V/A Hungarian Allstars Synthpop Compilation Volume 1 (Album – Advoxya Records)
Genre/Influences: Electro-pop, dance-pop, body-pop.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: This compilation will reveal to the international electro-pop community there’s a synth-pop scene in Hungary! The idea started with the Facebook page “Hungarian Synthpop Allstars”-community. It’s quite interesting to see Advoxya Records –indeed an Hungarian label, but mainly devoted to dark-electronics, to release this work featuring nineteen artists from the Hungarian electro-pop scene.
Artists: Plazmabeat, Apsür.de, Gunmaker, Syntax Error, 8BIT, Analog Puzzles, PopFilter, Ian, Clayfeet, ION Projekt, Ed Ruspa, Pixelplants, Flow, LED, Ügynökség, DeWolf, Müller, Avantgarden, B Machina & Ian.
Content: The least I can say is that there clearly is a synth-pop scene in Hungary. The sampler is quite diverse, moving from dance-pop –sometimes on the edge of commercial pop music, to harder body-pop to traditional electro-pop –often inspired by the Masters themselves: Depeche Mode. Most of the bands are singing in their Mother tongue, which is somewhat weird if you’re not familiar with this language, but the other side it also makes the originality and specificity of the compilation.
+ + + : I’m always open for compilations, which can make me discover new names and especially when hailing from a country I’m not used to hearing electro-underground music. So you can imagine how lucky I was as I only knew Plazmabeat, Apsür.de and Gunmake. The other bands were new to me and I discovered some promising songs. Especially the last part of the work is impressive; from the heavenly melancholia of Flow to the body-pop driven Ügynökség to the dance-pop of DeWolf to the power emerging from Müller to the melodic melancholia of Avantgarden and somewhat And One reminding B Machina & Ian those artists reveal a real potential. I also have to mention the very Depeche Mode driven 8BIT and the dark, danceable Syntax Error.
– – – : Some of the most familiar bands aren’t delivering the best cuts and that’s just fine proving there’s more big fish in the Hungarian pond.
Conclusion: I had some serious reservations when starting the listening of this work, but this is a compilation I highly recommend.
Best bands: Avantgarden, Flow, DeWolf, Müller, Syntax Error.
Rate: (7½).
Label: www.advoxya-records.com / www.facebook.com/pages/Advoxya-Records/265765706059
About Advoxya Records
Advoxya Records is a label based in Budapest, Hungary, primarily known for dark-electronics releases. The “Hungarian Allstars Synthpop Compilation Volume 1”, reviewed here, grew out of the “Hungarian Synthpop Allstars” Facebook community and gathered nineteen acts from the country’s synth-pop scene, released the same month as the label’s dark-electro act Larva put out its own album “Desolation Road”.
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