John Foxx and the Belbury Circle

When I first learned last year that John Foxx had been recording something together with Jon Brooks (The Advisory Circle) and Jim Jupp (Belbury Poly) for the Ghost Box label, I assumed it would be another entry in their Study Series, i.e. two or three tracks on a 7" single. That in itself was enough to have med longing for it. When it turned out to be a six track 10" EP instead, I was, well not quite ecstatic, but pretty damn close.

When I'm this excited about something I quite often feel a bit disappointed when I eventually get to hear the actual record. In this case that wasn't to be the case. "Empty Avenues" is a stunning piece of nostalgic synth pop at it's best. All the three main participants signatures are there clearly on each track, and yet they seem to fit together so snugly that they seem made to be working together. Even though I greatly appreciate Foxx's collaboration with Benge as John Foxx and The Maths, this is just one step ahead of those albums for me. The lyrics and their mood fit perfectly with the general sense of melancholy and retrofuturism that permeates the proceedings. The links to Foxx's lyrics on Metamatic is obvious, but these are more mature, more settled down takes on the same topics: urban desolation and man alone.

Apart from the five main tracks Pye Corner Audio also delivers a remix on the title track, which perfectly rounds out the EP. What I supposed would be a single turned out to be an EP that I wish would be a full album. Would it be too much to ask for some kind of follow up?


Read full review of Empty Avenues - John Foxx and The Belbury Circle on Boomkat.com ©

Electric Independence

Just have to give a push for the brilliant Electric Independence series over at Motherboard. Especially the episodes on Chris & Cosey and John Foxx are amazing. A well produced series that deserves all the viewers it can get. Just hopes there'll be more episodes coming soon.
Motherboard

John Foxx live 2011

Synthtopia postade följande fullständigt lysande liveframträdande av John Foxx and the Maths på Roundhouse tidigare i år. Enorm liveversion av klassikern He's A Liquid från Metamatic. När Foxx lämnade Ultravox 1980 ersattes han av Midge Ure, som strax därefter släppte Vienna. Valet mellan den och Foxx solodebut Metamatic är i alla fall självklart för min del. Vem av de två sångarna som fortfarande känns musikaliskt relevant idag lämnar jag åt er att avgöra.

John Foxx and the Maths live 2011


Ultravox live 2011

John Foxx samarbetar med Ghost Box

Läste precis på The Belbury Parish Magazine att John Foxx kommer att samarbeta med Belbury Poly och The Advisory Circle på en platta som Ghost Box kommer att släppa nästa år. Kanske en ny singel i deras Study Series? En av mina gamla favoriter tillsammans med två av mina senaste!

John Foxx

Att en av de mest creddiga gestalterna inom elektronisk musik och syntpop började sin bana i Ultravox känns något motsägelsefullt. Hans "Underpass" är en av syntpopens allra största stunder. Här tillsammans med en betydligt nyare intervju.



Och här lirar han på en Arp Odyssey: