BBC’s Synth Britania makes it to youtube

BBC’s brilliant, brilliant multi-part documentary on the British synth pop movement of the 80s is finallt on youtube in its entirely. For any fan of this kind of music this is a revelation and brings it all home, and most importantly it makes the clear, unabashed causal link between punk and electronic music, and how its roots lay in disaffected, poor, lower class British youth, of which Softsynth has written extensively. Watching it was so exciting it made your humble blogger’s heart beat faster and actually gave us a new appreciation for Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” in the history of the movement and shows vintage live footage of bands like Human League that will blow you away. We’ve gone over an awful of this history in previous posts here but to see it laid out so beautifully and to have gotten interviews with *all* of the key players of the day is breathtaking. A must see:

Part one:

Owl City make themselves heard

We’ve blogged a fair but about the steady advance of electronic music on mainstream charts in 2009. The latest, and a surprising one at that is Owl City. Owl City have scored a huge hit on Billboard and other charts in “Fireflies”. Much has been made of their similarity to Postal Service (and let’s be clear – it’s very close. When Softsynth first heard this song we were sure it was Ben Gibbard using an alias.) but what this really is, is the latest in a long line of similar-sounding bands, usually one-man set-ups, breathy soft vocals, blippy retro synths and usually a little jangly guitar thrown in. PlayRadioPlay, Mobius Band, Electric President and scores of other bands have cropped up over the last few years. Minnesota’s Adam Young is simply the latest in a very long line of similarly-themed bands, Postal Service among them (his eery similarity to Gibbard vocally makes the connection there a little more concrete, right down to the syntax and vocal affectations; his claim that he never listened to Postal Service before doesn’t pass the smell test). He’s released two albums this year, the most recent being Ocean Eyes, and he’s consistently catchy and melodically beautiful if lyrically a little overly simplistic (okay, the lyrics are really bad – sounds like poetry written by a pre teen girl. It’s good stuff in small doses, though one grows pretty tired of the whole thing after a couple of doses.

The question we pose it why this particular band? Why now? The sound is so similar to the above list why did they fail to break through with mainstream recognition the way Owl City have (we disagree with McNutt’s theory: People like owls)? Either way it’s always nice to see a continuation of the public acceptance of the genre even if they aren’t always aware of what it is they’re actually listening to.

Flight of the Conchords get electronic music better than most

One of the legion of new albums Softsynth has been enjoying is the latest (albeit kind of uneven) album from Flight of the Conchords, I Told You I Was Freaky. Now, the album is in parts awesome, and others kind of dull and overdone (especially out of context of the episode of their television show in which each of the tracks are featured) but one thing we realize upon listening to the whole package is how cleverly the boys work in their understanding of what makes electronic music tick, for good or bad.

We kind of had a sense of this intuitiveness from their earlier “Inner City Pressure” which spoofed the Pet Shop Boys brilliantly. But with their more recent work we see just to what degree these guys get it.

Muse channel NIN in latest video

Softsynth has been very lukewarm on Muse’s overwrought new album, The Resistance (yes, yes it’s Muse, of course it’s overwrought… but sometimes even Muse can start to sound a little too Musey), but from the first listen one track stood out – “Undisclosed Desires”. Easily the most electronic song on the album (compared by Entertainment Weekly to Depeche Mode in terms of sound…and now that you mention it…), it thuds along like a funky metronome, and now it’s the band’s new single. Softsynth only rarely delves into the world of video but this is one worth sharing, if just for the debate that’s already building around the video for its obvious comparison’s to early Nine Inch Nails. Love it? Hate it? Think it’s retrograde Trent Reznor?

Review: Assemblage 23 – Compass

Assemblage 23 have been on an interesting journey, one that oddly parallels rivals VNV Nation. Once a minimalist, stripped down electronic band with clear industrial and EBM influences, they (by which we mean Tom Shear, another of the legion of elecrtronic “bands” that are basically one person [see: Maps one post down]) have been increasingly moving to a more melodic, dare we say pop-based ethic. We saw this take a big step on 2007’s Meta, but Compass has taken the notion even further. How much you enjoy this album will depend much on how you feel about this increasing departure from the roots of the band (an almost identical journey we’ve seen from VNV Nation culminating in their most own most melodic, pop-EBM hybrid 2009 album, Of Faith, Power And Glory.

