The Best Of LA Dreams

Although it might not be that obvious from my posts on here, I'm a massive LA Dreams devotee. For the last year this producer has made some of the finest 80s inspired synth music I'm yet to hear but alas the sheer volume of his music that has been released has meant I haven't been able to dedicate individual reviews for every EP and LP but instead tried to pick and choose.

With his latest release, LA Dreams has done all the picking and choosing for us as his first, of many I hope, Best Of's has just been released and this brings LA Dreams experience into a tight, sharp focus. He has taken the choicest cuts from his myriad of releases and packaged them into a juggernaut of 80s synth romance, full of glistening curves and pouting passages all soaked in a neon sunshine glow.

Spread thickly across fifteen classic tracks and three brand new ones, the Best of 2012/2013 gives the listener the chance to take in the entire LA Dreams experience in a much more digestible format. Upon listening to this it becomes very apparent why the tracks were chosen, in fact a good 75% of the tracks on here have been my favourite LA Dreams tracks and been featured in many Synthetix.FM Mixtapes over the past year. These stand-out tracks were the beacons of guiding light on each previous releases and now to hear them all together in the composer's own arrangement makes for a sumptuously embracing listening experience.

I've mentioned many times how much of a true master LA Dreams is over the styles of music he creates and when listening to this compilation you can feel the love and energy in each track. It's these emotional connections to the music that makes it so magical. LA Dreams gets it so right so often that one could be flippant about this but doing so would be foolhardy. Each piece of music he creates contains nuances and details that don't always become instantly apparent and it's only upon multiple listens and the opening of ones mind to the sounds that these carefully orchestrated aural emotions are unveiled.

Going back through the fifteen previously released tracks is like revisiting old friends. Feeling their warmth and remembering their smiles. Once again reviving that connection that feels like no time has passed between visits. The swell of the melodies come flooding back into your mind with affection and love. The consistency of LA Dreams' work is one of the most magical aspects and having these glorious pieces arranged in this presentation makes for something very special to listen to.

It's artists like LA Dreams that are the reason I do Synthetix.FM. His innate grasp of 80s memories and emotions through music is something that strikes chords deep within me and it's this pure evocation of poignantly orchestrated synthscapes that cause my heart to soar and my imagination to reel as this decade I love so dearly becomes new to me all over again.

LA Dreams presents The Best Of 2012/2013 on his Bandcamp page here. This is the absolute definition of a Synthetix Reference Experience as this album fully realises what the LA Dreams experience is all about. For those who've only skimmed over this producer's work this is now the ideal way to form a deeper connection to LA Dreams' music. And for those who've been ardent fans, like myself, having so many classic pieces along with three stunning new tracks in this album is like a wet (LA) dream of 80s inspired synth rapture.