Synthentral Top 30 Albums of 2022

From 100 to 30! First step was to get down to 100 for the Top 100. Then down to the Top 50, and finally down to the Top 30 (here we are). Normally I would do a live countdown show, but my vision is all screwed up and I just cannot see the small print in my DJ software. I waited two weeks to see if it would clear up, and while it’s gotten better, I still cannot see the fine print clearly enough to go live. So unfortunately, there won’t be a live countdown show and I’m just posting the Top 30 here.

As a reminder, here are the rules and guidelines I work with:

• I only rate albums. There are tons of “best of” lists out there for singles and EPs.
  • An album consists of at least 7 original songs. Remixes, intro/outro, instrumentals, versions, compilations, etc. do not count toward the “at least 7.” Covers do count as long as it’s not an album of all covers.
• I must have the album in my collection to rate it. If a band or label didn’t get it to me, I didn’t buy it, or get it from a DJ resource, then it’s not on my list to rate.
• Song are rated individually and the album is rated overall for listenability, danceability, whether I wanted to skip any tracks, was I engaged from start to finish, etc.
• Rating is weighted so an album with 7 songs does not have an edge (or handicap) to an album with 17 songs.
• I post the Top 100 and Top 50 lists alphabetically and not in “countdown” style. The Top 30 will be in countdown style.
• I post my list after the year is over so any album released late in December 2022 still gets a chance at making it on the list.

As I noted in the Top 100 and Top 50 lists, I hope you disagree with my list and post some of your favorites that I didn’t include or I may have missed during the year and hope you’re as passionate about your favorite bands and albums from 2022 as I am mine!

I have “LISTEN HERE” links below each album cover, so go and listen and give each band and album a chance, and support the bands you like!

The Synthentral Top 30 for 2022:

#30: e:lect – Disoriented Illusion (LISTEN HERE)

#29: Voicecoil – Strange Days (LISTEN HERE)

#28: Reflection – Anima (LISTEN HERE)

#27: Blood Handsome – A New Calm (LISTEN HERE)

#26: RROYCE – RROARR (LISTEN HERE)

#25: Deep Down Wise – Deep Down Wise (LISTEN HERE)

#24: ÆON RINGS – Enemy (LISTEN HERE)

#23: Solitary Experiments – Transcendent (LISTEN HERE)

#22: Any Second – Enemies (LISTEN HERE)

#21: Dreamkid – Dreamkid (LISTEN HERE)

#20: VVMPYRE – Neon Night Fright (LISTEN HERE)

#19: Am Tierpark – Forevermore (LISTEN HERE)

#18: Alex Sindrome – Eject (LISTEN HERE)

#17: Blackbook – Confessions Of The Innocent (LISTEN HERE)

#16: Lucca Leeloo – Prosperous (LISTEN HERE)

#15: Sydney Valette – Home Alone (LISTEN HERE)

#14: In My Despair – Last Mirage On The Earth (LISTEN HERE)

#13: Causeway – We Were Never Lost (LISTEN HERE)

#12: 1984 – Sharp Dressed Men (LISTEN HERE)

#11: Mental Discipline – Nothing To Die For (LISTEN HERE)

#10: Risk Risk – Blue Science (LISTEN HERE)

#9: Eisfabrik – Life Below Zero (LISTEN HERE)

#8: Current One – Praeludium (LISTEN HERE)

#7: CZARINA – Arcana (LISTEN HERE)

#6: Zynic – Best Before End (LISTEN HERE)

#5: Xenturion Prime – Prisma (LISTEN HERE)

#4: Vanguard – Spectrum (LISTEN HERE)

#3: Vandal Moon – Queen Of The Night (LISTEN HERE)

#2: Corlyx – Blood In The Disco (LISTEN HERE)

And the number one album for 2022 was….

#1: Sacred Skin – The Decline Of Pleasure (LISTEN HERE)

Synthentral Top 50 Albums of 2022

From 100 to 50! First step was to get down to 100 for the Top 100. Then I wittle it down to 50 for the Top 50 (here we are), and finally remove an additional 20 for the Top 30. The Top 30 will have a corresponding show with one song from each album.

