It’s time to even out the love for Throbbing Gristle members Genesis P. Orridge and Peter Christopherson here on DM, with some overdue appreciation of the original “Other Two,” Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti. If you need an introduction, I will refer you back to yesterday’s post on the excellent interview with the pair at their home studio, courtesy of Electric Independence. 

Electronic music pioneers, and also of dance music strains that went on to be called “Italo” and “Industrial,” C&C have been re-issuing their back catalog over the past few months. The first two albums of four, Heartbeat and Trance came out in 2010 the duo’s own CTI label, and the final two in a series of four, Exotika and Songs Of Love And Lust were re-issued earlier this year. The releases have been remastered and repackaged for limited edition vinyl, and are also available to download digitally.

The closest comparison between the works of Throbbing Gristle and Chris & Cosey (now known as Carter Tutti) would probably be that of Joy Division and New Order. Without sounding particularly similar, both TG and Joy Division were dark, intense, noisy and at times morbid bands who gave birth to projects that took electronic music in a much more upbeat, danceable, poppy direction. It’s complete supposition on my part, but I can’t help but think that tracks like “October Love Song” had a big influence on Sumner & chums:

Chris & Cosey - “October Love Song”
 

 
Chris & Cosey - “Walking Through Heaven”
 

 
Chris & Cosey - “Exotika”
 

 
Chris & Cosey - “Re-Education Through Labour”
 

 
The albums I mentioned above are linked to their respective purchase/listen pages on Boomkat—however there is LOTS more C&C material that can be purchased on the site (two pages worth)—just type in “Chris & Cosey” and have a look.

 
A new episode of Electric Independence has gone online at VBS.tv, and it features an excellent interview with Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti (aka Carter-Tutti/Chris & Cosey) seminal electronic musicians and one half of Throbbing Gristle.  We find out how the couple met, how they were introduced to electronic music and their life in (and after) Throbbing Gristle. Gear heads are also in for a treat as the duo talk about the synths and equipment they use and have used, including some rare home made synths by Carter. It’s also heartening to see them keeping bang up to date with technology, including the use of Kaoss pads and BC8 synths, and recording their music with Ableton Live on a MacBook.
 

 
Previously on DM:
Happy Birthday Chris Carter: ‘The Spaces Between’ LP re-issue

 
In the space of just over a week, the German deep house production team Snuff Crew have put together a whopping 45 track Japanese benefit compilation, with all proceeds going to the Red Cross’s earthquake relief operation. These guys aren’t messing around, they really have got the cream of European house and techno producers on board to help out. Have a look at the staggering tracklist:

01. Laurent Garnier – Cancel The Apocalypse
02. Joe Drive – The Delivery
03. Humandrone – Sun Pillar On the Debris
04. Zwei Of Snuff Crew – Fukushima
05. Billie Ray Martin and Hard Ton – Sold Life (Luke Solomon Remix)
06. Quinto – We Don`t Sleep At Night Part 1
07. KiNK – Memories From The Future
08. Neville Watson – Keep On
09. Patrick Pulsinger – 12a (Dub Version)
10. Dance Disorder – Future Retro
11. Legowelt – I Want Your Love
12. The Saint Petersburg Disco Spin Club – Birds Of Japan
13. DJ Gio MC-505 – My Face On Rushmore Mount
14. Marcello Napoletano – Acid Sunday
15. Morning Factory – Deepest Thoughts
16. Detachments – Holiday Romance (Andy Blake`s Mix For A World Unknown)
17. Photonz – Carnival Of Light
18. The Model – Bump And Jack
19. Hard Ton – Marilyn (Zoe Xenia Dub`n Pop Mix)
20. Elec Pt.1 – It´s House
21. Hieroglyphic Being – Siddharta (Part1)
22. DJ M-Traxxx – House Thunda (Unreleased Mix)
23. Roberto Rodriguez – The Girl Who Silenced The World
24. Discodromo – Bunraku
25. Romina Cohn – Follow Me
26. Meschi – Stay And Play
27. House Machine – Relief (Mix for Japan)
28. Demetrio Giannice – Untidled (One for larry) (Strictly For Japan Mix)
29. Moralez aka Telecommander1 – Life Time Groove
30. Simoncino – Japanese Heart
31. Pathetik – Accroupi
32. Roland Bassline – Ode To Mick
33. Ascii.Disko – Blues For The Red Sun
34. Joel Alter – Roll With Me
35. Andreas Henneberg, Marquez Ill, Leigh Myles – Thousand Paper Cranes
36. Eins of Snuff Crew – Kana Power
37. Remute – Worldfingers
38. Oliver Dodd – Tokyo Lovers
39. Lukatron (aka Luke Solomon) – Tommy´s Cream Soda
40. Renato Cohen – Silly Walk
41. Featherweight – Featherweight (Expanded Mix)
42. Kool & Duvall – U Lift Me Up (Craig Stewart Remix)
43. Fran Mela aka I.F.M. – Not A Game
44. Phil Moon aka Valyom – Einstein Romance
45. Mark Boombastik & Eduardo Delgado Lopez – Anders

