I don’t think I mention Morcheeba much on this blog, and honestly I don’t actually know how much I like them – but having recently gone through a load of my favourite tracks of all time (this may turn up as a future blog post) I was surprised to see they turned up pretty often. So it’s great to see they’re back, with a new album called Blackest Blue. Here’s Sounds of Blue:
Pet Shop Boys still have a number of old VHS releases which are overdue a DVD update. Following last year’s It Couldn’t Happen Here, next up is Discovery: Live In Rio. It features a number of beautifully eccentric moments, such as this one, where they blended Left to My Own Devices with Rhythm of the Night. The DVD/CD set comes out next week.
I have to admit, I stopped following Chicane a few years ago – he’s just too prolific, and often not as interesting as those first couple of albums. But he’s back, and it’s worth checking back in with him – here’s the title track from Everything We Had to Leave Behind:
Like buses, Jean-Michel Jarre albums have seemed to come in threes in recent years. Having started the new year at a virtual Notre Dame Cathedral and his Welcome to the Other Side concert, he now returns with a studio album, Amazônia. It’s based around a photographic exhibit by Sebastião Salgado, and uses samples of Amazonian sounds and voices. There’s a sample below.
Gary Numan is one of those musicians who I suspect a lot of people haven’t realised is still bringing out new material, but it’s actually pretty good. Here’s Intruder, from the forthcoming album of the same name:
Well, Duran Duran don’t exactly have a great track record with cover versions, and I’m not convinced this is going to change many people’s minds, but it’s a worthy attempt, covering David Bowie‘s Five Years:
It’s exciting to have Martin L. Gore turn up again with his latest electro EP The Third Chimpanzee. Here’s Howler:
It’s always nice when Kraftwerk appear out of nowhere with a new release, particularly when some of the material is exclusive. While it’s a little disappointing that this is a digital-only release, and while some of the track choices are a little perplexing, Remixes is still a rather wonderful collection. Here’s the opening track, the previously unheard Non Stop:
After a sixteen-year gap between their first two albums, they only waited a quarter as long for the next one, so The Avalanches seem to have returned very quickly (it’s still a four-year gap). The album We Will Always Love You is out in a couple of weeks, preceded by this single with Leon Bridges, Interstellar Love:
If you weren’t aware of Sophie Ellis-Bextor‘s Kitchen Disco shows during the initial UK lockdown then you definitely missed a treat. The unfortunate irony that her resulting greatest hits album Songs from the Kitchen Disco came out just in time for the second lockdown is a shame, but the track listing looks great, as was this lead single, a cover of Alcazar‘s gloriously camp 2001 disco classic Crying at the Discothèque:
Music for stowaways 