VIA PRESS RELEASE | Telex and Mute have announced details of a 13-track album, MAXI, collating extended versions of beloved classic tracks from the Belgian trio. The album, out on vinyl and CD on 4 December 2026, launches with a maxi mix of one of their best-known tracks, “Moscow Diskow,” a rollocking, swerving, steaming dancefloor classic, which laid down the railroad for as yet unimagined electronic musics such as House and Techno.
The Belgian synthpop trio—Marc Moulin (1942- 2008), Dan Lacksman and Michel Moers—launched in Brussels in 1978, as one of only a handful of synthpop pioneers at the time, bringing electronic pop to the mainstream. For the new album, the surviving members have revisited the original tapes to create new Maxi Versions. Featuring new mastering with updated mixes, the album stays true to what we know and love about Telex and this new Maxi mix of “Moscow Diskow” shines new light on a track that was already years ahead of its time.
MAXI features extended mixes of tracks such as “Euro-vision,” which was famously entered into the Eurovision Song Contest in 1980, representing Belgium. Moers says he regarded their entry as “very Situationist International, the worm in the apple.” and they resolved either to come first or last. They quite didn’t achieve either goal, but became part of the Eurovision saga.
Also featured is their cover of Bill Haley’s “Rock Around The Clock,” in which all of the rock is removed leaving nothing but the clock; a ticking, vocoderised, supremely deadpan robot parody of the original, earnt them an invitation to perform on Top of the Pops in 1979.
And how dumb was poor Roy Wood, who split Electric Light Orchestra before they sold like a gazillion records to form Wizzard, who sold like six! No wonder hairy Roy looks like a crazy recluse who’s spent the past 40 years in the wilderness, subsisting on a diet of spotted squirrel and sterno–he has!
Lansing, MI | Put your records on: Accessibility and convenience are generational buzzwords, ‘kids these days’ are finding joy in the tedious. Like everything else, the internet changed the music business. First, it was Napster and iTunes. Pandora and YouTube came later, followed by Spotify, Tidal and Apple Music. Add smartphones to the mix, and the hassle of physical media seems unnecessary when on-demand streaming is available. However, 
Calgary, CA | Gen Z fuels CD comeback at Calgary record stores as Canadian sales rise: Compact discs (CDs) are making a comeback and finding a new generation of buyers and connoisseurs across Canada as teenagers and young adults turn to the once-declining format to find an affordable way to own music. According to Luminate’s 2026 mid-year report, Canadians are consuming more music across the board this year, with all formats seeing a rise compared with 2025. Physical album 
I would not call The Pretenders a great band, per se. A very, very good band, sure. Chrissie Hynde is an excellent songwriter and has one of the most distinctive voices in rock. Unfortunately, like Badfinger, The Pretenders are just as famous for their tragically high mortality rate as they are for their music.
Jez and Martin talked about the new recordings, becoming A Certain Ratio and the early Hacienda days along with Joy Division, plus future plans. And while they came up through Factory Records alongside all the classic acts that emerged in the late ’70s they built a sound out of funk bass, Afrobeat drums, brass, dub, and Latin percussion along with the angular edges of post-punk. This year marks two anniversaries: 45 years since they recorded Sextet, their 1982 third album that hit number one on the UK Independent Chart, and 40 years since Force, their 1986 fifth album and last for Factory.
Boulder, CO | The Vinyl Café moves sound around surround: The Vinyl Café moved sound around the surrounding block, the difference measured in bricks rather than miles, the reason measured in space. Owner Martin Banks moved down the block and around the corner to the extra square footage he needed to boost sales and chip away at towering backstock. “I’ve got 12,000 records at home. Well, it’s down to about nine now. That we couldn’t fit in that previous building. We’d filled the entire thing,” Banks said. “My kids are getting pretty sick of it. My garage, my basement and unfortunately, a lot of my living room is 
Portland, OR | ‘You’re a dead man’: Suspect facing multiple charges after threatening Portland record store. A man was arrested last week after he allegedly tried to burn down a Portland record shop while its owner was inside. Adrian Orange, 40, was arrested Thursday on charges of first-degree attempted arson, first-degree burglary, second-degree burglary, coercion and menacing. Orange visited Vinyl Resting Place in the St. Johns neighborhood in Portland on Aug. 27 and attempted to sell some records, according to charging documents. When the store owner declined, Orange allegedly threatened to kill him and said he was a “dead man.” The record store owner said he feared for his safety so he locked the front door. Orange allegedly returned a short time later and began shoving newspaper under the front door before 
