A Short Audio History Of Techno

Kings Of Techno is a double disc compilation of mixes from Carl Craig "one of the most important names in the Detroit second generation of techno producers" and French DJ/producer/label owner Laurent Garnier which taken together creates a history and explores the genesis of techno. Garnier's disc is titled "History Of Detroit" and he chose to start his mix with The Stooges very rock "No Fun" going on to drop tunes from Aretha Franklin, The Temptations and Funkadelic before finally settling into anything with a purely synthetic pallet and sequenced beats that define the genre. The unconvential approach does wonders at demonstrating a common thread across the Detroit music scenes with the propulsive beat of proto-punk, string laden grooves of Motown and the minimal psychedelic noise of P-Funk setting the stage from the emergence of techno as genre that explores the depths of all those ideas.
Carl Craig's disc is titled "Influences & Developments" and finds him looking primarily towards electronic music created in Europe while using a similar approach it takes Craig seven tracks before getting into music that is traditionally classified as part of the techno genre. Making a larger argument for trends and traditions in electronic music across the world the mix finds common ground in the new romantic, Italo, synthpop, and EBM scenes. The compilation is a great find for those puzzled by the genre, I'm looking at you American journalists that spent 3/4ths of the 90's writing endless about the need to use drugs to enjoy the music, because it provides a context for a genre that seems to appeared from nowhere.

Click here to stream the mixes for the next day or so.

Fundamental Issues

When Pet Shop Boys Fundamental was first released I linked to Tremble Clef's remarkable multi-part breakdown of the thematic lyrical and musical elements of the of the album. I have not seen anything else that reached that level of insight anywhere else so I was intrigued when I saw a wikipedia entry on "Numb" reference a review that contains similar ideas. The review was written by Anton Marshall and is published on 24.com, which a google search reveals as "the online arm of the South African newspaper group Naspers". The striking thing is how much of the review echoes one particular Tremble Clef post and you can't help but wonder why that is. Here is a collection of citations from the two articles and for the interest of clarity the 24.com review quotes will be in blue and those taken from Tremble Clef are in green. All italics are mine:

Pet Shop Boys have always delivered personal and social experience as a narrative to their material, but Fundamental is a more political album than usual thematically, discussing not just the typical "evils" of politics, but actually where politics pervade the personal.

It's not, to put it most bluntly, simply a record filled with platitudes how politicians are evil, or that we just need to get along. However, the politicization of the personal does occur in more intriguing ways across the album as a whole. Since the theme of
Fundamental, we keep getting told, is "politics today," we can't help but regard many of the other songs in that light, even when they don't appear immediately to be so.

Some obvious examples are "Indefinite Leave to Remain", which clearly reflects on immigration laws' prejudice towards gay partners; and "Psychological", which talks cleverly about a living in a society submerged in fear.

To begin with, much of the album's political targets are at least somewhat novel: an amazing song about ID cards ("Integral"), one about love and nationality, and specifically how immigration laws often disadvantage gay couples ("Indefinite Leave To Remain"), and most pervasively, about the culture of fear ("Luna Park," "Psychological").

Even a Diane Warren contribution, "Numb", can be heard as a comment on human reactions to the climate of terror-attacks and anxieties.

This happens most obviously with the dramatic orchestral ballad "Numb." Composed by Diane Warren (a revelation that I admit I was appalled by), the song first comes across as a straightforward song of heartbreak. (It would have seemed even more so had it appeared, as was the original plan, on PopArt.) But in the context of the new album, its opening lines -- "Don't wanna hear the news/What's going on, what's coming through/I don't wanna know" -- reminds us that it's now a song about the desire or even need to zombify oneself as a way of coping with a world gone mad.

: To paraphrase Kayne West, I'm not saying that Marshall is a plagiarist, but I don't see how this much similarity could be coincidence.

Obligatory Holiday Post

There was a time when I thought I would create a clever Halloween post with some appropriate music, but that's before I discovered blogs that have been doing that for a month and realized I don't have that kind of interest. Check out Dsico covering Ministry's Everyday Is Halloween and be sure to listen to my favorite Dead Or Alive track "Something In My House":

Stream Scissor Sisters Halloween Show

Scissor Sisters live show at Brixton Academy on Halloween will be webcast by way of anti-global warming site Global Cool. Here is the info:

To view the webcast simply sign in or sign up with www.global-cool.com before 10pm on Tuesday 31st October, which you can do from the link below.


Those who sign up will not only be able to view the Scissor Sisters’ once in a lifetime fancy dress performance, they will also be treated to unique backstage footage and an exclusive interview with the band.


All we ask in return is that you pledge to turn off your computer at the end of the night.

Free Download: Trentemøller- Always Something Better (Trentemøller Remix)

Trentemøller's Always Something Better (Trentemøller Remix) is a free discovery download this week in the US itunes music store and it's a fantastic piece of gothic electronica that reminds me of Underworld circa-Dubnobasswithmyheadman. Does the name sound familiar? Trentemøller remixed Pet Shop Boys, Röyksopp, Moby and The Knife in the past year and has a had a substantial run creating records for the 12" dj-only crowd. Skrufff recently interviewed him touching on his time teaching music at a kindergarten and getting a bit more in-depth about the motivation behind his album The Last Resort which was released earlier this month:

I’m not making music for DJs, this album was made from my heart, much more than my dance music. Because making dance music involves more workmanship in a way while this was much more personal to me, if people are disappointed, I don’t care.

: Be sure to snag "Always Something Better" while it's still free and check out Trentemøller's myspace to listen to more tracks.

Flashback: Sarah Cracknell "Anymore" (1996)

Sarah Cracknell, the sexy front woman for consistently brilliant Saint Etienne, put out a solo record Lipslide in the UK in 1997, only released in butchered form during 2000 in the US, which was an attempt to distance herself from her apparent "just a pretty face" reputation by proving her artistic and songwriting muscle outside the group. Ultimately the album flopped commercially despite a few fantastic songs on it. She had this to say about why:

I had a lot of trouble with the label I was on [Gut Records]. They weren't very nice to me. It wasn't a great relationship, between me and the label.
I think they were just trying to turn me into something and the thing was I don't think they ever listened to a Saint Etienne album, do you know what I mean? I didn't realize it at the time. It's one of the first thing you'd do, I would think.
So, it was a real struggle and I was very unhappy. I was very happy when the album was finished and I'm proud of it, but they then pretty much didn't put it out. They put it out just about. They didn't promote it at all or do anything.

: I think that's a fair assessment. I remember hearing that they deleted the second single "Goldie" for some odd reason and the maybe-it-exists-maybe-it-doesn't third single "Desert Baby" has the exact same sleeve as the "Anymore" single.

Speaking of "Anymore" I've become re-enamored with the song recently and have been listening to the single on repeat in the car recently. The most striking thing about this Stephen Hague produced the track is just how completely effortless it sounds. Purely electronic for most of the song it has a subtle build that goes from quiet digital pianos to Hague's trademark lush sound with a live Motown-esque horn section introduced in the last third of the song that is just the right thing to take the song to the next level at just the right moment. Even if pop perfection might be a bit of an overstatement it is a great song that deserved a better showing than peaking at number 39 on the UK singles chart. The video has Sarah doing a bit of acting as a pout-prone gas station attendant which doesn't work that well just like most other pop stars pretending to work at dull every-day jobs videos:




: According to some Sarah will next be heard covering Dusty Springfield's "I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten" with Marc Almond on his forthcoming 2007 album. Just don't look for any information on his site because it's the most paranoid promotional site that I've ever encountered where you can't copy-and-paste anything from the site and it's "news" section largely consists of denying rumors.

