The new Depeche Mode single has been out there for about a week now, but today it's "officially" out there for your purchasing dollar. Should you have a need for a rewrite of "Condemnation" but slowed down to half-speed and over-emoted twice has much, then do I have the single for you! On the bright side, if you loved the last two Depeche Mode albums, this is going to be right up your alley. If you're actually looking for the 'Violator' meets 'Songs of Faith of Devotion' they've been claiming this is, however, remember that supposedly 'Sounds of the Universe' was also 'Violator' meets 'Songs of Faith and Devotion' and we all know how that turned out. This is garbage. Hang it up, boys.
I've got to be honest: as much as I adore 'RuPaul's Drag Race' - and I have, more than once with complete sincerity, declared it the best show on television - this whole every-drag-queen-is-a-popstar thing is getting a little tiring. However. Shangela has just raised the bar. THIS is how you fucking do it, ladies:
It is the longest five minutes you'll ever sit through, true, but it's also a bit like an outtake from Geri Halliwell's masterpiece of insanity 'Scream If You Wanna Go Faster'. In drag. (Like, actual drag, not Geri Halliwell-always-looked-like-a-drag-queen-anyways drag.) With a gratuitous Popeye's cameo. Guest starring the insufferable Abby Lee Miller, who is actually perfect for this. On top of that, the video threatens to turn into "Cold Hearted Snake" for a few seconds. Hot. Mess. Fantastic. (Thank you, Frank, for opening my eyes to this.)
And like that, the first new results of the Suede reunion are upon us. After pretty incessant teasing through their Twitter feed, this morning they announced new LP 'Bloodsports' - a horribly non-Suede Suede album title if you ask me - and free download of new single "Barriers". (NME reports an "official" single "It Starts And Ends With You" - such a cliche late-period Suede song title it's amazing it hasn't been used yet - is due in February.) They've been mouthing off about going back to a sound that's part 'Dog Man Star'/part 'Coming Up' and not releasing anything unless they get it right, which can only set you up for some sort of disappointment. (Really, both of those albums were lightning in a bottle for completely different reasons, it's absurd to think you could re-create either of them individually, let alone mash them together but I'll give it to Brett. He was excited.) On the bright side, the latter proves to be true enough - this is no grand slam Suede return, more a gentle toe dip to test the waters and see what people say, but a legacy tarnisher it is not. I'm willing to accept not a total disaster - for now - but they're gonna have to do more than a fleshed-out re-write of "Oxygen" for the experiment to be a full-on success. I think they can do it, as long as they stay out of their own way and let the music do the talking. (And even more importantly, not completely distance themselves from work they're obviously proud of if public opinion doesn't mesh. coughcough"Attitude"coughcough)
And here we are, the end of another year. Let's get to some list making, shall we? First up: singles. Well, mostly singles - some non-singles pop up along the way - and one may or may not have actually been from 2011 but given a proper single release in 2012, so we're counting that too. 20.) Alphabeat - Vacation The album was a bit of a dud, but this one sat on just the right side of being too sicky sweet. (Barely.)
19.) Will Young - I Just Want A Lover (Extended Mix)
So it's from 2011, really, but this version didn't appear until 2012 so we're counting it. Again, Richard X should be in charge of everything.
18.) Mirrors - Blood Diamond (Home Demo)
Things seem to have gone silent in Camp Mirrors, but this one shows that if they ever get a shot an album #2, they've got a good starting point.
17.) Little Boots - Headphones (Dimitri From Paris Remix)
The original is "For Tomorrow" goes to the club, but DJ Dimitri wraps that up in straight-up "Into The Groove 2012". Can we please have an album already?
16.) The Joy Formidable - Cholla
The wall of sound returns with album 2 ready to go just as the campaign for 1 is wrapping up. That's the way to do it. It's no "Whirring", but then again what is?
15.) Van She - Idea of Happiness
On the flip side, Van She sure took their time with album 2 but it was ultimately worth the wait - especially when the lead single comes with such a fantastic GusGus-esque video.
14.) Moonlight Matters - Come For Me (feat. Gustaph)
I just became aware of this one a few days back but it instantly shot up my list. Good to see someone continuing the early-90's house/pop revival that Alphabeat started with 'The Beat Is...'.
