When the Indiana-based artist first agreed to put together a mix for us, he made clear his intention to celebrate the type of “really romantic new wave tracks” that have inspired his forthcoming album (working title: Lifetime of Romance).
Appropriately enough, his mix is full of synth-driven acts with their own highly distinctive voice and character. There are gems from such chart-topping 80s acts as OMD, Visage and Depeche Mode, and a brace of tracks that could’ve, and should’ve, been as huge as anything by those celebrated British bands: Deux‘s ‘Game And Performance’ and Ruth‘s ‘Roman Photo’.
While much of the tracklist is occupied with vintage material, there’s room for sympathetic (post)modern material from John Maus, Martial Canterel (one half of New York’s Xeno & Oaklander) and Ettinger’s NNF labelmate Xander Harris. It’s a celebration of pop music at its most human and – paradoxically – most otherwordly.
