Some albums just grab hold of you the first time you listen to them. With other albums, it takes repeated listening sessions for the songs to grow on you. And some albums you “connect” with only in a limited way, no matter how long you listen to them. I’m afraid to say that the latter is the case with Mesh’s new album, A Perfect Solution.

I had high expectations for this album, especially because their last release, We Collide, is an absolute masterpiece.  Mesh set the bar very high for themselves with this stellar album. In comparison, A Perfect Solution just doesn’t measure up.

I waited for weeks to write this review, waiting and wondering if perhaps I was jumping to conclusions too quickly. Maybe if I gave it more time, it would start to grow on me, I reasoned. But that never quite happened.

To be fair, A Perfect Solution does contain some excellent songs, such as Only Better, If We Stay Here, It’s Gone and Who Says. But the rest of the album seems to be populated with fairly mediocre songs that just didn’t resonate with me.

Here are some highlights:

If We Stay Here - A very strong opening track, with a rocking beat.

Only Better - A great choice for the first single from this album. Only Better has that signature Mesh sound - Mark Hockings’ distinctive vocals, angst-tinged lyrics, guitar for underpinning and soaring synths. The outro on this song feels bolted onto the song, and doesn’t quite seem to fit. Still, an excellent track overall. Be sure to check out the Alien 6 Mix of this song, which gives it a driving clubby beat and contains numerous neat little touches. It can be found on the Only Better EP, which was released a month before A Perfect Solution.

Everything I Made - Another solid mid-tempo Mesh song; just not very memorable.

Is It So Hard - A ballad; just doesn’t do anything for me.

Hold It Together - Another mid-tempo song that feels a little bit like filler.

The middle of the album is where Mesh seems to run out of steam. It’s not that they’re badly-written songs; they just don’t meet the usual standard that Mesh fans have become accustomed to.

It’s Gone - I like this pop-styled ballad, which is supported by a sweet-sounding acoustic guitar. Synths are used sparingly, mainly in the bridge of the song.

How Long - Another forgettable mid- tempo song, with somewhat inane lyrics: “If we’d ever write the play/We’d never need rehearse/Cause everything we say/Someone’s said it first.”

Who Says - What makes this song really stand out is the duet between Mesh frontman Mark Hockings and Julia Beyer of Technoir.

Hope.Dreams - Very much a classic Mesh mid-tempo song, with percussive synthesizers and Hockings’ minor key vocals. This is one of those songs that took a while to grow on me.

Want You - Not one of Mesh’s more memorable ballads.

The Bitter End - The closing song on A Perfect Solution starts out with an echoey synthsizer riff that sounds like an homage to VNV Nation, and transitions into a driving, industrial beat with Hockings’ punchy lyrics proving the counterpoint. This is a strong end to an otherwise average album.

A Perfect Solution marks the return of a former Mesh staple, the instrumental outro. They work well on a few songs, such as Who Says and Hope.Dreams but they seem randomly bolted on to other songs, such as Only Better and Hold It Together.

My verdict: A Perfect Solution is a pretty good album, but as a follow-up to their last album, We Collide, it’s not of the same caliber. Die-hard Mesh fans will want to pick it up to complete their collection. But if you’re new to the Mesh camp and are looking for an entry point into their extensive catalog, We Collide is still your best bet.

Tenek’s new album, Stateless, is one of the standout synthpop releases of 2009. It’s filled with infectious, complex songs that are a delight to listen to, with a myriad of rhythms and textures that are pure ear candy.

Tenek is the latest project from Geoff Pinckney (The Nine/Mesh) and Pete Steer. Both gentlemen have had long careers in the UK electronic music scene, and it shows in the confident, polished but never over-produced arrangements on Stateless. This is the first full album produced by the duo.

What really sets Stateless apart is the variety of songs, from synth-driven pop to club-friendly, beat-heavy, densely arranged floor fillers, plus several impressive instrumental tracks. A number of songs do an excellent job of blending synthesizers with guitars – a rarity in most electronic music these days. Steer’s guitar playing is used for emphasis, and never overwhelms the arrangement of the songs.

