By Keith Walsh
Just simmering below a major breakthrough, English expatriate Julian Shah-Tayler keeps on delivering tasty new synth pop from his Tardis studio in Altadena, California. With sounds as insanely commercial as his recent work, you can expect to hear a lot more about him. His latest is “The Devil Knows,” in two versions.
Shah-Tayler is a studio whiz who got started in London before coming to the U.S. In his newest two videos –for the song “The Devil Knows” in two iterations – Shah-Tayler presents his own brand of fun electro rock, drawing upon his experience playing tons of Bowie and Depeche Mode covers, as well as musical training since childhood. (For more on this, check out my previous article.)
The videos for “The Devil Knows” feature Shah-Tayler and Eva Strangelove (whom I imagined had come up with her moniker for this video, but it turns out she’s an established model from New Zealand) , with Shah-Tayler showing a serious aptitude for showmanship. I asked him where exactly did he acquire his expertise in movement and style? I suggested that the heavy emphasis on stylistically tailored sounds in his music is reminiscent of one of his inspirations, Bowie.
“I don’t approach moves/clothes with that perspective,” he wrote. “ I just hear and see things in my head that I then recreate with synths/guitars, etc. I have such a palette of wonderful opportunities to build sounds out of nowhere it would be remiss of me to just throw things that will do rather than get it exactly how I hear it in my head.” He continues: “Translation: Gotta justify the purchase of all my synths.” He said his latest gear acquisition was an Arturia MicroFreak, which he says he appreciates for its “mono sequences, bass weirdness and leads.” For more info on Shah-Tayler’s gear, check out my earlier articles.
Shah-Tayler told me about an influence that came early in his life: “My first concert was Prince. With that to live up to, you’re always playing catch-up.” He wrote that it was the LoveSexy Tour’s show in Birmingham, England that he attended. Indeed, Shah-Tayler shows the same skill on both guitar and keyboards the the late Prince did. On the electro version of “The Devil Knows,” Shah-Tayler plays everything. One the “Ruby Rock” version, David J of Bauhaus and Love And Rockets plays bass, MGT (Mark Gemini Thwaite of Bauhaus and Peter Murphy) contributes guitars, and drums are by Mark Slutsky of Splender and Peter Murphy. Additional guitars are by Shah-Tayler.
www.julianshahtayler.com
www.facebook.com/jshahtayler
www.thesingularitymusic.bandcamp.com
Julian Shah-Tayler on YouTube
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