NEW ORDER
New Order | Credit: Nick Wilson
Some of us bore witness to the emergence of New Order in mid-80s dance clubs. Some of us (like this writer) were born the year “Blue Monday” was released to become the biggest-selling 12-inch single of all time. For the latter, we might have been introduced in a backward kind of way by unwittingly bearing witness to the indisputable influence of New Order through bands from Radiohead to LCD Soundsystem to Santigold and La Roux (whose vocals appear on three tracks from Music Complete, the band’s latest album).
The Magic City is one of six stops on the band’s U.S. tour after the 2015 release of Music Complete. This is the ninth full studio album from New Order, and the first in about ten years. The tracks feature guest vocals from the likes of Iggy Pop and Brandon Flowers from The Killers, and the minimalistic cover art is appropriately designed by graphic designer and former art director for Factory Records, Peter Saville.
The sound is singularly New Order, but this isn’t an anachronistic drop of an album from an 80s band. The fact that the album doesn’t seem out of time in the least is a reflection not only of their own artistry, but of the reach of their influence through nearly four decades from Manchester right through to Millenial pop culture.
As part of the release of “Singularity”, the first single from Music Complete, they launched an online space where fans and artists can express through images, words, and sounds the influence the British electronic synth-pop band has had on them. There are entries like a six-minute “mix-tape” from The Cure’s Robert Smith. Paul Wolinski of Manchester band 65 Days of Static shared the moment he realized that “what New Order are essentially doing here is transcending the idea of remixing before it had even been properly invented.” In an entry from Interpol’s Sam Fogarino, he describes being a kid in the mid-80s and discovering this new “dance-pop” that was “still, dance floor friendly, but with a quality that delved below the ‘pop’ surface.”
Visit Singularity-NewOrder.com to see other entries (or share your own), and you can delve below the pop surface with New Order at The Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater, Wednesday, March 23, 2016 at 8:30pm. Buy tickets www.livenation.com.
~ Jessica Chesler
