"What a refreshingly honest blog about listening to music through hi-fi. So happy to see views based upon the enjoyment of music rather than so-called sound 'quality'." - Peter Comeau, Director of Acoustic Design at Mission / Wharfedale
Did you ever go to a gig not quite knowing what to expect?
Better than you'd hoped for? Worse than you could've imagined? So bland as to not be worth the bother?
All possible outcomes. So how was it when Audiophile Musings was subjected to 3 hours of electronic sounds in London, imported for one night only from New Zealand? Did the experience of being one of Pitch's Dance Test Dummies turn out to be pleasant, euphoric, painful, uplifting or just meh?
There's something about a venue that works. Or it doesn't. And it works or it doesn't, depending on who's playing there and who's in the crowd. Pete Tong and the orchestra playing Ibiza classics needs a vast space and a few thousand party animals to make the gig work - put it in a venue where the orchestra might outnumber the audience clearly isn't going to work. But equally, put a solo female singer songwriter in a venue of just a few hundred people doesn't work either, if the audience are only interested in the sounds of their own voices. So a venue has to work for the gig, and the gig has to work within the venue. And yet it must be so difficult to know what's going to work. A while back I went to see/hear Kiasmos at The Royal Festival Hall - a very large venue more commonly known as a classical venue. But for a duo playing keyboards - that just didn't seem right, yet by the 3rd track in the place was on its feet and it felt more like an superclub in Ibiza. But without the bar prices.
What's that go to do with being a Dance Test Dummy? Its about the contrast. The last duo twiddling knobs and standing behind keyboards I saw live was that Kiasmos gig. This time around it was the turn of Pitch Black - another duo twiddling knobs and standing behind keyboards playing live. They formed in New Zealand just over 20 years ago, so I don't know why its taken until 2018 for me to discover their music, which is very much my kind of stuff. Rather in the manner of PB being from the Southern Hemisphere and Kiasmos originating in the very northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere, so their London venues came from the opposite ends of the spectrum. PB were choosing a live London gig in October as a chance to run some new tunes past the critics (their audience) and the basement at the Sebright Arms, in the oh-so-cool Northern part of the capital's heart, stretches to an audience of about 160. That's intimate. And dark. A small room with a low ceiling, a small step up about 2/3 of the way back from the stage and a bar with just the essentials across the rear. The stage is only about 18 inches high. Very friendly folks at the Sebright Arms, much friendlier than the usual London grumpy pub staff. The pub's OK, the food was OK, but all the trad ales were off for the evening, which was a bit of a downer. So I tried the local craft lager which was acceptable, nothing spectacular.
Don't know much about Pitch Black? Me neither, or at least not up until earlier this year. I heard about them through one of the forums - in one of those "if you like that you'll like this" kind of threads. I mention Kiasmos above and I'll mention Yello now too - because if you like either or both of them, then PB are worth a listen. Take care on the likes of Tidal though, as you might run across their US namesakes who are gangster rap-ish and very different indeed. You can sample some PB over on Soundcloud too. A quick chat with Michael Hodgson (the local) and Paddy Free (from NZ), who make up Pitch Black, before the gig proved how easy they are to chat to, both of them also being Yello fans. Paddy is very easy to talk to and genuinely interested in their audience, and very good at predicting their behaviour. His prediction: "They'll come in after the gig has started and then gradually fill up the room from the back" was spot-on.
The set was broadly split into 3x 45-50 minute sets. No support. The first set was the "chill" session, and that was exactly how the audience gently and politely settled into it. The room gradually filled up, but the space between the stage and the step up filled up in a very relaxed way - almost everyone cross-legged on the floor. As Paddy put it "welcome to the great Pitch Black sit-in". Apart from one or two lines like that, the boys just got on with the chill play out for the first 50 minutes. And its probably about as laid back as it gets. This isn't ambient as such, there's more direction to the set than that - its possibly better described as ambient sounds but with a beat - sometimes a little dubby, other times trancey, other times rather like a slowed down house style. And what a fantastic sound system for this kind of music, in such a modest venue. The PB sound is very reliant upon waves of bass lines and rhythms - something that could very easily have been a massive wallowy mess of sound from a poor sound system. But this little unassuming venue in London did PB proud. The bass was massive but decently controlled and filled the venue with waves of sound. But it didn't drown out the rest of the music, which is essential to the structure of the sounds - there are so many little short sharp chords, injections of quirks, cracks, sparks and subtleties that make the music what it is.
