NEW ORDER: SO IT GOES…

A band that often gets mentioned along with Depeche Mode is New Order. Yes, they have a lot in common, but also a completely different history and dynamics. For years they were on Mute Records’ Manchester indie counterpart, legendary Factory Records. Ironically, they’re now signed to Mute since 2015, while Depeche Mode is signed with Sony BMG/Columbia since 2013 (but still maintaining such a great relationship with Mute that they still carry their logo on their Sony-era releases).

New Order has a new live album out today. The full title can be puzzling if you missed some math classes in high school: “∑(No,12k,Lg,17Mif) New Order + Liam Gillick: So it goes..” The formula simples translates into New Order plus Liam Gillick and a 12-synthesizer ensemble from the Royal Northern College of Music at the Manchester International Festival, 2017. “So it goes” was the name of the show hosted by Factory Records visionary founder, Tony Wilson, on Granada TV back in the 70’s (I’m sure you saw that on the hilarious 2002 bio-pic “24 Hour Party People”). This performance was recorded at that very same studio. Conceptual artist Liam Gillick took care of the entire visual side of this short residency (in fact, it’s a pity there isn’t a video counterpart to the album). The album was recorded live on 13 July 2017 and includes the full show and encore plus 3 additional tracks recorded over the residency to give listeners a full representation of the breadth of material performed.

If you’ve seen New Order live before when Peter Hook was still in the band (until 2006) or when the band reformed without him as a 5-piece act (from 2011 on), this is like neither. Here, the band brought back some old album deep cuts, fan favorites that hadn’t been played in ages and everything de- and reconstructed for this setup with the 12 extra musicians. For the casual listener, the track list may look odd. Don’t let that scare you. It’s a very good album that makes you wish you were there. The casual listener of today may become the die-hard fan of tomorrow. Here’s their rendition of their 1985 single “Sub-culture”.

In fact, the band has resumed touring with their regular setup (not very different from what is found on their previous live album, NOMC2015, released in late 2017) for a Summer festival tour and some extra European dates which include Berlin. I’m still thinking if I should go or not, since I saw them play in support of 2015’s “Music Complete” right here, at the same Tempodrom venue.

Along the usual digital outlets (check here), you can order the album as a 2CD set or a limited triple transparent colored vinyl set here: mute.com/mute/∑no12klg17mif. You gotta love Mute’s URL with the formula in it. In fact, Mute never lets us down when it comes to design and packaging. It’s so much more than just a record label.

You might as well head down to Mute.com because they’ve been celebrating their 40th anniversary since last year (which makes them… 41 years old), but the celebration looks from the past towards the future. That’s why the whole campaign is called “Mute 4.0, 1978 → Tomorrow”. There’s so much going on it could render a few dozen posts. This one is already a bizarre temptation at making a singularity.