I’m a fan of layered arrangements where different elements swim around in the headphones, sometimes supporting and other times contrasting with each other. That means there’s lots to love in Stateless. There is literally no filler on this album. Every song is a strong effort in its own right.

Here are a few highlights:

Breakdown – One of my favorite tracks on Stateless. A club-friendly beat becomes really pronounced in the chorus of this densely layered arrangement. Vocals are punctuated by some use of vocoder, but it’s not excessive.

Submission – Opens with very cool guitar riffs. This is a nicely arranged mid-tempo song.

If I Should Fall – A driving uptempo number with nice use of vocal harmony. Another favorite from this album.

Where’s the Time – A rocking song with a great rhythm. Rather sparsely arranged, with pulsating synths and lyrics providing a very effective counterpoint to each other.

Fatality – A mellow instrumental track that starts out with a sparse beat, adds an understated, spacey guitar riff and is eventually punctuated by driving synths about two-thirds of the way through.  Nice!

I Don’t Cry (For You) – Intelligent lyrics and soaring synths combine with a nice, driving beat. Synthesized guitar is used nicely for emphasis between the chorus and verses. Another one of the better songs on Stateless.

Less is More- A driving beat and chilly, cool-sounding synths combined with Geoff’s sharply-punctuated vocal stylings make this perhaps the best track on the album, in my opinion.

State of Mind – Spacey opening that quickly evolves into a lush arrangement with pulsating, layered synths.

Sombre Friday – An awesome chilled-out instrumental that you simply must listen to on headphones. Nice layered arrangement point-counterpoint about halfway through the song between the stately “chorus” synths and an electric guitar.

If you’re a fan of contemporary synthpop, chances are you’re going to love Stateless, which is released on the Toffeetones label. I can’t wait to see where Pinckney and Steer go from here!

On Tuesday night, my sister and I went to see the Pet Shop Boys in concert at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee. Despite the fact that they’ve been making music for over 20 years, I had never had an opportunity to see them live, so this was a real treat for me.

The show was amazing. PSB played an entertaining blend of old and new songs, including many of the classic tunes that I listen to regularly on my iPod Touch, such as Two Divided by Zero, Closer to Heaven, Left to My Own Devices and Kings Cross.

New tunes from the group’s latest album, Yes, released in March of this year, were also well represented, with the boys performing Did You See Me Coming, Love Etc., Building a Wall and More Than a Dream. Neal Tennant and Chris Lowe incorporated several interesting “mashups” into their performance, at one point starting off with the instrumental part of Disccoteca, seamlessly morphing into several riffs from Domino Dancing and then transitioning into a cover of Coldplay’s Viva la Vida.

A Pet Shop Boys concert is not only an aural treat, but a visual one as well. Tennant and Lowe made multiple costume changes. The stage setup was amazing: A stark wall of giant white blocks, which served as both a prop and a projection screen. Four “cube people” – singers and dancers wearing cube heads and robotic-like outfits provided back-up vocals and entertained with well-choreographed dance moves. About a third of the way through the concert, the performers knocked down the wall, after which stage hands in white lab coats and hard hats periodically rearranged them into different configurations.  The motif was both simple and amazingly flexible.

The capacity crowd at this intimate venue was very enthusiastic, dancing and cheering for PSB classics like West End s, Go West and It’s a Sin.

All in all, it was a stunning experience that was over too soon, and exceeded my expectations. In an age when many 80s new wave and synthpop icons are trying to recapture their now-middle aged audience, the Pet Shop Boys have confidently kept doing their own thing. Listening to this well-chosen retrospective of their considerable catalog in a span of 90 minutes was truly impressive!

Lumineux Noir, the new album from the Greek synthpop girl duo Marsheaux, is a delight to listen to and is one of the top synthpop recordings of 2009, in my opinion. This masterpiece is filled with bright, energetic and memorable pop- and club-oriented songs that are perfect for a sunny summer day.

