Great music still exists, it's just underground. There is new music that's at least as good as the best of the 80s. This BLOG consists of my reviews of modern synthpop CDs.
Just a quick heads-up that Color Theory has released their best of album as a free download, available only until December 31st, 2011 I believe. You can legally download the best of album here: http://music.colortheory.com/album/the-best-1994-2011
It has some of my favorite Color Theory songs on it, including "A Safe Distance," "If it's my Time to Go," "Everything That I Thought I Had to Be," and "April's Bonfire."
Brian Hazard of Color Theory has also recently collaborated with Ruslan Tagirov on Ruslan's album "Standing on a Bridge." Brian sings vocals on some of the songs. I'm enjoying "Standing on a Bridge" quite a bit, though it is much more mellow than what I normally listen to. So far it's only available to A Different Drum VIP subscribers, as far as I know. I haven't seen it on any of the typical download sites like iTunes, etc.
It took me longer than it should have to buy and review this latest CD by Elegant Machinery. The main problem was the very high import price, although I've seen it come down a bit recently. I knew I'd have to get it eventually, though, because I've been a big fan of E.M. since about 1999 when I bought their "Yesterday Man" album.
That CD remains as one of my all-time favorites--a CD that has no filler songs at all and several standout tracks. "A Soft Exchange" is right on par with "Yesterday Man," but the highlights are even better.
"A Soft Exchange" hasn't left our car stereo since it arrived from A Different Drum, and all my kids have made me put mp3 versions on their players (yes, all my kids are synthpop fans, in addition to liking less worthy music like country, American Idol fare, etc. that I wouldn't be caught dead listening to). "A Soft Exchange" joins Universal Poplab's "Seeds" and Midnight Resistance's "Remote" as my favorite albums right now.
Here's how I rate the songs:
5/5 stars: A Soft Exchange (This is my favorite song on the CD. It sounds a little like Anything Box when they were at their best, only better.), Do You Know, Move 4/5 stars: Feel the Silence, Bleeding Words, Firm, Is This the Way, With Grace, 3 and 1/2 stars: Hold On (A very slow but beautiful song) 3/5 stars: Path of Angle (Think of this song as the intermission. Instead of vocals it features an old Speak 'n Spell toy spelling out the name of the band. It's actually one of the few non-vocal songs that I own that I can stand listening to. It's pretty fun.) 2/5 stars: NONE 1/5 stars: NONE
The first classic synthpop groups that I got addicted to in the 80s were Thompson Twins, Alphaville, and OMD (in that order). My brother bought "The Best of OMD" on cassette tape and neither of us could stop listening to it. According to OMD's MySpace page, they are back together touring and working on a new album. They have a new song in their playlist called "She's Leaving" that's a collaboration with a modern synthpop group called Marsheaux. If you've ever been an OMD fan, you should check it out.
While on their site, I also saw their live performance of "Maid of Orleans" with a live orchestra. It brought back lots of memories and gave me chills. Check it out below. Can't wait for the new album.
Last time I signed up for eMusic I stumbled upon a group called Trademark. Their music, while still synthpop, is different than most of what I've been listening to lately. People like to compare Trademark to the Pet Shop Boys, but I don't think the similarity is very strong. The instrumentation seems more simple and limited than bands like Universal Poplab, Foxglove Hunt, etc., and yet there was something really appealing about the clips I heard on eMusic. So, I downloaded the 18 best-sounding songs from their two albums and two singles that eMusic has available.
These songs have grown on me quickly, and Trademark is now one of my favorite new (to me) bands. I classify Trademark's music as "Geek Pop." The lyrics on most of the songs are gloriously nerdy, which adds an element of fun and humor to the music. But unlike other geeky bands like They Might be Giants (whose music I also enjoy), there's real beauty in many of Trademark's songs. For a taste of one of Trademark's best songs (and one of their more mainstream ones), play their music video for "Come to Love" that you'll find below:
Here's what I think of the songs I have by them, most of which are from their albums Raise the Stakes, and Want More:
5/5 stars: Come to Love, Sine Love, Interim 4/5 stars: Toe the Line, It Wasn't Right, Where You Went Wrong, Helpless, Stay Professional, Hold That Thought, Stuck in a Rut (a strange sounding song, that I really like for some reason), More Than I Deserve, Three Strikes 3/5 stars: All Too Late, Square Wave Anger, I'm Alive, My Life in Stereo, Unemployed, Trust in What you Know
