solipsistic NATION No. 59: Synthpop
October 12, 2007
One of the things I love about solipsistic NATION is that I can spend an entire show focusing on a specific genre. Electronic music rapidly mutates into ever new genres so that keeps the show fresh. I can also get reacquainted with established genres like dub or grime, which is always fun. But electronic music encompasses a lot of sub-genres and it is easy to overlook some of them. Take today’s show, which features synthpop. It would have never occurred to me to do such a show until Kevin Thrasher emailed a request for an all synthpop edition of solipsistic NATION.
I was a teen during the 80s so synthpop was part of the soundtrack of my life during those years. While I enjoyed the pop stylings of bands like Flock of Seagulls and Depeche Mode the stuff I really enjoyed was a lot darker and definitely more twisted. Wire, for example, twisted the genre beyond recognition with their album, The Ideal Copy. Alice Cooper kept within the boundaries of synthpop but infected it with his madness with Flush the Fashion.
With year two of solipsistic NATION I’ve decided to have more guest DJs on the show. Who better to co-host this week’s synthpop edition of solipsistic NATION than Mikel O.D. of the Most People Are DJs podcast? Mikel plays a great selection of music on his show but he’s got a special love for synthpop. The fact that he did all the hard work while I got to goof off was a bonus!
- Blaine L. Reininger “Teenage Theatre”
- Gary Numan “Cars”
- Gary Numan “Airlane”
- Thomas Dolby “One Of Our Submarines”
- i, Synthesist “Red Clouds”
- Space March “Time Will Make A Fool Out Of Me”
- Alan Replica “Soul Corruption”
- Minisystem “Madingley”
- The Calculators “Dead Is Dead”
- Any Day In June “Clear”
- Charlie Slick “I Know You Love My Synthesizers”
- Idiots! “Spring Is Here”
- Minisystem “What About Me?”
- FrankMusik “3 Little Words”
- Otto Vector “Take It All Off”
- theSTART “Wartime! (It’s Time 2 Go Now)”
Download episode.
1:04:08 | 58.94 MB
Comments
8 Responses to “solipsistic NATION No. 59: Synthpop”
Wow - Blaine L. Reininger. That brings out some memories. I’ve seen him live here in Israel back in the 80’s, both alone and with Tuxedomoon. Gary Numan and Thomas Dolby where the reasons I became an electronic musician among other things. Great mix.
Wow, this show took me back! I think my top five 80s synthpop bands we’re Men Without Hats, Soft Cell, OMD, Howard Jones and, of course, Kraftwerk.
It’s great to hear this episode. I don’t mean to brag, but I played a lot of good music! Thanks for having me on. It was a ton of fun. And, I can’t wait for the Synthpop revisited episode:)
Hi Guy,
I had never heard of Blaine L. Reininger until today’s show, which was one of the other benefits of having Mikel O.D. on solipsistic NATION. Mikel’s much more knowledgeable about synthpop than I am.
ciao,
Bazooka joe
Gretchen,
Even though I’m not an expert on synthpop there are a number of bands and artists I would have loved to played on today’s show. I would have been thrilled to include Alice Cooper’s “Clones” in the mix but solipsistic NATION is limited to podsafe music of music that record labels give me permission to play on the show. Again, that’s why I had Mikel as my co-host because he knew where to find just the right tracks to play on today’s show.
ciao,
Bazooka joe
Mikel,
It was a pleasure having you on the show. You did an excellent job and I definitely plan on having you back again for the next synthpop show on solipsistic NATION.
Thanks again!
ciao,
Bazooka Joe
Hi Joe
nice one ;-)
best wishes
Roger
Thanks, Roger! The synthpop show has been getting a lot of positive responses. I’m definitely going to have to do another synthpop show.
ciao,
Bazooka Joe