Jonteknik aka Jon Russell is a talented electronic music artist who is based a short distance from Brighton. Studio-based Jon has been composing and releasing material for quite a number of years and this week he unleashes a special collection of cover songs, consisting of ten versions of ten songs by ten different artists, each of these alternative arrangements represents something highly personal for Russell. “I’ve been making music for 30 years,” says Russell of the origins of this project. “The songs featured on this album are just a few that have moved me in some way. They’re songs that have kept me striving to capture even the slightest hint of the magic that they possess in my own work.”
The result is a collection of songs that are immediately familiar, yet presented in a way that feels entirely original. From the funereal electronics of a new interpretation of Joy Division’s ‘Decades’ to the obscure Jeff Wayne music for ‘Gordons Gin’ (previously interpreted by Human League), ‘Alternative Arrangements’ has a rare quality among covers albums – balancing the reverence with which Russell has toward these formative influences, while also emphasising qualities previously overlooked in the original song. In the case of a stunning re-imagination of The Smiths’ ‘Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want’, you can almost imagine that Morrissey and Marr always envisaged this song being fully realised by electronics.
‘Alternative Arrangements’ saw Russell working with a number of vocalists and musicians across the album – Martin Philip, Tom Sanderson (The Propolis), Stephen Newton (GLYDA), Peter Fitzpatrick (Circuit3), Bear Feathers, Jimm Kjelgaard, Sr (Eminent Sol), Tris Learmouth and Bob McCulloch. Together, Russell and his acquaintances take material by Soft Cell, Depeche Mode, The Smiths, OMD, The Doors, The Police – songs and artists that mean so much to a whole generation of listeners – and sensitively reposition their importance all over again.
‘Alternative Arrangements’ will be available on LP, CD and through digital / streaming services. Physical formats of the album can be ordered at https://jonteknik.bandcamp.com The album will be released worldwide on 16 March 2018.
Russell’s notes for each track included on ‘Alternative Arrangements’ can be found below.
Track listing:
1. Suffer The Children (vocal by Bear Feathers / guitar by Tris Learmouth)
2. Nothing (vocal by Jimm Kjelgaard,Sr. / guitar by Tris Learmouth)
3. Rent (vocal by Martin Philip)
4. Torch (vocal by Tom Sanderson / flugelhorn by Sam Sallon)
5. Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want
6. Decades (vocal by Stephen Newton)
7. Of All The Things We’ve Made (vocal by Peter Fitzpatrick)
8. People Are Strange (vocal by Peter Fitzpatrick)
9. Gordon’s Gin
10. Invisible Sun (guitar by Rob McCulloch)
All production / programming / mixing / vocals by Jonteknik unless otherwise stated. Mastering by Frank Arkwright at Abbey Road Studios.
About Jonteknik:
Jon Russell is a programmer / writer / producer / remixer who has been making electronic music since 1988. His credits include co-producing and writing with Paul Humphreys (Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark) and Claudia Brücken (Propaganda), remixing artists such as Le Cliché, Nature Of Wires, Metroland, iEuropean (feat. Wolfgang Flür) and OMD.
About The People’s Electric:
The People’s Electric is an electronic music community where everyone is welcome. Our artists like to release music on physical formats, but our little community will just as readily embrace those who love to download too. We exist to bring great electronic music to your discerning ears, whatever your listening preferences. The People’s Electric was founded in 2016 by Jon ‘Jonteknik’ Russell in Shoreham-by-Sea, England.
Track notes by Jon Russell:
‘Suffer The Children’ was the first single by Tears For Fears. Their debut album, The Hurting, is one of my favourite albums of all time. I could have chosen any track from it but this song really touches me. It conjures up hope in some way, although on the surface it appears to be about emotional neglect.
‘Nothing’ by Depeche Mode. I was late getting into DM, It was in 1988. I collected so much vinyl and CDs of theirs. I remember the ‘Zip Hop’ mix of Nothing on a US 12” I had. I loved it. It made me see the song in a completely different way. I always felt there was somewhere else I could take it.
‘Rent’ was the first song I tried to cover, using a Commodore Amiga computer and tracker program at the end of the 1980s. The Pet Shop Boys gave me so many iconic tracks as my thirst for good pop songs grew. This is just a great song that tells a story – remember when songs did that?
‘Torch’ is my favourite song by Soft Cell. The flugelhorn melody is sublime and the added ingredients of Dave Ball’s minimal electronic pop matched with the unmistakable beautifully stylish vocals of Marc Almond make this an insatiable pop song.
‘Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want’ is one of the tenderest songs I know. The Smiths always made the best edgy music and this song demonstrates their diversity as premier songwriters.
‘Decades’ by Joy Division. The song illustrates the poetical vulnerability of Ian Curtis so blatantly. His words sit magnificently upon the moody soundtrack, and it’s forever a thing of beauty.
‘Of All The Things We’ve Made’. Having been extremely lucky enough to write with Paul Humphreys of Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, I wanted to choose a song of OMD’s that might not be an obvious choice. Luckily for me, they professed to have wanted to be both ABBA and Kraftwerk at one time. The album ‘Dazzle Ships’, their most ‘experimental’, features this song. I imagined it the way I’ve presented it on this album in a dream I had.
‘People Are Strange’ by The Doors. This is one of those songs that appeals to oddballs like me. You can’t help but sing along after a few listens. It’s one of my guilty pleasures.
‘Gordon’s Gin’ is an instrumental track by Jeff Wayne, originally written for an advertisement for that brand of gin. My version is inspired by a cover by the early Human League line-up which can be found on their ‘Travelogue’ album. I found that keeping the tempo the same throughout the song, unlike the Human League version, it takes on an interesting life of its own. The melody is so addictive – I love it.
‘Invisible Sun’ is by my favourite childhood band The Police. The tour to support ‘Ghost In The Machine’, the album this is from, was the first concert I ever attended back in 1981. I was only nine years old and it was probably the first time I understood a meaningful song. When they performed it, they played the ‘controversial’ video about the troubles in Northern Ireland on a large screen. I then realised that music had a visual dimension too.
© 2018 Mat Smith for The People’s Electric
