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PAPER GODS - il nuovo album disponibile dall'11 settembre 2015

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    Tiger Tiger
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    duraniano "Serious"
    00 11/07/2015 11:13



    Si chiamerà PAPER GODS il 14 album di studio dei Duran Duran,
    e sarà disponibile a partire dall'11 settembre 2015.




    Saranno realizzate due versioni, una con 12 brani, e una "deluxe" con 15 brani.

    Queste le due scalette:

    Standard Edition

    1. "Paper Gods" (featuring Mr Hudson)
    2. "Last Night in the City" (featuring Kiesza)
    3. "You Kill Me with Silence"
    4. "Pressure Off" (featuring Janelle Monáe and Nile Rodgers)
    5. "Face for Today"
    6. "Danceophobia" (featuring Lindsay Lohan)
    7. "What Are the Chances?" (featuring John Frusciante)
    8. "Sunset Garage"
    9. "Change the Skyline" (featuring Jonas Bjerre)
    10. "Butterfly Girl" (featuring John Frusciante)
    11. "Only in Dreams"
    12. "The Universe Alone" (featuring John Frusciante)

    Deluxe Edition bonus tracks

    13. "Planet Roaring"
    14. "Valentine Stones"
    15. "Northern Lights"

    La copertina è stata realizzata dall'artista Alex Israel
    utilizzando molte immagini legate alla storia dei Duran Duran:
    sono riconoscibili facilmente il telefono rosa del video di "Rio" e la bocca sorridente della copertina dell'omonimo album.
    Ma c'è anche la torre Eiffel di "A View to a Kill", oppure il cappello con visiera di "The Chauffeur"
    e la tigre di "Seven and the Ragged Tiger"

    Nel package della versione "deluxe" del cd saranno disponibili anche le stesse immagini in versione "stickers" esclusivi da collezione.

    Inoltre verranno rese disponibile anche le stesse due versioni dell'album sia in vinile sia, ovviamente, in digitale.






    Ecco il comunicato stampa completo in inglese.


    June 29th, 2015 — Burbank, CA — Multi-platinum superstars Duran Duran have announced more details about their upcoming new studio album, Paper Gods, which will be released in the U.S. on September 18th and in the rest of the world on September 11th through Warner Bros. Records.

    Paper Gods features special guests Janelle Monáe (on the first single “Pressure Off”), CHIC co-founder Nile Rodgers (also on “Pressure Off”), former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante (on “What Are The Chances,” “Butterfly Girl,” “The Universe Alone,” and “Northern Lights,”), Canadian Juno-Award winning singer Kiesza (on “Last Night in the City”), British singer/songwriter/producer Mr Hudson (on “Paper Gods”), Mew vocalist Jonas Bjerre (on “Change The Skyline”), violinist Davidé Rossi (on “Face For Today” and “Pressure Off”), and actress Lindsay Lohan, who provides a spoken-word vocal on “Danceophobia.” More announcements will be made about Paper Gods in the coming weeks.

    Paper Gods will be released in four configurations: as a standard 12-track CD and its digital equivalent, as a Deluxe 15-track CD and its digital equivalent (with three bonus tracks), as a standard 12-track vinyl double LP, and as a limited edition, high end Vinyl Factory Deluxe LP box set. Alongside this, limited edition fan bundles are available at the Duran Duran Music Store which include an exclusive CD with deluxe track listing, special packaging, and a paper fortune teller. The Deluxe version of the album is currently available for pre-order at all participating retailers.

    Singer Simon Le Bon, keyboardist Nick Rhodes, bassist John Taylor, and drummer Roger Taylor recorded Paper Gods in London with producers Nile Rodgers, Mark Ronson, Josh Blair, and Mr Hudson. The songs – already being heralded as their best work since Rio – capture the true essence of the band – with the duality and sense of conflict that has always been at the heart of their music. Visceral and daring, the album mixes hard-edged, contemporary pop with the band’s darker more experimental side to create a body of work that is epic in its scope.

    Duran Duran have also announced that they will perform a series of summer festivals, as well as a run of shows in the U.S. in September and October, followed by a UK arena tour that kicks off in late November.

