Pet Shop Boys' new single, "Together", was written and produced by Pet Shop Boys and ex-Xenomania Tim Powell at the beginning of September.
It will be released on November 29th on two CDs and digital download. The track-listings will also include "Glad all over" (a version of the 60s hit by The Dave Clark Five, arranged and produced by Pet Shop Boys and Tim Powell), "I cried for us" and "Together (extended version)", remixed by Tim Powell.
"Together" will also be included on Pet Shop Boys' new greatest hits album, Ultimate, to be released on November 1st.
Tim Powell was a member of Xenomania from the very beginning. In March 2010, after 14 years with the team, Tim became an independent producer and songwriter. His first co-write since leaving Xenomania is out now (Alex Gaudino's "I'm In Love") and Ed Drewett's "Champagne Lemonade" (which he co-wrote and produced) will be released on 1st November. Tim has also worked with the Pet Shop Boys for their new single "Together", to be included on their new Greatest Hits album. Also look out for his remixes under the alias Pepptalk.
Alex Gaudino & Maxine - I'm In Love
Alex Gaudino's new single was originally just a dance track with a catchy piano line and the looped "I'm in love" chant, in the same vein as Eric Prydz's "Call On Me".
But the song was given new life with a topline written by Tim Powell. A former Xenomania singer called Maxine Ashley stepped in to perform the vocals.
The single is out this week, on the Ministry of Sound label, and has been steadily climbing up the iTunes chart.
"Champagne Lemonade" is Tim Powell's first production work since leaving Xenomania. The song, which he also co-wrote, is Ed Drewett's debut single, to be released on November 1st. This is the video:
Pet Shop Boys - Together
The track-listing for the forthcoming Pet Shop Boys' greatest hits album includes 25 years of hits from 1985's "West End girls" to 2009's "Love etc." and concludes with a new song, "Together", written and recorded this month.
The new song was written and produced with Tim Powell and will also be released as a single. The release date will be announced shortly. Ultimate Pet Shop Boys will be out on November 1st.
Pet Shop Boys' latest album Yes (2009) was entirely produced by Xenomania. The team also co-wrote three songs on the album: "The way it used to be", "More than a dream" and the single "Love etc.".
Bright Light Bright Light - Love Part II (Pepptalk remix)
During his Xenomania days Tim Powell was also known as "Tony Lamezma", whose remixes became cult favourites. Now he continues to remix tracks under the name Pepptalk.
Pet Shop Boys announced on their official site that they will release a new greatest hits compilation on November 1st. Ultimate Pet Shop Boys will feature 19 hit singles in chronological order from "West End girls" to the Xenomania-produced "Love etc.".
The Special Edition version will feature a DVD containing a series of classic BBC TV performances from Top Of The Pops and other shows recorded over the last 25 years, as well as Pet Shop Boys' Glastonbury headline show from June.
Pet Shop Boys have also revealed on Twitter that they have recorded a new song, apparently with ex-Xenomania member Tim Powell.
Interview Magazine spoke to Neil Tennant ahead of Pet Shop Boys' Glastonbury performance tonight. He talked about Xenomania and the Grammy-nominated album Yes:
What are your thoughts on how your songwriting collaborators, production team Xenomania, have transformed mainstream music this decade?
TENNANT: They're fascinating because, like us, they work in the area of experimental mainstream pop music. Taking mainstream music by the scruff of its neck is the most exciting and difficult thing to do. They never stick to one sound, so they're never boring. They have a big range. It's a team of people who really love music, a situation which actually reminds me of my journalism days at Smash Hits–we were all obsessed with pop music. As musicians, Xenomania share that ethos and have a fresh outlook. So, working with them really suited us. We almost wrote with them for our previous record, Fundamental, but then we heard New Order were doing so, and we didn't want to deal with accusations of ripping them off, even though that collaboration ended up fizzling.
What was the process of recording with Xenomania's Brian Higgins like? He's notoriously tricky to work with—Franz Ferdinand actually quit working with the team because their energies clashed.
TENNANT: I know—it's a shame because I think that could have been an amazing record. For us, it was interesting because I find that Brian has a very flexible way of writing songs. But I think for a lot of bands, his methods are tricky, indeed. Brian is highly disciplined, and I think most acts find it very challenging to deal.
With those massive hooks, "Love Etc." should have been a #1 hit, no?
TENNANT: It should have been bigger! But when you're our age and you've been around a long time, it doesn't matter how good the record is. They're not going to play it! [UK's] Radio 1 said to us, "It's an amazing record—but we're not going to play it." It didn't fit their youth demographic; they don't want to introduce anyone new to the Pet Shop Boys. But in Germany, "Love Etc." was on the charts for months. Of course, we haven't been played in America for years.
Pet Shop Boys are set to headline the Other Stage at the Glastonbury Festival tonight for the second time in their career. They are due onstage at 10.15 pm and their entire set will also be broadcast live on BBC3 TV.
ALEX GARDNER's "I'm Not Mad" debuted in the UK Singles Chart this week at number 44.
As Chart Rigger puts it, "'I'm Not Mad' will go down as another sadly lost gem that was touted in the blogosphere — and one that truly deserved the hype! — but overlooked by the general record-buying/music downloading public".
Someone went through the trouble of transcribing every single word of the articles that were published on the latest issue of the PET SHOP BOYS fanclub magazine Literally:
MIRANDA COOPER is in the latest issue of Red Magazine talking about new singer/songwriter Emeli Sandé. Miranda says: «She's part of an exciting new generation of producers and writers, and I am always hearing great things about her.» Emeli Sandé wrote Chipmunk's "Diamond Rings" and also appears on Wiley's "Never Be Your Woman".
New Xenomania protégée BROOKE X has been finishing her debut album, so it won't be long until there's new music out there. Meanwhile, here's the top 3 Brooke X tweets from the past week:
-- "If I like my record anymore I'd marry it, have lots of song babies together and live happily ever after in the rock and roll hall of fame." -- "Holy shit, we are KILLING this album! I'm on aural pleasure overload!" -- "I've just heard the sound of love, and it's on my goddamn album."
Through some intensive Twitter investigation, Popjustice discovered that there is a GIRLS ALOUD cover of The Go-Go's' "Our Lips Are Sealed" hidden somewhere in the Xenomania vaults.
