MUSIC NEWS: Little Boots, Pet Shop Boys, Britney Spears, Beth Ditto

MODERN TONIC

The editors of Modern Tonic present a weekly music update here on Towleroad. The rest of the week, they scan the pop-culture landscape for movie, TV, book and Web recommendations in their daily email.

Little Boots (aka Victoria Hesketh) is the best thing to happen to the thigh-high since Beyoncé’s Foxxy Cleopatra strutted her way through Austin Powers in Goldmember. Her import debut Hands — with production help from Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard, Greg Kurstin of The Bird and The Bee and Simian Mobile Disco’s Jas Shaw — is a dancing, leaping, jumping blend of 80’s synth-pop, big beat drums and hooks galore. “Stuck On Repeat”  and “New in Town,” her Kylie-licious singles, are available on both the full-length album and her U.S.-only EP Illuminations (out today), a sampler to keep U.S. listeners happy until a domestic release date is set for Hands. (Illuminations has three additional tracks — including a remake of Freddie Mercury’s “Love Kills" — not on the album.)

This Soho boho Gaga-esque goddess, who won the BBC’s “Sound of 2009” survey, revs her synths into overdrive for some hand-clapping, foot-stomping instant classics.

MUSIC NEWS:

Pet Shop Boys create Pandemonium: On the heels of Yes, their highest-charting album in the U.S. since Very, the Pet Shop Boys' Pandemonium tour kicks off North American dates August 29 in Montreal.

You saw Madonna how many times?: As if you weren't up to your neck in social networking sites, along comes Songkick, where you can share with the world all the concerts you've ever attended, and upload set lists, photos, ticket stubs, etc., and also keep up on who is going to which live gigs. Its database already has over a million past and future shows to get you started. 

Is she the ringleader? Does she call the shots?: The real story behind keeping Britney under control.

Beth Ditto of The Gossip on working with Rick Rubin ("That gave me chills"), snarky blog comments ("I don't Google myself"), being gay and out ("Samantha Ronson and Lindsay Lohan - that would have been kept a crazy secret five years ago. To be part of that visibility is really important"), and her band's forthcoming album Music For Men.

More bad news for the music biz: Album sales in May declined nearly 17% compared to May 2008; down 37% from May 2007.

TODAY’S NEW RELEASES:

Pass The Duchess on the left hand side! Fergie’s back in the fold for Black Eyed Peas’ latest, The E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies).
 
No longer young, Sonic Youth’s sound lives forever on the masterful The Eternal.

Cardigans’ front-woman Nina Persson does digital duty with the download-only Covers EP from her solo project, A Camp.

Helium-voiced Brian Molko breaks in new drummer Steve Forrest on Placebo’s hard-rocking sixth release, Battle for the Sun.

Will Wonder Woman fly on her album of standards?  Find out on Lynda Carter's At Last.

Club kids can feel the mix in their coccyx with Ultra Records’ Dance Anthems.
 
New releases also from: Paul Van Dyk — Volume; Mos Def — The Ecstatic; Morrissey — Maladjusted (Expanded Edition); Teena Marie — Congo Square; Rhett Miller — Rhett Miller; Kasabian — West Ryder Lunatic Asylum; The Dirty Projectors — Bitte Orca.

MUSIC VIDEOS AND CLIPS:

MPHO — “Box ‘n’ Locks”
This mixed-race Londoner makes like Santigold with a Smiths-esque stroll through this bouncy single (featuring a riff from Martha and the Muffins’ ‘80s classic “Echo Beach”) from her fall U.K. debut, Pop Art.

WALE ftrg. LADY GAGA — “Chillin’”
Mark Ronson-sponsored D.C.-based rapper cruises Washington’s mean streets with Lady Gaga fronting her best M.I.A. impersonation.

DAVID GUETTA ftrg. KELLY ROWLAND — “When Love Takes Over”
David Guetta’s summer club anthem gets a downtempo remake when vocalist Kelly Rowland takes the BBC Live Lounge stage.

FRANKMUSIK — “Confusion Girl”
Even with pink sneakers and a tragic haircut, Vincent Frank (aka Frankmusik) gets the girl in this clip for the current single from his forthcoming Complete Me (out July 27 in the U.K.).

First Look: Pet Shop Boys 'Did You See Me Coming?' Video

The Pet Shop Boys have posted the video for their new single, "Did You See Me Coming?"

The PSB shot the video on April 22. The video was directed by Douglas Hart, former bassist for the JEsus and Mary Chain. The PSB twittered this photo (below) of Hart and Tennant on set back when they were shooting.

