Restless is a six-track release that includes single and extended versions, along with four other mixes. The Agoria remix and the Extended 12” mix feature alongside further remixes from xxxy, RAC and long-term collaborator Andrew Weatherall.
Following career-best reviews for his tenth album Gargoyle, and a sold–out UK tour in late June, MARK LANEGAN BAND today announce the release of Still Life With Roses, a 6 track EP of remixes from the LP by various producers whose work he admires. The EP, released 29th September via Heavenly Recordings, will be available as 12” vinyl and download and comprises a brilliant array of remixes by the likes of Andrew Weatherall, Adrian Sherwood and Pye Corner Audio.
He might have had a hand in some 19 albums, but Andrew Weatherall rarely works alone. From Keith Tenniswood (in Two Loneswordsmen) to Gary Burns and Jagz Koone (as Sabres of Paradise), the best chapters in this auteur's proud discography are results of collaborative partnerships. As The Asphodells, he pairs off with Timothy J Fairplay, a cohort from the near mythical Scrutton Street studio where the likes of fellow analogue alchemists Death in Vegas and Daniel Avery also do their dirty do. The resulting partnership gives rise to music that is a gauzy, coal-stained mesh of various guitar genres all married to a chugging electronic beat and dub-wise swagger…
Universal TV UK's Connected: '90s 12" Mixes features 36 cuts over three discs culled from the clove-smoked DJ bins of the mainstream '90s. Using the instantly recognizable four-note jam from the Stereo MC's as its impetus and lead-off cut, Connected collects all of the extended versions that listeners were duped into buying during the age of the CD-single, like eight minutes of the Soup Dragons' "I'm Free," a remix of Deee-Lite's "Groove Is in the Heart," and the bass loop version of Stone Roses' "Fools Gold," resulting in an overly long trip (pub crawl) down memory lane that would have been fine had it been streamlined into a single disc. Sadly, no drugs or light sticks are included.
The act with the first arena-sized sound in the electronica movement, the Chemical Brothers united such varying influences as Public Enemy, Cabaret Voltaire, and My Bloody Valentine to create a dance-rock-rap fusion which rivaled the best old-school DJs on their own terms – keeping a crowd of people on the floor by working through any number of groove-oriented styles featuring unmissable samples, from familiar guitar riffs to vocal tags to various sound effects. And when the duo (Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons) decided to supplement their DJ careers by turning their bedrooms into recording studios, they pioneered a style of music (later termed big beat) remarkable for its lack of energy loss from the dancefloor to the radio. Chemical Brothers albums were less collections of songs and more hour-long journeys, chock-full of deep bomb-studded beats, percussive breakdowns, and effects borrowed from a host of sources. All in all, the duo proved one of the few exceptions to the rule that intelligent dance music could never be bombastic or truly satisfying to the seasoned rock fan; it's hardly surprising that they were one of the few dance acts to enjoy simultaneous success in the British/American mainstream and in critical quarters.