New Wave

Hot Flash Heat Wave is the brainchild of four best friends from Davis, California. During their high school years, they met and bonded through participation in a small, tight-knit community of musicians that put on a slew of DIY shows in parents’ garages and local venues, at the time each playing in a variety of different projects. After leaving Davis for various cities in California, the four eventually reunited in San Francisco to write and record under the same roof. Their debut LP Neapolitan, released in 2015, quickly launched them to the forefront of the Bay Area music scene with its candied hooks, fuzzy guitars and tunes reminiscent of The Smiths gone new wave.

Increasingly detached from the original punk formula, the modern and arty youth of the early eighties set itself to jettison an artform that had lost much of the nihilistic and exhilarating energy of its halcyon days, stuck, as it was, in an endless and noisy regression. No Future was the motto of an artform without a cause that no longer echoed with the mindset of the time. Disheartened but eager to experiment and create, a new wave of French musician followed the beacon of Jacno’s seminal 79 hit “Rectangle”, a visionary, digital coup de grâce ,courtesy of a former punk which dealt the Rickenbacker and Fender era a fatal blow. The cold and robot-like bips of analogic keyboards took over. Casio, Korg MS 10, Arp Omni were the new paraphernalia of the növö generation. The ideal conveyers of its retro-futurist elegance and self-professed cold arrogance. They were pinnacles and symbols which turned as potent a fetiche as the electric guitar in the fifties or the laptop in the nineties.BIPP recalls the glory of a selected few. The cream of the crop of the shooting stars and cult band that followed in the footsteps of Kas Product, Mathematiques Modernes or Charles de Goal.

“H” isn’t an escapee from cheesy dance act Steps but instead step forward saxophonist/composer/vocalist David Haudrechy joined here by some leading new generation Eurojazz players including saxophonists Médéric Collignon, Émile Parisien and keyboardist Vincent Artaud among others in a biggish ensemble.

“Wave” is a Polish alternative rock band formed in Kielce. It has its origin in passion and in its current shape has been performing since May 2015. Five persons – five stories and various inspirations, which creates Wave’s foundations. We derive from many music styles like bloom of rock music in late 60’ and 70’, punk rock, new wave in 80’ and strong grunge’s impact from overseas in 90’. We filter them through our sensitivity and try to discover new areas of music. Sounds we create are mixed with existential questions which are the core of our lyrics.

This is the first RetroSynth compilation. "In Synth We Wave" showcases many of the top artists that were featured on the RetroSynth YouTube channel over the past year, along with tracks by artists on the RetroSynth Records roster. Much like how everything is set up on the RetroSynth channel, there is something for everyone here. I can't thank everyone enough for wanting to be involved in this project. It means the world to me to be working with such incredibly talented artists / friends in the growing Synthwave community.