Bringing our electronica season to a close we go through Soft Cell’s 1981 debut album ‘Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret’. And, well, there’s quite a lot for us to get into on this one. Not least of all the way that Soft Cell, and Mark Almond in particular, pushed the buttons of conservative middle England with in-your-face sexuality, provocative lyrics and evocations of the seedy, vice-ridden underbelly of Soho peep shows.

We talk about how the band’s roots influenced their vaudevillian, end-of-the-pier sensibility and, of course, we have a big old chat about possibly the most famous cover version ever recorded. We also find out which member of Soft Cell went on to be responsible for an absolute Eurodance banger…

In the latest in our ‘video killed the radio star’ series, Tim takes us through an all too relevant video from 2016 that shines a light on what really goes on in diplomatic negotiations.

Also this week:

This. Is. ALBUM CLASH!!

***PLEASE take a moment to subscribe to the podcast, leave a (preferably 5-star) rating and leave a review on whichever platform you get your pods. It makes it easier for others to find us and it means a hell of a lot. Thanks for listening!***

***Check out our ‘can’t get you out of my head’ playlist:

Youtube Music: https://t.co/xHKWgpcadA

Spotify: https://t.co/8Exejzv2rg

Enjoy!

Find us on Twitter (@Clashalbum), Instagram (@Clahsalbum) or send us an email ([email protected]).***

We begin the final clash in our electronica season today, and you will be delighted to know that Kev is in a much better mood this week. (Three out of ten though mate? Ridiculous.) Which is just as well seeing as this clash was his choice.

And a great choice it was too, as we head all the way back to the start of the 1980s and the dawn of the synth-pop era to check out two of the acts that paved the way for much of what was to follow for the rest of the decade - Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, and Soft Cell.

We kick things off by looking at OMD’s 1980 sophomore effort ‘Organisation’, and as ever there’s a lot of interesting history behind the making of this album, such as links to Joy Division and Factory records (as we reveal why OMD told Tony Wilson to “fuck off”), the influence on OMD’s sound from the likes of Kraftwerk and Gary Numan, and how OMD managed to craft a synth-pop classic about one of the most catastrophic acts of destruction in human history…

We have another in our ‘can’t get you out of my head’ series, in which Kev discusses how a late business meeting had him singing the tune of an early 90s Eurodance classic before we introduce the latest entries into our playlist (links below…)

Also this week:

This. Is. ALBUM CLASH!!

***PLEASE take a moment to subscribe to the podcast, leave a (preferably 5-star) rating and leave a review on whichever platform you get your pods. It makes it easier for others to find us and it means a hell of a lot. Thanks for listening!***

***Check out our ‘can’t get you out of my head’ playlist:

Youtube Music: https://t.co/xHKWgpcadA

Spotify: https://t.co/8Exejzv2rg

Let us know what you can’t get out of your head. Enjoy!***

Concluding our look back at influential electronic albums from 1991, this week we take a look at The Orb’s debut album ‘Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld’. And boy, are you in for a treat. I could do as I usually do and write some pithy notes about what we talk about this week, but that doesn’t even scratch the surface of this pod. Instead, it’s best to think of this week’s show as a social experiment to see just how angry a person can get when listening to an ambient electronic concept album. And, as we discover, the answer is very. Very angry indeed.

Regular listeners may note that Kev often takes issue with overly long tracks, or tracks that lack structure. And given the fact that the average track length on this album is just shy of 11 minutes, it won’t be much of a surprise to learn which of us takes against it.

What this also means is that, for once on Album Clash, we have an actual CLASH. A real, fundamental, philosophical difference of opinion which allows us to get into some real debate about what it is that each of us looks for in music.

We have another instalment in our ‘video killed the radio star’ in which Kev introduces us to a brilliant Chemical Brothers video that had Tim recalling Back to the Future.

We get to scoring our albums to determine who wins this clash (by which time all suspense over the eventual victor has long since dissipated) before Kev reveals the albums that will take to the ring of death in the final clash of our electro season…

This. Is. ALBUM CLASH!!

***PLEASE take a moment to subscribe to the podcast, leave a (preferably 5-star) rating and leave a review on whichever platform you get your pods. It makes it easier for others to find us and it means a hell of a lot. Thanks for listening!***

Continuing with our electronica season we begin a new clash this week, as Tim takes us back to 1991 to talk about two of the most influential acts in the nascent acid house scene, the KLF, and the Orb.