The guys are animated behind their keyboards, pads, screens and other gizmos. But they're clearly very comfortable working together on whatever it is they're doing with all the gear. In line with the vibe of the laid back first set, everything was quite calm up on the stage. The audience swayed along, some with their eyes closed, some chatting quietly. Perhaps those who have seen PB before already knew that the chill session was the prelude, the amuse bouche rather than anything like a substantial starter, never mind the main course. As it happens, there were 2 main courses tonight, although I'm pretty sure the first of those could've left a bad taste in the mouth as it was dubbed as the "Dance Test Dummies" set - essentially all new tunes for 50 minutes, unreleased material, and still not finalised. A risky business for PB and the audience.
But there was nothing to worry about here. Introduced by a short video, now Hodgson and Free are getting truly animated behind their gear, and you can see that there are tweaks and adjustments going on throughout the set. The backdrop is a mezmerizing set of loop-style visuals. The pace steps up several gears, the audience gets to its feet and I realise that the place is now packed, starting to feel like a sweaty nightclub. And boy does the pace ramp up - BPM and sheer energy in the room. Did the Dummies in the audience crash like those in the video? No, they seemed to love every minute of this set like it was all familiar and favourite stuff. The tracks rise and fall, build and break, push forward hard but not relentlessly. There's always a new twist just around the corner and the amount of twiddling and crossing of arms across the gear hinted at the amount of work being put in - there's clearly a mutual trust and spark between Free and Hodgson as they energetically drove the set along. It feels like this is a new album ready to go - just bottle up that set from Sebright and stick it straight onto a music carrier format of your choice. Apparently there is more work to finalise some stuff, but it really didn't feel that way - and the whole place was in tune with the new material. Bring on the new album asap.
And onto the third set - essentially the "greatest hits" portion of the gig, modestly introduced as "some stuff you'll be more familiar with", or words along those lines. Unfortunately, due to some complex travel plans I had to dip out about 20 minutes in, much to my annoyance (I had apologised for my early departure to the boys before the gig, so they knew my walking out early wasn't an expression of the quality of the gig!). As I tore myself away (I did, for a short while contemplate missing the train, but the consequence would be a £70 Uber fare so that got the upper hand in the decision making) the place was still bouncing, lost in the moments, feeling the bass lines and full of positive energy.
One further comment on the sound system (as that's the main theme of the blog) - I did notice the physical impact of the bass lines in my stomach and the movement of my clothing, yet on leaving the venue there was no ringing at all in my ears, and impressive achievement.
So a great combination - venue, crowd, atomsphere, sound quality and, of course, superb musical content from Pitch Black. Bring on the new album. Bring on the next gig!
Electronic. Experimental. Pioneering. Eclectic. Humorous. Niche. Unique. Acquired taste. Quirky. Arty.
Does that help? To an extent it probably does. But add another few important descriptors to that list.
Shy. Studio bound. Publicity avoiding. Aloof, even?
Where to start with Yello? For me it goes back to 1988 on the Isle of Man. As you might expect (weird), or not (much more likely). With a bunch of good mates, we’d just seen 3 days of the best tarmac rallying you can imagine. This guy called Snijers had popped over from Belgium in his BMW M3 seeking European championship points. He’s never going to beat the established Brits and Irish who’ve dominated the event for years – surely he had no chance against the likes of Jimmy McRae? And yet there we were watching this M3 dance over the roads of Man – perfectly placed, power sliding spectacularly, pushing the limits at every opportunity, flying flat and landing squarely ready for the next bit of aggressive driving. To win by a margin of over 30 seconds on a debut on the island is unprecedented. Have a look at this YouTube video to get a flavour.
We turn up at the massive prize giving ceremony venue and the podium placed cars are in the room, arranged in front of the stage. The lights go down and we’re treated to a 4 minute highlights video on the big screen – 4 minutes of incredibly aggressive yet controlled and spectacular driving from Snijers in the BMW. Those of you who know Yello will have guessed where this is going – the backing track was “The Race” and I guess the whole atmosphere and spectacle meant I was hooked on Yello from then onwards.
