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viewing 1 To 22 of 22 items
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2CD
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TR 538CD
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With Radio Sessions (Marc Riley BBC 6 Music 2011-2022) Tapete Records revive the great tradition of releasing radio sessions of great (independent) acts. And what could be more natural than starting our series with The Monochrome Set, a band that represents the indie ethos like few others in following their own unique artistic vision without compromise. The most unique thing about the radio session recordings is that they encompass a mixture of concert and studio. The bands are freer than in studio recordings at the same time more focused than in live performances -- gems from the bands repertoire which might not have been played live are often preserved only in the radio sessions. Radio Sessions contains all the BBC 6 sessions recorded for and hosted by the great Marc Riley from the years 2011-2022. 32 songs in total including well-known hits like "Eine Symphonie des Grauens", "Jet Set Junta", and "Alphaville", as well as fantastic versions of seldom heard or not so well-known songs like "Rain Check" or "Hip Kitten Spinning Chrome". With the kind support of the BBC, you are now able to release these recordings of the most demonstrably intelligent, dark, witty, and British of all guitar pop bands on record for the first time.
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2LP
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TR 538LP
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Double LP version. With Radio Sessions (Marc Riley BBC 6 Music 2011-2022) Tapete Records revive the great tradition of releasing radio sessions of great (independent) acts. And what could be more natural than starting our series with The Monochrome Set, a band that represents the indie ethos like few others in following their own unique artistic vision without compromise. The most unique thing about the radio session recordings is that they encompass a mixture of concert and studio. The bands are freer than in studio recordings at the same time more focused than in live performances -- gems from the bands repertoire which might not have been played live are often preserved only in the radio sessions. Radio Sessions contains all the BBC 6 sessions recorded for and hosted by the great Marc Riley from the years 2011-2022. 32 songs in total including well-known hits like "Eine Symphonie des Grauens", "Jet Set Junta", and "Alphaville", as well as fantastic versions of seldom heard or not so well-known songs like "Rain Check" or "Hip Kitten Spinning Chrome". With the kind support of the BBC, you are now able to release these recordings of the most demonstrably intelligent, dark, witty, and British of all guitar pop bands on record for the first time.
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LP
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OPT4 051LP
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Originally released in 1983, this rewarding record acted as a round-up of the Monochrome Set's career to date and was of immeasurable value to fans. It's aged well, too. Comprising of A and B sides from their Rough Trade released singles plus extracts from sessions for Radio 1, Capital Radio, and EMI Records, this LP contains unique versions of such classic tracks as "The Jet Set Junta" and "He's Frank (Slight Return)". Oddities and jocular moments run through the album, including John Peel introducing " Fat Fun" and thinking aloud that those Monochrome boys might be having a pop at him. The fact that it includes a wish list of the band's best songs to this point in their career is another reason to recommend it. Previously they may have made a handful of slightly-off-target albums, but this 1983 compilation is a front-to-back joy, fast, restless and perfectly sequenced. It plays like a cohesive album. Includes two bonus tracks from the February 1979 Peel Session: "Love Goes Down The Drain" and "Noise (Eine Kleine Symphonie)". Clear vinyl with black, blue, and white splatter; comes in embossed gloss laminated gatefold sleeve with lyrics and printed inner sleeve.
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7"
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ON 406EP
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Part of The Optic Sevens 4.0 reissue series. The Monochrome Set were something of the unsung heroes of the post-punk world; they fitted into absolutely no category whatsoever and their puckish take on spaghetti western soundtracks meets lounge jazz via the twisted lyrical imagery of vocalist Bid was as singular as it was unique. Comprising a couple of ex-Ants in Andy Warren and Lester Square, with singer/guitarist Bid and drummer JD Haney, their filmic, playful material found favor with many, including John Peel although they failed to match this with commercial success. "The Jet Set Junta" was originally released on Cherry Red in 1983 with its urgent, ringing guitars surrounding Bid's lyrics telling of dodgy arms dealings and armored limos as Lester Square's Ennio Morricone twang bends and reverb as a counterpoint. Red vinyl; includes postcard and poster.
