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META 067CD
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John Foxx And The Maths return with a new line-up on their fifth studio album, Howl. Former Ultravox guitarist Robin Simon joins Foxx, Benge (Ben Edwards), and Hannah Peel after previously guesting with The Maths at their debut Roundhouse show in 2010. Work on the album began back in April 2019 at Benge's Memetune studios in Cornwall with Rob Simon involved right from the start, his contributions instantly mutating the original ideas into something new. Foxx who first worked with Simon on Ultravox's Systems Of Romance album in 1978. Forward-looking, intuitive and risk taking from the start (Critic Mark Fisher summed them up as "a glimpse into another world in which rock 'n' roll was invented on Moogs") their passion for the strange sounds and atmospheres they seduce and rip from the machines in Benge's studio has inspired a series of fiercely personal electronic records -- The Shape of Things (META 029LP, 2012), Evidence (META 031CD, 2013), and The Machine (META 062CD/LP, 2017), an eerie instrumental score for the theatre production of E.M. Forster's The Machine Stops. Along the way they've collaborated with The Soft Moon, Gazelle Twin, ADULT., Xeno & Oaklander, Gary Numan, Matthew Dear, and many more, but at the core of everything is Foxx and the Cornish-based artist/producer. Hannah Peel joined the line-up on the Interplay tour in 2011 and has played every show since, while also adding violin to Evidence and of course, Howl. Foxx describes her string-led contributions as "luscious, expansive and eloquent." The Maths have created an album of dark, writhing glamor. Opener "My Ghost" sounds like haunted static in a cold wind, the title track is a twisted glam-punk celebration of "the outsider" who leaves the fringes to make himself visible, while Foxx switches to a sinister Ferry-esque croon on "Tarzan And Jane Regained". "New York Times" is a report back from the city of the 1970s, with Foxx's vocals gently coaxing out the vulnerability of its street characters and Factory stars, while "Last Time I Saw You" revels in an ice-cool narrative illuminated by neon-lit transformations and flickering revelations -- this song is built for streets and strobes. The album ends with "Strange Beauty", where Foxx sounds like an echo from the 1950s -- a voice that is still searching across all these years for something just out of reach.
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META 062CD
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Directed by York Theatre Royal's associate director Juliet Forster, Neil Duffield's adaptation of E.M. Forster's chilling short story The Machine Stops (1909) explores humanity's increasingly intricate and complex relationship with technology. The acclaimed production, which opened in 2016 and toured again in 2017, features a specially composed soundtrack by John Foxx And The Maths -- John Foxx and Benge. This forms much of the music on The Machine, although there are new mixes and some extended material as the pair developed stage music into a fully-fledged album. Described as "eerie", "evocative", and "a triumphant score of chest-crushing anxiety" by The Independent and The Guardian in their stage reviews, the music (created entirely on analog synthesizers and drum machines) is some of the finest the pair have created yet. The Machine's rich atmospheres move from the sinister breathing effects that start on "The Ghost In The Machine" through moments of beauty on "The Other Mother" and ARP Odyssey-soloing "Transworld Travelogue" into an ancient, mythic song on "Memory Oxide" where Foxx further investigates a style that he first explored on his own Cathedral Oceans (1997). Elizabeth Bernholz (Gazelle Twin) provides the high, lilting vocals on "Genetic Hymnal" and the album ends -- as does the stage production -- with the elegiac theme of "Orphan Waltz".
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META 062LP
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LP version. Directed by York Theatre Royal's associate director Juliet Forster, Neil Duffield's adaptation of E.M. Forster's chilling short story The Machine Stops (1909) explores humanity's increasingly intricate and complex relationship with technology. The acclaimed production, which opened in 2016 and toured again in 2017, features a specially composed soundtrack by John Foxx And The Maths -- John Foxx and Benge. This forms much of the music on The Machine, although there are new mixes and some extended material as the pair developed stage music into a fully-fledged album. Described as "eerie", "evocative", and "a triumphant score of chest-crushing anxiety" by The Independent and The Guardian in their stage reviews, the music (created entirely on analog synthesizers and drum machines) is some of the finest the pair have created yet. The Machine's rich atmospheres move from the sinister breathing effects that start on "The Ghost In The Machine" through moments of beauty on "The Other Mother" and ARP Odyssey-soloing "Transworld Travelogue" into an ancient, mythic song on "Memory Oxide" where Foxx further investigates a style that he first explored on his own Cathedral Oceans (1997). Elizabeth Bernholz (Gazelle Twin) provides the high, lilting vocals on "Genetic Hymnal" and the album ends -- as does the stage production -- with the elegiac theme of "Orphan Waltz".
