SHIBUYA STATION is an all analogue synth project founded by Marc Schaffer (aka solitude fx, Endphase, Twins Natalia, as well as being the founder of the Anna Logue Records and Nadanna labels).

Finding his inspiration in the late 70s to early 80s synth music and the machines of the age themselves, Marc recorded a few tracks back in 2013 which were further developed by fellow musicians Stefan Bornhorst (The Silicon Scientist), Dave Hewson (Poeme Electronique), Orpheo Weidelt (solitude fx), Kriistal Ann (Paradox Obscur) and Erik Söderberg (Kinder Aus Asbest) over the following years. Six tracks made it eventually onto international compilations Tunes That R… Attractive!, Sie Hat Schenkel Wie Godzilla, Jubilee Jamboree – 10 Years Of TuT/RuR and Synthesizer Music On Tape vol.3, which are now presented on a 10” vinyl on the renowned Polytechnic Youth label, who say it’s their last release for awhile, as they concentrate on their new label, Feral Child.

Instruments used were Amdek Percussion Synthesizer PCK-100, Boss Voice Transformer VT-1, Casio VL-1, Crumar Performer, DSI Mopho, Korg KR-55B, Korg MS-20, Moog Little Phatty, Moog Voyager, Novation Bass Station II, Oberheim DPX-1, Roland CR-78, Roland SH-2, Yamaha CS01, and VST synthesisers ARP Odyssey, EKSSperimental Sounds ES101, Korg MS-20. The project name is reference to Hachikō, the dog who continued to wait for over nine years following his owner’s death at … Shibuya Station.

10″ / Digital Album

To live vicariously is to experience the world in our minds through imaginative or sympathetic participation in the experiences of another person. As our daily lives become more and more interwoven with the Internet, and especially with social media, our identity construction and portrayal, as well as our interaction with others is increasingly taking place online.

This trend became even more obvious during the COVID19 pandemic when we spent long periods of time stuck at home, cut off from direct contact with others. Faced with the impossibility of doing the things we were so used to pre-pandemic, many of us began to seek out ways of experiencing the world vicariously, through the experiences of others.

Lockdowns · social distancing · stay at home · exercise alone · buy online · work from home! The Covid19 pandemic and the resulting lockdowns set in place the ideal conditions for vicarious consumption to flourish.

LP / Digital Album

Mitra Mitra is a synth wave duo from Vienna, Austria.

LP / Digital Album

Gabe Knox is an electronic musician from Toronto, Canada.

10″ / Digital Album

Here’s the second album from Wladyslaw Trejo. Synthpunk expressionism from Spain.

12″ / Digital Album

Here’s the second solo release of Gabe Knox who’s also involved in Analytica, an electronic duo from Toronto, Canada.

7″

6 tracks EP of darkly minimal synth magic from Ontario, Canada in hand stapled, numbered, flipover sleeves recalling our favourite, heady days of 1978-1982 in look, sound and feel.

7″

Based heavily on the tracks which formed the bulk of the duo’s 7” releases on Polytechnic Youth, here’s the latest release from The Detox Twins, a synthpop project from Berlin.

LP / Digital Album

Wladyslaw Trejo is a Spanish musician forged in the underground scene and known for his roles with synthwave duo Slovenska Televiza. In his solo project, Trejo leans more towards his punk side whilst revealing an intimate side with no qualms about tearing the ribs out and exposing the soul, and the fears and evil that lurks in us all! A dark and psychotropic journey in the form of feverish electronics, with industrial rhythms and almost paranoid walls of sound. ‘Movida’ is a taster to a full length also on Polytechnic Youth in 2020.

Alexandre Bazin is a current member of the renowned ‘Groupe de Recherches Musicales’ (GRM), based in Paris, France. His work considers the sonic experience drawing on a rich mix of acoustic instrumentation and analogue synthesis.

7″ / Digital Album [free download]

Following 1 or 2 small run / mailorder lathe cuts, Polytechnic Youth follow it’s hugely successful Popcorn Lung label compilation LP, with it’s first full length of the new year, and man… this one is just wonderful! A mighty record to kick off what promises to be another hugely productive, constantly busy year for the Crouch End based synth label.

ABC represents a compilation of the best songs of the first three EPs, subtly remixed and remastered to best suit vinyl. This really is a remarkable record. Displaying all the PY traits of icy cool blasts of minimal synth, motorik grooves, melodic pop via passing nods to early Mute and Sky records. Think the drive shaft of Neu!, the punishing low end of King Tubby, the interleaved melodic lines of Vince Clarke, the melancholic, otherworldly whimsy of Raymond Scott and Delia Derbyshire, the hypnotic drone of Spacemen 3, and the analogue intimacy of Le Car.

LP