WIDESCREEN POP ? The Sound of Arrows

By Neale Lytollis

The rise of ?real?, some-might-say-intellectual electronic music in recent years (see Justice, Hot Chip and Digitalism) and bands moving away from traditional indie rock and venturing into more experimental territory (Telepathe, Crystal Stilts, Health being perhaps three of the main contendors), has all contributed to the word ?pop? being more or less on par with ?cunt? or ?fuck? in terms its offensiveness. Pop is shallow and disposable; pop doesn?t topple empires or cause revolutions; it?s cheap and irrelevant and only for dumb kids. This viewpoint is frankly bollocks. Pop as we know it as more than outlasted the latest New Genre of the Season and has been around since the year dot. Not bad for a genre which is allegedly about as useful as a hat made out of custard. Sweden has something of a rep for producing brilliant pop music (I wanted to avoid mentioning ABBA but find that I simply cannot overlook their massive achievements in this field and fuck you if you think I?m square for admitting it) and they?re pretty much done it again. This time in the form of Bright Young Things, Sound of Arrows. The band is currently made up of Stefan Storm and Oskar Gullstrand, two chums from Stockholm who beef up the line-up with an assortment of flashy technology. The band recently de-camped to London to schmooze with the business suits there (they?re doing very well at it) and work on their debut LP, hopefully soon to be released on as-yet-unknown label. Eat Your Heart Out recently caught up with Stefan Storm in a chilly, autumnal Regent?s Park in London.

So, Stefan, how are you doing these days? Busy?

Yes, I would say that I am. But it’s all just because of myself. I’m in the process of finishing our debut album and one could say that I’ve gone slightly mental in the process. I’m spending all of my waking hours working or thinking about the album. I’d hate for me to think back on this period one year from now wishing I’d put in more of an effort.

And how?s life in London? It must be a bit different to Stockholm?

It sure is. London is scary, filthy, messy, confusing and wonderful. Stockholm is small, pretty, clean, orderly and boring. 50/50 would be the ideal.

Why did you choose to work in London? Do you find it more inspirational than Stockholm or were there other more practical reasons to re-locate there?

Out of two reasons. One being that I was excited to see whom we could collaborate with here in London. We’ve met a lot of wonderfully talanted musicians and producers. The second being that I felt I needed to get away from home to be able to fully focus on the creation of this album. It’s much easier keeping professionally busy in a town where you don’t have as many friends.

So apart from going slowly insane and having no friends, how is the work going on the LP?

It’s going quite well. But like every creative process, there are ups and downs. I want for it to be PERFECT, something I’m starting to realize will never happen. Not because the album isn’t turning out good, more because I’ll never be 110% happy. Yesterday I finished what is to become the end credits-like end to the album. It’s very Vangelis / Moroder / Enya.

That?s quite a mix! Magic and Into the Clouds have given us a taster about what Sound of Arrows is all about. Is the album going to include any surprises that we don?t expect?

I guess it’ll be a suprise to some that parts of it will be pretty dark. Or darker at least. But that’s how all good albums are. A journey. Also, I guess to some it’ll come as a suprise just how much we do love our synthscapes. Be prepared for at least three instrumentals.

Sound of Arrows is very striking visually and the video for Into the Clouds has a very specific style. It reminds me of Neverending Story although I guess I am not the first person to think that! Do you think it?s important to bring a fantasy element back to pop music?

I don’t think it’s necessarily important to bring a fantasy element to music. But I do think that the music I like the best inhabits some kind of universe. Some elements that are larger than life. Since neither of us has a larger than life personality, we have to get some help from the visual department.

The video looks like it was made for $1 million dollars. Did you really splash out that much money on it or do you have a very clever graphics guy who made all the fantasy backdrops?

Business secrets.

Is this mystical, other world we see in your videos something you try to transfer to your live shows too?

Definitely, that is mainly why we are looking to sign with a major label. To be able to get some help with realizing our BIG vision for the upcoming live shows. It’ll be an audio-visual experience.

Speaking of which, we don?t see you out and about live so much? Are you guys more of a studio band or are there plans to tour?

Originally, I’m happiest sitting in a studio tweaking a new synth. But we do love a bit of performing now and again. Also, I think we are pretty good at it.

It seems that ?pop? has become a bit of a dirty word recently although I think it?s great and a necessary part of music. Do you dislike the pop tag? Would you describe yourselves differently?

I’ve always loved pop music, so to me that word doesn’t have a negative ring. Some people associate pop with soulless music. Not me, I think the best music is achieved when accesability and creativity meet.

Pop or not, NME and Dazed seem to like what you do and you seem to have generated a buzz in London in a short space of time. Are you signed with anyone at the moment? Are you going with an indie label or a major? Do you subscribe to this rather silly theory that all indies are great and all majors are evil?

Nope, not at all. We all understand when there is big money involved, there will need to be some sort of compromise. But we’d never let anyone tell us not to use certain songs we love. Then I’d rather release it myself.

So tell me, what DO arrows sound like?

Widescreen pop.

Do you both tuck into a big, greasy English breakfast every day before you go into the studio?

Hahaha. Absolutely not. I’ve been a vegetarian for ten years and just recently tried going further and becoming a vegan. What is then left in the english breakfast? Baked beans?! I don’t eat canned food.

And finally, do you like it when journalists flirt with you during interviews?

Hahaha. It’s always nice to be flirted with. Journalist or not.

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GODLY GROOVES

by NEALE LYTOLLIS

Sunday; the Sabbath, the day of rest, the Lord’s day.

Whatever you want to call it, it was on the first Sunday ever that God finally kicked back, brewed up an Ovaltine and took a break from six entire days of slaving away laying the groundwork for the unadulterated shit storm the world would soon turn into. It could be argued that given the way things have turned out, God did a bit of a cack-handed job with the whole creation of the world thing.

For a start, Adam would surely just have spent his days fishing and masturbating in the Garden of Eden if God hadn’t created Eve. And surely the snake was a mistake.

Just my opinion of course; my experiences of world planning are limited to say the least and given that I only have one planet to compare notes against I can hardly lay claim to being an expert. Basically, if we want to lay the blame for the world’s problems at anyone’s door it should be at God’s since he (allegedly!) started the whole show and things seemed to go pear-shaped the minute Eve showed her face. So God and his planet building; nice ideas exectuted in record time but fatally flawed nonetheless.

Anyway, back to Sundays. That grating, dull thud at the back of your head on a Sunday morning is not the effects of too much soda water down the disco or a teenage guilt-niggle forcing your brain out of your nose because you slowdanced with someone else’s girlfriend. That itchy, nauseous, white-noise-in-your-head feeling you’re experiencing is actually your conscience telling you you’ve been much, much worse.

