This classic Music video is for Gary Numan’s 1979 synthpop hit Cars.

via HighFlyer186:

*** LYRICS ***

Here in my car
I feel safest of all
I can lock all my doors
It’s the only way to live
In cars

Here in my car
I can only receive
I can listen to you
It keeps me stable for days
In cars

Here in my car
Where the image breaks down
Will you visit me please?
If I open my door
In cars

Here in my car
I know I’ve started to think
About leaving tonight
Although nothing seems right
In cars

*** Released : August 1979 ***

According to Gary Numan, the song’s lyrics were inspired by an incident of road rage: “I was in traffic in London once and had a problem with some people in front. They tried to beat me up and get me out of the car. I locked the doors and eventually drove up on the pavement and got away from them. It’s kind of to do with that. It explains how you can feel safe inside a car in the modern world… When you’re in it, your whole mentality is different… It’s like your own little personal empire with four wheels on it”.

The Casio CZ-1 was the top of the Casio’s CZ synthesizer line. The CZ series were a family of low-cost phase distortion synthesizers produced by Casio mid-1980s.

The CZ-1 synthesizer offered the classic CZ sound, but also featured stored splits and layers , velocity and aftertouch sensitivity. The CZ-1 also featured a backlit display – an improvement over the rest of the series.

There were eight models of CZ synthesizers released:

• CZ-101
• CZ-230S
• CZ-1000
• CZ-2000S
• CZ-2600S
• CZ-3000
• CZ-5000
• CZ-1

Additionally the home-keyboard model CT-6500 used 48 phase-distortion presets from the CZ line.

The CZ series were flexible synthesizers, and their price made programmable synthesizers affordable.

If you’ve used the Casio CZ-1, leave a comment with your thoughts!

Casio CZ-1 Resources

• Wikipedia entry for the Casio CZ series
• Casio CZ-1 at SonicState
• The Casio CZ-1 at RetroSound
• Cosmo’s Casio World
• Deep Synthesis on the Casio CZ-1
• Casio CZ-1 Banks for Kontakt3, Wav
• Casio CZ-1 Editor/Librarian and Virtualizer for Windows and Macintosh OS X
• Patchman offers patches for the Casio CZ-101, CZ-1000, CZ-3000, CZ-5000, CZ-1

Video via AnjelicasBaby:

Hi Paul Leishman from British new wave, dance, electronic synthpop and pop music artist Anjelicas Baby here.

Just been experimenting with a now very rare Casio CZ-1 Phase Distortion synthesizer in cubase. All sounds are off the Casio CZ-1 with the addition of modern computer FX and a house drum loop for added effect.

Angelicas Baby music now can be downloaded or listened to from the following sites: iTunes U.S., iTunes Australia/N.Z., iTunes Canada, iTunes UK/European Union, iTunes Japan, Rhapsody, Napster, eMusic, IMVU, Amazon MP3, Lala, Shockhound, Amie Street, last.fm, indiestore.com. In the near future there will be many more.

Many thanks for your ongoing support

Beatkamp Presents “Varga One”

The Church of Solar Colonization’s space launch program is filled with danger and mystery…..

Can you find the synths hidden in the video?

Music from Dada Pogrom + the animation of Kelvin Mason = this short film.

via Sauzeug

Earlier in the week, we put up a post on 9 Flavors of Popcorn, a collection of music videos for a variety of versions of the synthpop classic.

Once again, though, a Synthtopia reader, Ian Page-Echols, has topped us – finding an ancient WFMU post that offers no less than 79 covers of Popcorn. They cheat a little and use Prodigy’s Popcorn Techno Dance 99 Remix 1 twice, but it’s a pretty good cover, so why not?

Others on board for this massive collection include Aphex Twin, Kraftwerk, The Boston Pops & twisted children’s musician and techno pioneer Bruce Haack.

A few examples are embedded below; see the WFMU post for the motherload.

Just about everybody’s familiar with the synthpop classic, Popcorn, above.

