FOTW Audio Productions

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)

Promo Aube011 – Alba feat. Fred Ventura “Without You” by Aube Records

The West Coast Sound of Holland was a name given to a collection of Dutch electronic musicians making music influenced by early eighties italo-disco, New York electro, techno, and a variety of other musical strands, like movie soundtracks. Although the name was coined in the earlier part of this decade, many of the artists are still very active, and have been joined by new artists, inspired by this sound.

In 2004 there was a documentary made about them called “When I Sold My Soul to the Machine” featuring interviews with proponents of the sound, like Alden Tyrell, Guy Tavares, I-F and Legowelt, with footage of parties, and the infamous Viewlexx Tower, home of the (now defunct) Cybernetic Broadcasting System. Originally released as a DVD, this documentary is available as a free download from the ISTFH Foundation, a non-profit organisation for the audio-visual arts based in the Hague. 

September was an auspicious time for Melbourne group Inverto. Norman Whitfield, a Motown producer whose songs Inverto have championed over the past year, passed away; while the band’s first own vinyl release, Time to Jack, materialised on music websites around Europe.

Technically a “cover band”, Inverto are unique in that they cover songs of very specific genres, in a very different way. Dressed up as hospital employees – four doctors and a nurse – they conceal themselves behind a white screen on the stage. Then film-clips by Motown artists, such as The Jackson 5 and The Temptations, are projected onto the screen, and are rebuilt live by the band through a combination of rhythm and bass guitar, drums and keyboard. The vocal parts of the clip are then scratch-mixed in sync with the music by the band’s DJ (DJ Ransom).

Guitarist Marty Moose explains the origins of Inverto. “Ransom (who helped with setting up the Toff in Town, a Melbourne club) laid down the styles of music that would be the identity of the place. Round the same time, J-Red was demoing the prototype DVJ (a video-mixing unit) … Ransom called me up one day with a kind of ‘you’ll thank me for this’ tone and explained the idea of syncing Motown acapellas with live footage and having a band play the tracks while the footage was cut in over it.”

This led to a four-month residency at the Toff in Town earlier this year. The idea of the screen and visuals was so effective that some people, according to Inverto’s keyboardist Nurse Hanna, did not even realise there was a band behind it.

Inverto also bring their own originality to the tracks, editing them down, and introducing new sounds into the mix. Their versions of Mammagamma and I, Robot by The Alan Parsons Project are transformed by the fact that they are creating these sounds with organic instruments, as well as synths.

The uniqueness of this performance garnered enthusiastic feedback from their audience, fans long-interested in these eras of music, but excited by the new light in which they had experienced them.

But Inverto’s selection is anything but nostalgic – a good percentage of what they play has not been heard by a mainstream audience. People know the sound of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, but are less familiar with Alan Parsons (of The Alan Parsons Project) who helped to engineer that sound.

The Writing's on the Wall: Street poster for July Gig with In Flagranti

Inverto show that there is a whole world of music out there – Cosmic Disco, EBM, Chicago House, Krautrock – all to be discovered. In a sense, they are “recovering” musical elements of the past for a modern audience. According to Marty Moose, “there’s no one anywhere representing this repertoire.” – which is probably why they have been getting such good feedback from other artists. NYC’s Metro Area was impressed by Inverto’s cover of their track Miura, and Prins Thomas, known for his work with fellow-Norwegian Lindstrom, has also had a few kind words to say about their music.

Of their individual origins as musos, Nurse Hanna says, “We do indeed have very different musical backgrounds. Marty comes from a .. .well … he’s played lots of different styles. Rock, krautrock, jazz, funk, soul, grooves. His band Crackpot has their second album on the way. I myself come from a classical piano background, started piano at age 3 and finished up at VCA a few years ago.”

Part of Nurse Hanna’s “cosmic” calling came when she accidentally discovered the Korg MS2000 synth while on holidays in Hong Kong. This has not only contributed greatly to the Inverto sound, but also to her other two bands, R! (as in “aarr, aha me hearties!”) and the psychedelic-synth rock of Big Fat Kill.

The rhythm section of the band – Luke Hodgeson on bass, and Hadyn Meggit on drums (and occasionally Graeme Pogson) – have played with Marty before, as well as in many other bands. As the driving force of Inverto, they have their work cut out for them. They blend samples of backmasked cymbals and midi-triggered handclaps with a live drum-kit, as well as having the challenge of transferring electronic basslines of the original music into the real thing.

“The biggest technical challenge,” says Nurse Hanna, “is [for] our drummer trying to play along with the MS2000 sequencer. There’s something weird about it, like the last step is a millisecond too short. So we have the foldback turned up really loud, and then its fine because Hadyn and Graeme are awesome drummers.”

Their musical selection also skirts across the world of horror, with their reworkings of songs by Goblin, an Italian progressive-rock band from the seventies who became synonomous with the work of horror director Dario Argento. Inverto’s cover of the title-track to Argento’s 1982 slasher-thriller Tenebre is amazing, and gives Nurse Hanna a chance (in the words of Marty Moose) to unleash her “horrific robotic utterances” through the vocoder feature of her synthesizer.

Inverto’s first recorded release is a 12″ on Melbourne’s own M-Division label, a cover of Chip E’s Time to Jack. The majority of the track was recorded as a jam session with DJ Ransom tweaking it in the studio. Paired up with this is an original composition, Lean To, a slow-tempo “balearic” track with a strong melodic focus.

“Pretty much Marty and Phil Ransom sat down and did that one together,” says Nurse Hanna. There is also a couple of remixes on the B-side by New York producer, Brennan Green.

One of the strange things about Inverto is that while many bands these days are covering guitar-based songs and making them sound more electronic – Inverto are doing just the opposite. And ironically, for a cover band, they are one of the most original musical acts you’ll see for a long time.

Time to Jack is out now through M-Division/Clone.

— I J Wilson