Fast forward somewhat across the decades since 1988 and I’ve a fair collection of Yello albums – mostly from that period onwards. Boris Blank and Dieter Meier have been working together on the Yello project on and off for 38 years at the time of writing. Quite some career. Based out of Switzerland, they’re a niche band in the UK – their new album launched in September 2016 did pretty well by Yello standards, peaking at number 84 in the chart. They have a very loyal but thinly spread fan base across the globe. In 2013, you can read what we did at the Scalford Hifi Show when we played a Yello DVD all day on a loop with a projector and a Sony / Linn / Rotel / Mission based system. It drew praise and disdain in fairly equal measure, to be fair – but fun to do something different at the show.
Its often not long before a Yello track is played when I’m sitting down in front of the Musings system. It helps that the music is produced with great care and attention to sound quality. My 15 year old daughter’s caught the bug too – we both really looked forward to the new album this year.
So 38 years, and yet never a live show. There’s some debate about that “fact”. Apparently they played in Zurich a good few years back, but its unclear if there was anything “live” about the performance, beyond the vocals. Either way, they’ve never done a real “gig” and most of us expected it would never happen. Boris is now 64 and Dieter 72, so what are the chances?
Rumours of a new album kicked off in mid-2015, and would be their first together since Touch in 2009. That’s how long this loyal fanbase has to wait! The album was “coming soon” for a very long time. Then suddenly, this summer, a few rumours started circulating about a couple of one-off gigs, late in 2016. Seemed implausible to impossible. And why would they do it after all this time? A couple of old guys on stage behind synths – what kind of show would that be? But its never straightforward with Yello – their videos are often quirky, use interesting and contemporary techniques and they apply as much attention to this and the album artwork as they do to the music. May be this could work. May be it would never happen.
Bang! It happened – I can’t remember which way around it happened, but I think it was the gig announcement first, then the definitive release date of the new album – to be called Toy. As you can imagine, the excitement about the gigs set that tiny corner of t’internet that concerns itself with electronic music on fire. But no clue as to location, number of gigs, was it a tour, etc. etc. Shortly the information came clear – 2 gigs in Berlin. That was it. How could I resist? Then it became clear that the dates were in the school holidays. I spend quite a bit of time with my son who’s also into cars and we go mountain biking together but here was a chance to spend some time with my daughter which would be great. We even managed to get tix to the first of the 2 live gigs. Making it a weekend (we’ve never been to Berlin before) flights and hotels were sorted.
When Yello released the first single from the Toy album – Limbo – the video was filmed in a concrete former power station building in Berlin called Kraftwerk – some might find that a little ironic. Its all very robust, industrial, brutal and with the fog and lighting in the video it created a very atmospheric backdrop, and this was to be the venue for the gig. Mixed feelings about that. Standing, in an old power station, pretty unusual way to go about it. How the gig would be staged, what tracks would be played, would the venue work – all of these things were hot topics of on line discussion. After the first 2 gigs were sold out – 2 more were added, one before the one we had booked so ours was no longer the first gig. The new first gig was to be seated which I initially thought would be better, but it turns out I was wrong about that one.
The Toy album was released and it’s a fantastic piece of work – musically and physically, particularly in the CD format which is a small hardback book of images, lyrics, artwork etc. Musically I find 80% of it very listenable and there are 4 outstanding tracks – 30,000 days, Dark Side, Blue Biscuit and Electrified II. It bodes well for the gig as there’s bound to be a good few new tracks on the set list. Guest vocals from Malia (who collaborated with Boris Blank a few years ago to create the excellent Convergence album) and newcomer Fifi Rong from London complement the music very well and contrast starkly with Dieter Meier’s robust bass ramblings.
Berlin is a great place for a visit, but we’ll not concern ourselves with the rest of the city here. Let’s get on with the gig. My 15 year old daughter’s first experience of a proper rock/pop event, and an interesting place to start. Let’s also cut to the chase – this evening was a fantastic experience – I really did have concerns about “never meet your heros” and would the whole thing work as a concept and would it feel like a live gig, given the very electronic nature of the music. So how come it was such a great experience? People, music, visuals, atmosphere, buzz, anticipation, seeing something that you never thought would happen, sharing the experience with my daughter who was equally thrilled, it all gelled together so well.
