The Third Annual Synthetix.FM Year End Synthstravaganza!

By Rick Shithouse

As 2014 fades slowly off into the distance and the credits begin to roll on another year we begin the third annual celebration of 80s inspired synth music on Synthetix.FM with the now traditional Synthstravaganza Top 10s of 2014 and Synthetix.FM Ultimix Mixtape!

This past year has been a hugely successful year for all the denominations of 80s inspired synth music covered on Synthetix.FM as every genre has witnessed development, refinement and even more importantly, much creativity. I look back at the Synthstravaganza posts from last year and the year before and it really brings a smile to my face to be see all the imagination and new inspirations being heard today. I'm not going to get into a lot of kerfuffle about how rockin this year was because I could go on and on and on. Instead, I'd much prefer to let the music speak for itself and that's exactly what the Synthstravaganza is all about!

I'd like to remind you that all these top 10's are entirely based on my own predilections and personal tastes, these don't reflect sales or listens or anything other than what I personally have enjoyed the most this year. The 8 80s denominations are Soundtrack Synth, OutRun Synth, Dark Synth, Electro Funk Synth, Pop Synth, Italo Disco Synth, Synth Romance and Synth Wave and also an Electronica top 10 that covers tunes not essentially 80s in creation and direction.

There's two new additions to this year's top 10's, something I tried to do last year but there really wasn't enough product to draw from. This year, there was ample to draw from! So much in fact that the labouring and deciding over these two new top 10's took the longest time for me to be happy with. These new inclusions are the Top 10 EPs and Top 10 Albums of the year.

The EP and album experience have finally blossomed in the scene with tonnes of spectacular releases in both formats throughout the year. Some very special EP's came out this year that really redefined what can be captured in the short form and the full length album format exploded with loads of concept albums, long awaited debuts, stunning sophomore releases and spectacular new albums from further established producers. That most of these great releases came out in a physical format also shows just how much the scene has progressed in the last twelve months.

New talent has arrived and flourished. New, bold projects have been embarked upon. And that's just on Synthetix.FM! This year saw the opening up of this site to contributors who write reviews, provide other content and generally make Synthetix.FM more accurately representative of the music coming out. Coming into the second quarter of 2014 I was getting burned out enough to be ready to put Synthetix.FM on indefinite hiatus until I found a way to keep on top of things more easily. I then had the idea of inviting contributors and staff to the site which I look back now at as a wonderful decision. Synthetix.FM is about the music and the people who love it, and those people are the ones that I invite to be a part of the site in whatever way they'd like to.

Moving into next year who knows what new and exciting things will come up, but I know for one that the future of Synthetix.FM is in safe hands due to the many members of the community that have helped out and continue to do so. I'd like to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart who has taken time out of their lives to help Synthetix.FM out this year. It means a lot to me and gives me a great deal of faith that what we do on here continues to be valuable and relevant.

On top of this, the fantastic job Marko Maric does on the Synthetix Sundays radio show on Radio Pure Gently is yet another part of the experience I'm honoured be a part of. The camaraderie and feeling of friendship the 80s inspired synth community affords is something I'm very grateful for and something I hope touches everyone in the scene.

But, enough teary eyed testaments. It is time to celebrate and that is something everyone into any of the denominations of 80s inspired synth music should be doing. 2014 was the best year yet for rockin tunes and cool vibes, and I have every faith that 2015 will continue even more so.

Top 10 Soundtrack Synth

1, Victory Theme - Myrone
2, Ninja Destiny - Cobra Copter
3, Mall - Proector 101
4, Don't Call Me Hero - OGRE
5, The World Is Gonna End Today - Tommy
6, China Sundown - LA Dreams
7, Frozen Soldiers - Python Blue & Jon Of The Shred
8, Manhattan Docks - Prof. Zonic Zynth
9, Rejects Of The Wasteland - Nightsatan
10, Leave With Us - 20SIX Hundred

Top 10 Electro Funk Synth

1, Breakazoid - Mitch Murder
2, Hairspray - Cobra Copter
3, Walk Like A Boss - Robert Parker
4, Burning Desires - LA Dreams
5, Time Shock - STARFORCE & Action Jackson
6, DownTown - iamMANOLIS
7, Funk This Ship - Phaserland
8, Made In USSR - Pulse 80 & StereoSonic
9, Different Machine - Amazing Police
10, Break It Down - Phantom Ride

Top 10 OutRun Synth

1, Escape Without Control - Dana's Vision
2, Run For Home - Beckett
3, Throttle Up - Dynatron
4, Breaking The Bonds - 20SIX Hundred
5, It's Supercharged! - Botnit
6, PoWer Prostitute - NightStop
7, Crime Wave - Danger Mode
8, Dark Pursuit - Street Cleaner
9, Chrome Beach - KFDDA
10, Running Wild - Tokyo Rider

