Latest Synth-pop Posts

[MP3 Playlist] Indie Dojo (August 2015 Round #3)

Posted by Allegra Azzopardi - August 18, 2015

It’s so easy to fall into a funk. Nothing goes right, nothing feels right, and when its REALLY bad, nothing even sounds right. It’s horrible. But it doesn’t have to be that way forever. When you are down in the dumps, it never hurts to call on some of your friends or even better…an Indie Dojo. Cause, we’ll be here. In good music and in bad. You’ve got a ninja.

’Ryan Egan – Between The Pages’

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’Terribly Yours
Answered Prayers’

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’BATTS – For That, I’m Sorry’

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’Rin McArdle – Stay On The Ground’

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’JoshLubovich – Repetition’

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’Lejón – To Hold Her’

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’Laurie Cameron – The Girl Who Cried For The Boy Who Cried Wolf’

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’Johanan – Go On (Let It Go)’

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[Synth-Pop/Dark-Wave] The Familiar – Patience [TMN Premiere]

Posted by Matthew Bloss - August 17, 2015

The Familiar
Patience

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While many synth based pop structures seem to produce a bevy of sunnier, joy inducing sounds; it is the darkest, murkiest corners of the genre which constantly draw this writer’s attention. With acts like Black Marble, Gang Signs, Young Prisms and Craft Spells consuming the majority of my limited ‘pleasure listening’ time; the unlikely duo of Brooklyn-based singer Ruth Mirsky and Norwegian-based producer Mads Martinsen known better as The Familiar -who by the way have never actually sat in the same room to make music- have earwormed themselves deeply into heavy rotation around the TMN pool. With a haunting cover of Hozier’s “Take Me To Church”, and a stellar debut EP Rooms most recently pacing the pair’s current ascension into alt-pop circles the world over; The Familiar’s latest single “Patience” dives into more personal territory. Mirsky weaves a vocal-central aesthetic through a plea for patience to her lover over Martinsen’s pulsating, synth-driven beat and rhythmic, foggy pop hooks for a tune that swallowed us up from our first listen. The Familiar’s deft yet subtle use of rolling staccato synths played off a lush set of vocal reverberations also has us drawing up comparisons from the gloomiest of Kavinsky tunes to College’s wonderful Heritage LP and even a touch of Johnny Jewel laden synthetica. And in case you weren’t aware, those are all very lofty associations. Hop on The Familiar wagon with “Patience” before literally anyone else on behalf of a TMN premiere above.

[Electronic/Future] SMLE – With Me Ft. Hype Turner & Mary Ellen

Posted by Matthew Bloss - August 14, 2015

SMLE
With Me (ft. Hype Turner & Mary Ellen)

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Since we first came into contact with them over a year ago, enigmatic production troupe SMLE have been consistently churning out some of the most tasteful midtempo, genre-blurring electronic music we’ve heard since a young chap by the name of Harley Streten took the scene by storm in 2011. We’ve already featured a pair of tunes, “Every Chance You Get” and “It’ll Be Okay”, off of their forthcoming EP Reasons To and today they’ve delivered us yet another carefully crafted soundscape which fuses pop arrangements, a heavy dose of soul, and skampering beats. “With Me” features syrupy vocal work from Hype Turner & Mary Ellen, and subtly combines nuanced percussion, murky rhythms and a huge, future-leaning synth which swallows up its listeners at will. SMLE’s darker instrumentation on this one bounces wonderfully off of Hype Turner & Mary Ellen’s playful vocal work, which has all resulted in another song we couldn’t wait to share with out TMN faithful. Stream “With Me” above.

[Indie-Pop] Memoryy – Feeling Sinister [TMN Premiere]

Posted by Matthew Bloss - August 11, 2015

Memoryy
Feeling Sinister

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Last landing on our pages in February with effervescent synth-pop single “Eternal Sunshine”, Brooklyn based Memoryy has once again set his wings down behind another slice of indie-tinged alt-pop. “Feeling Sinister” is the latest from Memoryy, and just one listen to the 80’s dipped synth work, subdued horn section and fleeting hooks had us falling all over again. Memoryy effortlessly rolls on midtempo pop structures injected with a contemporary blast of tasteful shoegaze and dream-pop; which has us dialing up comparisons to artists as current as Tanlines & Twin Shadow to as far back as New Order and even Peter Gabriel’s art-housiest expressions. “Feeling Sinister” doesn’t end just instrumentally either, featuring a soaring refrain played off of subtle pop backing harmonies, acting as the glue drawing all of “Feeling Sinister” together as a single movement. With Summer temperatures rising stateside, Memoryy’s dropped a perfect addition to all of our roof, pool and beachside parties, and it’s be more than wise to follow suit.

