Hey everybody! It’s been a while.

This was released about a month ago on Service, an awesome Swedish label that’s home to artists such as Embassy, Studio (D. Lissvik), and Jens Lekman. I’m a fan of breezy, cool synth pop, and this sounds like walking on the beach in the wee hours. It took a while for this album to grow on me, I won’t lie. In the end I came to appreciate its smooth edged approach to danceable pop. It comes across as the soundtrack to a romantic comedy set in a biosphere on some inhospitable surface. Maybe I just think everything is better in the movies. The album seems to be striving for that standard, comprised of a neat 10 tracks almost all 3:30-4:00 in length. And for that short amount of time, it is picture perfect pop, at times even soft and reassuring. Could almost be good pump-up music for Jedi kids, but I’ll leave that up to you.

Lake Heartbeat is Janne Kask, previously the lead singer of famous 90s Swedish pop band Brainpool.

Favorite Tracks: Mystery, Pipedream, Build The Wall Up, Between Dreams

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When real pop hits me, it hits me real good. I’ve been on a Dan Black binge for the last few days now, and it’s not likely to let up soon. Originally gaining notoriety from his HYPNTZ mashup of the Notorious BIG track and Rihanna’s Umbrella, his sound is unapologetically pop, but the electro beats borrow equally from hip-hop influences as they do from his synthpop contemporaries. With his Myspace listing influences: “Jay-Z, Sigur Ros,” it’s clear that Black is a sign of the arrival of New Pop, a generation of artists raised simultaneously on a (post) millennial maelstrom of saccharine pop/hip-hop and wildly diversifying indie music. Most tracks on this album are too catchy to resist, whether with the hooks or lyrics. The beat matching of Symphonies will pick you up in any mood; it’s hard to listen to this in public and not bounce around like you’re the coolest thing in town. And lyrics like, “European human being/Drugs slash drinks slash psychic healing/Flesh nipping blood sipping Sitting in a circle sharing feelings/Not ill take pill roll up make bills/Inhale hold til you feel until” in the aptly titled I Love Life make this a party album through and through. My only criticism is how front-loaded it is. For a pop album, it is staggeringly full of potential hits, but they mostly comprise the first six tracks of the album; after Yours, the album winds down a mellow meta-pop direction, until Life Slash Dreams tunes you into the ecstatically beautiful finale of I Love Life.

Regardless, if you want to dance to legit pop music but not feel that hipster guilt, he is your man. Link is 320k.

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This is what I have of the Well Known Pleasures EP by VEGA, of Neon Indian fame (below).

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Hopefully by now you all know that I only post really good music, music that I myself enjoy a lot and think that you will too. Ok, occasionally I post an album that’s bad but been waited on just to please whoever might want it, but my intentions are pure. So it’s hard to overstate the ecstasy that this band will bring to your ears. When this popped up in my blogfeedz this summer it was as if it had answered all my midsummer doldrums’ prayers. I had heard them prior to that with their beautiful remix of Too Young To Love by The Big Pink, so when Delorean sprang up in my reader I was inclined to give it a try. I’m glad I did. Too bad they got all p4k’d after that, but what can you do? It’s hard to describe this music because the end result is that you’ll be happy, so I’m almost asking myself why I should even describe it just fucking download it but I figure I should do a RIYL so here ya are: driving, dreamy, beach-pop, magic, dance, psychedelic, wonder, wander, whatever

Here’s to a proper full-length!

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OK so this summer was the summer of synthpop on all corners. A lot of pop songstresses too - La Roux, Ladyhawke, Marina and the Diamonds, Sally Shapiro, and this one, Little Boots. Now her singles and remixes got a lot of play, but then this synthpopsongstress thing started to become a THING, so in an effort not to be too hip/unhip, when the album came out it was generally shoved aside as a synthpopsongstress opportunity strikes album. This is a mistake. It is quite excellent - the synths are beautiful, and her voice matches perfectly, both lyrically and aesthetically. It is a fun album. I wish hype wasn’t a thing that killed legitimate artists, but alas. Great songs include: New In Town, Stuck on Repeat, Remedy, Meddle, Tune Into My Heart.

