synthpop
Alphaville’s Marian Gold on Eternally Yours, Space Exploration, and Shakespeare
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Amazon Podcasts | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | RSS Alphaville’s Marian Gold joins Kyle Meredith to chat about the band’s new symphonic album, Eternally Yours. Advertisement Related Video The frontman discusses how the classical radio of his youth led him to synthesizers in the ’80s, and reveals the process of turning their pop songs into dreamy, orchestrated pieces. Gold later dives into his lifelong love of space exploration, how drugs influence literature and music, and writing “Around the Universe” about his father, who was a pilot in WWII. He also talks about leaning on Shakespeare’s sonnets for inspiration in regards to the title track, which h...
Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan on Forging Ahead After the Passing of Andy Fletcher
Depeche Mode experienced the tragic passing of founding member Andy Fletcher in May of this year. On Tuesday (October 4th), the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band announced that it will soldier on with a new album and tour in 2023. The new LP is titled Memento Mori, a Latin term used to describe an object that serves as a reminder of death. Despite the timing of the announcement, the name of the album and its subject matter had already been conceived prior to Fletcher’s passing. In support of the album, which is set to arrive in Spring 2023, Depeche Mode will embark on their first tour in five years, beginning with a North American leg that kicks off March 23rd in Sacramento, California. Tickets go on sale to the general public beginning Friday, October 7th at 10:00 a.m. local time via Tick...
5 Reasons to See CHVRCHES Live This Year
CHVRCHES are just a few weeks away from the one year anniversary of their excellent fourth album Screen Violence, but it seems they’ve been keen on celebrating it ever since it came out; since the fall of 2021, CHVRCHES have been on tour very consistently, jumping back and forth between North America and Europe multiple times for extensive runs, festival dates, and more. Many musicians are jumping at the chance to bring their pandemic-crafted albums on tour, and CHVRCHES have done so defiantly. So, witnessing their performance at the Brooklyn Mirage in New York City on Wednesday (August 3rd) was not just an opportunity to see several Screen Violence cuts live, it was a chance to see CHVRCHES completely in their element, their show fine-tuned and riveting. More so than any of the band’s pre...
Building LGBTQ+ Communities with The Aces on Going There with Dr. Mike
Listen via: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Pandora | Stitcher | Google | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | RSS The Aces close out Pride Month on the Going There podcast by joining host Dr. Mike in a discussion about building community to battle anti-LGBTQ+ bias and discrimination. Advertisement The indie pop quartet — Cristal and Alisa Ramirez, Katie Henderson, and McKenna Petty — talk about their own experiences coming out as gay in an industry that met them with powerful and damaging bias and discrimination. In order to cope, they needed to live a “double life in their head.” One part understood that they were gay, and the other had to be careful not to let those natural feelings come through for fear of damaging their ca...
Heaven 17 Announce 2022 North American Tour
English synthpop pioneers Heaven 17 have announced the 2022 “We Don’t Need This Fascist Groove Thang” North American tour. Named after their President Reagan-bashing single, the “We Don’t Need This Fascist Groove Thang” tour kicks off in September and spans 15 stops in the US and Canada. Tickets are currently on sale via Ticketmaster. As lead singer Glenn Gregory explained in a statement, it could be classified as Heaven 17’s first official tour of the continent. He said, “Our first trip to America as Heaven 17 was to New York in 1981; in fact, it was my first-ever trip to the USA and was a truly amazing experience. I can’t remember how on earth this came about, but we were going to play our first-ever live performance at the legendary Studio 54. We have, believe it or not, only ever playe...
Every Arcade Fire Song Ranked from Worst to Best
Rank and File finds us sorting through an exhaustive, comprehensive body of work or collection of pop-culture artifacts. This time, we celebrate Arcade Fire’s entire catalogue by revisiting all 85 of their anthems. This article originally ran in 2017 and has been updated as of May 6th, 2022 to mark the release of WE. From the very first notes of their debut album — those gleaming wind-chime like synths, the chugging guitar, the regal piano — Arcade Fire became one of those remarkably few life-changing, era-defining bands in indie rock history. Their songs soared, creaked, ached, and roared, breathing vibrant, triumphant life and passion. For over two decades, the New Orleans-by-way-of-Montreal band have continued to push and challenge themselves, drawing from their own confrontation with p...
