scissor sisters are back! back!! back!!!

So, er, the "comeback" was short-lived? RIP, sisters.

Oh fuck me running, there's (going to be) an Erol Alkon mix of "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'"? THAT can't surface quick enough for me, although I hope he breaks with tradition and doesn't do away with the vocals entirely.

'elo meets bee gees' is the phrase i've heard bandied about. it is VERY pop and as sure-fire a number 1 hit as you could imagine.

I'm seeing them at Bestival (Scissor Sisters, not the Nolans) in September. Can't wait.

Why the FUCK is nobody talking about their new album?

Edward, what's the ONE! good song?

Can't stand Shears' voice - that awful sub-Robbie nasolabial gruff whine.

they're not though! not very many other current popstars are doing what they do but that's not the same thing - they're following a v traditional path in british pop, in both sound and image, one very very very well trodden by all their obvious influences and no doubt many imitators at the time. i don't think it's all that weird and wacky to make your schtick the same as elton john's or the bee gees' given how successful they were! the phrase which keeps springing to mind is "establishment pop".

scissor sisters' crowning glory is still 'return to oz'. i wish jake shears would sing properly more.

also i've got one word to sat to paul lester's 4 star review in UNCUT and it's this: "BOLLOCKS".

i don't really know what elton and BGs image was i was not born then. but, you know, flamboyant queeny chatshow-friendly gayness.

The Bee Gees' image was hairy-chested medallions and they'll sue you if you call them queeny.

I actually, gasp, agreeing with Lex again shocker, also rate "Return To Oz" as the best thing they've done, though "Laura" and "It Can't Come Quickly Enough" likewise tower a long way above anything off the new one, which is just... well.. you know the line between the "demo" album and the debut? They ironed out some of the disco wackiness in favour of more 70s pastiche, but the songs were still good. They've gone too far down that road now, I think. I'll listen a few more times, but the songs just ain't doing it for me.

haha well they bloody SOUND queeny.

ed o'd analysis of scissor disco and scissor 70s pastiche is spot on.

the only elton john songs i like are 'sacrifice' and 'tiny dancer', and when i say i like them, i mean i like the covers by sinéad o'connor and tori amos respectively.

I still think "It Can't Come Quickly Enough" is brilliant, and really like the whole of the first album.

Retailers sure know how to hold a grudge. A post at The Velvet Rope offers details on something Coolfer caught wind of a few days ago. Because of comments by Scissor Sisters about FYE pricing during a speech at this year's NARM convention, Trans World is refusing to carry the band's new album, Ta Dah! (out September 26th).

From an email by Newbury Comics' Mike Dreese:

"Hey everyone! The Scissor Sisters hit #1 in the U.K. singles charts a week or two ago. They apparently pissed off transworld with an accurate comment about FYE pricing on the stage at NARM. So it seems transworld/strawberries/fye/sam goody is boycotting their new release....

This reminds me of when Strawberries pulled Husker Du for a YEAR for doing a Newbury in-store 20 years ago."

Dreese went on to encourage his stores to give the album in-store play and give the album an extra push to take advantage of Trans World's void. Trans World operates over 800 stores in the FYE, Coconuts, Wherehouse, Strawberries, Spec's and Planet Music chains.

i heard most of the newie in borders yesterday.

i don't hear many new albums.

is this the kind of thing that gets good reviews nowadays?

cos it's fucking dire. zero redeeming features. ugh.

My face is wet with tears after hearing "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'" this morning… that pre-chorus really nails me where I live.

watch people line dance to this tune…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDNawISF6C0&mode=related&search=

I had a dream last night that Scissor Sisters came out with a new single called "Robert DeNiro Rap," which started out pretty epic but then ended up being a sample of "Too Close" by Next, the woman's vocals, over a bunch of disco lasers. Disappointing.

Next time this band releases is a single in my dreams I want something as good as "Mary."

They're back! back!! back!!! again with "Invisible Light," the first single from Night Work. How do we like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPnDEvn_HW0

Sure as hell beats that new LCD Soundsystem single, that's for sure.

