Ultimate Synth & EBM selection - Part 1

A free track from the upcoming VNV Nation album Transnational.

Transnational

Retaliate

Retaliate (from the album "Transnational")

The debut song by Empathy Test, an electronic pop duo from London, UK. Originally released in February 2014 on the Losing Touch EP. Re-released as part of the Losing Touch LP in November 2017.

LYRICS:

Scared of losing touch
If I really mean that much
Why pretend that you love him?
Don't call me out the blue
When it's clear that I still do
And you know he knows it too.
Going home alone
The only love I've known
It's always been you.
It’s always been you.
 
Tell me it's not real
Tell me he doesn't make you feel
The way I made you feel.
If you care for me at all
You'll hang up when I call
You'll clear me space to fall.
If you give I will receive 
And despite what they believe
It's always been you.
It's always been you.
 
It’s always been you.
 
When you're feeling alone
And you're colder than stone
Call me you know...
It's always been you.

Losing Touch

Losing Touch EP

Korg Collection 4 - demo by MXXWLL

The empathy test in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner is based on the premise that machines, no matter how advanced, lack compassion. But for childhood friends, Isaac Howlett (vocals) and Adam Relf (production), Empathy Test is all about wearing their hearts on their digital sleeves. With driving synth chords, punchy 4/4 beats and euphoric ‘80s melodies, the London-based duo take inspiration as much from modern acts like Chvrches and Purity Ring as they do from Vangelis and Depeche Mode. But far from sounding like just another ‘80s-electro reboot, Empathy Test have cultivated a mesmerizing and immersive identity which sets them apart from pretty much anyone else on the scene.

With an insistence on glorious hooks and instantly memorable vocal lines, Empathy Test are refreshingly unafraid to be pop music. Since self-releasing their debut EP “Losing Touch” in February, Empathy Test have picked up thousands of fans via sheer word-of-mouth and late-night tweets, and collaborated with Richard Swarbrick on numerous viral animation videos for ESPN and Liverpool FC. Empathy Test signed to Brooklyn’s Stars & Letters Records in the spring of 2014, with their follow-up EP “Throwing Stones” releasing December 9th, 2014.

Website → http://empathytest.com
Facebook → http://facebook.com/empathytest
Twitter → http://twitter.com/empathytest
SoundCloud → @empathytest

©℗ 2014 Empathy Test

Throwing Stones EP

Empathy Test - Holding On

Altered Imaginations

Charles Blues

I'm Not Done

I'm Not Done (Young Marco's Therapy Flip)

To celebrate the highly anticipated Sabres of Paradise album reissues, we're ecstatic to bring the iconic sounds of the Sabresonic club night to Stranger Than Paradise for one night only on
Wednesday 6th August from 7pm til midnight.

On the night we'll be treated to DJ sets from the band's Jagz Kooner, alongside Sabresonic regulars Alex Knight and Sherman at the Conrols.

An Evening with Sabres of Paradise @ Stranger Than Paradise Records | 06/08/2025

Dreams of Being Dust

Oubliette

MixBus Live @ GearFest UK 2025
Four top London-based Producer Engineers take part in this lively roundtable discussion with MixBus host Kevin Paul. Talking about how they got started in the industry and revealing how they got to work with some of the world’s top artists such as Ellie Goulding, Placebo, Coldplay, Kylie Minogue and London Grammar to name but a few. Recorded live at the 2025 GearFest UK Panel Talks.

Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
00:53 - Reasons For Getting Into Music Production
19:09 - The Reality Of Working In A Studio
20:59 - Working Your Way Up In A Studio
22:39 - Employing Studio Staff
25:55 - More Females In The Industry
28:05 - Making Yourself Indispensable And Networking
41:00 - Managing A Successful Career

Tim Bran Biog
Tim Bran began his production career in his own studio in Guernsey where he grew up. He then worked in the legendary Fallout Shelter Studios at Island Records in London where he collaborated with artists such as Julian Cope, Mica Paris, Omar and ex-Big Audio Dynamite band Screaming Target (with whom he formed an alliance and created the seminal dub/ambient band Dreadzone later on).
Full biog at https://www.soundonsound.com/people/how-did-you-build-your-studio-career-sos-podcast
http://www.echobeachmanagement.com/artist/tim-bran/
https://www.instagram.com/timbranmusic/

Danton Supple Biog
Danton is a London based Record Producer and Mixer with almost 40 years experience in studios and studio production with a diverse and successful range of artists as engineer, mixer and producer including work on 3 Grammy Winning and 5 Grammy Nominated projects.
Full biog at https://www.soundonsound.com/people/how-did-you-build-your-studio-career-sos-podcast
https://www.dantonsupple.com/
https://www.instagram.com/dantonsupple/
http://www.facebook.com/dantonsupple
http://www.twitter.com/DantonSupple

Shelby Logan Warne Biog
Shelby Logan Warne is a London-based multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter, studio engineer, producer and the frontwoman of the progressive rock and synth-pop band Kyros. She is also the co-owner and managing director of Sensible Music - a premium multi-studio complex in King’s Cross.
Full biog at https://www.soundonsound.com/people/how-did-you-build-your-studio-career-sos-podcast
https://shelbyloganwarne.com/
http://instagram.com/hereisshelby
https://www.facebook.com/shelbyloganwarne/


