Neil Arthur, Blancmange Superstar, Talks With Essentially Pop

March 1, 2020

Blancmange, the hugely successful British electronic band have a new album and a tour to go with it. Kicking off in Scotland on May 1st and working their way across the U.K. to finish in October. To go with the tour they have a new album ‘ Mindset’ which releases on May 22nd. Blancmange music has been used in so much recent music by La Roux, LCD Sound System and Hot Chip. So influential is the band and their music that electronic superstar Moby described the, as “the most underrated electronic band of all time”, high praise indeed. Since Stephen Luscombe was forced by illness to stop touring or recording after 2011’s ‘Blanc Burn’, the band’s evolution has continued with Neil Arthur at the helm and Essentially Pop were lucky enough to chat with him this week about the new album, the tour and even ABBA, who’s ‘Day Before You Came’ they superbly covered. It’s an honour to get a glimpse at what motivates one of our own electronic superstars.

of Montreal – ‘Get God’s Attention By Being An Atheist’ And ‘Polyaneurism’

February 29, 2020

We’ve got two clips today from of Montreal, who we last saw in 2016, when they were examining “dilemme féminin”, in their single, ‘It’s Different For Girls’. A lot’s changed in the last 4 years or so for the Athens Georgia pop shapeshifters, whose latest album – astonishingly their 16th – ‘UR FUN’ sees core member Kevin Barnes going it alone, and for the clips for ‘Get God’s Attention By Being An Atheist’ And ‘Polyaneurism’, he’s also ditched his familiar costumes and drag…but they’re replaced by something equally surprising.