English composer and former Magazine / Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds bassist Barry Adamson has released the new digital single “Jane’s Day Out in Court“, taken from his forthcoming 22-track soundtrack album “SCALA!!!”. The album is due on 16 January 2026 via Mute on limited edition “banned blood” coloured vinyl, CD in eco card pack, and digital formats.

“Jane’s Day Out in Court” is out now as a three-track digital release on Mute, bundled with “Babs Johnson Is Divine” and “Scala Posters (Mondo Bongo)”.

The track draws on a 1993 legal case that marked a turning point in the history of London’s Scala cinema. Former Scala programmer and later co-director of the documentary, Jane Giles, was prosecuted after an unlicensed screening of Stanley Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange”, a film withdrawn from UK distribution by the director. While the court case did not formally close the cinema, it unfolded in the same year that the venue shut its doors.

Barry Adamson’s “SCALA!!!” score accompanies the 2023 documentary “SCALA!!! Or, the Incredibly Strange Rise and Fall of the World’s Wildest Cinema and How It Influenced a Mixed-Up Generation of Weirdos and Misfits”, directed by Jane Giles and Ali Catterall and based on Giles’ 2018 book “Scala Cinema 1978–1993”. The film traces the history of the repertory cinema and venue near London’s King’s Cross from the 1970s through its closure in 1993, with interviews from figures including John Waters, Ben Wheatley, Mark Moore and Barry Adamson himself.

On “SCALA!!!”, Barry Adamson returns to his long-running role as a film composer, shaping a Scala cinema documentary score that references posters, all-nighters, the venue’s cats and its King’s Cross surroundings. Across 22 cues, titles such as “Scala Posters (Mondo Bongo)”, “Acid Celluloid”, “Scala Cats”, “Back To The Cats”, “King’s Cross Skyline” and closing piece “SCALA!!! (End Title)” frame “Jane’s Day Out in Court” as a late-album sequence tied directly to the 1993 court case.

About Barry Adamson

Barry Adamson was born on 11 June 1958 in Moss Side, Manchester, England. He first became known in the late 1970s as bassist for post-punk group Magazine, appearing on their studio albums between 1978 and 1981. During this period and shortly afterwards he also worked with projects such as Buzzcocks, Visage and The Birthday Party, before joining Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds as a founding member in the mid-1980s, with whom he recorded and toured for several years and briefly rejoined for the 2013 album “Push the Sky Away”.

Adamson launched his solo career with “Moss Side Story” in 1989 on Mute, a conceptual album framed as a soundtrack to an “imaginary film”. This was followed by “Soul Murder” in 1992, which received a Mercury Music Prize nomination, and “Oedipus Schmoedipus” in 1996, alongside later albums including “As Above So Below” (1998), “The King of Nothing Hill” (2002), “Stranger on the Sofa” (2006), “Back to the Cat” (2008), “I Will Set You Free” (2012) and “Know Where to Run” (2016). In 2018 he released the compilation “Memento Mori”, presenting material spanning four decades, and in 2024 he issued his tenth studio album “Cut To Black”.

His film and television work includes collaborations with directors Derek Jarman (“The Last of England”), David Lynch (“Lost Highway”), Oliver Stone (“Natural Born Killers”) and Danny Boyle (“The Beach”), cementing his position as a composer for cinema and television in addition to his solo catalogue.

In 2021 Adamson published the first part of his memoir, “Up Above the City, Down Beneath the Stars”, through Omnibus Press, reflecting on his years with Magazine, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and his solo work. His catalogue has since been the subject of an ongoing reissue campaign on Mute, including new vinyl editions of “Oedipus Schmoedipus”, “Stranger on the Sofa”, “Back to the Cat”, “Steal Away”, “I Will Set You Free” and “Know Where To Run”.

Alongside recording and touring, Adamson has worked in education and arts contexts, including a role at Manchester Metropolitan University’s School of Digital Arts, while continuing to release material via Mute and his own imprint.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Barry Adamson, the English composer and former Magazine/Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds bassist, announces “SCALA!!! (Original Music by Barry Adamson)”, a 22-track score to the documentary about London’s legendary repertory cinema. The album will be released by Mute on January 16, 2026 on limited edition “banned blood” vinyl, CD, and digital formats.

