OMD - Classic or Dud? S&D?

Has this already been covered?

"Work on the forthcoming OMD album The History Of Modern continues and a provisional release date is under consideration.

Paul Humphreys has been working on the new OMD album recently and mixing work is also on the schedule. Meanwhile, Andy McCluskey is meeting with Peter Saville this week to discuss sleeve design concepts. The band are also receiving a lot of requests for licensing offers from around the world and it looks likely that a lot of deals are going to be made over the next few months.

The record label that will be issuing the album is 100% Records, who have previously worked with Moby, Placebo and The Temper Trap.

The provisional release date for The History Of Modern is scheduled for late August/early September."

Heard a track on some podcast recently and it sounded a little like Souvenir. Looking forward to this.

Souvenir = my favorite OMD track, no contest. Cautiously optimistic...

The Peter Saville thing is interesting, because it sounds like they might do something that sounds like their earlier stuff again. Also, good to hear Humphreys being back again, he didn't participate on those mostly below par 90s albums McCluskey made all alone.

New album forthcoming, new interview in the Quietus, GREAT quote from McCluskey that Tom Ewing flagged on Tumblr:

We looked at how we had constructed some of our more unusual songs, and a lot of them were made from concrete music, found sounds, and we looked at what we had explored in the past and we were trying not to repeat ourselves, and, well, we’ve done trains; we’ve done machinery. And then I actually said to myself “I realise now that everything that we’ve sampled from the real world – trains, machines, computers, guns, typewriters – they were actually accidental”. The audio that we had sampled was a waste product from the specific design function of whatever it was that we had recorded. Let me clarify that: a typewriter is designed to type things onto a page, not make a clicking noise when you hit the key. A steam engine is not designed to go ‘chuff chuff’. That’s an audio waste product of the inefficiency of its engine. And as the world has modernised, the accidental audio by-products, waste products, of the things that have become concrete music are going to be less and less because the designers have designed out the waste so that the machinery of the modern world has actually become more silent.

Read this earlier on this morning... having heard two (and a half!) snippets from the album now, I'm getting very very excited for this one!

This is closer to the "Dazzle Ships" end of town, right?

I think we should start another OMD S&D thread.

BLimey, it's all happening in music-world, innit?

mbv,
OMD,
ILX do Bowie...

This is closer to the "Dazzle Ships" end of town, right?

― Mark G, Tuesday, February 5, 2013 4:38 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The two and a half tracks they've previewed so far would suggest so, yeah.

New album soon! First track from same:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PO_RkGju6M

Meantime they're playing LA and SF at the end of July -- and nowhere else (at least, so far). But that's lucky for me! Already got my ticket for SF. This'll be the first time I've ever seen them, so I'm quite glad.

Predictably, I really love this... sounds like they're moving even further in the direction they went with English Electric, which of course I wholeheartedly welcome.

Heard a clip from another track on BBC radio, it sounded pretty good to me!

So Malcolm Holmes ultimately retired?

Word has it is he is still making contributions to the new record, but Stuart Kershaw has taken over the drum stool for live performances.

looking forward to this, I've never seen them and I really like the last two records

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUDQeREbJgc

Not really feeling this as much as "Metroland". All of this modern OMD stuff feels a bit cynical to me even if I still enjoy some of it. "You guys like 'Dazzle Ships'? HERE YOU GO!"

maybe but I'm perfectly happy a band is aping itself at it's best work.

Yeah this song is pretty fantastic, if Wire can revisit earlier albums why shouldn't OMD? If the results are this good.

I don't think this track sounds anything like Dazzle Ships, to me it sounds very much a continuation of the last couple of LP's rather than OMD circa 1983. I think the recent stuff (History of Modern onwards) has a sonic quality which distinguishes it from the earlier albums. Sure, there's a Kraftwerk influence there but that shouldn't be very surprising.

As for the track - I like it, but it sounds to me like it'll work best in the context of the album.

The themes, instrumentation, emphasis on isolated samples and vocoders - this is all the pure spirit of Dazzle Ships even if the production is updated for 2017. At best the last couple of albums are a genuine return to the spirit of early 80's OMD vs. say, "If You Leave".

The first half of that track is really just straight-up Kraftwerk, circa Autobahn/Radioactivity. If you stripped down the production a bit, it could practically pass for an outtake from one of those albums.

I don't hear any detuned guitars, toy pianos, shortwave radios or acoustic instruments treated in unusual ways on this. Dazzle Ships is a record that couldn't possibly be made again. Thematically, it just strikes me as being business-as-usual OMD. 'If You Leave' was never one of their defining tracks.

Isotope is great, sounds like OMD. The military one ... that sounded like something from Dazzle Ships.

Military themes have been part of OMD's music since 'Bunker Soldiers', the first track off the first LP.

probably an unpopular opinion but "Save Me" (bonus track on History of Modern) is amazing. probably my whole track on the entire disc. idk man I'm just a sucker for a great intro

oh, and they've got a new album out today

And it's good!

