(07.20.08) The Netherlands is one of the centers of electronics. For some reason or other, the Dutch have always had an ear for machine music. That is as true today as it was some twenty years ago. One label that pioneered the post punk electronic sound of the 1980’s was Clogsontronics. The label pushed a form of electro rock in a new wave vein. The imprint came to life in 1982, but shortly after receded into the night in 1984. Some twenty three years later Clogsontronics came back to life, perhaps coaxed back into existence by the new wave environment re-surging nowadays. Clogsontronics have gone one step further than their June 2007 CD release and are back with vinyl, re-issuing Storung’s 1983 album This Is Future on an LP/CD set. So, almost twenty five years since it hit the record stores, how does Storung’s sound fair up today?
This Is Future is not a synthesizer record, in fact guitars play more of a central role than the Korg MS-20 that lends its chords to the tracks. The opener, “Verspilling,” is an example of the pivotal role played by guitar strings in the album, strings backed up with early synth sounds and primal vocals. The piece has a rawness to it, a post punk apathetic power which weaves its way throughout the album. “Dreadful Dance,” which follows, moves into more synth guitar grounds and has an electro new wave feel to it. Many of the tracks on This Is Future have a dissociated isolation about them, a theme that ran throughout the new wave movement. “Modern Fetch” has this estrangement motif, with its memorable guitar melody and dead pan lyrical structure.
Some works on the album focus more on the exciting new instrument that formed much of the 1980s music scene, the synthesizer. Storung’s synth player is Arian Brummin, who lends her vocals to some pieces. In “Kortsluiting” overlapping synthesizer resonations bring the piece to life with more of an electro edge to it as vocoder lyrics slide in and strings take a back seat. “Two Miles” is a good example of Brummin and Eugenius melding string and synth together, pushing both instruments along parallel lines to create a sound that had never been produced until that decade. The piece has a horror soundtrack pitch, with Eugenius adding guttural vocals to create and unnerving piece for the neo-capitalist age. “This Is Future” finishes off the album. The piece has a John Carpenter soundtrack synthesizer air to it with full chords from the Korg laying the roadways of the track whilst Eugenius’s high speed vocals screech through the lines.
This Is Future, in comparison to some new wave outings, is an album that sounds its age. The lyrics have an unmistakable 80’s angst, as do the strings. But this is not a condemnation, far from it. Storung produced a work in 1983 that was far ahead of its time, the duo created a sound that not only pushed the concepts of traditional instruments but employed new machines to make music that had never been heard by anyone before. Brummin and Eugenius were pioneers of rock and electronic music, they paved the way for the incorporation of electric and electronic, for the blending of the past and future. This Is Future is an album mapping what would happen in the world of music, it is an LP that was groundbreaking twenty five years ago and, despite not sounding brand new today, holds the listener’s interest with their ever admirable and experimental composition.
This Is Future is out now on Clogsontronics.
