We featured Strangers new EP a couple of weeks ago, now we can update with some visuals in the form of the new video for the EP’s lead track, ‘Promises’.
It’s just the kind of stylish I would expect from these guys.
Another act we featured this month is Curxes, who add their industrial influenced moody ElectroPop flavour to the track in their reMix.
♫ Strangers (Feat. Lara Smiles) – Promises (Curxes reMix)
Strangers’ ‘EP’3’ is out 28th November.
Buy Strangers’ music from:
Hold on to your soul, the first ladies of Minimal Synth, Violet Tremors, are about to drop their début album, the awesomely titled ‘Time Is The Traitor’.
The opening track ‘Between Us’ is well chosen, atmospheric and harsh, the track taken no prisoners and utilises vocal processing in a way that, like much of VT’s tracks, makes me think of early Cabaret Voltaire. The combination of Sparse beats, early EBM and Daniel Miller style synth work and haunting pads with vocals that are not quite human sets the listen up well for the rest of the album. Jessica White & Lorene Simpson do a good job of authentically recreating the early days of the Futurists and the sonic experimentation that cantered around Sheffield and Mute Records. The record swings, at times, from harsh and aggressive, as with the Industrial ‘Concentrate’ to the ice cold machine beats of the likes of ‘Caution’ to almost warm, enveloping tracks like ‘Time Dissolver’. Throughout, though, the girls display a keen ear for both melody and texture, and a production skill that suites their sound perfectly. What’s surprising though, is that it’s not all doom and gloom. That is to say that although the record is as fine an example of Minimal Synth as you could ever care for, there is little of the irritating pretension so often heaped onto Minimal Synth records, there’s actually a lot that would kill on any New Romantic dancefloor. I guess what I’m saying is that there is just as much ‘80’s in this album as there is Minimal Synth, and Violet Tremors passion for their sound and their influences shines through.
♫ Violet Tremors – Caution
♫ Violet Tremors – Violet Trance
♫ Violet Tremors – Future Love
‘Time Is The Traitor’ is released 1st December.
Buy Violet Tremors’ music from:
Brighton based duo Curxes are bringing a little ‘Construction Time Again’ Depeche Mode back to SynthPop.
This twosome’s music may, at first glance, seem to be lurking with the dark Pop side of things, the occasional wall of sound and melancholy give you that impression, but on further listening there is actually more uplifting about their sound than not. Roberta’s powerful post-punk vocals are easily strong enough to carry songs soaring, not that the songs need to be carried, musically a combination of Depeche Mode’s early industrial experimentations, Japan’s enveloping bass, and just occasionally, Pet Shop Boys early flirtations with Disco. With both a dark grin and the purest of Pop sensibilities, Curxes’ songs are immediately involving, drawing you in on the first listen and offering more with repeated plays.
♫ Curxes – The Constructor
♫ Curxes – Creatures
♫ Curxes – Once Upon A Time
Curxes are hitting Club Fandango @ The Bull & Gate, Kentish Town, London on 30th Nov. Definitely worth is if you’re in the area.
Buy Curxes’ music from:
Sombre SynthPop today from Furniture with 1986’s ‘Brilliant Mind’.
Buy Furniture’s music from:
The queens of Greek SynthPop Marsheaux have reMixed French artist Mylène Farmer’s ‘‘N’Aie Plus D’Amertume’, from her slightly ElectroPop influenced last album ‘Bleu Noir’.
The downtempo ballad is transformed into a kicking, upbeat, SynthPop beast complete with Marsheaux’s trademark icy digital synths cutting through the mix. Once again Marsheaux provide us with another clean, crisp synthetic slice of Electro quality.
♫ Mylène Farmer – N’Aie Plus D’Amertume (Marsheaux reMix)
Buy Mylène Farmer’s music from:
We really look forward to a new Kid Kasio video almost as much as a new Kid Kasio track! The man has an eye for authentic ’80’s visuals as much as an ear for authentic ‘80’s sounds.
His new clip is for ‘Living My Life’ (which was actually the first Kid Kasio track we heard, the track that made us fall in love with his music), if the exotic location looks familiar, that’s because it was filmed on location in Antigua on very the same beach Duran Duran cavorted on for their ‘Rio’ video.
