Another photo of Robert Smith with Olivia Rodrigo and her band at Glastonbury.
Photo from her drummer jordiiimusic
Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Olivia Rodrigo guitarist Arianna Powell on Robert
From Guitar World:
“Our MD told us, ‘This is very secret – you cannot tell anyone, but Robert Smith is going to be joining us.’ And I swear to God, I started crying”: The moment Olivia Rodrigo guitarist Arianna Powell found out she’d be playing with a Cure legend
By Michael Astley-Brown
Smith had some words of wisdom for Rodrigo’s band ahead of his surprise guest spot at one of the most star-studded music festivals in the world
Olivia Rodrigo made headlines with their headline Glastonbury set – not just because it was a guitar-heavy rock show that won over the sceptics, but because it featured the biggest surprise of the entire festival: a guest performance from Robert Smith.
The Cure icon appeared onstage with Rodrigo and her band to perform Friday I’m In Love and Just Like Heaven. It was one of the highlights of the festival, but it was especially emotional for lead guitarist Arianna Powell.
“We found out in Nashville when we were rehearsing for Bonnaroo, which ended up getting canceled,” she tells Guitar World in a new interview. “Stacy [Jones], our music director, came and told us, and was like, ‘This is very secret – you cannot tell anyone, but he's going to be joining us.’ And I swear to God, I started crying. Like, I started tearing up.
“Because I'm a huge fan, especially those guitar parts. I love, love, love, love, love, love, love the guitar parts, specifically in those songs, specifically Friday I'm in Love. So I was just so stoked to get to actually play that with the artist.”
A veteran session player with everyone from Halsey to Black Eyed Peas, Powell nailed both tracks, calling on a Kemper to make sure her tones were dead-on for the performance.
Although Rodrigo’s band was a well-oiled machine at this point, you’d be forgiven for feeling just a little bit nervous ahead of performing with your hero, but Smith had some reassuring words when he hung out with the group ahead of the show.
“He was so cool. He was leaving his dressing room door open for us to hang out. He wanted to talk and be social. Through conversations with him, he was just saying, ‘It's just another show.’ And he was talking about how much he enjoys performing, and he loves it every time.
That really inspired me and my energy for that night. Like, ‘Yeah, it's just another show – and I love doing this.’ The collective energy of the band that day was really infectious.”
Powell lent on her Gretsch Silver Falcon to handle the Cure classics’ lead lines, but heavier moments in the show saw her turning to Charvel and Jackson shred guitars – the latter of which was inspired by Rodrigo and her band’s love of hardcore darlings Turnstile.
Guitar World’s full interview with Ariana Powell will be published later this month.
Sunday, July 13, 2025
Reeves joins Stick Men for some shows
"Due to an ongoing medical issue, Tony Levin will be unable to perform at the upcoming Stick Men shows-for now. While we remain hopeful that Tony may rejoin the tour at a later date, we're grateful to have some remarkable guest artists stepping in during his absence.
Reeves Gabrels-acclaimed guitarist known for his fearless work with David Bowie, Tin Machine, and The Cure -will be joining Markus Reuter and Pat Mastelotto onstage beginning with our show at The Haggin Museum in Stockton, CA on July 17th.
Reeves is a risk-taker whose approach to the guitar mirrors our own spirit of innovation and improvisation. He brings a bold, expressive voice to the mix-perfectly in tune with the Stick Men vision. These will be unique and unforgettable performances, and we're thrilled to share this rare collaboration with you.
We know nothing can truly replace Tony's presence, but we're honored to have special guests, Janek Gwizdala (The Baked Potato), Tom Griesgraber (San Marcos), and now Reeves Gabrels, step in and help us deliver the kind of bold, genre-defying music you've come to expect. Thank you for your continued support and we'll see you on the road."