Pret-tay good.

too dancey-housey-indistinguishable, not enough personal style

might as well BE LCD Soundsystem

You should go back and listen to some of their recordings that predate the first album. This reminds me a lot of those.

Absolutely LOVING the Ace of Base vibes it's giving off!

It's not terrible. It's a well-executed genre piece. I thought the Scissor Sisters were a bit more loopy than that, though

You should go back and listen to some of their recordings that predate the first album. This reminds me a lot of those.

― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, April 14, 2010 6:06 PM (52 minutes ago) Bookmark

Yeah it reminds me of Electrobix which is a good thing.

I am really excited about this new album I read an interview with Jake where he said they've learned from the mistakes of the second album. I tried listening to Ta-dah recently and I was shocked how little I enjoyed it. I loved it when it came out but I skipped most of the songs.

This is pretty good. Reminds me of tons of things: "Thriller" , Pet Shop Boys' "One More Chance", something by Pink Floyd and a couple other things I can't put my finger on.

It's a well-executed genre piece.

Louis I'm sorry but I just don't trust that you know enough about the "genre" in question to reach so airily for this familiar dismissal.

The second (trancey) half of this is awesome.

Also: Dance music for gay saunas

Rave siren! Ridiculous bombast! Lyrics reaching a Duran-Duran level of incomprehensible portent! Good old Scissor Sisters.

Thought he'd gone all MarkE for a minute there.

This is good, probably the best thing I've heard from them (caveat: I haven't heard much beyond the singles).

I could imagine The Juan Maclean making this.

I do like how it gets more and more bangin

I like this new song more than anything of Ta-Dah, I think. Plus that is a great fucking album cover.

So this is out there now. After a few listens I'd say this is a huge return to form.

Invisible Light might well be the best song but there's plenty of other great moments that have a similar feel.

Fire With Fire sounds really out of place, very much like they wrote the album and then realised they didn't have an obvious first single so came up with that.

I kind of like that about Fire With Fire. Agreed, though... this is every bit as good as the debut, and as good as the pre-debut recordings. I knew they could get back to this place. :D

I've really cooled on "Fire With Fire"; sounds rather desperate.

This doesn't rhyme as well as "massive attack: back! back!! back!!!" Disappointing thread.

I kind of like that about Fire With Fire. Agreed, though... this is every bit as good as the debut, and as good as the pre-debut recordings. I knew they could get back to this place. :D

― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, June 15, 2010 12:59 PM (9 minutes ago)

I do like Fire With Fire but it just doesn't fit that well. I think the second half is a bit stronger but really there isn't a song I don't like on here.

It feels really good to have them back and I'm looking forward to this soundtracking the rest of the summer.

You mentioned the pre-debut recordings, are they actually available anywhere? I've heard Electrobix but not much else. This album does remind me of that song a lot.

I downloaded them from slsk about 7 or 8 years ago. I'd have to figure out where I've stored them away, though. If I do, I'll upload them and post a link.

I actually just found it. I remember looking for it a few years ago but had no luck. Thanks anyway.

omg invisible light is amazing

the rest of the album has some good cuts.. i think i heard a nod to kraftwerk's radio-activity in there

i think fire with fire is too dope

dont tell me thats not a future karoake jam

i like this more than the first one. i only sorta passively listened to the last (?) one when my brother would play it

skintight = future classick

I listened to this once so far. It is a lot sparer, in a way, than their first album (about as familiar w/album 2 as deej seems to be). And beep-boopier. But fun! The only ones that hit me hard right off are Fire With Fire, Skin This Cat & Invisible Light. We'll see if it's a grower or a shower.

Any thoughts on the sexxxy Pitchfork review?

Excerpts:

"Instead of presenting a queer pop sensibility for the masses, they've gone deeper into their subcultural niche."

"Night Work quickly slips into hyper-sexualized gay club mode and sticks with that vibe until the end. "

"The band's change in tone and focus is essentially a matter of shifting their emphasis from camp to overt sexuality."

