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Ollie Wride – Never Live Without You

Andrew Zistler — Mon, 01 Oct 2018 02:26:02 +0000

The UK based Ollie Wride is back on the dance floor with his new bodacious single, “Never Live Without You!”

Ollie Wride, also known as the lead vocalist for the amazing FM-84, lays out some serious pipes on this awesome upbeat new wave synth pop crooner. Of course he works with some of best – and as such this gleaming retro single is perfectly mixed and mastered. This track is reminiscent of artists like The Midnight, Gunship, and Michael Oakley – if you’re a fan of them then you won’t want to miss this!

Last month, Ollie Wride also dropped another single, “Overcome,” leaving some asking themselves if an EP or full-length may be on the way. Grab a listen to “Never Live Without You” below!

Never Live Without You by Ollie Wride

Envy the 80’s with “Jealous,” from The New Division

Andrew Zistler — Thu, 05 Apr 2018 02:52:40 +0000

The New Division, aka the Los Angeles based John Glenn Kunkel, has released the sensational synthy new wave single “Jealous.” This electronic retro lovesick crooner comes ahead of his upcoming EP, “Fader,” set to be released on May 11.

The New Division has released multiple albums and EP’s to acclaim – and “Fader” is set to be a vivid soundscape of New Wave and Synthpop. The lyrics of the single “Jealous” seem to focus on a relationship that’s lost it’s flame – with the bright soundtrack perfectly juxtaposing the melancholic lyrics. Fans of Michael Oakley would probably like this style of synth!

Molchat Doma – S Krish Nashih Domov

Andrew Zistler — Fri, 15 Dec 2017 18:55:16 +0000

Rising from the still-warm molten slag of the former Iron Curtain is Molchat Doma with “S Krish Nashih Domov” – simply put, one of the best new albums from this brutal 2017.

Hailing from Minsk, the capital and most populous city Belarus, Molchat Doma is a three piece group featuring the sullen vocals of Egor Shkutko, the endlessly nostalgic synth and guitar of Roman Komogortsev, and the melancholic, inspiring bass work from Pavel Kozlovskiy. Molchat Doma roughly translates to “Houses are Silent,” and “S Krish Nashih Domov” to “From the Roofs of our Houses.”

“S Krish Nashih Domov” or “From the Roofs of our Houses” is a lo-fi, Eastern European take on an expert blend of post-punk, new wave and synthpop – with just a dash of 80’s style darkwave for good measure.

This Molchat Doma sound is a virtuoso mix of dreary Alphaville synthwork, schizophrenic New Order drums with darker, even more reverberating New Order vocals and the most nostalgic strings of The Cure – peppered with a robust personality of all three and steeped in unknown eastern vibes that could only originate from soviet-era synth influences.

This is no exaggeration – almost every track on this album feels iconic in a familiar, but also foreign way. Although it is sung entirely in Slavic, the sad, nostalgic themes still resonate deeply – the sonic accomplishment surpassing language itself.

My top tracks: “doma molchat,” “tishina,” “krishi,” “lyudi nadoyeli,” “technologiya,” “pryatki,” and “ya ne kommunist.” A special thanks to my friend Sklenka, for introducing me to this fantastic new (old) sound.

s krish nashih domov (album 2017) by molchat doma

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“Orphans of the Smog” New Video from Death of Lovers

Sam HaiNe — Tue, 21 Nov 2017 20:49:58 +0000

It was mid afternoon in Tucson, AZ when I spotted a post on Instagram about the new video from Philly shoegaze outfit DEATH OF LOVERS. The second video dropped today and what kept my interest wasn’t just that they were from Philly but, that they were made up of mostly members of NOTHING. Nothing being a very well received and popular indie noise rock group from Philadelphia signed to Relapse records.

Death of Lovers new single, “Orphans of the Smog” has a slightly more up tempo vibe than their first single “The Absolute”

with obvious influences from The Cure and Joy Division. The rolling beat giving way to the delicate vocals from frontman Nicky Palermo.

Directed by Kevin Haus and shot on location on the streets of Kensington under the “El”. The track is a taste of what’s to come when their sophomore album, “The Acrobat” is released on Dais Records.

As for me, I’m officially a fan. I recommend everyone go give a listen and a few dollars up to their debut EP, “Buried Under A World of Roses”, a hauntingly hypnotic album of fuzzy shoegaze goodness that makes you think you’re back at the dawn of the New Romantic era of the 80s or the amazing Brit-Pop explosion of the nineties with groups like My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive. Go Check it.

