How does it feel? (Blue Monday 2023)

It is THE Blue Monday, so I'm going to use that as an excuse to talk about all things Blue Monday. I don't think there's many singular tracks I could make an entire post out of - I know I've done it or similar for Kraftwerk's The Model way back when - but that is a testament to the lasting impact some of these tracks have.

Blue Monday is nothing short of iconic, and not just in the electronic music world either, much like The Model mentioned above, BM is one of the early examples of electronic music breaking through into popular culture. A quick breakdown for those unaware: New Order was formed from the tragic end of Joy Division, and would continue in a similar sort of style until around 1983 where things would take a decidedly electronic turn.

It's from this era that Blue Monday comes about, and it made a massive splash - with the original '83 pressing, the '88 re-release and 1995 version selling a cumulative total of approximately over 10 million. And it's not hard to see why, if there were a recipe for 80's synthpop, this would be it: the opening kickdrum flurry sets the stage, a moment that has become a pop culture icon on its own, and the catchy melancholy is of course another defining feature, and one that comes back into fashion every now and then (see: Electroclash around 2002). It's a bit of a pain to find a legal stream of, so I'm doing my usual routine of the crimped soundcloud player (which to be fair in this instance at least plays one of the most prominent bits of it), and then the whole thing on YT. The video is at least pretty cool for this one rather than just a static thumbnail!

New Order · Blue Monday (2016 Remaster) (2016 Remaster)

And that could have been enough for today on it's own, a celebraation of this sepcific track. But I'm feeling a little inspired so I thought I'd put a couple more examples down just off the top of my head. First things first we have Flunk's cover from their debut album For Sleepyheads Only. Covers can be a divise topic at the best of times, something that is especially true with a track as massive as Blue Monday.

I can certainly see people crying blasphemy at this trip hopped version but it's pretty inoffensive, once it breaks free of the breathy-indie intro around 1:25 it becomes a lot less cliché and sets into a nice groove. Even so, it's very much in that vein of early 00's 'chillout' which has sometimes dated things a little more than usual, I have a well documented love for that style, plus added nostalgia glasses for this one so you'll have to take my opinion with a grain of salt!



It would spawn an accompanying EP of remixes, expanding the genres to include Drum & Bass, Electro, Disco and more. A couple of my favourites ended up on the compilation remix album Treat Me Like You Do, the remix album is pretty unique in that some of the tracks still mix together seamlessly rather than being standalone, so I'm using the EP for this next bit for a cleaner cut. Of them all, the second mix by Jori Hulkkonen might take the cake.

It turns it back around in the direction of the original with some 80's throwback synth to start off with, all coming to a peak with a re-interpretation of that kickdrum kick-off. It'd be easy to turn the whole thing into a retrofit remix and just emulate the original to a T, but after than initial nostalgia burst it does find it's own feet, bursting into a funky house infused number that's more Disco than it is New Wave. An interesting approach to take, but I like the inclusion of the knowing wink to the original before going off in a new direction.



And finally, HEALTH's version made for the Atomic Blonde OST, which I have very mixed feelings about. I've loved the new electronic direction HEALTH took since 2015's Death Magic, and on paper a version of BM with that sound would be very nice indeed, it could put quite an aggressive spin on things. In reality though I was expecting something more in line with the poppier approach they took for their cover of High Pressure Days made for the GTA V OST.

The end result though is a pretty by-the-numbers cover, incorporating all the key identifiers of the original - those kicks, that melody and even the synth choral accompaniment, just filtered through a HEALTH lens. The vocals feel a little flat, which I guess is in line with the original, but I feel like given some of HEALTH's other output it could have been a little more dynamic. There's a great breakdown in the middle section which spices things up a touch and gives it a little more of the edge, but otherwise it's played pretty straight - given that it's only appeared on the OST album that could be at the label's request, but that's conjecture on my part. Not my favourite cover, not my favourite HEALTH track either, but still fine.

