The Danse Society were a very special band formed in the early 1980’s and hailed from the Goth heartland of Yorkshire. After their highly regarded album "Seduction" on their own label Society Records, the band signed to Arista Records and released this the excellent "Heaven Is Waiting" album. It's their most complete and accomplished album.
During the eighties, the Danse Society created a reputation for lush and atmospheric sounds that separated them from the rest of the gothic scene at the time. The innovative and creative use of keyboards was the element gave the band their distinctive sound. This 15 track collection includes the original UK LP version from 1984 and 4 bonus tracks.
The singles "2000 Light Years From Home" and "Heaven Is Waiting" are featured and 3 of the bonus tracks are taken from the original cassette version of the album. The CD features the original ‘Heaven Is Waiting’ LP cover along with the other sleeves from the Society Records period.
Sleeve notes have been written by Danse Society keyboardist, Lyndon Scarfe and also included is a complete discography of the band.
Director Paul Greengrass did it again. This highly acclaimed director who made gems like United 93 or the Bourne-trilogy is now telling the story from the hijacking of the American cargo Maersk Alabama by Somalian pirates. The film focuses on the tension between captain Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks) and leader Muse (Barkhad Abdi).
Apart from the trailer which you can see below, Sony Pictures Releasing Belgium is offering us an exclusive video in where Barkhad Abdi is telling how the filming was like, what he thinks about pirates and of course how it was to work with Tom Hanks.
Click here for the video.
White Leaves Music, the label of our Belgian friend Gregoire Fray (Thot), is releasing "The Challenge", the new single of French act Moon Prototype.
Imagine a trip-hop baseline à la Tricky/Massive Attack, combined with very suave vocals reminiscent of Arid, Anathema or Gazpacho. On top of this, you add very subtle touches of prog-metal, electronica and dream-pop. Throughout the track, you can hear samples of American Indians speaking (the samples are off the movie "Blueberry"). You get a song that takes you very, very far... Stream it below...
This single is a great introduction to the band's upcoming album, "Modern Life Is A Journey By Car", to be released 25.11.13 in digital on White Leaves Music.
Music, vocals and lyrics composed and performed by Olivier Jung
Guitar composed and performed by David Husser
Piano composed and performed by Nicolas Chapel
Mixed and mastered by Nicolas Chapel
Arrow Films’ Arrow Academy label is pleased to announce the highly anticipated deluxe Blu-ray release of Robert Altman’s seminal classic The Long Goodbye. The restored Blu-ray disc will be available to own in the UK on 2nd December, marking the first time that this classic piece of 70s cinema will be available on the Blu-ray format in the UK.
Shot by the Academy Award-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond (Heaven’s Gate, Close Encounters of the Third Kind), a regular collaborator of Brian De Palma, Woody Allen and Robert Atlman the film was treated to a unique process in post-production whereby Zsigmond flashed the negative with light, partially exposing it, giving the film a muted look with desaturated colours and very low contrast. To ensure this was faithfully rendered on The Arrow Academy Blu-ray Zsigmond provided detailed colour notes so the master could better match the original intended look. The processes the film went through are explained in more detail on the extras contained in the disc and the booklet.
Starring: Elliott Gould, Nina van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden
Directed by: Robert Altman
Synopsis
When private eye Philip Marlowe (Elliott Gould) is visited by an old friend, this sets in train a series of events in which he’s hired to search for a missing novelist (Sterling Hayden) and finds himself on the wrong side of vicious gangsters. So far so faithful to Raymond Chandler, but Robert Altman’s inspired adaptation of the writer’s most personal novel takes his legendary detective and relocates him to the selfish, hedonistic culture of 1970s Hollywood, where he finds that his old-fashioned notions of honour and loyalty carry little weight, and even his smoking (universal in film noir) is now frowned upon.
Widely misunderstood at the time, The Long Goodbye is now regarded as one of Altman’s best films and one of the outstanding American films of its era, with Gould’s shambling, cat-obsessed Marlowe ranking alongside more outwardly faithful interpretations by Humphrey Bogart and Robert Mitchum.
Special Features
• High Definition presentation of the film from a digital transfer by MGM Studios (1080p)
• Original uncompressed PCM audio
• Isolated Music and Effects Soundtrack
• Optional English SDH Subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
• Rip Van Marlowe: an interview with director Robert Altman and star Elliott Gould
• Vilmos Zsigmond Flashes The Long Goodbye: an interview with the legendary cinematographer
• Giggle and Give In: Paul Joyce’s acclaimed documentary profile of Robert Altman, with contributions from Altman, Gould, Shelley Duvall, assistant director Alan Rudolph and screenwriter Joan Tewkesbury
• Elliott Gould Q&A: the star discusses the film with crime novelist Michael Connelly
• David Thompson on Robert Altman: the editor of Altman on Altman and producer of the BBC’s Robert Altman in England talks about The Long Goodbye’s place in Altman’s filmography
• Tom Williams on Raymond Chandler: the novelist’s biographer outlines his life and work and discusses Altman’s adaptation of The Long Goodbye
• Maxim Jakubowski on Hard Boiled Fiction: the crime writer and critic discusses the emergence of hard-boiled detective characters from the pages of the pulp magazines from the 1920s through to the 1950s
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Radio Spots
• Reversible Sleeve featuring the original poster and newly commissioned artwork by Jay Shaw
• Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Brad Stevens, an archive interview with screenwriter Leigh Brackett, a new interview with Alan Rudolph, and an American Cinematographer article discussing Zsigmond’s unique treatment of the film, illustrated with original archive stills and posters
The brand new 6 track EP "The Remainderer" from The Fall will now be released as a 10" LP and CD and Download on 9th December 2013. The tracklisting is:
SIDE ONE
1. THE REMAINDERER
2. AMORATOR
3. MISTER RODE
SIDE TWO
4. REMEMBERANCE R
5. SAY MAMA / RACE WITH THE DEVIL
6. TOUCHY PAD
Formed in Manchester in 1976. The band has existed in some form ever since, and is essentially built around its founder and only constant member Mark E. Smith. Initially associated with the punk movement of the late 1970s, the group's music has gone through several stylistic changes over the years, but is often characterized by an abrasive guitar-driven sound and frequent use of repetition, and is always underpinned by Smith's distinctive vocals and often cryptic lyrics.
The band were long-associated with BBC disc jockey John Peel, who championed them from early on in their career and cited The Fall as his favourite band, famously explaining, "They are always different; they are always the same."
This EP released in both 10” and CD format contains six new songs from the band and is a bridging point between albums; the new one being released by Cherry Red in 2014.
