electronic :: news

monday 25 september 2006 :: johnny marr has given a vibrant interview to bbc.co.uk in which he talks about the new electronic best of, future work with bernard sumner, and the state of the british music scene today. you can listen to it via realplayer too.

saturday 16 september 2006 :: johnny marr and bernard sumner were interviewed in yesterday’s independent about the new electronic best of, and the article is available online. the original piece was accompanied by a new photo of the ex-members at the royal institute of british architects—thanks to mark davies for sending it in.

saturday 19 august 2006 :: amazon.co.uk has added second nature and prodigal son to the tracklisting for get the message. the inclusion of electronic’s seventh single is nothing short of essential—as well as being a classic song in its own right it means that, excluding promos, every a-side will be included on the compilation.

monday 24 july 2006 :: according to nme.com a new electronic compilation will be released in september 2006. get the message: the best of electronic will be issued by emi in the uk on monday 18 and by rhino in the us the next day, and features the following tracks: getting away with it, get the message (single mix), feel every beat, disappointed (single mix), forbidden city, vivid (radio edit), all that i need, for you, imitation of life (new edit), out of my league, like no other, twisted tenderness and late at night (radio edit). the cd is available to pre-order at amazon.co.uk, amazon.com and play.com, and is also available with an accompanying seven-track dvd.

tuesday 28 march 2006 :: the current special edition of q, which focuses on the manchester music scene from punk onwards, features a four-page interview (titled ‘get the message’) with johnny marr. electronic are mentioned twice, and a photograph of marr and sumner backstage with pet shop boys is included. “when electronic formed there was a revolution in music, in club culture, in drugs, in fashion… i would have been an absolute idiot to miss it. both of us needed to work with someone on a personal level who understood the trip that both of us had been through with our groups.” electronic’s first album gets an honourable mention in a list of recommended mancunian albums; unknown pleasures, power, corruption and lies and the queen is dead are featured more prominently. the title of the magazine is rather opportunistic (‘morrissey & the story of manchester’), but the content itself is terrific.

sunday 29 january 2006 :: johnny marr and bernard sumner both appeared at the manchester v cancer concert at the evening news arena on saturday, playing individually with the healers and new order, and together with doves (whose frontman jimi goodwin played bass on twisted tenderness) on two songs: covers of lou reed’s vicious and r dean taylor’s there’s a ghost in my house. the healers set comprised there is a light that never goes out, denial denial, the sparks of life, down on the corner and how soon is now?, while new order’s set was as follows: transmission, she’s lost control, shadowplay, atmosphere, twenty four hours, warsaw, love will tear us apart and ceremony.

as bernard sumner proclaimed, it was the first time they would play twenty four hours since ian curtis’ passing. they played no new order material. conversely, the healers’ denial denial and the sparks of life are both new songs, scheduled for release this spring on their second album. bernard and johnny’s involvement with doves bridged the healers and new order, who played before and after them respectively. it was not an electronic reunion, but it was the first time that marr and sumner had played together onstage since 1991—they also joined doves, peter hook, andy rourke and shaun ryder for an encore of happy mondays’ wrote for luck. an historic day.