Friday, February 23, 2007

Instant Hit: Stockholm Monsters- Fairy Tales

"Fairy Tales" was the first single released by the Manchester group Stockholm Monsters. The single was produced by Martin Hannett for the Factory records and it was released in 1982. The record appeared as a 7" single with purple and green sleeve.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Thick Pigeon

One of the forgotten links in the story of Manchester, England's Factory label, Thick Pigeon was an arty duo from New York that consisted of Stanton Miranda (bass, vocals) and Carter Burwell (percussion, effects, vocals). Prior to forming the group, Miranda was a background member in the New York music scene, and played with Kim Gordon in CKM and with Rhys Chatham's Arsenal.

A series of three 1982 singles — two for Crepuscule and one for Operation Twilight — predated their debut album, most notably, "The Subway". Miranda and Burwell recorded the album, Too Crazy Cowboys for Factory in 1983, with key assistance from New Order's Gillian Gilbert and Stephen Morris. After the album's late 1984 release, Burwell went into a successful career as a soundtrack composer, starting with the Coen Brothers' Blood Simple. Sadly none of the singles could gain prominent success.

 
Though they never used the Thick Pigeon name again, Miranda and Burwell worked together on a 1991 album for Crepuscule, which was released under the name Miranda Dali. Stanton Miranda also released her only single "Wheels over Indian Trails" in 1986.

"As well as her work with Thick Pigeon, Miranda has been an active participant in the kaleidoscopic New York music scene. having worked with members of NY bands Arsenal, Sonic Youth and SleepingDogs, she is currently collaborating with Michael Dieckman in Lt 70, and also contributing to Hit By a Truck." J.Nice, Feb 2003

In addition to writing music, Stanton Miranda has acted in feature films by Jonathan Demme worked off- Broadway with John Leguezamo, and given art performances at The Kitchen (NYC). She also recorded a cover version of Joy Division's “Love Will Tear Us Apart” for the Virgin/Hut compilation A Means to an End, and was the featured singer on two tracks (Red Shoes and When the World) on The Guitar and Other Machines by Durutti Column. Carter Burwell has scored approximately 50 major motion pictures, including Gods and Monsters, Adaptation, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Being John Malkovich, as well as almost every feature made by Joel and Ethan Coen. On his soundtrack for Psycho III, Stanton Miranda was a featured singer.

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Tik and Tok Announce the Release of Dream Orphans

After a 22 year lunch break they're back with a brand new 13 track album Dream Orphans. It's a musical journey from lo - fi ambient to full- on electronica and it's yours to purchase now from http://www.tikandtok.com. Go on, you know you want to!

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Tik and Tok

When robotic act Plastic Joe and mime and music outfit Shock got together in 1980 the seeds of Tik + Tok were sown. Shock played at legendary venues at their height like the Hacienda, The Blitz and The Warehouse, became a key part of the New Romantic movement and recorded with Rusty Egan (Visage) and Richard Burgess (Landscape). Tik and Tok consisted of Tim Dry and Sean Crawford with Barbie Wilde, Robert Pereno, L.A. Richards and Carole Caplin.


“Mime was where we started. It was our chicken or was it our egg? We never wanted to be human! Then bit by bit we bought some music equipment so we could start to make our own little soundtracks for Mime ideas we had. We've always seen ourselves as being abstract visual artists who just happen to make music as well.” Tik
When Shock split soon after, Tik + Tok appeared everywhere from the Covent Garden Piazza to the 1983 Royal Variety Show, on countless TV shows and had key roles in 80's sci-fi creepfest Xtro. A young band called Depeche Mode supported them live, they released a series of cracking electronic singles on the Survival label and one album, Intolerance, shortly before disappearing from the music scene in 1984.
A mix of everything that we liked musically at the time. Movies like Blade Runner too. Plus needing tracks that we could create a Mime piece to. Oh, and sex and Sci Fi too of course! We'd already got Vile Bodies so we kind of built side 2 of Intolerance around that. Side 1 of the album was geared towards a more 'Poppy' kind of stance, but deep down we were still wanting to be unearthly and quite weird musically. The pop stuff was fun to tart around to but I think that both of us now feel that we're quite glad that we didn't have a hit single. No 'Buzzcocks' or revival tours for us!Tik
After 21 years away from the live circuit, Tik + Tok have reformed and re-emerged earlier this year at the annual Elektrofest festival whipping up a storm. Back to finish what they started, the time was perfect to communicate with the legendary Robots.