About the tune, Memoryy shared with us: “Feeling Sinister is a song that just reminds me of hot summer nights. It’s also the first Memoryy song to have a horn section on it – an inspiration I’m not ashamed to chalk up to one of my fave guilty pleasure pop songs, Go West’s ‘The King of Wishful Thinking’…. Although they used synth horns & co-producer Brothertiger got his trumpeter buddy Dave Levy from Bombrasstico to come into the studio… Every time I hear the song now I’m transported back to the feeling of hearing that solo for the first time – breathless & magical.” It certainly is. Stream “Feeling Sinister” above ahead of an official August 14th digital release through iTunes (preorder link here) and before anyone else in the form of a shiny ‘TMN Premiere’.

[MP3 Playlist] Indie Dojo (August 2015 Round #1)

Posted by Allegra Azzopardi - August 4, 2015

Sometimes it’s hard to finish what you started. Some of you might not even make it through this playlist before you get the urge to get up and start something else. But, hey, we won’t hold it against you. There is some overachiever out there that will finish it just because we mentioned the possibility of not being able to. And you, the un-finsher, we know you’ll be back. And we’ll be right here waiting with a whole other list of songs to finish or not to finish listening to. ‘Cause that’s just what we do.

’Júníus Meyvant – Color Decay’

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’Jimi Charles Moody – Other Man’

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’Stolen Jars – Kept’

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’Owen Rabbit – Holy Holy’

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’Lewis Del Mar – Memories’

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’Rainy Day Women
Are You Coming Home?’

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Rose Quartz Sits Down With TMN To Discuss New Album, Record Stores & More [Exclusive Interview]

Posted by Matthew Bloss - July 31, 2015

Denver based Rose Quartz has long been a staple in many of The Music Ninja staff’s music diets. Back in December, the now four-piece released their re-tooled, textured and evolved debut EP as a full four-piece, Leaving Now, which we fell head over heels for and most recently dropped a collaborative ‘TMN Premiere’ single with Brothertiger, “Pleasure & Pain”. Last weekend we had the chance to take in one of our favorite music festivals, The Underground Music Showcase, in Rose Quartz’s backyard of Denver, which this year featured headliners like DIIV, STRFKR, Tennis and of course, Rose Quartz themselves for one of the busiest three-day stretches we have the pleasure of consuming all year. After taking in their Saturday performance on the Main Stage, we caught up with Ethan, Alex, Clay and Matt after an intimate and enthralling set on Sunday at the Hi-Dive to discuss the important things in life. Like disco, Schlitz Malt Liquor and loads more. Read our entire interview below.

TMN: First off, thanks guys for sitting down with us, we’ve been huge fans since it was just Ethan & Alex as FLASH/LIGHTS, and then of course to the debut Flashlights EP from Rose Quartz. We’re just going to keep it super casual, so let’s just get right into it.

So, now that you’re a full live quartet with the addition of Clay on bass and Matt on drums, there seems to have been a shift in sonic temperament from the Flashlights EP to your most recent EP Leaving Now, which we loved. Can you talk a little bit about how that shift has affected the songwriting and recording process for you guys.

Alex: Yeah, we’ve done a lot of different things now that we’re a four-piece. We’ve been writing for the entire band now, and shifting our influences much more to a funky, disco kind of influence. We’ve been listening to a lot of the BeeGee’s, Hall & Oates, and Michael Jackson…

Clay: …The Gap Band

Alex: …Yeah The Gap Band, and a bunch of good 70’s funk and disco. And I think that just that has really helped out, and then having four people, whether it’s on stage or in the studio, just having three other people to smile at has made us want to play I guess, happier and more upbeat in regards to the music.

Ethan: And now that we’re a four-piece band, the writing style has changed. When it was just the two of us we had to write stuff that could be performed by two people and didn’t look shitty. *Laughs from the room* Which limits the kind of writing we could do in terms of our live performances. So now that we can do it as a four-piece we can write much more complex stuff with more layers, and more tasteful ways we could actually recreate live. So that was a big shift for us definitely. Just.. finding the groove.

Read the rest of our interview with Rose Quartz after the jump….

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[Indie Pop] IYES – No Wonder

Posted by Ivan Chung - July 30, 2015

IYES
No Wonder

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Following “So Crazy”, pop duo IYES released another lovely tune as a sneak peek of their upcoming album Part One. “No Wonder” gives a whole different vibe in comparison to their previous track, largely due to the joyful and uplifting melodies. The vocals are soothing and addictive to the ear. Subtle piano chords and light drums also accentuate the poppy vocals. As a surprise, there is a guitar solo in the middle of the song, followed by a series of bass synth to highlight the outro.

This delightful tune will definitely get you through the mid-week struggle, or make your day that much better. Keep IYES on your radar, you don’t want to miss out on more cool tunes as Part One nears its release.