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12"
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MEME18 007EP
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Remixes of Wrangler by Daniel Miller (founder of Mute Records Ltd.), Crooked Man, and LoneLady.
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CD
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MEME16 004CD
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The second album by Wrangler (Benge, Phill Winter, and Stephen Mallinder), following their 2014 debut LA Spark (MEME14 001CD/LP) and the 2016 remix release Sparked: Modular Remix Project (MEME16 002CD/LP). White Glue offers the 3D depth of analog equipment (the ancient synthesizers in Benge's MemeTune Studios have never sounded so good), but there's more funk than geek and more mod than modular in this tailored, minimalist design. Mallinder's vocals are a surreal joy, smeared with effects and electronics as they change, chant, and shift through the jump-cut lyrics. The opening trio of "Alpha Omega," "Stupid" (featuring Mallinder in a mutant-funk falsetto), and "Clockwork" (a nod to Kraftwerk, who famously name-checked Mallinder's Cabaret Voltaire as "brothers in popular electronic music") sets up White Glue with the crisp crack and thud of sequenced rhythms and lush synthesizers. "Dirty" starts like something from Forbidden Planet, pauses for a moment, then slams into a compelling funk beat with a bristling guitar riff courtesy of Julie Campbell (LoneLady). Mallinder delivers one of the most memorable vocal performances of his career, venting, sliding, and punching through the layers of noise with real urgency and bile. He employs his voice to more measured effect on "Stop" but it's no less hypnotic, a feverish guilt mantra of out-of-control consumerism. As the synths wail like sirens, one can picture Winter and Benge swaying to the beats, heads down, lost in the propulsive, (artificial) hand-clapping groove. The white-light techno rush, triggered synths, and chopped-up, multi-layered vocals of "Real Life" are followed by "Days," which slowly loops in then adds heavy bass and moody synth lines as Mallinder offers another striking vocal performance. "Superset" is a late highlight that features the band coaxing the rhythm into life before hitting hard with a lovely, deep groove. "Colliding" is the spacey krautrock closer, a beautiful, nuanced semi-instrumental song that exits with dreamy, abstract vocoder sounds and ambient synths.
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LP
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MEME16 004LP
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LP version. The second album by Wrangler (Benge, Phill Winter, and Stephen Mallinder), following their 2014 debut LA Spark (MEME14 001CD/LP) and the 2016 remix release Sparked: Modular Remix Project (MEME16 002CD/LP). White Glue offers the 3D depth of analog equipment (the ancient synthesizers in Benge's MemeTune Studios have never sounded so good), but there's more funk than geek and more mod than modular in this tailored, minimalist design. Mallinder's vocals are a surreal joy, smeared with effects and electronics as they change, chant, and shift through the jump-cut lyrics. The opening trio of "Alpha Omega," "Stupid" (featuring Mallinder in a mutant-funk falsetto), and "Clockwork" (a nod to Kraftwerk, who famously name-checked Mallinder's Cabaret Voltaire as "brothers in popular electronic music") sets up White Glue with the crisp crack and thud of sequenced rhythms and lush synthesizers. "Dirty" starts like something from Forbidden Planet, pauses for a moment, then slams into a compelling funk beat with a bristling guitar riff courtesy of Julie Campbell (LoneLady). Mallinder delivers one of the most memorable vocal performances of his career, venting, sliding, and punching through the layers of noise with real urgency and bile. He employs his voice to more measured effect on "Stop" but it's no less hypnotic, a feverish guilt mantra of out-of-control consumerism. As the synths wail like sirens, one can picture Winter and Benge swaying to the beats, heads down, lost in the propulsive, (artificial) hand-clapping groove. The white-light techno rush, triggered synths, and chopped-up, multi-layered vocals of "Real Life" are followed by "Days," which slowly loops in then adds heavy bass and moody synth lines as Mallinder offers another striking vocal performance. "Superset" is a late highlight that features the band coaxing the rhythm into life before hitting hard with a lovely, deep groove. "Colliding" is the spacey krautrock closer, a beautiful, nuanced semi-instrumental song that exits with dreamy, abstract vocoder sounds and ambient synths.
