The Synth Scene of 2024 was again rich in various releases from both well-known projects and young promising up-and-coming ones. Nothing megaunusual was heard here. As always in the last few years there are loud comebacks of projects that have been silent for a long time and cool debuts with an unconventional approach to sound. Everything is as usual. The scene is alive, thriving and developing.Covered genres: Synthpop, Futurepop, Electropop, Electroclash, Synth-Rock
10. District 13 - ‘Pandora's Hope’ (Synthpop, Futurepop | Germany, Infacted Recordings)
The German project DISTRICT 13 was formed in the mid-10s by three members Alexander, Michael and Per-Anders. The first recordings were released on the KL-Dark-Records label in 2016, including the debut full-length album. The next three albums of the project were also released on this German label and in 2024 the trio moved to the major label Infacted Recordings, where the single and the fifth full-length album ‘Pandora’s Hope’ were released. The project throughout its musican career created soft unobtrusive Synth / Future Pop with male vocals in English and has always been a candidate for the top. The new work has finally hit the top of the Synth Scene. Soft simple synthetic melodies with good vocals are intended for home listening and some of them are easily suitable for dancefloors. Rhythmic compositions are diluted with melancholic ballads. Everything is classic. A good solid album by the Germans. Two of the tracks on the album are new versions of old songs and the other eleven are completely new. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/synthpopD13
09. Beyond Border - ‘Gathering’ (Futurepop, Synthpop | Germany, NoCut)
BEYOND BORDER is the brainchild of two German musicians. Kai Németh, who is the voice of the project, has long been known in the Synth Scene for his projects IN GOOD FAITH and MODEL KAOS and Michael Deiters, who is responsible for the musical component, was a DJ in the dark scene of Hanover for many years, created the project in the late 10s and in 2019 the first three singles were out. A year later after remix releases the debut work was out in 2021 as self-released. ‘Gathering’, the second full-length album of the duo released on the German label NoCut, is a rhythmic synthetic combination of Futurepop and Synthpop with male vocals in English. Good soft simple melodic and memorable compositions were on both the first and second albums. ‘Gathering’ is listened to in one breath and some compositions make you want to sing along. The result is a smooth, coherent album worthy of the attention of fans of synthetic music. The British project J:DEAD and their German colleague from TOAL took part as guest musicians. The album ends with four remixes from BEYOND BORDER themselves. There was also a two-disc edition, where the second disc features remixes from the above-mentioned guest projects, as well as AESTHETIC PERFECTION, RUINED CONFLICT, FABRIKC and others. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beyondborder.de
P.S. When I was writing the article, I came across another project with the same name from Mauritius, which creates music in the Techno genre. The project has been silent for a year or more, but still. BEYOND BORDER feat. BEYOND BORDER? I’ll leave this here just in case --> https://soundcloud.com/beyondborder.