DEATH OF LOVERS: https://deathoflovers.bandcamp.com/album/buried-under-a-world-of-roses

Scandroid – Self-Titled

Joey Edsall — Fri, 28 Oct 2016 14:22:51 +0000

It’s obvious within the first few minutes of Scandroid’s eponymous debut to realize that this album is from a higher league. The John Carpenter-esque commitment to atmosphere combines effortlessly with strong melodies, squelching bass synths, and vocoder vocal lines that are equal parts cool and camp. “2517” works as a solid blueprint for the rest of the album, albeit one that is not followed to a T. The significantly more upbeat “Salvation Code” follows, and this is where the Detroit-based artist truly hits his stride. This is a song constructed almost entirely of hooks, with every element seemingly designed to be an earworm. The vocoder-laced vocals work even better on this track, as the intensity of the effect fluctuates throughout the song. Overall, it is a definite highlight of the album and is certainly a contender for the best vocal synthwave track of the year. The female backing vocals mixing with the primary vocal track and the occasional glitch-effect push this song to the level that resides.

Scandroid’s cover of Tears For Fear’s seminal hit “Shout” is another high point. It doesn’t deviate much from the original, and the vocals even sound uncannily similar to Roland Orzabal’s vocals on the original. The percussion at various points in the song is interesting enough to warrant the song’s appearance on the album. The following song, “Destination Unknown”, is the second best track on the album. It is one of the rare occasions where a song uses a traditional 4/4 time signature but sounds like it doesn’t. I listened to the intro melody about a dozen times before listening to the entire song through just to try to make sense of it. It has the arcane quality of Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells pt. 1” (the Exorcist film theme) without actually resorting to 15/8. It’s a very progressive song.

There is a wealth of campiness in many of these songs – especially the vocal tracks. Some of this comes from the lyrics, which play heavily into the science-fiction fringes of the scene, but there is also some found in the music. Nothing ever sounds hokey, and the songs are stuffed with melody, but some listeners may be turned off by the tongue-in-cheek feel that some parts of the album have. Those that like it will love it, as there is rarely a moment that isn’t fun or interesting in some way.

There is also a real sense of urgency permeating through the album. There may be a focus on the atmosphere in many of the intros and bridges, but the songs refuse to sit in the background of anything. They are mixed well and hit hard throughout. The vocal tracks generally are stronger than the instrumentals, and when they really click it makes the entire track that much more intense. Effects on the vocals will often increase in intensity as the emotional delivery increases, leading to some great instances of controlled chaos. The instrumentals are not bad by any stretch of the imagination, no matter what moniker he produces under, Scandroid / Klayton / Celldweller is an accomplished producer who is clearly at the top of his game. It plays within the genre enough to seem familiar and not off-putting but has a true wealth of idiosyncrasies that push the album into the realm of being something special.

Scandroid by Scandroid

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Occams Laser – Force Majeure

Joey Edsall — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 22:33:12 +0000

Occams Laser claims the intention of creating “sounds which take you back to a post-apocalyptic version of the 80s where robots run the streets”. This is a bit of a swing and a miss on Force Majeure, which is a solid EP that in no way resembles that artist-stated intention.

“Nothing But Thieves” is an excellent vocal synthwave track that seamlessly blends Vangelis-esque synths with a jazzy lounge smoothness. The vocals are rawer than is typically found in the genre. While I typically enjoy vocals that are drenched in effects, this works well for the minimal composition, in particular when a few of the vocals begin to overlap.

The best song on the EP is probably “Patterns”, which is another minimal track built around a heavily modulated piano tone and 808-sounding drums. The beat is actually reminiscent of Kanye West’s work on 808’s and Heartbreak, but with a Kid A level of unpredictability, neither of which is not a compliment I give out lightly. The open space and room to breathe makes it a standout not only on the album, but in the scene this year.

The rest of the songs on the EP do not have the level of minimalism found on these tracks, instead infused with a sad and introspective style of funk. It is not so far removed as to be jarring, and the EP in general flows well.

“Quelle Suprise” is the second vocal track, and is definitely worth a listen. The balance between bounciness and moodiness found throughout is charming. It has a heaping of the aforementioned funk sensibility, but with more traditionally synthwave vocals. From a compositional standpoint, it has the best melodies on the entire release. We’re talking Hall & Oates level catchiness. Instrumentally, it has that a lot in common with that era of soul music, but with 80’s inspired bass synths and drums. While not as strange as “Nothing But Thieves” or “Patterns”, it is certainly odd.

