FOTW Audio Productions

Yes, Daft Punk have parents too! — French band Space performing live in Sicily, 1977

France has a solid history when it comes to electronic music. The first group that usually comes to mind is Daft Punk. But there are many who have come before them that have laid down the foundations: the disco band Space  and Jean Michel Jarre.

Son of the famous film composer who scored Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago, Jean Michel Jarre took a different route to his father by embracing the newly emerging synthesizer technology of the early 1970s. He had a breakthrough success with his album Oxygene in 1975, pioneering a particular sound of cascading arpeggios that was contemporary to what Vangelis and Giorgio Moroder were doing, and has had a lasting legacy with electronic musicians.

One current label that draws on both these influence is Radio Cosmos. Based in Bretagne, France, Radio Cosmos was set up by Fred Bergamaschi to release vinyl only compilations of space-influenced synth-pop. So far, he has put 4 full length LPs on coloured vinyl, with cover art by science-fiction illustrator Gil Formosa, as well as a couple of split 12” of Keen K and Infinity Night.

Recording as Infinity Night and Aldo Bergamachine, Fred is a big fan of old-school analogue synthesizers like the Arp Solina, the Moog, and Sequential Circuit’s Prophet 5. Giving us an idea of the dominant forces in his sound, in both what he creates, and what he likes, he has put together a mix of the first two synths, the Solina and the Moog. The Solina is the sound of strings and pads, while the Moog holds the melody.

This is a great mix that showcases some of the artists from his own label; simpatico labels like Astro Chicken, Annalogue and Aube (coincidentally, three “A’s”); as well as some wonderful tracks that have been in hiding: the opening “Soldato” by The Mitgang Audio (having come out in 2003 on Suction Records) and “Silenzio” by Theremynt, just released in the last few months on Neopren.

You won’t regret listening to this; this is one of the best things Fred has done.

The Radio Cosmos back catalogue is available digitally at Juno Records, but also visit the Radio Cosmos website for the latest releases.

Pretty in Pink: Emil Schult’s design for the Gropiusstadt EP (Aube009)

Electronic musician, Roland Sebastian Faber, although based in London, has always been strongly connected with the Düsseldorf label, Aube, since its inception in 2007. He worked as their audio engineer for their first release ‘Hold Me’ by Jupiter Black and Fred Ventura.

Although known under the pseudonym Kinky Roland (as well as a gamut of other aliases) he has worked on everything electronic from speed-garage to dark-wave synth-pop, and has a massive number of remixes under his belt.

However, some of his most highly regarded releases have been under his birth name, Roland Sebastian Faber, where he has gone back to his musical roots of melodic synthesizer music, found in the work of Klaus Schulze and the Berlin School of Electronic Music, and French composer Jean-Michel Jarre.

His first 12″ on the Aube label, Hommage An Die Jugend Europas (Homage to Europe’s Youth) in 2007 got great reviews, and ranked very highly in the Cybernetic Broadcasting System’s annual polling. He followed this up a year later with another 12″ on Aube, Wettkampf Der Moleküle (Race of the Molecule).

Faber uses original analogue synthesizers to create his sound, and they’ve long been a part of his life: he received his first synthesizer as a present from his parents when he was 15; and he’s gone on to master their use on both a technical and musical level. Some of the best elements of his music are his key changes; the subtle use of little ‘sound effects’ to enhance the atmosphere; and his ability to keep the listener engaged in a progressive musical experience — the trademark of his idol Klaus Schulze.

His new EP ‘Gropiusstadt’ takes its name from a housing estate district within Berlin, designed by the late German architect, Walter Gropius, who was the founder of the Bauhaus school.

The first two tracks of the EP have a strong Pink Floyd influence: Löffelkinder is an ultra-smooth track, slightly funky, with delayed guitar riffs, and heavily-reverbed female vocals. It’s a perfect blend of electronica and traditional instrumentation, and has a great sophistication in how it all fits together.

The second track, Gropiusstadt, is very reminiscent of Shine On You Crazy Diamond with it’s combination of shimmering synth pads, and solo guitar; but it’s well blended, and has enough of Faber’s trademark synth arpeggios to keep it original. It’s also got some great filmic moments too, with string sounds supporting the melody.

The third track, Morgengrau, is more low-key than the previous two, and has a dark electro feel, like the early work of Anthony Rother; but unfortunately, it does not stand out the same way the first two tracks do.

But it doesn’t really matter: this is still a great release.

Some of his traditional synthesizer sound also comes through in his work with Keen K — an old school friend from Germany — as the duo Starcluster. Their output so far hasn’t been prolific, but almost everything they have touched has turned to gold.

They started out by remixing Jupiter Black’s dynamic and humorous tribute to Giorgio Moroder, We Like Moroder in 2007, but their first major release wasn’t until 2008, when Aube released the self-titled Starcluster EP. It featured Smoke and Mirrors with vocals by Soft Cell‘s Marc Almond; but the stand-out track was Winter of Ice, a stand-alone song with a verse and chorus structure, and an instant addition to the canon of dark-wave music, in the spirit of bands like Laibach and Death In June.

As a live act, Starcluster also are high-achievers: they have a clear, tight sound, which is always a difficult thing for electronic artists to achieve, given the multi-layered and heavily sequenced nature of electronic music.

The good news is that there is a new EP from Starcluster to be released later this year by Aube, as well as another 12” from Roland Sebastian Faber  — possible even a full album which his music deserves.

BEHIND THE LABEL

The Aube label is run by Michael Künzer, a Düsseldorf native, who has also been active in the music scene for a number of years. He is better known as Michael Black, one half of Jupiter Black, and one half of Unit 4, who released Bodydub back in 2003.

