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Joy Electric

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Joy Electric is a one-man electropop/synth pop group consisting of Ronnie Martin.

Joy Electric started out in 1994, after the demise of Dance House Children, a band Ronnie was in with his brother Jason Martin of Starflyer 59. Starflyer 59 bass player Jeff Cloud joined Joy Electric from 1996 until 2002. Ronnie is once again solo as Joy Electric.


Pre-Joy Electric History

Having experimented with live shows, formed countless after-school bands, and recorded an album that was never to be released, Ronnie and his brother Jason found their way onto Michael Knott’s fledging label, Blonde Vinyl, with a dance album to produce.

After buying an old Akai sampler and a few synthesizers, Ronnie began crafting his own spin-off of current electronic "club" music. Still working with his brother Jason, Ronnie's new band, Dance House Children posited cold, hypnotic electronica against quaint, old-fashioned lyrics. After producing two similar-sounding albums, Dance House Children found Jason leaving to pursue his own music endeavors.

With the help of a few friends, Ronnie turned from the club-oriented music to a more melodic, orchestrated sound. The range of instruments on his third album exploded, containing timpanis, Moog synthesizers, and far more exotic sounds than anything he had previously produced. It was evident that Martin was quickly moving beyond the level of pre-programmed keyboard sounds as he became more well-versed in the programming of his synthesizers. "Beautiful Dazzling Music No. 1", the name of his third album, formed the bridge between Martin's "techno"-like early days and his enigmatic Joy Electric creation.

The Volatile Years

In writing his fourth album (originally intended as "Beautiful Dazzling Music No. 2", later to be renamed simply as "Melody"), Martin found the sound of his project changing radically. Of course, changes were quite evident during "Beautiful Dazzling Music", but this fourth album carried things to the extreme. Analog synths began to dominate the studio floor-space. Furthermore, Martin began perfecting a clock-like musical technique that had a strange assortment of blips and whirls constantly rotating in the background. The fourth album resulted in several things: a new band name (Joy Electric), his signing with a new label (Tooth and Nail), the launching of Martin's signature sound which he carries to this day.

Although Joy Electric was now part of a "real" record label - with all the benefits of promotion and better distribution - this did not spell the end of Martin's worries for his budding project. Amidst mostly punk, ska, or hardcore bands, Joy Electric was usually dismissed as a Tooth and Nail curiousity - a funny little joke band with Atari music and girlish vocals. Looking back on those years, Martin recalls a crisis of feeling legitimate and being treated as a peer. Shows were still tiny. "Melody" caused no stir. The album came and went without much response from the audience, the critics, or anyone in general.

This depressing situation was the backdrop for the next CD - an EP appropriately titled "Five Stars for Failure". This EP - Martin's first, could not have contrasted more with the exuberantly optimistic joy of "Melody". Bi-polar Joy Electric had slumped to the opposite extreme. The sound become slower and more dire. Covering previously happy songs (with remix titles like "The Woods are Haunted" and "The House in the Woods") Martin seemingly undid all his previous work, matching (or perhaps outdoing) the depressing the silence of the critics will equally dismiss re-mixes.

Besides simply being sad, the Five Stars EP showed a curious development: with darker sounds and "House in the Woods" songnames that conjured up pictures of frightening Black-Forest scenes, Joy Electric was picking up a strange strain of imagery: the dark world of German folklore, mixed in with a little bit of medieval scenes for good measure. The upcoming album - "We Are the Music Makers" would become the strangest goth album to be produced: dark and Teutonic, electronic and infectious, antiquated with a strong backbeat.

The Slow Turn-around

By this time, Martin became increasingly fascinated with the idea of musical purism. Finding inspiration in 70s electronic bands that were "purist" out of necessity (or rather, out of the lack of having anything but simple analog synthesizers on which to painstakingly assemble an entire collage of blurpy sounds), Martin delegated nearly his entire studio to the closet and vowed to build an album up, toothpick by toothpick, from the sounds of just one master synthesizer. This would be purism, surely. No more drum machines. No more samplers. The synthesizer would make every sound. And so under these contraints he went to work. Designing, programming, and storing all his sounds for the new album in a Roland JD-990.

File:990.jpeg
The Roland 990 became the core to We Are The Music Makers

Putting all his eggs in one basket (or synthesizer in this case) left Martin particularly vulnerable to one perenial problem: the day the synthesizer's storage memory gets wiped clean. It's uncertain how this happen, but halfway through the new album Martin found that all his work had been lost.

Summoning up some long-suffering persistence, Martin began again from scratch. Taking this opportunity, he recalls, he decided to move into an even more purist direction than before. Of course, now that the first half-completed album is no longer in existence, it's hard to gauge just how radical a move that was. But when the new album was realized, it was apparent that, once again, Martin had managed to surprise everyone.

