In true DD fashion, the new songs eschew the gimmicks of cyberpunk-themed darksynth, aiming for pristine production value and tracks that build and maintain an exhilarating amount of momentum all throughout the EP. Daniel Deluxe makes the distinction between action and brutish violence, striking a tasteful middle ground that sets his songwriting apart from other darksynth composers.

Ghostrunner Project HEL by Daniel Deluxe

Daniel Deluxe’s Ghostrunner Project HEL soundtrack is out now on Bandcamp and Spotify

Overnight, a grand drama has developed in the synth scene. The darksynth / electro producer CYBERTHING! was scrolling through Spotify to discover new music, when instead discovered the remnants of a digital heist! The alleged thief in this case had not stolen credit card numbers or bitcoin – but rather, music. Darksynth and cyberpunk to be exact – as well as album art.

It looks like the alleged thief manipulated the tracks so the Automatic Content ID system didn’t catch them. Cyberpunk indeed!

But this isn’t just a story of alleged theft – it’s also a story about how the larger synthwave community came together to identify the stolen tracks, notify the artists, and hunt down the perpetrator!

The Find

“I was just looking for new music.  I’m always looking for some new unnamed artists who can do something interesting….

So I found this guy’s ‘album’ and the first track was awesome (of course it was, cause it was Street Cleaner – Vultures) but I didn’t understand it right away, since the track was a little pitched down and sounded a lil different. But the second track was Perturbator lol. So I started to Shazam the tracks and made this Tweet after that.” – CYBERTHING!

The alleged perpetrator of this heist appears to be one “Electromedison.” They may also go by “DO.RE.MI.XX Production Story,” and/or “Cybershot.” It appears many of these albums and tracks have been up under false names for almost a year. 

We reached out to Electromedison for a comment, but at the time of this writing, we have had no response. 

Editors Note: We will not link to these “releases,” and we strongly discourage you from seeking out these releases too, as we do not want to give this alleged thief any money from streaming!

If you are a darksynth/cyberpunk artist and you’re worried your music may have been stolen, the unidentified tracks are listed at the bottom of this article, and most of the albums in question can be found on Electromedison’s Soundcloud, and they do not appear to be monetized there.

The Search Begins

Upon finding these maliciously uploaded tracks, CYBERTHING! spread the word on social media, tagging every artist who’s work he could identify. News spread like wildfire, and soon the fine folks over in Nightride FM’s discord channel had begun the hunt, finding and notifying many of the artists who had their work stolen. Eventually, DEADLIFE compiled and tweeted a list of the stolen tracks and the original artists the awesome Nightride FM community could identify.

Dozens of darksynth and cyberpunk artists and their labels are affected, including:

• Street Cleaner
•  Perturbator
•  MADES
•  Chaos Vector
•  Jack Maniak
•  Anacrhonist
•  Pomidor
•  Hexenkraft
•  Dreddd
•  Tokyo Rose
•  Graveslayer
•  Midnight Danger
•  Irving Force
•  Daniel Deluxe
•  Knightbots
•  Alex
•  Neon Nox
•  Nightcrawler
•  Tonebox
•  Compilerbau
•  Kick Puncher
•  Lazerpunk
•  VHS Glitch
•  Darkshine
•  F.O.O.L
•  Coderpunk
•  Sandman

In fact, it seems every single track from these releases was allegedly stolen, though there are still unidentified tracks.
(See the full list of stolen tracks below.)

It also appears the album art was also stolen, with one of them being identified as Steven Holliday’s Creepshow anniversary poster.

A number of artists also confided in me they believe they have found the original perpetrator, but we will not provide real names here, as we aren’t in the business of witch hunts. However, a friend-of-a-friend reached out to the person in question – and this was his response:

The Mystery Deepens

Haven’t heard of Electromedison? Us either – in fact, no one really has. This “artist” has zero social profiles. In spite of this, the pirated tracks have been spread all around the net: they’re on Spotify, Shazam, Itunes, Amazon, Beatport, TikTok, – you name it.

That’s actually why I’m writing this article – so artists who are affected can find their tracks and be sure to report them on their respective services. I can’t imagine anything worse than losing fans because Shazam took you to an imposter’s tracks.

There’s only one way that so many different platforms could fall prey to this scheme: a music distribution service.

In this case, it seems that the distro service in question is FreshTunes, though there could have been other services involved as well.

We want to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, and to their credit, FreshTunes clearly states in their Terms of Service that copyright-infringing material is not acceptable on their platform – and the content is currently being taken down – so this does seem like the actions of one rogue actor, and not FreshTunes. It has also been less than 24 hours since the initial complaints were made too – that’s a pretty quick turnaround time for takedowns – though the music in question is still available in several places.

We reached out to FreshTunes for a comment, but at the time of this writing, we have had no response.

List of Stolen Darksynth/Cyberpunk Tracks:

Big shout-out to DEADLIFE and the fine detectives of the Nightride FM discord who helped track down many of the stolen tracks below!