You see, in much the same way the Eve was way back when, you’ve perhaps unwittingly also been seduced by the snake. In a figurative sense of course. That slithering, hypnotic, fork-tongued little cretin has managed to insinuate itself way into your heart, curl up there and is slowly squeezing out any sense of right or wrong when it comes to matters of the dancefloor. It’s made you lazy and convinced you that every time you swill up on cheap beer and hit the club to freak to the latest plastic happiness remix from Kitsune or some other godawful bleepy, scratchy drivel from Ed Banger that you’re having the absolute time of your life. And you fall for it every time Goddamn it! So much so that musicians are even taking the piss out of you. MSTRKRFT dropped one of the least inspiring records ever produced recently; dropped being appropriate because I can’t believe that even they like it. Just open iElectroMusicStar, click in some beats and add Clich?-Glitch-Filter and hey presto; instant second LP.

Simian Mobile Disco did more or less the same. The breathless enthusiasm of their debut album, so fresh and immediate that we all wet ourselves when we heard it, has been replaced this time around by a bunch of fat, flabby, custardy tracks which even the way too obvious celebrity mates shopping list can’t lift out of the ditch it landed in. And by Jove, if I hear one more person giggling and turning to jelly at the thought of an imminent new Klaxons LP, I might just have to start my own religious cult which encourages their ritual slaughter. With spoons. Even Digitalism don’t bother anymore. If I was the promoter of the last gig they DJd at and they turned up in crumpled white t-shirts on my shift, I’d have pulled the plug and horsewhipped them on stage until they went home and got fucking dressed properly.

So we’re in an ever decreasing circle. It’s like an yawning great black hole pulling us ? lazy musicians and undiscerning record buyers alike ? into a seething, inescapable cesspool where all we can do (apart from burn) is pull robotic moves to Pop the Glock and bore each other to death about which Maison compilation was really the best. For ever. It’s not even that we’ve been sold a lie because it was true once; it’s just no one can be bothered to admit it. It takes a bit of time and bravery to confess that the current batch of electronic music is really rather shit. You can be dancing in some club, convulsing like a spastic sat on a pylon and twenty minutes in; epiphany. It’s like the Burning Bush or the parting of the Red Sea when slowly you realise: Hey, I’ve been programmed to like this. It doesn’t speak to me. It doesn’t make me feel anything.

I’m on auto pilot here. I just don’t like this. So what do you do? Go back to Nu Rave? Indie rock? Chiptune? If those were the only choices I’d start hiding pills in my socks and start going to Donk parties.

But there is a light; a distant golden glimmer at the end of this fat, flatulent tunnel of muck. And it’s name, rather appropriately, is Godly Grooves. And my God, if this record had floated down into my room on a cloud followed by all the angels and cherubs of the heavens, I couldn’t like it more. Arok and Scientist are German DJs and have clearly been snorting inspiration because they’ve just released the strongest contender yet for Best Record of 2009. A unique and ultimately screwy mixtape of rare 60s and 70s Christian grooves, originally released on obscure, religious labels and selected, dusted down, scrubbed up and remixed into an hour long compilation. Blessed be, they’ve even put it out on a brand new imprint and limited the run of units to a mere 100. So heavenly, so unusual, you virtually lose your powers of description and can just goggle open-mouthed in wonder at how someone could have come up with a record which on the surface of it sounds monstrous but which in reality is the nearest thing we’ve heard this year to perfection. Religious music is usually whack and about as much fun as a day doing door-to-door with the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

This is different; bizarre, crackly Christian tracks sung in German over lo-fi beat samples, fat basslines and off-kilter registers. It has to be heard to be believed. And believe it you should brother. Refreshing proof that there are musicians work out there who can move the boundaries of what electronic music is all about, incorporate hitherto untouched genres and spark off something new.

So will we all be dancing to obscure Christian grooves in the near future? Unlikely. And admittedly taking it in context it probably isn’t the greatest album ever, but the fact that it’s just about the only original thing I’ve heard this year (barring Health and Robot Koch’s LP) makes it worthy of a special mention. Plus the fact that no one will like it makes it all the more attractive. click here to watch

God speed at the disco my children. Amen.

NEALE LYTOLLIS

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Take a relatively obscure 80s pop track, re-work it by one of the UK?s most successful bands and release it on a highly-respected German label

by NEALE LYTOLLIS

- if you thought that recipe for success was a just little too ambitious to be true then think again because no less than Pet Shop Boys have just released their latest single – a cover of the classic I?m In Love With a German Film Star featuring vocals by Sam Taylor-Wood – on Cologne-based label Kompakt.

On the surface it may seem a curious concoction all round yet it?s perhaps the unlikeliness of it all that has ensured a striking finished product. Kompakt?s Michael Mayer explains how the single came about: ?There?s a longstanding mutual admiration and respect between Kompakt and PSB,? he said, ?We?ve loved their music ever since they started recording. Neil and Chris discovered our label many years ago. They are very up to date with electronic music and even came digging for records in our record store.

This collaboration with Sam Taylor-Wood is a very special side project that they didn?t want to run through their usual channels. It?s a labour of love and the song is about a German film star ? so Kompakt seemed to be a suitable harbour for it.? Neil Tenant says of the collaboration: ?I?m a big fan of Kompakt and it?s a thrill to release something with them; they?re a definitive electronic music label.?

When the song was originally released at the beginning of the 80s it was only a minor hit yet it?s made a lasting impression on Neil Tenant: ?I bought the original version by The Passions in 1981 and I?ve always thought it was a mesmerising track,? he explained, ?We thought the song would lend itself to an electronic interpretation. I hope we?ve emphasised the sexual longing.?

All the stops have been pulled out for this release which features a brace of sexy remixes, three of which come from Berlin?s own Mark Reeder. Michael Mayer is hooked: ?It was the boys? wish to include him in this project. Of course we were aware of his existence since he started the label MFS in 1990 but our paths had never crossed before. To be honest, I was a little unsure if he would be a matching choice given the fact that he was known for working mainly at the mainstream end of trance music but when I heard his mixes I was staggered. He?s totally captured the classic PSB sound of their early Bobby O. phase. That?s probably something a 25-year-old minimal techno hotshot couldn?t have accomplished. I think his Stuck in the 80s Mix rounds off the package in a very appropriate way.?

While Michael Mayer may lean towards Natassja Kinski as his favourite German movie goddess, the striking cover art can leave no doubts as to which German film star Neil Tenant is in love with: ?Marlene, because she?s so glamourous and has that wonderful husky voice!?

Sam Taylor-Wood produced by Pet Shop Boys ? I?m In Love With a German Film Star is out now as CD maxi, 12? and 7? on Kompakt Pop.

www.petshopboys.co.uk
www.kompakt-net.com

“Anne Clark is playing here tonight – and you’re not Anne Clark”!

