Steve Wilson's Baby Boomer Guide - VOLA One of the underappreciated underground rock albums of 2018, album received flak back then tho in time 'Applause Of A Distant Crowd' (AOADC) has grown with positivity. The electronic new wave synth continue to be a part of the Influences diverse VOLA sound. Contrast by the sub-genre 80’s synth-pop which became prominent during the British synth-new wave era of mid-1980's. The material on "Applause Of A Distant Crowd" is, although it´s not as heavy and riff oriented as the material on "Inmazes", and generally features more electronic pop/rock/prog music influences, still the sound of Vola. melancholic and atmospheric. It´s the successor to "Inmazes". And features one lineup change as original drummer Felix Ewert has been replaced by Adam Janzi.VOLA made it clear from the get-go in the Ghosts single that they were not interested in expanding upon the djent pop sound of the last album. Instead, they chose to examine closely the more synthy dream-pop aspects that were under all that djent pop of Inmazes.Nonetheless, the two big highlights are Alien Shivers and the eponymous track, the latter of which is a somber take on the aftermath of a failed relationship and sounds just as melancholy and lost as one would expect it to with that background. For the young gen.. The British synth-new wave era of mid-1980's was an evolution of punk music, at least in its early days. Looking back, they couldn’t be more different in that punk was typically loud, grungy, simple and guitar driven; while new wave was shiny, heavy on synthesizers, and often musically complex. But what they shared was an ethos of upending the rock and roll status quo. Both were reacting to the overly serious and self-important rock of the seventies. Think arena rock, posturing in front of the wind machine with hair blowing, or fifteen minute drum solos on 100 tom toms. Think Emerson, Lake, and Palmer doing rock ragas about God knows what and Arthurian faerie creatures. Think big corporate entites making scads of cash and rock stars in private party jets flying from gig to gig. Punk and new wave intentionally flipped the script on all this, often celebrating dorkiness, quirkiness, singing about insecurity, angst, frustration, daily life for unemployed young people (especially in Margaret Thatcher’s UK). Both punk and new wave began in people’s garages and art schools. It seemed to me, though, that new wave was less interested in trashing the place than punk was, and was less about growling and more about, well, music and fun and sometimes big lashings of wit. Huge generalization, of course. I also think that new wave was in part what happened when punk started waning. Punk was kind of a one-trick pony, and a lot of punk players either knew how to play more complex stuff or learned how to. And so they wanted to. There was also a big, brand new musical pallette to play with as well: synthesizers. Soundwise, new wave was either synthesizer rich or kind of garage-band sounding, or some combo of the two. This doesn’t quite sum it up enough, though. Some new wave bands (especially those that started as punk bands) were in fact pretty straightforward guitar rock bands, but with a more spare, spiky quality than standard rock (think the Police or the Smiths). If earlier rock music at the time was big and produced-sounding, with ringing power chords and organ and big drum kits, new wave was tighter, smaller, and more immediate sounding. New wave often used “quirky” sounds and chord structures and brought together unlikely musical ideas (think Rock Lobster by B-52s or Whip It by Devo). Songs were shorter, more succinct and immediate. In a way, new wave brought back the 2 minute pop song, only with some weirdness attached. (A more current band that reminded me immediately of an early 80s new wave band in capturing this type of sound is the Strokes.) Any kind of self-important rock excess was typically eschewed for something more spare and direct. There were some exceptions to this - for example, Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet - but they also might have been harbingers of the end of new wave. New wave also incorported a lot of elements from old-school soul music (Alison Moyet of Yaz/Yazoo or Soft Cell doing Where Did Our Love Go), ska and reggae (English Beat and the Police), surf and punk music (the Go Gos or the Buzzcocks), and 60s garageband music (the Jam or the Bangles).
Ooooooh, those vocals🤪!! ("Alien Shivers" - me when the weather's 💩) Reminds me a little of Aarktica.(also sounds like he belongs on a Twilight soundtrack) 🤔. Good stuff🤘. Just read that the band's genre is "math metal" - better be a free calculator with the album.
