Category Archives: Switched On

Switched On – Nine Inch Nails – TRON: Ares (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (Interscope)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Anyone interested in the history of electronic music will know that being asked to score a TRON film is a rare badge of honour.

The previous two iterations in the series have been blessed with distinctive and influential series, from the Wendy Carlos original in 1982 or the Daft Punk soundtrack for 2010’s TRON: Legacy. The importance of the commission is shown in the fact that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have switched from their own ‘proper name’ branding to assume the familiar mantle of Nine Inch Nails, meaning TRON: Ares takes on extra significance.

As well as involving Reznor and Ross, Boys Noize and Hudson Mohawke add support as part of a high calibre production cast.

What’s the music like?

Both dated and futuristic, the TRON: Ares score is respectful to the past films in the series as well as being appropriately forward in its aims. The brooding synths throb and pulse in claustrophobic fashion, setting scenes of futuristic dread or an uneasy, present day calm.

At times it feels as though Nine Inch Nails are bringing forward the late 1990s’ penchant for dance-rock, with songs that Crystal Method or even Moby in his brief metal phase might have considered.

And yet the work through this substantial album tends to be more subtle, moving from ambient reflections of near emptiness (Echoes) to juggernauts with rousing choruses (As Alive As You Need Me To Be). On the way we get nods to the graceful synthesizers of Carlos in the original; also the dramatic, pumped-up orchestrations that Daft Punk used to such good effect in Legacy.

Does it all work?

Largely. On occasion the vocal gestures are too obvious yet surely fit the characterisation in the film. Otherwise the score reaches all the parts on headphones.

Is it recommended?

Yes, with conviction. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are seasoned film scorers, but don’t fall into the trap of recycling their ideas. TRON: Ares sounds every bit as futuristic as you would like, and its often-euphoric workings carry conviction in their full-bodied beats and bass. Even if you don’t see the film, make sure you hear the soundtrack.

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You can explore purchase options for TRON: Ares at the Nine Inch Nails website

Published post no.2,722 – Tuesday 18 November 2025

Switched On – HAAi – Humanise (Mute)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

HAAi’s second album, as its title implies, is a look at what it means to be human in an increasingly automated age, “as AI threatens to eclipse everything and our screens separate us from each other”.

With that in mind, HAAi – real name Teneil Throssell – returns to her songwriting roots, using her own vocals and further enhancing the human element in a series of carefully chosen collaborations.

These include her friends Jon Hopkins, Alexis Taylor from Hot Chip, singer Obi Franky and rapper KAM-BU, the poet Kaiden Ford, James Massiah and not one but two choirs – TRANS VOICES and a gospel choir led by Wendi Rose.

What’s the music like?

Humanise is as emotive as the story demands it should be. HAAi has a beautiful voice, and lends it to a wide variety of soundscapes that range from harder, beat driven affairs to big, spacious areas for contemplation.

Often both of these elements combine, as they do on the Jon Hopkins collaboration  Satellite, the comforting lead vocal boosted by Obi Franky, ILĀ & TRANS VOICES, with glitchy beats and surround sound provided by Hopkins. The same ploy works well for Stitches later on.

There is a sense of melancholy running through the album, to tangible effect on the otherwise anthemic Can’t Stand To Lose and the brilliant New Euphoria, where Alexis Taylor helps lift the music to a higher plane.

Meanwhile Shapeshift carries an impressive weight while Voices is superb, powering through. Go is a really good slow burner, while at the other extreme the nippy Hey! races forwards; both examples of the variety found on Humanise.

Does it all work?

It does – the album is well structured, and there is a satisfying ebb and flow to the tempo choices and peaks of intensity. In spite of the many collaborations, HAAi’s voice shines through.

Is it recommended?

Enthusiastically. This may be an electronic album, but it is one stressing the importance of the human brains behind our automated tools, and what keeps those brains and minds ticking and alive.

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Published post no.2,717 – Thursday 13 November 2025

Switched On – Scanner – Forces, Reactions, Deflections (quiet details)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

The enterprising quiet details label welcomes Scanner – aka Robin Rimbaud – to deliver the latest in their increasingly impressive series of albums.

For this particular opus, Rimbaud gave himself a brief: “This album is forged entirely from the resonant clangs, echoes, and whispers of a stainless steel staircase at home, transforming everyday architecture into an unexpected orchestra.

By coaxing rhythm, tone, and atmosphere from the metallic body of a staircase, the work reimagines movement between floors as a passage through sound.

No synthesisers were used in the creation, only the natural sound of the staircase using a geophone seismic microphone and the gentle assistance of the occasional resonant filter and sample software.”

What’s the music like?

Darkly comforting. Scanner’s music can be experienced on two levels – one immersive and one with a broader perspective.

The immersive listener will appreciate how each track changes in harmonic content and texture over time, the incremental changes small and gradual but also meaningful.

Meanwhile the listener approaching this music from afar will get a firm appreciation of the space Scanner creates but will more than likely move into an immersive experience due to the intensity of the music. The textures, together with an almost complete lack of percussion, lead to the listener being suspended in thin air.

Start Moment bears out the move from passive to active listening, its thick low range drone punctuated with one of the resonant clangs Scanner talks about. Then the sound begins to fluctuate, the perspective changing to suggest the listener positioned inside an enormous tube.

Riser Beam Connection dresses its persistent central tone with slow moving tones of glassy purity, but Base Plate has more ominous designs and is creepy when powering down at the end. Grain Stress has atonal, avant-garde designs throughout its unpredictable movements, with plucked strings here and gathering clusters of notes there.

Finally the spacious End Moment, Wires is an immersive drone spread across nearly a quarter of an hour, the drone supporting sonorous, bell-like sounds and the scattering of electronic debris in the foreground.

Does it all work?