Being refused entry to a show you?re actually headlining must be an embarrassing experience and one of the many music biz divas would no doubt throw a massive J Lo-style strop yet Anne Clark takes this kind of non-recognition in her stride. If you were to pass her in the street you?d be forgiven for not recognising her as one of electronic music?s long-term contributors; she?s rather small with mussed up hair and a quiet, unassuming personality.

Clark herself would agree that she doesn?t exactly fit into the traditional female ?pop star? image. ?Having grown up being ?Not The Most Beautiful Girl In School? it was truly magnificent when punk rock arrived and it was what you did that mattered, not what you looked like. Things soon reverted back to how they had been before and women had to be ?babes? or ?whores? to make it. I know I can never be one and hopefully am not the other, so I am very proud to say that I guess it’s my work that matters to people!?

Clark was born in Croydon, London and worked as a nurse in a psychiatric hospital before taking a post in the Bonaparte Records store. She immersed herself in the burgeoning punk/new wave scene when she began booking artists such as Paul Weller, Linton Kwesi Johnson and The Durutti Column to perform at the Warehouse Theatre. Seizing the opportunity to be part of a wave of music where attitude rather than looks mattered most, it?s no surprise that Clark turned to writing and performing and her debut LP, The Sitting Room, hit stores in 1982. Since then, her musical output has been somewhat sporadic with long gaps between releases; she?s an artist who only brings out an album when she feels she has something to say as opposed to churning out nonsense to fulfill contractual obligations. Her new LP, The Smallest Acts of Kindness, is her first in twelve years so why the long wait? ?In 1996 my father died and this had a huge impact on me,? explains Clark, ?I basically lost all interest in writing.

What could I say? What was the purpose of writing really? I felt I no longer had anything to say. By the late 90s I had also grown very tired of the whole music scene. It seemed so stale and sterile. Everything seemed to be about “product” and nothing to do with “quality”. Everything sounded like a derivative of something else.? But while one family tragedy put a complete block on her writing, another opened the doors to her creativity: ?In 2006 my mother died and I had a completely opposite reaction to the one I’d had after my father’s death. Suddenly everything seemed urgent and vital. Life is so short and unpredictable. We have to give it everything we can. I had to write again. This is basically how the new album came about.?

As the first new Clark material to be released in more than a decade this album can surely be filed under ?Eagerly Awaited? and is likely to be a hit with die-hard fans as well as bringing in a few newbies along the way. It?s scarcely a deviation from the typical formula yet can hardly be classed as a mere regurgitation of what she?s done befor. After all, her spoken word critiques and rants are what she does best and this time the impassioned sloganeering is set to sombre acoustic guitars and banging techno beats in equal measure. ?I wanted to be certain that I did something that had value to my audience and to myself. I want to give the best I can. I also want to give something that the audience recognizes but that also challenges them. The most important thing for me was keeping a clear perspective and maintaining my vision of what the album should be.?

Clark?s music has often been described as bordering on Weltschmerz but she is keen to point out that far from being a 24/7 misery she simply uses music as a means to understand and cope with difficult issues: ?I always find it curious that people feel my music is lacking emotion. I fill it to bursting with emotion! Energy and communication are the primary elements to my work. It has certainly never been my intention to release material that makes people depressed or gloomy. I don’t deny that there is an element of melancholy and introspection in what I do but for me the purpose of music, poetry, books is to help us deal with parts of life that aren’t so easy. I think you’ll find the themes of most of the greatest works aren’t always the jolliest!?

With a flair for memorable electronics and certain degree of formality and distance in her music it?s perhaps no surprise that Clark is especially popular in Germany and she herself is very positive about her German fanbase: ?I adore my German audience! They have been so loyal through so many different and difficult periods,? she enthuses, ?For as long as I can remember I have been fascinated by Germany and German culture. Despite all the clich?s, I find German art and culture passionate and full of fire.

There is a romanticism and honesty, a directness that I love in its poetry, music, painting. It touches me very deeply.? In October Clark will set off on a European tour which will see her busy until mid-February. Yet despite the intensity of the schedule, it?s an experience she adores, ?I love touring. For me it is the ultimate part of this whole thing. Everything comes together – the music, the musicians, the audience, the energy shared. This is going to be a very long and no doubt very tiring tour but what a privilege to again be doing something I love so much.?

With a new album about to hit the stores and lengthy tour in her diary, Anne is back on the radar doing what she loves and as an artist with more experience under her belt than most she has seen myriad developments within the industry yet is confident that changes happening now can only work in the artist?s favour: ?I have to say what enormous pleasure it gives me to see the greedy grasping hands of the industry losing their grip on artists at last. The arrival of technology has been like a renaissance for so many musicians. There will of course always be the “pop music industry” and that is fine but for so long “Artists” have lost out to “Products”. Now, through the Internet, downloading sites etc. there is a whole other world for people to discover real music in and for the people that create it to have a platform. It should be wonderful.?

It should indeed. Clark remembers an incident that would have most artists foaming at the mouth: ?I asked one of my record companies for a tiny budget for a re-mix. They gave me half of virtually nothing. That same week a model who had been fucking one of the executives got an advance of ?250,000 to make an album that nobody ever bought!? Her response? ?C’est la vie, eh??

By Neale Lytollis

I am often asked by German friends what it was like living in the UK during the heady days of Britpop when the UK was the coolest place in the world again; a buzzing hotbed of mid-90s creativity affecting literature, fashion and art but whose main outlet was music and scores of Next Big Things seemed to be releasing classic albums on an almost daily basis.

The very same friends are a little disappointed when I answer: ?Well, it was OK.? I?m sure they seem to think that I spent my days shopping with Suede, had a quick cuppa round at Damon Albarn?s and then partied the night away with Ocean Colour Scene and Cast. But I was a kid living in Newcastle ? a far cry from the glitz and glamour of the media circuit of London where Cool Britannia only affected the bands themselves and the NME staff writers.

However, one thing does stand out from that period as being phenomenally significant and that was What?s the Story?Morning Glory, an album that surely needs no introductions whatsoever but just in case it passed you by it was the second LP from Oasis. That was THE record of the times?our Sgt. Pepper?s if you like?it was the record against which every other LP in the Britpop movement was compared. It was the soundtrack of my generation and thirty years from now it will still be in the Top Ten Greatest Records of All Time lists that all those silly magazine obsess about.

Even if you weren?t a great fan of Liam and Noel and their boozy, loutish scallywag ways you simply couldn?t get away from that record. It was everywhere you went, every time you switched on the radio something from the LP was playing and the incredible Don?t Look Back in Anger more or less became the idiom with which we chose to live our lives. Yes, if one thing stands out more than anything else from that period it?s being 15, more than a little na?ve and planning our lives in the 6th Form common room while that played on in the background.

