MESH – 'New album darker and harder than before'
… ‘a dark inspirational love album’.
Mesh have produced a video message for their fans and made it available on their fansite www.mesh-fanclub.com. There you can also hear parts of the new single “Only Better”, to be released on September 4th. In the video, Rich Silverthorn describes the style of the album as harder and dirtier and calls “A Perfect Solution” a “dark inspirational love album”.
New Steelberry Clones video – Heartbeat
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSZ7vnEMTPo]
Worrying times for synth legends
New Depeche Mode cancellations
Depeche Mode at Arvika.
Depeche Mode have cancelled shows again: the last two on the European tour in Porto and Sevilla today and tomorrow. This time it’s for a new reason; Dave Gahan has hurt his leg (calf muscle tear) and needs to keep it still, doctor’s orders.
Too old to tour? Simple Minds and OMD
Following their upcoming album “Graffiti Soul”, Simple Minds will play seven dates in the UK this December. Adding to the value, OMD will be special guests during the tour.
– Particularly in these times it is vitally important for us to give as much value to our audience as possible, says Jim Kerr of Simple Minds.
He even hints that the bands may play something together.
Simple Minds plan to add more dates and extending it to a world tour, but nothing is official yet. It’s also uncertain if OMD will be a part of the world tour.
“Graffiti Soul” will be released on May 25.
I guess it is too much to hope for that some of their really great ancient stuff will be on the playlist, such as:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLwm3djyTwY]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd6riYfLPXk]
Cheers
First album I could consider buy this year
Mobile Homes are back with a very strong album after 25 years!!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsTngq_2QkY&feature=player_embedded]
And as I said I don´t buy very many albums these days, but this one is definately worth checking out if you are into synth pop, electro or similar sounds. Below I have included a review posted in Release Music Magazine, which give you a bit of an overview.
Cheers
I take my hat off for 25 years of providing me with a soundtrack. The Mobile Homes have been by my side since “Hurt” (I had to re-discover their early vinyls later on) and even though later efforts have faltered on the verge of collapse, I never gave up hope completely. The quartet is now a trio, but their gloomy electronic trademark sound has been resurrected on “Today Is Your Lucky Day”.
All it takes is a few seconds. Right then and there long time fans will be nodding and smiling uncontrollably. “I Give You”, a gritty cousin to almost any song off “Nothing But Something, introduces their new, old sound and a lively production helmed by Sami Sirviö (of Kent fame). The second track on this nine-piece journey of personal darkness is called “Ill”. It is also one of The Mobile Homes best tracks ever. Musically melodic and superbly crafted with a stunning chorus. It all continues like this, simmering on a ridiculously high level all the way through to the reconstructed version of first single “Close” (I do like the “Speak & Spell”-esque original better, though). “How People Talk”, another buzzing midtempo highlight, follows a similarly breathtaking path of energetic synths nursing Hans Erkendal’s new and improved vocal work.
It should be mentioned that even though Andreas Brun is officially no longer a member, he has written or co-written all of the songs on the album. I would have loved to hear him sing a ballad as well (like the glorious “The More I Think, The Deeper I Sink”), but the album is so strong that I keep forgetting that craving.
“Today Is Your Lucky Day” almost makes me forget that the Swedish Spring is in full bloom, transporting me to dark, rainy Autumn streets, intensively pondering life and love. The Mobile Homes are simply masters of melancholic synthpop, maybe now more than ever.
New stuff from AndOne
New, maybe is saying too much, but still 
And One have announced the release of Bodypop 1½, available on Out of Line January 30, 2009. The disc will feature nine live versions of 80’s synthpop tracks, new And One tracks “Und Wenn,” “Paddy Is My DJ” and “Love Is A Drug Abuser,” and new and unreleased versions of additional tracks. Follow the links for more information.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-rMpu2uzGk&eurl=http://www.andone.de/&feature=player_embedded]
Steve Naghavi couldn’t help but noticing that large parts of today’s club crowds had no more knowledge of the ground breaking Synth Pop Hits of the Eighties – which awakened a missionary instinct in And One’s restless front man. Thus, the guys thoroughly naghavigated an illustrious collection of genre classics, from “Blue Monday” and “Big In Japan” to “The Sun Always Shines On TV.” A big tour through Germany’s biggest concert halls followed and now we can reap the fruits of this labour on CD, as well: “Bodypop 1 ½” features nine of the biggest classics of electronic Pop music in And One’s patented SuperDuperCoverLoverSound, with a whole lot of live flavour mingled in. But, don’t fret, the guys were also generous with material of their own and have included the new songs “Und Wenn”, “Paddy Is My DJ” and “Love Is A Drug Abuser” plus old and previously unreleased versions of “Love You To The End” (the song is now about Depeche Mode!) and “So klingt Liebe” (a six minute long version sporting a totally different mood!) “Bodypop 1 ½” – music education turned into a silver disc! Come join us in Naghavi-land – because life I.S.T. too short for bad music!
