Synthwave – Page 14 – 7th Level Music

Ruth Radelet confesses “Crimes” on her new single.

Today, Los Angeles-based artist Ruth Radelet releases her debut original single, “Crimes.” After fronting the beloved and influential band Chromatics for over a decade, “Crimes” launches Radelet’s next chapter as a singer, songwriter, and performer. Utilizing the talents of friend and producer Filip Nikolic (Poolside), Radelet’s first solo effort conveys her unmistakable style and distinct voice. “Is it easy to start over?” echoes throughout the dreamy chorus of “Crimes,” capturing a cinematic mood uniquely her own. “‘Crimes’ is about the pursuit of success at the expense of one’s integrity, and the exploitation of others in order to get ahead,” explains Radelet. “It’s about the price we pay for our choices, and whether or not it’s worth it. The question, ‘Is it easy to start over?’ can be interpreted in two ways – it’s meant to ask how it feels to continually reinvent yourself until you lose sight of who you are. It also asks how hard it would be to walk away from it all.”

Listen to Ruth Radelet’s “Crimes”

Radelet is influenced by a diverse catalog of artists, ranging from Joni Mitchell to Frank Ocean. She has been performing and releasing music for over a decade since joining Chromatics in 2006 for their acclaimed album Night Drive released the following year. Chromatics’ music and aesthetic has notably been used in numerous films, television series, and fashion shows. The band appeared on screen in multiple episodes of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: The Return while Radelet was recently featured on a Chromatics’ 2020 remix of the Weeknd’s #1 hit single, “Blinding Lights.” Following the dissolution of Chromatics last August, Radelet released her incandescent cover of Elliott Smith’s “Twilight” in December for the Kill Rock Stars 30-year anniversary cover series. “Crimes” is the first taste of more original music to come from Radelet later this year.

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Cool Maritime reaches an “Apex” with his latest single.

Cool Maritime – the project of Sean Hellfritsch – releases a new single/visualizer, “Apex,” from his forthcoming album, Big Earth Energy, out May 20th on Western Vinyl. Following the lead single, “Temporal Dryft,” the smiling album-ender “Apex” perfectly embodies the quiet triumph of conquering a long-played video game; a mix of satisfaction and accomplishment with a tinge of tragedy at the notion that this little world where so much time and effort has been spent is now fully excavated, offering no more novelties to unearth. “‘Apex’ is the final piece on the album. Because this music was composed for an imagined video game, I ask you, the listener, to imagine for yourself how the story ends,” says Hellfritsch. “When I wrote it, I was reflecting on the eternally iterative flow of nature – how it’s always changing and growing to adapt – reaching for a peak that is itself, constantly in motion. I couldn’t think of anything more beautiful and hopeful. I was also mourning the massive loss of biodiversity that increases every day. I found myself suspended between parallel feelings of deep joyful awe and profoundly overwhelming sadness.” This track evokes that moment the last programmer name scrolls past, the copyright line dissolves, the title card reemerges, and the air of curiosity is renewed, emboldened by a sense of achievement. In a similar way, Big Earth Energy begs to be heard again from the top, knowing that the details that were missed on the first pass will be gleefully revealed this time around.

Watch Cool Maritime’s Visualizer for “Apex”

Big Earth Energy plumbs the depths of his multimedia mind and naturalist heart, spinning an impressionistic narrative world off of cultural touchstones like the PC game MYST and the work of Japanese composers like Hiroshi Yoshimura, Yoichiro Yoshikawa and Studio Ghibli’s Joe Hisaishi. Using those inspirations and guided by Hellfritsch’s experience as an animator and filmmaker, Big Earth Energy is the soundtrack to a hypothetical video game with a pointedly ecological premise and a twist of psychedelic charm. In Hellfritsch’s imagined virtual journey, the player assumes the perspective of a treefrog 65 million years ago, hopping epochs with each new level, forming a comprehensive picture of the massive changes the planet has gone through over eons. The ultimate goal of the game is not to amass resources, defeat enemies, or gain power, but to fully witness the unfolding of one of the biggest systems of energy imaginable. The album is steeped in exploratory RPG intrigue, possibility, and contemplation, lovingly overlaid with Miyazaki-an sentiments and aesthetics. Its meticulous polygonal arrangements recall the computerized sheen of late 80s Japanese environmental music, using true-to-period gear. Hellfritsch’s reconnaissance of virtual reality and actual reality feels skillfully balanced as if knowing how to navigate one dimension is merely training for traversing its opposite. On Big Earth Energy, he pinpoints the discovery, escape, introversion, and imagination that are mutual of the two worlds, which he scouts as if they are the same territory.

