Synthpop

Here’s five great new electropop singles on Spotify. New bands Funsize Lions, Curxes, Torul and Vaylon all show tremendous promise, while Lady Gaga brings synthpop to the masses and provides a global platform for the British talents of Goldfrapp, Hurts and Mirrors.   Lady Gaga – Judas (The Remixes Part 1) When three of my favourite synthpop bands provide remixes for hyperstar Lady Gaga it’s time to set aside my chart-avoiding [...]

A few emails have come in today asking about the music used on our audio ad that’s currently running in Spotify. The track is a particular favorite of mine: it’s called Supermagic by Australian band Parralox. Supermagic was released as a single last year and is featured on the superb album Metropolis. parralox.com conzoomrecords.de    

Blackvector Magazine is a Swedish blog specializing in electro, EBM, futurepop, synthpop, harsh electro, and “clubby industrial” music.  They’ve recently started adding Spotify links to their reviews, so I thought this would be the perfect time to find out a bit more about the blog. Björn Andersson is the man in charge; I got in touch and asked him to tell us a little about his site, how and why he blogs, and his thoughts [...]

Rounding off our trilogy of hard-electro features, here’s a quick post to let you know that an article I wrote for Side-Line Magazine is now online: Spotify for Electro-Heads! Side-Line is a music magazine devoted to electronic music, in particular electro-goth, synthpop and industrial. It’s my top go-to site for electro news so I was especially honored to be invited to write for them. Thanks Bernard!

If you like your electronica a bit darker, a bit more twisted and industrialized from the norm, then there’s plenty to choose from on Spotify. Here’s a selection of some of my favorite new dark-electro releases to chill your bones and get you dancing like a zombie.   First Aid 4 Souls – Deathstep The second full-length release from Hungary’s First Aid 4 Souls sees them taking a step towards a faster, darker [...]

Progressive Electronic is rapidly becoming my new favourite genre. The term doesn’t really help explain this style, for while it is electronic and it is progressive, it’s also ambient, minimal synth, psychedelic chillout and retro sci-fi. It started in the mid-70s with Jean Michel Jarre and Space Art, taking the epic but meandering sound of Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze and giving it some purpose. The original version [...]

The early 1980s saw an explosion of new bands keen to exploit the new technology of the day: the affordable synthesizer. Soon Top Of The Pops, Smash Hits and Radio 1 were all full of this new wave of bands; with their hair, their make-up, their new-romanticism and most importantly their synthetic sounds. Fast-forward 30 years and they’re back: releasing new albums, hitting the road again and reminding the 40-somethings of their teenage [...]

This month sees the release of Credo, the new album from my favourite band THE HUMAN LEAGUE. They’ve been an inspiration to me for decades – indeed, this blog is named in honour of those synthpop pioneers. Credo is their first album in ten years so for me this is a very special event. Listen to The Human League 2011 on Spotify: Credo (album) Night People (1st single) Never Let Me Go (2nd single) Sky (3rd single) The Electricity [...]

2011 is already shaping up to being yet another classic year for electronic and synthpop music, especially for fans of the new-wave sound. Here are 5 new releases on Spotify that I especially rate: enjoy these offerings!

As an addict of new music, I’m always on the look out for new bands and artists. Very occasionally I’ll hear something that makes me stop whatever I’m doing, pump up the volume and smile at having found something new that I just know will give me lots of pleasure. Here are ten bands I’ve heard recently that all did that to me; a select few that I’m now watching closely to see what they come up with in 2011.