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I love early synth music
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soulboy77
05-11-2009
My pet synth tracks:

OMD - Electricity
OMD - Enola Gay (live)
OMD - Messages
original Human League - Being Boiled
original Human League - Empire State Human
original Human League - The Black Hit of Space
Human League - Sound of the Crowd
Kraftwerk - The Model
LloydChristmas
05-11-2009
Great choices. I've actually done covers of a few of those on the Korg Ds-10 on the Nintendo DS.

The Model

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PDHIHmxyTA

Being Boiled

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1XmMfoPXXU

and OMD - Joan Of Arc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-PemkkwnoE
lil lexie
05-11-2009
Originally Posted by LloydChristmas:
“Great choices. I've actually done covers of a few of those on the Korg Ds-10 on the Nintendo DS.

The Model

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PDHIHmxyTA

Being Boiled

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1XmMfoPXXU

and OMD - Joan Of Arc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-PemkkwnoE”

Wow, that's pretty good Might have to get me one of those Korg DS's.
LloydChristmas
06-11-2009
Thanks a lot.

Yes, you must, I can't recommend DS-10 highly enough. There's quite a big community on Youtube (mainly Japanese and American guys) who put my efforts to shame.
Robert Romarin
06-11-2009
This thread inspired me to go hunting for a track I haven't heard for the thick end of 30 years. It's an old Metmatic-era John Foxx b-side called 'This City'. Great to hear it again...crackles and all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrQjCKFWzCc
shackfan
06-11-2009
Great thread! I love all sorts of music, but i always go back to 1981 as my favourite year. Not ony the obvious Soft cell and human league, who i saw at hammersmith palais i think in december that year, but also japan, the associates, modern eon, felt, b-movie, dramatis and loads more.
CLL Dodge
06-11-2009
Prog groups used synths extensively, then punk was mostly guitar-based before synths came back into fashion big time in the post-punk period.
gamercraig
06-11-2009
Without taking my own thread too off-topic, I used to also think the soundchip in my Amiga computer was good too. You can keep your modern-day stuff, the sounds from that computer were the best and a great demo scene too with music tracks. I still listen to them now on an emulator.
LloydChristmas
06-11-2009
Originally Posted by gamercraig:
“Without taking my own thread too off-topic, I used to also think the soundchip in my Amiga computer was good too. You can keep your modern-day stuff, the sounds from that computer were the best and a great demo scene too with music tracks. I still listen to them now on an emulator.”

Sure, it was great. Sequencer One on the Amiga was the first music making programme I ever used, aged about 13 I guess. Those were the days.

As far as I know, my Amiga still works.
rhod
06-11-2009
Originally Posted by shackfan:
“Great thread! I love all sorts of music, but i always go back to 1981 as my favourite year. Not ony the obvious Soft cell and human league, who i saw at hammersmith palais i think in december that year, but also japan, the associates, modern eon, felt, b-movie, dramatis and loads more.”

There is a great quality bootleg of Japan playing the Palais in 1981, sourced from a Radio 1 broadcast. You can probably hear yourself screaming between the songs..

Japan's Richard Barbieri is hugely under-rated for his contribution to synth sound programming. Some of his sounds and textures still sound fresh and unique today, although ironically he didn't actually play keyboards on a lot of the recordings, as the drummer's timing was better, so he did it! - This was in the days when interfacing and sequencing keyboards was often a painful process, and MIDI was just a bright hope on the horizon..

With bands like Human League, Japan, Gary Numan etc, I think the big attraction for many fans was the sense of anticipation regarding the totally new sounds that they were coming up with. The mainstream media tended to concentrate more on the look and image, which to be fair they did cultivate with the hair and make-up etc.

As digital synths took over, sounds became more "life-like" and generic (mainly because early digital synths were a nightmare to program) - people stuck to the presets, which is why you hear so many DX7 bell, bass and brass presets on mid-80s stuff. Also, musicians were intrigued with manipulating sampled sounds rather than synthesised sounds for a while.

I think Vince Clark started the pendulum swinging back again when Erasure did those Abba covers using analogue synths.
Roy Batty
06-11-2009
Originally Posted by tangsman:
“For anyone interested in 70/80's electronica I recommend giving the following Tangerine Dream albums a listen :-

Phaedra (1974)
Rubycon (1975)
Ricochet (1975)
Stratosfear (1976)
Encore (1977)
Force Majeure (1979)
Tangram (1980)
Pergamon (1980)
Exit (1981)
White Eagle (1982)
Logos (1982)
Hyperborea (1983)
Poland (1984)
Le Parc (1985)
Underwater Sunlight (1986)
Livemiles (1987)

In short, a 13 year journey tracing electronic music development in both studio and live performance environments.”

I second this post.

This track by Tangerine Dream was recorded 26 years ago and sounds just as awesome now as it did then: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq_d0DKqyos Pure synth brilliance.

And of the course the classic Love On A Real Train from Risky Business: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlTT2mPA5BA
Last edited by Roy Batty : 06-11-2009 at 15:01
shackfan
06-11-2009
Here is the Modern Eon track I was thinking about earlier

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9SbkSghM9g

And Rememberence day by B-Movie


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIXGK...eature=related
tangsman
06-11-2009
Originally Posted by Roy Batty:
“I second this post.

This track by Tangerine Dream was recorded 26 years ago and sounds just as awesome now as it did then: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq_d0DKqyos Pure synth brilliance.

And of the course the classic Love On A Real Train from Risky Business: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlTT2mPA5BA”

This band were cutting edge when the UK Synthpop lot were still in short trousers, dreaming of owning a synth or trying to understand the synthesizer's owners manual.

Listen to Tangerine Dream live in 1986 and contrast with the Pet Shop Boys playing "Opportunities" live at the BBC around that time. The PSB's had a lot to learn. I say that as a PSB fan also.
Ricardodaforce
22-11-2009
Earlier this year I attended a lecture given by Karl Bartos on the history of electronic music. After I got to meet him. What a lovely guy.
Straker
22-11-2009
Originally Posted by shackfan:
“Here is the Modern Eon track.......”



A great band. Dindisc labelmates of OMD. I met Paul Humphreys while he was promoting his collboration with Claudia Brucken and asked him about Modern Eon. Amazingly he vaguely recalled the name but hadn’t heard their work! A band so obscure that even other synth bands don’t know about them!

Love their stuff. Have all of it, live tracks, b-sides, sessions etc. Child’s Play is an epic track of unbridled genius.

Agree with the above also, about Tangerine Dream. I would also recommend the best of their soundtrack work as well like Flashpoint, The Keep, Wavelength and of course Risky Business. Miracle Mile is one I would heartily recommend above others - The film is ace too!
Iceman09
24-11-2009
Obviously you can't forget the pulsating soundtrack provided by the synth legend that is Jan Hammer for the Miami Vice TV series.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47XaK4XJxFQ

Synth fans I recommend Fever Ray's (The Knife) self titled album, it was released this year and is fantastic!
Straker
22-04-2014
Originally Posted by Straker:
“A great band. Dindisc labelmates of OMD. I met Paul Humphreys while he was promoting his collboration with Claudia Brucken and asked him about Modern Eon. Amazingly he vaguely recalled the name but hadn’t heard their work! A band so obscure that even other synth bands don’t know about them! ”

Quoting myself as someone has uploaded the album and more:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzhjtCm_3OQ
Big.Al
23-04-2014
I'm a huge fan of this stuff too.

Japan don't seem to be mentioned often in discussions about synth music (as far as I can tell), but I loved them back in the day.

Japan - Quiet Life
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