Nevermann’s ‘Moonlight Kiss’ is out now on Bandcamp.

Perspective by Agent Murphy

Favorite Tracks: Nice Shot! ; Keep our Hearts in Line

Agent Murphy ‘Perspective’ is out now via Bandcamp.

Favorite tracks: Lupex Alpha, All Out

Mitch Murder ‘City Wars : Tokyo Reign (Original Soundtrack) is out now via Bandcamp.

Terrabot by Waveshaper

Waveshaper ‘Terrabot’ is out now via Bandcamp

As one could expect, the album packs a heavy dose of streamlined tracks, with unapologetic pop hooks that hit right on target with the efficiency one can only expect from a Swedish songwriter. For fans of melodramatic eighties pop, FUSIONWAVE is the album you need to keep your cravings in check for the next few weeks.

FUSIONWAVE by HOLOFLASH

HOLOFLASH ‘FUSIONWAVE’ is out now on Bandcamp.

9. John Mint – Modern Appeal

8. Com Truise – Arwarw

7. Kavinsky ft. Cautious Clay – Renegade

6. Arcade High – Glow

5. Phaserland ft.Glitbiter – Space Glide

4. Cinnamon Chasers – Lightchaser

3. Niky Nine ft.6S9– Warr

2. Starcadian – Neonhead

1. Waveshaper – The Phantom Machine

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.

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.

You once referred to Synthwave as ‘nostalgia with selective memory loss’. What would you say are the elements you wished to focus on for ‘End of the Night’?
End Of The Night is very much the sequel to Crystal City. It’s in the same musical and aesthetic  universe. The theme is still circulating around The City, in this case I imagined a night out, club-hopping, where the music can differ a little bit from club to club but all music is part of the same night, the same city. A lot of influences on this album are disco-oriented, but there are also funk, hip-hop and house elements nodding especially to french touch and 90s house.

Can you tell us a little bit about the title ‘End of the Night’ and why you chose this album title?
A: It’s the title track I wrote with Doubleboy, who sings on the track and wrote the vocals. The track really defines the style I want to express and the ambition to keep going with this project as long as I think it’s fun and inspiring. When he (Doubleboy) wrote the lyrics the key phrase says “We can run/til’ the end of the night” and it felt natural to apply that to the album title.

What kind of gear did you choose to use for this album?
A: I have mostly worked “In the box” with this album, however I always include hardware when it’s fun and inspiring. In my track “Silent Kiss” I only use the Korg Polysix, Roland Juno 60, Moog Minimoog, Oberheim DX and Roland TR-707. Other gear used is the Moog Prodigy and the Roland TR-08. I mix and master in Ableton Live.

Half of the tracks on the record feature guest vocals. Did you set out to shape the album this way? And is this a direction you see yourself going in the long run?
Yes, for this album I wanted to include more vocal tracks. However, with all my collaborations, I am very clear that I don’t want to control to much. When I collaborate with someone, I am much more interested in their expressions, than applying my own on them. It’s much more fun and creative when everyone have creative freedom. And the result is very good, I must say! 🙂

You lead an impressive double life as a doctor and a renowned Synthwave household name. How do you find the time to be so prolific?
I work part time, in order to have time for the music. And throughout the years, I have tried to be more and more effective when it comes to producing. With the digital possibilities today, It’s easy to add new discoveries in terms of mixing techniques, and so on, to templates you  like, so you never have to start on a blank paper when you make a new song. Then you can focus more on the fun and important stuff, such as melodies, grooves, composition and so on.

As we near the ten-year mark since your debut release, in what ways do you feel like your relationship to the ‘retro’ aesthetic has changed since 2009?
Well, the first years I only made music for myself, it was not until around 2011 I started upload tracks on Soundcloud. I think I have the same idea about it as back then, I never had the ambition to IMITATE the 80s , just take the most fun key elements and use it in a modern context. I still do, it’s still fun, so right now I don’t see me quitting just yet. 🙂

What would you like listeners to take away from your music?
A: I hope it makes them happy, inspired, and keen on partying and dancing!

What do you feel is the most important aspect of your music?
The production. When I sit by myself and get a good groove going and instantly feel this will be a full track I will be happy with. That’s the best feeling.

Finishing off with the question I ask at the end of every interview: could you name one of your favorite albums, movies and books?
Favorite album: “Moon Safari” with AIR.
Favorite movie: Right now, I must say “Annihilation”.
Favorite book: A book I re-read a lot is “Name of the Rose” by Umberto Eco.

