Synthpunk

[Andrew McIntosh]

Human League on the other hand - we all know where they ended up, but early on they were pushing the envelope. 

Their ep "The Dignity of Labour" is, to me, something of a proto-Industrial classic. Perhaps because I first heard it on a radio show that also played a lot of SPK, Cabaret Voltaire, Test Department and so on. I have a lot of time for the pre-split material that I've heard so far. "Life Kills" is a great little track with nice, up-tempo energy and punk cynicism.

[Phenol]

Early Human League is phenomenal! Sure they became a full blown pop band, but the 70s stuff has that synth tone that I cannot get enough of and some pretty dark songs alongside the more accessible ones.

I didn't know Primitive Calculators, but I like what has been linked to quite a lot.

[post-morten]

is this within the realm of what you're after, and if not, why not?
https://moduretik.bandcamp.com/music

Not sure if you were referring to a certain album by this artist? I randomly listened a bit here and a bit there. For me this doesn't quite cut it. It sure has the "synth" part but is lacking in the "punk" department.

Here's a little song by Vice Versa. I guess it's not that far from The Normal in terms of sound. Maybe not aggressive like The Screamers, but there's definitely some punk aesthetic.

Oh, I know this track, didn't remember who it was by though. Very good! Yes, I see it as aligned with The Normal and early Human League. Kids with a punk sensibility exploring the possibilities of the synth in their adolescent bedrooms.

[Andrew McIntosh]

is this within the realm of what you're after, and if not, why not?

https://moduretik.bandcamp.com/music

There's nothing wrong with it but I tend to think of it more as "electronica", or something like that.

One thing I find objectionable to electronic music that I consider more "dancey" - and look, this is just pure bias - is that a lot of the rhythms are, for my tastes, too complex and syncopated. With the kind of music we're discussing here, I prefer a more straight forward, starker and minimal rhythm. To me, the sparseness of such beats makes up a part of the atmosphere of synth punk, electro punk, coldwave or what have you. Whereas more "built" type of beats/rhythms sound, to me, like they belong more in discos.

This Moduretik, from what I listened to, seems to prefer a more ornate and worked-on beat. Some of his synth sounds are fine, in that some of them have the harder, analog tone, but he also seems to mix in a lot of darkwave-y type sounds which to me is perfectly fine but not what I look for with synth punk/whatever. I seem to have a sort of "purist" attitude, but of course that's open to contradictions too.

[Zeno Marx]

I think I got it. Maybe.  Good discussion.

The way you guys are talking, you had me thinking of Vilently Ill.  It's not synth.  It's not really related, but that's where I went.

https://www.discogs.com/artist/313297-Vilently-Ill

[impulse manslaughter]

Suicide, Screamers, Devo are some obvious choices. Active Ingredients come to mind. They released 2 impossible to find singles. Also, Los Reactors, Futurisk, Red Asphalt, Suburban Lawns, Metal Urbain, etc.

[Andrew McIntosh]

I think I got it. Maybe.  Good discussion.

The way you guys are talking, you had me thinking of Vilently Ill.  It's not synth.  It's not really related, but that's where I went.

https://www.discogs.com/artist/313297-Vilently-Ill

I looked them up on YouTube and I get your point. It's the drum machine. But I'd class Vilently Ill as pretty much a hardcore punk project, straight up, drum machine or not.

Makes me think of that whole side of what's called Industrial that are basically rock and metal bands with drum machines and probably the odd synth or laptop. Not my bag but nothing wrong with it. Just tends to veer too closely to dance music for my biases.

[Andrew McIntosh]

I like this thread because I often think about the origins of what we can call popular electronic music, that is, the time when commercial synthesisers became cheap and accessible enough that anyone could get their clammy paws on them and just come up with anything. I mythologise that time as a very aesthetically fecund period. Not just the commercially popular types like Human League et al, but the underground popularity of people just jerking around with synths to see what kind of sounds they could come up with and inadvertently inventing genres people would be dealing with decades later.

I find the notion of that time - not so much the pure aesthetics, but the whole notion of being inspired to experiment with something that sounded weird and unlike other instruments - very inspiring.

[AdamLehrerImageMaker]

Primitive Calculators are one of my favorite bands ever but synth punk is far too limiting a genre tag for them, even though they do indeed use synths (and drum machines), they probably make most sense just beneath the more vast post-punk moniker but they are also early noise punk, avant punk, or my preferred team of "avant sleaze."

One of the search hits was a plug by you for the band The Primitive Calculators. I think they definitely need a mention here too.

