Artist News Awards Business News Deals Gigs & Festivals Industry People One Liners Releases

One Liners: Pet Shop Boys, Sparks, BRIT Awards, more

By | Published on Wednesday 25 January 2023

Pet Shop Boys

DEALS

Sparks have announced that they will release their 26th album ‘The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte’ on 26 May. The release sees them return to Universal Music’s Island Records, the label that put out their 1974 breakthrough ‘Kimono My House’. “Here we find ourselves in 2023, almost 50 years later, re-signing with Island Records, again with an album that we all feel is as bold and uncompromising as anything we did back then, or for that matter, anytime throughout our career”, say Ron and Russell Mael. “We’re happy that after so much time, we’ve reconnected with Island”.

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APPOINTMENTS

DIY distributor TuneCore has hired rapper Papoose to be its Head Of Hip Hop. “When hiring executives I look for expertise and experience”, says CEO Andreea Gleeson. “Papoose’s years of hustling and success in the industry make him uniquely qualified to advise hip hop artists because he’s been in their shoes, he understands what they’re going through and he knows first-hand what works”.

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RELEASES

Pet Shop Boys will publish the 2023 edition of their ‘Annually’ book on 14 Apr. It will come with a four track EP called ‘Lost’, featuring four previously unreleased tracks originally recorded in 2015 for their ‘Super’ album. Vocalist Neil Tennant says that they were left off that record “not because we didn’t like them, but because they didn’t fit the album”. Now, however, “some of them are sort of relevant to the world at the moment”.

Steve Mason has shared new track ‘The People Say’. It is, he says, “a rallying call for us all, urging people to keep climbing, find the righteous fight and dive in”. His new album ‘Brothers & Sisters’ is out on 3 Mar.

dEUS have released new single ‘1989’ from their new album ‘How To Replace It’, which is out on 17 Feb.

Yelle has released new single ‘Top Fan’.

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs have released new single ‘Ultimate Hammer’, taken from their new album ‘Land Of Sleeper’, which is out on 17 Feb. “’Ultimate Hammer’ is the by-product of being trapped in the house and listening to too much ZZ Top, if there is such a thing”, says guitarist Adam Ian Sykes. “It was written to be unapologetic, a selfish endeavour with the only consideration being how fun it would be to play live”.

English Teacher have released new single ‘Song About Love’. “It’s a pop song about doing chores instead of doing someone else, and how even songs with social or political themes that analyse contemporary discourse, rather than lyricism about tired themes like romantic love, still come from a place of love, or lack thereof”, says the band’s Lily Fontaine.

Death Crash have announced that they will release new album ‘Less’ on 17 Mar, and have also released new single ‘Empty Heavy’. Of the track, bassist Patrick Fitzgerald says: “‘Empty Heavy’ is an intricately melancholic song that gives way to a direct and explosive ending. This is reflected by the different states of loss portrayed lyrically through the song”.

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GIGS & TOURS

Aphex Twin has announced that he will play his first London show for four years, headlining this year’s Field Day festival on 19 Aug. The event this year will return to Victoria Park in Hackney, running as part of AEG’s All Points East festival.

Le Tigre have announced their first tour for eighteen years, including shows at Troxy in London on 3 Jun, Albert Hall in Manchester on 5 Jun, and Barrowland Ballroom in Glasgow on 6 Jun. Tickets go on sale on Friday.

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AWARDS

The BRIT Awards have announced yet more performances for next month’s ceremony. Lizzo will return to the show – having previously performed in 2020 – and David Guetta will team up with Becky Hill and Ella Henderson for his first appearance at the awards bash. Cat Burns, Wet Leg, Harry Styles, Sam Smith and Kim Petras have all previously been confirmed. It all goes down on 11 Feb.

Check out our weekly Spotify playlist of new music featured in the CMU Daily – updated every Friday.



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