Auld Wave Syne
Crash even more slowly
This has got to be the only “inspired by Vienna-era Ultravox” pop single in my catalogue of music, from the Swedish band Strasse. All they need is the shit-eating grin of Midge Ure and a triangulated, downplayed drum machine and you’ve got a crossover hit!
Here Comes A Saturday
For the first Saturday of a new year (and new decade, as well), I give you a song from 3 decades prior, in 1979. Yet it is just as relevant and just as lovely as ever.
Cowboys International — Here Comes A Saturday (1979)
Jona Lewie sounds like everything (even Erasure)
Jona Lewie. Most people my age or of any age have no clue who he is, and those who do know him know him for one song, “You Will Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties”. His one or two hit wonder status obfuscates the fact that he churned out several years worth […]
Dumb waiters
Isn’t this album cover pop art at its finest?
And while I wouldn’t say the album’s contents itself are perfect, it has a brilliant production value that is something akin to the Beatles and Spector in the synthpop age. Listen to “Perfect Hostess”, for example:
The Korgis — Perfect Hostess
A crisis of Chinese proportions
QUICK! IT’S A CRISIS! WE NEED TO FEED THE HUNGRY SOULS WHO CRAVE NEW WAVE!
What’s a recipe that is repeated over and over yet always sounds pretty good? A certain kind of new wave pop song, which has the following for its ingredients:
Gated drum — check
Synth-vibe-glock sound — check
Dreams of a far off land that […]
Portion Control — The Great Divide
This is my new “dance regardless of actual desire to dance” dance song of today. It sounds like all the British bands of the next decade that were clearly influenced by it.
Portion Control — The Great Divide (1985)
“Coulda been a contender, though the chances were slender…”
Boys keep swinging
When you’re a boy
you can wear uniforms
When you’re a boy
other boys check you out
David Bowie — Boys Keep Swinging
The Associates — Boys Keep Swinging
Why do he’s call their ships she’s?
I’ve been sick, in more ways than one. The only person I can demonstrably say has kept me sane through it all is someone who died when I was in high school, and someone I’ll never have really known, yet someone I know, someone who, like all the musicians and artists I adore, never […]