08. Future Perfect - ‘Touch’ (Electropop, Synthpop, Futurepop | UK, Self-Released)
The Welsh project FUTURE PERFECT was formed in 2009 by Simon and Rebecca. The first album was released in 2010 and immediately burst into the playlists of rhythmic dance electropop fans. In 2012 a sequel followed and after the third full-length in 2015 FUTURE PERFECT disappeared from the radars. After nine years of silence in 2024 the duo returned with a new full-length work ‘Touch’. The album includes nine new compositions in the genre of melodic dancy Electropop with elements of modern Synthpop and dynamic Futurepop elements. Female vocals intertwine with male. As for me Rebecca’s vocals on this album are much more blossomed than on the previous ones and Simon again made cool dance hits. A great return of FUTURE PERFECT. ‘Touch’ ends with remixes from the French project PEOPLE THEATRE and the German act MIDNIGHT RESISTANCE. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/futureperfect1
07. Escape With Romeo - ‘Suspicious Bliss’ (Synth-Rock | Germany, Zeit.Klang Records)
In 2017 the German project ESCAPE WITH ROMEO announced the end of its activities and in 2019 after a farewell tour and final performance at festivals it ceased to exist. In 2022 it was announced that it would resume its activities and in 2024 the great return happened with a new album entitled ‘Suspicious Bliss’. The project was founded in 1989 by PINK TURNS BLUE member Thomas Elbern. The project has more than 10 multi-format albums, multiple performances at leading dark scene festivals and a large number of fans. The Germans played melancholic Synth-Rock with male vocals mainly in English over the years and the new album continued the tradition. The pause in the career served to make a quality material. The new album features 14 new compositions in the genre of light Synthetic Rock with melancholic male vocals and female backing by Stella Tonon, who participated in Thomas’ side project CLOSE ENCOUNTERS in the late 90s and early 00s. The album is easy and fast to listen to and the compositions are memorable. Great return of a good old project with good music. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/escapewithromeospain
06. Llumen - ‘The Breaking Waves’ (Futurepop | Belgium, Alfa Matrix)
The project LLUMEN was created in the first half of the 21st century as a trio, but in 2009 the lineup was reduced to one member Pieter Coussement. Previously Pieter was involved in producer activities and in 1997 released one album as part of the not really famous project SAD CBA. In 2017 the Belgian released his debut album as LLUMEN, which blew up both the synth scene and the post-industrial music scene with a high-quality combination of futurepop, synthpop and EBM. In 2021 an equally high-quality sequel followed and in 2024 the third work ‘The Breaking Waves’ is out. Smart, high-level compositions of electronic music in the Futurepop genre will not leave Synth Scene lovers indifferent. As always LLUMEN created excellent material with a powerful emotional background, intricate compositions, unique atmospheric male vocals and hitty tracks. Like all previous releases the new album of the Belgian was released on Alfa Matrix and one of the features of the label, which is good for me personally, is releasing the addidtion CD with remixes. The second disc presents vision of the Llumen songs by IMPLANT, GRENDEL, NEUROACTIVE, AESTHETISCHE, AÏBOFORCEN and others. The album has one composition in German. For me personally as a fan of different languages in music it would be interesting to hear songs in Dutch and French in the future. But even without this the material of LLUMEN is very nice and for the third time confirms the high level of the musician. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063564430622
05. Blackbook - ‘Radio Strange’ (Synthpop | Switzerland, darkTunes Music Group)
The Swiss project BLACKBOOK was formed in 2018 by two secret members. The project’s Bandcamp page says that one of the duo’s members is responsible for various radio hits in Switzerland and the title song of one of the Netflix series, while the other is a composer and producer of several well-known Swiss projects and songs that have topped the charts. No names, of course. The debut work was released in 2022 on the darkTunes Music Group and sounded good, but without bright hits, although the material was interesting. On the second album ‘Radio Strange’ the interesting and unconventional sound of modern Synthpop was supplemented with hit compositions that are memorable and make you move, even sitting in a chair. Excellent album of the well-developed act. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blackbook
04. Alienare - ‘Lumen’ (Synthpop, Futurepop | Germany, NoCut)
