By Rick Shithouse
'Tis the season for the dark and brutal genres of 80s inspired synth music to truly flourish and bask in their own horrible nightmares. There's been a lot of releases this Halloween season and the finest one I've come across that really takes things in the right directions for me, personally, is Europaweite Aussichten's Purgatory album.
I've found that many producers doing darker sides of the sounds lose the soul and presence of their music in favour of raucous intensity. While I'll be the first person to revel in the chainsaw massacre
of synth sounds there is a time and place for everything. It's like a good horror movie, the pacing is of the utmost importance to keep the atmosphere building and make the intense spots hit the hardest when they strike.
Europaweite Aussichten balances the timing of his music to magnificently macabre perfection throughout Purgatory and blends equal parts of Giallo horror and more progressive vintage soundtrack synth work into something that is fully engrossing. The opening tracks set the tone brilliantly as the minimalist nature of the music allow for much interpretation for the listener. 'Over The City' sprawls with slow moving melodies that swell against the barest minimum of percussive tracks. The synths tell the whole story, setting a scene, speaking dialogue and drawing you into the story. This kind of sparsely populated synthscape is entirely what Europaweite Aussichten employs in many of his tracks, the less is more (TM Marko Maric) approach is entirely how the producer directs the scenes and manipulates your surroundings via sound.
The third track, 'Purgatory Theme', took me aback quite a bit as it introduced a melody that reminded me greatly of one of my favourite pieces of synth music from Queen's score of Flash Gordon. The completely different personality given to the similar structures had me completely enthralled by it. The rapidly panicking music placed behind this slow refrain gives the necessary dread to proceedings and glinting flashes of synth blades against the blackness of the night makes for an ever threatening sense of foreboding. The builds are pitch perfect and the music never breaks character to reveal the shrouded killer's face once. Splendidly diabolical.
The album is full of slow moving examinations of specific narratives that punctuate the set pieces but do far more than just being segues or vignettes to the overall story. They develop ideas deeply and keep the tone of the album on a track. Listening to this album gapless is to be encouraged as the atmospheres gain even more ferocity without the chance to catch your breath or break from the intensity.
Like many of my favourite records from this genre the album has been completely arranged as a genuine soundtrack and delving into the full experience hits home much more than individually isolated track listens. The off kilter nature of 'A Night Without Laughter' is undeniably more verbose when introduced by the preceding pieces. The minimalist nature allows Europaweite Aussichten's synth palette to be sharply focused with a small number of colours, but the blending performed to give them voices across his musical canvases is where the magic is really felt throughout Purgatory.
There's also a great deal of experimentation in the sounds too. Europaweite Aussichten opts for a fantastically low-fi aesthetic in 'Ripper's Knife' that gives a wonderful homage to vintage formats without losing any of the atmospheric intensity in the slightest. It definitely leads one to imagine how a combination of low-fi vintage and modern produced sounds could work together in one single track too. The possibilities are definitely exciting. Although the whole record has been recorded to tape after mixing, the extreme nature of the low-fi-ness of this track gives you an extra dirty experience.
I really can't stress enough how much more enriching the experience of this album is with the near complete lack of percussive tracks and definitely no modern style drum arrangements or sounds. The music gains so much more presence in this way and on pieces like 'Psychopath' the percussion is used as a tool to enhance the terror; not drive it. The technique works wonders in this style and aside from from a few producers on Giallo Disco Records and the likes of Strike Force 88 this kind of approach is largely under represented in the scene.
Even with all the moroseness and horrific passages the album is certainly not without contrasting elements to give different voices to the cast. The way a sound can be manipulated in a way to be slightly humanistic but also retain an otherworldly aesthetic comes into play during 'Signals In The Night Sky' as now the twisted synths bend into a reality that sounds unpleasant yet cries for an acceptance. The tone in this track especially is inquisitive and mysterious but uses different tones to get the message across.
