Electronica duo Komputer reboot for London show
Komputer, the Mute artists who joined the influential label in 1984 as I Start Counting, are rebooting for a live show in London.
Komputer will appear at TEC 006 together with the Queen of hard dance music, Rein (SE), and IMI (UK). Co-sponsored by Cold War Night Life and The Electricity Club, TEC 006 is the latest in a series of curated music events showcasing the best of current poptronica. It takes place at Electrowerkz, Torrens St EC1, London, on the 30th of November, 2019.
Tickets are available right here.
The chameleons of electronic music
The duo of Simon Leonard and Dave Baker developed a quirky, infectious style of poptronica that captured the imagination of label boss, Daniel Miller. He used his Synclavier to produce their first singles, “Letters to a Friend” and “Still Smiling”, which became classics of detuned, minor key pop.
Like Depeche Mode, who had just started to break into the US market with the harmonies of “People Are People”, I Start Counting’s style grew from experimental roots. Sampling technology gave them the opportunity to expand their sonic palette, but they avoided the trap of reproducing the sounds of other acts. They instead, recrafted sounds into sparkling, underground hits.
As their music developed, becoming more focused on the dancefloor, they evolved into Fortran 5. Shedding the skin of I Start Counting gave the duo relative anonymity in the emerging rave and acid house scenes, and they made a mark with groovy tracks like “Look to the Future” and “Persian Blues”. As Britpop consumed the rave scene, Baker and Leonard decided that it was time for another change.
If Oasis could ape The Beatles, then they could certainly make songs in the image of their own makers: Kraftwerk. Komputer was born with a sound that developed on the heritage of the German electronic pioneers. The project kept the duo’s sense of whimsy intact, and they drew from inspirations as diverse as the walking trail from Archway to Alexandra Palace (“Looking Down on London”) and the first woman in space (“Valentina Tereshkova”).
The band toured with Erasure and provided a remix of their hit, “Victim of Love”. Blancmange (“Cruel”) and Metroland (“Enjoying the View”) have also been reworked by Komputer.
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