MINI VIVAtalk about the pressure of working with/for Xenomania:
«There’s always that little bit of pressure because they’re well known for the Girls Aloud stuff and it’s always in the top ten. We just wanna have the same success if you know what I mean. We just wanna do well for them and we want people to love ‘em [the songs] as much as they love Girls Aloud songs.»
"Jump Off" by the BANNED OF ST TRINIAN'S has been remixed and re-recorded by Almighty and J.K. The track has been released as a download, CD-R and is now on the compilation Almighty: Definitive Collection: Volume 8. Listen to clips and buy it here.
Today is the first anniversary of the release of the album Yes, so we bring you the instrumental tracks of the tenth Pet Shop Boys studio album. These instrumentals were released on a limited (300 copies) vinyl version of Yes, featuring 11 x 12" singles with exclusive instrumental versions of each track on the b-side.
Yes was recorded throughout 2008 and is produced by Brian Higgins and Xenomania, who also co-wrote three of the tracks. It was released in the UK on 23 March 2009, and reached number 4 in the UK album charts, the Pet Shop Boys' highest placing since their 1996 album Bilingual. The album spawned four singles: "Love etc.", "Did you see me coming?", "Beautiful people" (Germany-only) and "All over the world" (as part of the Christmas EP). Yes was nominated at the 52nd Grammy Awards for Best Electronic/Dance Album.
Note: We do not own these instrumentals. They were posted on YouTube.
1. Love etc. (Tennant/Lowe/Higgins/Cooper/Powell/Parker)
The first single from the album (reached number 14 in the charts), one of the three songs co-written with Xenomania. It was originally a track that Xenomania were keeping for a project they were going to do themselves. They worked on the song from May 2008 until just before Christmas that year. Neil Tennant and Brian Higgins had a heated debate over "Love etc". Neil won.
2. All over the world (Tennant/Lowe)
"All Over The World" uses a melody from the "Nutcracker Suite", composed by Tchaikovsky. A song about love songs, it was the last track to be written for the album.
3. Beautiful people (Tennant/Lowe)
Originally written for a TV series called Beautiful People. It sounded more "folky", but the guys from Xenomania put a 60s beat on it. Features backing vocals by new Xenomania talents Alex Gardner and Jessie Malakouti and orchestral arrangements by Owen Pallett (Arcade Fire, Final Fantasy).
4. Did you see me coming? (Tennant/Lowe)
It was chosen as the second single due to the enthusiasm of Parlophone's radio promotion staff, who felt that it would get a lot of airplay (it got played on BBC Radio 2, but little elsewhere, and reached number 21 in the charts).
It was the first song that the Pet Shop Boys played to Brian Higgins after meeting him. Brian said that it was "80% there".
5. Vulnerable (Tennant/Lowe)
The song was going to be a duet, and they considered approaching Carla Bruni. The song itself is sung from the point of view of a woman.
6. More than a dream (Tennant/Lowe/Cooper/Higgins/Resch/Jones)
One of the three Xenomania co-writes, written on the very first day at Xenomania. Originally titled "Where The Wild Things Are".
7. Building a wall (Tennant/Lowe)
A rare call and response between Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, this is Stuart Price's favourite song on the album.
8. King of Rome (Tennant/Lowe)
A simple backing track with historical lyrics about Napoleon's son, who is a symbol of loneliness and exile.
9. Pandemonium (Tennant/Lowe)
Unlike the rest of the album, "Pandemonium" was written in 2007, when the Pet Shop Boys were writing songs for Kylie Minogue. It is about the relationship between Kate Moss and Pete Doherty. Johnny Marr (The Smiths, Electronic, The Cribs) plays harmonica.
10. The way it used to be (Tennant/Lowe/Cooper/Higgins/Coler)
It was going to be a duet with Tina Turner. Miranda Cooper and Neil Tennant sat down and wrote the story of the song, which is structured like a film. Both Neil Tennant and Brian Higgins say that the song is their personal favourite from the album.
11. Legacy (Tennant/Lowe)
The Chinese government didn't approve the distribution of "Legacy" within China, so instead of removing it from the album, the Pet Shop Boys suggested that it should instead be included as an instrumental.
The Pet Shop Boys' live double-pack DVD and CD Pandemonium is out now.
The DVD includes the full Pandemonium show, featuring songs from the Xenomania-produced album Yes plus many of the duo's greatest hits. It was filmed by David Barnard in London, on 21st December, 2009.
There are also seven extra features on the DVD: "My girl" and "It doesn't often snow at Christmas" (Live at the O2); the music videos for "Love etc.", "Did you see me coming?" and "All over the world"; the complete 2009 Brits Awards performance and an audio commentary by Pet Shop Boys and stage designer Es Devlin.
The CD includes 17 songs from the show and has been mixed by Stuart Price.
Whatever situation you might be in, here is a list of songs for Valentine's Day, all of them written and produced by Xenomania:
SONGS ABOUT LOVE
Girls Aloud - It's Magic (2005) Key lyric: "With you, only you, I know that I can be myself / Funny how I could find love with you and nobody else"
Sophie Ellis-Bextor - If You Go (2007) Key lyric: "I've got my summer sun, I'll take my love and run, I got you babe"
Pet Shop Boys - Love etc. (2009) Key lyric: "I believe, call me naive, but love is for free"
Natacha Atlas - When I Close My Eyes (feat. Myra Boyle) (2003) Key lyric: "You're shining in my eyes, walking on my ocean, sailing in my skies every time I see you there"
Girls Aloud - Untouchable (2008) Key lyric: "Without any meaning we're just skin and bone, like beautiful robots dancing alone"
SONGS ABOUT LUST
Dannii Minogue - All I Wanna Do (1997) Key lyric: "All I wanna do is touch you"
Vagabond - I've Been Wanting You (2009) Key lyric: "Keep it going baby, you know I don't need no sleep / 'Cos the urge is getting stronger, more of you is what I need"
Girls Aloud - Graffiti My Soul (2004) Key lyric: "Out the bedroom, down the stairs, along the carpet, no one cares / On the table, on to the floor, it's procreation - and nothing more"
Girls Aloud - Watch Me Go (2005) Key lyric: "I wanna feel that funky fever, baby I'm at the door / Got the keys, got the gasoline / Pour it on, I'm ready to blow - ow!"
Girls Aloud - Money (2006) Key lyric: "Getting deep-deep-deep and then I'm gonna... gonna beep your beep-beep and then I'm gonna... jump on that man!"
