Fatal Charm – Summer Spies (Hi@30mix)

Synthpop
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One of my favorite albums of the mid 90s was Jamboreebop by State Of Grace featuring the songs Hello, And Love Will Fall and Smile. This was a band that I truly missed, until today. I was listening to some playlists on Spotify and heard this beautiful voice that immediate caught my attention…and it sounded oh so familiar. The band was Fatal Charm, a band that I had never heard of. I continued to listen to a few songs and after a while the sounds started to sound familiar. They were State Of Grace songs! I did some quick googling and was surprised to find out that Fatal Charm was the early incarnation of State Of Grace.

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The Radio Dept – Occupied

Electronic, Synthpop
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From the moment you hear the syncopated beats you are thinking some kind of 80’s dance jam ala Blue Monday or Bizarre Love Triangle is on the way. Not exactly, as the song settles in to a more chilled groove with slightly disaffected vocals – but that is kind of the charm of The Radio Dept. As the song continues, the bouncy synths invoke Royksopp and Technique-era New Order.

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Everything By Electricity – High

Synthpop
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Let’s just get right to it…High is an anthemic Electropop jam. Everything By Electricity rarely misses and High is no exception. The track teases with 10 seconds of pulsating synths before the bass beats kick in. At this point I am primed and ready, and Emi’s dreamy vocals bring it on home. Folks, we’ve got an early summer jam right here in the vein of Chromatics and Chvrches and I don’t drop those names lately.

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Azure Blue – Every Ending Story

80's Revival, New Wave, Synthpop
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Azure Blue plays slightly-twee synthy new wave which would appeal to fans of the Junica, Trembling Blue Stars, and Lightning Seeds. This song, “Every Ending Story”, is from this Swedish band’s new EP and is among my favorites by them. I could imagine hearing this ’80s-style tune being played over the closing credits of a…

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SynthDecade – Lighten Up The Darkness

Dark Wave, Synthpop
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Admittedly, we listen to a lot of Depeche Mode-sounding bands here at Chez Strangeways, and lucky for us this German band is among the Depeche-iest. SynthDecade has a few great songs, including this one, which reminds me a little of DM’s ʺWalking in My Shoes.ʺ This song has a very late ’80s/early ’90s DM feel, including the dark uptempo feel, the vocal effects, the chord changes, and the occasional unexpected bloops, bleeps, and twang that keep it all very interesting during repeated listening.

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