As a reminder, here are the rules and guidelines I work with:

• I only rate albums. There are tons of “best of” lists out there for singles and EPs.
  • An album consists of at least 7 original songs. Remixes, intro/outro, instrumentals, versions, compilations, etc. do not count toward the “at least 7.” Covers do count as long as it’s not an album of all covers.
• I must have the album in my collection to rate it. If a band or label didn’t get it to me, I didn’t buy it, or get it from a DJ resource, then it’s not on my list to rate.
• Song are rated individually and the album is rated overall for listenability, danceability, whether I wanted to skip any tracks, was I engaged from start to finish, etc.
• Rating is weighted so an album with 7 songs does not have an edge (or handicap) to an album with 17 songs.
• I post the Top 100 and Top 50 lists alphabetically and not in “countdown” style. The Top 30 will be in countdown style.
• I post my list after the year is over so any album released late in December 2022 still gets a chance at making it on the list.

As I noted in the Top 100 list, I hope you disagree with my list and post some of your favorites that I didn’t include or I may have missed during the year and hope you’re as passionate about your favorite bands and albums from 2022 as I am mine!

I have “LISTEN HERE” links below each album cover, so go and listen (if you didn’t on the Top 100 list) and give each band and album a chance, and support the bands you like!

The Synthentral Top 50 for 2022 (in alphabetical order):

1984 – Sharp Dressed Men (LISTEN HERE)

ÆON RINGS – Enemy (LISTEN HERE)

Alex Sindrome – Eject (LISTEN HERE)

Am Tierpark – Forevermore (LISTEN HERE)

Any Second – Enemies (LISTEN HERE)

Blackbook – Confessions Of The Innocent (LISTEN HERE)

Blood Handsome – A New Calm (LISTEN HERE)

Causeway – We Were Never Lost (LISTEN HERE)

Chinese Theatre – Unfinished Business (LISTEN HERE)

Claustraphobia – Vita Et Mors (LISTEN HERE)

Code 64 – Broken Rhythm (LISTEN HERE)

Corlyx – Blood In The Disco (LISTEN HERE)

Current One – Praeludium (LISTEN HERE)

CZARINA – Arcana (LISTEN HERE)

Dagon – Owen Sebastian (LISTEN HERE)

Deep Down Wise – Deep Down Wise (LISTEN HERE)

Die Robo Sapiens – Robo Sapien Race (LISTEN HERE)

Dreamkid – Dreamkid (LISTEN HERE)

e:lect – Disoriented Illusion (LISTEN HERE)

Eisfabrik – Life Below Zero (LISTEN HERE)

Electro Spectre – Stereo Dreams PT1 (LISTEN HERE)

Exsect – Opéra Mécanique (LISTEN HERE)

EXTIZE – MonStars (LISTEN HERE)

In My Despair – Last Mirage On The Earth (LISTEN HERE)

Incirrina – Lip Led Scream (LISTEN HERE)

Jason Alacrity – The Criminal Class (LISTEN HERE)

Kim Lunner – From Dusk To Dawn (LISTEN HERE)

Kondratie – Москва (LISTEN HERE)

Lucca Leeloo – Prosperous (LISTEN HERE)

Matthias & Marss – Plus One (LISTEN HERE)

Mental Discipline – Nothing To Die For (LISTEN HERE)

The Midnight Computers – Romantic Disaster (LISTEN HERE)

No – Domestic Pulse (LISTEN HERE)

Poison Point – Poisoned Gloves (LISTEN HERE)

Priest – Body Machine (LISTEN HERE)

A Projection – In A Different Light (LISTEN HERE)

Propter Hoc – History The Operator (LISTEN HERE)

Reflection – Anima (LISTEN HERE)

Reichsfeind – Darken (LISTEN HERE)

Risk Risk – Blue Science (LISTEN HERE)

RROYCE – RROARR (LISTEN HERE)

Rue Oberkampf – Liebe (LISTEN HERE)

Sacred Skin – The Decline Of Pleasure (LISTEN HERE)

Solitary Experiments – Transcendent (LISTEN HERE)

