Synthetix Weekend Update

The Halloween Festivities continue on Synthetix.FM into an unprecedented second week! Yes, theres just too much music for the season around to move on. When will it end? Well, I'd say the upcoming review of Dance With The Dead's debut album should bookend things nicely. 'Til then, we're still rockin the darkness with candy coursing through our veins and Jack-o'-lantern vestiges still glowing bright!

One of the true highlights of Halloween 2013 is the phenomenal compilation released by Playmaker. The Miami Cannibal Massacre is deep laceration after laceration of sharpened synth slashes, boasting a cast of serial superstars thirsting for blood and vengeance. It's a staggering display of talent from the scene on show here, with the devil's share of tracks being exclusively available in this compilation.



Even more rockin is the upcoming physical release of this on cassette with a poster of the cover art. Click through the player to the Bandcamp page for more information on this rockin limited edition.


Let's keep the volume turned all the way up to rad with the new Synthetix Weekend Update!


The Glow Racing project from Montana Games keeps on rockin as more musical talent signs on. Apollo Zapp is the latest addition to the stable and his new track 'Glow Racing Theme' adds a very smooth and sophisticated air to the proceedings. Not a fast paced, frenetic OutRun affair, but instead creating an undulating synthscape that flows effortlessly.




Evanton are celebrating their first year anniversary with a kickin new track available for FREE download. 'Living In The 80s' brings the Evanton sound out of it's Italo roots and into some different territory as the melodies are given a new personality, complete with synth strings filling in the background. It's not what I'd call their most 80s sounding track, but it certainly rocks!




Time to take the Halloween sounds into the realms of synth pop with the new track from Kid Indiglo titled 'Wolf At The Door'. The subject matter is dark, but the melodic structure provides much beauty with a fantastic narrative in both the lyrics and music. To celebrate Halloween this song is currently available for FREE download, so get on it and rock it.




Something new now from Timecop1983. This producer has been searching for his sound if his soundcloud is anything to go bu and I think he's found it in 'Into The Night'. Luxurious OutRun elements are brought together with much homage to the leaders of the scene. The flow is unmistakable, and hopefully this leads to Timecop1983 developing his craft further.




Someone who's spent most of 2013 developing their craft is the ever-rockin Foreign Blade. I've loved so much of this producer's music throughout the year and continue to be wowed by his work and '1 Kilo And 486 Miles' is no exception. You want rich, emotive melodies? You got 'em. You want an exciting narrative that will take you on an epic journey? That's here too. This track is spectacularly well crafted and as a wonderful bonus is currently available for FREE download.




Next up is the hot new debut EP from Polymatrix. This self-titled three track affair from this new Polish producer introduces us to his music with rockin results. Style wise the three tracks on offer are cut from the more epic fabrics of space and time and there are some superb nods to 70s prog synths sounds as well as 80s emotions.


The opening track serves as a great introduction as 'Nightrider' takes a really kick arse later 70s sounding melody and weaves it's story through ages and stages of evolutionary development that explodes in the final chapter with ferocious neon incandescence. 'Heart Of The City' is a tad more obtuse in it's delivery as the introduction builds from numerous directions into synth soundtrack themed piece. The sweeping synths layer in beauty over the chaos before the main synth melody rocks onto the scene and switches the entire piece into amazing new dimensions. The third track, '2087' is easily the most sci-fi feeling piece on the EP and shows once again that Polymatrix has a deft touch for developing his musical ideas into deeply rich stories.

This is a fantastic debut release from this artist and I'll be greatly looking forward to hearing more form Polymatrix in the future. For now you can pick up this great EP on his Bandcamp page here, at a name-your-own-price point.


Let's get back to some funkier stuff now with some hot new PH Groove. 'Rocket Power' is another adventure into the funkified future synth of PH Groove and continues his trend of making sure every avenue of a track is explored before it's finish. The six minute plus track length of PH Groove's more  releases are something I thoroughly applaud as it gives the listener the opportunity be fully ensconced in the music. 'Rocket Power' exemplifies this with it's totally kick arse synth melodies allowed to rock all over the universe; and you can let it rock all over yours too as it's currently available for FREE download!