Watch the clip (it's very "Minimal"-esque), AFTER THE JUMP...

Pet Shop Boys on Gays, AIDS, Religion, Music, America, and Obama

The Pet Shop Boys talk to Andrew Sullivan for the June/July issue of OUT magazine.

In the interview, which touches on gay culture, America, AIDS, religion, and the music, Neil Tennant confesses: “I got alienated from the gay world -- when I went through my famous heterosexual phase -- because everyone looked the same. To this day, I’ve never got the everyone-looking-the-same thing...this was the clones and the checked shirts and the 501s and the same mustaches, you know. I mean, now you can look back, and it seems sort of endearingly kitsch. It’s Tales of the City, you know -- it’s that period. I found that alienating because it seemed professional and narcissistic and just about doing sex really well. And all of that I don’t find very sexy."

Tennant also speaks of his fondness for Obama: “We’re crazy about Obama in Europe. Everyone thinks he’s sexy. Lovely teeth, as my mother would say. He’s brought back dignity, which is an amazing thing to put back on the cultural agenda. There’s a slightly corny song on our album called 'More Than a Dream,' which was written when Obama was slugging it out with Hillary in the primaries, and you could feel the potential for the world to change away from the sort of paranoia -- justified as it may be -- to something different. And that spirit is what we’re riding at the moment, although of course we wrote that before the economic crisis."

Read the full interview at OUT.

Music News: Who's Really Buying CDs Anymore?

ROBBIE DAW

Robbie Daw presents a weekly pop music update here on Towleroad. Robbie runs his own site called Chart Rigger.

This morning I headed out to Target to pick up cat food and paper towels. And might as well grab a Mother's Day card. And one for grandma. And vinegar. And chewing gum.

I also could use new headphones. And there's the new Depeche Mode CD, for only $9.98. What's one more impulse buy at this point? 

Is buying music on CD completely passe now? Granted, I'll still pick up older stuff or imports not available here in the States on disc occasionally. Perhaps the real question should be whether actually driving to the store to buy music on CD is an outmoded concept.

The three remaining U.S. Virgin Megastores (Los Angeles, Orlando, Denver) will shut their doors for good this year, joining defunct chains such as National Record Mart and Tower. And while those out there actually paying for music are still, percentage-wise, opting for CDs over MP3s, they're doing so online, at places like Amazon.

Hence retailers like Austin's Waterloo Records and San Francisco and L.A.'s Amoeba Records getting involved in the brick-and-mortar-supporting Record Store Day this past Saturday.

It sort of all comes full circle to the dilemma I had when I was a teenager—whether or not to buy an album on cassette or CD. My beat up '87 Dodge Shadow I used to tool around my hometown in during the early '90s had a tape player, so often cassettes won out, even though my parents invested in a CD player for their stereo system pretty early on.

Maybe it all just comes down to practicality.

Anyway, my friend—a big Depeche Mode fan—texted me later and said that I could have gotten their Sounds Of The Universe off Amazon's MP3 store for only $3.99 today. Just my luck.

I would have argued that I did it all for the artwork, but I've listened to the album three times now, and haven't even thought about opening the booklet inside.

STANDOUT TRACKS: "Peace," "Perfect" and the current single "Wrong."

   TODAY'S NEW RELEASES:

Yes, the 10th studio album from the Pet Shop Boys. (Check out my track-by-track review.) Also available (though only as a physical CD) is a limited edition two-disc version called Yes, etc., containing the extra song "This Used To Be The Future" (which features both Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe singing, as well as Human League's Phil Oakey) and six dub mixes of Yes album tracks.

The Breeders' "Fate To Fatal" EP.

Walking On A Dream, the first album from Australian electronic duo Empire Of The Sun.

Let's Stay Here, an album of secular music from Oleta Adams.

New singles from Green Day ("Know Your Enemy"), Jarvis Cocker ("Angela"), Nick Lachey ("All In My Head") and Paolo Nutini ("Candy").

News: Florida, Dsquared2, Bluetooth, Robert Smith, Duluth

Florida Supreme Court to hear arguments in gay adoption case tomorrow: "Tomorrow the Florida Supreme Court will hear oral argument in the case of Liberty Counsel v. The Florida Bar. Earlier this year Liberty Counsel filed a petition at the Florida Supreme Court, arguing that the Bar should remain neutral in the state's homosexual adoption controversy."

GaGa: Spot of tea?

If you had a horn growing out of your forehead for 20 years, you'd look this happy too.

Tharon Musser, lighting designer for more than 150 Broadway shows, dies at 84.

Idolator talks to the Pet Shop Boys.