Michael describes aspects of Aube’s sound as “future-retro”, warm electronic music created with analogue instruments — a move away from purely using 1s and 0s, finding an accord with the pre-digital age of Jean Michel-Jarre, Alan Parsons, and Mike Oldfield.

On the Aube books are a diverse and international range of artists: the already mentioned Roland Sebastian Faber and Starcluster, but also the Dutch duo Elitechnique, who create New York-style disco, The Fascination Movement, a Seattle based synth-pop outfit making music in the vein of early eighties new-wave/new romantic artists; as well the vocal talents of the British singer Marc Almond and the Italian singer/producer, Fred Ventura.

From L-R: Artist Emil Schult, Marc Almond of Soft Cell, and artist Marc Brandenburg

But it’s not only musicians that Aube is harnessing; visual art plays a big part in the label and Michael works in close association with two German artists: Emil Schult, who designed album covers for Kraftwerk through the seventies, and the Berlin-based artist, Marc Brandenburg, who creates photo-realistic pencil drawings. He has also used the work of the British based commercial airbrush artist, Syd Brak, for the Jupiter Black releases.

There are many new releases on the horizon for Aube in 2010: Michael has almost finished a new Jupiter Black release with Fred Ventura; he has also teamed up with Roland Sebastian Faber to put out a release as Alba; as already mentioned, the new ones from Starcluster and Roland Sebastian Faber, as well as a full album for The Fascination Movement. — And if we’re lucky, there will also be a ‘Best of Aube’ somewhere in there.

Gropiusstadt is due to be released in February 2010.

Listen to the audio version of this article with music from the new EP:

Download podcast version here

LINKS:

Roland Sebastian Faber:
http://www.myspace.com/rolandsebastianfaber

Aube Label:
http://www.aube-prod.com

Something old, something new: a couple of synth-disco classics, John Carpenter’s The End and Italian group Automat–along with new entries to the field, Radio Cosmos’  second compilation Synthesize Me, and Jupiter Black and Fred Ventura’s Hold Me on the Aube Label

Journalists have been talking for years now about how the internet has changed the music industry. One of the most recognised changes has been the massive drop in CD sales as a result of internet downloading. However, there has also been many small positive changes in the way people consume music. One of them has been the growth of independent labels focusing on vinyl only releases. These labels are pouring their own money into producing elaborately designed records with original artwork and releasing them in limited runs, usually no more than a 1000.

One of these labels, Radio Cosmos based in France, recently put out their third compilation LP, Synthetic Memento, a follow up to their 2008 release Synthesize Me and SynthStation in 2007. It is hard to believe that only 300-500 copies were ever pressed of these records. They feature original sci-fi artwork by comic artist Gil Formosa, and original tracks, some of which are stunning. These are the kind of releases that quickly become collectors items.

At the other end of the design scale is UK-based label Dissident Distribution, releasing music in a similar vein, but with minimal features: single-sided 12” discs, white sleeves, and a black and white label - and none of them available as a digital download.

Dissident also have a remarkable non-presence on the internet: their only point of contact is an email address on the record label. But like Radio Cosmos, they only press a small number of records at a time - 100-200 - and so far, most of them have sold out.

Although dance music and more underground genres like punk never moved too far from vinyl releases, a lot of others did for a good part of the nineties. Vinyl only seemed to creep back in with the lounge-music scene in the mid-1990s, when labels like Crippled Dick Hot Wax began sifting through stock-music libraries for obscure movie music, issuing what they found on vinyl compilations for DJs and collectors.

But the actual large-scale re-emergence of vinyl over the past three years probably has a lot more to do with the younger generation’s taste in music collecting, than anything else. Perhaps disillusioned with the ephemeral nature of mp3s and wav files, they have become interested in vinyl.

And a couple of things have helped to give this momentum.

Firstly, there is tonnes of old records out there circulating in second-hand stores, record fairs, op-shops, and garage sales that can be picked up cheaply, allowing listeners to easily build a music library for themselves. Secondly, vinyl itself is an attractive medium (rarely will you see a CD stuck up on a wall as a decorative feature), and its large sleeves showcasing original artwork and liner notes make record collecting a pleasurable past-time.

This trend has encouraged the major record labels to start releasing vinyl again - certainly not on the same scale as a few decades ago, but enough to keep people happy. Though vinyl sales reached their lowest point in 2006, with each year since, the number of sales have significantly increased.*

Another major change to music is how transient the formats have become. A piece of music is no longer linked to a dedicated shell like a CD or a record, and can end up on any number of storage devices. For many artists, this can be quite discouraging: they spend so much time making the music that they don’t want to just throw it away on a nondescript format.

Despite its limitations - easily scratched, hard to transfer to other formats, and awkward to play (compared to computer files) - vinyl has a great lastability: people are still finding and collecting discs from the 1930s, making it appealing to artists in the same way that acid-free paper is to authors.

Vinyl has made a comeback through the work of dedicated labels, collectors, and the artists themselves, and at the moment is helping to redress the balance lost with the decline of the CD - a balance between the resourcefulness and immediacy of internet downloads, and the sense of pride that comes with owning a material object like a record.

And these small runs are a brilliant model for the future: don’t make more than you need, which leaves the possibility for represses, and saves resources. And in both social and economic terms, this is the way to go.

*According to the RIAA 2008 Year-End Shipment  

Dissident Distribution’s no-frills labelling and Flexx’s colourful centrepieces by Belgian designer TineZ