is with 'Broken Heart'. Still, 'Hands' is a strong debut so she can be forgiven.
EY RATING - 8.5 out of 10 |
| New pop alert! Hurts - 'Wonderful Life' |
| 2nd June 2009 |
With lots of sweeping chords, powerful hooks and the odd analogue bleep, this all seems very, very promising at a time when the girls are really leading the pack here in the UK with electro. Special mention must go to the black and white promo video with some of the best dancing since Chris Lowe's little twist in the video for 'What Have I Done To Deserve This'. Can we have some more? Hurts @ myspace orac |
| LITTLE BOOTS HEAVEN - Dancing Is My Remedy Words: Chi Ming Lai / Images: Richard Price |
| 1st June 2009 |
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Opening with 'Earthquake', this is the electro-ABBA number that Phil Oakey had been threatening to do since around 'Dare'. With her Agnetha-like soprano vocal, Victoria does that Bjorn and Benny trick of fusing downbeat relationship lyrics with a high octave killer chorus topline. Despite the melancholy, like with ABBA, you can't help but smile while being graced with this delightful ditty.
With its layered sequencing and her lyrical frustration at the lack of chemistry with a potential suitor, it showcases the ambition of her songwriting.
'Tune Into My Heart' sounds like 'Telekon' era GARY NUMAN defrosted to room temperature with some added feminine glitz. A bassline in triplicate drives it along while the pretty melody does what it says on the tin. What strikes you about this one is how all the weird juicy Moog noises are somehow cleverly voiced into a pop context.
For those who may have found 'New In Town' a little disappointing, luckily every other song played tonight from 'Hands' is much superior.
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ELECTRONICALLY YOURS
VOL 1
2 CD DELUXE EDITION
FEMALE FRONTED ANALOGUE ELECTRO - MARSHEAUX, CLIENT, PARRALOX, KATSEN, TIGER BABY AND MANY MORE WITH EXCLUSIVE EXTENDED REMIXES.
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LA ROUX
THE DEBUT ALBUM OF 2009
INCLUDES 'IN FOR THE KILL', FUTURE CHART TOPPER 'IM NOT YOUR TOY' AND CURRENT CHART TOPPER 'BULLETPROOF'
RELEASED 29/06/09
Grab mp3's of all the EY featured artists via the iTunes link below.

LITTLE BOOTS: HANDS
INCLUDES 'SYMMETRY' WITH PHILIP OAKEY
RELEASED: 08/06/09

PARRALOX: SHARPER THAN A KNIFE REMIXES
EY LTD EDITION CD SINGLE
INCLUDES MIXES FROM MARSHEAUX AND OBLIQUE
MIXES NOW AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD FROM BEATPORT

LADYHAWKE
EY ALBUM OF 2008
One of the best debuts since The Killer's 'Hot Fuss' back in 2004.
Confident, energetic and very catchy and now finally in the UK album Top 20!
EY RATING 9/10

DEPECHE MODE:
SOUNDS OF THE UNIVERSE
(CD+DVD)
'crunchy percussion for a punchy, electrorock blaster' 5/5
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
SOUNDS OF THE UNIVERSE DELUXE BOXSET
(WITH DEMOS, REMIXES AND DOCUMENTARIES)
EY RATING: 9/10
NORTHERN KIND: WIRED:
CRISP AND CRUNCHY ANALOGUE GOODNESS - MASTERED BY SIMON HEYWORTH

REMASTERED 'DARE'
TOGETHER WITH REMIX ALBUM 'LOVE & DANCING'
'Possibly the finest electronic record ever recorded'

ORIGINAL REMIXES & RARITIES
2005
MIXMAG RATING : 4/5
UNCUT: 4/5

REPRODUCTION 1979

TRAVELOGUE 1980

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