Morgan Willis ‘Feel it’ is out now via Bandcamp.

SAILORWAVE III by MACROSS 82-99

Macross 82-99 ‘Sailorwave III’ is out now via Bandcamp

Era by Shiruetto

Shiruetto ‘Era’ is out now on bandcamp.

An expert mix of house, italo disco, and synthwave, “Forget Me Tango” is an album in-between decades. The bandcamp page reads “Inspired by 1990’s TV, Malls, Arcades, Discotheques and Fashion Shows,” however much of this album seems to reside in the late 80s as well.

Acting like a time capsule for that turn-of-the-decade feel, “Forget Me Tango” swings through a variety of influences from synthwave emotions to future funk fantasies and into house and disco dance hall ground pounders. This album has a bit of everything for everyone – but all with high quality production and nailing the unique design from an interesting and short-lived time.

Grab a listen here!

Using old school production and mixing and mastering techniques, “Through the Night (Part 1)” continues the legacy of authenticity Peter Zimmermann began with “Ein Nacht Mit Peter Zimmermann (Part1)” and “Ryse of the Shrymps” in a delicious way.

In addition to the authentic synth feel, Peter Zimmermann also again seamlessly merges italo and synthwave into a new delicious retro form, giving us more of his signature clean 1979 sound without repeating his old tracks.

It’s also worth noting Zimmermann now has an interesting new sound, merging vaporwave, old school synth and disco in his recent VAPORDISCO release – hitting #1 on the bandcamp vinyl charts! Both of these releases aren’t ones you want to miss – go grab a listen now!

Through the Night (Part 1) – Listen Here! Top tracks: “Waking Up (Part I Instrumental),” “Heartbreak City,” “Out-o-Bahn”

VAPORDISCO – Listen Here!

So it is with “New World,” an album that feels futuristic, yet sparks nostalgia. An album that revisits the old disco-dreamwave proving grounds of FM Attacks’ debut “Dreamatic” through present rose-colored synthpop lenses, then looks to the future with the cold uncertainty of newwave and darkwave aesthetics.

In this way, “New World” feels a lot like a journey through genres. Some artists trying this feat may end up with an album feeling disjointed, but each seamlessly intertwined track flows perfectly into the next for Ward. Of course, as with all of the FM Attack catalog, every cut is also masterfully produced. The result is an album reminiscent of his previous work, but ever marching forward – pushing the boundaries of what synth music can and should be.

Turning 10 this year, Ward’s debut “Dreamatic” disco sound is instantly apparent on the first half of the album, especially in ‘Let You Go,’ ‘Ultraviolet,’ and ‘My Life.’ However, these early half cuts don’t simply rehash anything and are steeped in their own synthwave and synthpop vibes that present a more mature arrangement. Mecha Maiko lends her vocals for “Stranger” in this first half as well, making a lamenting statement piece everyone should really sit down and absorb.

The tonality of the album then shifts with ‘Cosmic Dance’ – a more cinematic interlude track reminiscent of Tangerine Dream.

The rest of the album dives into the newwave and darkwave deep end with three tracks featuring Blake Voss of Vandal Moon – an artists out now on Ward’s own Starfield Music record label.

Each of these tracks really work well, instantly conjuring images of The Cure and New Order but with a lighter, more synthesized feel. FM Attack’s signature uplifting sound keeps these tracks from getting too dark or depressing, creating an incredibly interesting nostalgic blend of dreamwave and darkwave which I would love to hear explored more as an entire genre.

Overall “New World” is a fantastic, mature piece of artwork that has something for everyone in it – whether you’re a fan of italo disco, synthpop, or darkwave.  Top Cuts: ‘Ultraviolet,’ ‘Let You Go,’ ‘Shadows,’ ‘Stranger (ft. Mecha Maiko),’ and ‘Mixed Emotions (ft. Vandal Moon)’

Check out the full album here!

The German based synth machine Compilerbau, aka Rudi Koller, is back with another astounding release entitled “Trickster’s Paradise.”

