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Posts Tagged “Pet Shop Boys”

the internet equivalent of a restaurant without a sign

Idolator's Helpful Marketing Tips, Part 1: How Not To Announce Your Web Site

Let's say you're going to get your new digital-music site all over the news today by announcing that it'll hawk exclusive tracks from multiplatinum artists when it launches. Wouldn't it be a good idea to feed these news outlets a link for your site, or to make the site at least a bit Googleable so those people who want to snag a Killers Christmas track that somehow features both Elton John and Neil Tennant are able to? Sure, it may not go live until Dec. 1, but what's wrong with a preview page? Or a place where interested parties can sign up for future updates? By the time your site's launch rolls around, most people who browsed your press will probably have forgotten about the whole thing, and the music news sites you pitched will be reluctant to cover the same news twice. I mean, I'm probably better off not hearing the Flowers/John/Tennant collaboration, but if you're trying to raise some money for a worthy cause, you may want to think of just how people will get to your Web site during the afterglow of your all-important initial press blitz. [Billboard]

Kompakt, the German techno label currently riding high on Matias Aguayo's instant-classic "Minimal" (particularly the DJ Koze remix, available in edited form here), is set to issue a new 12-inch by British artist Sam Taylor-Wood, who's covering the Passions' post-punk classic "I'm in Love with a German Filmstar" in collaboration with the Pet Shop Boys. The collaboration makes sense a few different ways: Taylor-Wood has guested on previous PSB recordings; Kompakt head Michael Mayer is a huge PSB fan, as he detailed a while back in this interview; and Neil Tennant's half of the duo's Back to Mine collection featured plenty of Kompakt. [Fact Magazine]

next little things

These New Acts Are Big On MySpace, Big In Japan, And Even Bigger In The Monastery

Each week, dozens of songs and albums from up-and-coming (or just plain unknown) bands debut on the world's music charts. Some of these bands will never be heard from again; some may become the next little thing. That's why every two weeks Chuck Eddy will be exploring the world beyond the Billboard 200, where he'll look for diamonds in the MySpace rough. This week, his roster of up-and-comers includes ska-core that's big in Japan, a Christian act who's looking to Marilyn Manson for inspiration, some monks, someone who calls himself Mr. Halle Berry, Canadian road warriors, blue-collar bluesmen, and some Wombats who aren't from Cleveland. More »

100 and single

From Zombies to Ri-Ri: Bonus Hits are Album-Buyer's Ripoff and Chart Bonanza

Ed. note: Chris "dennisobell" Molanphy, our resident chart guru, looks at the upward, downward, and lack of movement on this week's Billboard charts. This week he takes a look at the long, fan-aggravating history of belated "bonus track" re-releases, and how the music industry turned these anomalies into a premeditated punishment for making an album popular:
More »

The Pet Shop Boys: one of the few bands where I will happily bang through through five different mixes of one song, for an iTunes megamix totaling almost a half-hour of the same sardonic Hi-NRG. In this case, it's "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots Of Money)" and its b-sides. (Including a Latin Rascals remix.) [Music Of The Moment]

Rumors suggest that the reason the Pet Shop Boys have been blocked by Damon "I Wrote An Opera, So Nyeah" Albarn from including their "Boys and Girls" remix on a forthcoming collection is because Albarn thinks it sounds too much like the PSBs—which is kind of the point of a remix, isn't it?—and because Neil Tennant was an Oasis fan, rather than a Blur man. But that debate is still kinda lose/lose, no matter how you look at it a decade later. Tennant's denying the rumor, but the point about the Blur/Oasis debate still stands. [The Sun]

clips

The Pet Shop Boys Bring The West End To The Flyover States

Taking their cue from the Scissor Sisters (isn't it supposed to be the other way around?), the Pet Shop Boys performed "West End Girls" on Dancing With The Stars Wednesday night. They were accompanied by some backing b-boys, one of whom—in a neat bit of ABC-NBC cross-over—is Saturday Night Live's Andy Samberg. We think. More »

pet shop boys

Deep-Fried Coca-Cola And The Pet Shop Boys: A Match Made In Heaven

One date on the Pet Shop Boys' upcoming tour itinerary stuck out to us—Nov. 1, when they'll share a bill with the batter-dipped foodstuffs and demolition derbies of the Arizona State Fair. We'd like to put out an early scene report request to any of our Phoenix-area readers, because we really want to know what happens when a state fair brushes off its dust and gets a little bit more fabulous. (And can you let us know how, exactly, Coca-Cola can be fried? We're sort of mystified.) More »

liner notes

Liner Notes: Nothing Will Stop Travis Barker From Writing In All-Caps

- Travis Barker may have a tumor in his arm, leading to the cancellation of several shows with his new band, (+44). [MySpace]
- The Pet Shop Boys' new album will include cameos from Rufus Wainwright and Robbie Williams. Hmmm. There's a joke in here somewhere, but we just can't make the connection. [NME]
- Dinosaur Jr. is preparing a new album, tentatively titled Just Give It Three Quick Spins, And Then You Can Go Back To 'Green Mind' [Billboard]