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2LP
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MEME16 002LP
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Double LP version. Wrangler's new remix album, Sparked: Modular Remix Project, features 11 modular synthesizer re-workings of tracks from their 2014 debut album, LA Spark (MEME14 001CD/LP). All the artists were sent the same original proposal by Wrangler at the start of the project: "Wrangler would like to ask you to submit an experimental piece of music for inclusion. The idea is very simple. We provide some basic stems from a track selected by you from our album LA Spark and you add whatever sounds you like - the only rule being that you use just one analog modular synthesizer system of your choice. We've approached you because we admire your passion and commitment to electronic music." Features: Abul Mogard, Daniel Miller, Steve Moore, Scanner, Chris Carter, Dean Honer, Alessandro Cortini, Benge, Solvent and David Burraston.
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CD
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MEME16 002CD
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Wrangler's new remix album, Sparked: Modular Remix Project, features 11 modular synthesizer re-workings of tracks from their 2014 debut album, LA Spark (MEME14 001CD/LP). All the artists were sent the same original proposal by Wrangler at the start of the project: "Wrangler would like to ask you to submit an experimental piece of music for inclusion. The idea is very simple. We provide some basic stems from a track selected by you from our album LA Spark and you add whatever sounds you like - the only rule being that you use just one analog modular synthesizer system of your choice. We've approached you because we admire your passion and commitment to electronic music." Features: Abul Mogard, Daniel Miller, Steve Moore, Scanner, Chris Carter, Dean Honer, Alessandro Cortini, Benge, Solvent and David Burraston.
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CD
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MEME14 001CD
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Wrangler consists of Stephen Mallinder, best-known for his pioneering work with Cabaret Voltaire, Phil Winter of Tunng and Lone Taxidermist, plus the founder of Memetune studios and synth-obsessive Benge. His studio's synth-rammed walls have created an environment where sounds are ripped from a golden era of analog electronic music to create forward-looking, new music. Wrangler formed in the wires of Memetune -- a post-LCD, Factory Floor-ed electronic funk machine with VHS tape distortion in its eyes but also capable of sleekness and beauty in the stripped-back beats. The tracks range from the satellite bleep and synth melody of "Theme from Wrangler" to the alien carnival rhythms of "Modern World" and the ambient "Peace and Love" (originally recorded for Tate Modern's Summer 2012 program "Tweet-Me-Up"). In between there's "Lava Land" -- all masked, half-gargoyle vocals and primitive drum machines; the gliding, noir and neon of the title-track "LA Spark" and the urgent, pulsing floor-filler of "Harder." There are ghosts and echoes of Mallinder's previous work in Cabaret Voltaire in these songs, especially in the vocals and lyrics, which run like his own internal movie.
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LP
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MEME14 001LP
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Opening with a single repeated note beamed from an analog basement studio in Shoreditch, London, Wrangler's debut mini-album LA Spark reclaims lost technology to make new themes for the modern world. Wrangler consists of Stephen Mallinder, best-known for his pioneering work with Cabaret Voltaire, Phil Winter of Tunng and Lone Taxidermist, plus the founder of Memetune studios and synth-obsessive Benge. His studio's synth-rammed walls have created an environment where sounds are ripped from a golden era of analog electronic music to create forward-looking, new music. Wrangler formed in the wires of Memetune -- a post-LCD, Factory Floor-ed electronic funk machine with VHS tape distortion in its eyes but also capable of sleekness and beauty in the stripped-back beats. The tracks range from the satellite bleep and synth melody of "Theme from Wrangler" to the alien carnival rhythms of "Modern World" and the ambient "Peace and Love" (originally recorded for Tate Modern's Summer 2012 program "Tweet-Me-Up"). In between there's "Lava Land" -- all masked, half-gargoyle vocals and primitive drum machines; the gliding, noir and neon of the title-track "LA Spark" and the urgent, pulsing floor-filler of "Harder." There are ghosts and echoes of Mallinder's previous work in Cabaret Voltaire in these songs, especially in the vocals and lyrics, which run like his own internal movie. But the Cabs era it recalls is the unfairly neglected 1983-1985, when they released the likes of The Crackdown and Micro-Phonies. Oddly enough, this period has been getting re-discovered and re-evaluated via a recent Mute box set, just as Wrangler started mixing this new EP for release. Sometimes the landscape changes and you can find yourself in the right place at the right time through a mixture of luck and instinct. A closer look at the personnel: Benge has been releasing "pure" electronic recordings from his London-based electronic studio hub for many years, such as 2008's 20 Systems and as John Foxx & The Maths. Phil Winter has been recording, playing and DJing for a number of years and is a member of Lone Taxidermist, and Tunng released their fifth studio album Turbines in 2013. Stephen Mallinder has a long history in music, most notably as founding member of Cabaret Voltaire, who recently reissued their Collected Works 1983-85 to critical acclaim.
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