The gig and the use of the venue was extremely well thought through. After meeting up with some fellow concert goers in a bar 2 mins walk from the venue, we discussed what we thought the gig would be like, if we needed to be in early or not, etc. Information before hand has been distinctly sketchy, although it was very clear that doors open at 7pm and the band would be on stage at 9pm. We headed round the corner and entered the anonymous looking building through what looked like a side door. No grand venue entrance or branding here. Adds nicely to the sense of mystery and anticipation.
Specially commissioned beer glasses contributed to making a gig into an event -
Kraftwerk is split into 2 levels. Entering on the ground floor we found a few of the usual things you expect – a bar with overpriced beers and a merch stall with overpriced t-shirts, beanie hats and some signed vinyl albums. Beer was served in plastic glasses unique to the event – combining the latest Yello logo with a graphic of the TV tower of Berlin – a nice touch. But really we were already into the gig. Arranged all around the lower floor were large old skool CRT monitors, playing classic Yello videos and there were instrumental Yello tracks washing around the venue. This, combined with the stage smoke and shafts of light cutting through, had already created the atmosphere and it was still 90 mins before the start of the show. We mingled downstairs for a while, then made our way to the performance area on the upper floor. Here the sheer scale of the building became clear – the place is massive – a high roof supported on rugged concrete pillars, the original gantry cranes still up there to add to the authenticity. Again the lighting up here was clever, emphasising the vastness of the space, creating long dark shadows and the choice of background music was dark, bass driven and of the menacing variety. Large cut-out areas in the floor allow views to the gathering area below and the gentle fade changes of colour in the mist were very effective.
Downstairs amidst the videos and the mist
Looking down into the pre-gig gathering area
Looking towards the stage - here you can see the old factory cranes still suspended from the ceiling
Looking away from the stage into Kraftwerk's vast space
The stage is at one end of the hall and has a vast array of electronic “stuff” arranged in a horseshoe to the right, but we also get a clue about the approach tonight – there are 2 drum kits on stage and there’s clearly going to be a good few people up there with Boris and Dieter. As a backdrop there’s a vast screen of the type normally seen at big sporting events. 20 minutes or so before 9pm, a tiny blurred yellow set of letters appear on the vast screen – and they’re rotating as individual letters. Over the 20 minutes the letters gradually get larger – soon its clear that the 5 letters are YELLO – they rotate as individual letters and their place within the word – sometimes spelling OYELL, LOYEL etc. And they become clearer too. At pretty much exactly 9pm they are fully resolved and fill the complete screen. Backed by the intro to the track Takla Malan, this is a great way to build up the intro and grab the attention of the crowd.
Build up
A view of and from the desk
A long long wait (decades!) finally ends as “Magma” plays and the band emerge onto stage. Boris takes up station behind the horseshoe of gear and Dieter takes centre stage. The first full tracks are "Do It" and “The Evening's Young” and there’s a hint of stiffness on stage – this is only the second night and to start with, that shows. Dieter spends the evening reading his lyrics from a prompt, Boris looks like he’s playing perhaps a lead melody over the top of the rest of the electronic sounds. That might sound like it wasn’t going to be a good night, but that’s not the case. The visuals behind the stage were spectacular – mixing clips from classic Yello videos, new patterns and graphics, vivid colours and well matched to the mood of each track. But what really brought the performance to life, for me, were 2 things – the live musicians and the extension of the light show into the entire arena.
With 2 drummers and kits and a lead guitarist to the left, a trio of backing singers right of centre and a 5 piece horn section arranged to the right, their playing and on-stage animation and activities brought life and enthusiasm to the gig. And by about 3 or 4 tracks in, there was a palpable change in the atmosphere on stage – everyone seemed to get relaxed into their roles and from that point on, it really looked like the whole ensemble were enjoying what they were doing. And its fair to say the audience followed suit – standing became the right way to arrange a Yello gig as the tracks ramped up in pace and familiarity.
Brass section gets animated
What about the building? The robust “architecture” worked well for this gig. The lighting techs did a great job of lighting the whole environment – shafts of light piercing through the mist, emphasising the size of the venue and adding to the feel of some of the more ethereal and moody tracks. Sequenced to work with the music the lights switched between low level mood colours, seemingly random dancing and chasing around the building in sequence. This all underpinned by the openings in the floor that exposed the floor below and emphasised the space even further.
