Archive for the ‘The Art Of Noise’ Category

Techno for smashing fascists

Sunday, January 29th, 2017

I get that in times of strife and hardship, distractions are important. They’ve certainly served me well this week. In light of all the horrible ills that have befallen us all, I find a great source of escapism in film. The boyfriend and I recent purchased an amazing Hammer Films box set, so I’ve been drowning my sorrows in copious amounts of Peter Cushing being a bad motherfucker.

I also have been absorbing a shitton of Giant Bomb content right now. They’ve seemingly always been there for me. When I went through a horribly painful fit of depression three years ago, the Bombcast was always a three-hour block where I could for sure keep away the demons and darkness.

So please, right now, do your best to stay sane. While it’s important to fight the good fight in any way you can, it’s important to take time to collect yourself as well. Whether it be video games, movies, music or just talking a nice long walk. Find something that can distract you, and hold onto it when needed.

Just don’t expect that thing to be this blog. Because fuck that orange assclown with a rusty crowbar.

Seriously, could someone do that? I’m sure Pence would like to watch.

The Art Of Noise
Instruments Of Darkness (All Of Us Are One People) (The Prodigy Mix)
Sometimes you stumble upon a track at just the right time. Right when I first read that Trump was instituting his curb-stomp earning racist ban on legal immigration, I was listening to this song for the very first time. An aggressive acid house track with a chorus consisting of nothing but the platitude of “all of us are one people” may be over simplistic and a bit on the nose, but it sure hit the spot for how I felt at that exact minute.

Nine Inch Nails
Capital G (Switch Remix)
The Hand That Feeds (Photek Ruff Mix)
Neither of these remixes are as good as the album versions. But they’re still quality, and good soundtracks to breaking shit and spray painting graffiti of Trump with a tiny dick and a klan hood on.

I mean, if you wanna do that.

Posted in NIN, remixes, The Art Of Noise | 5 Comments »

One Remix Leads To Another

Monday, April 9th, 2012

Rare daytime post!

Art Of Noise
Art Of Love (Extended Mix)
Ambience Of Love
Heart Of Love
So how the hell didn’t I know about this?

In 1990, Art Of Noise released “The Ambient Collection.” As its name suggests, it is a collection of Art Of Noise tunes reworked as a continuous ambient mix. That alone sounds pretty rad. What makes it even more rad (I’m totally bringing “rad” back, by the way) is that the album was compiled and remixed by Youth from Killing Joke, with an added assist by Alex Paterson of The Orb.

So…that’s pretty awesome. What strikes me the most about these mixes (aside from their overall greatness) is how similar in sound they are to Metallic Spheres, the 2010 album by The Orb that featured Paterson again working with Youth (as well as David Gilmour). Hard to fault them for not updating their sound though, this shit sounded great in 1990, and that Metallic Spheres proved that it still sounded good some 20 years later.

In case you can’t tell, I’m really digging on these mixes at the moment. They’re probably the best thing I’ve put up on this blog in months.

The Fixx
One thing Leads To Another (Live Version)
Saved By Zero (Live Version)
I was surprised to find these live cuts, were are the B-sides to a 12″ promo single for “The Sign Of Fire.” I’ve dived through countless Fixx records before, and this was the first I ever found that had songs that, to the best of my knowledge, aren’t on CD. Neither of these live versions really expand or diverge upon the original versions that much, but they do so that The Fixx was a pretty great live band back in the day.

And this version of “Saved By Zero” is certainly better than the version that was in that fucking Toyota ad.

Wang  Chung
Fire In The  Twilight (Specially Remixed Version)
Dreaming In The Hills Of Heaven
I honestly didn’t think I would ever find more rare Wang Chung to post but leave it to Jerry’s Records for me to discover some weird import 12″ single, this one for the song that Wang Chung contributed to The Breakfast Club. I don’t own the soundtrack to the Breakfast Club (because even my nostalgia has some limits), so I can’t compare this “Specially Remixed Version” with the original. I bet it’s not that different. It’s certainly not an “extended” mix, since it’s still less than four minutes long. However, I love the track, and I like just having an excuse to post it.

I love love this B-side, “Dreaming In The Hills Of Heaven.” It’s apparently an honest-to-goodness Wang Chung rarity. It only appeared on this 12″ single and has never been released on CD. It’s very reminiscent of the group’s work on the To Live And Die In L.A. soundtrack, with an atmospheric, somewhat tense, quality to it. The vocals sound a little muddled, but that’s not the fault of my rip, I think this is recording is a demo. It doesn’t detract too much from the quality of the track, however. If you love Wang Chung (and you damn well should) then check this song out. And if you don’t like Wang Chung, then I don’t want you to read my blog.

Okay, you can still read my blog, but give Wang Chung a chance, okay? They were an underrated act!

Posted in B-sides, remixes, soundtrack, The Art Of Noise, The Fixx, Wang Chung | 6 Comments »

Happy Decemeber

Wednesday, December 21st, 2011

Happy holidaze everyone.

I’ll (sadly) be out of town all week, which makes recording and posting music hard. My plan is to have two most posts this week though. One will be without music, focusing on my favorite (and least favorite) albums of the year. The other will have awesome dance tracks. Let’s hope that all pans out.

Tonight: 80s pop! What’s a better way to celebrate whatever holiday you pretend to care about in order to get gifts?

Art Of Noise
Moments In Love (Long Version)
Moments In Love (Short Version)
Beat Box
Love Beat
These are from a weird single. First of all, the artist is credited as “Trevor Horn, Paul Morley, With The Art Of Noise.”

