This is Volume 2 in the mix series of songs that sound like they would be included in a modern day John Hughes Soundtrack. I used a few different approaches in picking songs. Some of these songs might perfectly fit in one of his 80s masterpieces while others are guess how the sounds that he covets might have evolved over the years.
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Apparently, this is the summer of infectious female-led synthpop jams. You know what? I’m quite ok with this. Meanwhile, the video is all sorts of Retro invoking the look of Deee-Lite and Austin Powers at the same time.
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Strong Hearts is just the latest in a string of infectious synthpop jams from the Orlando duo, Priest. From the debut self-titled LP, the track will have you singing along in no time and it’s not going to leave your head any time soon.
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I flat out LOVE this new track from Class Actress! Elizabeth Harper has done a rather impressive job of re-inventing herself; from her earlier folkier acoustic based solo days when she was billed as a ‘Female Morrissey’, to her rebirth as a synthpop star with Class Actress tracks like Journal Of Ardency, Weekend and Keep…
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Plantlife, the new single from Cold Showers is a very pleasant surprise to stumble upon. The LA Post-Punk band wowed us with their debut LP “Love and Regret”, but they’ve been pretty quiet of late. On the surprise new single, a driving synth beat is added to the mix of pounding drums and shimmering Post Punk…
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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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This title track from Tobias Bernstrup’s new album “Romanticism” is a great synthpop track and really has multiple levels of the theme “old vs new”. It has a modern sound but you can hear its ’80s roots, and it will appeal to fans of bands like Alphaville and Empathy Test and many others in that genre.
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Saint Etienne frontwoman Sarah Cracknell is stepping out for a solo break with her new LP, Red Kite. This gorgeous slice of Indie Pop seems radio-ready, with charming boy-girl trade off vocals between Sarah and Manic Street Preachers’ Nicky Wire.
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Happiness is…a new IAMX single! Nobody quite lays down the sinister synth beats like former Sneaker Pimps frontman Chris Corner. Happiness is…the fact that the b-side of the single is a remix of the title track by fellow dark synth purveyor Gary Numan.
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A few months ago, Spotify removed several features that angered it’s massive customer base. They promised that most of those features would be slowly added back. Strangeways will do our best to inform you of the changes as they are made. Below is the list of changes that were included in this weeks 1.07 release.
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Today the UK indie rock band Editors delivered their second new single this year. Continuing where they left off with No Harm, Marching Orders is a powerful balled that will hopefully be filling large stadiums in a town near you soon. I say “large stadiums” because I feel that it is the progression that this band is taking. In my mind, the band is hitting their stride with U2’s Joshua Tree era of songs.
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Wow…there is just a ton going on here…within the opening seconds you’ve got a Post-Punk bassline, then wait…some jangle that could signal some lighter Indiepop ala Bleachers is on the way, followed by ‘Twinkles’ found in many Raveonettes tracks and then finally some Synth reminescent of Eurythmics? What the hell direction are we going? Mind you we are only 20 seconds in. Finally we get some deep baritone vocals and all of these disparate sounds start to come together rather nicely.
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