    The track-listing for Paper Gods is as follows:

    Paper Gods (feat. Mr. Hudson)
    Last Night in the City (feat. Kiesza)
    You Kill Me With Silence
    Pressure Off (feat. Janelle Monáe and Nile Rodgers)
    Face For Today
    Danceophobia
    What Are The Chances?
    Sunset Garage
    Change the Skyline (feat. Jonas Bjerre)
    Butterfly Girl
    Only in Dreams
    The Universe Alone

    Deluxe Edition Bonus Tracks:

    Planet Roaring
    Valentine Stones
    Northern Lights




    [Modificato da Tiger Tiger 11/07/2015 12:01]
  • OFFLINE
    Tiger Tiger
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    duraniano "Serious"
    00 12/07/2015 19:17

    DURAN DURAN - IDOLI DI CARTA - Giugno 2015


    Quante band si può pensare che, dopo decenni nella loro carriera, siano ancora in grado di sorprese spiazzanti, di freschi e sfolgoranti passaggi, creando nuova musica che regge il confronto con le canzoni imperiture che inizialmente hanno portato loro fama, fortuna e successo di critica? E' un esercizio interessante, ed anche breve - un elenco che si può fare sulle dita di una mano. Nel 2015, i Duran Duran possono cementare il loro posto in questo illustre gruppo con un nuovo album in studio - il 14esimo, niente meno - che conferma il loro ruolo nella storia del pop, e rispedisce al loro posto i tanti giovani pretendenti la cui musica hanno influenzato marcatamente. Come parte di un nuovo importante accordo discografico con la Warner Bros. Records, "Paper Gods" inizia il prossimo capitolo della storia della band, con una serie di collaboratori da "lista VIP" che hanno aderito al progetto - tra cui Nile Rodgers, Mark Ronson, Mr Hudson, Janelle Monáe, John Frusciante, Kiesza e Davide Rossi. "Abbiamo trovato un nuovo livello di ispirazione in questo album", dice il tastierista e guru estetico della band, Nick Rhodes. «Stavamo parlando l'altro giorno degli artisti che sono stati in pista per un lungo periodo di tempo - i nostri contemporanei e alcuni più vecchi - e c'è solo una manciata di questi ultimi ora, ancora là fuori a fare spettacoli. E noi dicevamo: 'Che album hanno fatto ultimamente tra quelli che possediamo?' Ed è stata una individuazione difficile ".

    Simon Le Bon ha una teoria sul motivo per cui i membri della band sono ancora amici, e ancora in grado di pordurre musica vitale e irresistibile, 37 anni dopo la prima formazione dei Duran Duran nata a Birmingham. "Penso che alcuni artisti, tra quelli che riescono a realizzare carriere estese - un po' come scalare una parete rocciosa - a un certo punto cominciano a guardare in basso. E se lo fai, da un punto di vista musicale, sei praticamente annegato. Lo si può quasi "percepire" quando qualcuno "pensa" un po' troppo (a che musica fare...Ndr), oppure se ha tentato di scrivere qualcosa che pensa possa piacere alle persone, piuttosto che qualcosa che li stimoli personalmente. Noi abbiamo sempre scritto musica che ci stimolasse; non abbiamo mai cercato di adattarlo ad ogni tipo di gusto".
    Anche gli equilibri "'politici" all'interno della band hanno un ruolo importante, dice. "Credo che parte della nostra forza sia dovuta alla tensione nella nostra musica, che deriva probabilmente dalla tensione all'interno della band. Quando sei giovane, non hai paura di offendere le persone, e in realtà a volte ci spingiamo ancora in quella direzione anche noi. Ma le "parole offensive" si possono perdonare. In ultima analisi, sappiamo che in realtà ci batteremo uno per l'altro, qualunque sia la situazione. Ci teniamo insieme. Nick e io, ad esempio, possiamo lottare con i denti e le unghie su un testo, o una parte musicale. E si potrebbe pensare in quei momenti che ci odiamo a morte a vicenda, ma in realtà ci amiamo".