Composer Gershon Kingsley first recorded the track Popcorn for his 1969 album Music to Moog By. In 1971 the song was re-recorded by Kingsley’s band First Moog Quartet. Stan Free, member of the First Moog Quartet, rerecorded the instrumental with his band Hot Butter in 1972, and it was a huge hit – probably the most recognizable track from the Moog explosion of the late 60’s and early 70’s.

Popcorn has since been covered by an insane variety of artists, ranging from DJ Voyager to a pre-fame Jean Michel Jarre to Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops to Richard D. James, AKA Aphex Twin to Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. There are more than 500 cover versions Popcorn!

Here are nine flavors of Popcorn from over years, including a vocal version, a trance version and a set of piano variations that may surprise you.

Which one do you think is the most interesting cover?

Popcorn, by Hot Butter (1972)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Anarchic System – Pop corn (1972) – With vocals

Click here to view the embedded video.

Pop Corn (1972) : Pop Corn (2:32) – Jean Michel Jarre (1972)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Jean Michel Jarre as Pop Corn Orchestra

Marsheaux – Popcorn (2003)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Crazy Frog Popcorn, (2005)

Click here to view the embedded video.

GermanNintendoGamer’s 8-Bit Popcorn (undated)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Medieval Popcorn (Renaissance Faire era)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Gershon Kingsley plays Popcorn (2007)

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Composer himself at the August Foerster Grand, playing variations on the Popcorn theme.

Resources:

• Popcorn at Wikipedia
• Popcorn Song fan site
• Bob Moog interviews Gershon Kingsley

The Sweeps do Found No Way, live.

via inkoggnito77:

Massive vintage synthesizer use, lots of Moog leads and Fender Rhodes presence in this live clip from German-based THE SWEEPS.

Skinny ties, drum machines, 1-finger synth string melodies and bad haircuts – looks like the 80’s are cool again.

This is the first video from Los Angeles alternative electro band Celebutante, from the upcoming Nightlife full-length release.

What 80’s band does Celebutante remind you of the most?

via celebutante

Aussie dance punk duo The Presets have announced US tour dates:

US TOUR DATES

• Fri-Mar 27, 09 Tallahassee FL Club Downunder 18+
• Sat-Mar 28, 09 Miami FL Ultra Music Festival
• Sun-Mar 29, 09 Gainesville FL Common Grounds 18+
• Mon-Mar 30, 09 Atlanta GA Masquerade (Hell Stage) All Ages
• Tue-Mar 31, 09 Carrboro NC Cats Cradle 18+
• Wed-Apr 01, 09 Washington DC 9:30 Club All Ages
• Fri-Apr 03, 09 New York NY Webster Hall 18+
• Sat-Apr 04, 09 Boston MA Paradise 18+
• Sun-Apr 05, 09 Montreal QC Studio Juste Pour Rire 18+
• Mon-Apr 06, 09 Toronto ON The Mod Club 19+
• Tue-Apr 07, 09 Cleveland Heights OH Grog Shop All Ages
• Wed-Apr 08, 09 Chicago IL Metro 18+
• Thu-Apr 09, 09 Kansas City MO The Record Bar 18+
• Fri-Apr 10, 09 Denver CO Bluebird Theater 16+
• Sat-Apr 11, 09 Murray UT Murray Theater All Ages
• Mon-Apr 13, 09 Vancouver BC Commodore Ballroom 19+
• Tue-Apr 14, 09 Seattle WA Neumos 21+
• Wed-Apr 15, 09 Portland OR Hawthorne Theater All Ages
• Thu-Apr 16, 09 San Francisco CA Mezzanine 21+
• Mon-Apr 20, 09 Pomona CA The Glass House All Ages

Another fun find via DeadAct – Zlad’s Supersonic Electronic – could be the worst synthpop music video ever, but the keytar goddess may just redeem it. 

Zladko “Zlad!” Vladcik is a fictional character of the equally fictional nation of Molvanîa.

Some classic synthpop from Men Without Hats –  a pop group from Montreal, Quebec.

