Coming And Going

Bernard Sumner recently announced that his new project Bad Lieutenant will release an album this fall telling the BBC "I'm very proud of it, it's a very good album. It's pretty guitary too because we've got three guitarists in the band." He also spoke a bit about New Order's breakup "we split into two factions, there's me Steve and Phil. The other is Peter Hook." Ouch. Also of interest is that he made the initial announcement via fansite NewOrderOnline which got no press attention for a couple of weeks. See my previous post on Bad Lieutenant for more info on the project.

Founding Freezepop member The Duke, aka Kasson Crooker, is leaving the group to concentrate on his day job at Harmonix. His departure doesn't come as a huge surprise given he stopped touring with the band last year for the same reason. What music Kasson has time to make will be released as Symbion Project, an alias he has used for more than a decade as his outlet for electronia. As for the remaining members of Freezepop they have promised that new music is on the way.

On The Radio

Freezepop just chatted with NPR's "All Things Considered" about being unapologetic in their pop, the paradigm shift in video game music and revealed that the lyrics to "Pop Music Is Not A Crime" were written while Liz was on jury duty. Listen the next time you've got a spare few minutes to get an insight to the band's personality.

Video: Freezepop "Frontload"

Things had been relatively quiet on the Freezepop front lately leaving me with the impression that they had given up on their major label debut Future Future Future Perfect when the new Form Activity Motion EP dropped out of nowhere on to itunes a few weeks ago. Oddly enough the core of the release are remixes of the two extremes in quality found on Future.... The understated electro ballad "Thought Balloon" encapsulates much of what Freezepop does best with tender lyrics that find the narrator stumbling to let get the words that could start a romance over innocent music. On the other end of the spectrum is "Frontload" the most openly ambitious songs the band has recorded which has an arrangement on the album that simply does not work. While even the first notes signal that it is intended to be epic the song ultimately turns into a mess. So imagine my surprise when the band's new version featured in the video and found on the EP is much, much better turning "Frontload" from a song I despise to one that I just can't get enough of. What's the difference between the two? You can't ignore the new rhythm track but more important to the song's success is the change structurally turning a song with a couple of peaks into one with a single linear build. The video is nice too breathing new life into the played-out back of a taxi concept without resorting to gimmicks (no offense to Jarvis who pulled that route off marvelously):



: The rest of the "Frontload" remixes on the EP fare well and are worth checking out over the "Thought Balloon" mixes but they got that one right the first time. Sometimes you just can't mess with perfection. Stop by their myspace for more Freezepop fun.

Video: Freezepop "Brainpower"

Freezepop are more than a novelty act. Honestly. I don't know how anyone could figure that out from their latest single "Brainpower". The most annoying moment on their recent major label debut Future Future Future Perfect the sticker on the CD pegged it as a highlight before any fans had a chance to hear it. Bad idea. As the most "rock" track on the album it also appears in the video game RockBand so it makes sense that their label thought it would have a built in audience. I'm not so sure because an objective listen reveals it to be not near the greatness that is well within the grasp of the band.
Shot in LA as they toured the west coast this past November the video finds the band playing on a public access channel while being pelted by things as suggested by a brat with a magical remote control:



: Stop by their myspace where you can listen to better material from them including the song that inspired this blog's current tagline.

Video: Freezepop "Less Talk More Rokk"

Freezepop drop their major label debut album Future Future Future Perfect today which is a reason to celebrate. I have been following the trio since the days of the old mp3.com and it's been fantastic to see them go from doing everything DIY to getting the big label treatment. The new album opens with "Less Talk More Rokk" which appeared in the cult video game Guitar Hero and brought the band a wider audience than the underground synthpop crowd.

The "Less Talk More Rokk" video sends a couple of signals that Freezepop have moved to a major because it was clearly shot on a big sound stage and after years of fashionable modest outfits Liz suddenly has cleavage. Beyond that it has a video game theme going on and the best use of mice in a music video since PSB's "Home & Dry":



: Hear more from the album by downloading "Ninja Of Love" and stop by their myspace to hear more from Future Future Future Perfect.

Parlez-Vous Freezepop

Freezepop fans aren't just all about fun. They also enjoy the musical stylings of Bauhaus and getting photographed for Rolling Stone:



: Big ups to Rolling Stone for their in-depth knowledge of the Industrial scene that allowed to them to attribute one fan's appreciation of Hanzel Und Gretyl to Hansel and Gretel.

Freezepop Forever

I'm a bit sweet on Freezepop and while they have their detractors who dismiss them as the Weird Al of the synthpop set I admire the fun spirit they bring to their music while using strong songwriting. This excerpt is from a photo essay posted to a fan's live journal who acted out the lyrics of "Chess King" is but one example of how they've inspired fans and I think that speaks volumes about the quality of their music.