Stray – Abuse By Proxy

 

This one-woman act is an attempt to reveal a softer, more thoughtful and delicate side of the band “Unter Null”. It succeeds beautifully. If you are better pleased by melancholy vocals gliding over a hypnotic synthline, all kept in time by a perfectly structured beat, as I am, then this is the side of Erica Dunham for you.

The opening track “Kindred Soul”, which was also chosen to appear on the compilation “Sounds from the Matrix”, is an amazing track. It’s almost several songs in one, gelling into one long feeling of emotional realisation. The album as a whole is a great one, not to mention the CD artwork which fits the feel of the album seamlessly. I just feel that Kindred Soul was so amazing as an opening track that it took me a while to be able to stop skipping back to “Kindred Soul”. Once you get past this, you will discover every other track on the album is more than worth letting it play through to the end.

Erica’s voice I must say has been one of, if not my favourite female vocalist discovery in the electro genres as a whole. It has such a great uniqueness that fits this style of music flawlessly, whether she uses digital distortion on some songs or not. It’s soulful and dark and almost tortured, but still the sound of a pleasant nightingale on the ears.

This is an exceptional piece of electronic music and I would definitely be keeping my ear to the ground for a future release. It’s something that demands your attention only with a promise of soothing you with it’s ambient moods, provoking thoughts and most definitely sticking in your mind for a good while.

 

http://www.myspace.com/stray23

Ashbury Heights – Morningstar in a Black Car

A highly anticipated release for anyone who got wind of their debut album “Three Cheers For the Newlydeads” released in October 2007. It doesn’t disappoint, infact it highly delights.

The Swedish duo have only made their fantastic brand of catchy, charismatic synth-pop stronger in this EP, each memorable hook having you singing along after the first time of hearing it. It’s clearly one of those releases that you almost become addicted to for weeks after you first hear it, like some sort of drug you just have to keep nipping to the bathroom with for a quick listen.

It’s definitely going to be a classic though, this band is going far and won’t be traveling unnoticed. Check out their video to the track “Spiders” on youtube to keep you going until the album is released.

The tracks that stood out to me the most first time are “Spiders” (I can see why this was chosen for the video release!) and “Morningstar in a Black Car”. There are 5 new tracks and 4 re-mixes which are nice additions. If the EP is anything to go by, the album will be a must-have.

Kiethevez – Non-Binary

 

The first album in 11 years from this Swedish band creeps out bearing the name “Non-Binary”. Boasting to be one of the best releases of 2008 this promises satisfaction “for fans of synthpop as well as fans of all quality pop music.”

I would agree only with the latter. There is nothing overly synth-pop-esque here for me. Yes I can hear the keyboards but I can hear the acoustic guitars, drum kit and harmonic vocals of Jesper Palmqvist and the rest of the band more than anything else. Make no mistake, he has a great powerful voice, but it’s average  sounding.

I just feel this album is lacking any hooks or melodies to get me interested at all. I mean Diary of Dreams did acoustic versions of their songs live, stripping away their whole highly technological set-up to literally just a couple of guys with guitars, but the formula was there in Adrian Hates’ voice and the songs he writes to be amazing even on the most basic set-up.

If you’re into the more acoustic, indie style, then take the money you were going to spend on this album and buy something else that’s alot more catchy yet soulful like Keane’s debut album, or something a little lighter like Ghosts’ “The World Is Outside” (should have got more recognition).

I could break down the songs and talk about why this just doesn’t do it for me, but to be honest it’s a little hard to distinguish one from the other. Then again, of course, a review is a point of view. Check out their myspace, listen to a few of the very short clips they’ve put up there and who knows, they might be your new favourite band!

http://www.kiethevez.com/

http://www.myspace.com/kiethevez

Agonised By Love – Lovesick Society

 

Now I personally had high expectations for this album after their debut album “All of White Horizons”. Trying to listen without any hopes after waiting for it’s release would have been impossible, that’s just honesty.

A polish group I would class as “new-romantic gone darkwave”, they definitely have a sound of their own, the vocals of Rafal Tomaszczuk most definitely playing a pivotal role. They conjure dark romantic sounds and imagery in a melodic and powerful electronic hybrid.

What a great set of artwork to begin with.

Upon pressing play I had to wait until the second track, “Brothers” before I was captured. There it was, the finely crafted web of tuneful emotion that Rafal and the band creates. The first track, “Aspetto Solo Te”, displays great vocal ability, but the hook that had me listening intently and put at peace the expectations I had from these guys, came on track 2.

