Stockholm Monsters

The youthful Stockholm Monsters came together in Burnage, south Manchester, in the summer of 1980. Initially formed around the core of vocalist Tony France, bassist Jed Duffy and drummer Shan Hira, their name represented a combination of Bowie's Scary Monsters album and a pleasant-sounding Euro City.

As a neglected part of the Factory Records scene, the Stockholm Monsters are a key link between the bristly art-funk of A Certain Ratio and the good-foot indie dance vibe of Happy Mondays and the other Manchester bands of the late 80's. Often seen merely as New Order proteges (Peter Hook produced all but one of their records) and victims of both record company indifference and unnecessary potshots by the cynical British music press, the Stockholm Monsters deserved better treatment than they usually got.

Back then, still in their teens, and with no settled guitarist, the band found it hard to find gigs and be noticed. After linking up with the Manchester Musicians Collective, the Monsters scored a few gigs at local venues such as the Cyprus Tavern, and struck lucky when supporting the Rezillos at Rafters. Both Rob Gretton and New Order bassist Peter Hook were in the audience, and decided that the outstanding song "Fairy Tales" would make a good single for Factory Records. Hook in particular took the fledgling band under his wing, and would go on to produce almost all of their recordings, albeit disguising his identity behind the moniker Be Music.
Just before the release of their first single, the Martin Hannett-produced "Fairy Tales", a 17-year-old trumpet player Lindsay Anderson joined the band. Although "Fairy Tales" was a minor success, hitting the middle reaches of the U.K. indie charts, the Hook-produced follow-up, "Happy Ever After", was a sales disappointment. In April 1982 the band supported New Order on a European tour which took in France, Belgium and Holland.

They released a fine EP, 'Miss Moonlight', in 1983. Unfortunately, despite Hook's continued involvement, Factory Records apparently lost interest in the group and shunted them to their Belgian subsidiary label Factory Benelux, then seen as the label's dumping ground for vanity projects and failed experiments.

The Stockholm Monsters' sole long-player, Alma Mater, came out in September 1984. A low-key record blending jangly guitars and skittering electronic percussion, Alma Mater bridges the gap between the British indie pop and dance scenes of the era much in the same way that New Order would on their next couple of albums.

In August 1985 the group played dates in Spain, but in September disaster struck when the band lost almost all their equipment in a theft from their Manchester rehearsal room. Although the kit was insured the claim was disputed, a dire state of affairs which left the band with little more than a drum kit. With the benefit of hindsight the ex-members agree that the theft knocked the stuffing out of the band, but at the time the Monsters struggled on as best they could with borrowed instruments. The following month the band traveled to Italy for a string of shows with the Durutti Column, and in November again traveled south to play a Factory showcase at the Hammersmith Clarendon in London, together with Section 25 and the then-unknown Happy Mondays (who failed to perform).

The release of "Partyline" was promoted with a couple of live shows in February 1987, including a support slot with New Order in Belfast and a superlative live rendition on Granada TV. A five-song studio demo was also recorded, with "Stupid" and "House is Not a Home" in particular showing that the band still had some of their best material ahead of them. However within a few months the band had effectively split, two years short of the Madchester explosion which propelled Happy Mondays and the Stone Roses onto Top of the Pops.

http://www.prideofmanchester.com/music/stockholmmonsters.htm

Bjork- Volta

Björk's sixth full-length studio album Volta, a follow-up to 2004's Medúlla, will be released on May 7th, 2007. It features ten new tracks and it was produced by Björk herself, and features a globe-trotting all-star cast of contributors, including Timbaland, Antony, Lightning Bolt's Brian Chippendale, percussionist Chris Corsano, African collective Konono No.1, kora virtuoso Toumani Diabaté, Chinese pipa player Min Xiao-Fen, and a ten-piece Icelandic brass section.

The first single off the album, "Earth Intruders", has been released on April 9. Björk will also be touring for the first time in four years in support of the upcoming album; the majority of confirmed performances so far are at festivals.

Instant Hit: Gina X Performance- No GDM

The Cologne based German synth-pop disco act Gina X Performance led by Gina Kikoine made their debut in 1979 with "Do It Yourself". Their biggest hits followed after that, as they released "No G.D.M." and "Nice Mover". Both singles were club hits on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2003, "No G.D.M." was also released as an EP and included three different remixes of the song.

Erasure- Light At The End Of The World

Light at the End of the World is the thirteenth studio album by English synthpop duo Erasure. The album's release was announced on the band's website on January 26 2007 in a video message from members Vince Clarke and Andy Bell. The album is scheduled for release by Mute Records in the UK on May 21 2007 and in North America on the following day, May 22. The album's first single, "I Could Fall in Love with You", was released in the UK on April 2 2007, and in North America the following day. "Sunday Girl" will be the second single release on June 11, 2007.

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Throbbing Gristle- Part Two- The Endless Not

The British industrial music pioneers return with their first studio album in 25 years. The band's original lineup is present, including Genesis P-Orridge and Chris Carter. TG's new album: PART TWO - The Endless Not is released worldwide on April 1st via Industrial Records / Mute UK & USA and Mute / EMI internationally (mute.com) and will initially be available as two limited editions. A Totemic Gift CD version and Double Vinyl release. When these editions are sold out Part Two will only be available as a regular CD release and as a download.

Terry Hall

Terry Hall (born 19 March 1959, in Coventry, England) was the lead singer of The Specials, the Fun Boy Three, The Colourfield, Terry, Blair and Anouchka and Vegas. He released his first solo album, Home, in 1995. He has also worked with The Lightning Seeds, Stephen Duffy, Dub Pistols, Gorillaz and Tricky.

