Enjoy the pop mastery of Popgems! Dane and Marisa Conover continue to please.

Popgems is the project of Dane and Marisa Conover. Here is their new offering Acid Flowers and Fun. Dane and Marisa are close friends to World of Noise so give us a hand spreading the news of their great new song.

Listen to my interview with Dane Conover (Trees) here.

Marisa Conover was the co-host of my 1st Anniversary show. Read Marisa’s bio and listen to the show here.

Get ready to hear music you have never heard before – but should!

In the first year of World of Noise I showed you the roots of 80s synthpop in classical music and inventions of the electronic age. I introduced you to the pioneers of avant-garde music who dared to redefine the concept of musical expression and who brought the influence of world music to western consciousness, and I showcased several artists of the 80s who defined the genre of synthpop. Now, for my first anniversary show, we celebrate music and musicians of today whose current works are influenced by 80s synthpop, and explore the evolution of the genre. Here are the artists in the show:

RoMak & the Space Pirates

Hailing originally from the depths of South Orange County, RoMak & the Space Pirates is a flexible experiment in dance pop music. Their music has been described as many things, from jazz electro-punk to goth-glam circus. In 2005 RATSP released “The Long Walk” EP, followed by subsequent demo “The Universe is too SMALL” in 2006, finally releasing their opus full-length album “Attack of the Has-Been Androids” in 2008. “Attack of the Has-Been Androids” was released both online for free download and in the unusual form of wearable USB flash drive bracelets, containing the album as well as liner notes and artwork. The latter incarnation of the release was noted in LA Weekly’s music blog. The band caught the attention of LA Weekly again weeks later with their video homage to Rick Astley’s classic (and recently revived) “Never Gonna Give You Up” displaying the Space Pirates’ reinterpretation of the song and music video. The cover is to be featured in the upcoming online split with Northern California’s Vyncent Flaw, who also has an enthusiastic cult online following and similar obsession with memes. RoMak & the Space Pirates are also in the collecting stages of a remix album sequel to the last, to be titled “Revenge of the Has-Been Androids,” featuring a range of local and international artists reworking the group’s songs. The Space Pirates have also been noted in Blender Magazine, OC Weekly, LA Record, Citizen LA and many more printed and online publications. They continue to find different facets through which to expand upon their unique approach to electropop music. RoMak’s thoughts on the influence of the 80’s in their music:

The thing I like about 80s synthpop in the context of now is that it combines a certain type of creative openness with newfound technological accessibility. It seems to me that the musical climate of the 80s generally more accepted and appreciated quirkiness and risky concepts and/or gimmicks. Songs such as “Amadaus” could be on the radio. Whereas the common type of selectiveness people in today’s climate have been trained to adopt, filters out things without a glaringly obvious label that says “do” or “do not (take this seriously).” The freedom of ambiguity in 80s synthpop inspires the “anything goes” attitude that I feel is an integral part of our band.

For more info: http://www.romakandthespacepirates.com/

Ming & Ping

Identical twins Ming & Ping were born and raised in urban Hong Kong, and are now based in Los Angeles. The group formed in 2002 in San Francisco with their producer and creative director, Bao Vo. Since their 2004 debut release, the duo has been amassing a devoted following with their New-Wave inspired Electro-pop songs and copious amounts of visuals and unique brand extensions. Ming & Ping’s trusted group of collaborators has played a vital role in visualizing the twins’ electrifying music in a vivid multimedia stage show, earning the act a reputation of being more of a performance art project than just a band. Taking cues from their musical brother-in-law, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, the group has recently made unique efforts to redefine the music industry as they self-release their 4th full-length, simply titled “Ming & Ping.” To support the album, the group has launched a revamped, fan-centric social networking website, a unique Asian-themed pre-sale/fundraising “festival” on www.mingping.com, branded iPhone applications like “Ming & Ping Pong,” and even a bi-weekly YouTube show called “The Ming & Ping Spicy Show,” with more to come. Ming & Ping’s thoughts on the influence of the 80’s in their music:

80’s Synthpop and New Wave music are the greatest influence in our songs. The genre shows such innocence and experimentation with a new medium and new technology. Today we create music influenced by the aesthetics of 80’s synthpop, but we obviously do it from a very different perspective of multi-culturalism and instant electronic communication. Today we are all connected easily and technology is second nature to us, but what is innocent and still in discovery is ourselves, our identity, and our relationship with the quickly changing world.