'Welcome To The Glass Jungle' marks another high point on the album as the refrain lures the listener in from the first passage and then explores itself incredibly deeply. The percussion on this track is about as modern as Europaweite Aussichten gets on Purgatory but it's used in a way that doesn't ruin the aesthetic in the slightest. The build is massive in this track; but the pay of is non existent as the scene cuts right before everything goes to Hell. Part of me wishes the track took me down all the way, the other part of me loves the direction as a classic horror device.
Things really peak super high and hard in the final chapters with the thoroughly epic 'Season Of The Skull'. The music is absolutely murdering in intensity while staying completely in-decade. This track brings to mind a more fantasy oriented tale of bloodbath, as in a classic 80s post nuke or barbarian (or both!) themed affair. Structured for a huge build and pay off the melodies shine when they should and shadow when they need to.
'The Void Is Ours' returns to that UFO style of 'Signals In The Sky' and works great as a little diversionary tale the runs parallel to the macabre earthbound events; intimating powers from other worlds are guiding things from afar. This track leads into the final pieces that climax with the marvellous written end theme 'Still Out There, Waiting', as the credits role you just wish there was a sequel in the works and the little taste of action after the credits gives you that wonderful sense of expectancy.
I'm sure is unavoidable over twenty six tracks that making it all 'fit' can be a insurmountable prospect but there's every chance too that the meandering nature of some pieces are intentionally placed to give the experience just that little bit of unexpectedness. I think trimming a couple of the pieces, or splicing them into some of the other tracks possibly could've benefited overall, but this is really neither here nor there. As it stands Purgatory is like a 'kit soundtrack' you could quite easily arrange to fit your own nefarious deeds that require this kind musical accompaniment.
Werkstatt Recordings presents Europaweite Assichten's Purgatory album on their Bandcamp page here in the usual array of digital formats as well as a limited edition CD. I was absolutely taken with this record and the sheer amount of ideas, scenes and sounds explored made for a riveting experience that completely rocks that Halloween horror vibe. A stand out release in every respect and one that comes very, very highly recommended by Synthetix.FM.
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Monday, November 2, 2015
Trevor Something's Death Dream
By Jerry Herrera
Trevor Something has always struck me as a reflective artist; someone who incorporates personal emotions into his music, and through the prism of synthwave, we see a brilliant and oftentimes grim spectrum. His previous album, Trevor Something Does Not Exist, had darker tones to it, though it was punctuated with some outrun here and there. With his latest effort, Death Dream, Trevor seems to have travelled further down that dark alley, and the result is an enjoyable, if a bit inaccessible, drive into the dangerous metropolis of one man’s mind.
By and large this album is a mid to downtempo, churning, grinding, growling journey that is given supernatural airs through Trevor’s tortured crooning. 'Between If I Die', 'Possession', and 'The Touch of Your Skin', we are taken through a gallery of quiet horror. From an obsession with dying and oblivion, to addiction, to corrosive lust, we stand at each piece and reflect on our own dark corners. But when I say horror, I don’t mean horror synth or slasher wave, but the very real and difficult monsters that a lot of us face. The music itself is at times very grimy and oily, others very ethereal and a bit sci fi, with a healthy dose of glitch and chunky bass that’s sure to register on the Richter scale.
'Run Away' stands out on Death Dream because it’s a bit of a wake up call, but only in the sense that if the first five tracks were an opium dream, 'Run Away' is a tab of acid on the tongue. It’s all a somnambulant sensory overload, but as rough as these nightmares and dreams are to grapple with, you don’t want to be woken up. 'Run Away' bleeds into 'Through The Wormhole,' which bleeds into 'Your Sex Is A Dream', like paint running down a canvas only to reveal another work beneath it. 'Your Sex Is A Dream' is perfectly titled, written and composed. It’s dark and sensual in the way that Industrial or EBM tries to be, and produced with an impeccable cinematic flair.