Saturday, February 10, 2007

Instant Hit: Les Rita Mitsuoko- C'est Comme Ca

"C'est Comme Ça" was a big hit for the French group Les Rita Mitsouko in 1986. The single was released through Virgin Records and it was taken from their second album The No Comprendo which was produced by Tony Visconti. It remained as one of the biggest hits for Les Rita Mitsuoko. In 2007, Fred Chichin the original founding member died from cancer. 


Wednesday, February 7, 2007

The Killers Cover Joy Division's Shadowplay for the Upociming Ian Curtis Bipoic

The Killers have covered the 1979 Joy Division song "Shadowplay" for the soundtrack to the forthcoming movie about the life of the band's front man Ian Curtis. The movie, Control, is based on the book Touching From A Distance, by Curtis' widow Deborah who also co-produced the movie. She is played by Samantha Morton. The film was directed by famed music video director Anton Corbijn. As previously reported on nme.com, New Order have recorded the incidental music for the movie, and are also mooted to be re-recording a number of Joy Division tracks. The biopic is set for a September 2007 release


Arcade Fire Announce the Release of Neon Bible

Neon Bible is Arcade Fire's second full length album, due for release on March 5, 2007 in Europe and March 6, 2007 in North America. Rumors began on December 16, 2006 that the band may have their own label, after the Zane Lowe website was altered, to show Intervention - Arcade Fire (ArcadeFireMusic) from (Mercury). However, Neon Bible is scheduled for release by Rough Trade. The first single for the UK is "Keep the Car Running".

Friday, January 26, 2007

Air-Pocket Symphony

Air are set to release the follow-up to 2004's Talkie Walkie on March 6 on Astralwerks. The record is titled Pocket Symphony, features artwork by contemporary artist Xavier Veilhan, and was recorded with Nigel Godrich over the last year and a half. Both Air members, Nicolas Godin and JB Dunckel (aka Darkel), sing on the album, and Jarvis Cocker and the Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon contribute vocals as well.
 

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Dali's Car

Dalis Car was a musical group formed in 1984 by Peter Murphy and Mick Karn soon after Murphy and Karn left their former bands (Bauhaus and Japan, respectively) to the great disappointment of the numerous fans. They took their name from a Captain Beefheart song from his album Trout Mask Replica

Formed by former Bauhaus vocalist/ lyricist Peter Murphy and Japan bassist/composer Mick Karn. Some say that Dalis Car was doomed almost from the start and that the group nearly self-destructed itself, before it was disbanded.
“It was a particularly difficult project. We were two very different people.Socially we were fine, but no matter how good the idea of working together sounded, when it did come to work, we couldn't get on. However, I do think the end result makes for a very interesting album. Situations full of tension can often be the most creative. Perhaps due to our strong, opposing opinions, there's a certain strength to Dalis Car. I doubt if there will be a reunion.” Mick Karn

 

image courtesy of amazon.com
Their album, The Waking Hour, released in 1984, came in at more than thirty thousand dollars over the sixty thousand dollar budget given them by Virgin and Beggars Banquet. As a commercial failure, back then, the album produced one equally disappointing single,"The Judgement Is The Mirror" In musical styles it is post punk with oriental elements and folk. The painting on The Waking Hour cover is by Maxfield Parish, an American artist who used to paint happy psychedelic pictures just like for the food ads.
 
Update:
In August 2010, Peter Murphy announced on Twitter that he and Karn were planning to head into the studio in September to begin work on the second Dalis Car album. The project was cut short, however, as Karn had recently been diagnosed with cancer. He died on 4 January 2011, thus ending the reunion. The tracks they did record—including a re-working of "Artemis" from The Waking Hour with newly added vocals, guitar, and drums, and renamed Artemis Rise—were released on 5 April 2012 as an EP entitled InGladAloneness.

Source: Wikipedia (edit)

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