artists with the most promise

**cliffwalk** · December 27th, 2002, 02:47 PM

I don't believe in the concept of "selling out" anymore. It's not like BNL, for instance, compromised their music by releasing it for a commercial. That song (One Week) has to be their biggest hit and everyone in the world has already heard it and is probably sick of it... if anything the joke is on the media company that chose it.

When the ruling class of business people give money willingly to artists... it's a good thing... Corporations control a lot of the music scene... when I hear music in a commercial I know that for a brief moment: An artist controlled the destiny of their own music.

Dave

**pulsate** · December 27th, 2002, 05:19 PM

My pics
Echo Image along with Iris. Wow! I love both bands.
Seabound. Well of course!
Faith Assembly. Love almost all of their material.
I'm also looking for Future Pop move to explode! I hope it happens soon.

**Synthpopalooza** · December 27th, 2002, 05:28 PM

NukleoN, definitely, is poised to have a stellar commercial debut album, and I am excited about it!

Other bands to watch out for: I Satellite, Madmen in Vienna, Entropy 64 (a new album due out later this year, perhaps) ...

**Ninthwaver** · December 27th, 2002, 05:40 PM

Stuff to look forward to in 2003 from Ninthwave...

Raindancer maxi CD single (finally)
Symbion Project (K*ss*n from Freezepop) (already out)
Macondo full length
Electricity II fea. all new stuff from Heaven, Nukleon, Empire State Human, Macondo, White Town, Cosmicity, Turd Furguseon (remix of alan Cummins :-) and more
Heaven 17 full lenght
and more

-dave "always hypin'" Richards

**Synthpopalooza** · December 27th, 2002, 09:52 PM

Heaven 17.

Wow ... one of my favorite bands from the 80's releases a Ninthwave album. I can hardly wait ...

I might also mention the new Men Without Hats looks to be a good one, possibly. A return to their old synthpop form.

**Tim_BNI** · December 28th, 2002, 02:47 AM

I'd have to say Jay Jay Johanson. Already a fairly well known artist in Sweden, he's even on a major label there (RCA). His latest album "Antenna" is a brilliant blend of glitch beats, electro hooks and unique pop vocals. The list of producers includes electro/IDM/DnB gods Funkstorung. Seriously worth checking out. If I had to pick a favorite song I'd have to say "Wonderful Combat". Check out his website:

http://www.jayjayjohanson.com

It has song clips, videos and photos galore. BE sure to take a look at his video for "On The Radio". It will show you everything you need to know.

**Electroswank** · December 28th, 2002, 04:11 AM

Im so glad you introduced me to Jay Jay Johanson - this new cd antenna is really good, but after checking out the site, the other singles are also fantastic! im just sorry i didn't hear about him sooner...

so i'd have to agree with with you Tim, on this artist and i would also have to say that the new incarnation of BNI shows lots of promise as well... I can't tell you enough how amazing and unique your sound is developing into... of course i am teensy bit biased

**Synthpopalooza** · December 28th, 2002, 05:27 AM

I am definitely looking forward to the "Disco Milano" album from Madmen in Vienna ... another NYC band you need to add to your list. Recommended if you liked Duran Duran from around the "Rio" era. They draw influences from Duran Duran, The Fixx, and A Flock of Seagulls ... another aspect of 80's new wave that I really enjoyed. Not only were these guys fashion statements, but they were truly rock stars as well.

http://www.pandapop.com
http://www.mp3.com/madmeninvienna

**Tenpole** · December 28th, 2002, 12:08 PM

Sweden's Z Prochek look set to have a big year. Their debut album 'Intravenous' has just been released. Possible remixes released in '03.

Here is a cool mix of a track from 'Intravenous'. Love to know what you think!

Z Prochek - Point Blank (Standing Alone Mix)

**Avil** · December 28th, 2002, 05:39 PM

Originally posted by Tim_BNI
I'd have to say Jay Jay Johanson. Already a fairly well known artist in Sweden, he's even on a major label there (RCA). His latest album "Antenna" is a brilliant blend of glitch beats, electro hooks and unique pop vocals. The list of producers includes electro/IDM/DnB gods Funkstorung. Seriously worth checking out. If I had to pick a favorite song I'd have to say "Wonderful Combat". Check out his website:

http://www.jayjayjohanson.com

It has song clips, videos and photos galore. BE sure to take a look at his video for "On The Radio". It will show you everything you need to know.