'Can You Feel It' is probably my favorite track on Death Dream, if only for the faint echoes of some funky guitar strings which add a bit of levity to a song about descent into a narcotic fueled night on the town. The back third of the album is noticeably less dark but we still remain in a strange haze with 'No One Knows Your Name' and 'Trip', which are warmer chillwave-ish tracks. 'Forever' is the final love letter to painless oblivion, both tragic and welcoming, terrifying but inevitable. The fact that our storyteller doesn’t want to go alone, and asks for salvation, makes this a poignant track, and album as a whole.
I will say that at times one can become disengaged from Death Dream at times because the tempos, lyrical style and arrangements don’t vary too much. And then again that’s the point of the album. Taken as a whole it’s a meditation on stimulus and numbness, sex and death, a fear of pain but also oblivion. I think that if Clive Barker’s cenobites listened to music, Death Dream would be in their collection. It’s an emotional achievement in the genre, and in general a piece of art that shows the vulnerability of one person, and in turn asks the listener for the same self reflection.
Trevor Something presents Death Dream, which is available on his Bandcamp page here, and is very, very highly recommended by Synthetix.FM.
Trevor Something has always struck me as a reflective artist; someone who incorporates personal emotions into his music, and through the prism of synthwave, we see a brilliant and oftentimes grim spectrum. His previous album, Trevor Something Does Not Exist, had darker tones to it, though it was punctuated with some outrun here and there. With his latest effort, Death Dream, Trevor seems to have travelled further down that dark alley, and the result is an enjoyable, if a bit inaccessible, drive into the dangerous metropolis of one man’s mind.
By and large this album is a mid to downtempo, churning, grinding, growling journey that is given supernatural airs through Trevor’s tortured crooning. 'Between If I Die', 'Possession', and 'The Touch of Your Skin', we are taken through a gallery of quiet horror. From an obsession with dying and oblivion, to addiction, to corrosive lust, we stand at each piece and reflect on our own dark corners. But when I say horror, I don’t mean horror synth or slasher wave, but the very real and difficult monsters that a lot of us face. The music itself is at times very grimy and oily, others very ethereal and a bit sci fi, with a healthy dose of glitch and chunky bass that’s sure to register on the Richter scale.
'Run Away' stands out on Death Dream because it’s a bit of a wake up call, but only in the sense that if the first five tracks were an opium dream, 'Run Away' is a tab of acid on the tongue. It’s all a somnambulant sensory overload, but as rough as these nightmares and dreams are to grapple with, you don’t want to be woken up. 'Run Away' bleeds into 'Through The Wormhole,' which bleeds into 'Your Sex Is A Dream', like paint running down a canvas only to reveal another work beneath it. 'Your Sex Is A Dream' is perfectly titled, written and composed. It’s dark and sensual in the way that Industrial or EBM tries to be, and produced with an impeccable cinematic flair.
'Can You Feel It' is probably my favorite track on Death Dream, if only for the faint echoes of some funky guitar strings which add a bit of levity to a song about descent into a narcotic fueled night on the town. The back third of the album is noticeably less dark but we still remain in a strange haze with 'No One Knows Your Name' and 'Trip', which are warmer chillwave-ish tracks. 'Forever' is the final love letter to painless oblivion, both tragic and welcoming, terrifying but inevitable. The fact that our storyteller doesn’t want to go alone, and asks for salvation, makes this a poignant track, and album as a whole.
I will say that at times one can become disengaged from Death Dream at times because the tempos, lyrical style and arrangements don’t vary too much. And then again that’s the point of the album. Taken as a whole it’s a meditation on stimulus and numbness, sex and death, a fear of pain but also oblivion. I think that if Clive Barker’s cenobites listened to music, Death Dream would be in their collection. It’s an emotional achievement in the genre, and in general a piece of art that shows the vulnerability of one person, and in turn asks the listener for the same self reflection.
Trevor Something presents Death Dream, which is available on his Bandcamp page here, and is very, very highly recommended by Synthetix.FM.
