Top 10 Modern Synthpop Must-Have Albums

Today's post is for those of you who, like me, have been out of the synthpop loop for a few years. If you want to quickly get the best of the last seven years of the synthpop underground, here are my picks...

#1 Mesh: We Collide--Refer to my "podcast" review of We Collide for details, but this is simply an amazing album. Excellent vocals and programming lead to one cool song after another. Includes lots of really fast, catchy songs, but also features some top notch slow songs. Highlights(Too many to list, but I'll go with...): Crash, Step by Step, and Room With a View. Official site: http://www.mesh.co.uk/

#2 Echo Image: Compuphonic--The first word that comes to mind when I think of this album is "joy." The songs are so energetic, upbeat, and beautiful. Highlights: Standing Alone, Messing With Love, Skulk, Good Intentions. Official site: http://www.echoimage.com/

#3 Apoptygma Berzerk: Welcome to Earth--These former hard rockers make the switch to synthpop, with incredible results. Some songs have a slight hard edge to them. Highlights: Starsign, Eclipse, Paranoia. Official homepage: http://www.apoptygmaberzerk.de/apop/news/index_en.php

#4 Wolfsheim: Spectators--Wolfsheim are masters of mid-tempo synthpop. This album is widely considered a modern synthpop masterpiece. Highlights: Once in a Lifetime, Read the Lines, I Don't Love You Anymore, Sleep Somehow. Official homepage: http://www.wolfsheim.de/

#5 Neuroactive: Transients--This one grows on you like crazy. This album follows a theme, so you get the best effect with this album if you listen to it in order. Each song flows nicely into the next. Neuroactive imbues each song with an incredibly cool vibe that you have to experience to believe. This album has no less than seven of my favorite modern synthpop songs. Amazing stuff. Highlights: Innerspaceman, Wonders of the World, Play, Quiet Afternoon, You. Official homepage: http://www.elisanet.fi/neuroactive/

#6 Endanger: Addicted to the Masses--This album is full of fast-paced, catchy sythpop gems. There are also a couple of slower, gorgeous songs on here as well. The deep, dark voice serves as a nice counterpoint to the fast, upbeat music. Highlights: I Count on You, Give Me a Reason, Velvet Heart, Addicted to the Masses. Official hompage: http://www.endanger.de/

#7 Lavantgarde: Inside Out--This group isn't well known at all outside of Germany (where they were awarded Best New Artist a couple of years ago), but that's a travesty. Lavantgarde crafts catchy synthpop and makes it look easy. Each song on the album is memorable. Highlights: Take Me S.I.M., Things Have Changed (Again), Not Enough, Live Your Life (Rebirth), Airs and Graces. Official homepage: http://www.lavantgarde.de/

#8 Iris: Disconnect--This is another album that's considered a modern synthpop masterpiece. I love this one, but some of Iris' best songs are on their other albums. Still, every song here is somewhere between good and great. Highlights: Twilight, Annie Would I Lie to You, Loom, The Picture. Official homepage: http://www.irismusic.com/

#9 And One: Bodypop--Bodypop features very old-school synth sounds but jazzed up with high production values and fast beats. Their singer has a GREAT cool synthpop voice. Very catchy stuff. Highlights: Love You to the End, Stand the Pain, Military Fashion Show, Enjoy the Unknown, So Klingt Liebe. Official homepage: http://www.outofline.de/shop_neu/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=2187&products_id=6035

#10 Beborn Beton: Tales From Another World--This is their "Best of," and it includes some amazing work. Most of the songs tell a story to the listener, hence the album title. This is prototypical synthpop with great vocals and catchy beats. Highlights: The Colour of Love, Peach, Another World. Official homepage: http://www.bebornbeton.de/

It was very hard to limit this list to just 10 albums.

Honorable mentions include: Leiahdorus: Ashes Ashes, New Concept: Wheel of Love, Blue October: Incoming, De/Vision: Zehn, Mesh: Who Watches Over Me, Rename: Culture, Opium: Too Many Miles Between Us, T.O.Y.: White Lights, The Dignity of Labour: The Dignity of Labour.

The best places to buy these albums are either through Amazon.com, by clicking on my Amazon banner at the bottom of the page, or A Different Drum's online CD store.

New Information Society CD: Synthesizer!

A few weeks ago I got the latest album from Information Society. I got my copy from A Different Drum.

The band is back together, with Paul Robb once again at the helm. Former lead singer Kurt Harland has decided against rejoining, though, and I was skeptical about the new vocalist, Christopher Anton.

After listening through the CD a few times I'm now totally on board with the new vocalist. His singing style is actually very similar to Kurt's, and I think most people who hear these new InSoc songs will instantly recognize them as such.

