SummersRadio™ Music News! Pet Shop Boys - 'Electric' Video Teaser
London's ironic duo Pet Shop Boys have made a couple of surprising announcements today - they're leaving their label Parlophone after 28 years - and they're releasing a new album in June - less than a year after 'Elysium'!
PSB made the announcements on Facebook today - they've just signed a new worldwide record deal with the Kobalt Music Group which was founded in 2001 and is home to other artists such as Paul McCartney, Moby, Tiesto, James Murphy, Pearl Jam and Bon Ivor.
Even more surprising is that they're releasing a new album called 'Electric' in June - just nine months after the release of their eleventh studio album 'Elysium'. This is odd because the average wait between new PSB studio albums has been three years. In some ways though this is no surprise at all - just tremendous news for fans.
If you follow SummersRadio™ regularly you'll know I'm a massive PSB fan - but I also found most of their last album to be unbearable. Too much of it was far too bland and lifeless. Maybe Parlophone urged them to do an adult contemporary album or something (who knows) but it's starting to look like a bit of a contractual obligation album - not that that in itself is an excuse for releasing a craptacular album!
I applaud the move - it's great that they're so eager to release a new album so quickly. It looks like they're doing exactly what two intelligent, talented musicians should do here - distance themselves from the last album and make a better one chop-chop! 'Electric' will be released in June on both cd and as a download and it's produced by Stuart Price (aka Jacques Lu Cont and many more) who's worked with artists including Madonna, The Killers, Kylie Minogue, Scissor Sisters and New Order. Price also reedited their most recent single 'Memory Of The Future' and produced the megamix they performed at the Brit Awards in 2009 when they received the 'Outstanding Contribution To Music' award.
So Pet Shop Boys are returning to their roots... clubland! Here's a video teaser for 'Electric' that the band posted today. It certainly sounds promising as a livelier dance focused album - and dare I say that the music here sounds more exciting than the rather dated disco featured in Daft Punk's new teaser... Enjoy!
SummersRadio™ New Remix! Pet Shop Boys - 'Leaving' (Lost Her Love Remix)
The Pet Shop Boys have released several new remix packages for their latest single 'Leaving'! 'Leaving' is the second official single from their latest album 'Elysium' and it's available on a number of formats including on 7" and 12" vinyl, a two part cd single, and a three part digital EP - 'Leaving', 'Leaving Remixed' and 'Leaving Again'. The 'Lost Her Love Remix' is from the 'Leaving Remixed' EP and cd single.
I was hoping that some remixes might save 'Leaving' from being anything more than pablum - and this new 'Lost Her Love Remix' by Italian dj/ producer Dusty Kid exceeds all expectations! He catapults the original into another galaxy - this eleven and a half minute journey includes multi-layered keyboards, vocoder and even some cowbell that eventually leads to one of my most favourite places... spacey acid techno territory - it's bliss! Enjoy!
SummersRadio™ New Music! Pet Shop Boys - 'Memory Of The Future'
Pet Shop Boys have released their eleventh studio album called 'Elysium' this week! That's the good news. The bad news is that they've lost their irony! I couldn't stand the album's first single 'Winner' and I deemed it unpostworthy. I reckon that I'm not the only fan who felt that way as it debuted at #86 on the U.K. Singles Top 100 - and then vanished the very next week - far and away their worst chart placing for a lead single off of a proper album ever.
I'm waiting to hear the remixes of the next scheduled single 'Leaving' (released October 15th) before deciding on that one. How can the Ironic Duo write a song called 'Winner' without any irony in it anyway? Blasphemous!
As a lifelong fan I still love them overall, but they've lost their way here - for the first time they sound old. 'Elysium' is their first album recorded in America - and I beg them never to do so again. It was produced by Andrew Dawson in Los Angeles who's worked with Kanye West, Jay Z, Snoop Dogg (although you'd never guess from the lack of beats here) and 30 Seconds To Mars (!) to name a few - so he's to blame.
Some people are comparing the album to the brilliance of 'Behaviour' - perhaps simply because it's laid back - but on that album they sang about NOT being boring. 'Elysium' is no paradise (as the title suggests) it's just too lifeless - far too adult contemporary. It would be a good album to put on if you want to take a nap. I feel guilty saying that but it's a case of cruel to be kind. As a former music journalist surely Neil Tennant would want me to be honest here - not every artist's new album is their best ever - even though they're always promoted that way.
However I admit that I still need to give the album more time to grow on me, but I can't ever imagine listening to the album's eighth track 'Hold On' without cringing. There is one song that was to my liking immediately though - 'Memory Of The Future' - the tenth track on the album (perhaps because it's one of the few with a pulse). It's classic Pet Shop Boys - with it's gurgling synths, beautiful strings, disco hi-hats, and romantic but not sappy lyrics - I reckon it sounds like it could be track seven on 'Introspective'... Enjoy!
SummersRadio™ New Music! Pet Shop Boys - 'Invisible'/ 'Here' (PSB New Extended Mix)
Pet Shop Boys have just released a new song online! 'Invisible' is not the first official single, but it is the first new track that the band have posted online from their forthcoming new album called 'Elysium' - their eleventh proper studio album - which will be released in September.
'Invisible' is perhaps the most laid back affair they've ever recorded - featuring lyrics about escaping the spotlight and the joys of solitude and getting older - and although it's not a single they've also made of video for it... Enjoy!
Bonus Track! Here's another song that was never a single - 'Here' is from their 2002 release called err... 'Release'. It so should have been a single so I was pleased when they released the 'PSB New Extended Mix' of it on 'Disco 3' the following year. I love the depth of sincerity in the lyrics:
We all have a dream of a place we belong The fire is burning and the radio's on Somebody smiles and it means I love you but sometimes we don't notice when the dream has come true
You've got a home here Call it what you want You've got a home here to return to when you can't face the world and you need some support to succeed You've got a home
We all make a mess of our lives from time to time It's part of the process that you stumble as you climb And if you ever feel the pain is far too big a deal I say with pride I'll be on your side
You've got a home here Call it what you want You've got a home here You're gonna want it when you can't face the world and you need some support to succeed You've got a home
This is the 'PSB New Extended Mix' of 'Here'... Enjoy!
