Brandon Flowers - I Can Change

I recently posted a message from Pet Shop Boys vocalist Neil Tennant, who had alerted his fans that he'd contributed to a coming Brandon Flowers track that samples the 1984 Bronski Beat gay classic, Smalltown Boy. The track appeared on YouTube this week and you'll have to listen closely for Tennant's spoken line. I quite like this.

(Tipped by JMG reader Blobby)

A Note From Neil Tennant

Killers frontman Brandon Flowers is probably the most famous Mormon in pop music and he and his family are featured in a video on the LDS website. While he's known to be gay-friendly, Flowers said little during the Prop 8 fracas. It will be interesting to hear his take on what is arguably the most famous gay anthem of all time.

UPDATE: Here's the first single from the coming album.

GWAR Covers Pet Shop Boys

Stereogum sets things up:

Before frontman Dave Brockie passed away earlier this year, Gwar had appeared on the A.V. Club’s all-covers video series A.V. Undercover twice, taking on Kansas and Billy Ocean. And on the newest edition of the series, the new touring lineup of Gwar rolled through, playing the Pet Shop Boys’ icy, detached 1986 synthpop classic “West End Girls.” The “gun in your hand and it’s pointed at your head” lyrics, it turns out, match up beautifully with Gwar’s whole aesthetic. And at the end, the band lurches into a version of the Jim Carroll Band’s “People Who Died,” changing the lyrics and making them about Oderus Urungus, paying tribute to their fallen leader and other dead friends without ever letting things get mushy.

Pet Shop Boys Stand With LGBT Egypt

Following recent events in Egypt, Pet Shop Boys support #18Oct_EgyLGBT. Learn more here: http://t.co/vhn4jO98kq #StandforEgyptLgbt
— Pet Shop Boys (@petshopboys) September 26, 2014

Activists are planning demonstrations at Egyptian embassies around the world on October 18th.

Because of all the prosecutions, discrimination, jailing, detentions, physical and verbal violence conduct, anal examinations, torture, deceptive, exposing and unethical media tools, humiliations, murders, the outdated cultures and believes pursued by the society and the Egyptian government against LGBTQI community members who have been living a double life full of fear and disgrace. We are calling for a solidarity protest, a stand for human rights, cause there is no excuse to be treated as such. To stop prosecuting Egyptian LGBTQI community members and show both, the society and the government that people stand for each other no matter where they are in the world. To tell both, the society and the Egyptian government, that people with diverse sexualities and gender identities can’t be punished for who they are. To deliver a message to the government in Egypt, that's what they did and they keep on doing won’t pass easily. The 18th of October, is the day in which we will become more vocal, visible and united. Join us on the 18th of October.

I'll have more details on the protests as the date gets closer.

Pet Shop Boys Perform World Premier Of Alan Turing Opera With BBC Orchestra

Accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra and the BBC Singers, last night Pet Shop Boys performed the world premier of their Alan Turing opera, A Man From The Future, at Britain's Proms event at Royal Albert Hall. The Independent has posted a review:

Tennant stands by the choir for A Man From the Future, with fellow Boy Chris Lowe behind him in familiar baseball cap and shades, tweaking a laptop. Juliet Stevenson’s disembodied narration, drawn from Andrew Hodges’ Turing biographies, is almost overpoweringly dominant. But getting the tale of Turing’s singular genius and representative tragedy across seems to outweigh the balance between words and music. “Conform, rebel or withdraw” are the choices the public schoolboy Turing is presented with, as ominous strings close in to cage him.  The remorseless glide of laptop-generated synth washes signal the machine-dreams which led him towards the computer’s invention. The BBC Singers then give the sensation of a dying fall, as the backroom heroism which turned the U-boat tide at Bletchley Park is passed over in a sentence. Tennant and Lowe aren’t interested in what Turing is belatedly honoured for now, but his shadow-life then. Bursts of hot, frantic swing follow him mentioning his homosexuality, and the furious swell of the choir’s baritones greet his downward spiral towards chemical castration by the state. His hot blood and mechanistic visions’ merging is expressed in the orchestral-laptop score. It is always, though, subservient to the verbal tracing of Turing’s fate.

Listen to the full performance below.

