The Best Of 2005 (and Merry Christmas)

01 NEW ORDER
Singles
02 NEW ORDER
Waiting For The Sirens' Call
03 REVENGE
No Pain No Gain - Live 1991
04 MARLENE KUNTZ
Bianco Sporco
05 OFFLAGA DISCO PAX
Socialismo Tascabile
06 TSUJI GIRI : Tsuji Giri
07 SANTO NIENTE
Il Fiore Dell'Agave
08 MORRISSEY : Live At Earls Court
09 PLANET FUNK : The Illogical Consequence
10 ULAN BATOR : Rodeo Massacre


11 MADONNA : Confessions On A Dance Floor
12 DEPECHE MODE : Playing The Angel
13 COLDPLAY : X & Y
14 DIAFRAMMA : Passato, Presente
15 FRANK BLACK : Honeycomb

Other good albums bubbling under came from Jovanotti (Buon Sangue), Bjork (Music From Drawing Restraint 9) and The Darkness (One Way Ticket To Hell).
Excellent singles came from New Order (Waiting For The Sirens' Call), Gabrielles Wish (Here From The Neck Down EP) and Opium (Clarisse).
For the first time in quite a long while we have the best new bands: check out Tsuji Giri in England and Offlaga Disco Pax in Italy.

Merry Christmas and a Happy 2006, waiting for some more releases from New Order, Gabrielles Wish and La Skarnemurta!

Bill Holding interview

Bill Holding is one half of design partnership Morph. Other than designing smart furniture and products and working in team with other designers for top fashion brands like Prada, Mandarina Duck and Louis Vuitton (and realising the new Sky logo), he has worked with the G.O.D. (God Of Design) Peter Saville, creating the wonderful cover for the book 'Designed By Peter Saville' (a tribute to the iconic cover Saville made for Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures) and the fantastic image for the sleeve of New Order's brand new collection, Singles (which is a re-work of the leaf originally appeared on the cover of the True Faith CD single).
It is a huge privilege for my amateurish humble site to have a really interesting interview with him. My most heartfelt thanks to Bill for answering my questions through E Mail.
More pictures at the bottom of the interview



[Aneworderfan] Q: How did it happen you were called to work with Peter Saville?

[Holding] A: We had been working for a few years as designers, specialising in 3D computer generated visuals, although up to that point it had been working for the large part in furniture and product design.
However Peter was speaking to Tom Dixon (creative director of Habitat and longstanding client of ours, and friend of his), about exploring a more three-dimensional way approach to graphic design, and so Tom passed on our details.
The first project Peter wanted to work on with us, was a design for the cover for a greatest hits collection for the band Pulp. Although the artwork we created was successful, in the end a different approach seemed more appropriate, so that one never saw the light of day, but at least it meant that we saw all kinds of possibilities for future projects.

Q: What was the original concept for the packaging of Crystal?

A: The idea Peter originally had for the Crystal CD single, was to make the whole thing crystal clear, including the CD (except where the metal layer of music is printed). The case was also left clear, with no inlay, and the only graphic element added was the red bar across the front (as per the rest of the covers for 'Get Ready'.
This was referencing the coloured bars etc that you get across glass doors in airports etc, so that you don't walk into them.
Unfortunately due to the usual record label time and budget restrictions it never saw the light of day, until Peter got us to visualise it for his book, which you can see it in.


Q: Can you tell us about your tribute to Unknown Pleasures on the cover of the book 'Designed By Peter Saville'?

A: This idea was one I had in the back of my mind for some time. As a longstanding New Order / Joy Division fan, I had always seen the cover of the Unknown Pleasures album as a kind of landscape, as I am sure many people had, and I had the urge to explore it as such.
I worked from the original lines so that it was faithful to the original, and using 3D software manipulated them to become a surface following those contours.
Rather than the sharp angles of the original, I wanted to soften the form a bit more, so that it felt more retrospective and less harsh. Looking back at Joy Division, there is an obvious sadness because of what happened to Ian, so I was looking for something more peaceful, and that is why it was rendered in a soft white, almost like snow dunes.
Anyway, once I had finished off the artwork I sent it over to Peter, as an example of the kind of things we could do with his ideas, and it was simply a case of perfect timing, that he had got it as he was trying to work out what to use for the cover or his book. Basically he was looking for something that summed up his whole career (not an easy thing to do!), and I had happened to send him an image of his first album cover, done in a contemporary way, so he requested its use as the book cover.
Needless to say as a fan of both the identity of Factory, as well as the music, this was a tremendous privilege, especially as Peter IS the graphic identity of Factory. Together we started to explore the possibilities even further, and there were also alternate versions of the landscape which I created, including using the 3D wireframe mesh, to produce an actual sculptured section, directly from the file. This and an alternate black version of the cover art can be seen on the site of Paul Stolper's gallery.
This album will always be one of my favourites, because it got it all so right, both with the music, and the packaging. It is as close to an example of perfection as you could hope for, so to get the endorsement from Peter which my tribute, was a real high point in my career. As a result of this we then went to work on a couple of other pieces for his exhibition at the design museum, which were included to demonstrate that the show included everything right up to his current ideas, which weren't even completed yet.


