10. Dynatron – Origins

9. Hollywood Burns – Saturday Night Screamer

8. Eagle Eyed Tiger – Untether, Unravel

7. Starcadian – Culture

6. Waveshaper – Client

5. Gost – A fleeting Whisper

4. Kavinsky – Renegade

3. Quixotic – Highway violence

2. Sierra – All about love

1. Waveshaper – The Phantom Machine

Honorable Mentions

• Perturbator – Death of the Soul

• Danger – Haven Virtual concert

• LAU – True

Announced as being his most personal effort to date, Origins is a steadfast set of tracks that stays true to the artist’s name brand whilst raising the stakes to new cinematic heights.

Dynatron’s third comes off fully conscious of the time past and aims to take us that extra step further from where we’d expect a 2021 release to land. Origins is a contemplative album dreamed up with a grand scope in mind, brought to life by dreamy synth soundscapes. The producer’s affinity for the hard and heavy transpire through key tracks such as ‘Close Encounter’ and ‘Tumbling Upwards’, adding a rougher edge and a heightened sense of grandeur to the album’s starlit melancholy. As on previous efforts, Jarre’s influence shines across the album’s majestic production whilst also leaving room for some sharp Carpenter-Esque timbres and tenser melodies.

On the whole, Origins is a very cohesive next step in the Dynatron saga. Hasseriis’ roomy snare-driven beats are still as efficient as ever at getting your head swaying like a headbanging space-traveller vibing out in zero-G. Every track plays out like a long lost diary log from a lone journey into the grand unknown, an introspective voyage along trails of stardust and galactic wilderness. Getting lost hasn’t sounded this good in a long, long time.

Favorite tracks: Close Encounter, Uncertain Destiny, The Machine

Dynatron’s Origins is out now via Blood Music.

A mid-song break down, all sound separating out to allow time for reflection in the warm bath of distant pads.

Through the electronic ether the tension builds once more, rushing again into action, carving out space for the pads to hammer in, brash power chords lifting you up with rich distortion, saturation, bit crushed-tape-delayed-convoluted-reverb.

It will transport you to futuristic highways and dystopian cities, all encased with its neon-soaked, retro-future sounds.

Support Dynatron:
https://soundcloud.com/dynatronsynth
https://www.facebook.com/dynatronsynth

After multiple listens of DYNATRON’s latest album, Aeternus, the first word that pops in my mind to describe the album is not one which describes atmosphere or tone. Instead, it is the word meticulous. More than anything, Aeternus is a meticulous album. The attention to detail that Jeppe Hasseriis displays is impressive, and is (even beyond the crisp production) the primary reason that this album works so well.

Throttle Up, DYNATRON’s previous EP, was a very solid release, and the first album I ever reviewed for NRW. Aeternus improves on something good that was established and pushes it into new and more mature territory. This album feels more confident, and deservedly so. Just about every track on it delivers.

It’s not every day that you get a reference to Dan Simmons’ fantastic Hyperion Cantos, a series of novels that blend science fiction settings with an foreboding (and even religious) atmosphere. Opening soundscape “Hyperion Sunrise” manages to channel a lot of that same mood. It establishes that this album will not be triumphant and whimsical. There is a darkness that unites the tracks. The next two songs, “Aeternus Theme” and “The Outer Rims of Traversed Space”, are two of the album highlights. Experiencing the songs back-to-back pushes the album so far into solid territory only three songs in. The three tracks that follow are not bad, but do feel somewhat overshadowed by the first three. When we reach “Descend” we are given another exceptional track. This song is a good representation of what I meant by calling the album “meticulous”. As you listen, try to imagine a whole spectrum of potential sounds. From the pulsing bass to the chirping leads, “Descend” reaches everything. There is no empty space, but there is also no clogged space. Both of which can easily ruin a song. “Not Of This World” recalls Hasseriis’s experience with metal music, and metal guitar playing in particular. The chugs present in the track are downright menacing.

The remainder of the album is a solid conclusion, with closer “A Beacon From Home” being a definite highlight. The main synth melody in the middle of the song recalls The X-Files­ at it’s most optimistic. It’s an ominous track on a deeply ominous album, but unlike many of the tracks before it “A Beacon From Home” provides something more hopeful. Without it the album would suffer from being overbearing, but it musically ties up any loose ends.

