On the tenth day of #oontzmas controlfreak gave to me, Track 10 God Tonight, 9 I Beg Your Pardon, 8 With Love, 7 Letters and Numbers, 6 I Felt the Pain, 5 Papillon, 4 Be Mine, 3 Memorabilia, 2 Cities in Dust, 1 Control I'm Here, and REPLICATE in a, uh, tree.

https://music.control.org/replicate1/10/

Not a one hit wonder!

Track 10 God Tonight - Real Life - 1990

Look I know most of the world knows pretty much just their one smash from radio and perhaps from the absolute banger of a clanger BMX flick RAD [1986] starring a pre-disgraced era Aunt Becky. Plus I fucking LOVE orchestra hits. It took me 4 days to craft a suitable hit as well as what I was calling in chat with colleagues, the toilet fush, as right as I could. How did I do?

I was on a school trip to the big smoke in 1990 and picked up the Lifetime cassette and holy shit what an album opener this was. Wikipedia will tell you the album was received as solid but the era of synthpop was over. Fuck that shit. It's 2025 and my mum said she was amped for hours after one of my live web concerts ended on God Tonight. A friend of a quite metal and industrial persuasion upon previewing REPLICATE picked this as their standout track. Wild.

Synthpop never says die!

On the ninth day of #oontzmas controlfreak gave to me, Track 9 I Beg Your Pardon, 8 With Love, 7 Letters and Numbers, 6 I Felt the Pain, 5 Papillon, 4 Be Mine, 3 Memorabilia, 2 Cities in Dust, 1 Control I'm Here, and REPLICATE in a, uh, tree.

https://music.control.org/replicate1/9/

Do you want to hustle?! Do you want to Salsa?!

Track 09 I Beg Your Pardon - Kon Kan - 1988

I enjoyed taping this one off the radio from dance party shows. And definitely a banger at the roller rink.

And finally, a track that's in my monotone "wheelhouse". Well except the original had a sample for the Rose Garden chorus bits. Solution: fuck shit up! Sorted.

It's the first track I did kind of as a joke when I was considering the parameters of the project and it never fell off the list for volume one.

This is as "pop friendly" as you will find me, well at least until that chorus. Fuck you hot hits radio.

On the eighth day of #oontzmas controlfreak gave to me, Track 8 With Love, 7 Letters and Numbers, 6 I Felt the Pain, 5 Papillon, 4 Be Mine, 3 Memorabilia, 2 Cities in Dust, 1 Control I'm Here, and REPLICATE in a, uh, tree.

https://music.control.org/replicate1/8/

The gloriously questionably effective cliche and calculated crossover from bubblegum idol to "sexy" idol...

Track 08 With Love - Hilary Duff - 2007

Yes. I sing Hilary Duff's Dignity singles when I'm on the tractor. You can't hurt me.

Ahh the classic ex-Disney stars' and their now I'm a sexy adult release with obscene over production, 12 writers credited for the worst lyrics you've ever read, and producer farms doing the whole let's be sexy and edgy with a little "distortion" and "goth flair".

Cowards! Here I've attempted to melt that hot mess into a dark EBM thumper for us creatures of the shadows.

I can't help but look on in train wreck terror fashion at the terrible puppy mills of pop, I'm looking at you K-pop, and wish only the best for the folks dragged about in all parts of these wretched abusive and contrived pop factories. Eek that got even darker.

Look, do I like ANY of Hilary's slimy "brand deals"? NO.

Do I like her producers' use of a DM sample as the only hook in that one song? NO!@#$

Would I go mini-golfing or go-karting with her in a heartbeat? Damn right I would.

If you like me wake up and think, god damn there should be more EBM Hilary Duff covers as I did, go ahead and stomp to some Hilary Fucking Duff!

On the seventh day of #oontzmas controlfreak gave to me, Track 7 Letters and Numbers, 6 I Felt the Pain, 5 Papillon, 4 Be Mine, 3 Memorabilia, 2 Cities in Dust, 1 Control I'm Here, and REPLICATE in a, uh, tree.

https://music.control.org/replicate1/7/

2010s synthpop perfection and kiwi as!

