British synth pop champs OMD, abbreviation for Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark,
have been entertaining people since 1978. In 2006 they took a deserved 10-year hiatus. Ten years later, in 2006, they returned and never looked back.
They recorded/released 14 LPs thus far, with Bauhaus Staircase from 2023 as their most
recent one.
Suppose David Lynch wants to make a Spaghetti Western then this wistful lullaby should be part of the soundtrack. I’m sure he would like it for the shadowy vibe, the psychotic sinner (he likes psychotic sinners) and for the guitar reverberating sparks, thinking that’s it his fav nostalgic Casanova Chris Isaak on guitar (note: Lynch directed Isaak‘s Wicked Game video that featured flashes from his 1990 Wild At Heart movie).
The stirring Throwing Muses/50 Foot Wave songstress has her
new solo LP, titled Clear Pound Road out on 8 September.
Hersh about the song: “I lived on Constance Street in New Orleans
when that song’s story happened. Buying slips in the Irish Channel/broken
prince in fluorescent camo is a very Southern day. I was born a hick and
I guess I’ll always be one.”
It’s a subtly groovin’ beauty
with Hersh poetic storytelling
adding a magical touch.
This Dutch-American rock band has its roots firmly planted in both the regional
and international counterculture. They produce a raw, dirty groove influenced by
punk, Provo, and punk icons. Their poetry is packed with social criticism.
The IL have canned their 4th LP. It’s named Good Busy and arrives via Floprecords, digitally on 11 September and physically (vinyl/CD) 4 days later.
This first single is a tremendously catchy and melodic tune that mesmerizes from the kick-off. Stimulated by a sparkling and melancholic guitar riff à la Kurt Vile, a foot-stompin’ beat and word-smith Joshua Baumgarten‘s expressive storytelling, it becomes an electrifying pop gem, after a couple of spins. One for which the repeat button was invented for. One that invites you to stop for a while and look around to find the light at the end of the tunnel.
No retirement yet for the imperishable, now 72-year-old, pop-rock songsmith.
From the early 70s on he wrote/recorded/released a countless number of LPs
featuring several masterpieces.
Last February the Los Angeles‘ psychedelic garage pop/rock darlings
released their 5th longplayer Islands In The Sky. Their best ever to
my satisfied ears.
I Am A Wave is a new standalone single.
It’s a haunting mid-tempo psych jam, a sonic torch in the dark. The combination of the characteristically high-pitched Bloomgarden vocals, her 60s-sounding Hammond organ, the weeping guitars, the howling backing vocals, the steady drum beat and the glowing finale is just riveting and engrossing.
This is not a Mexican wave, it’s Bonnie‘s wave.
Follow her flow, she’s really kind of amazing.
This sharp-rap-cutting Los Angeles duo released their highly acclaimed riot-gun album Mid Air last month. This 3rd single is nothing less than fucktastic, with a sickly sticky flow, a killer guitar riff and the tandem’s adrenalized vocality.
The kawaii metal girls teamed up with Rage Against The Machine
guitarist Tom Morello for this new head-banging blast. Their mix of
glam metal, pop-punk melodies and pithy/screamy vocals are an
infallible formula.
The title track is the 3rd appetizer. A happy-go-lucky summer tune.
Irresistibly infectious. These two manoeuvres in the dark still come
up with vitalizing electro thrills.
The accompanying video is an animated spectacle, that features a nod to the imagery
of various sci-fi films, notably Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, Run Lola Run, and Blade Runner.
9. ‘Your Side Of Town’ by THE KILLERS (Los Angeles)
Following their underrated 2021 album Pressure Machine and last
year’s single BoyLos Angeles‘ pop champs return with a new gem with
a vintage, nostalgic Killers flavor.
Asalone is the solo project of singer/songwriter/producer Adam Stanley Putzer from Buffalo, NY.
His new song is a reflection on returning to the place you
grew up, only to feel like a stranger in your own hometown.
Uplifting tunes like this one are always welcome on my busy headphones.
It’s a richly orchestrated melody that grabs your aural attention straight
away with its jaunty piano touches, scintillating guitar play, a bracing refrain
and last but not least Asalone‘s impassionate voice.
Amplified pop melancholia is what you get here.
Don’t be a stranger, enjoy and embrace the shadow.
11. ‘Fingerprints’ by : TREMENDOUS (Birmingham, UK)
Fingerprints is a post-break-up love song starting slowly and smoothly, only with
frontman’s Dudzinski‘s heartbroken voice and his weeping guitar, but 45 seconds
in, the emotions and the decibels go up and turn the song into a goosebumps power ballad, proving once again that lovesickness can lead to compellingly cathartic music.
Think the romantic vibes of The War On Drugs mixed with Noel Gallagher‘s raw guitar
play of the early Oasis days. To my persuaded ears Dudzinski has a torch-burning gem
on his hands. In a normal world, it would be a hit. Hands down.
Common Flaws is the solo project of Giacomo Oberti,
the singer/songwriter from Italian synth-pop outfit The Bankrobber.
Cosmic Dance offers ambient vibes, jungle-esque drum beats, scintillating
synth sparks, and echoing vocals. It trips in your mind from the get-go.
Its tempting, playful flow and its melodic resonance have a tranquilizing
effect. A dream-stimulating effort.
This London-based quartet formed in 2019. They blend psychedelia,
shoegaze and post-punk influences into their music.
Prize is the first 2023 music following a couple of new ones
last year and their excellent 2019 debut album Infinite.