Saturday, October 31, 2015
Synthetix Sundays
This Episode of Synthetix Sundays has been unavoidably delayed until Sunday, November 8th. Many apologies.
The Halloween love just keeps on rockin on Synthetix Sundays on Radio Pure Gently!
This week Marko will be interviewing DJ Spaz about the return of the awesome Synthwave show Outscape on November the 7th and also I will have an in depth chat with Nigel Silva aka The Encounter about his music and also his awesome up and coming horror movie project 'Within'.
Marko will be premiering three awesome exclusive tracks from Quantum and two from The Encounter!
Regular segments from Paul Dress2Kill Daly, Dallas' Synthetix Spotlight and Quality Time With Shithouse will focus on his favourite tracks from this years gargantuan Rhythm Vivisection Halloween Mixtape.
There'll be tonnes of giveaways and the finest dark and horror themed 80s inspired synth music on the planet!
Thursday, October 29, 2015
The 3rd Annual Synthetix.FM Rhythm Vivisection Halloween Mixtape
The 3rd Annual Synthetix.FM Rhythm Vivisection Halloween Mixtape has arrived! This year's mixtape honour's the recently departed Wes Craven and his classic horror experience The Hills Have Eyes. Make this the ultimate soundtrack to your most terrifying Halloween over nearly five hours and 68 tracks!!!
Many, many thanks to all the producers who submitted their tracks, it's a true testament to the scene and just how rockin we are in 2015.
Tracklisting:
1, Horrific Scene - Sebastian Gampl
2, Neon Cruiser - Sub Morphine
3, Weird Promise - Tanimura Midnight
4, As The Bodies Pile - Jon Of The Shred
5, Bloodmoon - Expender
6, The Shape - Syntax
7, Dieselgate - Vincenzo Salvia
8, Flat/Line - Confrontational
9, Il Sapore - G
10, Suicide You And I - Glass Apple Bonzai
11, Judge Death - Rogue Six
12, Hour Of The Wolf - Oscillian
13, Kurgan’s Theme - The TCR
14, Burial Island - Lair Cundalini
15, The Victim Machine - Maniac Lover
16, Mind Control - Nitelight
17, Re-Animated - Mythical Vigilante
18, Blood and Diesel - Neon Overdrive
19, The Hunger - Neon Shudder
20, Obscured By Memories - 20SIX Hundred
21, Outrun The Dead - Ravenh0lm
22, Vendigo - Powernerd
23, Prowler - Vectorwolf
24, Responder - Bad Ass Wolf Shirt
25, Shattered Mirrors - The Ghost Mall
26, The Sound Of Depression - Shio-Z
27, Il Demonio - Shklovsky & Pale Blue Dot
28, Slasher Flick - David Good
29, Slayers - Cosmo Cocktail
30, Sonaht - Fixions
31, Stay Hidden - woob
32, Terminal - DreamReaper
33, The Owls Are Not What They Seem - Ozimov
34, Bad Dreams - TSTR
35, Thread - Strike Force 88
36. Lunar Power - Cryocon
37, What Lies Below - Profondo Delle Tenebre
38, Ravage - Dedderz
39, A Night To Remember - Shock Stalker
40, Abduction - Void Breaker
41, Sounds Of The Saw - Aquawave
42, Beasts Of Ocean Drive - Blac Eagl
43, Harvester - Dimi Kaye
44, Broken Souls - SugarMouse
45, DMN - Sekret Teknik
46, Drifter - Astral Stereo Project
47, Demons Inside My Mind - Damokles
48, Hello Synthboy! - The Neon Droid
49, Jason’s Woods - Glitch Black
50, Clownhouse - John Sparxx
51, Rise Of The Roller Zombies - Lt Bolo
52, Locked Doors - Mr Eff
53, Masked Death - Volkor X
54, Mealy Monsters - Zerbinator
55, Miss Halloween - Ancient Order Of The Droids Of Ambidextroux
56, Nineteen Seventeen - Cadre Crimson
57, Followed - OGRE and Dallas Campbell
58, Symphony Of Purgatory - Powder Slut
59, Resist Mind Control - Skript
60, She Is Death - Odd Color
61, His Master’s Voice - Takahashi Jones
62, Haematic Halloween - Tape Loader
63, The Nightmare - Terrorvizion
64, The Bullet Farm - Unknown
65, The Dead Will Walk The Earth - Fake Stereo
66, Two Hours Til Dawn - Super Science
67, Halloween - Who Ha
68, Grave Danger Wolf & Raven
Full size artwork available here
Many, many thanks to all the producers who submitted their tracks, it's a true testament to the scene and just how rockin we are in 2015.
