Tag: Synth Pop

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Best albums of 2025: Albums #10 through #6

Hello again!

The calendar has rolled over to December 1st and that, to me, means that the countdown to Christmas and the end of the year begins in earnest. It used to be an unwritten rule that this was the date that Christmas songs started being trumpeted in the stores and decorations were brought out and trees put up at home and at the office, etc, but that date has been steadily pushed forward over the years. And now it seems the Hallmark movies start on November 1st pretty much on cue and the Christmas decorations and chocolates appear in stores as soon as the Halloween candies are put away, and in some cases (Hello, Costco), even beforehand. I remember a Far Side cartoon from many years ago that I am reminded of every Autumn, that features a gobsmacked person at the door to give out Halloween candy and finds there none other than Santa Claus himself.

I could rant about things like this all day, more so the grumpier I get with age, but that’s not what this particular blog is about, so let’s get back to the music. Yes, December 1st also is a great day to publish the post that starts counting down my top ten favourite albums of the year in earnest. So that’s exactly what I’m doing: starting it all today with albums #10 through #6. (If you missed my post from last Monday, I invite you to backtrack and check out some of the other great albums that just missed the cut.) Then, I plan to share my favourite five over the next few weeks, one a day, sprinkled in with other posts, hopefully getting them all in and finishing on schedule on New Year’s Eve.

With all the excellent releases in 2025, I am sure I missed out on one or two, so as we go through my own ten favourite albums, I welcome your comments and thoughts and perhaps even your own top ten favourites in the comments spaces provided.

Let’s do this.

#10 Snocaps “Snocaps”

We start this top ten countdown with an album I would have never expected to be here a few months ago. Surprise announced and released on the same day back on Halloween, “Snocaps” is the self-titled debut album* by a sort of supergroup led by twin sisters Allison (Swearin’) and Katie (Waxahatchee) Crutchfield and rounded out by current “it” musician MJ Lenderman and producer Brad Cook. I’d been a fan of the work of both Crutchfield sisters since I came across them close to a decade ago, but lesser so of late, given Allison’s break from music and Katie’s move away from the sound that first drew me to her and towards a more folk singer/songwriter feel. Happily, together, their sound feels like a return to form for me, each sister taking turns at the microphone and having each other’s back throughout. You can almost hear the sisterly ribbing and laughter that must’ve occurred during the recording sessions. It is music for music’s sake.

#9 Nation Of Language “Dance called memory”

I got into the Brooklyn based synth pop trio back in 2020 with the release of their debut, falling hard for “On division st.“, a standout single from the album. I’ve been following them ever since, with each successive album, I keep waiting for the ball to drop. A band with heavy leanings to the past, plucked straight out of a 1980s John Hughes film soundtrack, you might think that they might hit a wall eventually, run out of ideas, but the opposite keeps happening. And now, with their fourth long player and first to be released on indie powerhouse Sub Pop records, they might have recorded their best yet. “Dance called memory” is aptly named, continuing their sound blend of retro and fresh music to dance to and to remember and to make new memories to.

#8 Robert Ascroft “Echo still remains”

Of course, an album this cinematic and moody and atmospheric would be made by a photographer, director, and producer. Robert Ascroft has now added recording artist to his list of accomplishments but he hasn’t done it alone. For his debut album, “Echo still remains”, he enlisted a host of collaborators that range from Ruth Radelet (Chromatics) to Christopher Owens (Girls) and from Britta Phillips (Luna) to Zumi Rosow (Black Lips). Each song is an adventure reflected in raindrops glistening on the windshield of a car hurtling down a deserted highway in the dead of night. The colour palette is David Lynch. The finish is dream pop and psychedelic and far too cool for school. It is instantly replayable.

#7 Doves “Constellations for the lonely”

“Constellations for the lonely” is the sixth studio by Manchester trio Doves and the second since reforming after an eight year hiatus. Much like their previous work, the album is dark in the feels and big on atmospherics but the group was purposeful here in evoking an apocalyptic world. It was inspired by the lows the group was experiencing in the wake of the release of their previous album, 2020’s “The universal want“, frontman Jimi Goodwin’s mental health struggles and the need to cancel the promotional tour. But rather than tearing them apart, Doves persevered and grew stronger, themes reflected in this new album and indeed, there is more sharing of vocal duties across it than on previous outings. Despite all the darkness, there is hope and a renewed sense of the group as one.

