First off, can you explain how the concept behind Cryostasis came to you?   

The whole idea came after my father passed away last February. At that time, I started to think a lot about the mental process of dying and what actually happens to our consciousness. After asking myself the classic questions (“What do we feel? Where do we go?”), I started to develop the concept of cryosleeping as an analogy of death in the form of a long and pleasant dream that leads to our final destination. In essence, Cryostasis is a personal homage to my father and a metaphor about death.

It explores how our brains, instead of shutting down, start a frantic and beautiful journey through an interstellar endless dream. In this sense, I decided to create an album with only one song that goes through different sections and moods to illustrate the different stages of this dream.

From a compositional standpoint, how did you approach writing an album centred around dreams and frozen time?

This was a challenging yet rewarding experience because I had to change a lot of my creative process and the usual tools I use to achieve what I had in mind. First, I decided to keep drums at minimum. Also, I wanted it to be more melodic than my previous albums, and I worked more than ever in chord progressions and sound design to create that dreamy atmosphere. All was unexplored territory for me, but I think it translated into an album that sounds like nothing I have done before.

What’s your relationship with the world of dreams and astral projection?

I dream a lot. It’s one of my favourite things in life. I would be dreaming the whole day if I could, really!

Actually, in my teens, I went to high school in the afternoon. It sucked, but at least I could sleep a bit more in the morning. One of these days, I was dreaming that I was in a closed room full of smoke. I could barely breathe, and there was a strange and loud noise, like that of a waterfall. I suddenly woke up and there was actually a lot of smoke in my room. Also, the sound of the waterfall was still there in real life. I followed the smoke and the sound and discovered that the boiler had fallen down and was on fire. The sound was actually the water from the broken pipe hitting a window. It was crazy how that dream warned me that something strange was going on. I guess I can say that dreams have literally saved my life.

Are you a lucid dreamer?

I might say I am a lucid dreamer, but that would not be very accurate. Some years ago, I started to take control of my dreams, but only when they become annoying. So, I dream like everyone else, not knowing that I am dreaming at all, but when bad stuff starts to happen, I suddenly realize that I am dreaming. So, only when a dream starts to become a nightmare, I become a lucid dreamer and take control most of the time.

Are there any plans to release any music videos for this album?

Yes! On November 26 I will also release a visualizer with the whole album on my YouTube channel.

Describe the best context (listening conditions) to listen to Cryostasis.

The best way to enjoy Cryostasis is by putting your headphones on, laying down, pressing the play button and closing your eyes.

Finishing off with the question I end every interview with: name one of your favourite albums, movies and books.

Favourite albums: Blade Runner OST by Vangelis, Radiohead – OK Computer and Opeth – Damnation.

Movies: Blade Runner, American Beauty and Schindler’s List.

Books: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, Demian and Foundation Saga

Thank you very much for the interview. See you in the stars!

Thank you to AT for taking the time to answer our questions!

 Don’t forget to check out ‘Cryostasis’ on Bandcamp and Spotify.

Engineered by Astral Tales, Cryostasis™ offers a unique experience beyond time, beyond the confines of our limited lifespan in a world of endless possibilities. Our cryochambers offer the highest level of comfort modern cryonics has to offer, guaranteeing the blissful rest of a lifetime.

Our oneiric support staff is on standby 24/7 in case of subconscious turbulences in order to make sure your deep dive into the dream world remains as relaxing and pleasant as possible.

Get ready to float through immaculate landscapes of pure light, into the astral spheres, witness the heavenly interstellar lullabies, waltz around the effervescent rays of Polaris and meet your soul’s ultimate fulfilment at Horizon’s End.

Take a step back, step out and let Astral Tales show you what life beyond life has to offer.

Cryostasis by Astral Tales

Sweet Dreams and enjoy the journey, whatever your destination may be.

Astral Tales’ ‘Cryostasis’ is available now on Bandcamp and Spotify.

This original soundtrack has all the intensity of Carpenter Brut’s signature darksynth style that fans know and love. However, being an OST, we also get to hear a variety of orchestral overtones usually not so forward in Brut’s traditional releases.

The varying themes from the film are communicated perfectly through this score, and add a layer of brilliantly dark and moody complexity to the producers usual style. A vinyl edition of the soundtrack will be released by No Quarter Prod later this year – stay tuned to social media for more info!

It was truly a stroke of luck to have the chance to see this film in theaters. It is a fantastic piece of sci-fi cinema. Check out the BLOOD MACHINES website here for more info on how to see it – and listen to the original soundtrack here now!

Bubbling under the surface of the fairly generic Hollywood-comic-book-action soundtrack there is another soundtrack at work. A score full of dreamy arps, retro synth basses, sparkling keys and gauzy pads. An 80s-sci-fi inspired spin on the synthwave aesthetic.