At the core, Men Without Hats consisted of Ivan Doroschuk and his brother Stefan, with various other members, including a third brother, Colin Doroschuk, as well as Jeremy Arrobas, Tracy Howe, Roman Martyn, Mike Gabriel, Jean-Marc Pisapia, Lenny Pinkas, and Allan McCarthy. They emerged with an EP called Folk of the 80’s (1980). 

This didn’t make a whole lot of sense back in the day and makes even less sense now – but it’s still a synthpop classic!

Ever wish songs just sang what was happening in the music video? 

Dustin McLean did – and you’ve got him to thank for this literal take on the classic synth-pop song Take On Me, from the phonetic one-hit-wonder band Aha.

via APC

His spring touring ensemble will feature real-time looping on a computer laptop, along with a three-piece horn section (the Jazz Mafia Horns) comprising some of the San Francisco Bay Area’s finest young jazz soloists: Adam Theis on trombone, Rich Armstrong on trumpet, and Ron Cohen on tenor sax.

The March Tour:

Sat. March 10 – SANTA CRUZ, CA – Kuumbwa PM (2 shows)
Sun. March 11 – REDWOOD CITY, CA – Little Fox Theater
Mon. March 12 – SACRAMENTO, CA – Harlows
Thurs. March 15 – AUSTIN, TX (SXSW) – Elysium
Sun. March 18 – DALLAS, TX – RockHouse Live
Thurs. March 22 – FAIRFAX, CA (Bay Area) – 19 Broadway

Dolby feels that time has put his influence into perspective. “Though people tend to associate me with the ‘80s, I feel my roots are really in the late ‘70s and the electronic underground in London. Bands like Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle and Clock DVA were playing small clubs around Europe in parallel to the punk movement, and many remained anonymous, only a few making it into the mainstream pop limelight during the ‘80s — Soft Cell, Human League and Ultravox. There were so few of us doing it back then that it’s no surprise we get cited as influences when modern electronica acts are interviewed, but the legacy of that period is clearly very important.”

“In some ways all that chart success was orthogonal to what I was really trying to do, which was develop the textures and rhythms of electronic music into a palette that a genuine songwriter could build stories upon. I hope that the DVD and CD helped re-establish my credentials as an artist before I move into the next chapter. I have new songs ready to start work on as soon as I’ve closed the loop and reconnected with the core fan base,” he says.

The Sole Inhabitant is Dolby’s first consumer product since 1992’s Gate to the Mind’s Eye, an audio disc complemented by a laser disc with accompanying animation. In that time, he hasn’t approached a single record company, determined instead to harness the technology and distribution options available to indie artists today.

The audio CD was recorded live at Martyrs in Chicago, while the DVD was filmed at the Berklee Performance Center in Boston, MA. Dolby felt these were two of his best concerts of the year. The DVD features a sit-down interview/chat in which Dolby discusses his past and present careers and the stories behind the songs. The first batch of copies was autographed by Dolby.

Fall 2006 tour dates received high praise from critics, who also applauded The Sole Inhabitant.

Atlanta’s Creative Loafing wrote: “Dolby plans to release new music over the coming years, which bodes well since these 20-plus-year-old tunes on The Sole Inhabitant are still exciting, slightly puzzling and — more than anything — compositionally sound with the times. Fly-by-night electronica producers had better watch their backs and start elevating their knob twiddles in order to compete with such a charismatic artist.”

Dolby’s solo set features him onstage with a bank of computers, a collection of vintage oscilloscopes and signal generators, a military headcam and antique radio operator earphones strapped to his head. Live visuals performed by renowned video artist Johnny DeKam allow the audience to experience the world through Dolby’s eyes. He is accompanied by the jazz Mafia Horns. Audiences may be surprised at first to hear a darker side of Dolby, but of course he plays the hits as well.

Schroeder was discovered in the seventies by Klaus Schulze, and had a successful first album, Harmonic Ascendant. Since then, he’s released both solo CDs and work as Double Fantasy.