    "Ne abbiamo passate tante insieme" aggiunge John Taylor "e ora è come se si trattasse di "conoscere loro stessi" (Gioco di parole da "know yourself", ovvero "conosci te stesso" Ndr)'. A questo punto della nostra carriera, si tratta di essere davvero in contatto con la propria identità, e traendo forza dalla conoscenza che tutti voi avete avuto su questo incredibile viaggio, un viaggio che è ancora in corso. Penso che si potrà percepire come, nelle nuove canzoni, stiamo ancora imparando cose da e con gli altri, sia come persone sia musicalmente". Per John, la cosa più soddisfacente del nuovo album è che coglie la dualità, il senso del conflitto, nel cuore della musica della band. "Nel progetto originale della band, c'era questo lato oscuro, leggermente progressivo per noi, e tendeva ad ottenere un po' di "maltrattamento" dell'aspetto "poptastico" (ovvero più pop e glamour... Ndr). In quella aspirazione di soddisfazione pop, si può dimenticare ciò che si è prefisso di fare. Il nuovo album va davvero indietro a quella strana iniziale miscela duraniana. Pop dai contorni netti che però coesiste con questo lato buio, straniante, sperimentale".
    "Questo è qualcosa di veramente essenziale per tutti noi", concorda Nick. "E 'bello essere in grado di sollevare gli animi della gente - e di te stesso - con un forte colpo di pop puro, ma il mondo in cui viviamo non è tutto solo fatto di quella roba, così sembra naturale per me, ed è stato così fin dall'inizio, che abbiamo mantenuto, e ancora manteniamo, un piede nel lato più oscuro, più gotico della vita".

    Le sessioni iniziali per il nuovo album sono iniziate nel 2013, con Mark Ronson e l'ingegnere dei suoni Josh Blair, che ancora una volta hanno raggiunto la band nel loro studio di registrazione a sud di Londra, come avevano fatto per il disco del 2011 "All You Need Is Now". Quando Mark è docuto andare via per cominciare a lavorare sul suo album, Josh ha preso le redini della produzione, e in ultima analisi, co-produzione di nove nuovi brani (sei solo con la band e tre insieme alla band e Mr Hudson) e di ingegneria dell'intero lavoro. Nick ha detto, a proposito di questa collaborazione "Era davvero il nostro perno nel corso del progetto, contribuendo decisamente a scolpire il suono dell'album e presiedere ogni dettaglio. Lui era lì fin dall'inizio, e questo ci ha dato una sensazione di continuità dall'ultima produzione".

    Nel mese di aprile 2014, dopo aver creato la struttura portante del disco, i Duran Duran contattano Ben "Mr" Hudson, già collaboratore di Kanye West e Jay-Z, e le sessioni di lavoro ripartono con una nuova linfa. "Ben è diventato il nostro direttore, grazie al suggerimento di Wendy Laister", ricorda Roger Taylor. "Si potrebbe pensare che sia strano lavorare con altre persone a volte; spesso si tende a pensare di potere fare tutto bene da noi stessi. Ma poi abbiamo scoperto che lui viene da Birmingham, cosa che ha finito per colpire il nostro interesse. Gli abbiamo chiesto di entrare per qualche giorno, e ha finito per stare, quella prima volta, per più di un mese. Ha portato questa incredibile energia alle sessioni. . E 'stato un momento incredibile".
    "Quando Mark (Ronson) è dovuto andare a lavorare su un proprio progetto", dice Simon, "ci si sentiva un po' come riprendere il comando - che è scomodo ma anche abbastanza libero. E abbiamo trascorso tra sei mesi e un anno facendo così. E poi è arrivato Ben Hudson, e lui davvero ha rivoltato tutto. Il suo apporto è stato estremamente propositivo, bisogna dire: 'Questo è grande', diceva, ' qui hai le basi di un album'.
    Ed effettivamente a questo punto abbiamo cominciato a percepire il lavoro proprio come un album, piuttosto che una semplice raccolta di canzoni. E questo sopratutto grazie al fatto che lui era davvero interessato ha catturare la spontaneità e freschezza del nostro sound".

