Duran Duran Side Project Rediscovered As Nick Rhodes Rates The World Today

Duran Duran’s Nick Rhodes has rediscovered side project TV Mania.

Duran Duran’s front man might not know much about your favorite new DJ or band, but he’s OK with that. However, he finds that more recent efforts in the music world today are lacking … well, effort.

Nick Rhodes told the Huffington Post in a recent interview:

“Now I think I’m fairly discerning with what I listen to. Because I don’t need to particularly listen to something that is brand new unless it’s really great. I’m all for any piece of modern music. Someone tells me, ‘You’ve got to listen to this.’ I’ll always listen.”

Nick Rhodes, 50, says certain new acts have made an impression on him. Nick Rhodes likes the Ting Tings’ “Shut Up and Let Me Go”, and says MGMT’s “Kids” has “a completely different feel to it.” He wonders if the relative ease with which music can be produced nowadays has brought with it a lack of focus on the art of it:

“Are people going to be listening to it like they listen to the Beatles now, or whoever else who has endured? I’m not sure of that. I think the quality of songwriting is what we miss through the convenience of technology.”

On Duran Duran‘s own front, Nick Rhodes and guitarist Warren Cuccurullo have produced an album available in March called “TV Mania: Bored With Prozac and The Internet?”

The tracks were constructed by blending television samples and looping rhythm tracks to create a collection of songs that represent the frantic energy and atmosphere of the world today. Shortly after they completed the final result, they shelved the original tapes as other priorities took hold.

According to Anti Music, the intention was always to find the time between Duran Duran project cycles to go back and release the album. It had been discussed over the years, and the tapes were thought to have been lost, so it wasn’t until recently when going through material at a storage facility, that Rhodes discovered the original TV Mania tapes misfiled. Nick Rhodes swiftly decided they were long overdue for a release.

“TV Mania: Bored With Prozac and The Internet?” is slated for release on March 11.

Are you excited about Duran Duran’s rediscovered side project?

this year was already going to be awesome, but !!! RT HuffingtonPost: Duran Duran side project to finally be released huff.to/12zdlSB

— Frances Martel (@francesmartel) February 8, 2013