Did somebody say Primitive Calculators?

https://primitivecalculators.bandcamp.com/album/the-world-is-fucked

[P.i.L.-Lu]

Not sure what bands represent "synth punk" the best.

Misfits on their very first release had a synth. Or was it "electric piano". Anyway there was no guitar on it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cough/Cool

Lately I have had some difficulties in categorizing Cursed Moon. Now, is it "synthpunk"? Anyway it is a cool project:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrOrCTILEwM&list=PLWz1psVwWXhdhZFxrgZJLZbkMflYsBkzy

And at least there's no drums in there, but a beat box.

Like Vilently Ill had.

I possess almost everything V.I. ever released. Even a few compilation tapes Andrew made for me back in the day.

As far as I remember, Vilently Ill used some synth only on their 2nd LP "Heal the Earth". The rest of the stuff was really primitive, rough punk with distorted guitar (although few tracks with non-distorted guitar) raw vocals and drum-machine. Main influence of V.I. was early American hardcore punk.

I remember Andrew once said majority of Violently Ill fans are losers/outcasts. I took it as no joke. Maybe he was right.

Andrew also had a noise/whatever project called Concrete:

https://www.discogs.com/artist/731879-Concrete-3

I think I got it. Maybe.  Good discussion.

The way you guys are talking, you had me thinking of Vilently Ill.  It's not synth.  It's not really related, but that's where I went.

https://www.discogs.com/artist/313297-Vilently-Ill

[Andrew McIntosh]

Anyway there was no guitar on it.

It does, but the keyboard is the main instrument.

[post-morten]

Ur-punk and original industrial pretty much grew up together in the same milieu. This goes especially for the UK and California. Labels like Rough Trade and Subterranean Records catered for both styles. Zines such as Kill Yr Pet Puppy (their online archive has loads of great d/l's) covered TG/PTV/C93 as much as Crass and The Mob. Punk and industrial had a couple of bastard children. One was the more experimental side of punkrock with bands like Swell Maps, Mekons, and Flipper. Another was the synthpunk we're talking about here. Loud and snotty groups with a lot of attitude using synth/keyboard/rhythm box as the driving instrument. Punk/hc bands using these devices merely for fleshing out the sound really isn't the same thing. This goes for suggestions like the Misfits, Vilent Ill, Suburban Lawns, or Active Ingredients. That's my take on it at least.

[morbid_dyspepsia]

https://www.discogs.com/master/556847-Nervous-Gender-Music-From-Hell

Absolutely amazing. I picked up a cassette copy of this in Tokyo in 2016. I'm guessing everyone here has seen the Live At Target footage?

There was a synth-punk band from Melbourne, Australia about 10 years ago that played in the vein of Primitive Calculators, Slugfuckers, Suicide, Nervous Gender, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDjidDTrvvY
https://www.discogs.com/artist/1971160-Chrome-Dome-2

[Phenol]

https://www.discogs.com/master/556847-Nervous-Gender-Music-From-Hell

Absolutely amazing. I picked up a cassette copy of this in Tokyo in 2016. I'm guessing everyone here has seen the Live At Target footage?

There was a synth-punk band from Melbourne, Australia about 10 years ago that played in the vein of Primitive Calculators, Slugfuckers, Suicide, Nervous Gender, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDjidDTrvvY
https://www.discogs.com/artist/1971160-Chrome-Dome-2

It's really good! There was a bit of a boom in punk mixed with synth and space rock (or something like that) some 10-15 years ago. I remember listening to a fair amount of bands that had that kind of sound, but don't remember that many of them now. Danish Tumor Warlord might fall in that category although leaning more towards space rock than synthpunk. Space organ punk, haha? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImkARadyzkA&ab_channel=TumorWarlord

[post-morten]

There was a synth-punk band from Melbourne, Australia about 10 years ago that played in the vein of Primitive Calculators, Slugfuckers, Suicide, Nervous Gender, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDjidDTrvvY
https://www.discogs.com/artist/1971160-Chrome-Dome-2

Chrome Dome? Cool, another obscure Aussie gem. Their sound remind me quite a bit of Neon Judgement. Of course no one would put the synthpunk label on NJ, but I think in early tracks like "TV Treated" or "Factory Walk" they at least approximated the style.

A more recent Swedish group that perhaps were more arty than punky were Love Is a Burning Thing (corny name, got nothing to do with Johnny Cash). I liked them a lot, saw them live a few times. After releasing an album in 2014 they quitely faded away though. Here's a live clip from a TV studio (bonus: see an epic fail when one of the synths topple over after 1:25), Dancer On a Chair.