I initially set up this site to promote a radio documentary I have been working on (and off) for a number of years about the film composer and director, John Harrison, and his soundtrack for the Stephen King-George Romero team-up, Creepshow — but with the long view of this website becoming a home for audio stories made under the moniker of FOTW Audio Productions.
I recently completed the first of these, “E. A. Poe and the Krautrock Connection”, featuring the music of Carlos Péron (one of the two founders of eighties band Yello) and the Seattle band, The Fascination Movement.
The inspiration for the story comes from an experience I’d had as a teenager while visiting a female friend. Having spent years reading Stephen King and Clive Barker, I thought there could be no way I would like someone like Edgar Allan Poe: What could be scary about black cats and swinging pendulums?
But while she was out of the room, I started reading her collection of Edgar Allan Poe short stories she had sitting by her bed — and within moments I was completely and utterly drawn in. I couldn’t believe how quickly it had had an effect on me.
Krautrock, I discovered a few years ago, and thought that it would be a great leaping off point into the imagination, if you were that way inclined. The final element was meeting someone who I thought would be great to try and impress.
Trans-European friends (from left to right): Michael Künzer, Keen K, and Fred Ventura
The German electronic outfit Alba are on a winning streak at the moment. They kicked it off late last year by releasing the sparkling, three-part powerhouse Philomena, and are now following it up with the emotionally electric torch-song, Without You.
Though the London-based member of the group, Roland Sebastian Faber has sat this particular release out as he works on his solo album, the other two members who are based in Germany — Michael Künzer and Keen K — have gained a singer, the legendary Fred Ventura.
A well-respected veteran of the italo scene, Fred Ventura started his music career in the late seventies playing drums with the Milanese new-wave band, State of Art. He went on to have a solo career through most of the eighties as a vocalist with a string of hits like “Love Theme from Flexxy Ball (You’ll Never Change No More)” and “Body Heat” with the group Fockewulf-190 that have come to be regarded as italo classics. In recent years, he has come back into the limelight outside of Italy through the work of I-F and Alden Tyrell.
Working with Fred Ventura marks a milestone in the history of the Aube label, as their first official release back in 2007 was another italo-styled track, Hold Me by Jupiter Black, that was built around lyrics provided by Ventura. After its release, it received great feedback from music journalists and fans alike; it was championed by I-F on his internet radio station, CBS, and was described by music journalist Lina Goldberg as one of Fred Ventura’s strongest songs.
For this new release, Flemming Dalum, the legendary Danish DJ, mentor and custodian (with a record collection numbering in the thousands) has given it the thumbs up for capturing an authentic italo sound, but without what he calls the cheesiness of italo. This is down to Ventura, who has the ability to handle dramatically over-the-top themes, like lost love and bitter seperations, with a poigancy that fits perfectly with moody synth-pop.
Künzer and Keen K are also very talented electronic musicians; they are able to recreate sounds from over twenty years ago, but never lose themselves in it with enough of their own musical inventions and signatures to keep it fresh.
They have also inherited the creative mantle of the Düsseldorf school of electronic music. They don’t put out a lot of music; but when they do, it is of a very high quality, with great technical skill hidden behind the vinyl. This particular release was recorded entirely on analogue equipment to get the sound outside of the computer box that most electronic music is often trapped in.
As I have mentioned in previous posts, one of the great features of Aube”s releases are their record sleeves, featuring original artwork by internationally reknowned artists like Emil Schult and Marc Brandenburg. The latest is a return to Syd Brak, who did there first release, Hold Me, and whose iconic airbrush art is instantly recognisable as a major feature of early eighties art.
Although CDs are certainly becoming a thing of the past, I still think that they are a great way for artists to collect their best work together and give themselves some posterity, rather than to be scattered to the four-winds of the internet. I hope that Alba one day collect the best tracks together onto a single album.
Without You is available as a limited edition 12″ and digital download through the Aube website, as well as the regular internet music outlets. (You can also download a preview from the soundcloud embed below)
A student draws the Prophet-5 synthesizer at the Powerhouse Museum
If you live in Sydney, the Powerhouse Museum currently has an exhibition ‘The Eighties are Back’ dedicated to life in the 1980s.
Though sometimes people think of this decade with a groan, lots of great things came out of it, especially in the music department.
Primarily aimed at kids and nostalgic parents, with table top arcade versions of Pacman and Ghouls and Ghosts, and Masters of the Universe and Strawberry Shortcake figurines, the exhibition also contains a great wealth of Australian music history, with flyers, records and posters for metal and punk bands like Mortal Sin and I Spit on Your Gravy, the graf and electro scene, not to mention memorabilia for the whole RAT/pre-rave acid house parties put on at the Hordern Pavillion.
It also looks at how the latest generation of Australian indie-dance acts, groups like Cut/Copy, The Presets, and Empire of the Sun, have borrowed some of their look and sound from this often and unfairly maligned decade.
The exhibition finishes end of March 2011.
For more information, visit the exhibition micro-site:
