Perturbator, and other synthwave stuff

[Kankurette]

I went to see these a few years ago and they were great, a bit more industrial than Carpenter Brut, who got me interested in the whole synthwave thing in the first place. I've recently started listening to HEALTH's recent albums as well (do they have a female singer? It seems to be three blokes but I can hear a woman on their songs, like the Nine Inch Nails collab).

Any other synthwave recommendations? I've heard some Com Truise and liked them.

[BlodwynPig]

I saw Com Truise a few years ago live, at his peak, but his last two albums have been surprisingly dull

I would recommend

Duett

FM-Attack

Yota
Yota

for starters.

Depends if you want darker synth wave, more retro or this melancholic/cinematic style

[bomb_dog]

Listening to lots of Synthwave these days. Loads of really good stuff that I've been picking up from Groupees when they have Synthwave bundles, which is very regularly. Bandcamp is absolutely awash with the stuff.

Some other great tracks - not all necessarily recent, but it's hardly like that matters.

Nina - Automatic Call
FM84 - Running in the Night
The Midnight - Explorers
Arcade High - Kingdom
2DCat - Try (Rowhammer edit)
3Force - Uprising

Looking forward to this being fully released on 18th June - LeBrock - Fuse

I'm a bit of a sucker for vocal synthwave.

[BlodwynPig]

I was going to post Fm84 as well. Nina is a good choice, but lacks the melancholic rush of my picks above

[Oz Oz Alice]

I've recently started listening to HEALTH's recent albums as well (do they have a female singer? It seems to be three blokes but I can hear a woman on their songs, like the Nine Inch Nails collab).

No, that's Jake Duzsik their singer and he really doesn't look like his voice at all. Remember being slightly surprised by that myself when I saw them live a few years ago.

[lankyguy95]

I've been into GUNSHIP in recent years.

[Kankurette]

No, that's Jake Duzsik their singer and he really doesn't look like his voice at all. Remember being slightly surprised by that myself when I saw them live a few years ago.

Now THAT is a 'fuck my hat' moment.

[The Giggling Bean]

I first heard about Synthwave from Power Glove. I then fell into a rabbit hole and became a big fan of...

Dance With The Dead
Scandroid
Carpenter Brut    &
Gunship

Gutted that I've missed seeing Carpenter Brut a couple of times.

I've recently covered the documentary "The Rise of The Synths" on my YouTube review series "Amazing World of Stuff". It was a,fantastic documentary and the majority of artists mentioned were featured in it.

I believe Carpenter Bruts next album is out in 2022...Still anxiously awaiting Gunships third album.

[BlodwynPig]

Cheers

[The Giggling Bean]

Just remembered that I bought The Midnight's album ""Horror Show" along with the instrumentals. That wasn't a bad album and I've been meaning to dip into their back catalogue for a while now.

[The Culture Bunker]

I've been listening to a lot of what I guess is called synth-wave the last 12 months or so. The Midnight are perhaps the big stars of the movement, seeing as they seem to tour a lot. I like the last two Nina albums and FM-84. I'd also recommend At 1980 and TimeCop1983, both of whom work with vocalist/guitarist Josh Dally. Quite amused that the keyboard player for Korn does this kind of music as All The Damn Vampires.

I find this genre of music very fun to listen to, moreso than any modern guitar stuff I've heard in recent years.

[Kankurette]

Me too. I prefer it live than on record, especially with Carpenter Brut's visuals, but it's good to have on while I work.

[lankyguy95]

Still anxiously awaiting Gunships third album.

I saw they posted the other day about Tim Cappello being on the next album again.

[BlodwynPig]

I've been listening to a lot of what I guess is called synth-wave the last 12 months or so. The Midnight are perhaps the big stars of the movement, seeing as they seem to tour a lot. I like the last two Nina albums and FM-84. I'd also recommend At 1980 and TimeCop1983, both of whom work with vocalist/guitarist Josh Dally. Quite amused that the keyboard player for Korn does this kind of music as All The Damn Vampires.

I find this genre of music very fun to listen to, moreso than any modern guitar stuff I've heard in recent years.

I find a lot of the stuff on Aztec and Midnight Riot to be a bit 'bland' or cliched, sadly. Especially the Stranger Things aesthetic. But by and large I can live with the gems within much of it.

Primo the Alien may be enjoyable to some
https://primothealien.bandcamp.com

[The Culture Bunker]

I find a lot of the stuff on Aztec and Midnight Riot to be a bit 'bland' or cliched, sadly. Especially the Stranger Things aesthetic. But by and large I can live with the gems within much of it.

