This month’s movie pick is probably in bad timing. But, “f*ck all that feelings sh*t”. This movie is probably not to some of yous taste or interest. You will probably be entertained or annoyed or you just might be like me and be on that timing. No, I’m not gonna give a whole Big Boss monologue. This is the Retro Movie of October 2025.

The Spook Who Sat by the Door is a 1973 action crime–drama film based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Sam Greenlee. It is both a satire of the civil rights struggle in the United States of the late 1960s and a serious attempt to focus on the issue of Black militancy. Dan Freeman, the titular protagonist, is enlisted by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in its elitist espionage program, becoming its token Black person. After mastering agency tactics, however, he becomes disillusioned and drops out to train young Black people in Chicago to become “Freedom Fighters”.

Directed by Ivan Dixon, co-produced by Dixon and Greenlee, from a screenplay written by Greenlee with Mel Clay, the film starred Lawrence Cook, Paula Kelly, Janet League, J. A. Preston, and David Lemieux.

Sometime in the 1970’s in Chicago. After the approval rating in the African American community takes a nose dive for a U.S. Senator, the Agency decides it would be good optics for the government as well for itself to go out and publicly recruit African American males to join the CIA. With no intention of passing any of them they begin scouting in the inner city. To their surprise one recruit actually makes it through the training. Dan Freeman who unbeknownst to the Agency (Nowadays this would be impossible with social media and digital footprints), Freeman happens to be a Black Nationalist.

The idea of the Agency recruiting from the population isn’t hard to believe. There have been numerous occasions of people being covertly recruited or claim to have been recruited since the beginning of the Cold War. Especially with all the projects such as MK ULTRA.

Back to the plot – Freeman is a Black Nationalist and the Feds don’t know it. After passing his training, Freeman impresses his handlers. However, he is placed in the basement as file clerk and routine tour guide for visitors to project the image of inclusivity. This doesn’t last long before Freeman comes to the reality that he is a Token. (To be honest he most likely was aware this would happen from the start). Freeman keeps a low profile as he completes the Guerilla Warfare training in weapons, subversion, communications and you get the point. When he learns what he needs to learn he quietly resigns and returns to social work in Chicago.

Freeman has the intention of using what the government has taught him and turning it back on them. This is called BLOWBACK. He starts training local youths the same techniques he learned from the government and begins his insurgency for Black Liberation.

After its release the film was pulled from theaters and banned for a time by the FBI for its political tones and themes. Especially since the Civil Rights movement was still fresh in the minds of the inner cities and there were a lot of African American veterans returning home to a country they fought for and  experience the same racism and poverty that existed before the war; a lot of veterans with military training in guerilla warfare and weapons. The idea that this film might spark the idea for revolt and self-determination was just too scary for the powers that be that happen to be Ofay. Shame because, I wish this flew below their radar and more people were able to watch it.

“Tim Reid, whose company helped to release Spook on DVD, said to the Los Angeles Times in 2004: “When you look back at the times…Martin Luther King was assassinated, Malcolm X, Bobby Kennedy. Black people were really angry and frustrated; we were tired of seeing our leaders killed. What do we do? Do we have a revolution? There is nothing that comes close to this movie in terms of black radicalism.””

I mean if you remember how the proto-dudebros were all charged up after watching 300 for the first time enough they adopted it’s imagery, themes and masculinity(?) like cosplay, tribal tattoos and fake muscles shirts. It would’ve been interesting if THIS film had a longer life in the theaters – Could’ve been interesting.

Regardless of their attempts, enough people did watch it and it gained Cult status over the years before the original film reels were found and restored for the public.  

“Nina Metz wrote in the Chicago Tribune: “For years it was only available on bootleg video. In 2004, the actor Tim Reid tracked down a remaining negative stored in a vault under a different name (‘When they want to lose something, they lose it,’ Reid told the Tribune at the time) and released it on DVD.”  In a 2004 feature for NPR, Karen Bates reported that the director of the film, Ivan Dixon, admitted that United Artists would not show the film in a way that would allow its political message to come through when clips were viewed prior to the film’s public release. “Dixon says when United Artists screened the finished product and saw a Panavision version of political Armageddon, they were stunned.””

So f**k all that interference and here is for your pleasure or discomfort is the controversial, thought provoking and inspiring – 1970’S The Spook Who Sat by the Door, directed by Ivan Dixon.

Stay free, Stay Strapped, Read more, Learn Real History, Build your bodies and Minds, Question authority, Buy physical media, practice your aim, sharpen your punches and conceal your knives, know the law and the law won’t trick you. Stay fresh, smart and always keep your finger on that damn REWIND button.

Movie link: https://youtu.be/HG-56GKbPtk?si=C53B1Pwf0122h5IU

• How is this not a Troma film?

Flesh Eating Moms directed by: James Martin. Starring: Robert Lee Oliver, Donatella Hecht, Neal Rosen, Valorie Hubbard and Marie Michaels.
Year of release: 1988
Runtime : 88 min / 1.85:1

Pardon my French but “these b*tches is crazy”. What the hell did I just watch? 90 minutes of lucid insanity and I needed it. Please just take me back to the eighties and the nineties, please. Take me back to the BMX ramps in the cul-de-sac, the yellow school bus with the nicotine stenched driver. The Pizzeria run by a guy named Sal next door the breakfast diner that served beer after 7pm. The shitty box television set with the knobs and the furniture with the plastic coverings. The Late, Late Movie on channel 7, frozen orange juice in the freezer, the leaves of autumn, the imaginary Leave It To Beaver music that played in your head on the way to school, the rotary phone with the two foot cord, walkie-talkies, lazer-tag, Saturday mornings, 25cent juices, the girl next door, the creepy van that was always parked down by the river, the haunted house on the corner, the sketchy guy at the park, the Ice Cream man with the sailor tattoos, stranger danger, DARE, the danger of razors in the candy, the rocks that addicts smoked, “No-that wasn’t candy”, MSG, the OTB, phone phreakers, NYNEX, book reports, BOOKS, Nintendo, VHS, A Current Affair, Unsolved Mysteries, the Cold War and the threat of impending doom with every slice of pizza & fruit punch. I was lucky enough to find this on youtube while researching conspiracy threads and documentaries online; there I was taking a break from learning about the Sabbateans and I noticed this title pop-up in my feed (no connection).

