Archive for the ‘New Order’ Category

Blue Monday ’95 for 2020

Monday, February 24th, 2020

In news that will upset nearly no one, here’s another quick and dirty New Order post.

New Order
Blue Monday (Hardfloor Remix)
Blue Monday (Manuella mix)
Blue Monday (Andrea mix)
Blue Monday (Plutone mix)

The original 12″ version of “Blue Monday” is a perfect song and no attempts to remix, remake, rework, or re-imagine it will ever come close to even matching the original. I feel that this is not a bold statement. There are plenty of New Order tracks that have benefited from remixes or re-workings. “Temptation” comes to mind, as does “Fine Time” and even “Touched By The Hand of God.” Hell, the entirety of Music Complete was remixed with extended versions and I prefer all of those to the originals. And some of the mixes to “Tutti Frutti” were just rad as hell.

But you can’t fuck with “Blue Monday.” Shit’s perfect. Still, New Order sure has tried. There was the ’88 remix, which achieved some degree of success, and these ’95 remixes, which did not. Most of them aren’t bad mixes, save for the “Andrea Mix” which reworks the song in a reggae dub track (yikes). But as soon as I’m done listening to them, all I want to do is listen to the original version once more. It ain’t broke.

Still, there’s a lot of good to be had here. While none are my first choice, I do return to a few of them. I dig the “Hardfloor” mix quite a lot. It has a hint of an acid vibe to it. Not too much, just enough to give it that edge. And the “Plutone” mix is great too. It has this high, almost ringing, synth line through it that gives it an urgent feeling that I really get into. If my knees still let me jog, I would slam this sucker on a jogging mix right away.

Maybe more New Order next week? I don’t know. I got some weird shit I want to share, but like I’ve said multiple times over, the weird shit posts take time. And since so few people actually seem to like them, sometimes motivation is hard. But if I don’t upload obscure late-70s Japanese experimental electronic music, who will?!

The Return Of New Order (to this blog)

Tuesday, February 11th, 2020

I haven’t posted a New Order track in nearly five years. What the fuck happened to me, man? I used to be cool.

New Order
True Faith-94
True Faith-94 (Radio Edit)
True Faith-94 (Perfecto Mix)
True Faith-94 (Perfecto Radio Edit)
True Faith-94 (The TWA Grim Up North Mix)

I bought 23 new wave and synth-pop CD singles this weekend.

There was a sale. I’m a weak man.

Sadly, much of what I purchased cannot be shared here because its all shockingly in print now. It amazes me still how much obscure and formerly hard-to-find stuff is being re-released now compared to when I started this blog 14 goddamn years ago. Remember how I could just go to a record store, snag a shitload of Depeche Mode 12″ singles (on the cheap) and end up posting a dozen or so remixes that had all fallen out-of-print? Those days are long gone. I bought several Depeche Mode singles at that sale. I have to double-check to be sure, but it would appear that all of the remixes on all of them are now easy to find on iTunes, special edition re-issues, and even on streaming services. The same goes for the Erasure stuff I picked up. I grabbed the first four EBX singles collections that the band put out several years back. Now all of those are available for listening online, as well as several digital-only sequels to the series (Boo to digital only!).

But you know what prominent new wave/synth-pop band continues to fuck up their legacy by keeping a large swath of their 12″ singles and CD single exclusive tracks out-of-print? That’s right, New Order. They’ve certainly gotten better. Pretty much all the remixes from their past few albums are online now, as are prominent remixes for more popular tracks like “Bizarre Love Triangle” and “Confusion.” But songs like these, the 1994 remixes “True Faith” are still MIA (the main ’94 remix was included on The Best Of New Order but that album is now out-of-print in most territories). For some reason, most of the remixes to “World In Motion” are online though, so who the hell knows why which tracks make it online and which don’t, its certainly not an issue of quality.

And these are really good remixes! Of a really good track! None of them are too drastic, they’re not pure dancefloor mixes that take away the vocals or hooks. They’re all really recognizable as remixes of “True Faith,” an all-time banger of a track if you ask me. I could get that hook stuck in my head for days and I wouldn’t complain. If I had anything negative to say about these cuts, it’s that they don’t do enough to deviate from the source material. But hey, I guess if it ain’t broke, why fix it?