Below is a first teaser with “Scala Posters (Mondo Bongo)”.

The film – directed by Jane Giles and Ali Catterall – charts the rise and fall of the Scala cinema (1973–1993) and features interviews with John Waters, Mark Moore, Ben Wheatley, and Adamson himself. The documentary carries an original score by Adamson.

Adamson’s music mirrors the venue’s notorious late-night programming and counter-cultural spirit, referencing titles and moments associated with the Scala’s all-nighters, its resident cats, and the obscenity case that precipitated the cinema’s closure. The “obscenity case”was the legal action over Scala’s illegal screening of Stanley Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange” in 1992–1993. Warner Bros (at Kubrick’s insistence) pursued a copyright case – not an obscenity prosecution – which Scala lost, contributing to the cinema’s closure in 1993.

About Barry Adamson

Born in Manchester (1958), Adamson first came to prominence as the bassist for post-punk band Magazine. After sessions with The Birthday Party and a three-year stint with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, he launched a solo career with “Moss Side Story” (1989, Mute), a conceptual soundtrack to an “imaginary film.”

Subsequent releases include “Soul Murder” (1992), which was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, and “Oedipus Schmoedipus” (1996). His film work spans collaborations with Derek Jarman, David Lynch, Oliver Stone, and Danny Boyle. In 2024, he released the studio album “Cut To Black.”

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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(Photo by Pere Masramon) Diamanda Galás has announced details of her latest live release, “Diamanda Galás in Concert”, featuring recordings taken from performances at Thalia Hall in Chicago, and Neptune Theatre in Seattle from 2017. The album is set for release on 14 June 2024 via Intravenal Sound Operations.

Out now is the album’s “A Soul That’s Been Abused“- her take on Ronnie Earl’s soul ballad.

Talking about the track, she explains: “I had a gentleman caller off and on for ten years. Quite often I had to put him on the shelf because he was quite dramatic. But I loved him because usually he could take my sense of humor and colorful language by laughing at me. There was one day when I insulted him badly; and he informed me immediately that he could kill me where I stood. After the drama, we went to sleep. The next morning I went looking for my scissors and couldn’t find them. I looked for my knives and could find not even one. Finally I thought, “He hid them while I was sleeping!” I lifted the mattress and there was a petty arsenal of kitchen knives, scissors, my stun gun, my 38 special, and maybe even a toenail clipper! I laughed so hard that day! And we had a great dinner that night. A Soul That’s Been Abused was always his song.”

Diamanda Galás is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and visual artist. Her work concentrates on themes such as AIDS, mental illness, despair, loss of dignity, political injustice, historical revisionism, and war crimes. Galás’s recordings have also included collaborations, some of which are with the bands Recoil and Erasure, instrumentalist Barry Adamson, and musician Can Oral (also known as Khan), among others.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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English musician Barry Adamson came to prominence in the late 1970s as a member of the post-punk band Magazine and went on to work with Visage, The Birthday Party, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and the electro musicians Pan Sonic. In addition to prolific solo work, Adamson has also remixed Grinderman, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Recoil and Depeche Mode. He for instance created the seven-minute opus “Useless (Escape From Wherever: Pts. 1 & 2!)” remix for the latter band in 1997. He also worked on the soundtrack for David Lynch’s surrealistic crime film Lost Highway.

He has now announced details of a series of long out of print catalogue releases on Mute, starting with the white vinyl edition of his 1996 album, “Oedipus Schmoedipus”, limited to 1000 copies, out on 29 July 2022. This 1996 album features collaborations with Nick Cave, The Associates’ Billy Mackenzie and Jarvis Cocker. You can listen to a new edit of “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Pelvis” featuring Cocker right below.

The reissue series continues on 23 September with the “Stranger on the Sofa” album (2006), available for the first time on vinyl (pressed initially as double red vinyl), and “Back to the Cat” (2008) on clear vinyl – both originally on Adamson’s own Central Control label – alongside a strictly limited edition (1000 copies) antique blue vinyl issue of 2021’s “Steal Away” EP of new songs, originally released digitally on Mute.

Then, on 2 December “I Will Set You Free” (2012) and “Know Where To Run” (2016), get the reissue treatment (on curacao and silver vinyl, respectively) before Mute continues the series, reissuing Adamson’s entire catalogue.