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CD
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TR 500CD
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Having amassed a formidable catalogue of releases on a number of key labels over five decades, including Rough Trade, Dindisc, and Cherry Red, The Monochrome Set release their new studio album on Tapete Records -- the bands home for the last eight years and five albums. The indie pop veterans have been hard to pin down over this time. Their instantly recognizable sound and darkly hilarious lyrics have always set them apart. Bid's cerebral Brit wit spikiness and debonair tones melded to infectious melodies and deft songcraft of a cinematic and literary quality has been quietly influential over a diverse set of artists since their inception and throughout different stages of their career so they can count the likes of Graham Coxon, Iggy Pop, Alex Kapranos, Neil Hannon, Johnny Marr, and Jarvis Cocker as fans. Bid is joined in The Monochrome Set by fellow original Andy Warren on bass, Mike Urban on drums and newest recruit Athen Ayren on keyboards. For the album recording Alice Healey provides backing vocals with Karen Yarnell on percussion and Jon Clayton, additional instrumentation. The album was recorded at One Cat Studio in London, engineered by Jon Clayton and produced by Jon Clayton and Bid.
"After an aeon spent in infinitely old cities of the body and mind, a magical creature glides back into its bedroom. It has been changed forever -- what once was human is now a higher being, an unnatural force, the new perfect. It can still feel the exulting gaze of The Eye upon its back -- thousands of years of brooding, planning, in deep, dark, secret places, waiting for the stars to align, the ideal body to infuse. The air around it spits ferociously; the whines of the weak still sing in its ears, like the pathetic squeaks of old curtains as they are closed forever. It stands before the full length mirror, its reflection now clouded with dust. A lifetime of waiting; my poor mirror, here I am, I will clean you! It picks up a cloth and wipes across the glass triumphantly! Strange. It looks the same as before it left, all that time ago. A naked old man... and from a hidden door comes the strains of The Monochrome Set's 16th and latest album, Allhallowtide, with its elegantly crafted pop songs, ornate melodies, sumptuous lyrics, all performed superbly by a rare and legendary band."
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LP
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TR 500LP
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LP version. Having amassed a formidable catalogue of releases on a number of key labels over five decades, including Rough Trade, Dindisc, and Cherry Red, The Monochrome Set release their new studio album on Tapete Records -- the bands home for the last eight years and five albums. The indie pop veterans have been hard to pin down over this time. Their instantly recognizable sound and darkly hilarious lyrics have always set them apart. Bid's cerebral Brit wit spikiness and debonair tones melded to infectious melodies and deft songcraft of a cinematic and literary quality has been quietly influential over a diverse set of artists since their inception and throughout different stages of their career so they can count the likes of Graham Coxon, Iggy Pop, Alex Kapranos, Neil Hannon, Johnny Marr, and Jarvis Cocker as fans. Bid is joined in The Monochrome Set by fellow original Andy Warren on bass, Mike Urban on drums and newest recruit Athen Ayren on keyboards. For the album recording Alice Healey provides backing vocals with Karen Yarnell on percussion and Jon Clayton, additional instrumentation. The album was recorded at One Cat Studio in London, engineered by Jon Clayton and produced by Jon Clayton and Bid.
"After an aeon spent in infinitely old cities of the body and mind, a magical creature glides back into its bedroom. It has been changed forever -- what once was human is now a higher being, an unnatural force, the new perfect. It can still feel the exulting gaze of The Eye upon its back -- thousands of years of brooding, planning, in deep, dark, secret places, waiting for the stars to align, the ideal body to infuse. The air around it spits ferociously; the whines of the weak still sing in its ears, like the pathetic squeaks of old curtains as they are closed forever. It stands before the full length mirror, its reflection now clouded with dust. A lifetime of waiting; my poor mirror, here I am, I will clean you! It picks up a cloth and wipes across the glass triumphantly! Strange. It looks the same as before it left, all that time ago. A naked old man... and from a hidden door comes the strains of The Monochrome Set's 16th and latest album, Allhallowtide, with its elegantly crafted pop songs, ornate melodies, sumptuous lyrics, all performed superbly by a rare and legendary band."