Album: Electromedison – Taste of Blood (Album Art: Steven Holliday’s Creepshow anniversary poster.)

• The Laughter Of Fear (Actually Street Cleaner – Vultures)
• M.Z.18 (Actually Perturbator – Neo Tokyo)
• The Smell Of Death (Actually MADES – Awakening (Knightbots Remix)
• Drownedman  Actually (Chaos Vector – Hellhound)
• Taste Of Blood (Actually Jack Maniak – Code 403)
• Rise Of The Machines (Unknown)
• Paranoia (Unknown)
• Alloy (Unknown)
• Dark Task (Unknown)
• Mf Lost (Actually Anachronist – Somnolence)
• Last Sunday (Unknown)

Album: Electromedison – Cyberpunk

• Hunting For A Virus  (Actually Pomidor – Space Lullaby)
• Blackweb (Actually Hexenkraft – A Flame In The Void)
• Brain Error (Actually Dreddd – Omega Beam)
• Overcharge (Unknown)
• Cyberpunk (Actually Graveslayer – Hyper Alloy)
• Timekiller (Actually Tokyo Rose – Armageddon)
• Chasing A Flash Card (Actually Midnight Danger – System Outage)
• Digital Reality (Unknown)
• Infecting All Of Humanity (Unknown)
• Cyberwitchcraft (Actually Irving Force – Overlord (Original Mix)
• Hackers Symphony (Actually Daniel Deluxe – Kindred)

Album: Electromedison – Killer’s Day

• Killers Day(Unknown)
• Murder At A Bus Stop (Actually Daniel Deluxe – Brute Force)
• Wheezing (Actually Alex – Dystopia)
• Strangers Night Call (Actually Neon Nox – Streetwalker)
• Scramble (Actually Tokyo Rose – Armageddon)
• Escape(Unknown)
• A Terrible Dream(Unknown)
• Wrong Turn(Unknown)
• Someone Else’s Script(Unknown)
• Theres A Knife In The Mirror(Unknown)
• Blood With Oxygen(Unknown)
• On The Chain(Unknown)
• Facing My Demons(Unknown)
• Moon Is Hiding(Unknown)

Album: (As Cybershot) – Mechanism Of Action

• No Weapons (Unknown)
• War Z (Actually Nightcrawler – Blood Rage)
• Explosion (Actually Daniel Deluxe – Instruments Of Retribution)
• Fear In The Eyes (Actually Tonebox – Implosion)
• Graveyard Of Cars (Actually Perturbator – Creature)
• Rough (Unknown)
• Mechanism Of Action (Actually Compilerbau – Dark Forces)
• Rise Of The Tomb (Actually Kick Puncher – Red Herring – Night Ritual)
• Werewolf (Actually Lazerpunk – Power / Raydar – The Gathering)
• Cold Night (Actually VHS Glitch – Jaw Breaker)
• Cipher (Actually Darkshine – When Darkness Is Shining)

Album Electromedison – Hacker

• Cyberpunk 2077(Actually Coderpunk – Battle Of Robots (Radio Edit)
• Hacking The System (Actually F.O.O.L – Sahara)
• Hacker  (Unknown)
• Reboot 3 2 1 (Unknown)
• Cyberhunt (Actually Perturbator – Death Squad)
• Ufo (Unknown)
• We Were Declassified (Actually Coderpunk – We Were Declassified (Vinyl Version)
• The Hacker Returns (Actually Sandman – Ignite)

Dropping next Friday, July 24th, “Magnatron III” is jam-packed with absolute fire tracks from some of the best hand-picked artists in the retro synthwave scene. Just listening to the gleaming production of first three singles (Waveshaper – Vivid Stars/ Wice – Interstellar / Power Glove & PYLOT – AEON) is proof-in-pudding that Magnatron III is going to be an absolute banger! With genres ranging from dreamwave to synthwave to darksynth and everything in-between, This synthwave compilation is set to be stuffed with a track for everyone.

Initial pre-sales of rare bundles are already sold out – but fear not! We’re adding more to the store at 9:30AM EST tomorrow via NRW Records. This will include standalone items in larger amounts and different colorways. – https://NRWRecords.lnk.to/MagnatronIII

Tracklist:

1. Wice – Interstellar
2. Waveshaper – Vivid Stars
3. Zombie Hyperdrive – Ghostwalker
4. Absolute Valentine – Magnatron Engaged
5. STRAPLOCKED – Active Aggression
6. ALEX – SAMUS ARAN
7. Power Glove & PYLOT – AEON
8. Tonebox – Pulsar Blast
9. TOKYO ROSE – Tyrael
10. F.O.O.L – The Truth
11. Daniel Deluxe – Frontier
12. Sandman – Destiny Unknown
13. Donbor – Brume
14. DEADLIFE – Grit Rewired
15.Turboslash – Phantom
16. ORAX – Shelter
17. Kick Puncher – Last Resolve
18. Volkor X – Aftermath

Magnatron / Magnatron III / Magnatron 3

Cold air from entrance door bites at the back of my neck and soon dissipates as I ascend a short staircase to the main floor of the “Big Room Bar.” The brewery-district venue has a partnership with the local alternative station, CD102.5, but it’s the first time I’ve attended a show here. The “Big Room Bar” is, in fact, deceptively big – but that’s hard to discern with so many bodies packed in so tight. The show hasn’t yet begun, and already the main room is nearing at least 75% capacity.

