The song that started it all for us. This song's composition marked our transition from Cinema Dreams (through a year as 'The Loved One') to Thieves Like Us and now Milano Rovente. 

Three years at Uni obsessively listening to Scritti Politti, Aztec Camera (Love), Prefab Sprout, ABC, Jam and Lewis and 70s/80s era Prince led me to a new direction. Intricate arrangements, precise / sequenced synths, funky bass, soulful vocals and big choruses - these aims all came together in Thieves Like Us. Jon was really finding his identity as a vocalist and our resident tech-genius Rich B was able to facilitate the sessions with his Atari ST running Pro24 before we graduated to Cubase. Our equipment list consisted of two Fostex X26 four track recorders, one SM58 microphone, a Boss Dr Synth Module, a Yamaha DX7, two Fostex monitor speakers, a bass guitar, the Atari ST and the recording software. Rich B was also stepping out as a deeply impressive bassist having served his apprenticeship with local youth music groups and many gigs with his bands. 
This new version of Blue For The Girl (originally Blue 4 The Girl with a nod to the little Purple One :))features a fantastic bass performance from Rich B who also plays the tight and funky rhythm guitar lines. Jon gives a bravura vocal turn and I got to enjoy myself far too much using lots of synthesizers to make sure that one of our key songs could be re-launched sounding its best... I even dug out hardware orchestra hits from the JDXa as they were an integral part of the original; you can never have too many orchestra hits!
Written(1997)and Mixed (May 2023)by R Cook 
Produced by R Braithwaite & R Cook
Performed by Milano Rovente - 
Jon Paul - Vocals
R Cook - Synthesizers, Drum Programming, B Vox
R Braithwaite - Bass Guitar, Electric Guitar, B Vox

Synthesizer Hardware - Korg Prologue 16, Roland JDXa, Roland JP8000, Roland R8m, Roland Juno106, Casio CZ1000, Roland D50, Kawai K3, Yamaha RX17.

Blue For The Girl by Milano Rovente

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

Arcadia - Election Day (Fact & Story Mix)
Bryan Ferry - Kiss And Tell (Dance Mix)
Culture Club - Move Away (Extended Version)
David Bowie - Magic Dance (A Dance Mix)
The Blow Monkeys - Digging Your Scene (Long Version)
Johnny Hates Jazz - Shattered Dreams (Extended Version)
Scritti Politti - Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin) (12Inch Version)
Grace Jones - Slave to The Rythm (Hot Blooded Version)
Belouis Some - Imagination (Extended Mix)
Haircut 100 - Love Plus One (Extended Version)
Aztec Camera - Somewhere In My Heart (Extended Remix)
Simple Minds - Don`t You Forget About Me (Extended)
Re-Flex - The Politics Of Dancing (12Inch Extended Version)
Pseudo Echo - Listening (Extended)
The Cars - Hello Again (Extended Mix)
The The - Infected (12Inch Version)
Devo - Here To Go (Go Mix Version)
Gang Of Four - Is It Love (Extended Dance Mix)
China Chrisis - Hanna Hanna (Extended)
Freur - Doot Doot (Extended Version)

BANG 02 - Extended Eighties!

I wrote this song so many years ago! 

I remember writing it one weekend and then excitedly showing it to Rich B during the break of an orchestra rehearsal on an ancient, mouldy and very out-of-tune piano. We recorded a version just after we finished Lovessence but lost the Pro24 files. We then re-recorded it once or twice more, never being quite happy with the result. I recorded an acoustic version a few years ago but the song has finally revealed itself with this version.
It has ended up as a crisp and punchy funk track with an arrangement full of space but with a fundamentally sad lyric. Although the title comes from a piece by Handel and is based on words written by Milton, I must admit that I saw the title on a re-run of the 80s TV series 'Bergerac' and liked it! They did feature the Handel song in the show so there is, sort of, an authentic link;) Although there is some artistic licence, the words are basically autobiographical, and with some recent events are all the more meaningful to me now than when they were written. 'I am a man of sorrows, holding yesterday because I sold tomorrow'... 
The earlier versions of the song were all ballads but there was something about the juxtaposition of the mood of the words with the funky arrangement that worked for me. Rich B, as ever, indulged me with only the faintest look of disbelief when I said I wanted to include this old hidden gem in our new sessions... but as a dry funk track. 
The song is built on a crisp drum part supported by a funky bass-line and some Nile Rogers-baiting guitar. I only took one synth with me to Rich B's West Wales studio (the Roland Alpha-Juno 1) and layered four (I think!) separate synth lines over the guitar and bass. No quantizing was used for anything other than the drums so all keyboard parts are 'live'. In a new turn of events it is me (!!) and not King Bass Mr Braithwaite who is popping and slapping like a Mark King wannabe but Rich B steps up with some pin-sharp rhythm guitar.
This is one of the key tracks of our rebirth - funky, synthesized, melodic, melancholic, introspective; very much our own sound! This song has taken something like 20 years to find its feet and actually reach a 'finished' version but it is now complete and one of my favourites of our songs.
Thanks to the likes of early ABC, The Kane Gang and early Sade for making very funky English pop; I recommend songs like Spirit, Tears Are Not Enough and Smalltown Creed :)

