Pet Shop Boys

Post-modern ironists cloaked behind a veil of buoyantly melodic and lushly romantic synth pop confections, Pet Shop Boys offer wry yet strangely affecting cultural commentary communicated by the Morse code of synth washes and drum machine rhythms. After first emerging in the mid-'80s with "West End Girls" and "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)," Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe quickly established themselves as hitmaking singles artists who were also able to craft emotionally resonant albums, like 1988's Introspective and 1990's Behaviour. The duo navigated the constantly shifting landscape of modern dance-pop with grace and intelligence, moving easily from disco to house music to thoughtful synth pop without losing their distinctive style in the process…

A few years after their foray into musicals, the Pet Shop Boys, who are quite possibly disco-pop's most intellectual act, have returned with another project: a live score to Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin. Battleship Potemkin was a silent film made in Leninist Russia in 1925, and tells the (somewhat idealized) story of a revolt among sailors of the Czar's Black Sea fleet. Given the Pet Shop Boys' history of playing with Leninist imagery (take, for example, the lyrics to 'West End Girls'), they were a suitably apt choice to do a live score to this film.

Coming down from the ambitious, politically charged Fundamental, Yes is the sound of the Pet Shop Boys unwinding and returning to their usual fascinations: isolation, fashion, grand arrangements, and witty synth pop anthems. Unfortunately, they're in a slump with their songwriting, and subject-wise, every song here has a companion piece on some earlier album, but that doesn't mean the party is spoiled. The delicate electro opener "Love Etc." is PSB perfection with its memorable hook and faultless construction. Brian Higgins and his Xenomania team (Saint Etienne, Girls Aloud) share songwriting and production duties on the track, and while that later credit continues for the remainder of the album, the hip crew becomes invisible as singer Tennant and synth-man Lowe take over…

"Love Etc." is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their tenth studio album, Yes (2009). It was released on 16 March 2009 as the album's lead single.
Post-modern ironists cloaked behind a veil of buoyantly melodic and lushly romantic synth pop confections, Pet Shop Boys offer wry yet strangely affecting cultural commentary communicated by the Morse code of synth washes and drum machine rhythms. After first emerging in the mid-'80s with "West End Girls" and "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)," Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe quickly established themselves as hitmaking singles artists who were also able to craft emotionally resonant albums, like 1988's Introspective and 1990's Behaviour…

UK electronic pop icons Pet Shop Boys return with a brand-new studio album Nonetheless, preceded by first single "Loneliness". Produced by James Ford, the music on Nonetheless is both uplifting and reflective, mixing electronics, live instruments, and orchestral arrangements. The songs are very melodic and quintessentially Pet Shop Boys with a fresh, open sound, bringing together classic strands of PSB song-writing and moving them in new directions.

…British new wave icons Pet Shop Boys took the Mojave stage in front of a much smaller but undeniably devoted crowd. Keeping in step with the band’s current Electric tour, PSB’s set was an over-the-top visual feast imagined by reknowned costume and set designer Es Devlin. Dancers in animal skulls and other obtrusive headgear flanked singer Neil Tennant and ever-stoic keyboardist Chris Lowe, who treated the fans to a series of flamboyant, futuristic costumes…