HEALTH · Blue Monday

Not to end on such a dour note, but then again I suppose that is on brand for the 'Blue Monday' after all. The concept itself might be total tosh but I'll take any and all opportunities to talk about a bit of New Order and relations. This one was a little off the cuff and I feel like it's gotten a little long, but that's OK as the next post in the pipeline is going to be a fair bit shorter, no ETA on it as of yet but you can probably expect it by the end of the week if all goes well. Until then, as always, stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF

Like a Flashback

And odd sequence of events a couple days ago led to me getting back in touch with a bunch of old Ilictronix crew and friends - we did a little catchup here and there which was nice, we'd all fallen out of touch a long time ago. And that's not for any particular reason, more a case of us all having our own lives now (plus the US / Europe timezone divide between us doesn't help either). A lot of them are still making music so I figured why not take some time to look at them in more detail? After all, I've kept tabs on some of them but regrettably never really posted any so let's change that.

Enter Luin, those of you who have been around here for a long time may recognise the name Boba Fettuccini and their associated netlabel Power Glove Records. They were also part of the writing team way back when, we'd not always see eye-to-eye on all things (and to be fair, I was a bit of an obnoxious teen mad into Dubstep so understandable!) but I liked that, the beauty of the team back then was the variety we had elsewhere in our libraries beyond the uniting House that brought us here in the first place, I made tons of new discoveries that way.

Luin's work now is much more in line with how I remembered her non-House interests and contributions, a lot of Crystal Castles and the like. To quote her Discogs page: "Luin blends frank emotional honesty and existential dread with post-industrial, new wave and house influences". You need look no further than her latest Bandcamp offering, a 'live' version of Undead put together with bits and pieces from several live takes - don't let that description put you off, the finished piece is very clean. Luin totally nails the vibe outlined in her description, it feels very cinematic too, reminds me a lot of Gary Numan's Bed Of Thorns and some of the other tracks chosen for that GITS compilation. Though I must admit, Luin's has a more satisfying conclusion.



I mentioned this to her in our little exchange, but the aesthetics of her new work is on point as well, I have a weakness for Glitch anyway as its the kind of art I make already, but the use of it like here on Sync is beautifully done. On that point as well, something that really shines on these tracks is the sheer cathartic nature behind them - tracks like Sync exude this powerful, almost palpable rawness that I myself have tried to capture in the past. The rawness is compounded even more with the methodology behind this track, as noted on the Bandcamp page it was put together on a 24 hour turnaround.



And finally, Resigned To Rust, which plays out a little bit like a Freezepop track albeit with that now expected darkness behind it. Listening back to write about it for this post I get a little bit of an ADULT. feeling from the lyrical delivery to boot. It's great to see her still active after all this time, doubly so after following up on a bunch of artists we used to know and finding so many dead links or abandoned profiles. To quote a little bit from our exchange - she's out there 'making the music I always wanted to make but felt I couldn't'.



And that'll be all for now, I have might have another one of these to come yet so keep an eye out for that coming soon. In the meantime I hope you've enjoyed this little foray into the past and more importantly look forward to the future. Until next time, as always, stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF

Bank Holiday Bonus

What to do with an extra day off? Well, I thought I'd compile a miscellaneous post of bits and bobs I've collected over the last week or so that might not fit anywhere else. Let's start with a little somethin' I've been meaning to put up for a while, I've talked about Sean Seanson a couple of times already this year - champion of old school Playstation soundtracks and a man of similar tastes to me, as evidenced by his mixtapes I've mentioned.

But this bit of the post isn't about him, instead we'll be talking about Dedeco (whom I found through Sean's feeds), another fine purveyor of soundtrack electronic. As I said last time I talked about Sean's mixtapes, soundtracks are an absolute goldmine of tunes for mixes and such: from cult classics like Ridge Racer Type 4 with it's blend of Drum & Bass and Diva House to the slightly more obscure like Mijk Van Dijk's chilled remix of a track from surreal Dreamcast survivial horror D2 I have plenty of examples to go at. But I have to concede to Dedeco's absolute mastery of the soundtrack world, as he is consistently putting out mixes with tracks sourced for a massive variety of titles and genres. I may still have a go myself, but in the meantime, I'll be studying these for ammunition. (aslo stay tuned for cat cameo at around 24:10!)