I wonder how many discs it would take to properly re-release every New Order remix. How big would that box set be? It would have to be dozens of discs, right? I guess that’s why it’ll never happen. They’re far happier dishing this shit out piecemeal (with plenty of overlap so we end up buying a lot of the same music multiple times over). Oh well, a guy can dream.

Probably more New Order next week. Or a batshit stupid synthesizer album. I guess it depends on my mood that day.

I’m Gay. Here’s Madonna.

Sunday, March 8th, 2015

Do you follow me on Twitter? You should follow me on Twitter. If you did, you’d be alerted to hot scoops like walls of Slime in Shinjuku Station and random rants against sexist pigs.

Oh, and you’d also know I’m gay.

Yes, the man who has spent the better part of nine years sharing club remixes of Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, Erasure and Madonna tunes is gay. I know. It’s a real shocker.

Hey, speaking of Madonna and New Order, how about some more Madonna and New Order?

Madonna
Nothing Really Matters (Club 69 vocal club mix)
Nothing Really Matters (Club 69 Future mix) 
Nothing Really Matters (Club 69 Speed mix) 
Nothing Really Matters (Kruder & Dorfmeister remix)
Nothing Really Matters (Vikram remix)
Nothing Really Matters (Club 69 Future dub)
Nothing Really Matters (Club 69 radio mix)
What It Feels Like For A Girl (Calderone & Quayle Dark Side Mix)
What It Feels Like For A Girl (Tracy Young Cool Out Radio Mix)
What It Feels Like For A Girl (Richard Vission Velvet Masta Mix)
Expect a shit ton of more Madonna in the coming weeks. I feel like I always say that, but it’s doubly true now. I recently bought about 20 more Madonna singles. Add that to the 10 I bought that I still haven’t shared and that’s a lot of Madge.

I now own over 80 Madonna LPs, most of which are singles. I can’t wait until I can go back to the states and mail the ones I have here to Japan. Having my Madonna records spread out across two continents just feels wrong.

“Nothing Really Matters (Club 69 Speed Mix)” is new, while the other remixes of that track are reposts. However, my original post was sourced from a hella scratchy vinyl while these come straight from the CD single, so even if you did download them before I’d download them again.

I might have more remixes of “What It Feels Like For A Girl” in the coming weeks. I think I bought another 12″ of it. Maybe.

Look, I bought 20 Madonna singles, did my Japanese taxes and came out to my family last week. Sorry if I can’t remember everything perfectly.

New Order
Waiting For A Sirens’ Call (Filterheadz Remix)
Jetstream (Jacques Lu Cont Dub)
As New Order get its heads out of its ass and release more of their remixes digitally, it’s getting harder and harder for me to find legitimately obscure tracks by the group. Thankfully I go crate digging for records in tiny record shops in out-of-the-way areas in Tokyo.

Both of these remixes were taken from different 12″ singles that the band put out in 2006. To my knowledge none of them have ever been made available digitally or on CD in a commercial form. They’re very good club tracks, some of the better dance-focused New Order remixes from that decade I think.

This remix series also had a third 12″ featuring “I Told You So (Stuart Price’s Remix)” but that was later put on the Lost Sirens album so I’m not including it here.

Bad English and PWEI

Monday, July 21st, 2014

It was a three-day holiday weekend here in Japan – which means extra work for me. Yeah, I know it’s counter-intuitive, just roll with it okay?

As such, I’m beat, and I really don’t have a lot to say about tonight’s music other than that I like it, you should like it, and I hope you enjoy it. So instead, here’s a collection of bad English I’ve heard from students since I started working as an English instructor in January

  • “My daughter loved school, she pleasured herself.”
  • “I find pleasure in your lesson.”
  • “How long are you?” (I HEAR THIS EVERYDAY AND IT’S ALWAYS FUNNY)
  • “How much height do you have? I don’t have much height.”
  • “I am a trick!”
  • “I like to watch football, the play is very HOT!”
  • “I potato dinner.”
  • “I like black music!”

And the best things I’ve heard:

  • “You are big like Totoro, you are big and soft.” (AW FUCK THAT’S SOME CUTE SHIT)
  • “You are so great!” (He meant tall, but I didn’t stop him)
  • “I want to hear what you say about all music.”
  • “I need you to tell me what these Meat Loaf song titles mean.”