End of the Night is out now via NRW Records and available for streaming here!

By Joey Edsall

Joey Edsall was born and raised near Scranton, Pennsylvania. He has always immersed himself in art, being an avid fan of film and music.

Email: joe********@**********ve.com

Badlands debut album Locus drops on April 15th, but I was lucky enough to listen to it ahead of time. Trust me, it’s going to be huge. You can listen to her song “Echo” on our YouTube channel. I had the opportunity to ask the talented Swede a few questions. You can read her answers below!

PHOTO BY RICKARD GRÖNKVIST.

Within the first minute of “Ballady”, the opening track of your upcoming album, Locus, that Badlands is something very different from a lot else on the scene. There’s a real focus on mood and emotionally cathartic moments. Was there a conscious decision to create something this different or did it just happen?

Nothing in my music making process is conscious or calculated, it all just happens. Sudden harmonies and pictures appear in my head like capsuled little moments or revelations, and from there I walk in to the studio and try to communicate that exact feeling, somehow. There and then, I don’t have a recipe on how to achieve it – but I won’t stop until I manage to recall that emotion again. Sometimes that process takes just a couple of weeks, sometimes several months.

It’s interesting that you should mention “Ballady” along with that description, because sometimes the revelation changes within the process too. Someone I know lost her son during the making of this record, which of course was extremely hard and emotionally cathartic. I thought a lot about to where we can turn our prayers in situations like these, when we don’t believe in a man made God.. Hence “Ballady” became a cosmic lullaby for that child and some kind of plea to the universe. That was all I had at the time, all I could do.

Speaking of how delightfully strange this album is (in the best way!), what genre would you call it? Feel free to make up a ridiculous genre name! I’d call it post-dream-ambiwave.

Some kind of dusky, interstellar dreamwave maybe? Post-dream-ambiwave is pretty cool too haha, even though I’m striving to make something new. It feels really weird trying to put a genre to it in a retrospective, but I understand why people feel they need to.

What initially got you interested in creating music?

I became interested in music early, like 11-12 years old, and listened a lot to post-hardcore, shoegaze and stuff, alongside new wave and synth, throughout my teenage years. But even though I hung out with people in bands, I felt very curtailed playing myself. I never found my place really, and in the small Swedish town where I’m from, if you didn’t play guitar, bass or drums in a band – there was no other way. But then I discovered there are other ways, and that’s when I started to produce music without realizing myself.

We had a quite progressive music teacher in high school, who taught some of us how to use midi and sampling with an AKAI S3000. He let me borrow one of those 8 channel portable studios over the weekends, and that way I could hide out and explore in my own pace. I think that was my ticket out of status quo. I experienced a big relief, independence and freedom in creating electronic music, or semi-electronic would be more correct to say. And that’s how it all started. It took many years though before my music became anything else than hundreds of nameless soundtracks on a harddrive, along with some failed attempts to form a band.

But in the end, I think most people start creating music because they’re missing something, and noone will be able to make that music but themselves. That’s how Badlands was born for me anyway.

Who are your biggest musical influences?

I wouldn’t call it influence, because I certainly don’t try to sound like anything – but to me there’s no better sound in the world than a fuzzy arpeggio on vinyl. A lot of stuff that inspires me is  either from the 70’s or early 80’s, even though I wasn’t born then. People that lead on new wave, before it even became a concept. I romanticize around the times when too much was never enough, and how music makers didn’t seem to compromise as much with their work as many of us do today. It was totally cool to play 5-6 minute long songs on the radio, melody and mood guided production and there was a smoldering reassurance in the sounds. Some kind of sane bravado and belief in the future which we lack today, that I gladly let myself get infected by. Tangerine Dream, Aphrodite’s Child, Throbbing Gristle, Richard Barbieri, Art of Noise, Simple Minds, Fleetwood Mac, Freur, Talk Talk, Units, Tubeway Army, New Order..  Stuff like that.

Are you influenced by anything non-musical, like film, art, or literature?

Not initially in a record or tune making process. It all comes from inside and I even hide from external impression. But at a later stage when the music is there and it’s time to represent what’s it it and help people approaching it, then other stuff comes in. On Locus for example, I was very inspired by photographers such as Philip-Lorca diCorcia and Gregory Crewdson alongside early Spielberg movies and such, when trying to figure out the visual representation. Wouldn’t have happened without my friend and talented photographer Rickard Grönkvist, who created the cover photo for Locus. So in a way it does influence the music, sure, even if it is in a retrospect.