Girls Aloud - Fling (2007) Key lyric: "Nothing more than a fling, baby, fling, baby / Just a bit of ding-a-ling baby, bling baby / Don't want relationships, so swing, baby"
SONGS FOR BROKEN HEARTS
Alexis Strum Nothing Good About This Goodbye (2003) Key lyric: "Tell me, will you miss me when I'm in your history? / Baby, there ain't nothing good about this goodbye"
Mini Viva - I Wish (2009) Key lyric: "And I go oh-oh no, he could be the one who hits the light inside my soul"
Girls Aloud - Whole Lotta History (2005) Key lyric: "Baby, I miss you, so tell me, is she really that beautiful? / Each time she's kissed you, tell me, is it really that good for you?"
Sugababes - Never Gonna Dance Again (2007) Key lyric: "I lost the rhythm when you said it's over / And as the final record starts to fade / I feel the dancefloor turning colder"
Jessie Malakouti - Standing Up For The Lonely (2009) Key lyric: "I saw the warning signs from the start but I never thought you'd break my heart / I'm standing up for the lonely and the lovers that you left behind"
SONGS FOR MOVING ON
Sugababes - Hole In The Head (2003) Key lyric: "Seven hours since you went away, 11 coffees, Ricky Lake on play / But late at night up when I'm feeling blue, I'd sell my ass before I think of you"
Rachel Stevens - Funny How (2005) Key lyric: "My heart got tired, it's way past three, take these fools away from me"
Frank - Complicated (2006) Key lyric: "Don't, I'm better on my own, just leave me all alone 'cos I feel suffocated"
Mania - DNA (2004) Key lyric: "I'm no maniac, don't want you back, I won't retract - no way"
Saint Etienne - Lightning Strikes Twice (2005) Key lyric: "Everyone should have a reason to believe, so I still believe that lightning could strike twice for me"
Moonbaby - I'm Thru With Love (2000) Key lyric: "Had it up to here, I'll take a running jump if any boy comes near / I'm thru with love, it didn't do much for me"
The online music publications have been publishing the inevitable "best of the year" lists. This is the third (and final?) round-up of the Xenomania songs/albums that appear on those lists. (See part one and two)
6. Mini Viva - I Wish 8. Mini Viva - Left My Heart In Tokyo 22. Girls Aloud - Untouchable 31. Pet Shop Boys - Love Etc 32. Girls Aloud - The Loving Kind
Even though it came from an '08 LP, even though it was chopped up like a cheap cut of meat for its single release, and even though it ended GA's run of top ten hits, we couldn't not include this sublime disco-pop torch song. They'll be back next year, right? Right?!
29. Mini Viva: 'Left My Heart In Tokyo'
The debut from Mini Viva - a.k.a. lively Northerners Britt and Frankee - proved once again that a day without a Xenomania pop song is like a donut without the post-gobble guilt, a silent trump without the private smirk, a Daily Mail diatribe without the... we'll stop there.
41. Pet Shop Boys: 'Love etc' Like lots of pop fans, DS got the horn when we heard the Pets were teaming up with Xenomania. The blood kept rushing south thanks to 'Love Etc', an electro gem with a call-and-response hook, a timely message and a nod to trendy artist Gerhard Richter.
It was great to have the Pet Shop Boys back with a new album and after watching them steal the show on this year’s Brit Awards when they received the life time achievement award and sang the track All Over the World which has Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker March woven into the song from their new album Yes. The album is one of their best albums for years and includes the excellent Love Etc, The Way It Used to be and Did You See It Coming. It was produced by Xenomania, the production team behind Girls Aloud, and there are a couple of songs I could imagine the girls singing More Than a Dream being one.
The online music publications have been publishing the inevitable "best of the year" lists. This is the second round-up of the Xenomania songs/albums that appear on those lists. (See part 1 here)
Mini Viva - Left My Heart In Tokyo Penned by the creative wizz-kids behind Girls Aloud's back catalogue and performed by a pair of loopy-as-you-like young starlets, 'Left My Heart In Tokyo' was only ever destined for chart glory.
5. Mini Viva - Left My Heart In Tokyo It’s a shame that for its greatness, ‘I Wish’ has seen Xenomania revert back to familiar territory with a ‘Call The Shots’-style mid-tempo number. Back in late summer ‘…Tokyo’ showed much promise from the duo who were (and hopefully still are) being groomed as GA’s natural successors. A very tasteful yet delirious song with many surprises (including false endings, disco baselines and crowbarred middle-eigths), it proved to be something of a slow-burner in the charts against the odds. Their launch has been surprisingly low-key, let’s hope 2010 gives us the chance to know them a little better.
Over 25 years into their career Messrs Tennant and Lowe wrote a top ten hit for Girls Aloud, won a Brit for Outstanding Achievement and, with the help of Xenomania, concocted their best album in years. Their trademark plangent melodies and wry lyrics are here in abundance. Love etc,. takes the subject of vacuous celebrity culture and has something intelligent to say about it. All Over The World takes a snippet of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite and transforms it into a global-pop stomper. Pandemonium – which is ostensibly about Kate Moss and Pete Doherty – is typically witty, glamorous and brilliantly catchy. Legacy wraps a surreal lyric (“The Carphone Warehouse boy has been on the phone…”) around a sombre melody. The highlight is The Way It Used To Be – a dramatic pop belter to match anything in their back catalogue.
With the assistance of British hitmaking team Xenomania, the PSB concocted their best, frothiest, most hum-along-able album in more than two decades. Lead single "Love etc." is just as unforgettable as any of their previous singles. — D.T.
