I Love Synth Pop . . . Especially From The Experts

So I forgot to post a review on this one back when I bought it a month or so ago. I get way too excited when my favorite artists come out with a new album. It is so satisfying when it is a really good album. Lately other of my favorite artists have put out albums that are ok, but "Yes", the new album from the Pet Shop Boys, is fun, happy and a beautiful example of lyrical and electronic architecture.

Every once and a while I dig around for some good new synth pop and find some artists that are really good at making their machines make some great ear candy, but pretty much all of them fail when it comes to lyrics and a good tune that you can enjoy even when the music turns off.

Hats off to the Pet Shop Boys, this may be my favorite album after Behaviour.

Track Listing:

01 Love Etc. - Some good synth sounds, a fun bouncy beat, creative lyrics

02 All Over the World - A good fusion of classical motifs and modern electronic sounds. It has a unique rhythm that is very catchy.

03 Beautiful People - Reminds me of some of their B-side songs, apparently made for a TV show called Beautiful People in Europe somewhere. . . with that background, it sounds very much like a TV opening/closing song.

04 Did you See Me Coming? - By far my favorite song on the album. All the classic dancy beat of old pet shop boys with great new electronic ear candy and great melody & lyrics.

05 Vunerable - It is interesting lyrically, the synth is fairly basic, but the bridges give the whole piece the feel of one of those screen savers that you keep watching even though there isn't much to it.

06 More Than A Dream - Good ear candy. Would be cool to disco skate to. Very dynamic and well orchestrated.

07 Building A Wall - Good blending of lower notes & electrical sounds during chorus.

08 The King of Rome - Ok. . .so maybe I have two favorite songs on this one. This one is just so full of feeling. It reminds me of something far away that I can't reach. It takes me back to the days of listening to "Jealousy" in the underground hut Jared built and takes me far ahead to speculate what the future has in store. . . . listening to it right now. . . I'll enjoy this one for the long term much more than track 04.

09 Pandemonium - This one would be good to skate to . . too. This one is just fun, upbeat and very Pet Shop Boys as only Pet Shop Boys can do.

10 The Way It Used To Be - Really good new synth sounds/blends. Would be good for driving across the desert of Nevada, through Canyonlands or Arch's. .

11 Legacy - This one is probably trying a bit to hard to be interesting. Some complex key

changes with a political march feel to the beat. The least interesting of all the tracks.

12 Love Etc. (Pet Shop Boys Dub) - This one was a fun extra track for the album because it gave me one of those fun extra mixes that I used to get only by buying the related single. Might make a good launch ramp song or a speed skate song. . . . maybe a blackout skate with a really good light show with some programmed track light patterns and occasional bursts of strobes. . . and really loud bass.

13 (Yes Track by Track Commentary by Neil and Chris) - It is nice to hear artists talking about their own music. It is nice to hear how normal their personalities are and the little things they find funny about the whole album-making process.

Good Album.

If you like the Pet Shop Boys, this is one to add.

Cool Clouds & Fun Dinosaurs

I got off the bus today and this is basically what I saw. To the right was clear skies, to the left was completely gray. This was in the middle. . . . so I took a picture. . . only my camera was on low res. so you don't get all the cool detail in the could. Oh well.
We went to the Ogden dinosaur park the other day. It was fun. Sadie likes dinosaurs a lot. She says rarrrr whenever she sees a dinosaur toy, on tv, and so at the park. . . that is pretty much all we heard from her.

Introducing The Sisty Uglers

So she finally did it. Marthe is online with her sewing talent at Etsy. Her sister has been prodding her to do it for a long time now. Lately, however, Marthe has delved into sewing clothes and that turned into making a few outfits for Sadie, a couple purses and even some of her own patterns. She's actually pretty excited about it which is fun.

So she is building her inventory and learning what it is like to have a small web business. Anywho. . . . I've posted a permanent link on my page to the right, so you can visit her site and see what she's up to anytime.

Enjoy!

www.thesistyuglers.etsy.com

Day 6 - Sadie Drives Us Home

Sadie wanted to drive home.

Day 5 - One Last Day at Disneyland.

Excited about the Dumbo ride.

Weee!

We almost had a new king. . . or queen. :)

We also tried for an executive committee king.

Larger than life eyelashes.

Jedi Training

Tommy got picked for Jedi training and was able to defeat Darth Vader.

We stopped at the Lego store. . . of course.

They were actually upset at this point. . . but sometimes dad is able to make them laugh anyway.Some of them just get slap-happy the later it gets.

When Tommy runs out of energy. . . you know it is time to go home.

Day 4 - California Adventure & Disneyland Again!

She's ready for another day of Disney. You have to get the picture in the front of the park.

Are you ready for a Jungle Adventure?

Some people were too busy taking pictures to enjoy the ride. :)

This was Sadie's all time favorite ride.

Silly Monkeys.

She saw danger. . . it was written on a sign.

Baby elephants that take baths are pretty funny. She thought the back side of water looked pretty cool.

The canibals were debatable.

Hippos were interesting.

She did hide from the pirannas.

It almost looks real.

Mark and Marthe enjoyed the Tower of Terror. . . so did the Asian guy in the background. . . he was a bit worried at first.

Wall.E Was Fun.

Most of them were happy to be there most of the time.

The new Toy Story ride is my new favorite ride.

Once the boys put on the 3d glasses, they looked around and said, "wow Mark, you're in 3d" etc.

I realized shortly after Marthe took this picture that Tommy was actually standing up in the ride. . . You'll have to see the video sometime when I tell him to sit back down.

One of Spencer's occasional demonstrations of having to deal with it.

If you work for Disney, you get to fight kids with light sabers. . . and you get paid for it. It is great, because by the time fireworks come around, mom & dad are pretty tired.

Marthe did a great job with the new camera.

The fireworks were very cool.

This is one of Mickey Mouse:

Ooooh

Ahhhh

That was totally wicked!