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:

Empathy Test

Check out the catchy sounding Synthpop duo called "Empathy Test". I love the Blade Runner reference. :)






Check out all this artists work on their YouTube account, or at their SoundCloud.

The Boy & Sister Alma

I've been enjoying the synthwave/electropop lyrics on this collaborative track between Timecop1983 and The Boy and Sister Alma:




I decided to get in touch with TB+SA to see if they had the transcribed lyrics, and any other recommendations for similar sounding tracks they've produced:

Timecop1983 - Call on You (feat. The Boy and Sister Alma) 

Lyrics
With my soft breath on the window I can trace the letters of our names
The cold air flows through the cracks of the pain
It touches my skin and I remember to always call on you in the rain
Calling to you now, just a ghost
I wanted to reach for you to pull you back to shore
I wanted to hold you in my arms, I wanted to go into the storm
But I wanted life more
You could never need me more than you did that day
Who could ever trust me to keep you safe
Breaking waves they claimed you, my feet in the sand
It's not because I didn't love you, I just couldn't swim

The Boy and Sister Alma also recommended this track from their EP as similar to the vocals on Timecop1983's track. It's wonderful stuff:



Also, an interview with the group on Synthwave Sunday:

Games - Strawberry Skies (ft. Laurel Halo)

Com Truise Remixes Mix

A fellow on YouTube posted a mix that compiles 24 different Com Truise remixes. 



It'd be great to hear some of these spun before Com Truise plays live at his Toronto gig (Feb 12th @ Wrongbar) this year.

Also worth listening to are two Com Truise tracks originally released in his 6th mixtape series Komputer Cast ("Surf" and "Subsonic"). Polished/redone versions of Subsonic can be found in Com Truise's next EP.

Sources of Dreamwave

One of the few uses I have for Facebook is to access an RSS feed-like updates to various graphic artists and music groups.

One of the best gateways to what's available in the genre of 80's-esk modern music is "The Future Sound of the Past":
https://www.facebook.com/TheFutureSoundofthePast

It's well worth subscribing to if you're interested in seeing Dreamwave / Space Synth-wave / Electronic Dreams / Gold Funk / and Film Soundtrack posts in your news feed, and less into photos of what people had for dinner.

TurboDrive April 2013 - Dreamwave Mixtape Set by DJ Blayne

Free .MP3 download of DJ Blayne's remote-set.

Dark-Ware.org hosted - DJ Blayne Turbodrive Set (Rightclick, Save-as)

Backup Upload.net hosted - DJ Blayne Turbodrive Set

TURBO DRIVE Dreamwave Mix by DJ Blayne by Djblayne on Mixcloud

Setlist:

Latest Tracks

 Soundcloud is a great site. Taking the best elements from the old myspace, last.fm, and other music-related websites, it's created an amazing resource for finding new music.

For an every growing array of synthwave, chillwave, and other music that sounds like it came from an alternate universe circa 1980, visit the 'ThisStuffIsWonderful' Soundcloud 'like' page.

Synthetix's Top 80's Inspired Synth tracks of 2012

Track listing from Synthetix's post:

Memorex : Video Remix of your memories

Came across this through Boing-Boing.net:   Memorex from Smash TV.

The music is a mix of vintage audio, expertly mixed with modern retrowave/synthwave/chillwave tracks, with found footage from the 1980s/1990s edited to match.

 "The audio provides a perfect accompaniment to the warped and weirdly nostalgic footage, like finding your favorite cassette from childhood after it’s been baking in the sun for 25 years. An authentic audio/visual package, Memorex was designed to look and feel like the real deal. The ultimate VHS tape.
Is it a lost cultural relic, melted to the dash of an '83 Nissan Sentra? Is it a sinister government experiment, designed to brainwash children into becoming consumer slaves?
Is it the pinnacle of blipverts, sent back in time from 20 minutes into the future? Is it the holy grail of unlabeled VHS tapes, tucked away in the back room of an abandoned Blockbuster?
Is it live, or is it Memorex?
We didn't create your childhood, we just organized it for you. How to brainwash an entire generation. OBEY. CONSUME. THIS IS YOUR GOD."

Watching this super-cut presentation pop culture detritus, and knowing that it (subliminally) structured my childhood causes both nostalgia and horror.

Purity Ring

Purity Ring was brought to my attention by Bruce Lord from I Die:You Die, proving to me that his musical taste continues to be pretty excellent.


Puirty Ring - Amenamy



I'd heard of the band's before, but it was typically associated with Wichhouse / indie dark electronica's low-fi crowd - and that carries with it a whole hipster-pagan, Triangles & Unicode crowd. I enjoy alot of that music, but feel pidgeon holing this band misses the point.

Once I had the chance to listen to their album SHRINES, I was humming it for days. Purity Ring's tracks, if I had to assign a category, fall somewhere in the realm of expertly crafted electropop. The dark, surreal lyrical content works really well with the synth. It's hard to define music like by what's come before - and like my thoughts on "Chillwave" artists, it's probably better for that.

Image credit above goes to a Spin article about the band - well worth checking out. While live, the vocals sometimes land a bit flat, the overall performance with their DIY setup looks pretty neat.

I'll certainly be keeping an eye out on Purity Ring's Facebook page to see when they'll next visit Toronto.

 Purity Ring - Shrine


Purity Ring - Crawlersout

Purity Ring - "Crawlersout" from Tom Beal on Vimeo.

Purity Ring - Lofticries