Mute Records bring out ‘Live In Stuttgart 1975’ by Canas a triple album set on the 30th May. “Live in Stuttgart 1975” is the first of a curated series of Can live concerts available in full for the first time on vinyl, CD and digitally. Originally recorded on tape, these carefully restored live albums will comprise the entirety of each show in the format of a story with a beginning, middle and end, with Can’s performances taking on a life of their own.
Mute and Spoon previewed the release with an excerpt from “Stuttgart 75 Eins,” the first track on the album. (With their freeform performance style, Can didn’t really have setlists, so Live in Stuttgart 1975 has been segmented into five sections, numbered and titled one through five in German.) The clip finds Can in the throes of an extended jam, drummer Jaki Liebezeit anchoring the performance with a beat that swings with pinpoint precision, while the bass, keys, and guitar follow each other down an array of unexpected and clever paths.
Live in Stuttgart 1975 and the rest of the installments in the Can live series were taken from the best bootlegged recordings available, then mixed and mastered using 21st-century technology. Founding Can member Irmin Schmidt and the band’s longtime producer/engineer Rene Tinner helmed the project.
Per a release, the Can live series will offer a unique perspective on the band. Again, with the group’s freeform approach in mind, the live albums will feature some familiar themes, riffs, and motifs from the Can discography, but also plenty of material — like the blown-out sonic meltdowns Can nicknamed “Godzillas” that never appeared in their studio work.
Mute and Spoon Records have announced plans to release a series of live albums by Can. Live in Stuttgart 1975 is out May 28th. In addition to digital and CD releases, a 3xLP set is being pressed to orange vinyl.
The Can Live series of releases are culled from the group’s best bootleg recordings, which were remastered and engineered under the supervision of founding Can member Irmin Schmidt and producer/engineer Rene Tinner.
“WelcomeBackToMilk” is the studio album by Beth Jeans Houghton and the first for her under the project DuBlonde, released in the United Kingdom on 18th May 2015 by Mute Records. The album was written, composed, and performed by DuBlonde and produced by Bad Seed and Grinderman member Jim Sclavunos.
Du Blonde is not a persona or a character, it’s then 25 year old Beth Jeans Houghton ripping it up and starting again. Welcome Back To Milk is the Newcastle-born and sometimes Californian based singer’s second album, but her debut as Du Blonde, and it’s a complete reinvention: new name, new sound, new band, new attitude. Where 2012’s debut Yours Truly Cellophane Nose threw everything at a song, Welcome Back To Milk strips everything back and is one massive release of pent up aggression, captured perfectly by Jim Sclavunos. Heavy riffs, loud drums, vocal snarls contrast beautifully with more poignant balladry and tenderness that fans of Houghton’s previous work will recognise. Future Islands frontman Samuel T Herring also provides guest vocals on My Mind Is On My Mind. Our first taste of Houghton’s latest project is a confident and brilliantly delivered collection of songs. What she does next really is anyone’s guess – perhaps she doesn’t even know herself. Ultimately, though, I guess this complete lack of predictability is a big part of what makes Beth Jeans Houghton such a great artist.
This would appear to be Beth Jeans Houghton’s vision, from start to finish. She’s credited with song writing and vocals (obviously) but also with playing many of the instruments too. No small undertaking then. What you get is intelligent and cutting songcraft. The words (and the way they’re presented) have been honed and re- honed to perfection. There’s a fine intellect at work here. For me (and these things are always personal taste), the simpler arrangements worked best, just piano and voice. There’s a real intimacy and baring of the soul in this album, and it’s done with total honesty and conviction. After Beth Jeans Houghton’s debut album Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose’s release in 2012, she and the band toured extensively, performed at high-profile musical events, including Glastonbury, The Great Escape, Latitude and Bestival.
In November 2012, midway through recording the follow-up in Los Angeles with The Hooves of Destiny, the crisis broke out. “When I listened back to what we’d recorded, I didn’t see any of myself in it… None of it was angry, none of it was sad. I wasn’t being true to myself,” the singer said, speaking to The Observer. She broke up the band and ditched her name, opting for a different sound, described as “spiky, propulsive” and “exhilarating.” This drastic move had been preceded by a breakdown she had in the summer of 2012 in a Zurich hotel room, during a European tour. “I felt my head go. It was the scariest thing. It felt like my brain was melting,” Houghton remembered. After several months of dieting and meditating she completely recovered.