13.) The Ting Tings - Hit Me Down Sonny
'Sounds From Nowheresville' is the most fantastic career suicide attempt this side of Elastica's 'The Menace', and this is one of its many highlights.
12.) Pop Levi - Strawberry Shake
After sitting silent for a few years, Pop Levi returns out of nowhere with a single as funkily weird as anything in his discography. Huzzah!
11.) Pet Shop Boys - Leaving
"Being boring 2012"? Kindasortanotreally. The highlight of an uneven album? Absolutely.
10.) Imperial Teen - Runaway
We may only get new Imperial Teen every four or five years, but when they reconvene they do it in a big way.
09.) Sylver Tongue - Creatures
Charlotte Hatherley adopts a synth/art-pop loving persona and decides that indie-jungle is the way to go. And it works.
08.) Steve Mason - Fight Them Back
Another late entry, Mr. Mason gives us a preview of what he's been working on the past few years.
07.) Dragonette - Untouchable
I had my issues with 'Bodyparts' and ultimately I couldn't come around to it. That said, this is 100% classic Dragonette and sends chills up my spine every time. Also, lyric of the year in "your divinity only makes me feel dirty".
(Not available for streaming anywhere? Lame!)
05.) TIE: R. Ring - Fall Out & Fire / Kim Deal - Walking With A Killer
While I'd love a new Breeders album - we're getting the 'LSXX' tour next year so at least I'll get a live show - I'm equally excited about new projects from both of the Deal twins. Kelley paired up with Mike Montgomery to bring us a slightly less sloppy take on the incredibly messy guitar pop the Kelley Deal 6000 excelled at, and Kim remains impossibly genius with the fractured anti-pop of "Walking With A Killer". More, please!
04.) Robbie Williams - Candy
Robbie's biggest pop moment in ages.
03.) Ultrasound - Beautiful Sadness
The reunion that should not be continues, following up last year's as-good-as-they-ever-were "Welfare State" with something even better.
02.) Blur - The Puritan
Everything you ever loved about Blur in under 4 minutes. This should be getting wayyyyyy more attention than it is.
The rest of the album is nowhere near as amazeballs at this - there's a track near the end that's close - but this is the track to beat for 2012 so far.
Keeping with the "long overdue return" theme, Imperial Teen posted the first single from their forthcoming fifth long player yesterday.
It's called "Runaway" and the album - that's the FANTASTIC artwork over there - is out in January on Merge. (Vinyl release this time? Please? Did 'The Hair, The TV, The Baby & The Band' ever end up getting an LP release? I'll have to investigate.)
Anyways, good ol' Soundcloud says the song sounds like this:
Just as the last great album of 2011 shows it's head, the first great album of 2012 peeks out from behind the curtain. I *WILL* catch the tour for this one. (Will it really have been 10 years from the Imperial Teen Summer of 2002? Goodness!)
Unfortunately there has been a delay in obtaining one or more of the items you have ordered and this is holding up your order.
The item(s) we have not yet been able to obtain are shown below:
The Sound Of Arrows, Nova, 5.99, 1
If you would like us to send you the items that we have in stock, please send us an email with 'release available items' and your order number in the subject line and we will cancel the items that are holding up your order.
Unfortunately, we are not able to split orders and send the available items now and the rest later. If you still wish to receive the items we have not been able to obtain, please place a new order for these.
If you would prefer to wait and recieve all of the items you have ordered together, you do not need to reply to this email. Please check again in 14 days
Thank you "
Pull it together, boys. I had faith in this actually happening.
2010 saw me spending a lot of money. Paired with that, while going through album purchases at the end of the year to make a year-end list, I came across many things that I had bought but listened to maybe once or twice - not necessarily because I didn't like it, more because there was so much to take in - and, in a few cases, things I had totally forgotten I purchased. So I decided to take the month of January off from purchasing new music - partially to pay the bills, partially to further explore some forgotten 2010 releases, partially to go through those massive fan-made Blur deluxe editions. (I cheated a little. I have some credit at the iTunes store so I bought the Anna Calvi single after reading about it - the blatant PJ Harvey-isms are a bit distracting, but at the same time she apparently isn't interested in making an album like that any more so it's good someone is - and then there's the use-it-or-lose-it credit on eMusic, but no new money has been spent so far.) Anyways, it wasn't that difficult as not much has come out this month that was really all that interesting - there was the Klaxons deluxe edition this week but there's only two tracks on it I don't already have so waiting isn't that difficult, next week is the Fujiya & Miyagi album but I'd like to wait to hear some more of it before I commit, and the Anna Calvi album came out but I really can't decide - so it appears to have been a good month to do that. However, the calendar is quickly filling up for February and March with lots and lots of really, really good stuff. Let's take a look.