That last one was from a 68 year old woman by the way. Wagnerian rock lives in Japan.

Pop Will Eat Itself
Wise Up! Sucker (7″ Version)
Orgyone Stimulator
Can U Dig It (Riffsmix)
I can dig it. These come from the 12″ single to Wise Up! Sucker. The 12″ mix is on that, but you can get that on just about every digital music store, so grab it there instead.

New Order
New Order Megamix
Off a bootleg 12″ single. Don’t remember any of the details sorry.

Rare Lou Reed and Lou Reed Covers

Monday, October 28th, 2013

Lou Reed passed away this weekend, and I’m not going to say much about it.  I am incredibly bad at eulogizing, especially so when the person in question is someone I have mixed feelings about.

Lou Reed was a genius. Lou Reed was an asshole. Lou Reed was a revolutionary songwriter. Lou Reed was a hack. Lou Reed was a legendary performer. Lou Reed was lazy and hated his audiences. I feel that all those things are true, and I don’t know how to compose my contradictory viewpoints into anything that would do either him or my own thoughts justice.

So I’ll just say that Lou Reed will be missed by a lot of people, including me. Everyone should listen to his work with the Velvet Underground. If you can tolerate shoddy audio quality, then you also must listen to The Quine Tapes, an amazing 3CD collection of VU bootlegs that feature some of the greatest live performances I’ve ever heard. And listen to Transformer. Because damn.

This is all the Lou Reed-related material I have, enjoy.

Lou Reed
My Red Joystick (Remixed Version)
My Red Joystick (Instrumental Version)
The Original Wrapper (Extended Version)
The Original Wrapper (Dub Version)
The Original Wrapper (Remix Single Version)
Video Violence (Remix)
Satellite Of Love ’04 (Dab Hands Retouch)
Satellite Of Love ’04 (Dab Hands Radio Edit)
Satellite Of Love ’04 (Groovefinder Remix)
This is literally all the rare Lou Reed I have (that was recorded under his actual name…keep reading and you’ll see what I mean). These are all taken from various 12″ singles and I’ve posted them all before. However, I re-recorded everything save for the “Satellite of Love” remixes, so even if you downloaded them from me before, be sure to grab them again – these versions sound so much better than my original rips.

If you’ve never had the joy of hearing Lou Reed “rap” then you’ll be in for a treat with some of these tracks.

New Order
Sister Ray (Live)
From the disgustingly-titled-but-vaguely-interesting compilation Like A Girl, I Want You To Keep Coming, which includes rarities by David Byrne, Debbie Harry and Henry Rollins as well. As far as I know, this live VU cover has never been released on any other album.

Billy Idol
Heroin (Nosebleed Mix)
Heroin (Ionizer mix)
Heroin (A Drug Called Horse Mix)
Heroin (Overlords Mix).mp3″>Heroin (Overlords Mix)
Heroin (VR Mix)
Heroin (Needle Park Mix)
Billy Idol covered “Heroin” for his 1993 alubm Cyberpunk, an album that literally everyone on Earth hates except for me and Billy Idol. I re-recorded these tracks too, so if you downloaded them from my site once before and want better copies, download these too.

The Beachnuts - Cycle Annie
The J Brothers- Don’t Turn My World Upside Down
The Liberty Men -Wonderful World of Love
The Hi-Lites -Soul City
I wrote about these tracks before , they’re all from a mid-60s budget compilation album called Out Of Sight. This is how Lou Reed paid the bills before forming VU. He only performs on “Cylce Annie,” but he wrote all of these tunes.

David Bowie & Lou Reed
Queen Bitch
I’m Waiting For The Man
Dirty Boulevard
White Light/White Heat
All taken from Bowie’s 50th birthday bash in 1997. A great show you can find on YouTube I think.