Brainchips has five vocal tracks, and the remaining tracks are new-age and synth music instrumentals. Rahal Brimil contributes the vocals, which take the music into more of a synth pop territory.

The CD is full of interesting synth work. Highlights of the CD include Space Track, a drone-based track that has more of a symphonic electronica feel; Froggy, a humorous instrumental built around samples of a vocalist singing “do”; and Hotspot Zone, a spacey instrumental.

The combination of vocal tracks and instrumental synth work is a bit uneasy. Schroeder appears to understand this – an instrumental version of Brainchips is also available which may appeal more to fans of pure electronic music.

Tracks:

• Doo Doo
• Wafer
• Electron
• Heaven
• Space-Track
• Froggy
• Serenade
• Long
• Hotspot Zone
• So Check Me
• Passing Streams
• Shallala

Moog Cookbook at Amazon.

The CD is described as an insanely happy instrumental collection of original tunes, and also includes five melodies by other composers. Using classic “Moog”-style analog synthesizers, as well as acoustic instruments, the CD is styled to be very retro, and very happy.

Jean-Jacques Perrey is a legend, and a pioneer in the popular electronic music field. He was the second musician to ever own a Moog Synthesizer, and one of the first to record with it, way back in 1966. Over the past five decades, Perrey has released many classic Moog albums, featuring his trademark crazy tape loops and his catchy original melodies.

His theme Baroque Hoedown (co-composed with Gershon Kingsley) has been featured as part of Disneyland’s much-loved “Main Street Electrical Parade” for over 30 years.

More recently, Perrey’s music has been sampled by countless popular Hip-Hop and Rap artists, including Ice T, DJ Premier, Gangstarr, and many others. At age 77, Perrey is still very much active, and still creating Music for Smiles and Laughs.

A recent Perrey/Countryman concert in Berlin, Germany had a sell-out crowd, and that performance will be released soon on DVD. To support the release of new The Happy Electropop Machine, Perrey and Countryman will be performing the new album in a mini-tour of concert venues this August, starting in Seattle, and continuing on to San Francisco and Los Angeles.

A tour of the United Kingdom is planned for the Spring of 2007, followed by a tour of Japan, later that year. The Happy Electropop Machine is described as a refreshing blast from the past, focusing on catchy melodies, at a time when interest in the Moog Synthesizer is suddenly in vogue again.

Show Dates for The Happy Electropop Machine:

Live in Seattle
Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006, 7:30 pm
The Triple Door – 216 Union Street – 206-838-4333
$15.00 advance, $18.00 door

Live in San Francisco
Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2006, Doors open: 7 pm – Show, 8 pm
Recombinant Media Labs -
763 Brannan @ 6th St. in San Francisco’s SOMA District
For more information: 415-863-3068
Tickets are available by emailing info@researchpubs.com

Live in Los Angeles
Thursday, Aug. 31, 2006, Doors open: 7:30 – Show, 8 pm
Knitting Factory – 7021 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles 90028
323-463-0204

The Finger, Babyland’s fifth album, is a great collection of “electronic junk punk” music that features punk rock vocals over electro-pop beats. The twelve tracks vear towards industrial synth-pop, electro and retronica. The strained, sprechstimme vocals about life, love, loss, paranoia and angst contrast with percolating dance synth backgrounds.

Imagine Vince Clark of Depeche Mode/Yaz/Erasure getting together with Joe Strummer of the Clash. Like the Clash or Erasure, Babyland builds their tracks on pure pop songs, but makes them unique with its unique approach.

It’s an interesting combination, and Babyland pulls it off well, making this one of the most surprising and exciting electronica releases of the year.

Several tracks stand out as highlights of the CD. Defeated sounds a little bit like I will survive for the downtrodden:

We’ve been defeated
We’ve been discarded
We always ask ourselves
Why did we start this?
We are frustration
We are refusal
That can’t go away
In devastation and decline
Let the record still reflect
We won’t go away.

Other great tracks are Reno Machine, Nowadays and Nativity.

