Episode # 42: ‘Evo-Devo’ – new DEEP FOREST album. In conversation with Eric Mouquet

One of the most exciting and musically deepest ambient electronic music acts out there, namely Eric Mouquet/Deep Forest, has just finished recordings for the upcoming album ‘Deep Forest – Evo Devo’, which can be pre-ordered HERE 

We had a chance to chat with Eric about the new albums, what people can expect from it, touring, what gear he used and more – do not miss this!!

LISTEN HERE

Episode # 41: In conversation with Neil Francis

Neil Francis & POEM's Thomas Janak

After seeing his favourite Band Erasure perform in London in 2014 Neil Francis made his way to the tube and while waiting on the platform he just started singing Erasure’s “A little respect” with everyone present joining in. A mobile phone recorded clip of Neil’s impromptu acapella rendering of the classic track made it onto youtube where it has been watched by a global audience over 20 million times, which turned Neil into a youtube sensation.

But the story doesn’t end there – he has now recorded with Erasure’s support act Shelter and others and is well on the way to becoming a thought after singer himself. Recently Neil sang at a ’30 years Erasure’ party where Erasure’s Andy Bell himself showed up and Andy & Neil sang “A little respect” together on stage that night.

We talked to Neil about his youtube video and all that followed and more.

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Episode # 40: BPM 2015 – Electronic Music Production Event

On the 2015 brochure BPM says: “when it comes to Djing and electronic music production, BPM is the biggest event on Earth” and who are we to argue with them.

POEMs Thomas Janak went to Birmingham’s NEC where the BPM was being held and had a look around.

This episode features interviews with NOVATION’s Mark Lewis, mainly about the Novation Launch Pad Pro, a talk about the re-issued Arp Odyssey with KORG’s Luke Edwards, we will explore YAMAHA’s Reface series with sound designer Yuji Yamada before talking in-depth with ROLI’s product manager Manon Dave about their brand-new and very innovative ‘Seaboard’ synths, which happen to be the World’s first midi-over-Bluetooth controllers as well.

Enjoy the footage 

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Episode # 39: Kings Of Vinyl - a book about the history of the 12 inch single and more

POEMs Thomas Janak met Bill Wallsgrove at the 2015 Kraftwerk Conference in Birmingham.

Bill is currently working on a book, titled: “Kings Of Vinyl” which is all about the history of the 12 inch single that enabled the club scene to thrive and explore/create new forms of music while expanding on what came before.

POEM caught up with Bill to talk about the book.

LISTEN HERE 

Episode # 38: R is for Roland – 384 pages of awesomeness

When design and photography student Tabita Hub searched for a project her boyfriend Michael Matlak was quick to suggest a book on his favourite ‘toys’: Roland synths and drum machines.

Born out of the heart of a fan the coffee table sized mammoth book (presented by Telekom Electronic Beats) follows 23 legendary machines such as the 303, 808 or 909 drum machines or the world famous RE – 201 ‘Space Echo’ and also includes many interviews with musicians who made these instruments their own and brought sonic joy to the world.

POEM’s Thomas Janak talked to the enthusiastic Michael Matlak about the book, what prompted it and much more.

Special thanks to Svea Gaum (Schroeder & Schömbs PR Agentur) for her support  

LISTEN HERE 

ORDER YOUR BOOK HERE 

Episode # 37: Change of cosmic address – a tribute to Edgar Froese (Tangerine Dream)

Tangerine Dream founder and music pioneer extraordinaire Edgar Froese passed away on January 20^th 2015. He left behinds legions of fans as well as an enormous back catalog of songs.

Electronic music conveyor Mark Jenkins, who performed with members of the Krautrock outfits CAN and ex- members of Tangerine Dream, recorded a tribute album titled: “Change Of Cosmic Address”, together with his brother Chris, the latter also being responsible for the album artwork.

The brothers are also performing a tribute concert for Edgar Froese in London on April 11^th, where they perform two live sets with new material in the style of the late Edgar Froese.

POEM’s Thomas Janak talked to Mark about the upcoming concert, the tribute album, hardware synthesizers, changes in music over the decades and more.

LISTEN HERE 

Episode # 36: In conversation with ANALOGUE SOLUTIONS' Tom Carpenter

In the world of synths there are names that excite the heart and ears of people. Analogue Solutions is one of them. POEM’s Thomas Janak talked to analogue solutions CEO Tom Carpenter about his creations, his influences, the resurgence of hardware synthesizers and his musical project ‘Sound Of Science’.

Don’t miss this 

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Non-audio episode: MARSHEAUX - A Broken Frame ... fixed?

Greek all female synth duo Marsheaux has been a revered musical outlet since its inception in 2003. There is something very unique about them which is especially true considering that they have recorded quite a number of cover versions of iconic electronic music gems.

Now they have re-worked an entire album: Depeche Mode’s 1982 album “A broken frame”.

Apart from its award-winning cover, A broken frame was nowhere near its predecessor Speak & Spell. Shortly after the aformementioned S+S album their main songwriter Vince Clarke had left to subsequently enrich the world with his creations Yazoo, The Assembly and, most notably, Erasure, who are celebrating their 30^th anniversary this year.