Q: Who chose, for the cover of Singles, to work on the leaf which originally appeared on the sleeve of the True Faith single, and why?

A: It was Peter and Howard who came up with the idea of reworking the leaf, and I think Howard had suggested that they get us (Morph) to play around with some ideas.
I am guessing that the leaf was chosen, because of the scope for further exploration it offered, as well as the fact that it was an iconic single cover from the mid-point in the career of New Order.
I think that the leaf has also taken on an almost mythical status now, mainly because it still exists in an almost perfect condition, kept carefully in a box. It even saw the light of day again at the design museum show, and I kind of liked the fact that something so fragile, managed to survive, which really appealed to me in a sentimental way. I guess that is thing about Peter, he really cares about what he does, and his motivation is often far from financial, which was kind of the ideal behind Factory itself.


Q: What's your idea behind the re-working of the leaf?

A: Initially, we were asked by Howard to computer model the leaf, and explore it as if it was made from different materials, such as gold, glass, silver etc, but just really to see where it took us.
To computer model a leaf (of which we only had photographs to reference, as the leaf itself was out of the country), was pretty tricky, and luckily I had taken some photos of it myself when it was on show. Anyhow, it was made all the more difficult, because I really wanted to get it as close as possible to the original, as we had done with Unknown Pleasures.
Anyway, once we had created the 3D computer model, we could then start exploring textures, and material finishes etc, and we could even view the leaf from alternate angles, but as we wanted it to clearly reference the original True Faith cover, we decided that an identical shot would be best.
As I experimented, I thought that it would be a nice form to explore in wire-frame, which then started to take on additional meanings. I think Peter and Howard saw this as well, which is why they said go with that one.
For me, I wanted to reference more than just True Faith, as after all, this is a singles collection, so I thought it would be nice to include some more subtle references, rather than just the obvious one.
The mesh version stood out to me because of the 'Everything's Gone Green' B side, called 'Mesh', which I thought would be a nice subtle reference for older fans, and an echo of the original wire-like Unknown Pleasures cover, because after all, how can you forget that New Order was born from Joy Division.
On a personal note, I really can't stand Coldplay, and saw it as insulting that such a band had totally ripped off the Blue Monday 12" for the graphics on their last album (X&Y), so I thought I would have made a reference to their second album (A Rush Of Blood To The Head) cover artwork, which was of a wireframe head (I actually quite like that cover, shame about the content).
There is also something which emphasises the structure, when working in wireframe, and it looks more like an idea, structure or blue print for the finished piece, and I think that the reason they are seen as pioneers in the music industry, is because of the ideas they had, not just the finished music.
Anyway, once we had settled on the mesh, we then thought that a gold leaf was really the only option for material finish, for obvious reasons.


Q: How was it for you working with Saville and Howard Wakefield?

A: There is always a risk when you get the opportunity to work with people you have grown up admiring, that you can be totally let down, and left with your opinion of somebody, shattered. However, I can thankfully say that the opposite is true of Saville, and my opinion of him has risen even further since starting to work together.
Sometimes people with that much more experience can be patronising, or act like you couldn't possibly tell them anything they don't already know, but contrary to this Peter is very open, considerate, and a pleasure to work with.
In fact, there have been phone calls where I have called to discuss an aspect of a current project, and it can end up as a 45 minute chat about something totally unrelated, but equally interesting or insightful, so that the call ends, and I realise we never got round talking about what I had called for.
After the conversations we have had, I would urge people to go back and look more closely at his past works, because often there are a lot more aspects to what you are looking at, than would be instantly apparent. There are also endless stories about the background, and situations surrounding his work, some of which can be heard when you listen to his discussion with Tony Wilson about his work for Factory, in the extras on the '24 Hour Party People' DVD, and anybody who is interested in the background of the visual identity of Factory, should definitely check it out. There is a lot more to his work than many would realise, and I think this is largely why he is now regarded as an artist as much as a graphic designer.
Howard is also a big part of what Peter Saville Associates is about, and although I haven't worked with him as much, I understand the important role he plays, and he too is also an extremely nice guy to work with.
They are essentially into ideas, and exploring where you can go to next, without any of the bullshit and pretension, which is just the way I like it.


Q: What are your favourite masterpieces by Saville? Is he an influence on your other work?

A: It is difficult to single out particular pieces of work, but I would be lying if I said that Unknown Pleasures wasn't a favourite, as was the 12" cover to Atmosphere. Power, Corruption And Lies is another, but mainly because of the story behind it, as well as Blue Monday 12" for the same reason. True Faith, is also iconic, and I guess exploring that cover so deeply, has lead to it taking on even greater meaning for myself.
I also love the 'Waste' artwork he has done recently, and the 'Taxi' soundgraph he did in 2000. In fact the more I think about it, the more pieces come to mind, so I could end up going on, and on.
When you ask if he has been an influence, I think it would be impossible to look closely at his work and not be influenced, but to actually be involved with the creative process itself, has just lead to an even greater appreciation. The most influential aspect is probably his approach, rather than specific works, as I share a similar outlook, and it is satisfying to see that being recognised.


