DREAMS WEST

It's rare, but occasionally I'll come across an artist on soundcloud whose been around for years, but seemingly has zero connection with another artist - but they share a similar sound.

DREAMS WEST has been around for 5 or so, (at the time of this writing)  - and that's a while in the internet age. It surprised me to hear similarities between his work and HIGH TIDES's self-titled album though, given I'd never seen the two appear together in any playlists or associated tracks.

Give both a listen and see~

Rise of the Synths - Documentary

The Rise of the Synths, sounding like '50s B-movie that never was is actually an crowd funding effort to by director Ivan Castell to create a documentary about the very music genre I've focused on the past few years: 'Sythwave', 'Retrowave', or just '80s sounding stuff' to some,
 

“... At least for me, it’s a reinterpretation of a retro sound that taps into somewhere in your brain and brings back memories from your childhood,” he told Vehlinggo recently. Basically, he’s saying that what these artists are doing isn’t always retro, or always 80s, but they’re using the pastiche and modern production to evoke particular moods. I tend to agree." [link]

I've written about the topic early on in this blog, mainly because it was something that I never saw articulated anywhere else. It was music that just emerged online without a physical touring or mainstream presence and tapped directly into how I imagined the future would sound as a child in the late 80's and early '90s.

I'm very interested to see what comes of this documentary, particularly given the lineup currently listed:

College, Electric Youth, Maethelvin, Com Truise, Miami Nights 1984, Kristine, Lazerhawk, Mitch Murder, Power Glove, Futurecop!, OGRE, Dance with the Dead, Night Crawler, Vincenzo Salvia, Stellar Dreams, The Midnight, Jordan F, Betamaxx, 80s Stallone, Dynatron, Darkest, Carpenter Brut, Timecop1983, Waveshaper, and MPM Soundtracks.

The whole interview is worth reading, and I'd hope anyone with a love of this musical genre pledges some kind of support to the documentary maker. It would certainly create a nice musical touchstone to show people unfamiliar with this style of music - and to help delineate it from actual 80's synthpop.

 

The transition of remixes and covers: Under your Spell

Discovering how different musicians and remix artists reinterpret a song can be an interesting journey to take. Case in point - 'Under Your Spell' by the 80's-esk group DESIRE. This track was released in 2009, and appeared in the 2011 film DRIVE.

A common complaint was the 80's 'Breakfast Club'-esk talking interlude in the middle of the original song:



 An edit exists that removes this section:



Other artists have reinterpreted the song further, while incorporating improvements to it's structure like the clean edit:



Other versions, perhaps released as B-Sides provide an acoustic/synth only track:



Among the most distant renditions is a looped vaporwave version, highlighting the core aspects of the song:

Solomon Grey - Miradors

Noble Oak

Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/nobleoak