Here are some scabby flakes of putrid bloggery that I didn't have time to squeeze into my blog in April.
As a proud Mancunian, I like the look of Top Class Manager. Lesley Gilbert, the widow of music manager Rob Gretton, created this book from notebooks, posters, letters, and studio notes, all chronicling the short history of Joy Division. I think it came out some time ago, but I've only just noticed it - here.
Speaking of the holy land, the Manchester International Festival is approaching fast. Uber-techno-mecha-gods Kraftwerk will appear with Steve Reich, while Elbow will strike up with the Hallé Orchestra. I once performed with the Hallé, but that's for another post. Oh and the Same Teens will be doing one of their gigs for, um, teens. I found myself at one of their events once, and everyone, absolutely everyone, was wearing leggings.
Time for a B12 update. (I feel like I am a TV presenter updating you on the longest marathon in the world.) The legendary techno label is issuing lots of lovely old goodness on a series of Archive albums. I last reported them when they released Volume 3. They're now up to Volume six of seven, which spans 1992 to 1994 - read more about the whole lot at Boomkat.
Finally, I've been working on a piece called Bands From The Last Few Years That Sound Like Orbital But Aren't Orbital. I'm struggling. I'm trying to avoid obvious bands from 'back in the day' like Leftfield that Last FM or iTunes would obviously point out. So I've got Mike Paradinas, Boards of Canada, Plaid, maybe Bola, the Crystal Castles track Untrust Us, and the theme tune to the Equalizer. Long Range doesn't count because it's an Orbital spin-off. It's not a good list, is it? I thought this piece would float, but it seems to be drowning. If you can help, throw me a lifeline in the comments.
"...got Mike Paradinas, Boards of Canada, Plaid, maybe Bola,..."
ReplyDeleteSorry, that list ain't working. All are from the same period rather than more recent acts. How about Lindstrom, who takes some of the spacier stuff of Halcyon and adds extra Moroder (sp)? And Booka Shade. TBH, it's hard to think of a recent successful electronic artist from the UK who has had an influence from Orbital. The UK acts seem much more influenced by Rave/Hardcore. The Prodigy is a much bigger influence there (sadly).
Well, they are also from "back in the day", but at one point SPOOKY must have been convinced to be Orbital. Their "Clank" EP even had song titles that sounded like Orbital ("Oblong")
ReplyDeleteThe Theme song to Equalizer - now that's a blast from the past. Was it Stewart Copeland who produced that track? Used to love that song (and show)back in eighth grade.
ReplyDeleteGroups like Orbital? Vapourspace comes to mind, though I think it was one guy who ran that project.