Steve Wilson's Baby Boomer Guide - VOLA
One of the underappreciated underground rock albums of 2018, album received flak back then tho in time 'Applause Of A Distant Crowd' (AOADC) has grown with positivity. The electronic new wave synth continue to be a part of the Influences diverse VOLA sound. Contrast by the sub-genre 80’s synth-pop which became prominent during the British synth-new wave era of mid-1980's. The material on "Applause Of A Distant Crowd" is, although it´s not as heavy and riff oriented as the material on "Inmazes", and generally features more electronic pop/rock/prog music influences, still the sound of Vola. melancholic and atmospheric. It´s the successor to "Inmazes". And features one lineup change as original drummer Felix Ewert has been replaced by Adam Janzi.VOLA made it clear from the get-go in the Ghosts single that they were not interested in expanding upon the djent pop sound of the last album. Instead, they chose to examine closely the more synthy dream-pop aspects that were under all that djent pop of Inmazes.Nonetheless, the two big highlights are Alien Shivers and the eponymous track, the latter of which is a somber take on the aftermath of a failed relationship and sounds just as melancholy and lost as one would expect it to with that background.
For the young gen.. The British synth-new wave era of mid-1980's was an evolution of punk music, at least in its early days. Looking back, they couldn’t be more different in that punk was typically loud, grungy, simple and guitar driven; while new wave was shiny, heavy on synthesizers, and often musically complex. But what they shared was an ethos of upending the rock and roll status quo. Both were reacting to the overly serious and self-important rock of the seventies. Think arena rock, posturing in front of the wind machine with hair blowing, or fifteen minute drum solos on 100 tom toms. Think Emerson, Lake, and Palmer doing rock ragas about God knows what and Arthurian faerie creatures. Think big corporate entites making scads of cash and rock stars in private party jets flying from gig to gig. Punk and new wave intentionally flipped the script on all this, often celebrating dorkiness, quirkiness, singing about insecurity, angst, frustration, daily life for unemployed young people (especially in Margaret Thatcher’s UK). Both punk and new wave began in people’s garages and art schools. It seemed to me, though, that new wave was less interested in trashing the place than punk was, and was less about growling and more about, well, music and fun and sometimes big lashings of wit. Huge generalization, of course. I also think that new wave was in part what happened when punk started waning. Punk was kind of a one-trick pony, and a lot of punk players either knew how to play more complex stuff or learned how to. And so they wanted to. There was also a big, brand new musical pallette to play with as well: synthesizers. Soundwise, new wave was either synthesizer rich or kind of garage-band sounding, or some combo of the two. This doesn’t quite sum it up enough, though. Some new wave bands (especially those that started as punk bands) were in fact pretty straightforward guitar rock bands, but with a more spare, spiky quality than standard rock (think the Police or the Smiths). If earlier rock music at the time was big and produced-sounding, with ringing power chords and organ and big drum kits, new wave was tighter, smaller, and more immediate sounding. New wave often used “quirky” sounds and chord structures and brought together unlikely musical ideas (think Rock Lobster by B-52s or Whip It by Devo). Songs were shorter, more succinct and immediate. In a way, new wave brought back the 2 minute pop song, only with some weirdness attached. (A more current band that reminded me immediately of an early 80s new wave band in capturing this type of sound is the Strokes.) Any kind of self-important rock excess was typically eschewed for something more spare and direct. There were some exceptions to this - for example, Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet - but they also might have been harbingers of the end of new wave. New wave also incorported a lot of elements from old-school soul music (Alison Moyet of Yaz/Yazoo or Soft Cell doing Where Did Our Love Go), ska and reggae (English Beat and the Police), surf and punk music (the Go Gos or the Buzzcocks), and 60s garageband music (the Jam or the Bangles).
Ooooooh, those vocals🤪!! ("Alien Shivers" - me when the weather's 💩) Reminds me a little of Aarktica.(also sounds like he belongs on a Twilight soundtrack) 🤔. Good stuff🤘.
Just read that the band's genre is "math metal" - better be a free calculator with the album.
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