An audio excerpt has now been posted at http://www.facebook.com/SpiritOfTalkTalk and can be accessed under the ‘AUDIO’ player tab. You can also listen to other excerpts from the album – more and more clips are being added on a regular basis, so get over there, give us your feedback and spread the word by ‘sharing’.

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SPIRIT OF TALK TALK – CD :

The double tribute album celebrating the visionary band Talk Talk is to be released by Fierce Panda on September 3rd 2012. Pre-ordering has begun via Fierce Panda’s on-line store. All proceeds from the release will be going to ‘The Rare Bird Club’ charity.

The album features 30 artists, including: Recoil, White Lies, King Creosote, Jason Lytle (Grandaddy), Zero 7, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire), Joan As Police Woman, Sean Carey (Bon Iver), Lights, Goldheart Assembly, Thomas White (Electric Soft Parade), Fyfe Dangerfield (Guillemots), Thomas Feiner, The Black Ships, Turin Brakes, as well as Ian Curnow, David Rhodes, Gaynor Sadler and Martin Ditcham, all of whom worked with Talk Talk.

The CD package has been designed by Talk Talk’s graphic artist, James Marsh, using his cover created in 1983 for a prospective album ‘Chameleon Hour’ which was never released.

Alan Wilder is the musical & production supervisor for the project, and the album has been mastered by Denis Blackham who was also responsible for mastering many of Talk Talk’s albums.

Visit : www.fiercepanda.co.uk for full details.

The Shunt staff

LABEL: Fierce Panda ( catalogue number : NONG 74CD )

In September 2012, Fierce Panda will be releasing ‘Spirit Of Talk Talk’, a double album which features 30 contemporary acts from around the globe re-inventing, re-interpreting and just generally re-booting many of Talk Talk’s greatest moments precisely 30 years since ‘Talk Talk’ made its mark on the mainstream. Conceived and co-ordinated by Toby Benjamin and massaged into shape by musical director Alan Wilder, this twin CD features artwork by creative TT stalwart James Marsh and sees profits going to the Rare Bird Club. As if that weren’t enough, the album accompanies a finely-honed and impeccably toned ‘Spirit Of Talk Talk’ book, itself published in September by Essential.

(Check www.spiritoftalktalk.com for more information about the book)

An online hub has just been launched at http://www.facebook.com/SpiritOfTalkTalk where you can hear audio excerpts from the album and find out much more information. The FB page has been designed to bring you regular updates and exciting news right up to release and beyond. Please click ‘like’ and ‘share’.

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PRE-ORDER  : You can pre-order the album from http://www.fiercepanda.co.uk right now!

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‘SPIRIT OF TALK TALK’ : THE LAUNCH PARTY

Featuring full live performances from half a dozen of the ‘Spirit Of Talk Talk’ acts plus many TALK TALK-themed happenings besides, the launch party will be held in London. More details soon…

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 6TH 2012
229 GREAT PORTLAND STREET
LONDONThe Shunt staff 

The FB page is now live at : https://www.facebook.com/SpiritOfTalkTalk – designed to bring you regular updates and exciting news right up to release and beyond (we already know of a few surprises in the pipeline which we can’t reveal just yet). Please follow the link, click ‘like’ and ‘share’ with anyone & everyone who you think will be interested.

SPIRIT OF TALK TALK – CD :

The double tribute album celebrating the visionary band Talk Talk is to be released by Fierce Panda on September 3rd 2012. Pre-ordering will begin in the next few days from Fierce Panda’s on-line store . All proceeds from the release will be going to ‘The Rare Bird Club’ charity.

The album features 30 artists, including: Alan Wilder (Recoil), White Lies, King Creosote, Jason Lytle (Grandaddy), Zero 7, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire), Joan As Police Woman, Sean Carey (Bon Iver), Lights, Goldheart Assembly, Thomas White (Electric Soft Parade), Fyfe Dangerfield (Guillemots), Thomas Feiner, The Black Ships, Turin Brakes, as well as Ian Curnow, David Rhodes, Gaynor Sadler and Martin Ditcham, all of whom worked with Talk Talk.

The CD package has been designed by Talk Talk’s graphic artist, James Marsh, using his cover created in 1983 for a prospective album ‘Chameleon Hour’ which was never released.

Alan Wilder is the musical & production supervisor for the project, and the album has been mastered by Denis Blackham who was also responsible for mastering many of Talk Talk’s albums.

