Music

Love Bites by Vampire Step-Dad is a modern day classic of the synthwave genre. I don’t suggest that lightly either. As a fan of outrun or whatever you want to call it, I am well aware that there have been several releases in the past couple of years that deserve attention but none, if I am to trust...

 Insert coin.  Push play.  Wrap your hands around the joystick and let Computronic’s Even The Score tale you back to the glory days of playing Atari for hours on end.  Whether at the local skating rink or at home in front of the Atari 2600, the hours spent there never seem wasted.  They are, as one song on this cycle suggests, etched “forever in my mind” ...

Without a doubt, OniTECH sounds as if it – in cassette form – was found clutched in the fingers of a well-dressed corpse that washes ashore some ashen beach on the east coast.  This release is a dark and disturbing thread of truth that hints at a bigger mystery  ...

The boy wakes up. His hair is a mess that no comb will be able to contain.  Dirk the Daring, the best knight in the kingdom of King Ethelred, stares back at him from his wall.  The kid, a little pudgy around the middle, flexes in the mirror before slipping on his shirt.  He goes down the stairs.  His Big Dog ...

Imagine it.  Close your eyes and set the scene.  You are alone on the highway.  Maybe this is a highway through a glorious city of neon lights.  Maybe it is a desert highway with only dunes and starry skies above.  Regardless, you are solo on this night and the destination ...

The plane shoots out over the Pacific Ocean and angles ever so slightly. I look down. It is dark but you can see that there are piers below; long stretches of wood in man’s attempt to walk on water. The dark green of the ocean reflects upwards; rippling as the waves roll against the endless wall of ...

One release.  Three songs.  Fifteen minutes.  And I can't stop grinning.  This is good; this is real good. The synthwave scene NEEDS this release. There is a hunger heard in Lyde’s expertly organized arpeggiations; a fierceness of raw power that stealthily decimates all would-be contenders. Not that there isn’t ...

There is a darkness to this place. A Hellhole that infects everyone. It spreads like cancer, covering everything in a sticky stain of venom ... with just a hint of nihilism.

Look closely and you will see a small child, its sex is indeterminable, but its fear is not. The child shivers. It is up against a cold steel wall.  This strange place is not unlike a cage. A silent scream is frozen in its expression and its eyes.

There is a war raging. Endless. Brutal. Lasers pierce human flesh. Severed hands, heads, and feet lay intertwined in piles of wires and plastics. The smell of burning flesh is overwhelming and the screams STILL echo down the stairs and through the air ducts. There is no safe space. There is only fear, stale breath, and the sound of machines busy at their dark work ...

Braddock, Pennsylvania. A young man, sensitive to the sunlight, has moved to the neighborhood. This is an idyllic area of this blue-collar town. Children play in fenced-in yards. Families picnic on the weekend. Sundays are honored with church attendance. And, on Monday, the adults go ...