Percussion
There’s some brief introductions to songs and a little banter from Dieter – most of it in English, some in German, and a warm welcome to the gig. But in the main, the focus is on the music – a set list which blended some early tracks, some greatest hits and, of course, a number of tracks from the new album “Toy”. Dieter’s largely spoken vocals were well delivered at the right time and I didn’t notice any fluffing, if any happened. Each track from the “Toy” album was played pretty much as per the studio version, the older tracks get a little new flavouring or twists, but they were all very easily recognised and comfortingly familiar. Like most of the audience, we talked and sang along with the lyrics, but luckily for those around us, the PA easily drowned out my bad singing. There’s been quite a bit of discussion of the setlist – quite a few were looking for more of the “classic” tracks and, inevitably with such a long back catalogue, it was impossible to cover everyone’s favourite track. Here’s what Boris and Dieter chose to run with:
Visuals for "Time Tunnel" - Boris Blank just visible behind his rig on the right
The boys were joined on the stage by guest vocalists Malia and Fifi Rong to perform songs from “Toy”. Malia was introduced to me through the “Convergence” collaboration with Boris Blank – she has a fabulously smokey smooth jazz voice that works so well with Blank’s very sophisticated tunes and soundscapes. On that album is a track called “Smoldering Ashes” which is a smooth melodic and dark song. For “Toy”, Yello have re-worked the track into a more electronic, rhythmic vibe – renamed it "Cold Flame" - and I have to say I prefer the original when listening at home. But on stage in a live setting, the "Cold Flame" version worked very well indeed – a real drive to groove along to. Fifi Rong is a very young artist from London who is starting to make way in the music business. Her vocals are a contrast to Malia, skilfully applied to exactly the right music flavours by Boris, a sound that’s more ethereal, spooky if you like. Both ladies added significantly to the success of the evening and performed flawlessly – they added to the visuals too with spectacular clothing and Rong’s extreme eyelashes! The camera work was great here too – blending close-ups of the singers over the top of the main video / graphics showing on the big screen at the back of the stage. Its worth mentioning the horn section here too – they really contributed to the tracks you would expect – adding impact, dynamics and a visual aspect to the music.
Dieter is joined on stage by Malia
Visually and vocally, Fifi Rong stunned the crowd
The sound wasn’t perfect – using the now common curved arrays suspended from the ceiling either side of the stage and then at 2 further points down the length of the venue. We were positioned just right of centre, about 20 rows back and mid-way between the stage side arrays and the first set of reinforcements down the length of the hall. There was plenty of power and all the hard surfaces of the venue didn’t, for us at least, give an empty echoing acoustic, thankfully. The music was a touch muffled – it could of done with more clarity and slam – and for some of the tracks the vocals could have been higher in the mix. It wasn’t bad, it worked better than I expected given the type of venue, but I’ve heard better and much much worse of course.
Given that the track “The Race” hadn’t been part of the main set, it was pretty obvious what was going to feature in the encore – which, equally obviously, was demanded by the audience. But there was another treat first – something which seems to have been added compared the first show. Boris launched a smartphone app a few years back called Yellofier. It’s worth looking up, but I always thought it was a toy rather than a way to produce music. So the boys brought a smartphone on stage, plugged it into the PA and took us through developing a track, supposedly “live”. I suspect the creating of the track probably was “live” but seems to have been a repeat of creating an existing track to show how that can be captured and then developed. I say this because what followed on from the basics of the track was a fully developed version that really bounced along and got the audience animated again. Dieter vocalised over the top in his familiar style. Good fun.
And so to the final track of the night – of course, “The Race”. More great visuals mixing parts of the original video with new content, the audience in motion and joining in with the choruses. Part way through, the track backed off a little and Rush, Push, Cash was skilfully inter-weaved with The Race as Dieter introduced the whole 15 piece band. “The Race” was a great (if predictable) way to finish the show – great stuff.
Yellofier - live
The Race
Taking a bow
Then back downstairs to the free aftershow party – glasses refreshed and we revisited the CRT videos and listened to the tracks being spun by the DJ in the dark misty and atmospheric venue. Here Malia, Fifi and the backing singers mingled (maybe some of the musicians too, but I didn’t see them myself) with the crowd, posing for photos, signing autographs etc. A really nice touch and so refreshing to see band members making themselves available.