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CD
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TR 395CD
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"I read a bit of Restoration poetry and listen to Leadbelly, and it comes out like that." (Bid, The Monochrome Set)
Tapete Records present a reissue of The Monochrome Set's second album Love Zombies, originally released in 1980. The casual prose of pop history is full of backhanded compliments, and The Monochrome Set have received a few, ranging from "should have been massive" to "influential", numbering the likes of Morrissey and Marr, Blur's Graham Coxon and Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos among their celebrity admirers. Released in February 1980, their first album Strange Boutique (TR 394CD/LP), featuring the band's percussion-heavy theme song (predating Adam & The Ants' "Kings of the Wild Frontier" by months) and the Johnny Marr-anticipating "Love Goes Down The Drain", caught the Monochrome Set in full flight, quickly followed by the equally taut, funny and adventurously dynamic Love Zombies.
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LP
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TR 395LP
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LP version. "I read a bit of Restoration poetry and listen to Leadbelly, and it comes out like that." (Bid, The Monochrome Set)
Tapete Records present a reissue of The Monochrome Set's second album Love Zombies, originally released in 1980. The casual prose of pop history is full of backhanded compliments, and The Monochrome Set have received a few, ranging from "should have been massive" to "influential", numbering the likes of Morrissey and Marr, Blur's Graham Coxon and Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos among their celebrity admirers. Released in February 1980, their first album Strange Boutique (TR 394CD/LP), featuring the band's percussion-heavy theme song (predating Adam & The Ants' "Kings of the Wild Frontier" by months) and the Johnny Marr-anticipating "Love Goes Down The Drain", caught the Monochrome Set in full flight, quickly followed by the equally taut, funny and adventurously dynamic Love Zombies.
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CD
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TR 394CD
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"I read a bit of Restoration poetry and listen to Leadbelly, and it comes out like that." (Bid, The Monochrome Set)
Tapete Records present a reissue of The Monochrome Set's first album Strange Boutique, originally released in 1980. The casual prose of pop history is full of backhanded compliments, and The Monochrome Set have received a few, ranging from "should have been massive" to "influential", numbering the likes of Morrissey and Marr, Blur's Graham Coxon and Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos among their celebrity admirers. Released in February 1980, their first album Strange Boutique, featuring the band's percussion-heavy theme song (predating Adam & The Ants' "Kings of the Wild Frontier" by months) and the Johnny Marr-anticipating "Love Goes Down The Drain", caught the Monochrome Set in full flight, quickly followed by the equally taut, funny and adventurously dynamic Love Zombies (TR 395CD/LP).
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LP
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TR 394LP
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2025 restock; LP version. "I read a bit of Restoration poetry and listen to Leadbelly, and it comes out like that." (Bid, The Monochrome Set)
Tapete Records present a reissue of The Monochrome Set's first album Strange Boutique, originally released in 1980. The casual prose of pop history is full of backhanded compliments, and The Monochrome Set have received a few, ranging from "should have been massive" to "influential", numbering the likes of Morrissey and Marr, Blur's Graham Coxon and Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos among their celebrity admirers. Released in February 1980, their first album Strange Boutique, featuring the band's percussion-heavy theme song (predating Adam & The Ants' "Kings of the Wild Frontier" by months) and the Johnny Marr-anticipating "Love Goes Down The Drain", caught the Monochrome Set in full flight, quickly followed by the equally taut, funny and adventurously dynamic Love Zombies (TR 395CD/LP).