Q: Can you tell something about the choice of the font (lettering was made by Paul Barnes, who did the font for the cover of Bjork's Pagan Poetry and co-designed the font for The Guardian), which seems a return to a more innovative attitude?

A: The rest of the graphic design and layout, was really down to Peter, Howard, and the others at Saville Associates, so I didn't have any involvement in the choice of font etc, but I know that Substance, as another compilation, was a reference point, although I like the font, as it puts a different slant on things.
Some have criticised the graphics for Singles, but personally I like the approach (not just because we worked on it), because lets face it, the content offers nothing new, so it is appropriate that the artwork is retrospective as well, but with enough differences to show that it is a new way of presenting the New Order history.
I think if the graphics had been too much of a departure from what the Saville / New Order partnership had produced in the past, that it would have been visually misleading.


Q: Can you tell us about your other design activity in the Morph partnership with Ben Cox?

A: My design partner Ben Cox, and myself met at University, and decided that the only way to have the creative freedom to explore the design industry in the way we wanted, was to set up a partnership ourselves, which we did in 1999. Since then we have been lucky enough to work in many different areas, with many great names, and the variation in subject matter, is something that really interests us.
Although I trained initially in fine art, it was furniture and product design, which I chose to specialise in at University, but I always missed the artwork side of things, so it means a lot that I am now able get back in touch with that aspect, through the work with graphic designers. To be honest it sounds really complicated, when I try and explain exactly what it is we are about, and the best way to understand would be to take a look at out website www.morphuk.com, as that does it visually, but I guess it comes down to us being into creative ideas, and their application in all kinds of different disciplines.


Q: You worked for top fashion brands like Prada and Mandarina Duck. What did you do for them?

A: The work we did for Prada and Mandarina Duck was a few years ago now, and it was more about working with other designers on their own ideas, but we helped in the development side of things.
We have more recently worked with Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton, in a similar way, whereby we work alongside their in-house designers, to help on the development product ranges etc, based on their brief.
The fashion industry is a really great area to work in, as they have the opportunity to work to material and quality levels that you just don't generally get to look at, so you can be more indulgent, and work on designs that would otherwise never be able to happen because of manufacturing costs etc.


Q: What did you do on the new Sky logo?

A: The new Sky logo was done in conjunction with another graphic design company called VentureThree, who had the idea to produce the logo so that it looked like glass.
Due to the limitations of the normal graphic tools such as Photoshop and Illustrator, they needed us to 3D model the text, and render it in a glass material, so that it looked like it had physically been made.
This was one of the projects we worked on which meant there was less creative input from ourselves, as the idea had already been formulated, and it was simply a case of needing it realised by us.


Q: Are you a fan of New Order? What other music do you enjoy?

A: I am certainly a fan of New Order, although that was born out of an initial love for Joy Division, but I think they both go hand in hand. After all it was because ultimately I am a fan, that I was inspired to re-work Unknown Pleasures in the first place.
As for other bands, well where do I start?! I am a massive music fan full stop, and I guess the Indie scene has always been closest to my heart, although there is a lot of electronica, rock, and hip-hop which I really like, so I guess you could say if it is alternative and experimental, I am interested. Off the top of my head I would say the following are getting a lot of play these days:
Interpol - a great band that have used the inspiration of Joy Division better than anybody, and having seen them live, I would have to say they are one of the best bands around, and everything they have done needs to be heard. Both their albums are nothing short of perfect.
Boards Of Canada - Without a doubt the best electronic crossover bands there has ever been, and their new album The Campfire Headphase, which goes back to the approach they had for Music Has The Right To Children, is fucking great.
Motorhead - See them live, and you will understand why these guys are the undisputed kings of rock music.
Arcade Fire - A new band from Montreal, who I saw play having never heard of them, and was just totally sucked in. Great eclectic sound, with shades of Bowie, and Talking Heads. Also check out their mates Wolf Parade, who have a similar sound.
Ian Brown - Proof that there is life after the Stone Roses.
Grandaddy - they really are something particularly special!
Beta Band - it was a real shame they split up.
The Pixies - Godfathers of indie rock, seen them live so many times live I have lost count, and they never disappoint.
Doves - Everything they do turns to gold.
Radiohead and Supergrass - I grew up in the same town, and they have been a big part of the music I listen to.
Aphex Twin - another godfather of electronica.
White Stripes - pure creative energy.

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Opium - Clarisse

After the re-issues of the classics of his past (both reviewed here) with The Cat Club (One Last Kiss) and Opium (Atlantean), Alex Macpherson (former bassist of The Wake, one of the best bands at Factory in the golden age of new wave) is back with a couple of fresh songs in the same vein of perfect pop traced by his previous singles, with the same amazing quality.
Clarisse (which also appears on another version with an alternative acoustic intro) just shows Alex's talent for a flawless tune for a delicious female voice (and you can't resist when she whispers 'yeah' at the end of the track) over a sophisticated instrumentation is still intact. He also can find some powerful and infectious basslines.


