John Foxx and The Maths is the name given to the work written and produced by John Foxx and Benge .

They are planning to release their first collaboration (a digital single - My Destination / September Town) this side of Christmas exclusively through Townsend Records . The tracks will get a wider release through iTunes (etc) in the new year.

These tracks are the first taste of an (as yet untitled) album they are are currently recording at Play Studios. It's anticipated that this album will also be released in the new year.

Rob

Thanks Rob! I always thought John should release a Christmas single

And what a great moniker!

pic by benge @ it\'s full of stars

bigger pic

Its full of Maths!

very intrigued by the prospect of an album from Benge's studio.

I'm pondering now if it will be Benge playing his equipment, and John providing his additional music and vocals?
or will it instead be a joint effort on a minimalist instrumental work, like A Secret Life?
(well, John's had more than a fair bit of all that singing malarky in the past )

Wo-hoo!

Fantastic news!

Rob denies all rumours that the US itunes will list it as John Foxx & The Math

Ah, this is very exciting! Great news!!

Fantastic news!

Looking forward to the single...

Our Mr Foxx is always full of surprises.

I'll end the day as I started ie. reading this announcement...
....but just one question:

"John Foxx and The Maths is the name given to the work.." but "..the first taste of an (as yet untitled) album.."

so what's the difference between the 'work' which has a name and the 'album' which is untitled? Or maybe I haven't understood the English right?...

g'night viewers

Pictures of 'some synth studios'

http://myblogitsfullofstars.blogspot.com/2009/11/some-synth-studios.html

Benge photostream on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10093004@N03/3712575284/in/photostream/

Well spotted Martin!
Here's a good one:


caption:
john foxx came to the studio today for a jam. he bought with him a little box of index cards that contains all his ARP odyssey patches he made over the years. in it i found the sounds from underpass, one of my favorite songs ever made! here it is next to my odyssey

url

and...



bigger

The single is available to buy now!

I'm just watching mine download

(later)

...this is absolutely excellent. Superb production, and John's voice sounds great!

Third post of much enthuse.

These two tracks are really nice. "September Town" reminds me of the kind of song you would find on The Pleasures of Electricity. Quite different to "Destination".

I really like the production of the two songs - despite being typical of John's style and all genuine analogue, the sound is quite "big".

I'm really looking forward to hearing what the album will be like.

Cheers for the heads up Alex.

Downloading now.

Ditto. Will comment later.

Ha, I might have known there would already be a thread about this on here.
There's one under "John Foxx" as well..

I've had them on repeat for an hour. Bloody excellent!. "Destination" is an Epic.

I love both tracks.

Destination more so.

Destination sounds very Metamatic mixed in with Numan to me.

Cant wait for the Album

I love both tracks too but prefer September Town. His vocals on it are immense. I agree with Brian that Destination sounds very Metamatic & maybe September Town more from In Mysteious Ways. Am I saying it sounds like he's not making "new" music as such?

Rob, its hard not to be bowled over by the enthusiasm for this 'single' as discussed over on the other similarly named thread to this one, but do you know if both of these tracks will be released on disc - more specifically - included on the album? (if so then I'll wait till then to hear them in context)

I believe that the track Destination will be included, but the same can't be said for September Town. That track is currently being 'billed' as a B'Side, and so it's place on the forthcoming album can't be guaranteed.

Rob

Wahey, a good old fashioned, b-side!

Rob, is there anywhere we can see a bigger version of the artwork?

Alex - here's some new artwork which seems to be on the 'sleeve' if it's any use: http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/91/l_bb104ad41a2a48c1a0cc60494c950a33.jpg

Great music BTW

I was updating the Quiet City news page with the info at 7.30 this morning!

Oohhh - this is wonderful. I'm not quite sure what my expectations were for this collaboration, but whatever they were, they've been exceeded.

I suspect (for me at least) this album will be the most significant release since Sideways.

Agree, the best news this year!
John Foxx in electronic mode is my fav incarnation.

phew and I've been busy on the JF Italian wikipedia
page .. and last.fm ... and the rest..full time job this.

Worth it though!

Yeah I s'pose.
Can't get the player to go on me wordpress tho .. never mind.

I see the new tracks are on the JF myspace ex-Glimmer, (ex-Metatronic?) now New Electronic Music .
(Time to take the TQM banner down Steve! )

I know there's always one... but

Given this is a new collaboration, new project et cetera, (and that I'm from the old school)... I can't help feeling a different approach/theme to the artwork might have been worth considering.

Maybe it was, and they decided against it?
Foxx does have a strong brand identity at the moment...
Guess it's not for me to worry about

Either way, I do love the sleeve and the music.

And if September Town is to be only a B-side in the good old-fashioned sense of the word, then it will take a deserving place among some of John Foxx very best individual tracks

Hmm, I do concur - it's all starting to look a bit too 'samey'.

That one to me looks more like a quick solution for the single release. Hopefully there will be something fresher and more original for the album.

Oh, I see my screencapture of John from Synth Britannia has turned up on the blog! :p

Yes I just noticed that too! Nice one Alex

Ok, I think I've worn my MP3s of Destination and September Town out!