Tracklisting:
1, Horrific Scene - Sebastian Gampl
2, Neon Cruiser - Sub Morphine
3, Weird Promise - Tanimura Midnight
4, As The Bodies Pile - Jon Of The Shred
5, Bloodmoon - Expender
6, The Shape - Syntax
7, Dieselgate - Vincenzo Salvia
8, Flat/Line - Confrontational
9, Il Sapore - G
10, Suicide You And I - Glass Apple Bonzai
11, Judge Death - Rogue Six
12, Hour Of The Wolf - Oscillian
13, Kurgan’s Theme - The TCR
14, Burial Island - Lair Cundalini
15, The Victim Machine - Maniac Lover
16, Mind Control - Nitelight
17, Re-Animated - Mythical Vigilante
18, Blood and Diesel - Neon Overdrive
19, The Hunger - Neon Shudder
20, Obscured By Memories - 20SIX Hundred
21, Outrun The Dead - Ravenh0lm
22, Vendigo - Powernerd
23, Prowler - Vectorwolf
24, Responder - Bad Ass Wolf Shirt
25, Shattered Mirrors - The Ghost Mall
26, The Sound Of Depression - Shio-Z
27, Il Demonio - Shklovsky & Pale Blue Dot
28, Slasher Flick - David Good
29, Slayers - Cosmo Cocktail
30, Sonaht - Fixions
31, Stay Hidden - woob
32, Terminal - DreamReaper
33, The Owls Are Not What They Seem - Ozimov
34, Bad Dreams - TSTR
35, Thread - Strike Force 88
36. Lunar Power - Cryocon
37, What Lies Below - Profondo Delle Tenebre
38, Ravage - Dedderz
39, A Night To Remember - Shock Stalker
40, Abduction - Void Breaker
41, Sounds Of The Saw - Aquawave
42, Beasts Of Ocean Drive - Blac Eagl
43, Harvester - Dimi Kaye
44, Broken Souls - SugarMouse
45, DMN - Sekret Teknik
46, Drifter - Astral Stereo Project
47, Demons Inside My Mind - Damokles
48, Hello Synthboy! - The Neon Droid
49, Jason’s Woods - Glitch Black
50, Clownhouse - John Sparxx
51, Rise Of The Roller Zombies - Lt Bolo
52, Locked Doors - Mr Eff
53, Masked Death - Volkor X
54, Mealy Monsters - Zerbinator
55, Miss Halloween - Ancient Order Of The Droids Of Ambidextroux
56, Nineteen Seventeen - Cadre Crimson
57, Followed - OGRE and Dallas Campbell
58, Symphony Of Purgatory - Powder Slut
59, Resist Mind Control - Skript
60, She Is Death - Odd Color
61, His Master’s Voice - Takahashi Jones
62, Haematic Halloween - Tape Loader
63, The Nightmare - Terrorvizion
64, The Bullet Farm - Unknown
65, The Dead Will Walk The Earth - Fake Stereo
66, Two Hours Til Dawn - Super Science
67, Halloween - Who Ha
68, Grave Danger Wolf & Raven
Full size artwork available here
Saturday, October 24, 2015
Synthetix Sundays
Get yourself ready to rock the greatest online radio show with Synthetix Sundays on Radio Pure Gently!