Jay Jay has been around for a long time, he is very big down in France or something, but has never really made it until On the radio came. It�s an ok album, but I don�t think he will do anything spectacular again. This isn�t really his style...
I think he is just experimential at the moment.

Sweden got some potential future artists..yeah!

Christina

**cliffwalk** · December 28th, 2002, 06:33 PM

I think that's part of the thing, though... Artists learning how to use electronics for more than easy replacements for acoustic instruments.

I went and listened to Jay-Jay's stuff and it's hellishly fresh (to my American ears)... his melodic passages are intriguing to me... really cool stuff, I'm hooked.

dave

**ABoxFan** · December 28th, 2002, 11:34 PM

One band that Dave of Ninth Wave didn't to mention was The Mystic Underground who will also have a CD out in 2003 called "The Nameless & The Faceless". It has a lot of great songs that you should definitely check out.

In Shakespear's Garden Productions
(ISGP)
www.mp3.com/stations/isgp
http://isgp.freeservers.com/index.html
blulilrose@aol.com

**Kessler** · December 29th, 2002, 08:11 AM

I'm surprised to see so many bands that are already fairly mainstream listed as artists with the most promise. Dave Gahan? Ladytron? Miss Kittin? Felix Da Housecat? Gary Numan? I think these guys all pay their bills with relative ease by being on multi million dollar labels so I don't believe they need to exactly 'break out' in 2003.

I guess it also came as no surprise that someone predictably mentioned the Fab Futurepop 5 (VNV Nation, Assemblage 23, Apoptygma Berzerk, Icon Of Coil & Covenant) and a few of their inferior knock-offs. The problem there is that 2, maybe 3, of these bands already got as big as they could get in Europe. Apop and Covenant are afterall on sub-labels of majors, with VNV Nation surely following suit in the new year. If these bands had the potential (or talent) to make it huge in the US, it would have already happened. Sony & EMI aren't continuing to license these bands to Metropolis because they're a big mainstream label. They're continuing to do so because their American mega million dollar corporation counterparts couldn't be bothered. The other thing to remember is that these bands only sound mainstream to people in the underground scene who are used to bad Oscar The Grouch or Mr. Roboto vocals. To real mainstream audiences, they are viewed as either depressing Goth or very beginner pop bands barely able to hold a tune. Not something people are willing to buy into anymore. If Depeche Mode & Pet Shop Boys can barely sell records anymore (see Sound Scan stats), there's no chance that all of their lapdog Futurepop wannabe's will suddenly break new ground doing the exact same music with worse production.

My prediction for 2003 is that another million and one new electro bands all selling themselves as the next big thing by fusing Trance with EBM or melding the styles of VNV23 Berzerk with whatever harder edge powernoise group is popular at the time will emerge left & right (with even more gullable people actually believing it), more established bands will continue to get ignored OR just disappear as they tend to do with each new year, more over zealous DJ's who get impressed very easily will hype up numerous bad bands that you can't find anywhere on forums like this or similar mailing lists, every band under the sun will release another tired remix CD with the same old handful of "I'll remix anything for money" contributors (hello A23, VNV, Haujobb, Icon Of Coil...), Alfa Matrix will continue to spam us to no end with updates of horrible bands we still won't care about while they also continue to relate everyone elses news to whatever they are doing thru their Side-Line counterpart, the Fab Futurepop 5 will keep getting all the praise by easy to convince people locked in a bubble for the passion & genius they supposedly provide in everything they do while also releasing barrages of more useless singles & remixes, Depeche Mode will still be hailed by Synthpop elitists as the be-all end-all of music even though half of them didn't discover the band until last year, the war between MP3 pirates & "starving" labels & bands will rage on with the usual suspects all saying they buy what they download (uh huh, sure), people will still be convinced that if it's on Metropolis then it must be the best while smaller labels still get pissed on for delayed releases or struggling just to stay alive, more sub-par tours of bands no one has ever heard of will continue to happen and then get dubbed as phenominal successes after each band gets home and plugs away at their websites, fans of all things Powernoise will still naively think it's about to break really huge, Electroclash will have another mildly successful year that irritates the Synthpop community to its core...again, Trance will remain the word of the day until people once again realize that they can't tell any 2 groups apart, and people who point out these little facts of reality will continue to be pegged as trolls or �� disturbers.

