Jaded Incorporated allowed longtime friends and fellow Athletic Mic League members Kendall Tucker (aka 14KT) and Andrew Cohen (aka Mayer Hawthorne) to indulge in their love for the less-commercial end of late-'70s and early-'80s synth pop. Despite being something of a diversion from the Michigan duo's separate paths -- one with limited mainstream appeal -- the project was picked up by Casablanca through Republic, the label to which Cohen was signed as retro-soul stylist Mayer Hawthorne. It debuted in March 2014 with "Coconut Sofa," a single that seemed to be inspired by John Foxx's 1980 album Metamatic as much as Cybotron's 1981 single "Alleys of Your Mind" took from Ultravox's 1980 album cut "Mr. X" (a song that band released in the wake of Foxx's departure). Three months later, the album The Big Knock followed with a significantly wider range of references and a character of its own. ~ Andy Kellman