David Bowie
White Light/White Heat (Rehearsal with Stevie Ray Vaughn)
White Light/White Heat (Studio Outtake)
I’m Waiting For The Man (Radio Appearance)
I’m Waiting For The Man (Live) (Another Radio Appearance)
I’m Waiting For The Man (Studio Recording)
I’m Waiting For The Man (Live Bootleg)
I’m Waiting For The Man (Live In Budapest)
These are all taken from various bootlegs, radio rips and other odds and sods I’ve accumulated over the years. In case you’re wondering how the Stevie Ray Vaughn thing happened, Stevie played guitar on Bowie’s Let’s Dance album. He was supposed to joing Bowie on the Serious Moonlight tour, but that didn’t work out. That recording is from the rehearsals for that tour.

I think we can say without question that David Bowie really liked “I’m Waiting For The Man,” I assume he could identify with that song on multiple levels.

Nirvana
Here She Comes Now (Electric Punk Version)
Here She Comes Now (Radio Appearance)
One version of Nirvana’s cover of this VU song has seen official release, the “Smart Studios” version was included on both the With The Lights Out compilation and the Super Deluxe edition of Nevermind. However, Nirvana performed and recorded this song a lot over the years. The “Electric Punk” version is, like the title suggests, more of a punk rock arrangement of the tune, while the radio appearance versions is more in tune with the Smart Studios version – all are great. You can really hear the emotion in Kurt’s voice in all these versions. This cover is how I got into VU in the first place.

Tales of Synthpop and Homeless Fat-Shaming from Canada

Sunday, August 18th, 2013

Shit!

I didn’t update this blog at all last week, did I?

It’s not my fault! I was in Canada. Blame Canada! (That South Park reference was entirely unintentional I swear.)

But what the hell was I doing in Canada, you ask?

Well, funny story…I’m not going to tell it. It’s top secret. But I will share with you some songs off of crazy weird CD singles that I bought whilst in the land of the rising moose.

Gary Numan
This Wreckage (Metalmorphosis Mix)
Are ‘Friends’ Electric? (Metalmorphosis Mix)
Toronto isn’t really my kind of city. The traffic is hellacious, and despite their “oh, we’re just a bunch of nice people in denim that love hockey, eh?” reputation, big city Canadians are just as dickish as their American counterparts. Example: while I was walking around the city looking for record stores, a homeless guy asked me for some change. Not having any Canadian money on me, let alone change, I walked on by, at which point he said “hey,why you so fat?”

That, of course, led me into a yelling match with a homeless guy, because I’m classy like that, that ended with me saying something along the lines of “yeah, I got this way by eating food! I can buy food because I have money. And since I have money I’M NOT FUCKING HOMELESS YOU HOSER!”

Sure, that might not have been one of my finer moments, but seriously, fuck that dude.

Oh yeah, these remixes are from a CD-single to “Rip.” I like most of the industrial remixes of early-era Numan, so I dig these.

New Order
Crystal [Digweed & Muir Bedrock Radio Edit]
Behind Closed Doors
Sabotage
Someone Like You (Funk D’Void Remix)
So after my lovely confrontation with the smelly homeless man in a Blue Jays jacket (hah, Blue Jays) I ducked into a bar, lured in by the promise of half price wings. The wings were good. The bloody marys were better. The place was pretty dead, so I got into a conversation with the bartender. The bar was playing some pretty rad funk (lots of George Clinton and Morris Day) and I commented on the quality of the radio station. She said, “yeah, you can tell it’s satellite and not a Canadian station.”

I know that Canadian stations have some “Canadian content” laws, meaning that a certain percentage of the music they play must be Canadian. So I asked, “Oh? Not a lot of good funk from Canada?”

To which she replied, “You ever hear of ‘Canadian funk?'”

Point taken.

These are from some CD singles that I also found in Canada. I may have posted the “Funk D’Void” mix at some point, but this copy sounds better.

Snow and Synths

Friday, January 21st, 2011

Its snowing.

Again.

You all have seen me rant about concert-goers, hipsters, video game companies, large retail websites, politicians, homophobes, sexists, racists, Jay Leno and Fergie. But man, I really hate shoveling snow. Unfortunately, there’s no point in ranting about how much I hate snow. When I go off about how much I hate rude concertgoers someone might read that and think “Hey, he’s right, I’m not going to talk at concerts anymore!” However, I highly doubt Mother Nature is reading my blog.

The nerve of her.