• PLOT
  Somewhere in some corner of New Jersey, the mothers have come down with a sickness and have turned into savage cannibalistic fiends. Nothing is off the menu when these hotwives go feral and start ripping into their neighbors and loved ones. The kids are stoned and freaked out trying to get to the bottom of the madness. The chief of police knows more than he says. The local medical examiner is barely over five feet tall and even he smells something is fishy going on.
  

This film was shot on a shoe string budget and enough imagination, humor and not-a-care in the world attitude to make this something special. I’ve already watched this film twice and still laugh my balls off. All shot on location in west bumblef*k.

• “It’s so damn bad it’s great. How is this not a Troma film.”

The limited budget was obviously focused on what special fx they could put together and “YES” the gore is here; almost reminiscent of early Peter Jackson type body horror courtesy of special effects artist Carl Sorensen (Child’s Play, Tremors). There is so much red stuff dripping here you could stock a Nathan’s Hot Dog stand and film an entire MaxiPad marketing campaign. The script is witty, tongue-in-cheek and crass. The cannibal virus itself has a nice original plot twist to it.
The acting? The acting is pure public-access meets Loyd Kaufman shot on film and smeared together inside the frame of an episodes of MONSTERS. I can’t say I recognize any of these actors aside from Marie Micheals who was one of the mob wives in Goodfellas and Donatella Hecht (The Manhattan Project 1986). I LOVE THIS. This is why I review these forgotten gems of analog entertainment when life was simpler, less sanitized and fun. Gen X wasn’t just an era it was a friggin attitude and I was fortunate enough to slide down the tail-end of that generation into the birth of the millennial before everything just became cookie cutter and redundant.

Flesh Eating Mothers is also available in Blu-ray format from Vinegar Syndrome presents, freshly restored in 2K and featuring a new batch of exclusive extra features.

You been fluffed enough now. So click the link below and watch with some friends and some pizza rolls, soda pop, whatever the hell you smoke and your significant others Hot Pockets. Just remember to take it easy, be dangerous, be cool, keep your finger on that Rewind Button and Yippee-ki-yay and F the Law.

Cyborg: Death Machine was Directed by the MASE BROTHERS and dubbed in English, C:DM is an obvious and well-made short film that pays homage to the Action movies and Science-Fiction films of the 1980’s and 90’s. Taking inspiration from films such as The Terminator, Cyborg, Hardware, NEMESIS and even video games like Contra and Aliens vs Predator, there’s plenty of references all throughout this film.

Set in a dystopian future where machines have risen to oppress and exterminate mankind; armies of cyborgs created by the Magnatron Corp. seek out and destroy any and all humans left to starve in the ashes of the fallen civilization that was modern life.

I feel like this is the live-action CONTRA movie that I always wanted. And definitely a better Terminator film that the last few Terminator sequels could attempt to be.

From the start the film sets the tempo and atmosphere for this dark future straight out of a James Cameron film. The soundtrack was composed by Meteor and Pixions and is very, very, good at capturing that dread that should weigh down a story setting like this. I can only compare it to the composer that inspired this project; the composer of the original Terminator – Brad Fiedel.

Our hero is Alex Rayne, a militant cook (Under Siege reference) living in the wastelands accompanied by his friend and A.I. “Barry”. Barry is the heart of most of the humor sprinkled here and there and the overall humor was well executed giving needed counter-weight and balance with the violence.  Both Chef and A.I. are hunted by a lone cyborg sent by Magnatron. They eventually link up with members of the resistance for one last strike against the machine hordes. The cyborgs are basically Terminators with a dash of the Jin-Roh military police from the Kereboros saga. For a better comparison, go and watch Mamoru Oshii’s Kereboros films like Jin-Roh, Stray Dogs and the Red Spectacles as well as the manga that inspired them all.

The film is an English dub over the original language but, I have to say I really like the voice over acting. It complements the dialogue that thuds along like a Kojima script for MGS. The storyline is sufficient being that this is a short film that carries the impending doom of an M.D.GEIST OVA.

I loved the gameplay footage from the Robocop vs Terminator video game. Robocop vs Terminator is probably Frank Millers most underrated graphic novel, in my opinion.

The cinematography was actually well done and the set pieces were well done. Although some of the daytime scenes did pull me out of the overall mood and feel of the film. Luckily, those were few and in-between. The visual effects were good for a low-budget fan film. The action scenes were really good. The fights were well choreographed and the gore was satiating. There was no shaky camera and only one slow-motion sequence. And “Oh boy”, does the film close out with a banger. The last action scenes are just retro-perfection when the film transitions into a side-scrolling video game and then a Robot Jox type stop motion animation climax.

I highly recommend this film. Now streaming on NRW TV and on the MASE BROTHERS  Youtube channel.

And did I mention there’s a friggin’ post-credit scene?

Three thumbs up!!

Stay safe, stay away from Mega Corporations and their A.I.
And Keep your fingers on that Rewind Button.

We had heard some fantastic singles ahead of release from Waveshaper, Wice, and Powerglove with PYLOT, and I am pleased to report that the rest of the album stacks up against their quality. Easily the best in the trilogy, each artist on this magnificent compilation has truly brought their A-game, contributing some new instant-favorites to Magnatron 3.

It really is not exaggeration to say that “Magnatron 3” hits harder than ever before. Each track feels bigger, more epic, more intense, with each artist giving the series a fitting finale.
Each previous Magnatron release has had sci-fi themes, but with Magnatron III the sci-fi synth leads seem to blend more with nostalgic tones such as in “Tyrael” from Tokyo Rose, or in “Grit Rewired” from DEADLIFE.