Watch the “Temporal Dryft” Video

Pre-order Big Earth Energy

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Ultraflex are bringing up “Baby” with their new single (and for real, too!).

Flamboyant twosome Ultraflex, the project of Norway’s Farao & Iceland’s Special-K, are back with their suave yet punchy love song “Baby“, which follows on from their debut album release in 2020 and recent single “Relax“.

The lyrics in “Baby” liken dancefloor-flirtation to a duel; you have nothing to lose except perhaps your reputation (which is, admittedly, long lost). The narrator claims not to be afraid – which, honestly, sounds like a lie – however, bravery is not about fearlessness, but as John Wayne put it: “courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway”. Accompanying the song are never-before-seen wedding photos of the band (including a future baby) and a steaming hot music video, straight out of Cairo’s nightlife.

Speaking about the track, the band said:

“Although the song is about romantic endeavours, we realised afterwards that it is also about our artistic collaboration. It emphasises the importance of taking risks (otherwise “you’ve already lost”) and indicates that whatever happens tomorrow, we’ve got each other right now, and that’s what counts – the energy of the moment is worth whatever the future brings, whether it’s happy-ever-after or heartbreak.”

Watch & listen to “Baby” here: https://youtu.be/6Czkqmzp8a4

Ultraflex released their debut album ‘Visions of Ultraflex’ to popular and critical acclaim in 2020, winning the Icelandic Music Awards for ‘electronic album of the year’ and The Kraumur Award, along with numerous international nominations and selling out their first edition of vinyls and cassettes.

The band also recently re-emerged with their single “Relax“, accompanied by an ASMR inspired music video that was said to have been “a little disturbing“.

With concert options being limited in the time around Visions of Ultraflex, the band instead prepared a highly visual promo package and sculpted a well curated yet wild internet presence. Music videos were made to every song on the album, either by the band themselves or in collaboration with other video artists (including a video trilogy in collaboration with OKAY KAYA). This quickly became an important part of Ultraflex’s identity, along with heavily choreographed, stylized and visually interactive concerts.

During the pandemic, Ultraflex performed on Icelandic live Television, as well as playing a sold out show in Reykjavík, doing a live stream for Berlin’s CTM Festival, a commissioned piece for Oslo Classics, screened a short film at Eurosonic and last but not least – played a packed concert in Cairo. That is where the music video to “Baby” was born.

Ultraflex was elected to be a part of Keychange 2022. Through the organisation they will play at MaMa Festival in Paris and take part in conferences in London and Hamburg this year. They are also booked for Iceland Airwaves and Vienna Waves and are playing in Berlin on April 23rd. Later this year, Ultraflex will also tour in Norway, Germany, England and Iceland.

Links:
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Instagram

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[Thanks to Frankie at Stereo Sanctity.]

Review: Primer – Incubator

Alyssa Midcalf, otherwise known as Primer, to you and I disguises songs about heartbreak and depression inside lovely new wave and pop hooks on her new album, Incubator – so named because many of these songs began their life before she was even twenty-years-old.

“Welcome to your life,” Midcalf sings on the opening track, “Impossible Thoughts,” which hooks you right away with its synth bass and beats. She’s welcoming us to our lives and the brief, yet intimate look at hers. “The world is ending, by the way. I accept it, but I don’t want to live that way,” she sings. She wrote that lyric, I’m fairly certain, about a break-up she experienced not long before finalizing the album, but one can’t help but put that lyric onto everything happening around us right now.

“Just a Clown” is a fun tongue-in-cheek poke at herself, as Midcalf discusses the hustle of being an artist and how you’re always setting yourself up for potential failure. “I can’t believe it has come to this. I am just a clown, and I’ll never win,” she says. Haven’t we all be there? Yes, but we haven’t all been there with the lovely dream pop beats Midcalf puts down on the track.