Ready for the rest of the album now!

I think mine's warped cos I left it in the sun...


Did y'all hear it's got a real drummer on it?

Surely we're due a hint of a release date by now...

Nothing has been confirmed, and so nothing has been announced. I guess everyone's been busy sorting out stuff for the The Roundhouse show and the forthcoming Metatronic compilation album.

Rob

Wasnt there a "radio" mix of the track that was meant to be available to download?
If so, anyone know where as I can only locate the original full length version.
Thanks

Not sure its 'available for download' exactly, but the radio edit versions are up on the myspace sites

Mx

in that case it should be included on the forthcoming compilation.

Why should it? :rolleyes:

From John's Twitter feed , he's been busy in the studio with Benge again recently.

Sounds like the album is coming together, especially from what John told Radiobeach recently.

I guess when Destination/September Town came out in December, I assumed the album was done and ready for release - evidently not!

Anyway, hopefully the wait will not be that much longer - maybe a late summer or autumn release... maybe sooner! Anything's possible, knowing John

I really am looking forward - a lot- to this exciting collaboration.

That's exactly my wish Alex. It's THE collab I'm waiting for!

So, John and Benge have been listening to Poison Lips, great track. I wonder if this is just a passing mention or if it might have an influence on the sound of any track still being worked on presently.

Twitter, April 16th foxxmetamedia

Two new tracks with Benge - 'Watching A Building On Fire' and 'Rear View Mirror'

Only just noticed this - cheers Martin!

Well, that's four we now know of...where's the other seven?

Excellent. Very cool titles.

I despise Twitter, so I keep forgetting about it. Maybe we need to recruit a Twiter spy to instantly report Foxx-related happenings of interest here.

There are two or three of us on twitter so we should keep everyone informed, although I admit I haven't been using it much of late and you do tend to get drowned in info.

anway just keep this one in your bookmarks and you'll be alright:
http://twitter.com/foxxmetamedia

A Twitter 'spy'???


And anyway, isn't that what I just did?

Maybe you could just get an account and find out by following John yourself. Or even put a twitter link back to your own website and help spread the word

There's loads of great stuff happening on there anyway re: reviews of new music, recommendations etc etc - a real treasure trove of new ideas and links to all manner of stuff.

cloth-ears ....
http://hangout.altsounds.com/reviews/117...own-single.html

I stopped reading after this bit.

So what exactly happens then when the Ultravox from 1976-1979's vocalist John Foxx decides to rejuvenate a career that many of us didn't even know existed?

Ignorant fecker. DO YOUR RESEARCH!!

Sadly I reckon he's right though, don't you think?

(NOT about the quality of the track, of course!)

How many people 'out there' have actually heard of John Foxx?
Let's not forget this IS the first 'mainstream' single release for 25 years

Weird that I should read this post ten minutes after watching Doctor Who.

I have always felt that reality is different for everyone according to their own experience of it...

What this review proves really well though is that John Foxx is back on the public radar.

Hat's off to Steve et al for that.

So people now realise he's still alive, and look into what he's been up to for 25 years?

And so they buy stuff, and all is well.

Yes, he is right, in that sense. The truth hurts!

But seriously, that aspect of the review I have to admit, agreed with. John isn't a musical household name. However thanks to the internet and his management's constant plugging, he clearly is better known now than a decade ago; and I think it's about the right place for him. A John Foxx single isn't likely to top the charts in this day and age. He remains a recognised underground artist and big influence; and the accolades he's got in recent years, I would say, stand for so much more than the fickle world of the charts.

As for the reviewer's slating of said song, it's clear that it comes down to taste. He clearly doesn't like John's voice.

Overall a poor and ill-researched review; obviously somebody unfamilliar with Foxx's work or recent activity. It's rather naive to assume that all analogue synth music is instantly a throwback to the 1980s.

And I quote Warren Cann: "Lazy journalism strikes again". :p

John Foxx & The Math(s)

Ok. Cool. John's recording (and performing) with a band.

Who are they, and how did he come to choose these musicians?
Serafina Steer, for example, is an accomplished harpist with her own album(s).

How come a) she's part of The Math(s) project and b) she played keyboards?

And are the others, as I imagine them to be, more than 'just' session musicians...?

I can answer a little bit of that...

I bought Serafina Steer''s 'Change is Good Change is Good' CD this week.

Some of the tracks are listed as co-produced and/or mixed by Benge, so there is an obvious connection there.

Serafina wrote all bar two of the songs on the CD and in addition to vocals and harp, she also plays synths throughout.

I'm enjoying the CD; it's very unusual stuff.

I really like it too

Thanks for the information

Unusual compositions etc. Reminds of Virginia Astley in some ways,and comparisons with Nico are justifeid

Reviewed here:-

http://popstalinist.blogspot.com/2010/05/serafina-steer-change-is-good-change-is.html

Builds well, lots of warm textures and clever instrumentation, an out of kilter piano, vocals that drift in and out. Deadpan and slightly disjointed. The beautiful light of madness is definitely there

Really interesting stuff.
Apparently this is her second album.