Sydney Valette – Home Alone (LISTEN HERE)

Vandal Moon – Queen Of The Night (LISTEN HERE)

Vanguard – Spectrum (LISTEN HERE)

Voicecoil – Strange Days (LISTEN HERE)

VVMPYRE – Neon Night Fright (LISTEN HERE)

Xenturion Prime – Prisma (LISTEN HERE)

Zynic – Best Before End (LISTEN HERE)

Synthentral Top 100 Albums of 2022

Incredible amount of new music released in 2022! In previous years, I’ve had to start with 500+ albums and go through them all at the end of the year. This year I did it different: I only added albums to my “to be rated list” if I thought it had a chance to at least get in the Top 100. This narrowed my starting off point to just above 250 albums. Still a lot, but half the time to do the rating.

First step is to get down to 100 for the Top 100 (here we are). Then I go down to 50 for the Top 50, and finally remove an additional 20 for the Top 30. The Top 30 will have a corresponding show with one song from each album. Once I start removing albums from the 50 to the 30 that’s when it gets painful for me as an album I really loved gets removed because it had a rating of 8.62 and the album above it had an 8.63. Yes, it’s often that tight.

Here are the rules and guidelines I work with:

• I only rate albums. There are tons of “best of” lists out there for singles and EPs.
  • An album consists of at least 7 original songs. Remixes, intro/outro, instrumentals, versions, compilations, etc. do not count toward the “at least 7.” Covers do count as long as it’s not an album of all covers.
• I must have the album in my collection to rate it. If a band or label didn’t get it to me, I didn’t buy it, or get it from a DJ resource, then it’s not on my list to rate.
• Song are rated individually and the album is rated overall for listenability, danceability, whether I wanted to skip any tracks, was I engaged from start to finish, etc.
• Rating is weighted so an album with 7 songs does not have an edge (or handicap) to an album with 17 songs.
• I post the Top 100 and Top 50 lists alphabetically and not in “countdown” style. The Top 30 will be in countdown style.
• I post my list after the year is over so any album released late in December 2022 still gets a chance at making it on the list.

I expect people to disagree with my list because it’s subjective. In fact, I hope you disagree with my list and post some of your favorites that I didn’t include or I may have missed during the year. I hope your list is different and you are passionate about your favorite bands and albums from 2022!

Most importantly, I hope you discover new bands from my lists.

I have “LISTEN HERE” links below each album cover, so go and listen and give each band and album a chance, and support the bands you like!

The Synthentral Top 100 for 2022 (in alphabetical order):

1984 – Sharp Dressed Men (LISTEN HERE)

ÆON RINGS – Enemy (LISTEN HERE)

Alex Sindrome – Eject (LISTEN HERE)

Am Tierpark – Forevermore (LISTEN HERE)

Angry Pete – Misanthrope (LISTEN HERE)

Any Second – Enemies (LISTEN HERE)

Avarice In Audio – Our Idols Are Filth (LISTEN HERE)

Ayria – This Is My Battle Cry (LISTEN HERE)

Blackbook – Confessions Of The Innocent (LISTEN HERE)

Blaqk Audio – Trop D’amour (LISTEN HERE)

Blind Passenger – Teamwork (LISTEN HERE)

Blood Handsome – A New Calm (LISTEN HERE)

Buzz Kull – Fascination (LISTEN HERE)

C-Lekktor – New World Disorder (LISTEN HERE)

Causeway – We Were Never Lost (LISTEN HERE)

Chinese Theatre – Unfinished Business (LISTEN HERE)

Claustraphobia – Vita Et Mors (LISTEN HERE)

Code 64 – Broken Rhythm (LISTEN HERE)

Corlyx – Blood In The Disco (LISTEN HERE)

Current One – Praeludium (LISTEN HERE)

Curse Mackey – Immoral Emporium (LISTEN HERE)

CZARINA – Arcana (LISTEN HERE)

Dagon – Owen Sebastian (LISTEN HERE)

Das Leiden – Chapter I, Dies Irae (LISTEN HERE)

Deep Down Wise – Deep Down Wise (LISTEN HERE)

Die Robo Sapiens – Robo Sapien Race (LISTEN HERE)