This Ain't No Disco

After over a year's worth of fuss New York's legendary club CBGB's finally shut down last week. Once the epicenter of the American punk movement the club became a something of a pop culture icon in it's own right after a number of bands playing there in the 70's like Blondie and The Ramones broke through into the mainstream and the venue got a shout-out in a Talking Heads song leading to a the omni-present CBGB OMFUG (it sounds dirty, but actually isn't) clothing that I see people wearing all the time even though I live on the other side of the country. Despite the past year's worth of obituaries and articles lecturing the fine points of the importance of the club Voltage noted that not everyone was sad to see it go or even had fond memories of the place. One generally positive reader response to the Village Voice article that Voltage references points out that "CBGBs in a way was a morgue and a tourist attraction. It became a parody of its former self" which is behind general tone of "good riddance" comments about the closing. Voltage picked a great quote from the negative ones, but I really fond of this response to the haters:

Don't be so negative. If you don't have something nice to say then don't say anything at all.

: How punk rock is that? Mom would be proud that someone is still giving that advice.

Good news CBGB fans, while the music has come to an end CBGB Fashions will remain open at it's current location until the end of the month so there is still time to buy some merch. Now that is the true spirit of punk.

For A Little While

Pet Shop Boys released “Numb” as a single this week and I’m still a bit ambivalent about the song. I like that it’s different than anything else they’ve done and that it has one of Neil Tennant’s most emotional vocal deliveries but it still doesn’t sit entirely right with me because Diane Warren’s fingerprints are still all over the song making it a little too much not PSB (yes I am aware that I like and dislike the song for the same reason, but that‘s why I‘m ambivalent you see). I’ve previously mentioned that I didn't want the song to be a single because it's edging out better songs that could have better demonstrated the albums strengths, but I have to admit that they did an amazing job creating a solid single package. I picked up the good stuff at 7digital so I can tell you that the two b-sides are utterly fantastic, visit The Zapping if you want proof, and the Ewan Pearson remix of “Psychological” finally makes the song soar in a way that was missing from the original and the Alter Ego mix on the bonus disc of Fundamental. Also of interest is the original PSB demo of “Numb” which clarifies Trevor Horn’s contribution as those futuristic chimes over the quiet moments and amping up the wall-of-sound orchestra. Then there is the creepy cover art with the Boys wearing Plague doctor masks that might be a commentary on our times.

There are two other PSB releases out this week: the two disc live album Concrete and the book chronicling the sleeve designs of the Boys work Catalogue. Both of those are on my maybe lists and if I see them for the right price I’ll pick them up but having listened to the BBC stream of the concert I didn’t find that much to get excited about. Maybe I’m not just a live album kind of guy.

Here is the offical video for "Numb" done in the style of early Soviet cinema. I wonder what gave the video directors that idea?

Numbers

LCD Soundsytem were pretty quiet about their new album 45:33 before today so it was a bit of a shock to see a myspace bulletin shouting about a "NEW LCD SOUNDSYSTEM OUT NOW! exclusively on iTunes" when I checked my account this morning. This single track release, with a running time that is the same as the RPM of 7" singles, is the second in the series of nike/itunes workout music releases that started over the summer with a mix from The Crystal Method. Pitchfork quote the press release with James Murphy explaining that he was approached by the shoe company:

to make a long piece of music built around an arc designed for running, appealed to me because it was so anathematic to what you're typically asked to do as an artist: make easily digestible lumps of music for albums, or the radio, or whatever. I'd been thinking of the records I love in which people made one 'song' that took up the entire LP, and realizing that releasing something like this would otherwise be a virtual impossibility for me, I became excited when the project came along.

: Does this making music on demand for corporate giants signal the end of the hipster DFA empire? I doubt it. They've already gotten over the whole almost worked with Britney Spears thing and once you've admitted to that how could you do wrong? The real question is if it's worth the price itunes is charging. I like LCD Soundsystem and their album was one of my most played last year, but $9.99 for one track that you can only hear a thirty second preview of...that's asking a bit much. Admittedly I'm very intrigued by those thirty seconds, and Riff Market was impressed enough to declare "these weird goofy product branding tie-ins, ARE the NEW ALBUM" (wonder why that LCD Soundsystem bulletin linked to that review) but I really like pop songs. Well, if not traditional "pop" all the time, at least something that knows when to finish. There have been exceptions like the extended version of Orbital's "The Box", but usually if a track lasts more than fifteen minutes I just can't get into it. The Orb's "Blue Room" has an hour long version that I've never made it through even though I love the radio edit, and "Video 5-8-6", New Order's original version of "Blue Monday", tops the twenty minute mark and never justifies that running time. So ten bucks sounds a bit pricey when we are talking about a track that "ends with eight minutes of ambient echoing". Here's LCD Soundsystem doing what they do best in a short-form on "Tribulations":

Hot Trend Alert: Live Looping

The question of authenticity has always been an issue with live performance from electronic musicians and it's been one of the biggest complaints of those who refuse to acknowledge the possibilities that technology provides. I recently noticed a number of videos that address this by demystifying the process and recreating the process by looping material live. Here are a few examples:

Kid Beyond hails from the hip hop side of things and this cover of Portishead's "Wandering Star" is fantastic as he creates a fairly dense soundscape only using his voice.


Venus Hum are all about synthpop and here they create the foundation for the song live and work from there.


I had previously mentioned her technique, which is what first brought this trend to my attention, but here is KT Tunstall doing her folk pop thing with a little help from a loop pedal.

You're Back Into The Bog

A recent Tremble Clef post asked if there are any successful Madonna covers and the one that immediately sprang to my mind was BiGod 20's take on "Like A Prayer". Originally appearing on the EBM band's third single "On The Run" it ultimately received more attention from college radio than the a-side or it's remixes in no small part because it transcends it's jokey premise which trades the relative polish of the original for a "scary" industrial sound complete with growling vocals. Do a technorati search and you'll find that it's still getting club play at gothic/industrial nights to this day.

There is more to BiGod 20 than a fun cover but their story is a perfect example of how to remain fairly obscure. Talla 2XLC (who had previously been involved with in even more obscure projects Moskwa TV and The Microchip League) met up with Jallokin in the late 80s and after a couple of primarily instrumental 12" singles they teamed up with Front 242's Jean Luc-DeMeyer to record their industrial classic "The Bog". The song was an international success and got them signed to Reprise who released the single stateside in 1990. The following year saw the release of the Dead Poets Society-sampling "Carpe Diem" but it wouldn't be until 1992 that they finally found permanent vocalist Zip Campisi and released their debut album Steel Works!. Obviously the two year gap between the "teaser" single and the album didn't help sales. Steel Works! also had some strange decisions like including the originally released in 1988 and very much sounding like it "America" while dropping "Carpe Diem" making it less of a great album and more of just a good one. The band's 1994 follow-up Supercute didn't really get much attention, in part because of changing trends in the industrial scene that found guitar-led material more in the mainstream and because the album's only single "One" just wasn't as catchy as their earlier material.

The band drifted apart but they remain active producing music. Jallokin has released material as recently as last year and Talla 2XLC is a working dj and produces more techno and trance flavored material like this 2002 Depeche Mode cover. Here's the video for "The Bog" which is fantastic simply because it helps us remember a time when black rain ponchos were a fashion statement:

Music From A Wider Angle

Cinematic electronica superstar's Hybrid have a new album out this week and I Choose Noise finds them balancing the dancefloor filling ways of their sophomore effort with the orchestral vision they prominently displayed on their debut. Well, I've never actually listened to all of either of Hybrid's two previous albums but I gather that is the story. It's just that despite the presence of New Order's Peter Hook on a few tracks of their second album and all the hype surrounding their first record which helped them land an opening spot for Moby when he first toured to support Play I've never felt any real passion for Hybrid's music. They seem to be the sort of folks I would like because they do things that interest me like record trance songs with orchestral accompaniment and drop Pet Shop Boys samples in their remixes (or at least in their remix of BT's "Never Gonna Come Back Down"), but their tracks consistently clock in around the eight minute mark and they never have kept my interest that long. Of course their crowning achievement to date has been getting "Finished Symphony" used as the music for the final segment of SSX, the game that "is still one of the prime reasons for owning a PS2". SSX is something I can get passionate about. Hybrid not so much.

