Emily: So here we are again with another 80s New Wave one-hit wonder. Those of you who have followed us for a while may remember our intense hatred of Soft Cell, despite a love of all things Tainted Love. Needless to say I was a bit hesitant to listen to an entire a-ha album. I love Take on Me, especially the Reel Big Fish ska-tastic version, and the original video is just plain awesome (check out the “literal version” too). Yet, I figured there must be a reason that they’re only a one-hit wonder . After listening to a-ha’s entire debut, however, I am happy to report that it does not suffer from Soft Cell syndrome. Take on Me is easily the best song on the album, but the rest of the album is well-crafted and catchy as well. Overall, Hunting High and Low is a very good, fun representation of 80s synthpop; definitely worth more than just one-hit wonder status.
Favorite Tracks: Take on Me; The Sun Always Shines on TV; I Dream Myself Alive
Zack: Full disclosure: I have been addicted to My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy for the last week and have also listened to 808’s & Heartbreak a few times as well. To those of you who don’t know, those are Kanye’s two latest albums and both feature a more electronic approach for him. This became relevant in my life a few days ago when I was discussing popular music with a coworker, Jason. Jason was railing against the evils of autotuning. He believes that it takes the prerequisite of talent out of a vocalist’s job and was truly disheartened that this seemed to be the way that music was heading. I must admit, part of me wanted to agree with him. But the other part was thinking about how much I enjoy MBDTF and that includes how Yeezy utilizes autotuning to further his artistic endeavors. It used to be that the purpose was to mask faults in a singer without the laymen listener noticing. But over time (and with a big push from T-Pain), it became an instrument in its own right. Now, critics listen to an album like MBDTF and view the robotic musings played in contrast to an unchanged voice as a statement about the shallowness of celebrity life or something. Such is the progress of music. Back in the day, I wonder what people thought about the increasing prevalence of synthesizers in music. Sure, they were present before the 80s, but it wasn’t until the Reagan administration that genres such as New Wave and synthpop really took off. There is a difference in that synthesizers were always an instrument that required a musician to play while autotuning was more akin to editing software. But both are a synthetic (hence synthesizers) approach that symbolizes a distancing of the human aspect of music. Kanye’s MBDTF has got to be the ultimate example of good autotuning. The worst, you ask? That is easily Friday by Rebecca Black. Now I’m pretty new to synth-driven music, but right now I would have to place the burden of worst synthesizing squarely on the shoulders of Soft Cell’s Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret. The title of best is currently held, in my mind, by a-ha. They walked a very thin tightrope perfectly: enough synthesizers that it is clearly defining but not too much as to cover up the other layers of sound that they create. It was a masterful performance by true artists. Listening to Hunting High and Low made me think that Norway should be more involved in the development of music. Clearly they know what they’re doing. I may not always be particularly happy with the shit that ends up on the radio, but studying the path that we took to get there is interesting enough. Like I mentioned earlier, music seems to be drifting towards a more complex and tech-reliant future. Why this is happening is anyone’s guess. Maybe it’s a reaction to growing feelings of isolation that can only be expressed through the most emotionless means possible. Maybe it’s the culmination of the Facebook era, where connections to others have become reliant on how many bars of service you have. I’m not a sociologist and I have no fucking clue. But I do know that this trend is one that’s been happening for decades now, and it isn’t necessarily all bad. Musicians like a-ha and Kanye prove that no matter what or how you’re doing something, there is a way for artistry to shine through. You just have to be talented enough to make sure it happens.
Favorite Tracks: Take on Me; Hunting High and Low; The Sun Always Shines on TV
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