This video was also uploaded to youtube and facebook on Christmas Eve. Discussion on the forums from here onwards.

Apparatjik Limited edition Vinyl and T-Shirts now available at http://www.theoutland.com - :-) Apparatjik.

Visit the brand new Apparatjik store to purchase an exclusive Moods of Norway designed t-shirt or one of 1000 limited edition 7" vinyl copies of Electric Eye. Or better still, a bundle of the two items together. Items will be shipped week commencing 1st Feb 2010.

Discussion on the forums here.

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They tweeted again tonight to let us know they are looking into alternative payment options for those fans without credit cards or struggling to buy from overseas...

Apparatjik We are looking into payment options for you, will hopefully get more. Will keep you posted.

Recent rumours of an Apparatjik performance in Berlin has been confirmed. The band will appear as part of CTM.10, Berlin’s festival for Adventurous Music and Related Visual Arts. More information and discussion for this gig on the forum here.

Apparatjik perform on:   Monday 1 February 2010 - WMF, Berlin, Germany

A recent Apparatjik tweet helped fuel the rumour after the event appeared on Apparatjik's last.fm page.

Apparatjik Keep it cryptic in Berlin

But then a more helpful tweet from aspire confirmed it.....

aspirelondon We can confirm Berlin will be happening, for any Apparatjik fans wondering :-)


and then one from Apparatjik themselves today...

Apparatjik Apparatjik's first live performance - Monday 1st February 2010 - at Transmediale, Berlin.

Also posted today was a blog from CTM giving more information about the performance...

"On Monday February 1st, 2010, CTM.10 will host the world debut of the mysterious Apparatjik project with a very special performance.

Inspired by the Bauhaus movement, the ‘Bauhaus Bühne’, and Lazlo Moholy-Nagy’s work ‘Light-Space-Modulator’ from 1930 in particular, this first ever performance of Apparatjik will take place inside a specially constructed cube at the newly reopened WMF.

Apparatjik is a project fusing scientific interest and artistic effort. Apparatjik consists of Guy A, Jonas A, Magne A and Martin A." - http://structures.clubtransmediale.de/?p=481

Other helpful tweets from aspire recently have hinted at the release of some limited edition 'something' from Apparatjik over the Christmas break (not necessarily Christmas Day); a Christmas present of sorts although it'll be a present we have to pay money for! The 'something' will have it's own area on their website, so look out for it in the coming days. More information on the forum here.

Coming in at 9 minutes 16 seconds the full version of Electric Eye actually starts off sounding nothing like the 4 minute preview that thirty hard-core fans were privileged to receive early. The easiest way to describe the track is as a combination of three tracks welded together, almost illogically so. It begins very placid with Jonas’s vocal sounding deeper than usual but grows into an almost danceable track with a solid beat overlaid with jingly guitars. The vocal and lyrics (“Lost without your antlers, crawling”) sound very Mew-like; in fact the first part of the Electric Eye threesome could almost be a Miike Snow remix of an old Mew b-side.

This section fades out with almost a full minute of aah-aah-aaahhhs and at 3.13 fades up again into a whole other song. This starts the Electric Eye proper, as heard in the preview.  Mellow vocals over thumping drums, a dirty guitar riff and samples of the 80’s-like synths and robotic voice from a previous Apparatjik songlet, thebirthofapparatjik.

When the vocal appears again at 4 minutes in, it’s obviously not Jonas this time; the video would seem to suggest a blend of Guy and Magne’s vocals, or perhaps all four member’s voices. Jonas appears again later with a brief solo verse.

The lyrics become less abstract, with a more conventional sound ("Through all the static, I hear you calling"). The track again fades down at 7:30 into an over-long outro complete with a weird space-age voice-over reminiscent of E.T. and a soothing, almost hypnotic, choral repetition.

The sandwiching of the different parts together into one track is bizarre to say the least, but perhaps that’s the point. For an orthodox band this would be two different tracks, but Apparatjik are far from orthodox. They choose to staple together two or three pieces of music in a seemingly random manner and don’t even bother to pretend that it is anything other than a seamless transition.  As a genre, you’re looking at all the prog-rock or dream-pop labels ever thrown at Mew clashing full-force with all the “mainstream” insults ever planted on Coldplay and a-ha.

Overall, it’s an interesting and enjoyable track and as a taste of the forthcoming album, it bodes well. When Coldplay released Violet Hill as a free download, it was decent enough, but turned out to be the weakest track on the album, so hopefully the Apparatjiks are keeping the real highlights of their long-player in the bag for now. The as-yet-untitled album is rumoured to be released 1st February 2010.

Electric Eye is available as a free download, direct from the manufacturers.

Some of our favourite quotes from various official reviews include:

"The song sounds like 1985's version of the future" - Pitchfork

"It's an intriguing taste of a project that could turn out to be the best thing ever or head down a route of impenetrable self-indulgence" - I Eat Music

"It’s like Radiohead took a bath in disco acidwash" - MTV Iggy

"...while it may not be the most obvious sampler song with its eclectically changing nine-minute marathon nature, it definitely perks up the interest" - Indie Paws

"Could sound sublime, could sound like a cat dancing in a sack of sandpaper and bricks" - Drowned in Sound