But whereas their arch enemies Blur tweaked their formula every couple of years to stay ahead of the game and experiment with different genres, Oasis seemed hell-bent on doing What?s the Story? all over again. The release of their follow up, Be Here Now, was probably the most hotly anticipated event since the moon landings?and turned out to be one of the most crushing disappointments of my teenage years.

Where we all expected a vibrant, relevant, ball-breaking record which would speak to us as much as its predecessor had, what we actually ended up with was a fat, flabby bowl of cold semolina which turned our stomachs and made us start listening to Kula Shaker all over again. There?ve been numerous Oasis LPs since then of course, alternating between over-inflated and turgid, still desperately hanging onto the coat tails of 1995, still saying nothing more than ?help, we?ve lost the plot.? And now 2008 sees the release of yet another one entitled, Dig Out Your Soul.

And you know what? It?s actually pretty good. The guys have actually decided to expand a bit on what they do and experiment with a different sound. OK, it?s still sufficiently similar to be recognisably Oasis but nevertheless they finally seem to have forgotten all about 1995, have wiped the slate clean and started afresh. And the results are surprisingly appealing.

Admittedly the Well For Oasis, It?s Pretty Good school of thought might be like getting a spacker kid to draw a big purple square on a piece of paper and calling it an apple and then you could say ?Well it might not look much like an apple but for Drooly Johnny it?s pretty good? but that?s missing the point. Forget about Britpop, forget about 1995, forget all those dreadful records since What?s the Story? ? this is actually a good LP. Not because of or despite the fact that it?s Oasis but just because it is.

Check it out?you might be as surprised as I was.

]]> http://www.eyho-blog.com/2008/11/06/oasis-britpop-new-album/feed/ 2 http://www.eyho-blog.com/2008/11/04/cyclists-in-berlin/ http://www.eyho-blog.com/2008/11/04/cyclists-in-berlin/#comments Tue, 04 Nov 2008 07:14:12 +0000 admin http://www.eyho-blog.com/?p=679

OK?

?sorry, but you know when you start a sentence with ?OK? it means you?re about to say something bizarre of offensive like, ?OK, you know you?re my best friend but you have really bad breath,? or ?OK, I do like screwing you but next time could you maybe do something more than just lie there like an ironing board?? That kind of thing. Saying ?OK? kinda sets the tone for something odd.

So here goes.

OK, cyclists really get on my nerves.

em04_3

There, I said it. I am abusing my good working relationship with the EYHO team to use their blog not as a platform to plug a new record, review a cool gig or lament the break-up of a favourite band but to rant about cyclists. Perhaps this blog entry should carry a public information sticker: ATTENTION! THIS BULLETIN INCLUDES ABSOLUTELY NO MUSIC CONTENT WHATSOEVER! So at least you?ve been forewarned?either read on or turn back now and check out one of the many other wonderful texts on this site.

All I am going to do here is vent my spleen about something which irritates me under the perhaps misguided belief that someone out there actually gives a shit except myself.

I am a cyclist. I should make that clear right from the off. In fact I have a rather sexy black bike which my dear friend Mark Reeder gave me. It?s big, it?s black, it has about 4000 gears?it?s the Monster Truck of bikes, very capable, easy to handle, lightweight. In fact, it?s the business and I love it dearly (although mercifully not enough to actually have given it a name ? it is just a bike after all). It?s my primary mode of transport; stick your head out of your window at any given point during the day and you?re likely to see me whizzing past ? if you know what I look like that is.

What pisses me off are other cyclists. They are an incredibly bizarre breed and they get on my nerves like nobody?s business. I hate the kind of cyclist who will gladly breeze through a red light and then go crazy because someone in a Robben and Wientjes truck has almost wiped them out. I hate cycle couriers who have ?5000 worth of bike and ?2000 worth of cycle clothes and then ride slower than my gran can walk.

I hate the kind of stupid Prenzlauer Berg mother who has a huge plastic kids cycle seat on the back of her wonky old bike and uses it to carry a sack of potatoes rather than a child. I hate the kind of people who think it?s cool to buy a DDR-era bike because it?s retro and then wonder why the thing doesn?t actually move.

I hate the kind of Dolly Daydream who sits at a green light holding up the whole world because they?re staring into space dreaming about something they read in Spiegel the day before. I hate it when the light changes to green and some incompetent wibbles and wobbles all over the place trying to get moving as though they?d only learned to ride a bike half an hour before.

I hate it when I get stuck behind some incredibly slow woman and I can?t take my eyes off her tremendously fat arse which only makes me think about wanting to punch her in the back of the head. I hate it when cyclists ride on the pavement because they don?t want to knacker their wheels on a cobbled street yet they turn into Jack Nicholson from The Shining if a pedestrian happens to put one foot into the cycle lane. I hate it when cyclists insist on riding side by side in the cycle lane having a conversation with each other ? or worse still when they?re holding hands ? these people should be machine-gunned to death.

I hate the kind of dumb bell who fumbles around not quite sure of where they?re going, holds up their right arm ? and then turns left. I hate the idiots who ride around the city at night wearing black with not a single light on their bike and then wonder why 10 taxis have killed them. Alternatively, I hate the kind of wanker who has some kind of flashing, strobe, disco light thing mounted on their bike which makes passing aircraft think that they are Tegel Airport and then try to make a landing in Frankfurter Allee.

I hate the kind of cyclist who causes absolute havoc on the subway by insisting on bringing his bike into the most packed carriage on the train so that everyone has to breathe in and hold it and sit in each other?s pockets ? then he gets off after one station ? these guys I have to suppress the urge to kick in the back.

This could potentially go on forever but I am going to call it quits now. I guess in writing this I?ve just realised the point of the whole article?

I am the best cyclist in the city and everyone else should just take the U-Bahn and leave me and the streets in peace.

NEALE LYTOLLIS

Let?s just get one thing clear right now. Record reviews are a waste of time and I would never set much store by what a reviewer has to say about an album. For one thing they are either getting blow jobs from the promo people which results in them writing a glowing review of tosh like Mando Diao or else they have never been ?much of a fan of music? and only do the job for the free parties. I should know.

I have been employed doing tatty little write-ups of LPs for the last four years and while I have to confess to having unearthed a great many gems (Pop Levi?s first LP, Magic Wands, endless Kitsun? compilations, Wild Billy Childish?s Christmas songs to name but a few) all that writing record reviews really does is fill you with an overwhelming dread of hearing a new album because every room in your house is full of shit CDs.

On the other hand you can get wind of a record and know it?s going to be a stonker before you?ve even heard it and Hurricane, the new release from Grace Jones, is one such album. It is quite simply superb. Grace has always been a magnificently magnetic and unique artist ? a kind of female David Bowie?but black.

