With all the fan backlash regarding the sound quality of EMI’s recent Duran Duran remasters, I’m glad I’ve held off purchasing my third or fourth iterations of albums I’ve owned the better part of my life. Some fans are so disappointed – even angry – over the poor sound quality that they are campaigning for a formal recall. EMI is having none of it, according to the Guardian, claiming that they have received “positive and negative comments about the mastering” with “no plans” to recall the discs. Meanwhile, even erstwhile guitarist Andy Taylor has expressed his own disappointment with the remasters on his intermittent Twitter feed, “Sounds like it was done down the pub.” The re-issues are ultra-deluxe packages, featuring plenty of bonus material ensconced in elaborate and expanded artwork. EMI spent the money to have these reissues meet the standards of longtime Duran Duran fans in terms of artwork and bonus material, but the remastering job “modernizes” the dynamic range by pumping up the levels to the point where, as one fan on Amazon claimed, it sounds like “a big brick wall of garbage, and the high range/treble’s pushed so high that it’s literally painful on the ears to listen to.” I guess when I get the hankering I will just rely on the mp3 rips from my vintage 1982 pressing of Rio.

Analog synth-God Gary Numan plays his lone hit single, “Cars”, on two dozen cars powered by one DieHard car battery. It’s a clever spectacle. Points to DieHard for having the balls and open-mindedness to enlist an underground luminary like Numan, who will very likely go unrecognized by the masses, save for music nerds and elder Goths that err on the side of new wave. As surreal as it is to see Gary Numan in a commercial for car batteries, I must admit I found this round of soul-selling more than worthy of watching. The version of “Cars” that plays the commercial out is rumored to be an updated take featuring fellow black-clad-musician-favoring-darkness, Trent Reznor.

Land of Talk debuts a new song, “Quarry Hymns”, on a recent Take Away Show, playing live under a bridge as random passers-by look on.

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An amusing, if slightly rant-ish, response to the response Prince received for his social-media-baiting “the Internet is completely over” line. I must admit I reacted with the same dismissive scorn as everyone else did to Prince’s seemingly clueless quip, but I’m not wholly convinced that Prince is as astute about the internet as this author makes him out to be. Blancomusic’s arguments are full of vitriol and humor but tend to take the side of the major label paradigm, which just seems a bit passe, given the current state of the music industry. But all’s forgiven when you crank out lines like this:

“But the truth is, internet PR is about as useful to making a living as a ‘Boycott Israel’ twibbon is to a West Bank school under mortar fire.”

[via The Awl]

Vice has a really good interview with Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh, wherein he talks about de-evolution (naturally), technology, and the future of our planet. He’s a smart, witty, and insightful guy. My favorite bit:

“I think the internet is the most positive thing that’s happened in your lifetime. It’s the closest thing to democracy that’s ever existed in human civilization. Now we have to wait for whatever nation it’s going to be that will manage to send a laser into space and knock out every satellite, and then none of us will have any of our photos anymore, or anything that we have written or recorded or transmitted to anyone else, and it will all be gone in one instant. But until that happens, we can all watch YouTube.”

Devo’s new album, the focus-group studied Something for Everybody, is out now on Warner Bros.

Here’s Devo performing its latest single “Fresh” on Jimmy Kimmel a few weeks back:

When Unrest disbanded at what I considered to be the height of its powers in 1994, my college radio-infused world was devastated. Unrest was my favorite band at the time, simply because its wildly erratic yet highly collectible records mimicked what I thought made college radio so interesting and intriguing and vital. The abrupt mood shifts, random non-sequiturs, and brazen avant-silliness were all packaged in a DIY shell with a dark, sardonic undercurrent (and, of course, exquisite design). You couldn’t pin that band down. Granted, its final two albums veered sharply in a clean, clinical direction, but the sum of its years and dizzying musical styles were always at bay, especially in a live setting.

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Ok, so Interpol has released the official video for “Lights”, the free download the band offered a few weeks back to serve as a teaser for the new, self-titled full length due out in September on Matador. Let’s see if I can get the synopsis right: Two beautiful Asian women dressed in clinical, plastic S&M gear (and off-kilter Yin/Yang-ish face paint) gulp down some semen before undressing and eventually shaving PJ Harvey(?) with a straight razor. They inject her with what we have to assume is semen before dressing her in a skin-tight wetsuit. She crawls around submissively on some sort of artfully shaped installation block and begins to cry tears of…semen! Then she drools some semen, looking, well, uncomfortable doesn’t quite cut it. But you get the idea. Methinks this is some kind of metaphor for Carlos D’s departure. No sign of the band in it. But if you have a hankering for some sticky wet sauce, then this is your lucky day. Directed by Charlie White.

Interpol’s rescheduled tour dates:

06.25 – Crocodile Rock Cafe -Allentown, PA
06.26 – Creators Project, Milk Studios, New York, NY
07.23 – Pearl Street Ballroom – Northampton, MA
07.24 – Toad’s Place – New Haven, CT
07.25 – Ramshead Live – Baltimore, MD
07.29 – The National – Richmond, VA
07.30 – The NorVa – Norfolk, VA
07.31 – Atlantic City HOB – Atlantic City, NJ
08.04 – Wellmont Theatre – Montclair, NJ
08.05 – House Of Blues – Boston, MA
08.06 – Northern Lights – Clifton Park, NY
08.09 – Metropolis – Montreal, QC
08.10 – Kool Haus – Toronto, ON
08.11 – Clutch Cargo – Pontiac, MI
08.13 – The Rave – Milwaukee, WI
08.14 – First Avenue – Minneapolis, MN
08.15 – Vic Theatre – Chicago, IL
08.18 – The Music Farm – Charleston, SC
08.19 – House Of Blues – Lake Buena Vista, FL
08.21 – The Fillmore – Miami Beach, FL