R Cook - Bass Guitar, Synthesizer (Roland Alpha Juno 1), Drum Programming (Roland R8m and Yamaha RX17), Lead Vocal and backing vocals.
R Braithwaite - Guitar and Backing Vocals
Written and Mixed by R Cook 2023 (2000),
Produced by R Braithwaite and R Cook
Recorded at Mill Terrace and Logopolis 2023

Man Of Sorrows by Milano Rovente

A "work" playlist for Labor Day.

Welcome To the Working Week -- Elvis Costello
Birth, School, Work, Death -- The Godfathers
At Home, at Work, at Play -- Sparks
I've Been Working -- Van Morrison
Work to Do -- The Isley Brothers
Don't Work That Hard -- Scritti Politti
Barnaby, Hardly Working -- Yo La Tengo
Keep On Working -- Pete Townshend
Don't Talk to Me About Work -- Lou Reed
Take Stuff from Work -- King Missile
Heaven Help the Working Girl -- Janet Kaye
Working Man -- Bo Diddley
Working for the Man -- PJ Harvey
Brothers Gonna Work It Out -- Public Enemy
Workin' Day and Night -- Michael Jackson

Gregslist radio show, Aug 29, 2023

Scritti Politti - Tinseltown To The Boogiedown (feat. Mos Def) (O.J.B. Remix)

80s synthpop styled track homage to Scritti Politti.

All parts except drums via Groove Synthesis 3rd Wave.

Political Writing

Been workin on this one since the 70's...

Learn To Love V

Pure Pop thrives on singles and twelve inches, and this week’s mix features some prime examples. We kick off with a blend of the single and dub (version) mix of "Absolute." The first segment is packed with quintessential New Pop tracks from Hipsway, Kajagoogoo, and Duran Duran. Of course, no New Pop mix would be complete without Frankie Goes To Hollywood.

In the middle section, we dive into some rare mid-eighties twelve inches, featuring Thomas Dolby's "The Devil Is An Englishman" and William Orbit’s eighties band Torch Song with their twelve-inch mix of "Tattered Dress."

We wrap up this week's mix with four Italo disco gems from Video, Doctor’s Cat, My Mine, and Bandolero, ensuring a vibrant and eclectic end to our Pure Pop journey.

Featuring : Scritti Politti/Hipsway/Kajagoogoo/Duran Duran/Frankie Goes To Hollywood/Thomas Dolby/Torch Song/Animal Nightlife/OMD/Frida/Cretu/Kate Bush/Propaganda/Video/Doctor's Cat/My Mine/Bandolero

The Twelve Inch 125 : Absolute : New Pop/Synth-Pop/Post-Punk - 1984

I put the new music I'm making here. Hope you like

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.

Hi I'm PeDupre and I write a blog on the history of dance music on substack, one twelve inch at a time. 
The mixes are a deep dive into the club life of the past. An exploration through the different genres of the period. Only interested in a specific genre/period ? I have created handy playlists just for you !
All mixes are available. There are no exclusive mixes. You don't need to subscribe. I have added a link to show your appreciation and keep me going ! Thanks very much !

O.J.B. is a beatmaker, composer and sound engineer based in Denver, CO. He specialises in composing music ranging from hiphop and triphop to film scores. Having trained as a sound engineer and producer and honing his skills for a number of years, OJB now produces professional and unique music with a wide-range of sounds.

For more information contact Owen Bush at info@ojb-music.com

I host two shows on 103.5 The Sun, a community radio station in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. Hey! Ho! Let's Go is punk/alternative rock. Gregslist is rock, hip hop, soul, blues, reggae, country -- a little bit of everything. (Also former host of a show called Country Gold, which you will find archived here.)

Wir machen in Ton. Radio, Hörspiele, Musik.

New tracks tagged #scritti politti