The two elements battle for prominence with the movie at its strongest when the synthwave undercurrent rises to the forefront and blasts through to accompany the lush blistering neon-chrome visuals.

Mark Mothersbaugh’s synthesized score is inspired by the likes of Jean Michael Jarre and Vangelis, mashing analogue keyboards with a 100 piece orchestra to create an eccentric-hybrid sound. Then again what more do you expect from one of the driving forces behind the iconic band Devo?

The soundtrack is a cool bold, colourful cosmic adventure influenced by cyber-actioners of the eighties, Tron armour fixed on, at once Masters of the Universe, Star wars and Lord of the Rings. The high fantasy mesh with wonderfully haunting and beautifully paranoid synthesized passion. Scenes are given tension by the deceptive calm, anxious-foreboding-melodies, swiftly followed by riotous electronic mayhem.

Mothersbaugh’s coding skills create the very best chorus drenched chords, retro styled Roland hits, dreamy DX keys and polysynth stabs in an exploration of all things 80s.  

The main thrust of the music comes from the incredible driving Arpeggios, cranking away at about double the speed of the human brain, the ability to compute an entire universe expand way beyond the realm of logic. Reaching an abstraction, something that is basically unknowable to us within the atomised-space opera, mingling, interacting with a higher order of reality.

Lazers, Risers, delays, sweeps, swooshes stabs and more, beats processed and panned to add dynamism to the action.

Sakkar is the standout location within the film, mainly because this is where the Soundtrack feels most at home; a grubby 80’s sci-fi inspired planet filled with vibrant colours make shift trash surroundings and battered high-rise skylines all at once familiar and universe away.

Composer: Mark Mothersbaugh

COMMUNITY RATINGS

Electric Youth collaborate with Refn again, but this time with a very eerie record that really plays heavily on the synth side of their sound. Thoughts…

“Furi” is an expertly crafted, mostly top-down hack n’ slash platform shooter similar in style to Hotline: Miami mashed together with Contra – except it features only a string of epic face burning boss battles. Notably, the bosses featured were created by Takashi Okazaki, the author and artist behind the critically acclaimed Afro Samurai.

However, the unique concept and characterization is not “Furi’s” most notable feature. What truly makes this game singular is the soundtrack behind it.

Featuring seven titans of synthwave, darkwave and other genres of electronic music, “Furi” is a game who’s soundtrack was designed to take center stage almost as much as the game play.  Carpenter Brut, Danger, The Toxic Avenger, Lorn, Scattle, Waveshaper and Kn1ght all contributed original tracks. 

Each musical artist was briefed on the bosses and their abilities in order to build music that embodied them. Each track’s tempo and rhythm fits with the nature of each boss and works to capture it’s essence and personality. As such, each piece of this soundtrack is very much intertwined with the game itself – creating more of a collaborative concept album than an OST. 

The notion of using synthwave as a soundtrack is bit ironic, as the genre itself was born out of soundtracks. In this way, this album’s greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. Pieces of each track are set to loop and evolve during certain stages of the fight, and tracks often don’t follow the usual verse/refrain combo. Because of this, it may be easy for some casual listeners to miss the truly sick synth riffs that begin later in the song. Carpenter Brut’s “What we fight for” is a good example of this, where the fun doesn’t really start until the three minute mark. With this album as with the game itself, perseverance is the key to success.

The standout tracks on this album are hard to pin down, because the whole thing is just so damn good! My personal favorites were: Carpenter Brut – “What We Fight For”, Wave Shaper – “A picture in motion”, Toxic Avenger – “Make this right”/Make this right remix” and Scattle – “Love and Madness”.Fu

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

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First impressions:

There is an icy thickness to the opening track of Dynatron’s EP Throttle Up. In an effort to make tracks sound spacey and nostalgic, rookie musicians wind up making their mixes sound empty and thin. Dynatron isn’t a rookie. The way that the initial synths eventually get submerged beneath layers of melody while maintaining a minor presence is really excellent.

“Rise to the Stars” is the track that follows. It opens with audio of a spaceship about to take off. From that moment I have mixed feelings about the track. For one, the trend “3-2-1-Blast-off!” and its variants in even remotely spacey or astral sounding electronic tracks is just very overdone. The drums start out basic, though they work within context. Eventually a distracting percussive sound begins repeating and it really takes away from a song that has excellent synth tones and entertaining melodies. You really wind up getting lost in it.