Currently working on a new album, Barry Adamson published the first part of his memoir “Up Above the City, Down Beneath the Stars” (Omnibus press) in 2021.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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(Photo by Joe Dilworth) Out 10 December 2021 is the 20th anniversary reissue of “Sex O’Clock”, the second album by the late Anita Lane who has been Nick Cave’s musical muze for over a decade. Mute will reissue this studio album for the first time on vinyl.

The album was initially released in 2001 and work began with Anita Lane on the reissue before her untimely passing earlier this year, at the age of 61. Recorded with long time musical partner, Mick Harvey, the album was the final release in a solo career that began in 1988 with the release of the “Dirty Sings” EP.

Emerging from Melbourne’s post-rock scene, Anita Lane was one of the co-founders of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, co-writing “From Her To Eternity”, the title track of their debut album and “Stranger than Kindness” from “Your Funeral… My Trial”. Arriving in London in 1980 with The Birthday Party, she’s credited with co-writing several of their tracks – “A Dead Song”, “Dead Joe” and “Kiss Me Black” before re-locating to Berlin.

In Berlin she developed a series of collaborations that included work with Einstürzende Neubauten, Chrislo Haas, Gudrun Gut and Die Haut, a cover of “These Boots Were Made for Walking” with Barry Adamson and vocals for Mick Harvey’s first two Serge Gainsbourg albums, “Intoxicated Man” and “Pink Elephants”.

Check out “Home Is Where the Hatred Is”.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange/press release penned by Mat Smith) Boundary Macro is the fifth solo album from producer, engineer and electronic musician Paul Kendall, released July 29th on clear vinyl, including digital downloads.

Beginning with his tenure in anarchic London post-punk unit Dry Rib and on through his respected studio work with Recoil, Wire, Barry Adamson, Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, Nitzer Ebb and many others, Kendall has always maintained an acute focus on the intricate properties of sound. Each of his solo albums has showcased an approach to complex sound design as well as the darker, emotive side of sonic processing.

The impetus for Boundary Macro came through a remix completed for Downwards, the label run by Karl O’Connor (aka Regis). O’Connor was familiar with Kendall’s tenure as an in-house producer, engineer and mixer for Mute Records in the 1980s and 1990s, and sought him out for the remix of Veronica Vasicka’s ‘From Here’ in 2018. “He liked the remix I did for him and I remember him saying to send him some of my stuff if I so wished,” recalls Kendall. “I sent him the ten tracks that make up Boundary Macro. He came flying back to me having fallen in love with a couple of pieces and offered to put the album out on Downwards. It really was a seductive enthusiasm and I readily agreed.”

The concept for Boundary Macro unifies an approach that Kendall takes to both images and sound. “I absolutely love macro photography,” he explains. “Macro photography is where you magnify the minutiae of an object. It’s a similar method that I’ve used a lot in sound design, where I take found sounds then exploit and zoom in on them.”

If ‘macro’ is the descriptor for Kendall’s process, then ‘boundary’ is about revealing another personal side of himself – his hearing difficulties, a condition caused by too many loud studio sessions. “A boundary can be thought of as being like binary, with its two states – on and off. With this album, the boundary in question is the one between my ability to hear and not hear. Because of that deafness, I sometimes have to rely on graphical representations of sound to ensure there’s not something happening sound-wise which I am unable to hear. It’s also about the supposed boundary between sound and noise, which, for me, does not exist. It’s also the idea of the boundary as a limit – but a limit to go beyond, not one that stops you. Suffering with loss of hearing could have easily acted as a limit for me. Boundary Macro is the sound of me going beyond that limit.”

We also had a short Q&A with Paul via e-mail.

Side-Line: New album – what led up this?  

Paul Kendall: I experienced a sort of creative paralysis from the start of March until the end of April due to early lockdown and an endless concern about food supplies. Around May 2020 I started to experiment sound processing apps on my iPad – apps like Borderlands Granular, Tardigrain and Enso. I was astonished at the relative affordability of these apps in comparison to studio multi-effects units or computer plug-ins.

Side-Line: What was your recording process?