Kicking us off we take a look at the final album from legendary anarchic duo the KLF, ‘The White Room’. And my god is there a lot for us to get stuck into. In fact, I’ll be honest with you guys, we spend longer talking about the multitude of stories on the periphery of the music than the actual album itself. Because you can’t really talk about the KLF without mentioning Doctor Who, machine guns, dead sheep and, of course, the burning of a shit-tonne of cash.

We do spend some time talking about the music, including more chat about the egregious use of unauthorised samples, surprise collaborations with legend of country music, and how the KLF invoked the sound of the electro-apocalypse.

In this week’s ‘can’t get you out of my head’, Kev reveals how a trip to the vet had he and his partner singing an inexplicably popular global hit record from the early 2000s, while Tim talks about shit American beer in relation to a song that was on a near-constant rotation on MTV2 back in the day.

Also this week:

This. Is. ALBUM CLASH!!

***PLEASE take a moment to subscribe to the podcast, leave a (preferably 5-star) rating and leave a review on whichever platform you get your pods. It makes it easier for others to find us and it means a hell of a lot. Thanks for listening!***

Completing the latest clash in our electronica season is… an indie rock album. I know. Blame Kev, he chose this clash.

That’s right, going up against Hot Chip we have Klaxons debut album from 2007, ‘Myths of the Near Future’, an album crammed to bursting with abstract lyrics and obscure literary references by the barrelful. Through the course of this week’s pod we discover (via the medium of a cringe-inducingly pretentious press release and various fawning media puff-pieces) how Klaxons came together, how their love for the early 90s rave scene influenced their sound (and how they came to coin the sickeningly obnoxious term ‘nu-rave’), and how the group followed up on the breakout success of this album (spoiler: they didn’t). We also talk about what we think of the songs.

In the newest instalment in our ‘video killed the radio star’ series, Tim introduces us to the latest video by Alt-J and we get into a big chat about which track and field event we would choose to welcome Armageddon with.

Also this week:

This. Is. ALBUM CLASH!!

***PLEASE take a moment to subscribe to the podcast, leave a (preferably 5-star) rating and leave a review on whichever platform you get your pods. It makes it easier for others to find us and it means a hell of a lot. Thanks for listening!***

The fourth clash in our electro season sees us make a rare foray into the 21st century, to take a look at two albums from the mid-2000s that spearheaded the short-lived ‘nu-rave’ scene. (Which, despite what the NME tried to tell us, really wasn’t a scene. It was just a name given to a loose collective of young British acts that emerged at a similar time. Some of whom even produced electronic music.)

Sorry, where was I? Oh yeah, the clash. First up this week it’s Hot Chip with their 2006 sophomore effort ‘The Warning’. As always there’s a lot to talk about, including a surprising amount of chat about percussion, a lot of less surprising references to James Murphy and LCD Soundsystem, and the least threatening threat in the history of recorded music. We also have a big old natter about the merits of major record labels vs ‘DIY’ music, and what has changed in the industry over the last 15 years.

In this week’s ‘can’t get you out of my head’ Tim once again delves into the depths of pop’s dark web so you don’t have to and in doing so tells us about a somewhat unexpected cover of an indie disco banger.

Also this week:

- we ‘reminisce’ about music’s equivalent to end-credits scenes;

- we wonder what on earth Hot Chip were getting up to with their Casio keyboard; and

- Kev casts aspersions on one of the world’s best loved recording artists.

This. Is. ALBUM CLASH!!

***PLEASE take a moment to subscribe to the podcast, leave a (preferably 5-star) rating and leave a review on whichever platform you get your pods. It makes it easier for others to find us and it means a hell of a lot. Thanks for listening!***

Completing the second leg of our Vince Clarke derby we find out what the denizen of synth pop got up to after leaving Depeche Mode, by delving into Yazoo’s debut album ‘Upstairs at Eric’s’ from 1982.

In doing so we learn about how Vince Clarke came to work with Alison Moyet, what was unusual (and ultimately unsustainable) about their working dynamic, and how one of the most famous synth pop tunes of all time was nearly shunted to being a B-side. We also say lots of nice things about Alison Moyet’s voice. Because it’s incredible. We also find out what happened to both parties after they went their separate ways, and how their story came to have a happy ending.

In our latest ‘video killed the radio star’ we take a look at a video made 20 years after the song it accompanies was released, and get to talk about a solid gold indie electronica banger at the same time.

As is customary we get to scoring these two albums and find out whether Vince Clarke will prevail over Vince Clarke, or whether it’s Vince Clarke who emerges victorious. And Kev reveals what the next clash in our electro season is going to be.