The combination of more nostalgia with the retro futurist themes, heavy basslines and danceable kicks really makes “Magnatron III” stand out more than ever before as the best synthwave in the scene. Easily the best in the trilogy! At the time of this writing there is still some physical merch left – but it’s sure to be gone soon!

Click here for physical merch from Bandcamp – Click here for other streaming services.

We have many solid artist line ups right now but do not want to reveal to much. The first official single from the album is set for release this Friday, 5/8/2020. Pre-save link here: https://NRWRecords.lnk.to/Interstellar 

More MAJOR info to come soon. #StayRetro

He made the announcement last Friday, and released a farewell to synth – a righteous collab with Pylot and Essenger called “Out of Luck.” – Listen Here.

Although this may sadden some fans, Tokyo explained he’s not done making music – just departing the retro sound. We caught up with him for a quick interview to find out what’s next:

…I’m super thankful to my Synth fans for all the love and support that they have and continue to still give me.

Q: You started producing music at 17. Recently, as your music moved into a darker area, you and ALEX charted on billboard with Akuma and Akuma II.  Can you talk about your experiences with AKUMA and NRW?

“Well to start off, my experience with NRW has been great. Ten has been very supportive of me and my music since 2013. So I am incredibly grateful to him for that.

My experience with the AKUMA franchise has also been great. I feel like it has sort of its own cult following which is pretty cool. ALEX & I definitely raised the bar in the scene with those two albums. Once the first AKUMA dropped we notice so many acts turning into the darksynth side of things and borrowing our aesthetics, haha.”

Q: How exactly did your collaborations with ALEX take shape?

“Long story short, I reached out to ALEX to collab on a track. That tracked turned into an EP and that EP turned in AKUMA,” he said with a laugh.

“When we created both albums we had the goal set in mind to stand out with our production and visuals. I think we did a pretty great job along with some other fantastic artists. The production on AKUMA was pretty smooth and fast to be honest. I had my 6 tracks and so did ALEX.

With AKUMA II it proved to be a bit challenging only because ALEX & I wanted to raise the bar even further, and we were perfectionists with every aspect of the album. It was a great thing. You should never settle for less in anything you do. In the production of AKUMA II we wanted to bring in our influences at that time into AK2. We wanted something daring, fresh and new but we wanted to still keep some “Retro” elements.”

(A quick list of AKUMA I & II collaborators: Ariel ZB, STRNGR, Rachel McAlpine, Mecha Maiko, Daniel Deluxe, F.O.O.L, & Power Glove)

Tokyo Rose performing at Ace of Cups Columbus- Photo Credit Tim Evans Photography

Q: After the successes of Akuma and AKUMA II, you’ve now announced that you’re departing from Synthwave….what’s next?

“I’m just heading in a new direction. It’s something that I’ve wanted to do for a few years now to be completely honest. Just needed to wait till a few contracts ended to finally announce things to the public.”

Q: What was the catalyst behind this decision? Why depart synthwave after the success of Akuma?

“The main reason for my departure of the synthwave scene is mainly because of the lack of creative freedom there is for someone like me. Being committed solely to that 80’s/90’s sound and retro style was beginning to become a great bore to me. I wasn’t even born in the 80’s!” He said again laughing.

“My real childhood was the early 2000’s… so in reality I have no real attachment to the retro eras. That being said, I wasn’t allowed to really create the music I wanted to without receiving great criticism for coloring out the lines. Now that I am no longer tied down to just one music genre, I can have more freedom in creating the music that I really want to produce.

Regardless I’m super thankful to my Synth fans for all the love and support that they have and continue to still give me.”

Tokyo Rose Performing at Ace of Cups Columbus. Photo Credit Tim Evans

Q: Do you know what your new direction will be?

“There are no limits for me now. My upcoming stuff will be a lot of Midtempo with Dubstep and Hardstyle vibes incorporated. Some retro inspiration in a few tracks but taking things in a heavier and more modern approach. Been bumping a lot of 1788-L, REZZ, & Deathpact so a lot of inspiration for me has been drawing from them.”

Q: ALEX recently moved into DnB/Dubstep/Bass music territory with “Blood City,” are you leaning in this direction too?

“To an extent, yes. But like I stated earlier there are no limits for me now. If I feel like producing a full on R&B track, I will haha.”

Q: So what’s next? Do you have any albums or EP’s lined up? Any tours waiting in the wings?

“No plans on a tour anytime soon… especially with how things are going on in the world presently with the Coronavirus. But its something I am open to once things get better.

“I have some pretty amazing new opportunities that I have been approached with that I am stoked to announce… whenever I’m allowed to. I also have a single coming out this year with a vocalist I’ve been wanting to collab with for about a year now so I’m also excited for that!

Some pretty awesome plans for my stage character as well, maybe a comic and some animation to follow – I know how bad a lot of people want know the origin of my character. Website should be up soon too with some bangin’ new merch.

I’m proud and happy to say that a lot is in store for TOKYO ROSE. I hope that my Synth fans will continue to love and support me regardless of what music I produce. Big shout out to all of the fans that have been messaging me reassuring me of their support for what’s to come. I’m truly grateful!”

Cover Photo Credit: Tim Evans Photography, Courtesy of The Columbus Synth Collective

“Nocturn” was known for it’s heavy and dark electro synth basslines and interesting textures, and I’m happy to report that the signature Tonebox sound has not fundamentally changed – but evolved for the better.

“Cloud Highway” begins much the way Tonebox left off – with intense bassy electro darksynth – but soon gradually grows into the something very profound. New layers of synth cascade in to create incredibly lush melodies and soundscapes that feel very substantial and refined. The tracks themselves meander out of the more bass heavy realm of “Run” and “Overload (feat. TOKYO ROSE) into incredibly danceable tracks like “Hydron (feat. SILVER) and “Space Disco.” Occasionally punctuated by those signature heavy basslines – the album grows even further into magnificent ethereal grooves with tracks like “Home Planet.”