PK: I began experimenting with recordings of my own voice and the Leaf Audio Soundbox instrument, capturing hours of improvised performances which were then microscopically edited, superimposed and processed to form eight of the tracks on the album. The album was completed by the addition of two  older pieces created using completely different methods (‘Distor ADIO’ and ‘Are You In?’), but were entirely kept in style with my recent experiments.

Side-Line: Tell us about the artwork and the decision for a clear vinyl.

PK: The original sleeve design was one of mine, riffing on the boundary idea, every line was a boundary. The clear vinyl was probably someone at Downwards.

Side-Line: Other plans or any events/performances planned?

PK: On this island the concept of overseas travel has been dealt a blow by Brexit and Covid. But who knows? When the geo-political world cools down I may happily grab a suitcase.

Get the album at Boomkat.

Jan Ronald Stange

Sometimes – when I’m not cooking, biking, listening to music or attending concerts, I write stuff for Side-Line.com. Mostly about Norwegian bands, but it’s been some Swedish, English, American, Danish, German and others too… 😉

www.facebook.com/jrstange

Earlier this year, in January to be precise, we posted this article “When an April Fools prank becomes reality: ‘STUMM433’ (feat. Laibach, Depeche Mode, …)” describing how Mute would release a box set featuring 50 Mute artists giving their interpretation of John Cage’s silent track “4’33”.

Today, The Normal aka Daniel Miller, has shared his tribute to John Cage’s “4’33””. It will be the first ‘music’ released by The Normal on Mute since the debut 7”. On Mute that is indeed because “Live at West Runton Pavilion”, The Normal’s second release, done with another Mute Records act Robert Rental, was released on Marat Records in Germany as Daniel Miller Robert Rental Live, with a black and white picture sleeve.

But back to 2019. Miller recorded his piece at a site in North London that will be familiar to fans of the label as the site of its foundation: 16 Decoy Avenue. Listen to The Normal’s take on “4’33”” right below.

Daniel Miller: “John Cage’s 4’33” has been present in my musical life for as long as I can remember as an important and inspiring composition. When the idea of every Mute artist doing their own interpretation of the piece came up during a conversation with Simon Fisher Turner, I immediately thought this was the perfect way to mark the label’s MUTE 4.0 (1978 > TOMORROW) series.”

Ironically, last year we had the idea to create an April Fools prank with a fake compilation with a lot of famous musicians covering John Cage 4’33 silent track. We decided not to do it, not sure if most of you would grab the irony.

Which Mute artists are featured in the boxset?

The boxset will feature over 50 Mute artists including A Certain Ratio, A.C. Marias, ADULT., The Afghan Whigs, Alexander Balanescu, Barry Adamson, Ben Frost, Bruce Gilbert, Cabaret Voltaire, Carter Tutti Void, Chris Carter, Chris Liebing, Cold Specks, Daniel Blumberg, Danny Briottet, Depeche Mode, Duet Emmo, Echoboy, Einstürzende Neubauten, Erasure, Fad Gadget, Goldfrapp, He Said, Irmin Schmidt, Josh T. Pearson, K Á R Y Y N, Komputer, Laibach, Land Observations, Lee Ranaldo, Liars, Looper, Lost Under Heaven, Maps, Mark Stewart / Sonskrif / The New Banalist Orchestra, Michael Gira, Mick Harvey, Miranda Sex Garden, Moby, Modey Lemon, Mountaineers, New Order, Nitzer Ebb, NON / Boyd Rice, Nonpareils, The Normal, onDeadWaves, Phew, Pink Grease, Pole, Polly Scattergood, Richard Hawley, ShadowParty, Silicon Teens, Simon Fisher Turner and Edmund de Waal, The Warlocks, Wire, Yann Tiersen and Gareth Jones.

The designers behind the visuals

Contributing designers include Simone Grant who worked with Miller on a lot of the early Mute artwork (The Normal, Fad Gadget and Depeche Mode); Steve Claydon, a member of Add N To (X) who designed for Goldfrapp; Slim Smith, who worked with Mute through the 1980s and 1990s; Malcolm Garrett, who designed the “House of Illustrious” box set for Vince Clarke and Martyn Ware; Tom Hingston, who has worked with Erasure and created the majority of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Grinderman artwork since the early 2000s; and Anton Corbjin, who has worked closely with Mute on many campaigns since the early 1980s, including those of Depeche Mode, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Fad Gadget.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Last year we had the idea to create an April Fools prank with a fake compilation with a lot of famous musicians covering John Cage 4’33 silent track. We decided not to do it, not sure if most of you would grab the irony. You can imagine our surprise when Mute announced a box set this morning featuring 50 Mute artists giving their interpretation of… yes, 4’33.