From her early disco trilogy Portfolio, Fame and Muse to the clinical hardcore of Nightclubbing to the dripping sex of Pull Up To The Bumper, covers of tracks as diverse as La Vie en Rose, Ring of Fire and Warm Leatherette, flat-top hair cuts and half-naked album covers, is she a man, is she a woman?, battering Russell Harty on UK TV, no one ever quite sure if she was a nice lady or a fucking loony tune?you either love her or hate her but the fact remains that La Jones has always done precisely want she wanted. For Christ?s sake, the woman even popped up in a James Bond movie and fucked a 100-year-old Roger Moore. This dame?s got class and it?s great to see her back with more ultra, ultra stylish music for the first time in little over nineteen years.

Unlike your average record review I?m not going to bang on about genres and individual tracks ? primarily because I can?t really be bothered ? but I will say that Williams Blood and Corporate Cannibal are fucking awesome, proof if any were needed that almost two decades since her last LP, Jones still knows what she?s doing.

If you have some cash kicking around the house and you fancy a trip to Saturn and blowing it on some new LP then you could do much, much worse than Hurricane. And if you?ve always known the name Grace Jones but never the music then this LP is actually a pretty good place to start ? it?s about as good as Jones gets (which admittedly includes pretty much all of her back catalogue anyway).

So the waxing lyrical is over, my contender for the Best Record of 2008 so far is Hurricane and if you think I?m only saying that because I?ve been promised a blow job by her promo people then think again because I?m actually pretty flexible and can do that by myself.

NEALE LYTOLLIS

OK, OK, so the EYHO Blog is certainly not the first site on the Net to report this news but nevertheless the demise of one of Sheffield?s finest exports, The Long Blondes, deserves a brief but heartfelt obituary.

News of the band?s split first reached my ears via Tuesday?s NME newsletter (yeah, sorry folks, I have always meant to unsubscribe to this since it?s like the newsletter equivalent of having a rapist drop a dog shit through your letterbox every week) but if I hadn?t happened to be sufficiently bored to bother reading it I might?ve missed the sad tidings for a few more days.

The reason for the split was guitarist and principal songwriter Dorian Cox?s recent stroke which had had a debilitating effect on his guitar playing: ?The main reason for this is that I suffered from a stroke in June and unfortunately I do not know when/if I will be well enough to play the guitar again,? said Cox on the band?s homepage. Sad news indeed yet somehow refreshing to see a band call it a day not because of arguing about percentages, royalties and who?s fucking who, but due to a genuine, and ultimately tragic, medical problem.

Cox, if you are a fan of the band, is the lyrical jackanapes who gave us classics such as ?Lust in the Movies?, ?Only Lovers Left Alive? and ?Heaven Help the New Girl?. But perhaps his two stand-outs in the Long Blondes? discography were ?Once and Never Again? and the mighty ?Giddy Stratospheres?.

?Once and Never Again? tells the story of a self-harming teenager, clearly devoid of a future as she doesn?t have a boyfriend. ?Nineteen, you?re only nineteen for God?s sake. You don?t need a boyfriend!? wails front woman Kate Jackson while knowingly adding ?Another drama by the kitchen sink tonight, you said you cut yourself whilst washing up the knives, another week off school won?t do you any good, coz I know how it feels to be your age.? Wise words indeed for anyone unlucky enough to have been nineteen.

Cox very cleverly points out the advantages of experience over youth: ?You know I?m not so young. I spend an hour getting ready every day. And still I end up looking more or less the same. But I could show you a thing or two. Oh, I could show you the ropes?? And while we all might wish to be just a little bit younger than we are, Cox reminds us, ?Oh, how I?d love to feel a girl your age, your age, once and never again!?

This witty, intelligent track with a delightfully poppy beat and silky vocals from Kate Jackson is sure to have struck a chord with anyone seemingly careering non-stop towards thirty and make them have second thoughts about wishing to be a silly, fucked-up teenager again. You see, it?s no so bad as you get older. At least that desire to slash your wrists every time a one-night stand doesn?t call back fades away.

Perhaps the Long Blondes? signature song though was ?Giddy Stratospheres?; a solid, thumping indie track which broke them in the UK and put Sheffield on the map as somewhere which could be super-cool as opposed to somewhere everyone thought was just a bit dismal. All about a man?s valiant but ultimately vain efforts to get into a girl?s knickers it?s perhaps THE example of the Long Blondes? particular brand of nudge-nudge-wink-wink knowingness and acid-tongued wit: ?Your mother, call your mother, even she?s surprised that this is how you want to spend your nights indoors. You never call too often. What?s up? Have you forgotten what it?s like to have her on all fours??

The song first appeared on a sexy baby-blue 7? from the appropriately-titled Angular Records back in 2004 and became something of an indie-disco hit. The success of this track ? backed up on the 7? by the hilarious ?Darts? and the Grease-style masterpiece ?Polly? ? combined with the thrift store chic of the band themselves (no one could pull off berets and coloured tights quite like La Jackson earning her a place on NME?s Cool List) really set the non-blonde 5-piece on the route to stardom.

Two splendid LPs (?Someone to Drive You Home? and ?Couples?) and one singles compilation later (?Singles?) and the band have bitten the dust.

You might think the EYHO Blog an unusual platform to mourn the passing of an indie-band from the UK ? after all, they were pop, had mainstream success, appeared on Top of the Pops, were regularly written about in rags like the NME ? yet the Long Blondes transcended their mainstream popularity and remained fun, witty, looked great and sounded great. They added a splash of irony and Carry On film innuendo to a music scene brimming to bursting with cheeky young lads singing about screwing girls and how rubbish their hometowns were.

The music of the Long Blondes spoke for itself and they were a very welcome addition to the mid-2000s Cool Britannia revival. All I can do now is to wish Dorian Cox a speedy recovery and the rest of the band the best of luck in whatever projects they choose to pursue now that the line under the Long Blondes chapter in the great book of British music has finally been drawn.

?I kissed you in the shower, I kissed you in the car. If you didn?t like me, why?d you let it get this far?? The Long Blondes ? ?Polly?

written by NEALE LYTOLLIS

The term “The Soundtrack of your life” might sound a little clich?d but its relevance shouldn’t be underestimated. A tight, perceptive LP can not only predict shifting musical fashions but can also be an astute commentary of the times.

Blondie’s new wave masterpiece Parallel Lines was a classic of the genre, neatly bridging the gap between the grit of punk and the stylish productions of synth-pop. But it also struck a chord with the populace of the UK in that the social problems which gave rise to punk in the mid-70s were laid to rest and everyone could look forward to a more stable, prosperous decade as the 1980s appeared on the horizon.

