Francis and the Lights is the stage name of American songwriter Francis Farewell Starlite. The term “and the Lights” refers both to the lights on a stage and pixels on a computer screen.
[Dedicated to H.K.]
Category Archives: 2000s
David Bowie – New Killer Star (2003)
“New Killer Star” is a song written and performed by David Bowie in 2003 for his album Reality. This was the first single from the album and released on DVD only, except in Italy and Canada. While it is uncertain what the song is really about (like other Bowie songs), the lyrics make oblique reference to life in post-9/11 New York. However the video clip, directed by Brumby Boylston of National Television, tells a surreal story using lenticular-postcard like images of a spaceship almost crashing into the modern American heartland. Bowie himself said of the song: “I’m not a political commentator, but I think there are times when I’m stretched to at least implicate what’s happening politically in the songs that I’m writing. And there was some nod, in a very abstract way, toward the wrongs that are being made at the moment with the Middle Eastern situation. I think that song is a pretty good manifesto for the whole record.” There’s a reference in the lyrics of “Let’s Face the Music and Dance”, which says: “There may be trouble ahead/So while there’s music and moonlight and love and romance/Let’s face the music and dance”. Gerry Leonard uses an EBow to play the repetitive guitar lick all through the song. The b-side is a cover of Sigue Sigue Sputnik’s “Love Missile F1-11″. The music video features lenticular images throughout.
Jim Reid – I’m Stranded (2007)
The Saints cover version from the “Love Will Tear You Apart” CD with MOJO Magazine – Issue No. 159 (February 2007).
Sean Lennon – Dead Meat (2006)
After the demise of Grand Royal Records in 2001, Sean Lennon signed with Capitol Records (whose parent company EMI has released the vast majority of his father’s musical output, group and solo), yet no solo material surfaced until February 2006, when “Dead Meat” was released as the first single from his new album, Friendly Fire. A promotional trailer for the CD/DVD package of Friendly Fire was leaked online in early 2006. The trailer featured scenes from the film version of the album, a DVD of music videos comprised into a film. The videos were actually screen tests for Coin Locker Babies, another project on which Lennon is working which became a cinematic counterpart to his new album.
M83 – Graveyard Girl (2008)
“Graveyard Girl” is a song by French electronic/dream pop act M83. Written by Anthony Gonzalez with his brother Yann, it was released in April 2008 as the second single from M83′s fifth studio album, Saturdays = Youth. Anthony Gonzalez cited English bands such as Tears for Fears and Cocteau Twins, as well as John Hughes teen films The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles, as inspirations for Saturdays = Youth. A girl resembling Molly Ringwald appears on the album cover, and the lyrics and music video for “Graveyard Girl” further highlight these influences. “I wanted to have the feeling of a teenager mixed with this period of the Eighties,” Gonzalez said. The song tells the story of a goth girl Gonzalez once knew who “worships Satan” but “dreams of a sister like Molly Ringwald.” Spin’s Mosi Reeves called “Graveyard Girl” one of the album’s “few compelling songs.” Dave Hughes of Slant Magazine said the song is “certainly the most typically, successfully pop moment this difficult, often transcendent act has ever produced.” Pitchfork’s Amy Phillips wrote that “Anthony Gonzalez makes the teen years seem idyllic, a time in life when all emotion is pure and beautiful,” and that the song is “melodramatic, overblown, and even a little bit silly. But then again, so is high school.” Jer Fairall of PopMatters suggested that on “Graveyard Girl”, M83 found “pure pop perfection by dipping into the pool of mid-’80s synth-pop. “Treble’s Tyler Parks noted: “It is quite possible that no one has ever sung quite so sweetly of someone worshipping Satan.”
M83 – Couleurs (2008)
Saturdays = Youth is the fifth studio album by French electronic band M83, first released on 11 April 2008. The album was produced by Ken Thomas, known for his work with Sigur Rós, The Sugarcubes, Cocteau Twins, and Suede, with co-production by Ewan Pearson (who has also produced for Tracey Thorn, The Rapture, and Ladytron) and M83 leader Anthony Gonzalez. The album yielded four singles: “Couleurs” in February 2008, “Graveyard Girl” in April, “Kim & Jessie” in July and “We Own the Sky” in December.
Terry Callier – John Lee Hooker (2009)
Hidden Conversations is the follow up to Terry Callier’s Lookin’ Out album. Following his performance at the 2008 Meltdown Festival, curated by Massive Attack – he once again teamed up with the legendary British trio and the result is this album. Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja co-wrote Wings and John Lee Hooker and exclusively wrote Live With Me. The combination of Del Naja’s haunting production and Terry’s beautiful, emotive vocals works beautifully. [Source]
[In memory of Terry Callier who passed away this weekend]
Depeche Mode – The Sun and The Moon and The Stars (Electronic Periodic’s Microdrum Mix) (2009)
On the “Sounds of the Universe” album, Martin Gore shares lead singing duties with Gahan on “In Chains”, “Peace” and “Little Soul”, he sings the lead of “Jezebel” and the B-side “The Sun and the Moon and the Stars” on the second disc of the deluxe box set.
Depeche Mode – Jezebel (2009)
Martin Gore shares lead singing duties with Gahan on “In Chains”, “Peace” and “Little Soul” from the “Sounds of the Universe” album. He sings the lead of “Jezebel”. On the strength of a remix of Maps ‘Elouise’ Six Toes were commissioned to work on Depeche Mode’s ‘Jezebel’, which grew to a further three tracks from their 2009 album ‘Sounds Of The Universe’.
Sparks – Brenda Is Always In The Way (2008)
Exotic Creatures of the Deep is the twenty-first album by Sparks. The album was released in a limited edition version in most territories, this version included a poster and came in a card sleeve. Japanese editions included the bonus track “Brenda Is Always In The Way”.