From the artist that started Mute, The Normal, to the label’s newest signing, K Á R Y Y N, “STUMM433” will feature over 50 Mute artists – including Depeche Mode, Yann Tiersen, Liars, Silicon Teens, Irmin Schmidt – presenting their own interpretation of one piece of music: John Cage’s 4’33”.

Fortunately you’ll get a visual to accompany each ‘performance’ of 4’33”. The box set launches with a video from Laibach which you can see below.

Net profits from the release of STUMM433 will be split between the British Tinnitus Association and Music Minds Matter. These charities were chosen to honor Inspiral Carpets’ founding member Craig Gill who suffered from anxiety and depression as a result of his tinnitus in the years up to his untimely death. The box set will be released in May 2019.

Artists featured include: A Certain Ratio, A.C. Marias, ADULT., The Afghan Whigs, Alexander Balanescu, Barry Adamson, Ben Frost, Bruce Gilbert, Cabaret Voltaire, Carter Tutti Void, Chris Carter, Chris Liebing, Cold Specks, Daniel Blumberg, Depeche Mode, Duet Emmo, Echoboy, Einstürzende Neubauten, Erasure, Fad Gadget (tribute), Goldfrapp, He Said, Irmin Schmidt, Josh T. Pearson, K Á R Y Y N, Komputer, Laibach, Land Observations, Lee Ranaldo, Liars, Looper, Lost Under Heaven, Maps, Mark Stewart, Michael Gira, Mick Harvey, Miranda Sex Garden, Moby, Modey Lemon, Mountaineers, New Order, Nitzer Ebb, NON, Nonpareils, The Normal, onDeadWaves, Phew, Pink Grease, Pole, Polly Scattergood, Renegade Soundwave, Richard Hawley, ShadowParty, Silicon Teens, Simon Fisher Turner, The Warlocks, Wire, Yann Tiersen.

Side-Line also covered Laibach’s ‘Click Interview’.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Out later in October, but already available for pre-ordering right here, is the massive Nitzer Ebb vinyl boxset “1982-2010” holding 10 LPs. It’s the first time that all five of the band’s albums for Geffen/Mute have been collected in one complete box set.

The box set features expanded double black vinyl, of each album, with several bonus tracks and rare 12” mixes. The original album artwork comes expanded into gatefold sleeves, with embossing and spot UV finish. The set also contains a large size 28-page booklet with liner notes by Douglas McCarthy and Bon Harris and unseen photos, flyers and artwork, detailing their entire career in chronological order from Essex to Los Angeles.

Note that the box also includes space to insert the band’s first self released album from 1983 and their last release from 2010 as these titles have been in print in recent years. Which is frankly speaking a bit odd if you serve a career spanning boxset.

The box set contains the following albums:

• That Total Age Double Vinyl LP (2018 Remaster) with the bonus tracks “Murderous (Instrumental)”, “Fitness to Purpose (Mix Two)”, “Join In The Chant (Burn! 12” Mix)”, “Let Your Body Learn (12” Mix)”, “Join In The Chant (Metal Mix)”
• Belief Double Vinyl LP (2018 Remaster) with the bonus tracks “Control I’m Here (Command Control Confront Mix)”, “Shame (Mix no 2 William Orbit)”, “K.I.A. (PK Mix)”, “Captivate (William Orbit Mix)”, “Hearts & Minds (Mix Subsonic)”, “Backlash (William Orbit Mix)”
• Showtime Double Vinyl LP (2018 Remaster) with the bonus tracks “Lightning Man (The Industry Vs. The Ebb Remix)”, “Fun To Be Had (Long Mix George Clinton)”, “Getting Closer (The Kitchen Mix)”, “Fun To Be Had (Dust Brothers Master Mix)”, “Lightning Man (RSW Mix)”, “Getting Closer (The Trance Mix)”
• Ebbhead Double Vinyl LP (2018 Remaster) with the bonus tracks “Family Man (Jaz Coleman Mix)”, “Come Alive (Alan Wilder Mix)”, “Lovesick (Flood Mix)”, “Higher (Barry Adamson Mix)”, “Ascend (Vince Clarke Anonymous Mix)”, “I Give To You (Pestilence Mix)”, “Godhead (Remix)”
• Big Hit Double Vinyl LP (2018 Remaster) with the bonus tracks “Friend (Brittle Mix)”, “Beats Me”, “Kick It (Adrian Sherwood Compulsion Edit)”, “Kick It (Popular Music Mix)”, “I Thought (Final Sin)”

