Tag: synthwave

TRACK | Sundozer – Liquid Heaven

5/5 golden merles

Sundozer’s “Liquid Heaven” is synthwave/indie pop with great melodic confidence. That assurance has allowed a healthy, natural growth from the seed of its organic hook to advance, concertedly connecting the form. An adequate amount of tactically accumulated grime grants that fleshing out to a believable degree, one necessary to viably exist in the world.

The two singing synths harmonize throughout, interlocking, while field elements provide a patina of gritted texture without smothering the core, vouching for and reifying the verisimilitude of the direct narration. And truly the strength of the melody and tone lends credence to that emotional appeal. The texture is both chipped at and composed of the saw and square synths, sticky tactile in the molten merger. It’s a neat balance to strike; solid pop and a joyful entity, bounding about with distinction and poise.

It takes a lot of empathy to summon such a feeling, reverse engineering its origins. Ultimately, it is good and careful work; diligently delineating elements in a hazy warmth that still maintains some good purchase on the hooks and harmonious integrity.

There’s tendrils tying it to M83, MGMT, and Of Montreal. Possibly fans of the elaborated charm of Goon, the intricate play of Melaina Kol, or Noah Renaissance‘s lovely “Beauty Sleep” will find a lot to admire in the piece. Available for$1 on their bandcamp.

For some film accompaniment maybe see Tobias Rud’s excellent short “The Tobos”.

TRACK | Mantarochen – Porzellan

5/5 golden merles

“Porzellan” is formidable synth wave/post-punk from the overflowing chalice of Leipzig. This is all about the multifaceted arrangement of melodic layers, interwoven and unfolding in a organic and fundamentally convincing manner. The immediate complexity doesn’t overwhelm the feeling of the thing while in pursuit of its own novelty. That’s a kind of magic trick, both rare and good to behold.

I’ve been in a rut with respect to consumption; everything I hear sounds captive to its influences instead of supported or branching out from them, mostly exhausted, redundant. But Mantarochen’s track here is a stark contrast, taking the general genre cues and with an outright devotion to melody breaking out of that pattern by some novel means.

With a handful of elements, symbolically rendered (Digi-drums braced between synths octaves and the bass beneath, the poised utterances), you too can recreate the world. Or at least an amusing and convincing representation of it.

Beast or man, I studied German at High Schools and Universities in the United States. This means I have acquired the vocabulary of a pigeon after filling out various pulp-smelling workbooks at ungodly hours of the morning. But what I can comprehend sounds agreeable and fits the mood established in the murk of its movements.

The price is whatever you want it to be on the bandcamp. It was found on side B of 12xu’s Verspannungskassette cassette #58.