Stay tuned for news regarding Kid Kasio’s début album, exciting stuff!
Check out more from Kid Kasio on SoundCloud.
Long time reader will be fully aware of my feelings about Ministry (i.e. they used to be awesome, then went Industrial and were pretty good, then went Metal and were utter shit and laughably tried to disavow their SynthPop past), now one of my favourite acts of recent years, Holy Ghost!, has covered Ministry…good Ministry!
‘I Wanted To Tell Her’ was originally on Ministry’s 1983 awesome album ‘With Sympathy’ and Holy Ghost! have brought it kicking and screaming into the 21st century covered in their New York DiscoPop sound. With a little help from The Juan MacLean and Nancy Whang the duo give early Ministry some raw Funk. It will amuse ne no end if such a relevant band covering this era Ministry sees a resurgence of popular interest in the album Ministry disowned.
♫ Holy Ghost! (Feat. Nancy Whang & The Juan MacLean) – I Wanted To Tell Her (Ministry Cover)
Buy Holy Ghost!’s music from:
047 are a Swedish duo in a classic ElectroPop style. They’ve just released their new single ‘Keep It To Yourself’.
This is pure SynthPop in that Sweedish tradition, sounding slightly like a more retro Universal Poplab ‘Keep It To Yourself’ with solid beats and a lush, full, synthetic sound characterised by the kinds of lilting melodies that the Scandinavians do best. Alongside you’ll find emotive and beautifully harmonised vocals.
♫ 047 (Feat. Gustaf Spetz) – Keep It To Yourself
‘Keep It To Yourself’ is out now in Killing Music.
Buy 047’s music from:
This week On The Fruit Records released a reMix collection featuring some awesome reworkings of ElectroPop duo T&K’s newly released album, ‘Magic Tank’.
The whole collection is well worth checking out, for me the highlights came from James Yuill, Mr. Mæn, Rocky and Freak You. Mr. Yuill’s take on ‘Little Clouds’ is an epic, rolling, ElectroPop monster. An evolving analog beast that despite being a pumping electronic floorfiller is amazingly cinematic and emotive. After an icy intro, Mr. Mæn’s version of ‘Summer Nights’ becomes a massive ‘80’s ‘moment’ track. Majestic and powerful, it’s a slow burner that rouses the soul. an old school SynthPop flavour is applied to ‘Magic Tank’ by Rocky. Like the bastard child of Yazoo and Fad Gadget, Rocky’s reMix is a weird synthesizer workout disguised as a Pop song. On The Fruit main man Freak You’s reMix of ‘Line Of Light’ is a cosmic, chiming tune with a ‘90’s SynthPop bassline and a hint of Disco that’ll definitely go down a storm on the dancefloor.
♫ T&K – Little Cloud (James Yuill reMix)
♫ T&K – Summer Night (Mr. Mæn reMix)
♫ T&K – Magic Tank (Rocky reMix)
♫ T&K – Line Of Light (Freak You reMix)
Also featuring reMixes from Canblaster, Segundo and Boston Bun, T&K’s ‘The reMixes’ is out now.
Buy T&K’s music from:
After a few months of SynthPop rapidly falling out of favour with the Indie crowd, London based three peice Strangers seem destined to drag it back into the pages of the NME with their forthcoming third EP.
Much is being made of the trio’s so-called Dark Pop, words like ‘gothic’ and ’gloomy’ are being bandied around in reference to their music but I kinda’ disagree. Sure, the tracks are shot through with a streak of melancholy and the lyrics tend to lean toward the despondent, but ‘dark’ music this isn’t. The cleverly titled ‘EP3’ contains three cuts of catchy, surprisingly upbeat SynthPop. With beautiful, full, production and rousing choruses the whole EP mixes a hint of ‘80’s Pop with modern studio wizardry and delivers an experience that combines unexpectedly dancey electronic Pop with an infections vocal performance that will have you listening over and over again.
I’m also quite proud that I managed to go a whole paragraph without mentioning HURTS.
♫ Strangers (Feat. Lara Smiles) – Promises
♫ Strangers – Because I’m Human
♫ Strangers – Sweet Nothing
Strangers’ ‘EP’3’ is out 28th November.
Buy Strangers’ music from:
electronic rumors 