02/02: Gruff Rhys - Hotel Shampoo - Japanese CD with 2 bonus tracks (from the UK 12"/DL singles that aren't available in the US - grrr)
02/07: PJ Harvey - The Words That Maketh Murder - 7" (Already available as a download in the UK sans b-side - the US got "Written On The Forehead" for some reason, despite it already being available as a free download from Polly herself. Fuckers.) The Boxer Rebellion - Step Out Of The Car - 7" (Exclusive b-side not on any of the myriad of formats of the album.) The Boxer Rebellion - The Cold Still - UK CD release (Recordstore is offering signed copies to the first 100 orders while HMV has an exclusive 4-track bonus CD.) 02/08: The Boxer Rebellion - The Cold Still - US iTunes download with 3 bonus tracks, none of which overlap with the HMV bonus disc, which is both nice and obnoxious. (Is there a physical version planned for the US? I can't seem to find one.) Gruff Rhys - Hotel Shampoo - US CD for those who don't want to go the Japanese route.
02/14: Mirrors - Into The Heart - 7" (No word on b-side yet, but Richard X produced single version!) 02/15: Mirrors - Into The Heart - US download (I'm assuming, though no one actually has it listed yet.) PJ Harvey - Let England Shake - CD/LP (Second US vinyl release in a row for PJ - hooray! Also, the iTunes pre-order bonus track is the b-side from the 7" so no need to go that route.)
02/21: nothing of interest 02/22: Designer Drugs - Hardcore/Softcore - CD (Good remixers don't always equal good album artists, but this is worth investigating.)
02/28: Elbow - Neat Little Rows - 7" (Finally, new Elbow!) 03/01: nah
03/07: Elbow - Build A Rocket Boys! - CD (And, I'm assuming, LP. No word on a US release yet.) 03/08: R.E.M. - Collapse Into Now - CD (Could be iffy but worth checking out.)
Also somewhere in there will be the physical release of Duran Duran's 'All You Need Is Now' with extra tracks - please don't fuck it up, it's pretty perfect as it is - and the single release of the title track from last year's Manic Street Preachers album. Also possible is the first single from The Whip's second LP due in the Spring, long-awaited new material from Battles, a dub version of Steve Mason's 'Boys Outside' LP called 'Ghosts Outside' and a single from the Kills record that is out on April 4/5. Active Child is in the studio working on new material though no release has been set, Hunx & His Punx have a proper full-length in the works, Florrie as a second EP and Annie collab in the works (which may or may not be the same thing) and Björk may or may not deliever LP7 in the first half of the year - and which point I may or may not care, she's burned through A LOT of good will over the past five years or so. Also, in the "I'll believe it when I see it" category, that stupid Sound of Arrows album is supposed to be out in the Spring but it may have been delayed - again - the Fall. So I'll see you in 2015 to discuss that one.
All in all, 2011 is shaping up quite nicely. Anything I missed?
Previewed on their US tour last fall, "Step Out Of The Car" is the first full taste we have of their third full-length, 'The Cold Still', which is due in February. It's a nice mix of the indie-scrappery of debut 'Exits' plus the majestic sweep of 2009's 'Union' and bodes very well for the album. (Not that there were really any doubts, but still.)
As of now, only Juno appears to have the track for sale and even then it's region blocked so we in the US are out of luck for the time being. The video is up on their YouTube channel, so that will have to suffice for now:
...to #58. Certainly it deserved better, but I suppose one would have to actually promote a single - and release it at a logical time, not weeks after it first becomes available - to achieve chart success.
As I mentioned earlier, These New Puritans have a campaign-summarizing EP coming out in November entitled 'Hidden Remixes'. They announced the track list today and it looks something like this:
A1. Introduction A2. We Want War (SBTRKT Remix) A3. Main Attrakionz 3000 B1. Hologram (Salem Remix) B2. We Want War (Ghost Hunter Remix)
Suckfest. We already bought the - admittedly excellent - SBTRKT Remix on the 'Hidden' bonus EP, though it will be nice to have a physical release of the also pretty good Ghost Hunter remix. That Salem remix appeared on RCRDLBL a few months back and is a total pile, which leaves that Main Attrakionz 3000 thing the only unknown.
