I linked 5 songs on Mastodon this week. In order, I think they make a kind of neat mixtape.
- "Communiqué: Approach Spiral", Michael Shrieve
Awhile back I made a music post and someone said it gave them "Approach Spiral vibes". I didn't know what that was but it turns out in 1984 the drummer for Santana released an album of chill electronic music. This track features what I guess 80s Americans would have called a "world music" beat, 12 minutes long with a slow but increasingly intense build, and the vibes are excellent.
- "Celestial Soda Pop", Ray Lynch
This adorably-named album, "Deep Breakfast", was self-produced and self-released by Ray Lynch in 1984¹, when the notion of "electronic music" as its own genre or set of genres was a lot fuzzier and "techno" wasn't even a word yet. Back then this would have been sold as "New Age".
I first heard this song in seventh grade dance class, and it blew my mind. I hadn't awakened into musical consciousness yet, so the only way I knew then to explain the extremely deep impression it left on me was "this is the best Final Fantasy overworld music ever".
- "Korg Wavestate relax", Ondřej Štěpánek
What I'm listening to today: "Korg Wavestate relax", Ondřej Štěpánek
Maybe the most significant product Korg ever released was the Wavestation, a wavetable ("vector") synthesizer from 1990. Now 30 years later Korg has a big emphasis on easy-to-use hobbyist equipment so they're selling a Minilogue-ized wavetable synth called the "Wavestate". The noises it makes are lovely.
This is someone's synth jam with the Wavestate; it was recorded last year, but has a deliciously early-90s vibe to it. The piece feels like it's building toward something, but stays quiet and slow right to the end. I get the sense of a song from a movie score, an early establishing scene, laying down leitmotifs that will pay off in tense and action-packed scenes later.
- "Children", Robert Miles
It wasn't easy to be a techno fan in Texas in 1995. The Chemical Brothers and "electronica" were still a couple years off so the rock station gave me nothing to work with. My only sources were college radio and, occasionally, KRBE 104.1, the soft rock station, which targeted moms but because it played pop occasionally would allow dance tracks into its lineup. Occasionally this meant true synth bangers, like "Children". This song is cheesy, sure, but you know what I really like the taste of? Cheese.
- "Full Performance (Live on KEXP)", Hania Rani
About a month ago this lady and her synthesizers did a live set on a Seattle radio station. The first six or so minutes are some basic chill 90s style ambient synths, but then she starts layering in piano and singing and from that point to the end it feels like she's banging on your heart with a hammer.
The final minutes are an interview, so you'll probably want to stop the video around 26:00.
COHOST EXCLUSIVE BONUS TRACKS
- "Playing Synthesizer on an Airship", Hiroyuki Namba
("飛行船の上のシンセサイザー弾き", 難波弘之)
This doesn't fit the format here, but this is an album from 1982 I've had open in a tab for about two weeks— I don't actually remember where it came from, but I keep going back and listening to bits of it. It's part prog rock and part "New Age Synth", and all cheesy, but it definitely delivers on being the music of someone playing synthesizer on an airship. Anyway if you want to zone out for about 57 minutes here's a good way to do it.
¹ It (Deep Breakfast) later got re-released by the infamous Windham Hill Records.