If you enjoyed Throttle Up, you will enjoy this. If you are new to DYNATRON but have even a passing interest in synthwave, you will enjoy this.

COMMUNITY RATINGS

]]> https://newretrowave.com/2015/09/03/dynatron-aeternus/feed/ 0 https://newretrowave.com/2014/12/22/wretrowave-com201412top-ten-eps-of-2014-html/ https://newretrowave.com/2014/12/22/wretrowave-com201412top-ten-eps-of-2014-html/#respond Mon, 22 Dec 2014 16:07:00 +0000 http://new-retro-wave.com/2014/12/22/wretrowave-com201412top-ten-eps-of-2014-html/  NewRetroWave’s Top Ten EPs of 2014

by Joey Edsall

(@JoeyEdsall)

10. Dynatron – Throttle
Up

My list begins with the first release I reviewed for NRW. I
initially described the release as “confident“, and after months of
listening this still stands.  Throttle Up has a thumping, driving quality
to it that never really lets up.

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9. Sagittarius V – Renegade

Sagittarius V’s thematic and dystopian release from September 2014 was one I found myself going back over several times.
Several of the songs balance this line between frantic and calming, a quality
which made this EP a standout.

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8. Midnight Static – Colorwave
No Album Art Available

The undeniably catchy and lo-fi tracks on Midnight Static’s
very recent release feel like they could be New Order demo tapes. Let me be
clear: A lot of the synths on this EP are not pristine and clear. Let me be
clearer: they sound beautiful and it makes this release memorable, unique, and
one of the ten best synthwave EP’s of the year. Oh, and it’s free.

Soundcloud

7. Com Truise – Wave 1 

Moving away from the most obscure on this list to the
closest this list has to “mainstream“, Com Truise released an EP this year, and
it was (unsurprisingly) groovy and awesome. While demonstrating the scene’s
love of certain words (“waves“, in this case, more on that later!), the
releases showcases a lot of funk sensibilities, a trait that I noticed popping
up in a lot of underground electronic releases this year.

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6. Dead Astronauts –  ­Self Titled EP 2.0

If you’re like me and loved Dead
Astronauts’ full length, then you would be happy to know they
have a name your price EP also available on Bandcamp. It is technically a
rerelease of a 2013 EP, but has re-mastered audio and bonus tracks to keep you
more than satisfied. It has everything that made Constellations so memorable and enjoyable.

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5. Josef Kenny – Parallax

Parallax really
emphasizes the ­–lax in this subdued, chill EP. The album is dripping in
analog, being recorded with a slew of synthesizers, guitars, and a drum machine
all into a cassette recorder. While the digital vs. analog debate is…endless,
the EP has an identity all to its own and is refreshingly original from start
to finish. The guitar work in particular in this album is unlike any guitar on
any release this year.

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Soundcloud

4. Marco Maiole – Pollen­

Marco Maiole’s debut from November has one of my favorite
opening tracks of any release of the year. This is another very funky release
this year, with upbeat and euphoric synths and vocoder laced vocals. The entire
EP feels like the playlist for a dance club that closed when you were too
young, and you spend the rest of your life imagining how much fun it must have
been.

3. Timecop1983 – Waves

Wait a minute… Retrowave artists love Miami and the night.
Miami is in Florida. Florida gets a lot of waves. Retrowave artists really love waves. This website is
called NewRetro….Wave. Illuminati
confirmed! Open your eyes, people!

Nobody does dreamy like Timecop1983. His
absolute skill with setting mood and then refining it with beautiful melodies is what makes me return to his music time and time again. He is
hands down one of the best artists in the scene. This EP has a lot of long
songs, but not one deserves to be skipped.

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2. Arcade High – Heat
Wave

Waves again (shut up, it counts)! The record label
Telefuture has been all over this list with their unique batch of artists. The
titular track features vocals by Morissa Trunzo and its combination of joy and
sine waves is so good that it would find its way into the list on the strength
of that track alone. It is that good.  The reason it is so high up on the list is
because the other tracks on Heat Wave
are all impressive. The EP manages to make you really wish it had twice the
amount of songs it had.

