Believe me, I’d love to tell you I planned this. But like most things in my world, it just kind of happened. I was rooting through some recent email submissions and trying to get caught up when I came across three excellent albums from synth-based artists. Being a lazy sumbitch, I gave them all a quick spin and then put them together into this post. And there you have it. If only the rest of my life could be so easy. Anyway, let’s get on with it, shall we? (If you’d like me to stumble onto your music sometime and turn it into one of my half-assed scribblings, you can email me or visit the Submit Music page. Either way, good luck with that.)
Artifiseer
Syncretist
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Syncretist is the second full-length Artifiseer album. Syncretism, a term describing the combining or unifying of disparate practices, ideas or concepts, is an apt metaphor for the process that birthed this project. It was through not a splitting of differences, but rather a combining and recombining of seemingly disparate sounds and ideas that this album was born. Reconciling the organic with the digital, tradition and theory with homespun experimentation, the delicate with the aggressive… this has given me my truest and most developed representation of my art thus far. In a sense, this feels like my *true* debut.”
MY TWO CENTS: I suspect a lot of people think they could write and record a really awesome album by themselves if they just had the time and the gear. Actually, suspect is the wrong word — I know people think this, because they send the results to me. And surprise! Most of them are freaking gawdawful. Artifiseer’s Syncretist is the rare exception that proves the rule. Take a spin through the stylish, sophisticated and subtly psychedelic sounds fashioned by New Brunswick’s Ian Livingstone — the singer, songwriter, synth master and sonic manipulator of Syncretist — and tell me you could pull that off. Yeah, right.
Color Palette
Shed Your Skin
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Color Palette – comprised of Jay Nemeyer, Joshua Hunter, Matt Hartenau, Rogerio Naressi, and Maryjo Mattea – is an Electro Rock/Synth Pop band from Washington, D.C. Since their first release on June 1, 2015, Color Palette have garnered hundreds of press hits worldwide. Color Palette released their debut full-length album Vaporwave in May 2016. They have shared bills with the following notable artists: Charli XCX, The Naked and Famous, Mother Mother, Day Wave, Yumi Zouma, Mr Little Jeans, The Kickback, Spirit Animal, and VanLadyLove. Color Palette takes experiences like heartbreak and love, and together turns them into something mystical and inviting.”
MY TWO CENTS: If some of these songs sound familiar to you, congrats on having a damn fine memory. And good taste in music. Over the past 18 months or so, these D.C. synth-pop masters have been good enough to contribute several singles to my weekday Indie Roundup entries. Now that they’ve gathered them together into their latest album — and added a handful of new tracks to boot — you can get you fix in one swell foop. Sweeping, gorgeous, passionate, heartfelt and meticulously crafted, their songs are the perfect blend of technology and humanity, logic and emotion, organic and electronic. Beneath their skin lies a warm circuit board.
Pink Lemon Music
Clones
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Pink Lemon Music met on YouTube and have then decided to start an internet band. We have never sat in the same room to write or record our music so far but we are connected through our music! We would describe our music as Spacewave (Nostalgia merging with modernity). We draw inspiration from life and yes we love nearly all kinds of music but prefer sounds of Synth the most :)”
MY TWO CENTS: Back in prehistoric times when I was a wee cavekid, folks used to have pen pals. Now, instead of writing letters to people in other countries, people write songs together. That seems like an improvement — especially if the people in question are the two members of this British / German synth-pop outfit. Check out their creations and imagine what they could do if one of them ever sprang for a plane ticket.
