I realize that at this point, it’s pretty much impossible for me to talk about Ronnie Martin’s music with even the slightest shred of objectivity.  I’ve been a fan of Ronnie Martin for well over a decade, ever since I first heard Dance House Children’s “Sea Breeze” on Blonde Vinyl’s Radioactive Hits compilation.  And as I mentioned in my review of Starflyer 59’s Talking Voice Vs. Singing Voice, there are certain artists that leave me absolutely compelled to pick up everything they release, and leave me predisposed to find each release, if not brilliant, than at least pretty freakin’ great.  Joy Electric is just one such artist.

I haven’t been as vocal in my praise of Joy Electric’s last couple of full-lengths, 2003’s The Tick-Tock Treasury and 2004’s Hello Mannequin (which Martin considers to be one of his best works), despite both albums receiving fairly heavy rotations round these parts.  Which leaves me feeling doubly obligated to write something about The Ministry Of Archers.

Although there’s always been something to Martin’s music that feels out of step with time—after all, this is a man who, in this day and age of computers and Pro Tools, staunchly avoids such trinkets, instead opting to create his music with nothing more than his breathy vocals, a Moog, and an analog sequencer—The Ministry Of Archers feels like a throwback to past Joy Electric efforts like We Are The Music Makers and Five Stars For Failures.

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Joy Electric’s Melody is my favorite album in the whole world. I would strongly recommend it to anyone who likes techno-dance-computermusic-videogame soundtrack-sounding music or anything way different from everything else.

Joy Electric is a one-man band, consisting of electronic music genius Ronnie Martin. There are all sorts of Nintendo-like sound effects on this album. Terribly cool. I love it. I’d suggest that you buy it, if you don’t have it already.

Written by Andrew Olson.

When I reviewed (maybe “raved about” is a better term) Joy Electric’s Old Wives Tales, I made the point that any pro-Ronnie Martin ramblings will probably be chalked up to “preaching to the converted”. Literally. And then came the somewhat disappointing Robot Rock, and the critics practically crawled over themselves, labelling Ronnie a pop genius and whatnot.

So Martin goes around and releases his most overtly-Christian work ever. But is it his best? It doesn’t quite reach We Are The Music Makers, with its perfect blend of fairy tale imagery and video game soundtrack. That album had a sense of magic and wonder about it that this album is missing in key places. But I think Ronnie learned something with Robot Rock (his self-described “punk” album)—defiance. And it shows on Christiansongs. Ronnie has always been very vocal about his Christian beliefs, and his lyrics always did paint spiritual portraits, but they were often veiled in metaphor and nursery rhymes. This time, Ronnie speaks his mind.

Need proof? Just check out the second track, “Children Of The Lord”. Ronnie proudly sings “so we pray and put on the whole armor/day to day the work of God grows… we are children of the Lord”. And for those of you who peruse the liner notes, you’ll find handy Bible references for nearly every song. At times, the lyrics approach a Vacation Bible School-ish level of depth. But Ronnie usually makes up for it with his uncannily reliable for writing absolutely perfect pop melodies. Even so, there are times when Ronnie spends so much time trying to inject depth into his lyrics that the music suffers for it. Just check out “The Magic Of”, which practically drowns in all of it’s imagery.

However, there’s nothing wrong with songs like “Disco For A Ride” and “Synthesized I Want You Synthesized”. I’m convinced that the former is the anthem for the Cornerstone Dance tent. The latter’s lyrics sound like a physics textbook written by Hans Christian Anderson, but with some beautiful imagery of God as the force that binds the universe.

Does Ronnie preach to the converted? Oh yeah… big time. And even more so on this album. And I’ll admit, I find it a tad heavy-handed at times. Not in the “fire and brimstone” sort of way, but rather in the “Sunday School” sort of way. In fact, I wonder why this album wasn’t packaged with some flannelgraph characters. But Ronnie’s made a gutsy move on this one, pushing on with his own musical vision and remaining steadfast to his spiritual beliefs. As a way of giving props to those who’ve influenced him, Ronnie covers Keith Green’s “Make My Life A Prayer”. In the not-too-distant future, I expect that many will be doing the exact same thing with Ronnie’s music.

What’s this??? Another release from Joy Electric? Could Ronnie Martin be the hardest working man in Christian music? It sure seems like it. And yet despite the fact that he always seems to have something new coming out (look for the new Joy Electric album later this year), and despite the fact that Martin has never deviated from his formula of effeminate vocals, syrupy-sweet pop hooks, and enough bloops and bleeps to blow up a Sega Genesis, I still haven’t grown tired of his stuff. That being said, I’m somewhat torn on this release.

Remember when “electronica” was supposed to be the big new trend? Well, it appears as if that particular form has morphed into another: “drum and bass,” with releases from Goldie, Fatboy Slim, and Roni Size that garnered quite a bit of acclaim.

When I heard that Joy Electric was doing drum and bass, I was initially thrilled, because his music seemed like it would fit quite nicely. And when I first heard Joy Electric’s drum and bass ruminations, the remixes of “I’m Your Boy” and “Sugar Rush”, I was ecstatic. But the more and more I listen to it, the more and more I wonder about it. Sure it sounds great, but it almost sounds hollow. Those sugary melodies and vocals are no longer the focus, but those crazy beats, which just end up sounding tacked on. Joy Electric’s music, despite the high random bloop factor, has always sounded like every element fit together perfectly. This doesn’t. However, I’m not totally against Joy Electric’s drum and bass, because I really think he can pull it off.

But the CD isn’t a total bust, because it features two of the best songs Joy Electric has ever written. “The Land Of Misfits” starts off with “Monosynth,” the incredibly catchy song from “Robot Rock”. When I first heard him play this at Cornerstone 1997, I knew it was something special. Lyrically, we hear another personal vindication of Martin’s opus, as we sing “In my place there will be stories of a boy who died in sorrow with his monosynth.” Can we say autobiography?

The album closes with “The North Sea,” which is about as ambient as Joy Electric gets. Basically beat-less, it nevertheless has a haunting melody, with it’s Kraftwerk-esque synths and airy filigrees. It’s dramatic, theatrical, and very poetic. Like all of Joy Electric’s best material. It may not be a hit at the clubs, but I hope the next album is more of this.