Regardless I Choose Noise is a solid effort that overcomes the presence of Perry Farrell, who may or may not be attempting to channel Madonna at one point in his vocal appearance, so feel free to stream the album for the remainder of the week here and see if it sparks a more passionate response in you.


Sidenote: Two years later when Moby was still touring Play he had New Order and Outkast opening for him. What a difference bringing Gwen Stefani on for a guest vocal and a video appearance can make.

Still Alright Then

TrusttheDJ posted a news item about Luke Slater releasing a new EP this November. For those unfamiliar with Slater he's been around the underground techno scene for ages and his early work got him a shout out on Daft Punk's "Teachers" before he even released a proper album. Here's Skrufff's take from the article:

The new tracks feature guitars, electro sounds and Luke’s (somewhat scratchy) vocals on top and are distinctly more eclectic than the techno he’s usually associated with. In fact, as long as five years ago, he was actively distancing himself from the genre, telling Skrufff in 2001 ‘The whole discussion about techno is old news- I am a club DJ’ and in 2002 embraced proper songwriting with ex-Aloof singer Ricky Barrow on ‘Alright On Top’.

“I tend to go for themes that are more abstract whereas he’s more into straight talking. A few of the songs are about ‘leave me alone, I just can’t handle it anymore’, which is definitely a feeling that has cropped up on me,”

: I haven't been able to find any videos from Alright On Top, which is one of my favorite albums of the 00s, but it is a techno pop masterpiece well worth streaming via free services like Napster or Rhapsody. Here's the video for Slater's "Love" from 1997's Freek Funk.



Samples of the Head Converter EP can be found at his own label Mote-Evolver's site.

Something About You (When You're Shopping For Music)

Tower Records was sold in bankruptcy court today to a company that plans to liquidate it's assets and close the chain's doors. Here's the story from The Chronicle:

Peter Gurfein, an attorney representing Tower Records, said the company will be sold for an aggregate of $150 million, including the sale of various leases and properties.


Gurfein said Great American plans to begin the liquidation process and going out of business sales on Saturday, which eventually will result in the elimination of the jobs of some 3,000 Tower employees.


"This is not an easy decision," said bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon, who nevertheless noted that the Tower debtors and other parties had agreed the bidding process was conducted fairly and in good faith.


Tower Records, which has 89 stores in 20 states and owes creditors about $200 million, filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in August. In its filing, the company said it has been hurt by an industrywide decline in music sales, downloading of online music and competition from big-box stores such as Wal-Mart.

: When I first heard the initial doomsday predictions of the demise of physical record stores some ten years ago I assumed they were ridiculous. My friends and I always ended up at record stores when we went out and nothing could replace the thrill of stumbling into unexpected albums and the social experience of shopping for music. Nothing really has and while I enjoy buying things from download services I still prefer to buy albums as cds and I usually end up at my local Tower so I'm really sad to see the chain go because they were the only reasonably priced place to buy music with any real selection in my immediate area. Besides I have many great record buying memories at a number of Towers across the Bay Area and I can even tell you the general character of them; Campbell is generally strong with one of the best electronic sections, Mountain View is the place to go for music related literature and has a good singles selection, Blossom Hill has good imports, Columbus always gets the good band signings (met the Pet Shop Boys there!), Hillsdale & Dublin are just okay and everytime I've been to Stonestown it's been unorganized with a poor selection. It's a sad day, not only for the 3000 people losing jobs, but for music fans in general because when a well run record store can't compete there is something wrong.

As a tribute here is Lifestyle's fantastic "Shopping For Music" which conveys the romance of record shopping much better than I can.

Dynamic Symmetry

I had been revisiting his work recently and today is Brian "BT" Transeau's birthday so why not take the opportunity to look at his recent work. The past year he has seen the release of two BT albums, one being the score to EA Sports Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 and more recently he has put out a high minded DVD/CD project This Binary Universe. I've been following BT since his Tori Amos collaboration led to his debut album getting a belated released in the US, and while he has ups and downs over the years including the terminally flawed Emotional Technology I've found him worth watching. The Tiger Woods soundtrack sounds like a something he simply didn't invest much time or creative energy into. I don't know that anyone should expect an artistic statement from a golf video game soundtrack but if anything it's disappointing because it has a track titled "Everything's Gone Green" that has nothing to do with the New Order song of the same name. Shame on you Mr. Transeau. You know it's wrong to lead me on like that.
This Binary Universe is definitely the artistic statement of the two releases. A lengthy article in Keyboard magazine, which is quoted as if it were an actual review in the trailer for the project attached to this post, attempts to define the project as:

Seven compositions, each about 15 minutes long, combine acoustic instruments, synth parts played real-time from keyboards, and “cut-and-paste, musique concrète type stuff,”

: all set to visuals created specifically for the project. Ambient symphony is another take on the music and the arty-composer-that-went-to-Berklee side of BT in full effect here. Stop by the album's myspace and watch the second video for a segment from the DVD. It's good stuff and if you don't like it don't worry his next "normal" album is due out early next year. Apparently that has plenty of "beautiful jangly guitars all over it" with guest spots from Imogen Heap (yay!) and Stewart Copeland (boo!).



Fun Fact: In addition to a career in music that has involved much soundtrack work BT was also an Executive Producer on the highly staged reality show "Tommy Lee Goes To College".

In Stores This Week

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.

Beck- The Information

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.

Save It Until The Morning After

I was originally planning on using Junior Boys "In The Morning" selection as the free itunes download of the week in the US as a jumping off point for some interesting press I had found about the band recently, but the 500+ customer comments have proved too much to pass up. First off I'm amazed by how many people apparently assume that if it's the "single of week" that it is the "best" track added to their store and that they expect it to be a hit. Looking back at the singles of the week even as far as a couple of years ago when itunes was still actively trying to pull in new customers almost everything, including tracks from Nelly Furtado and Avril Lavigne, have been on the margins and are songs that hadn't received any airplay at the time they got the single of the week treatment. Why are there hundreds of comments that essentially say "this is the single of the week?" as if they are really put out and need to comment on something that cost them nothing and took thirty seconds to download? The other major thing that bothers me is the high amount of homophobic innuendo in a number of the reviews. Maybe I've been out of high school for too long, but it's a bit shocking to me how sexuality is tossed around so casually as an insult. Imagine what would happen to these people if Scissor Sisters had a single of the week? Then there is the endless stream of Backstreet Boys comparisons. Is that the only music with synths and vocals that Americans have ever heard? To read the reviews it would seem that way. My favorite comment came from a user who doesn't "even consider that music its just idiots trying to make money! (and obviously failing)". Um, where is that huge market for indie electro pop that brings all it's purveyors riches, fame and bling? The overwhelming amount of one star user reviews is amazing and as some reviews have pointed out probably come from not giving the track a fair listen. So This Is Goodbye hasn't reached the same level of critical praise that Last Exit did, but it's done well with largely favorable reviews by most serious music publications. Pitchfork's review of the track referred to one of the song's synth-lines as "one of the most thrilling (sonic moments) you’ll hear this year". Obviously that went over a few heads like the user who put plenty of thought into their review of "this horrible excuss for a song in a horrible music Gerne".