The fifth album of the German project ALIENARE is called ‘Lumen’ and was released on the NoCut label. The project was founded in 2014 by members T.Green and T.Imo. The debut album was released in 2017, but even from the preceding singles it was clear that it would be cool hit dance futurepop project with perspective to be one of the best on the scene. The project’s breakthrough happened in 2019 after the second album ‘Neverland’, which hit the German charts and expanded the project’s fan base. On the new album the Germans presented 12 new compositions with rhythmic, catchy futurepop periodically even turning into EBM similar to the sound of late FUNKER VOGT, which is quite interesting, because according to Discogs T.Imo’s real name is Thomas Gerrit, who is the namesake of the keyboardist and one of the founders of FUNKER VOGT (well, and many other projects). Apparently it seemed so or someone decided that this was indeed the same Thomas Gerrit because of the similar sound. Or we just don’t known everything. Anyway ‘Lumen’ surpassed ‘Neverland’ in popularity, so the 2024 album can rightfully be considered the best in the project's discography. Powerful, cunning work by the Germans. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ALIENARE
03. Solar Fake - ‘Don’t Push This Button!’ (Futurepop, Synthpop | Germany, Pointless Music)
The German project SOLAR FAKE, starting with their debut album in 2008, has been almost every album if not part of the top synth scene, then at least a candidate. The seventh studio album ‘Don’t Push This Button!’ was released in 2024 on the Pointless Music label. Throughout the history of the label, it has released only this SOLAR FAKE album in different formats and versions, so, apparently, Sven and Andre decided that they would now publish their material by themselves and left the German major Out of Line. On the new album the duo continues to delight their fans and lovers of synthetic music with high-quality and hitty synthpop with Sven’s excellent recognizable vocals. There will be no revelations, innovations or experiments here. A smooth cool album that has appeared and will appear not only in my top of the year. SOLAR FAKE once again keeps up the brand. On the second CD all 10 main tracks of the album are performed in rock versions, which also sound great. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SolarFake
02. System - ‘Autonomous Systems’ (Electropop, Synthpop, Minimal Synth | Sweden, Progress Productions)
The Swedish project with the simple name SYSTEM was formed in the early 90s. The first recordings of the project were released in 2002 and in 2006 the project released its third album on Progress Productions, where the new full-length work was released 13 years after the previous one. The authors of the project were clearly inspired by the music of KRAFTWERK bringing the minimalistic sound of electropop to a new level. Dry synths are compiled in mechanical patterns and flavoured with synthetic melodies with robotic vocals. A cool diverse album from one of the grandees of the synth scene, who returned to conquer the system again. Or to crash. As they decide. The album consists of two CDs, where the first one contains the main material and the second one in addition to one original track features viscous EBM remixes from ELM and CELLDÖD, a thoughtful minimalist version from KINDER AUS ASBEST and a 25-minute (!!!) industrial-ambient experiments from the Swedish project TSANTSA. An excellent return of the famous Swedes. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SYSTEMprodukt
01. Musidora Roux - ‘La Nuit Qui Nous Dévore’ (Electropop, Dark Pop | France, Self-Relased)
In 2024 the French project MUSIDORA ROUX released its debut work ‘La Nuit Qui Nous Dévore’. The album features nine compositions in French in the genre of Romantic Electropop with a dark component and female vocals. Rhythmic compositions are diluted with chamber ballads. It would be logical to say about the influence of chanson and some of it is true, but this is rather due to the French language and not the musical component. Some compositions refer to the work of MYLÈNE FARMER as expected, but in very few sounds and not copy the music of a famous singer. In general, the work of MUSIDORA ROUX is quite holistic, recognizable music with a unique French charm. There is no much information about the project on the Internet and who is hiding under this pseudonym is unknown, so all you can do is listen and enjoy. In the beginning wanted to advise all electropop fans to follow this project, but at the end of 2024 the second album ‘Les Roses Volées’ was released, on which MUSIDORA ROUX’s music went into a more mainstream area of Pop culture, which, frankly speaking, was also clear in the debut work, so I assume that the debut album will be the only one that hit the top of the Synth Scene, and the rest will already be in articles about None Dark Scene releases. But I do not rule out that the Frenchwoman can surprise. Anyway, the debut sounds very cool and synthetic. Facebook: https://www.instagram.com/musidora.roux
Other honorable mentions: 370153, ASHBURY HEIGHTS, BÉRÈCHE YOU, CIENCIA EXACTA, COMPLEX MACHINE, FEYLEUX, FRANCESCA E LUIGI, ME THE TIGER, POSITION PARALLÈLE, PURE OBSESSIONS & RED NIGHTS, RED CARPET SINS, SANZ, SHAGREEN, SIMON CARTER, SYDNEY VALETTE, WINGTIPS