 

The Specials were the main players in the 1979 - 1981 Ska revival movement of 2 Tone. Terry joined the Specials late in 1977 replacing initial vocalist Tim Strickland and remained the front man until they split in August 1981.

They released only two albums and the Ghost Town EP though the 2 Tone label was responsible for launching the recording careers of many others including Madness, The Selector and the Beat. The Specials' first self-titled album features some of Hall's most recognizable and notable performances, including "Little Bitch", "Nite Klub", "Concrete Jungle", and "Gangsters". This debut album also displays Hall's writing talent alongside Jerry Dammers. Hall's trademark sardonic, wry and deadpan vocals, combined with sarcastic kitchen-sink lyrics, still raise a smile today, seemingly a direct precursor to the dour poetic wit of Morrissey.

In October of 1980, The Specials released their second album, More Specials. While singing such fan-favourites such as "Rat Race", and "Hey, Little Rich Girl", Terry successfully helped the band recreate the upbeat music that the first album possessed. The next album The Specials recorded, 1984's In The Studio, did not include Hall. In June 1981, they released their final widely acclaimed 'Ghost Town' EP. The EP contained one of the greatest songs ever written and provides a perfect soundtrack and backdrop to social life then and now - Friday Night, Saturday Morning, A Terry Hall masterpiece and work of genius. Though the band re-emerged as The Special AKA with vocalists Body Snatcher Rhoda Dakar, Stan Campbell, Egidio Newton and Jerry Dammers, and have toured again in recent years Terry has not since fronted them.

After The Specials' last single with Hall, the UK No.1 hit "Ghost Town", Hall left the band to start a New-wave group, Fun Boy Three, with two other Specials members, Lynval Golding and Neville Staples. Terry grew out and bleached his hair and wore more flamboyant clothes befitting of the early 80's and their sound went into a much brighter, poppier phase. Fun Boy Three's first hit single occurred in late 1981, entitled "The Lunatics (Have Taken Over The Asylum)", then followed-up in early 1982 with "It Ain't What You Do (It's the Way That You Do It)", a duet with Bananarama. Fun Boy Three then provided guest vocals for Bananarama's single, "Really Saying Something". In February 1983, Fun Boy Three released Waiting. It consisted of the Top Ten hits "The Tunnel of Love" and the classic "Our Lips Are Sealed". The latter was a song Hall wrote with Jane Wiedlin, who had already made it into a hit the previous year with her group, The Go-Go's. The Fun Boy Three often ran into similar criticism as The Style Council as they had a less credible image than their previous bands.

In 1983 Terry quit The Fun Boy Three and in time formed The Colourfield with Toby Lyons and Karl Shale and by 1986 drummer Gary Dwyer. They released their first single "The Colour Field" in 1984 complete with a much more conservative haircut and richer sound. “Thinking of You” was the only single which had success in the UK charts. Virgins & Philistines was released in April 1985. It failed to gain a large audience due to difficulty in marketing an album with such a diverse sound. Since Virgins & Philistines doesn't fit into a specific era, it continues to sound fresh and undated decades later, and still remains a critical success in the eyes of the music press today. It is often regarded as the direct musical predecessor to the later work of The Lightning Seeds in the 1990's, whom Hall would later collaborate with in a songwriting role whilst providing occasional vocals.

They released their second album Deception in 1987. The content of Deception is very different from Virgins & Philistines. It is almost as if Hall formed a new band but kept the same name. Since then Hall has voiced his displeasure with the recording of the album because he did not feel he had control of the session musicians and producers the way he needed to preserve The Colourfield’s sound.

 

After the Colourfield imploded, Terry Hall formed a trio with an American actress called Blair Booth and a jeweler called Anouchka Groce. Terry, Blair, and Anouchka explored Hall's love for 60's pop, as well as kitschy mainstream pop, as evidenced on the trio's cover of Captain & Tennille's "Love Will Keep Us Together", "Missing" the group's first single, was released in the fall of 1989 and it didn't make much of an impact, peaking at number 75 on the British charts. The trio's second single, "Ultra Modern Nursery Rhyme" didn't even chart. Terry, Blair and Anouchka's debut album, also called Ultra Modern Nursery Rhyme, was released in February of 1990 to little attention.

Two years later, Terry Hall returned with Vegas, a one-shot collaboration with Dave Stewart from the Eurythmics. Vegas' eponymous album was released in the fall of 1992 and yielded three minor U.K. hits "Possessed", "She," and "Walk Into the Wind." Vegas wasn't particularly successful and the duo disbanded in early 1993.
Terry Hall released his first official solo, Home, in the spring of 1995 to mild interest. After its release, Hall collaborated on a new single, "Chasing a Rainbow," with Blur's Damon Albarn. The single was a minor hit and was added to a re-release of Home later in the year. Early in 1996, Terry Hall was featured in Tricky's side-project Nearly God, singing on the single "Poems."
In 2001 he appeared as a guest on the Gorillaz-D12 single "911", which was a song about terrorist attacks in the U.S. and 2007 he provided vocals for many tracks on the Dub Pistols album Speakers and Tweeters.

Shitdisco- Kingdom of Fear

Kingdom of Fear is the first album by Glasgow dance-punk/new rave band Shitdisco to be released on the 16th April 2007 on Fierce Panda Records. It contains newly recorded versions of tracks from their Disco Blood/I Know Kung Fu EP, their first single "Reactor Party" and 7 new tracks, including new single "OK". The title is taken from the last book by American author Hunter S. Thompson.

WAW: Ladytron- Playgirl

Ladytron - Playgirl by beautifulcynic

WAW: Ladytron- Destroy Everything You Touch