Track 07 Letters and Numbers - Computers Want Me Dead - 2011

Remember when there was kinda actually NZ Music Month, openly and almost sort of kind of decently funded NZ On Air and other creative support for the lucky/persistent/connected, and having a home brewed mostly music, music video channel?

Well if you do, or just had a keen ear in 2011, or were lucky enough to run across one of the limited showcases festivals or gigs done, you would have caught the absolutely INCREDIBLE EP from Computers Want Me Dead.

Cheers to Sam the original artist for kindly and graciously fielding my lyrics clarification query for this weird music for healing project.

On the sixth day of #oontzmas controlfreak gave to me, Track 6 I Felt the Pain, 5 Papillon, 4 Be Mine, 3 Memorabilia, 2 Cities in Dust, 1 Control I'm Here, and REPLICATE in a, uh, tree. Also, not oontz on this one. Rust and dirt abound. Go on, have an oontzmas mope with me.

https://music.control.org/replicate1/6/

Track 06 Anything Box - I Felt the Pain - 1990

The album Peace has SO much more than just that one banger you probably know. It is a banger, but this is a cassette that if you knew what was up, you wore the whole damn thing out a few times.

This is probably the most painful track of this project. The original oozes in angst and pain and was always my favourite track from Peace when it was new. It's way outside my vocal wheelhouse and this snapshot was at a time I could hardly stand up. Aside from my general vocal shortcomings, any stress and in the delivery was legit. Plus the one take rule.

Many thanks to the indomitable @shannoncurtis for classing my muddled mess right the hell up in the chorus replies.

On the fifth day of #oontzmas controlfreak gave to me. Track 5 Papillon, 4 Be Mine, 3 Memorabilia, 2 Cities in Dust, 1 Control I'm Here, and REPLCATE in a, uh, tree.

https://music.control.org/replicate1/5/

It kicks like a sleep twitch!

Track 05 - Papillon - The Editors - 2009

I find this track to be very emotive and I always give it the beans on the tractor. Since I tend to walk a much more overtly sinister and angry sonic emotive path, it was a challenge in restraint for me. It almost got binned a number of times for missing the mark. After I performed it live this year, I was happy I kept at it.

I remember over the years seeing this performed at festivals and the punters rightfully losing their shit because it is a ripper. But I couldn't help thinking it'd be so much different with some oontz. Only while building this project did I realise there was a hyper processed club remix of it by a VIP hipster dj. I'm fine being the gritty zero commercial corpo festival potential version.

On the fourth day of #oontzmas controlfreak gave to me. Track 4 Be Mine, 3 Memorabilia, 2 Cities in Dust, 1 Control I'm Here, and REPLICATE in a, uh, tree.

Yes, it's THAT Robyn.

https://music.control.org/replicate1/4/

It's a good thing tears never show in the pouring rain. Oof.

Be Mine - Robyn - 2005+ various releases

I LOVE ROBYN. I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED ROBYN. I LOVE ROBYN'S BUBBLE GUM ADJACENT INDUSTRY OPPRESSION ERA. I LOVE HER TWO FINGERS IN THE AIR TO THE INDUSTRY ERAS, I LOVE ROBYN WITH RÖYKSOPP. I LOVE ROBYN.

Robyn is an absolute juggernaut of a writer, performer and a phenom at encapsulating emotive and temporal journeys music and art can take us.

There is zero even partially feasible reason that I should or could attempt to even be within 100m of a Robyn track!

Be Mine has quite a few interations and versions from releases to live. Every version is powerful as fuck even the sparsely instrumented ones because it's a good as fuck song. Unrequited love songs are a penny a tonne but this one is Vibranium!

My undisputed favourite version of Be Mine is the heavily arpeggiated and aggressive synth and drums arrangement for the Body Talk Tour [get to a video source and watch that right now!]. I latched onto that one and amplified the oontz. That entire tour show gets some of the most spirited top of the lungs "singing" when I'm on the tractor of all the songs in this collection.