This album features an amazing master, crisp, vibrant production, and the general arrangement of bass intersecting with spacey synth produces immensely satisfying resolutions. However, the defining factor with “Cloud Highway” is the complex use of melody and synthesis. Certain melancholic moments on this record reminded me vividly of Angelo Badalamenti’s Grammy Award winning “Twin Peaks Theme.” The entire album is absolutely gorgeous – and the counterpoint of Tonebox’s signature heavy electro elements is the perfect accent.

To hear this kind of depth inside of a bassy synthwave album is truly novel and profound. Innovation in the synth genres priceless, and this album is purely that.

Listen here! 

The “In Search of Darkness” documentary about 80’s horror began as a simple crowdfunding campaign back in 2018 – but quickly met it’s goals in two days.

To accompany the October release of this maniacal 260 minute doc, we have collaborated with CreatorVC Studios many fantastic artists from various genres to bring you the stunning soundtrack for this titanic release. Critics are already raving 100% at Rotten Tomatoes!

Listen to the full album Here!

See the documentary first by pre-ordering Here before Midnight Halloween, and personalize your documentary with your name in the credits!


Here’s a full list of artists feature on the In Search of Darkness (Original Documentary Soundtrack) :

Elevate The Sky: soundcloud.com/elevatethesky
Wice: soundcloud.com/wice-music
TOKYO ROSE: soundcloud.com/tokyoroseofficial
Morgan Willis: soundcloud.com/morgan-willis-1982
Power Glove: soundcloud.com/powerglove
ALEX: soundcloud.com/alexofficialuk
Hexenkraft: soundcloud.com/hexenkraft
Waveshaper: soundcloud.com/waveshaper-2
Midnight Danger: soundcloud.com/midnightdanger
TurboVCR: soundcloud.com/turbovcr
Moonracoon: soundcloud.com/moonraccoon
Josh Lim: www.joshjameslim.com
Kick Puncher: soundcloud.com/kick-puncher
Turbo Knight: soundcloud.com/turboknight
Vilemoral: soundcloud.com/vilemoral

Who exactly is Danger, in relation to Franck Rivoire? Standing backstage, I noticed a pretty sudden ‘switch’ in your body language right before you came on.

Actually, this all came very naturally. I never wanted to be at the forefront of a stage. I’ve always been into drawing, and when I first started putting my music on Myspace it all started happening pretty fast. I was told I had a gig the next month and I had to figure out what to do. I’m a pretty shy guy, and there was no way I was going to simply step onstage. I don’t like drawing attention. However, I really like creating worlds. I was into drawing comics, so it made sense for me to create a character.

Like Spiderman, there were several versions of the mask. I started out with a crappy one, but now as soon as I have enough money I make new ones. I just made a new one recently. It has the same shape as the one you saw tonight, but it allows me to express myself more. When I first put on the mask, I felt really comfortable, despite the heat and the fact that I couldn’t see as well.

Unlike some people who eventually ditch them, the mask is really important to me. I completely dissociate with my character, it’s almost schizophrenic. On one hand, there’s the guy who writes music and draws comics, and on the other hand, there’s me when I put on the mask, when I’m in character. It’s a little bit like in Last Action Hero when the protagonist goes into the screen (Laughs). It’s something I love doing, but I would not want to do it without a mask, without knowing that I’m just a marionette for this character. When you’re wearing a mask, the audience can’t read my facial expressions, they can see what I express through my body movements. You become a ‘graphic’ character. That’s why I like to use live video as my backdrop. I have fun with it. It gives an anime-like aesthetic and it allows me to exaggerate my movements and do things that I wouldn’t be able to do as a little white guy. It would look ridiculous without the mask, but I can do a lot of things when in character.

And where did this character come from?

I’m a big fan of stories related to evil counterparts and the monstrous side of Man, whether that be in mangas, John Carpenter’s movies or Lovecraft’s stories. Just like with people who play metal – namely black metal – you enter a sort of trance when you step to the stage; you get in character and you unleash your evil, primal energy. You see a lot of that in Synthwave, too. It also allows me to revert back to my little quiet self, and I love this sense of duality. That’s why I tend to refer back to Death Note: there are the alter-ego and this shadow that follows you around. We’ve all wanted to become someone else at some point, and the mask allows you that. It’s sort of like in The Mask.

Masks are incredible. When I make very shy people try on a mask, they become crazy. They stop caring, they’re not judged anymore. Danger is the dark side that we all carry in us, the character I try and tap into.

Forests and jungles appear on most of your covers. What does this environment evoke for you? A lot of electronic music tends to associate with more futuristic, urban settings, after all.

That’s true, especially in Synthwave. It’s important to know that I started out at a time when Eighties-related projects weren’t as normalized as they eventually became after Hotline Miami, Stranger Things and the whole indie gaming scene started embracing this sort of music. Kung Fury also greatly contributed to normalising this image of the Eighties in the public conscience; you had Nazi dinosaurs, police cars and cyborgs…I think it’s awesome and I respect it, but my music carries a different form of nostalgia that is my own. I’m a fan of Akira and Ghost in the Shell, but I’m also a fan of Jurassic Parc and Nineties movies that, to me, form a whole with the rest.

I’m a fan of the forest because I was really in awe when I watched Jurassic Parc, it’s one of my main film references. I’ve always been a huge fan of dinosaurs. For us French people especially, the tropical Amazon Jungle feels like a whole other world. I believe that’s why Avatar was such a huge hit. Old-growth forests are very mysterious, and it’s something that really appeals to me. To me, forests and jungles are simply reminiscences to all of these things I loved: Jurassic Park, King Kong and video games like Crysis.

I also wanted my project to have a ‘tribal’ feel. I’ve got a whole storyline revolving around the music, based on all of the films and manga that mean something to me.

So you do have a storyline in mind when writing the music.

