Jacko dead

Michael Jackson is dead. He never was LIM's musical cup of tea. I hated Thriller when it came out: after all the years of post-punk and 'new wave' American mass-produced pop-pap was obviously back in a big way, firstly with Jackson then with Madonna etc etc. He played in big part in the "MTV revolution" especially with the Thriller video, which again was Reagan- driven US music for the masses being exported with ease to Thatcher's UK, Europe and the rest of the world.
Jackson's eccentric behavio(u)r, Neverland home built especially with children in mind (ahem) and last but not least his desire to look like Diana Ross, but whiter, were all part of the Whacko-Jacko package, and after all he was finally proved 'innocent' of certain crimes.
But when all's said and done you have to hand it to him - he did some cracking pop songs and yes I secretly did like Don't Stop Til You Get Enough, Billie Jean and later Black or White and a few others.
In the year of Obama's "black revolution" the black man who wanted to become white passed away. RIP Michael Jackson.

The quiet man speaks

Official sites The Quiet Man and Metamatic have given details of the new John Foxx CD The Quiet Man which features some of the surreal, dream-like stories from the musician's on-going novel about London of the same name.
‘The origins of the novel are firmly cinematic,’ says Foxx. ‘I found an old grey suit in a charity shop in the 1970s. Over the years, I got some friends to wear the suit in various locations in London. I filmed them just walking or sitting in cafes or apartments. As I did this, The Quiet Man story began to emerge. It’s about London becoming overgrown, about the suit being alive somehow, and the way cities can alter us - and our memories. ‘It’s also about film’, he adds. ‘In the novel, The Quiet Man walks into the screen at one point. I think we all do this when we view a film, we enter into it. Participate. Travelling without moving. If that isn’t magic, I don’t know what is.’
The Quiet Man CD will be issued on Monday 27th July and will be exclusive to the Foxx Official Shop at Townsend Records. This will be Foxx's 4th CD release this year.

The issue of the CD coincides with a new exhibition, DNA,which features images and narratives from the book alongside work by visual artists, film-makers, illustrators, Manga artists, graphic designers and musicians who have been inspired by the character and different aspects of Foxx's thirty-year career.



John Foxx: keeping it Quiet

Phil in Boots

The Human League's Philip Oakey has made a guest appearance on a track on Little Boots' new album Hands. The track, entitled Symmetry, was also performed live by the not-entirely-unlikely duo at a recent LB gig. It's a stomping track which fits in seamlessly with all the other frankly amazing songs in Blackpool-born Victoria Hesketh's debut. Close your eys and you can imagine a 1981-style Oakey singing it on TOTP.
"I'm a huge Human League fan and I just didn't think it would happen. When [singer] Phil Oakey said he would do it, I was like, 'Wow, incredible', because I'm just a massive fan".

Little Boots' electro-driven debut bears all the influences of greats such as The Human League, Pet Shop Boys, Heaven 17 et al yet the numerous references to Kylie by some critics are a little shallow and ill-founded. Hesketh writes all our own material and is a keyboard and techno wiz (witness her deftly using the Yamaha Tenori-on). A child of her time, and a very talented one at that. LIM says: Real new talent..at last!




Little Boots with Phil Oakey: together in electric dreams.






sources: BBC, Electronically Yours


Little Boots official

30 years of Pleasures

NME special this week:

K-Punk article on FACT magazine

New Nouvelle news

Well love em or hate em Nouvelle Vague are back with a new album of their off-beat versions of various punk and new wave songs, making this their third so far. The new album - appropriately entitled '3' - differs from the band's previous albums however in that it actually features the original singers on some of the songs - Ian McCulloch on the Bunnymen's All My Colours, Terry Hall on Our Lips Are Sealed and Martin Gore on Master & Servant among them.
Other songs covered include laid back versions of Gary Numan's Metal, Psychedelic Furs' Heaven, The Sex Pistols' God Save the Queen and Simple Minds' The American.
Nouvelle Vague, led by producer/arrangers Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux and a revolving cast of chanteuses, embark on an extensive world tour this weeks rating in New York taking in much of Europe up until December.

NV on my space
NV offical site


Nouvelle Vague: il sont fous ces francais . .mais très aimables.

On the Mode again

and then....
..the DM official announcement did duly come yesterday. Fans who bought tickets for the concert in Leipzig, Germany on June 8th can breathe a sigh of relief as the Tour of the Universe will re-start from there. Dave Gahan has had an operation to remove a 'low-grade malignant tunour' from his bladder.
Cancelled dates have been or will soon be re-scheduled. see depechemode.com


the good burgers of Leipzig in a celebratory mood, yesterday

The Universe can wait

Ticket holding Depeche Mode fans in the UK are anxiously waiting to know whether they should abandon homes and loved ones to reach the capital for the scheduled DM concert at the O2 Arena on Saturday.
So far a total of nine concerts of the much anticipated Tour of the Universe have been cancelled due to singer Dave Gahan's ill health.
An announcement as to whether London or other gigs will also be cancelled is expected later today.
Gahan was rushed to hospital just minutes before the concert in Athens earlier this month, allegedly due to 'a severe bout of gastroenteritis'.