On this new album, Sophie and Marianthi – the two Greek goddesses who are Marsheaux  –  experiment a bit more with club friendly beats, guitars and the electronic toy-like Casiotone. The album features the girls’ trademark ethereal, seductive vocals, which often venture into beautiful harmonies. The song arrangements display a nice variety, sometimes sparse and other times lush, but never overproduced or campy. Marsheaux’s simple, irresistible melodies and lyrics continued to play in my head for hours after listening to Lumineux Noir — a tribute to Sophie’s and Marianthi’s remarkable songwriting skills.

As suggested by its paradoxical name Lumineux Noir, isn’t all sweetness and light electro-pop.  The album also has its darker touches: The closing track on Lumineux Noir is a very cool, brooding song called Sorrow about love and loss that appears to be inspired by Depeche Mode.

It’s hard to pick a few favorite tracks to recommend to you, because this is such a strong album from beginning to end. If I had to do so, I would say that the songs I like the best are So Far, Exit, Stand By, Loss of Heaven and Sorrow.

In short, two thumbs way up for Lumineux Noir! The album is available on iTunes and from a variety of online music outlets. You can keep up with all of the latest Marsheaux developments on the group’s Facebook page.

Mesh recently released a video in which Mark Hockings and Richard Silverthorn provide an update on their new album, which is due to be released in October, and preview the first single from it, Only Better.

It’s a very cool song, with all of the signature traits that made We Collide such an outstanding release - the driving beat, the lush arrangement and Mark’s distinctive vocals. Hearing this “teaser” makes me really excited to see what the rest of the album will sound like!

Only Better will be released as a single on September 4th - just a little over a month away. Very, very cool!

As a DM fan from way back who hasn’t been satisfied with any of their releases since Ultra, I was prepared not to like their new release, Sounds of the Universe. In fact, when I listened to the 30-second clips of the first two songs released on iTunes about a month ago, I wasn’t impressed at all. It met my expectations - from what I could hear, the songs sounded aimless and uninspired. In retrospect, that just goes to show you how limiting a 30-second song clip can be. Last week, I listened to a number of the full tracks on YouTube, and was impressed enough to download the entire album from iTunes.

Now that I’ve had a chance to listen to it (nearly non-stop) for several days, here’s my verdict:

Sounds of the Universe is Depeche Mode’s best effort in many years! Their latest release takes a retro turn; Martin Gore utilized analog synthesizers on this album, which gives many of the tracks a more interesting and colorful sound. Also prevalent on a number of songs is a rather fuzzy sounding electric guitar, which is used with great effect to punctuate many of the well-written songs. Each track has little touches that make it a delight to listen to on headphones. I listened to the entire album for the first time on my iPod Touch while walking at the local health club, and found myself smiling again and again, and going “Wow - what a cool song!” more than once. My favorite tracks include In Chains, Little Soul, Perfect, Miles Away, Corrupt and Oh Well (Black Light Odyssey Mix).

As a whole, Sounds of the Universe is an amazingly strong effort from the group that helped to define the synthpop genre over 20 years ago. Two thumbs way up!

If you are new to synthpop that electronic music, one of the questions you’re probably asking is, “Where can I buy this amazing music?” The definitive source for everything synthpop is Todd Durrant’s excellent online store, A Different Drum (http://www.adifferentdrum.com). No matter how obscure the artist or track, chances are Todd either has it in his catalog, or can find it for you. What’s more, he also runs a small independent synthpop music label, which includes such notable acts as Neuroactive, The Echoing Green, Kiethevez,  Rename, Rupesh Cartel, Wave in Head and many others – 51 in all. Todd seems to have a special talent for finding and producing promising synthpop groups!

If you want to get a sense for the variety of songs that make up modern synthpop, all you have to do is visit the home page of A Different Drum. A pop-up music player appears, playing dozens of songs that showcase a diversity of song styles and artists. These aren’t just song samples, either, but complete tracks. Great stuff!

In fact, it’s not too much of a stretch to say that Todd Durrant is the “guardian angel” of synthpop music. Of all of the people in this underappreciated music genre, Todd has done more to keep the flame burning and to relentlessly innovate to help grow this fascinating and multi-faceted musical niche. In recent years, he has experimented with holding synthpop music festivals, sending sampler CDs with each mail order, selling a specially packaged collection of science-fiction short stories and companion songs to accompany each one, releasing themed compilation CDs, even releasing selected remixes from several of his label artists on vinyl!