It's Only Natural

The Killer's Sam's Town is streaming at mtv for the next few days and having listened to it about three times in the past day I can safely that it's a solid album. I don't know that there is anything as strong as my favorite Hot Fuss tracks like "Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine" but all the songs that the band were talking up months ago are stand outs making The Killers the rare group that understands their own strengths. You only need to see all the bad single selections that bands I've liked over the years have made to understand what an unusual quality that is. My current favorite is the next single "Bones" which for some reason I keep wishing would segue into the ending of OMD's "Enola Gay" as it closes. It would sound something like this, only much smoother and without the sloppy editing. So I'm not the next big mash-up artist. I can live with that.

Recommended Reading

• Electronically Yours reviews "Martyr", the sole new track on Depeche Mode's forthcoming The Best Of Volume 1, now that the song has been sent to radio and made it's way onto the internet. I wouldn't know where to find it but I rate the song a bit lower than Orac did in his assessment.
• Maximus at Voltage finds plenty of evidence of rampant rockism in his excellent deconstruction of The Washington Post's positive review of Ladytron's Witching Hour.
• XO has an entertaining review of Janet Jackson's new disc that lays out the facts and fallacies of the hype around the record. Note: I don't think he likes it.
• Arjan has an exclusive download off the new Basement Jaxx disc. It's good to read blogs of those with connections because Arjan has the best free stuff.
• Tremble Clef takes on Beyonce's upcoming single "Irreplaceable" leading to a truly indepth analysis that ultimately asks "if there is -- or if there should be -- good to be gained from the replaceability of those we once thought we loved".
• My mp3 blog Electro Downloaded just posted it's link to it's 50th free mp3. Originally it was intended to be something of a podcast, and while you can subscribe to the rss feed with itunes or whatever else you grab podcasts with, the "podcast" turned out to be a commentary free mp3 blog. Oddly enough it has it's own myspace with a blog about the blog that also links to free music streams sort of like I do on my "personal" myspace. Should I consolidate my blogging madness? If I had any sense I would have done it long ago...

The Help Of Transportation

This commercial is amazing. Let's examine why:

• Röyksopp's "Remind Me" provides the soundtrack which, in the particular section of the song that is played, is a perfect match for the airport setting as it gives the jet set vaguely futuristic and loungey background music to kill time to as they are between flights.
• Erlend Øye is the vocalist on the track and could there be a more appropriate crooner to sing the thoughts of a sensitive caveman? I don't think so.
• The lyrics we do hear are from the third verse: "everywhere I go, there's always something to remind me, of another place and time". The final "another place & time" line suggest that The Caveman has evolved since the stereotype depicted on the billboard bore any truth but he is unable to escape the prejudice that haunts him even as he is taken by a "futuristic" moving walkway on a journey that his pace and his delightfully aged tennis racket suggest was for leisure.
• Is there anything better than an advertisement that suggests that their company offends people with it's incorrect and insulting advertising?

Disco's Revenge

French pianist Maxence Cyrin has recorded an album of his nuanced interpretations of electronic classics created exclusively on the piano for Laurent Garnier's F Communications label. Modern Rhapsodies takes on a range of styles covering 80's Depeche Mode and early-era Massive Attack but the album primarily contains reinterpretations techno and rave tracks. Fortunately the release steers clear of the novelty territory it so easily could have slipped making this, along with Jeff Mills Blue Potential, the second notable release this year to attempt a translation of techno into classical music terms. I'm not entirely sure that this signifies an all out movement, but there certainly has been a shift in the musical respectability of a genre that was so thoroughly dismissed critically as disposable drug music in the US during the genre's initial explosion.

Stop by his myspace to hear a couple of complete pieces including his take on Aphex Twin's "Widow Licker" or stop by his section of the F Com site for lengthy previews of the whole album.




Thanks to The Poptastic Pop Tart for posting about the album!

New York New York

A couple of videos promoting Moby's upcoming Go: The Very Best Of Moby leaked this week and here they are with my thoughts above them and quotes about the songs from Moby below.

Deborah Harry handles vocal duties for this Moroder-style track and if she seems comfortable it because Harry has done that sort of thing before. This video featuring a hard partying chihuahua was apparently rejected by Moby but leaked by someone involved with the project who still thinks it's worth watching. It's horrible to be sure, but Moby's released worse videos and there's no other way to hear the song at the moment.

'new york, new york' is a fun and frivolous disco song that i recorded with debbie harry. it's a song about degeneracy and debauchery in new york city, and i'm incredibly honored and happy to have debbie harry doing the vocals. in recording it i kind of wanted it to sound like abba meets the pet shop boys...like i said, it's a fun disco song.

As a bonus track on Go in some European countries Moby re-recorded Hotel's "Slipping Away" with French pop star Mylene Farmer who adds the occasional French verse. Interesting stuff.

'slipping away' with mylene farmer... i first met mylene at teany and we became friends and, simply, thought that this would be a really nice song to do together. it was my favorite song from 'hotel', and i'm glad that it's going to get a new life with mylene's beautiful vocals.

Everybody Wants The Same Thing

How about that new Scissor Sisters album? Not all we were expecting, right? I’ve given the album a few complete listens now by way of the preview on their myspace and it’s downgraded Ta-Dah from my “must buy now” list to the “pick up the good tracks from itunes” list. The reason is because it’s just too 70’s, more specifically too Elton John for me, with way too many piano led tracks using the same plonkety plonk groove. It’s not all bad of course, a band that created something as strong as their debut album couldn’t possible derail that quickly, but the album drags in a serious way. Most of the best tracks appear on the second half with songs I can’t stand like “I Can‘t Decide“ & the entirely too long “She‘s My Man“ slowing down the album's flow from the opening. Highlights include the too nasty to be a single “Lights“, the Anna Matronic showcase “Kiss You Off”(which features the additional vocal production of Stuart Price), “Ooh” which was on their major label courting demo as “Blues” and "The Other Side" which falls a bit short of the transcendence of "It Can't Come Quickly Enough". Maybe a third of an great album is enough, but Ta-Dah has too many clunkers and that will probably push that US breakthrough album until the next one.

Check out ChartRigger and XOLondon for a good track by track reviews.

Get The Message

Electronic's best of collection is out this week and to my surprise Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr have done some promotion. An interesting interview in The Independent reveals the bands birth as a refuge from band politics and their initial intention of simply releasing white-label acid house 12" singles. However, the most interesting part of the piece is when they discuss developing their self-titled debut album in the middle of the party that was Madchester:

"Bernard was like the Pied Piper, but dressed all in white," laughs Marr. "He'd come back to the studio about 4am with an entourage of our friends, and we'd get a chance to road-test our new songs. One time we had "Idiot Country" blaring out and Bez [of Happy Mondays] was talking to my wife. I noticed he wasn't dancing, so I slowed the tempo down until he started to shuffle again. That's when I knew we'd got it right."

: Click here to listen to Get The Message: The Best Of Electronic for the rest of the week.

Running The World

Jarvis Cocker's Live 8 inspired "Running The World" has been making the rounds for a little while now and it now it has a video. If you haven't heard it yet then give it a listen because it's brilliant. The YouTube version I embedded with this post seems to have synch issues so try streaming it by realplayer if that sort of thing bothers you.

I'm Getting Loud With You

Soulwax's remix album Nite Versions if finally out in CD form, after a run as an itunes exclusive, in the US this week almost exactly one year after it was available to the rest of the world. Taking a cue from the old school, and an album title from Duran Duran, Soulwax rerecorded most of their 2004 Flood produced album "Another Minute" in extended mix form and present it in a continuous mix that is utterly fantastic. Highlights include their take on Daft Punk's "Teachers" where they list their own influences, the trippy "Compute", the LA Style shout out on "I Love Techno" and DFA's remix of "NY Excuse" but it's worth noting that the album as whole makes for a great listen.