Why hasn't the United States lifted HIV travel restrictions yet? "Following new legislation last year, the HIV entry ban is no longer law, but remains an administrative decision to be ruled on by the Department for Health and Human Services."

Brazilian President Lula writes letter in favor of gay rights.

DSquared2 twins Dan and Dean Caten are getting their own music show on Sirius radio: "The program, called 'Dean and Dan on Air: Style in Stereo,' will spin music from the past and present, including the soundtracks from their runway shows, spanning genres including urban, dance, hip-hop and rock ’n’ roll. The program will also feature interviews with celebrities to discuss the latest in fashion, music, politics and more."

Hugh Jackman says fans rarely recognize him.

Where's the most remote place on Earth?

Bluetooth 3.0 introduced.

Stephen Hawking to pull through: "He is comfortable and his family is looking forward to him making a full recovery."

WTF would Jesus do?

Vander Plaats plots Iowa gubernatorial campaign: "Vander Plaats recently placed an ad on Republican-leaning news site, the Drudge Report, to show the nation that most Iowans are against gay marriage..."The definition of marriage is also going to be an issue in the campaign, and in particular where the incumbent governor and the Democrat-controlled legislature is saying, 'We don't even want to hear from the people on this issue. The courts have said it so therefore we're going to back away and wash our hands of it.' I think that's going to be a major in the 2010 campaign."

Robert Smith of The Cure is 50 years old today!

Gertrude Stein Democratic Club blasts D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty for firing gay Parks & Recreation director Clark Ray, demands meeting: "Today's firing of Clark Ray as Director of Parks and Recreation is a slap in the face to the GLBT community...In a city with a huge GLBT population, which supported you in large numbers, that is unacceptable...It is clear to most that Mr. Ray performed his duties in a way that was a credit to the administration," it stated.

Good Charlotte's Joel Madden takes a turn for the blond.

Councilman to introduce domestic partner registry in Duluth, Minnesota.

Screw Miss USA, here's the Mr. Broadway Beauty Pageant.

Gay British Columbia New Democratic Party candidate Ray Lam steps down over Facebook photos showing him feeling woman's breast, pulling down underwear: "Mr. Lam has been involved for several years with the Pride Society, a Vancouver-based advocacy group for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community. According to a Pride Society web site, Mr. Lam has been involved in several community organizations and was chair of Youthquest, Lesbian & Gay Youth Society of British Columbia."

Rev. Lou Sheldon's Traditional Values Coalition warns federal hate crimes bill will legalize numerous types of sexual crimes because the American Psychiatric Association lists certain sexual fetishes under a long list of "sexual orientations".

Will Pet Shop Boys Change Name to 'Rescue Shelter Boys' for PETA?

PETA UK sent a letter to Pet Shop Boys Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant asking the pop duo to change their name in an effort to raise awareness about cruelty in the pet trade. They posted it to their website.

"Dear Neil and Chris,

"You have many loyal fans of the Pet Shop Boys here at PETA. We have a request that may at first seem bizarre, but we hope that after considering the following facts, you will understand why we are asking this of you: will you please consider changing your name from the Pet Shop Boys to the Rescue Shelter Boys?

Most dogs and cats sold in pet shops are sourced from profit-hungry breeders who may have bred them in cramped, filthy conditions. With an emphasis on quantity rather than quality, unmonitored genetic defects and personality disorders pass from one generation of puppies and kittens to the next. Many animals end up with abnormalities that result in both heartbreak and high veterinary bills for the unsuspecting people who buy them. For every bird who reaches a pet shop, three others have died during capture, confinement and transportation. Hamsters, mice and other rodents are often bred by the pet shops themselves, leading to inbreeding, genetic weaknesses, physical deformities and behavioural disorders.

Most pet-shop animals are kept in cages or runs that are far too small for their needs. Exercise is minimal, and they often never leave their cages until the day that they are sold. Nocturnal animals are displayed throughout the day under glaring lights. Predators, such as snakes, may be displayed alongside their prey. No screening is done to ensure the suitability of prospective guardians.

By agreeing to change your name to the Rescue Shelter Boys, you would help raise awareness about the cruelty involved in the pet trade and encourage your millions of fans to consider giving a home to an abandoned or unwanted animal from an animal shelter. So, what do you say?"

The Pet Shop Boys responded that the request is something they are "unable to agree to but nonetheless think raises an issue worth thinking about" and posted a link directing people to find information back at PETA.

Upon inquiry, PETA's Senior VP Dan Mathews told Towleroad: "Neil Tennant shows that the Pet Shop Boys are just as smart as their lyrics and appreciate PETA's creative ways of bringing issues to the public."