The tracks are full of strange and creative sounds. There’s lots of interesting synth work, but also a lot of banging on metal things. This, along with the unique punk vocals, make The Finger different from any other electronica release you’ll hear this year.

Tracks

• Loss Leader
• Defeated
• Fast Space
• Past Lives
• Reno Machine
• Guard Dogs
• Nowadays
• Cabrini Manor
• Startled By The Obvious
• Nativity
• Gehry
• LMYA

ZTT Records

One of the UK’s leading contemporary composers, Poppy arrived at ZTT in 1984 having studied under John Cage and founded the avant-garde collective The Lost Jockey (Crepsecule/Operation Twilight). He went on to successfully straddle two worlds: orchestral compositions on one hand; left field pop collaborations (Psychic TV, Coil, Nitzer Ebb) on the other.

Andrew Poppy on Zang Tumb Tuum compiles all of the key tracks from both Poppy’s ZTT albums – The Beating of Wings (1985) and Alphabed (1987). Rare remixes, alternate takes and B-sides are also included, all of which are available for the first time on CD. A completely unreleased third album, which has been locked in the ZTT vaults since 1988, is on a third disc. A ‘mini book’ is also included, containing a biography, new interviews with the composer, bibliography and discography.

Highlights of the box set include Cadenza, a 14-minute recording of Poppy’s breakthrough composition; The Impossible Net, which places him squarely at the recent convergence between classical and electronics; Kink Kong Adagio – industrial downtempo from before the genre was so named; Inside The Wolf, Poppy’s theme for Channel 4’s The Tube; The Passage, a completely unreleased and mesmerising suite from Poppy’s very last session for ZTT.

Some pieces are performed by a full orchestra, others just by ship-yard samples. Guest musicians include Ashley Slater (Norman Cook), Joceyln Pook (Real World), and Annette Peacock (Salvador Dali) and certain tracks have been notably sampled – in one way or another – by the likes of Ninja Tune’s DJ Food, Boards of Canada and Warp Records’ Max Tundra.

This is the definitive view of Andrew Poppy as a progenitor of avant-garde composition, minimalism and early electronica.

Moog, inventor of the modern synthesizer, has been building electronic musical instruments for nearly half a century. Along the way, he’s made prodigious contributions to modern culture and music, including today’s electronic dance music scene. The feature documentary film. by filmmaker/musician Hans Fjellestad and producer Ryan Page, explores Moog’s collaborations with musicians over the years, and his ideas about creativity, design, interactivity and spirituality.

Hollywood’s Moog captures the film’s aura with an eclectic mix of original music by artists such as Stereolab, Meat Beat Manifesto, Tortoise, Money Mark, Jean-Jacques Perrey & Luke Vibert, 33, The Moog Cookbook, Plastiq Phantom, Psilonaut, Roger O’Donnell (The Cure), Bernie Worrell & Bootsy Collins, The Album Leaf, Pete Devriese, Bostich, Charlie Clouser, Baiyon and Electric Skychurch’all produced on Moog instruments specifically for the soundtrack.

“This CD covers an amazing range of music,” says Moog. “To me, this CD is a tribute to all the musicians who have used Moog instruments to express their musical visions.”

The set comes complete with a bonus disc highlighting classics such as Emerson Lake & Palmer’s Lucky Man, Yes’ Close To The Edge, Gary Numan’s Cars and New Order’s Blue Monday.

The film was shot on location in Asheville, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Tokyo and London and features appearances by Walter Sear, Gershon Kinsgley, Jean-Jacques Perrey, Rick Wakeman, DJ Spooky, Keith Emerson, Herb Deutsch, Bernie Worrell, Pamelia Kurstin, Charlie
Clouser, Money Mark, Mix Master Mike, and others.

“Synthesizers are different from other musical instruments,” explains Moog. “They don’t have fixed tone colors, like a guitar or a drum that we listeners can identify when we hear them. A synthesizer sound can be low or high pitched, or have no pitch at all.”

