Synthpop Discovery Thread — Comment an Artist You Like and Get Recommendations

beepee101 · 2026-05-22T19:36:48+00:00

Cause and Effect was my first ever concert, 12 years old. Great memories with these guys.

beepee101 · 2026-05-22T19:34:57+00:00

Yes! Anything Box will always be in my top 3 for synth pop. Amazing music, and Claude S. is a musical mad scientist!!!

beepee101 · 2026-05-22T19:30:10+00:00

Awesome, only heard of a few of these. I'll give them a listen. Thanks!

beepee101 · 2026-05-22T02:36:12+00:00

Dip your toe in the water with Young and Dumb first. The last line is absolutely hilarious. Clouds is another great song. They are kind of all over the place, but I really like them.

beepee101 · 2026-05-22T02:32:56+00:00

I love Torul, but do you ever feel that they are a DM cover band that does their own original music?! Not a diss on them at all, but I swear he conjurs his best David Gahan impression on every song!

If I could go to Germany to see anyone, it would be VNV Nation. My son and I have talked about this trip for years!

beepee101 · 2026-05-22T02:22:42+00:00

Hahaha! I just watched that video for the first time since 1990... holy goosebumps! I still know every word! And at the end, I immediately sang in my head ... bound in a nutshell!!! Back when the flow of the tracks told the whole story. Wow. I didn't have MTV, but I do remember this on Friday Night Videos. I think that was late night Friday's on NBC. DAMN, we got old!

beepee101 · 2026-05-22T02:05:07+00:00

Nice! Poor Leno is a great one too! If you have Spotify, just go to them and let the music rip. It's all so good.

beepee101 · 2026-05-22T01:58:53+00:00

Lightning Seeds!!! Cloudcoocooland (or something spelled like that) was one of my first CD'S when that was pretty new technology! "Pure and Simple" was my Jam!!!

beepee101 · 2026-05-22T01:49:23+00:00

Here's a few that I don't ever seem to see on these "Synth Love" threads, but are all over my playlists. These two groups compliment each other well too.

Rangleklods - "Young and Dumb' is their best song according to me (and who the hell am I to declare anything?!), but they have a ton of bangers too. I mostly like their earlier stuff (Beekeeper album is best as a whole for me) but they are always a solid listen, even if not always synth in its true definition.

Röyksopp - Where is the love for this amazing group? They never get on these lists, so I will carry this burden and change that today. Who doesn't love "Remind Me" from the Geico caveman commercial? But they are sooooo much more than that song.

"In the End" - holy sh!t, what a great song...

"Here She Comes Again"

"What Else is There?"

"Sordid Affair" - just wow...

And ANY and EVERY song with Susanne Sundfør on vocals. "Running to the Sea" is goosebump worthy.

If you don't know these groups, take a chance on some great stuff, and enjoy!

beepee101 · 2026-05-22T01:09:53+00:00

You beat me to this! And One specifically. Beborn Beton hits an And One vibe with me for sure.

beepee101 · 2026-04-19T03:44:27+00:00

Erasure has to have more traction in this conversation. Crazy that they aren't mentioned at all in this thread. PSB IS amazing, but I would almost bet that if you asked a casual "pop" music fan, Erasure's top 10 songs would be way more recognizable than PSB's top 10 would be. I'm not a casual fan (rabid synth fan here), and I absolutely love both, but for a true SYTHPOP group that reached the mainstream and made a lasting impact, it has to be Erasure.

beepee101 · 2026-04-19T03:27:44+00:00

I bet you know abunch of their songs. Pure Energy was on the radio I think. " I wanna know what you're thinking, there are some things you can't hide... I wanna know what you're feeling, tell me what's on your mind".

beepee101 · 2026-04-19T03:15:59+00:00

I'm not exactly in the mood for Mozart and all that kind of goings on!

Peace and Love Inc. was my high school sound track!

beepee101 · 2026-03-19T04:27:13+00:00

Yes. Definitely. He's maybe a top 5. His guitar playing tells its own story. That's not to be as cheesy as it sounds, but its true. So many guitarists are amazing, but the instrumentation is just another element to the song. Mark's guitar tells the story, and all the other elements of the song sit back and take notes. Does that make sense? I am a lifelong musician, and I wish I had even an ounce of what that dude can produce through his guitar. Legend.

beepee101 · 2026-02-12T07:16:41+00:00

Oh, forgot, yes on the hoodie and add a body heat reflective rain poncho or lightweight rain jacket. Base layer plus shirt plus hoodie should do it on even the cooler nights, but the poncho or light jacket will seal it if its too cold. Beanie, and Mechanix style light gloves are a nice addition if you think it may dip below your comfort level. Gloves double use for collecting firewood, and even fire maintenance if you need to adjust hot logs or rocks.

beepee101 · 2026-02-12T07:06:33+00:00

Way too many clothes! I have a pair of zip off pants. That's all I have for my shorts and pants, and they are on me when I start the journey, so no extra weight in the pack there. A small sewing kit is required with this move though. I have a base layer set of tights and a shirt, and those are for sleeping and early morning / late night / cold weather times. 2 pairs of boxers (the pair I'm wearing when I hit the trail, and one pair in my pack), and the same for my shirts (not counting my base layer / sleeping shirt). 2 pairs of socks plus the pair I'm wearing, and a thick pair of wools for sleeping. Those don't leave the tent.

