Another revisited original Lovessence track is launched into 2023! The original version of this song was the last track we recorded in the Lovessence sessions towards the end of 98. By then Jon had too many other commitments and was unable to make the vocal sessions which meant that a song that was always meant to have his vocals had to wait until now for that to happen.
The arrangement on this song is complex and multi-layered - there are more than 30 separate tracks on this one. Funky Moog bass (from me) in the verse hands over to a beautifully fluid and funky live bass from Rich B in the rest of the song. Rich B also provides some funky guitar lines in the verse transitioning to Nile Rodgers-baiting rhythm guitar in the choruses. I programmed the drum track using a Korg DDD1.  I love the sound of this drum machine and I think that it gives the right amount of crisp electro 'thunk' to the rhythm track. The kick and snare are really distinctive and the hats have a heavy quality that the other drum machines we've used don't quite match. The DDD1 was also used on Mardi Gras and the forthcoming Cupid Love Theory.
The words are an ode to a teenage screen-crush and the way that this is often a substitute for the real thing whilst you are taking your first steps towards serious relationships. I was too young to see the famous brat-pack movies when they came around for the first time but caught Pretty in Pink on VHS in the 90s when I was around 15 or 16... I must admit I was more into the soundtrack than the film itself but MR was undeniably dreamy to a romantic, synth obsessed teenager from South Wales!
Vocals - Jon Paul
Guitar and Bass Guitar - Rich Braithwaite
Synthesizers, Drum Machine and B Vox - Richard Cook
Written (1998), Produced and Mixed (2023)by R Cook

And When The Girl Says - Milano Rovente

Marsheaux - The Sun And The Rainfall

Smoke

Duet Emmo - Or So It Seems

Recoil - Jezebel

Recoil - Faith Healer

Nitzer Ebb - Isn't It Funny How Your Body Works

Nitzer Ebb - Hearts And Minds

Komputer - Like A Bird

A delicate, nostalgic and gentle piece of music in 7/8.
All sounds are from the Roland SH-101.
Written and recorded on 30/3/20.
Written by R Cook 2020.

SH101 EP 1

Saskatchewan (SH6) - Stars of the SIlver Age

machinesforliving is an independent outlet for my music projects. 

Songs are also available on Art City Glimmer's Bandcamp page.

I was the keyboard player and songwriter in Thieves Like Us, however, as the band became more electronic I felt that the original idea of the band playing sophisticated, funky, soul-pop in the style of Scritti Politti, Hue & Cry and Jam & Lewis had changed calling for a rebranding. I took the name of the first band I had formed in school and we became 'semantics'. In this form we completed two albums of electronica with a final album completed by me more or less on my own- 'Take Me Home', one of the few group tracks on that final album is the earliest track on this page.

Following the drifting apart of the band I started recording electronica as 'Art City Glimmer' and formed an EBM project (International Electromatics) with my friend, the writer MM Lewis. We shared a love of Old School Electronic Body Music such as Front 242, D.A.F. and Front Line Assembly. With lyrics provided by my old friend I indulged my darkest EBM dreams in the studio and between 2011 and 2021 we produced 23 singles of pure EBM. Some are featured on this page but all of them and their b-sides are available on the International Electromatics page.

Enthused by some individual collaborations with the two other members of Thieves Like Us  around 2020, we relaunched the group with a new name (Milano Rovente) and two projects. One is to re-record our debut album 'Lovessence' with the technology we now have so it can finally sound as it should have done and the other was to record a new set of songs. Some of the new songs have been written specifically for the reunion whilst others have been picked from recordings made over the last 20 years. These songs were always meant to be TLU songs but we didn't exist as a band when I wrote them.

PROJECTS
Art City Glimmer: 2010 - Present. Solo electronic pop.

Milano Rovente (formerly Thieves Like Us): reactivated 2021. Funk, soul, sophistipop collaboration with Rich Braithwaite and Jon Paul.

International Electromatics: 2011-2021. EBM project with MM Lewis. Currently on hiatus waiting for new lyrics😁!

Outlier: 2022-Present. Sample-based hauntology project. Sound sources include 1930s movies, obscure library music, 70s easy listening, 20th Century classical, cult TV, dance and electronica.

Academy of Saints: 2023- Present. Orchestral and chamber-pop project. 

Stars of the Silver Age: 2012-Present. Exclusively analogue synthesis-based occasional project. Lockdown album written, recorded and mixed across 4 days using just an SH101 and a Volca Beats. All tracks from that available on own Soundcloud page.

Red Sky: 2018-Present. An umbrella, soundtrack / ambient project for the orphan instrumental music I have produced.

And When The Girl Says - Milano Rovente

machinesforliving

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