My only hope for 2003 is that some bands finally figure out or remember how to WRITE a song instead of just throwing bad high school poetry on top of various 4 minute snippets of preprogrammed filler.

**David Vesel** · December 29th, 2002, 03:35 PM

Kessler,

Oh come on, don't hold back, tell us what you really think.....

I think it's going to come down to realizing that (a) music fans are fickle, and (b) most of the music we really love will continue to be relegated to clubs, college radio (if we're lucky), and the Internet for the most part because the typical listener still dismisses it all as "that '80s crap".

Really, all of us who are artists should be telling ourselves that we are the artist with the most promise in 2003 and then set out to making that true.

All of us who are fans, ultimately, have the last say though.

**cliffwalk** · December 29th, 2002, 05:37 PM

Originally posted by Kessler
I'm surprised to see so many bands that are already fairly mainstream listed as artists with the most promise. Dave Gahan? Ladytron? Miss Kittin? Felix Da Housecat? Gary Numan? I think these guys all pay their bills with relative ease by

... .. ..... ...

are viewed as either depressing Goth or very beginner pop bands barely able to hold a tune. Not something people are willing to buy into anymore. If Depeche Mode & Pet Shop Boys can barely sell records anymore (see Sound Scan stats), there's no chance that all of their lapdog Futurepop wannabe's will suddenly break new ground doing the exact same music with worse production.

Thank you for saying this. I may not agree with every detail but I'd say that you hit a long of nerves that I've been rather quiet/not-so-ballsy about saying.

Artists with a UNIQUE ARTISTIC VOICE that goes beyond how they Orchestrated.

Remember ... the order of priorities:

-artist first
-musician second
-electronic musician third
-pop artist/performer fourth.

Dave

**KissTheStar** · December 29th, 2002, 05:47 PM

Originally posted by Kessler
I'm surprised to see so many bands that are already fairly mainstream listed as artists with the most promise. Dave Gahan? Ladytron? Miss Kittin? Felix Da Housecat? Gary Numan? I think these guys all pay their bills with relative ease by being on multi million dollar labels so I don't believe they need to exactly 'break out' in 2003.

I guess it also came as no surprise that someone predictably mentioned the Fab Futurepop 5 (VNV Nation, Assemblage 23, Apoptygma Berzerk, Icon Of Coil & Covenant) and a few of their inferior knock-offs. The problem there is that 2, maybe 3, of these bands already got as big as they could get in Europe. Apop and Covenant are afterall on sub-labels of majors, with VNV Nation surely following suit in the new year. If these bands had the potential (or talent) to make it huge in the US, it would have already happened. Sony & EMI aren't continuing to license these bands to Metropolis because they're a big mainstream label. They're continuing to do so because their American mega million dollar corporation counterparts couldn't be bothered. The other thing to remember is that these bands only sound mainstream to people in the underground scene who are used to bad Oscar The Grouch or Mr. Roboto vocals. To real mainstream audiences, they are viewed as either depressing Goth or very beginner pop bands barely able to hold a tune. Not something people are willing to buy into anymore. If Depeche Mode & Pet Shop Boys can barely sell records anymore (see Sound Scan stats), there's no chance that all of their lapdog Futurepop wannabe's will suddenly break new ground doing the exact same music with worse production.

My prediction for 2003 is that another million and one new electro bands all selling themselves as the next big thing by fusing Trance with EBM or melding the styles of VNV23 Berzerk with whatever harder edge powernoise group is popular at the time will emerge left & right (with even more gullable people actually believing it), more established bands will continue to get ignored OR just disappear as they tend to do with each new year, more over zealous DJ's who get impressed very easily will hype up numerous bad bands that you can't find anywhere on forums like this or similar mailing lists, every band under the sun will release another tired remix CD with the same old handful of "I'll remix anything for money" contributors (hello A23, VNV, Haujobb, Icon Of Coil...), Alfa Matrix will continue to spam us to no end with updates of horrible bands we still won't care about while they also continue to relate everyone elses news to whatever they are doing thru their Side-Line counterpart, the Fab Futurepop 5 will keep getting all the praise by easy to convince people locked in a bubble for the passion & genius they supposedly provide in everything they do while also releasing barrages of more useless singles & remixes, Depeche Mode will still be hailed by Synthpop elitists as the be-all end-all of music even though half of them didn't discover the band until last year, the war between MP3 pirates & "starving" labels & bands will rage on with the usual suspects all saying they buy what they download (uh huh, sure), people will still be convinced that if it's on Metropolis then it must be the best while smaller labels still get pissed on for delayed releases or struggling just to stay alive, more sub-par tours of bands no one has ever heard of will continue to happen and then get dubbed as phenominal successes after each band gets home and plugs away at their websites, fans of all things Powernoise will still naively think it's about to break really huge, Electroclash will have another mildly successful year that irritates the Synthpop community to its core...again, Trance will remain the word of the day until people once again realize that they can't tell any 2 groups apart, and people who point out these little facts of reality will continue to be pegged as trolls or �� disturbers.