If social commentary is just as important as musical ability then the debut album from Brit-based band Hadouken is going to simultaneously shock and thrill. The thrills come from the insanely aggressive tracks; building on similar rock-electro sensibilities as Goose or The Whip they take every track into darker, dirtier territory ensuring the record has a nastier, more streetwise edge to it.

Music with balls is a good thing. Sadly, that’s where the good news stops.

Listen a little closer and what you’re left with is a shocking portrait of a country which for years seems to have been slowly sliding down the toilet. Binge drinking, ASBO culture (the Anti Social Behavioural Order introduced in 1998 in an effort to cap anti-social youth problems but now seems to be treasured more as a badge of honour than a shameful punishment), extreme consumerism, massive debt; basically all the tabloid and TV news headlines packaged into 11 tracks.

But where did it all go wrong? How can the UK, the once-proud home to Buckingham Palace and Lords Cricket ground, tea on the lawn and Church on Sunday have turned into such a rancid, dangerous shit hole?

Of course there isn’t one big fat problem at the centre of the gradual disintegration of British society. The theories as to how the current state of affairs exist are legion and all are possible contributing factors; the overly liberal attitude to sex in the late 60s invalidating the institution of marriage and eroding the family unit, the scrapping of mandatory military service for 16-year-olds, 18 years of conservative government which saw national industries privatised and a cut throat work ethic come into power, the sexualisation of youth, racial tensions due to the UK’s seemingly “open door” policy to immigration…the list goes on.

At one time or another, all of these points have been submitted as contributing to the dire social ills in the UK. Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister from 1979-1990, famously wished to create a “classless society” and the wheels she set in motion throughout the 80s have created a slightly different legacy: a society with no class.

But while an outsider can view these problems as being especially grim and the tabloids always love to run away with a juicy horror story, perhaps on the inside the situation isn’t so bad after all.

“We talk about certain social issues that we see around us but at the same time we deal with them in a light hearted manner because we see them as issues that have probably been around for many years,” says Hadouken’s lead singer James Smith.

A light-hearted view of things is all well and good – after all a smile can get you through the day, and my God do you need a smile if you’re day consists of being in London – but are the Hadoukens, unwittingly promoting such loutish behaviour simply by pointing it out? “Some people react to a song like Liquid Lives and think that we are straight edge and oppose drinking which isn’t the case at all.

As artists we comment on the particular issues that are dominant in our time, some of which have been problems for a long time and others which are maybe newer problems. We see it as our place to observe rather than to preach.” But do James and Co., like 385,000 Brits did last year, ever plan to pack their cases and give up the UK as a lost cause? “We are happy living in the UK and wouldn’t want to be anywhere else at this time in our lives.”

The LP is titled Music for an Accelerated Culture; quite where the culture of the UK is accelerating to is anyone’s guess. Further down the toilet? Or will there be some miracle cure to solve all the social ills and pull the country up out of the depths? That’s anyone’s guess but as James himself sings on Get Smashed Gate Crash: “We are the wasted youth and we are the future too.”

Innocent statement or sinister warning? You decide.

NEALE LYTOLLIS

IF YOU CAN’T MAKE IT IN HERE (BERLIN), YOU CAN MAKE IT EVERYWHERE

?Oh man, Crystal Castles played a fucking insane show at Maria last night!? A friend of mine, literally hopping up and down with excitement, more or less screamed this in my face recently. In fact, had he been any more switched on I think it might have ended like a scene from Scanners; I half expected his veins to start bulging and his head to explode.

I thought to myself: ?What the fuck is wrong with this guy? Is he on drugs? Has someone put bleach in his drink or something?? Nope, that was pure, unadulterated glee at having witnessed one of the musical events of the year.

However, I was at the self same CC gig at Maria and quite where the ?fucking insane show? was I have no idea because I?d obviously gone to the toilet when that happened and I?d completely missed it.

What I do have a vague memory of is turning up at the venue, asking the girl on the desk if the gig had started (?Yeah, they?re playing their first song now.?), checking my coat in, having a quick pee, buying a beer and by the time I?d got myself a spot to stand and watch the show (this was a Stand And Watch for me, not a dive in and get killed in the melee kind of show) it was flippin? over. Literally. I mean, I?m not that slow but I guess it took me all of fifteen minutes or so to get in, get myself organised and find a suitable vantage point.

OK, maybe fifteen minutes is a slight exaggeration. But we?re probably talking twenty minutes tops. Coat check was quick, toilets were empty, bar was deserted. What took all the time was navigating my way through the seething pit of evil which was the crowd. Now that did take a while?and quite a lot of courage.

They were going absolutely bloody insane.

It was like the Last Days of Sodom and Gomorrah or the Burning of Rome or some such other historical tragedy.

I wouldn?t have been surprised if, by the time I got through them all to the other side, I emerged completely naked because it felt like my clothes were being squeezed off. Although that wouldn?t necessarily have been a bad thing since my clothes seemed to be drenched with everyone else?s sweat anyway so I stunk to high heaven even though I?d barely moved.

Crystal Castles at Maria were a prime example of the distorted view of reality we end up with when viewed through the kaleidoscope of hype. I was there, I watched, I heard the songs, I saw the performance and aside from a moderate amount of hip-swinging I permitted myself on Crimewave (which even I have to admit is a mighty choon) I didn?t feel at all inspired to go wild, tear out my hair or smash up the furniture. This was a gig where the atmosphere seemed to have been dumped there right out of the pages of a music magazine?CC brought along their media baggage with them and so did the docile kids in the crowd.

OK, sorry Alice and Ethan, it?s not your fault. CC are an OK band as far as I am concerned but that?s it. They?re OK. Their incessant chiptunery sounds rather unique in today?s musical climate but even that?s been done before and after two or three songs in a row it does rather make you want to stick your head into blender. They?re a cute, stylish duo who the media scooped up and everyone topfriended on Myspace.

If only people could step back and analyse a bit more before eating everything the music press spoon-feeds them.

After all the CC show at Maria was a real stinker for the poor saps (or should that be dedicated fans?) who actually bothered to spend money on a ticket. Blink and you?d miss it. Indeed, I think I have had wanks that lasted longer than CC?s set and in the end were ultimately more satisfying. And what of the crazy, spazzed out crowd who 10 minutes before had been jumping around like their lives depended on it? Well, as soon as the gig was over they picked up their American Apparel hoodies and left. No come down. No buzz. No remnants of crackling energy because it never existed in the first place. They?d turned up to Hot Ticket of the Season, done what was expected of them, then went back home to do their homework. As simple, and as pre-meditated, as that. I guess what was important here was not whether you?d had a good time or not, but whether you were there or not.