This week Marko will be interviewing Neon Vandal, Absinth3 and an extra in depth interview with scene legend Alessandro Strickner. The music producer known as A Space Love Adventure and graphic artist extraordinaire Overglow as well co owner of Sunlover Records and founder of the hugely populer Facebook group Retrographix. This is sure to be a spectacular insight into this wonderful gentleman's background and creativity.
Regular segments Quality time with Shithouse, Synthetix Spotlight and Paul 'Dress-2-Kill' Daly will be rockin the scene too and Marko has a whole mess of download coades to give away throughout the show.
Tune in to Synthetix Sundays LIVE on Radio Pure Gently here, at 10pm Perth, Australia time. Please click here to find out when this is in your part of the world. As always the fully downloadable show will be posted here on Monday along with the featured tracks from Quality Time With Shithouse.
Quality Time With Shithouse feature tracks:
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Synthetix Sundays
Get ready for another massive edition of Synthetix Sundays on Radio Pure Gently!
This week Marko interviews Dimi Kaye and London Lazers!
He will have 10 download codes for Dimi Kaye's awesome Dream Sequencer album to give away during his interview and will also be premiering two stunning songs from London Lazers which will be on his album out for release this Thursday the 15th of October. PLUS there'll be 10 download codes for that album to give away too!
Synthetix Spotlight, Paul Dress2Kill Daly, and Quality Time With Shithouse are all lined up for your listening pleasure along with all the hottest tracks your body can rock!
Tune in to Synthetix Sundays LIVE on Radio Pure Gently here, at 10pm Perth, Australia time. Please click here to find out when this is in your part of the world. As always the fully downloadable show will be posted here on Monday along with the featured tracks from Quality Time With Shithouse.
Quality Time With Shithouse feature tracks:
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
LA Dreams' Paper Objects
By Rick Shithouse
I still feel guilty for not giving the review that LA Dreams' last record, On And On, deserved on Synthetix.FM. It came out at an odd time for me personally to give my undivided attention to and will hopefully remain the only LA Dreams realease not covered on here. It's not that the album was any less valid, relevant and entertaining than any others, it was just some poor timing on my behalf.
And true to form, another LA Dreams record has arrived right on schedule. I've been enjoying Paper Objects on repeat pretty much since it hit Bandcamp this afternoon and have had ample opportunity to drink in its delights and revel in its glories. One of the grounding aspects for me is my personal relationship with LA Dreams' music on an emotional level. His music is truly magical when it aligns to my own personal state of being. This happens more often than not; but on this record especially the depth of emotional attachment I've felt throughout has been incredibly strong. Sometimes things just sit 'right' and that familiarity feels all brand new again and with Paper Objects, LA Dreams has once more upped his game and taken on new challenges for the sake of his art.
With the announcement of the album's release LA Dreams also stated this was his first all hardware album. I read this after listening to the record a few times already and I had already noticed something different about the presentation of the music. I'm no audio engineer, I don't even qualify as someone who has tinkered with synths; be they hardware or software but there is something I definitely noticed as being different to the usual LA Dreams synthscape. This could all be psychosomatic and reading far too much into things I don't understand but there is an elegance to this album that is a cut above what I previously experienced in LA Dreams' music. The soul of the 80s and the true creative gift this artist instills in his music just comes through smoother, cleaner and more natural. This could be completely unrelated to using hardware exclusively on the record and it may just be his natural progression along his musical journey but the increased intimacy and smoothness to the presentation is undeniable.
LA Dreams' is a complete maestro for that quintessential 80s melody that I personally adore and feel deeply when I hear it. The way that LA Dreams has evolved his writing in this respect is defined even more in Paper Objects. Melodies and leads feel more balanced in the mix, they never get lost or seem like they fighting to be heard amongst the other instruments and the percussion appears to have been distilled into much more simplistic patterns, that when coupled with the melodies become live and effortless and wholly complementary.
