Thimble - Take Me Home

Dixon (Wilderness) Aux 88 - Sharivari (Digital Original Aux 88 Mix)

This music compilation by Manuel Costela is a selection of works based on those quiet moments with good feelings.

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WIRE – CHANGE BECOMES US – pinkflag (pf20)

“Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time…,” laughs Colin Newman when asked to explain Wire’s original motivation for Change Becomes Us. While that might sound like the kind of feeble excuse you’d offer in mitigation when a drunken escapade goes horribly wrong, not only was it a good idea, it actually turned into a superlative one. 

In spring 2012, Wire’s plan had been to convene at Rockfield Studios in Wales to review the rudimentary blueprints of songs that had never made it beyond a few live performances in 1979 and 1980 – a time when the band-members were in creative overdrive yet the band was disintegrating. The aim wasn’t simply to resuscitate and record old songs – in fact, many of them hadn’t become proper songs in the first place, existing only as basic ideas or undeveloped parts. Rather, the objective was to approach that unrealised work as an oblique strategy, a potential springboard for Wire’s contemporary, forward-looking processes, a possible point of departure for new compositions.

This took place with Wire firing on all cylinders, as a four-piece studio entity again, the core line-up of Newman, Graham Lewis and Robert Grey now enhanced by guitarist Matthew Simms. Simms had played a key role in helping the band to cultivate and shape its new sonic landscape throughout the preceding year’s live work. Out of the exploratory Rockfield session and subsequent, extensive development and production at Newman’s Swim Studio, the ostensible source material became, in the classic Wire tradition, something quite other than what it may have once been or what it might have become if it had been pursued in 1980. 

“Love Bends” is a case in point. Its roots lie in “Piano Tuner” -- the raucous, octave-hopping number performed in February 1980 at the Electric Ballroom in Camden and preserved on Document and Eyewitness -- but it’s now morphed, improbably, into an irresistible, totally modern pop song. “It had to be turned into something else,” explains Lewis, “because it only really had one bit.” Just as improbably, the gently lilting “Re-invent Your Second Wheel” is tangentially connected to the notorious “Zegk Hoqp,” which was more of a one-time happening than a song at the Camden gig -- mostly shouting and banging, executed by a stage-full of Wire cronies in funny hats. “It was written for performance, around people with newspaper headdresses; not with music in mind,” Lewis emphasizes. Similarly transformed, “& Much Besides” is a six-minute oneiric-melodic interlude that gives no hint of its putative origins in “Eastern Standard” --  a dreary, obtuse three-minute geography lesson delivered with former manager Mick Collins at the Electric Ballroom concert.

Newman’s writing and production reimagines the past in ways that ultimately break any substantive connection with it, making entirely new pieces; and these songs themselves enact Wire’s restless drive to become other, often thriving on a fundamental tension between opposing sonic characteristics. With its stop-start, soft-hard, quiet-loud structure, “Adore Your Island” veers between what Newman describes as “prog and unhinged punk rock,” never quite resolving itself; the drama of “Attractive Space” hinges on a progressive splitting of the song’s personality, between its calm expansive, anthemic orientation and an increasing sense of intensity and claustrophobia. 

Change Becomes Us encapsulates the paradoxical essence of Wire’s creativity. The tendency of these new songs to refuse a single, settled identity is emblematic of the band’s ever-evolving aesthetic -- one that’s always hinged on sustained tensions and oppositions: between the familiar and the unfamiliar, the comfortable and the unsettling, the melodic and the brutal, the cerebral and the visceral, the smart and the moronic, the obvious and the inscrutable, the rational and the absurd. This intrinsic, core ambivalence generates the essential otherness that has characterized Wire’s most memorable, distinctive work -- from the epochal innovations of Chairs Missing and 154 to the electronic-pop deconstructions of A Bell Is A Cup to Send’s postmodern-punk expressionism and the widescreen lyricism of Red Barked Tree.

Change Becomes Us is an undeniable part of that illustrious lineage. Definitely more than just a good idea at the time.

Wilson Neate


Change Becomes Us

Stealth of a Stork

Electric Love EP

Electric Love feat. Irdorski

Just over a year ago I awoke in the middle of the night to hear a most beautiful and haunting voice singing away in my living room. When I spoke about it with my housemate in the kitchen the morning after, an unknown man emerged from the bedroom next door and apologized for waking us. I told him that it was in fact really quite wonderful and that I would love to work on some music with him if he had some time. I asked him what he was doing that very instant and if he'd like to come downstairs and see what we could come up with in a couple of hours. This is the song that appeared from the ether. 

And I don’t wanna go no further,
I never wanted to disturb ya,
And I was waiting by the wayside,
Discovered things you wanted to hide,
I see the beauty in your picture,
And I can’t ask you for no favours,
I always seem to say the wrong words,
And that’s why nothing is for certain.

Come here and settle down by,
I got my hands tight with fear,
So settle down by,
I got my hands tied.

I see the roots of your confusion,
But I’ve already set my table,
And I can see into the future ,
And I’m not hungry for your fables,
And I don’t have no real reason,
To do anything to please you,
So forgive me if I wake up,
From this dreaming that was made up.

Come here and settle down by,
I got my hands tight with fear,
So settle down by,
I got my hands tied.

