It's December, the last month of this bizarre year. You could say a year to forget, but luckily there were a lot of cool new synthwave releases. This special features the favorite releases of different artists. We go further with Hunter Complex.
2020 RELEASES
Dorothys Fortress - Theme From Phase IV (Burning Witches Records)
Burning Witches Records released a lot of great records this year (Rory Mohon, Dream Division, Deadly Avenger & Si Begg and soundtracks to The Lodgers, 12 Hour Shift and Silent Night, Deadly Night), but my favorite track is Hellcat on the Theme From Phase IV 7" by Dorothys Fortress. It has this real cool DX7 bassline. Highly irresistible.
Anteloper - Tour Beats Vol. 1 (International Anthem)
Anteloper are trumpet player Jaimie Branch and drummer Jason Nazary. It's an electronic quagmire. Soundscapes, synth riffs and loops all blend together with their instruments into one greasy, funky and very fun mess. Can’t wait for Vol. 2.
Timothy Fife - Transcommunication (Library of the Occult)
Timothy Fife is a friend who also released music on Death Waltz Orignals and Burning Witches Records. I’ve always admired his style, because it doesn't sound like any other synth stuff out there. It's very cosmic, but also very melodic. Transcommunication is one of the first four releases on Dream Division's Library of the Occult label and all four are worth seeking out. The creepy artwork and magazines are a very nice bonus.
The Orb - Abolition Of The Royal Familia (Cooking Vinyl)
I lost track of The Orb around the turn of the century, but after seeing them play at the Melkweg in Amsterdam in late 2018, I found out that they never stopped making brilliant music. I played their latest release a lot while running.
Ben Salisbury, The Insects and Geoff Barrow - Devs (Original Series Score) (Invada)
Director Alex Garland brings out the best in Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow (of Portishead fame). After the movies Ex Machina (2014) and Annihilation (2018), they created the sci-fi series Devs (on FX on Hulu). The score goes from jaw dropping neo-classical works to hardly noticeable under-your-skin-mood-turning synth and sound design pieces. On three lp's!
2020 REISSUES
Maggi Payne - Ahh-Ahh (Music For Ed Tannenbaum's Technological Feets 1984-1987) (Aguirre)
Maggi Payne recorded this music in the 80s for the performance group Technological Feet. From what I hear she used a Yamaha DX7 amongst other synths. It's very pulsating, rhythmic music, but it has so much depth and feeling. Perfect music for wide landscapes.
Robyn - Robyn (Konichiwa Records)
I saw Robyn perform at the AFAS Live in Amsterdam in June 2019. It was a brilliant, uplifting show. This is her first album from 2005, finally reissued on vinyl for Record Store Day, and it's filled with hits, like Handle Me, Be Mine! and With Every Heartbeat.
Various Artists - Bruton Brutoff (Trunk Records)
Jonny Trunk hosts the weekly OST Show on Resonance FM and runs Trunk Records. This compilation collects 'the ambient, electronic and pastoral sounds of the Bruton library catalogue.' It goes in all directions. Romantic, sexy, saxy, funky, cheeky, ethereal, mysterious.
Mark Snow - The Truth and the Light (Music From The X-Files) (Warner Records)
Finally released on vinyl after it's original release in 1996, The Truth and the Light contains a selection of music from the legendary sci-fi series. Beautiful, eerie music recorded with an E-MU Morpheus, a Proteus 2 and, one of the favorite synths I have, a Korg M1.
Lol Coxhill & Morgan Fisher - Slow Music (Aguirre)
Originally released in 1980, Slow Music is an improv/ambient record by Lol Coxhill and Morgan Fisher. It sounds like it could have been released on Brian Eno's Editions EG, but the funny thing is they don't use synths.
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