I've been saying for nearly years now that I listen to LA Dreams differently than I do to almost any other producer. The way his ideas are put together to me make absolute sense and over the course of his many albums I've witnessed the growth and nurturing he gives to his musical inspirations. Ideas hinted at from albums months ago resurfaced with more defined reason and forms. The melodies gain more lither shapes and curves that flow even more naturally. The soul of LA Dreams music is what drives each track and each compartmentalised idea becomes a snapshot of the man himself in that moment in time translated into music.
The album itself is full of melodic poems, energetic excitement and heartfelt emotion. In many of the classic Synth Romance pieces by LA Dreams you can feel the magic touching you, like a bolt of nostalgic electricity. These types of tracks, especially, appear to move through spaces with lighter weight yet have even more presence. The experimentation with certain sounds in these heavily stripped back affairs gives even more intrigue and detail, but they are never cluttered and in many ways deliver slower and deeper hooks. 'Makes Me Think Of You' and 'Frome Here To There' are shining examples of this as LA Dreams rocks to a pace that is transfixing and beautifully formulated.
Higher energy experiences abound too and a couple of tracks that really stood out for me on this record belonged to this aesthetic. In 'LoveShy' LA Dreams rocks a wonderful vocal over funky and dramatic musical majesty. I was only saying on a recent Synthetix Sundays that this kind of vocal is so underutilised in the scene, LA Dreams displays to perfection just how little touches can add so very, very much. The opening track 'Strange Skies' makes for a fast paced adventure into 80s musical excitement too while 'Paper Cities' combines soulfully enriching melodies with a highly excitable beat that just swells with romantic anticipation.
LA Dreams keeps on exploring funkier sides to his sounds too, which I'm an ardent fan of, and 'Nights Like This' brings a totally killer mix of funk and synth soul. This style in particular holds many new and exciting avenues in the LA Dreams experience and gives him another synthscape for him to paint his wonderful stories on.
When it gets down to it, this is a fantastic album. If you love LA Dreams you'll find lots to love on Paper Objects. The intrinsic mix of old and new and that familiar atmosphere LA Dreams creates is always so invigorating to experience. LA Dreams has always been 'music for lovers' to me and the fantasy and captivating romance that flows so prominently and effortlessly through this record will awaken your heart and passions once again.
I've been musing on the title of the album for much of the day and it finally came to my own realisation as to why this title was chosen. Many things near and dear to us are exactly this, notes from loved ones, greeting card, photographs, tickets to places and events experienced, paper objects that we keep with us and hold as connections to people, places and times. In the context of this record those paper objects from the 80s are some of our most personally valued. Well chosen, LA Dreams, well chosen words indeed.
Thank you, LA Dreams for giving the world an unbreakable emotional link to the wonder of 80s synth music. LA Dreams presents his Paper Objects album on his Bandcamp page here, and this album comes very, very highly recommended from Synthetix.FM.
I still feel guilty for not giving the review that LA Dreams' last record, On And On, deserved on Synthetix.FM. It came out at an odd time for me personally to give my undivided attention to and will hopefully remain the only LA Dreams realease not covered on here. It's not that the album was any less valid, relevant and entertaining than any others, it was just some poor timing on my behalf.
And true to form, another LA Dreams record has arrived right on schedule. I've been enjoying Paper Objects on repeat pretty much since it hit Bandcamp this afternoon and have had ample opportunity to drink in its delights and revel in its glories. One of the grounding aspects for me is my personal relationship with LA Dreams' music on an emotional level. His music is truly magical when it aligns to my own personal state of being. This happens more often than not; but on this record especially the depth of emotional attachment I've felt throughout has been incredibly strong. Sometimes things just sit 'right' and that familiarity feels all brand new again and with Paper Objects, LA Dreams has once more upped his game and taken on new challenges for the sake of his art.