Koller has been producing music for over two decades, beginning when he was 13. He is known for his attention to minute details and an involved process of creation – bending the technology at his fingertips to achieve his sonic will. According to various interviews, much of that early music sits unreleased on a fabled hard drive – though you can hear some of his earlier works in his “Chronicles” releases.

Because he has been producing for over 20 years, the Compilerbau sound was already very refined when he began widely releasing music under that name around 2013. Each successive release, therefore, has seen not an improvement as you would with many other artists, but rather another side of the same complex, dynamic and well-rehearsed Compilerbau sound. “Trickster’s Paradise” is no different – intricately complex and masterfully mixed and mastered with a heavy emphasis on dynamics over loud, crunched waveforms.

According to social media posts, “Trickster’s Paradise” actually began as one huge project that also included “North Wall,” which was released last year. Koller also explained that he infused “Trickster’s Paradise” with some counterpoint and fugue-like melodies written after his Bach releases. A close listen shows this to be true – the two albums are like different sides of the same coin, albeit one side more dream wave and one side darker and more Baroque.

Because of this fugue-like take,”Trickster’s Paradise” feels more reticent and brooding. Compilerbau has already released some fantastic dark wave – though Koller laments being pigeonholed into that genre – and this release builds amazingly upon those already mastered dark tones with Bach-like trills, arpeggiations and synth rolls so quick they almost become stabs.

Dana Jean Pheonix also makes an appearance on this album in three awesome tracks. Adding her beautiful tones to an already fantastically dark and mysterious release only makes it better. Finally, I asked a physicist friend of mine about the album cover’s equations – and they are, in fact, real waveform equations.

All in all, Compilerbau can put another notch in his belt of stunning releases. This isn’t one you want to miss – especially if you appreciate the darker side of synth!

Top Tracks: “Crazy Business,” “Protorobotics,” “Nomad (feat. Dana Jean Phoenix),” and “Altitude.”
Altitude was actually written in 1998 and the original version, “High on Mountains” can be found in “Chronicals I.”

Community Ratings

French House and Nu-Disco vanguard LIFELIKE, aka Laurent Ash, is no stranger to the music industry. He began as a bassist in the mid-90’s, but soon after became interested in synthesizers and samplers, moving on to dance music. Mainly working with samples, he helped create a new sound infused with the disco of yesteryear.

Eventually his record wound up in the hands of Daft Punk’s manager, and was played by Bangalter & DJ Falcon during the famous “Together 2002 tour.” Since then Ash has worked with many musical titans – mostly on singles and remixes – but soon, he plans to release his first full-length album, “Electronic Dreams,” featuring a slew of talented artists like A-Trak, Chromeo, Electric Youth, Oliver, Yota and Audio District/Benjamin Dante  – and he wants your help too!

Instead of signing onto a big label, he’s put the album up on kickstarter to help create promotional materials, music videos and press vinyls and CD’s.

We sat down with him to find out more about his new album, the kickstarter and his thoughts on the current music industry.

You’ve been in the music business for years, working with many other very talented artists – why are you only now releasing your first full-length album, “Electronic Dreams?”
I wanted to drive my car in the record industry the way I wanted it. I didn’t want to do an album before – it’s just as simple as that. I liked the fact that I could have the freedom to release singles and remixes and not having the need to release a full album. I felt now that I had enough good tracks to go for the album.
I don’t believe that in today’s modern times, its fully needed to do album after album like in the other decades. You can be successful and drive a community of followers that is strong without the need to feel the pressure of doing an album.

Why did you choose to use kickstarter for this album? Why not use a label?
Well the problem with other labels and especially major record labels – they can’t drive this type of specific project – my album needs very specific image and promotion.
Big structures aren’t able to this properly. I would need to tell them how to proceed and who to hire and survey constantly what they do.
This is far too stressful, they should be able to drive this by themselves – it’s their job. Unfortunately, today, they are not able to drive these kinds of projects properly anymore. That’s why you hear so much bad music out there, they are only interested in releasing fast short terms projects to bring in fast money.My music isn’t like mainstream, so this is not something they understand how to promote or push. Not to mention that most A&R working for those labels have no sense of artistic development, most of them have only experience out of commercial marketing and sales.