Stream the album here for the rest of the week and enjoy this download of "Miserable Girl" to get a taste of what it's about. If that isn't enough you can watch the "E-Talking" video that features a random cameo from Arthur Baker as a bouncer in the final shot or the video for my favorite recent shouty electro song "NY Excuse":

Gone Daddy Gone

Sean Demery, the program director at Live 105, just stepped down and despite my disagreement with some of his decisions I'm sad to see him go. His tenure at the station has helped turned the station back into something listenable that resembles the station I once loved after the horrible years in the late 90s and I give him props for that. His replacement is long-time music director Aaron Axelson so things aren't likely to change too much, but given that Axelson has a history with electronica this might open the door a little wider for the return of Subsonic. Time will tell and ultimately what I'd really like to hear is more electronic stuff on in regular rotation.

Just a side-note but the Mercury News mentions that Axelson "books the San Francisco indie club Popscene", something he occasionally talks about on air, which might have had something to do with The Killers recent "secret show" at the club which brought the club to attention of the international press. Still it's not like I begrudge the guy his moment because it's noble to have passion for new music in the world of commercial radio that is notoriously for only playing songs after they are hits.

Short Bits

• Pet Shop Boys made it official and announced "Numb" as the next single on their website. It was an expected move because the track was originally recorded to be a single for "PopArt", which is finally getting it's US release October 3rd, and after two dance singles they must have wanted to show off the slow side of the album but I'm disappointed because it's likely the last Fundamental single which strands the utterly amazing "Integral" in the "fan-favorite" category instead of turning it into the politically important populist anthem it should be. PopJustice were right on the money when they said that it should have been the first single ages ago.
  
• The Modern have called it quits or at least they are doing some reshuffling. Electronically Yours found a press release buried on the band's forum that announces the band's intention to change it's name to Matinee Club in conjuction with some line-up changes. I'm late getting on The Modern bandwagon because they have one of the least functional official sites I've ever used and a myspace that often autostarts on a song clip, but XO recently helped win me over with a few posts on the band. Apparently what material The Modern had completed will still be released and their US debut EP is still on for later this year.
  
• The Lovemakers are releasing a series of cover songs in a one a week on fashion on their myspace as they ramp up for their next album. Synthman Jason Proctor left the band this past spring to pursue a day job at a start up and they replaced him with a guitarist so these new covers confirm suspicion that their edgy take on Human League styled synthpop from their self-titled and self released debut album is now in the distant past and you can read this recent interview to see their thinking behind it. Still their version Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Alone Again (Naturally)" is the best of the bunch in these new covers so it's worth checking out.
  
• DJ Fresh's album Escape From Planet Monday is finally up on US itunes this week so you can grab "Throw" which features Neil Tennant singing the chorus. It's more of a mood piece with a bit of spoken story than a traditional song so it makes no sense outside of the album but it's not without it's charm reminding me a bit of Bilingual with a bit of latin groove going on and a similar guitar style on the track. Stop by fansite Tennant-Lowe.com and click on the "PSB Mp3 Player" to give the track a listen.
• I was probably the only person on the internet not angry about the upcoming Depeche Mode Best Of because the band have recieved more exposore for Playing The Angel and the supporting tour than Exciter brought them so I understand that urge to go back and cash in and DM usually do more troubling things to their fans like release three versions of their remix album, but then I noticed that this a "Volume 1". What's that about? They last released singles compilations that split the bands material into two eras in 1998 and one would think that this would be for the more casual fan that wanted an overview of the band's history. Why is this "Volume 1" when they've only released two albums between Greatest Hits collections? Does this mean that "Volume 2" coming in the spring? I suppose it doesn't matter because the same die hard collectors that already shelled out hundreds of dollars to get the remastered DM albums that have been released this year will pull out their credit cards and hand over more money to Depeche and EMI-owned Mute. Oh, I'm not expecting too much from the collections new track "Martyr" even if it got good reviews from an associate of the band that heard it being recorded. PTA is good album, but really short on strong songs with single potential and despite the heavy gothic overtones there are moments of brightness on the album so I doubt that was left off for simple "not fitting the record" reasons. Then again, I've become a bit cynical about DM over the years. Hopefully I'll be proven wrong.

No Need To Rush It

Basement Jaxx new album Crazy Itch Radio is out in most of the world today with a US release due next week. Looking around the net it seems that the general consensus is that shine has worn a bit thin for the duo over the years. It certainly doesn't help that they were dropped from Astralwerks after the Grammy winning "Kish Kash", my favorite Jaxx album, failed to meet sales expectations or that they've used the stale radio-as-basis-of-a-concept-album thing for their new release. It was a bad idea when Junkie XL explored that same conceit three years ago, but given their level of skillalude I'm willing to give Crazy Itch a chance.

Having read a number of interviews with the band I was surprised when I stumbled into an interesting profile in The Times which gets to the essence of what they are about. More than simply electronic artists Felix Buxton is annoyed "the way people think we’re dance producers with bleepy boxes, when what we do is write songs in different styles" and we learn from Simon Ratcliffe that the chose radio as a the foundation for their album "because there isn’t one track that can fully represent us." I think that's a fair way of viewing the duo and it puts them further into the pop camp as the piece suggests although they weren't too pleased with their recent tour experience opening up for Robbie Williams as they "learnt that we don’t want to support anyone ever again.”

Download Crazy Itch Radio's first single "Hush Boy".

Good As Gold

Although "Sexor" had been available as an itunes exclusive Tiga's album it has just been relaunched in the US with the album finally making it's way to college radio and being released to the other download services as well as a new version up on itunes with mixes from DFA, Jespher Dahlback and Chicken Lips. To celebrate here is a download of "(Far From) Home" and the video which has a fantastic opening that feels like a Wes Anderson movie before moving on to the standard surreal Spike Jonze/Michel Gondry inspired imagery:

Give Me Danger Or Give Me Depeche

Dangerous Muse, who I first blogged about last November, recently released their second cluster of original material with their "Give Me Danger" EP. It's brilliant. Not only did they maintain the high standard they set with the first EP, but upped the ante by providing an even more consistent set of songs.

Electronic pop in the US is often dismissed by the uninformed with the oft repeated "that sounds just like Depeche Mode" and interestingly Dangerous Muse chose to take that potential insult and give it a giant bear hug. Musically I would think they would be far more influenced by Eurodisco than the doom and gloom of Depeche but for some reason all of the three songs on the EP reference the Mode. I had previously mentioned the title track using a sound that is remarkably similar to the lead synth on "New Life" and that's just the beginning. "Break Up" lacks any obvious musical cues that I've caught, but they quote the "I heard it from your friends" line from the Music For The Masses track "The Things You Said" with a reading that suggests the Depeche melody. "In This Town" is the most obvious example of the duo paying tribute to the Mode because it borrows the distinctive bass and uses sampled breathing to recreate the drum track from Some Great Reward's "Lie To Me". Given that none of these songs actually sound like Depeche Mode, with the obvious exception of "In This Town", I find it strange that they would do a whole EP that references them. Well, they do share the same initials and now there's reason to believe that's more than coincidence.

Two of the EP's tracks can be streamed at Dangerous Muse's myspace and Arjan has a stream for the other track so check them out. They really are a fantastic band that are my favorite discovery of the past year even if they just released a dodgy amateurish video for "The Rejection".

Summary

So what's become of the Pet Shop Boys since I last blogged about them? Plenty, actually.

