Bluetown Electronica - Is It Time Yet?
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"My beloved …where can we go tonight?"
In the county of Kent near the mouth of the river Thames a small island Sheppey is situated. The island has an area of 91km² (for comparison area of Warsaw is 517km²). I have checked it. On the island in a local community center operate an internet radio which operates thanks to the work of volunteers. On the radio, every Sunday evening the two enthusiasts host broadcast Bluetown Electronica – which, as the name suggests, is focused on electronic music.
To be honest, I never listened to this show. Well, I did not even know of its existence. But now I'm going to change it! For a simple reason. Recently, a compilation album, issued a year ago by Sub Culture Records, have fallen in my hands. The compilation consists of tracks promoted in that broadcast. And Sub Culture Records is no one else but Per Aksel Lundgreen. Do I have heard about him? Of course not. So I have checked. Well Mr. Lundgreen, among others, was the keyboardist in Apoptygma Berzerk in the early nineties. Now he publishes his works as Angst Pop. In addition, he plays, programs, mixes and produces – in other words collaborates and is engaged more or less in projects such as Shatoo, Cronos Titan, Chinese Detectives, Technomancer, and Rossetti 's Compass. It seems that his contribution to the final shape of the album was more than substantial.
The album Bluetown Electronica - "Is It Time Yet?" – contains of 25 tracks, and that is nearly two hours of music. What is more, it is very diverse in terms of genre and tempo of the tracks. Of course, according to your tastes (and there's no accounting for taste, but you can write scientific treatises about it ;) as with any compilation some songs seems to you better, some worse. Well, with such diversity this is probably inevitable. However, the diversity is what gives this album a delightful freshness and gives a listener the joy of discovery. So what exactly we have got here?
First, a lot of diverse and fine electro music. For example nice dance tracks like that one of Technomancer or "Tea Time" of Global Citizen which is closing the album. There are also stylized for 80s' electro pieces of Tenek and Eurasianeyes. Also compositions of such artists as Naked Lunch or Jonteknik maintained at a slower pace tempo sounds interesting. In an electro climate real gem is mix of the Rosetti's Compas track - "My beloved" (... where can we go tonight?)
In addition, you can hear great post-punk synth-pop works of such groups as Factory Acts, Synthia dB Shock, Das Fluff, and Kira. In general, all songs with female vocals sound great. Not only those mentioned above, but also more electro-pop Regret of EmT or 365 of Tingle in The Netherlands. Check them definitely! Remix of "Narcissist" - Attrition is, in turn, a nod to the fans of more pure EBM. On the compilation you can also find some heavier cuts in industrial climate. Here, there is the second gem – piece of the Cronos Titan. Finally, it is worth to mention the opening electro-pop track "Floodlights" of Shatoo – it is almost pop, but it is said that it’s first-class Norwegian pop.
Moreover, when speaking about selection and edition of the tracks, the undeniable advantage of the compilation is that presenting substantially less mainstream artists the album can appeal to both lovers of darker climates, and to the audience from outside the dark independent culture - if they only don’t get discouraged by album cover. Well, I also have checked this.
Tracklist:
1.Shatoo – Floodlights (Radio Edit)
2.Factory Acts – Senseless
3.Tenek - Where's The Time (Dubby's Telematic Holiday'80 Edit)
4.Eurasianeyes - Far Off Land
5.Attrition - Narcissist (ID Mix by Angst Pop feat. Technomancer)
6.Naked Lunch - Le Femme (Album Version)
7.Paul Humphries - Random
8.Pinklogik - Bide Your Time
9.Synthie dB Shock - Factory Reset
10.In This Mode - Spiral
11.Rossetti's Compass - My Beloved (Abi's Electro Mix by Angst Pop feat. Technomancer)
12.Das Fluff - Life Is Sweet
13.Cronos Titan - Crash The Scriptures (Leipzig Edit)
14.Johnny Normal - Save Me
15.KirA - Stand Up
16.EmT - Regret (Rob Abbey vs EmT Dark Mix)
17.The Flood - The Right Time
18.Jonteknik - Relay (Extended)
19.New Neon - Everything Iz Different (Clive Pierce Rework)
20.Technomancer feat. Angst Pop - Electronic Warfare
21.Soundkraft - Soundkraft
22.Thesubterranean - Release The Pressure
23.Tingle In The Netherlands - 365
24.Among The Echoes - Sin
25.Global Citizen - Tea Time (Club Remix)
In the county of Kent near the mouth of the river Thames a small island Sheppey is situated. The island has an area of 91km² (for comparison area of Warsaw is 517km²). I have checked it. On the island in a local community center operate an internet radio which operates thanks to the work of volunteers. On the radio, every Sunday evening the two enthusiasts host broadcast Bluetown Electronica – which, as the name suggests, is focused on electronic music.