Saudade (Todd Durrant)

Todd Durrant has run an indepenedent synthpop label and music store A Different Drum for more than 15 years.

Henry Coleman

Henry Coleman is an electro producer living in London UK making music characterized by beautiful synthesizer sounds. Having grown up in the 70’s & 80’s he has always loved Retro Synth music and the classic, legendary movies and sitcoms that came along with it.

For more information:
www.myspace.com/henrycolemansounds.com
www.henrycolemansounds.com

Killavox

www.killavox.com
http://www.myspace.com/killavox

Anthony Fasolo

Background/Inspirations

I currently live in Rochester, NY, USA and I am working on an EP for later release, perhaps this time next year. I have just completed a remix for a German electro pop group called New Concept which is tentatively slated for release in October. It is a remix of their previously released song “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter”. I returned to school in 2006 to finish my degree in fine art, concentrating on digital photography and imagery. While there, I investigated other digital mediums for projects and began using sound and computers as a means to an end. It wasn’t until these investigations, that I seriously began using it as a creative medium.

Growing up in the 80s and entering art school in 1988, I was heavily influenced by varied artists such as Peter Gabriel, Laurie Anderson and Brian Eno as well as pop artists such as Duran Duran and The Fixx. Of course there were many others, perhaps too many to recount. When I think about what elements inspire me most about that time, I can say it was the limitations of the technology and the ways it was used that continues to draw me.

Website Links: Twitter at: @AnthonyFasolo
http://www.AnthonyFasolo.com
http://www.myspace.com/anthonyfasolo
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Anthony-Fasolo/54688811779
Downloads Available at: http://www.reverbnation.com/anthonyfasolo

Datafreq

Datafreq is Dave Rout (from Techniques Berlin and Rational Youth). He occasionally invites other people to appear on his releases, and he asked me (Andreas Gregor) to write and sing on this track. I heard the music and instantly thought of the darkness of Blade Runner, and the bleakness of everyday life in an office. The surrealist lyrics came together in 20 minutes and we were both shocked at the “John Foxx”ness that the track took on, seemingly all by itself.

Apollo 101

Apollo 11 is a pop-rock trio band based in Norwich, UK consisting of Chris Walker on guitar and lead vocals; Josh Rayman on piano, synths and guitar; with Andy Walker providing the drums holding everyone together.

Brothers Chris and Andy have gigged together for many years, and recent addition Josh has been gigging for several years himself. Taking their cues from the world of melodic rock whilst infusing shamelessly catchy pop hooks, the band takes their songs to the stage with an electrifying live performance. In the studio, they carve a soundscape appealing to the listener’s ear, whilst keeping it accessible and interesting. Their influences are diverse,including Muse, Snow Patrol, Feeder mixed with Joy Division and even guilty 80’s pleasures such as A-Ha.

Obscenity Trial

http://www.otrial.de
http://www.myspace.com/obscenitytrial
http://twitter.com/obscenitytrial

Formative

We are from Norway, a small town called Kristiansund. Morten (vocals) and Kjell (programming) have made music together since 1994. A lot of our main influences are synthpop bands that emerged in the 80s, most notably Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode and Erasure. But like our influences, we are not nailed to one place in time or one sound. We evolve and explore new influences all the time. In addition to our own music, we are currently collaborating with Paula O’Brien on several songs/projects. We are unsigned, but we always welcome new fans and friends, so please connect with us

On MySpace we are www.myspace.com/frmtv On Twitter we are @formative We have an artist page on Facebook, as well.

