Very. A blog about Pet Shop Boys.

…to remake “Suburbia” or “Love comes quickly,” Failed Muso has a lead on a Fairlight for you. Writes the blogger: “This is a CMI III Revision 9.34 with the MFX2 functionality (revision 11.39) added. MFX2 is basically a 24 track “Direct To Disk” HD audio recorder/editor,” which is certain to be spectacularly impressive. As far as the sounds installed on this unit, here’s the rundown:

Complete Fairlight library, Prosonus Strings, Brass, Percussion, Sound Genesis strings, plus many libraries collected over the last 20 years dealing with top producers and musicians. These include libraries from: Pet Shop Boys, Trevor Horn, Hans Zimmer, Frankie goes to Hollywood, Art of Noise and many, many others. The complete Fairlight IIX library is also included.

There’s more details on eBay Australia, where the starting bid is a mere AUS$12,490.

Albarn blocks Pet Shop Boys remix.

Gorillaz founder Damon Albarn has blocked the Pet Shop Boys from releasing a remix of the Blur single ‘Girls and Boys’, say reports.

The ‘West End Girls’ duo are releasing new album Disco 4, which will feature songs by The Killers, Madonna and David Bowie and wanted to include a reworking of the popular Blur track.

However, Albarn has apparently placed a ban on the song’s release, claiming that the remixed version was too good.

A source told The Sun: “Damon complained that they had made the song sound like their own.

They added: “He was also annoyed when he heard Neil Tennant supported Oasis in their 90s chart battle with Blur. Neil said Damon was pretentious.”

Ah, The Sun.

This thread on the PopJustice forums, wherein “fans” sound off on the release of Disco 4 has me bemused, saddened, and a bit ticked off. I’m pretty familiar with this pattern from my other major hobby’s online contingent, but the presumptuous nature of the response is galling. Here are my talking points in this matter, posted on the internet as all good talking points should be:

1. If you have all of the remixes, then you don’t have to buy the record.
   
2. If you don’t want the remixes, you don’t have to buy the record.
   
3. It’s not the job of Pet Shop Boys to do exactly what you want. If you want different mixes of existing tracks, then you’ll have to commission them yourself.
   
4. You’re going to buy it anyway, so shut up.

The way people were complaining about Disco 4, you’d think it cost $50 and was a required purchase in order to maintain their “fan” status. Myself, I think it’s a neat idea that probably won’t sell shedloads, but it’ll be worth a look for casual fans for both the duo and the artists they’ve remixed. I certainly don’t think it indicates “contractual problems” (as one fan in that thread pulled out of their rear) or a lack of interest in what they’re doing.

Fridae.com features a typical pre-concert interview with the Pet Shop Boys vocalist, most notable for the following:

What’s next on the calendar for you, then?

We’re headliners of the Summer Sonic Festival, which is in Tokyo and Osaka. We’ve been on tour [for a] year now - this tour finishes in October.

In 2004 we wrote a musical score for the silent film, Battleship Potemkin, and we did that for a concert in Trafalgar Square in London. We’ll be bringing that to Russia and the Ukraine.

The next thing we’re going to write is an electronic music ballet to be performed in London. And I’d also like to write some new pop songs.

An electronic music ballet. Huh. I do actually quite like the music for Battleship Potemkin, and most of the songs from Closer To Heaven, so I’m be curious to see what the end result of this project will be.

(And can someone please tell the people that run the official website that some sort of RSS feed or the like from their “news” page would be very appreciated? Thanks!)

Rod in Leicestershire went to see Pet Shop Boys at Newmarket.

Rachel’s luck no better… but she at least got to meet Neil Tennant before the start of this odd open-air gig. I’ve never seen the Pet Shop Boys before but have always liked their music - the show was mind-blowing, the sound clean and as we were centre stage about twelve rows of people back positioned right slap bang in the middle of the PSB experience.

It’s always interesting when my two main interests collide like this. Rich was the editor in chief of Oni Press for a few very critical years and is still writing comics and novels. Here’s a link to the full review, but my favorite bit is below.

Cubism in Concert was shot last November in Mexico City as part of the tour to promote Fundamental, and though there is a good amount of attention paid to that album, the band has over twenty years of material to draw from for their set. Really, the “Cubism” title seems an appropriate description of this kind of musical construct: a band’s career represented in one sitting, all the facets of two decades of music represented in under two hours, viewing all angles at once and making each song equal on the timeline. I may just be pulling that out of my butt, but the Pet Shop is the workplace of rather smart Boys, and I wouldn’t put it past them.