A groovy bass line uplifts the blue lyrics of her break-up on “If You Need Me,” taking the track to disco floor bliss. “Giving Up” builds with bright synth chords to become something that sounds like a happy kid skipping down the sidewalk, even as Midcalf sings heavy lyrics about waking from “a nightmare I constructed inside.”

“Things Fall Apart” has a swagger to it that seems to indicate that Midcalf was getting her feet back under her after the break-up dropped her to the mat. “Every day, I ask myself how do I live with the pain…”, she says, but she also knows she’s doing it. She’s able to move forward, even if only a little bit at a time. “Hypercube” is a flat-out industrial banger that will flood dance floors in clubs found behind metal doors in obscure alleys.

“I will never feel the same way that I did at that time in my life,” Midcalf sings on the heartbreaking “Anything,” a song about being desperate for love and willing to sacrifice whatever it takes for it. “Feel the Way I Do” is a love song for robots (judging from it’s cyber-beats and electro-bass) that practice magic. Midcalf sings about a strange thing inside of her that she wishes her lover could feel so they’d understand her love / anguish.

“You” starts off with android bees happily moving around in a bio-dome on a spaceship drifting past a gas giant planet. Midcalf sings about lying awake at nights missing her lover, but soon realizing “It never had a thing to do with you.” She’s the one who can control her response to the situation, and she does it with skillful synthwave. She’s reclaimed her life and heart on “Warning,” in which she sings, “I’m never gonna feel that way for you again.” while she dances around to her peppy beats.

It’s clear by the end of Incubator that Midcalf has grown from her experience, and perhaps we can grow with her if we’re willing.

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[Thanks to Gabriel at Clandestine Label Services.]

Kelly Lee Owens announces new album, “LP.8,” due April 29th.

Producer/musician Kelly Lee Owens announces a new album, LP.8, out April 29th (digital) and June 10th (physical) on Smalltown Supersound, and today presents two of its tracks, “Sonic 8” and “Olga.” Born out of a series of studio sessions, LP.8 was created with no preconceptions or expectations: an unbridled exploration into the creative subconscious.

After releasing her acclaimed sophomore album Inner Song in the early days of the pandemic, Owens was faced with the sudden realization that her world tour could no longer go ahead. Keen to make use of this untapped creative energy, she made the spontaneous decision to go to Oslo for a change of scenery and some undisturbed studio time. Arriving to snowglobe conditions and sub-zero temperatures with the borders closed once again, she began spending time in the studio with esteemed avant-noise Lasse Marhaug (known for his work with Merzbow, Sunn O))) and Jenny Hval).

Together, Owens and Marhaug envisioned making music somewhere in between Throbbing Gristle and Enya, artists who have had an enduring impact on Owens’ creative being. In doing so, they paired tough, industrial sounds with ethereal Celtic mysticism, creating music that ebbs and flows between tension and release. One month later, Owens called her label to tell them she had created something of an outlier, her “eighth album.” In Owens’ words, “For me, 8 meant completion – an album that will ripple infinitely with me personally.”

Watch “Sonic 8” Visualizer
Watch “Olga” Visualizer
Pre-Order LP.8

LP.8 Tracklist
1. Release
2. Voice
3. Anadlu
4. S.O (2)
5. Olga
6. Nana Piano
7. Quickening
8. One
9. Sonic 8

Kelly Lee Owens Tour Dates
Fri. June 3 – Melbourne, AU @ Rising Festival Hub
Sat. June 4 – Sydney, AU @ Motorik [DJ Set]
Wed. June 15 – Milan, IT @ Magnolia Fest
Sun. June 19 – Dublin, IE @ Body & Soul Festival
Sat. June 25 – Bristol, UK @ Bristol Sounds
Sat. July 2 – Roskilde, DK @ Roskilde Festival
Fri. July 8 – Bilbao, ES @ Bilbao BBK Live Fest
Sun. July 10 – Modena, IT @ Artivive Festival
Fri. July 22 – Macclesfield, UK @ Bluedot
Sat. July 23 – Hertfordshire, UK @ Standon Calling Festival
Sat. July 30 – London, UK @ South Facing
Sun. July 31 – Sicily, IT @ Ortigia Sound System Festival [DJ Set]
Sat. Aug. 20 – Hasselt, BE @ Pukkelpop
Sun. Aug. 21 – Biddinghuizen, NE @ Lowlands Festival

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[Thanks to Jessica and Ahmad at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: Psymon Spine – Charismatic Mutations

Coming hot on the heels of their 2021 album, Charismatic Megafauna, Psymon Spine‘s Charismatic Mutations is a remix of the aforementioned album that features guest remixes from collaborators such as Joe Goddard from Hot Chip, Each Other, and Bucky Boudreau.