I wonder if they invited Interpol‘s stellar guitarist Daniel Kessler and
give him a license to overdub the guitars at play on Prize. The result is
a wall-of-shoegaze vibrancy that progresses in slo-mo and grows in
intensity along its route, with foggy vocals all over it.
More melodic than My Bloody Valentine, tighter than Slowdive. Is it real or
fantasy? No idea, but who cares when it’s as ear-and-mind pleasing as this.
Small Circles is an indie act from Cardiff, Wales. Inspired by the early New Wave movement, they infuse elements of Punk, Blues and Grunge into their genre-bending sound. Their music has a distinctly queer, underground feel, finely balancing heavy grooves and breakdowns with catchy hooks and choruses.
Mirari tackles all war-greedy political leaders. You can feel/hear
the anger, the frustration and the in-your-face rage on ExtraTerrestrial.
Its cast-iron slow-mo drones, its vocal aggression, its ear-piercing guitar furor
and its razor-sharp Mirari rap sequence combine for a volcanic knockout.
We need big miracles to end all the Warshit!
15. ‘The Light At The End Of The World’ by IAN WILLIAMS (UK)
Williams started his music career in Edinburgh (Scotland) in the mid 1980’s as a founder
of Beautiful Pea Green Boat, whose ethereal, atmospheric sound pre-dated the vogue for dream pop by at least twenty years. He is now based in London and more recently, he has worked with singer Claudia Barton aka Gamine, releasing two albums of dark, piano-led torch songs and lullabies.
This new piece will feature on his new, forthcoming
full-length ‘Slow-Motion Apocalypse’, out in October.
Think Vangelis sharing ideas with Tangerine Dream and Jean-Michel Jarre.
Cinematic, with spacey, melodramatic vocals. It could be part of the soundtrack
of a nature documentary about an eagle flying between the sea and the sky. Proud, mighty, fearless and untouchable. These are the images I see on my screen in
my mind.
Stress Dolls is the moniker of alt/pop/rock artist Chelsea O’Donnell.
Her new single is a fully electricity-charged stunner with O’Donnell
expressive vocals adding a poignant resonance.
The dream-pop duo from Brighton, UK enthrall with their new musing that
will be part of the new, forthcoming album, named Internal Noise, out in
the autumn via Austerity Records.
It features the vocal harmonies of Jack and Lily Wolter,
both from the band Penelope Isles, while Jack also
drums on it.
Singer-songwriter Mark Benton encapsulates his psychologically and physically
crushing insomnia experiences in a bittersweet and melancholic pop tune that
babbles like a sparkling brook, yet underlying this humdinger resonates as if
the after-effects of the sleepless years are still wandering around. In the end
here’s proof again that music can be healing. Beautiful.
The Cincinnati heroes fronted by Matt Berninger, their songwriter
and one of the best crooners of the modern age released their 9th LP,
named First Two Pages Of Frankenstein last April.
Last week they dropped two new gloomy ballads to keep
the momentum going. One of them is Alphabet City.
Now, after 45 (!) years, several line-ups and several hiatuses Dexys released (only)
their 6th album, the highly entertaining and feel-good full-length The Feminine Divine.
Mastermind Kevin Rowland celebrated his 70 birthday a couple of weeks ago,
and still has the gift to write a goosebumps balledis about. My Submission is
a diamond of a song.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, Andy McCluskey (vocals, bass guitar)
and Paul Humphreys (keyboards, vocals), started their highly successful voyage
in 1978, took a 10-year break in 1996, to come back as strong as ever.
So far they fabricated/released 13 longplayers. And #14, named BAUHAUS STAIRCASE is waiting in the pipeline to be launched on
27 October. Pre-order info here.
The tandem just shared the title track as the 3rd appetizer. I heard some great, effervescent happy-go-lucky summer tunes over the past weeks, but this new OMD
one is without a shadow of a dance doubt one of the best, if not the best. Ridiculously catchy and an all-limbs-triggering vibe. These two manoeuvres in the dark still come up with bright earworms. I dare you to not pirouette yourself giddy nuts to this vitalizing
thrill.
Big contender for SUMMER HIT OF 2023.
Prepare some Piña coladas and the rest will follow.
The accompanying video is an animated spectacle, features a nod to the imagery
of various sci-fi films, notably Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, Run Lola Run, and Blade Runner. Shadowy figures alternate between running through streets under zeppelins and
rockets.
McCluskey: “When times are hard there is a tendency for governments to look at cutting funding for creativity, just at the moment when the arts are most needed to nourish our souls.
I am a huge lover of visual arts, especially mid-20th century movements. I reference them often in my titles and lyrics. The song is a metaphor for strength and artist passion in the face of criticism and adversity.”
Today 40 years ago, on 21 May 1979, duo ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK (later better known as OMD) released their swirling debut single ELECTRICITY. One of
the very first milestones of synth pop. It would appear, a year later, on their first album. Inspired by Kraftwerk‘s music-changer ‘Radioactivity‘ the song also criticised humankind’s wasteful usage of energy sources. The pair of ANDY McCLUSKEY and PAUL HUMPHREYS sang the lead vocals in unison. B-side:‘Almost’
The single was released by Manchester‘s legendary record label Factory Records that pressed only 5000, sold-out, copies. But its success earned the electro tandem a recording contract with DinDisc, a then Virgin Records imprint and the 7″ was re-issued several times afterward.
Electricity had a major impact on other (famous) people too. Vince Clarke, former songwriter of big bands such as Depeche Mode, Yazoo and Erasure cited ‘Electricity‘
as his primary inspiration to pursue a musical career while ex-NME writer and BBC Radio’s presenter Steve Lamacq has named it as the track that made him want to become a DJ.
