Wire - Silver / Lead - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Their 13th studio album - simply titled Wire - comprises material that was written with the album in mind, but toured extensively first, as well as songs that Newman introduced to the group in the studio just prior to recording. The idea was to get the most spontaneous reaction possible from the musicians, and far from the rough and ready results one might expect from such a tack, Wire is full of swooning pop melo-dies with a 60s tinge and an irresistible, near motorik rhythmic momentum. One can recognize certain me-lodic inflections, guitar and bass motifs, and drum rhythms from Wire's idiosyncratic vocabulary but it has a remarkable freshness. The basic tracks were recorded at Rockfield Studios with overdubs added at Brighton Electric. The 11 tracks selected for were the ones that came together most naturally. From the outset Wire was an alliance between four very different characters and continues today with the addition, in 2012, of It Hugs Back guitarist Matthew Simms, who is around thirty years younger than the other group members. InchWith Matt there was a really new dynamic that had appeared in the group's sound and that was something we wanted to capture, utilise and be creative with,Inch says Lewis. Wire is the first album where Simms has been involved in formulating the material from the ground up, but when the group's particular chemistry starts working he is now very much part of the process. Lewis provides most of the lyrics for the album, their subject matter encompassing love songs, cryptic nar-ratives and coded messages. One time, Newman asked Lewis to send over some unfinished, unformatted text so he wouldn't be bound by what to use for the chorus. This material spawned two songs written on the same day, 'Split Your Ends' and the droll 'In Manchester'. The latter has the disorientating and rather absurd situation of having InchIn ManchesterInch as

Wire exhibit little inclination to look back rather they remain resolutely focused on producing music which is smart, vital and defiantly modern Mind Hive is the group's first newly recorded material since 2017 's Silver/Lead That album garnered rave reviews and career best sales Yet, if Silver/Lead set the bar pretty high, Mind Hive seems to have no problem vaulting over it Be Like Them is a super angular composition, utilizing a recently rediscovered Wire lyric from 1977 Colin Newman and Matthew Simms' guitars constantly mesh and diverge, whilst the rhythm section ensures the song prowls forward with an unstoppable menace Cactused is the first of Mind Hive 's pop moments The vocal is wide eyed and wired, with effects heavy guitar work creating a bright web of noise, with the song's stop/start moments providing a series of precise energy bursts Primed And Ready rides out on a tightly pulsing synth sequence punctuated by icy slivers of guitar This is Wire at their most compressed yet propulsive Off The Beach is another prime pop song With it's breezy, optimistic melody, and blend of electric and acoustic guitars, the song initially sees the group seemingly celebrating the joys of everyday life but things are destined to turn a shade stranger Unrepentant explores the kind of bucolic soundscape early Pink Floyd would have been proud to call their own Boasting one of the album's finest texts, the song radiates out into a shimmering sonic heat haze Shadows pulls the classic Wire trick of placing a dark and cruel lyric in a musical setting of tender beauty Never has the recounting of atrocity been so seductively pitched Oklahoma is the muscular and dramatic joker in the pack Lewis' dark vocal swims through a rich compound of guitar textures and synth tones, building into a masterclass of tension and Hung is the album's centrepiece This 8 minute excursion matches a brief

Soul Jazz Records are releasing their new 'Space Funk - Afro Futurist Electro Funk in Space 1976-84', an intergalactic journey into black space, fuelled by funk, powered by computers. 'Space Funk' is a lovingly compiled collection of superb, rare and off-the-wall space funk and electro releases mostly released on small independent labels in the late 1970s and 1980s.Reactors are reacting, boosters are boosting, pack your funk and shake your booty! Computer funk... makes you jump! This is the space funk program!The album comes in deluxe artwork and three formats - digipack + slipcase CD, a very limited deluxe 2xLP + bonus 7Inch single + download vinyl version, and a standard 2xLP + download standard vinyl version.Features music by Jamie Jupitor, Solaris, Robotron 4, Juju & the Space Rangers and many more intergalactic space warriors!The shuttle program has been altered - there is no Star Wars only electro funk jam joyriders in Space - hold tight!1. L E O - Fee Fi Fo Fum 2. The Sonarphonic - Super Breaker 3. Santiago - Bionic Funk 4. Frank Cornilius - Computer Games 5. JUJU & The Space Rangers - Plastic 6. Jamie Jupitor - Computer Power 7. Solaris - Space Invaders 8. Copperfield - Make It Good To Me Baby 9. Robotron 4 - Electro-? 10. Ernest Flippin II - Supersonic Space Lady 11. Funk Machine - Funk Machine 12. Ramsey 2C-3D - Fly Guy and The Unemployed 13. Osé - Computer Funk 14. 7 Below Zero Band - Seven (We Are) 15. Rodney Stepp - Break-Out