You don’t sell music like you would sell a piece of cheese.

You’ve noted that as you work with bigger labels you lose creative control – can you tell me a bit more about how that happens?
I remember that most A&R in major labels constantly wanted to tell you how to arrange your music, how it should sound, to remove this or this instrument here and there.
This is unacceptable for me. Nobody tells me what I should do with my music.
I accept critics on the sound, but when a guy out of a marketing school who never sold anything other than cheese or computers comes and tell me what to do, I’m not ready to compromise on that and I prefer to throw the deal in the trash rather than discussing what he thinks is the best for me.
Back in the days of the early Daft Punk albums at Virgin Records, they still had the finest A&Rs who would understand the creative process and the scene they were coming from – giving them a total control and freedom over their music.

Those guys were fired 15 years ago…

What made you eventually start you own label, “Computer Science?”
I just wanted some space and some freedom to release my own music, whenever I felt like it. Also, it helped me to create a business structure to protect my music and myself from being eaten by other bigger structures in case I would sign a deal with bigger major labels.

It’s absolutely necessary to have your own label today.

Can you tell us more about “Electronic Dreams?” What I’ve heard sounds utterly amazing…
It’s a collaboration album with friends of mine. I’ve been working with A-Trak, Chromeo, Electric Youth, Oliver, Yota and Audio District/Benjamin Dante.
It’s lies somewhere between, discofunk, synthwave and pop music which are the three main genres I’m really digging now.

What was your inspiration for the tracks? How did you imagine the sound would before actually digging in – and how has the final project changed from your original concept?
It really depends on the tracks, the song I co-wrote first with Chromeo, needed some magic I couldn’t get in my studio, so I called Vaughn from Oliver and they worked on the track again, giving to it this final 80’s retro touch that sounds amazing.
With Electric Youth they wrote the lyrics and went in the studio – but I finalized and mixed it alone. I’m actually producing, mixing and sound engineering everything in the album.

“Electronic Dreams” is a collaboration with many amazing artists such as Chromeo, A-Trak, Electric Youth, Oliver, Yota, etc…and much of your work is in remixes – why do you like working with other artists so much – and did you find it hard, with so many influences, to maintain a cohesive sound for this album?
I think it makes the music more rich to add more influencers and musicians, making the songs or tracks stronger than if you do this alone. Three brains working together are better than one. 
Do you have any “White Whale” producers – someone you’d love to work with, but just haven’t been able to nail them down?
Yes unfortunately, at the very first start of the album, I asked UK top producer Martin Rushent to work with me on this album, he the guys who produced The Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me” and other big acts from the 80’s.
Sadly, he passed away – just a couple of weeks after we started to discuss how we would make this happen.

Much of the music that has evolved from the Valerie, the new synthwave movement – much of it is not necessarily dance music. How did your disco sound fit with the 80’s soundtrack sound?
Well its amazing to see this evolution and where this comes from. I recently got invited to a synthwave party, to DJ here in Paris and met some guys from the scene, all of them told me that I was one of the pioneer in this genre, long time before it would be called synthwave, because of a track I release in 2007 called “So Electric”.
One of those artist, Robert Parker, had been travelling all the way from sweden just to meet me and give me his album, and to tell me how influential my music was on his own way of doing music.
This is the most rewarding thing that can happen as a producer.
Thanks to Robert, I decided to open a new synthwave label with Vitalic ex manager Fred Gien, it will be operational early next year, and we have big plans for our artists.

When you sit down to create a track, what is your creative process? I know you use a ton of samples?
Yes I use a lot of samples, because I love the fact that you can bring that old feeling from an old record into a new song and make it sound even better.