A couple of random tracks next - the other day I decided to un-shuffle some of the Touched Two compilation as I'm pretty sure I have still yet to hear all of it. The artists are in alphabetical order which helps a little when it comes to making notes for posts like this given that there are 256 or so tracks on show here. First is Temp Cadet, a surprisingly House-y number considering the vast majority of the Touched compilations err on the IDM/Experimental/Ambient side of things. It still has that feel to it though, it comes out reminding me more of the Karsten Pflum track I posted a little while ago.



In a surprise to no one, my next pick is again reminiscent of the Artificial Intelligence era Warp sound. I know I repeat myself but it might just be my favourite sound styles of all time, and I swear that I didn't know about this one going in! At any rate, you all know the score by now - hi-tech spacey electronic is the order of the day here, reminding me a little of Gerard Hanson's work under his E.R.P. alias, although less electro and very much rooted in that ambient techno side of things. Come to think of it, it's a little closer to some tracks from Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works 85-92 now I'm writing this, which while released at the same time as the Artificial Intelligence stuff, wasn't actually part of the series or on Warp! But I digress, get a load of this one for some smoothy techy goodness.



And now... switching gears to something not strictly electronic, as I like to do from time to time. I'd say I'm not super versed in the world of psychedelia, but thanks to Broadcast and a co-worker of mine being into all kinds of rare, eclectic and otherwise experimental stuff from New York and beyond, it is slowly creeping into my library. Enter this morning where I awake to a couple of tweets from Kongress - a group with real heritage that I vaugeley knew in passing from a compilation that Future Sound Of London did under their Amorphous Androgynous alias. The Broadcast comparison rings true, as I've been listening to a lot of their final live sets recently that were moving in a more freely structured improvisational route, and such is the methodology behind Running With The Wolves - to quote the description: "two improvs that turned into two amazing recordings - 'Running With The Wolves' & 'Wink of an Eye'.". I highly recommend watching the video to get the full experience, the audio alone doesn't do it justice!



And that'll be all for today, the most varied post I've done in a while! I've got some things to try and sort on the backed, and I'm back at work this week as well so things might slow down a little, but I'll be back soon enough with more, even if it means a couple of bite-sized posts to pad things out. Until then, as always, stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF

Going Back To '83 Once More

Bit of a change of tack this time, stumbled across this old post in the archives and was very disappointed in my past self for not at least writing a little about the songs I picked. So I'm writing this now to fix that. Please enjoy a combination of an old post and a new one. For clarity I'll put the original writing in ITALICS, the rest will be in normal font. On with the post!

Long before he was working with Daft Punk, Giorgio Moroder had already made his home in my music library as I loved his soundtrack work for Scarface and Midnight Express. Good news is that in recent times he's fully adopted soundcloud and given us a peek into his works. Alongside the usual b-sides, outtakes and whatnot are unreleased slices from the Scarface soundtrack, and I'm in love all over again. Moroder's production is second to none when it comes to nailing that 80s disco-y vibe. Check 'em out yourself!

That opening paragraph was a bit of a fib, I knew that there were unreleased tunes from Scarface and even have a bootleg version with some of them included, I was just very surprised to see them archived by the man himself(!) on Soundcloud no less (you all know how I am with archiving!). I remember wishfully thinking that this meant that a 'complete' version was on it's way sometime soon but it's not materialised yet. Which is a shame because while I do love the New Wave and Disco that Moroder does oh so well, his other contributions are just as good also. More on that later.

Here's an instrumental cut that, if I remember right, was used in the backing of a few scenes from Scarface, but that doesn't mean he takes it as an opportunity to phone it in. It demonstrates that even without being a producer or having vocal accompaniment Moroder has a real ear for catchy sounds and I'd say a real strong identity to his productions. This isn't just generic disco, there's something about it that is distinctly Moroder, It's no wonder he ended up being so prolific.



But he also shines when making more New Wave style stuff too. By '83 when the film came out Moroder already had more than a few hits under his belt, but Disco was kind of old hat and new wave of electronic infused pop was becoming the in thing. So it's no surprise that the original copy of the accompanying soundtrack album leant heavily on these vocal driven New Wave style songs (You're probably all familiar with Push It To The Limit for example), with only two tracks being explicitly credited to Moroder (Tony's Theme and Gina & Elvira's Theme) being listed. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, hell, I love tracks like this because they are just so fun to listen to; Moroder's production is on point as per usual and Beth Andersen offers a strong performance to back it up.