-Stick Men
July 13 - Los Angeles, CA (The Baked Potato)
July 15 - San Marcos, CA (The Bornemann Theater)
July 17-Stockton, CA (The Haggin Museum)
July 18 - Fresno, CA (Frank's Place)
July 19 - Santa Cruz, CA (UCSC Music Center Recital Hall)
July 20 - Petaluma, CA (Mystic Theatre)
July 23 - Arcata, CA (Playhouse Arts)
July 25 - Eugene, OR (WOW Hall)
July 26 - Corvallis, OR (Whiteside Theatre)
July 27 - Portland, OR (Star Theater)
July 29 - Vancouver, BC (Rickshaw Theatre)
July 30-Seattle, WA (The Triple Door)
Tickets are available at: www.stickmenband.com
Friday, July 11, 2025
Tim Pope talk at Wavelength on Aug. 2nd
From The Times:
Tim Pope: my golden age of music videos from Bowie to the Cure
Tickets: https://www.fringebythesea.com/tim-pope/
At Wavelength, a new music film festival at Fringe by the Sea, the director will talk about his 50 years at the cultural coalface.
One autumn afternoon in 1982, Tim Pope, a budding film director, had a life-changing meeting on the roof of an office block in Soho in London. A young goth by the name of Robert Smith had enjoyed a music video that Pope had made for the synth duo Soft Cell (for their single Bedsitter) and wanted some of that creative magic for his own band, the Cure.
Was there immediate chemistry? Undeniable sympatico? Not quite. “We were what I’d call shy bastards,” Pope recalls. “We rarely met eyes with each other, and he had a very quiet voice, so it was hard to hear him over the noise coming from the fruit market outside. I had no idea it would be the start of an almost 50-year relationship.”
Beginning with a promo for the Cure’s uncharacteristically upbeat single Let’s Go to Bed, that collaboration spawned more than 35 extraordinary videos (and counting) as part of Pope’s extensive career. He’ll be talking about these experiences, and many more, at Fringe by the Sea, in an event that’s a trail for his forthcoming memoir, which has the working title My Wonky Eye: The Tales of a Maverick Music Director, out next year.
“It follows the arc of my relationship with David Bowie via Iggy Pop,” Pope says about a book that’s going to be devoured by music fans. “That’s the main story, but along the way I work with lots of other bands.”
Those others include Neil Young, whose playful side Pope is good at teasing out, Talk Talk, Queen and The The, and what the films have in common is technical ambition (all done before the days of green screen), a sense of humour and a colourful disregard for authority. As he puts it: “I’ve got quite a rebellious streak and I think that’s what connected with the artists who also had one.”
Another common thread is the glee with which Pope playfully tortures his bands — from hanging them upside down and swinging cameras into their faces to trapping them in tight spaces — all for the perfect shot.
A great example is the claustrophobic masterpiece Close to Me, for which he got the Cure (who’d been “partying” for several hours beforehand) squashed up into a wardrobe, which he then flooded with water. For The Lovecats video he had the band dancing about in a woozy world of threadbare feline taxidermy; while for Lullaby Smith was cocooned by spider webs made from glue, had a micro camera in a medical probe inserted into his mouth, and was eventually swallowed up by a giant spider.
When the book comes out it will include some never-before-seen photos from these shoots, including a selfie of Pope and Smith just as they were finishing the Lullaby video — “Just at the end, when he called me a bastard,” the director says with a laugh.
In many ways it was a golden age of music videos, with — in Pope’s experience at least — the artists given artistic carte blanche, free from the constraints of corporate intervention. As a result boundaries weren’t so much pushed as blown up at times, as evidenced in the gory video for Soft Cell’s outrageous Sex Dwarf, which was, unsurprisingly, banned. (Word to the wise: do not watch this video in the workplace.)
Pope recently found the call sheet with a list of props for that shoot, which included a working chainsaw, raw meat and some maggots. “I can still smell that studio,” he recalls.
One of Pope’s early jobs, shortly after leaving television school, was making films to help train politicians, and he was often in Downing Street in the dying days of the 1970s Labour government. He would “borrow” equipment to film gigs in the evenings, and at one performance by the Specials some skinheads invaded the stage, headbutted him and grabbed the expensive camera.