Top 10 Dark Synth

1, Cyberpolis - Noir Deco
2, Humans Are Such Easy Prey - Perturbator
3, Abandoned Streets (Pt II) - Jordan F
4, Giant Golden Naked Woman - Dan Terminus
5, L.A. Darkzone - Palm Highway Chase
6, Within - GosT
7, Dystopia - Nightcrawler (featuring Vincenzo Salvia)
8, Graveyard Shift - Dance With The Dead
9, The Centaurian Heist - Cluster Buster
10, Devil's Due - Street Cleaner

Top 10 Italo Disco Synth

1, Domenica - Vincenzo Salvia (featuring Giusi Telesca)
2, Same Road, Different Ways - Plaisance & Claudia Ortolani
3, I Wanna Love You Once Again - Ryan Paris
4, IL Stallone - Muscle
5, Time To Run - Supervox
6, My Energy World - Project A
7, Galatine - Mild Peril
8, Train Of My Youth - Olegris
9, Femme Fatale - James Baker
10, Knight Of The Disco - Garth Knight

Top 10 Synth Romance

1, Made A Wish - LA Dreams
2,  (Could It Be I'm) Falling In Love? - Sunglasses Kid
3, Waves - Timecop1983
4, Traces To Nowhere - Mitch Murder
5,  Sunset Stroll - Robert Parker
6,  Fury Of The Flame - RF Extreme
7, Summer Drive - Killstarr
8, Inhalator II Love Theme - Nightsatan
9, Soft Scene - Phaserland
10, After These Messages - Bishop Of Battle

Top 10 Synthwave

1, Fearless Generation - LA Dreams
2, Have You heard - Sebastian Gampl
3, High Performance - Mitch Murder
4, Let's Funk Tonight - Tommy
5, Datacorder - iamMANOLIS
6, Your Move - Phaserland
7, Dance All Night - Rain Sword
8, Los Canarreos - Digital Native Dance
9, Exclusive Coupe - Myrone
10, Excellent Day - Pumping Body

Top 10 Synth Pop

1, Radio - Le Cassette
2, One On One - Sebastian Gampl (featuring Tommy Reeve)
3, The Deepest Blue - Kristine
4,Midnight Steps - Phaserland (featuring Heidi)
5, Darling Dreamer - Sunglasses Kid (featuring The Boy & Sister Alma)
6, Neon Summer - Diamond Field (featuring Nina Yasmineh)
7, Lost In Your Eyes - Timecop1983 (featuring Per Rinaldo)
8, In Your Love - Droid Bishop
9, Stay Sexy - The Wizard Lady Bros
10, Hot In The City - Muscle

Top 10 Electronica

1, Dopamine (The Power Of Love - Robots With Rayguns
2, Dance Or Die - Starcadian
3, Smoke - Isaac Galvez
4, Stardust Orchestra - TZARR
5, S w e e t B e a c h - CVLTVRΣ
6, EXP003 - Emil Rottmayer
7, W A I T - DELTA TOPCO
8, California Knight - Mr Vtage
9, I Am Dog - Fear Of Tigers
10, Cone Tuner - Klockhaus

Top 10 EPs of 2014

1, Atlantis - Vincenzo Salvia
2, Myrone - Myrone
3, The Pump - Muscle
4, Thunder In Paradise - Plaisance
5, Ninja Empire - Cobra Copter
6, Los Canarreos - Digital Native Dance
7, Matter - Mild Peril
8, Reverie - Dan Terminus
9, Full Throttle - Dynatron
10, Doom Fortress - Voyag3r

Top 10 Albums of 2014

1, Left To Our Own Devices - Le Cassette
2, Interceptor - Mitch Murder
3, Frequency Modulations - Tommy
4, Electric Atlantic - Phaserland
5, Dangerous Days - Perturbator
6, Insomnia - LA Dreams
7, Noir Deco - Noir Deco
8, 195 - OGRE
9, City Hunter - Sebastian Gampl
10, Beyond The Blue - Droid Bishop


And finally the 2014 Synthetix.FM Ultimix. A two and a half hour mix of the top four tracks from each genre. A soundtrack that I hope rocks 2014 deep into your musical subconscious!





That does us for things on Synthetix.FM until towards the end of January 2015. I'm not exactly sure what date the site will be back with new content at this stage but make sure you check back towards the end of the month with all the rockin new year action and in the meantime Synthetix Sundays will continue throughout this period, and I'm sure I'll be appearing on that every now and then as well as the special year end/year begins show next week! Be sure to follow Synthetix Sundays on Facebook here in the meantime to keep up to date with Marko's show.