Vocals: Harry Keyworth
Electric Bass: Harry Keyworth
Keyboards: Ollie Hutchinson
Electric Guitar: Benny Bridges
Backing Vocals: Moira Mack

Desert Rain

Desert Rain (feat. Benjamin Glasser & ollie hutchinson)

Buy / Stream

Beatport: http://www.beatport.com/release/modern-dance/2923735
iTunes: https://music.apple.com/album/modern-dance-single/1508143644
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/2R8LjQnWqXlMTg7iCHPMJZ

Early feedback in by Chloe, Dr. Lektroluv, Claptone, Purple Disco Machine, Auntie Flo, Mark Moore (S'Express), Philippi (Deewee), Art Bleek, Superlover and many more. 

Premiered by Delicieuse Musique:
https://soundcloud.com/delicieuse-musique/premiere-ono-modern-dance-exploited-records

Meet O.N.O: the new Parisian electronic duo.
Comprised of French comedian and DJ, Nathalie Duchene, and her friend Rudy Kobain, O.N.O is a project formed through their connection on the Paris electronic scene. They decided to try their hand at collaborating, and ‘Modern Dance’ is the first fruits of their burgeoning relationship.
“ I produce a lot everyday but I hardly ever finish my tracks ” says Kobain. “ I sent Nathalie my favourite one and she had wonderful ideas on how to continue this one and finish it. ” They completed the track at his home, and once he showed her more of his works-in-progress, she had plenty more ideas on how to carry them to the finish line. “ The same magic happened: she knew what to add to make it a hit.” It was clear that a formidable partnership was being created.
‘Modern Dance’ is a funk-fuelled house/disco cut filled with bold sounds. Slinky, plump bass grooves against the taut drums while pitch-bending synths create a dramatic backdrop. A shimmering, plucked lead motif cuts through the mix with no warning to create a mystical and captivating melodic focal point. Recordings of gossiping ladies fill the breakdown, adding more drama still, and swooping strings provide the finishing touch. Fierce, funky and full of attitude, it’s a surefire hit. “ It’s a perfect track to show our world. We wanted to create a track you can dance, eat, drink and make love to. ”
French dance music royalty and personal friend of the duo, Yuksek, amps up the bass funk on his remix, slides in some gentle acid tones and generally pumps the whole thing up. There’s an almost old skool rave euphoria in the widescreen sounds of his pads and strings and some clever edits and FX provide moments of unexpected juxtaposition. “ Nathalie has known him for years and he was immediately super excited to remix the track. He totally brings the tracks to the dancefloor!”
‘Rockarz’ is a mighty ‘b-side’ that channels ‘80s electro pop to great effect, with chanted male vocals set against airy female harmonies and rubbery bass melody underneath. Glass chimes and resampled synths provide the additional colour, and all in all it’s a camp dancefloor workout.
With their tracks mixed by Super Discount’s Julien Delfaut, their glorious tracks are finished off in a punchy technicolour sheen. “ I have known him for a long time and he is one of the best mixers in Paris. Thanks to him we have a special sound that you can find all over our upcoming EPs.”

Early feedback:
Chloe: Super cool release. Cool mood
Dr Lektroluv: Rockarz for me. Nice EP!.
Claptone: Thx!
Purple Disco Machine: Cool tune. Full support.
Mark Moore (S’Express): Slick, Sexy, gorgeous!
Auntie Flo: Thanks. 
Art Bleek: Nice Yuksek Remix.
Annie Mac/BBC: Downloaded. 
Superlover: Yuksek. Sure thang. 
Fred Everything: Yuksek Remix is pretty nice.
DJ T: Thank you for the music. 
James Curd: Yep! Its good.
Riva Starr: Thanks for the music.
Treasure Fingers: This is hot.
Philippi: Nice.
Ardalan: Really dope. 
Till Von Sein: Dope EP. All 3 tracks are straight up my street.
DJ Sabo: Original is cool.
Severino/Horse Meat Disco: Oh yes! I love this!
Dee Montero: Cool mix from Yuksek.
Mat Joe: Dope!

Artist: O.N.O
Release: Modern Dance
Label: Exploited 
Cat: EXPDIGITAL202
LC: 15799
Publisher: Exploited Ghetto Music Publishing
Releasedate Beatport/Spotify: 26.06.20
Releasedate I-Tunes: 10.07.20

Modern Dance

Modern Dance (Yuksek Remix)

O.N.O - Modern Dance (Yuksek Remix) I Exploited

Soukie & Windish - Boys Are Us | 200 005

sunflwr - dandelion

Since their formation in London in 1976, the members of Wire have maintained and advanced a musical project which treats the creative potential of a rock band as a fluid, amorphous medium. As removed from self-conscious intellectualism as they are from the inherent conservatism of much rock music, Wire employ their unique, endlessly restless and risk-taking creativity to question every aspect of songwriting, recording and performance. They delight and disturb in equal measure, troubleshooting the circuitry of perfect pop, or patrolling the limits of focused experimentalism. In terms of working together as Wire, the group's members disbanded in 1980, reformed in 1985, disbanded in 1992 and reformed for the second time in 2000. Such sabbaticals from their career as Wire have served to sharpen the group's edge and focus, updating the tactics with which they pursue this shared project.

see more - www.pinkflag.com

Stealth of a Stork

WireHQ