“This is a new sound, a new project. Du Blonde is a new incarnation and one step closer to assuming my ultimate form. Having freed myself from the rusty and bloody shackles of Beth JeansHoughton – both musically and spiritually – I felt it only right to step forth under a new name and let the rituals commence,” Houghton stated, explaining the moniker conversion. Asked what has prevented her from playing louder on Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose, Du Blonde said: “I think a lot of it had to do with the way I learnt how to write and play guitar. I taught myself, and therefore had no concept of time signatures and keys, so often my songs would turn out pretty experimental because, well, they were experiments… Due to the complex or odd nature of the songs I was writing, putting distortion on things just didn’t work. To make the best of a raw, overdriven sound, I needed to keep it simple, which is only something I learned once I had a better grasp on chord progressions and rhythms.
There aren’t many musicians in the country as creative and as interesting as her at this point in time, and “Welcome Back To Milk” represents another triumph in her weird and wonderful saga.“ So BJH ditched the hooves, went blonde and hitched her wagon to a brand new edgier sound. Good for her, so it seems. Sold to the fish in the corner on the chorus alone, with it’s epic drum/guitar mash-up, she’s got one hell of a vocal range that wallops a whole range of emotions into orbit.
Would recommend her new album Lung Bread for Daddy as well.
New Order have officially announced Education Entertainment Recreation, a new live album and concert film recorded during the band’s sole UK show of 2018, held at Alexandra Palace. The career-spanning performance is being released on 2xCD, 2xCD with Blu-Ray, 3xLP, and as a limited edition box set with the aforementioned physical formats plus a book and art prints. Education Entertainment Recreation arrives May 7th via Mute; below, find a previously released clip of “Sub-Culture” from the film release.
New Order released a new song called “Be a Rebel” last fall. A music video by Spanish director NYSU was revealed in December. Their last full-length studio album Music Complete arrived in 2015. Recorded live on 9th November 2018 (their only UK show of 2018), ‘education entertainment recreation’is a brand new live album from London’s Alexandra Palace. Sonically spectacular, spanning 2 hours 20 minutes, the show joyously mixed New Order classics, their latest acclaimed album ‘Music Complete’ and Joy Division’s finest.
Opening with ‘Singularity’ from ‘Music Complete’, they eased back in time to 1993’s ‘Regret’, to ‘Love Vigilantes’ from 1985’s ‘Low-Life’ to ‘Ultraviolence from 1983 debut ‘Power, Corruption and Lies’. Later, their power over the dance floor was proven by sublime performances in the manner of the celebrated extended 12 inch remixes they are synonymous with – on ‘True Faith’, ‘Blue Monday’ and ‘Temptation’ before a four song Joy Division mini set to end
A career spanning celebration, the band were on relentlessly sparkling form, blending eras and genres and redefining themselves as perhaps the most vital British band of recent decades. This spectacular live album is spread across various formats, a triple 180 gram edition, a 2CD edition or a 2CD + film on BluRay edition.
The Times *****: “the pristine power of the band….filled the sometimes unforgiving space of Alexandra Palace quite magnificently”
Clash: “a celebration of innovation, fabulous tunes and a career that has mined gold from tragedy”
New Order are: Bernard Sumner – lead vocals, guitar Stephen Morris – drums Gillian Gilbert – keyboards Phil Cunningham – guitars Tom Chapman – bass
In some ways, Murder Ballads is the record, Nick Cave was waiting to make his entire career. Death and violence have always haunted his music, even when he wasn’t explicitly singing about the subject. He sings about nothing but death in the most gruesome, shocking fashion. Divided between originals and covers, the record is awash in both morbid humour and sobering horror, as the Bad Seeds provide an appropriate backdrop for the carnage, alternating between blues, country, and lounge-jazz.”
On Murder Ballads, he sings about nothing but death in the most gruesome, shocking fashion. Divided between originals and covers, the record is awash in both morbid humour and sobering horror, as the Bad Seeds provide an appropriate backdrop for the carnage, alternating between blues, country, and lounge-jazz.