The complete boxset is available now for ordering right here.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Mute and Thames & Hudson have announced details of “Mute: A Visual Document”, a 320-page hardback book, available November 28, 2017 and ready for ordering right here.

“Mute: A Visual Document” is packed with artwork and photography – much of it previously unseen – from the Mute Archives and from Daniel Miller’s own archives, including photography and video stills from legendary photographers, conceptual artworks, rare ephemera and equipment.

The book features comprehensive discographies, a family tree of Mute artists, an extensive introduction and commentary by Daniel Miller – who has curated the materials for the book – plus anecdotal and photographic contributions from key figures in the label’s story, including Moby, Alison Goldfrapp, Anton Corbijn, Bleddyn Butcher, Brian Griffin, Jon Spencer, Barry Adamson, Ivan Novak (Laibach), Angus Andrew (Liars), Adrian Shaughnessy and Tom Hingston.

Mute was created by Daniel Miller to release his debut single as The Normal, “Warm Leatherette” / “T.V.O.D”, in 1978. The label quickly grew and established its reputation through the music of its community of artists – ranging from Fad Gadget, Goldfrapp, Moby, Can, Diamanda Galás, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds to Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Erasure, Laibach, Liars and Ben Frost.

Here are a few teasers:

Side-Line also covered Depeche Mode’s ‘Where I Wait’.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Especially for the gear sluts out there, we have asked renown sound engineer, producer, mixer and composer Paul Kendall to give us a list of gear he has been working with over the years. Kendall (you can follow him right here on Twitter) is one of those people who have a thorough knowledge of music gear used over the years. He has worked with Daniel Miller, head of Mute Records, in his then newly established Worldwide International studio and worked with many of the Mute artists such as Renegade Soundwave, Barry Adamson, Nitzer Ebb, Wire, Depeche Mode and eventually Recoil.

In short, a man with a history! This is the first in 2 articles on Paul Kendall.

1) Track Tape Recorder + Revox A77 (with varispeed):

Paul: “The invention of the tape recorder allowed electronic music to exist in an editable medium and so has to be the fundamental numero uno. The often repeated story about Varese I like to believe is true; as an experimental composer Varese ceased to compose for a considerable amount of time claiming he was unable to achieve the sonorities he heard in his head by the conventional means, an orchestra which is all he had at his disposal. He therefore gave up composing until the tape recorder appeared which allowed him to realise the sounds he was hearing in his head. Anecdotal but I can somewhat understand.”

“I started using the Revox at university in ’73 and learnt recording and most importantly editing, recordings made from No.2 on the list the VCS3. I bought my first A77 in ’79 to set up a small demo studio with a couple of friends.

We would record on one machine then play that back whilst playing on top and recording on to another machine. Crude multitracking. But with the added fun of varispeed, drones could be made and further manipulations were possible.”

2) The Wah Wah pedal:

Paul: “At 12 when I first heard a wah wah played by Hendrix on a children’s scientific television program demonstrating the intro of Burning of the Midnight Lamp I knew the idea of guitar pedals greatly appealed to me, rien change! So No.2 on the list will go to the Wah Wah and to the other Overdrive and Distortion pedals of this world.”

3) VCS3 synthesiser:

Paul: “British made synth without a keyboard of course, there was no necessity for a keyboard. As mentioned above, I started using this at university and would normally use it to process sounds, I was never really into synthesisers as a sound source. Through working with this synth for only 6 months I learnt some of the fundamentals of electronic music. It was most definitely an iconic machine appearing as it does alongside Brian Eno in those early Roxy Music photos. In spring ‘74 I was advised to leave university after only 6 months owing to my complete non-attendance at the Maths lectures. Unemployed and with the sound of a VCS3 still ring modulating in my ears I wrote to Peter Zinovieff, EMS, the developer of the VCS3 and visited their office/ workshop on the Thames. My youthful enthusiasm was not sufficient to be offered a job. At this time they were intending to develop the computer side and in 1974 I had never even seen a computer!”

