John foxx

[jdh]

Anyone here have John foxx- robin Guthrie mirrorball and John foxx dna? Looking for opinions. Thanks.

[judd stephens]

http://www.hypnos.com/smf/index.php?topic=1986.0

[Anodize DB]

Anyone here have John foxx- robin Guthrie mirrorball and John foxx dna? Looking for opinions. Thanks.

I have 'D.N.A.' en route, so once acquired, will leave some impressions...

On a related note, recently picked up Foxx's 2008 collab w/Louis Gordon, 'Impossible', which is cooler than hell, a superb 'updating' of the kind of chilly yet infectious cold-wave synth-pop (or whatever) Foxx masterminded on his classic 'Metamatic' (though, of course, Foxx has been doing 'cold wave' well before someone came up with the term). Though many of the tracks now comprise a healthy chunk of his live sets & recordings (notably "Drive", a stunning piece of synthwave minimalism), 'Impossible' shows off both Foxx's and Gordon's nimble songwriting skills in addition to their obvious love of post-Kraftwerkian motifs & contemporary electro. Great stuff.

[zzzone.net]

I am a HUGE fan of John Foxx.

I have everything he's released.

Mirrorball and DNA are both excellent in my opinion, but it's hard for me to be objective.

I find his first release from the 80's, Metamatic, to be just as compelling synthpop as it was at the time.

[Anodize DB]

I am a HUGE fan of John Foxx.
I find his first release from the 80's, Metamatic, to be just as compelling synthpop as it was at the time.

Ditto on both comments above—Foxx in many ways is not as widely recognized in various electronic 'circles' as more well-known peers such as, say, Kraftwerk, and still remains somewhat critically unfashionable and often neglected. The fact that over his long career (he's a writer as well, currently working some novel or novels, I believe) he's aligned himself with such luminaries as Harold Budd hasn't raised his status as much as it should, but he nevertheless seems to have a pretty dedicated fan base (us amongst them

Also recently ordered the 2 CD remaster/reissue of "Golden Section" (one of my fave Foxx albums) to replace my older Virgin issue, & still awaiting "D.N.A." Looking forward, nonetheless.

[Anodize DB]

Just got done playing Foxx's "D.N.A." for the second time, and it's absolutely brilliant...can't spare the hyperbole here, as Foxx merges some utterly gorgeous ambient pieces, using sparse piano motifs mixed with deep space electronics, reverb, and stone-cold silences, all of which courtesy of Harold Budd, with some of his most streamlined, hypnotic electro in years. Novices should investigate herewith; Foxx-followers, well, what are you waiting for?

[mgriffin]

Thanks for the mini-review, Darren. It sounds great -- must buy!

[Julio Di Benedetto]

One of the many reasons I love to come here is for music knowledge, see whos playing what and expand my listening as many many others do Im sure.....this thread got me to look into John Foxx. I didn't know he was the original Ultravox! Anyway, stumbled across this video.  Dont know if the time frame is appropriate for whats being discussed here but its a nice tribute from one of the Lords of Synth Pop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QJbmUbCh18

[mgriffin]

That video is all about one of my favorite theories, which is that Numan was influenced by Foxx while he was in Ultravox, then Foxx went solo and was in turn influenced by Numan.  I might have gotten it wrong, I suppose, and the influence could be entirely one-way from Foxx to Numan, but I feel post-Ultravox John Foxx (namely Metamatic) seems to take something from Numan that Numan couldn't have taken from Ultravox because it wasn't present. I mean, Numan had the Ballardian futurist thing happening (see Pleasure Principle) before Metamatic or "Underpass."  The second or third Ultravox album had seen them move from a guitar-focused post-punk sort of feel into new wave modernism but I don't see where Numan took Pleasure Principle or Telekon from Systems of Romance.

Somebody needs to write a thesis mapping out the flow of influence between the various British bands in orbit around, and downstream from, Bowie -- including Roxy Music, Ultravox, Japan, Duran Duran, and many more.

Oh, and... eyeliner is one thing on young dudes, but it becomes sort of strange after 50.