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CD
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TR 449CD
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At the end of the '70s, The Monochrome Set were part of the first wave of "post punk" bands. Right from the beginning, the band earned a solid reputation as purveyors of fine pop, gaining praise from '80s contemporaries such as Morrissey and Edwyn Collins. Importantly, in later years this praise has continued with artists such as Franz Ferdinand, The Divine Comedy, and Graham Coxon, all citing the band as a key influence on their own work. The Monochrome Set sound has often been described as "timeless", and that alone explains why, over the years, the band has continued gaining admirers. Fabula Mendax is based on manuscripts written in the 15th Century by Armande de Pange, a companion of Jehanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc). Follow Armande as she flees her unhinged family, only to be caught up in the chaos of The Hundred Years' War. She encounters and trails the enigmatic Joan, later becoming a part of her expanding group of followers. As they travel west into the war zone of Northern France, they meet a motley medley of scheming noblewomen, bellicose knights, nefarious bishops, and assorted rotters, rogues, and renegades. This is The Monochrome Set at its most ornate, and, much like Joan of Arc's ensemble, features a myriad of fiddlers, pluckers, beaters, tinklers, and wailers, surrounding a central core of notorious crackpots. The hauntingly melodic pop harks back to the early TMS period of "Eine Symphonie Des Grauens" (1979), but is now complemented by a (periodically unemployed) vampire's orchestra, whose cha-cha-charnel chiming careens into carnal rhyming chanting, while saints and demon's trip lightly across the slick red fields of liberty. As with all TMS albums, Fabula Mendax is at once accessible and arcane, upbeat and dark, lush and spare, and with lyrics that as ever remain tantalizingly opaque.
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LP
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TR 449LP
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LP version. At the end of the '70s, The Monochrome Set were part of the first wave of "post punk" bands. Right from the beginning, the band earned a solid reputation as purveyors of fine pop, gaining praise from '80s contemporaries such as Morrissey and Edwyn Collins. Importantly, in later years this praise has continued with artists such as Franz Ferdinand, The Divine Comedy, and Graham Coxon, all citing the band as a key influence on their own work. The Monochrome Set sound has often been described as "timeless", and that alone explains why, over the years, the band has continued gaining admirers. Fabula Mendax is based on manuscripts written in the 15th Century by Armande de Pange, a companion of Jehanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc). Follow Armande as she flees her unhinged family, only to be caught up in the chaos of The Hundred Years' War. She encounters and trails the enigmatic Joan, later becoming a part of her expanding group of followers. As they travel west into the war zone of Northern France, they meet a motley medley of scheming noblewomen, bellicose knights, nefarious bishops, and assorted rotters, rogues, and renegades. This is The Monochrome Set at its most ornate, and, much like Joan of Arc's ensemble, features a myriad of fiddlers, pluckers, beaters, tinklers, and wailers, surrounding a central core of notorious crackpots. The hauntingly melodic pop harks back to the early TMS period of "Eine Symphonie Des Grauens" (1979), but is now complemented by a (periodically unemployed) vampire's orchestra, whose cha-cha-charnel chiming careens into carnal rhyming chanting, while saints and demon's trip lightly across the slick red fields of liberty. As with all TMS albums, Fabula Mendax is at once accessible and arcane, upbeat and dark, lush and spare, and with lyrics that as ever remain tantalizingly opaque.
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LP+CD
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TR 401LP
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LP version. Includes CD. At the end of the '70s, The Monochrome Set were part of the first wave of "post punk" bands. Right from the beginning, the band earned a solid reputation as purveyors of fine pop, gaining praise from '80s contemporaries such as Morrissey and Edwyn Collins. Importantly, in later years this praise has continued with artists such as Franz Ferdinand, The Divine Comedy, and Graham Coxon, all citing the band as a key influence on their own work. The Monochrome Set sound has often been described as "timeless", and that alone explains why, over the years, the band has continued gaining admirers. Maisieworld is distilled from the pungent flowers of artistic mischief and represents the acme of sonic consummation. LP version includes CD.
