With news that Pet Shop Boys are talking to producers about their upcoming effort, I thought I’d take a moment to play “armchair producer” and point out four talents whom I think would be exceptionally suited for the duo’s sound.

1. Trentmøller - The Danish producer’s two studio efforts and excellent rerub of “The Sodom and Gomorrah show” highlight his ability to pull emotion out of the most minimal of sounds. If Pet Shop Boys were to produce an album along the lines of the “electro record” that Fundamental was slated to be before Trevor Horn’s involvement, then he could bring out the best from Lowe’s demos. I’d be interested to hear his treatment of Tennant’s vocals, as well.

2. M.A.N.D.Y. - I’ve recently become very obsessed with the two heads of Get Physical records and the sound they’ve pushed forward. Electro house that’s unafraid of emotion and release, creative sounds and arrangements that are aimed directly at the dancefloor as well as the cerebellum, they could certainly hold the Tennant and Lowe sound high. (This would also mean that there’d be an increased chance of a mix by Booka Shade, my favorite semi-recent dance music discovery.)

3. Ewan Pearson - Have you heard his Disco Odyssey mix of Goldfrapp’s “Ride A White Horse?” No? Here’s a nine-minute video edit of the 15-minute-long masterpiece. Between that track and the other mixes that fill out Piece Work (including his take on Tennant and Lowe’s “Psychological,”) it’s hard to deny that he’d be able to take Pet Shop Boys into an ecstatic, modern direction that still has the pop hooks that have served them so well.

4. Gui Boratto - Another minimalist, Boratto’s ability to create anthemic moments from spare, elegant melodies and simple 4/4 beats shows that he has the chops to take the barest bones and create something much, much greater. I’d be very interested to hear what he’d do when given the full, lush demos that Pet Shop Boys have been producing over the last few albums.

First of all, my most sincere apologies. I’ve got notes and stuff here, but as I said in my last post, it’s been hellacious around VeryPSB headquarters. Here’s some bullet points.

• Pet Shop Boys , as I typed this, are doing the Battleship Potemkin thingwith the BBC Radio Orchestra at the Barbican. A text from a reader who attended stated just this: “Beautiful. Tears. This movie, this music.” I really hope we see a proper release of the film with their score, as the CD release has been truncated and it doesn’t fit the film properly. Here’s a link to the program for the event and another link to the Time Out interview with Tennant that, once the chestnuts about pop irony are shoved aside, offers a few new anecdotes about the Potemkin events.

• There are some new demos available for your perusal on the official site. I can’t link directly, but if you go to the Product section and click on “Exclusive Tracks,” you’re all set.

• Beloved (at least by me) cover act West End Girls have a second album on the way according to the wags at Pop Justice. One of the singles released before Shoplifters streets will be a version of “Little Black Dress,” a song best known as “One of the ones that didn’t get into the musical that nobody saw.”

• You need to buy the headphones pictured below and listen to Concrete. Trust me.
  

By placing “Opportunities” just prior to “Integral” on the current tour’s set list and having the first song segue seemlessly into the second, Pet Shop Boys are providing fans with a danceable condemnation of those profiteering from the war on terror and related efforts to force national ID cards onto the populace.

Clever, that.