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META 031CD
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2012 release. The 15-track CD brings together collaborations with The Soft Moon (the post-punk psychedelia of the title-track); Gazelle Twin (including the strikingly beautiful "Changelings"); New York duo Xeno & Oaklander; Moog maverick Tara Busch and Ghostly International's Matthew Dear, plus a Pink Floyd cover and some John Foxx/Benge material. This includes the rich analog glow of "Walk" and apocalyptic ballad "Only Lovers Left Alive." Meanwhile, regular Maths live band member Hannah Peel plays violin on "Neon Vertigo" and "My Town." Evidence is John Foxx and the Maths' most atmospheric and darkly percussive album so far -- built around stark, late-night rhythms. The ambient spaces in the music allow for experiments with textures and mood, with dreamlike echoes of Massive Attack, dub (in spirit not pastiche), Dead Can Dance, and the ultra-introspective Japan. The edgy beats of the opening track "Personal Magnetism" are followed by "Evidence," featuring The Soft Moon's Luis Vasquez. The slow, minimalist "That Sudden Switch" takes the European art-movie approach of Xeno & Oaklander and re-invents it as post-dub electronic pop. "Talk (Beneath Your Dreams)" features US electronic artist Matthew Dear taking the role of the sleeper as a conversation is held in a dream. It's a chilly, nightmarish track but like much of this album it has motion -- Dear adding new techno rhythms as well as a Bowie-esque vocal in the final verses. "Neon Vertigo" furthers the noir tension with massive bass sounds and "space violin" from Hannah Peel, while "Changelings" is in many ways the centerpiece of the album. Originally written and recorded by Gazelle Twin, "Changelings" retains only her voice as The Maths rebuild it completely from scratch. It's arguably one of Benge's finest moments in the studio so far, while John Foxx's reverb-drenched backing vocals complete this stunning, end-of-the-world song. "A Falling Star" is the reverse of "Changelings" -- this time it's a John Foxx/Benge track reworked by Gazelle Twin. In this context, the song becomes an icy but epic ballad, full of siren vocals and a sense of release as it stretches into the long, elegant fadeout. In fact, "A Falling Star" does signal a change in the album as the mood evolves into something more reflective. This final section climaxes with the electronic harp music of "Myriads" and the last song, "Only Lovers Left Alive" -- a pretty melody found on an old discarded reel-to-reel; nostalgic, the sound of memory and tape creating one of the album's most moving tracks.
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META 028CD
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2011 release. Interplay is a collaboration between John Foxx and electronic composer and synthesizer collector, Benge (Ben Edwards). Edwards is best known for his 2007 album Twenty Systems, which Brian Eno described as "a brilliant contribution to the archaeology of electronic music." Moody and atmospheric, but also full of songs that are actually more pop than avant-garde, Interplay pulls various strands of electronic music together -- from early-'80s electro to '70s Krautrock, with flashes of Cabaret Voltaire and John Foxx's first band, Ultravox! One track, "Watching a Building on Fire" features Mira Aroyo from Ladytron, who also came up with the original synth riff. Although Interplay sounds nothing like the ambient experiments of Twenty Systems, both albums are based around the waves, frequencies, and vibrations of analog synthesizers. Many of the songs on Interplay started with an electronic rhythm from a 1960s Moog system built into Benge's studio, with the pair then coming up with ideas live in the studio. As Benge says, "the idea of Interplay is in the lyric from the title-track. 'We calculated everything, but not the interplay.' In the studio we left a lot of things to chance and let the various combinations of sounds and colours and connections trigger our imaginations."
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META 028LP
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LP version. Pressed on 180-gram vinyl. Presented in spot varnish sleeve.
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META 028-29LP
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2014 release. Combined vinyl edition of John Foxx and Benge's 2011 albums Interplay (META 028CD/LP) and The Shape of Things (META 029CD/LP). Benge (Ben Edwards) is best known for his 2007 album Twenty Systems, which Brian Eno described as "a brilliant contribution to the archaeology of electronic music." He and John Foxx craft their sound from analog synthesizers and drum machines, conjuring a moody atmosphere that balances pop with raw experimentalism. Exclusive Jonathan Barnbrook print.
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META 033CD
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2013 release. John Foxx and the Maths' fourth album of analog synthesizer music, Rhapsody, was recorded live in November 2011 at The Maths' MemeTune Studios. It's the sound of a multi-talented band playing electronic music together, featuring John Foxx (vocals and keyboards), Benge (percussion and keyboards), Hannah Peel (violin and keyboards), and Serafina Steer (bass and keyboards). The tracks range from tracks from John Foxx and the Maths' 2011 debut album Interplay (META 028CD/LP) through to "The Shadow of His Former Self" from their follow-up The Shape of Things (META 029CD/LP) via classics from John Foxx's Metamatic era, including "Burning Car" and "He's a Liquid." John Foxx has been experimenting with electronics since the 1970s when he worked with the likes of Brian Eno and legendary Krautrock producer Conny Plank in the original lineup of Ultravox!. Described by Duran Duran as "the Velvet Underground of our generation," early Ultravox! had a massive influence on the generation of acts that followed including Gary Numan and Simple Minds. John Foxx's solo material, starting with 1980's Metamatic album, has been namechecked as an influence by everyone from Aphex Twin to Leftfield and Afrika Bambaataa to The Orb, as well as by electronic acts such as The Soft Moon, Gazelle Twin, and Matthew Dear. In 2013, John Foxx released the European Splendour EP (SGR 024CD/EP) with Jori Hulkkonen, which features a remix by David Lynch, and followed that up with Empty Avenues with Belbury Circle on the Ghost Box label. Four albums in, his John Foxx and the Maths project with analog synth specialist Benge is arguably the most successful of his career so far. Features 10 tracks recorded live at Benge's MemeTune Studios in November 2011. Rich, analog synthesizers mixed with violin and bass, this album captures forward-looking electronic music being played live by a band.
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META 029LP
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LP version. Pressed on 180-gram vinyl. Presented in spot varnish sleeve.
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