In 82 Depeche had to find their feet musically and, although there are some hidden gems on A broken frame , it is not one of their better ones and, in retrospect, gives little indication that Depeche Mode would one day become the cultural phenomenon that they are today.

So, perhaps an overhaul was long overdue – Marsheaux certainly gave it new life (no pun intended) as they put a 21^st century stamp on the songs.

We put five questions to Marianthi Melitsi and Sophie Sarigiannidou aka Marsheaux and here is their response:

1) what prompted you to record your own version of Depeche Mode's 'A broken frame' ?

We love this album a lot. We like its melancholic and romantic mood. We strongly believe that it’s a really dark album and of course, it’s the most underrated of all of their albums although all the tracks are little diamonds. All Depeche mode fans think the same way. We did a lot of covers in the past but that was a bit different. We wanted to cover an entire album, even the artwork. Someone told us that we moved the standards for tribute albums very high and that was the best compliment we got.

2) If you could freely pick, what band would you love to tour with?

Not easy to answer.... There are too many.... But Sparks comes first in mind, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The dark of course, Mylene Farmer and Erasure and may many more.

3) what is the best thing about being in marsheaux?

That we do music, music that we love. Another good thing is that we turned our hobby into a profession, and that we have the time to work on our music. We travel the world, we meet people. We' ve met most of our heroes and with some of them we have collaborated. We are really happy with what we do.

4) what was your best selling album to date?

The German edition of Peek A Boo. Lumineux Noir was also a big seller for our greek company Undo Records.

5) what do you think of electro pioneers Kraftwerk?

We always say that Depeche Mode are the princes and Kraftwerk are the kings of electronic music. They transformed electronic music and gave it the today’s shape. Kraftwerk's distinctive sound was revolutionary, and has directly influenced all the electronic acts that followed (and not only). We red somewhere that Kraftwerk might be "the most influential group in pop history" and we totally agree. RESPECT! Also we strongly believe that Ralf and Florian were extraterrestrials. Karl and Wolfgang were just their ambassadors, their link with us. We believe the same for ABBA as well. All these cant be human. Its impossible! 

Episode # 35: Industrielle Volksmusik for the 21st century – First ever academic conference on KRAFTWERK

LISTEN HERE

On January 21^st and 22^nd 2015 a two-day event, titled: “Industrielle Volksmusik for the 21^st century”, in essence an academic conference on German electronic music pioneers KRAFTWERK was held at Aston University, Birmingham, organised by Dr. Uwe Schutte (see Episode # 34).

The university asked attendees to refrain from recording any audio from the actual event. Therefore the following program does not contain any recordings from said event.

However, we were allowed to approach panelists and attendees during breaks. We managed to record quite a number of interesting interviews.

Interviewees included David Stubbs, a well-known music reviewer, who talked to us about his new book ‘Future Days’, a book on “Krautrock”, what Kraftwerk means to him and he even answered our off-topic questions about synthesizer legend Vince Clarke.

Other interviews include a brief one with panelist David Pattie about his book ‘Kraftwerk – Music non-stop’ and what his lecture was about. Furthermore we talked to people from Sweden and Australia as well as with Bill Wallsgrove, who owned a music label for a while. He also has a clear love for vinyl and is currently writing an in-depth book on vinyl collectors, titled: “Kings of Vinyl”. And that’s not all …

Photo credit: Nicole Valentin

Related links:

Supersonic Festival

FUTURE DAYS book

Music Non-Stop book

Episode # 34: First ever academic Kraftwerk Conference - In conversation with organiser Uwe Schutte

Titled ‘ Industrielle Volksmusik für das 21. Jahrhundert’, the first ever international academic conference on Kraftwerk will take place at Birmingham’s Aston University on Wednesday 21 and Thursday 22, January 2015.

The two-day event will explore the bands influence on virtually every other band ever connected to electronic music but will also have a deeper look at the band as a cultural phenomenon and much more.

The speaker list alone is a feast as it ranges from Cabaret Voltaire’s Stephen Mallinder to world reknown DJ and Ex – Visage member Rusty Egan plus a very special appearance by ex – Kraftwerk Member Wolfgang Fluer.

POEM’s Thomas Janak talked to conference organiser Uwe Schütte about the reasons behind the conference and more. 

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Episode # 33 - In conversation with Heaven 17's Martyn Ware

Multi-million-album-selling producer and a true synth – pioneer, Martyn Ware, is also a down to earth, plain-speaking gentleman.

The conversation on this POEM episode includes topics such as the music industry, the negatives of digital platforms such as Spotify etc, how to sell records, lecturing on the future of electronic music, the admiration for Vince Clarke and how it was to work with him, to write or not to write his memoirs, the still-not-so-great relationship with once Human League colleague Phil Oakley and news about Heaven 17 and B.E.F. – not to be missed. 

LISTEN HERE  

Visit HEAVEN 17 HERE