• They announced their first ever live album "Concert" which is a two disc souvenir for those who missed the Boys recent BBC orchestral gig "featuring guests Robbie Williams, Rufus Wainwright and Frances Barber". The events musical conductor was Trevor Horn and they brought Anne Dudley out to help as well so I'm sure it was very impressive in the theater while it was going on, but having heard the radio broadcast I wasn't blown away. Fortunately we get another chance tomorrow when BBC Radio 6 Music will broadcast the entire unedited 90 minutes at 7pm tomorrow evening (August 28) to be impressed again. If you miss it, check their site because the BBC usually offers on demand rebroadcasts for the week after something airs. Fun Fact: Neil previously opined that the concert DVD had killed the live album.
  
• The documentary "Pet Shop Boys: A life in pop" is due to get a DVD release October 23rd, the same day as "Concert". It more than doubles the length of original tv broadcast and features interviews with Brandon Flowers, Jake Shears, Trevor Horn and Robbie Williams.
  
• The Boys have produced a couple of tracks on the new Robbie Williams album. "She's Madonna" was written by Williams and the Boys, and they cover "We're The Pet Shop Boys" (again) proving that a PSB b-side is clearly album material for any lesser artist.
  
• Neil has been in Berlin and has been working as consultant producer on Rufus Wainwright's new album that will be out in 2007. Can we expect it to be a bit disco?
  
• Chris has written the music for a song in the play, "Bent", by Martin Sherman, which is to be revived in London at the Trafalgar Studios from September 22. Apparently they asked both of the Boys to write it but Neil was busy working on the Wainwright album. I'm expecting it to be a bit of disco.
• The Boys did the PopJustice podcast a while ago and while the sound quality is horrible it's totally worthwhile just to hear Neil try to making a thinking persons argument for the lyrics to Sandi Thom's "I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair)". He didn't change my mind, but it's still a fun listen.

Just The Facts

The journalistic geniuses at Spin & NME just reported that Portishead have "finally unveiled new tunes" suggesting that it's their first new material since 1997. I understand some of the confusion because there are two tracks up on the Portishead myspace, but both tracks have been up there for months. Are they really new songs? Geoff Barrow took a break from his usual daft ramblings in the Portishead blog to explain:

i heard from my mate that bbc radio 6 has been telling everyone that we have new material on here so id thought id better tell you that its not..

the tracks on here are doodles from about 3 years ago....

we are in the studio with tunes done but its unlikley that we will post any new stuff just yet

: It's a classic case of media reporting what other media are reporting, but you would think that respected news organizations that have previously created news items based on the Portishead's blog, only available at their myspace page, would have noticed these "new songs" before. In fact the only thing I've found online in the media noise over these new tracks that acknowledges that Portishead have officially released anything since '97 is Pitchfork who reference to Portishead's Serge Gainsbourg cover that I posted about at the beginning of the month. It's puzzling to me that my blog has more journalistic integrity than news sources with people who get paid to research and editors who are supposed to check facts.

The Place You Used To Live

Those who have skimmed even the most basic Killers bio, like the one on myspace, have seen that:

Brandon got kicked out of his synth-pop band, named Blush Response, in late 2002 after refusing to move to L.A. with them. He realised after seeing Oasis perform in Vegas, that life needed more guitars.

: This tiny fraction of pre-history in The Killers bio has always intrigued me. I spent a lot of time on the internet in 2002 on synthpop forums actively searching for new groups but I had never heard of Blush Response until I read that bio. The reason is that the Billie Schubert, Trevor Gagner & Brandon Flowers never released anything as Blush Response. However I've done a bit of looking around and patched together what I know into something of a history. Their only official release came as Subversion on Ninthwave Records "Electrity" compilation in 2001 before the "Blade Runner" inspired name change. "The Victim" is a fairly basic take on use-the-chords-of-a-classical-piece-and-call-it-a-new-song approach that Flowers would go on to use to better effect on "Mr Brightside" and it lacks the maturity that the band's other material. However, it does contain the most clear moment that I've found of Flowers being influenced by the Pet Shop Boys because at 2:30 into the song it is only an all male choir away from transforming into the Boys version of "Go West".
In 2001 Blush Response recorded a two song demo with Brian Hazard of Color Theory which is the source of the band's only other known recorded material and the results were a huge leap forward. Both tracks are in the moody synthpop vein not far from the lush ambient technopop of the early 90's. Stepping up from the fairly muddy sound of Subversion the music is focused but never feels rushed giving all the elements room to breathe. While Flowers hadn't taken on the role of vocalist yet the subject matter of both songs, struggling with sin, suggest he was involved with some of the lyrics given that the themes would be played out again with The Killers.
Would have Flowers gone on to success with Blush Response? Probably not. Sadly "life need(s) more guitars" to reach a mainstream audience in the US, but it's not like The Killers are a bad thing. They've got a good album under their belts and have really broken through to the mainstream like few bands I like ever do.
The other two members of Blush Response appear to have moved on from music. From what I understand the feelings bruising move to LA proved to be fairly temporary and they ultimately ended up on the East Coast. Both have kept an extremely low profile online and haven't attempted to profit from the exposure that The Killers bio offers even if there is New Zealand synthpop group with a remarkably similar name that might be trying to cash in. Perhaps the glamorous rock 'n' roll life just wasn't for them.


Subversion- The Victim(napster)

Blush Response- Your Sinister Heart

Blush Response- I'm Not A Saint


UPDATE 12/31/10
Comments posted on this page have brought up a few things over the years.  When I originally posted this I wasn't clear on the nature of Flowers contributions to the Blush Response-era tracks.  Brian Hazard, the producer of the Blush Response tracks referred to here, has since posted a more complete write-up of the Flowers/Blush Response connection that clarifies that Flowers was not present for the recording sessions but that he did co-write the songs.  His piece also includes tracks recorded by Blush Response after Flowers departure when they recruited a new third member Ben Bettison, now of of All Green Lights, who left some thoughts on his chapter of Blush Response history in the comments sections of this post.

Talks Like A Gentleman

The Killers have a new video out. Maybe you’ve heard.



I’ve been known to criticize record companies from time to time, but I have to admit that whoever is orchestrating the unveiling of the new Killers materials is getting everything right. They first released a clip of single months before the album is due and within a week put the whole song up to stream on their myspace page and then got it up on itunes. They must have realized that it was going to leak the second it got to a second party so they just released it themselves which is a better idea because they look like they care about the band’s fans and drop the whole “you‘ve been listening to this song illegally“ thing that alienates potential consumers. Then they did a similar thing with the video, releasing a clip first that created some buzz and within a week dropped the real thing on the internet getting the video twice the attention it normally would have picked up.

Read It In A Book Or Write It In A Letter

Thanks to xolondon I've learned that Tracey Thorn is set to release a solo album of "bedsit disco torch songs" early next year. Full details can be found at her myspace, which was only created yesterday so I don't know how xo was so quick on the draw, but I'll give you the important stuff. The album is primarily produced by Ewan Pearson but also includes collaborations with Vector Lovers & Metro Area and a cover of PSB's "King's Cross". I'm a big fan of Thorn's vocals, which are just amazing over electronics, and it sounds like she going even further towards my taste. How very smart of her.

Here's the video for Everything But The Girl's "Temperamental" from the album of the same name:

Degeneration

Gus Gus released their second single of the year by way of the big download services this week in what must be an attempt to build momentum for their album "Forever" which is now scheduled for a 2007 release. I found their earlier single "Need In Me" a tasteless rehash of ideas the collective have been batting around for ages, but this release really brings down my expectations for the new album. None of the tracks are vocal driven, which is how I prefer Gus Gus, so I might not be the audience they are targeting on the "Mallflowers" EP but they just don't pull any of the songs together. Take the title track which finds them in trance territory, it has a promising start but derails around the three minute mark of a nine minute song. If you run out of ideas please just end the song. It's that simple. Listeners aren't going to strangle you because you choose the strength of an individual song over adhering to a genre's conventions. "Degeneration" and "You Make Me Feel" do fair slightly better and are something that you might listen to a second or third time but they also really lack that creative spark that pretty much all Gus Gus material once had. I didn't love everything they did, but they tried new ideas and pushed boundaries which is something I just don't hear with the recent material.

