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New Order

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4AD Records

ooh ooh me first me first;

Crispy Ambulance

sprawling soundscapes in the vein of Section 25 with Ian Curtis singing (the lead singer of this band actually stepped in for Ian at one gig, i don't think it ended too well though).

=)

I must check out T.C. Matic.

My Factory record of the week:

The Wake - Harmony + Singles (1982)


Choice Cuts
Here Comes Everybody
The Drill
The Old Men

They'll hate me for saying it, but I regard The Wake as the first New Order (they had that sound while New Order themselves still sounded like Joy Division).

A thoroughly good album.

I'd also like to recommend Shadowplayers:



It's a documentary tracing the history of the Factory label and is directed by LTM head honcho, James Nice. It features interviews with Tony Wilson, Peter Hook, Peter Saville, Vini Reilly, Howard Devoto and tons of others. Highly recommended!!!

Anna Domino (1986)



If there's ever been something like the 'typical' Factory artist, Anna Domino has not been it. Her self-titled (re-released on CD with five bonus tracks originally to be found on Rhythm) is an album of r(h)ythmic jazz-pop-wave with a heap of other genre influences thrown in. It kicks off with the single Rythm, with a piano that reminds us of the likes of The Lovecats, but the dry cool vocals (never smoky or overly lounge-pop-like - think Sade, generally a good reference - nor as robotic as Anne Clark) work against that association, making the music at once darker and less spooky-kooky, more grown-up, but no less playful, no less easy-going. The latter adjective is supported by the steady sweet brooding bass lying beneath each track, and the "ba-ba-ba"s in tracks like My Man, the 'dark' part by the distant sounds of saxophones and marimbas. Chosen Ones might be mistaken for one of Nouvelle Vague's better covers, a new wave song at heart, given all outward characteristics of an airy summer lounge one; Summer stays even truer to that heart with just the vocals seeming vaguely out of place - and maybe even saving it from cheesiness and standard-pop-boredom, although the album as a whole has too independent a sound to ever allow accusations of ingratiation with commercial pop fans. Instead and on a closing note, I'd recommend it to fans of the tuneful sides of Laurie Anderson.

Choice cuts:
Rythm
Not Right Now
Caught

They changed their name eventually and their brand of post-punk-avant-jazz, if that makes any sense, is bewitching.

Post-punk-avant-jazz makes a lot of sense to me :D I'm imagining it a bit like Ludus now.

Pick Of The Week:

So Hot



I will be pimping this everywhere. Providing one of the more obscure releases on Factory Records, Swamp Children featured A Certain Ratio members at the time and later changed their name to Kalima (I haven't listened to the latter band yet, if anyone has any opinions/recs on them, I'd be delighted to hear).

If you deconstruct So Hot to its basic pop elements, surprisingly you will find some of the same basic pop elements you find in (later) Stereolab. I'm not joking. The difference between Swamp Children and Stereolab is that the former use post-punk and new wave influences to create an avant-funk sound, while the latter use krautrock/shoegaze/post-rock/retro-lounge and whatnot to create their special amalgam of abstract pop.

Go for it.

.
Electronic - Electronic (1991)



Chosen by Cylob.

.
New Order



What was your first album?

What would your Desert Island album be?

The first 3 tracks that pop into your head?

What was your first album?
Well, you better ask my two uncles that. When we were kids they played New Wave non-stop, and especially New Order. As kids, me and my cousins became so sick of it, but ten years to the future I download the Singles Compilation (2005), and I know the words to songs I didn't even have knowledge of. Apparently I was wrong.

What would your Desert Island album be?
I too, shall pick Substance. It's similar to the first disc of Singles, and that compilation's all I have. A collection of great tunes.

The first 3 tracks that pop into your head?
Blue Monday
Bizarre Love Triangle
Regret (which makes me really happy, I don't quite understand why)

My First Album?

"Republic"... I acquired it in late '93. That's really funny though, because I just filled a similar questionnaire for Björk and guess what; I remember clearly, that I've bought "Debut" and "Republic" on the same day. PSB's "Very" was the third. Oh 1993, what a year that was...

My Desert Island Album?

It should be "Substance", then I'll have most of my favourite New Order songs with me. Still, I have to add, that either "Technique" or "Power, Corruption & Lies" is my favourite New Order album, if we would exclude compilations.

3 Tracks?

Blue Monday
Fine Time
Age of Consent

I picked one from each of the three albums I mentioned above, but "Blue Monday" is definitely my favourite New Order song.

.


NME:

"A site has been set up collecting tributes to Tony Wilson, who died earlier this month (August 10).

The site features contributions from the likes of New Order, Elbow's Guy Garvey and U2 manager Paul McGuiness.

Wilson, co-founder of Factory Records, died of a heart attack brought on by cancer on August 10 at the age of 57. His funeral took place on August 20.

Wilson is best known for signing legendary bands including Joy Division and New Order to his label, and as owner of the Hacienda nightclub in Manchester.

He played a key role in the Madchester scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s, signing Happy Mondays."

http://www.nme.com/news/tony-wilson/30742

Just found a great Factory website:

A Factory Discography v7.7