These kinds of scuffles were a world away from his later success. He developed such a strong relationship with Bowie that the singer asked him to direct his 50th birthday concert at Madison Square Garden, in New York, requesting that he be his “eyes and ears” on the day.
As well as working on the book, Pope is planning to make a feature film called The Beating of a Moth’s Wing, starring Béatrice Dalle, who graced many a student’s bedroom wall in the 1990s.
Also on the horizon is a 50th-anniversary film for the Cure, hopefully due out in 2028. “Robert’s got 50 boxes of film no one’s ever seen,” he says. “It’ll be amazing for fans.”
This Fringe by the Sea session, hosted by Vic Galloway, will also be a treat for music fans, with Pope more than happy to answer questions and share memories. Start revising those videos now to get the best out of it.
Aug 2, 2.45pm, the Dome, £12/6
Monday, July 7, 2025
Thursday, July 3, 2025
Tuesday, July 1, 2025
Photos from Olivia
From Olivia Rodrigo on Instagram:
glasto. best weekend there ever was. so happy and grateful
Monday, June 30, 2025
Roger on Lymphoma Voices podcast
"In this podcast Roger O’Donnell, who is the keyboard player of the band The Cure, talks about his diagnosis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. He explains about the treatment he received and about coming to terms emotionally with his diagnosis."
Sunday, June 29, 2025
Robert joins Olivia Rodrigo at Glastonbury
Robert joined Olivia Rodrigo at Glastonbury tonight to do Friday I'm in Love and Just Like Heaven.
Friday, June 27, 2025
Gracie Abrams covering Just Like Heaven
Gracie Abrams covering Just Like Heaven at Glastonbury tonight. Video by the BBC, posted by gnationvideo.
Thursday, June 26, 2025
New band name and single for Reeves
BAND NAME CHANGE & RECORDING NEWS
GABRELS, KANE, PARKER WELLS is the NEW BAND NAME for the genre-free improv trio formerly known as "Doom Dogs." We have a single recording (self-titled) upcoming! And we joined the visionary artist platform TABLE OF THE ELEMENTS (TotE). Our single is part of a global relaunch of Tote (via Kickstarter) to include two dozen new experimental-music projects and revival of a fantastic back catalog.
PLEASE SIGN UP NOW for Kickstarter campaign info. You only provide an email at this point, to receive campaign emails including details of all music included. Find the page via the QR code (see image), or by searching Table of the Elements and Kickstarter together.
Deep thanks to all who've come out the past two years to hear us improvise in varied venues in New York, New Jersey, and Delaware. You made our single possible, plus further studio work in progress. Just last week, we played two improvisations for a pro-shot video to come out this fall on the Reverend Guitars channel on YouTube. Going forward, we'll book shows for late summer 2025 thru spring 2026.
First priority, meanwhile, is to share the Kickstarter link for Table of the Elements. Please sign up, and please share with friends!
With appreciation, Reeves, Jonathan and Jair-Rohm
GABRELS, KANE, PARKER WELLS
June 26, 2025
Monday, June 23, 2025
Win a signed MoaLW artcard
From The Cure:
ROBERT SIGNED A FEW “MIXES OF A LOST WORLD” ARTCARDS, AND WE ARE GIVING A HANDFUL AWAY TO 5 LUCKY FANS; ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS ENTER YOUR DETAILS VIA THE FORM BELOW BEFORE 17: 00 ON 27TH JUNE 2025 FOR A CHANCE TO WIN ONE!
https://uk-umg.com/um-forms/48976-1234097.html
Saturday, June 21, 2025
Friday, June 20, 2025
How we remixed The Cure
From MusicTech:
How we remixed The Cure: Tips from Orbital, Trentmøller and more
The Cure just released their remix package, ‘Mixes Of A Lost World,’ with over 20 new tracks. Check out how five artists made their versions
Reeves interview on Friday
11am Eastern US time Fri Jun 20th — Reeves Gabrels chats live with Ken Haas, CEO of Reverend Guitars. Tune in at Reverend’s Facebook page, or their YouTube channel.