#6 Miki Berenyi Trio “Tripla”

The Miki Berenyi Trio was formed by Oliver Cherer, Kevin McKillop, and the band’s namesake, Miki Berenyi, when their previous band Piroshka stalled after only two albums**. This new group originally started out playing Lush covers as part of Berenyi’s book tour, enlisting the services of a drum machine because Piroshka/Lush drummer Justin Welch was busy touring with Jesus and Mary Chain. This lineup necessitated a change in name and style and though it’s Berenyi’s name at the forefront, the trio is really the key, as evidenced by the title of this debut album. Although they continue to be mainly a dream pop outfit, dance elements have kicked in along with the drum machine and we’ve also seen an increase in synth washes and effects for a more intense sound all around. I really like where this is going and can’t wait to hear more.

*And perhaps last album as well?

**In my opinion, great albums, both of them.

Stay tuned for album #5 on this list. In the meantime, you can check out my Best Albums page here if you’re interested in my other favourite albums lists.

Categories
Tunes

Eighties’ best 100 redux: #80 Depeche Mode “People are people” (1984)

<< #81    |    #79 >>

If you’ve been around this blog before, you’d know that I’ve written about the legendary synth pop band originally from Basildon, England many times over. So instead of treading and retreading over familiar ground, I’ll tell you a story*. (Mind you if you are looking for more words about the band and this song, have a gander at the post on my top five favourites of their songs from the 80s.)

Nearly forty years ago, just as I was starting high school, I got my first job, if you can call it that. I took over delivering flyers to the houses in my neighbourhood from one of my friends for a company called Davcar Distributing. If you’re of an age that you don’t recognize the term, ‘flyers’ were printed advertisements that were like mini catalogues, printed on newsprint**, ranging any where from one to twelve pages, providing the weekly sales for grocery stories like A&P and Dominion and other commercial enterprises like Sears and Canadian Tire. It was piece work, getting pennies per flyer delivered. There were two or three hundred houses on my route and there were typically five to seven flyers to be delivered each week. The route took me a few hours to do on a Friday night and I would get $10 or so for my efforts.

Every few weeks, Carol***, one of the proprietors of the company, would ask if I would take on one of the nearby routes when the regular delivery kid wasn’t able to, and it would mean a bit more money that week, but also cut into more of my prized weekend time. At some point, I was asked if I would be interested in taking over all the down routes**** in my small town and after some cajoling and promises of help from my mother, I agreed. It meant that a walk on Friday night turned into a whole weekend endeavour. I would be responsible for 10-12 routes on any given week, sometimes more, and I figure that at some point over the two years that I delivered these flyers that I probably walked up to the door of every house in Bowmanville.

We quickly had it down to an art though. Friday nights after dinner, we would put on a movie or two and sort out the flyers, unbundling stacks, and fitting each flyer within in each other so that they were ready for delivery and stow them in black plastic Knob Hill Farms baskets*****. My mother had a road map of the town, on which she highlighted each route to which we delivered in a different colour marker and we knew exactly how many houses were on each route and so, how many flyers needed to be delivered. She would drop me off at the beginning of each route, loaded down with two paper carrier bags loaded with pre-sorted flyers, one on each shoulder, and pick me up at the other end, where she waited in our little silver chevette reading a Harlequin romance novel. Then, while she drove off to the start of the next route, I would refill my bags with the exact amount of flyers needed.

This is the job where I gained my love/hate relationship with walking and my very real fear of dogs. Don’t laugh. I was once chased by a massive Dobermann pinscher for 200 metres or so, on a Sunday night at dusk, after a whole weekend of deliveries, from the front porch of a heritage house over an overgrown lawn and over a five foot wide drainage ditch and into the front passenger side door of my mother’s car, which she luckily had the foresight to open for me as she saw the chase ensuing. It was like the Chopper scene in Stand by me, in slo-mo and everything, but the danger was very real. My mother had to get the car washed the next day to erase the dog slobber froth from the passenger window.

And I could tell many other stories from those days – from the odd people I ran into on the streets and the conversations, to the different lifestyles of Bowmanville’s residents, their possessions and collections, and the relationships to their pets****** – but this post would end up like War and Peace in length. Instead, I’ll get back to the point. What does this job have to do “People are people” by Depeche Mode?

Well, as you can imagine, all that walking alone would afford lots of time to think and have conversations with oneself and before I was able to save up for a Walkman, sing songs to oneself as well. One of these songs was Depeche Mode’s “People are people”. I will never be able to tell you now where I first heard the songs, whether on the radio or at a school dance, but those chorus lines stuck with me. “People are people, so why should it be / You and I should get along so awfully?” These were the only lines I knew and sang them over and over again. They resounded for me. They were words that had meaning. And applying them to my own experiences thus far in life, I gave them my own meaning.

