KATE BUSH is rumoured to be performing her classic hit 'Running Up That Hill' at the Olympic Closing Ceremony in London on Sunday. The rumour was futher fulled by Amazon who briefly advertised a download of a new version of the song online earlier this week although that page has since been removed. PET SHOP BOYS, ANNIE LENNOX and BRIAN MAY are also rumoured to be part of the ceremony, alongside GEORGE MICHAEL who has already revealed that he will be appearing... MORE

PET SHOP BOYS have revealed the artwork and tracklisting for 'Elysium', their new studio album which is scheduled for release on September 10th.'Elysium' will be available as a single CD, as a limited-edition double-CD featuring instrumentals of each song, limited-editiondouble vinyl album and via download. See the website to see the album cover and for the full tracklisting. MORE

AZTEC CAMERA will reissue their first six albums - 'High Land, Hard Rain', 'Knife', 'Love', 'Stray', 'Dreamland' and 'Frestonia' - in expanded editions on August 27th. Three of the albums will come out as 2CD sets but all six will feature bonus material including remixes, b-sides, live tracks and alternative versions. See the website for the full tracklisting of each album. MORE

RODDY FRAME has announced a one-off UK show to take place at London's Cadogan Hall on December 11th. The special one-man show will be his only UK theatre date this year. MORE

FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD will see a brand new compilation of 'remixes, editions, edits and experiments' released on August 6th. The 2-CD compilation covers material recorded between 1983 and 1987, including a number of tracks that have never been available on CD before, and carries the subtitle 'Archive Tapes and Studio Adventures Volume 1'. See the website for artwork and the full tracklisting. MORE

Former CABARET VOLTAIRE mainman STEPHEN MALLINDER will play a special DJ set at JOHN FOXX's upcoming London show at Cargo on September 5th. Mallinder's DJ set will be as part of his current project, Wrangler. MORE

PROPAGANDA will release a 'classics and rarities' compilation entitled 'Noise And Girls Come Out To Play - A Compact Introduction To???' on September 3rd via ZTT. See the website for artwork and the full album tracklisting. MORE

KRAFTWERK are to be celebrated in a new biography from music-writer David Buckley. 'Kraftwerk: Publikation' will be published on August 30th by Omnibus and will cover the influential German band's entire career and promises to examine 'the inner workings of this most secretive of bands' through discussions with sources close to the band - including former band members WOLFGANG FLÜR and KARL BARTOS (who also wrote the foreword) - as well as those influenced by their work, including GARY NUMAN, THE HUMAN LEAGUE, OMD and JOHN FOXX. MORE

GO WEST frontman PETER COX is currently making a new album which is being funded by fans via a special PledgeMusic initiative. Fans who support the project can choose the level of their support and will receive a range of exclusive items and opportunities in return, as well as following the progress of the album recording via exclusive updates. MORE

MICK HUCKNALL will play an intimate warm-up show at London's Scala on September 8th in preparation for his upcoming 'American Soul' shows at the Royal Albert Hall on September 19th and 20th. The show will be the first time Hucknall will perform any of the tracks from his new album 'Mick Hucknall sings American Soul' which will be released soon. MORE

INXS will release an expanded version of their classic 1987 album 'Kick' on September 17th in Deluxe (2-CD), Super Deluxe (3-CD + DVD), limited-edition 12" vinyl and digital formats. The DVD will feature previously unseen personal home-movie documentary footage which is previewed below, alongside videos and live footage. See the website for the full tracklisting. MORE

This Is Not Retro - 80s Music. All Grown Up.

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As promised in the last newsletter, my new and EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with former PROPAGANDA singer CLAUDIA BRÜCKEN is now online. We talk about Claudia's brand new live DVD, the excellent 'THIS HAPPENED' (which also features guest appearances from OMD's PAUL HUMPHREYS, HEAVEN 17's MARTYN WARE and GLENN GREGORY, ERASURE's ANDY BELL and Claudia's former Propaganda bandmates SUSANNE FREYTAG and RALF DÖRPER), her future plans both solo and with ONETWO, and - perhaps inevitably - touch upon the legacy and future of Propaganda along the way. I thoroughly enjoyed the interview, and many thanks to everyone who sent questions for me to consider using, I got in as many as I could!

NIK KERSHAW will release a new studio album on August 6th. Entitled 'EI8HT', the eleven-track album will be supported by a single 'The Sky's The Limit' on the same date and there will be a UK tour - combining a full rendition of Kershaw's 1984 album 'Human Racing' with a set of new songs and old favourites - in September. MORE

RICK ASTLEY has announced a seven-date UK tour for the second half of October this year with an Australian to follow in November. Both tours are expected to feature new material alongside music from his entire catalogue. MORE

NEW ORDER have announced a short run of shows in the USA and Canada in October, their first shows in the USA for seven years, with their Toronto show being the band's first show in Canada since 2001. MORE

BOY GEORGE has announced a new project entitled 'A Boy Called George' which will be the name he will use for future electronic projects. The first release under that name will be a new collaboration with DJ Yoda entitled 'Happy' which will be released later in the summer. Meanwhile I have a new Boy George video on the website featuring his cover of the recent Lana Del Rey hit 'Video Games'. The video is the first in 'a story of young love in bleak Britain' that will be continued??? MORE

MICK HUCKNALL has announced that he will take his 'American Soul' show on the road in April next year, following the previously announced dates at London's Royal Albert Hall on September 18th and 19th this year. The shows will in support of Hucknall's upcoming solo album 'American Soul' which will see the former SIMPLY RED frontman put his own take on some of the classic songs that have influenced him throughout his life. MORE

