I'm all for trying something new and in that spirit here are new releases that caught my ear which can be streamed by way of the links for the next week:
Pet Shop Boys- PopArt
New release? Didn't this come out in 2003? Yes, but legal issues left this greatest hits compilation without a home in my country until someone noticed that the Boys would be touring the US this month. No announcement about this yet on the official PSB site so we can assume their not really "supporting" it. The two "new" songs on the disc are nothing short of fantastic and you really can't find a better collection of music just about anywhere. UPDATE: Since this post the only mention of the US release of the compilation appeared on their site: "Three years after its release in the rest of the world, PopArt is finally released in the USA." Obviously they are enthusiastic.
The Killers- Sam's Town
I'm really enjoying this in my first few half a dozen listens, but The Chronicle got a bit snarky with their review:
Could this band be from anywhere but Las Vegas, where imitation is almost as good as the real thing, if not better? Following the success of its synth pop-heavy predecessor, the group rightly sets out to re-create the ultimate arena album in "Sam's Town," drawing on influences like U2, Simple Minds and the Boss -- maybe even a bit of Meat Loaf.
Let's take some more insight from the same reviewer at The Chronicle:
Anyway, what we're really excited about is the album cover. It's just a sheet of blank graph paper that comes with stickers of trees, clouds and lips and stuff. You can arrange it however you like, even if you want to spell out rude words or make a mountain do something naughty with Beck's backside.
V/A- The DFA Remixes: Chapter Two
As a rule I generally enjoy DFA's mixes and I happen to like every single act that was remixed on the disc. Good stuff, and the compilation is the best thing, The Juan Maclean album excluded, that Astralwerks has released as a result of it's distribution deal with DFA Records that forced them to put out albums of complete dreck from the likes of Black Dice. Fun Fact: Chromeo just didn't "get" the mix that DFA did for "Destination: Overdrive" so they left it as a free download on their site for almost two years until this compilation was announced and it suddenly had value.
2 comments:
Also, PSBs were signing PopArt (plus Fundamental and advance copies of the Catalogue book) at Virgin in NYC Saturday night.
DId you buy a copy of the U.S. version (of PA)? I did. And then my b.f. was spraying glue on some pumpkins he bought, so he could decorate them, and glue got all over the CD cover.
Sigh.
Hopefully PSB will do a signing in San Francisco. They've did one when they were promoting "Nightlife" and they were just what I was expecting. Fantastic.
I'll probably be picking up "PopArt" this week since I never got the import. You've gotta be carefull with glue though, some guys just spray it everywhere.
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