Devo Something

Coming in way above their previous effort, 1990’s Smooth Noodle Maps, Something for Everybody is the album Devo's fans had craved for 28 long years, or maybe 29, if you fall on the sour side of the iffy Oh, No! It's Devo. The synthetic, compressed, and punchy production – courtesy of producer and Bird & the Bee member Greg Kurstin – is a modern take on the sound of 1981’s New Traditionalists, and if you judge by hooks, this is right in line with their 1980 breakthrough, Freedom of Choice, although there’s certainly no “Whip It”-sized megahit here. Instead, there’s the opening “Fresh!” a herky-jerky, infectious number with lead singer Mark Mothersbaugh stuttering as if he just created New Wave’s “My Generation.” The wicked highlight “Don’t Shoot (I’m a Man)” (“They’ll hunt you down/And tase you bro/For playing with the rules”) is the album’s other key track, thanks to Mothersbaugh’s perfect framing of de-evolution’s give (hybrid cars) and take, take, take (Beltway snipers, overzealous cops, etc.).

Devo was among the most thought-provoking bands to emerge in the aftermath of punk, but before hits like “Whip It,” Devo worked in the basements and garages of Akron, Ohio, to make raw, unfiltered music that the group called “Hardcore Devo.” In the summer of 2014, Devo did 10 shows performing these seminal pre-fame songs, created between 1974 and 1977 and rarely played since then. Shot at the Fox Theater in Oakland, California, this exciting concert film captures these groundbreaking artists performing the songs that started it all, interwoven with interviews revealing the history of the band.

DEVO marks half a century of de-evolution as the trailblazing band resumes their global tour this fall. Rhino pays tribute to the influential group today, unveiling a new career-spanning boxed set that encompasses all of Devo’s hits and a selection of rarities.

VA - The Akron Compilation
FLAC | Artwork | 24Bit 96kHz: 852 MB | 16Bit 44.1kHz: 267 MB
Cat#: TELDEC, Stiff Records 6.23538 | Country/Year: Germany 1978
Genre: Punk, New Wave | Hoster: FS + HF/FF

…Released in June of 1978, a month before the first album by Akron’s finest deserters DEVO, The Akron Compilation attempts to document the wave of creativity that swelled in the Rubber City. There’s no doubt, however, that DEVO’s visibility is what brought attention to the Akron bands documented on this disc—and no small coincidence that it was a Stiff Records release, the label that brought DEVO’s first three singles out to the world outside of Ohio. Hell, the cover art even echos the iconic shot of the “Shine On America” mural in Akron that had been immortalized in DEVO’s 1975 film “The Truth About De-Evolution”…

Featuring Ultravox, Duran Duran, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Devo, Yello, Peter Baumann, Richard Bone, Japan and many others.
Following 2020’s ‘Musik Music Musique’ set, we present the sequel, this time looking at the electronic pop scene as it evolved from curio and novelty into a major movement and began to dominate the airwaves. Featuring a plethora of acts who would quickly become household names (many of which endure today) and exploring the wide variety of directions electronic instruments took both the mainstream and independent music in. ‘Musik Music Musique 2.0’ embraces both the pure pop aesthetic of a new generation of aspirational, defiantly polished artists and those who embraced electronic music in the aftermath of the post-punk explosion…