Congratulations on owning this fine quality product. Maisieworld is distilled from the pungent flowers of artistic mischief and represents the acme of sonic consummation. Welcome to Maisieworld! Your host, Maisie, will guide you through a succession of songs that highlight the volatile, capricious and ultimately unstable nature of The Monochrome Set. New doors lead into hitherto unexplored corridors, where saxophones, trombones, and trumpets claw at you from the Harlem-brownstone walls which pulsate with the ceaseless beating of animal skins. Echoes from a bygone era of expertise race around you as you careen down these sewers of sound, lead guitar solos leap with rusty scimitars, strange organs slither over you on the damp roof, a growling bass snaps at your ankles, a misshapen banjo scuttles across your path, and, all the while, barbarians shake the seed-filled skulls of the dead. Playful vocals sing of your frail organic nature, the sad dreams and hopes that you entertain, and the dismal decisions you make. Scenes of a different imagination tear you like brittle canvas and rearrange your portrait into another's fantasy. Upon your exit from Maisieworld, you will be pleasantly surprised to find that your vessel is now filled with abnormal thoughts. Caution: May contain nuts. And bolts.
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6LP+6CD BOX
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TR 393LP
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2025 restock, last copies; 6LP boxset edition. Includes CD versions of each album; Edition of 700. Emerging at the end of punk era, The Monochrome Set's estrangement from society came from a more arty angle. This boxset is the full account of their frantically productive early period, the perfect document of an under-appreciated chapter of British pop history. Though widely unknown, they are one of the most influential British bands of the last 40 years, with the early Morrissey and Marr, Blur's Graham Coxon, and Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos among their admirers. Though Ganesh Seshadri, aka Bid, never went to college, The Monochrome Set are often seen as an archetypal art school band. In 1979 they released a string of snappy, now highly collectible singles on Rough Trade, followed by early masterpieces Strange Boutique (1980) and Love Zombies (1980). In 1982 they released their third LP Eligible Bachelors on Cherry Red Records. Their major label effort The Lost Weekend (1985) contained their biggest hit "Jacob's Ladder".
"... the early Monochrome Set sound betrayed a fondness of Lou Reed and American psychedelia, and though they shared their generation's sense of estrangement, they certainly weren't part of the punk revolution. . . . [the Hornsey School of Art] was where lead guitarist Tom Hardy, later to be known as Lester Square, studied with a certain Stuart Goddard aka Adam Ant . . . The Monochrome Set's lack of breakthrough success is usually attributed to their inability to churn out the hits, but in hindsight their now highly collectible first four seven inches for the Rough Trade label, united here on one disc with all the singles from the early eighties period, prove that they started out as bona fide masters of pop's ultimate format. Released in February 1980, their first album Strange Boutique, featuring the band's percussion-heavy theme song and the Johnny Marr-anticipating 'Love Goes Down The Drain', caught the Monochrome Set in full flight, quickly followed by the equally taut, funny and adventurously dynamic Love Zombies. 1982 saw them move to Cherry Red Records on their third LP Eligible Bachelors, with the catchy lead single "The Jet Set Junta" promptly banned because of its non-existent connection to the Falklands War. . . . After a financially disastrous American tour, the band were resigned to taking the major label shilling with The Lost Weekend (1985), scoring their biggest airplay hit with 'Jacob's Ladder'..." --Robert Rotifer, Canterbury 2017
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CD
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TR 401CD
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At the end of the '70s, The Monochrome Set were part of the first wave of "post punk" bands. Right from the beginning, the band earned a solid reputation as purveyors of fine pop, gaining praise from '80s contemporaries such as Morrissey and Edwyn Collins. Importantly, in later years this praise has continued with artists such as Franz Ferdinand, The Divine Comedy, and Graham Coxon, all citing the band as a key influence on their own work. The Monochrome Set sound has often been described as "timeless", and that alone explains why, over the years, the band has continued gaining admirers. Maisieworld is distilled from the pungent flowers of artistic mischief and represents the acme of sonic consummation. LP version includes CD.