There's a wonderful keyboard which recalls The Wake, and a fantastic guitar which could have been on New Order's Low Life, but the whole sound and attitude just make me think of Saint Etienne if they didn't care too much about being cool and cared more for passion and had better tastes in music. The overall feeling is of a band which actually sounds more contemporary than the very most of the other bands around today... and also of a pop tune which should work enough to top the charts.
Envious is the track which was originally planned as the A side for a summer release, but we find it here and we also find why Alex thought it could have been the leading track. Some emotional keyboard chords bring the chorus, while a fabulous saxophone enriches the track.
I was lucky enough to hear the tracks before the release, but the single will be available from November 5th.
For more info you can write Opium: neuropa@talk21.com

Gabrielles Wish - Here From The Neck Down

You can tell I've been busy from the fact I haven't had the time to write about this, always wanted to do it since I received this masterpiece nearly five months ago and now I can finally do it.
You know my opinion can't be neutral. When Gabrielles Wish split in 2003 and the web was left without a site dedicated to them, I just created a fan site. When they discovered it they asked it to become official and since they've reformed last year I'm so proud and happy to do their site... but I have my reasons to be such a fan, having discovered them when they supported New Order for their reunion show in Manchester in 1998 (being on the label of their manager, produced by their former sound engineer), I was totally blown away.

They'd have been perfect in the Factory Records of the early 80s, but they do their music in their own style, mixing the Joy Division influence and the vocals attitude inspired by The Fall's Mark E Smith with a contemporary edge, also experimenting with electronica.
What isn't contemporary about them is their passion, their intensity, the devastating power of their sound married with the touching sensitivity of the melody. You didn't get other bands like this in the 90s, and they just reminded us what music could make feel.
All is confirmed in this EP, the first to be released since they reformed last year and played some fantastic concerts of which I'm really lucky to have the recordings.
During these gigs they played some new fabulous songs which will make the next album, but while we wait for its release we have these three on Here From The Neck Down, and you can sample all of them on the official site, from two MP3 files and even a video.
Member comes all heavy and powerful with an epic guitar tune and an extraordinary chorus where the charismatic frontman Rob Corless shouts 'I will never - hate you! I will never - leave you! I will always - love you!', simple, ironic and effective.
Sherman is a storming number, noisy and fast like only the Pixies could do in their most glorious days. It has an evil atmosphere when Rob says 'I'm only here from the neck down' before the noise and rhythm explode again blowing you away in a furious punk ending.
Had An Accident (of which you can download the video, a wonderful clip created by Chesy, a member of another Manchester band, My Computer) brings finally some calm with a touching semi-acoustic ballad enricherd by a beautiful harp, something unusual from this tough band.
If you don't believe my words check the samples on the site, and then if you like them you can buy the EP from Piccadilly Records.
No other band is like them, and we'd need more with half of their attitude and talent. They'd deserve a much wider following than the bands which are currently promoted by the press, which just look so pale and weak when compared to Gabrielles Wish, simply the best band emerged in the last 15 years.

NEW ORDER and 808 State live at the TRAFFIC FESTIVAL - TURIN Saturday, 02 July 2005

Full gallery on Facebook (23 pics)

First, I must spend a few words in favour of the city of Turin.
It's not because they organised this Traffic Festival as a totally free event (they even gave you a card to go free on buses and into museums, what do you want more?!).
I think the idea behind this strategy was correct, because it's true we didn't pay a cent for public transport, museums, and concert entry, but it's also true my girlfriend Emma and I took the chance to have a short holiday in the city (which is not exactly known for tourism) and spent the money we saved from those free things for other things like hotel, restaurants, pubs etc. (just like many foreigners at the festival, from many countries).


Actually it's I have to apologise because I remembered Turin as a dead horrible city and in fact I discovered it's quite beautiful.
There are similarities between Turin and Manchester, after all New Order are coming here for their first date in Italy since 1986 to celebrate the twinning of the two cities, both formerly industrial glories trying to raise from the decline (appropriately enough last year the twinning was with Detroit and the legendary Iggy Pop came with The Stooges, a major influence on Joy Division).

Both Manchester and Turin, if you're in a usually unsafe suburb and it's raining, can be quite sad. But hey, this inspired musicians in these two cities and some great bands came out. Subsonica from Turin (unfortunately not playing at the festival, though some members are DJing at related events) just did the right thing when they helped in the creation of this festival and called New Order from Manchester. And both cities have wonderful centres, rich of art and culture. When the sun is shining and you're in the right place it won't be like London or Rome, but Turin and Manchester can be fabulous.
From Piazza Castello you can walk Via Po, one of the many beautiful and large streets of the centre which brings to the longest river of Italy, check the Mole Antonelliana with the Cinema Museum, cross the bridge and see the amazing Gran Madre church, the legend says there's a statue which could point to the Holy Graal (it's one of the many mysteries of Turin), and then you look back and enjoy a breathtaking view of the city, with the Alps mountains raising from the roofs and then admit that it's not really as horrible as I remembered, not at all. Quite beautiful in fact.

