AIRBORNE

Hello Meteor - Respect Your Ghosts

By Matthew Neophytou


The diversity of the wave genre is one of the aspects that draw me towards it each time I hear a track. From heavy strobe beats to melodic synths on the cusp of the cosmos, without a doubt I am taken up, up and away, the latter is where we find ourselves with Hello Meteor's  EP Respect Your Ghosts, capturing my imagination like a Henson production circa 1980's.

'I Don’t Need You Any More'… throws you in into a space of wonder and reflection, the mid and high synths play together a story that leaves you asking who is the object of which the title is referring to?

Straight away the piano on 'Fantastic Violence' sets the tone on this almost noir track, slipping into a staggered beat that is cool and mysterious, speaking of noir 'Furious Pursuit (tech noir)' continues the feel of the previous track but ups the momentum.

'Dragon of the Black Pool' takes us on a chilled drive, mesmerising us with a feeling you’re comfortable with, having listened through the album, strings and beats float together along the stars with this one.

Hello Meteor presents Respect Your Ghosts available on digital download on Bandcamp over here, and gets a very highly recommended from Synthetix.FM, for a new wave journey that is stripped of all the excess but no less thematic in execution.




Isaac Galvez - Cleta Squad EP

By Jerry Herrera


Isaac Galvez’s Cleta Squad EP dubiously begins with stuttered, jangly synths that seem to last a bit too long and for a moment I’m left wondering when the track is going to begin, or if this is really what has been submitted to the listening public.  What I am not aware of is that Galvez is building up to something, carefully, quietly, in the background.  Out of nowhere, the title track explodes into warm synth, fat claps and snares that bang on the rings of Saturn.  It’s an ethereally broken track full of little wisps of madness and I was instantly drawn into Galvez’s sound.

It’s a somewhat recognizable sound.  Isaac Galvez wanders into territory claimed by Com Truise and M83.  It is a chill place, but where the aforementioned would rather float in a haze of sustained choruses or fuzzy repetition, Galvez brings a clearer vision.  Something more breezy, tropical if you will, and uniquely pleasing infects all four tracks of the Cleta Squad EP, like having a cocktail in a hammock on the shore of an alien beach.

I will say this is not typical retrowave so there’s really none of the expected themes at work here but where some may avoid this EP for this reason, I say that it is all the more reason to pay attention.  There is genuine creativity going on here and while I wouldn’t say there is risky experimentation in the EP, Galvez has an innovator’s heart and a strong sense of aural curiosity.  I’m saying it now, Isaac Galvez is a name we will be seeing a lot more in the future.

Pick up a copy of Cleta Squad on Isaac Galvez's Bandcamp page here.




The Kolour Kult - The Kolour Kult EP

By Rick Shithouse



The ages of 80s sounds are usually blurred with inspirations from numerous parts of the decade with most modern producers however this is definitely not the case with Kolour Kult's sound on their debut EP. There rockers know their late 80s electronic pop sounds better than you know the back of your hand and this five track release encapsulates a very specific era of 80s sounds superbly.

You can hear the influences of the original 80s fabricators of this music and envision them nodding their heads in complete approval at Kolour Kults kick arse homage. The late 80s sounds of Pet Shop Boys, Erasure, New Order and Bronski Beat mixed with positively late 80s vintage R&B sounds are brought back to sparkling life through out this EP; lead by a vocalist who really gives a spectacularly accurate performance through all the pieces.

The Kolour Kult may hail from  New York but their musical souls are wholly based in the UK and the energy and fervour of their reinvention of this period is something special indeed. The synthscape is absolutely 100% unmistakably accurate to this vintage from the percussion to the heavy orchestral stabs. The opening track is really a huge standout piece, 'Sentimentality Falls' is part Pet Shop Boys' cover of 'Always On My Mind' and and part dancefloor synthpop anthem with a range of elements that rocks to the max from beginning to end.

'Lose Control' gets more clubby and dubby with a groove made for dancing and synth hooks you'll get reeled in on and time and time again but it's on 'Hearts Like Ours' that the Kolour Kult bridge an impossible gap between Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Cameo. The amount of polish in the production gives even more authenticity to experience and the final tracks give themselves even more anthemic stature, rockin to the max on the hugely dramatic 'Hearts Like Ours'.

The Kolour Kult's self titled EP really brings in a new dimension to the established favourites of 80s inspired synth music and creates their own perfectly formed niche to develop these sounds further. Grab a copy of this great EP via their Bandcamp page here.