Dina Summer – Rimini (LISTEN HERE)

Dreamkid – Dreamkid (LISTEN HERE)

e:lect – Disoriented Illusion (LISTEN HERE)

Eisfabrik – Life Below Zero (LISTEN HERE)

Electro Spectre – Stereo Dreams PT1 (LISTEN HERE)

Electronic Frequency – CON:TRAST (LISTEN HERE)

ElektroTerapi – Diagnose: Liebe (LISTEN HERE)

ELM – Penetrator (LISTEN HERE)

Encephalon – Surfacer (LISTEN HERE)

Exsect – Opéra Mécanique (LISTEN HERE)

EXTIZE – MonStars (LISTEN HERE)

Fractal Age – Another Way (LISTEN HERE)

Francesca e Luigi – Dirty Disco – The Ultimate Album (LISTEN HERE)

Ginger Snap5 – Make Me Bad (LISTEN HERE)

Give My Remains To Broadway – My Will Is Not My Own (LISTEN HERE)

Harsh Symmetry – Display Model (LISTEN HERE)

Headless Mannequins – Shadowland (LISTEN HERE)

Hidden Souls – All That We Destroy (LISTEN HERE)

Humans Can’t Reboot – No Tomorrow (LISTEN HERE)

IDEON – Forever Can Wait (LISTEN HERE)

Ill Humans – New Light (LISTEN HERE)

In My Despair – Last Mirage On The Earth (LISTEN HERE)

Incirrina – Lip Led Scream (LISTEN HERE)

Jason Alacrity – The Criminal Class (LISTEN HERE)

Kim Lunner – From Dusk To Dawn (LISTEN HERE)

The Kolour Kult – Reception (LISTEN HERE)

Kondratie – Москва (LISTEN HERE)

LAU – Circumstance (LISTEN HERE)

Liquid Modern – Circle & Light (LISTEN HERE)

LMX – Habits & Addictions (LISTEN HERE)

Lucca Leeloo – Prosperous (LISTEN HERE)

Martiné – My Mind – The Hand Grenade (LISTEN HERE)

Matthias & Marss – Plus One (LISTEN HERE)

Mental Discipline – Nothing To Die For (LISTEN HERE)

The Midnight Computers – Romantic Disaster (LISTEN HERE)

Miseria Ultima – In Colors Of Void (LISTEN HERE)

Movie Camera – Memory / Display (LISTEN HERE)

My Own Burial – Breathing Sorrow (LISTEN HERE)

No – Domestic Pulse (LISTEN HERE)

Noise Resistance – Stripped (LISTEN HERE)

Panic Priest – Psychogoria (LISTEN HERE)

Peppy Pep Pepper – Decline (LISTEN HERE)

Perel – Jesus Was An Alien (LISTEN HERE)

Poison Point – Poisoned Gloves (LISTEN HERE)

Prager Handgriff – Das Letzte Gefecht (LISTEN HERE)

Priest – Body Machine (LISTEN HERE)

A Projection – In A Different Light (LISTEN HERE)

Propter Hoc – History The Operator (LISTEN HERE)

Pure Obsessions & Red Nights – Let Your Obsessions Run Wild (LISTEN HERE)

Rebel Empire – Street Art (LISTEN HERE)

Reflection – Anima (LISTEN HERE)

Reichsfeind – Darken (LISTEN HERE)

Risk Risk – Blue Science (LISTEN HERE)

RROYCE – RROARR (LISTEN HERE)

Rue Oberkampf – Liebe (LISTEN HERE)

Sacred Skin – The Decline Of Pleasure (LISTEN HERE)

Saft – Dansar Med Satan (LISTEN HERE)

She Hates Emotions – Happy Pop Music (LISTEN HERE)

Solitary Experiments – Transcendent (LISTEN HERE)

Stereoskop – Silk (LISTEN HERE)

Sweet Tempest – Going Down Dancing (LISTEN HERE)

Sydney Valette – Home Alone (LISTEN HERE)

Tempers – New Meaning (LISTEN HERE)

Tragic Impulse – Distant Worlds (LISTEN HERE)

