Long Reads – Page 28 – Electronic Sound

20 minute read

Ladytron: ’Tron and On and On

byStephen Dalton

Almost a quarter of a century after they formed, Ladytron are still reaching new audiences. With their 2002 hit ‘Seventeen’ having gone viral on TikTok, the electropop futurists are back with their first album in five years, the swaggering ‘Time’s Arrow’. Quite the journey it’s been, too. Prepare for a bumpy but exhilarating ride

LLong Reads

10 minute read

Clock DVA: Back To The Future

byDavid Stubbs

The first new Clock DVA studio album in 30 years explores a dystopian world where “machines of intimidation” rule. Founder Adi Newton muses on technology overload, the importance and influence of artistic experimentation, and how a 1970s Sheffield theatre workshop first turned him onto electronic music

LLong Reads

10 minute read

Polypores and Field Lines Cartographer: The Weird Dream Team

byBob Fischer

Stephen James Buckley and Mark Burford are Polypores and Field Lines Cartographer respectively. Holed up together in a remote Lancashire church, their minds frequently wander to cosmic vibrations, pixelated dream states and chain-smoking ghosts…

LLong Reads

10 minute read

Alexander Tucker: Rebel With A Cause

byMat Smith

Alexander Tucker’s latest work is a posthumous collaboration with Keith Collins, Derek Jarman’s former partner. The result is a touching homage to the iconic filmmaker and the inspiring landscape around Dungeness nuclear power station in Kent, where Jarman famously lived during the final years of his life

LLong Reads

8 minute read

Andy Votel: A Tribe Called Votel

byAnton Spice

Co-founder of the Finders Keepers label, Andy Votel has spent three decades downplaying his obsession with hip hop. Reuniting with his original crew, the clandestine MC, beat-maker and sample head talks about the fear and friendship that made it all possible

LLong Reads

9 minute read

Ben Frost: Nature’s Requiem

bySharon O'Connell

Drawing on the ultrasonic sounds of the Amazon rainforest, the new album by Australian-Icelandic producer Ben Frost sees him collaging environmental recordings and complex electronics to stunning cinematic effect

LLong Reads

21 minute read

Sleaford Mods: Grim Tales

byFat Roland

“In England, no one can hear you scream…” So say Sleaford Mods on their latest album, ‘UK Grim’. Maybe their angriest record to date, it depicts the gritty reality of the here and now with typically acerbic rage and stinging wit. Rooted in barbed electronics and driving, clubby beats, it finds the Nottingham duo on blistering form

LLong Reads

6 minute read

AFRORACK London: Machine Learning

byIsaak Lewis-Smith

Afrorack is an initiative using modular synthesis to improve access to technology among disadvantaged groups. We caught up with founder Aaron Guice.

LLong Reads

10 minute read

Alexander Robotnick: I, Robotnick

byStephen Dalton

A mainstay of disco and electro since the early 1980s, Italian producer Alexander Robotnick has also dabbled in jazz, ambient and global sounds throughout his long career. His latest album, ‘Simple Music’, suggests there’s no sign of him letting up

LLong Reads

9 minute read

Benge: (Re)Benge Of The Nerds

byMark Roland

Benge, the synth-meister behind some of the best electronic music of the last decade – from John Foxx And The Maths to Wrangler and Blancmange – now has his own must-see television show, ‘The Memetune Programme’. There’s even an annual to go with it…