Monday, June 16, 2025
Secret 7" reveal
Secret 7" has revealed the identity of all of the artists behind the artwork of this year's auction. View the full gallery here.
Here's Robert Smith's (sold for £3,500) and Andy Vella's (sold for £610).
Friday, June 13, 2025
Bear Tree raffle
We’re raffling off The Cure MOALW acetate! This is your chance to win one of the rarest Cure records to exist. At the band’s request all proceeds will go to War Child. £5 a ticket, you can buy as many tickets as you like! UK only!
https://beartreerecords.com/products/the-cure-charity-raffle-ticket
Clash review of MoaLW
From Clash:
The Cure – Mixes Of A Lost World
A varied, refreshing look at the band's monolithic return to form...
For a band primarily known for their melancholic and immersive songs, a remix album might seem like an odd offering from The Cure. Those familiar with the group, however, will know they have a long-standing relationship with remix culture. From relatively early in their career, their tracks have occasionally been reworked—whether it’s the far superior single mix of ‘Close to Me’ (complete with the beloved trumpet section), or the ‘Mixed Up’ album, released at the height of the Baggy scene in 1990. That record is a mixed bag in terms of quality, but it showcased the flexibility of The Cure’s lush melodies and Robert Smith’s unmistakable vocals.
In the years since, artists as varied as Gorillaz, Faithless, and Crystal Castles have enlisted Smith to lend his signature angst and longing to their dancefloor-ready tracks. Still, an entire remix compilation reimagining the band’s monolithic return to form, ‘Songs of a Lost World’, is a curious proposition. But with all Cure royalties going to War Child UK, why not? Spurred on by a handful of unsolicited remixes he received over Christmas, Smith has managed to rally 24 artists to rework his songs of death and the passage of time.
The results are surprisingly sprightly and effective, with the likes of Paul Oakenfold, Orbital, Four Tet, and Sally C pushing the original album’s eight monochrome tracks into vibrant new territory. Sure, there’s something a little perverse about turning a song about the passing of Smith’s brother into a full-on rave anthem—but it only underscores the emotional power of the originals. Roger O’Donnell’s keys, in particular, are repeatedly used as the melodic backbone for these producers’ fresh interpretations.
Oakenfold’s take of the aforementioned track, ‘I Can Never Say Goodbye,’ goes for something cinematic and truly epic in scope. It’s a nice pivot and is practically begging to be used on a tense movie trailer. Cure superfan Trentemøller goes for a respectfully ethereal go at ‘And Nothing Is Forever’ before things go raucous at the midway point. Daybreakers disassemble ‘Warsong,’ using mere shadows of the original’s menacing guitar and organ to rebuild it into something darkly anthemic and fun.
With only one relatively short album used as a basis for the comp, there’s some repetition over the course of the deluxe edition’s tracklist. It’s a relatively small squabble, though, an unavoidable conceptual one. ‘Mixes Of A Lost World’, for the most part, is a varied, refreshing listen. The Cure have proven themselves to be one of the UK’s most beloved and influential acts. Their sound has stood the test of time and, in doing so, proves quite resilient to being twisted, trimmed, and smudged into other genres. There’s a spooky sincerity inherent in their music that will always defy trends.
Words: Sam Walker-Smart
7/10
Quietus review of MoaLW
From The Quietus:
Reissue of the Week: The Cure’s Mixes Of A Lost World
Rock remix projects are typically inconsistent, says JR Moores. The Cure’s latest foray into the format is a mixed bag, with the most successful moments those which somewhat stifle Robert Smith’s sadness
JR Moores
There’s no denying that Songs Of A Lost World was a monumental latter-day triumph. But let’s be honest for a minute: how many times have you re-listened to it since its release in November 2024? Be honest now and take into account how morbid it was, even by the standards of The Cure. For 50 minutes, Robert Smith told us again and again that one day he was going to die. Also, that one day you are going to die. And that everyone you know is going to die. At least The Flaming Lips delivered the same message while dressed as massive chickens and showering the listener in confetti, glitter, and balloons.