Keshco

Keshco is a quirky English trio who play all sorts, from synthpop to psychedelic folk, comedy, dreamy soundscapes etc etc. Our lyrics are often odd or leftie, while our sounds are only limited by what we can get our hands on. Although we do lots of styles, synthpop is one of the prominent ones and perhaps our most popular track has been the Climate Dance, a heavily 80s synthpop-styled track which, when played live, has its own special moves which never fail to leave the audience resolutely in their chairs. Well, at least we try. Our biggest reference from the 80s period is probably Vince Clarke, in early Depeche Mode and then Erasure. I love his interlinked single-note lines and all the whooshy bits he’s made his own. We also particularly liked the Pet Shop Boys and Gary Numan, though Keshco has so many subtle influences from all types of music. The lyric is also a take on all those “instructions to dance” songs (”you gotta … your …”) that climbed the charts in those days.

http://uk.youtube.com/keshco http://www.myspace.com/keshco http://www.keshco.co.uk

Christoper Watson

I was exposed to synth-based music in the late 70’s by my best friend in high school. I was Editor-in-chief of the school paper, and my friend Joe was Features Editor. He had a standing agreement with a local FM radio station to haul away all of their unwanted promo vinyl. Each Saturday, he and I would drop the needle on everything in his stack for that week, and some of it was really good. Especially one record in particular, Ultravox’s “Vienna”. When the first strains of the lead-off cut “Sleepwalk” hit my ears, I was absolutely hooked. And that one song, still one of my all-time favorites, has been a tremendous influence in all the music I have written and recorded over the years. My introduction to Ultravox lead me to search out other similar acts of the time, and I quickly found a whole bunch of great bands that I grew to love, in the fashion and cultural movement going on in England: The New Romantics. I continue to be influenced by the music from all of those bands, like Blancmange, Classix Nouveaux, Duran Duran, A Flock of Seagulls, Human League, Kraftwerk, Landscape, Mi-sex, OMD, Spandau Ballet, Telex, Visage, etc. I am located in San Diego, CA, United States. I don’t have any websites devoted to my music at this time, but I do have some of my music up on several sites, under various monikers (all free downloads): http://www.soundclick.com/onus http://soundcloud.com/sleepconvention

Christoper Watson on Twitter: @skygeex

Trees (with Christopher Watson)

Fronted by Dane Conover, Trees was a one-man synthpop band from San Diego, California. Trees only released one album on MCA and produced by Earle Mankey in 1982 called Sleep Convention which was a critical success but a commercial failure due to MCA’s problems at the time. Reviews included comments like “Pop Music of the Future” and said the album “is a stunning debut which shows remarkable originality and talent. That this record died the commercial death is not just incomprehensible, it’s criminal.” Dane Conover ended Trees after one album to move on to other projects such as PopGems with his wife Marisa.

Paula O’Brien

I am a singer-songwriter, piano, synths – by ear, no formal training. I first heard Visage “Fade to Grey” on the radio – loved the elctro vibe and explored other electronic music from there…DM, Ultravox, Erasure, PSB etc. I bought a keyboard and started writing songs, but in more recent years have been programming into a Korg synth and the track “Dreamscape” which you’re playing was the first programmed track – I was exploring all the sounds/effects! I’m based in northern England, am unsigned and collaborate with Norwegian synthpop duo Formative. My twitter name is @paulasynthmusic and my myspace page is www.myspace.com/paulaobrienuk

Synoiz

A little about me, I’m an England based electronic artist. I’ve been interested in and involved with music in various capacities for a fair while but I’ve only started actually constructing/programming it myself since the beginning of 2008. I’d always wanted to be in a happy synthpop band and yet despite being in a few bands originally as a singer/lyricist, I couldn’t ever express fully what I wanted to achieve. Eventually I just snapped and went off determined to teach myself how to play/program/compose what I wanted rather than what a band needed. Left to my own devices I found myself experimenting a lot with the darker side of pop and avoiding vocals like the plague. My debut album “Ambients” will be out this Halloween so check myspace.com/synoiz or twitter.com/synoiz for more information as the big day approaches!

