Darksynth has been in vogue through much of 2016 and 2017 as many synthheads’ sub-sub-genre of choice. In a lot of ways that makes sense. After an exhausting 2016, I doubt many of us were as prepared for how emotionally taxing 2017 has been, and I think it’s safe to say that sentiment is on a global scale. Dark synth started feeling a lot less like the soundtrack to a sci-fi dystopia and more like the soundtrack to our own collective societal nervous breakdown. The caveat that plagues dark synth is that it can veer towards redundancy. A lot of the sounds and song structures can get recycled, and some of the lesser dark synth producers wind up feeling like part of a crowd.

But that’s not Nightcrawler.

The Spanish producer’s latest album, Beware of the Humans, delivers ten tracks gunning to set a standard in the scene, with each track having a wealth of strange and hypnotic sounds supplemented by generally punchy and danceable beats. Opening track “Arrival” is a great introduction to the atmospheres Nightcrawler creates through his songs, and despite the lack of a driving beat, effectively builds tension for the release of follow-up “Hell-On Earth”, which has the kind of groove and menace of a DyE song, but with a more analog aesthetic.

Mid-album highlight “Secret Society” shows Nightcrawler at his most cinematic. The first half of the track is eerie and beautiful, but very dreamy. There’s a lightness to the sounds as higher frequencies are explored and densities of reverb are varied. Midway through the track the pulsing bass and kick start up and what was dreamy and soft becomes darker and dancier. The titular track, featuring Celine from Dead Astronauts and Italy’s strangest synthwave producer Vincenzo Salvia, is an easy contender for the best of the album, with the pulsing musical track emphasizing the desperation in Celine’s voice.

The album ends on a strange note, as “Sixth Extinction” might be the weirdest track on the album. Nightcrawler eschews something sprawling or bombastic in favor of something thematically relevant to the dystopia that he sets out to paint. For fans of individual tracks or throwing all of their synth tracks on shuffle, it might be disarming, but for those that prefer the full album experience or who read the brief narrative blurbs on Bandcamp as a mental context in which they can listen to the album, the track is a natural conclusion. The constantly changing sounds and deliberate pace remind us that dystopias don’t usually get better all at once. They get worse or they fall apart.

COMMUNITY RATINGS

Scandroid – MonochromeDetroit based Scandroid is back with his much anticipated sophomore album, “Monochrome.” This album follows close (less than a year) on the heels of his lauded breakout self-titled album, “Scandroid.”

Scandroid is the brainchild of the multi-genre multi-instrumentalist Klayton. Outside of Scandroid, he has produced under a wide variety of names, the most successful of which has been the unique genre bending industrial-electronic-alt-metal “Celldweller.”

“Monochrome” shares many similarities with Klayton’s debut album – relentless, chugging synth basslines mix well with major to minor melodies, friendly, sometimes fiendish guitar riffs and vivaciously vocoded vocals.

However, “Monochrome” does not rehash the original album. Klayton has managed to update this particular sound with more layered synths, a touch better production and an overall darker cyberpunk-not-quite-darkwave feel that suits the Scandroid sound well. He also merges Newwave and synth into a fantastic blend that somehow works well with the cyberpunk feel.

The intro and hooks to “Afterglow” and “Rendezvous” are insanely catchy and the interlude and bassline in “On the Face of The Deep” (Biblical reference, anyone? Genesis 1:2) makes for some fantastically dark synth. Because it was produced primarily on vintage gear, each track on “Monochrome” is intricately layered and definitely worth a few listens – as each listen will uncover previously unheard synthesizer intonations – it truly a brilliant work.

However, the album’s composition and flow does seem to have suffered a bit from the quick turnaround. Although the sound is on-point, this album comes in at a short thirteen tracks – especially when you realize two of them are remakes (one released all the way back in May) and one fantastic remix from Pylot. That makes the number of original tracks under ten!

In addition, although the remakes of “Thriller” and “The Force Theme” are solid tracks on their own – they seem to really break up the feel of “Monochrome,” jarring the album out of the cyberpunk soundscape just as it was beginning to really get into a flow. This tends to make the album feel more like a collection of singles than a cohesive whole.

The vocals also present another problem. In the synthwave genre many fans despise vocals and I often count myself among them – the “Woah oh oh oh” on “A Thousand Years” is just comically campy….Many fans who enjoy vocals might not like the particular alt-metal 00’s style either.

BUT – just as with his last album, Klayton well aware of this genre’s purist tendencies and has released an instrumental version alongside the main album – bravo Klayton! I’m happy to report the instrumental doesn’t lose any of the appeal of the original, and makes for a wholly unique listening experience.

