'Emancipated Hearts', the debut solo release from former Galaxie 500 and Luna frontman Dean Wareham is out via Sonic Cathedral in the UK and Europe today. We're calling it a mini-album (some are saying EP) as it contains just six tracks - including the recent single 'Love Is Colder Than Death' - on the lovely limited-edition orange vinyl 10", with a couple of bonus cuts on the CD and iTunes versions, but there's nothing else mini about it.
Produced by Papercuts' Jason Quever it comes across like a bucolic, folk-rock take on Galaxie 500, with five original songs based around literary or film references and with a very politicsed feel ('The Deadliest Day Since The Invasion Began' and 'The Ticking Is The Bomb'), plus a cover of The Incredible String Band's 'Air'.
As you might know, nothing says dark like Philadelphia. And that's exactly where *Night Sins*, a project taken on almost entirely by singer/songwriter Kyle Kimball hails from. Last year we released their debut LP titled *New
Grave*, a modern day dark wave classic with nine blistering tracks that touches on early Skinny Puppy, Sisters Of Mercy and Peter Murphy. Right after the recent US tour with EBM wild men Youth Code, a new album is
coming *out on Avant! on November 29*.
On Night Sins sophomore release *To London Or The Lake*, you can immediately hear a more focused and defined Kimball. It's a Night Sins in their comfort zone with a more polished sound that now brings in traces of
Gary Numan’s catchy synth leads and Siouxsie's vocal melodies, but still keeping the driving guitar of that is reminiscent of The Mission or The Cult.
Kyle Kimball himself, talking about *To London Or The Lake*, says: “The record is lyrically about longing and musically I tried to write the soundtrack to The Lost Boys movie if it came out in 2013”.
Gaudete’ is directed by Martin Menuier, whose credits include James & The Giant Peach and Coraline, and Tonya Hurley, the author and director best known for the book series ghostgirl and The Blessed. The dark and beautiful stop motion animation clip sees two mysterious monks travelling through an icy ruin and the video follows the album trailer, which features Erasure’s version of ‘Silent Night’.
The album will be released on CD and as a Limited Edition Deluxe Christmas Box Set. The box set includes 3 CDs plus an exclusive festive tree bauble, desktop calendar, postcards and a Christmas card signed by Vince and Andy with much more to be announced.
Produced by Erasure, Gareth Jones and Richard X, Snow Globe is a collection of original compositions and seasonal classics, and follows 2011’s album, Tomorrow’s World.
When the 28-year-old songwriting partnership that is Erasure met up in Vince Clarke’s Brooklyn studio to start work on the new album, they both approached the familiarity with a little nervousness. Soon enough, the telepathic, connective and alchemical magic of songwriting fired both their imaginations once again.
In Erasure, they both say, they have the ability to do what the other cannot in facilitating a fleshed-out musical vision. ‘I told Vince I wanted the music to sound like shards of ice or snowflakes falling’. Vince paired all the music of songs he worried might be over-familiar back to their route chord and fleshed nothing out, with carefully aggregated synthetic punctuation points, making a spare, brittle noise that speaks of Erasure’s incredible ability to move listeners from the simplest of places. ‘It sounds quite odd,’ says Vince, delighted at the leftfield result of what could’ve been such a mainstream pursuit. ‘But always with us melody is at the heart of everything.’
Unlike the bells and whistles, glitter and tinsel sets that crowd the market come Christmas-time, Snow Globe is possessed of something more in the wistfully, strangely subdued celebratory mould of recent seasonal albums by Tracey Thorn and Kate Bush.
The award-winning songwriting duo of Vince Clarke and Andy Bell unleashed on the nation a succession of both influential and chart-topping pop anthems of the ‘80s, ‘90s through to today. Songs like ‘A Little Respect’, ‘Sometimes’, ‘Victim Of Love’, ‘Ship Of Fools’, ‘Blue Savannah’, ‘Star’, ‘Chains Of Love’, ‘The Circus’, ‘Who Needs Love (Like That)’, ‘Love To Hate You’, ‘Drama!’, “Always” and “Breathe,” ensured a formidable presence on the singles charts complemented by five consecutive No 1 albums (including The Innocents, Wild! and Chorus) and the beginning of the worldwide Abba revival, ‘Abba-esque’.
SNOW GLOBE TRACKLISTING
Bells Of Love (Isabelle's of Love)
Gaudete
Make It Wonderful
Sleep Quietly
Silent Night
Loving Man
The Christmas Song
Bleak Midwinter
Blood On The Snow
There'll Be No Tomorrow
Midnight Clear
White Christmas
Silver Bells
The new album, Snow Globe, will be released on 11 November 2013.
Lumière releases a box that contains the six films by French master Jacques Tati. All films including Jour De Fête, Les Vacances De Mr. Hulot, Mon Oncle, Playtime, Traffic and Parade are completely restored. All six movies are seen as highlights in cinema.
His original approach of combining sound and visual details have inspired many directors. These six pieces are still todays indestructible and worth seeing. This box not only contains the seix films, but also lots of short movies which makes this Lumière-release the most comprehensive item by Tati you’ll ever find. The Jacques Tati-box will be available from 12th November 2013 on.
Amphi Festival, one of the best 'dark' festivals in Europe (if not the best), has just announced that our local bands The KLINIK and NEON JUDGEMENT will be part of the linup. This 10th anniversary edition will be held on 26 and 27 July. The confirmed bands so far are:
EISBRECHER | BLUTENGEL & THE MONUMENT ENSEMBLE
PROJECT PITCHFORK | MONO INC. | HOCICO | NACHTMAHR
IAMX | MESH | THE KLINIK | ROTERSAND | ZEROMANCER
AESTHETIC PERFECTION | LORD OF THE LOST | SOLAR FAKE
THE NEON JUDGEMENT | JANUS | EISENFUNK | UNZUCHT
DIE KAMMER | KLANGSTABIL | MAERZFELD | CENTHRON
DER TOD – DEATH COMEDY
Check the video footage of last year's edition below: it's amazing!
Original Amphi tickets are available worldwide from the AMPHI SHOP at www.amphi-shop.de.
www.amphi-festival.de
www.facebook.com/amphifestival