The other three songs are good when taken with the EP as a whole, but it is really those three songs that pull me to frequent replays. This may not be some post-apocalyptic robot nonsense, but it is post-singularity neo-sentimentalism, which is a fresher aesthetic in the scene anyway.

PS. He has a pretty cool “Hotline Bling” cover on SoundCloud.

Force Majeure by Occams Laser

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Joey Edsall was born and raised near Scranton, Pennsylvania. He has always immersed himself in art, being an avid fan of film and music. In addition to the electronic production aspect of music, he is the lead guitarist of Scranton-based post-hardcore band Give Us Your Bones.

Photo by Amanda Dittmar

Email: joe********@**********ve.com

This Month In Retro: August 1980

Joey Edsall — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 19:49:33 +0000

This Month In Retro is a monthly article where we look back on the current month as it happened during the 1980’s. Learn, reminisce, and stay retro.

In film:

Xanadu was released. Interestingly enough, the soundtrack of the film performed much better commercially than the movie itself. Which is surprising considering it’s a film about a Greek muse taking human form and building a roller rink. The only premise nearly that good since then has been Rubber.

Births: Chris Pine, aka the James T. Kirk who isn’t Shatner. Macaulay Culkin, famous for being that blonde kid from every movie in the 90’s.

In music:

The first ever Monsters of Rock festival is held in England. Notable performers at the festival include Rainbow, April Wine, Scorpions, and Judas Priest.

The Heatwave festival was held at Bowmanville, Ontario. Out of every festival I’ve ever read about, including Woodstock, Heatwave is the one I most wish I could have attended. The list of bands was just insane: The Pretenders, the B-52’s, Talking Heads, and Elvis Costello. The Clash was scheduled to perform at the festival but cancelled at the last minute.

In addition to that amazing festival, four albums that would be important to the emerging New Wave music scene were released. Siouxie and the Banshees released Kaleidoscope. The Cars released Panorama. The B-52’s released Wild Planet. Finally, Killing Joke debuted with their self-titled album.

Births: Vanessa Carlton, anybody who says they don’t love “A Thousand Miles” is a liar.

Billboard #1 Song of August 1980: “Magic” by Olivia Newton-John

In comics:

Marvel – Former villain Mesmero decides to give up crime, instead focusing on his love of Broadway productions. He offers Spider-man a large sum of money to make appearances in his play, but Spidey declines. Mesmero ends up using his powers of hypnosis on a harsh critic who Peter Parker has to save, lest the tragedy that befell Gwen Stacy repeats itself.

DC – Dr. Alchemy attempts to use the Philosopher’s Stone to turn the Flash into a cloud. Yep. That’s the best use he can come up with. Green Arrow decides to resign from the Justice League. Bummer. He does manage to save the day first, despite not using what is clearly the most logical arrow to use.

In television:

The soap opera Texas premiered. Though it only lasted two years, it managed to have over 600 episodes.

Deaths: Tex Avery, creator of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, dies at age 72.

In lieu of the July 1980 article, here are some quick facts about it:

1. Bjorn Borg beat John McEnroe in tennis. Here’s a fun fact- Bjorn Borg was the basis of the character Richie Tenenbaum in Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums.

2. Ronald Reagan received the nomination to be the Republican candidate for President. Due to a large amount of influence from Christian political groups, the Republican Party dropped its support of the Equal Rights Amendment. This marked the beginning of a general shift towards conservative policies in America.

3. The Summer Olympics are held in Moscow, Russia.

4. AC/DC release Back in Black, the second highest selling album of all time. Also, how did I not know until now that AC/DC is an Australian band?

5. Caddyshack premiers in theaters.

SWAGBOT – Butterflies & Barbiturates

Joey Edsall — Wed, 08 Jul 2015 17:26:17 +0000

Why has it been the best summer for synthwave album releases? Seriously. Butterflies & Barbiturates by SWAGBOT makes my job as a reviewer so easy. The album is, first and foremost, strange. The songs are all varied wonderfully while still maintaining a consistent sound, but that sound challenges genre classification. “demons in the dressing room” has new wave all over it, “natural high” contains many elements from chiptune music, “laying in the rain” has such an odd and forceful beat, and “perspective” feels similar to Crystal Castles. In fact, that is probably the closest anchor I can even compare Butterflies & Barbiturates too. Think Crystal Castles meets synthwave.