Initially these were my thoughts, however going back and re-listening as I did many times, the opening track grew on me quickly.

The rest of the album was as great as I expected, they have progressed in this next album, the music has matured, but it is still without question : Agonised By Love. We are transported by their 12 dark spells into a world where we feel every emotion we ever felt on a new level of intensity. A definite must-have album if you liked the first release and even if you don’t own it, this one will make a fan out of you.

http://www.myspace.com/agonisedbylove

http://www.agonisedbylove.art.pl     (Official site – hates Safari)

Gentle Touch – In Memory Of Savannah

 

This album is gorgeous. If you haven’t got/heard this album yet, I just wanted to make sure you got the same impression from this review as you would on hearing it the first time.

This is the debut album from Swedish band Gentle Touch. These three young guys released an EP back in ‘06 which led to this, their first full length album. And what a thing is it.

Such gentle vocals, softly sung with hints of sadness. Every song is catchy and stands strongly on its own, which makes it a thoroughly amazing piece from beginning to end. Synthpop is still strong (luckily for us) but this album almost sounds like it has just been de-frosted from a mid-eighties time capsule, and released without haste. “Expectations” supports this theory I dreamed up perfectly. It makes you want to dance and sing along to those echoey vocals to the point you have to keep telling yourself that you’re in public and such things aren’t generally considered appropriate outside of the “home”.

Drum machines, plenty of synth and some perfectly implemented guitars on some tracks, this fresh-faced group from Sweden has that evasive secret formula to be huge. From songs that could have been #1 on the charts for week and had every teen bopping in every club in the 80’s, to beautiful gentle songs that really do move you, such as “The Finer Arts”, this is a gem.

If you only buy one album before you die, buy this. If you die before you have chance, I would highly recommend coming back as a spirit and buying it, because it’s really that worth it!

http://www.myspace.com/gentletouchmusic

 

F.P. – Who Will Touch Your Soul?

F.P. are a synthpop band from Berlin and they’re certainly not new to this game. They have been together creating material since 1996 and appeared on many compilations in their time. This is however only their second official, full length album release.

I’m certainly glad for the fact that they did this. I’m going to spoil the surprise by giving away the ending right away : this is a nice album. No question.

The melodies are largely soft and flowing, the vocals are gentle and pleasant. This is riddled with catchy hooks but at the same time is extremely easy to listen to. “I wanna thank you” is a track that proves a great example of this. “Nightwatch” has some really nicely done vocals. I wouldn’t call this an album if you’re in the mood for some deep psychological pondering, it contains those almost naïve lyrics that fit the music so well. Like “Message To Your Heart”, a nice romantic song, basic in it’s message.

This isn’t a negative thing, merely a pointer as this is a great thing to listen to if you just want to hear something that will lift your spirits and is a good, catchy piece of synthpop without it demanding too much attention lyrically.

I would recommend this album to people who are fans of De/Vision but perhaps not to the fans of Diary of Dreams. But if you like a bit of everything that’s made with synths, like me, definitely give them a listen at least at their myspace page. Their homepage is in German only but has some downloadable clips.

http://www.fp-music.de/

http://www.myspace.com/fpbandpage

Sonictune – Tales of the Night

Sonictune is a project of two established musicians, so this debut album has a strong basis to begin with. Hailing from germany, this project is a match made in synthetic heaven, Alex Braun (!Distain vocalist) and Remi Szyszka (ex-Psyche keyboarder).

They have joined together once again with this all new, magically fresh sound that will have you addicted and you will totally know about it.

From the first song I knew this album was going to be strong and catchy throughout. In all my glory I was correct.

Before I knew it I was online and recommending it to all of my 2 or 3 synth buddies. I was pretty fanatical about it and shot to the top of Sonictune’s “top listeners” chart on last.fm. I have small dreams I know.

It has a strong sound that sells every song to you to the point where you can’t wait to listen to each one again. There are the synthy beat songs and the slower harmonic ballads, each one standing strong alone as well as part of this amazing album.

I personally can’t help but hope this is an ongoing partnership, I am thinking of visiting a medium in an attempt to get a definite yes on this so I may sleep peacefully.

I want to recommend my fave tracks, but I really love them all. The only one I will admit I have skipped past a few times is “Kaltes Herz”. The chorus gets a little tedious for me after hearing it a few times. This is still a great song, but a slight weak link for me in a chain of 12 wonderful tracks. To be convinced in one song how great this album is, listen to “PPV” or “Mirror”.

http://www.myspace.com/sonictune

Check their myspace page out for a listen, I give it a MASSIVE thumbs up. Because I can.