A listen though "We Are the Music Makers" will bring one through Arthurian songs of dim castles, assemblies of knights riding out to battle, songs dedicated to monarchy and and crumbling recollections of Christendom. It was a strange subject matter for a mid-90s electronic album. Of all his albums, Martin consistently cites this as his least favorite. But that should not deter listeners. Indeed, the songs are quickly monotonous - a consequence of Martin's inexperience at this new "purist" model. But this is one of Martin's strongest example of songwriting. The songs that stand at the core of this album are some of Martin's most memorable and emblematic.

Martin quickly followed this album with yet another EP. Still retaining the Black-Forest fairytale nature, he dropped the darker, gothic strains and produced a set of songs that were to be the perfect mix of pop and nostalgia. Joy Electric, in some way or another, has always been an escapist band, leading the listener into a sort of musical land largely unfamiliar and isolated. This new EP, "Old Wives Tales" stands as the high-point of that escapism. The songs are beautiful and easy to listen to. The lyrics provide a haven for anyone tired of life as usual and longing for somewhere new and undiscovered to retreat into. "Old Wives Tales" proved to be just what fans were looking for. Shows began to become better attended, the EP sold in greater numbers, favorable articles appeared in all sorts of music magazines. Finally, the band was garnering attention.

Commercial Success

Riding this building wave of popularity, Joy Electric began commanding greater respect both abroad and at home. This attention back home at the Tooth and Nail label was especially critical, leading to a series of albums that were designed to, and indeed succeeded in, garnering some degree of commercial success. Music videos were made and became more widely distributed. The music moved out of cult circles and picked up new fans in rapid numbers.

Thus, "Robot Rock" was the album forcast to launch Martin into his well-deserved place of minor stardom. Tired of feeling like a wimpish techno band amidst his punk labelmates, "Robot Rock" was the album that, as the title suggests, would show the world just how seriously electronic could rock, too. The album moved away from the world of "bedroom production" and into professional studio hands. The vocals came across polished and well manicured. Having practiced on his analog synthesizers for years, Martin's sounds began commanding better control over his synthesizers' sounds. To showcase these growing skills, the songs were generally more sparse. The entire album harked back, more than any other release, to his groundbreaking work in Melody.

Greater touring, in turn, led to ever more fans and more attention. Following his pattern, another EP was released, although it generally disappointed fans. With only one new song, the rest of the album descended into mediocre covers. The entire album seemed too backward-looking for a band so much on the move. Even the title, The Land of the Misfits, seemed a parody of earlier times.

And so fans sat back and waited for the next release. And they waited. Eventually another EP materialized. While still not a full album, it wasn't so great a disappoint. Containing only new songs previewing the new album, the EP hinted at a new album closely akin to Robot Rock. Still following the pattern of flooding the EP with covers, Martin had the sense to at least bring some greater variety to the release. Two songs featured him covering radically different influences: Punk rockers MxPx and seventies singer Keith Green. The last song was a Cloud2Ground cover of a song off the upcoming album. By the sounds of the EP, good things were in store for the next release.

Indeed, in 1999, CHRISTIANsongs was released. Concerning the title, Martin explained his frustration over Christian music groups attempting to downplay their religion in hopes for greater commercial success. Having grown up a Christian, Martin had rarely allowed his faith to intrude heavily upon his music. He nevertheless disapproved of silly "we're Christians but we're not a Christian band" statements. In contrast, and to set the record straight for any fans, Martin's new album title left no doubt concerning the matter.

And indeed, CHRISTIANsongs contained some of the most overt references to Christianity: exorting believers to remain strong ("Lift Up Your Hearts), singing musical prayers of religious dedication ("Make My Life A Prayer"), and songs proclaiming general obedience to God ("True Harmony"). But the album contained deep lyrical divides. The religious songs were overwhelmingly religious. The other half of the album was, more or less, usual Joy Electric fair.

CHRISTIANsongs also demonstrated Martin's ability to move beyond bubbly-happy songs that critics condemned for being too shallow. The album showcased a wide range of feelings, spanning to familiar exuberant territory all the way into new, darker directions. Not since We Are The Music Makers did an album contain so many minor keys.


Joy Electric has inspired many, many bands. None of them with as much talent as Joy Electric of course. One such band was The Promise Book. They tried really hard to sound like Joy Electric, but could never match the sound. Soon, The Promise Book was no more. After recovering from their losses these 3 young brothers favored pen over synth so that they might write for their very cool electronic music magazine called, "Circuitry Schmercuitry". But, sadly, that too was a failure. However, there was still some "magic in the well" and with that a new band called Flashlight Party was born.

Odds and Ends

Ronnie's first album was dedicated to his wife Melissa and is the only album that has a guitar present. An interesting piece of information released by Ronnie tells anyone interested to backtrack the sample played in Love In Midsummer. Also, concerning track 6, Mr. Martin has commented that there is indeed a girl from rosewood lane somewhere in his past.

Discography

External link

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