Nick Cave does have plenty of compositional talent though, and his baritone suits the sombre mood of the record superbly. To say that the album is only worth getting for its lyrics would definitely be selling it short. Cave’s vocals are superb, and he really gets into character as he spins his tales of death and murder. Instrumentally, the album is primarily driven by a standard outfit of piano, bass, drums and guitar, with the occasional inclusion of organs, horns, strings, accordions, gunshots and screams among other things. The songs are anything but standard rock n’ roll song, seemingly as much to traditional folk or blues songs as contemporary rock music. While the album may be extreme for some in places, there are some undeniably great songs. His duet with Kylie Minogue on ”Where the Wild Roses Grow” is a beautiful ballad, driven by a delicate string section, that most people can enjoy, and a definite highlight on the album. Nick Cave often uses female vocals to provide contrast to his sombre baritone. On ”Stagger Lee”, a slow, menacing song, driven by a muted guitar, a repeated bass riff, and the occasional ringing piano chord. Nick Cave sounds more menacing than ever, taking a traditional blues standard and turning into an extreme tale of violence, murder and rape.
Opening the affair is “Song for Joy,” a tale from a father who has witnessed his family’s death at the hands of serial killer. It is the most disturbing number on the record, lacking any of the gallows humour that balances out the other songs. Cave’s duets with Kylie Minogue (“Where the Wild Roses Grow”) and PJ Harvey (“Henry Lee”) are intriguing, but the true tours de force of the album are “Stagger Lee” and “O’Malley’s Bar.” Working from an obscure, vulgar variation on “Stagger Lee,” Cave increases the sordidness of the song, making Stagger an utterly irredeemable character. The original “O’Malley’s Bar” is even stronger, as he spins a bizarrely funny epic of one man’s slaughter of an entire bar. During “O’Malley’s Bar,” Cave and the Bad Seeds are at the height of their powers and the performances rank among the best they have ever recorded.
“Henry Lee’ by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds featuring P.J Harvey.
In some ways, Murder Ballads is the record, Nick Cave was waiting to make his entire career. Death and violence have always haunted his music, even when he wasn’t explicitly singing about the subject. He sings about nothing but death in the most gruesome, shocking fashion. Divided between originals and covers, the record is awash in both morbid humour and sobering horror, as the Bad Seeds provide an appropriate backdrop for the carnage, alternating between blues, country, and lounge-jazz.”
On Murder Ballads, he sings about nothing but death in the most gruesome, shocking fashion. Divided between originals and covers, the record is awash in both morbid humour and sobering horror, as the Bad Seeds provide an appropriate backdrop for the carnage, alternating between blues, country, and lounge-jazz.
Opening the affair is “Song for Joy,” a tale from a father who has witnessed his family’s death at the hands of serial killer. It is the most disturbing number on the record, lacking any of the gallows humour that balances out the other songs. Cave’s duets with Kylie Minogue (“Where the Wild Roses Grow”) and PJ Harvey (“Henry Lee”) are intriguing, but the true tours de force of the album are “Stagger Lee” and “O’Malley’s Bar.” Working from an obscure, vulgar variation on “Stagger Lee,” Cave increases the sordidness of the song, making Stagger an utterly irredeemable character. The original “O’Malley’s Bar” is even stronger, as he spins a bizarrely funny epic of one man’s slaughter of an entire bar. During “O’Malley’s Bar,” Cave and the Bad Seeds are at the height of their powers and the performances rank among the best they have ever recorded.
After this harrowing epic you can let out a sigh of relief. The closer is gentle, comforting, cover of Bob Dylan’s “Death Is Not The End”, a welcome change but out-of-place at the same time. The verses are song by Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, Shane MacGowan, Kylie Minogue, Thomas Wylder, Anita Lane and Blixa Bargeld taking turn. The album might have ended on a stronger note with “O’Malley’s”, but that is up to personal opinion.
Murder Ballads is the ninth studio album by the Australian group Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, released by the record company Mute Records in February 1996.
Our new album “Acr Loco”, is our first album in 12 years, will be released September 25th 2020! Listen to the first single ‘Always In Love’A Certain Ratio are back with their album, Revitalised by their most successful tour in over two decades, the band returned to the studio to record their first album in 12 years – due for release on Mute Records on 25th September 2020.
