Synth Single Review: “Turbo Fighter” by Isidor

by Karl Magi

Isidor’s “Turbo Fighter” broadcasts increasing intensity and drama as a ragged pulse moves beneath intimidating percussion before launching into a melody full of thrilling energy and uplifting progress while slicing underpinnings add guidance along with a twanging guitar line.

Brilliance fills the burnished synthesizer as images of combat and challenge fill the music, permeating me with indomitability and warrior spirit. Undulating notes exhale luminosity while the intermingled bass and drums create a groove. Faceted sunlight spills from the high notes to summon feelings of wild abandon and noble struggle, each reinforcing the other.

As a synthesizer crackles with coruscating light, the jagged underlayer snarls and delicate notes intertwine. The main melody draws pictures in my mind, calling up a martial arts battle, full of complexity and skill, driving forward with unbeatable force while mingled radiance and explosive percussion carry the track to an exciting conclusion.

Synth Single Review: “Tell Me” by Lyst, Lazer Club & Shred Krueger

by Karl Magi

Lyst, Lazer Club & Shred Krueger’s “Tell Me” gleams as it grows into life with chords that reflect midnight passion and gentle touches before the funky underpinnings leap along with Samuele Casale’s voice which is imbued with strength and conviction, weaving a yearning, melody full of dedication. 

Computerized sounds cut with blade-like edges and the guitar calls out with a groovy feeling. Notes suffused with pinpoints of urban light shift as the vocals transmit need and anticipation. Compelling emotive depth pours from Samuele Casale’s voice to grab me as the rhythm skips and jeweled chimes flicker while polished tones slip past. 

The chorus has a hypnotic hook while the song moves into a segment in which Shred Krueger's guitar drifts with laid-back sensations and a bell-like synthesizer floats before Shred Krueger’s solo climbs, imbued with fervent desire while the sounds around it create illumination and percussion pushes forward. The song ends with vibrant notes rising into the darkness.

While he waits alone "in the midnight call," the narrator asks, "Tell me, girl, are we through?" He wants to see "the stars in your eyes" and gets lost when he feels her heartbeat, adding "tonight is the night, no more place to hide."

Pointing out  that " love can't break your heart out of your eyes,” our storyteller adds that love also can't "steal the feeling before the night." He asks the song’s subject to tell him if she wants to stay and if she wants him. He goes on to say that "in the midnight rain, I'm still breathing about you."

Feeling pain, the narrator asks the song’s subject what he can do. He wants her to “show me the light in your eyes" because he gets lost when he's embracing her. He adds to that "tonight is the time, no more tears to hide."

Synth Single Review: “Sally's Roller Disco” by Flash Cassette

by Karl Magi

Flash Cassette’s “Sally's Roller Disco” grooves into existence with actively bouncing bass and hollow, intriguing percussion as an echoing note pattern floats with cosmic smoothness, unfurling above the funky underpinnings with irresistible happiness while chimes sparkle with electric luminescence.

I’m charged with excitement and freedom as the music unfolds. As the bass boogies down and the foundation throbs rhythmically, disco ball light spills across the music, evoking roller skaters spinning around the rink, getting down to the dirty low end and the trippy, gliding notes above that joy in a glimmering secondary line, shining with pearly radiance.

The synth lead has a cool, vibey feeling that brings images of late night roller skating to life, everyone moving with ease and speed across the hardwood floor. As the track slows to a sensually twisting groove, the notes float with a mysterious feeling before the track slides into silence.

Synth Single Review: “Broken” by Future Analog

by Karl Magi

Future Analog’s “Broken” has a subtle and melancholy beginning with barely trembling synth and a guitar that slips with hurting tenderness as Julie Hicklin’s emotively embracing performance transmits a painfully gentle melody above the strong rhythm. As the waves undulate, defiance creeps into Julie Hicklin’s vocals with deeper currents running beneath her devotion, adding an emotional complexity that I enjoy.

The vocals reach with pained yearning, while refracted light flickers and the underpinnings throb. A complicated mixture of desire, loss and worry animates Julie Hicklin’s performance while the background beat adds support and haunting voices echo. Future Analog’s guitar adds power and a harder edge to the breath-warmed vocals before drifting outward in a solo full of broken feelings and intense love as Julie Hicklin ends with doubt, restrained anger and undeniable caring.

Although the song's subject says that both of them are fine and have always been, our storyteller wonders why they're looking at somebody else. She goes on to say, "I don't wanna pretend, I don't need your words" because she can see the way the other person is moving although they accuse her of being paranoid.

However the narrator needs the truth because she has trust issues and nobody to blame so, "if you were me I bet you'd feel the same." The song's subject has been texting their ex and “I should play it cool but I don't want to" because she'll never get a good reason not to suspect that "your heart’s somewhere else."

Our storyteller says, "I'll sew up your head when you kiss me with your eyes open" as she admits that she’s lied because her heart's broken and adds, "you say that we're fine, why would we not be?" To conclude, she says, "oh, touch me like you used to while we're around your friends."