TOMORROW: World Premiere Of Pet Shop Boys' Alan Turing Opera In London

Tomorrow night at London's Royal Albert Hall, Pet Shop Boys will perform with the BBC Concert Orchestra in the world premiere of their Alan Turing opera, A Man From The Future. Via the Guardian:

"For one night only, I'm one of the BBC singers!" marvels Pet Shop Boys frontman Neil Tennant – he is adding his voice to the 18-strong chamber choir. "I can't imagine he'll blend in," deadpans his colleague Chris Lowe, who is usually found hiding behind a bank of synthesisers at their shows. He is worried about the lack of dry ice and lasers at the Royal Albert Hall. "The lights are always on [at classical concerts], aren't they? I personally am going to feel very exposed." It is not the first time a pop group has featured at the Proms. From Soft Machine's 1970 set (later turned into a live album)to last year's 6 Music and 1Xtra specials, pop and rock acts have often played a part in the two-month series. But Tennant and Lowe are doing something different this year: performing the world premiere of an ambitious new work, A Man From The Future. Based on the life of the extraordinary mathematician and Enigma code-cracker Alan Turing, it's an orchestral pop "biography" in eight parts for electronics, orchestra, choir and narrator.

Late last year Turing was granted a posthumous royal pardon for the 1952 homosexuality conviction that ultimately led to his suicide. The pardon prompted Tennant to change the closing of the opera.

"We had to [rewrite the ending to] point out that the convictions of tens of thousands of other men remain, and that hasn't really been discussed," says Tennant. However, the finale has a celebratory feel, and recognises the changes in attitudes towards homosexuality, globally. Tennant lists these happily: a 2013 US poll in which 52% of Americans were shown to approve of same-sex marriage, the moment in 1994 when John Major lowered the age of consent to 18 ("everyone forgets it was him that started things off").

Tomorrow's event will begin with Chrissie Hynde providing vocals on orchestral versions of several Pet Shop Boys classics, including Rent and Love Is A Catastrophe. The Turing opera will follow. The concert begins at 5:15PM New York City time and I'll post a live stream if one is available.

BRITAIN: Pet Shop Boys To Call For Mass Pardons For Thousands Of Men Convicted Of Homosexual Acts

Via the Sunday Times:

Pet Shop Boys are to use a new orchestral work about the computer pioneer Alan Turing to call for the “tens of thousands of men” imprisoned or fined for committing homosexual acts to be pardoned. A Man From the Future, created by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, will premiere at the Proms on July 23 . The Pardon, the last song, references the posthumous pardon granted to Turing, who was prosecuted for gross indecency in 1952. Tennant and Lowe will urge the government to pardon others convicted before homosexuality was decriminalised in 1967. “So very many lives were ruined over such a long period,” said Tennant. “Frankly it rather disappoints me that Stonewall [the gay rights group] has not done more. So we’re making the statement ourselves.”

Turing was posthumously pardoned in December 2013.

VIDEO: Pet Shop Boys Issue "Slow Mix" Version Of Panti Bliss' Homophobia Speech

Several days ago Pet Shop Boys issued a dance track that accompanies the now-legendary speech on homophobia by Irish drag activist Panti Bliss. A second, slower version of the track has now been released with an accompanying video. Pet Shop Boys explain the genesis of the project:

Impressed by what they considered (in Neil's words) "a great statement in this age when gay marriage and cruel homophobia exist side by side," the Boys decided to put excerpts of Panti's speech to music just a couple weeks after it he delivered it. They composed an atmospheric backing track, set key segments of the speech to it, and turned it over to Panti himself, who then released it to the world on SoundCloud in early March 2014, about a week after the Boys recorded it. That initial release was a "Dance Mix," rhythmically in a light house/trance vein that, as the title of the mix indicates, would be right at home in most dance clubs. A "Slow Mix" surfaced just a few days later, virtually identical to the Dance Mix except in its statelier, more placid rhythm track, which served to place even greater emphasis on the import of Panti's words. Both mixes were handled by Chris.

Watch the video, which contains images of anti-gay oppression and violence around the world. The audio-only dance mix of the track is here.

Pet Shop Boys Turn Panti Bliss Speech Into Dance Track: The Best Gay Possible

Simple, spare, and leaves the speech intact. Love it.

Free Download: Scissor Sisters' Ana Matronic & Bright Light Cover PSB

Get it here. (Tipped by JMG reader Dwight)

Coachella 2014 Lineup Announced

Billboard reports:

Outkast will headline on Friday April 11 and 18; Muse on Saturday April 12 and 19; and Arcade Fire on Sunday April 13 and 20. Other major names include Queens of the Stone Age, Beck, Lorde, HAIM, Ellie Goulding, Pet Shop Boys, The Replacements, Skrillex, Calvin Harris, Neutral Milk Hotel, Lana Del Rey, MGMT, and a previously announced set by rock legends Motorhead. Some of the many fine-print highlights include Solange, ZZ Ward, Blood Orange, AlunaGeorge and John Newman, along with noted veteran acts Dismemberment Plan, Superchunk, Fishbone, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

Pet Shop Boys - Thursday

Pet Shop Boys Kick Off US Tour

Last night Pet Shop Boys kicked off their North American tour at Miami Beach's Jackie Gleason Theater where the New Times described the sold-out audience as "mostly elder gay men, with about 20-percent women and music nerds." That seems about right, actually.  Pet Shop Boys concerts are always a giant singalong, as the below clip from last night shows. The duo plays two nights at Manhattan's Beacon Theater next week and other tour dates are here.

