DJ Mikey presents some his favorite synth and dark wave tracks from 2016. This is a great way to hear a ton of new releases and familiarize yourself with some up and coming bands. This playlist is updated daily, so feel free to follow it on Spotify to keep up with some of the latest tunes in this genre.
The first single from the legendary bands new album, Chaosmosis, takes the band in a new direction. The song takes on a dancey electronica vibe which reminds me of a cross between Miami Horror and Kasabian – indietronica groove mixed with an upbeat banger! Sky Ferreira joins the boys on vocals on this single.
Brand new synthpop from the London band that sounds like what you would get if you merged the sounds from a John Hughes soundtrack and the Drive soundtrack.
Brand new synthpop from the Sheffield duo.
This one got super interesting from the get-go. Opening with a syncopated drum beat that could have been lifted from a Spector-era Girl Group, shortly after to be joined by a bass line hearkening to Joy Division’s Transmission and then Synths?
This is Volume 3 of one of my favorite genre’s of music – music inspired by the sounds of the Drive Soundtrack. This mix features new releases that I feel would have fit perfectly on the soundtrack.
Feathered with optimism, “Rainy Day” is a really just a simple song about taking negativity and trying to make the best of it. Its hopeful lyrics, laced through with the singer’s beautiful and unusual lilt, paint an upbeat picture of wearing a smile as an umbrella. With its positive, danceable beat and bright melody, it is delightful in its candid, buoyant cheerfulness, completely unabashed.
This one will have you singing along in no time, but you might want to do this in private. I would imagine that walking around belting out, “My heart is in flames, a-ooooooo” might garner some strange looks. Trust me though, it’s going to happen.
An amalgam of animal and artifice, “Daisy Cutter” thumps into being with a calling that immediately commands the struggle taking place within its tones. With an inherent uncertainty, there is still the sense of something victorious here; veiled among the overturning of allegories and pontifications on doubt is a creeping self-awareness of purpose that builds this song into an anthem at its climax. This is a song about survival, about laying waste to obstacles and destroying barriers to find truth and faith beyond a seemingly endless void.
There is something emphatic and romantic about Electro Spectre, something primal and elemental even as their sound dances on the spine of its electronic core. Much of their music flashes like hot coals and curls up and around me like smoke, a sharp kinesis of desire laced with earnestness and honesty.
Manic, the latest single from Toronto’s Prince Innocence, may have just heralded the end of synthy summer jam season. The deep, bassy intro hearkens back to late 90’s Triphop. The song itself has a dark and ominous feel throughout. The lyrical content does nothing to brighten the mood, with its reference to ‘dark hallways and wasted days’.
New order release their first single ‘Restless’ off their upcoming album, Music Complete out September 25th on Mute.