    Il coinvolgimento di Ben Hudson sembrerebbe dunque aver tracciato un cambiamento radicale nel modo in cui la band si stava avvicinando all'album, che sarebbe diventato uno dei loro più "collaborativi" fino ad oggi. "Quando Mark Ronson è tornato", ricorda John con una risatina, "ha voluto la clausola che avremmo dovuto prendere anche Nile (Rogers), anche se non aveva lavorato prima sull'album. Ovviamente abbiamo accetato. Questo ha portato a una straordinaria esperienza: era come guardare uno show fra loro due, con il resto di noi come destinatari fortunati del discorso musicale che si svolgeva tra loro". Mark, Nile e Mr Hudson hanno co-scritto e prodotto le tracce "Pressure Off" e 'Only the dream". Il primo brano, che è anche il primo singolo con Nile Rodgers dell'album, si rifà ai ritmi funk di Notorious, con un contributo vocale sensazionale di Janelle Monáe, e un coro che è audace nella sua immediatezza. "Si, solo che...", ride Nick. "...non era stata semplicissima da ottenere. Ma l'idea era quella di rendere il suono come quello".
    "Notorious è stato un forte riferimento per la band", dice Roger. "All You Need Is Now sicuramente riflette i nostri album precedenti, ma il nostro punto di partenza qui è stato Notorious. Siamo fortunati ad essere in grado di trarre ispirazione dal nostro stesso vecchio catalogo. Non molte band possono fare altrettanto... "
    testo ancora da sistemare





    DURAN DURAN – PAPER GODS – June, 2015

    How many bands can you think of that, decades into their career, are still capable of springing surprises, of blazing fresh trails, creating new music that is up there with the imperishable songs that first propelled them to fame, fortune and critical acclaim? It’s an interesting exercise, and a brief one – a list you can make on the fingers of one hand. In 2015, Duran Duran will cement their place in that illustrious grouping with a new studio album – their 14th, no less – that burnishes their role in the story of pop, and puts the many young pretenders whose music they have influenced firmly in their place. As part of a major new recording deal with Warner Bros. Records, Paper Gods starts the next chapter in the history of the band, with a host of A-list collaborators – including Nile Rodgers, Mark Ronson, Mr Hudson, Janelle Monáe, John Frusciante, Kiesza and Davide Rossi – joining the party. “We found a whole new level of inspiration on this album,” says the band’s keyboardist and aesthetic overlord, Nick Rhodes. “We were talking the other day about artists that have been around for a long time – our contemporaries and some older ones, and there’s only a handful of the latter now, still out there playing shows. And we were saying, ‘What albums did they make this far down the line that we own?’ And that was a difficult one.”

    Simon Le Bon has a theory as to why the band are still friends, and still making vital, compelling music, 37 years after Duran Duran first formed in Birmingham. “I think with some artists, as they get into extended careers, it’s like climbing up a rock-face – they start to look down. If you do that, musically, you’re pretty much dead in the water. You can hear it when someone’s thought about it just a little too much, or tried to write something that they think people will like, rather than something that turns them on. We’ve always written music that turns us on; we’ve never tried to tailor it to any kind of taste.” Band politics play a role, too, he says. “I think part of our strength is the tension in our music, which probably comes from the tension within the band. When you’re young, you’re not scared of upsetting people, and actually we can still push that sometimes. But harsh words are forgiven. Ultimately, we know that we will fight for each other, whatever the situation. We stick together. Nick and I can fight tooth and nail, over a lyric, or a musical part. And you would think in those moments that we hate each other’s guts, but really we love each other.”

    “We have been through a lot together” John Taylor adds, “and now it’s very much a case of ‘Know thyself.’ At this point in our career, it’s about being really in touch with your identity, and drawing strength from the knowledge that you’ve all been on this incredible journey, a journey that is still going on. I think you can hear that in the new songs; we’re still learning things from and about each other, personally as well as musically.” For John, the most satisfying thing about the new album is that it captures the duality, the sense of conflict, at the heart of the band’s music. “In the original blueprint for the band, there was this dark, slightly progressive side to us, and it tended to get a little bit trampled on by the poptastic aspect. In that desire for pop satisfaction, you can forget what you set out to do. The new record really goes back to that strange early Duran mix: the hard-edged pop, coexisting with this dark, weird, experimental side.” “That’s something that’s essential to all of us,” agrees Nick. “It’s great to be able to lift people’s spirits – and your own – with a strong shot of pure pop, but the world we live in isn’t all just made of that stuff, so it seems natural to me, and has done since the very beginning, that we have kept, and still keep, one foot in the darker, more Gothic side of life.”