4) Akai S900:

Paul: “I spent a lot of the first year working for Daniel Miller (Mute Records) moving around and installing his Synclavier. An extraordinarily versatile and quality machine; able to synthesise sound and most significantly sample sound and then be able to correct or modify once the performance was recorded. It was pre- midi, it was extremely large, heavy, and fragile in places and was rather spectacularly replaced by the arrival of the Akai S900. I am being slightly tongue-in-cheek but with some reason. Sampling was all the rage in the mid-late 80’s the aforementioned Synclavier and the Fairlight were responsible for some of the most brilliant and horrendous acts of sampling: n.n.n.n.nineteen. So the S900, although mono, had MIDI and soon became the most significant presence in the studio. Producers and engineers would always be close to their sample libraries, 3.5” floppy discs containing the collection of mentalist drum sounds you’ve ever heard. But each 2Megabyte disc has faded into the terabyte in the palm of my hand. So, No.4 is the S900 although the stereo big brother S1000 became more relevant. Until…”

5) Sound Designer:

Paul: “Christmas 1990 my life changed as I spent the whole of the festive season in front of my Mac IICi running Sound Tools software. I believe I was one of the first in UK to have a system and it was everything I could have hoped for. Although it was only a stereo non-destructive audio editor you could layer 4 stereo tracks together with delays upto 32 seconds, and there were a number of transformations of pitch and duration possible, the most significant concept was that of playlist, where you could identify sections in your music, say 2 or 4 bar sections and repeat and reorder using a list function. The extended 12” mix was waiting to be a mouse click away from being even more within reach. Also, it allowed us to record loads of dub passes of a mix on to DAT then transfer into Sound Designer and edit a monster. This eventually developed into Pro-Tools which has arguably had the most significant affect on the recording industry since the invention of multitrack recording.”

6) Reaktor Softsynth Native Instruments:

Paul: “It wasn’t long before I had wholly adopted the digital domain and my first piece of essential software apart from the sequence/ recording was Reaktor by Native Instruments. They did a very smart thing by opening the software up to users who wished to develop their own “versions” of Reaktor building blocks/ devices. This ensured a healthy on-line community, predominantly men I’d wager, that has endured for a very long time. Reaktor then as now will do whatever you want; create sound, manipulate sound and sequence sound. No.6 is Native Instruments for still existing!”

7) Ableton Live:

Paul: “I was aware of Ableton Live quite early as a couple of the young engineers at Mute were also DJs and Live had developed the amazing warp facility which allowed “beat matching” in virtual realtime! Ableton made a slight shift of product focus from recording studio DAW manufacturers/ developers like Pro-Tools, Logic, Steinberg to emphasise more live performance possibilities. This reflected what had been happening in the music industry in general with the rise of the star DJ culture. Live has continued to progress and is significant by having a slightly different approach to composition and performance. Honestly I have never used one piece of software that does everything brilliantly but as long as they all work ok alongside each other then the world is just fine.”

8) The Modular Revolution:

Paul: “In some ways I wish I was starting over, riding this recent wave of excitement in boutique home-made modular frenzy but I accept I am not and it is one ride that sadly I wont be taking, I cannot hide my jealousy. My fundamental problem with synths as keyboards eviscerated by modular and I say jah. So nummer acht, eventhough I am just a peeping Tom, is the recent success of modular synthesis.”

9) Autotune:

Paul: “Is a software program that allows realtime tuning of an input source normally a vocal. How we perceive the world is different after the invention of Autotune we are no longer sure of the veracity of a performance. Whether this is actually a problem depends on your point of view. I can’t be too fussed with its use in a recording environment as it is a further effect available in the pallette. In fact I am not sure i care too much in a live context either if appropriate for. Why tarnish the spectacle?”

10) …

Paul: “And this a photo of me holding my UniPin pen my preferred instrument these days!”

For more on Depeche Mode, see Depeche Mode in the studio in Santa Barbara recording a new album -… on Side-Line.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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