ACR Loco was recorded by the core line up of Jez Kerr, Martin Moscrop and Donald Johnson with contributions from the ACR live line up – Tony Quigley on sax, Denise Johnson adds vocals and Matt Steele provides keyboards. Additional guests include Sink Ya Teeth’s Maria Uzor and Gemma Cullingford, Gabe Gurnsey (Factory Floor) and Manchester luminaries Mike Joyce and Eric Random.
“This album is a culmination of everything we’ve ever done,” explains Kerr. The album distils the different directions and styles that have run throughout the band’s career – one that began in the late ‘70s with Factory Records first ever 7” release. “Digging into the past for the boxset [ACR:BOX was released in 2019 on Mute] must have rubbed off on us and influenced the current album,” says Moscrop. “I think it helped spark up our imagination. It allowed us to work in some of the past as we move forward into the future.”
Keen on the joys of collaboration and sharing, it makes sense that adding the ACR touch to other artists via a series of reworks led to their latest album taking shape. Recent reworks of tracks for the likes of Barry Adamson, The Charlatans and Maps saw the band return to the studio to unpick those original tracks. “The reworks were crucial,” says Donald Johnson. “They got us back in the studio and forced a union and a bond. They allowed us to start getting a groove again.” Kerr mirrors this. “We love doing the reworks because it’s just us doing our thing,” he says. “The three of us jamming is really the basis of it all. Once you get that groove there’s no stopping us.”
The first sounds from the album were heard earlier this month when ‘Friends Around Us (Part 2)’ debuted after Tim’s Twitter Listening Party. This was followed by a limited edition 7” released in two parts across both sides of the vinyl, in homage to some of the great soul releases of the ‘70s and ‘80s, the 7” was available exclusively through the Love Record Stores Event to help struggling independent retailers.
The new 10-track album is out on CD, cassette and limited edition coloured vinyl. The vinyl will be available in one of four colours: white, blue, red and turquoise, randomly packed, with each colour of varying rarity.
Always In Love, taken from the forthcoming album ACR Loco, released September 25th.
Mute Records is arguably one of the most important independent music labels of all time, and certainly most successful and prolific. Since founding the label to release his debut single, The Normal’s‘Warm Leatherette’ / ’T.V.O.D’ in 1978, Daniel Miller went on to spearhead the careers of such music luminaries such as Fad Gadget, Depeche Mode, Einstürzende Neubauten, curating an enviable roster of artists that culminated recently with the signing of defunct rival Factory Records most popular act: New Order.
Now Daniel Miller is curating Mute: A Visual Document—a 320 page book of comprehensive discographies, including photography and video stills from legendary photographers, conceptual artworks, and “rare ephemera and equipment”. Also included is a family tree of Mute artists, and anecdotal and photographic contributions from important figures in the label’s history that include Moby, Alison Goldfrapp, Anton Corbijn, Bleddyn Butcher, Brian Griffin, Jon Spencer, Barry Adamson, Ivan Novak (Laibach), Angus Andrew (Liars), Adrian Shaughnessy and Tom Hingston.
The book follows the comprehensive 10-disc singles and b-sides boxset Mute: Audio Documents 1978 – 84, which was released in 2007. Exhaustive 10 CD box set from Mute Records, a collection of their singles, a and B-sides, released between 1978 – 84. The box contains four two-CD sets, each covering a specific time period (1978-81, 1982, 1983 and 1984) plus a bonus two disc set that contains 20 rarities by most of the artists featured in this box including Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Fad Gadget, Nick Cave, Non, Silicon Teens and the Normal. The first four volumes will be available separately later in 2007, but the bonus two CD set will only be available with this box! 128 groundbreaking tracks by one of the finest independent labels to emerge during the ‘new wave’ revolution. Also features cuts from D.A.F., Boyd Rice, Smegma, Robert Rental and more. 2008.
Sure, it’s definitely just label friends, to which I only partially count myself. So I was all the more surprised by what there was to discover.
For those interested in buying: Here on 10CDs you will find the complete back catalogue of all MUTE 7″ singles from 1978- 1984 nice with A & B-page.
From this not only “things that are on the books and are also on the albums”. I’ve discovered a lot, I was amazed at what was pressed on vinyl at the time.
