Forever Is A Place: Joy Electric

Posted by: steve | From: August 12, 2004

Easily the greatest christian synth pop band of all time. Joy Electric is head and shoulders above the competition. Head and shoulders is a totally funny joke. What would one say....legs and feet below the rest? Ha.

My very awesome cousin, Nathan, introduced me to Joy Electric in 96, I think. They were immediately an epiphany for me. Erasure and their amazing synth pop had been a favorite of mine for years and Joy Electric was like the synth pop of Erasure (maybe minus some of the super dramatic vibes) mixed with more of an indie vibe with deeper creative themes for their lyrics. Since our very special introduction Joy Electric and I have spent a very rewarding 8 years together going through that kind of relationship where I spent a lot of money on Joy Electric buying everything they release, which is above average, and we go through good times, mediocre times, times where we take each other for advantage, and times where it feels brand new and so amazing like nothing in the world could be better. Oh, Joy Electric, there was that one time where we almost broke up. It just felt so stale, and I thought there it may be better if we just didn't talk for awhile, and then it got so good again. Now we are in a really familiar place, not the best it could be, but we just know each other so well, and we really love each other. Man, I love Joy Electric.

Joy Electric has been strutting it's stuff for about a decade now. Joy Electric is the work of one man, Ronnie Martin, or as he is sometimes known as Count Ronald Martin. There have been other members of the band for live shows, but in the studio it's all Ronnie. Joy Electric rose out of the ashes of Ronnie's previous band, Dance House Children, which also prominently featured Ronnie's brother Jason who went onto be the main dude in Starflyer 59. There is this album called Rainbow Rider or maybe the band is called Rainbow Rider that happened between Dance House Children's last official album and Joy Electric's first album and it's totally controversial because Ronnie has claimed that it's really the last Dance House Children album but most perceieve Rainbow Rider as a seperate band because of how the artwork is presented and because there was another Rainbow Rider 7" released later. Anyway, let's for this article's sake call Rainbow Rider a band and the album Beautiful Dazzling Music No. 1. The album is really crazy using synthesizers and samplers and changing tempos so often. It was a wacky sign of things to come.

The first Joy Electric album, Melody, is this wonderfully naive record. With simplistic beats and sweet synthesizers, Melody makes you feel like this would be your favorite music ever if you heard it when you were 8 years old. The lyrics about candy cane carriages, boys and girls falling in love just are the best at giving the warm fuzzies. The album's only fault is that it is too long and can lose your attention from time to time, but what a fun fresh breath in 1994 in the midst of grunge and alt rock.

In a shocking turn of events, Joy Electric then took the vibe to a dark place. 1995's follow up EP Five Star For Failure gets super moody and brings the tempo down. The second Joy Electric album, 1996's We Are The Music Makers, the theme was totally medievil which totally fit with the Joy Electric tones and vibes so well. We Are The Music Makers is one of Joy Electric's finest moments. On Music Makers Ronnie stopped using all samples and loops and limited himself to only analogue. Ronnie over the years continued to limit himself as a way of making himself be more creative. In early 97, Joy dropped the Old Wives Tales EP which is maybe my favorite Joy release of all time. The theme got updated a little bit to like maybe a 1700s vibe and more of a peasant vibe with amazing songs like "The Cobbler," "And It Feels Like Old Times," and "Old Wives Tales." A slow and brooding perfect set of songs with some brilliant remix updates of songs from We Are The Music Makers and Melody.

Later in 97 came the next full length called Robot Rock, a big departure from the moody old timey area of the previous 3 releases. Ronnie simplyfied the instrumentation, sped up the songs, and made them much more aggressive making Robot Rock Joy Electric's punk rock recorrd. It is also Joy's most successful record and started to get Joy a lot of secular fans. It has some really rad songs, but I don't think it holds up to some of the records. Somewhat in response to the bigger fan base, Ronnie's next record was the not so subtly titled, ChristiansSongs(yes it's true Joy Electric is not only of those super easy palatteable indie christian bands like Sufjan Stevens or Danielson Famille), bringing his convictions to the forefront of the lyrics for the first time.

Taking a few years between records, Ronnie returned in 2001 with his most complex and ambititious record, Legacy Vol.1 The White Songbook. Originally intended to be the first in a trilogy (an idea which I believe has been scrapped) the album is presented in chapters and is supposedly to be viewed like a book. The White Songbook is a heavily layered affair with the longest songs in Joy Electric's career. The songs have many different parts and moods and bring together all the strengths of Ronnie's music for the first time. The complexity is even more impressive because Ronnie recorded this album completely monophonically, meaning he didn't play chords at all just single notes while recording after dropping using drum machines a couple albums previously, Ronnie is only left to use analogue synthesizer for all sounds of the albums. I hope Ronnie attempts more albums like this in the future.

In the two albums since The White Songbook Ronnie has stuck to very strict moods and concepts for each record. Last years', The Tick Tock Treasury is an upbeat record which music focusing on a more 70s style minimal experimental synth vibe. Just released is Hello, Mannequin a cold and marching record that speaks of robots is steeped heavily in the 70s and 80s Kraftwerk vibe. So much material, and I left out 4 eps, an "unelectric" record, and a 2 disc best of and unreleased compilation.

Oh, Joy Electric, you give me so much to deal with, it's almost too much, but almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades and it's not too much. I'm still need you Joy Electric, because you've given me some of the best treasures I've encountered in this world. I love you Joy Electric and you are The Greatest Band of All Time.

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