This is a straightforward pop song and two people meeting, the attraction is obvious, or is the object of Neil’s attentions one step ahead and controlling the show? The stand out moment is as the middle eight ends and goes into the instrumental, it makes the song for me. Not the obvious choice for a second single from ‘Yes’, there are more singleworthy tracks on there, but this song breezes along quite nicely and it’s a positive song about the beginnings of a love affair. LA
30. Mini Viva - I Wish
In the January 2010 issue of Word magazine, Peter Robinson wonders whether (in order to make the charts reflect music consumption more accurately) a hypothetical 13-year old “hammering the same tune on repeat for eight hours on You Tube” should count towards that song making the chart. If this rule were in place in the last two months of 2009, Mini Viva’s single I Wish would probably be number one on the basis of my You Tube views alone, such is my tireless – and possibly mid-life-crisis-presaging – obsession with the song and its video. I find everything about it just utterly compelling; the double chorus, the lovely crystal clear synths, the sky-scraping melody. It is the last great single of the noughties and Mini Viva are the first great pop group of the “tens” (or whatever it will be called). I realise that Simon Cowell is a force for conservativism in pop, and that the last thing pop needs is undue regard for “tradition”, but this RATM4XMAS thing seems like anti-pop, pro-rock, pseudo-political, musical snobbery to me – and that’s just as conservative as Simon Cowell. Buy “I Wish” by Mini Viva instead! Honk your horn for bright as a button, primary coloured future-pop! Hrnk hrnk!! CG
6. Girls Aloud - The Loving Kind
Some of us (i.e. me) literally popgasmed at the news that Pet Shop Boys had collaborated with Xenomania on a song for Girls Aloud. If you are looking for a Pop Trinity they would be a good candidate. A midtempo affair in the same vein as ‘Call The Shots’, it had trademark Tennant melancholy, desperation (‘I’d do anything’) and hopelessness over someone’s suspected ability to be loved or loving. It’s what Neil once termed ‘tragi-disco’. Meanwhile, musically it makes one want to curl up in its warm synths against winter’s bitterness (an electro blanket?) and have a hot chocolate to hand. Although I pictured mist, station platforms and collars pulled up, the video reflected underlying anger with the girls smashing glass and various objects. But looking stunning while doing so. So fair enough. Girls Aloud’s last top ten single to date was a beautiful affair.
3. Girls Aloud - Untouchable
On the surface this is just a “fan favourite” from 2008’s ‘Out Of Control’ album which delightedly received a release towards the beginning of this year. But dig a little deeper and it’s much more significant. The original version runs at just short of seven minutes, make no mistake this is one epic pop song – although it was trimmed down to a much more radio friendly four minutes upon release. It also became Girls Aloud’s first official single (ignoring ‘Theme To St. Trinians’) to miss the top ten, which feels almost criminal considering some of the lame cover versions that have out-peaked it. Yet what makes it so good? Is it the immediately distinctive twangy hook? The build-up into a 90s-esque trance ballad? The beautiful “without any meaning we’re just skin and bone, like beautiful robots dancing alone” lyric which closes the track? Like the best Girls Aloud songs, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly which is that crucial factor which keeps the whole thing hanging together so it’s best to stop analysing and just enjoy the sheer rush of another Xenomania classic.
14. Pet Shop Boys - Love etc.
On their best single for donkey’s years the Pet Shop Boys take the subject of celebrity and treat it with some compassion – a nice touch for the most famous ironists in modern pop. Love etc started out as a Xenomania backing track which the production house had been holding back for another artist, but Tennant and Lowe kept asking after the bouncy tune they’d heard in the studio until finally the Xenomania resolve was broken. It is in some senses an atypical single for the Pet Shop Boys in that it doesn’t sound like any of their previous, and yet at the same time there’s something about it that is unmistakably “them”. Maybe it’s the namechecking of Gerhard Richter, I don’t know. What I do know is, after The Beatles, the Pet Shop Boys are the best pop group there has ever been, and Love etc. is a worthy addition to the “oeuvre”. CG
This is the new version of "All over the world", produced by Marius de Vries and Pet Shop Boys and based on the original track, with orchestral and choir arrangements by Matt Robertson and Marius de Vries.
The song was originally produced by Brian Higgins/Xenomania, from Pet Shop Boys’ latest album, Yes. The new version is included in the "Pet Shop Boys Christmas" EP, to be released on December 14th.
The press has been publishing the inevitable "best of the year" lists. These are the Xenomania songs/albums that are starting to appear on those lists:
32. Pet Shop Boys - Yes For anyone who regards their first (and arguably definitive) singles compilation Discography as a glittering high watermark in modern pop, who views Neil Tennant as maybe Morrissey's only serious rival to the mantle of England's greatest living pop eccentric, or who has ever found themselves lost in stupefying reverie to 'West End Girls', 'Suburbia', 'Being Boring' et al, Yes willbe greeted as a triumphant return to form, comfortably their best collection of songs since 1993's near-faultless Very.
35. Pet Shop Boys - Yes There are hardcore 'fans' of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe whose hands flew up in horror at confirmation that Girls Aloud's hit factory Xenomania would be producing this album. But Brian Higgins and his crew have brought new sounds and methods to the Pets' arsenal, while Tennant's lyrics have rarely been more poignant.
WHAT WE SAID: "A super-concentrated hit of everything there is to enjoy about the Pet Shop Boys: danceable yet everyday pop, with irony behind the warmth and warmth behind the irony. One of their best." - Darren Harvey
3. Pet Shop Boys - "Love etc." Pet Shop Boys have so many written good pop songs over such a long period, and with so little diminution of quality, that their lack of American super-stardom can only be attributed to occult forces. I don’t think critical analysis can solve this one.
29. Annie - Don't Stop Anne Lilia Berge Strand's route to market with Don't Stop was fraught with drama. At various points Girls Aloud, Alex Kapranos and Xenomania were all involved in its gestation... and then she parted company from Island before it was released. Fast forward a year and it finally sees the light of day. Just as well she didn't stop, for this is superior electropop in the Saint Etienne mould.
WHAT WE SAID: "Don't Stop is one of the best pop albums of 2009. Fingers crossed we don't have to wait four years until the next one." - Michael Cragg
Pet Shop Boys' latest album, Yes, has received a Grammy nomination in the category of Best Electronic / Dance Album. Yes faces competition from Lady Gaga, David Guetta, LMFAO and The Crystal Method:
Best Electronic/Dance Album (category 13) (For vocal or instrumental albums. Albums only.)
The Crystal Method - Divided By Night [Tiny E Records] David Guetta - One Love [Astralwerks] Lady Gaga - The Fame [Streamline/Interscope/Konlive/Cherrytree] LMFAO - Party Rock [Party Rock/Will.i.am/Cherrytree/Interscope] Pet Shop Boys - Yes [Astralwerks]
Yes is Pet Shop Boys' tenth studio album. It was recorded throughout 2008 and is produced by Brian Higgins and Xenomania. Xenomania also co-wrote three of the tracks: "Love etc", "The way it used to be" and "More than a dream". Guitarist Johnny Marr and string arranger Owen Pallett also appear on the album.