I just downloaded the first single 'Peach Heart' from her myspace site, and that's just as good.
You can read an interview with the BBC from 2007 here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/A25087601

something is happening anyway .. .

http://myblogitsfullofstars.blogspot.com/2010/11/mixing-with-stars.html

So that's what 'Big Al' is doing now. Always wondered what the got up to between The Touring Principle, up to the present day. Great to see that he is still involved in music.

Haven't seen this picture before?




There's a couple of other beauties at benge's blog

http://myblogitsfullofstars.blogspot.com/2010/11/math-o-matic.html

math-o-matic. Love it!!

Delicious.

And mad as a fish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbYxQ3lpqhM&feature=more_related

Glad to see Den hard at work (ahem) :rolleyes:

Nice pics tho ...all that equipment bodes well I suppose.

Great photos. Maybe they're looking for the 'any key'...

synthporn heaven -

http://playstudios.carbonmade.com/projects/2359255#26

Some great pictures of The Maths lair now online

yaay! . .love the one with those orangey telephones.... want one!

Blimey Charlie - The Quiet Man site says Interplay will now be released in March 2011! The anticipation is (almost!) killing me. I suppose perfection takes a long time to achieve.

The track-listing to the forthcoming John Foxx and The Maths album Interplay is as follows...

01. Shatterproof
02. Catwalk
03. Evergreen
04. Watching A Building On Fire
05. Interplay
06. Summerland
07. The Running Man
08. A Falling Star
09. Destination
10. The Good Shadow

Track 04, Watching A Building On Fire, features Mira Aroyo from Ladytron.

The album will be released by Metamatic Records on Monday the 21st of March, 2011.

Rob

Music in the springtime - excellent

I'm glad to see that The Good Shadow is the closing track - a very atmospheric way to end the album.

Wow! Sure it is heaven

Chris

The most exciting release this year. The album title has a Burroughs ring to it.

Chris

And, below is the front cover artwork for the John Foxx and The Maths album Interplay...



Rob

And here:

http://myblogitsfullofstars.blogspot.com/2011/01/interplay-time.html

is a list of all the kit used on the album.

Let's hope the booklet has plenty of pages!!

Is it just me or is the Townsend site / page unaccessible to all?

Seems OK to me...

Rob

thanks Rob but still no joy... might be an trans-national interwebby thing...
plenty of time anyway

Mark,

Try http://109.108.145.154/artist.php?artist=John+Foxx&pType=1

DNS servers may be playing up where you are.

Brian

YAY! that works Brian .. thanks!

I have heard a promo of the album...

...the news is good. Very good. I have to explain that I'm trapped in a Metamatic/Garden time warp somewhere in the early 80's, so accepting that John has moved on and progressed has been a bit difficult for me. This new album has made me realize that.

Move on he has, and there are some wonderful Metamatic moments on the new one. So I won't go on, but just to say, that the stories are coherent and the machines sound the way I'd want them to. He made it for me!!!, but also as a lesson that progress is everything.

Good treatments on your voice, John. I'd stay around Hoxton if I were you. Benge's place is round the corner from where the Garden was, and down the road from the great metropolis of the city of London. All steel and systematic buildings in their 21st century linear beauty. The sequences go by...

Godammit, its like your big brothers looked in the wardrobe without you and seen the xmas pressies hidden there...
Oh well, only 'X' number of days to go...

ER...I will be buying my own copy too. Now that is surely what John was waiting to hear???

Oh yes, it is so good. I play it all the time. Hehehehe..

Brilliant!

[video:youtube]http://youtu.be/6sxxKz1j_ks[/video]

WTF!

Made me smile,some great fake Foxx artwork in the video:-)

Brian

ahahahahaa! so absolutely relieved I hadn't offended anyone with this one!
I just thought it would be great fun to re-imagine our Mr Foxx as an
'Electro-Jazz-Beat-Poet' hailing from an alternate dimension!

In addition to cameos by Bob Dylan, Gregory Corso, Allen Ginsberg, Andy Warhol, Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs you'll find John, Benge, Serafina, Hannah and Tara Busch in the odd photo.

Loved using Jonathan Barnbrook's graphics alongside Saul Bass' too - they worked well together.

Easter Egg: at 3:59 is the City Lights bookstore in San Francisco (major West Coast hub for the Beat poets of the time) renamed 'City of Lights' in homage to the wonderful 'Stars On Fire' B-side!

Enjoy the October shows and be sure to give us full reports as they occur!

It's strange that you should mention Saul Bass as his name cropped up when I was speaking with Jonathan Barnbrook about the artwork he'd created for John. That interview will shortly appear on the Metamatic Website.

For those who don't know, Saul Bass worked on a number of Hollywood films - most notably / famously he created the title sequence for the Alfred Hitchcock thriller North, By Northwest...

Rob

Absolutely fantastic, some hilarious montages, and gasp! - the music really works, I love it. Funny to think there's been past mention on the forum from some of us about John's unexpected style tangents and that 'going jazz' would likely be a major wrong turn "on the plaza" or a definite stumble "through some summer door", however, as your video shows, and in the words of Miles Davis: “Do not fear mistakes. There are none.”