Synth Single Review: “Purple Dream” by Binary Affair

by Karl Magi

Binary Affair’s “Purple Dream” establishes a plaintive drift above bass currents, calling to mind a city sinking into a neon-lit night, sliced by blinding notes before the rhythmic undercurrent thunders to increase the shadowy drama. Descending notes float as if suspended in space before the lead singer captures loss and the messy emotion of deep attraction with her clear, clean vocals.

Concentrated luminosity echoes above the even underlayer while the lead singer seizes emotion with unadulterated feeling. The song paints imagery of rain drenched pavement and towering skyscrapers, a city impersonal and full of hollow people.

Portentous heaviness below the echoing vocals emphasizes emptiness and churning need as the melody swells with dreamy gentleness and ominous weight. As the song closes, sensations of late night drifting spill outward.

Recognizing the ghost that's in her room, the storyteller can smell "rain and your perfume." After swearing she wouldn't call the song's subject again, she finds herself "shivering beneath my skin." People describe their shared love as a haunted street and she says it's "a bitter cold in the summer heat."

Calling the song's subject the moon and herself the sun, our narrator points out that she’s "too far gone to ever run." Her fingers trace the other person's name on frozen glass and she watches the "lonely hours slowly pass." Seeing a flicker in the blank grayness, she adds, "I wish the dark would just fade away. "

As the song concludes, the storyteller says, "the city lights are a lonely blue, I'm driving fast just to get to you. I feel the heat in the frozen air, I'll find the love that I know is there."

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.