Lost in Music asks: couldn't Gore do all the singing?




Dave Gahan : not a well man.

Marsheaux break through

Marsheaux announce that their new 5 track EP Breakthrough will be released on Friday 29th May through all the usual download outlets.
As well as the radio edit and club mixes there will be a 'B' side called 'How Does It Feel?' exclusive to this EP release only, not be featured on the band's upcoming album 'Lumineux Noir'. It's not known whether this track is a cover version of the Slade classic.

tracklisting
1. Breakthrough - Radio Edit
2. How Does It Feel?
3. Breakthrough - Fotonovela Remix
4. Breakthrough - Auto Auto Remix
5. Breakthrough - Marsheauxxxx Remixxxx

Breakthrough on play.com

Marsheaux : ooh look, they're talking about us on Lost in Music!

Hyperactive Dolby

Synth-pop pioneer Thomas Dolby has just released a CD/DVD retrospective collection entitled The Singular Thomas Dolby on EMI. The British artist became one of the most recognizable figures of the synth-pop movement of early-’80s new wave with songs such as "Europa & the Pirate Twins", "Windpower" and "She Blinded Me With Science" (featuring Dr. Magnus Pyke) . Dolby successfully harnessed the power of synthesizers and samplers, to make catchy pop and light electro-funk, becoming successful in the US when the 'new wave' hit America in the mid 80s. The CD covers his career from the early tracks "Urges" and "Leipzig" through to "I Love You Goodbye" and "Silk Pyjamas", while the DVD features "..seldom seen cut from his 1983 concert, “Live Wireless”.." and all the videos.

Remastered and enhanced versions of Dolby's classic albums The Golden Age of Wireless (CD/DVD) and The Flat Earth are also set for release in June. Although the new CDs contain "all peripheral songs from each era that didn’t make it onto the albums for whatever reason" Dolby also promises that extras will also be available as free downloads from the official web site. 12" extended versions have been avoided.
Dolby is currently working on a new studio album which will include songs performed on the 2006/2007 Sole Inhabitant tour called "Your Karma Hit My Dogma" and "Jealous Thing".






Thomas Dolby: then and now

Songs without frontiers

The 2009 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest has been won by Norway's 23 year old contestant Aleksander Rybak with the self-penned "Fairytale". The young singer-songwriter of Bielorus origins was a strong favourite and came first in Moscow with 387 votes beating Iceland into second place (218 votes) and Azerbaijan 3rd (207 votes). Rybak, son of a pianist and violin player, begaun playing both instruments at 5 years old. The rousing number, sung in English, has a strong melody and chorus as well as a catchy folk style violin line as played by Rybak himself on stage.

This year's contest held in Moscow was the most expensive to date at an estimated cost of 42 million euros. The show was also somewhat overshadowed by the Gay Pride parade held on the same day as the final in the Russian capital, which saw several arrests. the parade had not been approved by the city's mayor Iuri Luzhkov.
Mr. Luzhov..zero points.

Cale's Wales...in Venice

Ex Velvet Underground member John Cale will be representing his home country of Wales at the Venice Biennale arts festival this summer.
Born in Garnant, South Wales, Cale attended Goldsmiths College, London. In 1963, he moved to New York, where he met LaMonte Young, Andy Warhol, and Lou Reed, and founded The Velvet Underground.
For Wales at Venice 2009, Cale will produce a new audio-visual work made in Wales, in collaboration with artists, filmmakers and poets. The work has at its heart Cale’s own personal relationship with the Welsh language and the issues surrounding communication. The installation will be gheld in the ex-birreria, a former brewery on the island of Giudecca from June 7th to November 22nd 2009.
Jonathan Jones in The Guardian describes the work as "a wonderful spoken-word recording, like a cross between Dylan Thomas and William S Burroughs played on an old radio".

Intriguing...might be worth a vist.

John Cale: "Mae gweithio yn aml-gyfryngol yn gweddu’r broses o ddadreibio ac rwyf yn ddiolchgar am y cyfle hwn i’w harchwilio yn ddyfnach"

Awaydays: soundtrack to a generation

The soundtrack to the new movie Awaydays, based on the original novel by Kevin Simpson, will be released on 25th May and features some of the best 'new wave' music from the 78/79 period. Ultravox!, Echo & the Bunnymen, Joy Division, Cabaret Voltaire, The Human League, The Mekons are just some of the names on the CD accompanying the film to be released in the UK on the 22nd.
Putting together the soundtrack on a low budget was not an easy task, as Simpson eplains in a recent article in The Guardian.
The film's producer is David Hughes, formerly of Dalek-I and and early line-up of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. The legendary Eric's Club in Liverpool features in the film.

"David Hughes and I are unusual in that we have a background in music", explains Simpson, "and we really wanted to clear a glut of new wave classics for that £10,000. We had our work cut out."
Well, full marks for the end result. Looking forward to the soundtrack as much as the film..

Awaydays soundtrack on Amazon
Awaydays offical site



Awaydays cast: here are the (smart) youg men.