New Order
Crystal (Digweed & Muir Bedrock Mix)
Crystal (Lee Coombs Remix)
Crystal (Digweed & Muir Bedrock Dub)
Crystal (John Creamer & Stephane K Main Remix)
Crystal (Creamer K Main Remix)

I don’t know if I’m more amazed at the fact that I found a New Order single I didn’t own or that the songs from the said single are not readily available online legally. A couple of these tracks can be bought at Amazon, but not individually, since they’re over 10 minutes you have to buy the whole album to get them. I hate that trick. I guess it makes sense for bands like Mars Volta, but it kind of fucks electronic artists over don’t you think? Of course, the worst is soundtracks. The fact that I can’t just buy “You’re The Best” from The Karate Kid soundtrack without being forced to buy the whole damn album is criminal! Bastards. There tracks are all from a 2×12″.

Dave Gahan
Love Will Leave (Kap10kurt Remix)
Use You (Maps Remix)
Deeper And Deeper (T. Raumschmiere Remix Extended)
Saw Something (Onur Ozer Remix)
Deeper And Deeper (Sebastien Leger Remix)

I’m weird. I know this. Why? Because I own two Dave Gahan 12″ singles and remix compilation but I don’t actually own any of his albums. I had the same problem with Depeche Mode and New Order for a while too, before I went on a binge and bought all of their albums. It’s like I’m a reverse casual fan, who avoids the mainstream, easy to find releases but must have the bizarre, rare and hard-to-find stuff. These tracks are from an EP called Hourglass Remixes, which, as you can imagine, a collection of remixes of songs from the album Hourglass. There are eight tracks on that album, but three of them are available at Amazon, so I’m not putting them up here. Luckily, the awesome remix of “Use You” was not one of those tracks, so you get to enjoy it for free. I love this song, only Dave Gahan can make treating someone like garbage sound sexy.

New Old New Order

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

I have new (to me) Depeche Mode! Yay!

I have a broken turntable! Boo!

But I found some stuff online to post! Yay!

But I have to write this in Toledo! Boo!

But I also have vodka! Double Yay!

New Order
Blue Monday (Hardfloor Mix)
Confusion (Pump Panel Reconstruction Remix)
Touched By The Hand Of God (Biff & Memphis Remix)
Bizarre Love Triangle (Armand Van Helden Mix)
Ruined In A Day (K-Klass Remix)
Age Of Consent (Howie B. Remix)
Transmission (live)
Such A Good Thing
Theme From ‘Best & Marsh’
True Faith (Pink Noise Morel edit)
Run Wild (Steve Osbourne original mix)

This will be the only post of the week. Because on Thursday I’m making it like Grandpa Simpson and hauling ass to Lollapalooza. I will be honest with you. I did not rip these songs personally, I found them via the magic of the interwebs. They are from two albums, the fifth bonus disc from the New Order compilation Retro, and from the remix compilation (The Rest Of) New Order. Other remixes from both collections have become available on other albums, so I’m not including them.

I have a question for everyone. Why the hell is it so hard for London Records/New Order to get off their ass and release a truly comprehensive box set with EVERYTHING? I want it all. I want the remixes, the single mixes, the b-sides, the remakes, the remixes of the remakes. Everything. I would pay an ungodly amount of money for that. Until then we’ll have to pick apart the various Greatest Hits, compilations and re-issues in hopes of getting all the rare tracks out there. It’s maddening.

My Morning Sun will Self-Destruct in 5 Seconds.

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

Fucking weather! It’s 84 today and it’s going to be 45 on Friday. My nose is going to fall off.

But hey, music!

Adam Clayton & Larry Mullen
Mission: Impossible Theme (Mission Accomplished) (Dave Clarke Remix)
Mission: Impossible Theme (Mission Accomplished)
Theme From Mission: Impossible (Junior’s Hard Mix)
Theme From Mission: Impossible (Guru Mix)
Theme From Mission: Impossible (Junior’s Hard Mix – Edit)
Theme From Mission: Impossible (Tribal Beats)

I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for this meeting:

Executive 1: “Hey everyone, we got the two guys from U2 to record the new Mission: Impossible Theme!”
Executive 2: “Wow! We got Bono and The Edge?”
Executive 1: “No…the other two.”
Executive 2: “You’re fired.”