But it's time to wear my New Order T shirt, self made in 1997 (celebrating the 20 years since Warsaw, the early name of New Order's previous incarnation Joy Division, began their career and listing the side projects too) because I was going to see Monaco and I hadn't any true New Order T shirts back then, now I have but I kept on the tradition of wearing it, now enriched by a badge of The Vikings, the gang of hardcore English New Order fans (mostly members of the NewOrderOnline.com forum too) following the band around the world, a kind gift from Al Jarvis when we met in Paris in 2002.
Now that I'm ready we can go to the festival at the Pellerina Park, where I meet with Manuel and Stefano from Rome.
My mate Manuel and I went together to all the previous concerts of Monaco and New Order in England and France, having always managed to meet the band and legendary persons like the late manager Rob Gretton, former label founder Tony Wilson, new manager Andy Robinson and producer Arthur Baker you can see why we share special memories.
This time we were with other persons and just took it with a more relaxed attitude, so we didn't arrive in time to try to get the soundcheck or meet the band or anyone around them.
Maybe we should have, because longtime New Order fan and Gabrielles Wish mate Alex Staszko will later swear he saw New Order performing Warsaw at the soundcheck! A track from, right you guessed it, Warsaw the band, quite unlikely we will hear it during the proper concert, but would have been great to catch it at the soundcheck.
Before the concert begins we have also the pleasure to meet Marco, another fan from Rome who has brought his son Matteo, which is growing up very well, not only because he's almost as tall as me at only 13 years old, but also because he's a true New Order fan too (born just before Regret was released) and danced and sang all the words during the gig like a true hardcore Viking, so most respect to the kid!

My sister Serena just arrives when 808 State are begininning to play.
There's still a small audience, not even 1,000 persons I think, and I was worried about this. July 2nd was also the Live 8 day, and New Order are still a cult band in Italy. There's no other support band so it's entirely up to them to bring people to the festival since 808 State are unknown outside a small circle of DJs.
My sister had been at the festival on June 30th, when Aphex Twin headlined. Though not exactly a pop act, he is very known and appreciated in the alternative area, and yet he didn't get more than 3,000 persons. The performance of June 29th in the former foundry by Throbbing Gristle must have been a cult event too. We didn't see Carmen Consoli but she's very popular in Italy, anyway it seems overall 100,000 persons went at the various events in the four days.
While 808 State play their fabulous performance they conquer more and more people. It seems that everyone was just wandering around the park, but once they heard 808 State they just came to dance in front of stage. At the end it was a great success for the band, playing their pioneer techno classics with a live band, my sister just looked like she was at the Hacienda club in Manchester in 1989 and she was not alone. Many were amazed by 808 State. I already knew they were great, but I didn't knew they were so cool in concert. They almost look older than New Order but still can spark a rave from nothing.

After 808 State I meet with Alex Staszko who makes me happy like winning the lottery because he has brought the recordings of a couple of concerts by Gabrielles Wish for me. I discovered them when they supported New Order in 1998 and I just know how great a concert by them can sound, as a reviewer wrote, the closest thing to see Joy Division, in their own way. Actually I made a fan site which became their official site so you can see I'm a fan. I just miss seeing them live so these recordings make me so happy.
To make me even happier there's Al Jarvis who notices the Vikings 2002 badge on my shirt and gives me the 2005 one. The two of them look great together...
It's with this spirit I go back to the stage while Tony Wilson is introducing New Order, remembering how they changed the face of music for three times.
Emma is thankfully taking all the pics so I'm free to dance, as many do around me right from Crystal, the first song of this wonderful New Order concert.
The audience has become even bigger. The place is almost packed. The square of the town where I live takes 5,000 persons, the audience area of the park was much wider, from what I've seen I was guessing at least between 7,000 and 10,000 persons came to see New Order, which would have been a really huge success already. Now newspapers are reporting we were 30,000... amazing! I was glad to be surprised to see many teenagers, people born at the time of Technique or True Faith at most, I'm saying late 80s here, so it's great to see another new generation of fans is growing up, you can see a difference of almost 40 years between fans at gigs now.
People really enjoyed Regret, a live classic everywhere.
Love Vigilantes was another great moment of the show, a different and less popular song. I knew there were a lot of Joy Division fans. Actually, the triumph of tonight is a sort of revenge on the stupid goths who turned their backs on New Order when they started experimenting with electronic sounds and dance rhythms in the early 80s, looking at awful stuff like The Sisters Of Mercy. Bands like that are virtually disappeared today, while New Order's legendary status is not only mantained, but increased.
I'm not surprised by the great response to Joy Division's Transmission, which is indeed a fabulous performance.
I'm surprised an uplifting single of this year, Krafty, had got an almost equally positive reaction before. I'm happy to see the audience is grown up a lot, and can appreciate such different songs. Barriers have fallen.
There's a fantastic moment when the people clap their hands to the rhythm of Atmosphere.
But the best is yet to come: New Order play Everything's Gone Green for the first time after 18 years! It's a great experience to hear this favourite pioneering electro classic, it was planned for Hyde Park a week earlier, but they got it ready only for Turin and it was a honour to have this great comeback in Italy...
This makes it a bit weirder when the title track of the new album, and forthcoming single Waiting For The Sirens' Call is not exactly greeted with the same excitement, but with a curious silence. Actually I think people didn't recognize it at first, it's still not very known, the final response was good anyway.
Always good to hear the new live version of True Faith, based on the Perfecto remix. I think a part of the audience heard it for the first time because they were excited about the difference from the original.
I wasn't aware that Bizarre Love Triangle has become a classic in Italy too, as the huge roar from the audience says.
Almost as huge as the one for the timeless Joy Division classic Love Will Tear Us Apart and again I'm happy people can like two songs that are so different. Both songs are performed excellently, in New Order's own way. This means they can make errors playing and Bernard Sumner can spike up the vocals with whoops and silly dancing, but when we think about it we like all this stuff, that's what makes them great, with Hooky's godlike bass playing, Steve's perfect and powerful drumming and Phil's precious work at keyboards and guitar.
Another fabulous electro classic, Temptation, ends the concert. Wonderful to hear it the same night we also get Everything's Gone Green
An ecstatic audience welcomes back New Order for their encore, which starts with Your Silent Face, another great different song in the vein of Love Vigilantes. Barney does his best to avoid mistakes when playing the melodica but thankfully he just can't help it and we like it.
There's a dramatic mood swing with She's Lost Control, a touching and frightening song from Joy Division, the lights follow the devastating power of the rhythm and you can almost see the ghost of Ian Curtis dance behind Bernard Sumner. One of the most perfect moments of the concert, if Gabrielles Wish live is the closest thing to Joy Division, this IS Joy Division.
With Blue Monday there's the great 'gran finale' announced by Bernard. Again some people seem amazed they mix the initial part with Can't Get You Out Of My Head by Kylie Minogue. This year they're always doing it as a return to the homage Kylie did when he played an amazing version of her hit mixed with Blue Monday, aknowledging the influence. There's also the keyboard of a song by (I think) Durutti Column thrown in the mix. A unusual extended keyboard final ends this fantastic performance.