What is some of your favorite gear to use when producing?
Akai MPC, Akai S-950, E-mu Emax, Yamaha TX81Z, Roland Alpha Juno 2, Lexicon reverbs and delays

What is the most important problem facing dance music today – and what is your solution?Getting back the money we lost from the digital and physical sales crash in recent years.This means fighting to force the streaming companies to raise their rates per play, so we can start to earn decent money from that, even as indie producer, and not only big pop stars with millions of plays.

It’s on the way, but it will take a certain time, hopefully this will get better – I’m positive about that.

French electronic gadget maestro Tommy ’86 is back with a brand new EP entitled “Disco Machine”  released via 86′ Records . This shiny and glamorous assortment of songs is going to travel in through your ears and wear you like a sparkly outfit, its going to make you wanna move and its going to make you wanna party!

Disco Machine captures that feeling of reaching the end of the working week, when all you wanna do is head into the city to hang with your friends and forget about the monotony of your bullshit office job. It’s built upon groove inspired beats and topped with tuneful keyboard parts that are more infectious than Malware; it’s highly unlikely that you’ll resist its charms for long.

The EP erupts with its two strongest songs ‘Revival’ and ‘Back To Basics’, the two of which are absolutely killer tracks. I think I may have listened to these songs back to back more than 8 times and both have this amazing beginning of the night vibe, the kind that fills you with hope and promise for the night ahead and enables you to forget all your worries. When an EP is strictly instrumental like this one (Minus a few vocoder parts), melody and hooks are vital for capturing the listeners attention and ‘Back To Basics’ is a masterclass in how to achieve this, it without doubt bares my favourite hook of the year so far.

The third track on the EP ‘New lands’ is a slightly more lower key dance number in comparison to the records opening two. Even though a prominent beat is still present in all its danceable glory, the synth melody cools off proceedings and helps lower the intensity level to a more dreamier plane. Track 4, ‘If dreams could become reality’ is a soaring and herculean piano ballad that steams forward tirelessly and passionately. This truly beautiful piece of music adds extra dimension and serves as an interesting addition to the record.

The title track wastes no time in pushing the pedal to the metal and quickly lifts us back to the highs experienced on the EP’s opening tracks. This slick and fast paced song takes us on one last jaunt around the dance floor and doesn’t disappoint with its stirring and relentless melody. Finally we wind down with ‘A song for people in love’, a warm and heartfelt conclusion to a great night had. It feels a lot like that train journey home at the end of the night, when you’re surrounded by the blurred lights of passing buildings as you slump contently in a state of reflection.

Disco Machine is a wonderfully paced album and it takes us on an enjoyable ride through a variety of emotions. Its pilot and composer is one who bares an obvious aptitude for electronic music and is one who clearly understands the dynamics of song structure. This EP is more than just a selection of songs thrown together; it plays more like a concept album and it feels a deeply personal one at that. I thoroughly enjoyed this record and I hope you will too, Vive La Tommy!

COMMUNITY RATINGS

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NONE OTHER THAN…

THE ITALO DISCO IS BACK! COMPILATION ONLY ON SUNLOVER RECORDS

!

ENJOY!

NRW

COMMENTS

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Daft
Punk. We all know them. Or at least, we all know about them.
And if we didn’t before Random Access Memories was released, we
most definitely do now.

5
years is a long time. In today’s future world, at the pace we’re
going, it’s even longer. It’s a lot of time for someone to learn
about themselves. RAM doesn’t even feel like we’re even listening
to that kind of growth. Maybe that’s why there’s so much
backlash. Not about sounding different, but emotionally, maybe the
collective fan base expected some sort of growth or at least some
novelty.

What
we all received was something more than that. We got something super
personal from people who, for so many years, decided to remain
semi-anonymous. And maybe that’s all we should have expected. I
keep saying we as if I had any idea what they were working on.
Honestly, I hadn’t really thought about them in a long time. 5
years is a really long time.