When I later discovered the author of these words, I became a fan of Depeche Mode. “Some great reward” would be the first album I would own by the band, mostly because of “People are people”, buying it on cassette, with money earned from a different job. And I’ve never looked back… except of course, to remember singing those chorus lines over and over while walking sidewalks burdened by loads of flyers.

Original Eighties best 100 position: n/a

Favourite lyric: “Now you’re punching, and you’re kicking, and you’re shouting at me / I’m relying on your common decency / So far, it hasn’t surfaced, but I’m sure it exists / It just takes a while to travel from your head to your fist” These lines always made me laugh.

Where are they now?: Despite losing band mates, near deaths, deaths, and dealing with a host of other trials and tribulations over the years, Depeche Mode are still going strong, now just a duo, after 45 years. They released their 15th studio album, “Memento mori”, back in 2023.

*One of which I’ve hinted at pieces at least twice in two previous Depeche Mode related posts.

**Some companies still print them and deliver them directly to mailboxes through Canada Post but many just make them available online.

***I believe that was her name.

****Down routes were all the routes that didn’t have a regular carrier.

*****Those who know, know.

******I’ll never forget the pet raccoon that would pull the flyers from me as I was feeding them into the mail slot in the front door.

For the rest of the Eighties’ best 100 redux list, click here.

Categories
Tunes

Eighties’ best 100 redux: #89 Frankie Goes to Hollywood “The power of love” (1984)

<< #90    |    #88 >>

I’ve written a few times already on these pages* about how Toronto’s alternative rock radio station EDGE 102 (aka CFNY 102.1) did a countdown on the air in the dying days of the 20th century, ranking their top 1002 songs of all time. It was, for me, some of the best commercial radio I’d ever heard, making for great conversation and prognosticating between alt rock music fans, reminding me of songs I’d loved forever and some I’d long forgotten, and of course, introducing me to classics I’d not yet discovered.

One such example of this latter category was broadcast and ranked in the high 100s, wedged in between Yazoo’s “Nobody’s diary” and The Stone Roses’ “Fools gold”. It sounded familiar, but not, an unconventional love ballad, lyrics referencing “hooded claws” and “vampires”, but sung with glorious, impassioned sighs. Midway through, I turned to my tool rental store colleague, Chris, with whom I was working that day, and he returned my quizzical look with one of surprise. “You don’t know ‘The power of love’ by Frankie Goes to Hollywood?”

Of course, I had known the Frankie Goes to Hollywood of “Relax” and “Two tribes” infamy, they were ubiquitous in 1984, but this was something completely different, and I was hooked.

Frankie Goes to Hollywood was started by vocalist Holly Johnson in Liverpool in 1980. The original edition didn’t take, so he tried again with a different lineup the following year. The five piece lineup that would sign to ZTT Records in 1983 included Mark O’Toole (bass), Brian Nash (guitars), Peter Gill (drums), and Paul Rutherford (keyboards, tambourine, and dancing). The band would only ever record two albums, but one of these was the iconic debut album, “Welcome to the pleasuredome”, an album that boasted three consecutive #1 UK hit singles, and a fourth that could only make it as high as #2. It was a smash the world over, even in North America, and this on the back of their their love affair with the music video and MTV’s love affair with the band. Their second album, 1986’s “Liverpool”, didn’t come close to its predecessor’s success internationally, but did reasonably well in England and Europe. The band acrimoniously split in 1987. Holly Johnson successfully sued ZTT to get out of the contract, publicly stated he would never perform with his ex-bandmates again, and successfully blocked them from using the Frankie Goes to Hollywood name.

I loved “Relax” and “Two tribes” as a pre-teen and though the nostalgia factor kept me dancing to them on retro nights, “The power of love” became a mainstay on my adult life playlists through most of the 2000s**. It is a ballad that had more of a timeless sound than the rest of their dated, new wave dance hits, boasting real instruments and less Trevor Horn production. It is a love song about love, rather than lovers, and Holly Johnson puts on the vocal clinic that you’d have every right to expect. It’s magical.

Original Eighties best 100 position: n/a

Favourite lyric: “I’m so in love with you / Purge the soul / Make love your goal.” Oh yes, indeed.

Where are they now?: Remember when I said Holly Johnson vowed never to perform with his Frankie bandmates again? Well, he did just that, for one song, at Eurovision 2023, last May, the first time they had performed together onstage since 1987. But of course, nothing since.

*I’ve posted links to playlist versions of this list for both Spotify and Apple Music consumption.

**But somehow I managed to forget to include this great track the last time I was putting together this list of 100 great 80s tunes.

For the rest of the Eighties’ best 100 redux list, click here.