Review: Maps – Turning the Mind

Maps, aka Brit James Chapman are (is?) back with another go around of sweet, slightly syrupy electro drone following on the heels of their (his) critically acclaimed 2007 Mute Records debut, the Mercury Prize nominated We Can Create. That album was among the most somnambulant albums of all time, but beautifully so.

Now Maps are back with something a little different. Does it pass the sniff test? Answer: sort of.

We Can Create was a piece of art. Beautifully constructed, lush, meaningful with lyrics that made you sit back and sort out what they meant. It was also sleepy. Like, comatose sleepy. One could appreciate the care that went into the album’s construction without, you know, actually “enjoying it” (full disclosure – Softsynth did…in the right mood).

In defence of the lowly drum machine

“This next band…doesn’t have a drummer!!” So intoned a breathless Dick Clark in 1984 during a broadcast of his American hot 100 countdown radio show. We were transfixed. What could that mean? To a 13 year old who was just discovering music and for whom pop or rock music meant a guitar, a bass, drums, a singer and maybe a keyboard. What was this non-drummer lunacy?? As it turned out he was talking about Depeche Mode who were enjoying their first North American mainstream success with “People are People”. Clark was positively verkempt at the notion. To young teen Softsynth’s ears it sure sounded like they had drums in there, perhaps Clark was simply insane. It seemed a reasonable conclusion.

a-ha to call it a day

Many on the North American side of the Atlantic may be forgiven for thinking Norway’s a-ha disappeared decades ago. After the synthpop confection of “Take on Me” and to a lesser extent, the ballsier “The Sun Always Shines on T.V.”, which saw them reach the pinnacle of the music business (nominated for a Grammy award for best new artist, nearly going double platinum with their debut and scoring a number one single on the Billboard Hot 100 ) in 1985/86 they never again cracked the mainstream in the North American market. However, the band continues pumping out albums, some awesome, some more forgettable but they never went away. Like many, Softsynth enjoyed their first album, Hunting High and Low (with “Living a Boy’s Adventure Tale” ranking as one of our all-time favourite electronic songs) even if we found “Take on Me” a bit cloying (which was more than made up for by their breakthrough rotoscoped video, recently made into a masterpiece as the best “literal interpretation” of the Funny or Die series) and also its follow up Scoundrel Days, but after that forgot about the Norwegian trio for some time.

Review: Northern Lite – Letters and Signs Part One

Germany’s Northern Lite are notoriously hit or miss. Sometimes they reach a level of pretension that’s hard to fathom, other times they hit on a melody or hook that is equally mind-blowing. Their newest effort, Letters & Signs Part One is an interesting leap for the band with some unfortunate signs but a lot of positive ones.

A band built in the classic hybrid image – drum machines abound, synths burble and guitars and bass thrum confidently through the mix, they have now taken a turn for the rock and thrown something of a knee to the groin of their electronic side. And the new ballsy Northern Lite actually works pretty well.

What’s key to this new effort is their gift for a good hook remains unchallenged. A band that has more often than not sounded like pretty straightforward electronic rock now sounds more like an early 80’s rock band with an electronic influence. Normally this would be a bit of a dark cloud for Softsynth but these guys manage to make it work on the strength of rock-solid songwriting. The title track was a harbinger of the album to come. A tight rock song with a few synths thrown in for atmosphere it was a sharp right turn for the band into new territory. The hook works and while the song may be a little forgettable after the fact, for those three minutes and two seconds they have you, like it or not. Track after track it’s the same story. None of the memorable moments we’ve heard from the band in previous songs like “Gone”, “Treat Me Better” or “Reach the Sun” but a lot of pleasant melodies make for an enjoyable listening experience.

Quick trip around the interwebs: Covenant album on hold

Every few months Softsynth takes a trip around about 100 web sites for our favourite bands, especially those who have been quiet for a while. We learned today that Sweden’s Covenant have put their new album Modern Ruin on hold as their label reorganizes. Sad news as it could be another six months (!) before we see what has been shaping up to be a very promising new work. Meanwhile their US tour will go ahead even without the new album to promote. Hm.