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New Music: Kalistani New Wave Strikes again as Luthori arrives in Kaliburg
Anne Jean also releases "most accessible" album to date
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Ananto
December 28, 5679


Luthorian New Wave of RF band Moratorium hits number 1 on Album Charts

The Kalistani New Wave of RF scores another major hit as Luthorian synth pop band Moratorium lands their debut record "64 Hour Night" at Number 1 on the Kalistani Album Chart. Anchored by singles like "I Couldn't Get Away" and their follow up single "Falling in Love", the album sold more copies than any other record available this week. New Wave tracks have made it to the top of the singles chart, but the album by the Luthorian synthpop quartet is the first New Wave RF record to reach the top of the far more important album Charts.

"We felt it was important to make this record in Kalistan of all places," said lead singer and the band's primary song writer Martin McGough. "Kalistanis understand this, but I honestly don't think we'd get anywhere if we stayed at home, so we relocated to Kaliburg to make records, and I guess it was a smart move. This is what is happening in Kalistan now. Its the center of the music world, and if we're gonna be part of that, this is where we need to be."

The record also represents a slight departure from the til now female dominated New Wave of RF sound. Critics note that Moratorium is following Addisjah down the romantic track, rather than singing a more highly sexualized RF. "This is certainly a newer trend in the genre," said Collin Wettstein, for Kalistani Rawk Monthly. "The Kalistani New Wave of RF is certainly more subdued with regard to the lyrical themes in the songs compared to older waves. Moritorium certainly personifies that, as have Addisjah, and Carly Kaye. It seems to be the direction that RF is taking: with emphasis on the techno part, and less on the hypersexualization of past waves."

Others have noted that RF is a bit closer aligned to alternative than strictly electronica. "Well, we were really attracted to the Kaliburg art rock underground scene to start off," said McGough. "It is undeniably rock based, with a lot of orchestration. We can do the orchestration with our synthesizers, but we would say people like Anne jean is certainly a great influence for our own music, and we definitely would consider ourselves more of an alternative rock that is dipping into New Wave than a dance band that is playing guitars. I think that is the difference. A pretty major one."

Incidently, also out this week is Anne Jean's third album, her eponymous LP Anne Jean, also released on KMI. As if there is some consolidation of the two scenes, Jean's newest album is considered both her most accessable and more electronic album of her career. "On this record, of course, I am also working with the popular music trends I am hearing," said Jean from her home in Kaliburg. "Synthesizers, sequencers, and electronic drums seem to be very popular, and my music is my music. The instruments are really the medium of communication the music which is kind of its own language. It really don't matter if I use cellos or a keyboard to say the same thing: What matters is that it gets said."

Her lead off single, "Soft Sights" is almost exclusively electronic but retains its art rock credibility without dipping into RF. "I did keep some of my crunchiest guitars on this song," said Jean. "The fuzz is, I think I can describe it as fuzzed itself. It sounds so trashy and grungy. Its definitely one of my favorite sounds on the record." Jean also has very wet vocal production and synthesized orchestration that makes the song sound huge. But the record still keeps plenty of its weirdness and artistry, and still has some of the noisiest guitars in Kalistani music right now.

The two major releases represent the two poles of Kalistani music that is popular at the moment. As if serendipitously predicted, both artists are scheduled to play back to back at Kaliburg's New Years Eve Concert later this week: Moritorium as part of a New Wave showcase, and Anne Jean as the Headlining musician. "I really want to meet those blokes, if I can say that, those blokes from Luthori," said Jean. "I really like their chord progressions and I want to let them know that I really think they make very pretty music."

You can check out both new singles here. The first from Luthorian New Wave musicians Moritorium, from the Number 1 Album 64 Hour Night "Falling in Love" and the second, the lead single "Soft Sights" from Anne Jean on her just released album Anne Jean. Both albums were released on KMI in Kaliburg.

[Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOK3rqVgN2I]
Moritorium's "Falling in Love," their second single from the Album 64 Hour Night

[Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyWIhxhwR14]
Anne Jean's "Soft Sights" from her brand new Art Rock album Anne Jean