Something a little different (for me anyway) is coming. In October I’ll be playing an 8 date acoustic tour in the UK. Pre sale tickets will be available at 9am on April 19th. https://t.co/0LHwSIp985 pic.twitter.com/u07jPrDzn3

— Gary Numan (@numanofficial) April 14, 2023

Last night, a day after the tour announcement, Numan completed his 1000th show, completing a set of three nights at the Electric Ballroom, London, and is set to follow this colossal landmark event with a North American tour, starting on April 21st in Salt Lake City and concluding at Cruel World festival in Pasadena on May 20th. An appearance at Bearded Theory festival at the end of May will precede a break for the summer for Numan, which will then be followed by the acoustic tour in October, a tour which promises to be unique and wholly different for Numan’s devoted cult following, given his synth-pop and industrial rock background. The tour will commence on October 8th at Wylam Brewery in Newcastle and will end with two dates on October 16th and 17th at Hackney Church in London.

Gary Numan (real name Gary Webb) commenced his music career as frontman of new wave band Tubeway Army. The group released their self-titled debut album in 1978 but it wasn’t until the following year, upon the release of “Are Friends Electric?”, that Numan shot to prominence. The track, showcasing Numan’s adoration of synthesisers and science fiction (with its lyrical referencing of Philip K Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), was released in May and found its way to the number one spot of the UK Singles chart in June.

Numan’s Tubeway Army performing hit single “Are Friends Electric?” on Top of the Pops in 1979:

Following his initial success Numan disbanded Tubeway Army and embarked on a solo career, employing a new backing band in the process. Later on in 1979 Numan’s second, and perhaps most famous hit, “Cars”, was released, soon also reaching number one, and was soon followed by the release of Numan’s first solo studio album, The Pleasure Principle, which too reached number one on the UK Albums chart. He went on to have a remarkably prolific decade, releasing nine albums in as many years, and has released a total on nineteen studio albums to date, with the latest, Intruder, being released in May 2021.

The pre-sale for tour tickets starts at 9am on April 19th and you can get yours here.

See below for the tour dates:

08/10/2023 – Wylam Brewery – Newcastle
09/10 – St Luke’s – Glasgow
10/10 – Town Hall – Birmingham
11/10 – St George’s – Bristol
13/10 – St George’s Church – Brighton
15/10 – Cathedral – Manchester
16/10 – Hackney Church – London
17/10 – Hackney Church – London

(Photo credit: Alyssa Fried)

‘Squeaky Wheel’ – new from James Ellis Ford

Listen now ↓https://t.co/NMnXeW6HdF

— Warp Records (@WarpRecords) April 12, 2023

Ford initiated his music career in 2000 as a founding member of rock band Simian before teaming up with Jas Shaw from the aforementioned group and forming the spin-off duo Simian Mobile Disco in 2003, this time with a focus on electronic music. The duo have enjoyed a fair deal of success since, even amassing somewhat of a cult following, but have been on hiatus ever since Shaw was diagnosed with AL amyloidosis in 2018, which has in turn afforded Ford the chance to think about producing music solo on his own terms.

Watch the video for “It’s The Beat”, the lead single from Simian Mobile Disco’s first album Attack Decay Sustain Release, below:

Ford is also a founding member of The Last Shadow Puppets, formed in 2008 with Alex Turner, Miles Kane and Zach Dawes, yet his musical exploits do not stop there. He has producing credits on 55 albums, most notably Klaxon’s Myths of the Near Future (2007), Florence and the Machine’s Ceremonials (2011), Gorillaz’ The Now Now (2016), and all of Artic Monkeys’ records to date, and plays a multitude of instruments on many, mainly on drums, keyboard and percussion.

Quite the CV then. With this quite frankly stupendous amount of musical prowess Ford naturally sets the bar sky high, and fans of Simian Mobile Disco and The Last Shadow Puppets, and possibly even Artic Monkeys themselves, will undoubtedly be tremendously excited by what Ford has to offer in his first solo outing.

If we are to judge the rest of the album by the two singles released from it already (“I Never Wanted Anything” is the other track), we should expect dreamy, partly funky, partly Pink Floyd-esque vibes. Tape loops are used immaculately in both songs, lending an ethereal touch that allows them to float on and along flawlessly whilst simultaneously giving the tracks a satisfying cohesive arc.

Listen to  “Squeaky Wheel” below:

Pre-order your copy of The Hum now here.

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We’re really excited to share that we’ve joined the @ninjatune family and our new single ‘Talks’ is out everywhere now. Talks is the first single off our debut EP ‘Toner’ which will be out November 20th physically and digitally via @bigdadarecords. Toner features three new tracks and remixes from @the_mura_masa , @lynkslynkslynks and Daniel Fox of @birl_gand . You can preorder the 12” along with some merch bundles via http://pva.band Feels good to finally be sharing this music with you all – thanks for waiting Love to @laurenlaverne for premiering Talks on her show this morning and big love and thanks to all the people who’ve helped us work towards this release in the craziest of times – to Maddy, Darius, Marco, Dan, Lex, Feta, Lewis, Chloe, The Ninja Tune Team, Adam, Oli, Elliot, G, Tim P & everyone else who made this possible along the way. We love you! J, L & E x Artwork photography by @lewis.khan Styling by @chloealicefrieda Design by PVA & @slugxoxo

A post shared by PVA (@pva_are_ok) on Sep 30, 2020 at 2:00am PDT

The track opens with what sounds like a church organ sound, quickly interrupted by a rhythm section so energetic its impossible not to tap your foot too. PVA is a genre-defying band, but the dance element present in their debut single Divine Intervention is clearly alive and kicking in Talks.

Then enters the dark guttural sound of Josh Baxter’s voice: ‘I’ve been stuck tryna to play this game// and I rolled the dice just to see you again’, he sings, echoed by the heavenly vocals of Ella Harris. The chemistry between their voices is reminiscent of the classic partnership between Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot.

Talks was inspired by the relationship between two Red Dead Redemption characters, Abigail and John Marston. The repeated refrain, ‘you don’t wanna talk// nah you don’t wanna talk’ that Harris and Baxter sing interchangeably, could be a back and forth between the cowboy couple.

When Baxter sings ‘I’ve searched for forgiveness’, the edge in his voice makes it sound like he could be taking on the persona of the determined protagonist, with whom Abigail’s main complaint was that he wouldn’t leave behind his violent and vengeful ways. It is a tale as old as time, but PVA’s take is entirely fresh.

One of the most notable things about Talks is the instrumental maturity displayed. Synths, guitars and a tight drum beat all work together flawlessly; disappearing and reappearing at the perfect moments. The electric guitar accent that weaves through the song is is a pure stroke of genius, as is Louis Satchell’s drumming, which provides the framework for all the other layers.

For a young band with only two singles out, one might be surprised at how confident PVA’s sound feels. But the band has been playing together for a few years now, building up support through live performances in cult venues like The Windmill and the Bunker. Managed by members of the powerhouse DIY collective Slow Dance and having just signed to Big Dada, they are well set to go from strength to strength. You can preorder their upcoming EP Toner via their website.