Erol Alkan’s Rework of Manic Street Preachers

Baroque Welsh glampoppers Manic Street Preachers are one of the most resilient acts to come out of the 90’s.

Perpetual miserablists with unrelentingly bleak lyrics, album art and gnarly history, the Manics make Radiohead’s navel gazing discography seem almost poppy.

In the service of authenticity, their somewhat damaged guitarist (and lyricist) Richey Edwards carved “4REAL” into his arm with a razor in the middle of an NME interview with Steve Lamacq.

In 1995 Edwards went missing from a hotel room in London and has never been found. In 2008, he was declared dead after never being seen again.

Despite these circumstances, the Manics proceeded to continue to release work and tour.

They were remixed expertly by The Chemical Brothers. They’ve soldiered on.

And 2014 will see the release of a brand new album called “Futurology“.

The first single/EP features a pair of stunning remixes of a new track, “Europa Geht Durch Mich“, by the one and only Erol Alkan.

Proper chuggers, the reworks capture both the Manics’ heady weight and simultaneously harnesses the energy that makes them seemingly unstoppable over 20 years on.