When it comes to producers that I really love in the scene, it's a pretty short list. There are a lot of producers around, seemingly hundreds. But the love that I have for music takes time to first germinate, then grow and finally bloom. This usually takes numerous releases to happen too, sharing the journey with the producer and learning and understanding their own individual styles and nuances as indeed they do. With RF Extreme I feel this kinship in music, his sounds speak to me in a language I understand innately and his musical journey has been one I'm honoured to have been able share in thus far.
About a year ago RF Extreme began his love affair with 80s synth sounds and now we have a record of this past year in the 'Miami Cruise Culture' album. Featuring eleven tracks, this collection of emotionally involving synthscapes is a something special and a record that conveys intimacy, excitement and an unrequited love of the 80s through all eleven tracks.
The RF Extreme sound is one that has taken time to evolve into what we experience today. Every RF Extreme track has common elements that give them the personality and magical presence we've come to expect. There is reminiscence, passion, caring and most importantly love that is present and vital in each of his creations. 'A Time To Remember' opens the album with a joyously intimate refrain that speaks to the heart directly. The unhurried nature of this piece sets the tone for the first half of the album and ushers us into his world through hazy memories and warm memories.
'Forever Mine' drifts dreamily into a afterglow of the opening track seamlessly, continuing the love affair, telling new stories and intimating deeper connections via the synthual energies RF Extreme commands. Sounds are so resonating and deep yet caress with genteel grace, flowing nuances move in time with heartfelt rhythms. The aura created radiates beauty in all perceivable dimensions.
Upon experiencing 'Inner Bliss' as track three I began to realise how much more gravity RF Extreme's music takes on in this longer format. The two opening pieces compliment each other wonderfully and then 'Inner Bliss' elevates the feelings to new realms. The sublimely gorgeous refrain is perfectly explored and allowed to spread it's wings and soar majestically.
The synthscape is always kept to bare essences throughout this record. Every single sound introduced is uttered with clarity and value, the sparseness allowing for full appreciation of individual subtleties. In 'Lighter Than Air' this is given a heartfelt elegance as careful introductions are whispered and alluded to before the melodic passion is let loose and charges into a sensory heaven. Building and swelling like an unstoppable tide of fervent ardor.
RF Extreme manages to take simple, emotional links and then re-interpret them from new angles that give different perspectives to the situations his music describes. 'Time Stood Still' feels like it's a different take on the romantic interlude, with more overt passion in the introductory stages and defined forthrightness to it's melodic structures. The feelings are much more masculine and carry themselves in a way that is very refreshing.
'Fury Of The Flame' adds a new layer of unknown excitement to the mix. The rollercoaster ride into the shared experiences of two hearts becomes a thrilling experience. Moving in and out of times and spaces until a magical blending of melodies takes place and the calm reassurance of that close touch becomes electrifyingly real.
These thrills are not yet over, nor are the yet to even peak as the energy levels sky rocket further in 'System Transfer'. The melodies speak in more clinical colours, summoned from futuristic visions however they are humanised and harmonised into uplifting celestial tones; allowed to dance and release their energies in spectacular displays of aural fireworks.
'Gforced' continues this line as the machine becomes a vehicle for synthual feelings but keeps it's self restrained and on a steady, unwavering track. The music takes on an interlude like presence, hypnotising as the landscape whirrs by, details blurring and time becoming shorter as an air of panic begins to rise.
These darker aspects are allowed to explode in the high energy '12 Cylinder'. RF Extreme's emotionally driven OutRun piece is a series of delicately smooth melodies attached to a power hungry rhythm section. The speed is exhilarating but the real excitement comes from the utterly angelic synthual refrains that move effortlessly throughout the synthscape.
The driving thematic continues unabated into 'Future Highway'. This piece is inquisitive in it's nature, asking questions about those things unbeknownst to us, lurking in the background of the city blocks and shying away from our comforting lights. The threats are never serious, merely suggesting that which we fear instead of rearing up in a frightening display. Our vehicle coasts along this restless road unaffected, yet perhaps this highway is another path RF Extreme will take us down again at later date?
The very title track of the album finishes our experience and the melodies become more refined and dignified with a lustrous appearance, melodies traverse dimensions with an elegant gait, pausing for reflection and moving in time with pulsating percussion. The high class 80s lifestyle is a dream we can all share in through RF Extreme's soundtrack to the 80s Miami fantasy, taking us there wholly in spirit and imagination.
Wave Runner Records presents RF Extreme's Miami Cruise Culture on their Bandcamp page here and Synthetix.FM very, very highly recommends this release. The synthscapes in the first half the album are absolutely wondrous Synth Romance escapades and the back half takes in rich, varied flavours of 80s inspired synth that is always riveting and rewarding. Where RF Extreme takes us next on his musical love affair with the 80s is something that I'm eager to experience, but this album stands up as a superb work of true 80s love and understanding.
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