Says Alan : “My involvement began with a quote provided for the book and escalated quite quickly towards the music part of the project, to the point where over the last year I have become executive music producer, offering feedback and advice to many of the artists and to Toby, our project leader. I have also provided two tracks myself (as Recoil) with the help of 3 different vocalists and an array of supporting musicians. Toby and I didn’t always see eye to eye over all the contributions but I think we have ended up with a hugely impressive collection of heartfelt covers, submitted with genuine affection and respect for the Talk Talk legacy. It can be quite a daunting challenge attempting to do justice to some of the most inspirational music ever produced. One of my criteria when listening to all the covers was to try and place myself in the head of Mark Hollis and imagine if he would enjoy what he heard. I have no idea if he will of course, but for me this is a fitting tribute to a massively underrated group, made with few compromises over quality and commerciality. It is made out of love.

My personal favourites are by those artists such as Thomas Feiner/Fyfe Dangerfield/Robbie Wilson, Jack Northover, Joan As Police Woman, Nils Frahm/Peter Broderick & Zero 7 – all of which thought really carefully about how to re-interpret the originals in a completely fresh and exciting way. This is the approach I tried to take with my own submissions too. I am also a big fan of Lone Wolf’s haunting cover of ‘Wealth’ which features the brilliant voice of Paul Marshall.

All in all, given the parameters of any collection of more than 30 artists, I can safely say ‘Spirit Of Talk Talk’ is the best tribute album to any artist that I have ever heard and I am proud to have been a part of it.”

Track listing :

CD 1

01. WEALTH – Lone Wolf
02. THE COLOUR OF SPRING – Zero 7
03. I BELIEVE IN YOU – S.Carey
04. DUM DUM GIRL – Recoil ( feat. Shara Worden )
05. LIFE’S WHAT YOU MAKE IT – Duncan Sheik
06. THE RAINBOW – Thomas Feiner, Fyfe Dangerfield, Robbie Wilson
07. AFTER THE FLOOD – Halloween, Alaska
08. IT’S GETTING LATE IN THE EVENING – Peter Broderick, Nils Frahm, Davide Rossi
09. GIVE IT UP – King Creosote
10. LIVING IN ANOTHER WORLD – Lights ( feat. Darkstars )
11. THE RAINBOW – Zelienople
12. MYRRHMAN – Joan As Police Woman
13. RUNEII – The Last Dinosaur
14. ? – Jack Northover

CD 2

01. IT’S MY LIFE – The TenFiveSixty
02. INHERITANCE – Recoil ( feat. Linton Kwesi Johnson & Paul Marshall )
03. ASCENSION DAY – Turin Brakes
04. TODAY – White Belt Yellow Tag
05. I DON’T BELIEVE IN YOU – Ian Curnow ( feat. Human )
06. CHAMELEON DAY – Goldheart Assembly
07. APRIL 5TH – Matthias Vogt Trio
08. NEW GRASS – Do Make Say Think
09. TOMORROW STARTED – Jason Lytle
10. GIVE IT UP – White Lies
11. TIME IT’S TIME – Lia Ices
12. THE PARTY’S OVER – The Lovetones
13. CANDY – Thomas White
14. RENÉE – The Black Ships ( feat. Amelia Tucker )
15. TAPHEAD – The Acorn
16. I BELIEVE IN YOU – Richard Reed Parry

Additional bonus tracks available to download at digital stores :

01. ASCENSION DAY – Minerva Lions
02. IT’S MY LIFE – Mike Gill ( feat. Robert Owens )
03. EDEN – Kurran & The Wolfnotes

Visit : www.fiercepanda.co.uk for more details.

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SPIRIT OF TALK TALK – BOOK :

A richly illustrated, beautifully designed book celebrating the music and art of the legendary Talk Talk will also be available on 27th September 2012. Every copy will be individually signed by James Marsh who offers a fascinating insight into all his wonderful Talk Talk paintings, including inspiration and illustrated sketches.

Chris Roberts, one of the UK’s leading music journalists, traces Talk Talk’s history and evolution, reflecting on their unique journey from synth-pop to near-silence.

The book features stunning photographs by Richard Haughton, Sheila Rock, and many other leading rock photographers from ’81 – ‘91. Many of these shots have never been made public before and include vivid live images from the superb Montreux festival gig.

The book also features 100 written contributions from bands, label owners, DJs and creatives, all of whom share their appreciation and influences, inspired by the music and art of Talk Talk.

Contributors include : Guy Garvey (Elbow), Sir Peter Blake, Alan Wilder (Depeche Mode/Recoil), Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire), James Lavelle (UNKLE), Jason Lytle (Grandaddy), Nick McCabe (The Verve/The Black Ships), Richard Wright (Pink Floyd), Mark Radcliffe, Tom Fleming (Wild Beasts), Matt Johnson (The The), Jimi Goodwin (Doves), Sean Carey (Bon Iver), Paul Hartnoll (Orbital), Karl Hyde (Underworld), Charles Cave (White Lies), Joan Wasser (Joan As Police Woman), Kenny Anderson (King Creosote), Gideon Coe & Olly Knights (Turin Brakes).

