Instant Hit: Days of Sorrow- Wild World

Days of Sorrow was minimal Post punk group from Germany. By the time they were releasing their single "Wild World", they were a five piece band with William D.Lennox on vocals. The song was released through Rough Trade Germany in 1986 with "Mysterious Eyes" as a B-side, produced by Frank Becking.

80' Duets: The The & Sinead O'Connor- Kingdom of Rain

The English group The The was involved in many various musical projects and have recorded many duets during their existence. Collaborators and contributors list includes among others: Thomas Leer, Neneh Cherry, Marc Almond, Anna Domino, Lloyd Cole and many more. Their song "Kingdom of Rain" which features Sinead O' Connor on vocals was taken from the album 'Mind Bomb' and it was released in 1989.

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TV on The Radio- Nine Types of Light

The fourth studio album by TV on the Radio entitled 'Nine Types of Light' has been released this week.The band recorded 'Nine Types of Light in Los Angeles', the first time they have recorded outside of Brooklyn. The first single from the album "Will Do" was released in February this year. TV On The Radio are starting an extensive tour, they will headline Radio City Music Hall in New York on April 13, the day after the album's release.

www.tvontheradio.com

Dirty Beaches- Badlands

'Badlands' is the new album by Dirty Beaches which was released on March 29, 2011 on Zoo Music. The man behind Dirty Beaches is Alex Zhang Hungtai, solo performer and musician born in Taiwan, Hungtai who has made Canada his home. In an interview for Pichfork he said that the influences for 'Badlands' came from three David Lynch movies: Wild at Heart, Blue Velvet, and Lost Highway. The concept of the music is Suicide's minimal synth-punk with influences of rockabilly and lo-fi.

The Actor- Exploded View 2012

The Dutch duo the Actor will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the original release of their debut LP 'Exploded View'. The album was originally recorded as a tape and it is integrally going to be released as a vinyl album, later this year. It will also a feature all of their demo songs for the 'Exploded View' tape – never before published. They are also planning a release of a new album with re-recordings of old songs, together with some new material. More about the Actor soon...

http://theactor.nl

WAW: Pure Instinct feat Ariel Pink- Stilyagi

Pure Instinct previously known as Pearl Harbor consisting of Piper and Skylar Kaplan are back with a new name, new album and new single "Stilyagi" which features Ariel Pink.

The Sounds- Something To Die For

The Sounds have released their fourth stdio album entitled 'Something To Die For'. The album is out on SideOneDummy Records and features the singles "Better Off Dead" and "Something To Die For" both released earlier this year in February. The worldwide release date for the album is March 29, 2011.

http://the-sounds.com

Retrovision: Spandau Ballet- Musclebound TOTP

Thirty years ago Spandau Ballet had their second Top ten hit when the song "Musclebound" which reached the UK charts at number ten in 1981. It was the third single release from their debut album Journeys to Glory and  this is their brilliant performance on 'Top of the Pops'.

Next Wave: Clockwork Orchestra

Clockwork Orchestra is a quirky electronic band from Dublin led by Irish oddball Mango. His songs sound something like broken toys, miserable old men, vintage children’s TV shows, rotting fish, burning plastic and digital clown nightmares. Since August 2010, Clockwork Orchestra have released a series of songs accompanied by animated videos created by a variety of artists and plan to release their debut album later in 2011. Their latests release "Heaven Or Helsinki" which is accompanied by an animated music video created by Stefan Evans was officially released earlier this week.

http://clockworkorchestra.com

The Human League Hysteria

The Rise of Human League (1/3)

The Golden Hour of the Human League (2/3)

Hysteria

After the huge success of their third album, the Human League enjoyed huge international success on both sides of the Atlantic. They soon went on to record new material. The band spent many months agonizing as they tried to make a successor to Dare, and as things became ever more stressful, producer Martin Rushent left the project and the album was finished by producer Hugh Padgham. Three years had passed since Dare and the album met with relatively lacklustre success in comparison to its multi-platinum predecessor. Three singles from the album made the top-twenty of the UK singles chart but first single "The Lebanon" was the only song to chart in the U.S.

Moroder & Oakey

Outside of  The Human League, Oakey teamed up with one of his idols, synth pioneer Giorgio Moroder and they had a massive hit with a single "Together In Electric Dreams”. The track was taken from the film soundtrack to 'Electric Dreams'. Following the big international success, Oakey and Moroder then recorded an album together for Virgin, Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder, but this met with rather less success and the following two singles failed to make the UK Top 40. However, the success of the original Oakey and Moroder track encouraged Virgin to release one final single from Hysteria in November, 1984, the ballad "Louise" was released and reached #13 in the UK.

The “Human” League

In 1986, the group found themselves in creative stagnation, struggling to record material to follow up on their previous success. Key songwriter Jo Callis departed, replaced by drummer Jim Russell, and Virgin paired the Human League up with cutting-edge American R&B producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis who had just scored a huge worldwide hit earlier that year with Janet Jackson's ‘Control’. The result was the Crash album. The album featured much material written by Jam and Lewis' team, and showcased their distinctive DX7-led sound, making it quite a departure from previous Human League material. It did provide an American number-one single, "Human", but other singles made a smaller chart impact. In November 1988, a greatest hits compilation album was released which reached number 3 in UK.

90's

During the 90’s The Human League released two albums. Romantic? was the last album the Human League recorded for Virgin Records in 1990. The album did not re-capture the group's huge commercial success of 1981 and Virgin chose not to renew their recording contract with little warning causing great animosity between the company and the band that lasts to this day. The Human League returned in 1995, now signed to EastWest, with the single "Tell Me When" giving them their first major hit since 1986's "Human", and the accompanying album Octopus going silver. On the album credits, cover artwork and in videos, the group was now presented simply as a trio of Oakey/Catherall/Sulley.

The Human League Credo
After more than 30 years of existence and many successful singles and album releases, the Human League remains as one of the most influential bands of all time which shaped the late 70’s electronic and early 80’s synth-pop music scene. Even in the 80’s music revival today, they continue to produce their unique music style. 2011 sees their big comeback in ten years with their new album Credo already in shops creating the new Human League-o-mania.

Source (Wikipedia Edit)