The rarities are all rather live stuff, of which the concert by The Normal & Robert Rental 1978 was the absolute highlight for me. (The label connoisseur already knows this as a vinyl bootleg) If you ignore the sound quality, the gig was 25 years ahead of its time. That could have rocked the club in 1993.
The only shortcoming is the price. But maybe there are for those who don’t need everything, download the single tracks at Mute The box should probably also be picked and the CDs appear individually – apart from the rarities, this definitely should not give any more. Who knows? I’m looking forward to part 2! 85- 91 I also find exciting.
Mute: A Visual Document, is a project helmed by author and musician Terry Burrows is being released by Thames & Hudson on November 28th
In June 2017, New Order returned to the stage at Manchester’s Old Granada Studios where Joy Division made their television debut on Tony Wilson’s So It Goes programme in 1978. For the celebrated show ∑(No,12k,Lg,17Mif) New Order + Liam Gillick: So it goes .., New Order deconstructed, rethought and rebuilt a wealth of material from throughout their career: familiar and obscure, old and new. Featuring tracks such as Disorder, from Joy Divisions Unknown Pleasures and not played live for 30 years, up to 2015’s Plastic from New Order’s critically acclaimed Top 5 album Music Complete– this is the perfect document of those magical 5 nights. The album was recorded live on 13th July 2017 and includes the full show and encore plus 3 additional tracks recorded over the residency to give listeners a full representation of the breadth of material performed.
If you’re looking for a New Order live album chock full of their greatest hits, go pick up Live at the London Troxy or Live at Bestival 2012. If you’re looking for a New Order live album with a more unconventional setlist, a broader artistic vision and a 12-piece synthesizer orchestra, check out this new one, the arty-mathy, horrendously titled ?(No,12k,Lg,17Mif) New Order + Liam Gillick: So it goes.
Their MIF performance featured a bold stage setup and dramatic light show, which “reacted” to the music and was designed by English conceptual artist Liam Gillick. Its aesthetic devotion to sharp lines and spiraling motifs can be found throughout. Above all, this is an album full of intention. The way it toggles between the dreamy, the rave-y, the interstellar and the mathematical is what makes it uniquely transcendent. It’s so easy to get locked into the pulsing grooves and club beats on “this weird New Order live album” (which is likely how you’ll refer to it) that you won’t even realize songs like “Age of Consent” or “Blue Monday” are missing.
New Order Ltd. Under exclusive licence to Mute Artists Ltd. Released on: 2019-07-12
3LP – Limited Edition Triple album pressed on transparent coloured vinyl. Packaged in individual sleeves and into a hardback slipcase, all with spot gloss finish.24 page 12″ sized booklet with silk finish containing exclusive imagery and text relating to the legendary event. Includes hi definition digital download of all 18 tracks.
Later this month, Depeche Mode will launch a series of box sets collecting the band’s 12-inch singles. On August 31st, the first two boxes, “Speak & Spell” and “A Broken Frame”, will be released. All audio in this series has been newly remastered from the original tapes and cut at Abbey Road Studios.
The first box, “Speak & Spell: The 12″ Singles”, collects all of the singles around the era of the British electronic band’s 1981 debut “Speak & Spell”. It kicks off with a replica of the rare flexidisc containing “Sometimes I Wish I Was Dead” b/w Mute Records labelmate Fad Gadget’s “King of the Flies,” and continues with three 12-inch singles headlined by “Dreaming of Me,” “New Life,” and “Just Can’t Get Enough.” The original single versions of both “New Life” and “Just Can’t Get Enough” reached impressive peaks in the U.K. at No. 11 and No. 8, respectively. Despite their success, however, Speak & Spell proved to be Depeche Mode’s only album with founding member Vince Clarke.
The second box set, A Broken Frame: The 12″ Singles, addressed the period of the band’s 1981 sophomore album, their first to feature Martin Gore. This box has three 12-inch singles, with the A-sides “See You (Extended Version),” “The Meaning of Love (Fairly Odd Mix),” and “Leave in Silence (Longer).” All three songs placed in the U.K. top 20, with “See You” reaching the top ten.