And to think what I thought was just a semi-fun album about sex in general is actually a deeply considered journey into subcultural niche. Or something like that.

The review's first paragraph really bothered me.

first sentence cracked me up, I gotta admit

yeah, i mean i don't think it's really that gay

Why on earth is the album's aesthetic so foreign to him? I admire him for putting his misgivings front and center, but how is this any different than a suburban white guy listening to Ghostface?

tbf explicitly gay albums aren't quite as culturally omnipresent as rap albums by black guys

What is so explicitly gay about the Scissor Sisters? Also: the experience of listening to the SS is not equivalent to visiting a sleazy gay club. That's like saying "The castle at the Magic Kingdom reminded me of Bavarian castles."

To draw these kinds of boundaries is shallow.

I haven't even heard this album yet so I dunno and can't say.

the cover reminds me of Loverboy

i thought this album was way way better than he did. i dont really 'get' the review personally.

stop foregrounding your sexuality.

Well, Perpetua was a very early champion of the Scissors. I liked his review.

"What is so explicitly gay about the Scissor Sisters?"

Er, the album art, the lyrics, the double entendres, the way they dress. I can't imagine anyone hearing this record and not realising they're gay. What I like about this album is that they've moved into modes other than camp.

how do gay men dress

how is condom use and internet sex any sort of "subcultural niche" at all

or indeed things that only gays, or all gays, do

UGH

Jesus Lex, don't take offence when it's not intended. Obviously it's not what ALL gays do (or are you referring more to the P4K review there?) but I've never seen a straight pop star wear what Jake Shears wears on stage and the cover image is a Robert Mapplethorpe photo of a pair of tight male buttocks. I'd say that was quite explicitly gay, or at least one specific version of gay identity - a consciously retro one in many respects, given the theme of the record is "what if AIDS had never happened".

yeah i'm referring to the rvw specifically (and, you know, "gay men do THIS" stereotypes generally) - i don't really have any interest in the scissor sisters (they don't particularly speak to me about my identity as a gay man) and wouldn't have clocked the rvw if alfred hadn't linked it in the gay thread

"Sex and Violence" is a good tune.

and it sounds like a Justin Timberlake tune.

gay men do this

Love that new album. Haven't quite gotten into them on the first two, but this is really classy electropop.

This doesn't rhyme as well as "massive attack: back! back!! back!!!" Disappointing thread.

back! back!! back!!! predates Massive Attack by a good six or seven years

this was produced by JLC, right? is it return-to-formy for him too?

loving this album. with the obvious exception of "fire with fire" whole 1st half just kills me. initial impression was to judge it in the shadow of "take your mama out", of course, and it's got no obvious pop classics on that level, but damn it's a solid listen (jump around the room, whatever). "skin tight" = probably as close as it gets, and i can't see it being a huge hit. "night work" lyrics are so great. among others.

i guess it kinda tapers in the closing stretch. dislike "skin this cat" and "sex and violence" tends to go by in a blur. "nightlife" pulls it back tho, w the "lets go crazy" beat morphing devo. speaking of which, "welcome to the pleasure dome" tribute on "invisible light"?

Much of this album sounds tentative, almost canned.

yes but how gay is it, alfred.

fire with fire is graet wtf

As gay as your mom.

xpost.

'Fire With Fire' is great, for sure. It's the only track I've heard so far (apart from 'Invisible Light', which I quite like but sounds a bit thin and abrasive - could be the version on Youtube I listened to). But 'Fire With Fire' is fantastic. It is so obvious, and carefully produced - using every arrangement and production trick in the book - yet sounds totally sincere. The video is great as well, especially the shot of the motorcyclists as the song goes into the bridge.

ref. points of like italo, boogie are better and hipper and i like the sound of it, but the guys voice reminds me of how shit the scissors sisters are.

continue to like this, dislike "fire with fire", which becomes more awful the harder i try to get it.

