Dead Man's Party

Hey this is my submitted album! I suppose this is a good time to explain why I chose this one. It wasn't an easy choice but I wanted something that was undeservedly left off the list while also having a low chance of having been chosen by someone else. Obviously, everyone criticizes weezer and neutral milk hotel being left off and as much as I personally love stuff like 100 gecs I don't think it quite deserves inclusion on the list so I settled on this. Not only is this a childhood favorite of mine but I think danny elfman deserves at least some representation on this list. This album in particular is the best of 80s music and is endlessly catchy and relistenable for me. Weird science is great but I like the title track and no one lives forever even more. Honestly, this is the closest thing to hyperpop like 100 gecs I can think of for the 80s which also might be a factor. Who cares if some of the songs are a bit long or the production gets overwhelming, that's the fun of it.

I've heard the song "Stay" before. I had it on a mixtape about 25 years ago. Can't remember anything about it though - pretty sure it's new wave sorta stuff? Holy shit it's super catchy. Better than just "new wave" - has the same sort of vibe as Devo and Martini Ranch. Poppy, definite new wave sounds going on, but really intricate and layered and a bunch of other wanky adjectives. But it's awesome. Going to spam mates with it. 5/5.

Rating: 10/10

One of my all time favorites from one of my all time favorites. Honestly it's probably like my 3rd or 4th favorite Boingo album but it's pure spooky fire from top to bottom. I'll give a relisten in October like I always do :)

This is a great example of new wave. Danny Elfman is best known as a composer but his music made for mainstream consumption is catchy, well-produced, and very well constructed. There are many layers to uncover in every song and the rhythms and melodies are interesting and weave into each other very well. In a list full of new wave, this stands out.

What a neat album and cool that it's a Danny Elfman project. I never knew that! Really enjoyed this album.

Another band with an immediately familiar name that I realized I'd absorbed zero information about previously (didn't know it was a Danny Elfman project, or that they made the Wierd Science song). Pretty solid alt-new-wave fare.

Really good!

Fun, upbeat, catchy. 4 stars.

Like a more commercial-sounding Devo. Weird, but not alienatingly weird.

Very 1980s guitar pop/rock. At times a bit Duran Duran, Art Of Noise and even Blancmange or Wang Chung.

Suffers from many of the classic New Wave pitfalls of the time, most notably arrangements that run on and on and don't know when enough choruses are enough. Even the tracks with appropriate runtimes feel so flat, much as I usually love the synthy soundscapes of the genre.

The whole 80s feel only highlights the success of Weird Science as a kind of one hit from the album and separates it quite a bit from the other tracks that seem more like a compilation of songs in accelerated mode. Honestly, it seemed to me to be just another album from the 80s. 2 1/2 stars.

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