All in all, the production and mastering on “Monochrome” is better than his debut. The Scandroid sound is updated, darker, deeper – but this success is short-lived and leaves us wanting more.  Top Tracks: “Monochrome,” “On The Face of The Deep,” “The Veil,” “Afterglow.”

COMMUNITY RATINGS

It’s great. Seriously, this album is very good for the entire duration and doesn’t let up. Opening track “Roam” is largely a mood-establishing track, but when Hayley Stewart’s vocals kick in, drenched in space, it’s hard not to get chills, and even harder not to get them when the strange synth melody starts playing behind it. On Arms of Night, Hayley Stewart gives her best vocal performance to date. Her range has increased since Constellations, and the delivery has taken on an ethereal quality that matches the instrumentals even more than on any of the band’s previous releases. Jared Kyle’s vocals are still unlike anybody else in the scene and channel the 80’s underground heavily. Male vocals in synthwave are still somewhat of a novelty, so most male vocalists manage to sound distinct on synthwave tracks. Even if an established cliche male vocal style existed in the genre, I don’t think Kyle’s vocals would qualify as it. Just listen to the album’s titular track. Apart from the compositional, melodic, and lyrical nod to Echo & the Bunnymen, there is a serious channelling of the unsung heroes of the 80’s. 

There’s a lo-fi vibe to much of this album, but it largely adds to the experience and highlights just how strong the melodies are. The chorus of “War We Fight” is prime example of this, and also a prime example of the best weapon in Dead Astronauts’ arsenal. When Kyle and Stewart sing in unison, it is always the best part of the song. I’m not sure how this would translate if an entire track was constructed like this, but by using it where they do, it creates clear highlights in the songs where it’s used. “No Voice Remains” and “Black Echo” are two standouts in a row as the first half of the album ends. The former is catchy from the ground up, with something pleasing to hear in every layer of its constant use of countermelody. The latter is one of the poppier moments of the album, which is definitely not a bad thing. Pop is not usually associated with darksynth, but when Dead Astronauts tap into their pop sensibilities they are at their most memorable and exciting. There is a real ear for hooks. 

“Eject” might be the best song on the album, and more than any other song that the group has released deserves to be listened to on the best headphones you have. The pairing of low synths with chirping synths against a pulsing background groove recalls some of the Crystal Castles best work but with Dead Astronauts clearer sense of melody and retro aesthetic. The strange “Invisible Creatures” follows, which has some of the oddest sounds on the album and uses them to great effect. 

This album deserves, at the very least, a listen from anybody casually interested in the genre. It is a solid evolution from one of the most original artists in the scene and manages to be a standout in already standout year. 

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

]]> https://newretrowave.com/2016/11/19/dead-astronauts-arms-of-night/feed/ 0 https://newretrowave.com/2016/08/18/trevor-something-soulless-computer-boy-and-the-eternal-render/ https://newretrowave.com/2016/08/18/trevor-something-soulless-computer-boy-and-the-eternal-render/#respond Thu, 18 Aug 2016 17:06:23 +0000 http://new-retro-wave.com/2016/08/18/2016818trevor-something-soulless-computer-boy-and-the-eternal-render/

For an artist with near-complete anonymity, Trevor Something is able to generate a substantial amount of hype. Between his recent internet activity leading up to the release of Soulless Computer Boy and the Eternal Render and the single “Girlfriend” dropping earlier this year, it was one of the most anticipated releases of the summer.  All of his releases have been stellar, with 2014’s Trevor Something Does Not Exist being obviously the best he had to offer. That was until 2016. This is without a doubt the best Trevor Something album

Trevor Something songs inherently possess dark and transgressive themes, but with a seductive air to it. His songs often highlight some of the darker aspects to love and relationships, but invite the listener to revel in the abyss of it. This was largely due to the subtle R&B influences, mostly found in his vocal delivery. This has been refined and pushed to the forefront of SCBatER, which is tremendously effective for two reasons. It helps make the already unique Trevor Something even more carved out as something unlike anything else in the scene, but it make just about every song on the album even catchier than it might have been otherwise.  Apart from vocal delivery, Trevor Something manages to push his music into generally weirder territory sonically, as the opening of “Procreation” and “Lost and Found” each attests. The melodies are strong, but they’re delivered using some truly strange synths, some of which even have vaporwave undertones.

