Two names that you’re going to be hearing a lot more of in 2004; Spektrum and Tiefschwarz. One record that you need to go out and buy. Immediately. Really, put NME down. It can wait. Whereas this 12 inches of electric electronic shock therapy is essential to your well being.
Disco-punk barely describes what Spektrum do. The London quartet fall into that category, but Isaac Tucker, Teia Williams and production whizz Gabriel Olegavich (also the brains behind Medasyn’s garage epic, ‘The Battle’) bring real imagination and ambition to the task, fusing heavyweight electro, funk and avant-garde FX ideas into their gymnastic freak-outs. Meanwhile vocalist Lola Olafisoye, a sultry, sinister hybrid of Grace Jones and Siouxsie Sioux, adds crucial mystery and exoticism to an already flavoursome stew.
As for Berlin’s Tiefschwarz - that’s brothers Ali and Basti Schwarz - could they be the men to fuse our local electro freaks into the mainstream? They recently delivered a very clever remix of Chicks On Speed’s ‘We Don’t Play Guitars’, while their take on ‘Kinda New’ is the sort of energy-surge, drop-everything, what-the-fuck? bunker buster that could unite every shade, creed and race of dancefloor. It doesn’t just cheekily nick the kick-drum straight off New Order’s ‘Blue Monday’, it is an equally potent synthesis of pop sensibilities and cutting-edge sound.
Bowling, bouncing along on the rubberiest of bass thuds and the tightest of interwoven beats, the hit is immediate, the velocity compelling. Lola slinks betwixt the grooves, dive-bombed by Sabatier-sharp electronic sounds, buzzing synthetic sparks and catchy, off-kilter riffs. There is clinical crispness. There is devastating distortion. There is a shuddering, perfectly timed breakdown. By which time, you suspect, Tiefschwarz were busy fanning the mixing desk with Mac user manuals, lest it melt into a pool of molten mechanical happiness. Monumental.
Tony Naylor
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