Dream The Night Electro

[himalaya]

Dream The Night Electro

This started as a homage to 1980s Synth Pop (specifically some Yazoo tracks) but in the process of messing about with stuff it became a dance oriented electro synthfest of sorts. Vocoders...gotta have those vocoders in there...and ring modulators...and thick layers of synths. (rough headphone mix)


Hope you enjoy it. Comments welcome.

[PatchAdamz]

Nice synths, the tune has a bit of that old Thomas Dolby in it.

It blinded me with 80s fever!

[Frantz]

You said "dance oriented electro synthfest" with ring modulators and I thought, "I'm up for that!" But when I hit play, I thought, "Geez, he wasn't kidding about that Yazoo thing!" You see, I was one of those aggressive industrial guys in the 80s and we use to run off the dance floor when the DJ used to kick off a set with one of these. The girls and guys with eyeshadow would take our place instead.

I was hoping Mr. Dolby and his formidable PPG Wave Computer were going to make an appearance as advertised by PatchAdamz. But it looks like he also decided to sit this dance out.

Having said all that, it is flawlessly arranged and executed and I'm sure someone will love this. The bass sounds a little distorted but I know you are doing that intentionally. There is some very nice sequencing and pads starting at 2:56 which I do like. Sort of like Vince Clarke took a brief break and Chris Franke took over for a minute. Definitely some cool ring modulated noises in there as well.

If this track and the previous one are any indication, I'll bet this album is going to be very diverse. I'm looking forward to hearing more of it.

[himalaya]

You said "dance oriented electro synthfest" with ring modulators and I thought, "I'm up for that!" But when I hit play, I thought, "Geez, he wasn't kidding about that Yazoo thing!" You see, I was one of those aggressive industrial guys in the 80s and we use to run off the dance floor when the DJ used to kick off a set with one of these. The girls and guys with eyeshadow would take our place instead.

I love Yazoo (and no eyeshadow has ever dimmed my vision )

I was hoping Mr. Dolby and his formidable PPG Wave Computer were going to make an appearance as advertised by PatchAdamz. But it looks like he also decided to sit this dance out.

Yeah, an interesting reference by Patch Adamz, but like you I don't hear it. However I've neglected Mr. Dolby's music over the years so perhaps I need to check it out properly to hear what's what.

Having said all that, it is flawlessly arranged and executed and I'm sure someone will love this. The bass sounds a little distorted but I know you are doing that intentionally. There is some very nice sequencing and pads starting at 2:56 which I do like. Sort of like Vince Clarke took a brief break and Chris Franke took over for a minute. Definitely some cool ring modulated noises in there as well.

If this track and the previous one are any indication, I'll bet this album is going to be very diverse. I'm looking forward to hearing more of it.

Many thanks for the feedback and nice comments. That Chris Franke reference is spot on. The 'Berlin School' motifs tend to find their way into most tracks I do.

An album? I'm too eclectic to stick to one style, although I'm going through my 'retro synth pop mangled by glitch plugins' phase.

Thank you for having a listen.

[Mariosprt]

I have one word for you, sir: a-fuckin-mazing!!!

I'm a sucker for these 80's sounds, don't like all of 80's music, btw, grew up to it, so I know what I'm talking about

But lately I have found some real gems, new and really talented people making loving music with these sounds (do you know Ford & Lopatin, Games, Casa del Mirto ?), that's what turn me on to electronic again, but I digress...

Absolutely great work, the whole track is solid and it is always interesting, always some new sound to arouse you.

Do you more tracks? How can we listen?
Do I hear an album is coming out? Where? When?

Thanks a lot for sharing
Mario

[himalaya]

Thank you very much. I'm happy to see another fan of 80s synth pop. Glad you're here.

You mention some artists...I don't have much time to listen to music lately so I'm not familair with those names, however I will be checking them out as soon as.

always some new sound to arouse you.

Thanks! I like complex mixes with lots of stuff happening. It's great to hear that someone other likes that too. Often, it may be percieved as 'too busy', hopefully a right balance has been kept.

More tracks? I have posted this in the music cafe recently. Otherwise I have been too busy with sound design to have free time for making proper, finished tracks, although of you want to hear short snippets of synth poppish tracks then head over here (in the player on the right. Bare in mind that all sounds are unprocessed there).

EDIT. I forgot about this track! See what you think:

Album-wise, I have an idea now for something that may materialize in 2013.

Many thanks for having a listen and giving feedback.