The attendance is a great surprise for a Wednesday night synth-metal show. Ohio is often overlooked by artists on tour and I’m pleased to see the number of fans here showing their support. One lone bartender furiously works the bar – the poor bastard – it’s clear that not even the venue was expecting such a turnout.

Of course, they’ve never dealt with Dance With The Dead or Daniel Deluxe.

I meet with the tour manager and step into the green room to meet Justin and Tony of DWTD and Daniel of Daniel Deluxe. Their mood is very relaxed as they sip on a few beers, readying for the show. Tony looks up, guitar in hand, and introduces himself. While we chat he continues to practice almost subconsciously – not unlike Skwisgaar from Metalocalypse. I begin our small interview before the show.

How has the tour has been so far?

“It’s been awesome man – it’s been great. We’re at the halfway point right now,” says Tony. Justin nods and pipes up, “I feel like our tours always go by pretty fast.”

Tony relates that it’s Daniels first time to the states. I ask him how he’s liked it so far and he gives it a good to mixed review.

“So far,” Daniel says with a laugh, “the most surprising thing was how cheap our sodas are!”

So, you’ve been touring a new album, “Loved to Death,” How do you feel about the reception of the new album?

“It’s the most energetic records we’ve put out and written, one of the hardest. We’re really proud of it. Sometimes we can pump out songs pretty fast, but with this one we took our time and dissected every part of the song until we got what we thought was perfection. We’re stoked on it, we’re touring for it – and so far we’ve had great feedback!”

“Loved to Death” is one of your most intense albums so far – how was your production different between this album and your previous?

“We put in a lot of time for this record. We wanted to make sure the record slammed into fifth gear and took the listener on a journey.”

Do you plan on getting heavier over time? What’s next in the Dance with the Dead sound?

“We’re not sure yet… but we’re always exploring for new inspiration so we shall see!”

The synthwave and darksynth scenes have been steadily growing over the past few years – do you think the genres are getting to big for their own boots, or do you think it still has room to grow?

“I think there’s still room to grow and it should be interesting to see where it’s at in the next year or so.”

How has the tour been so far? What are you favorite highlights or conversely, some of the more difficult moments?

“Tour has been great so far. Some of the highlights are playing places we’ve never been to and meeting and making new fans. Difficulty’s would be dealing with Van and trailer issues. Those are never fun…”

(After the show) How did you like the Columbus crowd?

“We didn’t know what to expect since it was our first time but the crowd and energy was great! Looking forward to coming back.”

I notice Daniel has exited behind me to start the show, so I thank them for their time and make my exit to take some photos.

Daniel Deluxe puts on one hell of a show. He mixes his tracks together in a deft manner – subtly changing the tracks to amazing effect. His darksynth sound is deep and raw enough to get even the metal heads in the audience head banging.

Too soon, his set is over – and Dance With The Dead takes the stage. As they do so some curtains are lifted, revealing two massive skulls that blast neon green light into the audience. The crowd rushes forward and soon it becomes difficult to get photos with the erratic mix of head banging and dancing going on. They absolutely tear up their sound – hitting every note with an expert flourish. Often they switch between keyboard and guitar.

I had specifically chosen not to listen to their new album beforehand, and I’m greatly surprised by the evolution of their sound into heavier, darker territory. Vocal stabs from horror movies punctuate the end of tracks, and as soon as it began the show is over. The audience screams for an encore before they’ve left the stage – and they return quickly with three full final tracks.

This tour is certainly not one to miss – grab your ticket for one of their last remaining shows if you haven’t already!
Click Here to see their remaining tour dates!

A tang of kerosene, a lullaby of carbon monoxide, the engine starts, lights rotating around the city in urgent slow motions, scattered neon colors the landscape.
Ambition, heroism, action, catastrophe…

Like an alternative reality where the opening song to the Drive soundtrack is scored by Justice and Daft Punk, all twisted through a broken VHS, we have Daniel Deluxe’s pulsating ‘Breakout’
A hook forms in the stuttering bassline, crunching lead lines join the assault to propel you forward deeper into the song, into your journey.

The arps given added warmth and detail, all oozing retro credibility, a sound leering over the night. Classic kicks, claps, snares, hats and percussion a juggernaut rhythm. The song resembles a race, a chase, the sunset coming too fast, feeling dangerous and vexed, will you escape the city? Make it out alive?

Original, fresh, yet soothingly you feel acquainted to the song.
A thought that maybe you know it.
Maybe not.

Daniel Deluxe – Corruptor

Corruptor by Daniel Deluxe is OUT NOW! Download and/ or Stream it today!

Streaming and digital downloads are Available