Maybe it's not been their best gig ever. In fact it can't be compared to their best gig ever, their comeback at the Manchester Apollo in 1998. And I've heard the Hyde Park concert, and maybe it was slightly better, with better sound. The sound mix in Turin was a bit messy. Still good, but a bit messy.
And yet, I know it's been a fantastic gig. A truly great concert. I have possibly the best confirmation when Al Jarvis tells me he thinks this is actually the best gig they did this year. I don't know if it's true, but if someone who has seen so many concerts says this, there must definitely be some truth at least.
Marco and Matteo unfortunately must leave just after the concert, as they have their return train soon the following morning. But the rest of us just joins the English fans at the bar and have a great time. I'll later discover some members of the Italian mailing lists were at the festival, it's a pity I read it only when I came back. Anyway Al Jarvis has got once again the set list so we can make one of the best pictures ever made together with the list which marked the comeback of Everything's Gone Green in the concert, and everyone's so happy of this.
I've also the pleasure to meet Nick King, a couple of fans from Southampton and other mates from England.
It seems New Order went away from the backstage right after the concert. We were just expecting that. Manuel and me know how this kind of things go, and just knew Bernard and Steve would have gone to the hotel, but the indestructible party animal that's Peter Hook would have moved at Giancarlo, a venue in the Murazzi, near the central bridge of the river Po, right in front of the Gran Madre church, where the aftershow party is taking place.
Happy Mondays singer Shaun Ryder and Tony Wilson are DJing, and Peter Hook has arrived even before ourselves... He also spins some records! The music is great, Factory classics from Joy Division, Section 25, A Certain Ratio, mixed with hip hop, funky, punk and stuff. I just meet Hooky for a minute, not even enough to take a picture, but I'm happy he's friendly as ever and he remembers me, or so he says.
Anyway it's getting late for Emma and me, but it couldn't have been a better experience for us. Not a bad start for the summer holidays!

Opium - Atlantean / One Last Kiss

When bassist Bobby Gillespie left The Wake, one of the best Factory bands, to join The Jesus And Mary Chain as drummer before launching his new band Primal Scream, Alex Macpherson replaced him on bass in 1983-1984, the period many believe to be the best of the band's history, with the release of the Talk About The Past single and the recordings of the Here Comes Everybody album.

After leaving The Wake, Alex joined The Cat Club which released the cult house classic One Last Kiss in 1987.


In the 90s Alex launched a new project, Opium, and released the single Atlantean in 1995, excellent keyboards, fabulous rhythm and divine female vocals by Jane Jardin Love. Basically it sounds like Saint Etienne at their best if they were produced by New Order's Bernard Sumner and remixed by Soul II Soul. We're lucky Opium re-released the single last year on the smartly named Neuropa label. The B sides are TransSaharan (a beautiful instrumental with more fantastic keyboards and a slightly exotic feel) and Olympian, which is actually the instrumental of Atlantean.

Opium are back this year with a new single, it's a re-working of The Cat Club's One Last Kiss. No more JJ Love on vocals, but it seems Alex can always find excellent female vocalists as Katrina Docherty's voice is equally splendid. The single is made of four different mixes of One Last Kiss (the best being The Last Days Of Disco), which is as good as Atlantean. 90 seconds into the song a solemn and touching keyboard appears, and you hear echoes of not only The Wake, but New Order at the heighth of Your Silent Face as well. A magnificent piano duets with Katrina's voice for the whole song.
Opium are about to release their new single, Envious, this summer.
For more info you can write Opium: neuropa@talk21.com
Also check the Opium pages on the Cerysmatic Factory site, from which the scans of the covers were taken.