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I thought I’d post this a while back as a way to link together the balearic Swedish synthpop bands I was posting to slightly harder electro / less beachy synth bands such as the French electro nudisco Valerie scene, but then I couldn’t help myself and just went ahead posting from Valerie artists anyways. And now I return to Familjen, or Johan T Karlsson, a Swedish electro/synthpop solo artist (with a full live band) who makes bouncy, anthemic electronic songs. He could be compared to Juvelen, inasmuch as they both are solo synth-driven electronic acts, but there is something much less traditionally poppy about Familjen; the album considers every stylistic tendency of pop instead of focusing on one all-encompassing aesthetic (overly ebullient, too many ballads), which gives the album a rounded and wholly persynal feel. I can definitely sense the amount of authorship involved in the record - every sound is carefully chosen for the impression it’s trying to convey, which can be both a selling point and a detraction from the album. As a whole the album lacks cohesiveness, allowing a few tracks to stand out while others which aren’t particularly bad simply fade into the background, almost as staging ground for the more stellar outputs such as Det Snurrar I Min Skalle, Nu Hander Det Igen, Vad Du Vill, Huvudet I Sanden, and Det Lilla Livet. It’s like taking a trip in his mind, and experiencing everything he wants to express, good and bad, and while the bad can often be expressed through eloquent synth loops, sometimes to give an album a sense of connection, it is good to self-edit and really decide about the role each track plays in contributing to the work as a whole, something I feel is lacking when I listen to some of the gaps in an otherwise respectable album. I guess when it comes down to it, Familjen is good, but can’t do everything perfect, so he should stick to what he knows he can rock, which are more driving, bouncy synth tracks and less of the New Order-esque electronic songs and ballads like Nan Gang and Hog Luft. Come to think of it, most tracks I don’t find favor with on here sound a little New Order revivalist, so it might be my strong affinity for New Order which is stopping me from appreciating his imitations. Either way, get it for the good tracks not the bad ones, then make an informed decision; it’s still music so you can’t go wrong. Ok, maybe I should self-edit some more, hehe.

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prds is supposedly the pseudonym of “16 year old Swedish boy named Adam making music in Fruity Loops,” the popular music software platform. As per my stylistic proclivities over the last few months, he too is a electronic balearic synth pop musician. What is distinct about his work, however, is the vagueness and ambiguity which pervades each track. Listening to each mini-album is like listening to the skeleton of an oeuvre - the synths are gestational and the beats are ephemeral, yet they leave a lasting impression in the mind, if not on the ears. He clearly takes much inspiration from the work of similar Swedish balearic electronic masters Air France, but his aesthetic is much more understated, almost hollow in a way which allows the listener to fill in the blanks with whatever ze chooses - I choose my heart. Let the albums fade into your life like a shimmering summer sunset.

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This is just straight up awesome pop. His voice sounds like Prince (esp. on the first track). The first song will put you in a good mood NO MATTER WHAT (unless you are weird). It’s sparkly bright and incredibly addictive synthpop, and he’s on the same label (Hybris) as Kalle J, Familjen, and others. This is a fun album. His name means Jewel (yay I know Swedish!). The album is indeed a gem.

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The Embassy - Tacking

Same story as The Tough Alliance. The Embassy is a balearic synthpop duo that has released albums on record label Service (same as TTA until they got too cool for school). There is almost no way to not like this band if you like any of the previous posts. It’s really perfect synthpop oh my god I’m just now realizing how perfect. Yeah, it’s awesome. Below are links to their most recent albums, Tacking and A Compact Disc Including The Embassy. Their debut, Futile Crimes, is excellent as well and if there is interest expressed I’ll post it too. Enjoy! You now don’t need any music for quite a while, this is obsession-prone material, trust me.

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What can I say about The Tough Alliance that hasn’t already been said? They are essentially the masters of balearic synth pop with disco krautrock feelings, and have been so for quite some time. They are from Gothenburg, Sweden, along with every other cool artist in the world, it seems. From Gburg as home base they run a label called Sincerely, Yours, which has acts such as Studio and Air France signed, two equally kick-ass bands in their own right.

To celebrate their balearic synthpop genius, I’ve decided to post their discography. It has every full length (Escaping Your Ambition, A New Chance, The New School) and several EPs (Make It Happen, New Waves, Holiday), all of which will make you wonder what took you so long to find out about this band and what pop could possibly improve upon this.

It’s a big file (250 mb), but well worth it.

