Joy Electric

Joy Electric took shape as a Contemporary Christian synth pop outfit launched by Orange County, California native Ronnie Martin, who had earlier played in Rainbow Rider and Dance House Children with his brother Jason Martin of Starflyer 59. What started as a solo outlet for Martin yielded buoyant pop tracks that paired religious and playful lyrics with bright synthesizer melodies. The project first surfaced in 1994 with Melody, released on Tooth & Nail Records, the prominent independent Christian label also home to Velour 100 and MxPx.

Martin recorded Melody and the 1995 EP Five Stars for Failure using samplers, synthesizers, and drum machines, but turned exclusively to analog synths for every melodic and percussive element on the 1996 album We Are the Music Makers. After issuing the 1997 Old Wives Tales remix EP, the group formally added manager and keyboardist Jeff Cloud as a member, the same year that brought their strongest success to that point with Robot Rock. Caleb Mannann joined shortly afterward, and the band switched to the BEC label. As secular listeners joined their established Christian audience, Joy Electric maintained momentum through the 1998 EP The Land of Misfits and the 1999 releases Children of the Lord EP and CHRISTIANsongs. Cloud continued operating his Velvet Blue label and promotion company, while Martin started the electronica imprint Plastiq Musiq.

In 2001 the band unveiled the high-concept synth rock album The White Songbook: Legacy, Vol. 1, which signaled Martin’s expanding vision. The following year saw the release of The Art and Craft of Popular Music, a set mixing new and older tracks. Martin kept the output steady in 2003 with the glitch-tinged, click-driven sweetness of Tick Tock Treasury, then followed a year later with the cooler, tradition-minded synth pop of the Friend of Mannequin EP and Hello, Mannequin full-length. He also performed at Christian festivals and developed the experimental guitar project Shepherd. The fourth Legacy volume, The Ministry of Archers, appeared the next year alongside the EP Montgolfier and the Romantic Balloons, both produced at the newly updated Electric Joy Toy Company studio. The fifth and last Legacy album, The Otherly Opus, arrived in 2007 and was followed in 2008 by My Grandfather, the Cubist.