Snuff Trax For Japan is available to download from What People Play.

For more info on the project, and Snuff Crew, visit their website.

 
With the Daft Punk soundtrack for Tron Legacy giving off some serious Vangelis and Jean Michel Jarre vibes, it seems like it is finally acceptable to be influenced by 80s-style electronic ambience. The album Does It Look Like I’m Here? by the band Emeralds (no “the” - that’s a Japanese surf-rock band) is one of the best examples of a modern take on this sound, and how to do it well.

Released on the Austrian label Editions Mego last year, it’s been a bit of a sleeper hit with the electronica and techno community, ending 2010 in many best-of lists. Full of washy synths, cliff-edge guitar dynamics, slowly building arpeggios and practically no drums, it brings to mind the aforementioned artists in their darkest and most introspective moments. It’s psychedelic, it’s moody, and for the want of a better term it’s progressive. I would imagine it’s a good soundtrack for certain kinds of herbal refreshment.
 

 
Emeralds - Genetic (part 1)
 

 
Emeralds - Double Helix
 

 
Emeralds - Does It Look Like I’m Here?
 

Emeralds have been gigging and recording for the last 4 or 5 years - Does It Look Like I’m Here? is their fourth album, and their most accessible so far. But they’re not from Greece, Scandinavia or Germany - the band actually hail from Ohio. Along with similar ballpark acts from the States like Zombi (from Pittsburgh), it makes me wonder if this kind of epic progressive-synth music doesn’t have the same negative cultural references there that it has in the UK? I know Tangerine Dream were pretty big in the US in their day. However, the cultural legacy of punk in Britain meant that they were seen as being super uncool. Thankfully the times have changed and we can now accept this as being simply great music. You can buy Does It Look Like I’m Here?, um, here.

 
Imagine Bernie Worrell jammin’ on a Gameboy, and you’re kind of close to the unique sound of Ben Butler & Mouse Pad. Taking cues from chip-tune, jazz-funk, video games, electro (old and new), 80’s soundtracks, progressive rock and years of formal piano lessons, it references lots of music from the past but sounds like it only could have come from the present.

Ben Butler & Mouse Pad is essentially the work of one man, Joe Howe. Having previously produced an album for the Scottish indie guru Momus (Joemus) and been a part of the Glasgow-based art-spazz electro/trash duo Gay Against You, BB&MP sees Joe focusing on the music he loves the most. Heavily influenced by the Scandinavian Skwee scene, and filtered through his uber lo-fi set up of two tiny keyboards and a laptop, it’s synthy, it’s dirty and it’s ridiculously funky to boot. This guy is like a Herbie Hancock for the Scott Pilgrim generation.
 

