Upcoming...Clock Opera: Belongings

    Relative newcomers to the music scene, it appears, Clock Opera could start to garner more and more attention after a recent appearance at SXSW (South By Southwest) and with the release of their upcoming single, Belongings. Slated for a May 9th (download available) release, through Moshi Moshi Records, Belongings is two tracks, "Belongings" and the b-side "Let Go the Lifeboats". To date, Clock Opera has only put out singles, such as White Noise (Dec. '09), A Piece of String (June '10) and Once & For All (Nov. 1, 2010). The music video for Once & For All was also presented at SXSW along with a concert (see it here), though I do not know what their set list consisted of.
    It does not appear that Clock Opera has actually released more than a handful of songs. They are quite well known for making remixes of various artists songs along with their own, a few of which have recently released, such as Architecture in Helsinki's "Contact High" and Tracey Thorn's "You Are A Lover", which just came out Saturday the 16th. The song I came to know Clock Opera through was on Chuck, season 4, episode 19; "Church Vs. the Muurrder", titled "Move to the Mountains". Somehow the song is not available to the public yet, and no word was announced of its existence until it just showed up. Some fans have started a Facebook petition to have the song released, pledging that they will be willing to pay $$ for it. Doubt that is going to happen, but kudos to them for trying (and creating another useless Facebook petition).
    A little bit about the group, Clock Opera is a four man electronic pop band from London. They are: Guy Connelly, vocals, guitar and samples; Andy West, bass, guitar and synths; Che Albrighton, drums and samples; and Dan Armstrong, samples, synths, keyboards and backing vocals. They particular point out admiration for the music of Steve Reich and Phillip Glass, both minimalist composers, though Steve Reich is especially known for his use of tape loops, or pieces that play along with a pre-prepared tape. The whole idea with a tape is that it does not change, so everything with Clock Opera, I assume, is exactly how they want it. They are also self-classified as concrete, or with editorial liberty, musique concrète; which means that it is not limited to voice or instruments that the listener can see. In fact all electronic music could be labeled as such, but musique concrète is linked to using machines that pre-date computers, synthesizers and midi. I think the intention behind calling themselves musique concrète goes back to the precision of created sound and use of more organic materials to do so. They also say on their MySpace that they are Dutch pop, which would be basically a subgenre of hardcore techno called gabber, but that is certainly not true; so I guess they were joking [about that and melodramatic popular song].
    Hear "White Noise", "A Piece of String" (fantastic!) and some remixes on their Facebook page here. The remixes are under the 'BandPage' tab on the left panel. Yes, a lot of bands are making Facebook one of their many homes--along with MySpace, PureVolume, a regular website--theirs is here btw with a free download of "Once & For All (Little Loud remix)". Since Belongings is not out yet, instead of having their song in the MixPod, I'll send you to SoundCloud, where Moshi Moshi has the 7" available for listening; enjoy it here! (P.S. I hope you noticed the 'Upcoming' tag, maybe I'll try to do more of this in the future)