Rich Aucoin - Synthetic: Season 3 - VINYL LP

On Synthetic Season 2, Halifax pop artist and composer Rich Aucoin continues his journey through the history of synthesizers. The second entry in his quadruple LP series once again features an armada of the world's most rare, historic, and highly sought after electronic instruments. Gaining access to the collections of Calgary's National Music Centre and LA's Vintage Synthesizer Museum, Aucoin ran amok on machines to create four albums of thrilling, transporting instrumental music. Each song on Synthetic Season 2 conjures a world of it's own, combining Aucoin's melodic sensibilities with textural, genre-agnostic experimentation. The album swerves into action with the wiggling synths and thunderous drum breaks of InchWavInch - recorded on the Hammond Novachord from 1939 and considered the very first analog, fully polyphonic synthesizer - stacking hooks like a cinematic training montage as it climbs toward the first of many transcendent conclusions. InchShiftInch changes course into eerie, frostbitten industrial territory with rubbery beats that bounce like pogo sticks, switching tempos unexpectedly and dissolving into skittering arrays of sound. The squelching groove of InchPureInch brings a touch of '90s French House, like Daft Punk jet-setting around the world. Six minutes pass in a flash during this playful brain-dance. InchSpaceInch is a thumping banger built upon chiming, subaquatic beats that slice through thick drones and filter disco drops. It's passages of extraterrestrial techno tranquility will make you feel like an astronaut floating in the inky void, making shapes in zero gravity. - Jesse Locke A1. Wav 4 18 A2. Shift 4 19 A3. Pure 6 00 A4. Space 5 50 B1. Tech Noir 3 20 B2. Roger Luther 4 03 B3. Lyra 4 45 B4. Prophet 5 35 B5. Liminal 3 09 Album Tracks 1. Wav 2. Shift 3. Pure 4. Space 5. Tech Noir 6. Roger Luther 7. Lyra 8. Prophet 9.

Over these four releases recorded during a series of visits to the National Music Centre in Calgary and Vintage Synthesizer Museum in Los Angeles from 2020 to 2025, Aucoin has trawled the depths of sonic history to demonstrate the incredible range and depth of what a synthesizer is and what it can be, and the tremendous, malleable impact it's presence has had on musical construction, sound and song.Seasons 1 through 3 saw famous synths such as Moogs, Rolands and ARPs take the stage, but Season 4 sees Aucoin digging even deeper with inclusions of the rare Buchla 200a Electric Music Box, the E-mu Modular System, an Ondes Martenot and especially the McLeyvier, the latter of which has never before been used in recorded music and of which only a handful exist.A record featuring the history of synths is also one that reflects upon the history of modern pop and dance music itself-in addition to Air and Moby throughout we hear the echoes and tones of French filter (Daft Punk, Justice and Jean-Michel Jarre on InchChromaInch); the IDM heroes of Warp/Rephlex (Squarepusher on InchE-Mu PT IIInch and Plaid on InchOndesInch, among others); to the late 70s yellow Italo-horror film soundtracks of Goblin (InchGialloInch). Throughout we hear homages to these artists and the role they played in using synths to bring musical dreams to life, and yet also, Aucoin manages to simply deliver an enjoyable and fun record to throw on while going for a drive or dancing in the moonlight. What could simply be a technical thought exercise is instead a labor of love, for the output is not just sounds but music, sweet, sweet music. Album Tracks 1. Drone Day 2. The Electric Music Box 3. 303 4. E-Mu 5. E-Mu Pt. II Feat. Cloverdale 6. Spirit 7. Spirit Pt. II 8. Giallo 9. McLeyvier 10. Ondes Martenot 11. Frequency Modulation 12. Amplitude Modulation 13. Chroma 14. Pentaphoni

With influences ranging from The Lemonheads, Liz Phair, and The Replacements, to early Weezer and the Smoking Popes, Cocksure maintains Stevenson's unique vulnerability, and steadfast devotion to a solid and honest melody. In the writing process, she challenged herself to be true to whatever was going to come out of her, with many of the tracks featuring melodies that were purely stream of consciousness. Album Tracks 1. Out with a Whimper 2. Torch Song 3. Jellyfish 4. Ticker Tape 5. Emily in Half 6. Diet of Worms 7. Happier, Etc 8. Fine Print 9. Claustrophobe 10. Life Is Long 11. Tom Sawyer You Know Where You Can Find Me