Makin’ It Happen in 2010

Times Square

SWIK Music took a much needed vacation. Over the past few weeks, 2010 settled in while I caught up on TV shows like Glee and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia (via Hulu), began working out with a personal trainer, and spent far too much money on music. Overall, it was fun and relaxing. I spent a fabulous New Year’s Eve at a party Times Square. We watched all the madness in the streets from the warmth of a friend’s office, sipping champagne and dancing. It was a once in a lifetime experience, (definitely do NOT need to argue with cops at the street barricades for a party again). But what made the evening special was being around some of my closest friends as the over-priced disco ball dropped on 2010.

After a wonderful little “staycation,” as the kids call it, returning to work was brutal. Unfortunately, Monday Jan 4 arrived along with some sobering news about an ex who, apparently, I wasn’t entirely over. According to Facebook his relationship status is now “In A Relationship.” (Ok, I get it. We live in the 21st century. Everyone we’ve ever dated, unless you can’t remember their names, can be connected to you. Is this a good or a bad thing? I have no idea.) In addition to returning to work and seeing the relationship status update, I was terrified about the steps required for some major life changes in 2010. My friends and I have declared 2010 “the year of makin’ it happen,” in contrast to 2009 which was “the year of no regrets.” I’m eager to make things happen this year, but also scared - to the point of paralyzed - about taking the required first steps. As I paced around my (very tiny) apartment (one change will be a new home), Yaz’s classic 80’s dance song, “Situation” kept running through my head. Yet the album I spent most the week listening to was La Roux's self-titled debut album.




La Roux's album came out in September. I first heard them on one of Slim’s mixes and later read about them in Bust magazine. Last week, their song “As If By Magic” was the pick me up I needed. It's the catchiest song on the album. The lyrics, “as if by magic, thoughts of you are gone,” remind me that the feelings for this man will fade. If I just, “keep my head in the clouds and don’t look down.” (Note to self: just move on.) The music is all synthesizers, but co-writer and producer, Ben Langmaid, adds a modern edge. Named for her red hair, vocalist Elly Jackson brings emotion, and even soul, to La Roux's well crafted pop tunes. Her lyrics are simple, but that’s what we want from pop music (at least that’s what I want). The music makes you get up and bop around the office/living room/kitchen.


La Roux had a hit in the U.K. with “In For The Kill,” which debuted at number 11 on the UK charts and eventually went to number 2. They were included on several 2009 best of lists in the British music press. Their song “Bulletproof” is another good one and went to number 2 in the U.K. The backbeat to “Bulletproof” reminds me of Depeche Mode’s “Just Can’t Get Enough”. While “Quicksand” has a tinge of Prince’s “When Doves Cry.” I had to listen to the album a few times before I really got into it, but now I keep coming to back to these songs. Obviously, I have an affinity for this neo-80’s sound. Of all the bands I’ve covered in SWIK Music, La Roux, more than the others, comes straight out of a playbook written by 80’s synthpop bands (or new wave, pick a genre name) such as Depeche Mode, Erasure, The Eurythmics, The Human League, and Yaz (Yazoo in the U.K.). London Times reviewer, Pete Paphides joked that La Roux’s musical open-mindedness “extends to all four of the bands that Vince Clark was in during the 1980’s.” I thought this was hysterical. But what does this mean? Who was Vince Clark? Ok. A little background on 80’s electronic music since I’ve been writing about so many new bands who sound like they’re from the 80’s.

While many bands had used keyboards in the 1960‘s and 1970‘s, think Beach Boys and Pink Floyd, only a few musicians had begun to experiment with all electronic music or put the keyboard, rather than the guitar, up front. In the early 1980‘s keyboards and synthesizers decreased in price and offered an increased range of sounds. Early pioneers included Gary Numan (you remember the song “Cars”) and bands like Kraftwerk, O.M.D. (“If You Leave” from the end of Pretty In Pink), and The Human League (“Don’t You Want Me”). The aforementioned, Vince Clark was a founding member of Depeche Mode (“People Are People,” and later “Strangelove” or “Personal Jesus”). Clark only recorded one album with Depeche Mode, Speak & Spell. The band went on to achieve world-wide success, but at the time Clark supposedly didn’t like the direction the band was headed in and left.



This brings us to Yaz and “Situation,” a classic 80’s new wave anthem. After Depeche Mode, Clark formed Yaz with singer-songwriter Alison Moyet. Her deep, bluesy vocals, brought warmth to the synthesized sound. I can’t recall when I first heard “Situation.” I do recall waving my arms and dancing to it at the 18 and over dance club, Main Gate, on Sunday nights in Allentown, PA. (Yes, the very same Allentown that Billy Joel wrote about in his song of the same name.) This week, pulling up “Situation” was what I needed. I'm not sure if it was the chorus, “pick me up and shake the doubt, baby I can’t do without, move out, don’t mess around, move out, you bring me down, move out” or just the catchy beats that make me want to dance. Whatever. It’s a great song. I pulled out the album Upstairs At Eric’s, the first of only two recorded by Yaz. In addition to “Situation,” the album has several great dance tracks like “Don’t Go,” “Goodbye Seventies,” and “Bring Your Love Down (Didn’t I)” as well as some darker tunes like “I Before E Except After C,” which is really layered spoken word. Moyet, a SWIK in her own right, went on to record several solo albums and have numerous hits in the U.K. She has a powerful voice and writes some quirky tunes, almost a female Tom Waits. This means that her music is complex and even a bit challenging to understand, but if you do get into it you can hear the brilliance. She also has a sense of humor as evidenced by her work with British comediennes French & Saunders, the creators of the sitcom Ab Fab. Her last studio album came out in 2007. She recently released a greatest hits that I recommend picking up.

Yaz didn’t get much airplay beyond dance clubs in the U.S., but a few of their songs charted in the U.K. Although highly underrated, the album and the synth sounds of other early 1980’s bands likely influenced what became the heavier industrial sound of the late 1980’s and 1990‘s. Bands like Ministry, KMFDM, and Nine Inch Nails added a heavy, angry punk edge to electronic music.

And what about Vince Clark’s other two bands? That would be The Assembly and Erasure (“A Little Respect” and “Chains of Love”). You’ve heard of Erasure. No?

Maybe it’s nostalgia, but as I’ve said before, I’m thrilled that the 80’s are back and there are so many young bands putting a new twist on the synthpop sound. These were my formative years for music listening. Most of it provides a great pick me up or reminds me to pull out an older album, in this case Yaz, that makes me smile and dance. While I would prefer to dig up more 80’s music and take a longer walk down memory lane, right now it’s time to face the reality of my situation, get motivated to move out, and start on all the other things that I want to make happen in 2010. Of course, I can do that while I crank up "Situation."

What are you makin’ happen this year?