This is a great remix of dreamy retro synthwave / synthpop which bring together Canada’s Parallels and UK’s Futurecop! . All of the elements, including soaring vocals by Parallels’ Holly Dodson, come together beautifully, and I’m looking forward to hearing more from Futurecop!’s upcoming 2019 album release.
This is a great uptempo new wave/dreampop track which provides a modern twist on a sound harkening back to the mid-1980s. This track appears to have been around in demo form since at least 2011, and we’re very glad that they included it on their new album which came out last month. The chiming guitars evoke both the nighttime fun and the bygone ’80s, while Rände Rännäli’s sparkling vocals fit the mood perfectly.
This New York band’s post-punk / new wave song is a great contrast in light and dark, and should appeal to a wide spectrum of music fans. Starting with a jangly, memorable, and very chipper reverb’d guitar riff, the mood turns darker when the deep, slightly melancholic vocals begin, with a chorus that sounds like…
This title track from Tobias Bernstrup’s new album “Romanticism” is a great synthpop track and really has multiple levels of the theme “old vs new”. It has a modern sound but you can hear its ’80s roots, and it will appeal to fans of bands like Alphaville and Empathy Test and many others in that genre.
Azure Blue plays slightly-twee synthy new wave which would appeal to fans of the Junica, Trembling Blue Stars, and Lightning Seeds. This song, “Every Ending Story”, is from this Swedish band’s new EP and is among my favorites by them. I could imagine hearing this ’80s-style tune being played over the closing credits of a…
The song takes you back to the analog synthpop of the early/mid ’80s. Then you look at the associated picture of the band mates, and it fits perfectly, with an aqua-colored skinny tie and headband complementing their black shirts and serious looks on their faces. Great stuff. Parts of this Toronto band’s song really reminds me of Berlin’s ʺMasqueradeʺ. The synths twinkle, buzz, fade, and swell throughout the song with really nicely interwoven vocals during the final minute.
Set the wayback machine to the UK in the mid-’80s, and get ready to sway to an excellent dark melodic pop song reminiscent of Modern English, Echo and the Bunnymen, and Joy Division (plus some of the newer purveyors of this sound like the Graveyard Club). The melancholy of Eric Miranda’s deep vocals and his lyrics about tears reflecting the rain are offset by the intricately layered upbeat synth-tinged, bass-driven alt pop-rock.
Sometimes it all just comes together. In this case, the interplay of outstanding vocals, dark lyrics complementing bright twinkling synths, glossy production and all make this a fantastic synthpop song worthy of ’90s-era Depeche Mode. Other ’90s synthpop bands that this reminds me of include Echoing Green, Brave New World, and Neuropa. In particular, the chorus just soars you into the stratosphere.
“Onto Something”, the dreamy opening synthpop track on Soviet’s new third album, would’ve been part of a perfect driving soundtrack in a convertible sports car on a summer night in the mid-1980s while watching the city lights reflect off the glass and steel of modern L.A.