Congratulations on owning this fine quality product. Maisieworld is distilled from the pungent flowers of artistic mischief and represents the acme of sonic consummation. Welcome to Maisieworld! Your host, Maisie, will guide you through a succession of songs that highlight the volatile, capricious and ultimately unstable nature of The Monochrome Set. New doors lead into hitherto unexplored corridors, where saxophones, trombones, and trumpets claw at you from the Harlem-brownstone walls which pulsate with the ceaseless beating of animal skins. Echoes from a bygone era of expertise race around you as you careen down these sewers of sound, lead guitar solos leap with rusty scimitars, strange organs slither over you on the damp roof, a growling bass snaps at your ankles, a misshapen banjo scuttles across your path, and, all the while, barbarians shake the seed-filled skulls of the dead. Playful vocals sing of your frail organic nature, the sad dreams and hopes that you entertain, and the dismal decisions you make. Scenes of a different imagination tear you like brittle canvas and rearrange your portrait into another's fantasy. Upon your exit from Maisieworld, you will be pleasantly surprised to find that your vessel is now filled with abnormal thoughts. Caution: May contain nuts. And bolts.
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CD
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TR 339CD
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At the end of the '70s, The Monochrome Set were part of the first wave of "post-punk" bands. Right from the beginning, the band earned a solid reputation as purveyors of fine pop, gaining praise from '80s contemporaries such as Morrissey and Edwyn Collins. In later years, this praise has continued with artists such as Franz Ferdinand, The Divine Comedy and Graham Coxon, all citing the band as a key influence on their own work. The Monochrome Set sound has often been described as "timeless", and that alone explains why, over the years, the band has continued gaining admirers. The Monochrome Set is black & white, at the same time, with no grey. That's what the name always meant - delivering mirth and melancholy, pleasure and panic, delight and dread, wrapped up in tuneful pop songs with curious lyrics. The band seem to occupy a parallel universe, with a rich panoply of sounds and words, all somehow evocative of something just beyond reach or remembrance - yet the songs have an immediate simplicity and power. Cosmonaut, the band's 13th album, is a perfect example of this exhilarating mix. The title track opens with a Theremin cyber fly buzzing towards your skull before the song hits, launching you into a mirror dimension that is both familiar and alien. The whole album is a trip that starts with a hallucinating cash-till lady, then travels through dream-sets involving cannibalism, disaffected squirrels, strange gods, dying sweethearts, sexual depravity, Alzheimer's, backward evolution, and ends in an operating theatre, amid a sea of medical tentacles. In short, a camping holiday. The trademark Monochrome Set guitar is ever-present, but this time complemented by delightfully busy keyboards, which give an added richness and spice to the album. In just 30 minutes, Cosmonaut catapults the listener into orbit and takes them on a zany, hallucinogenic joyride - not in outer space as it turns out, but in and around the arcane and fantastical recesses of Bid's imagination. Cosmonaut comes with minimal risk of explosion, persistent floatiness and no disappointing space food.