    Early sessions for the new record began in 2013, with Mark Ronson and engineer Josh Blair once again joining the band in their south London recording studio, as they had for 2011’s All You Need is Now. When Mark was called away to begin working on his own album, Josh picked up the reins, ultimately co-producing nine new tracks (six with the band and three alongside the band and Mr Hudson), and engineering the entire record. Nick says of the collaboration “He really was our anchor throughout the project, helping to sculpt the sound of the album and presiding over every detail. He was there from the start, and that gave us a feeling of continuity from the last record.”

    In April 2014, having created the backbone of the album, Duran Duran hooked up with the Kanye West/Jay-Z collaborator Ben “Mr” Hudson, and the sessions caught fire once again. “Ben was our manager, Wendy Laister’s suggestion,” recalls Roger Taylor. “We can be strange about working with other people sometimes; we tend to think we can do just fine by ourselves. But then we discovered he came from Birmingham, which was always going to prick our interest. We asked him to come in for a few days, and he ended up staying, that first time, for more than a month. He brought this incredible energy to the sessions. It was an amazing time.” “When Mark had to go off to work on his own project,” says Simon, “it felt a bit like going commando – uncomfortable but quite free as well. And we really got into it, and spent between six months and a year doing it like that. And then along came Ben Hudson, and he really turned things around. His response was incredibly positive, you know, ‘This is great; you’ve got the basis of a record here.’ And that’s when it started to feel like an album, rather than just a collection of songs. What he was really interested in was capturing the spontaneity and freshness.”

    Ben Hudson’s involvement would signal a step change in how the band approached the album, which would become one of their most collaborative to date. Mark Ronson returned, with, recalls John with a chuckle, “the stipulation that we had to get Nile in, too, who he hadn’t worked with before, though we, of course, had. That led to a brilliant experience – it was like watching the two of them doing show-and-tell, with the rest of us as the lucky recipients of the musical discourse taking place between them.” Mark, Nile and Mr Hudson co-wrote and produced, the tracks ‘Pressure Off’ and ‘Only in Dreams’. The former, which will be the album’s lead single featuring Nile Rodgers, harks back to the taut funk of Notorious, with a sensational vocal from Janelle Monáe, and a chorus that is audacious in its effortless immediacy. “If only,” laughs Nick. “The one thing it wasn’t was effortless. But the idea was to make it sound like that.” “Notorious was a strong touchstone for the band,” says Roger. “All You Need is Now definitely reflected our earlier albums, but our starting point here was Notorious. We’re fortunate to be able to be inspired by our own back catalogue – not many bands can say that.”

    If ‘Face For Today’, ‘Butterfly Girl’, ‘Danceophobia’ (with a guest appearance from Lindsay Lohan as the voice of the ‘doctor’) and ‘Last Night In the City’ (which features a killer contribution from Kiesza) are among the album’s other big-chorus bankers, and ‘What Are the Chances?’ the song that rolls back the years to the yearning and beauty of ‘Save a Prayer’, elsewhere the new album displays a degree of experimentalism that will thrill all Duran fans who look to the band for darkness and shadow beneath the dazzling bright lights. ‘You Kill Me With Silence’ may boast another huge chorus, but at heart it is a deeply unorthodox and sonically engrossing song, with a disorientating closing sequence that reinforces the band’s art-pop credentials. Simon’s verdict on it sums up the freedom and inquisitiveness that still define the band’s music-making. “What I love most about the track is that it opens like a Snoop Dogg song; you almost expect a rapper to kick off, and instead what you get is Simon Le Bon channelling Nancy Sinatra.”

