AZLTRON: Back in The Day

Do you remember those "Greatest Hits" collections of the 1980's that over saturated the airwaves weekend afternoons? I do, particularly the "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)" song by The Information Society. Years later, I can safely blame a large part of my musical taste on these commercials, particularly being exposed to New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle" from them as well. Anyway, since then I've re-examined Information Society and found them to be a great deal sillier than I thought they were in my youth. The huge hair, the science fiction clips, and barrages of silly FX rhythms were a sign of late 80's club culture, but there's something endearing about their mix and match Spock-Rock that carries through to today.

I haven't had a reason to write about Information Society before other than maybe as a fun entry for a slow day, but they released a new album "Synthesizer" earlier this year. Like most New Wave comebacks their latest release has taken a turn for the dark to conceal their former silliness. Singer Christopher Anton takes a noticeably David Gahan-esque vocal style for the album. While the songs ride on safe rave-house techno that only occasionally erupts into a full on pop collages, they are surprisingly not as embarrassing as you'd think. They've tempered their excessive sound with vintage sounds evoking their 1980's halcyon days without a lot of the cringe-able tacky-ness that they devolved into in the 90's. While there's nothing new or innovative about the album, it's cool that that Information Society can still stand with the best of the New Wave copycats.