Hot on the heels of his fantastic new album Scan Lines (which I endeavour to review on Synthetix.FM soon) is an unreleased track from LA Dreams entitled 'Am I Dreaming'. I find this piece most interesting as to me, as long time LA Dreams fan, it sounds like it was made a while back as it has a different air about it, production wise, although I wouldn't be surprised if I'm entirely wrong. Either way this is full of that gorgeous LA Dreams magic that is always so wonderful to experience.




A hot new collaboration from Stellar Dreams and Who Ha has surfaced and it's totally k-rad to the max.  A spooky synth  Halloween motif accented with Who Ha's inimitable comedic brilliance. The music is a great introduction to Stellar Dreams new dark experiments and I defy you to not have the 'Spooky Stellar, Spooky Who Ha' refrain looping in your head long after the song has ended. This is an absolute gem, so rock it hard and often.




And speaking of Stellar Dreams, the rockers themselves had a hot new EP out in time for the Halloween Season entitled Audiolove. This release marks a bit of a change in the Stellar Dreams soundscape, as evidenced above in their collaboration with Who Ha, which finds the duo digging into darker textures and ideas, abandoning much of their previous production styles in favour of a much more grisly slash electro flavour.


It should be no surprise to anyone that this works exceptionally well as the combination of their beautifully crafted melodies are now contrasted by a raw and violent energy. There are elements of the Carpenter Brut and Perturbator school of slash electro present throughout the EP and these darker energies are explosive and intense throughout,  however on  'Dance For Yesterday' Stellar Dreams allow their 80s soul to glow with much more loving colours but this is much more of a stop off than a destination on Audiolove.

It's provides for a very interesting synthscape, the balls-out synth violence of pieces like 'Haste' and 'Sound Of Blood' are riveting and full of instant gratification, whereas the final piece, 'The Vow' offers a combination of both peace and violence as the grand melodies are carved out with an aggressive instrumentation. The experiment comes off with much success and Audiolove shows that the Stellar Dreams experience is still going through developments to find it's true form.

Grab your copy of Audiolove on Stellar Dreams' Bandcamp page here, it's a wild ride into the darker creative energies of Stellar Dreams, tempered by their innate 80s love and most importantly it rocks from beginning to end.


2013 has certainly been a great year if your a fan of Cougar Synth. This duo has released some of the most lusciously luxurious 80s inspired synth adventures over the year and continue to impress with each new track. On their latest work, 'Visions' we find absolutely glorious synth melodies caressing a wonderful bass line in an embrace of rapturous passion. This is Cougar Synth doing what they do best, and it's totally magical to experience. You can add this to your music collection courtesy of the FREE download button in the player too.




This leads us perfectly into the new vision from Palm Highway Chase. Palm Highway Chase has been around since the beginning of the 80s inspired synth scene and his importance and relevance is explained to perfection in this new preview for his upcoming cassette release through Beer On The Rug. This track is the epitome of what emotive soundtrack synth is all about. The structure, the elements, the progressions, they're all perfectly moulded into an incredibly deep experience. To find out more about the mysterious producer known only as Palm Highway Chase to his many fans tune into KFAI's live stream today (Sunday) at 10AM CST for a live interview with him by scene icon Noah Kaufman as part of his Synth Waves show.




To finish off this week's Weekend Update we have the triumphant return of Project Friday to announce. The show's been on hiatus for the last few months, but Steve 'Silent Gloves' Gillson is back and ready to rock this Friday, the 8th of November. Get onto the Project Friday's website here and Facebook page here for more information!




As a final word for this week's Weekend Update I had the pleasure of joining Noah Kaufman, LA Dreams and RF Extreme on the Across The Board show on KFAI this past Friday. The live broadcast was a hell of a lof of fun and is something I'll be hopefully much more involved in in the future, you can listen to the stream or download the show here under the 11/01/2013 show under Recent Playlists.

That does us for another Weekend Update on Synthetix.FM, I'll be back during the week with lots more hot rockin action from the 80s inspired synth scene, 'til then stay 80s and keep on rockin.