Here's how the songs shake out:
1. Baby Just Wants--The first song on the album sounds like it would be right at home on Hack, Information Society's second album. It's got a catchy, funky beat. But I preferred InSoc's first album, so that's not a great compliment from me. Still, it's entertaining enough. 3 stars

2. Back in the Day--When I saw the track listing for this CD on A Different Drum's website and saw the title of this song I rolled my eyes, thinking "How cheesy." I just cringe when I hear that phrase "Back in the Day." Despite that, after hearing the song once, I was hooked. This is the highlight of the CD and ranks right up there with InSoc's best work. Again it's catchy and dance-able (for people who like that kind of thing), but it's also got a cool enough vibe for cool people like me. 5 stars

3. I Like the Way You Werk It--Another song that could have been lifted right off Hack. The chorus has a great hook "I, I, I like the way you werk it" will be stuck in your head for days. I could swear it's Kurt Harland singing the chorus on this one, but the liner notes say otherwise. 4 stars

4. Run Away--This is a slower song that features a duet with a female vocalist. It's a pretty song, and the female singer actually does a really good job. 3 stars

5. Free--A cool song with a great beat. The lyrics are very rhymey (if that's a word). 4 stars

6. I Love It When...--This seems like an experimental-type song, reminding me a bit of "A Knife & A Fork" from Hack, but with one big exception: the chorus is really cool. 3 stars

7. More to This--A very solid song. Christopher Anton must have studied Kurt Harland method of delivery, because even though his voice isn't just like Harland's it still screams Information Society when I hear it. Good song. 4 stars

8. Somnambulistic--Next we get another highlight of the album. Somnambulistic has great lyrics and a very memorable tune. Awesome song. 5 stars

9. Burning Bridges--This one has some funny lyrics (I think they're intentionally funny). For example "Life is like a velvet hammer knocking on my head." Good beat. 3 stars

10. Can't Get Enough--Another catchy song. 3 stars

11. This Way Tonight--Catchy song, but I don't approve of the message the lyrics are sending (if I'm understanding them correctly) 2 stars

12. Synthesizer--Another highlight of the CD, and probably my favorite new Information Society song. True to its name, this song is a prototypical synthpop song, exhibiting all the qualities that I love about the genre. Creative lyrics, cool and catchy synths, good beat. Easily 5 stars

13. The Seeds of Pain--The final song on the album starts off with a slow build up, but after 1:20 it finally gets going. InSoc gives us a nice surprise in this song: Kurt Harland does the vocals for this last song! The song overall doesn't impress me much, but the chorus is fantastic and makes the song worthwhile. 3 stars

Information Society really is back. Let's hope they stick around and keep contributing great synthpop.

Virtual Server's newest album: "Setup"

I was very pleasantly surprised by this new CD from Virtual Server. It has several outstanding tracks and most of the rest of the album is good as well. I listen to a ton of synthpop / ebm / electronic music, so when a CD almost instantly stands out and grabs my attention I'm impressed.

My favorite tracks are:

2. The Earth (featuring Iris): The vocals are incredible in this mid-tempo track. Interesting lyrics and good synth work make for one of my new favorites. 5 stars

6. I Will Fly (featuring Colony 5): Catchy tune and lyrics. Fast tempo. 5 stars

12. In A Hour From Now (featuring Color Theory): Amazing vocals from Color Theory, and beautiful synth to match. Another favorite new song of mine. 5 stars

4. Desperate Man (featuring Echo Image): Good to hear something new from Echo Image. Catchy and memorable as always. 5 stars

7. It's in All of Us (featuring Perfidious Words): Another excellent track. Sounds like recent Depeche Mode to me. 5 stars

8. Kept You (featuring Wave In Head): A beautiful and catchy song. 5 stars

Most of the rest of the songs are enjoyable but don't quite match the excellence of the above tracks. The best of the rest include:

1. My Preservation (featuring Psyche): I've never been a Psyche fan, but this one is good. 4 stars

3. My Inner Peace (featuring Rename): In my opinion, Rename can do no wrong, and this song, while not their best, is still very enjoyable. 3.5 stars

11. Tropfen Im Ozean (featuring P24): I'd rank this one higher, but it's a foreign language track, and I like to be able to understand the lyrics. 3 stars

The only song that I don't enjoy is Razor (featuring Assemblage 23). It just doesn't measure up to the quality of the rest of the album, nor does it match the quality I'm used to hearing from Assemblage 23's latest CDs.

I hope you buy this one, for your sake. The LTD edition comes with a second disc with excellent alternate versions of the songs. The version of "The Earth" that's on the bonus CD is actually better than the original song and makes the extra cost more than worth it.

Review of Mesh's newest album: We Collide

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In this, the premier episode of Synthpop Reviews, you'll get an introduction to the music of Mesh. The episode consists of a short bio of the band and then track by track analysis of their most recent album.

Welcome to Synthpop Reviews!

I grew up with the creative, innovative music of Thompson Twins, OMD, Erasure, Depeche Mode, The Cure, Alphaville, etc.

Then suddenly the mainstream music industry decided that synthpop was no longer a viable musical genre. Painful-sounding musical styles became the new thing. I thought beautiful, intelligent music was dead. I lost interest in music. Nothing was as good as what I had grown up with.

Only recently have I found that great music still exists, it's just gone underground. There is new music that's at least as good as the best of the 80s. Some of the best "new" synth-pop groups include Iris, Mesh, VNV Nation, Echo Image, And One (some of it), Beborn Beton, De/Vision, Endanger, Lavantgarde, Leiahdorus, Neuroactive, T.O.Y., Neuropa, and Wolfsheim.