Absolutely. I think a lot of Synthwave artists do the same thing. I compose music for films I visualise in my own head.  I wanted my last album to carry a strong ‘jungle’ element, so I included a lot of percussions and sounds that don’t sound very ‘Synthwave’ at all, but that refers back to films like Akira and Ghost in the Shell. Those films had very traditional scores with taiko drums, which is a really powerful instrument used namely in warfare and during baptisms. It’s not the typical first choice of instrument in Synthwave, yet still, it’s part of the whole. It’s just that these elements weren’t ‘selected’.

It does remind us that the ‘Synthwave Eighties’ aesthetic stands as a particular ‘selection’ of references and codes. I didn’t live in the Eighties but it’s obvious that things back then weren’t how we see them today.

For sure, it’s a sort of ‘best-of compilation’ of references. Besides, I believe we always have nostalgia for things we barely knew. You’re never nostalgic for things you really lived through. I didn’t live in the Eighties either. I just remember seeing old TV shows and being scared by the synth scores. I was traumatised by all of the John Carpenter films I saw when I was little. To me, these scores were scary, even the cool ones. I recently re-watched Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, a Nineties action film with Steven Seagal (Laughs). You’ve got bad guys destroying cities with a hacked satellite and whatnot. It’s one of those cheesy films whose soundtrack I love. It has those dark sounding synth melodies that start playing when the bad guy comes on screen and everything (laughs). My music draws a lot from that. Soundtracks nowadays are more ‘Hans-Zimmer-esque’, it’s not as strange and mysterious.

Many Synthwave artists cite Danger as an influence and a precursor to the movement as a whole. Do you remember your first contact with the scene?

I don’t post much on social media, but I do keep a wide eye open on what’s going on and Synthwave immediately came on my radar. At first, I wondered if it this was something legit, but things quickly started picking up in the indie gaming community and YouTube channels like DrDisrespect. Then there’s Netflix, who reused all of these sounds and tropes with Stranger Things, which also greatly contributed. When I saw it coming, I figured that’s what I was already doing. Then again, I’m a little less of a ‘purist’. I never wanted to make pure Eighties music. When we were making music alongside Kavinsky – before NightCall – there was a touch of that but we didn’t want to replicate. To me, pure ‘Synthwave’ as we now know it has its own rules to follow.

When I’m playing, I can immediately feel when I’m standing in front of a Synthwave audience. I can see them realizing that it’s not quite Synthwave, but I don’t care. My goal is to make my own music with my own influences. If people want to put me in a certain category, that’s up to them. I think Synthwave is super awesome: Perturbator, Carpenter Brut… I really dig it, but we don’t really have the same codes. Those guys have a strong metal background and they’ve pushed the movement towards the rock and metal scenes. I’ve said it before in interviews, but I really want to say “Thank you!”. There are so many artists from my generation, namely as Sebastian and Justice, who were jamming Metallica at their shows and who had a metal edge but who only played to Dance music crowds. It’s the Synthwave guys that finally managed to break into the metal and rock market and play huge metal festivals such as Hellfest. I think it’s awesome.

There are clear similarities between both genres. I don’t necessarily want to start doing metal and borrowing its visual tropes, but I was also traumatised by certain parts of Eighties culture, which I guess makes me a somewhat of a Synthwave artist. If I were to coin a term for what I do it would be something like ‘Akira Synthwave’ or ‘Tokyo/Ghost in the Shell Synthwave’ (laughs). We don’t hear too much of it yet. I’m really into the whole ‘Cyber’ trope, which is actually more of a Nineties thing.

The score for Akira actually doesn’t have a lot of synth sounds, actually.

You’re right. There are a few touches here and there, it’s not full of flashy Keytar solos and huge Arpeggiator sounds. Don’t get me wrong, I’m also into the whole ‘windsurfing’ vibe too (laughs), but I feel closer to the Akira aesthetic. The Ghost in the Shell soundtrack also uses a mix of traditional chants and sparse synth sounds, and it’s gorgeous. The Amiga also had some games with some amazing soundtracks that really influenced me. They had this mix of ‘ethnic’ and ‘cyber’ elements. Lastly, when I was little I used to love this toy collection called Dino Riders. They were super-Nineties. It revolved around time-travellers from the future going back to the prehistoric era. The bad guys were enslaving the dinosaurs with collars and sticking rocket launchers on their backs to use them as weapons, and the good guys could communicate with the dinosaurs by touching them, like in Avatar. I used to love it. It had everything that I was into: futurism, dinosaurs and jungles (laughs).

How do you approach putting together a live set?

It all depends. I pretty much have three different approaches.  In venues such as this one, I knew that there wasn’t going to be a massive lighting setup, so I went for a more ‘energetic’ type of set. The goal is to go all in, have fun and move pretty quickly from one section to the next. It’s more of an ‘entertainment’ type of thing, more rock n’ roll.

For shows like the one I played last night in Poland – where I’m playing big festivals and big venues where I have access to synchronised light setups – I use my new mask, which interacts a little more with its environment.  The show is a little less heavy and it’s more narrative. I make use of the video backdrop and I let things settle for a little longer. It’s more cinematic.

Thirdly, there are more ‘intimate’ shows where I’m more into experimentation. I make the songs last longer and it’s a little more progressive. The goal isn’t to go hard but to have a nice sync-up between image and sound, between the video, the music and the character. It’s something I’m really into, especially since I started handling all of my visuals. Almost everything you see on my Instagram is by me.

So you need to learn about the type of venue you’re playing beforehand.

Right. I usually do my own research and my managers are there to let me know how many people will be there and what kind of gear I’ll have at my disposal. I was aware of tonight’s setup and running order, so I brought out the heavy-hitting set. It may sound dumb, but I came to realize that you can’t exactly kick the audience’s teeth in when it’s 8 pm and they just finished eating. When you go on at 2:30 am, it’s a different story. People have a smaller attention span, you’re following things up and the audience has already had a few beers so you need to hit hard.

