Electricity
It's time for some mindless 80's synthpop. Yes, it's simplistic and repetitive, but at its best, it can also create pleasing sensations for the listener, with its machine-like hums and throbbing synth chords.
I like this primitive early OMD video for their song "Electricity". They are making an electropop video, by gosh, and the earnestness with which they play the two or three notes on their synthesizers cracks me up every time.
OMD (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark) is my favorite synthpop band from the '80's. Many of their songs evoke a romance of electronics, electromagnetic waves, engineering and machinery, suggested even more directly by song titles such as Romance of the Telescope. Other titles include Telegraph, Tesla Girls, and Radio Waves. One of their best songs opens and closes with the sound of industrial equipment in the distance, producing a steady beat as a backdrop to their eerie synths. I find OMD songs weirdly satisfying in the way they bring to mind the constant pulse of industry and technology, yet because they are from the analog age, they possess a pre-digital innocence.
The two main guys, lead singer Andy McCluskey and keyboardist Paul Humphreys, were two chums who grew up on the Wirral Peninsula in England, influenced by Kraftwerk and Brian Eno. Sometimes their music almost reminds me of toy pianos, it's so simple, but then I like the sound of toy pianos.
I like this primitive early OMD video for their song "Electricity". They are making an electropop video, by gosh, and the earnestness with which they play the two or three notes on their synthesizers cracks me up every time.
OMD (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark) is my favorite synthpop band from the '80's. Many of their songs evoke a romance of electronics, electromagnetic waves, engineering and machinery, suggested even more directly by song titles such as Romance of the Telescope. Other titles include Telegraph, Tesla Girls, and Radio Waves. One of their best songs opens and closes with the sound of industrial equipment in the distance, producing a steady beat as a backdrop to their eerie synths. I find OMD songs weirdly satisfying in the way they bring to mind the constant pulse of industry and technology, yet because they are from the analog age, they possess a pre-digital innocence.
The two main guys, lead singer Andy McCluskey and keyboardist Paul Humphreys, were two chums who grew up on the Wirral Peninsula in England, influenced by Kraftwerk and Brian Eno. Sometimes their music almost reminds me of toy pianos, it's so simple, but then I like the sound of toy pianos.
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Have you ever listened to Kraftwerk? I used to have an album by them.
ReplyDeletei like OMD :) a lot
ReplyDeleteI totally remember --you had the album Autobahn. I remember you listening to it in the basement--I loved the song Autobahn. I think eventually you left it behind and I made off with it. I think I still have it. Later, I bought Kraftwerk's album "Computer World." Me and a cousin(Kenny's son) stayed up all night in my room, listening to that album after Grandma's funeral. It has some very cool moments on it. I think Kraftwerk is probably a much better band than OMD, but they are in a slightly different genre. I think OMD is more pop-oriented. The best synth/electro music is probably in the Kraftwerk era of mid to late 70's, to early 80's at the latest, when analog synths were still used. I'm going to have to check some of that music out, since I missed some of it the first time around.
ReplyDeletei like the lyrics to Pocket Calculator but i think they took the dancing too far.
ReplyDeleteDude! I fucking love this! I heard about OMD only. Did not even know! Yes! Thank you pop-synth swami.
ReplyDeleteJulie comments--yes (love them)
Pop-synth swami! I want that to be my new nickname. So glad you and Julie dig this too. I love it, but didn't expect anyone else to understand.
ReplyDeleteAha, so that's what happened to my Kraftwerk album. Well, I hate to be the turd in the punchbowl, but OMD doesn't do it for me the way the Kraftwerk weirdos did. These guys are too ... non-edgy.
ReplyDeletehey, I think it's cool that you would liken the rest of us to punch. Happy and drunk.
ReplyDeleteMarc, someone needs to be the turd. Variety is the spice of life.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about OMD. Like I said, I think Kraftwerk is a better band. And OMD got even more non-edgy as the years went by. But there is something in my DNA that makes me susceptible to liking this stuff. I've long recognized that it is just how I was made, like having an extra toe or a mole where the sun don't shine. To paraphrase my good friend Andi, "I embrace cheese."