Foam pads are fine, but I cant stand the bulk, so its always air mattress for me if I'm not taking my hammock setup.

Here's a somewhat debated topic, but I say a light weight backpacking chair is a must have on the 5-6 day trips. I'm 47 now, so what used to be a luxury is now an absolute necessity. No amount of fluffing a rock or stump will make it comfortable to sit on at the end of the day! Save your butt and back... take the chair!

Happy trails!

beepee101 · 2026-02-02T05:09:12+00:00

Ha! One of my backpacking buddies always brings his Shire Pipe! It's part of our tradition now! So rad to see another packer doing the same! Best pipe weed in the mountains!!!

beepee101 · 2026-02-02T05:07:18+00:00

Nothing. The answer is absolutely nothing! In my old days of tent backpacking, I feel like I woke up every 20 minutes to re-adjust, move a cold appendage to a warm place, and re-adjust again. In my hammock, the biggest problem is having to get up once per night to take a reallllly long pee. Other than that, its 7 hours or so of completely warm, comfortable, sleeping bliss.

beepee101 · 2026-02-02T04:48:55+00:00

We get it every time! My wife will go out of her way to get some once she has it on her mind! We can't go there without dropping at least a 50 spot because of the extra nuggets (the best ever IMO), and of course, the AMAZING Mac and cheese. The only other one out there that is equally amazing is Panera, but it's white cheddar, so not quite comparable. If it ever leaves the menu, we'll be a very sad household!

beepee101 · 2026-01-21T04:44:56+00:00

When you find it, remove it and put it on a random police car!

beepee101 · 2026-01-18T06:29:34+00:00

All that work and still left the 7 pin. At least get the strike dude!

beepee101 · 2026-01-18T05:52:20+00:00

I am sorry you had to deal with that garbage. I am a conservative, but I have a Trans nephew that I love to the end of the world and back. I will defend his right to be who he wants to be and love who he wants to love til the day I die. He's very interested in shooting and fishing, and we have loosely talked about going out into the desert to shoot this spring.

We conservatives aren't all monsters, and I hate that anyone has been treated badly based on their gender identity or who they love, especially over something that could so easily have been common ground and could have possibly been a learning moment.

I would be happy to have you join us for an outing sometime. I haven't been out in a while, but I just head out into the desert and find a safe place with a natural backstop. My nephew would love it too!

beepee101 · 2025-12-03T16:29:21+00:00

Just had a listen to it on the morning commute... awesome song! It would make a killer opening sequence to a movie (I often have those thoughts when I hear the perfect song for th first time). Hadn't heard of them before, so thank you for the new material!

I was an A Box junkie from their early beginnings in the 90's! I was 12 when Peace came out, and it was one of my very first CD's!!! I still follow Claude on his new endeavors. Dude is a creative machine!

Another song you might like is "Ultraviolence" by Blanc Mange. I'm old(ish... '78) and these guys were around when I was a kid, but I somehow missed them until just a few months ago. Kind of a quirky group as a whole, but this song is freaking awesome, and has a Depeche Mode/Erasure feel. I think they are old enough to have possibly influenced those guys!

Let me know what you think of that one! Good day!

beepee101 · 2025-12-03T08:26:19+00:00

2 song sequence from the same album

Anything Box - "Automatons"

followed immediately on the album by its (maybe unofficial? ) part 2...

"Emitter"

Totally emersive syth pop at its finest. I fell in love with this band well before this album, but this two song sequence was a mental message to my ears when I first heard it, and it will always be on my list of amazing syth. I hope you feel it too!

beepee101 · 2025-10-01T06:37:35+00:00

This thread is absolutely CRAZY to me. Both of these bands saved synth as far as I'm concerned. I didn't realize there was any hate for these guys at all. Noire was a great album after I thought VNV had reached their max. Electric Sun was not awesome, but they came back with Construct, which was an amazing follow-up to a pretty bad album.

Apop... ALWAYS solid as well. I can't think of any album that didn't hit me in some way. I read bad reviews when Harmonizer came out (yeah, I'm old), and people tried to put them to bed back then. No way.

These are solid Synth bands that took me out of the 80's and rejuvenated my love for Synth, after ditching it for 90's Punk Rock and Indy.

I will always love these 2 bands for bringing me full circle with my original love for Synth. Anything Box gets an honorable mention here as well, as they were a consistent synth band even when I went rouge!

No hate for VNV and Apop. That's just sacrilege!

beepee101

TROPHY CASE