And there’s further good news. As the Berlin gigs worked so well, Yello have announced that they’ll take the show on the road. Its not clear what that means, but I think we can expect a small number of gigs in a very select number of cities worldwide. Plus, Yellosphere at the Ministry of Sound in London on 24th November 2016 - an evening of electronic music with Dieter and Boris playing some of their classic tracks and some recordings and visuals from Berlin. With the 3rd and 4th gigs being recorded, there's hope for a DVD in the near future too.
An aside:
If you make a bit of effort, as we did when going to Berlin, and get dressed up in something appropriate and unique for the gig, you might just get a round of applause on entering the gig, pictures with the guest singers, a chat with the album cover photographer, a chat with the band's sound / mastering engineer, and if you're extremely lucky, the chance to go backstage to meet the band. An excellent weekend became something to exceptional and treasure for a long time to come...
The power station's control room (and, indeed, the rest of the Kraftwerk venue) where we met up with Dieter and Boris, is featured in the Limbo video:
Boris Blank and Dieter Meier - the heart of electronic / electronica / pop music creators and production team who call themselves Yello. Or have done for many decades. You can enjoy lots of their material here on Spotify.
They're frequently playing on my system, from the earlier stuff like "The Race" on the album "Flag", through complexities such as "Nervous" on "The Eye" to the latest (2009!) sophisticated and equally complex but far more subtle tracks with Heidi Happy and Till Bronner on the "Touch" album, I enjoy their quirkiness, sense of humour and unique blend of electronic music with real tunes rather than just beats. With "Touch" a 10 year trend became very well resolved - a move to a more sophisticated, jazz inspired kind of direction. Bland even sings in a more traditional sense when dueting with Happy on the "Touch" track "Kiss In Blue". And pretty much every one of their albums has been a sound quality benchmark of its time.
At the Scalford Hifi Wigwam show this year I showcased the "Touch Yello" virtual concert DVD throughout the day on a modest Rotel / Mission fronted system with a Dell projector and it seems to have gone down reasonably well with a good number of visitors. That's reported here, but is an aside to this review really. Today I'm going to review Yello's respective solo releases - they've come about 4 or 5 months apart - an interesting departure, but hopefully not the end of future releases for them together as Yello.
You can read about Yello in the usual places, wikipedia for example, where you'll get the history, discography etc. I don't have their very earliest stuff as I don't like it so much, but have all the major releases from 1987's "One Second" through to the VW Golf promotion of 2012 "The Key To Perfection". My first real experience of their stuff was when "The Race" was used as a backing track to a 5 minute or so summary video of Patrick Snijers' incredible driving skill as he took his BMW M3 to a stunning victory on his first visit to the Isle of Man in 1988. Playing on a big screen as the prelude to the rally's awards ceremony, it certainly made an impression when matched to those images. Still one of the best pieces of driving I've had the pleasure to witness first hand.
Imagine this:
With this as the soundtrack:
So that was worth further investigation. Hence began my interest in Yello and their music that's never really gone away in the intervening 26 years (gulp!). They're pretty experimental in their approach. The music tends to have a few constant features - a very clear beat, melodic & very deep bass lines, multiple layers of complexity, mixing electronics & orchestral arrangements and a very quirky sense of humour. How many bands can include Shirley Bassey and "Tweaky" from the Buck Rogers TV programme as guest vocalists for example? There's diversity, sophistication and a unique approach across their work, and whilst it doesn't always hit the mark, most of the time it works well, as long as you like that kind of stuff. Give it a try if you don't know them yet.
Now, after so many years working together, they've released solo projects. The first to market was Boris Blank in partnership with Malia with "Convergence". This week the pre-ordered signed copy of Dieter Meier's "Out Of Chaos" landed on my doorstep. These albums aren't on general release in the UK, but they are available through the likes of Amazon.de using an Amazon.co.uk account id. "Out of Chaos" can be legally downloaded in full CD quality on junodownload.co.uk "Convergence" is available as a CD quality download at qobuz, if you're lucky enough to be in the right territory. Unfortunately I've been unable to locate at 24 bit / 96kHz or similar quality versions as yet.