The opening three songs are strong enough to carry the rest of the album. “laying in the rain” sets the tone of the album. A large amount of the overall strangeness in SWAGBOT’s sound is the melding of dissonant elements, and the opening track is a solid introduction to that. The synths of the opening and the pounding beats wouldn’t seem to make sense together if you listened to them independent of each other, but in practice it sounds perfect. This leads into the best song on the album.

“perspective” is completely fantastic from start to finish. It is equal parts despairing and catchy. The melodies in the song never overstay their welcome and the beats never become redundant. The main bass synth is abrasive, but it never distracts entirely from the melody. The two exist in an uneasy state that makes the song sound so interesting. The times in the song that the bass drops out, the song changes its beat the reprieve is calming before it all picks up again. SWAGBOT’s bandcamp and album cover both describe the album as “A tale of love loss and drug addiction.” “perspective” is filled with literal relapses. What follows is “my computer”, the second best song on the album. Despite liking “perspective” more, I think that “my computer” is a more interesting and unique song. Elements of it remind me of IDM. The song is in constant motion,

The next song is “heroin”. To be completely honest with you, I’m still indecisive on how I feel about this song. On my first listen, it was my least favorite on the album. Later listens made me appreciate it a little more. The song has a swing beat, something very uncommon in the scene. The vocal delivery is also very strange. The dissonance I keep mentioning is present here as well. The beat is extremely positive and the melodies are pretty, but the vocals are haunting and the lyrics are depressing, though they never seem melodramatic. The lyrics alone to the song are the definite strongpoint of it.

The album’s titular track is also the closer. “butterflies & barbiturates” is a grand and epic experience that culminates much of what the album was building toward. It has the strange juxtaposition of sound. I’ve been hoping an artist would incorporate elements of glitch music into synthwave and in this song I hear it, both in the chopped and looped vocal hook and the strange stuttering of the synth 2:52. Butterflies & Barbiturates is another in a summer of incredible album releases, and one that is immediately recognized by a strange and wonderful sound.

Butterflies & Barbiturates by SWAGBOT

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Void Vision – Sub Rosa (2014)

JimBootstrap — Thu, 11 Dec 2014 09:24:00 +0000

VOID
VISION – SUB ROSA
Mannequin Records
(2014)

Review
by Sam Haine –

I’ve been
following Void Vision as a fan since 2007/2008. From the days of seeing an
earlier incarnation performing at Digital Ferret when it was a full band and observing
with time the evolution into the stripped down eargasm it is today. Even as I
write this out, hanging on my wall is Void Visions “In 20 Years” 7in single that
I purchased after seeing a performance down in the L.E.S. So, it’s no surprise
that I am excited to finally be able to sit and listen to the new full length album
just released on Mannequin records entitled “Sub Rosa”.

Shari Vari, the one
woman femme fatale of symphony is here at full power with ten tracks worthy of
either the dance floor or the bedroom and both. She is a multi-talented artist
with an exceptional and unique vocal capability. Her music isn’t wishful
thinking to an earlier time; instead it is possessed by it, and pushes it
forward without cliché or pretention. It is synthesized foreplay, both
liberated and consolidated.

The opening song, “One”
with its pulse that will cause you to sway like a virgin on the dance floor just
before Shari’s vocals both seduce and hook you in. “Everything is Fine”
continues the momentum and relishes in the atmosphere and the tension that the
production creates. “The Hidden Hand” is damn near poetry in motion as well is “Sour”
with its imagery of a love affair broken. “To the Sea” is probably my favorite
track, both on record and performed live. The song itself immediately makes me
dream of a couple dressed for a black tie affair dancing in a slow almost tango
like waltz on a moonlit beach. “Slow Down” is an instrumental track that
invokes both the darkness of Depeche Mode and the suspense of early Dario
Argento films. If love were a fist it couldn’t be better defined than it is in
following track “Vulgar Displays”, before all bets are off and burned away with
the liberating “The Source”. Included is an extended version of “In 20 Years”.
And the journey ends with the hypnotic and haunting kiss off, “Queen of Hearts”.

If you ever have the opportunity to see Void
Vision live I recommend it.
Void Vision – https://www.facebook.com/voidvision

Sub Rosa by Void Vision

Shari Vari – synths, drum machines, textures,
programming, vocals, recording, mixing.
Hayden Payne (Phase Fatale / Dream Affair) – programming contribution on ‘In 20
Years’.
Adrina Marie – violin on ‘To the Sea’ and ‘The Source’.
Alison Rigby – violin on ‘One’, and ‘Queen of Hearts’.
Wes Russell (Hot Guts) – guitar textures.