Strange Attractor
April 7, 2017 6:02 PM   Subscribe

You remember Alphaville, right? They've dropped a new album, Strange Attractor. Giants - House Of Ghosts - Enigma are all tracks from this new album.
posted by hippybear (24 comments total) 22 users marked this as a favorite
 
I sure do! Yay!
posted by prize bull octorok at 6:26 PM on April 7, 2017 [2 favorites]


The first text I got this morning was from a friend who was so excited about this album coming out today. (As if I wasn't feeling 40 enough already.)
posted by mykescipark at 6:37 PM on April 7, 2017 [5 favorites]


I was at a wedding in college, and the song that the newlywedded couple was supposed to do their first dance to was "Forever Young", but the DJ accidentally played "Big in Japan" instead (maybe it was the tip side of the 45?), and they slow danced to it. They were divorced within a year, but I don't blame Alphaville. Or the DJ.
posted by jonathanhughes at 8:03 PM on April 7, 2017 [6 favorites]


This brings me back to my doomed campaign to get "Forever Young" as our prom theme. You really blew it, Winston Churchill High School Prom Committee 1989.
posted by escabeche at 8:36 PM on April 7, 2017 [2 favorites]


hippybear, I'm starting to think you are my Spirit Animal. No pressure!
posted by jbenben at 10:12 PM on April 7, 2017


Not surprised you posted. You are one of the people I think of whenever I hear Alphaville. Thank you for the update on them.
posted by wobumingbai at 10:15 PM on April 7, 2017 [1 favorite]


The YouTube videos are not available in Lithuania ☹️
posted by khedron at 12:45 AM on April 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


!!!

Thanks for the tip!
posted by old_growler at 1:00 AM on April 8, 2017


The YouTube videos are not available in Lithuania

or canada
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 1:07 AM on April 8, 2017


The YouTube videos are not available in Lithuania

On the other hand, they're big in Japan.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 1:07 AM on April 8, 2017 [5 favorites]


I was listening to Alphaville literally five minutes ago.
posted by persona au gratin at 3:04 AM on April 8, 2017


I cover "Forever Young" in my busking set.
posted by pxe2000 at 5:03 AM on April 8, 2017


How is the album being released? Has a major label put it out, keen to cash in on affluent middle-aged GenXer nostalgia? (Is there a series of increasingly expensive and elaborate “deluxe” versions?) Or are they slapping it on BandCamp and doing a run of self-published CDs/vinyl?
posted by acb at 5:25 AM on April 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


As best as I can tell with minimal googling, it's being put out by UMG on CD and vinyl and also of course as a digital download. I bought my copy from iTunes yesterday but may also go for a physical copy because I'm old school like that. It's apparently available via Amazon in all formats. No information about deluxe versions that I can find.

Alphaville has a pretty robust career in Germany and other parts of the world, so that's the main focus of this album release as was the case with their previous album. They are touring the US this year, but not extensively.
posted by hippybear at 6:25 AM on April 8, 2017


"Forever Young" was the official song of our high school senior year, despite (or because of) the fact that the only people who listened to Alphaville were the people counting the votes.
posted by goatdog at 6:55 AM on April 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


Either that was a widespread thing or we attended the same high school for some period of time.

Not surprised you posted. You are one of the people I think of whenever I hear Alphaville.

Seriously. There may be some way I'd rather hear about new Alphaville than a hippybear post on MetaFilter but damn if I know what it is.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 9:35 AM on April 8, 2017 [3 favorites]


Oh cool, I found another track from the album available online: Heartbreak City.
posted by hippybear at 12:49 PM on April 8, 2017


Also, there's a slew of reviews of the album in German that I didn't link here. I can read German, and they were interesting.

Basically, the thing about the album is... Martin Lister, keyboardist for Alphaville since basically forever, died in 2014. Marion Gold (who is basically the Alphaville brand) sort of pulled together a new band, or maybe a band that included former tour players?, or something, and they did this new album very much as a band. The result is an album that veers a lot more into industrial territory than I typically associate with the Alphaville name, but it works for me.

I've listened to the full album 4 times now. I wish more tracks were available online because some of the stuff is pretty surprising in a good way.
posted by hippybear at 2:20 PM on April 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


Thanks for the heads-up, hippybear! I knew this was coming, now to track down a copy.

Also, there's a slew of reviews of the album in German that I didn't link here
Could you link some in the comments? I might possibly scrape through without resorting to machine translation too much, but I find my Deutsch is far too shitty to google with (which comes as no surprise, TBH).
posted by Trinity-Gehenna at 5:24 PM on April 8, 2017


Alphaville has a pretty robust career in Germany

That's usually a gigantic flashing warning sign, though :-)

(for some 2017 synth/new wave that's actually brilliant, check out this post instead.)
posted by effbot at 12:33 AM on April 9, 2017


That seems unnecessary.
posted by hippybear at 12:54 AM on April 9, 2017


So, I can't find the search path I went down to find all those German articles, but I will link here the ones I have found tonight:

A further comeback album from Alphaville

On stage, one is a prostitute

And that's why Alphaville's singer hates the Bee Gees

David Bowie's death hit him very hard [there's a definite Bowie, even Blackstar influence on a couple of tracks on SA]
posted by hippybear at 1:01 AM on April 9, 2017


More tracks are starting to leak out. The sheer synth pop/Pink Floyd gloriousness of Beyond The Laughing Sky can finally be shared!
posted by hippybear at 2:43 PM on April 9, 2017


Listen while you can, folks! [Not in album order]

[Also just buy the damn album!]
posted by hippybear at 2:47 PM on April 9, 2017


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