That being said, this song is probably one of five U2-related songs recorded since1996 that I haven’t fucking hated with a passion. These remixes of the theme song from the Tom Cruise monstrosity were taken from a 12” single.

New Order
True Faith (Morel’s Extra Dub)
True Faith (Philip Steir Dub)
True Faith (Morel’s Pink Noise Club Mix)
True Faith (Philip Steir Club Mix)
True Faith (Morel’s Calling Shifty Dub)

More New Order that I didn’t have before! That’s amazing. Twice in a month! Even more amazing is that when I picked up this 2×12” promo last week I actually recognized these two remixers by name. Morel is an amazing remixer, and his mixes for the Pet Shop Boys and Depeche Mode are all must-listens. He’s also a solo artist, and his 2008 album The Death of a Paperboy was…well…kinda crap. But hey, he has the remixes going for him, which is nice. Philip Steir is also an accomplished remix artist; he did that bitchin’ remix of Steppenwolf’s “Magic Carpet Ride” that was on the soundtrack to Go. But anyways, all of these mixes are pretty damn good. It doesn’t hurt that True Faith has one of the catchiest choruses of all time.

Confusion!!! And other stuff.

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

Ah spring, fresh air, sunny days…and fucking relentless dog barking thanks to my shitty neighbors leaving their poor dogs out alone all day.

A quick mini-rant. I’m trying to be more positive nowadays so it’s not going to be especially vitriolic. Sorry guys, being an angry prick 24/7 wasn’t good for my health.

I kind of made a big deal earlier this year about some troll-like comments the blog was getting. I don’t mind being corrected for my mistakes, I don’t even mind a bit of snarky attitude. But getting consistently harassed for either incredibly small mistakes or for things that aren’t actually mistakes at all is really annoying and disheartening. I have real problems that I’m dealing with right now that depress me enough, I don’t need some worthless punk who would never dare talk to me that way to my face giving me grief over the internet.

So anyways, starting now needlessly vile, mean-spirited or hate-filled comments will no longer be approved by yours truly. That doesn’t mean you can’t tell me I suck, please tell me I suck. But tell me WHY I suck and do it in an intelligent manner.

Funny note about this whole thing: I warned one offending commenter that if he didn’t clean up his act I would no longer approve his comments. He of course didn’t and now he’s banned. I said as much in the comment thread and he then commented again, saying that my readers reading this comment would know I’m a coward for not publishing it…

There’s a logic flaw there. I’ll leave it to you to figure out.

And besides, if that somehow makes me a coward fine. I’d rather be a happy coward than an angry brave idiot arguing over bullshit that doesn’t matter in the first place.

New Order
Confusion (Alternative Mix)
Confusion (Essential Mix)
Confusion (Trip 1-Ambient Confusion)
Confusion (Accapella)
Confusion (Con-om-fus-ars-ion Mix)
Confusion (Ooh-Wee Dub)

I now have over 20 New Order singles, in fact it may be a lot more than that. Those are just the ones I’ve recorded to my computer. I really need to start a list of all the damn records I own. My collection isn’t even in alphabetical order aside from my Depeche Mode collection, which has its own separate section which I worship everyday. Aren’t there websites or something where you can catalog the shit you own? Are they any better than just writing up a big excel file?

These mixes of “Confusion” are odd. They aren’t from the original Factory single but instead from a 1990 single released by Minimal Records. I feel fairly confident in proclaiming these aren’t in print in any form. I also feel confident in proclaiming that “Con-om-fus-ars-ion Mix” is the most annoying thing I had to type all month.

Garbage
Push It (Victor Calderone Club Mix)
Push It (Victor Calderone Dub Mix)
Push It (Boom Boom Satellites Mix)

There is supposedly a new Garbage CD coming out this year. That makes me happy.

That third mix has a funny name unless you know that Boom Boom Satellites is actually the name of a band, a damn good band from Japan in fact. I actually saw Boom Boom Satellites live once. They opened for Moby in 1999 during his first tour in support of Play. They were amazing live but everything I’ve heard on CD just hasn’t compared for some reason.

Now yes, the Boom Boom Satellites mix is on the 2-disc version of Absolute Garbage, however, that version is actually an edit of this version that cuts about a minute or so out. This one is extra Boom Boom for your buck.

Yeah, sorry about that.