Just as the album cover becomes gradually more abstract and ambient as you look from left to right, the album becomes a vast an open ended ambient experiment by the end of its run, with “Cloud of Thoughts” and “Beyond the Infinite” being the most Eno-esque and borderline transcendental listening experiences.  Ordinarily this sort of plunge into radically experimentation would lead one to wonder why this bipolar album wasn’t simply two EP’s. The thing with this release is that it earns that dive into the ambient. Synthwave as a genre is heavily dependent upon atmosphere and mood, which is a trait it shares in common with ambient music, where those traits are the most important component. Trevor Something integrates ambient influence into every track on the album, even the R&B-flavored vocal songs. As the album approaches the midpoint, the ambience begins to overtake the more standard synthwave songs. “Lost and Found” is a real turning point in that regard. The vocals become more buried than before, the synths dreamier. The bass stays at home with synthwave, as do elements of the track’s beat. “Pure”, though a vocal track with less buried singing, still begins to hold firmer ground as an ambient track. By the time you get to “Digital Clense”, the seventh track, the album has become completely ambient, with Trevor painting in moods rather than melodies.

The strength of these ambient tracks is found in their crescendos. Each song has a multitude of moments where it seems to climax in a swell of sound. Sometimes there is a less pad-like synth in the mix to hold onto, but oftentimes the entire song acts as a whirlwind around you, immersing you and pulling you. It’s very difficult to disengage, and it is particularly difficult if you’ve already been hooked by the first half of the album. It’s a strange album. There’s just no way around that. Odds are everybody is going to love the first six songs, but most are going to find the entire thing enjoyable. This is an incredible release in one has truly been an incredible year of synthwave. The album is free, so there really isn’t much of an excuse to not grab it, but it is well worth $10+ dollars for the strength and craft found within. 

COMMUNITY RATINGS

 

 

]]> https://newretrowave.com/2016/08/18/trevor-something-soulless-computer-boy-and-the-eternal-render/feed/ 0 https://newretrowave.com/2016/05/23/fixions-migration-2019/ https://newretrowave.com/2016/05/23/fixions-migration-2019/#respond Mon, 23 May 2016 16:32:35 +0000 http://new-retro-wave.com/2016/05/23/2016523fixions-migration-2019/

A few months ago, while on the phone with T.S., the founder of NRW, I was talking about certain trends in avant-garde styles of pop developing in London, and how it would be interesting to see these aggressively experimental musical choices manifest in the synthwave scene. With Migration 2019, Fixions has managed to craft an album that not only answers that call, but that also delights me to the point that it feels specifically made for me.

While I’m not certain if Fixions was inspired by the idiosyncrasies found in PC Music releases, some of the stylistic choices are similar, as is the sheer commitment to strangeness. The first track, “2019”, captures much of what I love on this album. The experimentation is most obvious in the chopped and pitched vocal samples, adding something in between melody and percussive textures to an already funky and catchy song. There is a playfulness in the beats in the song that is carried over into much of the rest of the album. “They Live” follows, and pulses with Daft Punk-inspired groove. Even on the darker, moodier tracks, like “Grégoire & Nathan” or “Blasterion”, Fixions manages to keep the energy to the point where the track feels like it could explode at any moment, all of which is laced with the experimentation found on the rest of the futurist android music festival that is Migration 2019.

Fixions fixation with IDM becomes more prominent as the album progresses. “Anathar”, one of the album highlights, is littered with an intricate sort of randomness, feeling at times like a synthwave Aphex Twin. There’s a spontaneity to every sound and every synth, but it all fits together seamlessly, with catchy passages connected and layered. “Entity” is a similar track, in the sense that it is composed of unexpected moments. When the song lulls you into calm moments, it builds anticipation through mesmeric lines and some of the most interesting percussive sounds I’ve ever heard in the genre – one of which resembles a blacksmith hammering an anvil. The inventive nature of the album isn’t limited to one or two production tricks being repeated. Fixions’ ability to push the album sonically in so many different directions while also giving it a distinct and unifying sound is impressive.

There really aren’t dull moments in the 14 tracks of the album. Each song has a commitment to evolution, leading you to places that you might not expect the songs to go. 2016 has been a year with a lot of interesting growth and change in the genre, and this makes me excited. Migration 2019 is one of the least generic, most original sounding releases in the genre, and is a record that feels fresh after multiple spins. Each listen has different highlights throughout the run of the entire album, but also throughout individual songs.  

Facebook

Twitter

Soundcloud

 

]]> https://newretrowave.com/2016/05/23/fixions-migration-2019/feed/ 0