WAW: The Last Shadow Puppets- Age of Understatement

John Foxx

John Foxx is the stage name of an English musician Dennis Leigh. Originally he was the lead singer of the first Ultravox lineup, before starting a solo career in 1979. Primarily associated with synthesizer music, he also pursued a parallel career in graphic design and education.

John Foxx began early to experiment with tape recorders and synthesizers. In 1973 he formed a band that would eventually be called Tiger Lily. The band played frequently around London in the mid seventies. After few name changes Tiger Lily was transformed in Ultravox! with an exclamation mark. Ultravox released three albums with Foxx as the lead singer including 'System of Romance', often regarded as the first synth pop album. In the beginning of 1979 Ultravox was dropped by their record label and the band came to parting of the ways during their tour. John announced his plan to go solo.

“The band thing is a phase – like being in a gang. You can’t really be part of a gang all your life; it begins to feel undignified and it stunts your growth, unless you want to be a teenager forever. Some do. Some don’t. The benefits were the Gestalt - where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, a very powerful experience - and working in a closed society with people who have the same aim”.Foxx for barcodezine.com

After signing to Virgin Records Foxx achieved minor chart success with his first solo single “Underpass”.This single was the third track on Foxx' all-synthetic sounding debut album 'Metamatic', released in the same year. The next LP 'Garden' followed in 1981 and this recording saw a departure of the electronic sound we were used to listen to on 'Metamatic'. 'Garden' was bearing a greater resemblance to Foxx' swansong with Ultravox' 'System of Romance'. The Garden's starting point was in fact a song called "Systems of Romance", written by Foxx for the earlier album but not released at the time. His third solo album 'In Mysterious Ways' was released in 1985 and it did not bring any commercial success and neither did it bring any progression in the music of John Foxx. Compared to the career of the new Ultravox, Foxx' career always remained in shadows. After 'In Mysterious Ways', Foxx gave up his public career in pop music. He sold his recording studio and returned to his earlier work as graphic artist, working under his original name.

In the early 90's Foxx made some brief appearances in the music scene by doing some collaborations and writing music for computer games. In 1997 Foxx made a return to the music scene with the simultaneous release of two albums, 'Shifting City' and 'Cathedral Oceans'. 'Shifting City' was a collaboration with Manchester's Louis Gordon, an updated stylistic return to Foxx' Metamatic synth pop sound that also displayed the influence of 1990s underground dance music and the 'triphop' style. 'Cathedral Oceans', on the other hand, was a solo John Foxx record, an ambient return to his Catholic youth and his love of the cathedrals of England and Europe. Its roots included traditional evensong, Gregorian Chant, Brian Eno, Harold Budd, and German band Cluster.

In April 2005 Foxx guested on Finnish DJ Jori Hulkkonen's album 'Dualizm', where he provided vocals for "Dislocated" which Hulkkonen had written especially for him. Two years later, in December 2007, Foxx exhibited some of his photographic works in an exhibition called Cinemascope at the Coningsby Gallery in West London. The works were part of three collections, "Grey Suit Music", "Tiny Colour Movies" and "Cathedral Oceans".

Notwist- The Devil, You + Me

"The Devil, You + Me" is the sixth studio album by German pop-electronic outfit The Notwist. It was released on 2 May 2008 in Europe and 17 June 2008 in the United States. The album contains eleven 11 tracks and features collaborations with the Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra. The first single will be "Where in This World" and a promo video has been released to the media.

The Cure- Freakshow

While waiting for the new album to be released, here comes another single for the Cure. This is the second single release for the Cure this year. The first single "The Only One" was featured here in May. "Freakshow" is the second release and it is scheduled to be released on June, 10 2008 in the US and June 13, 2008 in the UK on Geffen Records. Like the first single "Freakshow" features great artwork again.

Coldplay- Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends

'Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends' is the fourth studio album by English alternative rock band Coldplay. It was released on 12 June 2008 in the UK and will be released in North America on 17 June 2008. The project is largely produced by Brian Eno. Two songs have been released from the record, "Violet Hill" and "Viva la Vida".The album also includes two hidden tracks and there is also an iTunes bonus as well.

'Viva la Vida' takes its name from a painting by 20th century Mexican artist FridaKahlo. The album's artwork features the painting Liberty Leading the People (La Liberté guidant le peuple) by French painter Eugène Delacroix, commemorating the July Revolution of 1830.

Next Wave: MGMT

MGMT are Andrew Vanwyngarden and Ben Goldwasser and the group is formerly known as MANAGEMENT. On November 14, 2007 "Rolling Stone" pegged MGMT as a top 10 "Artist to Watch" in 2008 and they really are something to "Watch". Their music is innovative with so much retro style, mixing synths and psychotropic sounds. They sing about love, youth and nature.

MGMT's Myspace

Who is MGMT

Instant Hit: Martin L Gore-Smile In The Crowd

"Smile in The Crowd" is a song which was written by Vinnie Reilly and originally performed by the The Durutti Column. This song and few other great cover versions appeared on Martin L. Gore's 'Counterfeit' EP which was released in 1989. 'Counterfeit' was released on several record labels in Europe and was reissued in 2003.

Paul Weller- 22 Dreams

'22 Dreams' is the ninth solo studio album by Paul Weller. It was released on June 2, 2008.The album is a double LP and single CD. Oasis stars Noel Gallagher and Gem Archer feature on the album, as does Ocean Colour Scene guitarist Steve Cradock and Blur guitarist Graham Coxon.

The first release from the album will be a double a-side single "Echoes Round the Sun" - which features Noel Gallagher and Gem Archer from Oasis, and "Have You Made Up Your Mind", which is scheduled to be released on May 26, 2008.

Annabel Lamb

Annabel Lamb is a British singer-songwriter. She has released six albums to date (including a Top of The Pops performance in 1983, with her cover version of The Doors "Riders On The Storm", her only hit on the UK Singles Chart). She has been diverse at times, her earlier albums showing decidedly new wave, synth-pop, experimental rock, jazz and ethnic influences.

In 1983 she released her debut album "Once Bitten" The U.S. version of the album differed from the UK release and as well as different cover artwork, contained the single "Riders On The Storm" which was not present on the original UK issue.

Lamb has also been a session singer and musician for the likes of Toni Basil and Tina Charles.As well as her recording and touring career, Lamb has co-written songs with many other artists, notably the song "Amazed Are We" for Maxi Priest. Amongst her influences, she lists James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, Jane Siberry, Fairport Convention and Paul Brady.

Ladytron- Velocifero

'Velocifero' is the fourth studio album from Ladytron and their first to be released by their new label, Nettwerk. "Black Cat" is now available to download on their website. They have announced that "Ghosts" will be the first single of the album. The album is available for digital download on iTunes as of 19 May 2008. It is released on CD and other download websites on 2 June in the UK and 3 June elsewhere. Ladytron's record label have confirmed this album will be the first of Ladytron's with no vinyl release. The music video for Ghosts was officially released on YouTube on 17 May 2008.