The Cure’s fourteenth studio album exists for those times when you will really need it; as nobody’s reaching for their 4K collectors edition of Michael Haneke’s Amour every Saturday before they head to the pub are they? When I find myself on my deathbed, I doubt I’m going to regret that I could’ve spent more time listening to Robert Smith remind me that, sooner, rather than later, I was going to find myself on my deathbed. I don’t mind if you think of me as someone who’d rather listen to an Oliver Burkeman self-help podcast or ‘Happy’ by Pharrell Williams, instead of unforgivingly bleak and existentially forensic music, but that’s just the way it is.
For the percentage of people who might already have played Songs Of A Lost World to death, as it were, The Cure have now provided a treble album of remixes. It’s a funny old thing, the rock remix album. By nature they are usually patchy. This includes the small number of them that could claim a degree of cultural significance, such as Nine Inch Nails’ Further Down The Spiral. Naturally, some of the artists drafted in will apply more graft than others; with some in the “less graft” camp happy to settle for whacking a donk in among the stems provided, then settling back to wait for PayPal to ping, before summoning their dealer via Signal.
The shoddiest remix albums are seen as cash-ins, but they’re actually less than this because it’s barely believable that many of them turn a profit; many actually come off more like a desperate gamble. Even in the format’s heyday, during the long CD boom, once all the architects had been paid and the booklets printed off, there’d still be plenty anxiety concerning the (near) completists of both remixers and remixees alike who might realise that they simply didn’t need to hear The Crystal Method and Danny Tenaglia extending the length of album tracks which had been satisfying enough in the first place.
The Cure have prior with 1990’s Mixed Up and its lesser discussed sequel from 2018, Torn Down. The former was condemned by some as a bandwagoning rip-off, received by others as a curiously enjoyable foray back onto the dancefloor after an absence of some years. It has since been reappraised as impressive evidence of the band’s continued quest for relevancy. For Robert Smith at the time, Mixed Up was “the record that drunk Cure fans should listen to, [because] it really makes you feel good, which is unusual for us.”
This time around, most of the contributors are not actively trying to appeal to inebriated listeners to quite the same extent. And you can hear the effort some have made in injecting different kinds of life into the music that accompanies Smith’s recent morbid observations. Paul Oakenfold’s Cinematic Remix of ‘I Can Never Say Goodbye’ does what it says on the tin. This pounding combo of synths & strings suggests a gothic reboot of the Mission Impossible franchise in which Tom Cruise battles vampires with Jenna Ortega as his trusty new sidekick. (Handily, if shot, both stars are around the same height.) Similarly full-on renditions, equally suitable for the closing credits of a CGI blockbuster, are provided by Daybreakers and Mental Overdrive.
Most of the tracks foreground Smith’s forlorn and minimally manipulated vocal takes, keeping them high in the mix, if not always throughout the whole song. There are notable exceptions, however, such as the Meera version of ‘All I Ever Am’, on which the voice now entertainingly evokes a chipmunk in a K-hole. Four Tet handles the music of ‘Alone’ so delicately, with his signature blissful jittering, that it’s almost a shame when Smith turns up halfway through to remind us once more of The End. The same might be said of Mogwai’s oceanic and echoing treatment for ‘Endsong’. As might be expected of the pedal-board-focused post rock veterans, it emphasises and embellishes the emotionally engulfing nature of The Cure’s sublime guitar effects. That voice does make an appearance, eventually, but those otherworldly textures are celebrated as the pièce de résistance.
JoyCut hint, at first, that they might only include Smith’s wordless croaking. Alas, they cop out by using lots of his verses, so it seems like an opportunity missed for disembodied and deconstructed abstraction. The bolder Craven Faults jettison the vocals of ‘I Can Never Say Goodbye’ to distil its source’s melancholic essence into a nine-minute ambient instrumental. In contrast Shanti Celeste’s February Blues Remix of ‘Alone’ aims, in spite of its subtitle, for clubby William Orbit euphoria and is at its most effective when Smith’s whisper floats in the surroundings like that belonging to a fairy godfather.
