Archive for the pet shop boys tag

My Robot Friend: We’re The Pet Shop Boys

"We're The Pet Shop Boys" is so...meta. I don't even know where to start. Released by My Robot Friend in 2002 on the full length Hot Action, it's a song about the Pet Shop Boys, created almost entirely of Pet Shop Boys' own lyrics. As if that wasn't enough, the Pet Shop Boys themselves actually did a cover of it as a b-side to "Miracles". Oh and it doesn't stop there, either; Robbie Williams did a cover of the Pet Shop Boys cover of the song about the Pet Shop Boys. Where will the madness end!?

Done, of course, more in the Pet Shop Boys' style than his own, My Robot Friend is worth checking out for his other material as well. He relays tales of robot adventures amongst the humans set against exactly the sort of machine-made pop you'd expect from someone who does his live shows in a full body robot costume (do NOT miss his live show if you happen to come across one...think Captured By Robots, the sequel).

official website
buy Hot Action on Amazon.com

Tiga: Love Don’t Dance Here Anymore

Oh to be Tiga. While most of us spent our grade school summers playing tag with our friends and looking for some cool water to swim in, Tiga spent his in India, hanging out at parties with his father, legendary Goa DJ Dr. Bobby.

And when you know that, everything about Tiga makes perfect sense.

Tiga started DJing and throwing parties back home in Montreal while he was still a teenager, followed by opening an electronic music record store and starting his own label. His own music is very very heavily influenced by the '80s synthpop, italo disco, industrial, and neue deutsche welle that his father played. Here, he channels a little Pet Shop Boys (and maybe George Michael) in this song from his second album Ciao!.

official website
Buy Ciao! on Amazon.com

Electronic: Getting Away With It

In honor of the New Order tribute this week at Atomic, I present Electronic. Electronic served as a side-project of New Order lead singer Bernard Sumner. Joining forces with him was ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, both sharing a mutual love for both electronic (obviously) and house music.

This likely combo also dragged along Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys for the ride on their 1989 debut single "Getting Away with It." Rumor has it that the lyrics of the song were a parody on Morrissey's lyrics and public interviews, including the chorus: "However I look / It's clear to see / I love you more than you love me."

The first Electronic album of the same name is ranked highly among my favorite work of Sumner and is definitely worth pursuit if you are new to the band.

Hear this song and other New Order related tracks this week on Thursday, February 4th for Atomic at Neo... See you in the dark.

Electronic on Amazon