Browsing Tag

Depeche Mode

Mercury Teardrop – Everlight: 80s Post Punk meets Sonically Absorbing Ambient Electronica

Posted on 21 June 2020

Fans of 80s Post Punk will definitely want to greet the chilling atmospheric synths and analogue guitars featured in Mercury Teardrop’s debut album Apparitions of a Dying Moon.

While each of the soundscapes is a finely orchestrated intricately textured feat of escapism, the best introduction to Mercury Teardrop’s sound is undoubtedly the fourth single, “Everlight”.

With tones which tear through you and the absorbingly unpredictable progressions in the extended-length track, listening to Everlight is a full-body experience. After hearing the album at home, I now have a visceral need for Mercury Teardrops’ walls of deftly crafted noise to hit me live.

Mercury didn’t just pay homage to bands such as Joy Division, the Cure, Depeche Mode and Talk Talk with their debut. He reinvented perpetually cutting energy of Post Punk whilst also weaving their love for Ambient Electronica into the sonically blissful mix.

All songs written, performed and produced by Bradley Roger Baum.

You can stream Everlight along with the rest of Mercury Teardrop’s debut album which was released on June 6th via Spotify.

Connect with the artist and stay up to date with future releases via Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Harbor Gents – Twisted: Funk-Fuelled Alt Synth Pop

Posted on 14 May 2020

There are very few breaking Pop artists who can match the instantly magnetic ingenuity in Harbor Gents’ latest single Twisted.

Through soul-spilling lyrics, evocatively resonant vocals and the layers of Funk, Hip Hop, and Avant-Garde added to the Synth lines, you’ve never quite heard a Pop track like Twisted before.

Despite the striking distinction which drips from Twisted, Harbor Gents ensured that the accessibility wasn’t diminished, the deftly crafted melodies will stick to your synapses like superglue.

Any fans of Gary Numan, Kraftwerk and Depeche Mode will undoubtedly want to give this perennial Pop earworm plenty of attention. The Latvian artist is definitely one to watch. It isn’t every day that we discover an artist who creates a brand-new trajectory in the evolution of Pop.

You can check out Harbor Gents’ single Twisted for yourselves by heading over to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Joe Adhemar releases his new alt rock effort Space Between Spaces

Posted on 5 May 2020

Impressive how alternative rock can develop into new wave and still maintain a taste of industrial music! Let yourself be impressed with Space Between Spaces, the opening track of Joe Adhemar’s homonymous album.

The delayed vocals in the first verse reminded me of what the RHCP did in One Hot Minute (remember ‘Warped’?) even though not as swinging, before floating onto a gentle synth melody that opens up to a beautiful alternation of compressed fuzz guitars and cleaner ones.

It’s the kind of trick Depeche Mode would probably play. Or if they wouldn’t, Joe Adhemar will with valuable originality.

The harmonic soundscape lays the perfect foundation for the melody playing with slightly dissonant notes that confer even more peculiarity to an already distinctive style.

Don’t wait too long to jump on Spotify and enjoy Space Between Spaces.

Review by Jim Esposito.

Centric – The Fifth Dimension: Pure Unadulterated Progressive Sound

Posted on 5 November 2017

The Virginia based band Centric are an absolute analogue dream. Their track The Fifth Dimension was released in October 2017 but they’re worthy of a throwback review of their genius approach to music. It truly is a crime that Centric still lingers on the underground music scene,

Centric’s music has all of the synthesised delight of Depeche Mode, Gary Numan and Shiny Toy Guns with a delectably soft Industrial EBM sound. Their futuristic sound provides a tranquil yet lucidly progressive aura. It’s expertly orchestrated with an innovative sound that’s pushed through each beat to provide you with a myriad of emotions as the track runs through its 5 minute duration. Centric’s other tracks such as Heartlead and Telluride provide much more of a synthesised grungy sound not too dissimilar from bands such as the Editors. Bands such as Centric prove that Grunge and soft rock have an Infinite Malleability, and their elemental influence can be revelled in in a plethora of other genres.

If this hit dropped on a dancefloor, I have no doubt in my mind that the crowd would be immersed in its euphoria. Their tracks retain an upbeat sound that’s highly resonant and provides a sea of soundwaves for you to sink into as your mind expands in time with the melody.

Check out their single which you can download for FREE on the BandCamp page using the link below!

https://centric.bandcamp.com/track/the-fifth-dimension

A&R Factory Present: Villiers

Posted on 4 May 2016

Villiers are a deliciously dark synth pop/ new wave four piece from the north of England. Forming in 2011, originally as a three piece, they released first single ‘The Dancer’ on Jack to Phono records to rave reviews and airplaya acorss the world from BBC Radios 2’s Janice Long and Jonathan Leigh Rosen’s ‘Lopsided world of L’.

New single ‘Wandering’ encapsulates many of the iconic sounds of which the band have been influenced by such as New Order, Bronksi Beat and Depeche Mode creating a dreamy yet dramatic pop track that’s sure to get those bodies on the indie dancefloor. The track tells a tale of love and angst set against a dark, drug fuelled club scene.

The band are brother Ben and Daniel Earnshaw, Daniel Buckle and Mike Bradford.

Live dates:
May 29th – Darwen Live (Mainstage)
June 17th – Night and Day, Manchester (Supporting Avec Sans)
July 6th – SummerDays Festival, Clitheroe Castle