that said, listening to night work after love king does the former no favors. so much less imaginative in comparison. by the time "whole new way" rolls around i'm adjusted and in the groove, though. bummed to figure out he says "my zippo as a guiding light." thought he said "zipper" and liked it much better. :(

The chorus of "Fire with Fire" is just so abrasive with so many AYYYYs. That's probably the point but I wish the lyrics were different.

that said, listening to night work after love king does the former no favors. so much less imaginative in comparison. by the time "whole new way" rolls around i'm adjusted and in the groove, though. bummed to figure out he says "my zippo as a guiding light." thought he said "zipper" and liked it much better. :(

― good news if you wear cargo shorts (contenderizer), Tuesday, July 6, 2010 4:57 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

you JUST DISCOVERED THE-DREAM on his THIRD ALBUM
these records sound NOTHING ALIKE

yeah, one is so less imaginative in comparison

smh

you JUST DISCOVERED THE-DREAM on his THIRD ALBUM
these records sound NOTHING ALIKE

― blap...tremendo (deej), Tuesday, July 6, 2010 5:40 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

and who cares when i first heard the-dream? i'm not claiming to have "discovered" him in any sense. haven't you ever heard interesting music long after it first came out?

you have every reason to think i'm an asshole, deej, but no reason go postal on this.

Is anyone else w/me in that part of "Invisible Light" (@ approx five minute mark) basically lifts the intro to Depeche Mode's "Shake the Disease"? Maybe also with me in that this is awesome?

I just listened to them both, you are totally right. I can't believe I didn't notice that before especially as that's my favourite Depeche Mode song, this is probably my favourite Scissor Sisters song too.

It's a real shame this album went by almost unnoticed. Wrong choice of lead single maybe?

there's been a lot of positive press about it. maybe the man's arse on the cover put the mums n dads off. i think that was their intention actually.

Yeah I do get the impression they weren't as bothered about being a big success this time round. Ta-Dah really sounded like they were just trying to have big hits but a lot of it sounds quite hollow, I read that Jake actually hates most of that album now and they didn't know what kind of album to make at the time. Night Work works a lot better as a whole album but there aren't really any obvious hits on there. It's definitely one of my albums of the year.

i really like "running out"! devo vocals, super-pacey groove, great song!

I really love Night Work! I like it way better than Ta-Dah.

HOLY CRAP at the "Invisible Light" video

http://pitchfork.com/tv/%23/musicvideo/9989-scissor-sisters-invisible-light-boysnoize

nsfw at all, btw

That is 100% awesome! It's got a total Kenneth Anger/Argento vibe.

Only thing that could be better is if Ian McKellen was in the vid, too.

That's Jamie King in the video, right? I know she's never been shy about getting nekkid, but she's got one of those faces that kind of looks like a bunch of other people's faces.

>8 sizzcore 4 lyfe 8<

This album is boring sex though.

Cool, it's on youtube now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG4cec5cR78

i recently spent too much money for tickets to see them open for lady gaga.

btw, i agree wholeheartedly about "fire with fire,"
but i just like to think of it as a gay springsteen disco time, and that makes my heart thump.

I don't even care what "Fire With Fire" is supposed to be about - it has been a personal anthem for me over the past few months, with different sections accruing different meanings as personal circumstances evolve. It has made me smile and cry like no other song in recent memory.

Still think "Sex and Violence" is the best tune.

Oddly, "Sex and Violence" is the only tune from Night Work that's not on their current set list.

"Skin Tight" is most certainly my favorite, but as mike said, a lot of this is about personal circumstances. :/

tbh, i can't fathom how anyone could ever call "Fire With Fire" the weakest track. "Skin This Cat" is the weakest link. so fucking bad. everything else about this album i totally adore.

also alfred, "Sex & Violence" is...like...yeah. it isn't my favorite, but it is fucking amazing. had sex to it the other night, as a matter of fact.

okay, i could've just said this in one post, but "Invisible Light" is actually what i'm look forward to most in their live show.

