synth-pop

Alison Goldfrapp | The Love Invention (2023)

synth-pop
May 14, 2023May 14, 2023

Synth-pop icon Alison Goldfrapp has released her eagerly anticipated debut solo album, The Love Invention, via Skint/BMG. The Love Invention was executively produced and co-written by Alison Goldfrapp and features collaborations with production mastermind Richard X (Pet Shop Boys, M.I.A.), James Greenwood (Daniel Avery, Kelly Lee Owens), and Toby Scott (The Gossip, Annie). The 11-track album is bursting at the seams with anthemic synth-led jaunts and unrivaled pop music innovation. From the infectious disco strut of recent single ‘Love Invention’, to the tantalizing electro stomp of ‘Neverstop’, and the acid-house tinged ‘So Hard So Hot’. All of the aforementioned tracks released alongside a video vignette directed in collaboration with Mat Maitland. BMG

box-set, new wave, synth-pop
March 27, 2023March 30, 2023

4CD box set bringing together all of New Musik’s three studio albums as well as a disc of B-sides, single edits and remixes. With a booklet containing an interview with Tony Mansfield by Record Collector’s Daryl Easlea. Formed in 1977 by Tony Mansfield, a former member of The Nick Straker Band with bassist Tony Hibbert and drummer Phil Towner, New Musik’s first single, ‘Straight Lines’, was released in 1979, and their debut album, ‘From A to B’, followed in April 1980. ‘From A to B’ entered the Top 40 in the UK Albums Chart. Containing their most commercially successful single ‘Living by Numbers’ plus two other hit singles: ‘This World of Water’ and ‘Sanctuary’. The band’s second album, ‘Anywhere’ was released in 1981 and reached No. 68 in the UK following which, Towner and Hibbert departed, and Mansfield cut the next album, ‘Warp’, with the assistance of studio musicians. Mansfield went on to achieve success as a producer with After The Fire, a-ha, Aztec Camera, The B-52’s, The Damned, Captain Sensible, Naked Eyes, and Mari Wilson. Cherry Red Records

electronic, synth-pop
March 9, 2023March 10, 2023

Memento Mori is Depeche Mode 15th studio album and its first as a two-piece lineup of Gahan and Gore, following co-founder Andrew Fletch Fletcher’s tragic passing in 2022. Produced by James Ford, with additional production work by Marta Salogni, Memento Mori’s gestation took place during the early stages of the Covid pandemic, resulting in themes inspired directly by that period. The album’s 12 tracks chart a vast expanse of moods and textures, from its ominous opening to its closing resolve-running the gamut from paranoia and obsession to catharsis and joy, and hitting myriad points between.
Read More »Depeche Mode | Memento Mori (2023)

Yves Tumor | Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) (2023)

electronic, synth-pop
March 9, 2023March 11, 2023

Yves Tumor new album Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds), arrives in March via Warp. Yves Tumor has announced a new album: Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) is due out March 17 via Warp. The follow-up to 2020’s Heaven to a Tortured Mind features production from Noah Goldstein and was mixed by Alan Moulder. Accompanying the announcement, Tumor has unveiled a new song called “Echolalia,” which arrives with a music video directed by frequent collaborator Jordan Hemingway. Pitchfork
Read More »Yves Tumor | Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) (2023)

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark | Dazzle Ships [40th Anniversary Edition] (2023)

synth-pop, new wave, post-punk, reissue
March 6, 2023March 11, 2023

Deluxe 40th anniversary CD reissue of the band’s classic 4th album Dazzle Ships. The lovingly put together set comprises of the original album, plus a selection of unreleased demos and rarities which has been compiled and mixed by Paul Humphreys. OMD
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (OMD) continue their special 40th anniversary celebrations with a brand new expanded version of their fourth LP ‘Dazzle Ships’. Originally released back in 1983… Retro Pop Magazine
Read More »Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark | Dazzle Ships [40th Anniversary Edition] (2023)

A Flock of Seagulls | A Flock of Seagulls [40th Anniversary Edition]

deluxe edition, new wave, synth-pop
February 16, 2023March 10, 2023

Initially released in April 1982, the eponymous debut album by A Flock Of Seagulls saw the band spearheading the Second British Invasion of the USA. Produced by Mike Howlett (Tears For Fears, OMD, Gang of Four) and Bill Nelson of Be-Bop Deluxe fame, the album enjoyed massive success across the world, hitting No. 10 in the US and No. 1 in Australia, propelled by the third single from the record, the New Wave classic “I Ran.”
The 40th anniversary 3 CD deluxe edition features a remastered version of the original album, b-sides, single versions, remixes, BBC Sessions for revered broadcasters such as John Peel and he band’s fellow Liverpudlian Janice Long and a BBC concert from The Paris Theatre, London, which was originally transmitted in January 1982. The set also features sleeve notes by esteemed writer John Earls, featuring a new interview with lead singer and founding band member Mike Score… The Music Universe

Various Artists | Steven Wilson Presents Intrigue: Progressive Sounds in UK Alternative Music 1979-89 (2023)

box-set, art rock, new wave, post-rock, synth-pop
February 11, 2023March 16, 2023

Curated by Porcupine Tree guitarist Steven Wilson, the four-disc compilation Intrigue: Progressive Sounds in UK Alternative Music 1979-89 tackles the entirety of the 1980s with the mission of exposing the strangest, most inventive, and most abstract sounds coming out of the United Kingdom in a decade where music could often feel sterile or homogenized… AllMusic
“This is my personally-curated attempt to redress the balance, and to perhaps introduce any 1980s-sceptics out there to the idea that conceptual thinking and ambition didn’t suddenly evaporate after 1977. Ambitious, weird and thrilling music was all around you in the 1980s – if you looked in the right places.” – Steven Wilson