    The title track (which features Mr Hudson’s vocals alongside Simon’s) is similarly daring, its polemical lyrics set to a soundtrack of fierce originality and menace. “It’s a song about our obsession, with money, with material things,” says Simon, “and how we trivialise our lives, and humanity. It’s definitely the angriest song on the album. Usually I tend to be much less specific when it comes to lyrics, because I like it when people hear our songs and create their own stories around them. But in this case, I wanted the anger to be unambiguous: ‘The slaver in a sweatshop, putting trainers on your feet.’ It’s about the price that we pay, that everyone pays, for the world as it is now.” “That song is definitely one of the strangest things we’ve done in a long, long time,” says Nick, “in that it’s a real journey, a strong lyric – we don’t often get into social commentary with songs, but this one felt like it needed that. And I do love the fact that it’s so unpredictable.”

    John Frusciante’s playing, on ‘What Are the Chances?’, ‘The Universe Alone’ and ‘Butterfly Girl’, is equally unpredictable, the former Red Hot Chili Pepper twisting the songs into new and unexpected shapes. “We’re all so in awe of what he does with the guitar, his style is completely unique,” says Simon. “As a musician, he’s fearless, and that’s incredibly inspiring.” On ‘Change the Skyline’, alongside keyboard parts that totally drive the song forward, Jonas Bjerre of Mew adds a different, other-worldly vocal flavour, his voice blending beautifully with Simon’s on the instantly gratifying chorus.

    With a headline set at Bestival, in the UK, in September, and a world tour being finalised, Duran Duran will hit the ground running this autumn, and, armed with one of the most visceral and daring albums of their career, they are ready for the challenge. Ask the band where that energy and creative inspiration still come from, and all four come at their answers from slightly different angles – but the message is the same. “It’s down to drive, individually and collectively,” says John. “We’ve never stopped feeling that we’ve got something to prove. There’s always a temptation to sit back on your laurels and feel like you can start relaxing. But that means you’re ready for the deck chair. I’m still running as fast as I can.” “It’s the best thing we do,” says Roger. “We’ve all tried different things, but this unit, making music, is still the most powerful. Come rain or shine, something happens.”

    Simon stresses the importance of patience and commitment. “We’ve allowed ourselves the time to make music that we can be proud of. You see some bands having a reunion and then banging a new album out six months later, and you can’t help but think: ‘Is that as good as you can be?’ We knew the new record wasn’t ready for a long time, that it wasn’t good enough. We wanted to make something we could be proud of. I judge what we release by my favourites albums by other artists: Patti Smith’s Horses, Neil Young’s Harvest, Rolling Stones’ Let It Bleed, Blue by Joni Mitchell, Lou Reed’s Transformer, Aladdin Sane. Those are classic albums. The only rule is, it’s got to be up there, it’s got to be music you can live with for the rest of your life.”

    For Nick, it’s about holding on to naivety, to innocence. “When you become too self-conscious about things, that’s when you start to make records that sound like parodies. And that’s the time to stop, for sure. One of my favourite Picasso quotes is when he said that it took him most of his life to learn how to draw like a child again. There’s real truth in that; the purity you have when you’re a young band and you’ve got those blinkers on, and you believe in what you’re doing so much. You don’t question yourself, you just keep moving forward. And that naivety-driven mind-set is what’s created some of the greatest records ever made, the first albums by the Velvet Underground, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Doors. The best first albums tend to have that untarnished finish to them. Ok, you can never really get that back, but you can at least understand what it is and try to utilise elements of it. And that’s how this record felt. We sat down and went: ‘Let’s wipe the slate clean here; what shall we do now?’

    “I know that artists always like to say this,” Nick continues, “but truly, without a doubt, I think this is our best record since The Wedding Album. Being in this band is like being married to three other people. We take care of each other, but we also argue all the time, too, particularly about music. But that’s essential. If you don’t argue, don’t have strong opinions, that’s when you end up producing junk. We fight for every note – literally. But it doesn’t feel like a battle. It feels like a victory.”

    [Modificato da Tiger Tiger 12/07/2015 20:16]