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)

We had heard some fantastic singles ahead of release from Waveshaper, Wice, and Powerglove with PYLOT, and I am pleased to report that the rest of the album stacks up against their quality. Easily the best in the trilogy, each artist on this magnificent compilation has truly brought their A-game, contributing some new instant-favorites to Magnatron 3.

It really is not exaggeration to say that “Magnatron 3” hits harder than ever before. Each track feels bigger, more epic, more intense, with each artist giving the series a fitting finale.
Each previous Magnatron release has had sci-fi themes, but with Magnatron III the sci-fi synth leads seem to blend more with nostalgic tones such as in “Tyrael” from Tokyo Rose, or in “Grit Rewired” from DEADLIFE.

The combination of more nostalgia with the retro futurist themes, heavy basslines and danceable kicks really makes “Magnatron III” stand out more than ever before as the best synthwave in the scene. Easily the best in the trilogy! At the time of this writing there is still some physical merch left – but it’s sure to be gone soon!

Click here for physical merch from Bandcamp – Click here for other streaming services.

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

He made the announcement last Friday, and released a farewell to synth – a righteous collab with Pylot and Essenger called “Out of Luck.” – Listen Here.

Although this may sadden some fans, Tokyo explained he’s not done making music – just departing the retro sound. We caught up with him for a quick interview to find out what’s next:

…I’m super thankful to my Synth fans for all the love and support that they have and continue to still give me.

Q: You started producing music at 17. Recently, as your music moved into a darker area, you and ALEX charted on billboard with Akuma and Akuma II.  Can you talk about your experiences with AKUMA and NRW?

“Well to start off, my experience with NRW has been great. Ten has been very supportive of me and my music since 2013. So I am incredibly grateful to him for that.

My experience with the AKUMA franchise has also been great. I feel like it has sort of its own cult following which is pretty cool. ALEX & I definitely raised the bar in the scene with those two albums. Once the first AKUMA dropped we notice so many acts turning into the darksynth side of things and borrowing our aesthetics, haha.”

Q: How exactly did your collaborations with ALEX take shape?

“Long story short, I reached out to ALEX to collab on a track. That tracked turned into an EP and that EP turned in AKUMA,” he said with a laugh.

“When we created both albums we had the goal set in mind to stand out with our production and visuals. I think we did a pretty great job along with some other fantastic artists. The production on AKUMA was pretty smooth and fast to be honest. I had my 6 tracks and so did ALEX.

With AKUMA II it proved to be a bit challenging only because ALEX & I wanted to raise the bar even further, and we were perfectionists with every aspect of the album. It was a great thing. You should never settle for less in anything you do. In the production of AKUMA II we wanted to bring in our influences at that time into AK2. We wanted something daring, fresh and new but we wanted to still keep some “Retro” elements.”

(A quick list of AKUMA I & II collaborators: Ariel ZB, STRNGR, Rachel McAlpine, Mecha Maiko, Daniel Deluxe, F.O.O.L, & Power Glove)

Tokyo Rose performing at Ace of Cups Columbus- Photo Credit Tim Evans Photography

Q: After the successes of Akuma and AKUMA II, you’ve now announced that you’re departing from Synthwave….what’s next?

“I’m just heading in a new direction. It’s something that I’ve wanted to do for a few years now to be completely honest. Just needed to wait till a few contracts ended to finally announce things to the public.”

Q: What was the catalyst behind this decision? Why depart synthwave after the success of Akuma?

“The main reason for my departure of the synthwave scene is mainly because of the lack of creative freedom there is for someone like me. Being committed solely to that 80’s/90’s sound and retro style was beginning to become a great bore to me. I wasn’t even born in the 80’s!” He said again laughing.

“My real childhood was the early 2000’s… so in reality I have no real attachment to the retro eras. That being said, I wasn’t allowed to really create the music I wanted to without receiving great criticism for coloring out the lines. Now that I am no longer tied down to just one music genre, I can have more freedom in creating the music that I really want to produce.

Regardless I’m super thankful to my Synth fans for all the love and support that they have and continue to still give me.”

Tokyo Rose Performing at Ace of Cups Columbus. Photo Credit Tim Evans

Q: Do you know what your new direction will be?

“There are no limits for me now. My upcoming stuff will be a lot of Midtempo with Dubstep and Hardstyle vibes incorporated. Some retro inspiration in a few tracks but taking things in a heavier and more modern approach. Been bumping a lot of 1788-L, REZZ, & Deathpact so a lot of inspiration for me has been drawing from them.”

Q: ALEX recently moved into DnB/Dubstep/Bass music territory with “Blood City,” are you leaning in this direction too?

“To an extent, yes. But like I stated earlier there are no limits for me now. If I feel like producing a full on R&B track, I will haha.”

Q: So what’s next? Do you have any albums or EP’s lined up? Any tours waiting in the wings?

“No plans on a tour anytime soon… especially with how things are going on in the world presently with the Coronavirus. But its something I am open to once things get better.

“I have some pretty amazing new opportunities that I have been approached with that I am stoked to announce… whenever I’m allowed to. I also have a single coming out this year with a vocalist I’ve been wanting to collab with for about a year now so I’m also excited for that!

Some pretty awesome plans for my stage character as well, maybe a comic and some animation to follow – I know how bad a lot of people want know the origin of my character. Website should be up soon too with some bangin’ new merch.

I’m proud and happy to say that a lot is in store for TOKYO ROSE. I hope that my Synth fans will continue to love and support me regardless of what music I produce. Big shout out to all of the fans that have been messaging me reassuring me of their support for what’s to come. I’m truly grateful!”

Cover Photo Credit: Tim Evans Photography, Courtesy of The Columbus Synth Collective

Instead of simply trying to spit out similar sounding darksynth, Alex and Tokyo Rose have created an entirely new sinister soundboard for “Akuma II.” Breaking from their more traditional retro synth roots, this album feels more cemented in the early french house that synthwave evolved from.

“Akuma II” is imbued with those textures of the supremely danceable darker synth and house idols like Danger and Justice, replete with iconic french house bass stabs. The titans Power Glove and F.O.O.L. are also featured on two amazing tracks – fully cementing the potential of this album.

“Akuma II” is a frenetically powerful release, and a nostalgia bomb for anyone who was a fan of French synth around 2007 and 2008.

Grab a listen here now!