Have you noticed a difference in your audience since the Synthwave movement came along?

Absolutely, it’s incredible… and it’s so cool! I’m not trying to be the overly positive guy, but the Synthwave crowds are made up of people like you and me, they’re an awesome audience who share the same references. It’s not like the audience I used to have before the Synthwave boom, where people were more into House music and didn’t necessarily fit into these ‘codes’. The Synthwave audience will immediately get it all of my references. A lot of the fans also work in technical fields, video game developing, graphic design… and it’s awesome. I’ve also noticed that the Synthwave crowd is generally a little bit older. It’s more of a wide-ranging demographic, actually.

More so than before.

Yes. Again, I started a while back so these guys are actually from my generation. I’m 35 and I started when I was 22, back when people were into Justice and the whole French scene, where it was more about the partying. It was little more rock n’ roll, it wasn’t nearly as ‘synthetic’ and melodic. I have a strong feel for these ‘scenes’ now, but it’s all good because I can adapt a little. I’m not necessarily trying to ‘fit in’ either, but I know that Synthwave audiences don’t necessarily want to have their face kicked in for two consecutive hours. It’s nice to have some melodies and some more cinematic stuff, and I can do that with them. I can tell within 2 seconds if my audience isn’t a Synthwave crowd. For example, almost all of my shows in the US are for Synthwave crowds. It’s funny because you’ve got this mix of Synthwave fans and old fans who’ve been following me from back in the day. You also have people from other musical styles. It’s a weird mix. But the Synthwave scene certainly brought people to my music.

I think there were also people who were ‘Synthwave’ before there was such a thing, who eventually embraced the movement as it came along.

I actually wanted to ask you a question on the subject: what do you think of the scene’s evolution? Online, it appears as though it keeps growing and we’re seeing a lot of “mainstream” media using Eighties-styled Soundtracks and Synthwave, yet there doesn’t seem to be any huge mainstream Synthwave artist with heavy radio play, to my knowledge. It’s still a “niche”.

We’re not there yet, but I actually read an article recently that ranked Carpenter Brut as the biggest musical French export of 2018.

I can believe that I read about this as well. It’s crazy. Then again, I don’t know on what criteria they made that claim. I still find it somewhat strange. He doesn’t get any radio airplay, for instance. But of course, I feel the influence of Carpenter Brut. He managed to bring electro and metal music in Synthwave. He’s huge, but not ‘mainstream huge’. Dance music has artists like Martin Garrix, David Guetta, DJ Snake… artists I don’t listen to but that are undeniably big. Synthwave, as a movement is a little more ‘quiet’. I don’t think it’s necessarily aiming to become a dominant culture, but I was wondering whether you thought it could further develop and separate itself from metal to create big Synthwave festivals that could host as many people as a dance or metal events. I have high hopes for both Synthwave and Vaporwave, because they’re two nostalgia-heavy movements that have strong visual components to them.

It’s also interesting to note that Vaporwave is still evolving as a parallel genre. You’ve got new subgenres like ‘Hardvapor’. It’s pretty out there.

Yeah I’ve noticed. I think it’s really awesome. It’s a real subculture based on images from the internet.

To me, Synthwave and the whole Eighties trend came along with a certain generation having grown up in the Eighties reaching the prime ‘market demographic’ age.

That’s true.

Naturally, this means we’re gradually shifting towards a similar Nineties nostalgia trend. With that being said, Synthwave has been holding up a lot better than a lot of us first anticipated. The big question, to me, is what will happen once we move on to the following “Nostalgia Decade”, and the next one after that. Will Eighties stick with its Eighties references or will they start to follow the shifts in ‘generational nostalgia’? We can’t yet tell for sure.

I think it’s also hard to sum up an era you’re currently living in because time hasn’t filtered things out. The Eighties now seem like simpler times where people were dressed in purple, took cocaine and listened to Synth music, but it was a lot more than that. Hip Hop music has now completely embraced Nineties pop-culture; everyone’s now wearing Fila clothes and Nineties style sportswear. I don’t know if Synthwave is still going to have the same name in ten years, but I think the fans who are into the movement like all things dark and mysterious. The Synth music they’re into isn’t Swedish Dance music from the Nineties. To me, they’re people that bond with images, with film.

Then again, there are several conceptions of Synthwave. Perturbator is more into genre films and dark Carpenter-style Synth sounds, but you’ve got artists that played tonight that only borrow from the scintillating, pink side of Eighties pop-culture. There’s also a more ‘innocent’ side to Synthwave.

Actually, you’re right. The ‘Windsurf’ Synthwave aesthetic, as I like to call it – with all of it’s Baywatch-like imagery – also has a strong relationship with imagery. They remind you of Eighties ads and whatnot. It’s not necessarily dark, but it’s cinematic, it reminds you of things. Then again, maybe music is always like that. There might be people listening to dubstep in ten years who will be reminiscing about the whole era and pop-culture of the time. It might very well become its own form of ‘Synthwave’. I think there’s a type of people that tie childhood images and memories with a certain type of music, and I believe there are a lot of them in Synthwave’s fanbase. That’s what I’ve noticed.

You’ve also got music fans that don’t care at all about the imagery and who’re just there to go to shows and get messed up. But in Synthwave, you have these people with this form of sensibility, a sort of ‘Peter Pan Syndrome’… in a good way. They want to return to more innocent things, whether they’re mysterious or dreamy.

Beyond the generational aspect, I also think the Eighties revival is also linked to the fact that many people are struggling to picture a bright future nowadays. Going back to the Eighties allows us to dive back into an era where you’re a kid and everything is great. It was a time where, as College once brilliantly explained to me: “People were driving around in huge 4x4s’ with two bikini models on each side, with a machine gun in each hand.”

(Laughs)

It was a time of excess, where we didn’t have to consider the consequences. Synthwave is a return to a time where the future still seemed exciting, full of promise.