Pet Shop Boys have previously received four Grammy nominations:
1997: Best Dance Recording for "To step Aside" (Nominated) 2003: Best Recording Package for Release (Nominated) 2007: Best Dance Recording for "I'm with Stupid" (Nominated) 2007: Best Electronic/Dance Album for Fundamental (Nominated)
Pet Shop Boys will release a new EP, Christmas, in continental Europe on December 11th and in the UK on December 14th. The full track listing is:
1. It doesn’t often snow at Christmas 2. My girl 3. All over the world (new version) 4. Viva la vida/Domino dancing 5. My girl (our house mix)
"All over the world" is a new version of the track from Pet Shop Boys' latest album, Yes. Also included is a new version of "It doesn’t often snow at Christmas", originally an exclusive Pet Shop Boys fan club Christmas single.
Both new versions are produced by Marius de Vries and Pet Shop Boys, based on the original tracks, with orchestral and choir arrangements by Matt Robertson and Marius de Vries. The EP also includes Pet Shop Boys’ arrangement of the Madness classic, "My Girl", and the medley of Coldplay’s "Viva La Vida" and Pet Shop Boys' "Domino Dancing", produced by Stuart Price.
Christmas is being released on both CD and digital download. You can pre-order it here.
Pet Shop Boys celebrate the Brazilian leg of their 2009 Pandemonium tour by releasing a Brazil-only greatest hits. Pet Shop Boys Party will include both past hits and some newer material.
Party will be released in Brazil on November 4th through TV Globo's record label, Som Livre, with a TV campaign on TV Globo (the biggest Brazilian network).
The album includes songs that were featured in TV Globo soap operas. Among them is the Xenomania-produced "King of Rome", currently being featured on the soap opera Viver a Vida.
The track-listing is as follows:
1. West End Girls (10'' Mix) 2. Love Comes Quickly 3. Paninaro (7'' Mix) 4. It's A Sin (Disco Mix) 5. What Have I Done To Deserve This? 6. Always On My Mind (Extended Dance Version) 7. Domino Dancing 8. It's Alright (7'' Version) 9. Being Boring 10. Go West 11. Before (Single Edit) 12. New York City Boy 13. Home And Dry (Radio Edit) 14. Minimal (Radio Edit) 15. Love etc. 16. King of Rome
The artwork was created by Farrow. Pet Shop Boys' official web site announces that they are investigating the possibility of selling copies of the album through their online store.
Vagabond are in the studio working on new material. They updated fans on MySpace: «We just wanted to tell you that we're going to be in the studio working on new material for a while. We're really excited about having new music for the new year and will keep you posted with video clips and tweets from the studio.»
The new Pet Shop Boys single, the Germany-only "Beautiful People", is out now. You can buy it on Pet Shop Boys' official shop.
NiteVisions' next show will be the Gold Dust night at Hoxton Bar and Kitchen, on October 21st.
Mini Viva have been selected by MSN Music as one of the Best Girl Groups Ever. Also in the Top 12 are The Supremes, The Bangles, Bananarama, Spice Girls, All Saints, Girls Aloud, Sugababes, TLC, Eternal, Atomic Kitten and Destiny's Child.
They say: «OK, so they may have only had one top 10 single so far, but as far as we’re concerned, Mini Viva AKA Frankee and Britt are the future of girl bands. A bit Girls Aloud, a bit Mel and Kim, their first hit Left My Heart in Tokyo already has a celebrity fan in the form of Cheryl Cole, and with hit-producing team Xenomania behind them and the NME saying they have “the catchiest single of 2009” we reckon they’re the future.»
The re-release of the Alesha Dixon album The Alesha Show will have three additional tracks: "To Love Again", "Shake" and the Xenomania-produced "The Light". The Alesha Show: The Encore is out on November 23rd.
Girls Aloud's "Sound Of The Underground" was selected by The Telegraph as one of the songs that defined the decade. The article says that «Xenomania’s blend of electro and guitars set pop production standards». See the full list.
The new single mix of Jessie Malakouti's "Standing Up For The Lonely" premiered last Friday on Scott Mills' Floor Fillers - skip to 0:44:00 to listen to the song. "Standing Up for the Lonely" will be released in November.
The limited edition of Annie's Don't Stop is available to pre-order here. The special edition comes with an exclusive bonus CD.
Alesha Dixon's latest album will be re-released on November 22nd. The album, retitled The Alesha Show - The Encore, will include three new tracks.
Pet Shop Boys' Chris Lowe said in an interview that the reason the duo worked so well with Xenomania is because «there was such enthusiasm and such enjoyment of pop music»: «You don't meet that many people who are really into pop and the joy that you can get from listening to a great pop record — that euphoria, that shiny sound.»
In another interview, Chris also said that part of the pleasure of recording Yes was being part of the “whole pop experience” that is the Xenomania hit factory: «Girls Aloud were hanging around. You’d go into the sitting room and they’d all be there with their laptops. We had lunch with Alesha Dixon.» The experience reminded the Pet Shop Boys of the 1980s music scene, when they were pivotal figures in nightclubs, the Top of the Pops studio and European music festivals.
The release of the new Pet Shop Boys single has been postponed to October 2nd. "Beautiful people" will be released in Germany on CD and digital download. The full track-listing is now:
1. Beautiful people 2. Fugitive (7" version) 3. Beautiful people (demo) 4. Up and down (Tom Stephan mix)
For fans outside of Germany, there will be 500 copies for sale from the Pet Shop Boys online store. The CD is already available to pre-order from Amazon Germany (which has the wrong track-listing on their site at the moment).
Pet Shop Boys' "Beautiful people" will be released as the third single from Yes in Germany on September 25th.
The digital and CD formats will include the album and demo versions, a remix of "Beautiful people" by Vinny Vero and Richard X's previously unreleased seven-inch mix of "Fugitive". Tracklist:
1. Beautiful People 2. Beautiful People (Vinny Vero Remix) 3. Beautiful People (Demo) 4. Fugitive (Seven-inch Mix)
The single is limited to 2.500 copies and is now available to pre-order on Amazon.de.
The current edition of Literally magazine (#34, July 2009) features a 15-page interview with Xenomania's Brian Higgins. Literally is published three times a year and is only available to members of the Pet Shop Boys Club. The interview was conducted by Chris Heath, on May 13, 2009. Some selected quotes from the interview, organized by topics:
Brian Higgins' first steps in the music business
«I came to it late... I think most people in the music business probably have their first successes or get heavily involved with it in their early 20s - that never happened for me. I had a record deal when I was 19 and then got dropped, and so I had to work in business and write songs at night.