Daniel Miller on the radio
Daniel Miller needs no introduction, right? Producer of all early Depeche Mode albums, founder and Executive Chairman of Mute records, which signed artists like Fad Gadget, DAF, Cabaret Voltair, Yazoo, Erasure, Nitzer Ebb, Richie Hawtin, Miss Kitten, Sonic Youth, Nick Cave, Goldfrapp….. need I go on more…
If you want tap into what the man is into now go to the German Radio Eins home page and listen to Happy Miller Hour bi-monthly radio show.
If you ever been curious about what synthesizers Daniel Miller’s been using all those years, here’s an in-depth interview on that. http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec98/articles/daniel.624.htm
Early days of Human League pt.1
I guess anyone even vaguely interested in electronic/synth-based pop music have heard of Human League. They had major hit songs like “Don’t you want me baby”, “The Lebanon” and many more in the 1980/90’s. But Human League had a life before their major hit album Dare released in 1981. In fact they made two albums, Reproduction and Travelogue.
The group was formed in 1977 and recorded their first album in 1979, Reproduction.
Reproduction never had an impact in the charts but Travelogue made it to no. 16 on the UK album chart. The relationship between Oakey and Ware had always been turbulent. The lack of success compared with the success of Gary Numan’s work at that time had brought matters to a head. Ware insisted the band maintain their pure electronic sound while Oakey wanted to emulate more successful pop groups. This led to Ware and Marsh leaving the band and forming Heaven 17.
What made them stand out a bit from other electro pop/new wave acts at the time like Gary Numan, YMO and Ultravox is that they just like Kraftwerk (after the Autobahn album) only used synthesizer instruments. No acoustic drum, electric guitars nor basses.
[youtube=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=e0YVOIKX0IQ]
[youtube=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=XYepvarTsVM&feature=related]
[youtube=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=CNrnmDmffRc&feature=related]
Marc Almond – with new material in the pipe
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZkgmFSX2nk]
September saw the release of a six-track Marc Almond EP, Brel Extras, which includes three new studio recordings, plus two remastered live recordings of “The Devil (Okay)” and “If You Go Away.” The limited edition disc also includes the 1984 fan club flexi version of “My Death.”
In October, fans can expect a DVD/CD package, Marc Almond in Bluegate Fields — Live at Wilton’s Music Hall. The DVD features a show recorded earlier this year along with bonus songs. The audio-only CD will include guest appearances by Little Annie and Baby Dee.
Almond has also confirmed new live dates for the UK, Serbia, Lithuania and Russia. Please follow the links for more information.
New cool album from my old guru – Hideki Matsutaki
Also known as Logic System
「タンス・マトリックス」アルバム内容
収録曲
（※ ♪マーク付きの曲はページ下部で試聴できます）
1. Turning Point – Epilogue ( Comp : H.Matsutake )
2. Hypnotize ( lyrics : A.Muto , Comp : J.Irie )♪
3. Wandering On The Road ( Comp : A.Kosaka )
4. Digiphone ( Comp : K.Yamamoto)
5. 桜繚乱 ( lyrics : N.Oikawa , Comp : J.Irie )♪
6. THOUSAND KNIVES ( Comp : R.Sakamoto )♪
7. Sweet Memories ( lyrics : T.Matsumoto , Comp : M.Omura )
8. Nenkororo (MOSH) ( Comp : K.Hiro)
9. LEFT-HANDED WOMAN ( Comp : K. Omura )♪
10. LOVE ( lyrics : A.Muto , Comp : J.Irie )
11. Y.M.C.A. ( lyrics : Belolo Henri , Comp : Morali Jacques )♪
12. a long cool rain ( Comp : A.Kosaka )
13. Go!! Rise!! Cow!! ( Comp : K.Yamamoto )
14. Land of 1000 Dances ( lyrics & Comp : KENNER CHRIS )
15. Some Enchanted Evening ( lyrics :Hammerstein Oscar II , Comp : Rodgers Richard )
16. Turning Point – Prologue ( Comp : H.Matsutake )
Logic System is a musical project of Hideki Matsutake. Hideki started as an assistant for Isao Tomita in the 70’s and is well-known as the sequencer programmer and modular synthesizer operator for the Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO), but he wasn’t a member of YMO. He worked on several of their albums and toured with his huge collection of synths. He also did sequencing work for numerous technopop albums for other artists, particularily in the early 80’s. In 1996 he performed in a big concert event organized by Isao Tomita and was also guest on Towa Tei albums. On his website is a huge number of MIDI files he released, with some of YMO’s original songs.
DATAMASKIN