Undine – Ether (LISTEN HERE)

Unidad Obscura – Entre La Agonia (LISTEN HERE)

Unify Separate – Music Since Tomorrow (LISTEN HERE)

Vandal Moon – Queen Of The Night (LISTEN HERE)

Vanguard – Spectrum (LISTEN HERE)

Voicecoil – Strange Days (LISTEN HERE)

VVMPYRE – Neon Night Fright (LISTEN HERE)

X Marks The Pedwalk – New/End (LISTEN HERE)

Xenturion Prime – Prisma (LISTEN HERE)

Zynic – Best Before End (LISTEN HERE)

Music Time! “Women of Synth” (Volume 6: S – T) 11/19/16

I love most everything synth-based, especially Synthpop, Futurepop, EBM, Industrial, Industrial Dance, Synthwave, Darkwave, etc. Hell, I even like some synth-based New Age music (in other words, not Yanni). But you know what I really like? Those genres with women vocalists! So it’s music time with women vocalists (and musicians) in the Synthpop, Futurepop, EMB, Industrial, and Darkwave world! I didn’t realize there were so many until I actually started thinking about it. There are so many I’ve had to break this up! So here is Volume 6: S – T!

ARTIST: Sally Shapiro
SONG: Save Your Love (Lovelock Remix)
ALBUM: My Guilty Pleasure (Remixes)
YEAR: 2010

ARTIST: Sarah P
SONG: I’d Go
ALBUM: Free
YEAR: 2015

ARTIST: School of Seven Bells
SONG: Put Your Sad Down
ALBUM: Put Your Sad Down EP
YEAR: 2012

ARTIST: Seize
SONG: Wishful Thinking
ALBUM: Constant Fight
YEAR: 2009

ARTIST: Sensuous Enemy
SONG: Shiver v.2.0.0.8
ALBUM: Fragments (Deluxe Edition)
YEAR: 2008

ARTIST: Shiny Toy Guns
SONG: Somewhere To Hide
ALBUM: III
YEAR: 2012

ARTIST: Shutterdown
SONG: Prisoner
ALBUM: Dreamwalker
YEAR: 2013

ARTIST: Siberian Heat
SONG: Sorry
ALBUM: Mystic Time
YEAR: 2012

ARTIST: SIN.SIN
SONG: These Pretty Things
ALBUM: Fairytronics EP
YEAR: 2016

ARTIST: Somegirl
SONG: Defeatist
ALBUM: I’ve Been Known To Be Completely Wrong
YEAR: 2002

ARTIST: SPECTRA*paris
SONG: Size Zero
ALBUM: Dead Models Society (Young Ladies Homicide Club)
YEAR: 2007

ARTIST: Spider Lilies
SONG: Too Much
ALBUM: Cyclogenesis
YEAR: 2009

You need this song in your life right now. Spray has several albums and I had plenty of their songs to choose from, but this one is needed in the world today.

ARTIST: Spray
SONG: Everything’s Better With Muppets
ALBUM: Singing for England EP
YEAR: 2010

ARTIST: Static Movement
SONG: Nouvelle Vague
ALBUM: Visionary Landscapes
YEAR: 1999

ARTIST: Strawberry Switchblade
SONG: Since Yesterday
ALBUM: The Platinum Collection
YEAR: 1984 (song)

ARTIST: The Synthetic Dream Foundation
SONG: Puzzlebox
ALBUM: Tendrils Of Pretty
YEAR: 2006

ARTIST: Technique
SONG: There’s No Other Way
ALBUM: Pop Philosophy
YEAR: 2001

Julia Beyer is no longer singing for Technoir and Steffen Gehring is doing his solo thing (looking forward to that).

