Round 5 Synthpop

[rayge]

A Robert Rental - Double Heart




B Ryuichi Sakamoto & The Kakutougi Session – Gonna Go To I Colony

[Deleted]

Easy Vote for A

[Deleted]

There's a lot going on in B, the beat sounds a bit Pachebelish under the reggae. I may have wanted a better vocal in this round but there's enough happening here to compensate. A has a good, understated bass rhythm but is it strictly synthpop? It sounds more like straight postpunk. The synth is there but it's secondary.

B.

[Mr. FOLLARD]

Can't get with B, really. I'm not sure. It might grow on me. Strange thing.

Right now, it's an easy vote for

A

[toomanyhatz]

Pretty much with Rodya on this one - the variety of things going on within B without it sounding cluttered or too "spot the influences" is impressive. It's probably more strictly adhering to the synth part of the equation too. A is fine but slight by comparison.

[Deleted]

Oh dear, I find myself being quite negative this round but it does seem to me this round has been pretty poor.
A is like a Krautrock track with the driving optimism extracted and replaced by a dreary miserabilism. It did have elements, like the piano, I quite liked though.
I've always found Sakamoto an odd artist. He'll release some beautiful neo classical thing and then follow it up with some horribly tacky thing that sounds like it should be selling Rice Krispies. This was like Sonic The Hedgehog goes to Jamaica...but nowhere as interesting as that sounds.

A

[Deleted]

I don't know what to make of this. Synthpop appeals to me about as much as a front row seat at a Trump rally but I find I like these. I was really getting into A and even almost liking the vocals. B I thought was going to be crap . then it was synth reggae ... wha? ... hang on .. not bad ...

There are bad touches to both (vocals in A, cuteness in B) ... but appeal to both too.

I'll come back to it over morning coffee.

*Edit: I wouldn't want to hear it too often.  But for now:

B

[DarknessFish]

Is A synthpop? Bloody hell what more do you want? I love this track, Robert Rental was a maverick genius at the beginnings of synthpop. His album with Thomas Leer, The Bridge is an all-time favourite, and this understated slice of urban romanticism is bloody gorgeous. Shortly after this, he disappeared from the music scene completely, I've no idea what he did with his life until hisuntimely death from cancer. But he was too great a talent to be involved in so few recordings.

B starts off really badly, but almost kinda win me over by the end. Reminds me of The Residents doing really shit reggae. I don't know why you'd ever listen to this, but it's an interesting choice, for sure.

[osgood]

A was not bad, but really left no traces. B is cute and nice in its OTTness, there's so much goin' on that it's hard to follow it, but it manages to appear lightweight. Good pick.

B

[fange]

B has me kinda perplexed whether I like it or not, which isn't necessarily a bad thing … but also not that great. :lol: I'm with JC; it might grow on me, but right now it's not persuading me to vote for it. A though is quite nice, simple and slightly melancholy and some nice melodic hooks.


A

[rayge]

A guy I used to work with had an art history degree, and so got lots of work subbing and contributing to art directories and so on. He once worked on a guide to European painters. In an ideal moment, he penned a short biography of a minor Dutch painter called Hertz van Rental, and, owing to more than one cock-up, it stayed in the book right up to the first proofs stage before anyone noticed. Not that that's relevant here.
I was in the Leer / Rental synthpop camp forty years ago, and while this isn't an earth-shattering example of RR's art, it will certainly do here, as I never got interested in YMO and this reggae-prog fusion nonsense exemplifies why not.


A