This is just my perspective, but I think there’s always been this sort of alternation. We’ve always had eras where people would do enjoy themselves and go crazy without thinking too much, followed by times of questioning and self-reflection, like the one we’re currently in. That’s my theory. It’s like puberty, it’s a time where you’ve got pimples and itches, you don’t quite know what do do, where you’re going…

I think the Eighties glorified a lifestyle that wasn’t very eco-friendly, but people didn’t care too much; there was no guilt. You could be completely unreasonable.

You can also read things from the viewpoint of drug culture too. The Eighties was the golden age of cocaine, the ‘speedy’ drug. It was everywhere: Coppola, Scorsese and all the great directors were doing lines every other second, and you can feel it in the films of the time. The same went for Sigmund Freud and Edison back when you could buy cocaine at the chemist shop. These were times of frenzy where there were loads of inventions. People felt a need to inject fuel into their veins, there were no limits and everything was being pushed to the max. Then, Hip Hop culture came along in the Nineties and switched things over, with ‘weed culture’ slowing things down. It lasted quite a while and it’s coming back now. In the Seventies, you had Hippie culture; people were smoking weed and taking shrooms and it was an era of ‘deceleration’ leading up to the Eighties. If you look at History, you’ll find this alternation, which is very human, after all. I don’t take any drugs, but I’m really interested in drug culture.

Going back to what we were saying earlier: you were saying that you felt more free with Synthwave crowds, am I right?

Yeah. It’s crazy, but if the Synthwave had been around when I first started out, I probably would not have made the same kind of music. I’m guessing my music would have been less ‘hybrid’. I’ve always tried to mix completely different elements, like trap and Eighties music. I’m the kind of guy that wanders around supermarkets listening to things that sink into my brain and influence me. I’ve always been a fan of the ‘retrofuturistic’ element, as in futuristic sounds that convey emotions about stuff from twenty years ago. I think you can sense that in my music, whether it be in the production or in the actual sounds.

I’m freer because the Synthwave crowd are into imagery and they don’t have any problems with more melodic passages. Most of the time, when you’re playing a big festival for a House, Techno or Electro crowd, they just don’t ‘get it’: they need buildups, drops and more physical elements. The idea that you can do Synthwave, Techno and House is a pretty new development. It’s not so long ago that it used to be only Techno and House, it was only music meant to get your body moving at parties. It was more ‘tribal’. You didn’t have the ‘Western’ melodic and compositional aspect. That’s why Synthwave owes a lot to Justice, Daft Punk and Jean-Michel Jarre. Discovery had some real Eighties references, and Justice must’ve bathed in these sounds and ended up with this straightforward strain of electronic music, geared towards melodies and a stronger rock and metal edge. It opened up doors for people, who figured that they didn’t necessarily need to do Techno or House music. That was the whole market back then, and it’s still very present. My question is whether there’s room or whether the blueprint for Synthwave is too restrictive for Synthwave to fit in there. I think the movement needs to open up a little and take in some new elements. That’s how it will grow.

The big question is also how the movement will evolve, considering it’s a genre that relies so heavily on past codes and references.

I don’t think we should be looking at it with specific imagery in mind. We shouldn’t be thinking as Synthwave in terms of neon purple images but rather looking at the fans who love the music. I make music for people like me. I just wanted to listen to music like mine and no one was making it. There will always be people like me, people who’re into geek culture, who go to the cinema all the time, who create visuals… There’s always going to be a form of ‘Synthwave’. The artists need to try out some new things. It could kill the movement but it also prevents it from becoming a parody of itself and ending up as a dying trend.

 A lot of its biggest names tend to want to distance themselves from the term, naturally.

The labelling always comes after the fact, anyway. You’ve always got the type of artist who’s great at understanding tropes and replicating them to perfection, and I think there are a lot of Synthwave artists that do an amazing job at it. Then, there’s the kind of artist that adds some odd touch to their sound that might not please the purists but that will breathe some fresh air into the formula and allow people to think differently and ultimately change things. I think the movement has the potential of becoming the new Rock n’ Roll, of sorts. That’s the very positive take on it. The metal genre can very well make a resurgence through it.

Bands like Ghost are very similar to Synthwave in their relation to imagery. You can sense that it’s part of their ‘culture’. Their live scenography is very slick, it’s modern yet retro at the same time. The more people there are with this sort of ‘culture’, the more likely these worlds will merge together.

After this Hip Hop wave, there could very well be a resurgence of Rock n’ Roll and Metal through some type of ‘Metallic Synthwave’ with proper instrument setups. It’s just a fantasy, but the possibility is not too far off. The metal audience is the Synthwave audience, which is why there are so many physical similarities. Whenever I play San Francisco, everyone’s got long hair and a beard. The metal scene loves strong imagery, and all metal bands are living cartoons. The fans love mysterious bands; they don’t really want to see bands who’re always filming themselves in their bathroom mirror.

It’s very geeky, actually.

It’s extremely geeky, and it’s obvious that something is going to happen between these two scenes. It’s already started, but I’m sure it’ll eventually grow a lot bigger. I love this audience and I would love to embrace all of that. Then again, I may be a little odd and might be in-between too many different influences.

What if you were offered to play a metal festival?

I would absolutely be down! The only issue is that I like blending things that aren’t always meant to be mixed together. If you start whooping out taikos at a metal festival, you might not be able to win everyone over. Then again, I’m absolutely sure some of my tracks would work great at metal festivals. I’d need to put out a more ‘metal’ release. But I’d be thrilled to do it! I’d totally be down for it.

Finishing off: can you name one of your favourite albums, movies and books?

I’m going to go with the score to Ghost in the Shell by Kenji Kawai.
Book-wise, I’m going to name The Inverted World by Christopher Priest, which is a mix of philosophy and Sci-Fi. It’s completely bizarre but I love it.
Film-wise I’m going to name a really old film: The Lost World. It’s a dinosaur movie in black and white. I rewatched it recently and I think it’s absolutely killer.