It does – who would have thought a staircase could provide these moments of drama?! Scanner brings from his source material a remarkably wide range of textural and emotional responses.

Is it recommended?

It is – an inventive five-movement suite that really pushes at the boundaries of its components, making a whole that traverses some weird corners, but which ultimately provides its listener with a reassuring ambience. A fine achievement.

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Published post no.2,714 – Monday 7 November 2025

New music – Max Cooper & Rob Clouth – 8 Billion Realities (Mesh)

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adapted from the press release by Ben Hogwood

Acclaimed electronic musicians, producers and sound architects Max Cooper and Rob Clouth team up for a new collaborative EP; a dark, playful four-track dive into ambient, breakbeat and techno’s subconscious flow, featuring a standout vocal performance from South London rapper FLOHIO.

Recorded over a series of spontaneous London sessions, 8 Billion Realities channels years of creative exchange between two of the genre’s most quietly innovative artists and is a result of a decision between the long time friends to refrain from conceptual overthinking in favour of instinct and joy.

As long-time admirers of each other’s audio/visual work, Cooper and Clouth collaborated in London together after both emerging from intense, idea-heavy album cycles. What followed was a series of exploratory sessions, half-improvised, half-built around half-formed thoughts. The result is a club-ready EP that feels alive and human: imperfect and hypnotically rich.

“Rob Clouth has been one of my favourite electronic music producers since I first heard his work in 2011,” says Cooper. “His work is more full of ideas and structure than anyone else.” “We were both coming from extensive conceptual studio albums and both in the mood for simplifying things and having some fun with the music, so that’s what we did”.

For Clouth, no stranger to Max Cooper’s Mesh label having previously released an array of EPs plus his 2020 debut album Zero Point this record marks a new chapter, both creatively and personally. “Something pretty new for me is collaborating,” he says. “You kind of have to know when to stop, because if you develop an idea all the way to its endpoint, the other person has nowhere to jump in.”

The first A Moment Set Aside began as a break from another idea, a live, unplanned improvisation based around arps and ambience. “The track was written in about as long as it took to play it,” says Cooper. “It was pulled from a one-hour recording session, more or less as you hear it… the energy and excitement grew as the unplanned moment bore some magic.”

“The lesson being that sometimes it’s helpful to set aside a moment without forcing results, and let the subconscious have something to say.” What followed was darker, heavier. “Asymptote” is detuned techno. Subversive and euphoric in its descent. “We found a sort of brain mangling, half consonant, half wandering detuned techno pulse, which we started chatting about being a sort of pit of spiralling body parts we were falling into,” says Cooper. “It was a lot of fun to work on and let loose with bigger kicks than I usually ever get to unleash.”

Then came 8 Billion Realities, featuring a standout rap performance from FLOHIO; an emerging figure in the UK grime and rap scene. The track was inspired by conversations about algorithmic echo chambers and hyper-personalised online worlds. Frantic, direct, and South London to the core, FLOHIO brings this tension to life. Her sharp, intense flow cuts through distortion and rhythm, landing the track somewhere between chaos and control instantly making it one of the most striking moments in either artist’s catalogue. “A different reality for all 8 billion of us,” says Cooper. “We weren’t sure if it would work… but there was something about the energy of the percussive idea and the story which felt like it might fit.” “Then FLOHIO had a play with it and straight off the bat absolutely killed it, not just with the lyrics and energy, but the harmonising too, it was a beautiful process.”

The final piece on the EP Candeleda originated from Clouth’s solo experiments with a live rig made entirely of vocals and keys, using his self-developed “cheatbox” system. “He put forward a beautiful stumbling melodic sequence which we bounced back and forth adding harmonies and synth layers,” says Cooper. “It rounds off a collection covering some of the breadth of music that we both love.”

Speaking about the video release for ‘A Moment Set Aside’, Max Cooper states: “We chatted with Dimitri Thouzery about forests as a visual counterpart for taking a moment out to be immersed in rich form. When I’m feeling stressed the forest is my favourite place to go. Dimitri collected 3D scans of nearby forest floor locations and told the story beautifully with a nod towards something greater than just the forests themselves. Thanks for having a look and a listen.” 

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Published post no.2,712 – Saturday 8 November 2025

Switched On – Various Artists: Total 25 (Kompakt)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

In another indication of the staying power of electronic music, Kompakt’s TOTAL series has reached its quarter century. In that time the Cologne label have provided annual sighters of where they are musically, and this selection reveals what a variety of styles they continue to have at their disposal.

These include ‘the latest boy band in town’, Pop Vampires Cologne, as well as two tracks from label co-founder Michael Mayer, and a special track written for the occasion by Robag Wruhme, where he sings on record with his family for the very first time.

What’s the music like?

Typically engaging and stimulating.

The Pop Vampires Cologne contribution, Karianne, is flighty but with a strong, rolling beat, part of a selection of music that does indeed have poppier leanings. These include Pandora’s Box from Superpitcher, where Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor adds a touch of sweetness to the vocals, and a lovely bit of dubby bass from Jürgen Paape and Hella, whose Grace (A Tale) is a treat.

Gui Boratto brings memories of M/A/R/R/S’ epic Pump Up The Volume to the playful Panorama Xpress, while Robag Wruhme’s contribution is the typically atmospheric contribution from minimal means, Starsow Total. Mayer’s tracks are both excellent, with the chattering of Brainwave Technology contrasting with the eventful Erdbeermond, with its serrated groove.

Does it all work?

It does – expertly curated and sequenced, too.

Is it recommended?

It is indeed. TOTAL is still a required diary entry for electronic music fans, Kompakt demonstrating that their music still carries the ability to innovate and, in this case, surprise with its relatively poppy dexterity.

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Published post no.2,711 – Friday 7 November 2025