If you were hoping that Yello would continue the direction they were taking with 2009's "Touch" album, particularly those tracks with Heidi Happy on vocals, then this would probably have been a great follow up album.
What's there? All those lush Boris Blank hallmarks are there: deep, tune-laden bass lines, somewhat mysterious and layered percussion, shadowy underpinnings (you might not spot some of the subtleties until the third or fourth listen), strong structure, changes in direction and masses of layered synthesized orchestral stuff. Malia's jazz / african vocals are superb throughout, as are the strengths of the song and tune writing. With only one cover on the album ("Fever") the quality of the songs from this pairing are impressive - varied, fresh, sophisticated and well suited to the blend of electronica with jazz. Yet again, production values and sound quality are sky high.
What's not there? The quirky humour is distinctly absent - this is almost Boris Blank saying that this is his "grown up" approach to music. And that's great. It would be a mistake for a Yello album to move away from the humour, but here, with Malia, its the right approach. It doesn't mean that there is no humour in this album, its just much more subtle rather than up front. I often think that Yello's humour is probably what prevents them from reaching a wider audience - it's likely to drive some listeners to not take them seriously as musicians. This is a shame, as they are very serious about their humour! There are no really "edgy" tracks here, some might take it as a bit too smooth.
Celestial Echo: We kick off with some deep, echoing, haunting electronic bass drums and some subtle effects as Malia advises us that she's the mad storyteller. She seems to be out to save the soul of a lover and to offer comfort. There's some doubt about how this ends - there's no clue about if the offer is taken up. Underneath the story the bass drums continue their tune and there are instrumental interludes which are impressively subtle but don't add much to the storyline. I get the feeling it went well, but I don't really care too much as its not really very involving.
Embrassable Moon: The pace picks up a touch here and Malia's voice is more expressive - there's a raspy edge now, which is more engaging. This is another positively spun tune on a familiar theme ("I live to breath the air that you breathe") with some lilting percussion under a keyboard and sax led melody. It drifts along and then fades out without you really noticing.
I Feel It Like You: Perhaps a touch of Yello quirkiness here? Its a contrast to the first 2 tracks with a rhythm that bounces along a little playfully and some of that synthesised flicks and tricks in the percussion that will be familiar to fans. The guitar riff and hand claps / finger clicks drive the track along well, along with splashes of horn section. Again this is a positive track, but there's a playful mystical twist to the way its structured and sung - its a love rekindled rather than a given.
Touching Ghosts: Oooh, now we're getting going. This tracks opens with a swimming, swooning melodic line and Malia sounding a little melancholy. The voice and sad lyrics are contrasting with the more playful melody of the instruments. Pauses in the tune give you time to reflect - there's mystery in here (and a reference to a later track with "I put a spell on you" used as a backing line), deep bass melody is inter-played with brass interjections and the snowflakes keep falling. This track leaves me wanting to hear a longer version - it could develop into something very delicious indeed.
Claire Cadillac: I can't quite get my head around what this one's about. But there's no doubt that Malia's showing off here vocal versatility in this one - one moment its a bit girlish and playful, the next its multi-tracked lushness. I think it could be about jealously of another woman who "has it all". There's synthesised dulcimer and other unexpected elements in here. This track is both playful and sinuous at the same time. With the prevous track and this one, I'm hooked into this album now.
Raising Venus: Sadness and ruthlessness are the themes here. She'll burn you. But its also very sinister and that comes through in both Malia's vocals, the tension in the music and the interjections from synths and other squarks and squeeks in true Yello style. But the way Malia sings "Little Red Riding Hood drives through, she does not cry, boo hoo" is like a really unpleasant story teller trying to scare the life out of a bunch of primary school kids. And me. This is a slightly disturbing track and rather good for it.
Fever: I refreshing take on this classic track. Constructing the backing track very sparsely from drums and a single synth with trademark (but very difficult to describe) noises and punctuation, swinging along at a very gentle pace transposes this track from exciting and celebratory to something a bit more predatorial.