To be honest, I never listened to this show. Well, I did not even know of its existence. But now I'm going to change it! For a simple reason. Recently, a compilation album, issued a year ago by Sub Culture Records, have fallen in my hands. The compilation consists of tracks promoted in that broadcast. And Sub Culture Records is no one else but Per Aksel Lundgreen. Do I have heard about him? Of course not. So I have checked. Well Mr. Lundgreen, among others, was the keyboardist in Apoptygma Berzerk in the early nineties. Now he publishes his works as Angst Pop. In addition, he plays, programs, mixes and produces – in other words collaborates and is engaged more or less in projects such as Shatoo, Cronos Titan, Chinese Detectives, Technomancer, and Rossetti 's Compass. It seems that his contribution to the final shape of the album was more than substantial.
The album Bluetown Electronica - "Is It Time Yet?" – contains of 25 tracks, and that is nearly two hours of music. What is more, it is very diverse in terms of genre and tempo of the tracks. Of course, according to your tastes (and there's no accounting for taste, but you can write scientific treatises about it ;) as with any compilation some songs seems to you better, some worse. Well, with such diversity this is probably inevitable. However, the diversity is what gives this album a delightful freshness and gives a listener the joy of discovery. So what exactly we have got here?
First, a lot of diverse and fine electro music. For example nice dance tracks like that one of Technomancer or "Tea Time" of Global Citizen which is closing the album. There are also stylized for 80s' electro pieces of Tenek and Eurasianeyes. Also compositions of such artists as Naked Lunch or Jonteknik maintained at a slower pace tempo sounds interesting. In an electro climate real gem is mix of the Rosetti's Compas track - "My beloved" (... where can we go tonight?)
In addition, you can hear great post-punk synth-pop works of such groups as Factory Acts, Synthia dB Shock, Das Fluff, and Kira. In general, all songs with female vocals sound great. Not only those mentioned above, but also more electro-pop Regret of EmT or 365 of Tingle in The Netherlands. Check them definitely! Remix of "Narcissist" - Attrition is, in turn, a nod to the fans of more pure EBM. On the compilation you can also find some heavier cuts in industrial climate. Here, there is the second gem – piece of the Cronos Titan. Finally, it is worth to mention the opening electro-pop track "Floodlights" of Shatoo – it is almost pop, but it is said that it’s first-class Norwegian pop.
Moreover, when speaking about selection and edition of the tracks, the undeniable advantage of the compilation is that presenting substantially less mainstream artists the album can appeal to both lovers of darker climates, and to the audience from outside the dark independent culture - if they only don’t get discouraged by album cover. Well, I also have checked this.
Tracklist:
1.Shatoo – Floodlights (Radio Edit)
2.Factory Acts – Senseless
3.Tenek - Where's The Time (Dubby's Telematic Holiday'80 Edit)
4.Eurasianeyes - Far Off Land
5.Attrition - Narcissist (ID Mix by Angst Pop feat. Technomancer)
6.Naked Lunch - Le Femme (Album Version)
7.Paul Humphries - Random
8.Pinklogik - Bide Your Time
9.Synthie dB Shock - Factory Reset
10.In This Mode - Spiral
11.Rossetti's Compass - My Beloved (Abi's Electro Mix by Angst Pop feat. Technomancer)
12.Das Fluff - Life Is Sweet
13.Cronos Titan - Crash The Scriptures (Leipzig Edit)
14.Johnny Normal - Save Me
15.KirA - Stand Up
16.EmT - Regret (Rob Abbey vs EmT Dark Mix)
17.The Flood - The Right Time
18.Jonteknik - Relay (Extended)
19.New Neon - Everything Iz Different (Clive Pierce Rework)
20.Technomancer feat. Angst Pop - Electronic Warfare
21.Soundkraft - Soundkraft
22.Thesubterranean - Release The Pressure
23.Tingle In The Netherlands - 365
24.Among The Echoes - Sin
25.Global Citizen - Tea Time (Club Remix)