«By the time I got to 28, 29, we were starting to have hits in the daytime and I was still working - it was only when I had a number 1 hit in America ["Believe" by Cher] that I actually left work, full time employment. That was ten years ago, when I was 32. So to come to it at 32, I cherish every day. Because I'd got to the point at about 29 where I never believed I'd ever leave work. I'd started to have hits, but I thought this is the way it's going to be: I'm going to work in the day and I'm going to have a hit a year, and I'm going to have more money than anyone else I know, but generally speaking this is my life, and I'd accepted that that's what it was.
«And then suddenly it changed. And so as a result of that I cherish every moment and every single day, and that's the truth of it. This is my life. I don't have a life outside of it, I don't want a life outside of it. That's it. I'm obsessed to this degree. And very lucky to be able to be obsessed to this degree. But it has to be driven by success. If there's no success then there are no people - that's a fact. Otherwise it's just a weird guy in a house who buys in all these young friends - it has to be successful.»
Obsession with synthesizers and electronic music
«I was obsessed with synthesisers, and I guess my obsession with synthesisers had been based around Duran Duran and the way they utilised synths, which I thought was amazingly clever, and Japan, and Depeche Mode. They were my three groups that I probably obsessed about and aspired to be. But back then, especially where I was from in Cumbria, you'd never see a Jupiter 8 in the flesh, let alone be able to afford one. Because why would one of those ever find its way up there? It never would.
«I had a Casio MT-40 keyboard.
It was the most repulsive thing going»
«So I was just obsessed with electronic music, and its inaccessibility to me made me more obsessed. Particularly as I was a keyboard player. I had what they called a Casio MT-40 keyboard, which was a white tiny thing that introduced a range of home keyboards. It was the most repulsive thing going - it wasn't remotely analogue, it wasn't remotely like a synthesiser, so I used to get effects pedals and do anything I could to change it and make it swirl about with these pre-set sounds.
«For me the Pet Shop Boys were the first group that I felt pushed electronic music forward beyond where Japan, Depeche Mode and Duran Duran had taken it. And in many ways the songwriting was superior to those three groups. Undoubtedly - melodically, lyrically, in every single facet. And so I felt that they progressed a genre that I was obsessed with. So I admired them and wanted to know about them because of that.»
Xenomania: character, attitude and application determine things
«It's very difficult to get in. Everyone's hand-picked. Your talent just gets you an interview - it's character and attitude and application that determines things, it's not talent. Talent just gets you on the pitch. Nobody knows who or what they're joining when they come here but it's been thought through exactly how they'll get on with people, so as a result it's a house full of enormous ambition but with people who are very, very quietly determined as opposed to showy people. (...)
«I guess it's full of people who want to be coached, who want to know stuff. That sort of mirrors me and Miranda - we're obsessed by knowledge. We want to know more about ourselves, we want to know more about how to do things better, we want to know stuff. And so I guess that's the culture there, and so we look for people who are probably a bit like that. (...) "How can we improve, how can we get better, how can we make it more exciting? How can we not go stale? How can we stay exciting? How can we stay relevant?". It's all of those questions. Puzzles. Non-stop puzzles. So I suppose this house is full of people who are up for puzzling that out with me, but letting me be the person that actually fills the crossword in, because only one person can do it. »
What people want from Xenomania
«People are coming to me already with a quality idea in mind, because they've heard it. They want that. They want whatever it is they've heard applied to their project. But people need to understand that when they hear something that we've done on the radio, a process has been followed to achieve that. It isn't just something that I pull out of a hat. A very particular, precise procedure has been followed which is supposed by a philosophy which is supported by a mentality which is supported by a lifestyle - the whole thing goes back back back back back. It's a puzzle to me and I've puzzled it all my life (...)
«And we're just not interested in the way other people do things. And we're not interested in celebrating in the way other people celebrate. We're just not interested in anything other than the way we want to do things, I suppose. And it's a mentality that you can't break, because it makes us unhappy and then you won't get what you want anyway. (...) But obviously that sort of mentality, to be able to cope with information on that level, I've trained not just me but myself, Miranda, Tim, we've trained our minds to think that way for many many many many years. That's why you couldn't really copy our way of working - because you'd be overwhelmed with it.»
«(...) It's really difficult because we're so awkward - we only know what we know, and we know it better than anybody else. So as long as that continues to be successful then we'll continue to be awkward with it. And not wanting to dilute things or play a game or do a project so that you can wear a badge saying "we did that". Because that doesn't mean anything. We're Xenomania, so fuck you! Seriously. That's how we generally view it. Is that arrogant? I don't know. I think all successful music entities have their own very strong thing.»
Bad experiences with big artists
«Everything about us is about enormous enthusiasm for something. And therefore big artists can come in and they think "they're the flavour of the whatever, let's take their thing and then we'll do what we want with it..." Well, no, that's not acceptable anyway. I've had that experience happen where the big artists were fine until they got into the mix room and then they basically pulled the record to pieces. So I took my name off the record and the writing credits off the record. Because they're assholes. And they sold about 20.000 copies, and they've never been seen since. So big artists are often jerks of the biggest order. And often people say don't meet your heroes because you'll be let down, and I sort of understand why people would say that.»
The Xenomania system
Melody is the raw material
«Through understanding and watching other people write, and observing how they write, I tried to come up with a way that ensured that people didn't get stuck in melodic cul-de-sacs, where they would spend time polishing ideas that basically weren't any good. Melody is the raw material of all songs. It's not lyric, it's a melody. It's a tune. That's what people latch into first (...)»
«Don't back your first idea because it might be the third one that's the winner. But songwriters generally are arrogant, and I would include myself in that - the first thing you do that you like, you think that's the one and you follow it. And I've seen us write too many bad songs, or average songs, that followed that. So our system defuses songwriter arrogance and puts a much more labour intensive melodic aspect to it. You work for the melody a bit harder.» (...)
The taste test
«I encourage true melodic expression whereby you're confident enough in the surroundings that you're in to basically pour into a Dictaphone every melodic idea your brain can give that piece of music within a six, seven or nine minute period of time. I then comp those melodies down and then select the ones that I really like. And then I'll make a gut decision as to whether or not I think there's enough melodic content with which to make up a song. And then once that's decided that yes there is, therefore you go about the process of lyricing all of those things. You lyric everything, you sing everything, and then it's based upon the best vocal performances. (...)