Except it's not, as you can listen to it thanks you the wonders of YouTube. I warn you, it's not for the feint of heart:
Garbage. So much for saving the singles campaign at the end with an excellent catch all release. Thanks for nothing.
On a related note, two mixes of "White Chords" have shown up kind of randomly. There's the Forest Swords Remix on RCRDLBL and FACT has a Mordant Music Remix. Neither are amazing but both are perfectly listenable - and loads better than either of the non-"We Want War" mixes we're getting on the proper release.
Some free music to start the week off right. First, kind of out of nowhere Gruff Rhys made a new single available for the cost of an e-mail from his website. Entitled "Shark Ridden Waters", it sounds a bit like 'Candylion' visiting the set of a 60's beach party movie and is a vast improvement over SFA's 'Dark Days/Light Years' but still a bit underwhelming. There's supposedly an album coming early next year, but until then you can also pre-order the 12" directly from him - though no mention of a track list yet. I'm curious to see how this surprise develops.
Also seemingly out of nowhere, A Sunny Day In Glasgow have made their third full-length album, entitled 'Autumn, Again', available for a free download. You can also donate money towards the cause via a Paypal link and/or order an LP version.
School of Seven Bells broke my heart this weekend.
I'll go into this in more details later - once I can stop crying every time I think about it - but let's just say what was supposed to be the tour of the year/decade/lifetime has turned into FAR less. Boo.
However, there's still the matter of that split 7" with Active Child to contend with, and in that regard they pass with flying colors. If you haven't been paying attention, they're each taking a stab at the one of the others' singles - they're remixing his "I'm In Your Church At Night" and he's going all choral over "Heart Is Strange". Both remixes have now appeared in the internet-ether, and they are both as incredible as you might imagine. Each has basically transplanted their single onto the others - "I'm In Your Church At Night" is now a "Heart Is Strange"-esque club banger, and "Heart Is Strange" is now a gorgeous "I'm In Your Church At Night" chill-fest. (Watch for that coda - A-mazing.) You can grab an mp3 of the Active Child remix of "Heart Is Strange" at the Lefse Records site - where you can also pre-order the 7" for a very reasonable $7 - and the Walrus Music Blog (among others, I'm sure) as the School of Seven Bells remix of "I'm In Your Church At Night".
This almost makes up for the tour. Almost. (No offense to Active Child - you were amazing. Or SVIIB, for that matter. Part circumstance - get well soon, Claudia - and part poor decision making - lose the live drummer and find a new sound guy, and quick.)
After pretty much completely botching what should have been the most satisfying album singles campaign in years, These New Puritans and the Angular Recording Company are attempting to redeem themselves with a final, catchall release. Entitled 'Hidden Remixes' - that's the pretty gorgeous sleeve over there - this 10" will "hit the shelves" (as they used to say) on October 25th. No word yet on a track list, but an e-mail sent out by ARC declared it will contain "previous remixes from the like of SBTRKT and SALEM, as well as some exciting new remixes". So that's one a piece of "We Want War" and "Hologram" at least - but the "Hologram" one was a steaming pile and we've already got the SBTRKT one on the bonus EP, so hopefully the new ones will be worthwhile. You can watch the label's site for more info because I'll probably forget about it until it's gone out of print and I have to pay a fortune to get one. *sigh*
Going back and forth on Facebook posts with Mr. Active Child himself, it has come to light that there is indeed a split 7" single in the works with himself and tour mates School of Seven Bells.
(Side note: best tour pairing ever.)
It will feature each artist remixing a track from the other. SVIIB are tackling 'Curtis Lane' highlight "I'm In Your Church At Night" - for which there is a new video in the works, I imagine using the original EP version - while forthcoming single and 'Disconnect From Desire' highlight "Heart Is Strange" is getting an Active Child overhaul.
In a related note to the Annie issue of last post, Underworld released a (pretty well-loaded) digital single for "Always Loved A Film" yesterday. (In a nice change of pace, eMusic has 2 mixes that iTunes doesn't. Score.)