Julian Kindred Biog
Julian Kindred is a Canadian musician, producer, engineer and Grammy award winner. He started recording by working in many of the iconic studios of Nashville's Music Row, where he worked alongside a “who’s who” of the city's great musicians and producers.
Full biog at https://www.soundonsound.com/people/how-did-you-build-your-studio-career-sos-podcast
https://www.juliankindred.com/
https://www.facebook.com/julian.kindred.3
https://www.instagram.com/juliankindred

Kevin Paul Biog
Kevin Paul started his career as a DJ but quickly found his passion was sound engineering. His first audio job was at Soho Studios in 1991, moving to Konk Studios six months later, where he worked alongside successful producers and engineers such as Bob Clearmountain, Adam Mosley, Pascal Gabriel and Gil Norton, as well as bands such as The Kinks, Galliano, Terrorvision, UFO and Elastica.
Full biog at https://www.soundonsound.com/people/how-did-you-build-your-studio-career-sos-podcast
http://www.kevin-paul.com/

Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts

People & Music Industry

MixBus Live

Show Notes

How Did You Build Your Studio Career? | Podcast

Panda Bear - Venom's In (Jaime Rosso Siren Dub)

Composer, producer and Buchla enthusiast Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith joins William J. Stokes to discuss her latest album Gush. She also treats listeners to a live set, performed on a carefully curated selection of Buchla 200e modules.

Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
01:10 - Peacock Moments
06:24 - Working With Suzanne Ciani
10:54 - Discovering Buchla And Eurorack
16:40 - Blending Sensibilities
23:21 - Buchla 200e Modular System And 223e Input
28:48 - 259e and 261e Waveform Generators
36:58 - 296e Spectral Processor
43:37 - 227e System Interface
51:25 - The Performance

#buchla200e #buchla223e #buchla259e #buchla #261e #buchla296e #buchla227e

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith Biog
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith is a classically trained American composer, producer and performer originally from the Pacific Northwest who now lives in Los Angeles. Drawing upon her formal training in composition and sound engineering from Berklee College of Music, she initially explored vocal performance, classical guitar and piano before her creative trajectory shifted when a neighbour lent her a Buchla 100 modular synthesizer. Her music combines the use of modular, analogue and rare synthesizers, orchestral textures and voice.

Her early self-released works, including Cows Will Eat the Weeds and Tides: Music for Meditation and Yoga (2014), were followed by Euclid (2015), her first official album with Western Vinyl, which combined structured songwriting with ambient exploration. This was succeeded by EARS (2016), which critics praised for its seamless layering of organic instrumentation and analogue synthesis to evoke feelings of awe and disorientation. Her 2017 release, The Kid, marked a conceptual leap, tracing stages of human development through richly textured, emotionally resonant compositions that bolstered her status among experimental music audiences.

Kaitlyn has performed alongside artists like Hot Chip, Glass Beams, RY X, Caribou and Four Tet, composed original works for Apple, BBC Orchestra, Adult Swim, MoMA, Red Bull and others, plus her song “Stratus” was also synced in the 2023 film Priscilla Motion Picture Soundtrack. She has also collaborated with longtime inspiration Suzanne Ciani and other artists like Emile Mosseri, while exploring multidisciplinary projects through her label, Touchtheplants. On her latest album, GUSH, Kaitlyn sets her sights on aesthetics, focusing on the heightened awareness of and presence in the world where every interaction, whether with people, objects or nature, has the potential to become a moment of connection and personification.

https://kaitlynaureliasmith.com/
https://www.instagram.com/kaitlynaurelia/
https://www.facebook.com/kaitlynaurelia/
https://x.com/kaitlynaurelia

William J. Stokes Biog
William J. Stokes is a producer, writer and artist in three-piece avant-psych band Voka Gentle. As well as being a critic and columnist for Sound On Sound, conceiving the popular Talkback column and heading up the Modular column, he has also written on music and music technology for The Guardian, MOJO, The Financial Times, Electronic Sound and more. 

As an artist in Voka Gentle he has made records with producers from Gareth Jones (Depeche Mode, Grizzly Bear, Nick Cave) to Sam Petts-Davies (Radiohead, The Smile, Roger Waters), has had songs featured on franchises from FIFA Football to The Sims and has toured across the UK, Europe and the USA, playing festivals from Pitchfork Avant-Garde in Paris to SXSW in Austin, Texas. He has collaborated with artists including the Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne, Morcheeba, Panda Bear and Sonic Boom. 

Full biog at https://www.soundonsound.com/people/kaitlyn-aurelia-smith-talks-buchla-sos-podcast

https://www.vokagentle.com/

Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts

Electronic Music

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - My Life In Modules

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - My Life In Modules | Podcast

Goodbye (Reflections from the back row, 2011)

Allt Som Nånsin Fanns

Electro Spectre - Love Thief (Retromode Mix) Clip

Monovibes is a Gothenburg based electronic act that started as the solo project of Fredrik Nero. Fredrik soon afterwards recruited Niklas Hugosson to bring the first album Reflections from the back row (2011) to stage. After several gigs Monovibes wanted to bring their live sound into the studio and decided to record and produce the EP Extended Play (2014) on their own using a growing collection of analog synths. In 2015 Monovibes welcomes synthesist/improviser John Lönnmyr to the band, forming a trio with one aim: tweaking synths and making people dance.

Albums:
Reflections from the back row (2011)
Extended play (EP, 2014)

Goodbye (Reflections from the back row, 2011)

Monovibes

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