But that said, I do wish that Moroder's original score was included, he demonstrates incredible flexibility in parts, going from the poppy dancefloor vibes of the above to incredibly atmospheric scene accompaniments. Case in point with No Wife, No Kids, if all you know of Moroder is I Feel Love or Together In Electric Dreams, you'd be surprised to see him pull a very John Carpenter-esque piece on this soundtrack, but he does (and does it well!). If I had to nitpick I'd say that this track is almost a bit too overbearing to be a soundtrack, but if you know the film it twins with the scene that it plays over incredibly well and really synergises the audio/visual atmosphere. You gotta love the trend of including spoilers in the song titles too.



Unfortunately, it's not the complete album on Moroder's SC which means some of my other fave new wavey tracks like Turn Out The Light aren't there. Still nice to see these unreleased tracks available in some form out there, especially considering how old they are. It's nice to see Moroder still around too, the man is in his 80s now and still at it! Here's hoping I can slot a few more raves in if I make it to that age too. As always all, Stay safe and enjoy the music.

-Claude Van Foxbat

Ilictronix Podcast: Strictly Retro

"Claude and Adam both take a look back at retro sounds and artists who are recreating older genres."

We are back once again this week, with a sligtly altered format of some ideas we were throwing around last week. What started as an 80's episode in my mind quickly morphed into an appreciation of all things retro, both new and old. As reflected in my choices, we go from the (relatively) recent sounds of Mitch Murder and Games, to the grand-master Moroder himself, a little more Italo from Gary Low, all rounded out with some very New Age style stuff courtesy of Software. I tried to really run the gamut here, though I stuck to more synth and chillwave than I'd have liked for the modern portion. And I feel like I could've chosen a more fitting intro track but hey, I will forever love Blue Monday so easy come easy go. Still saying that, I think I did a decent job outlining some of the old/new combos like I say when we hit the disco phase you can really see where folks like Chromeo get their inspos from.

Once again though Adam has completely shown me up in this department. And I mean that with all sincerity, once again I am reminded of why I love doing the show so much; Adam brings a much more different vibe to the table than I do while maintaining the theme of the episode. And he had even less prep time than I did too! And it all culminates in that absolutely bombastic Ryderz courtesy of Hudson Mohawke (that I may have a little bit of a moment over as we introduce it) It's not a competition sure, but I definitely feel that Adam's choices this week are certainly more on-point with the old/new thing I had going on, and I hope you enjoy both of our selections. Join us as we appreciate a wide variety of genres both new and old, tracklist as always follows:

Tracklist:
Intro:New Order - Blue Monday 1988 (7" Mix)


Claude’s picks:
Mitch Murder - Alright
Games - Strawberry Skies
Gary Low - Play The Game (I'll Do The Same)
Giorgio Moroder - E=MC²
Software - Island Sunrise


Adam’s Picks
Citizens of Vice - Pikes
Patrick Cowley - Hot Beach
Luke Vibert - Feel the Melody
Zomby - Where Were U In '92
Lone - Vapour Trail

Outro:
Hudson Mohawke - Ryderz

Back 2: New Wave

Moving on to other Genres of the era, a little more spread out this time however. The 1980's also saw New Wave burst onto the scene and stick it's synthesized self firmly on the charts, often accompanied by people looking moody at keyboards. You should all know by know that I adore Electroclash in all it's trashy glory, and New Wave contains much of the similar formula so it should come as no surprise I have a soft spot for it too. Let's have a look.

Patrick Nagel - 1310

A lot of this stuff is what kicked off my interest in all things electronic (not the first though, that honour goes to Autobahn). Among the earliest I can cite is The Human League. The eventual influence on Electroclash is most clearly seen here on the lyrics, I could easily see Miss Kittin & The Hacker giving this one a crack at some point. You've probably already heard this one a fair few times, and it's not aged well in parts for sure, but I do remember being mesmerised by the opening bars and the equally weird music video.