‘Spirit Of Talk Talk’ also includes extracts from the Talk Talk chapters of Phil Brown’s excellent book ‘Are We Still Rolling’, as well as in-depth interviews with Talk Talk musicians including John Turnbull, Ian Curnow, Phil Reis and Martin Ditcham.

For more details or to register your interest for the book please visit : www.spiritoftalktalk.com

The Shunt staff

This is a full HD production with DTS-HD 5.1 surround sound & stereo audio soundtrack, mixed by Alan Wilder & Paul Kendall.

Directed and edited by Attila Herkó, ‘A Strange Hour In Budapest’ will be delivered as a Blu-ray only format, presented in a deluxe DVD-sized 6 panel digi-pack with reinforced slipcase, containing a 170gm 16-page booklet packed with information & photo manipulations by Ákos Szénási. With the first 1000 copies individually hand-stamped/numbered, the disc will also feature extra promotional films & live projections.

The concert film will initially be available to pre-order via the Recoil Official Store, and later at other on-line and retail outlets via Alfa Matrix. All store on-line orders are dispatched with an exclusive code to receive downloadable extras such as a pdf art booklet with extra spreads, a soundtrack sampler, Recoil ‘live’ photographs & project wallpapers.

Recoil Official Store

With this in mind, there are two RECOIL Fans groups which we want to alert you all to:

RECOIl FANS GROUP + RECOIL DEVOTED AMERICA LATINA

Both were initially created for devotees of Alan Wilder & the Recoil project who want to share news & views, press articles, photos, video links, their experiences during the ‘Selected’ tour, and discuss any other relevant subjects. The advantage of these groups is that more detailed info and breaking news can be discovered outside of the usual official forums, but the main reason is just to encourage you to meet & chat with fellow supporters, make new like-minded long term friends, find out about fan events, meetings and so on.

The groups are administered by Recoil fans who we trust implicitly to monitor activities in a fair way. Set up over the last couple of years, they have continued to operate post-tour and welcome all new members.

Just a couple of rules: Groups are open to all – just add yourself. If a post is deemed inappropriate or completely irrelevant, it can be deleted. Any downright nastiness won’t be accepted, and absolutely no spam please. We do encourage freedom of speech however, and opinions are always encouraged. We also want to hear your unusual stories & personal recollections to do with Alan & Recoil, as well as general thoughts, ideas and desires about the on-going Recoil project.

So click ‘join’ now!

Of course, we also have Shunt – The Official Recoil Forum which has been going for some time now. Here you can follow many existing threads, start your own chats & join in discussions: http://forum.recoil.co.uk

The Shunt Staff

Says Alan: “The idea to take Recoil out on the road evolved during the release of ‘Selected’ in 2010. The events were not so much ‘live’ band but more art installation featuring stripped down, edited sections from many Recoil remixes and alternative versions. For the presentations, I managed to gather together filmmakers from as far as Russia, via the Czech Republic and Hungary, all the way to Argentina.

The second Budapest presentation (and last of 2010) was held in the beautiful newly-renovated Szikra venue. To celebrate this end of year special show we decided to install an extra large fully professional cinema screen and projector. The performance was filmed by Attila Herkó and his team using the latest high-definition technology in order to capture the event in its full glory. I think you will agree the results are stunning and offer a captivating and exhilarating document of ‘A Strange Hour’.”

The proposed package will feature the full concert film, running at approximately 84 minutes in HD resolution and with 5.1 & stereo audio options. Also included will be some extra promo films and live projections. It has been decided to limit the format to Blu-ray only for a couple of reasons – the main being that the film works infinitely better at its highest resolution and we don’t want to compromise this aspect. Secondly, Blu-ray players are cheap and simple to install these days. If you haven’t upgraded yet, now is the time to do so! In due course we will recommend a few of our favourite machines at varying budgets.

The exact release date has yet to be determined but we hope to announce this very soon.

Title: A Strange Hour in Budapest
Produced, directed & edited by : Attila Herkó for Umatik
Stereo & 5.1 soundtrack : Alan Wilder & Paul Kendall
Main film : 1920 x 1080p High Definition, 16 x 9
Audio : DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround : LPCM Stereo 2.0

We will bring you further details about the release and how to purchase soon.

The Shunt staff

Follow the links below to find out more – there’s a free download – and don’t forget to also download the latest album ‘You Tell Me’ which is highly recommended by Alan.

http://www.spceco.bandcamp.com | http://www.facebook.com/spc.eco

Shunt Staff

Here is a summary of the info released by the record company.