So how long are CC going to be able to sustain a career built entirely on a wave of anticipation? After all, once everyone got keyed into the whole CC thing, what they really wanted all these months was an album and that is out ? and a rather predictable affair it is too. So what?s to wait for now? Vol. II? Crystal Castles Remixed? Crystal Castles Unplugged? Crystal Castles Sing Your Favourite Hits from Mary Poppins? Time will tell if they can evolve into something new and remain for the long run as valuable contributors to popular music or if they?re going to burn out and be remembered as nothing more than a vaguely interesting curio. Now that will be something worth seeing.

NEALE LYTOLLIS

Delia Derbyshire (1937-2001) is a name virtually unheard of in Germany yet in the UK she remains one of the true pioneers of electronic music.

Derbyshire was born in Coventry and studied mathematics and music at Cambridge. This curious combination no doubt influenced her work as an innovator in the field of bringing logical, scientific approaches to the field of electronic music to create something new and inspired.

Her developing interest in music led her to apply for a position as a sound engineer at Decca Records only to be turned down on the grounds that the company didn?t hire women in their studios. Derbyshire subsequently accepted a post to work for the UN in Geneva before returning to London to work at music publishers Boosey and Hawkes.

By 1960 Derbyshire was working at the then fledgling and massively influential BBC Radiophonic Workshop. The unit was established in the late 50s at the legendary Maida Vale studios under the guidance of Studio Head Desmond Briscoe to provide new sound effects and scores for radio and television. It was in this highly experimental environment that Derbyshire?s creativity was allowed to flourish, enabling her to create some of her best-remembered works.

Perhaps her best-known composition from her years at the Radiophonic Workshop was her interpretation of Ron Grainer?s theme for the then brand new children?s TV series Doctor Who, which first went on air in November 1963. Derbyshire created a swirling, hypnotic interpretation of Grainer?s music utilising reverse tape loops and electronic oscillators. The process took weeks; each note had to be individually treated, recorded onto one-inch magnetic tape, spliced and then edited back together again.

The composition is often credited as being the first every purely electronic theme tune used in a mainstream television broadcast and was a sensation at the time of its first airing. Grainer was so surprised with how Derbyshire had interpreted his sheet music that he asked her: ?Did I really write this?? to which Derbyshire neatly replied: ?Most of it.? Nevertheless, Grainer was so impressed with Derbyshire?s work he attempted to have her credited on-screen as co-composer, something which BBC bureaucracy at the time prevented.

She also collaborated with musical luminaries such as Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono and was a founder member of the short-lived Unit Delta Plus, a group of like-minded musicians whose intention was to promote electronic music to a wider audience. They presented some of their works at The Million Volt Light and Sound Rave and at the Royal College of Art before disbanding in 1967. Derbyshire remained at the BBC until 1973 and created sound effects and theme tunes for numerous television and radio productions.

After her BBC years, Derbyshire turned her back on music working at various times as a radio operator, in an art gallery and in a bookshop. Her passion for music was revived in the late 90s and she was busy at work on a new album of compositions when she died suddenly of renal failure whilst still recovering from breast cancer in 2001.

And there the story should end. BBC procedure at the time meant that the majority of Radiophonic Workshop staff were uncredited and therefore unappreciated for their work and Derbyshire may well have sunk into the depths of anonymity. However, her theme for Doctor Who ? which has subsequently become one of the world?s most recognisable theme tunes ? and her magnificently atmospheric Dreams project set her aside from her Workshop peers. Perhaps more interesting is the discovery of a box of 267 8? tapes which have remained unplayed for over 30 years.

They were stored in Derbyshire?s attic until her death when they were donated to Radiophonic Workshop Archivist Mark Ayres. Now they are in the hands of David Butler from Manchester University?s School of Arts, Histories and Cultures who is currently digitising the collection in its entirety with a view to making it accessible to the public. Perhaps the most outstanding find in the collection is a nameless, experimental dance track.

Derbyshire herself introduces the composition by saying, ?Forget about this, it?s for interest only.? What follows is a track which could easily have been recorded in the present day. Paul Hartnoll, former member of the group Orbital, heard the studio outtake and told the BBC, ?That could be coming out next week on Warp Records. It?s incredible when you think where it comes from.? Indeed, for a musical throwaway from the late 60s it?s an incredibly foresighted composition and ranks up there with the best of contemporary left-field dance.

The introduction of the synthesiser in the early 70s has been cited as the main reason Derbyshire quit the BBC; it made electronic music much easier to produce, too easy in fact. Part of Derbyshire?s enjoyment in her work was her ability and need to explore, to experiment. She was a sculptor, a creator ? not simply a programmer. Once an element of ease had been introduced to electronic music then the scope for experimentation narrowed and Derbyshire?s enthusiasm lessened.

In 2008 when electronic music across all genres is so popular, it?s especially important that we recognise the contribution Delia Derbyshire made to the development of its popularity, especially given the two sided problem of being a young, attractive woman working in a man?s world in the early 1960s and also having to create advanced, deeply atmospheric pieces from the most primitive of technology.

Delia we thank you.

For more information on Delia Derbyshire plus links to the BBC news site which features audio clips of the recently discovered attic archive, visit: www.delia-derbyshire.org
click here for weblink

NEALE LYTOLLIS

?Neither of us is typical in our approach to the world.?

Untypical is definitely one adjective that can be used to describe autoKratz.

Even David?s first encounter with bandmate Russell was far from conventional: ?Some pissed up wanker puked on my shoes outside a club. I was about to kick his head in but felt sorry for him as he had also puked on his really nice Devo T-Shirt. That wanker was called Russell. It was the start of a turbulent friendship that can only end in murder!?

Despite those less than glamorous beginnings a solid friendship and incredibly productive working relationship quickly blossomed. ?We locked ourselves in a grotty studio in the East End and started trying out some ideas,? explains Russell, ?Influences came from loads of places but have never dominated things as making something original is essential to what we do.?

While the autoKratz sound was still in development an early demo found its way into the hands of Gildas Loaec, head of slick Parisian label Kitsun?, who was so taken with the embryonic autoKratz sound that he immediately added the band to his roster. It?s a creative partnership which the guys are immensely happy with as David explains: ?We can go to Gildas with an idea and he’ll throw it on its head in such a fantastic way. Everything from the artwork onwards is such an interesting process. It makes you push yourself.?

Russell is equally convinced that the maverick attitude of the label makes it the perfect home for them:

?For me Kitsun? is so important in electronic music because the forces behind the label are so adamant on continually moving forward rather than finding a sound and monopolising it for ages. They are constantly on the look out for new things which are exciting and original and needn’t necessarily fit the template of what people expect.?

Getting the music out there also seems to be a turn-on if their intense touring schedule is anything to go by. Their blend of hard rock attitude and dirty, fuzzy electronics has been wowing crowds all over Europe and shows no signs of letting up.