“It can be sustained or percussive, muted or bright, thin or fat, smooth or raucous, familiar or strange. It can evoke images of a symphony orchestra, a rising sun, a hoard of insects, an earth-moving chine, and much, much more. They enable a musician to shape sounds efficiently and intuitively, so that the synthesizer becomes a natural extension of the musician’s imagination.”

The track listing for MOOG is as follows:

• 33 – Abominatron
• Stereolab – Variation One
• The Moog Cookbook – Bob’s Funk
• Jean-Jacques Perrey & Luke Vibert – You Moog Me
• Psilonaut – The Sentinel
• Meat Beat Manifesto – Unavailable Memory
• Bernie Worrell & Bootsy Collins – When Bernie Speaks
• Electric Skychurch – Endless Horizon (I Love Bob Mix)
• The Album Leaf – Micro Melodies
• Charlie Clouser – I Am A Spaceman
• Plastiq Phantom – Sqeeble
• Bostich – Realistic Source
• Pete DeVriese – You Have Been Selected
• Money Mark – “Nanobot Highway”
• Baiyon – Mixed Waste 4.2
• Tortoise – Beautiful Love
• Roger O’Donnell – Another Year Away

Bonus Disc

• Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Lucky Man
• Gary Numan – Cars
• Jean-Jaques Perrey – E.V.A.
• Devo – Mongoloid
• New Order – Blue Monday
• They Might Be Giants – Baroque Hoedown
• Yes – Close To The Edge

Silver Plastic describes the compilation as “a mature exploration of the new wave.” The tracks on the CD show the influence of groups like Joy Division, Bauhaus, Human League and Gary Numan. The artists throw in modern influences, too, so you may hear a breakbeat against a synthpop bassline.

The CD starts out with PsychoSomatic Breakdown’s Bone Harvest. Bone Harvest is an unusual track. For an album that is largely retro-pop in various 80’s styles, it initially seems a little out of place. On second listening, it sounds a lot like some of the quirky instrumentals from that era that led to more modern downtempo and chill-out music. A sequenced melody bounces from left to right speaker as it repeats a melonchaly sequence. Fans of Moby’s chilled tracks should like this.

Burn Like Nero contributes two tracks that kick the compliation officially into retro-new wave territory. Silver Plastic calls the style “Permanent Wave”, because it is new music that draws on influences from the early days of synth pop. Faded Away and Small Details both have the chord progressions and synth stylings of 80’s synth pop down perfectly. An alternating octave bassline starts off Faded Away in true synthpop style. Unfortunately, Faded Away is let down somewhat by pedestrian lyrics that don’t seem quite right for this style of retrosynth music. “Time’s an abstraction, when you’re with me…If you love somebody, set them free”. Small Details, on the other hand, is just about perfect. Filtered females over a rhythm track carry a hint of darkness that draws you into the song.

Drug of Choice keeps the retro synth groove going with Desperation. The vocals and synth work convey a sense of alienation over a synthpop dance beat.

Egg in Space serves up two tracks, Back in Time and Say Hello. Back in Time is a great cut. It mixes electro beats and vocoded lyrics that keep things moving, and the arrangement seems to match the them of the song. Say Hello has a jumpy euro-beat with an off-beat accent. Both tracks are catchy synth pop.

eH FACTOR contributes Club 33 & This desperation. Club 33 is almost a great track. Massive synth lines in the style of early Gary Numan veer in contrasting directions, setting up a great groove. Unfortunately, the strength of the instrumental introduction isn’t matched by the vocoded verse lyrics. Instead of building in intensity when the vocals come in, it lets off, which make the vocals seem throw-away. eHFactor brings back the dark side of the 80’s with This Desperation. This track work well, they music and lyrics work together and to bring you a slice of retro-angst.