The synths used on the album would make any gear nerd freak out. What was your favorite synth to use?

I like most synths with the slightest bit of character, and I’m a real pragmatic in that sense. They don’t have to be super cool and vintage to sound good and work inspiring, although a good bit of that kind appears on Locus. My partner in crime is my Nord Lead 2x, simply because the possibilities are endless once you get to know it inside out. There’s nothing you can’t do with it, and it sounds amazing. There’s alot of Juno 60 on the record though. My fave part was to hook it up to a drum-trigger, making that Vangelis like sound when you hit it. I really like hooking up synths to stuff it’s not supposed to be hooked up with, in general. Make happy mistakes. However – if I was to get a new vintage synth right now it would be the Oberheim OB12. Should’ve gotten it years ago, I find myself trying to imitate it an awful lot.

What was your favorite piece of software to use while producing Locus?  

I only ever record, edit and mix in Pro Tools, it’s just part of me. Of course I use a lot of plug-ins too, but they’re my secret.

What is your songwriting process like?

Very scattered – songwriting and production means the same to me. I write while producing and produce whilst writing, I’ve never made a demo in my life. But it usually starts with a transient melody that flares up in my mind. It only ever stays for a few seconds, so if I don’t have my phone or other quick recording equipment nearby it’s lost forever.  But if I manage to catch it, I figure out the harmonies and stuff on my giant reverberating haunted monster piano. After that I bring it in to the studio, and then it’s just a big chaos for weeks, sometimes months, of me trying out different stuff. Record, sample, build sounds, arpeggios, record acoustic stuff just to replace them with samples and vice versa, changing melodies, hating myself for even trying etc. And then one day, it all starts making sense again, and then I know I’m close and it was all worth it after all. 90% of the writing process is a nightmare, but the 10 remaining % is my crack.

While the album features a handful of very talented musicians accompanying you, this is an album that you wrote, recorded, and produced entirely on your own. Do you enjoy writing music in a solitary way like this, or do you prefer collaborations?

It’s an independence thing. Inspiration can’t wait for band meetings, rehearsals, cancellations and other delays. So when ideas comes to me, I want to start working with them straight away, whenever I want, and without having to compromise with anything. That’s why I do everything myself, and that’s how it all started. Years ago when I had all these ideas but nobody to help me with the tunes, I slowly learned how to produce myself instead. And once you have your ways, that’s how you roll. Collaborations are great, but Badlands will always remain a solo project. But for the next record I wish to use external musicians to a larger extent though, and in a more organized way.  Because it adds so much, opens doors you didn’t know existed. Even when you don’t keep the recorded material, it can work as reassurance. We’ll see what happens.

If you could collaborate with any artist right now, regardless of genre, who would it be?

Probably something as far away from myself as possible, genre-wise. Like classical composer Zbigniew Preisner for example, he’s incredible and quite unconventional. And we both share the conviction on the importance of melody in music. His melodies sound like nothing else. I never think about these kind of things, but to collaborate with him would actually be super cool, now that you ask.

Which song on Locus are you most proud of?

You Have Taught Me So much, because that’s the only song that I finished writing before I started to record it. Made me feel as if I learned something. And it’s a pretty defined love song. I usually don’t write those.

Why did you pick “Echo” and “Caramisou” as singles for the album?

I think a single should represent the overall sound and work as a help for the listener to approach the album. That’s why I choose those two – they’re representative, and pretty catchy. And I kind of look at them as Yin & Yang – a good and an evil twin, one on each shoulder.

Where did the title of Locus come from?

The word Locus holds two meanings – the genetic term is that Locus is a specific location on a DNA sequence/chromosome that holds information about the gene. But it can also mean a location or place, in general. I thought that the term reflected the vibes of the tunes quite well, because the record is alot about identity and integrity in sudden moments and encounters. How you find yourself in a place or situation, and about how much power we have over who we are and decisions we make in that specific situation.

What does the future hold for Badlands?

More records, more tunes, for sure. I’ve already started to get itchy even before the album is out. My phone is full of audio memory notes and I can’t wait to get started on them. But this year my main focus will be on performing Locus.