Niki N. Phaser

Vangelis’ career is one of many interesting contrasts and considering that he started making music at the age of four, it’s only natural that he explored quite a few genres before becoming the synth-guru he is known today. Less famous than Aphrodite’s Child, his international successful band with Demis Roussous, is his first musical pack, The Forminx, which were the Greek version of The Beatles’ craze, that swept pretty much the whole world and bred countless clones, one (or more) for each country. The Forminx were quite a hit in 1960′s Greece, after seducing the youth with their catchy rock’n'roll tunes and innocent schlagers. In the latter category, Love Without Love holds an honourable place. The English lyrics sung with a bit of accent, the strange choice of words here and there (”You understand me so much”), Toto’s trumpet, they all provide Love Without Love with the 60′s charm of European schlagers. But beyond that, this is a very well done piece of music, that doesn’t conjure up laughs, but a real emotional response in the listener and hypothetically ‘translated’ into contemporary music production, it would prove to be a masterful tearjerker ballad.

LISTEN TO Love Without Love

“Victory, not Vengeance” is the motto behind VNV Nation’s name, a British futurepop band that has been around for quite some time, now. Still, they are mainly a niche “product”, being highly respected in the world of electronica. Their 2007 album, Judgement, was more of an incursion in pop, than future. The results might have been a slight disappointment for their hardcore fans, but sure enough won them a bunch of new ones. And it’s no wonder, with a song like Illusion. There isn’t a lot in it that would make you guess VNV Nation as a trancey-electro band. It is, basically, a piano-driven ballad, that focuses lyrically on words of solace. It brings peace, but it also reminds of a former pain. The few piano keys composing the chorus hook will remain in your mind longer than many voices. Illusion reaches that special place that Depeche Mode seems to miss (if they are indeed trying to reach it), that balance between dark and moody and luminous sadness. As a bonus, you can also feast your ears on the instrumental Prelude, that opens Judgement. That, too, will find a cozy place in your memory and will not leave anytime soon.

LISTEN TO Illusion HERE