Directed by Thomas Landrein and art director Jonas Genevaz, ‘Gone’ follows an armed resistance group through a number of apocalyptic views of the French capital being torn asunder by armed forces. Visceral and grandiose, Sierra’s tribute to France’s brilliant animators serves as yet another urgent reminder to dive back into the artist’s stellar back catalogue.

As for you European Synth-heads out there, be on the lookout for upcoming tour dates, as Sierra will be resuming the Leather Terror tour with Carpenter Brut next week for a series of European shows.

Tour date tickets are available here.

Check out Sierra on Spotify, Bandcamp and all major Streaming platforms.

Terrabot by Waveshaper

Waveshaper ‘Terrabot’ is out now via Bandcamp

10. Occams Laser – Halls of the Damned

9. Starfarer – Highrider

8. Burial Grid – Caput Mortuum

7. Acryl Madness – Kill _Em All

6. Microchip terror – Circuitry of Doom

5. Hollywood burns – Abomination from Planet X

4. Perturbator – Death of the Soul

3. Sierra X Matteo Tura – Inner Speech

2. Abstract Void – Forward to the Past

1. Gost – Bound by the Horror

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

NewRetroWave could not be prouder to bring you “The Phantom Machine”, an action-packed feast for the senses. Set in a post-apocalyptic future, the video follows a lone traveller who crosses paths with a deadly force known as the Phantom Machine.

Directed by Jendo Shabo of Helios films and starring Shane Morris in the lead role, The Phantom Machine is nothing short of a tour-de-force in indie filmmaking and an awe-inspiring example of a passion led by pure passion and dedication.

Along with the film release, Waveshaper has also released an EP/Maxi-single  with a movie edit of the track along with the movie’s intro and outro.

For fans of Seth Ickerman’s Blood Machines and Masebrothers’ Cyborg : Deadly Machine, here’s one short you’re definitely not going to want to miss!!

The Phantom Machine EP is out now on Bandcamp and Spotify.

Check out ‘Inner Speech’ on Bandcamp, Spotify and other streaming platforms

Fueled with that outrun inertia and supercharged with epic sci-fi soundscapes flirting with the likes of Vangelis and Jean Michel Jarre, this latest record is every bit as grand as any connoisseur will come to expect out of Stockholm’s Waveshaper.

Credit and due praise is also due for the exceptional album art by frequent collaborator Xurxo G Penalta, whose Heavy-Metal inspired sci-fi visuals continue to fill us with wonder as we surrender our senses to yet another musical journey through space and time.

Favorite tracks: The Phantom Machine, Lost in the Cloud

Waveshaper’s ‘Mainframe’ is out now via Bandcamp and Spotify

From the Chiptune introduction on ‘Arcade Daze’ all the way down to the epic credit roll theme that is ‘Take my Hand’, the record delivers some powerful, catchy tracks whilst an immersive ambience for the album’s narrative to unfold.

With its electric neon grids and Cyberpunk soundscapes, Fall Into You makes its case as a truly heartfelt homage to the sense of wonder that permeated arcade culture.

Recommended Tracks: Fall Into You, Arrival, Take My Hand

Fall Into You is available for streaming on Bandcamp via Lazerdiscs Records and on Spotify.

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

Though their appearances have been fewer and further in-between as years have gone by, fervour and interest in the duo remained unwavering. From talks about an ‘Alive 2017’ live tour, a new album in 2021 to the most recent rumours about a possible appearance during The Weeknd’s Superbowl Halftime Show, not a year has gone by without some form of speculation about the French duo’s return.

To begin to describe Daft Punk’s impact would amount to enumerating several generations’ worth of musical evolution, from the French Touch movement to modern hip-hop. Needless to say, the debt owed by the Retrowave scene is immeasurable, outweighed only by the legacy the group will have left behind. With aching hearts and decades worth of cherished memories in our minds, NewRetroWave reached out to some colleagues and friends in the Retro scene to pay tribute and share their testimonials about what Daft Punk’s music means to them.