That’s weird because Trevor Horn and Paul Morley were in The Art of Noise, not only that, they were kind of the driving forces behind the group. That would be like crediting Dark Side of The Moon to “David Gilmour and Roger Waters with Pink Floyd,” or crediting a Wham! song to “George Michael and Wham!” Oh wait, that actually happened.

Secondly, the year on the single is “1983,” however, it’s also credited as being in the soundtrack to Pumping Iron II, which did not come out until 1985. If this single did actually come out in 1983, that would make it The Art Of Noise’s first release, but I’m more willing to believe that the actual release date was closer to 1985.

The versions of the songs are not labeled either. I added the “Short Version” and “Long Version” qualifiers, both tracks are simply labeled “Moments In love” on the single. I do not know which versions of these tracks these mixes are. If you do, please inform me.

Regardless of all that confusion, all these songs are great 80s electro and worth your time and then some. The Art Of Noise kicks ass.

Tina Turner
What’s Love Got To Do With It? (Extended Mix)
When I was eight-years-old I thought Tina Turner was the shit. Okay, maybe I was a weird kid. But I was still right, Tina Turner is the shit. Did you know she covered Massive Attack’s “Unfinished Sympathy?” She knocked it out of the park too. Tina can knock any track out of the park though. I bet she could cover a Radiohead track and turn that shit into a diva anthem. She’s that awesome. I wish this mix was just two more minutes of her going “Woah Oh Oh!” but it’s still good.

Ultravox
Dancing With Tears In My Eyes (Special remix)
When did I buy this single? I have no idea. But it was sitting in the back of my crate full of albums, languishing between some stupid soundtracks for who knows how long. I am so sorry that withheld this great mix from you all for so long. Word to the wise though, if you’re going to crydance, do it to a ballad. Sobmoshing looks dumber than shit.

Peter Gabriel
Soft Dog
This is a b-side to to the 12″ single of “Shock The Monkey.” I bought it months ago, recorded it, filed the record away, then discovered that my recording skipped. Once records reach my shelf (a feat in itself) I hate pulling them out, hence the massive delay in actually re-recording this right.

This is a quiet, but beautiful song, full of late-70s Peter Gabriel art-rock goodness. Most of it is instrumental, Peter only chimes in at the end with a brief chant of the title. Has this ever been issued on CD? I can’t believe it hasn’t. It’s quite good.

Siouxsie & The Banshees
Peek-A-Boo (Stockhausen & Waterphone Mix Instrumental)
I own two different “Peek-A-Boo” singles, one on CD and one on vinyl. The CD version tracks are on Amazon, and I suggest you pick them up. The “Silver Dollar Mix” is incredible. This instrumental is basically a modified version of that mix, and I believe it was exclusive to the vinyl version. Still a great track, even without Siouxsie’s voice.

Sometime this week, my best of/worst of lists! It’ll piss everyone off!

Posted in Peter Gabriel, remixes, Siouxsie and The Banshees, The Art Of Noise, Tina Turner, Ultravox | 5 Comments »

A is for Awesome

Wednesday, January 19th, 2011

Tonight’s post is brought to you by the letter “A” because I’m too lazy sometimes to shift through my massive queue of future blog tracks.

The Alarm
Strength (Power Mix)
Absolute Reality ( Inpromptu Acoustic Version)
People have called The Alarm pretentious in the past, and I think that label is total bullshit. A pretentious band thinks highly of themselves while thinking less of those around them. The Alarm probably think very highly of themselves, but if the lyrics to songs like “Strength” are any indication at all, they also think very highly of their audience as well as the general population.

A better word to describe The Alarm would be “earnest.” Songs like “Strength” convey an overwhelming feeling of earnestness; they really want you to believe what they are saying because it’s some important shit! I get the feeling that The Alarm thought that songs like these were Incredibly Important and could change Things. And there’s a certain level of respect that should be given to them because of that.

“Strength” is one bad-ass song. Its the kind of song you listen to help get yourself out of a post-breakup doldrum, or possibly as the soundtrack to a really rough cardio workout. I’m sure it was a contender for a montage song in a Rocky movie at one point. The acoustic version of “Absolute Reality” is less blood-pumpingly good, but it’s still a really great tune. Both of these are from a 12″ single.

Art Of Noise
Dragnet (Arthur Baker Mix)
Acton Art
Dragnet (Art of Noise 12” Mix)
Dragnet (Art of Noise 7” Mix)
The Art of Noise have nothing in common with The Alarm, aside from the fact that both play music and start with the letter “A.” If The Alarm is earnest then these remixes of the Dragnet Theme are most certainly not. What’s the opposite of earnest? Goofy? Yeah, that sums these tracks up pretty damn well. I love the wacky lo-tech sampling of The Art Of Noise, taking a note, sampling it, and then adjusting the pitch to create different “notes” of that sound. There’s something so perfectly 80s about it, like headbands and Alf. So what I’m saying is that The Art of Noise are the Alf of music. Yeah, that makes sense. These are remixes of the theme of the 1980s Dragnet movie, meaning they are the probably the only tracks I will ever feature on this blog that will feature the vocal stylings of Tom Hanks and Dan Aykroyd.

Oh and that’s not a typo, that one track is called “Acton Art” not “Action Art.”

Posted in B-sides, remixes, The Alarm, The Art Of Noise | 1 Comment »