Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Vampire Weekend- Contra

Vampire Weekend have released their second album 'Contra' on January 11, 2010. This is their second album and a follow up to their self titled debut album which was released in 2008. The first single "Cousins" was already released in October 2009. The album has few references on Joe Strummer and his band Clash. The album's title also refers to the 1987 video game 'Contra'.

http://www.vampireweekend.com/

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Ian North- My Girlfriend's Dead

A pioneering synth-pop gem by Ian North 'My Girlfriend's Dead' has been reissued by Cherry Red label in the UK. At its time of the release of 'My Girlfriend’s Dead' there were only a handful of other artists such as John Fox, OMD, The Human League and The Normal who were working in the same field of electronic music.

More info and track listing:
http://www.cherryred.co.uk/rpm/artists/iannorth.php

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Spandau Ballet in Space

The British New Romantic outfit which has recently reformed for a new album and tour has signed a deal to become the first band which will play in space. The billionaire Richard Branson has retained the recently reunited group’s services as in-flight entertainment in space. Reportedly the band will give a five-minute performance to fewer than a handful of gazillionaires planning to go up as part of Branson’s Virgin Galactic space program. The flight is said to be tentatively scheduled for mid 2011.

http://www.boston.com/ae/music/

Monday, December 21, 2009

Best of 2009- The Album List

Ladies and Gentleman, our year in music in a quick overview!


01. Editors-  In This Light and on This Evening [Kitchenware]
02. Music Go Music- Expressions [Secretly Canadian]
03. Echo and The Bunnymen- The Fountain [Ocean Rain]
04. Metric- Fantasies [Metric]
05. Little Boots- Hands [679]
06. Mando Diao- Give Me Fire! [Universal/Vertigo]
07. Kasabian- West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum  [RCA/BMG]
08. Marc Almond- Orpheus in Exile - The Songs of Vadim Kozin [Cherry Red]
09. White Lies- To Lose My Life [Fiction/Geffen]

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Simple Minds & OMD- Neon Lights- Live

Simple Minds together with OMD cover the Kraftwerk classic "Neon Lights". This is from their live performance at the Heiniken Music Hall in Amsterdam, performed on November 26, 2009..

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Landscape

Landscape was a British group which remained best known for their hits "Einstein A Go Go" and "European Man". The group was led by Richard Burgess who was previously a member of soft rock group Easy Street. In the mid 70's, he left the group to form Landscape. He also remained as one of the best record producers of the 80's era.


In 1976 Burgess left Easy Street to form a group that would eventually play some fusion of slick synth-op music mixed with funk and jazz. Landscape was formed and already in the 70's they released few singles and toured. The group compromised of Andy Pask on bass, Chris Eaton on keyboards, John Walters on keyboards and woodwinds, Pete Thomas on trombone and keyboards and the master himself Richard Burgess on drums and vocals. Not like other popular New wave groups they employed both electronic and traditional instruments. The band released their self titled debut album 'Landscape' in 1979. The album was produced by Greg Walsh with a big jazz/funk influence. It sold rather poorly and so Landscape decided to accent the synthesizers more in their music.

 

In 1981 they produced their second album in a collaboration with Colin Thurston. The album was titled 'From the Tea-rooms of Mars ... to the Hell-holes of Uranus'. They scored their first top ten hit in the UK with the catchy tune "Einstein A Go-Go" and two more songs followed, "Norman Bates" and "Shake The West Awake". Landscape released their last album 'Manhattan Boogie-Woogie' in 1982. This album was also produced by Lanscape and this time they were a trio also know under the moniker Landscape III.
Landscape broke up for good in 1984. Burgess started to concentrate more on his producing career. While he was still a member of Landscape, he produced Shock and the first two albums by Spandau Ballet and many other popular artists of that time including Adam Ant, Kim Wilde and Visage. He also used the pseudonym Caleb Kadesh for his production skills. Burgess is also credited with coining the term New Romantic encompassing the early 80's British music, club and fashion scene and with conceptualizing and designing the first electronic drumset the Simmons SDS-V. The first two albums by Landscape were reissued on CD in 1992.
 

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

'Japan and Self Existence'

Japan's Mick Karn has just published his autobiography which is titled 'Japan & Self Existence' and is described as 'a personal insight into life as a musician and artist spanning more than 30 years'.The 387 pages include 24 photos, of which only 7 have ever been published before. The Book is available on lulu.com

http://www.mickkarn.net/

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Instant Hit: Alan Rankine- The World Begins To Look Her Age (Single)

"The World Begins To Look Her Age" was the third and the last single Alan Rankine has released as solo artist. In the early 80's he was a producer and member of the British group the Associates. This single was released on Virgin, in 1987 and appeared on the album of the same name released the year before, in 1986.


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