RAM
opens with a crash that instantly puts you front and center at a rock
concert. A legit rock concert. The funky rhythm guitars, and full
warm bassline that follow lock on to your whole nervous system and
make you want to smile. This is Give Life Back To Music, the
first track on the album. It sets the tone for what would overall end
up sounding like really fun dance music. Oh, no, it doesn’t at all
sound like what passes for today’s “dance” music. It sounds
even better than that.

Disco
is the name of the game. The first three tracks sound like disco had
a party and invited gritty cop shows. Seriously, the vibraphones, the
rhodes keys, the silky smooth bass. It’s so funky, yet so chilled
out, that you sort of can’t stop listening. It’s not as
electronic as one might as expect from Daft Punk (speaking
generally). (speaking specifically) I hadn’t expected anything or
listened to their earlier material before hand recently. So what I
experienced with those fresh ears was the ridiculously warm tones.
Without caring about the content of the lyrics first, I was hooked by
the production quality.

Giorgio
By Moroder is produced so well, and not just well, but with a
simple attitude. The simplicity of this particular track, broken up
by two actual Giorgio Moroder anecdotes, is actually where the homage
to the god of synth lies. If you actually go back and listen for it,
the old Moroder classics are all very very simple. By that, I mean:
not complicated. It’s the right elements being twirled about
together in that specific way that makes it a “Moroder”
composition.

Rhodes
seem to be a key element to this album. A great choice, I might add.
With the generous amount of those rhodes keys, you’re allowed to
get into that 70s cop show vibe. With all the emotion that those
chords can inspire. There does seem to be a deliberate attempt to
inject wide swathes of good feelings and emotions. Maybe they really
are… just human after all.

…ugh,
another ‘human after all’ pun?

But
seriously, Within, the track that transitions us from the
wanton fun of the first three tracks, takes us deep down into what
these possibly think on a day to day basis. We can’t ever be sure,
because we don’t know them, but it’s kind of fun to get think
that these robots can get this introspective. It’s got that classic
Daft Punk vocoder vocals mixed with dreamy synths. What makes it a
great track are the harmonies. From track to track, the progressions
of chords and inherent harmonies really activates some sort of
emotional third eye and make you feelthink. I just made that up.
Feelthink. Ha.

The
next five tracks are what I would call the Radio tracks. Any number
of them, from Julian Casablanca’s vocals on Instant Crush,
to Pharell’s vocals on Lose Yourself To Dance and Get
Lucky, even to Paul Williams’ soft and heartfeltly pseudo
ballad Touch. They seemed designed for that radio airtime.
Touch is very honest and moving, it totally sounds like his
Love Boat theme in the middle. It’s so Paul Williams, even Paul
Williams probably said “jeez, I did it again.”

Beyond
sounds like a Daft Punk train collided with a Michael Mcdonald one. I
can’t not think of his I Keep Forgetting when listening to it. If
you don’t know what song that is, look it up, and then you’ll be
like “ohhh, that one.” Motherboard sounds like they had
just gotten done with a Phillip Glass marathon and then hopped into
the studio. Those staccatos are super sweet. Doin’ It Right
just screams Brian Wilson. They have mentioned loving Brian Wilson in
press stuff for other albums and shows a lot on this track. 

The drums
are lackluster though, I feel like they should have just dropped the
modern electro drums for some sort of other bassy rhythm keeper. They
feel out of place. Contact is a wonderful sound collage that
possibly tells some story about them leaving for/coming back from
space? Not so sure. Either way, it sounds delicious to my ears.

Random
Access Memories. I get it. It’s a collection of sounds they liked
and loved and learned during any and all phases of their lives. The
presentation is simply from the perspective of worldwide superstars.
Super cool. Super simple.

To
sum it up: this makes me feel as if I were watching a documentary
that was also some sort of dreamy rock concert. It’s about casual
partying, it’s set on the West coast, we’re all dancing along to
edited flashes of bouncy movement; it’s all drenched in that
sunsetty pallette. And everyone’s smilin’.

Give
it a shot.

________

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LISTEN CLOSELY!!

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