Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark have made a demo of a new track, “Sister Marie Says,” available as a free download from their website. It’s taken from their forthcoming  new album, “The History Of Modern.” While the 90’s OMD lineup featured Andy McCluskey as the only original member, in 2007 Paul Humphreys returned to the fold (along with other former band members Mal Holmes and Martin Cooper.) The group recently did a series of concerts with Simple Minds.

Rasputina have a new limited edition 3 song CD available on their website. Titled “Ancient Cross-Dressing Songs,” the disc contains “3 ancient folksongs about female-to-male crossdressers. PLUS a personal message from Melora.” Made specially for sale at Rasputina’s Knitting Factory show in September, remaining copies can be found on the “Melora’s Handicraft Shoppe” page of rasputina.com.

With his various projects over the years, former Bronski Beat / Communards vocalist Jimmy Somerville has done some great cover versions (The Communards “”Don’t Leave Me This Way” is a personal favorite of mine.) So the fact that Somerville would eventually do a covers-only release comes as no surprise. But what is unexpected is that the resulting collection, “SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER,” was done acoustically  and does not lean towards just disco hits. According to an interview on German fan site jimmysomerville.net, the album came together spontaneously while Somerville was performing a series of acoustic shows in Australia. With a studio and musicians at his disposal for 6 days, he picked out a bunch of songs from his iTunes library and ended up with the album.

The tracklisting is as follows:

“Suddenly Last Summer” is available exclusively as a download (from most major only music stores.) Below is the video for “People Are Strange.” Be sure to also check out our  1999 interview with Jimmy .

On Sunday, September 27, Book Of Love did a special performance in New York to celebrate the re-release of their catalog. Despite encountering some technical glitches, the band put on an amazing show that focused primarily on their first, self-titled album.

Below is a video that we shot of them performing “Pretty Boys and Pretty Girls.”

Nick Cave’s new novel, The Death of Bunny Munro, has been released as an iPhone app that brings together  the text version, audio book, and videos of Cave reading from it. Telling the “furious, funny, disturbing account of a traveling salesman’s last days on earth,” the app version of the book syncs the different versions, allowing the user switch between them while keeping their place.

“The fact that the reader can choose his or her own experience is interesting because the true meaning of a book lies in the reader’s own interpretation and the circumstances of that interpretation,” said Cave in a press release.

The audio version contains an original soundtrack by Cave and Warren Ellis, as well as a 3D audio spatial mix. To promote the book, Cave will be appearing on September 14th at the “Upstairs at the Square” series in Barnes and Noble Union Square in New York.

For more information, visit the official The Death of Bunny Munro site.

“Beyond The Vault,” the latest entry in SubConscious Communication’s “vault series” is now availabe for pre-ordering from SubConsciousRecords.com. This set contains all new material, inlcuding a release that I have been eagerly awaiting – Download’s “HElicopTEr” (featuring an appearance by Mark Spybey, who had been part of the initial line-up.) Below are notes from SubConscious site about the contents of “Beyond The Vault.” Each title is also available individually.

BananaSloth: Zombie Battle 2019

Shimokitazawa Tokyo gave birth to new monster BananaSloth. Electronics and psychic energies channeled and translated into musical data, the Sloth travels in time to give us this debut album, Zombie Battle 2019!

Download: HElicopTEr

Phil Western and cEvin Key have been collaborating for fifteen years and nine albums. This recording takes advantage of most of the oldest synths from the studio collection.

Djoto: Slow Motion Burn

Djoto from Koenji Tokyo has been sending demos to Subcon for over a decade and has collaborated with cEvin in Tokyo on all of the recent DJ events. A communications engineer that really knows his phase.

The Tear Garden: Have a Nice Trip

A new album of material made over the past year at Subconscious and Edward Ka-spel’s home studio. It features mixes by many collaborators including Collide, Humble Brothers, Frankie Pett, Raymond Steeg, and more..

Otto Von Schirach: Magic Triangles

Miami represented by none other than Otto Von Schirach. Some of his heaviest work to date. A must have!

PlaTEAU: Gort sPaCebar

Phil Western and cEvin Key. 5th album for PlatEAU. The spacebar is definitely a place worth visiting for a while. New recordings and a new level of electro space groove.

Baseck Sonic Death Rabbit: (tba)

Representing Los Angeles is none other than the sonic Gameboy tracker terrorists. This is their debut album.

Be sure to check out SubConscious Communications for more information.

In related news, Skinny Puppy have announced a North America tour for the fall – dates can be found here.