My only hope for 2003 is that some bands finally figure out or remember how to WRITE a song instead of just throwing bad high school poetry on top of various 4 minute snippets of preprogrammed filler.

And they all said "Amen"

~Craig

**cliffwalk** · December 29th, 2002, 06:16 PM

No ��, I just wrote in my diary. I no longer need to have arguments about music where I say the same thing over and over and over and over again and argue the same �� over and over and over again...

That requirement is gone.

If I feel I must I can simply point back to this post.

It sums up, pretty much, how I've felt all along but was never able to properly articulate it....

That shows the power of using concise language. If you say it clearly the first time you don't have to spend over a year trying to convey exactly what's on your mind

peace
dave

**Kirlian Blue** · December 29th, 2002, 08:47 PM

I put my money on the following becomeing big as i said in Monolithic , Wave in Hand and C.L.D.
I think after hearing Monolithic: Lulling us to sleep and Arms this guy is the Next Gary Numan...im bored to death of bands like VNV and Apoptygma Beserke ...And i think its Americas turn to rule the Wave Scene..C.L.D's:Mad Mans Game is also going to be a hit..ermm with a remix on the way it is already anthemic and is a song of very high substance..... Neuropa are the other band who i think deserve to get big....especialy with the song Mortality

If my band makes it next year modern influences are the ones stated above...all have set the calibre for musical quality higher thans some of the flat overplayed poorly produced EBM comeing out of Europe at the minute!

**pop** · December 29th, 2002, 08:54 PM

Too many fishes swimming in the tiny pond.
This is what happens when we add mainstream ideas into
our culture. I personally don't care for these discussions.
I know what I like. I hope you people do the same.
It is very difficult to change people's idealisms and tastes.
Sometimes, it is impossible or takes many years to make changes.
How many bars do you know that carry synthpop or electronic?
Bars always will be Punk and Rock. Clubs are always controlled by NAZIS.
I don't see any electronica being next big thing.
If musicians are not enjoying what they are doing, give up now.
You are dreaming too far.
You don't want to look like a blind who is walking towards the deep end.

These types of thread always end up with negativity or
overboost things that do not deserve. You can't predict people's tastes
and changes take place in people's lives.
Music is nothing but soundtrack's people's lives. You can't
quantify emotions and concept of thinking, so do whatever pleases you.

I will quote my two famous quotes.
1. Always dream, but don't swim too far.
2. Originality died long time ago, so don't fuc* me like that.

When is this site going to get rid of GAY freaking charts?
This isn't mini MTV.

**Kirlian Blue** · December 29th, 2002, 09:03 PM

Kessler

Ermm Gary Numan lest say he has only just got back on to a big label after 20 years ..notice he satrted out on a tiny independant called beggars banquet which was a small punk record shop with the money he made that label The Fall,The Mission,Bauhaus were signed and even paved the way for the Prodigy..He has never sold out and is the only survivor of the British Music Press and has always kept on Touring even when he was broke!!!!

And also Covenant was on Sub Space in europe for most of there carrear a tiny label...........Im not protecting APOP or VNV but they all started out small and when you say Europe dont include Britain as no EBM is officialy released here we can only buy import ! Depeche Mode sell loads of Singles in the Shops in the UK and are on a label called MUTE which has always looked after there Artists very well and spent on quality packaging,promotion etc....

I do agree VNV do a lot of remix's..Inertia will remix a track of mine for a small some but it gives that track guaranteed club play and if its an amazeing track i want it heard a few hundred quid aint no loss to me if my single is being played everywhere!

I agree on the MP3 site war won't end ..and electroclash well in the UK synthpop can now be played in an indie club as thewre is loads its a good thing shame about the bland 60's indie kids who dont now how to dance or dress to it i might as well burn them!!

kirlian B