Refreshing positivity is also provided by the Cosmodelica Electric Eden Remix of ‘And Nothing Is Forever’, its upbeat feel helping to reiterate that, although it too is about ageing and finality, this is one of Smith’s most defiant love songs. Another at the lighter end of the spectrum is Âme’s ‘A Fragile Thing’. Feasibly influenced by 1983’s ‘The Love Cats’, in the way it singles out the bassline amid an otherwise sparse track to make for a strangely jaunty experience.
Remix collections tend to be a mixed bag. Mixes Of A Lost World is no different. As with Mixed Up, it invites a mixed reception. The Cure are donating their royalties to War Child UK, so its release needn’t be viewed too cynically. Given that it’s a whopping 122 minutes long, you might want to whittle down its 24 songs into a slimmer playlist spotlighting those cuts that work best. If you have the time and the inclination to bother, that is. As Smith is at such pains to hammer home, there is only so much sand in the hourglass.
Mixes Of A Lost World is out today via Fiction, with at least £1 per purchase going to War Child
Thursday, June 12, 2025
NTS takeover
Update: If you missed Robert's Takeover today, or want to listen again...
https://www.nts.live/shows/the-cure
The Cure take over NTS tomorrow.
tune in from noon until 5pm BST for radio contributions by Robert Smith, Cosmodelica, Daniel Avery, Mogwai, Shanti Celeste & The Twilight Sad
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
NTS schedule
Here's the schedule for The Cure's NTS takeover today. Times shown here are US central.
Starts at noon BST.
US start times are 7am eastern, 6am central, 5am mountain, 4am pacific 1am in Hawaii.
Check the schedule page for the times where you are.
https://www.nts.live/schedule
Daybreakers on their Warsong remix
From Billboard:
Robert Smith Says Daybreakers’ Remix of The Cure’s ‘Warsong’ Has ‘A Real Sense of Drama’: Listen
By Katie Bain
A collection of remixes of The Cure’s 2024 album Songs of a Lost World is out Friday (June 13), and ahead of the release, electronic duo Daybreakers is exclusively sharing their edit of the group’s “Warsong” from the project.
In Daybreakers’ hands, the steady, heavy, four minute and 17 second original becomes more than six minutes of hypnotic synth and muscular basslines, with a long build releasing into sped up of vocals from The Cure frontman Robert Smith and the entire edit containing the same sense of mystique and style of the legendary U.K. band is known for.
“As long time fans of The Cure, we had always wanted to do a project with them, and via our mutual friend and legendary producer, Mark Saunders, the opportunity arose when Robert got in touch to discuss our interest in doing a remix,” the duo tell Billboard in a joint statement.
Made up of producers Ric Scott and Alex Hush, Daybreakers previous work includes remixes of U2’s “Love Is Bigger Than Anything In It’s Way” and Madonna’s “I Rise.” “I Rise” hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart in Aug. 2019, aided by a package of remixes from artists including Daybreakers, Tracy Young, DJLW, Kue and Offer Nissim. “Love Is Bigger Than Anything In It’s Way” also hit No. 1 on this same chart in July of 2018 on the power of a remix collection that Daybreakers was a part of.
Scott and Hush’s first work together was a 2020 edit of Erasure’s “Hey Now (Think I Got A Feeling)” after which they decided to make Daybreakers an ongoing project.
As Mixes of a Lost World project came to life, Smith offered Daybreakers two tracks to choose from, one of them being ‘Warsong” which the pair say “really lent itself to something that we could incorporate our sound with. The song has a conflicted sadness to it but at the same time, we knew we could really make it work with a dance vibe.”