Depeche Mode commented in the press release, “Our 12-inch singles have always been incredibly important to the band. It’s great to be able to re-share these songs with old and new fans in the way they were originally intended to be experienced. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do.” The cover of each box set features street art iconography inspired by the original albums, while the sleeves of the actual 12-inch singles are replicas of the originals. This limited edition box set contains the singles from Depeche Mode’s second studio album A Broken Frame on audiophile-quality 12-inch vinyl, with audio remastered from the original tapes and cut at the legendary Abbey Road Studios. The artwork for the exterior of the box sets draws on street art iconography inspired by the original releases, while the vinyl sleeves themselves feature the original vinyl single artwork.
Speak & Spell: The 12″ Singles (Mute/Rhino, 2018)
Flexidisc (released as Flexipop 011, 1981)
Sometimes I Wish I Was Dead – Depeche Mode
King of the Flies – Fad Gadget
Dreaming of Me 12″ (released on 7″ as Mute Records 7 MUTE 013, 1981)
Dreaming of Me
Ice Machine
New Life 12″ (released as Mute Records 12 MUTE 014, 1981)
New Life (Remix)
Shout! (Rio Remix)
Just Can’t Get Enough 12″ (released as Mute Records 12 MUTE 016, 1981)
Just Can’t Get Enough (Schizo Mix)
Any Second Now (Altered)
A Broken Frame: The 12″ Singles (Mute/Rhino, 2018)
See You 12″ (released as Mute Records 12 MUTE 018, 1982)
See You (Extended Version)
Now This Is Fun (Extended Version)
The Meaning Of Love 12″ (released as Mute Records 12 MUTE 022, 1982)
The Meaning Of Love (Fairly Odd Mix)
Oberkorn (It’s a Small Town) (Development Mix)
Leave In Silence 12″ (released as Mute Records 12 BONG 1, 1982)
Leave In Silence (Longer)
Further Excerpts From: My Secret Garden
Leave In Silence (Quieter)
Some Great Reward The 12″ Singles
This limited edition box set contains the singles from Depeche Mode’s fourth studio album “Some Great Reward” on audiophile-quality 12-inch vinyl, with audio remastered from the original tapes and cut at the legendary Abbey Road Studios. The artwork for the exterior of the box sets draws on street art iconography inspired by the original releases, while the vinyl sleeves themselves feature the original vinyl single artwork.
This deluxe collector’s set includes six 12-inch vinyl discs.
Track Listing:
Disc 1
People Are People (Different Mix)
In Your Memory (Slik Mix)
Disc 2
People Are People (On-Usound Mix)
People Are People
In Your Memory
Disc 3
Master and Servant (Slavery Whip Mix)
(Set Me Free) Remotivate Me (Release Mix)
Master and Servant (Voxless)
Disc 4
Master and Servant (An ON-USound Science Fiction Dance Hall Classic)
Are People People?
(Set Me Free) Remotivate Me
Disc 5
Blasphemous Rumours
Somebody (Live in Liverpool 2006)
Two Minute Warning (Live in Liverpool)
Ice Machine (Live in Liverpool)
Everything Counts (Live in Liverpool)
Disc 6
Somebody (Remix)
Everything Counts (Live in Liverpool)
Blasphemous Rumours
Told You So (Live in Liverpool)
Construction Time Again
Next box set in the series. Deluxe limited-edition numbered box set containing six 12″ vinyl discs -mastered from the original tapes – including alternate mixes, 7″ versions, live shows and more. Construction Time Again marked the first time that Depeche Mode released limited edition versions of an album’s 12″ singles, each containing the original mix of each track. Depeche Mode’s commitment to the 12″ single format as a distinct art form became even more evident. The Construction Time Again – The 12″ Singles box includes three reproductions of limited singles which each feature four bonus live performances recorded at London’s Hammersmith Odeon on October 25th, 1982.
