Why the Mid-2000s Pop Synth Keeps Coming Back on Rebel by Dana Rexx
A Distorted Synth Patch, a Chanted Hook and a Dubstep Drop Built for Outsiders The first thing Rebel by Dana Rexx puts in front of... Read More
Dark Pop
Metallic Fuzz by Disco Dreams: The Acid Bass Sound and Where It Went
A Cleveland Producer’s Dark-Wave Single Pairs an Acid-House Bassline with Long Digital Strings Metallic Fuzz by Disco Dreams is dark wave built for the dancefloor.... Read More
The Two-Voice Weave on Hidden People by Musspell, and How to Hear It
Cluj-Napoca’s Musspell Turn Nordic Folklore Into Dark Synth Pop with Producer Steve Dub Steve Dub produced and mastered Hidden People by Musspell. The Grammy-winning engineer’s... Read More
Why the Chillwave Era Keeps Coming Back on Dreams of Yesterday by Formoe
Formoe, Producer Alf Emil Eik and Singer June Baltzersen Turn Memory Into Slow Synth-Pop Dreams of Yesterday takes its production from the chillwave playbook: atmospheric... Read More
The Coldwave Synth Sound and Where It Went on the STRIDULUM Album Paradigm
Marita Volodina and Arkadiy Berg Steer Silesian Darkwave Toward Melodic Synth-Pop The STRIDULUM album Paradigm gets its synthesizers from Arkadiy Berg, stacked in layers under... Read More
Recess of My Mind Finds xskarma Layering One Voice Into Harmonies, and How to Hear It
A Bristol Producer, Drummer and Songwriter Turns Memory, Love and Loss Into Downtempo Pop Listen to the voices first. Recess of My Mind is the... Read More
The Retro Synth Sound and Where 90s Double Vision Takes It
An Irish Vocalist and a Brazilian Composer Build a Nocturnal Pop Record Across Two Continents The hook on 90s Double Vision arrives on a synth... Read More
Sugar Relics Put Can’t Stay Awake Back in Play on Caught in the Middle
A 2022 Dark Electro-Pop Single, Returned to Service on a 2026 Album The synth line on Can’t Stay Awake arrives before anything else does. It... Read More
Shygirl Made a Love Song That Sounds Like a Chase Scene
Set those words over piano and strings and you get a ballad. Set them over drums that sound like something is about to happen and you get a different claim.... Read More
Carpenter Brut Closed an Eight-Year Trilogy With Leather Temple
A darksynth album that opens on a church organ is telling you something before the first drum hits. Ouverture (Deus Ex Machina) runs one minute... Read More
Four Versions of One Hook on What I Should See by Peter Agyagos, and How to Hear It 
The Suno Sound and Where It Went on To Pa Dentro, a Latin Pop Ode to the Buffet 
The Hook That Comes Back Three Times on twirl by honni, and How to Hear It 
The 80s Drum-Machine Sound and Where It Went on Feels Like Heaven by MΛDLY