Goddard’s remix of “Milk” is first, and it’s lovely and peppy – a fine way to kick off a record of highly danceable and spring break road trip tracks. The “Love Injection Euphoric remix” of “Jumprope” is perfectly named because it’s made to boost your vibrational patterns, give you energy, and probably connect you to various luminous beings.

Brother Michael‘s “Downstairs at Eric’s remix” of “Jacket” gets extra points for referencing Yaz and for being so damn funky. “Modmed” turns into space station lounge grooves with Dar Disku‘s “Balearic Touch” mix of it. Each Other’s remix of “Solution” is almost an industrial dance track. Their synth and drum machine work on it is stunning. The “Safer” remix of “Jumprope” has bass so thick you can almost slice it, and Bucky Boudreaux’s remix of “Different Patterns” almost makes it into a torch song for androids.

There isn’t a weak remix on here, which is not always the case for remix albums. Psymon Spine chose their collaborators and ideas well.

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[Thanks to Cody at Northern Spy.]

Live: Gary Numan and I Speak Machine – March 21, 2022 – Park West, Chicago, IL

This was my third time seeing Gary Numan live, and it was the smallest venue I’ve seen him in so far. It was good to see a crowd of people happy to be experiencing live music again, and even better to see Numan and his band having a good time on stage.

His opening act was the one-woman band I Speak Machine, who came out looking like a Black Widow assassin and throwing down a set of darkwave mixed with kabuki, opera, and industrial grind. One of the best parts of her set was watching the reactions of some in the audience who didn’t know what to make of her, and of her not giving a damn what people thought.

I Speak Machine belting out operatic vocals for a dumbfounded crowd.

Mr. Numan came out to an appreciative crowd and proceeded to belt out a loud, sometimes furious set that mixed classics with hot tracks from his last two albums, Savage and Intruder.

It was great to see him and his four-piece band having a good time. There were many moments when they were smiling or laughing. You could tell they were excited to be on tour. Numan’s guitarist, Steve Harris, was all over the stage, often mixing shredding solos with performance art antics. I’m fairly certain he broke a string or two just a few songs into the set from playing so hard.

It was a great set, with standouts like “The Promise,” “Films,” “Ghost Nation,” “Love Hurt Bleed,” “Bed of Thorns,” “My Name Is Ruin,” “A Prayer for the Unborn,” and “Are Friends ‘Electric’?” Catch him if you can. He’s having a blast right now, and so will you.

Thanks to the woman who let me snap this photo of the set list she scored.

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Carmen Villain releases two versions of “Subtle Bodies” from her new album out now.

US-born, Norwegian-Mexican artist and producer Carmen Villain (aka Carmen Hillestad) shares a new single, “Subtle Bodies,” from her forthcoming album, Only Love From Now On (out now on Smalltown Supersound), and in addition, presents a second version of the song by Huerco S. Only Love From Now On showcases Villain’s aesthetic blossoming into something unexpected, benevolent in its composure and altogether luxuriant in its sensuality. In turn, “Subtle Bodies” begins with minimalistic instrumentation, blooming with finely rich layers. Just like how lead single, “Gestures,” refers to Hannah Wilke’s video piece of the same name, “Subtle Bodies” pays tribute to the performance/sculpture of Ana Mendieta, who Hillestad responded deeply to in that artist’s rage, protest, and love for nature in connection to the female body.

“I found Ana Mendieta’s work deeply moving in many ways, in an emotional sense but also in the way she fully immersed herself into her art, connecting her humanity, strength, rage and vulnerability with nature,” says Villain. “It’s a deeply layered immersion. I had her, and especially her ‘Silueta’ series, in mind when I made ‘Subtle Bodies.’ Making music is for me about a complete immersion into sound, a continuous conversation between an idea and what comes back to me from what develops sonically. While I certainly consider Mendieta’s work and what she was communicating was far more important than what I do, she continues to be a big inspiration in many ways.”