Songs Of Faith And Devotion The Singles
Vinyl Box Set-SONGS OF FAITH AND DEVOTION THE 12” SINGLES deluxe limited-edition numbered box set will contain 8 x 12″ vinyl singles-Showcasing the singles– I Feel You, Walking In My Shoes, Condemnation and In Your Room–and key B-sides, mixes and live recordings contemporaneous to Depeche Mode’s Songs of Faith and Devotion album.-Songs of Faith and Devotion introduced fans to signature songs in the DM canon including “I Feel You” (the band’s highest-charting single worldwide), “Walking In My Shoes,” “Condemnation” and “In Your Room.”-Like each box set in the series, this release contains the singles from each Depeche Mode album on audiophile-quality 12″ vinyl, with audio remastered from the original tapes.-The artwork for the exterior of each of the new box sets draws on street art iconography inspired by the original releases, while the vinyl sleeves themselves feature the original vinyl single artwork.-Includes Single Poster Reproduction & Download Card
Ultra – The Singles 12″ Single, Box Set,
Ultra The 12″ Singles, a collector’s edition deluxe box set, contains eight 12″ vinyl discs presenting four singles–Barrel of a Gun, It’s No Good, Home, and Useless--with key B-sides, mixes and live recordings contemporaneous to Depeche Mode’s ninth studio album, “Ultra”, originally released 14th April 1997.
Three of the 12″ vinyl discs* in Ultra “The 12″ Singles” are comprised of tracks first released on CD singles throughout 1997. Each of these new 12″ discs features artwork reflecting the original CD single releases, now expanded to 12″ vinyl for the first time.
This box set contains the singles from Depeche Mode’s “Ultra” album on audiophile-quality 12″ vinyl, with audio mastered from the original tapes. The artwork for the exterior of the box sets draws on iconography inspired by the original release, while the vinyl sleeves themselves feature the original single artwork.
Can made music from an imaginary country, one with its own traditions and language — which means none at all. In its work, jazz, funk, electronic, psychedelic and minimalist music ran wild through impossible valleys and fantastic mountaintops. Some call it krautrock by virtue of the band’s German home base in Cologne. Most just call it Can.
For all of its sprawling albums releases, Can also maintained a healthy appetite for singles, which have now been collected. Out June 16th on Mute Records, “The Singles” will collect… well, guess. From radio edits of fan favorites like “Halleluwah” and “Future Days” to lesser-knowns.
As a preview the following track is available “Turtles Have Short Legs,” Can’s third single, originally recorded during the Tago Mago sessions and only ever issued on 7″ vinyl. It’s a hilariously goofy attempt at a novelty single, Writing about the song on Head Heritage, Julian Cope says, “It’s unlike any Damo [Suzuki]-era Can piece ever, appropriating an absurd Teutonic toy town piano phrase that winds up subverting it in waves into a slow, untrammeled monster.”
Farther down the line comes exciting news about a new Can book in spring 2018. There will be a complete, authorized biography written by The Wire’s Rob Young, plus the Can Kiosk by band member Irmin Schmidt, a “collage of thoughts, visuals and interviews,”
I&I is the opening to the work we spent the past 18 months developing. The visual was directed by Ebony Hoorn &Florian Joahn. I&I speaks of impulse & limitation, the thoughts that pass thru the morning air, the embers of a dreams left unspoken then forgotten. The visual finds portraying the taunts of duality, invocation of the rising sun to find the courage to act. What a strange old musical journey Ellery Roberts has had. The centre point of a million blogs about his old band Wu Lyf a few years back, he went from being someone with a few great songs to The Next Big Thing within the proverbial five minutes.
Wu Lyf split messily in 2012, with a statement from Roberts claiming, “The sincerity of [debut album Go Tell Fireto the Mountain] was lost in the bull shit of maintaining face in the world we live”. As parting words go, even that felt like a brilliantly orchestrated manoeuvre that only added to the cult appeal the band had fostered
Within a year he’d put out new solo track, ‘Kerou’s Lament’, but the music was literally all we got. No interviews, no record deals, not even much in the way of social media. And then he disappeared again. Various rumours about Ellery over the past few years – of rehearsals with members of the best of Manchester’s music scene, of obsessions with dubstep, of a return to university, and moves to Japan and Amsterdam.
Today the story becomes a little clearer. Ellery and his partner Ebony Hoorn played their first live dates as LUH (aka Lost Under Heaven), as well as their signing to Mute Records and a slow-building, piano-led track called ‘I&I’ which was produced by the Haxan Cloak and recorded on the island of Osea last May. It’s dynamic and euphoric, with Hoorn and Roberts’ distinctive vocals intertwined throughout.
The Fat Angel Sings 