And then you get punched in the face. “37 Million Horsepower” is definitely a surprising outlier. The guitar thumps along and coordinates with the synth in a manner reminiscent to “Separate Ways” by Journey. Don’t let that confuse you. Synth is still the main focus and aural star of this song. The instruments all harmonize and contribute to an overall sense of cohesiveness. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Album closers are tricky things. The closer of Throttle Up, “Intergalactic Highway” ends up getting it right. For lack of a better word, the song grows. When music is mostly instrumental, it is infinitely important that progression and melodies are treated with absolute care. Every element of “Intergalactic Highway” is one which sounds as though it took a great deal of time and effort to figure out melody, tone, and volume in the mix. The drop halfway through the song is what solidifies this. Of all the EP’s tracks, this is the one I found myself listening to the most.

There is a difficulty with sounding confident through electronic music. Throttle Up shows that this is not an issue for Dynatron. The melodies and synth riffs saunter throughout the entire EP with charisma, which is one of the most important and least describable traits for music in general. It is clear from this EP’s title and artwork that Dynatron was trying to evoke an urgent sense of motion. In every track, the beats are what drive (ha!) this point home. The destination is a consistent and unique album with a notably strong closing track.

LISTEN HERE:

– Joey Edsall

]]> https://newretrowave.com/2014/09/27/wretrowave-com201409dynatron-makes-magic-with-throttle-up-html/feed/ 0 https://newretrowave.com/2014/09/16/wretrowave-com201409jordan-f-has-released-one-of-his-best-html/ https://newretrowave.com/2014/09/16/wretrowave-com201409jordan-f-has-released-one-of-his-best-html/#respond Tue, 16 Sep 2014 00:42:00 +0000 http://new-retro-wave.com/2014/09/16/wretrowave-com201409jordan-f-has-released-one-of-his-best-html/ Jordan F. delights with the latest record that ranks up with the best examples of Outrun Synthwave sub-genre.]]> JORDAN F. – SLIPSTREAM

by Filip Galetic

Jordan F. delights with the latest record that ranks up with the best examples of Outrun Synthwave sub-genre.

Outrun fans will rejoice hearing the steaming fresh new LP by Sydney’s Jordan F. Its quintessential Rosso Corsa sound will feel right at home on your playlist that already has Lazerhawk and Miami Nights 1984 on it.

The record starts with the epic “Abandon Streets” that at the whopping 10 and a half minutes provides a mini journey of its own with flashes of gelled up hair, sleek wet-rain sports cars, neon lipstick and danger.

The track offers plenty of drama, adrenaline soaked sections alternating with quieter bridges, all coated in a rolling arpeggiated bass line.

The second track, “Take Flight” has an uplifting and emotional progression with a cinematic flair.

“Into the Night” is the first stand out track of the album with an infectious fade in and main hook that compares to such Rosso Corsa classics such as Miami Nights 1984 “Saved by the Bell” or Lost Years’ “Storm”. It only loses a bit of momentum in the middle of the track but quickly recovers.

Track nr. 4, starts off softly, aptly to its name “Space Romance”. One minute into the song, and you’re in for a pure synth bliss with a gentle but unrelenting riff carrying you through.

“Nightwave” is the fifth track and it brings back some of the thrill into the album with a heart pounding mix of deep synth bass and undulating lead.

In track nr. 6, we seem to go back into the more romantic territory. The track’s name “Hologram Rose” is a reference to the 1976 short story by William Gibson. The story tells of a man who in a bleak future uses sense-recordings of his ex-lover to be able to fall asleep. I haven’t read it but the track does convey that poignant sensibility this story might possess.

Second stand out track of the album, “So Close” immediately hits you with those haunting reverb-y synths in the background and builds up an aural image of some kind of futuristic intrigue playing out before your eyes.

The album closes by making a full circle: here we have a Part II to the opening track. The sequel takes the motifs from the filmic opener and plays around with them in new ways.

All in all, “Slipstream” delivers that signature Rosso Corsa Records sound in droves and is primarily mandatory listening for the fans of this particular subgenre of synth wave. For those looking for something new and cutting edge, this might not be the best choice but you certainly cannot deny Jordan F.’s ability to come close to the masters with his sound and provide some very striking auditory imagery.

LISTEN AND PURCHASE HERE!

<a href=”http://rossocorsarecords.bandcamp.com/album/slipstream”>Slipstream by Jordan F</a>

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ENJOY THIS DARK TWISTED RETRO VISION OF AN ALBUM.

THOUGHTS? 

IS THIS HIS BEST WORK YET?

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FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN’T HEARD ALREADY…MEGA DRIVE HAS ANOTHER CLASSIC IN THE MAKING

LISTEN UP

WOAH!