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LP+CD
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TR 339LP
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LP version. Includes CD. At the end of the '70s, The Monochrome Set were part of the first wave of "post-punk" bands. Right from the beginning, the band earned a solid reputation as purveyors of fine pop, gaining praise from '80s contemporaries such as Morrissey and Edwyn Collins. In later years, this praise has continued with artists such as Franz Ferdinand, The Divine Comedy and Graham Coxon, all citing the band as a key influence on their own work. The Monochrome Set sound has often been described as "timeless", and that alone explains why, over the years, the band has continued gaining admirers. The Monochrome Set is black & white, at the same time, with no grey. That's what the name always meant - delivering mirth and melancholy, pleasure and panic, delight and dread, wrapped up in tuneful pop songs with curious lyrics. The band seem to occupy a parallel universe, with a rich panoply of sounds and words, all somehow evocative of something just beyond reach or remembrance - yet the songs have an immediate simplicity and power. Cosmonaut, the band's 13th album, is a perfect example of this exhilarating mix. The title track opens with a Theremin cyber fly buzzing towards your skull before the song hits, launching you into a mirror dimension that is both familiar and alien. The whole album is a trip that starts with a hallucinating cash-till lady, then travels through dream-sets involving cannibalism, disaffected squirrels, strange gods, dying sweethearts, sexual depravity, Alzheimer's, backward evolution, and ends in an operating theatre, amid a sea of medical tentacles. In short, a camping holiday. The trademark Monochrome Set guitar is ever-present, but this time complemented by delightfully busy keyboards, which give an added richness and spice to the album. In just 30 minutes, Cosmonaut catapults the listener into orbit and takes them on a zany, hallucinogenic joyride - not in outer space as it turns out, but in and around the arcane and fantastical recesses of Bid's imagination. Cosmonaut comes with minimal risk of explosion, persistent floatiness and no disappointing space food.
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CD
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TR 332CD
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At the end of the '70s, The Monochrome Set were part of the first wave of post-punk bands. Right from the beginning, the band earned a solid reputation as purveyors of fine pop, gaining praise from '80s contemporaries such as Morrissey and Edwyn Collins. This praise has continued in the decades since, with artists such as Franz Ferdinand, The Divine Comedy, and Graham Coxon all citing the band as a key influence on their own work. The Monochrome Set's sound has often been described as timeless, and that alone explains why, over the years, the band has continued to gain admirers. Volume, Contrast, Brilliance... Unreleased & Rare Vol.2 is the sequel to the 1983 compilation Volume, Contrast, Brilliance... Sessions & Singles Vol. 1. It's a wonderful collection of previously unreleased and rare tracks spanning 1978 to 1991. These gems range from DIY works to high-quality studio recordings, some of which were improperly recorded or never released due to a variety of reasons (bad timing, odd decisions, forgetfulness) fully explained in the liner notes. The range of styles on display here is typical of this iconic and highly influential band -- slices of their sound can still be heard in indie and mainstream music worldwide.
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LP
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TR 332LP
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LP version. At the end of the '70s, The Monochrome Set were part of the first wave of post-punk bands. Right from the beginning, the band earned a solid reputation as purveyors of fine pop, gaining praise from '80s contemporaries such as Morrissey and Edwyn Collins. This praise has continued in the decades since, with artists such as Franz Ferdinand, The Divine Comedy, and Graham Coxon all citing the band as a key influence on their own work. The Monochrome Set's sound has often been described as timeless, and that alone explains why, over the years, the band has continued to gain admirers. Volume, Contrast, Brilliance... Unreleased & Rare Vol.2 is the sequel to the 1983 compilation Volume, Contrast, Brilliance... Sessions & Singles Vol. 1. It's a wonderful collection of previously unreleased and rare tracks spanning 1978 to 1991. These gems range from DIY works to high-quality studio recordings, some of which were improperly recorded or never released due to a variety of reasons (bad timing, odd decisions, forgetfulness) fully explained in the liner notes. The range of styles on display here is typical of this iconic and highly influential band -- slices of their sound can still be heard in indie and mainstream music worldwide.