"Invisible Light" was the highlight when I saw them, most definitely.

god. i feel like such a fag. i love this album so much.

Jake Shears on WNYC in a few minutes, talking about gay pop music and the zeitgeist, etc. http://www.wnyc.com

"Nightlife" is totally my jam from this lately. It reminds of Irene Cara + "Oh no! It's Devo"

saw them with Gaga last month, seeing them again this Friday. VERY EXCITED.

also, i've been waking up with "Tits on the Radio" in my head.

New track/video "Shady Love" with Azealia Banks: http://thehairpin.com/2012/01/scissor-sisters-and-azealia-banks-as-krystal-pepsy-shady-love

Jake Shears, comical rapper

First impressions are that this is their Rudebox. I quite like it but it's hardly the amazing comeback Invisible Light was.

lol I thought Rudebox was amazing (the song, at least...the album less so).

Oh yeah I actually really liked Rudebox, it was the first single since No Regrets I enjoyed of his. The album was mixed but I played it a lot for while. The thought of these guys doing an album like that would be quite exciting. I still play the last album quite a bit.

This is an execrable song.

"she gon vote for obama / she likes to listen to madonna"

in 2012, seriously?

maybe they mean "she likes to cling on to fallen heroes who will let her down"

dreadful lyric even if it was 2008 or 2005 or whenever obama and madonna were last doing good things

"she gon vote for obama / she likes to listen to madonna"

in 2012, seriously?

He's breaking up with her, right?

So since they pretty much scrapped Shady Love here is the real first single from the new album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyiNc1JvjyQ

I like the bassline a lot and the production is great but it kind of sounds like every other song on the radio right now. Wish it had more of their personality on it.

Like the prettiness of the melody, don't like the generically rave-y synths.

Still, better than Shady Love.

the generically rave-y synths.

Presumably Calvin Harris' inimitable personal touch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrcWrFx7pe0

It's not a carbon copy, but it's close enough that there should be something in the liner notes that says "inspired by Toto".

That new Scissors Sisters single is so boring -_-

"Invisible Light" apparently their last attempt at goodness.

I like p much all the songs on Night Work; not gonna write off their potential or anything.

This is magnificent!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw60b-wk9MA

That ad is great, sadly the album is not. Ta Dah was full of filler but had a few amazing moments but this is their first really poor album. Nothing stands out and some of is actually quite annoying. This is a real shame as Night Work was such a good album.

I was wondering the other day if they are damned to only have every other album kick ass.

It's a definite pattern at this point.

It seems that way. The first and third albums are just about solid all the way through and feel like actual albums. The second and third sound like they've just thrown a bunch of songs together not knowing what the public actually want from them. There is no character on the new album and they just sound like they're desperate for a hit.

So, here's to 2015's fifth album.

Wait...ppl don't like Ta-Dah!?

Ta-Dah had some great moments especially Paul McCartney, Might Tell You Tonight and The Other Side but most of it was pretty rubbish. Intermission was annoying, She's My Man was basically I'm Still Standing, Land of a Thousand Words was a forgettabe song and a terrible choice for a second single and Eveybody Wants The Same Thing remains the worst thing they've done. I loved I Don't Feel Like Dancing until it got totally overplayed.

I wish I existed in whatever world it is where I Don't Feel Like Dancing was overplayed.

Night Work has really aged well. (even though it's only been two years)

they are a strange live band. The best recorded tracks invariably sound terrible (the two big singles and Invisible Light) and some total non-entities on record rock out.

The awfulness of the new record has made me want to re-evalute Night Work in a more positive light, at the very least.

Jake Shears sings "A Real Hero" (aka that song from "Drive") for Anderson Cooper at the GLADD awards

http://youtu.be/2jmTYw3bXvg

argh!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jmTYw3bXvg

I do not remember any substantive discussion about Night works 10 years ago beyond "this exists" and "ah, this band is over" but man, I learned that it's now considered their best, and I really like this record. There is no doubt that Shears was going for Skatt Brothers "walk the Night" with "harder you get."