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1. Starcadian – Saturdaze

Another countdown win for Starcadian! Two minutes of Saturdaze opening track, “Ultralove“,
should show you why. Starcadian manage to mix lush pads and retro sounding
synths with high-energy beats and a very Random
Access Memories-esque feel. No release this year left me wanting to dance this
much. The entire EP is gripping and interesting and really unlike anything else
in the scene. It is impossible to listen to it and stay motionless. You find
yourself possessed by Saturdaze.

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]]> https://newretrowave.com/2014/12/22/wretrowave-com201412top-ten-eps-of-2014-html/feed/ 0 https://newretrowave.com/2014/09/27/wretrowave-com201409dynatron-makes-magic-with-throttle-up-html/ https://newretrowave.com/2014/09/27/wretrowave-com201409dynatron-makes-magic-with-throttle-up-html/#respond Sat, 27 Sep 2014 21:56:00 +0000 http://new-retro-wave.com/2014/09/27/wretrowave-com201409dynatron-makes-magic-with-throttle-up-html/

First impressions:

There is an icy thickness to the opening track of Dynatron’s EP Throttle Up. In an effort to make tracks sound spacey and nostalgic, rookie musicians wind up making their mixes sound empty and thin. Dynatron isn’t a rookie. The way that the initial synths eventually get submerged beneath layers of melody while maintaining a minor presence is really excellent.

“Rise to the Stars” is the track that follows. It opens with audio of a spaceship about to take off. From that moment I have mixed feelings about the track. For one, the trend “3-2-1-Blast-off!” and its variants in even remotely spacey or astral sounding electronic tracks is just very overdone. The drums start out basic, though they work within context. Eventually a distracting percussive sound begins repeating and it really takes away from a song that has excellent synth tones and entertaining melodies. You really wind up getting lost in it.

And then you get punched in the face. “37 Million Horsepower” is definitely a surprising outlier. The guitar thumps along and coordinates with the synth in a manner reminiscent to “Separate Ways” by Journey. Don’t let that confuse you. Synth is still the main focus and aural star of this song. The instruments all harmonize and contribute to an overall sense of cohesiveness. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Album closers are tricky things. The closer of Throttle Up, “Intergalactic Highway” ends up getting it right. For lack of a better word, the song grows. When music is mostly instrumental, it is infinitely important that progression and melodies are treated with absolute care. Every element of “Intergalactic Highway” is one which sounds as though it took a great deal of time and effort to figure out melody, tone, and volume in the mix. The drop halfway through the song is what solidifies this. Of all the EP’s tracks, this is the one I found myself listening to the most.

There is a difficulty with sounding confident through electronic music. Throttle Up shows that this is not an issue for Dynatron. The melodies and synth riffs saunter throughout the entire EP with charisma, which is one of the most important and least describable traits for music in general. It is clear from this EP’s title and artwork that Dynatron was trying to evoke an urgent sense of motion. In every track, the beats are what drive (ha!) this point home. The destination is a consistent and unique album with a notably strong closing track.

LISTEN HERE:

– Joey Edsall

]]> https://newretrowave.com/2014/09/27/wretrowave-com201409dynatron-makes-magic-with-throttle-up-html/feed/ 0 https://newretrowave.com/2014/08/22/wretrowave-com201408dynatron-just-dropped-epic-ep-teaser-html/ https://newretrowave.com/2014/08/22/wretrowave-com201408dynatron-just-dropped-epic-ep-teaser-html/#respond Fri, 22 Aug 2014 20:57:00 +0000 http://new-retro-wave.com/2014/08/22/wretrowave-com201408dynatron-just-dropped-epic-ep-teaser-html/ LOVING THE SOUNDS ALREADY!!

SET FOR A SEPT 25TH RELEASE.

GET READY

]]> https://newretrowave.com/2014/08/22/wretrowave-com201408dynatron-just-dropped-epic-ep-teaser-html/feed/ 0 https://newretrowave.com/2014/04/09/wretrowave-com201404starforce-dynatron-are-epic-duo-listen-html/ https://newretrowave.com/2014/04/09/wretrowave-com201404starforce-dynatron-are-epic-duo-listen-html/#comments Wed, 09 Apr 2014 18:33:00 +0000 http://new-retro-wave.com/2014/04/09/wretrowave-com201404starforce-dynatron-are-epic-duo-listen-html/

LISTEN TO THIS KILLER RECORD. WARNING!! NOT FOR WEAK EARS. VERY RETRO AND MAGNIFICENT!!

ENJOY

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