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About the Artist
Pretty much because of their approach - no big fanfares, no interest in rekindling the spirit of '76 - Pete Shelley and Howard Devoto, recording together for the first time in twenty five years, have made an album which sounds as new as the twenty first century and has the sure-footed originality which tends to mark out a classic. Musically, as Devoto's timeless vocal style slides as effortlessly as ever between playboy crooner, punk snarler and insidious troubador, ShelleyDevoto blend edgy electronica with primitive synthesiser beats, saxophone with speed guitars, expressionist drama with minimalist poignancy.
About the Artist
Pretty much because of their approach - no big fanfares, no interest in rekindling the spirit of '76 - Pete Shelley and Howard Devoto, recording together for the first time in twenty five years, have made an album which sounds as new as the twenty first century and has the sure-footed originality which tends to mark out a classic. Musically, as Devoto's timeless vocal style slides as effortlessly as ever between playboy crooner, punk snarler and insidious troubador, ShelleyDevoto blend edgy electronica with primitive synthesiser beats, saxophone with speed guitars, expressionist drama with minimalist poignancy. You might be reminded of Bowie's instrumentals from the late 1970s, Donna Summer's 'Four Seasons of Love', Philip Glass, the melancholy pastoralism of Boards of Canada, Can or the early Human League. What makes buzzkunst so infectious, however, is the way it resolves these possible similarities into something entirely its own. Carrying lyrics of baroque intelligence, which tease, trouble and soothe, at times simultaneously, buzzkunst upholds Devoto's reputation as a songwriter who enjoys a considerable literary reputation. Fans will not be surprised to hear that he's checking ideas from Wittgenstein to Mona Hatoum, by way of particle physics. You might call buzzkunst a disco for the mind. Pete Shelley and Howard Devoto are two of the legendary figures in punk. Together they formed Buzzcocks in 1976, releasing the seminal EP 'Spiral Scratch' just as Devoto left to form his own group, the hugely acclaimed Magazine. Shelley and Devoto's initial brief collaboration revealed a creative chemistry which seemed to scorch the air around it, minting newness from the friction of opposed ideas: touting the convulsions of philosophy, for instance, in the form of a ram-raiding three minute pop song. With the released of buzzkunst, neither Shelley nor Devoto are remotely concerned with making a return to the past. This is neither a 'comeback! ' album nor a championing of punk history. 'Do us a bloody favour' says Devoto, to both these points. As Pete Shelley continues to tour and record with Buzzcocks, and Devoto works on his own musical and literary projects (writing and recording his autobiography, 'Insect!' for a start) their collaboration on buzzkunst has derived from the sheer enjoyment of working together in Shelley's front room. Whether this becomes a one-off for ShelleyDevoto remains to be seen, but like Iggy Pop's 'Kill City' or Fripp and Eno's 'No Pussyfooting', buzzkunst has the feel of a record which will mark an era. - Michael Bracewell.
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Manufacturer: Cooking Vinyl
Release date: 25 February 2002
Number of discs: 1
EAN: 0711297463026 UPC: 711297463026
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