A gents in Infrared

That’s basically all just me (Andreas Gregor), using mostly analog instruments, except for the occasional digital drum. The music is deeply rooted in the eighties. Stylisically there is the similarity to the stucture and sounds of 1981. She’s a Killer fuses the Disco influenced drums with the analog synth simplicity of bands like The Twins, The Sparks and early Spandau Ballet. Lyrically its all “Boy sees girl accross the dancefloor” which many tunes in the 80s were about.

Gamma Gamma

Gamma Gamma is from San Diego, CA. Equipment used: Star Instruments Synare 2 (w/sequencer), Freeman String Synth, Monomachine, Atari 2600, drums myspace.com/gammagammamusic Twitter username: @Moogplayer

Doug Lynner

Doug was the editor and publisher of the international electronic music magazine, Synapse, and is a founding member of the musical groups Invisible Zoo, LEM, Moebius and The Boat. He is also the host of this show.

Young & Cold

Young & Cold is based in Chicago. http://youngandcold.tumblr.com http://twitter.com/youngandcold

Doug Lynner’s World of Noise 1st Anniversary Show Airs on October 8th, 2009 at 6pm Pacific time (US) and 9pm Pacific time (US) and October 11th, 2009 at 6am Pacific time (US) on http://www.flashbackalternatives.com, an Internet radio station based in New Jersey, USA. After the original three broadcasts on the station the show will be available for on-demand streaming right here at the show’s blog.

The show focuses on recent music influenced by ’80’s synthpop. It’s hot stuff with premiers galore, including the first new Trees (Sleep Convention) song of the century!

Though my show is normally one hour long, this special episode will be 2 hours long.

Doug Lynner’s World of Noise 1st Anniversary Show will feature my special co-host, Marisa Conover, a music business maven and important friend to my show. Here is a bit of a bio to introduce her!

Marisa Conover Bio
Although acting was her first love, Marisa Conover started writing songs when she was 13 and met her first husband, musician and composer, Steve Bonilla at age sixteen. He was a talented songwriter and piqued her interest in music even more. Married at 18, they began recording at a local Sacramento 8-track recording studio and one of their songs, “Early Riser,” rose to number 2 in their region.

Back then, you could actually get a DJ to play an unsigned song if they liked it.

At that point, never one to be shy, Marisa started to cold-call record companies. After about the fifteenth hang-up, she got lucky and they drove to LA to have a meeting with the Professional Manager at MCA Music Publishing. He told them they would be amazing jingle writers. They were young and stupid and took that compliment as an insult!

(Back then, writing commercial music was known as “selling out.”)

Marisa was not easily derailed. She built upon her husband’s dedication to the music of Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. Knowing that they had a local studio and an engineer named Earle Mankey, she looked the studio up in the phone book and gave them a call. Earle answered the call.

Playing with the truth, Marisa told Earle that they were in town for several meetings at various labels and asked if they could come over to make extra cassette copies of their songs, and while they were there, tour the studio. He said sure and off they went. Dubbing Marisa and Steve’s songs gave Earle a chance to listen to them. He loved them so much that he offered to record Marisa and Steve on spec in his home studio if they ever moved down to LA. So, in the middle of the night, with their one year old daughter in tow (and no money!) they moved to LA, checked into a hotel, called Earle and said, “We’re here!!”

This led to Marisa recording background vocals for the Beach Boys, working with Steve to found The Bodys, a power pop band that opened for Missing Persons and X, among others, and a day-job at Chrysalis Records. Starting as the receptionist she used her moxey to rise to the point where she could plug acts to the label. Her first success was with Toni Basil and her Number 1 hit “Mickey.” Marisa’s best near miss with Guns ‘n Roses: Geffen outbid Chrysalis 4-1.

While Marisa built her skills in the business she continued to hone her skills as a musician. She fronted a Runaways knockoff band produced by The Runaways producer Kim Fowley, and sang the children’s chorus
with Pat Benatar on her hit “We Belong.”

Ending up as the A&R & Video Manager with Sony Music International in New York, changes in both the record industry and her personal life led to an amicable split with her husband Steve. Eventually she met, again, Dane Conover of the 80s synthpop band Trees, for whose album “Sleep Convention” she had provided background vocals a decade before. They have been married for many years now and comprise the composing and recording team known as Popgems.