As for me, Daft Punk was one of my earliest and fondest childhood memories.  In an age where vanity trumps substance, they are a reminder of all the miracles that music can achieve when fueled by passion and integrity. Having been shunned by French music executives too stubborn to dream, the duo has gone on to reach stratospheric heights that their naysayers still dream of even coming close to. More than mere commercial success, the story of Daft Punk is a musical tale unlike anything the world has ever seen, an intergalactic transmission of love and unity for the whole world to hear.

Favorite track : Something About Us.

To me, Daft punk were a huge influence on my music taste. Way back in the 90s before synthwave and even electroclash was popular they were doing retro (80s) inspired house music. They were a precursor for my musical tastes to come in the next 2 decades. With the Tron : Legacy soundtrack they really showed how versatile they can be making one of the best OSTs of all time.

Favorite track : Da funk

Marko Maric
(Synthetix Sundays host)

To me, Daft Punk is the mother of all epic French Electronic music. I have admired Daft Punk for years and beyond, especially as a teenager when I was lost and didn’t know which musical direction I should be heading. Then Daft Punk came along and made my heart dance. Releasing timeless songs that will stand the test of time. What an inspiration! All songs are safely stored in my random access memory.

Favorite Track : Around The World

NINA

To me Daft Punk is an Electronic Force that shook the world.

They really opened my ears to electronic music when I was younger. Sure, there were other electronic acts who were making music, but the Daft Punk sound really resonated deeply with me. Around the World was on constant repeat in my house that it would drive my parents mad! lol. They are a huge inspiration to many and ultimately have had a HUGE influence in music.

 

Favorite Track : Around the World

DJ Ten
(Artist, Founder of NewRetrowave & NRW Records)

I love the composer/director combo! I’m not a musician but I like to think that you kind of turn into one whenever you direct a film by guiding and influencing the work of the artist set with the task of composing the score.

With Daft Punk, I feel like these two worlds were intimately linked. You can obviously see it in their Interstella 5555 film that draws directly from their own repertoire, but this relationship also transpired through the robot personas that they portrayed in their music videos and in real life.

I think that the news of their separation had such a strong emotional impact on some of us because it felt like the end of a great film we’ve been sitting through for nearly 30 years…

In that regard, the ‘Epilogue’ video was a perfect way to end the feature film.

Favorite Track: Aerodynamic

Seth Ickerman

To me, Daft Punk is the real good reason to be proud of France. We once brought Kavinsky to headline an electronic music festival in Normandy. He mostly played his friend’s music, throughout his set with the occasional Rage Against the Machine track every now and then. That night, we were treated a 100% pure Kavinsky-type set. He also played some Justice and all1800 people went crazy! Being the organizer, I was busy sorting a bunch of different issues when I suddenly heard the crowd go even crazier and saw the pit go wild. Kavinsky had just followed up Justice with a Daft Punk track. It must have been ‘High Life’ or ‘Crescendolls’, I don’t quite remember. It was a song off of Discovery. We were in a small province of about 100 000 inhabitants, 15 years after the album’s release… The mere fact that one of Daft Punk’s friends came and played one of their songs made everyone lose their minds! That’s the power of Daft Punk, the legend. One year later, after diving deeper into Kav’s album, his history with Oizo [Mr.Oizo, aka Quentin Dupieux], Guy Man … I started Retro Synth Fury with Johann of Drive Radio [aka Absolute Valentine]. Since then, all of the artists we received at our RSF shows unanimously mention Daft Punk as one of their biggest influences.

To me, Daft Punk is my entire childhood. From when I was five, I was competing in gymnastics and I would hear Da Funk play every time during the intermissions. They would also play ‘Around the World’ and even some tracks by Jean-Michel Jarre!

Favorite Track : DIGITAL LOVE – Daft Punk represents my first love. When Discovery came out, there came a downpour of hits on every French radio station : there was obviously ‘One More Time’,  a more discrete ‘Aerodynamic’, then came ‘Digital Love’… Every day around 5pm, I’d sit at my windowsill and wait for the girl I had a crush on to pass by my street, and ‘Digital Love’ would play every single time she’d pass by.
I didn’t understand a word of English at the time, I didn’t even remember the name Daft Punk. But with time, I realized that the lyrics to the song were the exact reflection of what I was feeling at the time. It’s amazing to realize how universal their music is. Even without understanding their lyrics, their music manages to convey a message. Lyrics aren’t typically  all that important in electronic music, but even on that aspect they managed to hit a bullseye.

Anthony Retro Synth Fury

To me, Daft Punk is the best live show I’ll ever see. Seeing them in the Nîmes Arena was an unforgettable experience. I discovered their music through Homework and they made me realize that it was possible to make music at home, and that’s how my home studio was born. I also really loved the Tron Legacy Soundtrack, a great score from top to bottom that still influences me to this day.

Favorite track: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Absolute Valentine
(Artist, founder of Lazerdiscs records, co-founder of Drive Radio)

To me, Daft Punk is audio engineering that changed electronic music forever. Their use of filters and compression is unmatched and more influential than any other electronic sound in the last 30 years.

Favorite song: Crescendolls

Starcadian

To me Daft Punk is the genesis. As one of my earliest experiences with electronic music, their sounds were immediately captivating and set me on the path leading to where I am today. The friends I would meet, the interests I would develop… who I would eventually become. The Robots are partly responsible for all of it. Adieu my friends.

Favorite Track: High Life

Andrew Zistler (NewRetroWave Music Editor)

To me, Daft Punk is 1995, when I was 12 years old. I didn’t really listen to music at the time, but I’d occasionally skim through the radio channels on my parent’s old stereo system. One day, I came across ‘Da Funk’ on what must probably have been NRJ Radio. I remember being struck by the sounds, by the overdriven TB and the super heavy rhythm and bass section. Back then, we didn’t have Shazam or the Internet to identify songs, and it took me ages before I found out what I had just heard. It was one of my biggest frustrations at the time!

Favorite Track: I think that my favorite track is ‘Something About Us’ for its terrific bassline. I’m fortunate enough to own speakers through which they sound particularly good, and it’s always a pleasure to re-listen to that song. Furthermore, the song appears on one of my most cherished albums, an that album continues to inspire me to this day.

Maethelvin

To me Daft Punk, was some sort of melancholic tea cake of Marcel Proust. There was a bunch of stuff that annoyed me with Daft Punk, but the whole electronic and especially all the retro-driven electronic scene owe them a lot. They democratized electronic music to an audience larger than anything we saw before and largely popularized the concept of faceless musicians, which, as you can imagine, vastly participated in my vision for Carbon Killer. Their most melancholic tracks that I initially didn’t really like, are for years now, evocating the slowly fading memories of a warmer time in my life, and I do enjoy a lot to give them a listen as a way to time travelling to those moments… Godspeed, robots !

Favorite Track : If you want to travel too, listen to « Something about us »

Carbon Killer

To me, Daft Punk is my youth. The first track I heard was ‘Da Funk’, and then ‘Around the World’. I didn’t know what a vocoder was. Homework felt like a revolution. Discovery was an evolution.
Favorite Track : Veridis Quo

Makeup and Vanity Set

Daft Punk to me is music I’ve been carrying in my record bag since the release of Homework and Discovery. As a dj I love playing Daft Punk in my set. Whether it’s ‘One more time’, ‘Aerodynamic’, ‘Revolution 909’ or ‘Robot Rock’ to name a few.. for me each Daft Punk track is a gem. Play one of these or any of their tracks in a club with a good soundsystem at the right moment, at the right time.. you reach total euphoria. Daft Punk’s music gets the crowd going! People love it. Honestly I think it just feels right to me for them to close the book. They’ve done it all there’s nothing more to add, proof or show.. this is it and it’s epic!

