Hello July: some nice recommendations in synth

Synthpop on Saturday

 Here are a few synth tracks that caught my ear this week. I am Mr. Forty Hours A Week now, so I am a wee bit more tired these days. So, I will share some nice tunes and let them speak for themselves!


This sparkly one was just posted. Goodbye July is Paul from Anything Box, so you know this comes from a real talent!


I love the deep male vocals on this track from Atlanta's Frisky Monkey. The guitar fits nicely with the tempo of this modern synthpop.


More from France: You Are Number Six has quite a few synthpop/new wave keepers on Soundcloud. I encourage you to spend some time with his second ep "Lensflares" which came out this month,



This is labeled as Synth Punk, which is cool with me. It's got tougher vocals more akin to Post-punk (think new Agent Side Grinder).

Mid-week: Sounds Bleak

This new single from The Radio Dept. is rather bleak, so let's hope for something sunnier when the album is released.



I found this one via It's A Trap and I thought it was interesting. It makes me think of early 80's Cure... but, damn, how old are these kids? Again, it's bleak. But hey, it's from Iceland:


The bleak theme continue with this one from a split ep by Flaamingos and The KVB (on Felte Records). Some great music coming out of LA these days (and it's been too long)!


OK, I'm off to work... @djtalbot

Summer Fiction (the band)

 Wow, this is really good. Reminds me of The Razorcuts and other c86-era jangle tracks. I stumbled upon this via the My Favorite Facebook page.

Variety of Recommendations

I'm enjoying the new one from Summer Camp. It's interesting in that you can listen to the opener "Bad Love" and then track three "Sleepwalking" and you may think it's a completely different band.

This one is for fans of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart:


"Love" is a perfect Summer-song from World Tour (on Sweden's Emotion label).


I am still a dedicated follower of Saint Etienne and continue to have a huge crush on vocalist Sarah Cracknell. You can hear the whole album (in the U.S.) over at NPR.

Latest Recommendations - New Wave, Synthpop, Indie

Not much new to report since last post. I'm 99% sure I am hired at the job I applied for (I arrived on a Tuesday, found this job on the following Saturday). It's full-time, which is a God-send. I will be relatively autonomous and on the road all day. Perfect. The hiring manager really connected with me. He was in a band in the Northwest and has a real D.I.Y. philosophy.

On to my latest recommendations:

I love both the new-wave music and the theme from France's You Are Number Six:


Another keeper from Corsica Arts Club . Can't wait for the new EP coming in June.


A wonderful new single from Jenny Broke The Window (Australia) debuted right here. It's bouncy as can be and titled Black Skeleton.

I was really never exposed to The Names in my youth, but I am sure I would have loved them in the 80's. I quite like this one, for example:

Darla Records has exclusive new material from them: "Stranger Than You, the fourth studio album by acclaimed Belgian cold wave group The Names, known for their early association with Factory Records and producer Martin ‘Zero' Hannett."

Here's an uplifting tune with deep male vocals, my favorite kind o' synthpop (of course, it's made in Germany):

Like Sugar Sounds Like This in 2015

March 2015 Update

Still not much blogging going on here. The term blogging is a pejorative, I do believe. "Blogger" can be associated with a person with too much time on their hands (?), a whiny nerd, basement-dweller, etc.
So, what's going on with me? Here's the short version: I met a dude through work and he expressed an interest in taking on a roommate. After some time, I needed a room (rather than waste money on establishing  utilities, obligating myself to a sentence of 6-12 months in Florida, having my brother skip town without paying rent, etc). Now, the room I am renting is in a condo, on a man-made island, surrounded by Canadians in their retirement. Also, the condo is part of the roommate's job: he gets this place as part of his employment. Roommate steals thousands from his job, gets caught, manufactures story that I did it, files report with Sheriff's Department and... of course it all backfires. I am now in condo alone, as roommate fled the state and will likely fcuk-off to his impoverished country of origin (Laos). I have no written rental agreement, but I have certainly established residency (I get mail / my paycheck here, etc).
For now, I am sitting here, waiting for some kind of legal notice urging me to move along. Every day, I approach my computer with a prayer on my breath, appealing to God for the Internet connection to be on, fearing it to be shut off for non-payment.  I have no control over the utilities. 
So, yeah, my adventure to Florida continues to be fraught with drama, money-issues, excessive heat and humidity, white-trash culture, sour fussy-faced North-Eastern Americans that lay on their horn for any reason, terrible customer service, grocery workers moving in slow-motion, complaining / miserly Canadians, happy vacationers, delicious Cuban sandwiches, excellent t.v., wonderful libraries, an odd absence of illegal aliens, a welcome absence of gang member types, and I could go on. I will leave my disappointment in my "family" out, for now. Just know, they suck. They are too busy getting stoned or fading away on pain-killers and douchy e-cigs to read this anyway.
Thanks for reading, folks! It'll be all about music someday soon. We are resurrecting Faction-6, so please add the site to your favs.