Also this week:

This. Is. ALBUM CLASH!!

***PLEASE take a moment to subscribe to the podcast, leave a (preferably 5-star) rating and leave a review on whichever platform you get your pods. It makes it easier for others to find us and it means a hell of a lot. Thanks for listening!***

We start a new clash this week, paying tribute to one of the heavyweights of 80s synth pop. And to kick off the Vince Clarke derby we take a look at Depeche Mode’s 1981 debut album ‘Speak and Spell’.

As we get into things we find out who were the chief influences on Vince Clarke’s musical direction both on this album and beyond, how this album sowed the seeds for the band that Depeche Mode would go on to become, and why Vince Clarke departed the group after just one album. We also have some great songs to get our teeth into, including an all-time synth pop classic and an unheralded gem…

In this week’s ‘can’t get you out of my head’ Kev bemoans the propensity for novelty songs in 1970s Britain, and Tim reveals the perfect song to play at your next ‘work event’. We also salute one of the most pioneering and influential tunes of the disco era.

Also this week:

This. Is. ALBUM CLASH!!

***PLEASE take a moment to subscribe to the podcast, leave a (preferably 5-star) rating and leave a review on whichever platform you get your pods. It makes it easier for others to find us and it means a hell of a lot. Thanks for listening!***

‘What we’re doing when the albums’ clashing!’

Completing our battle of the big-beat behemoths this week it’s the turn of our favourite celebrity fan (hiya Norm!) Fatboy Slim, with his seminal 1998 effort ‘You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby’.

We take a whistle stop tour of the many faces of Norman Cook’s pop career, before digging down into the album that made him into a global star and created the concept of the 'Superstar DJ' in the process. In doing so we find out why Norman didn’t make quite as much money from some of his more famous tunes as you might think, and we marvel at how he was able to create such majestic pop songs from taking a range of disparate elements and combining them all together on an Atari ST. Yes, an Atari ST. We also take a look at one of the most famous music videos of the 90s.

Speaking of videos, in this week’s ‘video killed the radio star’ Tim takes us through the viscerally memorable video to a late 90s trip-hop tune and is shocked at the carelessness of London drivers.

We also get to scoring these two albums to see who comes out on top in the ring of death (it’s a close one), and Tim reveals which two albums will be the next to go head-to-head in our electro-season.

Also this week:

This. Is. ALBUM CLASH!!

***PLEASE take a moment to subscribe to the podcast, leave a (preferably 5-star) rating and leave a review on whichever platform you get your pods. It makes it easier for others to find us and it means a hell of a lot. Thanks for listening!***

‘Back with another one of those block-rockin’ album clashes!’ 

Yep, for the second clash in our electronica season we return to our comfort blanket of the late 90s, and in doing so take a look at a couple of the albums that helped propel dance music into the mainstream, creating the concept of the Superstar DJ and making it acceptable for indie boys to get on the dancefloor. 

It’s the Chemical Brothers vs Fatboy Slim. 

First up it's the Chems, with their 1997 sophomore effort ‘Dig Your Own Hole’. And what an album to kick us off. From the bombastic opener to the colossal closing track, ‘Dig Your Own Hole’ certainly packs a punch, pounding the listener into submission with huge beats, pulsating basslines and the sorts of electronic warblings that we have come to expect from a Chemical Brothers tune. 

As ever there’s plenty for us to get stuck into, including the story of how Chems came to collaborate with one of the biggest rock stars in the world at the time, why the duo were forced to abandon their original name, and how they drew inspiration from an eclectic and diverse range of sources to create the album. 

We have another round of ‘can’t get you out of my head’ in which Tim despairs at one of the most annoyingly catchy songs ever written (but won’t explain why until next week…) 

Also this week: 

- we debate the symbolism of some of the stranger ‘sound effects’ used on this album;

- Kev regrets not buying a metal album from a monk in the street;  and 

- we once again delve down the rabbit hole of British television from the 80s and 90s, where Kev explains the frankly bizarre finale of a kids’ TV classic… 

Join us next week for the conclusion of this clash, where Kev leads us through Fatboy Slim’s ‘You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby’. 

This. Is. ALBUM CLASH!! 

***PLEASE take a moment to subscribe to the podcast, leave a (preferably 5-star) rating and leave a review on whichever platform you get your pods. It makes it easier for others to find us and it means a hell of a lot. Thanks for listening!***