New Order - Jetstream

Been busy again with the Gabrielles Wish site, which is now on a new server (fast and ad-free) and some updates for La Skarnemurta.
But a new New Order single, Jetstream, has been released, so it's a good chance to be back here posting, hoping to have more time in the near future.
For detailed info about all the formats of the release and the remixes available only on the Internet you can check NewOrderOnline.com (from which the cover scan is taken). Basically CD1 and the 12" just include edits or the same of some of the remixes on CD2 (code NUCDP14, of which you can see the cover on the right), so my comments are just about this release.


This enhanced CD includes the video (which is not as special as the one for Krafty, but it's funny at least for Bernard's dance) and the U Myx software which allows you to make your own remix of Jetstream (featuring Ana Matronic from The Scissor Sisters), which is a catchy funky pop gem with a killer chorus and a wonderful production (see also my review of the album Waiting For The Sirens' Call).
There are also four remixes, and all of them are great.
Jaques Lu Cont loops some vocals (though I'd have certainly looped the J E T spelling moment, it was just born for remixes and nobody got it...) on a soft but powerful base and makes good use of Hooky's bass.
Richard X starts with the drum machine from an old New Order cult track, Video 586, and then basically replaces the original base with a harder and wonderful one (going from True Faith-ish to disco) keeping the surface of the song similar to the track.
Tom Neville makes an excellent hard electro version of the track, good for the dancefloor, sounds a bit like Kraftwerk remixing acid house...
The best remix comes from our good old mate Arthur Baker, with his splendid space techno remix, fabulous keyboards and great rhythm... gives also space to a section of Hooky's bass which virtually can't be heard on the original...
The quality of these remixes is amazing, such above the average you can usually expect, this makes Jetstream a special single you can't miss.

NEW ORDER - Krafty - Waiting For The Sirens' Call

I'm sorry I haven't had time to post on the Blog, not even about these two awaited releases before, but I've been extremely busy with a server transfer for the Gabrielles Wish site, which is still happening.
However, some of you may have read my opinions about New Order's new single and album on the forum on NewOrderOnline.com (from which the Krafty pic is taken), and some of this post is taken from there.

Krafty is a great single, a catchy guitar pop, uplifting anthem to love. If CD1 features only the Single and Album edits, CD2 includes the wonderful video, celebrating the love between two working class adolescents and makes you feel even more the beauty of the song, a song which really grows with repeated listenings. Probably it will be a fantastic moment at the forthcoming gigs.
The Glimmers 12" Extended Mix is really interesting as it strips down the song making it sound like Joy Division playing it at a soundcheck, the Phones Reality Mix is also very curious as converts the music to minor chords and hard techno.
No B sides, just a couple of other edits, but the good news is they're keeping the songs left out of this album and not using them in singles because another new album should be released next year!

