New Order’s double LP compilation gathered many pieces of their music into one place, basically as their American mainstream debut and biggest success.
It put them on MTv a lot.
Oh, I’ll break them down, no mercy shown,
Heaven knows, it’s got to be this time,
Avenues all lined with trees,
Picture me and then you start watching,
Watching forever
Moving Music
Packing for our final move of 2025. Particularly rough, as previously mentioned, I’ve had to unbox my office, rebuild furniture, and now have to partially repack it for a two mile schlep on Wednesday. Small bothers. But here I am, listening to Substance. Feeling it.
I wonder, going through these motions, how many times, in thirty eight years, has Substance been in my worktime soundtrack? From high school jobs to level design or coding, to domestic labors like cleaning, packing, painting, landscaping, these songs offer the kind of get things done framing I can always think of key moments in those projects where New Order entered the rotation. It’s music I love to listen to when I’m in a deep talk-myself-off-a-ledge panic—mainly, deadlines.