]]> https://newretrowave.com/2014/05/13/wretrowave-com201405another-epic-album-preview-for-your-ears-html/feed/ 0 https://newretrowave.com/2014/02/20/wretrowave-com201402chilled-synth-bliss-trevor-something-html/ https://newretrowave.com/2014/02/20/wretrowave-com201402chilled-synth-bliss-trevor-something-html/#comments Thu, 20 Feb 2014 22:32:00 +0000 http://new-retro-wave.com/2014/02/20/wretrowave-com201402chilled-synth-bliss-trevor-something-html/ TREVOR SOMETHING – SYNTHETIC LOVE – REVIEW

It’s been a month or so since Trevor Something dropped his highly-anticipated and we are excited to finally get around to reviewing it here on NewRetroWave. Right from the album’s intro Trevor Something drops where he comes from and what he is trying to achieve with the nostalgic sound of loading a tape into a recorder.

And seriously, you might easily mistake this release for something that hails from the days of cassettes and heavy eye shadow. The mood that prevails throughout the album is that of melancholic, droning vocals awash in a deluge of analog synths and pulsating bass.

At times sounding alternately like Pet Shop Boys on quaaludes and Depeche Mode in their prime, there is still a clear chillwave trademark present throughout the album’s tracks. Most of the songs are sung in what seems to be a quartal harmony which gives that slightly dissonant effect. In the end, the impression is less “Miami” as much as “80s UK New Wave”.

Lyrically, most of the tracks cover the wistful territory of fleeting encounters and haunting romantic feelings. As such it goes really hand in hand with the above-mentioned droning vocals. And the arrangements really focus on the voice punctuated only by the drum machine and ethereal synth background.

And while the marriage of these elements is quite happy, the overall finish is not quite as varied and top-notch as some other staples in the vocal synthwave subgenre (if you will) such as Tesla Boy’s debut album. Some tracks seem simply just like rearrangements of the previous ones.

Anyway, the album still manages to produce some outstanding tracks, and there’s a chance you might have heard them in the months leading up to the release as they were also dropped as singles.

FADE AWAY

The third track on the album was already released as a single in December last year and as soon as you hear it, it’s single qualities become obvious. Low-tempo beat, lush chord progression that just ooze longing and unrequited love, it’s all here. First track on the album you might find yourself humming as you’re obsessively hitting refresh on NewRetroWave’s Facebook page.

LOVE YOU AGAIN

Love You Again is perhaps the most atypical track of the album and while I found it veers a little bit too much into the area of Usher-like r’n’b it definitely deserves a mention. For once Trevor is exchanging the guise of the forlorn lover for a suave, sex-hungry bad ass motherfucker who just wants to “fuck her again, fuck her again”. Yes, children, explicit lyrics are name of the game on this tracks which might come as surprising but goes well with Trevor’s persona of a drug-loving swinging ladies’ man.

SOMETHING ABOUT YOU

A truly danceable track, Something About You features a truly bitching bassline and a nice breathy and echoey vocal styling. It’s good to hear Trevor totally head over heels about this mysterious girl – probably wearing a tight glittery dress and ruffled fiery big hair – and I actually wished the song was a little longer in the end. The 16-bit Remix of this track is really fun and wholly recommended (for just $1.50 on his Bandcamp it’s a steal).

SYNTHETIC LOVE

A really cool, chilled track to close the album with, this one includes a nice choir of robotic voices singing about the, well, synthetic love. Whether or not they like it is unclear but it’s all about the mood anyway. Keeping the structure quite simple, Trevor forgoes most of percussions for a focus on the harmonies and creating an almost hymnic feeling.

Final verdict? Like its name, Synthetic Love – although it actually manages to innovate synthwave at times – seems almost a little bit too synthetic at times (mostly due to the vocals). Above all, serves as a nice ID card for Trevor Something and helps to flesh out the mythos of this OD’d 80s musician that came from the dead.

Article written by

FIlip Galetic

http://about.me/filip_galetic

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NO.

THIS ISN’T DRIVE 2, BUT IT IS A BLOODY BRILLIANT PIECE OF WORK. THE VISION IS CHOICE AND THE EXECUTION LEAVES YOU WANTING TO SEE MORE!!

 AIDED BY A TRULY SOLID SOUNDTRACK/ SCORE, THIS SHORT HAS ALL THE MAKING OF A GREAT CREATION. SOME OF THE ARTISTS INCLUDE LAZERHAWK,  PROTECTOR 101, DENOVOMUTANS AND SELLOREKT/ LA DREAMS.

EVERYONE, PLEASE WITNESS THIS EPIC SHORT ENTITLED

“MARAUD”

STARRING

Cody Shinn — Driver

Nolan Sykes — Police Car Operator

Scott Menges — Elevator Victim

Kevin Cirone — Garage Owner

Connor Daily — Mechanic/Beer Drinker

David Christianson — Garage Door Guy

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