 
So I should get the nepotism aspect out of the way - I sang the vocal on Ben Butler & Mouse Pad’s debut single “Infinite Capacity (For Love)”, which was released on LOAF in the UK and online in November of last year. But I really don’t care - I would write about Ben Butler even if he hated my guts, as he and his music are the absolute shit. Other vocalists on the upcoming debut album include the main man again, Momus and San Fransiscan rapper Hawnay Troof. You can listen to “Infinite Capacity (For Love)”, with remixes form Dam Mantle, Fulgeance and Dolby Anol, over on Niallism. In the meantime, here’s a video for ‘Supermotion’ made by Charlotte Carden and Gavin Laing:
 

 
Ben Butler & Mouse Pad are currently touring the States as support act for the equally awesome Deerhoof. If you get a chance to check out one of these shows, then do. A full list of tour dates are here.

Infinite Capacity (For Love) EP is available now to download via Amazon.co.uk.

There are more releases for sale or just listening on the BB&MP Bandcamp, including the recently released Worm EP, recorded at Worm/CEM Studios, Rotterdam, June 2010 on all analog gear. 

 
There’s currently a lot of buzz around the electronic artist James Blake in the UK. In January he came runner up in the BBC’s Sound of 2011 poll, and last week he released his self-titled debut album on Atlas records. Having made a name for himself with his forward-thinking dubstep productions on the labels Hessle Audio and R&S, he has gone in a very different direction on James Blake.

Though some of the dub-style production tropes remain, the sound is much more folk influenced, with some of the tracks featuring just Blake on vocals with spare piano accompaniment. This is most definitely not a dancefloor record, it’s much more of a post-club album, with shades of Anthony Hegarty, John Martyn and even Laurie Anderson. It’s a definite shoe-in for a Mercury Music Prize nomination, and it’s the kind of worthy project the judges love to reward. But is it any good?
 

 
Some of the production on James Blake is stunning, but unfortunately this over shadows the actual songs, that to these ears could have done with a lot of refining and a lot less meandering. For a dubstep producer to make a move away from instrumental bin-shakers it would be useful to have a few more songs of the standard of “Limit To Your Love” or “The Wilhelm Scream” - I find what I am drawn to more is the intricate production of “I Never Learned To Share” or “To Care (Like You)”, which are hugely impressive without being particularly engaging. There is a sense that this is mood music rather than pop, and as such it easily begins to fade into the background.

A lot of the press buzz around Blake’s album is about dubstep “growing up”, which is misleading. Dubstep may be a cornerstone of his career, but on this album it sounds more like a footnote, or a production flavor used to shade a very different palate. Where this record seems more aimed at is the gap left in the market by Radiohead being on hiatus or, dare I say it, the coffee table. The album is definitely interesting, but it’s something I want to like more than I actually like. One day when I am in a particular mood I am sure it will hit the perfect spot, but til then, I will continue to listen to “CMYK” instead.

You can hear James Blake in full here, streaming on the Dutch website 3VOOR12.

James Blake is currently available on import in the States via Amazon.

Thanks to Kelvin Brown for the link.

 
JD Samson is the girl with the coolest moustache in rock’n'roll. Today sees the release of the debut album by JD’s band MEN, Talk About Body on Iamsound Records. MEN are a three piece that combine the best in dance-pop and punk rock with a definite queer/feminist outlook. JD already has form in this area - she is a member of Kathleen Hanna’s post-Bikini Kill/riot grrrl electronica act Le Tigre, and last year she worked with Christina Aguilera on her ill-fated Bi-On-Ic album., which saw the “Beautiful” warbler trying to break out of her pop/soul niche but not quite succeeding.  Nice try though.

However, MEN is JD’s passion - they have been touring the globe for the past few years spreading their word to the masses from a beat up van, with just a laptop, a MicroKorg and two guitars, and collaborating with a host of different musicians and artists as they get their sound just right. This is from their Wikipedia page:

MEN is a Brooklyn-based band and art/performance collective that focuses on the energy of live performance and the radical potential of dance music. MEN speaks to issues such as trans awareness, wartime economies, sexual compromise, and demanding liberties through lyrical content and an exciting stage show.

It would be tempting to say that they are at the forefront of a new wave of electronic queercore, only that would distract from the music itself, something that JD has had to put up with a lot already because of her unique image. So let’s abandon all preconceived ideas for a little while and just get down to the sound of MEN: 
 
MEN “Be Like This (Live)”
 

 
More MEN and JD Samson after the jump…