NEW ORDER: THE LEGACY
Di Alessandro Battaglini, Paolo Berardinelli, Paolo Campana
On 5 May 2018 the OGR in Turin hosted the third and final concert (titled ∑(No,12k,Lg,18Ogr) New Order + Liam Gillick: So It Goes…) dei New Order creato in occasione del Manchester International Festival in collaborazione con l’artista contemporaneo e visual artist Liam Gillick.
A historic concert for the city and a symbolic one for the – then newly reborn – OGR in Turin: the music of the iconic English band took on a new form and a new arrangement thanks to an orchestra of 12 synthesisers, and at the same time the former factory took on a new direction and a new role for the city.
This musical project and the three concerts staged (in Manchester, Vienna and Turin) are at the heart of the documentary New Order: Decades and the collaboration with OGR Torino came about naturally. For the occasion, Seeyousound curated an ad hoc playlist for this important cultural institution of the city, entitled New Order: The Legacy, not a simple collection of their best-known tracks but a contemporary perspective, a reasoned journey able to show the impact New Order have had on music worldwide.
The sound of Joy Division, and later of New Order, did not merely influence an era but still finds, even today, those who have picked up the baton. Ian Curtis’s dark voice, Peter Hook’s “melodic” bass, the dual use of acoustic and electronic drums and the union of post-punk and dance are the distinctive traits of an aesthetic that has become a veritable “factory” hallmark.
New Order’s discography in particular, with its continuous and varied progression, has ended up defining a broad musical palette to draw from.
From their darker contemporaries Section 25, to the curious string reworking of Blue Monday, to the sensual and more contemporary Editors, The Chromatics and The Radio Dept., by way of Peter Hook’s side projects and his collaborations with the Gorillaz and the Limiñanas, Bernard Sumner’s with Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr (Electronic) or the partnership between the married couple Gilbert and Morris (The Other Two), including the remixes by Felix Da Housecat or Shep Pettibone, this compilation aims to offer a polychrome experiential landscape.
You can listen to the playlist below:
