Matinée Club

Once upon a time, there were a bad called The Modern, and I thought they were rather good, when I heard their song "Suburban Culture" which was given away by iTunes as their Single of the Week. Eighties electro-pop, very Human League, with a diva-esque front woman called Emma (who once played the young Pat Butcher...) and a bloke with an odd voice called Chi.

Time went by, the band released a couple of singles, but the album never appeared, and their website seemed frozen. "Oh well," I thought, "another great band down the dumper before they've gone anywhere..."

And then today I checked their website to find that it had disappeared altogether. So I Googled them to find out what had happened, and it turns out that they've renamed themselves Matinée Club and have a new website (except it's a lot like the old The Modern website) at www.MatinéeClub.co.uk!

Not only that, but they've finally got around to releasing their album on iTunes, called Modern Industry. It contains most of their tracks as The Modern, plus some new ones (and a cover of David Bowie's "Modern Love")

There's more to the story, which you can find at Wikipedia if you're interested, or check out their MySpace page.

Well, I've been busy, y'know...

Sorry it's been a bit quiet here recently. I've been a bit busy this year (see Rabbits' Blog for details). And I even started writing this entry 2 months ago....

So, what's been happening, then? Well, I was going to do a review of 2005, but that kinda went out the window. In summary, I think that the best single of 2005 was "Galvanize" by the Chemical Brothers. It was a close run thing with the Ivor Novello-winning "Wires" by Athlete, but I think the Chems just clinched it with their barnstorming dance track. However, album of the year goes to Athlete for Tourist, because it's just so incredibly good. Breakthrough act of the year goes to The Chalets, not just for bringing out a stonkingly good album in Check In, but for managing to get an album out when other DPS-supported acts (such as The Modern and Oversol) still haven't managed to deliver the goods. We're still waiting, guys. Live act of the year goes to the incredible Pop Will Eat Itself. The sweaty night in January at Shepherd's Bush Empire will be remembered for a long time. The Poppies also get the Good Thing award for reforming and putting on all the concerts (bless 'em), and teasing us with the Sonic Noise-Byte. (However, they're also the winners of this year's Bad Thing, for going and splitting up again... Sigh...)

Right, well, hopefully I'll be a bit more back on track from now on!

New Band Alert: The Modern

The song "Suburban Culture" was a free download from the iTunes Music Store a few weeks back - and it's absolutely brilliant. A cool slice of early '80s electro-pop - shades of Duran Duran, The Human League and Visage (but not an actual rip off. Are you listening, Ms Osbourne?!). By clicking on the iTunes link you can hear a free sample and then buy it! Sorry, it's not free any more, but 79p is a small price to pay for such a great song. Check out their other tracks on iTunes - "Industry" is also a great tune! Also, make sure you go and have a look at their website, with its nifty Flash interface! www.the-modern.co.uk