Several instrumental cuts help fill out the album. Janosch Moldau’s track Redeemer is an instrumental dance tune. Lank’s two cuts, stress relief point and 012 (Introvert) are downtempo instrumental tunes. Lank’s music doesn’t have a distinct retro feel, but instead is has more of an ambient chill-out feel. stress relief point features a interlocking sequences that create a hypnotic groove. Under this, Lank adds break-beat drum programming that adds intensity to an otherwise laid-back track. Introvert is another extended track, but has a harder edge to it.

onLoad takes things back to synth-pop with Electrofish. The track is a strange number about electric fish that sing in the sea, “lalalalala”. It sounds a little like Depeche Mode if they got some happy drugs and a female lead singer.

The Signifying Monkey contributes two tunes that are interesting in the way they combine retro guitars and synths and breakbeat drum programming. I should have gone drinking & A lovesong (to impress women). These tracks are some of the best on the compilation, because the songs build to interesting climaxes. The vocals are great, too.

The last two tracks are from Bernie Lucas: No down and Grayscale. They are short instrumental pieces (with the exception of a little vocoding) that are somewhere between ambient and chillout. They are in a similar territory to Aphex Twin’s dark ambient tracks.

While the CD is let down in a couple places by a few weak tracks, there is a lot to like on Return of the Permanent Wave. It’s available directly from the Silver Plastic site, and through CD Baby.

Tracks:

• PsychoSomatic Breakdown – Bone Harvest
• Burn Like Nero – Faded Away
• Burn Like Nero – Small Details
• Drug of Choice – Desperation
• Egg in Space – Back in Time
• Egg in Space – Say Hello
• eH FACTOR – Club 33
• eH FACTOR – This Desperation
• Janosch Moldau – Redeemer
• Lank – stress relief point
• Lank – 012(introvert)
• onLoad – Electrofish
• The Signifying Monkey – I should have gone drinking
• The Signifying Monkey – A lovesong (to impress women)
• Bernie Lucas – No down
• Bernie Lucas – Grayscale

Aalacho is made up of Nathan Scott, who handles synths, guitars, vocals and programming. He’s joined on this CD by guitarists Sam McIlvain, Chris “Reemus” Brown & Derek Armstrong; and vocalists Joe Randazzo, Trevor Hesse and Sarah Severson.

Scott’s tracks are fairly minimal electro-pop, but with an unusual amount of guitar work. Synths and drum machines frame out the tracks, and provide the base for the vocals from Scott and his guest vocalists. The prominent guitar work, though, helps give Aalacho’s music its own identify.

The first track, Pompeii, is a little underwhelming in its original form. The energy builds a little with the second track, Lift. Lift is an instrumental track that emphasizes the interplay between synths and guitars.

Ticket to Ride is an interesting take on The Beatles’ original. It’s done at a much slower tempo, and with a detached new wave attitude. Scott’s arrangement takes the track into electro-pop territory, and gives it a bit of an Indian vibe, It successfully re-imagines the original, but the comparison also exposes some of Scott’s limitations as a vocalist.

Things heat up a little with the last three tracks, I’ll Climb You, It’s Not About Love, and Atomic Playboy. These tracks have faster tempos, and push the guitars to the front. The combination of electro sounds and guitar work is refreshing, and adds interest to these cuts. The guitar work sounds like it would be at home on an Allman Brothers or Doobie Brothers album from the 70’s. It sounds so out of place with the synth backing, but, somehow, it works.

The CD ends with a nice remix of Pompeii by Felix da Housecat. The remix gives the track a steady beat and emphasizes the darker aspects of the original. Ironically, the remix is one of the most electro sounding cuts on the album.

Aalacho has done a lot of things right with Electro. The CD has great packaging; the design is top-notch and it ties in perfectly with the electro concept. The inclusion of the Felix da Housecat mix of Pompeii provides a club-friendly track for the DJs.

Nevertheless, Electro is a bit of a mixed bag. Scott’s approach, emphasizing the guitars within an electronica context, has a lot of potential. Some better hooks or killer vocal performances would have helped the tracks realize that potential.

Tracks:

1. Pompeii
2. Lift
3. Ticket to Ride
4. I’ll Climb You
5. .It’s not about love
6. Atomic Playboy
7. Pompeii (Felix da Housecat Mix)