Incredibly, I haven't had the opportunity to hear it yet but from what I've heard it's going to be as good as the last one, which was great.

New Numan in a fortnight too!

So yeah, I'm on my third listen to The Punishment of Luxury now, and my general feeling is like it's essentially a sort of English Electric part II but with a few surprises thrown in there ('As We Open, So We Close' in particular... fuck!) ... however, it's also a much less immediate record than English Electric. Still, I don't get any feeling that they sleepwalked their way through the making of this record - I can hear a band very much still trying to do something different (for them, at least) and a couple of the tracks here suggest that there's still new territory for them to mine and new directions for them to follow should they want to follow them.

One thing is for sure, they're not going to be able to get away with releasing another album in this mould for their next one - that's if there is a next one. If they continue, though, I'd personally like to see them make a different kind of record - start incorporating more acoustic percussion back into their sound or instruments not commonly heard on an OMD record.

Oh, and 'Robot Man' really has no place on this LP.

The last two tracks on the album - 'Ghost Star' and 'The View From Here' - are my two big favourites from this one.

It seems to have divided the fanbase straight down the middle, this one - which delights me a lot!

A couple of weeks down the line and, if I'm to be honest with myself, this latest album hasn't connected with me anywhere near as much as the previous two - it still very much has its highlights, and I applaud them for trying to branch out here and there, but the end result comes across to me as English Electric part two, but the material is mostly nowhere near as good. If there is a next album, I'd like them to open up their sound palette a little more, get rid of the computerised voices, dial down the heavy Kraftwerk worship (which sounds less refreshing on this album) and focus a little more on the songwriting before they get stuck in some sort of creative rut.

English Electric was far more refreshing to my ears than Delta Machine, but this year with so many "classic" synth acts coming back with new albums, I think Depeche Mode's Spirit and Alison Moyet's Other are superior.

I'd rank The Punishment of Luxury far ahead of Erasure's rather morose and tune-free effort this year (World be Gone) - I haven't spend enough time with the new Numan yet, or the Fader album, and haven't yet heard the new Blancmange.

just gave it a spin. lol @ me for getting all excited about a new OMD album and then forgetting about it. I think it's pretty good - kind of had the same feeling as listening to English Electric for the first time. I like that they're trying new things - "Robot Man" and "Art Eats Art" both made me smile. First two & last two tracks are great.

i'm obsessed with Architecture & Morality at the moment. "She's Leaving" has one of those classic chord progressions that is made vital and eternal here. Outro drumming on "Joan of Arc" is massive, tho I'm always a sucker for military style beats. The record comes out of the gate with the fraught paranoia of "The New Stone Age" but the uncertainty continues throughout the arrangements on the rest of the record. Finely balanced between experimental soundscapes and perfect pop songs, this is one of the finest records I've heard.

Surely this album must have influenced a lot of acts, I can hear its DNA in MGMT's new one and Kuedo's first LP.

Seeing them tomorrow, been a few years.

enjoy the show Josh, and report back if ya feel like it

Seeing them Sunday, first time!

I know I'm late to the party, but I've always wanted to big them up for "Messages". Specifically the verse that (referring to the titular messages) contains "... I'd write and tell you that I burned them all. But you never sent me your address." (beat) "And I kept them anyway."
Love that. And the way the single version comes in with a rush, establishes the synth arpeg. and that runs all the way through. Great stuff that seems to get overshadowed by "Electricity" from their early tracks.

Love Messages, especially the two manual basslines, one of which is pretty dissonant and curious at times.

any recommendations on a good album to go with after hearing architecture? i tried dazzle, but that ABC 123 song threw me off

robot man robot man robot man

doing math just as fast as he can

XP - Organisation then the debut, then try Dazzle Ships again.

Thanks!

XP - Organisation then the debut, then try Dazzle Ships again.

exactly my recommendation as well.

organisation and architecture are natural companion albums and i can't imagine liking one without liking the other. debut has some absolute gems, and then after that dazzle ships is like a bonus wonderful LP that makes much more sense once you understand what they were departing from

I know I'm late to the party, but I've always wanted to big them up for "Messages". Specifically the verse that (referring to the titular messages) contains "... I'd write and tell you that I burned them all. But you never sent me your address." (beat) "And I kept them anyway."
Love that. And the way the single version comes in with a rush, establishes the synth arpeg. and that runs all the way through. Great stuff that seems to get overshadowed by "Electricity" from their early tracks.

otm. "electricity" is a catchy as hell but whenever i listen to "messages" it's just as thrilling as the first time i heard it

This is good timing because I was wondering if I should give Junk Culture a try. I hated Locomotion bitd but I don't know any other songs from that album. I'm a huge fan of their first 4 albums. I saw them live in LA a few years ago and it was awesome.