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TR 303CD
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"On one hand, the music is very melodic and cheerful. The lyrics, however, deal with death, decay, change... no wonder we are rather popular with the undead," says singer, guitarist, and songwriter Bid of Spaces Everywhere, The Monochrome Set's twelfth studio album. A very particular humor. And a unique sound: although this time banjos, Hammond organ, female backing vocals, and even flutes can be heard, experts and laymen alike will recognize: this is The Monochrome Set. Undistorted, nervous guitars, like the soundtrack to a French new wave film... but one starring Michael Caine, Louis de Funès, and Jean-Paul Belmondo and directed by Andy Warhol. Peculiarly timeless, it is a sound that cannot be categorized. Although rooted in the 1950s and '60s (the guitar sound, for example, is a hybrid of Duane Eddy's and Sterling Morrison's), it still feels oddly modern. Then there is Bid's voice, which this time is more reminiscent of the great American crooners than of Lou Reed. Bid wrote most of the songs in May and June of 2014, and the band recorded them in Brixton, London. Perhaps the band's popularity among the undead will diminish upon hearing the springtime air that can thus be detected in this music. While music historians and critics continue to grapple with the baffling reasons for this band's lack of mainstream success, the in-crowd has always known what they have in The Monochrome Set. Time and again, the story is repeated: Johnny Marr found a single by the band in Morrissey's record collection and decided it might not be a bad idea to start a band with the somewhat eccentric singer. The influence of The Monochrome Set on bands like Felt, Franz Ferdinand, Belle and Sebastian, and The Strokes can hardly be ignored. In early '80s Germany, the band heavily influenced one band in particular, Die Zimmermänner. And like every band that has borrowed more or less from Bid, Lester Square, Andy Warren, and Steve Brummell, they happen to be pretty good. So it's fitting that Timo Blunck of Die Zimmermänner was the one to mix Spaces Everywhere in Hamburg. The Monochrome Set present an album that will become a modern classic like Eligible Bachelors and "Strange Boutique." And where is the best place to listen to the album? Bid: "In a deconsecrated church, without a mirror." There he goes again.
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LP+CD
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TR 303LP
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LP version. Includes CD. "On one hand, the music is very melodic and cheerful. The lyrics, however, deal with death, decay, change... no wonder we are rather popular with the undead," says singer, guitarist, and songwriter Bid of Spaces Everywhere, The Monochrome Set's twelfth studio album. A very particular humor. And a unique sound: although this time banjos, Hammond organ, female backing vocals, and even flutes can be heard, experts and laymen alike will recognize: this is The Monochrome Set. Undistorted, nervous guitars, like the soundtrack to a French new wave film... but one starring Michael Caine, Louis de Funès, and Jean-Paul Belmondo and directed by Andy Warhol. Peculiarly timeless, it is a sound that cannot be categorized. Although rooted in the 1950s and '60s (the guitar sound, for example, is a hybrid of Duane Eddy's and Sterling Morrison's), it still feels oddly modern. Then there is Bid's voice, which this time is more reminiscent of the great American crooners than of Lou Reed. Bid wrote most of the songs in May and June of 2014, and the band recorded them in Brixton, London. Perhaps the band's popularity among the undead will diminish upon hearing the springtime air that can thus be detected in this music. While music historians and critics continue to grapple with the baffling reasons for this band's lack of mainstream success, the in-crowd has always known what they have in The Monochrome Set. Time and again, the story is repeated: Johnny Marr found a single by the band in Morrissey's record collection and decided it might not be a bad idea to start a band with the somewhat eccentric singer. The influence of The Monochrome Set on bands like Felt, Franz Ferdinand, Belle and Sebastian, and The Strokes can hardly be ignored. In early '80s Germany, the band heavily influenced one band in particular, Die Zimmermänner. And like every band that has borrowed more or less from Bid, Lester Square, Andy Warren, and Steve Brummell, they happen to be pretty good. So it's fitting that Timo Blunck of Die Zimmermänner was the one to mix Spaces Everywhere in Hamburg. The Monochrome Set present an album that will become a modern classic like Eligible Bachelors and "Strange Boutique." And where is the best place to listen to the album? Bid: "In a deconsecrated church, without a mirror." There he goes again.
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LP
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4M 531LP
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2021 restock. "Love Zombies is the second long player from English post-punk group, The Monochrome Set. It was the band's second full length album in less than a year's time, released originally in 1980. Featuring a slightly less jarring, more accessible sound than the debut, the group described the album in the original liner notes as 'an unashamed look at their weird lives.....their wild loves...in a jazz-haunted, desire-tormented world.' Another post-punk classic." On 180 gram vinyl.
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