Well we’ve been keeping it under our furry hat but the truth will always out. And so it is that likes of Pitchfork have picked up on the factette that we have been working on in our top secret bunker – a compilation tribute album to those abstract ‘80s wonders TALK TALK. It was 1982 when Mark Hollis and pals first soared into view with a slew of deceptively commercial hit singles. However by the time Talk Talk delivered the seminal ‘The Colour Of Spring’ album, which brilliantly merged pop instinct with experimental flair, they’d long since shed any hint of being mere also (Duran Du)rans.

After then – in a career shift eerily similar to that of future labelmates Radiohead – Hollis & co turned their backs on the mainstream and made three albums (two as Talk Talk, one solo) of breathtaking scope and mind-blowing minimalism before completely fading from view. The compilation album entitled ‘Spirit Of Talk Talk’ is a mighty affair which, in testament to Talk Talk’s 30th anniversary, will feature artists, acts and personalities including King Creosote, Recoil, Jason Lytle, Zero 7, Linton Kwesi Johnson, White Belt Yellow Tag, Joan As Policewoman, Electric Soft Parade, Goldheart Assembly and many, many more guests from Bon Iver to Arcade Fire covering close to 30 Talk Talk tunes from ‘Today’ via ‘Life’s What You Make It’ to ‘After The Flood’.

The album is slated for release on May 28th on double CD & download and will be accompanied by a lavish book, also called ‘Spirit Of Talk Talk’, which features eulogies from, among others, the likes of Guy Garvey (Elbow), Richard Wright (Pink Floyd), Karl Hyde (Underworld), Wild Beasts & James Lavelle (UNKLE). The artwork for both artefacts is provided by original Talk Talk illustrator James Marsh and the book features all manner of Mark Hollis-related delights for music lovers old and new to swoon over, such as lost photos and handwritten lyric sheets. There is also a plan to feature a Roll Of Honour listing the names of fans who pre-order the book.

http://fiercepanda.co.uk

Here at Shunt we will let you know the exact track listing once everything has been finalised & approved. To help keep the quality as high as possible, in his own meticulous and pedantic way, Alan has been helping out as music supervisor and is currently involved in the compiling & mastering process.

He says: “It’s already proving quite a complicated process collecting all the mixes and final masters from each artist, deciding (with Toby the organiser) which work best, and which can be elegantly edited and tweaked in order to fit so many exciting contributions on, whilst retaining a pleasurable and balanced overall album experience. We want to avoid just throwing out a mish-mash of different styles without considering the continuity from which any album should benefit. I hope this fine tuning, along with so many great versions, will help to ensure ‘Spirit Of Talk Talk’ becomes one of the very best tribute albums ever made.”

More news will follow in the next few weeks.

Check out www.spiritoftalktalk.com to get a flavour for the project and sign up to register your interest.

The Shunt staff

The release also includes re-workings & remixes by Eric Avery, Telefon Tel Aviv, Drumcell, Daniel Myer, Mark Verbos, Gino Robair, Baseck, Except the Cat & Ian Curtis.

NON is available in the following packages:

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1. Free download album – mp3 format.

2. Hi-def digital upgrade (format of your choice: mp3, apple lossless, flac or source wav) for $5.

3. Very limited (350), numbered and signed 7 inch for ‘Scientist’: red vinyl, artwork by Caspar Newbolt (includes ‘Scientist’ (album version) and the Drumcell remix. $8.

4. An even more limited run of 6 test pressings from the vinyl manufacturing plant (includes the above mentioned 7 inch & download). $30.

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You can find everything at: www.sonoio.org

Enjoy!

Happy Xmas to all Recoil fans, and thanks as always for all your support. Here’s to 2012!

The Shunt staff

Recoil Official Store

‘COLLECTED +’ DVD & CALENDAR – last few available!

Xmas is approaching so if you’re looking for a gift, we are now down to just a handful of Recoil Calendars & DVDs at the store.

Collected + features the remastered version of Martin Vladar’s documentary film which accompanied the AW/DM auction earlier this year. This updated disc features additional unseen footage and a photo gallery, as well as a video summary of the auction day in Manchester. There’s even a new edit of an instrumental-only mix of Recoil’s ‘Intruders’.

Click here to view the teaser video showing some of the updates.

The last few prints of the Recoil Calendar 2012 presenting 13 large photographs by Steve Gullick are also available. We literally only have about 20 left now. The A3 calendar is produced using waterproof, resin-coated, high gloss photographic paper. Don’t miss out!

We recommend you get your orders in very soon in order to meet the Xmas deadline. All items are only purchasable from the Recoil Official Store. All transactions will be processed via PayPal.

The Shunt staff