Of the Huerco S version, Villain elaborates: “I have been a big fan of Brian’s work for a good while. He’s got an impeccable approach to sound and texture and communicates a lot with his music I think. So I was very happy he was into doing a version for me when I asked him. I asked him to choose whichever track he wanted from the album, and he went for Subtle Bodies. The result is deep and fizzy, I love it.”

Listen to Carmen Villain’s “Subtle Bodies” and “Subtle Bodies” (Huerco S. version)

Only Love From Now On is fueled by the sense of scale in feeling small in the face of things so large, the contemplation of how the biggest impact we can have is in the people close to us, the attempt to make sure that impact is a positive one, and the choice to try to focus on love instead of fear.

Listening to Only Love From Now On is simultaneously comforting and alluringly strange, with Hillestad engaging themes both philosophical and occasionally abstract. Hillestad describes it as “wishing to maintain a sense of careful optimism for the future, while on the cusp of something unknown.” Employing a panoply of instrumentation – such as woodwinds – field recordings, the studio, jam, and careful composition, Hillestad invokes a conversation with sound that occurs in her deliberate attempts to experiment with new methods, like granular synthesis, for her music-making. The emotional tenor of her music is clear and purposeful. It makes sense that her key musical touchstones are dub, ambient, and cosmic jazz – flexible vehicles for tranquil wonder.

Listen to “Gestures” (with Arve Henriksen)

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[Thanks to Sam at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Chelsea Jade’s sexy new single exudes “Good Taste.”

Chelsea Jade unveils the new single/video, “Good Taste,” from her new album, Soft Spot, out April 29th on Carpark Records. Premiering via FLOOD, “Good Taste” follows lead single “Optimist,” a calibration of Jade’s skills in passing pop through an R’n’B tinged lens, and is presented alongside a video illustrated by Frances Haszard. “It’s like a miracle // Feeling your charisma getting physical,” Jade begins atop svelte production courtesy of herself and Bradley Hale (Now, Now). “And yeah, I’m miserable // But oh it’s such a mood getting sad, getting sexual.” “Good Taste” features additional vocal engineering and production by Luna Shadows, and sees MUNA’s Naomi McPherson and Josette Maskin lending their guitar prowess.

Of the track, Jade says: “I met someone at a party while I was living in a hotel for a briefly opulent moment in time. The next night they met me in the lobby and eventually we made our way up to my room. It’s an implicitly sexy situation but we parted without touch. As soon as they left I asked if they wanted to come back and when the elevator opened on the ground floor, they got in and ignited the most cinematic make out plus I’ve ever had. This song is about that encounter. I imagine the first half to be an internal fantasy until the real first touch when the production explodes into maximalism.”

On the video, Haszard remarks, “The world already existed- black and white, linear and basey with augmented senses and ripples of distortion. These things translated easily into my frame by frame animation with my awkward impressions of 3D and motion. I’m self taught and a bad teacher so my style suits working with artists who enjoy imperfections and have a sense of humour about what unfolds.”

Watch Chelsea Jade’s “Good Taste” Video

Jade brings her “good taste” to Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheater where she’ll perform with Jai Wolf on June 8th. Tickets are available here. A New York City headline show to celebrate the release of Soft Spot will also be announced soon!

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Review: Anika – Change: The Remixes

Anika has openly discussed how much she loves the dance floor as well as the dark corners of a night club, so putting out a remix album of her killer 2021 record, Change, was a no-brainer for her.

The “Planningtorock remix” of “Planningtochange” drops the pitch of her vocals and ups the beats to create a track that’s perfect for dancing in a dark basement full of sexy, sweaty people. Dave Clark‘s remix of “Never Coming Back” is somehow darker than the original. Lauren Flax‘s remix of “Critical” becomes slightly hardcore make-out music. Maral at the Controls‘ dux mix of “Finger Pies” is outstanding, mixing dub with industrial like a sexy glitch-bot.

PDBY‘s remix of “Freedom” strips the song down to a haunted house drone, like something you’d hear in a dimly lit ballroom with peeling wallpaper and warped floorboards. Lauren Flax comes back for a remix of “Change,” and it’s the closest one to a straight-up house music banger on the whole EP.

Don’t miss this is you’re a fan of Anika. It’s an interesting look at her different influences and how she’s influenced (and influencing) others.

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