'Richard X Presents His X-Factor Vol. 1' Turns 10: Read The Producer's Great Interview

Following his spectacular chat with British producer Richard X for Annie's The A&R EP last month, John Hamilton — aka frequent Chart Rigger collaborator Moogaboo — whipped up a wonderful anniversary piece on Richard X Presents His X-Factor Vol. 1, which turns 10 today.

Read it over at Idolator, and be sure to catch the long-lost original single sleeve for Liberty X's "Being Nobody," plus the advert for the girl group that never materialized, Sweet-X.

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My Frankmusik Interview

No rest for the wicked. In addition to posting my Idolator interview with Pet Shop Boys on Friday, I also published a recent chat I had with a very emotional, candid Frankmusik, whose album Between was released two weeks ago. You can watch it here.

My video producer Alex and I really put some time in to make this interview have a documentary feel, and I feel like it turned out pretty great.

This marks his first album since parting ways with Interscope, and he's still a bit bruised from the whole experience of living in Los Angeles for three years. (He's since moved back to the UK temporarily, and is in the midst of touring the States before relocating again, this time to New York).

Anyway, the interview is on camera, and it's nice to see a pop singer being honest, and setting aside all the polite PR bullshit. It's the first of two parts with him.

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My Pet Shop Boys Interview

As promised, my interview with both Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe of Pet Shop Boys is finally seeing the light of day! The rather lengthy chat I had with them for Idolator is now online. (We spoke for roughly 55 minutes.)

I'll post a link to the Instinct piece — which offers up different highlights from the conversation — once it's online, as well.

Pet Shop Boys speak to @idolator about the inspirations that drove them when recording new album #Electric - http://t.co/nPHHrhpJAA
— Pet Shop Boys (@petshopboys) June 22, 2013

Needless to say, this was definitely a career highlight. And I'm very thankful to Wayne Studer, curator of the highly informative Pet Shop Boys Commentary site, for linking to the piece and citing it in several of his Electric album track write-ups.

PSBs' new album Electric will be released on July 15.

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My Little Boots Interview: Watch

Last week I interviewed Little Boots at the Music Hall Of Williamsburg in New York for Idolator, and you can watch the bulk of our chat about her new album Nocturnes below.

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Duran Duran's 'The Wedding Album' Turns 20 (My Nick Rhodes Interview)

A week ago I interviewed Duran Duran's Nick Rhodes for both the 20th anniversary of the band's The Wedding Album and Rhodes' side project TV Mania. You can check out both below:

* Duran Duran's The Wedding Album Turns 20: Backtracking

* Nick Rhodes: 7 Questions About TV Mania's Bored With Prozac And The Internet?

The Wedding Album (technically a self-titled LP from the Durans) had a huge impact on me when it was released in 1993. I was still only a teenager then, yet old enough to have been a Duran Duran fan as a kid (thanks to MTV), during the band's '80s heyday.



My best friend at the time latched onto "Ordinary World" and the whole album from the get-go, and we played the cassette (!) in our cars wherever we went that year. I still consider "Come Undone"  to be one of the finest singles of the 1990s.



Eventually, I saw Duran Duran on tour twice that year: in Cleveland, with Terence Trent D'Arby as opening act, and in Pittsburgh with The Cranberries in tow, two months before they blew up big with "Linger."

Meanwhile, holy s***:

V interesting piece on our Wedding Album, which in case you hadn't noticed is 20 years old. tinyurl.com/agqkgmd
— Simon Le Bon (@SimonJCLeBON) February 23, 2013

It was a huge honor to speak with Nick Rhodes, and it'd definitely one of the interviews I'll never forget. 

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My Conor Maynard & JoJo Interviews

Conor Maynard's debut album Contrast was released in the US today, while JoJo's second mixtape Agápē was made available for free download last month. I recently interviewed both for Idolator, and you can catch the write-ups below:

Conor Maynard
JoJo on Agápē
JoJo on her favorite albums of 2012 

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My Emeli Sande Interview

I interviewed Emeli Sande for Idolator right after the London Olympics in August, but held off on posting until this week, because her US tour was supposed to kickoff on October 8. But now her tour has been postponed until next year.

Oh, well - catch her talking about writing for Alicia Keys and the newly-reunited original members of Sugababes here.

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My Interview With Andrew Dawson, Who Is Producing The New Pet Shop Boys Album

You may recall that Pet Shop Boys have a new album coming out this fall, which was recorded in Los Angeles with Grammy winner Andrew Dawson taking up production chores.

I had a talk with Andrew for Idolator, where he said the Boys are making "their first L.A. record" that has "that classic L.A. sound."

Catch the full interview here. (I'm thrilled, by the way, that the PSBs themselves have linked to it!)

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My Goldfrapp Interview

I love Goldfrapp, and I think Alison Goldfrapp is one of the most intelligent songstresses I've ever had the privilege of interviewing. I talked to her in 2010 for Idolator, just before Head First came out, and once again a few weeks ago, as a tie-in with the release of The Singles. You can read the latter, which was posted today, here on Idolator.

I used the majority of the quotes, and there were just a tiny bit of leftover bits from our recent interview, which I'm posting just below:


Do you think the day will ever come when Will will join you on stage for a tour? 
AG: No. He does do occasional gigs with us. When we’ve done acoustic things he’s been there. But, no — he’s never really been into that side of things. I sometimes think that’s probably why we’re still working together. [Laughs]

Before you go, I have one request: please tweet more photos of your cat. 
AG: [Laughs] I’d better start taking more, because I’ve completely run out of pictures! And I forget which ones I’ve tweeted and which ones I haven’t. Yes, I will

As always, it’s lovely to speak with you. I really enjoyed our conversation two years ago and I enjoyed this one. 
AG: Aww, you’re very welcome. I hope we get to speak again next time.

I'll make sure of it.

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