Today: Sneaker Pimps Release Alibis Single Package
With just one week until the release of their long-awaited fourth studio album (their first since 2002’s Bloodsport), Sneaker Pimps have unveiled their latest single: a jazz-funk mix titled Alibis. The track is yet another marker in the groups long history of subverting expectations and genre switching, but still contains all the tight sampling and chilled out beats their fans love. The song is also the first from the album to feature co-founder Chris Corner in the vocal lead, and was released alongside 3 remixes. I’ve got the press release on the single and everything that the group has planned for the next week copied in-line for you below. As always, let me know if you’re interested in anything regarding today’s release, or next week’s album!
“The [Fighter AMP] remix is packed with a dizzying array of subtle sonic references and hints including krautrock grooves, shimmering synth arpeggios, chiming Japanese-like percussion and more while retaining Jones’ sultry vocal turn and the song’s rousingly anthemic hook.” – William Helms, Joy Of Violent Movement
“‘Fighter’, which opens the record, is the kind of laid back, slinky groove that Sneaker Pimps are known for…” – BrooklynVegan
Today, SNEAKER PIMPS revealed ALIBIS, the third single from their upcoming album, SQUARING THE CIRCLE, which releases next week. The highly contemporary and elegant track oozes a lidback confidence and this time highlights Chris Corner on the lead vocal. Building on musical themes set in motion by the first single, Fighter, ALIBIS presents Corner’s unique androgynous voice in a jazz funk setting. Backed by dry tight beats and clever sampling, Liam Howe also adds a rich bittersweet sensibility with his beautiful analogue synth work. Imagine Prince meets Tangerine Dream on a drug comedown.
The characteristic Sneaker Pimps biting lyrics are fully present, having been written by the duo with their longtime collaborator Ian Pickering, who describes the track below.
“[Alibis is] a sleazy lullaby for the particular and peculiar 21st century problem, the seemingly headlong descent towards more and more suffering… In parts, it pitches the rise of extreme authoritarian populism against the complicity of distraction… while the essentials of lives, already downgraded, fall apart outside the online dystopia of expression without purpose… The overall effect is like an anesthetic confusion of fear and pleasure in their most desperate form, an expression of remorse for the ultimate shallow victory of self-absorbed, impotent rhetoric with the kind of peepshow, sex-show bravery of the voyeur.” – Ian Pickering
Artwork courtesy of Sneaker Pimps
The Alibis single is released alongside three remixes of the track showing the diversity of Howe and Corner’s talents as creators and producers. The IAMX Rework fully displays Corner’s skills as a master of the modular synthesizer, while Howe’s AMP Remix is a more pop-forward ode to the music that has inspired and shaped him as an artist. A collaborative art video from the duo has been teased as well, and will likely be revealed as part of their packed release week, which includes an album preview event on September 8, just two days before the full release of ‘Squaring The Circle’ on September 10.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PRE-LISTENING PARTY HERE
Photo courtesy of Sneaker Pimps
Bio
Formed in Hartlepool, UK, Sneaker Pimps immediately emerged as a musical force and pioneer of the trip-hop genre with their debut album, Becoming X (1996). Known for clever sampling, bittersweet melodies and a moody sound which intricately combined organic & electronic production and morphed between female and male vocal performances, they landed in the UK Top 40 five times during their initial seven year run with tracks such as Six Underground, Spin SpIn Sugar, Low Five, and Bloodsport.
After a mutual decision to explore other avenues, both founding members Chris Corner (IAMX) and Liam Howe (AMP) went on to create their own highly successful musical and visual projects collaborating with artists as diverse as Gary Numan and Lana del Rey.
Now based in LA and London respectively Sneaker Pimps have reunited and, alongside newly-added vocalist Simonne Jones, are set to release the long-anticipated album, “Squaring The Circle”. The DLP will be out on September 10, 2021.
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