Starting off strong, we’re talking about Kavinsky. Even for those who aren’t devout
followers of synthwave, this name might ring a bell. Born Vincent Pierre Claude Belorgey and
arriving on the scene in early 2006 with his EP Teddy Boy which immediately set the tone for his
future work with standouts like “Testarossa Nightdrive” which was followed up by the legendary track “Wayfarer” from his 2007 EP 1986. Most will have become familiar with Kavinsky with the 2011 release of the movie Drive, featuring the now iconic track “Nightcall”. With Drive itself being a major influencer on the synthwave scene itself with its gorgeous aesthetic it is no wonder why the two go so well together. Like many artists in this scene, Kavinsky is heavily influenced by his favorite movies and we can definitely feel the nostalgic vibe in each track. Widely considered one of the greatest
tracks of the entire genre, “Nightcall” cemented Kavinsky as a titan of synthwave and set the
gold standard for how music in this genre should sound.

Next up is another artist brought into the mainstream spotlight by Drive for most listeners. We’re talking about Electric Youth. Consisting of Bronwyn Griffin and Austin Garrick, the synthpop duo Electric Youth is perhaps most famous for the track “A Real Hero”, which basically
became the theme song for the main character of Drive, The Driver. Written about the crash landing of US Airways Flight 1549 it became an instant classic with its rolling synths and silky smooth vocals. This track single-handedly showed what Bronwyn and Austin are capable of and it is no question that “A Real Hero” will continue to be remembered as a staple of the genre for years to come. While “A Real Hero” was arguably the standout track on their 2014 release Innerworld it is just one of many memorable experiences on this album. You would be remiss to not lose yourself in the soothing synths of “Runaway”, “Innocence”, and “WeAreTheYouth”.

Having collaborated with Electric Youth on “A Real Hero”, the spotlight now falls onDavid Grellier hailing from Nantes, France. Known to many around the world for his musicalproject, College. Grellier is a member of many different projects each with their own unique sound. Like nearly all artists in this genre, Grellier was inspired by the aesthetic of the ‘80s and shapes his music around these influences. Through College, Grellier has consistently released great material always following his own unique sound but managing to make each release fresh and interesting. Many of his best work as College can be found on the 2008 EP Teenage Color, especially the opener “Can you kiss me first” featuring sounds that deliver instant nostalgic callbacks. Contrast this with the track “Save the Day” featuring Nola Wren from the 2014 release of the same name and we can hear the same soft consistent beats and vocals that he is famous for. The list of artists that pioneered the synthwave genre goes on and is nearly endless. No matter how long you have been creating music, each artist can honestly be considered a pioneer all working to deliver an experience of their own through this style of music. We’re proud to consider Kavinsky, Electric Youth, and College to be the golden standard and it goes without saying that we will continue to watch all of their careers with great interest, as always.

]]> https://newretrowave.com/2021/08/18/the-origins-of-synthwave-part-1/feed/ 1 https://newretrowave.com/2021/03/03/retro-recap-february-2021/ https://newretrowave.com/2021/03/03/retro-recap-february-2021/#respond Wed, 03 Mar 2021 11:00:08 +0000 https://newretrowave.com/?p=32092 Brace yourselves, retroheads, it’s that time of the month again. In yet another unwelcome and unexpected turn of events, February of 2021 will sadly have gone by bearing the mark of a grand musical chapter laid to rest. Electronic music’s masked superheroes will have retired with an immaculate legacy at the heart of a mystery destined to forever stay whole.

February will have also been marked with the end of Dreampunk’s pioneering Dream Catalogue Label, who closed shop right after sharing a treasure chest full of outstanding records by promising newcomers and seasoned scene veterans alike. For slick outrun and Synthwave enthusiasts, LAU will have dominated this month with her debut album Believer, whose catchy tunes will have you yearning for the day these songs will finally get a chance to hit the stage. For those with the spare time to dig and dwell into the Bandcamp’s dizzying depths for some postmodern, non-euclidian music, February proved to be a fairly interesting month. Vaporwave is still alive and weird, as you’ll certainly listen to find out in this month’s curated selection. Enjoy!

Top Picks

LAU – Believer

(Aztec Records)

Stream on Bandcamp

Natsukime – Ikigai

(Self-Released)

Stream on Bandcamp

Twin Galaxxies – Imminent Reversal

(Pure Life)

Stream on Bandcamp

CRYOSAUNA – Grid Failure

(No Problema Tapes)

Stream on Bandcamp

John Carpenter – Lost Themes III

(Sacred Bones)

Stream on Spotify

Fury Weekend – Signals

(Fixt Neon)

Stream on Bandcamp

Niky Nine – Black Sharken

(Lazerdiscs Records)

Stream on Bandcamp

Yoshimi – 11 Pieces of Fragmented Memories

(Dream Catalogue)

Stream on Bandcamp

空手王 – IKARI​​-​​蒸気波LP III

(Karate King Records)

Stream on Bandcamp

Eulalie – A Day at the Videodrome

(Dream Catalogue)

Stream on Bandcamp

Singles & Honorable Mentions

Daria Danatelli (feat. Vincenzo Salvia) – Не Забуду / Io Non Dimentico

(Sunlover Records)

Stream on Bandcamp

Formula 2080 – Cassetter

(FixT Neon)

Stream on Bandcamp

Electric Youth – Modern Fears (Pilotpriest Come True Edition)

(Sony)

Stream on Spotify

FNKY NGHT – LOVE STORIES VOL.2

(Virtual Sound System)

Stream on Bandcamp

WDE – Codex

(Dream Catalogue)

Stream on Bandcamp

Hong Kong Express – L.Y.F.

(Dream Catalogue)

Stream on Bandcamp

Tito Machete – Sindrome di Standa

(Power Lunch)

Stream on Bandcamp

Sun Corp – Replacement

(No Problema)

Stream on Bandcamp

Sport 3000 & Waterfront Dining – StarTour Agencies

(My Pet Flamingo)

Stream on Bandcamp

POPCULTR – 2021LIVE

(Pacific Plaza Records)

Stream on Bandcamp

Eccodroid – Dematerialize

(Business Casual)

Stream on Bandcamp

Friday afternoons mean one thing – the NRW Weekly Selection.
We’re striving to bring you the best of the best. From outrun to darksynth, we have your weekend covered!

Droid Bishop – Through the Night

Electric Youth – ARAWA

Sub Morphine – Velvet Sky

A-Koda – Star Line

Glowline – Into Your Eyes

Friday afternoons mean one thing – the NRW Weekly Selection. We’re striving to bring you the best of the best. From outrun to darksynth, we have your weekend covered!
Check out who hit our top spots this week:

Mooggy – Lucid Moments

Electric Youth – The Life

Filmmaker – Castle Maze

Caspro – The Approach

Duett – Touch(Night Version)

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.

Starting with a simple arp of vintage-looped-fragile instrumentation, a squelching bass line enters and assures you of where you are, where you are going, and who is driving…

It’s Electric Youth – blissful basses, neon-laced pads, electric arps. The nostalgic emotive synths and powerful vocals lead to an all-time Retro wave classic. The voice soft and warm but also chilling, her tone soothingly massaging your ears, piercing your mind. Supported by her own harmonies it has ethereal feel that is both saccharine and haunting. The sing-able-unforgettable chorus, laboured rhythm ensuring you are along for the ride. Essential soundscape pads and brittle lead lines light the way for your all-analogue endorphins.

It is the retro electronica of dreamy synthwave pop, lo-fi synths and tape-saturated bliss.

‘And you, and you, are the best thing that ever happened to me’