Relation is Andy Leary and Oliver Keech, been mates since college in Essex, moved apart for a bit and then brought together again by their love for 80s electro pop, influenced by the sounds of Orbital, Jeff Mills etc. What sets this duo apart from the typical recycled 80s pop revival we see now is the lyrics. Its what makes their sound more discerning and deeply eloquent:
Remembering nights out in a certain Blackpool student bar, obsessions, fear.
Superenlightened starts off euphoric, and then dives straight into an Underworld-esque beat. Way Outside, with its raging guitars, and in the paranoid 1984-esque apocalyptic future in Moscow Olympics, the synth stabs leads before the vocals launches into – “I am in Moscow for the great cause, the great experiment. The national anthem for the 4 by 4 is all I can think of now.”

Combining guitar rock in the vein of New Order, the darkness of Depeche Mode and buoyed by almost trance-y techno melodies – far from being a Pet Shop Boys clone, this is more like how the late 80s should sound.

Relation’s debut Fear of Night was released recently by Urban Torque, also home to Tom Middleton and Hernán Cattáneo. Lifelike was saying how “..you could have took this album and get a deal with Factory Records back in the day,” and it’s true. The album is polished and solid, its the sound of the late 80s with a 21st century update. This is seriously good stuff.

Buy Fear of Night on Amazon here or on Beatport here. A definite must buy.
Listen to ALL the tracks on Fear of Night here.

Relation have also provided Bad Fotography with permission to blog up an exclusive track off their album so that our readers can get a taste of them. But we’ve had to have it removed because apparently our hosting provider said it infringed somebody’s copyright even though the band and the label own the rights to their own song which they themselves gave us??? We contacted the label and the band themselves and they’ve both confirmed that they’ve given the track away exclusively to bloggers to blog up in the first place. Very strange.
Whatevs. You can get it directly off their facebook page or Andy Leary’s blog.

We at Bad Fotography are thinking of doing a giveaway of Relation CDs pretty soon because we love them so! Check back for more info! You seriously do not want to miss this oppurtunity.

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UPDATE: Answer this simple question to win free cds by Relation – which song off the album was remixed by Lifelike? Submit your answers with your name and address here. (UK & US folks only. Sorry!) Ends 14th November 2009 – courtesy of Urban Torque & Relation, ya’ll!!.

FURTHER-UPDATE: The competition is now closed! The winners are:
Andrew Briggs (Middlesex, UK), Miss Nguyen (Minnesota, US)and John Koch (Chicago, US)
Just in time for christmas. =)