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Before my balearic pop megaposts from its mega-artists The Tough Alliance and The Embassy, I’m going to whet your appetite with two offerings from some balearic synthpoppers on the Hybris label. This one is from Kalle J, a kid who is astonishingly young for such talent. I will re-post what I had previously written of this album: This is brilliant balearic synthpop. fake steel drums and bongos in some songs, pulsing synth lines in others. it’s a good old swedish synthpop, and by that it is sort of the pinnacle of pop. good for fans of (as i am): the tough alliance, the embassy, gentle touch, le sport, juvelen, familjen, and others (i will post some of those later). seriously, if you only listen to a handful of pop albums this year, this one should be it. it’s weird how some albums open with the best song (which i think is a totally understandable practice; why open with a crappy song and then wait for a while till it gets good) and then there are some like this, which opens with an ok few songs, but these are quickly blown out of the water by the incredible set of songs from Din Egen Delivery Service through Burt Ward, and with a wonderful closer in Aldrig Fel. Also, I have no idea what he’s saying or what any of the song titles are (Swedish people help me in the comments!). On second thought, maybe the first two songs are just a little less good than the rest of the whole album. Whatever, just get it.

Word. I still agree. Juvelen’s up next, and then I’ll post everything else I wrote up there.

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This is a blissful balearic pop album from a band out of Sweden called Boat Club. The band name and album title are perfectly descriptive, there’s almost nothing more you need to know - the album makes you feel like the title. There’s no excuse not to have it when spring is just coming about. For fans of: The Tough Alliance, The Embassy, Air France, etc…

Every track is incredible, as it sadly clocks in at only 30 minutes long (6 tracks). But no need to wait for a full-length - bliss is at your fingertips!

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Air France is essential balearic electronic with ambient pop leanings. Also, these guys are apparently anarchists too! and pretty hot, for swedes. They released this album on Sincerely, Yours, which is The Tough Alliance’s label - a great compendium of all the beautiful balearic synthpop that’s been bubbling in that neck of the woods. I’ve put both No Way Down and On Trade Winds in this so you can have both of their EPs in lieu of a proper release, which we should see soon enough.

FYI: this is really good ecstasy music, like, really. wait till it gets warmer outside (depending where you are), but rolling with air france is like summer in a pill.

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It took me so long to realize what the cover said, or that it was saying anything at all. This is the oft-mentioned Hatchback, one half of Windsurf and balearic nu disco prodigy from LA. Another album whose title really communicates its sentiment. Like a sunkissed Studio. Shimmers like the waves rolling back into the tide on a warm summer shore. I think it’s appropriate, almost, that all these artists I’ve been posting only have one full length out, cuz when they do, it’s like the only full length you’ll ever need. He knows how to make a record, that’s for sure. Definitely worth several listens, the songs are long and developed, but elegantly mature balearic disco.

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This artist has been gettin’ all sorts of buzz on the new electro disco rave blogosphere, first as an impeccable remixer (Crystal Castles, The Teenagers), and now as a solo artist in his own right. Panesian Nights, his first EP, is a solid release and a great pick for those who are fans of Valerie Collective, Futurecop!, etc… I really like this album because it’s a little more chilled out than some of the electrodiscorave shit recently (think Anoraak, not Ed Banger), and has that quality to it that you only find in some songs (listen to The Explorers to know what I mean - it’s that “the world is ending/there’s a big revolutionary change coming up and I’m scared but excited in anticipation and comforted by this song which I will be listening to as I ride it out” feeling. You know, like in some New Order songs.) He is also cool because his name stands for Canadian Fuck Coming Famous (according to a last.fm shouter). I’ll believe it - I’ve heard worse (wtf is a Hoobastank? Limp Bizkit is gross….I’m glad I’m not in middle school anymore).

Best tracks: Crystal Mines, The Explorers, Goodbye, Color Dreams.

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also, he apparently looks as creepy as the cover in real life:

YAY! Awesome 80sesque synthheavyhappy dancedisco beats from a French master named Keenhouse who just won’t quit! Part of the Valerie Collective, one of the best musical collectives out there - stay tuned for releases from artists Anoraak, The Outrunners, College, Miami Horror, and more! If you like similar music and know of other artists like this guy, please drop them in the comments! I always love new music, obviously, even if I don’t have room for it.

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Oh man, another top album for ‘09 (I’m pretty sure it came out this year). This is slo-fi psych synth disco from Ramona Gonzalez, a Californian who (to me) epitomizes the lush style and aesthetics of the 70s - just look at her on the cover. Everything about this album is good, it will make you rethink how the above four genres really fit together, and that’s a good thing. This has been hitting the blogwaves really big recently, so I’m not alone in thinking Ms. Gonzalez has hit something huge.

Favorite tracks: What Did He Say, Weak For Me, Suburbia, Chimera, Lover (this is one of my “best songs ever” - which I tag in last.fm - and is it any wonder it clocks in at 4.20 mins?)

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