Pet Shop Boys Reveal 'Electric' Tracklist, Release Date & "Axis" Video

Oh, right — Pet Shop Boys have an album coming out this summer. I'd almost forgotten, since they first announced 12th LP Electric about a month-and-a-half ago. Turns out the album, which was originally slated for a June release, will now be out worldwide on July 15, via the Boys' brand new label x2 (or "times two"), through Kobalt Label Services.

The first taste of the Stuart Price-produced Electric is opening track "Axis," which contains no real singing by Neil Tennant, but plenty of spoken phrases and Italo disco mixed with Giorgio Moroder-esque flourishes.

And here's a video!



No word yet on whether "Axis" is an official single, but my guess would be that it's simply a teaser, much in the way "Invisible" was for Elysium last year.

Pet Shop Boys' official site also notes that Electric has a run time of about 50 minutes, and contains nine tracks altogether — eight originals and a cover of Bruce Springsteen's 2007 song "Last To Die." And get ready to arch an eyebrow, because rapper Example features on a song called "Thursday."

Electric tracklist

1. Axis
2. Bolshy
3. Love is a bourgeois construct
4. Fluorescent
5. Inside a dream
6. The last to die
7. Shouting in the evening
8. Thursday (featuring Example)
9. Vocal

"Axis" is available on iTunes now, while Electric is up for pre-order.

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UK Chart Roundup: Daft Punk Get Lucky, Land First #1 Single

Surprising move: Daft Punk's lead Random Access Memories single "Get Lucky" jumps up from #3 to #1 on the UK chart, marking the duo's first chart-topping single in the country. (Their previous highest entry was 2000's "One More Time," which peaked at #2.)

"Get Lucky" has already hit #1 in France, Italy, Belgium, Denmark and Australia, and become the pair's first Top 20 (let alone Top 40) hit in the States. Guess it'll be one of the contenders for the ever-irritating "hey, let's be the first to call it" Song Of The Summer?

The UK Top 10:

1. "Get Lucky" - Daft Punk *1 week*
2. "Waiting All Night" - Rudimental feat. Ella Eyre
3. "#thatPower" - will.i.am feat. Justin Bieber
4. "I Need Your Love" - Calvin Harris feat. Ellie Goulding
5. "Can't Hold Us" - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
6. "Need U (100%)" - Duke Dumont feat. A*M*E
7. "Just Give Me A Reason" - Pink feat. Nate Ruess
8. "Hey Porsche" - Nelly
9. "What A Night" - Loveable Rogues *new*
10. "Feel This Moment" - Pitbull feat. Christina Aguilera

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US Chart Roundup: PSY Is A Hag

Somehow, some way, PSY's "Gentleman" video has racked up over 240,000 views on YouTube over the past two weeks, thus enabling the robotic trash jam to jump up to #5 in its second week on the Billboard Hot 100. And to give an idea as to how much that many YouTube plays outweigh actual digital sales, consider the fact that "Gentleman" is current floundering at #60 on iTunes.

But screw that garbage — Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" has debuted at #19. Granted, it's not nearly the heights the song reached in the UK. But the feat still manages to get the French duo into the Top 40 in the US for the very first time. (Daft Punk's previous high was #61, a position both "Around The World" and "One More Time" reached.)

Pharrell Williams should be kissing the double asses of Daft Punk, too, since "Get Lucky" is the first hit he's had since his feature on Ludacris' "Money Maker" saw him go to #1 in 2006.

Everything else is whore slime.

The U.S. Top 10:

1. "Just Give Me A Reason" - Pink feat. Nate Ruess *2 weeks*
2. "Can't Hold Us" - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Ray
3. "Thrift Shop" - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Wanz
4. "When I Was Your Man" - Bruno Mars
5. "Gentleman" - PSY
6. "Stay" - Rihanna feat. Mikky Ekko
7. "Mirrors" - Justin Timberlake 
8. "Suit & Tie" - Justin Timberlake feat. Jay-Z
9. "Feel This Moment" - Pitbull feat. Christina Aguilera
10. "Started From The Bottom" - Drake

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It's Texas' "The Conversation" Video

The return of Texas is one of the musical highlights of the year so far, and less than a month after realizing they had a new single called "The Conversation" out (off the band's forthcoming album of the same name, out May 20), along comes the music video.

The clip plays out, naturally, like a recreation of scenes from Francis Ford Coppola's 1974 thriller The Conversation (pretty much a staple of college film classes, no?), and stars Peter Mullan, of Trainspotting and Shallow Grave fame.



But more importantly, Peter Mullan went around jamming that ice pick-like surgical instrument in people's faces in Session 9. That's a swell film.

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UK Chart Roundup: Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" Is The Duo's First Top 10 Hit Since "One More Time"

They started out as hit-makers, took a dip in popularity with 2005's not-very-good Human After All, regained their cool sheen with 2010's Tron: Legacy soundtrack, and are now back on top. Well, almost on top.

Daft Punk's comeback single "Get Lucky" was released around the globe on Friday at 12:01 a.m., and within two days racked up 50,000 paid downloads in the UK. That's enough to see the Pharrell Williams-featuring song go in at #3 on this week's single chart.

The pair's last Top 10 hit in the UK came with 2000's "One More Time," which made it to #2 (a position it also achieved on Chart Rigger's Top 40 Singles Of The '00s list). Previous Top 10 singles in the country include "Da Funk" (#7 in 1996) and "Around The World" (#5 in 1997).

It'll be interesting to see if DP can not only land "Get Lucky" in the Top 40 in the States this week — mostly because their highest charting entries have been "Around The World" and "One More Time," both of which peaked at #61 on the Hot 100 — but have an actual hit that sticks around for bit in the chart.

Elsewhere in the UK, Calvin Harris' Ellie Goulding-featuring "I Need Your Love" climbs to #7, thus marking his seventh consecutive Top 10 hit off 18 Month. Also, PSY's "Gentleman" becomes his second Top 10 hit as it makes an appearance at #10,

The UK Top 10:

1. "Waiting All Night" - Rudimental feat. Ella Eyre *new* *1 week*
2. "#thatPower" - will.i.am feat. Justin Bieber *new*
3. "Get Lucky" - Daft Punk *new*
4. "Need U (100%)" - Duke Dumont feat. A*M*E
5. "Just Give Me A Reason" - Pink feat. Nate Ruess
6. "Hey Porsche" - Nelly
7. "I Need Your Love" - Calvin Harris feat. Ellie Goulding
8. "Feel This Moment" - Pitbull feat. Christina Aguilera
9. "Pompeii" - Bastille
10. "Gentleman" - PSY

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A Very Urgent Message About Max Martin

Don't get me wrong — I love Max Martin, and think he's basically a modern-day Beethoven. But there's something that I'm just going to take the initiative and come out and say, acting as a mouthpiece for no doubt hordes of other pop fans.

First of all, above and below, you'll see photos of Max from the 2013 ASCAP Pop Awards earlier this week, where he was named Songwriter Of The Year for a third year in a row, and the sixth time overall.

And below you'll see two photos of Max (with Dr. Luke) at the same ceremony, two years ago.

To get to the actual point...

....Max Martin: much more fuckable with short hair.

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It's Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" (Radio Edit)

Has there been a more buzzed-about, hyped or leaked-in-pieces song in 2013 than Daft Punk's "Get Lucky," the first single off the upcoming Random Access Memories (out May 21)? The song was officially made available to purchase today, via iTunes and the Amazon MP3 store. And if you need a recap, Pharrell does the vocals, Nile Rodgers does the disco and the robots do the razzle dazzle.

Enough rambling about this damn single. Here it is:

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