Metric Announce New Album Formentera and 2022 Tour Dates
Metric have announced their return with a new album, lead single, and massive North American tour. Entitled Formentera, the the Canadian band’s eighth studio album arrives on July 8th. Of the lead single, “All Comes Crashing,” frontwoman Emily Haines said it “is a love song that goes beyond romantic love, it’s an expression of solidarity with whoever it is you would want to have beside you in the event of catastrophe.” The track reflects this as it switches from buzzing, pulsing choruses and quiet, reflective verses. “Starting over won’t be easy, broken divided/ Split tomorrow from today,” sings Haines. “Knowing what you know/ Just makes it harder to think straight/ Starting after it breaks.” You can check out the “All Comes Crashing” video from director Justin Broadbent ahead. Relate...
CHVRCHES and Robert Smith Perform “Just Like Heaven” at NME Awards: Watch
CHVRCHES and Robert Smith won an NME Award for their song “How Not to Drown” on Wednesday, and promptly hit the stage to perform live together for the first time. The synthpop band and The Cure frontman teamed up at the UK awards show to play “How Not to Drown” and fellow Screen Violence cut “Asking For A Friend,” as well as The Cure classic “Just Like Heaven.” Watch video of the on-stage super collaboration below. CHVRCHES and Smith made “How Not to Drown” via email correspondence, CHVRCHES singer Lauren Mayberry revealed in an interview before the award show, so the band didn’t actually meet Smith until they began rehearsing for the show. “Shit myself, to be honest,” she said of her first interaction with Smith. After performing the single, which took home the Best Song By A UK...
Tears for Fears Unveil The Tipping Point: Stream
There’s a new reason to fall head over heels for Tears for Fears. The British duo have released The Tipping Point, their first studio album in 17 years, via Concord Records. Stream it below. The Tipping Point arrives after a fit of false-starts following their 2004 reunion record Everybody Loves a Happy Ending that included an entirely scrapped project with mainstream pop producers like Bastille’s Dan Smith and Sacha Skarbek. Now, bandmates Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith have found the indescribable essence of a Tears for Fears album that they had been searching for all along. In a statement, Orzabal shares, “Before everything went so right with this album, everything first had to go wrong… It took years, but something happens when we put our heads together.” Advertisement Related Video Luc...
Tove Lo Unveils New Song “How Long”: Stream
Tove Lo has returned with a new song called “How Long,” which appears on the upcoming Euphoria soundtrack. Listen to the song below. Synthesizers snake around “How Long,” which builds from a cool, detached verse to a wary, impassioned chorus. “Try to play it cool/ I like you/ Have me in your hand/ Just like that,” Tove Lo sings at first, over a steady beat. Soon enough, however, she tips her hand. “How long have you loved another while I’m dreaming of us together?” goes her fervent interrogation, as keys bubble. Tove Lo’s edgy electro-pop fits Euphoria’s dingy aesthetic on its own, but “How Long” get a proper needle drop on the show’s next episode, premiering Sunday (January 30th). The artist gushed about contributing to the drama’s soundtrack in a statement. “‘How Long’ is ...
Tears for Fears Unveil New Song “Break the Man”: Stream
Next month, Tears for Fears will release The Tipping Point, their first new album in 17 years. Today, they’re shared the latest single, “Break the Man,” which you can stream below. With light piano and explosive guitar, “Break the Man” is a shimmering ode to women who rage against the patriarchy. “I feel that a lot of the problems we’ve been having as a country and even worldwide to a certain degree has come from male dominance,” Tears for Fears singer Curt Smith said of the single. “It’s a song about a woman who is strong enough to break the man. For me, that would be an answer to a lot of the problems in the world — a better male-female balance.” “Break the Man” is the third single from The Tipping Point, which arrives February 25th via Concord Records. Preorders are avail...
M83 to Reissue Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, Share Video for “My Tears Are Becoming A Sea”: Watch
M83’s classic double album Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming just passed its 10th anniversary, and the band is feeling celebratory. Today the French electronic group announced a vinyl reissue of the record, and shared a new music video for the track “My Tears Are Becoming A Sea.” “My Tears Are Becoming A Sea” serves as prequel to the music video trilogy of “Midnight City,” “Reunion,” and “Wait” that M83 released back in the day. In those videos, a group of supernatural children run from a group of authorities attempting to study their powers. The new clip, directed by Sacha Barbin and Ryan Doubiago, provides an origin story for one of the children. Barbin and Doubiago explained of the video: “This story takes place 10 years earlier in order to highlight the first moment one of these children u...