Pineapple Records has most of the EP up on their myspace and as of this posting all those songs up can be downloaded there for free so check them out and make up your own mind.

Everything Is Alright

Moby is set to release a new greatest hits album with a new song "New York, New York" that was "written and recorded over the summer in Manhattan" and has Deborah Harry on vocals. He has been haunted by crap collections of his previous work, but this looks like the most consistent collection of Moby's previously released material since "Early Underground" rounded up all his initial 12" rave singles. Here's the tracklisting:

1. Go
2. Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?
3. In This World
4. Porcelain
5. In My Heart
6. New York, New York (featuring Debbie Harry on vocals)
7. Natural Blues
8. Lift Me Up
9. Bodyrock
10. We Are All Made Of Stars
11. Slipping Away
12. Honey
13. Move
14. James Bond Theme
15. Feeling So Real

: It's rather cheeky move to not include his biggest hit, "South Side", but it's a really solid disc. The only track I would drop is "In My Heart", one of the tracks Moby premiered at the SLC Olympics, which just isn't nearly as good as Moby thinks and I would love to have seen another pre-"EIW" rave track like "Next Is The E" or "Ah Ah" included. It's a good thing that the comp sticks to his strengths by including nothing from "Animal Rights" or the punk rock tracks that Moby recorded last year. No word on a US release but if it does come out here expect "South Side" to be on it.

On a related note I just heard Johnny Cash's version of "God's Gonna Cut You Down" which appears on his posthumous "American V: A Hundred Highways" that was released last month. Moby sampled that song to create "Run On" and given the timing and Rick Rubin's involvement in the American Recordings sessions it's likely that Cash never would have covered the song if it wasn't for Moby. It certainly brings more credibility to "Play"'s inclusion on Nation Public Radio's list of the "300 most important American musical works of the 20th century" from a few years ago.

You Think You're In A Motif Sky

Camouflage, the German synthpop band best who are best known for their late 80's hit "The Great Commandment", have a new single "Motif Sky" that was just released and a new album "Relocated" due at the end of the month. The single is a surprisingly strong and well worth a listen.



Visit their myspace page for preview clips from "Relocated" and look for Camouflage to be touring the world, including the US, this year and into 2007.

Breaking Boundaries

TrusttheDJ has a new Skrufff interview with Tiefschwarz which touches on their approach to a high profile career creating remixes, the cost of living in London and the tides of techno and house before finishing with something I agree with completely:

Electroclash was a very important movement because it broke down some boundaries. It was something fresh that appeared from behind, no-one expected it to become so strong, it was like a hurricane. It helped get rid of all this high end... superstar DJ behaviour. The combination of rock and electro along with this naughty dirty trashy element was so important for music in general. It was so refreshing and it made music more sexy again. It brought girls back onto the dance floor and it was not so stereotype as before.. it was very close to fashion, it was perfect- it was a very creative moment in music. I’m super-happy that it happened.

: Youtube is a bit short on Tiefschwarz videos but you can watch a craptastic clip for "Wait & See" or enjoy this homemade video for "Warning Siren" to get a sense of what they are about.

It Feels So Nice

Duran Duran have a new digital single "Nice" out in the US this week taken from the band's 2004 reunion album "Astronaut". Commissioned some time ago the single was planned to be released the same time as they were to be touring Europe in 2005 but after the promos failed to generate interest with radio the single was shelved. I suspect the success of Ferry Corsten's "Fire", which is essentially a remix of DD's 80's album track "Serious", made the record company rethink their original decision by proving there is a market for dance versions of DD tunes other than "Hungry Like The Wolf". Having already spent the money on the remixes it must have been an obvious choice to give it a digital release since there are no distribution costs.

The album version of "Nice" has plenty going for it musically as a classic Duran Duran new wave disco tune, but the lyrics are laughable. One of the reason ladies love Simon Le Bon is because he wears his heart on his sleeve and I feel his pain when he sings "it hurts me to think that you might never know that I've got this thing about you". Then he continues with some of the most emotional sentiment ever committed to song he reveals that "there is nothing better than being with you and I'm feeling so nice". Nice. Of course it's just disco and if you listen to music for the lyrics you are foolish for not sticking to poetry.

As expected most of the remixes are a by-the-numbers dance stuff even if someone had the daft idea of commissioning a hip hop remix from Dready which lays some new "yeahs" and "woos" over the song. However the Eric Prydz mixes, which include two edits that are perversely longer than the original, are quite amazing. Taking a vocodered vocal from the original Prydz provides his signature looping-a-hook-and-endlessly-repeating-it-over-a-tech-house-beat thing that he did so well on his "Call On Me" and then adds a new lead synth that takes the whole thing to another level. It's low-brow minimalist pop that knows when to quit and that is a beautiful thing.

Here is video of Duran Duran playing "Nice" live:




Stream the Eric Prydz mix on napster.

Lightning Round

This past week has seen more news and newly released songs than I've had time to blog about so here is what's caught my attention.

• Goldfrapp: Announced an US exclusive remix album will be out in October. Perhaps this is another limp attempt by Mute US to make up for it's utter failure to promote Goldfrapp or even digitally release any of the "Supernature" singles apart from the teaser "No 1" ep but I find it telling that if you do a google news search that you find that the vast majority of the press coverage of the "We Are Glitter" announcement is in UK publications. Only a couple of American news sources have picked up on it because no one knows why they should care. You're doing a great job Mute! While we're talking stupid promotion, do the handlers of Goldfrapp's myspace know that if you post a blog everyone can read it? Why are they sending bulletins about new singles, remix albums and tour dates but not letting the more casual fans who haven't made the band their "friend" know?
  
  
• Dangerous Muse: There's a new song "Give Me Danger" that can be streamed on their myspace that expands ever so slightly on the subdued synthpop pallet they've established with their previous three songs. They've got my attention and I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of the EP the song features on when it's released at the end of the month. Listen for a high-pitched synth that almost exactly echoes the main riff of Depeche Mode's "New Life" at 3:08.
  
  
• Scissor Sisters: "I Don't Feel Like Dancing" has hit the blog world like a hurricane this past week as every upbeat song about feeling down should. The chorus is great and it's hard to believe that a song more 70's anything released in 70's comes from a band that has roots in the electroclash scene. Go figure. I'd post a link to the video but if you look for it on youtube you will discover that it was "removed at the request of copyright owner RIAA". Who will the record company blame when "Ta-Dah" flops in the US? Not their legal department that is putting the kabosh on fans promoting a new single that might create some buzz for a band just outside the mainstream's radar. Perhaps listening to the 1:12 sample of the song available on the official myspace will get people interested.
  
  
• Luke Haines: I thought I was ahead of the curve when I discovered that the former Auteur and Block Box Recorder had a new track produced by Richard X only to find that XO beat me to it by several days. "Off My Rocker At The Art School" is a bit by the numbers for a Richard X production but the lyrics are a daft which is a good thing. Stream it at Luke Haines myspace and while you're there check out his work with The Auteurs and their song "Lenny Valentino" which is one of my favorites of the mid-90's.
  
  
• Client: They recently revamped their myspace with some stunning new photos that demonstrate new dimensions to their distinct looks and play up the band's newly added third members alternate career as a model. Their blog links to video of them performing live in Mexico which makes for a fascinating watch if only to see one of the show's hosts wearing a Joy Division shirt. More importantly they've added their fantastic single "Rock And Roll Machine" from their first album as a free download.