[seismic1]

Great synth sounds once again. I thought the sounds and the melodies were a little more "refined" than the classic Yazoo sound, but that's not a problem. Nice depths to this one and lots going on but I wouldn't call it "too busy".

Good work

[himalaya]

Thanks again.

I wouldn't call it "too busy".

Good to know. I'm often uncertain if there's too much going on. It' so easy to pile stuff up using plugins...

[Mariosprt]

This Space Funk Opera sounds a bit unpolished, but a synthfest lonetheless, love those arpeggios

I missed Etheric Funk Dimensions, sorry, I guess I don't visit Music Cafe as often as I should
I loved it, there's so much meat (in a good way) to become two distinct tracks, but it works great as it is, the way the track evolves, and the solo-like leads are definitely distinctive, they're quite rare these days.

Your layering of synths is awesome, that's something I have to work on.

The demos for the DCam set are short but very enjoyable and good-sounding song-like tracks. There's definitely enough material between all these tracks to make an album any synth junkie would like to have. But I'm just an amateur, what do I know?

Anyway here's some stuff if you have the time to check it out:

Ford & Lopatin/Games - Midi Drift


Ford & Lopatin - The Voices


Casa del Mirto - The Haste


Cheers
Mario

[Frantz]

Space Funk Opera is great!

Album-wise, I have an idea now for something that may materialize in 2013.

I would like to pre-order my copy now.


Let's keep the retro synth dance party going with the cheesy but fantastic "Living on Video" by Trans-X:



This video was what "The Future" looked like in 1983. It has it all: a video babe with big hair and 80s makeup, a Roland SH-101 played as a keytar, a Commodore CBM computer, and VCRs. Great nostalgic fun. It's now hopelessly outdated except for the SH-101 which just came back as a plugin: LuSH-101.

[bluedad]

cool and fun track to listen too..ah, nostalgia.

[himalaya]

Trans-x....oh the memories. I grew up with them too. Love that sound. It may be old and perhaps cheezy but it's still synthtastic. The sounds to me have not dated that much, especially the main lead sound.

This track in particular has everything I loved about 80s synth pop/disco: chunky aggressive synth sounds, good melodies, vocoders, husky female voices (oh yes!) and the most amazing thing...a contrapuntal solo! Genius! We don't get that in pop songs, do we!

But hold on! What is a self-confessed fan of industrial doing posting such a glossy synth disco number?

Space Funk Opera is great!

Thanks.

I would like to pre-order my copy now.

Now I really have to make that album, don't I. Thanks for the vote of confidence.

@Mariosprt
I had a listen to the artists you linked to and I enjoyed Casa del Mirto especially . Good stuff! For old scool 'synpop' with a modern twist I really like Com Truise and similar.

The Etheric Funk Dimensions is two tracks, you are correct. I just left it as one since when listening to the whole lot on one go it creates a nice sonic journey, I thought. Thanks for listening again.

[Frantz]

This track in particular has everything I loved about 80s synth pop/disco

Yes, it's perfect.

But hold on! What is a self-confessed fan of industrial doing posting such a glossy synth disco number?

(Stops dancing. Quickly wipes off the eye shadow.) Oops, I guess I outed myself.

Well, I'm not a teenager anymore. I like all kinds of music including some disco. For example, I think the title track of Giorgio Moroder's "From Here to Eternity" is great. Besides a lot of industrial dance music was basically aggressive disco with some angry sounding vocals.

However, I tend to dislike stuff that is very cheerful and lightweight like that kazoo ... I mean Yazoo that you like.

[himalaya]

Kazoo...

[entering the school headmaster mode]Aren't you mistaking Erasure for Yazzo? Yazoo's sound is dark, I'd say. 'Don't Go' and 'Nobody's Diary' have a perfect dark/introspective (and yet 'driving') mood which is far removed from Erasure's bombastic output.

(Stops dancing. Quickly wipes off the eye shadow.) Oops, I guess I outed myself.

[Frantz]

Aren't you mistaking Erasure for Yazzo?

Yes, I was assuming it was pretty much the same thing with different singers.

Yazoo's sound is dark, I'd say. 'Don't Go' and 'Nobody's Diary' have a perfect dark/introspective (and yet 'driving') mood which is far removed from Erasure's bombastic output.

I don't mind 'Don't Go' in small doses. However, listening to 'Nobody's Diary' on YouTube, if I mentally delete the vocals, it sounds like another chipper, pleasant Vince Clarke tune. You could stick Andy Bell on there singing about puppies and rainbows and it would fit perfectly. I wouldn't call it dark.

This is what I call dark, minimal synth music:

DAF "Alles Ist Gut"