?The live thing is so hectic at the moment and going from strength to strength,? says Russell, ?Last week we played to over seven thousand at Dour Festival in Belgium and it was absolutely unbelievable.

It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life to see that many people turn out for autoKratz and go for it in a massive way.? Touring is also something which is necessary to their artistic development as Russell explains: ?To have the opportunity to travel round the world playing your music to people is pretty unbeatable. We love meeting different people and seeing how youth and electronic music culture is different across the globe. It?s really energizing to meet people who share excitement for this kind of sound.

I would say with the music we write we try to be original and innovative so although we thrive on inspiration and influences the music can only reflect you at that point in time and what’s going on in your head.?

Inspiration comes from all sorts of places and touring and exploring new countries and cultures is certainly one of them. But what about the guys? musical heroes? Needless to say, they?re quite diverse.

?The first time I heard Underworld it blew my mind!? enthuses David, ?The intense vocal deliveries and weird lyrics all underpinned with a dark electronic score which was neither techno or house; a rarity in the early/mid 90s. And Russell? ?I was brought up on a diet of Shoegaze so at home I suppose I still find myself listening to loads of My Bloody Valentine, Jesus and Mary Chain, Chapterhouse?that kind of thing. I’ve always been fascinated by bands that explore other sides to their creativity to produce this wealth of amazingly innovative and forward thinking music.?

A lot of hard work and a little bit of good fortune go a long way in this business and the autoKratz story has progressed from humble beginnings to the verge of super-stardom in a relatively short space of time.

Kitsun? have jumped on their sound with gusto thus far releasing four very sexy 12? singles, the newest of which, Stay the Same, recently topped DJ Mag?s Hype Chart ahead of tracks from Hot Chip and Laurent Garnier. A 9-track mini album is due to drop in autumn, intended to draw a line under the first chapter of autoKratz?s musical odyssey before work starts on their hotly anticipated debut LP.

And if you?re expecting more of the same, then it might be wise to think again; unlike some of their peers, autoKratz certainly won?t settle for sticking with a sound that sells at the expense of creative development as Russell points out: ?For an artist to be truly important, moving forward, changing and innovating whilst still remaining compelling must be a prerequisite. Like an involuntary reflex.?

www.myspace.com/autokratz autokratz myspace
www.kitsune.fr kitsune website

NEALE LYTOLLIS

?I think it brings a lot of creative potential for the music industry, not just for the club. It has already proved its potential in museums and in cinemas and this is an experiment in a club. It?s new technology but I think it?s a start and I am happy that it takes place at Tresor.?

Dimitri Hagemann, owner of legendary Berlin techno club Tresor, is talking about IOSONO, a system being touted as the next big thing in audio technology and which saw its world club debut at Tresor last week as one of the few highlights of the Popkomm trade fair.

IOSONO is based on the concept of Wave Field Synthesis and is able to recreate natural sound waves as opposed to merely amplifying sound. Another innovation is the way in which sound is dispered within the club room. DJs use multiple audio sources in conjunction with a multitude of speakers ? in Tresor?s case, 800 ? with which they can position and move sounds to create a much more textured, 3D sound landscape. Gerald Moser, Business Development Manager for IOSONO, explains:

?In our case DJs open up their creative workspace by adding new sound sources. For example they use four CD players; two in a simple way creating their main mix and use the other two to play new sources into the system,? he said, ?We developed a new tool for the club experience which we call the IOSONO Multi-touch DJ Live Interface and it consists of a touch screen on which the artist just touches the sound sources and moves them on the screen which moves them in real time across the dance floor.

They can feed each single track of their production into the system and can switch it on, switch it off, move it around, use certain filters on it, and use everything separated as opposed to a usual stereo set-up where everything just comes out of two speakers.?

Four CD sources, six server PCs and around 800 speakers have all been installed for the system?s debut at Tresor and although the system is already in use in a limited number of locations ? the Haunted Mansion at Florida?s Disneyland being one of them ? this is the first time it?s been pressed into service in a club. Karlheinz Brandenburg, the man who gave the world the mp3, is also the brains behind IOSONO and was especially pleased to see his system used in this way.

?For me the basic idea in fact has been a dream for a long, long time. When we speak of hi-fidelity it?s two parts; it?s cleanliness of sound and it?s really immersion, the idea of being somewhere else. With Wave Field Synthesis this dream really became true. And I think it?s the next big thing in audio.?

The assembled crowd were then ushered into the centre of the dancefloor where surrounded by the newly-installed speaker system. It was not uncommon to see heads turning as people looked to locate the sound they?d just heard. Afterwards, the DJs took to the stage to show how IOSONO can be used as a means to build on the concept of the traditional DJ set. In addition to the basic mix were a number of additional sound effects and filters, all controlled via the touch-screen console behind the decks. Certain elements of the tracks were then keyed into the room from different locations ? After introductions from the IOSONO team, guests were treated to a jungle-themed presentation where animal sounds and the noise of rain appeared to move around the room. basslines appeared to throb overhead, breaks and beats shot from one side of the dancefloor to another, electro clicks and pops rippled through the room before shooting to the opposite side.

One of the DJs headlining the evening was Berliner Fidelity Kastrow; she?s played some of the hottest dancefloors throughout Europe and North America and certainly knows the difference between a good and a bad PA. She was definitely won over by IOSONO after her debut DJ set on the system:

?It?s amazing. It?s just really mind-blowing. You just get so many ideas of things you want to prepare and how you want to change making tracks. I think it?s just really amazing,? she enthused after her debut DJ set on the system, ? It?s challenging but it?s very intuitive but I am just in the real beginner, baby steps of learning what the system can do for DJs. It?s still a work in progress. It?s not done, it?s just beginning to develop.?

The reaction to the new system was also enthusiastic from the clubbers present:

?IOSONO is great. I never saw it before. It?s cool. I tried to grab some sounds but they were too fast!?

?I was surprised because there isn?t just one point where the sound is coming from, it?s everywhere and I don?t have to go away because it?s too hard. I have no problems with my ears because a lot of people have the experience that after a party my ears are destroyed, that?s not the problem with this sound.?

?I thought that it was a very impressive system. It has a lot of features. It?s kind of hard to tell what it?s going to become but it has a lot of potential for certain people.?

?I thought it was fantastic. I thought that Berghain was the top sound system here in Berlin but after listening to this it just blew my mind. A total surround sound experience; close your eyes, listen to the full effect of it and just go with the music!?

So clubbers and DJs alike seem to be won over by this revolutionary new approach to audio presentation and with the system due to be fine-tuned over the next few weeks, IOSONO at Tresor could really set the standard for a completely new clubbing experience. But with such a hefty price tag it?s unlikely that many venues will be able to afford it. Time will tell then if this really does develop into the Next Big Thing.

NEALE LYTOLLIS

Isono Website