Something Less Decisional

Charting at a disappointing 19 on the UK singles chart this past week it's clear that something went awry with the single release of Pet Shop Boys "Minimal" because it's the duo's worst chart performance for a single since 1991. Maybe it's just a bad case of timing with the post-world cup momentum that the Boys had build up for potential single "Numb", the cover art or the lack of attention they've given the UK as they've been touring Europe but most of the fault lies with the tracklisting. Here is a partial list of mistakes:

• Putting the radio edit on both cds. PSB are usually good about mixing things up with an "extended mix" on their two disc singles but with a song that has more than enough muscle to be opened up and breathe a bit we are only offered a version that shortens that fantastic final section.
• "In Private" as the b-side. The song is already on the extra "Fundamentalism" disc that most PSB fans who buy singles for b-sides already own. It may be a shorter mix of the song but if we're doing different mixes why not go to with the Tomcraft mix?
• Elton John. Scaring away interested younger folks with a "featuring Elton John" on the b-side can't be doing much for sales.
• Minimizing star power on the remix disc. There are remixes from Tiga and Superchumbo availble online. What's on the cd? M-Factor's dud of a mix.

However, not everything they did is wrong. The DVD single has a great collection with a new electro b-side "Blue On Blue" that isn't far away from vintage material like "That's My Impression" and there is an edit of "No Time For Tears" that was almost released to promote "Battleship Potemkin". Wouldn't sales been better off if they had put those on the "song" cd single?

Fun Fact: On this date in 1990 the Pet Shop Boys made their first live public appearance in the US appearing with Electronic as they opened for Depeche Mode in LA.

Money For Nothing

Mtv turned 25 yesterday and the network, which targets viewers younger than 24, refused to acknowledge the birthday prompting a number of finger wagging articles in the press and an amusing look back by Chart Rigger. However I couldn't be happier that they're not looking back. I didn't have cable until the late 90's, a confusing time for the network because they weren't showing many videos and the reality tv explosion had yet to happen, but I did learn quickly was that mtv loves to talk about itself. Their schedule used to be full of "mtv news" specials about how great mtv was and like a monkey with a miniature cymbal they would endlessly show the same five clips over and over and over and over again. Could they have possibly shown that infamous clip of Madonna at the first vmas anymore? Did I really need to see Vanilla Ice freak out again? Did I need to see news footage of the mtv studios on fire? No. It was just the same clips repackaged in special after special. Then there was the 20th birthday party that featured some awkward moments with musicians asking vjs with no control over the programming why "music television" didn't play music anymore. I can see why mtv didn't want to take that route again. So don't look back mtv. Keep "reality" (I know far too much about tv production to ever believe that "Laguna Beach" is unscripted) tv going and do your thing. Thanks for being grown up enough to not torture us with more of the same unexciting moments bookended with more of the same bland commentary. We'll be just fine without it.

Wandering Star

Perusing the itunes store this morning I thought I'd take a listen to the "Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited" tribute disc that I had seen a couple reviews of noting the high profile tracklisting. Indeed there are covers from Franz Ferdinand, Jarvis Cocker, Marc Almond, Sly & Robbie, Michael Stipe, Tricky, Placebo, Fiest and Portishead. I'm sorry, did I just say Portishead? This is the first studio track the trip hop legends have officially released in seven years (make that eight years if you don't count a track with Tom Jones on the vocals). Portishead did get a fair amount of attention a couple of months ago when they announced on their myspace that they were finally getting their third album together, but I hadn't seen a thing about this new track until it was released. Any new Portishead is cause for celebration!
The song is an English version of "Un Jour Comme Un Autre" originally performed by Anna Karina on the soundtrack of 1967's "Anna" which Serge Gainsbourg wrote the music for. It sounds exactly how you would expect Portishead to cover Gainsbourg except there's more guitar, lots of feedback and the track feels a bit short at 2:39. It's a good start, but I'm really looking forward to something with a little more musical meat on it. How much longer until the long promised new Portishead album is out?

Get Your Fash On

Ellen Allien's work with Apparat brought about the most compelling idm album of the year so far with "Orchestra Of Bubbles", but Allien is more than a producer, dj and label boss. She's also a former fashion student who had music derail her initial career choice. Now she's following in the illustrious footsteps of Jay-Z, Puff Daddy and Gwen Stefani and taking the leap into the fashion world. Here's what her site has to say about her summer line:

Fashion, music, art, traveling, existence. Exploring the whole globe, street life, feeling the world on the skin. Ellen Allien develops her own intuition for material, forms and fashion. She’s a DJ, producer and an artist.

In cooperation with Markus Stich in 2006 she created on her own body the kind of fashion she would wear and wears. The femaleness is playfully accentuated – without being unwearable. Ironing is forbidden.

(via Beat Freax)

The Other Side Of Love

Yaz is back in the US...as birth control. Do I sense a lawsuit? They might be Yazoo everywhere else in the world but Alison Moyet & Vince Clarke were threatened with legal action forcing a name change in the US. Isn't turnabout fair play?

We Share Our Music's Health

The Knife's brand of stark electro pop is the kind of music that draws you in and thier new album "Silent Shout" has been gaining more and more praise since it's initial European release a few months ago. The album is finally getting a US release this week and fortunately the good people at itunes are featuring the first single "We Share Our Mothers' Health" as a discovery download this week. Click here to jump to the free version of the song as they are still willing to charge you for the song in a couple of other spots in the itunes store. Those interested in taking a more in depth look at "Silent Shout" can also stream the entire album for the rest of the week at this site and if that's not enough for you enjoy this video for the album's title track:

More Is Less

The greatest Pet Shop Boys single since "Flamboyant" is released today. The song is a much better example of "Fundamental"'s strengths than the previous single and has a fantastic closing section. The single features the remix program U-Myx which lets you create your own version of the song. Expect hundreds of versions of the song to be floating around the internet shortly.

Out Of My League

Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr put much of their musical energy in the 90's towards their joint project Electronic and that band's upcoming greatest hits collection has been generating some well justified buzz. The announced tracklisting looks promising featuring UK chart topping singles and outstanding albums cuts with an amazing b-side that would bring me phone calls everytime I played it on my college radio show.

Forbidden City
Getting Away With It
Get the Message (Single Mix)
Feel Every Beat
Disappointed (Single Mix)
Vivid (Radio Edit)
All That I Need
For You
Imitation of Life (New Edit)
Out of My League
Like No Other
Twisted Tenderness
Late At Night (Radio Edit)

Take 'em To The Middle Eight

Congratulations are in order to the always witty XO and his superbly written XO's Middle Eight which was spotlighted as "blogger of the week" by the always brilliant PopJustice. Shame it happened while he was out of town and taking a break from blogging. Read his write up of Madonna's NYC gig to get a taste of his great blog.

Things I've Learned (From NME)

I love NME because it's fairly good at getting me news about artists that interest me but it's not without it's faults. Here are a few things that caught my eye as being particularly newsworthy:

• Alan McGee, the man who proclaimed a decade ago that the internet would kill record labels and started his current label as an internet-only venture, recently blogged that singles are a dead format and that major labels are at their end. Good to know that he's consistent.
  
  
• Not only did the former Skabba The Hutt ride the coattails of The Killers new wave revival, but they're also following the new Bruce Springsteen influence that Brandon Flowers has been talking about by working with a noted Springsteen producer. I'm sure that once The Killers discuss recreating the doo-wop sound for their third album The Bravery will right there six months behind them once again.
  
  
• The Who announced their first world tour in 20 years. I guess those constant tours from the late 90's on, like their 2002 tour that picked up weeks after the band's bassist died before a gig, have been "limited" somehow.
  
  
• Pete Doherty is still on drugs.
  
  
• After some 4,000 articles that mention him, NME is still addicted to Pete Doherty.