Preview – Pet Shop Boys

Here’s a belated preview for Pet Shop Boys, who are back with a new album Nevertheless in a couple of months, heralded by Loneliness, a nice but fairly dull lead single which reminds me a bit of 2012’s Winner (although that had some good b-sides and remixes, which doesn’t seem to be true this time). The one positive this time around is the video, which is a kind of post-industrial reworking of Domino Dancing, but even that makes it sound as though there’s a bit of recycling going on here. It looks as though it’s filmed in Sheffield, the spiritual home of this blog, which is another point in its favour.

Pet Shop Boys have had a good track record with lead singles in the last decade or so, but hopefully there are enough surprises on the album to make this the exception. Let’s see.

Preview – Karl Bartos

Karl Bartos has had an interesting career since leaving Kraftwerk at some point in the 1980s. His post-departure album Esperanto is great, but for many of his later works he seems to have hung on a bit too hard to his past life, sounding almost like a parody of his former self.

So for Bartos to have developed a new soundtrack for Robert Wiene‘s Weimar expressionist 1920 film Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari is particularly interesting. Kraftwerk did something similar before, of course, with 1978’s Die Mensch-Maschine taking heavy inspiration from Fritz Lang‘s Metropolis, but this time he has taken on the full film soundtrack. It’s technically still electronic music, but using synthesised orchestral music, which still sounds to be somewhat in his traditional style, but the fact that he’s also worked on the foley sounds is a nice touch. It looks fantastic.

Live shows will take place across Germany during 2024, with a full album and DVD scheduled for release on 9th February. Here’s the preview:

Preview – Sleaford Mods

Perhaps this isn’t so much of a preview, given how fast the world moves these days – this came out on Tuesday, so it’s literally last week’s news now. It was a nice surprise to wake up on Tuesday to the news that Sleaford Mods have done a cover version of West End girls, and as you would expect, it’s delivered brilliantly, with a full East Midlands drawl.

The backing is surprisingly faithful to the original, so it’s clear they were having a lot of fun here trying to recreate sounds rather than reinvent the whole thing, but that makes Pet Shop Boys‘ own remix all the more surprising. Packaged with four versions in total, only one of which falls short (the purely vocoder vocal on the final mix makes for a very dull listen), it’s really a great new single.

The only thing that could make it better is a retro-themed video, which I can only presume is filmed on the streets of Nottingham, with a lot of similar shots to the gloomy Thatcher years that were captured in the original. The parallels to the present day are perfect.

All proceeds go to the charity Shelter.

Preview – Delia Derbyshire & Barry Bermange

It is, of course, incredibly exciting news that a new Delia Derbyshire release is coming. Derbyshire is, of course, the musical genius who brought so many of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop‘s musical works to life through a combination of hard work and experimentation. Apart from the obvious composition that we all know about (the first couple of iterations of the Doctor Who theme), some of her other works such as Blue Veils and Golden Sands are truly awe-inspiring.

Although it’s been bootlegged a few times, Inventions for Radio has never been formally released before now, with production from the also-legendary Mark Ayres.

Inventions for Radio is on six LPs including lots of bonus material, appearing on 8th December. The only downside is the eye-watering price, which unfortunately renders it completely accessible to me, but I hope someone on here will be able to enjoy it. Here it is on Rough Trade.

Preview – Morcheeba

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:

Preview – Pet Shop Boys

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.

Preview – Chicane

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:

Preview – Jean-Michel Jarre

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.

Preview – Gary Numan

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:

Preview – Duran Duran

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: