Recorded in September of 2020 in an East London studio amidst a UK lockdown, Live At Pink Bird breathes redefines the boundaries of Vaporwave by rearranging Donor Lens’ back catalogue for a 6-piece live band performance.

Vocalist Jana Tyrrell takes the lead on vocals and delivers a gripping performance on this 8-track voyage into pure cosmic bliss where the likes of Vaporwave, Synthwave and Future Funk collide and converge. Tune in, sit back and get ready to drift off into pure bliss.

Donor Lens – Midnight Store (Live Version)

Donor Lens – Midnight Store (Original)

The entire live session was also filmed and premiered on Youtube via Vapor Memory:

Donor Lens’ Live At Pink Bird is out now via My Pet Flamingo on Cassette and for digital download.

More than a hefty lineup of talent, this latest edition of Retro Future Fest returns with a full convention-like experience. “There will also be gaming arcades, a food vendor, plenty of craft beer on tap, cosplay competitions and much more! For VIPs too there is a private bar and more live music. From 5 pm to 5 am, it’s pure synth heaven. We can’t wait for you to experience it.” Explains Secker.

Born from what was originally meant to be a small, one-off event, Retro Future Fest has come to expand into a household yearly event for Synthwave fans, rounding up some of the finest acts that the scene has to offer. Secker elaborates: “The scene has expanded massively with various styles. With hints of funk, metal, EDM, it’s an ever-changing scene. My goal is to create a line-up which everyone can enjoy with different variations in the scene. You are going to have a blast seeing what these acts bring to the table.”

More than a strictly Synthwave event, the festival is offering is reaching to represent a full spectrum of Retro culture in all of its shapes and forms, pushing the festival experience further beyond established bounds with each subsequent edition. “I want to give the people something that really blows minds. Every act will be completely different and unique. These artists all truly shine in their respected fields and on July 27th they will be unleashed upon London…”.

We can hardly wait. And we hope to see you there!

Retro Future Festival will be happening on July 27^th at 26 Leake Street, underneath Waterloo station.

Doors will open at 5pm.

Come say hi and party with us! We want to meet you!

Tickets are available here

Further Info :
Official Website
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter

Mark your calendars folks. Betamaxx and Arcade High will be coming to San Francisco to take over Turbo Drive!! Get your tickets below!

https://www.dnalounge.com/calendar/2017/12-10.html

Tickets here: http://bit.ly/MidnightFM84

Future Holotape

Street Cleaner

Protector 101

Syntax

TONEBOX

LUCY IN DISGUISE:

More Info Here: https://www.dnalounge.com/calendar/2017/10-13d.html

Performances by Dance With The Dead, Gost, Betamaxx, Night Club, Teeel Dead Astronauts, Protector 101 and many more. This line up in insane guys.

Make sure to get your tickets today: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2914639

Support:

FB Invite Info
https://www.facebook.com/events/1470047829694946/

Venue Website
http://www.qxtsnightclub.com

Ticket Link:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2914639

Get your tickets here: https://www.dnalounge.com/calendar/2017/07-14.html

More details below

Support:

FM-84: https://www.facebook.com/fm84music/

The Midnight: https://www.facebook.com/TheMidnightOfficial/

Turbo Drive: https://www.facebook.com/events/418199158551283/

In an age where modern electronic music sees itself conducted by the click of a mouse (even amongst its most “old-school”-leaning producers), Austin’s Synth music scene serves as a welcome and refreshing change. With entertainment media with “Retro” leanings benefiting from a certain amount of popularity lately, due recognition seems to be right around the corner for Texas Synth scene, notably thanks to it’s exposure through the smash-hit series The Stranger Things and it’s Soundtrack signed by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein, center-figures to the Austin Synth scene and one half of the synth band Survive. With Carpenter Brut’s torturous synth grooves being less than a few weeks away from being shipped over for a first taste of American blood, European Synth lovers were treated to an early trade-off treat with Survive’s very first Europe tour. As luck would have it, the first show for the quartet happened to hit Paris giving us a chance to witness the premiere to the bands’ tour. 

The band hit the stage after a rather awkward opening performance from a young French duo, setting up an analog synth enthusiasts’ wet dream’s worth of gear to the stage. Being admittedly a first timer at an electronic music concert conducted by analog instruments, it was hard to know what to expect (To stand before four static members stationed attentively before their instruments has potential as a boring experience, after all). Thankfully, I would come to find all worries erased and all expectations exceeded by the time the band reached song number two on their setlist. 
Focused and static though they were, the band’s live performance delivered through their real-time playing and sound-sculpting proved to make up for a fascinating show.
The meticulous performance allowed for a very lively sound, eschewing the cold rigid digital sound through tempo bends and dynamic rhythms.  Of course, the stage performance would not have carried us far were it not for the masterfully crafted sound. The massive synth tones filled the room, enveloping the audience in the songs’ heavy atmosphere. Layers of sequenced bass rhythms pulsated in an infectious groove, laid atop great walls of ambience and the songs’ powerful drum backbones. The jam packed venue was treated to a 80 minute setlist effortlessly weaving tracks with tenebrous, menacing moods alongside epic, dreamy soundscapes that hit you hard with nostalgia. The synth quartet left no room for filler, leaving no breaks save for a few atmospheric interludes allowing the band to repatch and redial their synths for the next song.

After such an impeccably executed set, one can only feel some slight disappointment in the lack of encore to mark the end of the night. Nevertheless, Survive’s first show in Paris certainly fulfilled its duties with its lively performance and mesmerising sounds. With a reputation that is undoubtedly set to grow exponentially over the next few years, Survive’s next live shows are something you might want to get in on before they hit the bigger stages.

Support Survive: Facebook | Bandcamp |

Check it out below

See, this wasn’t just any random show; it featured 3 of my absolute favorite artists in the genre; Perturbator, GosT, and Dan Terminus. Once the tour was announced, I knew I needed to make this pilgrimage. I knew it would be fulfilling, crazy, inspiring, and generally wonderful for my well-being and artistic pleasure. The decision to attend this tour was simple (one could say the decision was made for me), so it was just a matter of figuring out which city I wanted to visit. Vienna worked perfectly well for me since I had visited over 15 years ago and had always wanted to return.

Once everything was booked (the easy part), I just had to wait. But quickly on I thought to myself, “If I am going all the way over there to see this tour, I should make some sort of project around this.” Musical writing and covering shows is something I did before, so I decided I’d write about this in some shape or form. So I reached out to New Retro Wave about the opportunity, and began by interviewing GosT and Dan Terminus. I had the pleasure of spending over an hour on Skype with GosT discussing everything from inspirations, past show experiences (which just made me giddy with excitement and anticipation for this one!) and even awful 90’s metal fashion like Jncos (and their apparent resurgence).

Friday, March 25th. I arrive in Vienna after a night of very little sleep on my flight over from NYC. My day is a game of coffee drinking and tricks to play on myself to keep from falling asleep, but it turns out the general excitement of my journey makes it moot; too much energy! Before traveling I had befriended an Austrian fellow who was making the trip with some friends to see the show, so we decided to meet up at a venue called Escape Metal Corner where there would be a show after party the next night. Over the course of several hours we threw back beers, discussed how excited we were for the show, and also our general enthusiasm for this movement; Synthwave/Darkwave was all we could talk about. The fans dedication to this is pretty incredible, evidenced by my travels, as well as this guy’s dedication to the cause by making himself his own custom Perturbator jacket:

Homemade Perturbator Jacket!

“The whole outing felt very ritualistic; we were excited to be part of something special.”

Saturday the 26th: day of show. I go eat things and see things to kill time before I needed to show up. Eventually, I made my way, while listening to (naturally) my Darkwave warmup playlist, walking along the river to the Grelle Forelle venue, situated in an odd corner and pretty hidden from the street. Just finding the venue itself was a mini adventure. Since I was (graciously) granted guest list access and would be hanging with Perturbator, GosT, and Dan T backstage I got there very early, and was lucky enough to watch the setup and initial sound checks. The lighting and sound were pretty fucking killer, couldn’t wait to hear and see this live!

Perturbator warming up

Eventually I spotted Perturbator (James) and introduced myself. He (and everyone I ended up meeting) was extremely pleasant, fun, and all around a very nice guy. He took me backstage and introduced me to the rest of the crew, and we sat down to chat. We decided that we could do some interviews once Perturbator finished his soundcheck. I reassured them that the “boring” interview questions were out of the way, and had even gone out of my way to create some pretty ridiculous questions for laughs; they appreciated this and seemed to be quite tired of the regular old “who are your inspirations questions.” In any case, we had time to kill (a few hours) so we commenced beer drinking and listening to random music. Which led to …

No interview at all! Once we hit a certain threshold, we decided that an interview would be boring and instead, I should just write about hanging out with them, which turned out to be hilarious, incredible, fun, and frankly stupid. Turns out that I had a ton in common with all these guys from our collective love of heavier music, to random similarities in our youth to food choices. We went on a tear listening to some of our favorite nü metal artists like Limp Bizkit and Korn, cheesy indie rock, and hardcore. There was a lot of pseudo-moshing happening in that back room. The whole evening went something like this:

* Drink beers, talk about music

* Drink more beers, talk about music

* Tommy runs downstairs to watch a set

* Tommy runs back upstairs to have a beer and listen to more nu metal and shoot the shit

* Tommy runs back downstairs to see another set

* Essentially repeat the above for 4 hours

Overall, the sets themselves were all epic, high-energy, and full of spontaneity and passion; all of these guys put on an absolute clinic, winning over the crowds and creating an experience that is really hard to describe; it was unlike any show I had ever attended before and left me dizzy for weeks afterwards. It was literally very difficult for me to put into words exactly what these shows were like. I can only hope they can get over to the States more often now as I have now had just a taste and am already craving more. The bar has now been substantially raised for me for live music.

Oh, did I mention there was an after-party? There was indeed an after party. We made our way (Perturbator included) back to the Escape Metal Corner again for some additional DJs spinning Synthwave. Here the dancing and revelry continued with aplomb, as the place was packed with concertgoers and was no less packed when I finally decided to leave around 4:30 a.m. The energy from the concert spilled over into that smaller yet very loud venue, bodies jumping up and down, heads nodding, fists continuing to pump viciously.

Sunday the 27th, I sleep a lot, then spend my last few hours in Vienna by roaming around Zentralfriedhof, an amazing cemetery, with another fellow I had met at the show the night before. This has been a constant theme for me, meeting passionate, fun, nice, friendly people as I start getting more into this music and that’s something I could not say for many other genres I have gotten into. Both the fans and the artists themselves, which seems to really set Synthwave apart; its authenticity and sheer joy that it gives its creators and listeners.

I’ve already booked my next trip to see Carpenter Brut in the Ukraine in September. I am pretty sure that is also going to be insane. I cannot wait.

DANCE WITH THE DEAD / PROTECTOR 101/
FUTURE HOLOTAPE / SYNTAX

This is our first huge event so we need all you Synth-heads to come out and have a good time! 

Presale – $12 (Goes on sale 3/15) 
Advanced – $14
At the Door – $16

Performances by…

DANCE WITH THE DEAD – 
https://dancewiththedead.bandcamp.com/ 

PROTECTOR 101- 
https://protector101.bandcamp.com/ 

FUTURE HOLOTAPE- 
http://futureholotape.bandcamp.com/releases 

SYNTAX- 
http://30thfloor.uk/album/island-universe

Come down and enjoy some Retro wave vibes.

More details here:

https://www.facebook.com/events/588698311286791/