After hearing it dozens of times I can confirm that Waiting For The Sirens' Call is New Order's best album, just after Power Corruption And Lies and Technique. It's amazingly better than their two other albums of the last 15 years, Republic and Get Ready.
First there was the rumour that New Order were going back to a rawer and darker sound, to their Joy Division roots, then that they were going back to more dance songs and it sounded like Technique. Well, they were both true, this album was made in different moments and purposedly gives different feelings, there's something for everyone and it's fantastic. Who's Joe is the kind of song Electronic could have made if they listened to a lot of Joy Division before doing Tighten Up, with the added value of a wonderful bass by Peter Hook. Bernard Sumner is even more a consummate songwriter, with the charming attack "Hey Joe, what you doin?". If the guitar coming at 04.39 is Phil Cunningham, I can't be happier he has joined the band properly. Anyway I'm sure his work is essential to at least some of the excellent guitar parts we have in the whole album.
Talking about great guitars, with Hey Now What You Doing we have an extraordinary start of a song. Is Phil the Johnny Marr of the 21st Century, or has Bernard been taking lessons from his old mate? Fantastic vocals here, in both the verse and chorus, I love how Barney sings 'You've gotta hold - your head - up high'.
Bernard Sumner has all the right to be proud of Waiting For The Sirens' Call, the title track has an amazing vocal tune in the verse: 'What does this ship bring to me'... it's such a simple and effective melody, only him can write masterpieces so effortlessly. If the chorus was as good it would be the best of the album.
I Told You So is just a masterpiece, it takes time to understand this work of genius, but after a while I can finally enjoy its immense beauty and this is now one of my favourite songs ever, and the best of the album... That metronomic keyboard sounding like a sequenced banjo is wonderful, the whole production is excellent, it's one of those songs they wanted to be all sunny and positive, but actually comes out very dark and naughty for me, there's something beautifully scary in this song, the whole sound of it, I just picture a druggy freak which could be Shaun Ryder lost on crack in some island near the Barbados writing a letter to his former girlfriend, something like a sequel to The Beach movie...
The dark beginning of Morning Night And Day is the perfect following to the dark ending of I Told You So. This song has a great chorus on a pumped up electro base, the verse is a bit generic but then explodes into this powerful chorus: 'It happens - It always seems to happen' (with the ghost of Johnny Marr here and there), and what a fabulous instrumental part...
Dracula's Castle is the electro-goth version of Dream Attack remixed by Revenge. It sounds good, it does. Great bass, and the chorus is fabulous. Nice to notice how they've roughly made the same trick of Brotherhood, splitting the album in two parts, with four guitar songs, five electronic/dance songs, with the difference of going back to the guitar for the final two. As for the music, almost all the tunes are so easy and at the same time magnificent, this happened on Get Ready and Republic, but not that often, so I think it's fair to see Sirens as the best album of the 21st century New Order looking back to the Technique formula... Back on this song, so far I just think there's something missing to make it one of the best, but it's still a great track.
Jetstream is a funky pop gem, listen with an open mind and you'll enjoy it, and it could sell well as a single. It works, it's dead sexy... come on, let's sing along "J - E - T! You are so good for me!". Great production here, nice vocals from Scissor Sister Ana Matronic, and I adore the keyboard chords before the chorus. Shaun Ryder would sell his soul to God to release something like this!
Guilt Is A Useless Emotion sounds like reworking World In Motion from the stadium to the disco 15 years later. Amazing rhythm, wonderful keyboard, and what a tune when Barney sings "Just another day of the week" (even better the second time when Hooky also appears)... another fantastic descending melody like the one on the title track... how comes he can compose stuff like that more than once on the same album, 50 years old?! Genius! Another lesson for the young pretenders out there. The chorus is alright, it works, it's not their best ever, but it fits well in a powerful disco anthem. Another potential single, great for clubs...
If they released Turn as a single in America it would be the biggest relaunch of a career we've ever seen on that side of the Atlantic. It would be used for TV series, ads, radio, MTV, movies, sports, everywhere. The Americans are just waiting for this tune! 'Turn and your eyes follow me - it's time for me to go' and the Americans will fall in love with this perfect guitar pop song! Myself I adore the beginning 'It's a haaaard - way, to come home'. Touching.
Working Overtime is a bit of a silly way to finish an otherwise almost perfect album... this would have made sense from Warsaw, now it sounds just like 'Let show The Strokes how garage rock should be made'. And actually it beats any contemporary band of this genre. The song itself is not bad, but it just doesn't fit anywhere on this album. Turn would have been the perfect ending of the album (which should have been opened by the title track), I'd have left this for the B side of Krafty.
Anyway hats off to New Order for this excellent album, Waiting For The Sirens Call leaves me happy and with no nostalgia for Low Life which was released 20 years ago. I like that, but Sirens is even better, and when a band sounds better at 50 than at 30, you know it's a great band. Actually, it's the best ever!

Anteprima dei nuovi Marlene Kuntz

Sul nuovo sito InsideMarlene.com, pubblicato in occasione dell'uscita del nuovo album dei Marlene Kuntz, Bianco Sporco (11 Marzo), si può ascoltare un brano in anteprima, La Cognizione Del Dolore, presentato in una splendida clip Flash interattiva. L'album sarà preceduto dal singolo Bellezza (18 febbraio) e seguito da un tour che dovrebbe partire il 15 aprile.
Bianco Sporco è il primo album dopo che l'ex bassista Dan Solo ha lasciato il gruppo, rimpianto ma più che degnamente sostituito da Gianni Maroccolo, nome storico del rock italiano (dai Litfiba ai CSI), anche se il suo contributo dovrebbe limitarsi solo ad album e tour di quest'anno.

New Order for an amazing Coachella

New Order have been confirmed to play at the Coachella Festival in Indio, California (USA), this year a fabulous event which will see four major new wave bands.
On Saturday, April 30 Coldplay and Chemical Brothers will play, but that day will see also the comeback on stage of Cocteau Twins and Bauhaus.
On Sunday, May 1 Nine Inch Nails, Prodigy and Roni Size are scheduled with New Order and another extraordinary return, Gang Of Four.
More info on the Coachella site.

New links to hear New Order's Krafty

Warner Records has put New Order's forthcoming single back online for streaming.

Choose your media player and click on the following links:

Krafty for Windows Media Player

Krafty for Windows Media (2) (Warner Japan)

Krafty for Quicktime

Krafty for Real Player

The pic shows the new New Order: Peter Hook (bass), Steve Morris (drums), Bernard Sumner (guitar, vocals) and Phil Cunningham, who has replaced Steve's wife Gillian Gilbert, former keyboardist and guitarist, who left the band for family commitments. It's taken from NewOrderOnline.com, where you'll learn more about the forthcoming single (to be released on March 7th) and album Waiting For The Sirens Call (release date on March 28th) and the first news about the live dates.

Hear New Order's new single!

Go to NewOrderOnline.com and follow the instructions to hear New Order's new brilliant single Krafty two months before the release. It'll be streaming archived only until this Friday, January 28th, so hurry up and don't miss this chance to hear this wonderful comeback!