Below is the list of our top 10 collaborations from this year from some of the best acts in the scene….

10. Dreamreaper & MAGNAVOLT – BLOODRAVE

9. Earmake & Stilz – Artifact Hunt

8. ALEX & Mono Memory – SOCIAL MEDIOCRITY

7. Futurecop! – Home (feat. Parallels)

6. Fury Weekend & Ollie Wride – Soul Survivor

5. All the Damn Vampires – I Can’t Go (feat. Mint Simon & Sunglasses Kid)

4. DRYVE – 80s Song (feat. Cassiopeia)

3. Josh Dally & Timecop1983 – Take Me Back

2. PYLOT – Invisible (feat. Ezra Hyte)

1. Miami Nights 1984 – Only When It’s Dark (feat. Gunship)

Furthermore, a third track titled ‘Out of Frame’ has recently been announced and is due to premiere on October 21st on Youtube.

Whether these singles will eventually be assembled into an upcoming EP or Full-Length collab album, we don’t yet know, though we’d certainly be excited to hear both tracks come together in an equally varied, longer release!

Dryve’s ‘They Don’t Care About You’ is out now via Bandcamp and Spotify.

Following his scintillating debut self-titled EP in 2020, “City Nights” is an upbeat toe-tapper track that just bleeds super cool retro vibes. This is one of those tracks that could honestly be in the top 40 right alongside the likes of “Blinding Lights.” (To be honest, I think it’s better!) The name of the game here is catchy, as the vocals from FATHERDUDE really pump this track up to the next level. It’s easy to imagine a breakneck night out on the town when listening to “City Nights,” and the lyrics themselves are absolutely hilarious:

“Iʼm Ugly, Hungry, Horny…I had too much of a good time / I’m too drunk tonight / (Those City Nights) / Carry me alive / (Those City Nights) / But get me home tonight / (Those City Nights)”

As the pandemic seems finally coming to a close soon, I’m sure these lyrics are going to hit a little too close to home for many this summer! “City Nights” is really the perfect summer night dance track, and I can’t wait to listen to it while I’m out on the town. If this is a good example of DRYVE’s next album, it’s sure to be an absolute banger!

Grab a listen here!

New To The Scene…

The first thing I noticed about this project, as I did a deep dive for this review, is that DRYVE is fairly new – in name, at least. After releasing a few (admittedly great) singles on soundcloud, bandcamp, and youtube, he’s slapping out a big release on NewRetroWave. The singles on bandcamp only just started to be released in 2020 too – although tracks on DRYVE’s soundcloud reach back to 2018.

However, it’s easy to notice that even DRYVE’s very first tracks are high-quality, well thought-out productions. The farthest back I could find was a 2018 remix of Mitch Murder’s ‘Taken.’ Although we can hear some minor production improvements since then – it still absolutely slaps.

DRYVE also released a collaboration track, ‘Trauma‘ featuring brothel. – a pretty well known witch house artist – who is currently scoring a Netflix series. So, it is pretty clear Ross Ryan Edsall has some great production chops and has likely been producing music for some time before the DRYVE project. A bit more digging, and sure enough – I was able to find a series of musical projects DRYVE is involved with: Lucy Daydream and Zombie Americana.  Both of these projects are fantastic – though not necessarily synthwave based – but you should definitely check them out anyway!

…But Not New To Production.

So, DRYVE may be new to the synthwave scene, but he is certainly not new to production. This stands out in the “DRYVE” EP , which floats through various synth subgenres with ease while still retaining a mature and developed sense of cohesion. ‘Looker’ has a strong bend of cyberpunk with its strong synth bass line and almost eerie leads, while ‘Online’ feels more traditionally synthwave and outrun. The Hunz features ‘Mirror,’ ‘Synth on Fire,’ and ‘Come Undone” have killer hooks and synth that seems to have its roots in dreamwave and synthpop – at times almost reminiscent of The Midnight. This should come as no surprise, as Hunz has offered vocals on quite a few notable project so far – like Futurecop!’s 2017 “Return to Alvograth” and the 2014 “Fairy Tales.”

While DRYVE is new to the scene, the “DRYVE” EP is a pretty fantastic release that offers something for almost every kind of retrowave fan. Although half of this release is vocal-backed dreamwave and synthwave, DRYVE’s previous release with brothel. and the Mitch Murder remix also show DRYVE has a lot of potential in the cyberpunk and darksynth subgenres as well. This is certainly an artist to watch, and I’m excited to see what he has in store for the future.

Grab a listen here!