Awesome New Order

The 1983 New Order song Blue Monday incorporated plenty of synthesized sounds. Polaroids of the Pyramids thought it might be fun to play the track entirely on those lo-fi Casio synthesizers of the era. They recorded this multi-track rendition on instruments like the VL-1 mini keyboard, SK-1 sampling keyboard, DG-20 digital guitar, and DP-1 drum pads.

Thanks to Leo Moracchioli, we now have three favorite versions of New Order’s 1983 track Blue Monday: The original, the Orkestra Obsolete’s awesome 1933 instrumental, and Leo’s new heavy metal rendition. The fact that it works so well in different styles is a testament to the skills of songwriters Gillian Gilbert, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris, and Bernard Sumner.

Joy Division and New Order’s Peter Hook and his current band, The Light performed highly satisfying covers of his former band’s tracks Love Will Tear Us Apart, Age of Consent, and Digital, during a socially-distanced concert for Yamaha Guitars. In a separate session, they kicked out The Perfect Kiss.

“High tide, and it feels like I’m falling in again.” Gorillaz brings us a great new track from their Song Machine series. Recorded in collaboration with New Order and Joy Division co-founder Peter Hook and Georgia, the tune has the sounds and textures of a long lost track from New Order’s back catalog.

The New Order tune Blue Monday isn’t exactly contemporary – it’s nearly 40 years old. BBC Arts’ Orkestra Obsolete took it back even further, envisioning what the track might have sounded like had it been recorded in 1933, using instruments that were in favor at the time.

Paweł Zadrożniak’s Floppotron performs yet another all-too-perfect tune for its clanky electromechanical instrumentation, the 1983 New Order classic Blue Monday. Those little click breaks on the hard drive servos are just what the doctor ordered.