Laptop

Laptop is the pioneering electro-pop project from Jesse Hartman — the sharp-witted New York songwriter who first made waves as a teenage guitarist/keyboardist on Richard Hell’s 1990 legendary tour of Japan, then again in the ’90s as the front man of indie rock duo Sammy (with guitarist Luke Wood, Geffen/Fire Records). After Sammy’s brief but buzzy run (two albums: Debut Album on Sonic Youth’s Smells Like Records/Fire Records in the UK and Tales of Great Neck Glory on Geffen/Fire), Hartman shifted gears, re-emerging in 1997 under the name Laptop with a sound that was years ahead of its time: sarcastic synth-funk, deadpan vocals, and emotionally raw themes filtered through cold drum machines and warm analog nostalgia.

Laptop’s debut album Opening Credits (Island Records, 2001) set the tone: bitter, funny, and danceable. Assembled on an IBM ThinkPad before anyone thought of that,and packed with cult favorites like “End Credits”, “I’m So Happy You Failed” and “Nothing To Declare,” the album drew comparisons to Beck, Bowie, and Ultravox, with Hartman touring solo — just him, a mic, and a laptop on stage. Later that same year,the prolific Hartman released The Old Me vs. The New You (Island Records, 2001) pushing the sound even further: icy pop hooks, self-deprecating monologues, and heartbreak refracted through pixelated synths. After one more seminal album (Don’t Try This at Home, Gammon, 2005) with tracks made for (and literally on) TV like “Want In?” and “Ratso Rizzo”, Hartman shut down — but stayed in stand-by. He kept singing and writing in the living room with his baby Charlie.

Well, Charlie grew up. He’s 19 now and he’s teamed up with his insane dad. They’ve rebooted Laptop. Possibly the first father/son duo in alt-rock history, they trade off vocals, share harmonies, and co-write songs that somehow channel David Byrne, LCD Soundsystem, Jonathan Richman, and Brian Eno — without sounding like anyone but themselves.

The refurbished Laptop is more than a comeback. It’s a generational evolution: two lives, two sensibilities (Gen X and Z), one band. Their upcoming album On This Planet(2025) marks a full-circle return and an entirely new chapter. The first single “Weirder,” mixed by Bowie producer Mario McNulty, racked up over 4 million views on TikTok and announced Laptop’s return with characteristic irony and humor. The second single, “Additional Animals,” an indie-pop goddess of a track, drops August 8.

Backed by a full UK-based band (dual guitars, synths, bass, drums, sax, and percussion), Laptop’s live show is a technicolor swirl of punk precision, synth-pop anxiety, and cinematic joy.

The Guardian once called Hartman “a master of insincere sincerity,” and that still fits — only now the insincerity’s got company.

Laptop is, like the track of his last album, officially “back in the picture.”