foreign synth pop

Try http://houbi.com/belpop/grouplist.htm for information and sound clips from the Belgian Pop and Rock archives. The Crepuscule and Factory Pages at http://home.planet.nl/~frankbri/index.html has lots of information about synthpop and new wave bands from Belgium and the Netherlands. One day I'll learn how to do the blue writing for links.

Andreas Dorau is definitely worth a look. this is as good a start as any.

http://park10.wakwak.com/~techno/

From Spain, I recommend Nacha Pop ("Persiguiendo Sombras", "Vistete"), La Union ("Lobo Hombre en Paris"), and Miguel Bose's late eighties stuff ("Salamandra", "Duende"). If you're looking for someone like Etienne Daho, he's your man.

Form France, there's Muriel Dacq ("Tropique"), Corynne Charby ("Boule de Flipper"), Indochine and Images ("Les Demons de Minuit").

The Rough Guide to 80's French Pop:
1. Mylene Farmer - Libertine
2. Partenaire Particulier - Partenaire Particulier
3. Etienne Daho - Week-End a Rome
4. Vanessa Paradis - Maxou
5. Alain Souchon - Quand Je Serai K.O.
6. Caroline Loeb - C'est la Ouatte
7. Alain Bashung - Gaby
8. Rita Mitsouko - Marcia Baila
9. Negresses Vertes - Sous le Soleil
10. Indochine - L'Aventurier
11. Jeanne Mas - Coeur en Stereo
12. Desireless - Voyage, Voyage
13. Guesh Patti - Etienne
14. France Gall - Debranche
15. Marc Lavoine - Les Yeux Revolver

Bogart Co.: "My Princess"
Dingo: "Sinä ja minä" & "Rio ohoi" & "Valkoiset tiikerit"
Yö: "Joutsenlaulu"

The Yö song is probably the best eighties new wave ballad I've ever heard. It's hyper-pathetic, it's got dramatic strings and vocal effects, and it ends with a flute solo! Simply brilliant.

she was born in Mexico, but she moved to Spain and went on to become, alongside people like Pedro Almodóvar, one of the pillars of the early 80s, post-Franco Spanish 'movida madrileña', the overblown but still significant 'let's break all boundaries' movement in Madrid

she's pretty much the spanish-speaking heir to the Pet Shop Boys, but pretty good stuff, still

Oh yes!

how about vive la fete? i changed my opinion, they're quite good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kjq6p0cMvk

Not sure if this is well-known at all but I'm in love with this song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFEwNYXlX1g

Here's a weirdo Finnish version of "The Music Played" from 1984, performed by Belaboris:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogMMYvXUx-g

I haven't heard Only Music Survives in years. It's really lovely.

I've been waking up with Ei Saa by the Estonian group B-Jeans (from around 2004 iirc) in my head recently.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkQTatVkcjw

This "Cosmic Machine" comp of French synth stuff from the 70s and 80s reviewed on Pitchfork today is rad. Not really my milieu so maybe old news for other people.