As a club night organizer. “Daft Punk vibes” is what I tell people not familiar with electronic music, when describing our Night Arcade club nights in Amsterdam. Who doesn’t know Daft Punk!

Favorite track: Short Circuit

Devereaux 85
(DJ & founder of Night Arcade Nights at Melkweg Amsterdam)

To me, Daft Punk represents an era, a generation! I’ve always been drawn to their distinctive sound, it’s unique and instantly recognizable. I love all of their albums but the one that left the biggest impression on me was Discovery. Their collaboration with Leiji Matsumoto is simply magical and so organic. It was a big influence on me for my Supernova albums. I discovered Daft Punk in the Nineties when I was starting out as a DJ. I had heard a few of their tracks off of Homework that really left an impression on me, but ‘Rolling & Scratching’ is the track that got me definitely hooked! People would go wild whenever I’d play it live. The groundwork was set and that’s when I knew that I needed to follow in their tracks. I was lucky enough to see them onstage in Nîmes in 2007. It was simply fantastic… an unforgettable audiovisual experience. I also got to meet Pedro Winter in Cannes, who had a great role in their career and who is a terrific guy.

Beyond their musical input, the band were unanimously loved for doing what they felt like doing! They turned down huge deals and collaboration offers that any artist would go crazy over and they set their own rules. They didn’t follow anyone, they’re the ones that people followed. They left with beauty and class and the whole world is paying tribute to them. As for me, I thank them for their career. The world will have known a great (French) group whose music we’ll keep playing over and over and bobbing our heads to.

Favorite track: That’s really tough. I’m torn between Digital Love (the Supertramp gets me every time) and Too Long (And Romanthony’s magical voice on Discovery).

Morgan Willis

To me Daft Punk is the reason I got into electronic music and also into producing…heck even my mask is heavily inspired by them 🙂. They are and always will be my gold standard when it comes to electronic music, be it production, song writing or style.

Favorite Track…jeez, thats hard, but it has to be Robot Rock 🙂

Powernerd

To me Daft Punk is all about evolution. Constantly evolving their sound and changing the industry with every release. They were pioneers and true game changers, reviving long dead genres back into the mainstream for new listeners with fresh ears. It was the soundtrack to my youth. Beautiful memories featuring a Daft Punk backing track. It’s a sad feeling knowing I’ll never see them live. It’s been one hell of a ride. Thank you for the music.

Favourite Song: Technologic / Aerodynamic

James Secker
(Film Producer & Director, Organiser at Retro Future Fest)

To me, Daft punk is a duo that established themselves as an internationally recognized household name from the very start of their career. Through their combination of quality and simplicity, they paved the way for a number of French producers alongside Air, namely Justice and Kavinsky. Without Daft Punk and Pedro Winter’s management, these acts would have probably never made it outside France. When pretty much 95% of successful acts in France sound more or less like carbon copies of what’s going on in the U.S, it’s a real pleasure to see French artists making an international breakthrough and setting a precendent with their own style.

My first great memories of the band happen to be their first ventures on screen, namely with their all-round great music videos for Da Funk and Around the World. Through their slick, unconventional and very artsy visual aesthetic, people quickly picked up on their need to do things differently, to add a certain depth that was often lacking with most popular electronic music acts. They steered clear of pop music clichés where everything is about money and sex, whether implicitly or explicitly.

My favourite release of theirs is paradoxically one of their least popular ones, the Tron Legacy Soundtrack. I didn’t really like the film but the Soundtrack is sublime. I’ve listened to it hundreds of times and I will never grow tired of it. It’s definitely one of their most Cyberpunk and epic releases. Before I started Fixions, I’d spend a lot of time listening to that album as well as the first Fever Ray album, so those two albums are huge influences for Fixions.