Primo the Alien may be enjoyable to some
https://primothealien.bandcamp.com

In truth, I've mainly only listened to the more 'pop' stuff - with the Midnight, I get the impression they're a similar age to myself (40), which perhaps helps. Their album 'Kids' had a theme of growing up in a smalltown in the 80s, with the follow-up 'Monsters' being more about the 90s, so I get a lot of the references.

'Horror Show' was pretty good too - enjoyed the Springsteen/Patti Smith cover and 'Good in Red' was fab.

At 1980 have a new album out this Summer, which I'm looking forward to as their first was great. I left a message on their Bandcamp complimenting their work, and the chap who does their music wrote back to me, which was nice of him.

[JaDanketies]

It doesn't work for me really for some reason. My brother is really into synthwave like Carpenter Brut and Pertubator but I've never got into it. I used to put it on when I worked in an office as it is inoffensive to all colleagues and I could listen to it while working.

I like some synthwave-adjacent stuff though; Master Boot Record is extreme metal on synths, and then there's this whole Russian post-punk scene with plenty of things I like such as ШТАДТ.

[The Giggling Bean]

I saw they posted the other day about Tim Cappello being on the next album again.

I saw that the other day, should be interesting. I really liked their cover of Eleanor Rigby they put out a while ago. I hope that finds a home on the third album.

[The Giggling Bean]

I know I mentioned it above but has anyone else watched the Rise of The Synths documentary? If so what did you think of it?

[BlodwynPig]

I saw that the other day, should be interesting. I really liked their cover of Eleanor Rigby they put out a while ago. I hope that finds a home on the third album.

Do the bloody beatles have to infest everything?

Zeus B. Held's Fool On the Hill is good proto-proto-synthwave, i should add.

[The Giggling Bean]

Do the bloody beatles have to infest everything?

Zeus B. Held's Fool On the Hill is good proto-proto-synthwave, i should add.

The irony is that, I'm from Liverpool and don't care for the Beatles at all (or Football either). However I do like that particular song and Gunships version of it.

[BlodwynPig]

The irony is that, I'm from Liverpool and don't care for the Beatles at all (or Football either). However I do like that particular song and Gunships version of it.

OK, I've bought a Gunship EP just now, so if I like that I'll check out Eleanor Dirgeby version.

[buzby]

I've had a fair bit of Com Truise, Peturbator and stuff like that come up in my YT feed (mostly from the Retro Synthwave YT channel I think). I quite like it musically but I find a lot of it quite annoying to listen to as they seem to use that horrible over-compressed production (i.e. where the bass cuts the rest of the sound out).

I presume it's an intentional stylistic thing (possibly trying to replicate the sound of an FM broadcast or cassette/VHS recording?) but it seems totally misplaced on music that's trying to evoke 80s nostalgia, as that particular production method was very rarely used back then (and the types of artists that produced synth instrumental/soundtrack stuff usually were very discerning about how thier recorded output sounded).

[The Culture Bunker]

I presume it's an intentional stylistic thing (possibly trying to replicate the sound of an FM broadcast or cassette/VHS recording?) but it seems totally misplaced on music that's trying to evoke 80s nostalgia, as that particular production method was very rarely used back then (and the types of artists that produced synth instrumental/soundtrack stuff usually were very discerning about how thier recorded output sounded).

I wonder how much of that is down to artists back in the 80s working with yer actual engineers and producers who would curb any such excess? I imagine a lot of this stuff now is made in home studios by people working on their own, with no professional hand saying "maybe less of that".

[Kankurette]

Thanks for the recommendations! Blod, I'm more into the heavier/more industrial end of things.

[boki]

I'm somewhat enjoying Pharoah Overlord at the moment.  They're an offshoot of Finnish prog band Circle and play Krautrock-y Synthwave with Doom Metal-stye vocals.

[bomb_dog]

Loving some of this at the moment - Keygen Church. Master Boot Record but with added church organs. Heavy and tuneful.

[BlodwynPig]

Thanks for the recommendations! Blod, I'm more into the heavier/more industrial end of things.

Carlos Peron?

[BlodwynPig]

Damn, im trying to remember the moody synth track that had a video of a 3D art motorbike travelling through a digital landscape. Not The Caretaker but a name like that. Kankurette would love that one

[Kankurette]

Sadly I've not seen it either, so can't help.

[the hum]

The names that got me into it:

Com Truise
Robert Parker
Mitch Murder

There's also Lauer, who only really straddles the genre, but does the odd thing that feels very much within it, like this banger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIiwIbd6zgI