Not-so-lost 80s: Trees
I've had Trees' only album, Sleep Convention, tucked away in my collection awaiting the day that I would rip it to mp3 and spread its 1982 synthpop wonderfulness throughout the world. Somebody beat me to it, though (The Subersive Sounds, back in April!). Oh well, less work for me, I'll just piggyblog it. "Trees" was just one man, Dane Conover, playing every single instrument and gadget on the album. My favorite track was always "11:00 AM":
More recently, the Mine for Life blog put up some links to Trees videos on YouTube! Such as this one for "Delta Sleep":
Why is Harry Anderson dressed up like Mork?! (And thank goodness Night Court is off TV, people were always telling me I looked like Harry Anderson, just because we had the same hair.) Obnoxious comments aside, Trees made some of the warmest-sounding synthpop ever produced, so lighthearted and human, and with cleverly-crafted lyrics to boot. In what is becoming a familiar refrain-- if only there had been more. Mine for Life also dug up a current webpage for Popgems on GarageBand.com, Popgems being none other than Dane Conover and his wife Marisa. It is nice to hear that two and a half decades have not taken any of the sunniness out of his music.