«It's all based on the taste test, I suppose. The vocal has then got to deliver the whole thing, so basically you line up the top six, seven, eight vocal performances and then you have the intellectual challenge of knitting it together, which I love, and which is fascinating. And very challenging. (...)»
«I wanted to do things that are original and different but still very very commercial»
Knitting things together
«The challenge built within it is overwhelming sometimes. It's very hard. And we've trained our minds to work this way over many many many many many years. (...)
«But let's talk of a track that clearly uses that system. "Under Pressure", David Bowie and Queen, there's virtually no repetitive parts in that song. Now, I didn't listen to that as a young guy and think, "oh, that's the way to write songs". It's just the way I fell into it, wanting to do things that are original and different but still very very commercial. I found that I was becoming obsessive about knitting things together. A chorus is obviously constant, but I didn't understand why everything around the chorus had to be constant too. (...)»
Where pop and avant garde collide
«I want people to be listening to things hundreds of times and finding nuance that they didn't hear previously. (...) That's how I hear music - looking for the originality and the rememberbility. It's the hardest thing, to get the balance between those two things. I'm interested in where avant garde and pop collide. But the "pop" word is critical within that. (...)
«I think the path to true originality is that at some stage the originators must be confused. They have to be. If you are to achieve something with true originality. And I know people could read this and say, "well he did that, and that's not particularly original". I can only say I aspire to it. Whilst, at the same time, I'm obsessed with hit records. I don't want anything that isn't a hit. So you have to understand how the things merge together (...)
«A cool record that's not known by anyone, it's a waste of time. It's about trying to get your music played to as wide an audience as you possibly can and trying to fulfil as much of an original aspect within that as you possibly can. So it's a very challenging burden that you place on yourself. But I think it's at the core of why we've had such a long, long run of hits, and why so many of those hits have got really particular highlights within them that don't necessarily relate specifically to anything else around them at the time they're released. And I think that's a good body of working.»
The (new) sound of Girls Aloud
«"The Promise" was the sound of a big group, a group about to be huge»
«I'm a very aggressive person and I like music to attack. To shoot you in the arm a bit. I want that from it. There's a driving aspect to the music we've made over the years. Girls Aloud are different because Girls Aloud have become such a big group that it's up to us to deliver what they need to fuel the Big Group-ness. So Girls Aloud's records were more driving and pumping and innovative then than they are now because that's not what's required. They need to be fulfilled as the big stars they've become, so "The Promise" was the sound of a big group, a group about to be huge. They needed the theme tune to that. They didn't need "The Show". They didn't need "Biology". They needed the theme tune to the biggest girl group on the planet, and that's what we felt "The Promise" said to us. That's where I'm doing the right job for the girls. But generally speaking my own default position in music is to have something aggressive.»
Pet Shop Boys - Chris Lowe & Neil Tennant
«Chris Lowe is an electronic pioneer. He's one of the greatest.»
«They're fantastic people. It makes total sense why they've had their career. (...) It's very difficult to survive in the music business for however many years. (...) And I think to do it there needs to be some sort of outstanding qualities in the people, and it was nice to be able to identify outstanding qualities in Neil and Chris. (...)
«Chris lives his life in a euphoric state of mind or a doomsday state of mind - it's one or the other. I don't think it's anything like bipolar, he's just like that. He's capable of enormous euphoria, and that's what comes out in his music, and he's exceptionally bright, and he's got a very good heart, Chris Lowe. And he's an electronic pioneer. He's one of the greatest. So you're working with one of the greatest modern musicians of all time with Chris Lowe.
«And so to have such a personality that's capable of reaching such scales of happiness sort of makes sense. That it would have to be a person like that that could have done some of the musical things he's pulled off over the years. That's how I sort of summed up Chris Lowe. A real lover of life. But also this doomsday aspect as well, which is hilarious. He really makes me laugh when he's like that. (...) But seeing how happy he is in music, and seeing music come together, he has incredible enthusiasm - a super-human level of enthusiasm. And that's great to see. I love it.
«Neil's an intellectual - very, very, very clever, incredibly charming, very bright, very quick-witted, but probably believes everything he says is right. Everything. So therefore he probably needs someone to catch him a little, but just to make him question himself a little bit, because he's fearsomely clever, but he's not always right. But what a fascinating guy. He's amazing.»
«I was struck by how they looked completely different from anything else that was around. I thought "West End girls" was just an incredible record. Incredible record. (...) [Neil Tennant] wasn't an obvious front man, I suppose, in the way that people have been projected for years and years and years before then. I think he was more enigmatic. But the music was the thing that I was blown away by. (...)
«I thought the second album was amazing. I was making the album that got me my first record deal when that album came out. And the music I was making was incredibly hip - the house music thing was just exploding in this country on an underground level and I was doing those sort of records and was starting to get a lot of interest because of that. I can't remember what we eventually called the record, to be honest - it didn't do anything. But I remember coming back from the studio and listening to their new album on a cassette in the car and feeling very relevant because everything I was doing was very electronically based. It was a continuation of what they'd done on the first album. They've always been so strong, chordally, the Pet Shop Boys, as well as melodically.»
Where the Pet Shop Boys went wrong
«I felt - and Neil knows this - that they became less and less broad, lyrically, and they ceased to speak to me. And I just felt that what I was getting, rightly or wrongly, was Neil's personal life. And I wasn't interested in Neil's personal life. I was interested when I felt they were talking to me, and when I felt they were talking about broad subjects, and the amazing soundscapes that Neil and Chris would paint. It was a world in which I felt a part of, and welcomed into by them. (...)»
«I think they ceased to be relevant to a wide audience. (...) I think Neil and Chris became more introverted in the way they were looking at it, and that's probably where they lost it slightly. I think their problem is that they didn't work with enough producers that were songwriters in their own right, because I think, had they done that, more pressure would have been put on the songs. I think as they got older they tended to work with people who were getting older as well. (...) I think the Pet Shop Boys became about a wry eyebrow. That there had to be something witty in it. Had to be. (...) I think they became more about how clever they could be.»
Working with the Pet Shop Boys: first meeting
«I didn't want to do it. Because I'd just had a difficult experience with another big group, in Franz Ferdinand, and I thought, "Well, these lot will be worse". But I respected them so much, and respected the request so much, that I felt it was better to let them know that face to face, as opposed to a dismissive "No, we're not doing it" through their manager. (...)