Daybreakers remix of “Warsong” has a real sense of drama,” Smith tells Billboard. “The breakdowns are simple, but far-out, and the vibe is cool, but urgent. It is one of my favorites on the [remix] album.”
Mixes of a Lost World will also feature edits by Four Tet, Orbital, Trentemøller, Chino Moreno, Paul Oakenfold and more. The project is out June 13 via Fiction/Capitol Records. In a statement made when the project was announced, Smith said that The Cure “has a colorful history with all kinds of dance music, and I was curious as to how the whole album would sound entirely reinterpreted by others.”
“To be chosen to do a remix is a great honor and we are thrilled with how much Robert likes the remix and we hope others do as well,” Daybreakers add. “Being included on the remix album alongside such a great variety of talented artists and producers is a huge privilege. Additionally, with all of The Cure’s recording royalties being donated to the WarChild UK charity, it really is for a wonderful cause.”
Far Out review of MoaLW
From Far Out:
The Cure – ‘Mixes of a Lost World’ album review: A rhythmic expansion of the dark realm
Kelly Scanlon
When Robert Smith started receiving an influx of Songs of a Lost World remixes, he felt his world expanding. The Cure have always been prominent (and limitless) world-builders, but what about how these worlds are seen from the other side? What about when we’re let into the side of the Cure that they have no control over, the side entirely reinterpreted by those observing from the sidelines?
The beauty of Songs of a Lost World wasn’t that it proved the Cure still had it; it was all gorgeous hues of the band’s consistent sense of foreboding, the unveiling of impending finality that never revealed itself with enough clarity to know if it was actually real or imagined. This is where Lost World picks up, entrenched in the haze of the ambiguity that never fails to pull us into its rapture, acknowledging the familiarity without feeling too close to a shadow of its former self.
And through that seemingly endless journey of cloaked self-discovery, staring at blood-red moons, wondering “how I got so old”, Smith basked in the fatal beauty of presenting more questions than answers, thriving on vulnerability and suffering while spotlighting the most intricate experiences and feelings along the way. It’s immersive, but in a way that feels grittier in its own darkness, like finding meaning in the trenches of having absolutely nothing (“It’s all gone / No hopes, no dreams, no world”).
As such, a full, complete project like Lost World feels without the need for any kind of expansion, but we all know that finality hasn’t always been Smith’s strong suit. Ever the master of toying with incomplete albums, runtimes and the setbacks of getting it all wrong, Mixes of a Lost World feels like an entirely expected step, one that highlights all of Lost World‘s lost words in technicolour, storyboarding Smith’s inner mind with the freedom of unrestricted conventions.
And that means meandering the depths of the different parameters of dance music, giving Lost World a kind of intensified viscera that ventures beyond the walls of the source material. As Smith explained: “Just after Christmas, I was sent a couple of unsolicited remixes of Songs of a Lost World tracks and I really loved them. The Cure has a colourful history with all kinds of dance music, and I was curious as to how the whole album would sound entirely reinterpreted by others.”
Notable highlights are the ones that dramatise the original or heighten that sweet spot where the familiar foreboding comes to the shore, like Paul Oakenfold’s ‘Cinematic’ Remix of ‘I Can Never Say Goodbye’, alongside the Orbital Remix of ‘Endsong’. The Twilight Sad Remix of ‘A Fragile Thing’ also gives it an inexplicably retro feel, while Mogwai’s ‘Endsong’ comes in like a storm, unforgiving, powerful from start to finish.
These 24 new versions hold their own as standalone and broader pieces to the puzzle, offering insight into new, previously undiscovered edges to Lost World, ones that offer more in the instrumental segments and the way they compound attention over Smith’s lyrics. Though these new elements rarely come close to the instrumental magic the Cure has already mastered, they certainly offer new avenues for exploration, letting you fester in those ambiguous realms for just a little bit longer.
Perhaps the star here is actually Deftones’ Chino Moreno’s take on ‘Warsong’, not just because of how much darker his composition makes the track feel but also because its added rhythmic cadences and pulsating notes drill in the meaningful urgency behind the track, giving it a more open relevance to today’s political climate and all the ways human conflict is tearing it down, detectable in the understated afflictions alone.
