More Eighties Than The 80s Itself #8

Authenticity is one of the core values when I select synthwave tracks for this column. But today I’m actually bending this rule slightly – and in two quite different directions!

Decade Defector x Stephen Sims – Older (feat. Dave Maverick)

Decade Defector has teamed up with Stephen Sims on vocals and Dave Maverick on guitar. And that proves to be dynamite. A high energy power-pop creation is the result, and this is one of those tracks that really lives up to the title of this column, “More Eighties Than The 80s itself”.

So, “could this one have been released in the 80s“?

Well, yes and no. I guess if we took five-six synth pop singles back then and stacked them on top of each other and stamped them down into one – this would come out of it. Because, this track squeeze the essence of eighties vibe and extrapolate that juice so extremely that one might suspect it to be made with a good pinch of irony.

This is potent stuff. The synthwave equivalent of cocaine.
And that’s quite suitable, if you think about it.

Matt Hodges feat. Agent Johnny Red – Cherry Corvette

Let’s cut straight to the chase here: Technically this track sounds way too modern to actually be released back in the 80s. Especially the excessive use of side-chained/ducking compression ruins that illusion. I could have wished all the compressions going on here to be dialled back quite a bit.

But the soul of this track is clearly eighties. And above all, it’s a really well arranged track. The melody, the instrumentation and the vocals – it’s all top shelf material.

So I figured, this is one of those cases where I should make an exception to our principle of authenticity to be added to our playlist.
I hope you agree!


Both tracks are added to our excellent synthwave playlist, “More Eighties Than The 80s itself“, where we collect only the finest vocal based synthwave productions as we discover them. Weekly updated!