Favorite track: Outlands

Fixions

To me, Daft Punk embodies the mystery, the coolness, the world-class musicianship, the groove in electronic music. Those instant hits you can’t help but dance to. Incredibly catchy tracks that effortlessly stay in your head for days and days.

Favourite track: Instant Crush (feat. Julian Casablancas)

LAU
(Artist & founder of Aztec Records)

So sit tight, hit the full-screen button and take a minute to let the cold Swedish-Canadian chills move through you.

The Disk Hunter is out now via Bandcamp on Digital, Colored Vinyl and Cassette.

Following up where his 2019 debut album Suncore had left off, this fresh new release marks the end of the Ozuwara narrative ark  and sees the artist finetuning his production skills to deliver a six-track dose of slicker, darker and groovier EDM-meets-French-Touch infused Synthwave cuts to rev your engines to.

“End of the road…

As Hydra, the old and decaying Military Defence Satellite, looped the lands and played Ozuwara, the heroin of this tale, into the hands of the punk outlanders for hire, the Krueger Clan.

Ozuwara was not to know of this threat, too busy rolling the sands of the old world trying to find her man, her love, her life. They were cruelly separated to break their hold on the people, leaving Ozuwara increasingly venerable to an imminent attack, she had no choice but to search for him, to drive and fight her way through until she hit the sea, only to go back again. No rock, shack, mountain, or woodland could be left unchecked.

Stopping to dig for fuel just after running out of her reserves, Ozuwara stepped out to first quench her thirst, as there was also water to be found. Calling, she could hear calling… Drink poised at lips, she listens… Her name, over and over!

Far out to the right a glimmer of a figure is seen waving in the distant heat. After fetching her binoculars she can do nothing but stare, in fear of blinking in case her love vanishes before her eyes. As it was him, she was sure.

There he stands, there he waits!

Throwing her binoculars to the ground she frantically waved and shouted back before running to him, running and running and running. Lungs bursting at the seams, hips about to give out, Ozuwara tripped and fell flat into the glass and salt. But as she pushed against the ground an unmistakable sound of a bird of prey freezes her in the heat.

Hollow Hawk. Led into a trap she has been and Ozuwara cannot believe her naivety. Warr is now upon her.

The Hawk nips at the inside of a wing and then takes to the burning black sky, circling the kill.

The plan for the Krueger Clan to rid the underworld Leaders of the overworld’s final pawn of justice is in effect. They climbed out through the ground, out through the grains to inflict much pain on this warrior.

Death didn’t come quick, they wanted a fight and they wanted to see a slow and satisfactory end… They wanted her flesh, blood, and guts to stain the land in this last stand, to mark the end of Ozuwara, the end of the resistance.

Soon they drank and celebrated the slaughter and then left to commence the New Order. The buzzards and the flies and the bacteria claimed their rights over the remains, and then the no light remained. There was no longer any need for it for the cities no longer had a threat, the people would now have to follow or go off and die in the world’s many deserts. The cities would now be lit in non-stop neon, forever.

But as the days rolled on the storm rolled in and the Shaman came, holding the torch to bring Ozuwara back from the flames.

The Shaman knows the old world, knows the old rituals, and knows the old spirits whom huddled in row after row behind him.

The ceremony was set, the torch was aloft above the dark stained sand. The chant began, supercharging the scene, bolts of electricity stretched across the sky but you couldn’t hear the thunder for the rumbles from under their feet grew stronger and stronger and stronger.

The ground cracked and the crack spread wide and beyond the ghoulish gathering. The chanting stopped. The lightening stopped. The red light from the centre of the Earth shone on their twisted faces. The hooded Shaman tossed the torch into the opening bringing a conclusion to the resurrection…

Join us in witnessing the end of the Ozuwara Trilogy and the beginning of something bigger and more powerful.
– Niky Nine (Bandcamp)”

Favourite tracks: Warr, Hollow Hawk

Black Sharken is available via Bandcamp and Spotify.