HAPPY MONDAYS' original line-up have confirmed that they are working on a new studio album, their first for twenty years, with the band's manager recently quoted as saying "Shaun has been writing and the band have been getting together in the studio putting ideas down. I'm sure it will be a great Happy Mondays album." MORE

SPARKS will release two 2-CD compilations on August 13th, each featuring remastered versions of material originally released on various labels around the world between 1979 and 1984. 'Shortcuts' will dedicated to their 7" singles and b-sides, while 'Extended' will feature a selection of their 12" remixes. MORE

ALISON MOYET has announced three intimate London 'Rare and Obscured' shows to take place in October. The shows - at the legendary Ronnie Scott's venue - will take place on October 8th, 9th and 10th and will see Moyet perform 'songs less visited' from her catalogue of the last ten years instead of her hit material. MORE

JIMMY SOMERVILLE will reissue his first two solo albums, 'Read My Lips' and 'Dare To Love', in expanded 2CD editions on July 30th to join the similarly reissued editions from BRONSKI BEAT and THE COMMUNARDS' catalogues. 'Read My Lips' was originally released in 1989 and features the hits 'You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)' and 'To Love Somebody' while 'Dare To Love' was released in 1995 and featured the singles 'Heartbeat' and 'Hurt So Good'. Both will be released as special slipcased editions featuring the original albums plus b-side and remixes, many on CD for the first time. MORE

DEPECHE MODE have announced that they will tour again in 2013 but have stressed that no dates have yet been announced anywhere, despite rumours to the contrary. A statement to fans from the band's management announced that tickets are likely to go onsale in late autumn and any confirmed shows will be announced first on the band's website and social media pages. MORE

GARY NUMAN will release a new live CD and DVD, plus a limited edition book and CD package, entitled 'Big Noise Transmission' on August 20th. The release was filmed and recorded at the HMV Ritz, Manchester in December 2011 on Numan's 'Dead Son Rising' tour. MORE

PET SHOP BOYS have unveiled the official video for their new single 'Winner' which is already available as a single-track download but will receive a full release on August 6th on limited edition CD with bonus tracks, 12" vinyl and via two different download bundles. 'Winner' is the first single to be taken from the band's forthcoming new album 'Elysium' which will be released on September 17th and you can see the video on the website. MORE

Thanks to: This Is Not Retro - 80s Music. All Grown Up.

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TOMORROW'S WORLD - LIMITED EDITION COLLECTOR'S BOXSET
To mark the end of the 'Tomorrow's World' project I am very happy to announce that Mute/EIS will be releasing a one-off limited-edition 'Tomorrow's World' boxset later in the summer. The box will contain one CD featuring all the tracks and remixes across the 'Tomorrow's World' project that have not been commercially available, or have not been available on a physical format, and one DVD featuring all the videos that accompanied the 'Tomorrow's World' album and singles. The box will then contain space for the 'Tomorrow's World' CD album, all three CD singles from the album and the live CD (all available separately) so that the entire project can be contained in one place.

As with the formats and packing across the 'Tomorrow's World' releases this is shaping up to look fantastic and I will bring more details as soon as I have them. We're working on the tracklisting right now so do send over your suggestions if there's anything you'd particularly like to see included???

VINCE CLARKE AND MARTIN GORE'S VCMG ANNOUNCE EP3/AFTERMATHS
It's been quite a longtime coming but Vince's VCMG collaboration with Depeche Mode's Martin Gore will release its third EP, 'EP3/Aftermaths', on August 20th on 12" vinyl and via digital download, including a Vince Clarke remix. The 12" version is available to preorder from Lexer Music and all good vinyl retailers and the download links will be available soon. A third in the ongoing series of rather surreal VCMG teaser videos has also been put online if you fancy a look???

12" VINYL - Aftermaths / Aftermaths – LFO remix / Aftermaths – Alva Noto remix

DOWNLOAD - Aftermaths / Aftermaths – Alva Noto Remix / Aftermaths – Christoffer Berg Remix / Aftermaths – Gesaffelstein Remix / Aftermaths – LFO Remix / Aftermaths – Vince Clarke Remix

ANDY BELL REMIXES AMANDA LEAR
Andy has provided additional vocals and remixed 'La Bête et La Belle' a track from Amanda Lear which will be featured on the forthcoming deluxe edition of her album 'I Don't Like Disco'. Andy's remix, engineered by DJ Yiannis, will also be available on a digital EP of remixes from July 30th via iTunes.

ERASURE AND YAZOO FEATURED ON 'ELECTROSPECTIVE - THE REMIX ALBUM'
I don't usually bother reporting on Erasure tracks that are included on compilations, but I'm going to make an exception with this one, partly because the track choices are a little more interesting than usual (by which I mean the Erasure track is not 'A Little Respect'), partly because the album is part of a wider 'Electrospective' project which looks very interesting, but mostly because it's an album that looks brilliant if you are a fan of electronic music, and I know that a lot of you are!

'Electrospective - The Remix Album' will be released on August 27th and will include Yazoo's 'Situation (Deadline Mix)' and Erasure's 'Always (Cappella Club Remix)' among its 24 tracks and 2 CDs. Other artists represented include Depeche Mode, Daft Punk, OMD, Heaven 17, Goldfrapp and The Human League. And what makes it even more attractive is that it's a low-price album - Lexer Music have it available for pre-order at just £5.95 - and is available to pre-order pretty much everywhere, right now!