«I told them about why I felt I would be bad for them, because I know what I like and I don't understand what I don't like, therefore I dismiss what I don't like. I don't dilute, I don't have a committee. I have no interest in what I don't like. End of story. (...) I said that and they said, well, we really want to work with you now, because we think you'll push our standards far higher. And I thought, well, that's good. That made me more interested. Because I wasn't trying to put them off, I was telling them the truth. I felt that they would be very difficult because they have a clear vision, and so do I... and so what happens in that situation? (...) If you get involved with this I really am involved with it and you have to be prepared to go through that with me, and it's not always an incredibly pleasant experience. (...)»
[The Pet Shop Boys had no idea that Brian Higgins had originally planned to say no to them on their first visit. «It's funny,» Neil said, when told, «Because when we went down there I thought we wouldn't want to work with him, I think». Chris said: «I didn't think for a moment he wouldn't want to work with us. It didn't occur to me».]
How Pet Shop Boys work together
«I'm obsessed by long term relationships in music -
it's the key motivating factor that bonds us together here»
«They dovetail perfectly, because Neil is an extrovert in some ways, and I think Chris is, but he's more reserved with it. You only see Chris when he wants you to see it, whereas Neil's a natural performer, I suppose. And that to me is where it's at - there's so much power in Chris, but it sort of comes out through Neil to a certain degree.
«You can see the fact that they both still really admire each other. I see that very clearly - I love it. I love things like that. I love longevity in relationships, because it requires flexibility and a lot of love and a lot of care for the other person, and altering yourself to fit. And I'm obsessed by long term relationships in music - it's the key motivating factor that bonds us together here. I've been with Miranda every working day for 13 years, and it's more fun today than it was a year ago, and than it was two years ago. I'm obsessed with that. It's the binding force that keeps us altogether here.»
"Love etc."
«It's very difficult to release a record these days and be successful with it if it doesn't sound like anything else around it»
«I didn't want to give it to them. (...) Chris kept on about it, and he could see that I didn't want to play it. I don't think Neil got it initially. Chris got it. I think Chris got Neil onto it. (...) Then I was lying in bed one night, and thinking "for fuck's sake...", and then sort of thought, "No, I can see it. This is a move that they could and probably should make". So I sort of relented. (...) It was very different for them. It was much more aggressive, which is not a word you would apply to the Pet Shop Boys particularly. It was aggressive which I really liked.» (...)
«I said this to Neil last Thursday: "The fact you released 'Love etc.' to me stands you in incredible stead for the next three to four years". Because it's very difficult to release a record these days and put it out and be successful with it if it doesn't sound like anything else around it. Because obviously everyone's worried about the recession, independent radio's worried about advertising revenue, all those different things, and so therefore it makes it far easier for media in general to be more herd-like than they normally would be anyway.» (...)
The disagreement over "Love etc.":
«It was hilarious. (...) Obviously Neil's a very very very intelligent man, and he's self-confident in his own ideas and that sort of stuff. And I think he told me how something was going to be before I'd finished my own experimentation process of it, and I just... I won't be told in that sense. You can ask. Or whatever. But generally speaking it was that. I need to cross all the "t"s and dot every "i", particularly in a system that's as strange as ours. (...) I think his convictions were generated by his own excitement of how things were going. (...) I have great moments with all of the records that we make but they're very small and very quick. And after that I start looking at the problem and faults. (...)
«The debate was whether it was better to repeat something that worked or change to something that didn't work - the change on paper looked good, but didn't sound good. So it's better to repeat something that sounds great as opposed to change something and sonically lose that standard. It ticks an artistic box, it doesn't tick the listener's box, and I will always be on the side of the listener, not the artists, whether I'm the artist, Miranda is, Neil, or whoever. (...) And this went on for weeks - not the argument but the need to find better-sounding words. Eventually we got it. It was a completely valid discussion. At the end of it Neil said something like, "The South Bank Show should have filmed that".»
Working with the Pet Shop Boys again
«I really love spending time with them. (...) I'd love to get Chris down here to do some music, and for me, Neil and Miranda to sit and write against it because I think that would be good for everybody. I think we can continue on in that perspective. If they wanted to make another record with us and stuff like that then... yeah. (...)
«I don't do too much of that sort of thing - I have to really believe that there's going to be an enormous commercial point to it. Only because of what we're prepared to invest in it, emotionally and time-wise and at the expense of other things we'll let go because of it. But I would probably make an exception for them, because I do think that they're fantastic people. (...) I think our lives are better here and more enriched because of our work with the Pet Shop Boys. I totally believe that.»
[Neil Tennant:«I think it would be a shame if we didn't work together. Because I think there's a thing there that he does that we probably wouldn't do with someone else, and also I think at its best we do something with them that doesn't sound like their records. I think a unique thing happens that is almost separate from the rest of their ouevre.»]
What Xenomania learned from the Pet Shop Boys
«I thought it was fantastic how they are with each other. We're about longevity now at Xenomania. You can't get away from it - we've been around a long time. Because we have such a youth development policy here and are very very very free and open with our experiences, so therefore you're merging very experienced people with very young people and it's all meeting and colliding in the middle together [the youngest person at Xenomania is 15 and the oldest is 55], that in itself gives us the fuel. Because we're only going to win if we write better songs than everybody else and our records sound more interesting and more original than everybody else, and the only way that's going to happen is for us to have a very open mind as we go forward.
«And so seeing how they are and how flexible they were able to be with me, that explains their 25 year career. (...) And I think it was fantastic to see how considerate they were to each other, because that holds the key to our own longevity, that the key people within the organisation here, the chief writers, look after each other and take care of each other and then willingly pass that knowledge on to younger people who give us their fearlessness and allow the whole thing to collide. So Pet Shop Boys and Xenomania was a bit like Xenomania within itself. The age gap between the Pet Shop Boys and the key Xenomania people they worked with, myself, Miranda and Tim - is mirrored identically internally within Xenomania. It's a generational thing. It was confirmation of lots of things.»
Xenomania is a songwriting and production house based in Kent, England. It was founded by songwriter and producer Brian Higgins.
Since 1996, Xenomania have written, produced and remixed tracks for a string of successful artists including Girls Aloud, Pet Shop Boys, Sugababes, Dannii and Kylie Minogue, Saint Etienne, Cher, Gabriella Cilmi and many others.