ARTIST: Technoir
SONG: Requiem
ALBUM: Groundlevel
YEAR: 2001

ARTIST: Thermostatic
SONG: As Stars We Belong
ALBUM: Joy-Toy
YEAR: 2006

ARTIST: Train To Spain
SONG: Keep On Running
ALBUM: What It’s All About
YEAR: 2015

ARTIST: Tristesse de la Lune
SONG: Ninive
ALBUM: Ninive (CD Single)
YEAR: 2005

ARTIST: Twins Natalia
SONG: Destiny
ALBUM: The Destiny Room
YEAR: 2014

ARTIST: Tying Tiffany
SONG: A Lone Boy
ALBUM: Drop
YEAR: 2014

Music Time! “Women of Synth” (Volume 3: F to J) Edition! 11/06/16

I love most everything synth-based, especially Synthpop, Futurepop, EBM, Industrial, Industrial Dance, Synthwave, Darkwave, etc. Hell, I even like some synth-based New Age music (in other words, not Yanni). But you know what I really like? Those genres with women vocalists! So it’s music time with women vocalists (and musicians) in the Synthpop, Futurepop, EMB, Industrial, and Darkwave world! I didn’t realize there were so many until I actually started thinking about it. There are so many I’ve had to break this up! So here is Volume 3: F to J!

ARTIST: Fangoria
SONG: Geometría Polisentimental
ALBUM: Canciones Para Robots Románticos
YEAR: 2016

ARTIST: Feathers
SONG: Familiar So Strange
ALBUM: If All Now Here
YEAR: 2013

ARTIST: Freezepop
SONG: Natural Causes
ALBUM: Imaginary Friends
YEAR: 2010

ARTIST: FrontAngel
SONG: Wunderschöne Welt
ALBUM: Paradox
YEAR: 2014

ARTIST: Future Perfect
SONG: The Hunter
ALBUM: Dirty Little Secrets
YEAR: 2010

ARTIST: The Girl & The Robot
SONG: Another Love
ALBUM: The Beauty of Decay
YEAR: 2010

ARTIST: Glasser
SONG: Exposure
ALBUM: Interiors
YEAR: 2013

ARTIST: Glow
SONG: Gabriel
ALBUM: Rain Theory
YEAR: 2004

Without a doubt my favorite local band here in Austin. The genius musical talents of Mike Peña, the awesome percussion work of @Shawnie Doogans, and the brilliant and wrenching (as in tugs on your soul) vocals of Lisa Perkins make for an amazing combination. If you live in Austin keep an eye out for this up-and-coming band who recently opened for Assemblage 23.

And go buy their album! You won’t regret it. It’s a nonstop barrage of awesomeness and synth magic. Oh, and they just released a cover Journey’s “Who’s Crying Now?” that’s beautifully tragic and gloriously magical at the same time, so give that a listen as well.

ARTIST: Hamerzya
SONG: Are We Likely
ALBUM: Welcome, Strange Visitor
YEAR: 2016

ARTIST: Helalyn Flowers
SONG: Before The Sunshine
ALBUM: White Me In Black Me Out
YEAR: 2013

She doesn’t sing on every track, but when she does it’s magical…

ARTIST: Hidden Place
SONG: Legendary Divers
ALBUM: Novecento
YEAR: 2012

Some songs by HMB have a male vocalist, but I really love the songs where she sings…

ARTIST: HMB
SONG: Revelation
ALBUM: Great Industrial Love Affairs
YEAR: 2001

Such an influential band in the synth-based music world (even to this day)! This is definitely a band that cannot be left off any Women of Synth list (even if the women vocalist were often background vocals for the lead male vocal)!

ARTIST: The Human League
SONG: (Keep Feeling) Fascination
ALBUM: The Very Best of Human League (Deluxe Edition)
YEAR: 1983 (song)

ARTIST: Hungry Lucy
SONG: Grave
ALBUM: Apparitions
YEAR: 2000

ARTIST: I Am The World Trade Center
SONG: Future Sightings
ALBUM: The Cover Up
YEAR: 2006

ARTIST: Invisible Ballet
SONG: Escaping Light
ALBUM: Escaping Light
YEAR: 2005

ARTIST: Invisible Limits
SONG: Kill Me Dearly
ALBUM: A Conscious State (Expanded)
YEAR: 1989

ARTIST: Javelynn
SONG: Morphine
ALBUM: Chimaera At Heart
YEAR: 2011

ARTIST: Junksista
SONG: Strictly Physical
ALBUM: High Voltage Confessions
YEAR: 2014