Das Ich goes macarbre
Out on Danse Macabre in the next few weeks is the first new album from Das Ich since “Cabaret” (2006). It will be the first all new material since the limited “Kannibale” EP from 2008. “Koma” comes in a ‘Manga’-styled concept, combining cultural influences from the Far East with Das Ich’s mixture of classic- and electronic sounds.
“Koma” will also be released as a collector’s edition boxset (strictly limited to 500 copies only) which has undergone a Manga styled design as well. The boxset contains an extensive MangaComic-book, the CD, an exclusive T-Shirt, button and sticker.
Kite are being stubborn
Swedish pop duo Kite stick to their decision to focus on EP:s rather than albums and of course, the classic five track EP is a good pop format.
In mid-September their third EP “III” will see the light of day, as usual on both CD and vinyl. The tracks are “Jonny Boy”, “If There’s an If in Us”, “A Little More Time”, “Hexx” and “Castle of Sand”.
Old synth poppers IRIS are back
American electronic pop/rock act Iris are back. The band’s fifth studio album “Blacklight” is scheduled to be released on September 3, 2010. You may also expect an exclusive limited single to be released as appetizer for the actual album. The new album is the follow-up to “Hydra” which was released in 2008. Formed by Reagan Jones and Mat Morris in 1993 the band hit the synthpop scene by surprise with their outstanding debut “Disconnect”. After that first album Matthew Morris was replaced with Andrew Sega who pushed the band’s sound into a more experimental electronic direction.
Listen to the new A-ha single
You can listen to the new A-ha single “Butterfly, Butterfly (the last hurrah)”, written by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy and produced by Martin Terefe, right here at Stereoklang. The news for the single leaked out prematurely on May 5th when the New York-based mix engineer Michael H Brauer posted the following message on his website: “I just mixed the final recorded song to be released by A-ha called “Butterfly” (sic).”
The new single is released to promote a new, double CD compilation, their 3rd already. “Butterfly, Butterfly (the last hurrah)” is the very last single from the biggest Norwegian synthpop band ever. The world premiere will be aired on June 14 on NRK P1, NRK P3 and VGnet Monday at 09.50 AM.
And that’s not all for this year, a new live DVD and a re-release of the book “The Swing of Things” by Jan Omdahl is also in the making. On top of that the band releases “The Singles: 1984 – 2004” in the USA and will re-release ‘deluxe’ versions of “Hunting High and Low” and “Scoundrel Days”
Bel Canto is back on stage after 20 years
The original members of Norwegian band Bel Canto have decided to team up for a special performance at the Døgnvill festival in their old hometown Tromsö above the polar circle.
Geir Jenssen left Anneli Drecker and Nils Johansen in 1990 after the first two masterpiece albums “White-out Conditions” and “Birds of Passage”, to release music under names like Biosphere and Bleep.
– We are talking about doing old stuff from the two first albums and songs from the period 1990-2002. And we might also play some unreleased – and maybe even new stuff. It is too early to say now, Anneli Drecker says.
– We contributed with an unrelased track for the compilation “Maskindans”, which is a tribute to Norwegian synth bands from the 80:s. We discovered that we have many unreleased tracks and demos that could actually work today.
Anneli is currently on the roads as a vocalist in Röyksopp, a band also originating from Tromsö.
The Døgnvill festival takes place on September 2-4 and the program also includes A-ha, The Prodigy and Ozzy Osbourne.
Oasis goes electro
The Buenos Aires based label Eternal Sunday Records has just released an album called “An Electro Tribute To Oasis” by Canal Pop feat. Lara Sambert.
Not really sure what to think of this, some nice sounds though, but…
Below is the track “Lyla”, judge for yourself. The 12-track album is already for sale at iTunes and other download stores.
Heeeeeyyy LaLaaaaaaa, LOL
Canal Pop feat. Lara Sambert – Lyla by eternal_sunday
NEW WAVE 2.0
![[ASHBURY+HEIGHTS.jpg]](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9Lz_iQ__-HM/SPFWm4WgzhI/AAAAAAAAAGk/6-98-TWS7ik/s1600/ASHBURY%2BHEIGHTS.jpg)
John Fryer (Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, Fad Gadget) has once again been sitting in the producer’s chair when the electropop duo Ashbury Heights records. The second album “Take Cair Paramour”, with what Ashbury Heights calls “new wave 2.0”, will be released one month from now by Out of Line in Berlin. The first pressing comes with a nine track bonus disc.
Ashbury Heights 2010 is Anders H, new member Kari Berg and on stage, also live keyboardist Johan Andersson.
Andy Bell’s hard time to get rid of the Erasure legacy
A couple of weeks ago Andy Bell (Erasure) teamed up with video-makers Caz Gorham and Frances Dickenson to film a ‘homemade’ video for Andy Bell’s “Call On Me” single, which is to be released on CD and via download next week. The single is taken from Bell’s newest solo album “Non-Stop” which was originally to be released under the Mimó flag. The video was shot by the same team that made Erasure’s “I Love Saturday” video among others.
Apparently Bell started working with Belgian producer Gabriel Pascal after the tunes e recorded with Stephen Hague were scrapped. The sessions with The Hague (who was behind records by New Order, Pet Shop Boys and even Erasure) sounded ‘too much like Erasure’, according to Bell’s label bosses. Bell had this to say about this change in an interview with Spinner: “I thought, ‘I’ve been in the business all this time, and now I’m not allowed to sound like myself? It’s kind of strange.”
And Bell also wants to go the ‘Gahan’ way by penning Erasure songs as well: “It’s a bit hard with boys with their toys, with their synths, to get a way in, but I think through making this record, it’s maybe opened the door a bit. We’ve got quite a few ideas. There are quite a lot of really good ideas. I’m just kind of looking forward to honing them down, really. I’ve got a load of lyrics to do. It’s a bit daunting.”
New album from OMD
OMD’s original line-up are to release their first new album together in 24 years. To be called “History of Modern”, the album sees Paul Humphreys, Andy McCluskey, Martin Cooper and Malcolm Holmes reunited in the studio.
The album is due for release later this year. In a reaction to Electricity-club.co.uk Paul Humphreys says: “It’s coming along really well actually. I spent a few weeks up at Andy’s studio in Liverpool and I’ve been bringing stuff down here and working on it. We’re sending files using YouSendIt to each other. I have a play on it, he has a play on it! We just go back and forth but the album will be slightly more weighted with some of Andy’s songs because he did a lot of writing while I did the ONETWO album.”
The album’s sound is said to be… very electronic. 
Weekend beats from Goldfrapp
Let´s have some aerobic fun !!
DATAMASKIN
