Jaded Incorporated gave Athletic Mic League veterans Kendall Tucker, known as 14KT, and Andrew Cohen, known professionally as Mayer Hawthorne, an outlet for their shared fascination with the more obscure corners of synth pop from the late 1970s and early 1980s. Although the Michigan pair pursued largely separate careers—one of them holding only modest commercial traction—the Casablanca label, operating through Republic, signed the duo because Cohen was already rostered there under his retro-soul alias. Their first release arrived in March 2014 as the single “Coconut Sofa,” whose sound drew as clearly from John Foxx’s 1980 album Metamatic as Cybotron’s 1981 track “Alleys of Your Mind” had drawn from Ultravox’s 1980 song “Mr. X,” the latter cut issued after Foxx left that band. The full-length album The Big Knock appeared three months afterward, displaying a broader set of influences while establishing its own distinct identity.
