Ahead of their final studio album 'Danceteria' coming out later this month, we have the one and only Soft Cell on the cover of the latest Electronic Sound. There's a 16-page Marc Almond interview inside the magazine and we're bundling the issue with an exclusive blue vinyl seven-inch by the synthpop superstars. Make sure you don't miss out on this!
As most of you will know, Marc Almond's Soft Cell partner Dave Ball died nearly 12 months ago, just two days after they'd finished recording a new album. Named after the New York club where they spent countless crazy nights in the early 1980s, 'Danceteria' draws on the pair's experiences of NYC during that heady formative period, with Almond describing it as having "a strange kind of throbbing darkness". The result is both a fitting companion piece to their 'Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret' debut and a perfect farewell release from the group. Get ready for wild tales about hanging out with Andy Warhol, popping pills with Cindy Ecstasy, enjoying kinky capers at The Hellfire Club, and lots more besides.
There's plenty of entertaining stuff to read beyond our cover story too, including interviews with Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Belbury Poly, Jane Weaver, The Anchoress, The Gentle People, Isobel Anderson and Solex. We also talk to Benge about his solo project Striped Light, which has vocal contributions from the likes of Hannah Peel and Gazelle Twin, and look back at the career of the much-missed electronic oddball Nash the Slash, who used to perform with bandages wrapped around his face and is now the subject of a documentary film. Gary Numan and Bill Nelson are among the people we interviewed for this fascinating feature.
This month's Electronic Sound seven-inch features two awesome new Soft Cell tracks. A limited edition pressing on blue vinyl, one side is the dramatic and atmospheric 'Elusive', a Dave Ball tune that opens the group's forthcoming 'Danceteria' album and sets the scene for what follows. Marc Almond describes it as having "a jazzy feeling, a late-night feeling". The other side of the record is an exclusive edit of the album's irresistibly upbeat title track, remixed by S-Express man Mark Moore and former Big Audio Dynamite keyboardist Dan Donovan. "I wanted a lot more people to be able to hear the remix, so it’s great that we’ve done an edit to get it onto this release,” says Almond.