Smouldering Ashes: Smoldering voice. Malia talks us through this track, and you could probably say this is the one track that Dieter Meier could deliver equally well. The percussion bounces along in the background with long trumpet cords tying the drums to the melody. Very sparse again here. Its one of those tracks that sounds very simple, but probably took many hours of experimentation to ensure that the right balance of tension and emphasis is delivered. Its another song that's about something that's not happy. There's something in there about being together but as part of possession rather than partnership and then there's something about that going wrong too. These unhappy topics really do work well in this collaboration between Malia and Blank.
Magnetic Lies: This and the next 2 tracks drive this album towards a real songwriting crescendo. Deep staccatto bass lines with swooping instrumental fills blend superbly with Malia's seductive sweeping multi-tracked vocals. Its about cheating in relationships. There are some elements where it the chord changes are very much carrying an air of that cheating, but enjoying it too. There's one particular chord change that needs a system to go deep to work fully - on my main system it goes deep enough to mean that the lower notes in the chord change are reproduced and its distinctly melancholy. On the dining room system that can't get that low the chord change sounds somewhat happier. Interesting to hear how the system's ability to resolve the recording can change the emotional content.
Tears Run Dry: Oh, how the sadness continues in Malia's world, but that's good for us because it produces another stonking track. The timing of the musical phrasing in this track is superb. A walking bass line dominates, but various muted trumpets (probably not real ones of course!) build the feel, along with the occasional echoing percussion exclamation points. "Tears run dry, what's left to try? Tears run dry, you lost all your balls". Says it all really, except that this is another track that deserves another couple of minutes of development but ends too soon and leaves you wanting for more.
Turner's Ship: More mystery. More echoing deep drums, but this time they're slower paced, spaced out and take a long time to fade away. Then there's the surprise of a very African tribal chant which is positive sounding and tuneful. Then Malia cuts in, supported by hand claps and percussion that will be familiar to those who know "The Key To Perfection", along with multiple complex arrangements of cow bells, cymbals, bongos and other percussion, to deliver another heart-wrenching set of lyrics. Not love this time, but it would seem to be the tragedy of hunger and the imbalance of poverty to wealth. Sobering. Another really engaging track.
Conclusion: After the first couple of tracks that are more positive and light in outlook but which are a little bland, this album really gets going. Once Malia gets into the meat of the serious, melancholic and in some cases downright twisted/tragic topics the musical quality of the album transcends the slick and sophisticated presentation and becomes a more engaging listen. Not to be missed by any Yello enthusiast, but also deserves to be embraces by a much wider audience as a great mix of electronic with jazz.
Dieter Meier - Out of Chaos
If you're familiar with Meier's contribution to the Yello albums, that gruff, sometimes sarcastic, sometimes playful, sometimes downright weird deep baritone voice will be very familar. Is it singing? Not really. Is it rap? Nope. I guess it's more of an in-tune talk really. You'll not mistake it, that much is sure.
What's there? This is a step back in time for a Yello listener. If you consider the direction of "The Eye", "Touch" and "The Key To Perfection" as the way Yello has developed over the last 10 years, then Meier's solo project doesn't really pursue that path further, but steps back to the more individualistic work and is better aligned to the left field of electronic music. The "singing" is more of that deep tuneful talking too. Sound quality is decent, but doesn't feel outstanding.
What's not there? Well, you don't get that super sophisticated jazz-infused lushness of "Convergence", nor even of Yello's own work with the likes of Heidi Happy. Curiously, the humour's not there either - this must come from the guys working together rather than them as individuals.
Conclusion: I was going to write notes about each of the tracks. But, to date, I just don't feel there's enough differentiation between the tracks to merit writing about them individually. On a Yello album, Deiter Meier's vocal contributions are well placed and welcome - they're usually on the more sinister / quirky songs and are great when other tracks are pure instrumentals or feature guest vocalists. But track after track, they become rather wearing and lose there mysterious edge - they just become a bit monotonous. There are various musical stylings under the lyrics but they're hard to associate with - its a more electronic kind of sound - it doesn't sound as mature as Yello's and Blank's offerings. Some tracks I've still to get all the way through, and there's a doubt that I'll bother. So overall, rather a disappointment.
So there we have it. I'm still looking forward to the next Yello album (hopefully there will be one) and would welcome more from Boris Blank and whoever he cares to collaborate with. On the flip side, I won't worry too much if Meier produces another solo effort - you might like it, but its not for me.
