Voice Farm

Voice Farm was a San Francisco electronic music band in the Synthpunk genre formed in 1981. The duo consisted of vocalists/keyboard players Myke Reilly and Charly Brown. They released two independent singles and 3 albums. The group earned national attention in 1990 as the opening act on Depeche Mode's U.S. concert tour.

The history of Voice Farm can be traced back to the chance meeting of Charly Brown, an artist and musician from Portland, Ore and Myke Reilly who served a three month prison sentence in Berlin for experimenting with pirate television there. The circle was complete when former baseball player Ken Weller was added. Their first singles "Double Garage" and “Modern Things” were released in 1981, one year before the release of their debut album ‘The World We Live In’. The album was released on Optional/Systematic label and it was produced by David Kahne. The record featured mostly synthesizer driven sound with some ominous bass tones.

As a duo they released their self titled album ‘Voice Farm’ in 1987 which was radically different than the previous one. They added guitars and backing vocals to their danceable sound and combined dance beats with synthesized effects, found sounds. In 1991, they added Ken Weller to the group and released "Bigger Cooler Weirder" on Morgan Creek Records. They had some dance chart success with the songs "Free Love" & "Seeing Is Believing" but the label didn't take advantage of the momentum and let the band die even after landing a spot opening for Depeche Mode during their "Violator" tour and playing at Madison Square Garden and the Cow Palace. One of the last releases from the band was an independent release in 1995 called "The Love Experiment". Myke and Charly later found success in the music business: they produce music for television commercials.

Instant Hit: Boytronic- Luna Square

"Luna Square" was the second track on Boytonic's first album The Working Model, released in 1983 on Mercury records. This song also appeared on The Working Model (Reverse) which was released 20 years later and which featured 17 tracks. Pity, it was never released as a single as the is considered one of Boytronic's best tunes and the ultimate hi-Nrg German synth-pop classic.

WAW: Crystal Castles- Courtship Dating

The Cure- '4:13 Dream'

The long awaited Cure album whose release date has been delayed few times is set to be released on October 13th, 2008. The album is entitled '4:13 Dream' and four singles were already released during the year and two of them were featured here.Here is a little reminder of the beautiful artwork.

The Verve- Forth

'Forth' is the upcoming fourth album by English alternative rock band The Verve and will be released on August 25, 2008. It is the band's first album of new material since Urban Hymns was released in 1997, excluding two unreleased tracks on the singles compilation album This Is Music: The Singles 92-98.The album's first single, "Love Is Noise", received its first airplay by Zane Lowe on BBC Radio 1 on June 23, 2008. The band also released a non-album track, "Mover", as a free digital download a week later.

Retrovision: The Blue Nile- Tinseltown In The Rain

Gang of Four's Second Life

The new line up of Gang of Four has released a new song after 13 years. Earlier this year the band announced that they will go separate ways and that singer Jon King and guitar-player Andy Gill would continue as Gang of Four then. This is the first result of their writing and recording together, the new song "Second Life"(released in June) which is available digitally via itunes and as a 7" vinyl from Rough Trade.

Gang Of Four - Second Life

Instant Hit: The Tapes- Blue Thighs

"Blue Thighs" was the first single released by the Dutch group The Tapes which was considered as Holland's answer to Talking Heads. This song was released in 1980 and it appeared on their second album Party. During their career they released three LP's.

Next Wave: Silvery

Here another great British group to watch for. The groups is called Silvery and has released their debut album 'Thunderer and Excelsior' which contains 14 tracks including the previously released single "Horrors/Orders". Their music style is very eccentric, organ-led and under great musical influences like David Bowie, Sparks, XTC and Blur.'Thunderer & Excelsior'will be BBC 6music's album of the day! Tue 12th August.

B- Movie

B-Movie formed in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire during 1978 from the ashes of local punk band The Aborted. The band consisted of Steve Hovington (vocals/bass), Paul Statham (guitar) & Graham Boffey (drums). They quickly changed their name to B-Movie following Steve's discovery in an art book of the Andy Warhol painting of the same name.

After they recorded the first four songs, they used to play the first demo gigs including The Cornhill Vaults in Lincoln where they played several times. In order to develop their sound they recruited the keyboard player Rick Holiday. This brought the whole new dimension to their sound and they moved form three minutes New wave songs to much more grander outfits. B-Movie released their first EP, 'The Take Three EP' on July 1980 which also included the first ever recording “Remembrance Day”. The next chapter in B-Movie history was marked through the meeting with Stevo, the local DJ who would eventually sign B-Movie to his own record label 'Some Bizzare'.There was also a plan for a compilation album which would take the same name.Twelve acts were assembled and they each sent in one track. The B-Movie offering was a newly recorded song called “Moles” which had become a live favorite. It was by far the rockiest track on the album and had very little in common with the other acts except maybe a willingness to experiment. The Some Bizarre Album was scheduled for release in February 1981 and would feature the vinyl debuts of Depeche Mode, The The, Soft Cell & Blancmange. All of these acts went on to considerable success so the album could be viewed as the musical equivalent of the Dead Sea Scrolls!

In 1981 they had their biggest UK commercial success when their single “Remembrance Day” reached 61 in the UK charts narrowly missing out on a crucial Top Of The Pops TV appearance. The single was receiving unanimously good reviews but was being ignored by daytime radio - it seemed that the record company did not have a strategy to get the record into the upper reaches of the chart. The follow up single 'Marilyn Dreams' failed to chart. In 1982 they released "Nowhere Girl" which made the Top 10 in many European countries and reached 68 in the United Kingdom, but there was no follow up and no sign of an album.

Keyboard player Rick Holliday left in 1983 to form Six Sed Red with Soft Cell associate Cindy Ecstasy. The rest of the band re-surfaced in 1984 with the single “A letter From Afar” produced by John "Jellybean" Benitez but this failed to chart. Towards the end of 1985 they finally released an album with Sire Records called 'Forever Running' containing re-recorded versions of the two hits but both it and the single "Switch On Switch Off" were flops despite a tour to promote them.

The band broke up soon after. The members of B-Movie were involved in different solo projects more or less successful and after a long hiatus, in March, 2006 B-Movie performed at the club The Metro in London. The videos of these live performances were already featured in this blog.