Review Summary: Potential lost in time...
Never had it been a thought in my mind until recently how it was still possible in a day and age of information storage and sharing through the internet for entire artist discographies, albums, or music labels to up and vanish into the sands of time without ever reaching the ears of a potential audience. When I discovered the existence of Viatone Records, and in extension, the band Sputnik, these feelings swung in full force. Viatone Records, from what I can gather, was established in Denmark in the mid-90s as an internet based label by two “entrepreneurs with a dream”. At the time, it was one of the most popular record labels in Denmark and quite possibly on the internet alone. The label operated from its establishment in the late 90s to 2008 with hundreds of releases from artists that matched in an equal number.
Yet around 2008, something happened and the site shut down completely. Viatone rebranded itself as an audiobook distributor and just like that, over a decade's worth of music was gone in an instant. No amount of digging through the internet can recover the majority of any of these artist’s songs and that's something that terrifies me. Among the artists featured here was a band called Sputnik, who I had only discovered when screwing around with The Internet Archive logs for Sputnikmusic. For a time, Viatone Records owned the rights to the domain Sputnikmusic.com. And for a time, there was a band operating under the name who collapsed in the background at an unknown time and for unknown reasons.
Sputnik were a group established in 1997 who released around 5 singles during their existence. These tracks all received positive reception from Denmark’s DR P3 Radio Station and multiple Denmark based publications were beginning to expose the band to a larger audience. In 2000, they would sign to Viatone Records and release the singles Sleepless and Superstar, featured here, which eventually landed them in the opportunity of signing a recording contract with an incredibly large (unnamed) label. It appears negotiations fell through, however, and the band dissolved some time thereafter. The only remnants that Sputnik ever existed in the first place is a news article dated from 2001 detailing their negotiations and the skeletal remains of Viatone’s archive cache.
It’s a damn shame really, hearing the only two tracks that I had managed to rip off the Viatone Records’ website, Sputnik were certainly a band that were fated for something greater. “
Sleepless” was the sole release on Viatone, which contained the group’s lead single Superstar and its accompanying b-side Sleepless. The band advertised both songs as “cyberpop” alluding to the prominent feature of synths in the rest of the group’s organic, hazy dream pop sound.
Sleepless is certainly the best of the two tracks, Henriksen’s vocals contain a tinge of sweetness to her overall melancholy delivery. Strengthened by the combination of a lead synth that glides through the track like a whistle longing for a response in it’s call and slick guitar work that while familiar in it’s approach for 90s dream pop, is still excellent nonetheless.
Superstar, on the other hand, is far more upbeat in sound. It features a chorus heavy with the twinkle of a synth key and a hard groove on an acoustic guitar. Henriksen sounds sweeter here than before, her voice softening up the atmosphere of the track. The lyrics of the track seem to play back and forth with the uncertainty of “super stardom” in relation to living normal life with lines such as
“somebody save us/we don’t love no more” and
“I only feel real when I sip your drink... in a funny blur”. Not to mention it’s heavenly bridge, with vocals on a lower mix that sway between the delicate guitar work with a calming softness before returning to the track’s chorus for an outro.
While the rest of Sputnik’s discography may be lost in time, at the very least it’s good to know that there are bits and pieces that suggest they did exist and that they do have music that can still be heard regardless of the ridiculous amount of digging needed to find it. Which is something better to be said then the countless others on the website who no longer exist. With the collection of data in the modern age becoming more and more powerful and prominent in everyday society (for better or for worse) then perhaps we will no longer have to fear the loss of years of culture, both big and small, to the strands of time. Sleep tight, Sputnik, wherever you may be floating.
Sputnik were:
Anders Jørgensen – bass
Sinnet Sofie Henriksen – vocals
Frank Andersen – Guitar
Søren P. Hansen – Drums
