One of the first synth-pop acts of the former Yugoslavia Beograd, named after the capital Belgrade has been reissued on CD for the very first time. Their debut EP features the title track "TV" and three other minimal style synth-pop tracks and it is out on Anna Logue Records. This year also marks the 30 year anniversary of its original release.
The reason why every great musical movement has its revivial is because of the great bands whose music takes us back years and decades back. One of the bands which gives New Wave a new glamour is the Brooklyn based group Selebrities. The band consists of Maria Usbeck (vocals/synth), Jer Robert Paulin (guitars/synth) and Max Peterson (production/synth/drum). Along the New Wave style, their music delivers dark enchantment and artful melancholy with catchy synth pop beats, sinister guitar chords and dark and dreamy vocals. Their debut record 'Delusions' was released earlier this year and it is available on Cascine Records.
'Rapprocher' the debut album by from Elizabeth Harper's Class Actress is out this week. The album is out on 'Carpark Records' and features among others the songs "Keep You" and "Weekend". 'Rapprocher' is where Harper's sexy voice meets the synth-pop beats and catchy melodies. The album is a follow-up to their 2010 EP release 'Journal of Ardency' which was released by 'Terrible Records'
Laurie Anderson released "O Superman" thirty years ago and entered the UK charts unexpectedly at number 2. Half-sung, half-spoken and in minimal and experimental style, it brought something new to the music world. The songs was later covered by David Bowie and elements of this song also inspired Army Lovers to record "Obsession", one of their biggest hits.
Kraftwerk have recently played three 3D concerts in Munich which was a small introduction to their 3D video Installation exhibition in the Kunstbau at the Lenbachhaus in Munich. Kraftwerk’s programmed world of images and sounds, an immersive total work of art, will for the first time be experienced outside the concert hall. A multi-channel 3D video installation specially developed for the Kunstbau will make for a worthy presentation of Kraftwerk’s unique and influential position within the history of the fine and the performing arts. The exhibition will be opened from October,15 till November 13, 2011.
4AD will be issuing a boxset of all three This Mortal Coil albums on November 8th (US) / 14th (UK). Each record has been re-mastered from the original analogue studio tapes by John Dent at Loud Mastering, to achieve the best digital sound available today. Additionally there is a fourth album, Dust & Guitars, that compiles all the singles, including an unreleased one that was to have been part of the Rough Trade Singles Club and features the otherwise unavailable recording of Neil Young's 'We Never Danced'.
Pet shop Boys had two collaborations with the female singer Dusty Springfiled. Their first hit "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" was released in 1987 and became a huge hit in the UK and USA as well as Springfield's biggest hit in the US. The song's success helped revive Springfield's career and led to a resurgence of interest in her music. Following the duet the Pet Shop Boys wrote and produced the singles "Nothing Has Been Proved" and "In Private" for Springfield, both included on her 1990 album 'Reputation'. The song prominently features an orchestral arrangement by Angelo Badalamenti and a tenor saxophone solo by Courtney Pine.
"Nothing Has Been Proved" was composed specifically for the 1989 film 'Scandal' and the music video shows Springfield in the studio along with a Christine Keeler lookalike being interviewed with camera flash bulbs going off. Along with these come short reels from the film Scandal starring Joanne Whalley, John Hurt, Sir Ian McKellen, Britt Ekland, and Bridget Fonda as well as original news footage from 1963. The Pet Shop Boys play journalists interviewing Christine.
Xeno and Oaklander's new album 'Sets and Lights' is out this week. This is their second release for the New York based label Wierd Records. Their latest single is also entitled "Sets and Lights" and it was released in September. You can stream the whole album here. Xeno and Oaklander will be joining John Foxx And The Maths for two shows on the forthcoming UK Tour – at London XOYO on 27 October, followed by Holmfirth (near Sheffield) on 28th October.
Soft Riot is a one man band and a musical creation of Jack Duckworth also known as JJD and a member of the post-punk outfit Savage Furs. The concept of his music is ambient punk with elements of drone-y post-rock, minimal wave electronics and synthesizer-based cinema soundtracks. Soft Riot made a debut in 2010 with "No Longer A Stranger" on the Panospria label which featured six minimal, pulsing pop songs, the lyrics drawing from science fiction, isolation, politics, romance and psychedelia with an element of wry black humor. JJD is currently working on new material which will be released soon. Stay tuned for more info!
Italian star Valerie Dore had her debut in 1984 with the melancholic synth-pop tune "The Night" which also became her biggest hit in Europe. The song was produced by Lino Nicolosi and Roberto Gasparini and it was released as both 7" and 12" inch record. Between 1984 and and today it has been released seven times on several different record labels. It also remained as one of the influential Italo-disco tracks which has been covered and remixed ever since the original release.