Massive thanks go out to Anthony, everyone at Retro Future Fest, Franck and his management team for making this interview possible!

 Be sure to keep an eye out for Danger via his social media pages

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Haslinger has also has done extensive work with film, television, and video game soundtracks. His latest release is in the form of a blisteringly sharp period soundtrack for “Halt and Catch Fire” – a drama recounting semi-fictional tales from the days of early computing in the 80’s to the emergence of the world wide web in the early 90’s. To make things better this soundtrack is being published in it’s entirety be Lakeshore Records, who also released the likes of College, Mega Drive, and the new Fangoria Soundtrack.

This is not the newretowave sound many of our fans might be used to – but if you’re a fan of Tangerine Dream then you will definitely appreciate this true-retro  soundtrack piece “Cameron’s Motorcycle Diaries,” featuring a haunting melody and slowly building bass line tension in true Tangerine Dream fashion.

The show itself was fantastic – from the opener Violet Days amazing, punchy synthwork to the mesmerizing light show courtesy Cory Mattonen, to the audience singing along right up until the final shimmering track, it was truly a don’t – miss experience.

Hours before, as Lito Hernandez’s sax pealed in the background for soundcheck, I had the wonderful opportunity to sit down with McEwan and Lyle for an interview.  Before our time was up, they revealed the name of their upcoming single and teased a new album!

The pair spoke first about how astounded they’ve been from the audience reception they’ve received, in the U.S. and in Europe.

“I would say we’re used to playing to the states – and when we got to Europe we didn’t know how they were going to react. I would say though, when we got to Europe that had even more of a hardcore reaction. It was really great to see the energy levels there.” McEwan said. “When we announced the European tour last year – off the bat the sales were really great, much stronger than we expected. We actually needed up upgrading a lot of the shows to bigger rooms in Europe.”

“I was really surprised by Baltimore last night. We were pleasantly surprised by Seattle and Denver. I would say that the variations were much more pronounced in Europe. Spanish audiences were NUTS, they were all for it.” Lyle said through a laugh.

Both of them related that the tour had been going well, and the support from their touring staff was indispensable. Believe it or not they’re travelling by van – something they said they’ll have to upgrade soon.

“Our poor Tour Manager, Chris Paules, I think it’ll be his last time driving. He wears about 5 different hats and I think we’ve broken him now.” Lyle chuckled. Our merch staff Minaz Rayani has been driving too.”

McEwan explained, “It’s all hands on deck. We’re still kind of in the early days. We didn’t know how many people were going to show up to these shows – we’re doing a lot of first-time markets…. We’re very lucky to be working with a great group of people, management team, booking agents, our tour manager – they’re very good at what they do, much better than we are at what we do. It makes for an infrastructure that we can trust in. We can just show up and play, which is an incredible luxury.”

After the tour talk we got down to the music. McEwan and Lyle explained a bit behind why they were drawn to the synthwave sound.

“I’ve always been drawn to the bittersweet, nostalgic, uplifting but slightly melancholic chord progressions. I grew up with 80’s music so the aesthetic was kind of natural to me. It was liking finding something you knew you could go all out with – where it was okay to just be over the top.” McEwan said.

Lyle picked up, “My songwriting comes from a more narrative country Nashville pop writing sensibilities and it was my writing exercise to write images. With the synth sound – the aesthetic is so specific the images are kind of already there, you just put them in the right place.”

They also explained that they don’t want to be placed in a genre box, and that they still plan on expanding their sound.

“We’re trying to connect with people.” Lyle said in a point blank fashion. “This is a human connection business…we’re artists but we’re here for mutual healing. The strict genre boundaries or the narcissism of small genre differences aren’t important. Splicing up the definition of genre that’s 5 years old is – It’s a palette of colors, not a box.  We’re still trying to find the corners of the room.”

After, we spoke about the “Kids” album. Some fans had related they thought it was a bit short, and I asked if it was originally intended to be an EP. This is when they revealed some awesome news – “Kids” may end up being party of a trilogy.

“We had some tracks that just didn’t fit, and we thought …this is thematically maybe the next step of where we go from “Kids,” so maybe it makes sense to save these tracks for the next one and that’s when we realized, “Oh, this could be a three-parter!” McEwan said with a sly smile.

Lyle continued. “As of now, it’s a trilogy. Everything is open to change. But we have a lot of songs written, and a direction we’re going in so… yeah.”

As we wrapped up our interview, the pair looked at each other and McEwan took a serious tone.
“Should we tell him?” – “Sure, why not” came Lyle’s reply. Then they further revealed the first single from an unnamed album is coming soon – that single is called “America Online.”

“We teased that there might be a new single, but we did it on April 1st….” McEwan laughed. “We wanted to give it a few days to kind of confirm it, because people were going “I can’t tell if this is a joke or not!” and we were like ….’Excellent’” he said, doing his best Simpon’s Smithers impersonation before continuing.

“Basically, it’s going to be the first single from the next chapter, it’s more of an instrumental feel, It’s a thesis of the next album. It speaks to the disconnectedness and sort of the loneliness of… let’s say we’ve moved into the internet age from “Kids.” It’s sort of modem sounds and that kind of thing. The track is called “America Online.”

Lyle perked up. “As a kid you’re sort of [disconnected] from the world… But when you’re in your teenage years, everything is sort of inner-conflict, relationships, all happening at once. The tensions of romantic love, acceptance in groups and things like that.”

McEwen closed with a brief description.

“…it’s not a sunset right? It’s more of a sort of blog track. I love going on vaporwave track playlists on youtube. I love the low-grade, low-fi, bitcrushed sound – it’s like that but with a bit more of a cleaner palette, a cleaner mix. So, that one will set the tone. Tyler is definitely on it, but in a bit more of a…vocodery way,” he chuckled.

Dark All Day is OUT NOW!

Stream and enjoy. GUNSHIP’s 2nd offering has much to digest and enjoy. Look out for the album review coming in a few days.

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