Synthesized Nostalgia = “Magic”.

I was going to stay away from writing reviews on this blog but sometimes you hear something and just feel the need to share it with others. So for this week and this week only I’m going to be self indulgent, after all, it is a bank holiday!

There has been an influx of modern Synthpop in the charts lately with the likes of “Little Boots” and “La Roux” quickly becoming household names, but not far behind is New Zealander Phillipa “Pip” Brown AKA “Ladyhawke” with her retro-synth-pop-rock sound which has manifested on her self titled debut album. I may be a little out of touch here, since it was released back in late 2008, so apologies in advance for repeating perhaps “old news” but I felt compelled to write about it nonetheless!

I’d previously seen a little piece on her on TV saying she liked retro sounds, and that the 80’s and 90’s were a big influence on her. This instantly made my ears prick up as that has always been my most prominent inspiration too, being a child of the 80’s and all… but does that translate into her music?

The answer… yeah, quite a bit. There are a few stand out songs on the album, including catchy singles “Paris Is Burning” and “My Delirium” which could almost be a quirky Billy Idol cover. However, the track that really sticks with me is opener “Magic” which is borderline fantastic actually!

As soon as it kicked in I had a grin from ear to ear and was reminded of my favourite album of all time “The Smell Of Rain” by Mortiis. From the gorgeous synth arpeggios to the varied electro-drums, and the driving force of the choir sitting atop a bed of crunchy rhythmic guitars… perfection! What a way to start an album!

The only thing I don’t really get so much is the lyrics, (which probably aren’t aimed at me anyway) however they do fit very well with Pip’s laid back vocal delivery. I can’t complain at all though as I thought “The Smell Of Rain” was a once in a lifetime kind of album and to hear something so closely resembling it (on a recent pop album no less!!!) is a very welcome surprise! It’s a shame the rest of the album isn’t quite as faultless.

Overall I’d say it’s worth checking out Ladyhawke if you haven’t already, especially if you’re as fed up with the obnoxious bores masquerading as “Contemporary R&B” (isn’t that supposed to stand for ‘rhythm and blues’?!) who seem to be cluttering up the top 5 spots in the UK charts this week (and every week it seems...).

So, if you happen to take the nostalgic trip down into Ladyhawke’s unique little world, why not stop off and check out the aforementioned album from Mortiis as well as “Sounds Of The Universe” the latest album from synth legends Depeche Mode whilst you are at it!

- E.S.L. Kazraine Maars -

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Playlist for the August bank holiday:

05. Fragile Dreams by Anathema from the album “Hindsight”.

04. In Dreams Of Mine by Faith And The Muse from the album “Vera Causa”.

03. Magic by Ladyhawke from the self-titled album “Ladyhawke”.

02. People Are Strange by The Doors from the album “Strange Days”.

01. The Campaign For Real Rock by Edwyn Collins from the album “Gorgeous George”.

Auto-Tune: Breaking The (vo)code

One whisper sweeping across internet-land recently has been discussion on a little known technique used in nearly all professional recording studios these days. It’s most used name is “Auto-tune” although it is basically a pitch-correction software. It can be heard throughout the world without us even being aware it is there in most cases, although it has become more obvious in recent singles by artists such as Eminem, Lady Gaga, Enrique Iglesias and so on.

This is mainly noticeable in the vocals, over processing the voice to be “pitch perfect”. This can be done to different degrees with the aforementioned artists using it as a production effect by pushing the pitch-correction so far that the vocal line starts to sound synthesised and robotic. Masses of modern R&B artists have been using it a lot too (Timbaland, Rhianna and Ne-Yo off the top of my head) although it has been pumped into our ears for over a decade, one prominent example being Cher’s massive 1998 hit “Believe”, so much so that it became known as the “Cher Effect”.

So what else can it be used for besides making vocalists sound like robots? From an artists point of view this technology is a godsend, allowing the vocalist to concentrate on their performance, pouring all their passion and creativity into the take without being 100% pitch perfect all the time. It’s easy to fix up any little discrepancies afterward, saving a lot of studio time (and thus a lot of money)!

Vocal harmonies can be made by duplicating an already recorded main vocal track and changing it’s pitch accordingly to save potentially hours of over-dubbing later on. It’s not just vocalists that can use it either, if the guitarist has been using the whammy bar a little too much and accidently gone out of tune the recording can easily be saved rather than recording another (perhaps inferior) take. In an extreme case you could even change the entire key of your song after it’s been recorded and mixed!

The question is, does this make the producers/engineers and artists lazy and unimaginative, or does it give them even more freedom to experiment?

In my opinion those little inconsistencies can give a song character and identity whereas this manipulated perfection can seem sterile and bland especially if over-used like nearly every song I hear on the radio these days! Once you notice you can never escape it!

If you’re still not sure whether you think this is a great innovation or an irritating trend I will leave you with this video demonstrating just how over the top you can go with Auto-Tune and I promise you’ll never hear Timbaland the same way again.

“Auto-Tune The News”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0OzxvClwoU

- E.S.L. Kazraine Maars -