The sun was going down one quiet eveningSomeone came into the room while I was half-asleepWe spoke for a while, I couldn’t see his faceLater on when he was gone, I realized I didn’t catch his name
Ultravox’s Dislocation, from Systems of Romance (1978), came bathed in the precision of Conny Plank’s production, a piece of minimal, krautrock-inflected experimentation. Here, Netschio joins forces with the Europe-wide electronic collective A State of Flux to strip the bones bare and rearticulate them for the present. There’s a certain thrill when the familiar dissolves into something unexpected. For Stefan Netschio, frontman of German synth-pop stalwarts Beborn Beton, this new version of Ultravox’s Dislocation is that departure; a shift from melodic terrain into a terrain more jagged and immediate.
The result is tense, wired, and unafraid of negative space. Abstract guitars mesh with descending synths that feel like they’re dragging you down a spiral staircase. The rhythm section lands with weight, holding the chaos in its orbit. This is less a tribute than a reconstitution: retaining the original’s skeletal DNA while mutating it into something both industrial and alive.
“This cover was my break from synthpop’s familiar comfort zone – an opportunity to embrace something much heavier and darker, more visceral, a side of me that’s rarely heard,” he says.
Arc, one of the collective’s architects, explains: “Inspired by the hugely influential work of John Foxx and Conny Plank, we layered analogue synths with studio-driven detail to echo the pioneering spirit of the Systems of Romance period.”
The accompanying video, filmed in Cologne by Julia Beyer among Brutalist monoliths, mirrors the track’s themes: alienation rendered in steel and concrete, a cityscape as cold witness. Its stark geometry makes the sound feel even denser, every frame tightening the sense of isolation. With Dislocation, Netschio and A State of Flux push it into a different weather system entirely, one where the wind cuts sharper and the horizon is anything but certain. This is a work that steps forward while glancing sidelong at the past, making the space between then and now feel charged, unsteady, and alive.
Watch the video for “Dislocation” below:
Formed from shifting memberships: Arc, Peter 7, Sacred Geometry, The Zero Movement, and a revolving roster of collaborators, A State of Flux thrives in anonymity and porous borders. Their work folds retro-tech homage into restless experiment, allowing guests to reframe their own identities in the process. For this, they enlisted Pete Burns of Kill Shelter, whose processed guitar cuts across the track with angular elegance. “After discussing the approach, I leaned heavily into my Robert Fripp and Adrian Belew influences from that era, using abstract, angular processed guitar riffs as soaring sonic textures to reflect the song’s fractured core,” says Burns.
Listen to Dislocation below and order the single here.
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