On the flipside, I think Blue Monday still holds up today very well. It's more than earned it's place in electronic music history but every time it comes up I am always surprised just how modern it sounds. Every single time I fall in love with it, from the instrumentation down to the stoic, disconnected lyrics. Granted, this isn't the original release from '83 (but it's the one I have to hand) so there are minor differences there, but it's largely the same.



Moving away from New Wave / Synthpop slightly to cover some Italo-Disco. Italo is very much a product of it's era, and there are more than a few tracks that are straight up bad by today's standards, but it's still a very important milestone in electronic music history that has influences to this day. For example, eagle eared listeners may recognise this as the sample on both Washed Out's Feel It All Around and Miss Kittin & The Hacker's The Beach.



There's plenty more I wanted to cover here but I think I've gone on enough here, and I would like to save some ammo for whenever I decide to resurrect this idea once again in future!

-Claude Van Foxbat

City Series Vol. 1 - Leeds (Playlist broken as of 2020)

Putting into motion something I've been wanting to do for a while now, here's a series where we get our writing team to make a playlist for their city. Could be inspiration, could be local acts, could just be you dig the sounds - whatever. Starting with me, I'm up north in the UK in Leeds, so naturally I have to start off with LFO and their amazing Warehouse mix. There's other local flavours in there too, like Soft Cell (Fun Fact: My dad went to college with Mark Almond here), LSK and of course Nightmares On Wax.

So there you have it, tried to cover a lot of bases genre wise so I apologise if the grime/garage/dubstep turn at the end is a bit sudden. Regardless I hop you enjoy and stay tuned for the Atlanta and Chicago installments courtesy of Adam and Evan!

-Claude Van Foxbat

Arcade High - The Art Of Youth

Good afternoon internet, I just stumbled across an album that I think you're gonna dig. It's by a one Arcade High and is summed up by the man himself as: "It's been described as a cross between the kinda of SynthWave we are used to, influenced by ‘80’s TV and Movie themes, and the adrenaline chaos of video game arcades a couple of decades ago." that got me thinking of Kavinsky. And Miss Kittin & The Hacker to a lesser extent, so I went and scooped myself a copy.

Click for huge (1500 x 1178)

Ok, so the cover art may have had a bit of an influence on me too, you know I love a good cover. After the chiptune-y and new wave melding of the intro, I was treated to this. It's more 80's than Kavinsky, a whoooole lot more. Whereas the K man is sort of a mash between New Wave and Electro this is a straight up love letter to the 1980's, as the first airy synth hits told me.



Speaking of lighthearted synths, I love me some good lines, and this track has them in spades. And this just happened to scratch my itch that I didn't know I had, as those keys twinkled away I just couldn't help but smile. And the break at 3:35 is pretty special those are some excellent pads right there in that little break. And the arpeggio that leads it back into the main mix is pretty stellar too.



Adding to my list of tracks called 1980 something (coincidentally featuring both Kavinsky and Kittin & The Hacker) is this little number. The beat kinda reminds me of Calvin Harris' Flashback but with the plastic drums and synthesizer working that we've come to expect from Miami Nights. I honestly don't own anything else like this in my collection.



It's just not an album without a downtempo interlude to break things up. And this is The Art Of Youth's answer to that. it's like if Washed Out started working with synths instead of sampling old disco records, at least that's the vibe I got from it. Anyway, it's very, very nice. You know I love me a good chilled number and this also has the bonus of featuring everything about the album I've come to love so far.



I'll leave you with this, a more upbeat number that was the track that initially sold me. I was drawn in by that title, which is damn sweet. The synths hit, and that made the deal sweeter. But the deal maker? that has to be hands-down (no pun intended) the claps. When that first one hits at 0:44 you know this ain't nothing but a good time.



So that's a quick rundown of Arcade High, I gotta say it pretty much fits the description he gave out with the info for it, and it is pretty damn special. I highly suggest you check it out, or even buy the album! I'll hit you up with the links now.

As We Were In '82,
-Claude Van Foxbat

Find Arcade High at:
Arcade High's Bandcamp
Arcade High's Soundcloud
Aphasia Records' Soundcloud
SomethingAwful