With the announcement of the album's release LA Dreams also stated this was his first all hardware album. I read this after listening to the record a few times already and I had already noticed something different about the presentation of the music. I'm no audio engineer, I don't even qualify as someone who has tinkered with synths; be they hardware or software but there is something I definitely noticed as being different to the usual LA Dreams synthscape. This could all be psychosomatic and reading far too much into things I don't understand but there is an elegance to this album that is a cut above what I previously experienced in LA Dreams' music. The soul of the 80s and the true creative gift this artist instills in his music just comes through smoother, cleaner and more natural. This could be completely unrelated to using hardware exclusively on the record and it may just be his natural progression along his musical journey but the increased intimacy and smoothness to the presentation is undeniable.
LA Dreams' is a complete maestro for that quintessential 80s melody that I personally adore and feel deeply when I hear it. The way that LA Dreams has evolved his writing in this respect is defined even more in Paper Objects. Melodies and leads feel more balanced in the mix, they never get lost or seem like they fighting to be heard amongst the other instruments and the percussion appears to have been distilled into much more simplistic patterns, that when coupled with the melodies become live and effortless and wholly complementary.
I've been saying for nearly years now that I listen to LA Dreams differently than I do to almost any other producer. The way his ideas are put together to me make absolute sense and over the course of his many albums I've witnessed the growth and nurturing he gives to his musical inspirations. Ideas hinted at from albums months ago resurfaced with more defined reason and forms. The melodies gain more lither shapes and curves that flow even more naturally. The soul of LA Dreams music is what drives each track and each compartmentalised idea becomes a snapshot of the man himself in that moment in time translated into music.
The album itself is full of melodic poems, energetic excitement and heartfelt emotion. In many of the classic Synth Romance pieces by LA Dreams you can feel the magic touching you, like a bolt of nostalgic electricity. These types of tracks, especially, appear to move through spaces with lighter weight yet have even more presence. The experimentation with certain sounds in these heavily stripped back affairs gives even more intrigue and detail, but they are never cluttered and in many ways deliver slower and deeper hooks. 'Makes Me Think Of You' and 'Frome Here To There' are shining examples of this as LA Dreams rocks to a pace that is transfixing and beautifully formulated.
Higher energy experiences abound too and a couple of tracks that really stood out for me on this record belonged to this aesthetic. In 'LoveShy' LA Dreams rocks a wonderful vocal over funky and dramatic musical majesty. I was only saying on a recent Synthetix Sundays that this kind of vocal is so underutilised in the scene, LA Dreams displays to perfection just how little touches can add so very, very much. The opening track 'Strange Skies' makes for a fast paced adventure into 80s musical excitement too while 'Paper Cities' combines soulfully enriching melodies with a highly excitable beat that just swells with romantic anticipation.
LA Dreams keeps on exploring funkier sides to his sounds too, which I'm an ardent fan of, and 'Nights Like This' brings a totally killer mix of funk and synth soul. This style in particular holds many new and exciting avenues in the LA Dreams experience and gives him another synthscape for him to paint his wonderful stories on.
When it gets down to it, this is a fantastic album. If you love LA Dreams you'll find lots to love on Paper Objects. The intrinsic mix of old and new and that familiar atmosphere LA Dreams creates is always so invigorating to experience. LA Dreams has always been 'music for lovers' to me and the fantasy and captivating romance that flows so prominently and effortlessly through this record will awaken your heart and passions once again.
I've been musing on the title of the album for much of the day and it finally came to my own realisation as to why this title was chosen. Many things near and dear to us are exactly this, notes from loved ones, greeting card, photographs, tickets to places and events experienced, paper objects that we keep with us and hold as connections to people, places and times. In the context of this record those paper objects from the 80s are some of our most personally valued. Well chosen, LA Dreams, well chosen words indeed.
Thank you, LA Dreams for giving the world an unbreakable emotional link to the wonder of 80s synth music. LA Dreams presents his Paper Objects album on his Bandcamp page here, and this album comes very, very highly recommended from Synthetix.FM.
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