IGO's Synth Love

[teddybear67]

IGO's Synth Love

When the Shanghai band IGO plays on stage, there is really not much to "see," with one man standing still playing the keyboards and another singing without much gestures.

However, people who have seen IGO live will still recommend it to you and tell you where they play, so you can experience the infectious atmosphere there and witness how and why the audiences get delirious for their music.

The one-year-old band is a combination of Shanghai's most active club DJ and the former front-man of a local post-punk band. The duo has a large fandom online and at local music venues. Their popularity may keep expanding as their music finally reaches the CD player.

The duo, featuring synthesizer talent B6 and singer-songwriter J Jay, is releasing their debut album, "Synth Love," on September 21 under Modern Sky, China's largest independent record label.

It's a time when IGO is among the most frequent players at Shanghai's nightclubs, where pogo dance usually heats up in front of the band's performances. This album is a collection of IGO's most played songs. It is for those who are yet to get a chance to visit Shanghai.

IGO is now offering previews of some of the songs on their Neocha page, a local-based music-sharing website B6 co-founded, similar to MySpace.

Among the songs is the "Rockself Dot Com," one of IGO's earliest works. The band wrote the song for a home-grown rock website, and then financed a music video which has attracted thousands of clicks on YouTube.

The typical IGO song demonstrates the band's simple yet charismatic synthpop sound. Its lyrics are rich in reprises but are complemented by constantly changing beats.

Such refreshing rhythms are from B6's cutting-edge electronic skills. The 25-year-old musician is credited to a number of EPs on his own, and has been favorably mentioned by such world top music producers as Jean Michel Jarre and Tony Colman.

IGO sings all songs in English, which according to B6 is a better language than Mandarin for synthpop. In composing songs in this genre of popular music, B6 is in charge of the main instrument of synthesizers, while vocalist J Jay is responsible for writing lyrics. This ex-member of post-punk band Bird On a Wire writes catchy and poetic verses, an ability he gained from his living experiences in the United States.

The powerful duo took little time to grab attention. Critics are now calling IGO a "leader of China's synthpop musicians" and a promising source for "the best synthpop tunes of this century."

Through sharing their music on MySpace and YouTube, the band has secured a group of followers around the world. They are now looking forward to more touring and meeting fans outside Shanghai.

IGO is set to play at a launch party for their album at Shanghai's 4live on September 21, before hitting Beijing's Mao Livehouse on September 27. They have also been confirmed to play in Singapore on December 15.

Check out IGO's music on MySpace and Neocha.

credits:crienglish