As Todd explains in his recently-launched weblog, it has been a struggle to keep A Different Drum going. Like many other small, independent music labels, Todd’s business is adversely affected by illegal music downloads, which are now rampant. Even some of most obscure, limited releases have found their way to online music sharing services within a matter of weeks of their release, much to Todd’s dismay. Running such a business certainly is not a way to get rich quick, as Todd will be the first one to tell you.  But there is no question that he is passionate about this musical genre.

I, for one, deeply appreciate all that he’s done to support and grow the synthpop music genre. Please be sure to support his tireless efforts by purchasing music from his online store. And if you want to keep up with what’s new in this musical world, be sure to sign up for his weekly e-mail newsletter, which always highlights the latest and greatest and also calls attention to special promotions and discounts from time to time.

Keep up the great work, Todd!

Rupesh Cartel’s 2007  release, The Disco and the What Not, is one of those CDs that I never get tired of. It contains an amazing collection of songs that are a delight to listen to on headphones. Lush, layered synthesizer arrangements combined with Viktor Ginner’s strong, expressive vocals are the closest thing to “ear candy” that I have experienced in some time.

The CD opens with the title track, which would sound right at home in any dance club around the world. Next comes About Denial, which is a catchy, uptempo song with some neat synth touches and vocal harmony. If you buy the deluxe 2 CD version of The Disco and the What Not, includes several great remixes of this song, including a club version and very good one by Rename.

One of my favorite tracks on the CD is Comes the Hour, Comes the Man. Its chorus is punctuated by sharp, rhythmic sythesizer riffs that sound really cool. Another standout is The Abyss, which opens with an echoey lead guitar (!) all by itself that sounds like it has been run through a synthesizer. Then the synths kick into a layered arrangement. The lyrics are interesting, too, including lines like “Homes. Locking doors for safety/And things will stay the same/We let sleeping dogs lie.” In other words, we tend not to like to disturb the status quo, because change could be even worse than our existing dire situation.

Hide Like This is anotehr notable track, which gets a very cool remix from Lowe on the bonus CD, adding guitars to the brew of synthesizers to excellent effect. Ghost White is the single from this CD, and it’s another great song. A very bright, percussive set of synthesizers carry the melody of this fun track, and the vocals are sung in harmony. It’s a great choice for the single.

In conclusion, The Disco and the What Not is one of my favorite CDs!

Until the release of their new CD, Terrorist TV (launched on September 11th, naturally!), I was only familiar with Foretaste through several of their remixes. But all that changed when I downloaded this fine CD from iTunes. It’s one of the most amazing new releases of 2008, from a French duo that few people have ever heard of. Foretaste is a duo with enigmatic names: XX handles the vocals with a very capable, sexy-sounding voice - with a French accent, of course - while XY does some very creative programming and backing vocals.

Terrorist TV opens with the song “Dying for the First Time in My Life,” the first of several dance-floor friendly tracks on the CD. “21″ is another excellent dance track, with a pulsating beat and expressive vocals. My particular favorite on Terrorist TV, however, is “Soft and Delicate,” which grabs ahold of you from the opening notes and never lets go. This excellent  song has a techo feel, and is punctuated by playful synthesizer riffs and spoken vocals in several places. This CD also features several mid- and down-tempo tracks, which are equally as good.

One other track that is worthy of note is “The Virgin Concept,” a 1-minute instrumental that contains a pulsating synthesizer sound that is like nothing I’ve ever heard. It’s pretty cool, especially with the speakers or headphones turned up loud. It just resonates inside your head!

I’m normally not a big fan of female-fronted synthpop bands, but Foretaste is an amazing exception. I highly recommend this CD, as well as their first one, Beautiful Creatures. I can’t wait to see what they come up with next!

For more info:

Band website: http://www.foretaste-music.com
MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/foretaste
Where to buy: A Different Drum