Today’s the day! You can stream the synth music documentary The Rise of the Synths for 24 hours, starting at 1 p.m. Eastern time. At 6 p.m. Eastern, doc star Mecha Maiko will do a live DJ set. After the film finishes streaming tomorrow, I’m hosting a Q&A with director Ivan Castell, doc score composer OGRE, and Mecha Maiko at 2 p.m. EDT. There’s also a Gost DJ set. It’ll be a blast!
Special ‘Maethelvin’s Valerie’ Playlist
To celebrate, Valerie Collective member Maethelvin has put together a special Spotify playlist highlighting key songs that have influenced him. For those who don’t know about Valerie, it is a highly influential label and collective that Maethelvin, College, Anoraak, Forgotten Illusions, and others have put on the map. On the playlist you’ll find artists like Serge Gainsbourg, Jan Hammer, Legowelt, Patrick Cowley, Alan Braxe, Fred Falke, Bastian, Steve Winwood (naturally), and others.
Here’s what Maethelvin had to say about his playlist:
I’ve made this playlist thinking of years around the buildup of Valerie by David (College) Grellier. At this time, I was mainly making chiptune music, and for the purpose of the blog, I’d started listening to some other stuff rather than old tracker tunes. All the tunes here are kind of basics to me, and relate to musical elements I try to get in my own productions: Very melodic accents, mainly synth or electronic based [sounds], pop accents, arpeggios, and a strong club feeling.
The Rise of the Synths documentary, narrated by John Carpenter, features interviews with a host of synth musicians, journalists, and scenesters: Electric Youth, College, Maethelvin, The Midnight, Mecha Maiko, Holodeck Records, Carpenter Brut, John Bergin (Lakeshore Records), Miami Nights 1984, Lazerhawk, Power Glove, NINA, Dance with the Dead, Robert Parker, Waveshaper, Perturbator, 80s Stallone, MPM Soundtracks, Night Crawler, VEHLINGGO, Synthwave.TV’s Filip Galetic, NewRetroWave CEO Ten, and Scandroid, among others.
Don’t miss Maethelvin’s great “Dance Through the Night,” exclusively on the Vehlinggo Presents: 5 Years compilation.