Just like the source material, these undeniable strokes of melancholy also give it an additional sense of vibrancy, taking the band’s original motifs without trying to turn them into something different, something far away from what makes them so great in the first place. Perhaps that’s the real beauty of Mixes; it takes what’s already there and enhances it, giving it more means for possibility beyond the world we’re already familiar with.
Tuesday, June 10, 2025
Sonic Boom raffle
From Sonic Boom (Toronto):
The Cure Dance Party Alert & Acetate Raffle!
This Saturday June 14 from 1-3pm
Release Playback event with Guest DJ Prince Josh
The Cure 'Mixes Of A Lost World'
Pick up your copy of 'Mixes Of A Lost World' and get a Cure Litho or Tote Bag with purchase (while quantiles last)
ALSO !! At the event there will be a raffle for the Exclusive MOALW Acetate with all proceeds going to War Child!
It is one of only of 24 produced WORLDWIDE! Details and contesting available in store only.
Monday, June 9, 2025
Cure songs in Mixtape game
From Worth Playing:
'Mixtape' is a coming-of-age action adventure game built around the patchwork joy and emotional power of mixtapes.
'Mixtape' will feature music from iconic artists like The Cure, DEVO, Lush, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Joy Division, and many more.
Sunday, June 8, 2025
Thank you note from Robert
From Danny Briottet (Renegade Soundwave):
Got a nice card from Robert Smith in the post thanking me for remix of The Cure’s ‘And Nothing Is Forever’ from forthcoming Mixes of a Lost World album. I actually finished it at 4am due to a deadline, sent it to Robert and went outside for some air and ting, came back feeling mashed only to see a message from Robert pop straight up. I thought bloody hell I hope he’s not gonna tell me he doesn’t like it and to fix it up. But the message said ‘Danny I love it, thank you ‘ - great end to a proper all night old school session. Thanks to Daryl Bamonte for the hookup and my dread mix partner Rico Conning as ever.
Saturday, June 7, 2025
Record Parlour auction
From The Record Parlour:
Our auction for The Cure's Mixes of a Lost World acetate has just launched.
All proceeds will be given to the band's charity of choice - @WarChildUK so whatever you spend will be going to a great cause!!
Friday, June 6, 2025
Spindizzy raffle
To celebrate the release of The Cure's 'Mixes Of A Lost World', audio fragments from the album have been pressed to vinyl acetate.
We were one of a small number of very lucky independent records shops to be nominated by the remix artists to receive one!
The Acetate was played on request for a week in the store so has some play wear.
If you want to get your hands on this extremely rare piece of The Cure memorabilia, we're running a charity raffle on our website.
You have until 12pm (midday) Monday 9th June to enter. We will then draw a winner and notify them via email by the end of that day.
Tickets cost €10 and all the donations will go to War Child Charity. You can purchase as many entries as you like from our website, link in bio. 1 ticket = 1 entry. The more you buy the greater the chance! Remember ALL proceeds go to charity!!!!
Good Luck!
Saturday, May 31, 2025
Secret 7" reminder
From The Cure:
Not long left to get your hands on a one-of-a-kind 7" vinyl of Warsong: Troxy Live 2024 in the @Secret7s auction! Bidding closes 1 June from 2pm uk.givergy.com/Secret7/
Thursday, May 29, 2025
Music Mania raffle
Win our Mixes of A Lost World acetate. One of only 24 in existence. All proceeds go to War Child UK.
You can now purchase a lottery ticket to win this extremely unique acetate LP.
There is no limit to the number of lottery tickets you can buy. The more tickets you buy, the more your name will be entered in the draw!
You can enter the lottery up until June 12th 2025. We'll draw a winner June 13th, official release date of the full Mixes Of A Lost World.
https://www.musicmaniarecords.be/166-the-cure/19734-mixes-of-a-lost-world-acetate-lottery-ticket
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