Swag Tuesday

Courtesy of the Karpel Group, today's Swag Tuesday prize is tickets to see the Pet Shop Boys and copies of their new album, Electric, which goes on sale today.

Enter to win tickets to see the Pet Shop Boys in concert PLUS a copy of their new album ELECTRIC!  Want to see the Pet Shop Boys live in concert? Joe My God has one pair of tickets to giveaway to see the iconic duo at the Beacon Theatre in New York on September 16. The lucky winner will also receive a copy of Pet Shop Boys new album Electric! Two runners-up will also win a copy of Electric.

Enter to win by commenting on this post. Only enter once and please remember to leave an email address in the text of the entry. If you cannot be in Manhattan on the day of the show, your winning entry is transferable to your favorite Pet head. Publicists: If you'd like to take part in Swag Tuesday on JMG, please email me.

Pet Shop Boys - Thursday

From their new album, Electric.

LISTEN: Pet Shop Boys - Electric

The new Pet Shop Boys album, Electric, is streaming live today on Pandora.  If you're in the UK, you can listen at the Guardian.  The album will be released next week.

"When we started work on it, it was more Chris' project really, and we agreed that it wasn't going to be Disco 5," Neil Tennant recently told Popjustice. "But it still had the slight feel of a side project. But then last year we sat down and said, "what is this? Is this the Pet Shop Boys' 12th studio album?" And the answer was: YES IT IS. And there was something rather exciting about bringing out an album – originally it was due to come out in April – eight months after our previous one. David Bowie did it with 'Heroes' and Low, why can't we?"

Pet Shop Boys are nothing if not prolific.

BRITAIN: Palestinian Activists Call For Pet Shop Boys To Cancel Tel Aviv Concert

Pro-Palestinian activists are planning to picket a Pet Shop Boys appearance in London tonight in protest of the dance duo's gig scheduled for June 28th in Tel Aviv.  From the protesters' website:

The Pet Shop Boys - Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, recognised as the most successful duo in UK music history, are scheduled to perform in apartheid Israel to a segregated audience in Tel Aviv’s Nokia Arena on 23rd June, 2013. We are asking them to open their eyes to the ugly reality of apartheid Israel, to cancel their concert and stand with the oppressed Palestinians. Join the multitude of artists who are respecting the Palestinian call to boycott Israel. We will be picketing their appearance at the screening of Battleship Potemkin at the British Film Institute (BFI) on the Southbank in London on 19th June.

Pet Shop Boys vocalist Neil Tennant has responded on their own site:

I don't agree with this comparison of Israel to apartheid-era South Africa. It's a caricature. Israel has (in my opinion) some crude and cruel policies based on defence; it also has universal suffrage and equality of rights for all its citizens both Jewish and Arab. In apartheid-era South Africa, artists could only play to segregated audiences; in Israel anyone who buys a ticket can attend a concert. Neil x

Pet Shop Boys - Vocal

Towleroad tips us to the Pet Shop Boys' description of their clip in support of the first single from their coming album, Electric. (I posted the audio to the track a few weeks ago.)

This short film has been produced and directed by the filmmaker and photographer, Joost Vandeburg. He has created it using authentic amateur film footage shot at various raves in the late 80s, along with some footage from the Haçienda in Manchester. The video (and the song) was inspired by the way British youth at this time found its own freedom with a new culture epitomised by dance music and raves: "It's in the music/It's in the song/And the feeling of the warmth around us all is so strong."

Pet Shop Boys - Vocal

The upcoming Pet Shop Boys album, Electric, is due to be released on July 15th and the duo is currently performing the new track Vocal on their South American tour.  Electric was produced by Stuart Price, who is famed for his collaborations with Madonna, Lady Gaga, Kylie Minogue, and Scissor Sisters.

(Tipped by JMG reader Rob)

Pet Shop Boys Announce Two NYC Dates, Release First Video From Coming Album

Pet Shop Boys have announced concerts at the Upper West Side's gorgeous Beacon Theatre on September 16th and 17th.  Tickets go on sale this Friday.

RELATED: The Presets and Dragonette will play Terminal 5 on May 8th. Get tickets here.

UPDATE: Via Towleroad, there's the first video from the coming Pet Shop Boys album, Electric, which is due out on July 15th.