OMD’s existing performance set-up with two Roland Fantom X8 workstations actually has its roots in the 1983 Dazzle Ships Live Presentation. Some of the more purist observers complain about the lack of analogue instruments in the current live shows but Andy McCluskey said recently: “Who says that digital can’t be a beautiful as analogue?”

Even in the pioneering days, OMD were thinking carefully about how best technologically to present themselves in a live context to an audience that was still growing accustomed to electronic based music.

More inside  » [via The Electricity Club]

Some artists take a sympathetic approach to the remix opportunity and offer beat enhancements, extra melodic parts and instrumental breakdowns to compliment a track in a far more classic tradition. RICHARD X, MARK REEDER, PET SHOP BOYS, THE MANHATTAN CLIQUE and FREEMASONS have proved to be fine purveyors of this more accessible song based interplay.

But one duo who outstrip them all with their digi-electro style are Athens based synthgirls MARSHEAUX. Together with their producers FOTONOVELA, Marianthi Melitsi and Sophie Sarigiannidou combine their best synthpop sensibilities with both feet on the dancefloor to deliver some of the best received pop styled remixes of the last ten years with many established artists among their portfolio.

Andy McCluskey has previously declared his love of MARSHEAUX and this led to a partial collaboration for a cover/remix of the classic She’s Leaving.

Read more about MARSHEAUX’s remix work, which also features HURTS, MIRRORS, KATY PERRY, THE HUMAN LEAGUE, DEPECHE MODE and MOBY in this in-depth feature: http://www.electricity-club.co.uk/html/marsheauxbest.html [via The Electricity Club]

Electricity emerged as one of the first songs that Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys wrote together. Influenced by German electronic pioneers such as Can, Neu! and Kraftwerk, Electricity yielded a simple yet infectious electro-pop melody which would later become a well-established OMD classic.

Electricity got its first public airings during live performances of pre-OMD outfit The Id. But with the Id’s demise, Andy and Paul began looking for interest in their new project which had gained the unlikely name of Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark. Recruiting the help of local friend Paul Collister, Andy and Paul retired to his garage-studio (which Collister had named Henry’s Studio). There, with the help of ‘Winston’ (a 4-track reel-to-reel tape recorder also owned by Paul Collister), the band recorded a two track demo tape (which included Almost). More inside  »