Beyond Synth

Today on the best synth wave chat show there is Andy catches up with longtime pal and synthwave OG Mike Mendoza—aka Who-ha, Modern Knight, and the man behind Retro Promenade—for a sprawling conversation about creativity, nostalgia, and whether synthwave is dead or merely “no longer culturally ascendant.” They discuss Mike’s return to making music, the satisfaction of learning your tools, AI-genera...

After 12 years, Magic Sword returns for an epic retrospective spanning the project’s origins, evolution, and future. The Keeper reflects on the early energy of synthwave, the realities of turning a creative passion into a career, and the personal struggles that nearly brought Magic Sword to an end. He also discusses the ambitious Omnibus collection, the origins of Badlands, the experimental Side Q...

Beyond Synth - 453 - Power Hour with Marko Maric by Andy Last

Michael Oakley returns to Beyond Synth to talk about his new album Prologue, but as usual, the conversation goes all over the place. Michael discusses the process behind the record and how he pulled early 90s Eurodance influences into his synthwave sound. Along the way, they also get into MacGyver villains, synthwave copycats, overused genre tropes, AI, social media validation, spaghetti westerns,...

Today, Marko and Andy do an impromptu Power Hour! Andy has been modding Perfect Dark and Goldeneye, and building apps with the power of AI coding and Marko is going to go the the Dawn of the Dead mall! So tune in for some old guys complaining about being old, while listening to some awesome new music! If you like what you’re hearing you can support Beyond Synth on Patreon: www.patreon.com/beyondsy...

This episode of Beyond Synth catches up with OG scene mainstay Betamaxx, aka Nick Morey, for a loose, funny, and reflective conversation about how much has changed since his earliest appearances on the show. What starts as a trip down memory lane turns into a wide-ranging talk about aging, creative momentum, old-school radio frustration, scene identity, social media burnout, and how the excitement...

Today we remember Gost, a.k.a. James Lollar who just recently passed away. This episode features Gost’s first appearance on Beyond Synth back in 2015, and when he returned with Dan Terminus to talk about their experiences on tour. James was one of the OG darksynth producers in the scene and he will be missed. Gost: https://soundcloud.com/gost1980s http://gost1980s.bandcamp.com/ https://open.spotif...

The BAD BOYS reconvene and discuss the most radical film they’ve ever seen… TURBULENCE 3! After they dissect the adventures of Slade Kraven, they chat about video-game decompilations, Looksmaxxing, mogging, and RAM prices! Lazerhawk has fun playing his Otamatone, System Glow and Andy have been playing N64 PC Ports, and Miami Nights describes an exciting late night game he plays with his cat. Much...

Today on the show Andy catches up with OGRE, the very first Beyond Synth guest ever and super talented guy! Robin and Andy chat about nostalgia, retro games, Robin’s musical experiments and the topic du jour…A.I. Andy is not happy about the current landscape of podcasting, but he IS very excited about PC ports of N64 games, and Robin is excited about audio composting. They also talk about awesome...

Today on the show Andy catches up with Wojciech Golczewski after 6 years! Wojciech talks about moving away from film scoring, and the musical projects he’s been working on. Andy tells him about the Commodore 64 Ultimate, and Wojciech teaches Andy about the Zloty. There’s also plenty of talk about videogames, dark premonitions, iron curtains, and spying phones. Then Andy outlines his dreams of bein...

A new season of Beyond Synth begins! Today, Andy is joined by Miami Nights 1984, System Glow, and Lazerhawk a.k.a. The BADBOYS. After they get caught up, they chat about Metroid, Garrett’s salad, Cycling, biker bibs, and MN84 getting gaslit by his own car. System Glow talks how he started making music for the Ice Scream game series from Keplerians, MN84 tells a tale about the time he went viral on...

In this exciting Season Finale, the Beyond Synth Family finally finish the Billboard 1999 series. AND they listen to a ton of awesome music along the way! Happy Holidays! If you like what you’re hearing you can support Beyond Synth on Patreon: www.patreon.com/beyondsynth or PayPal: www.paypal.com/paypalme/beyondsynth Don’t Forget to Check out ALL the artists featured on the show: Sung - “Valse Noi...

Will Bush passed away December 24th 2025. Today on the show we look back at the time that Immortal Girlfriend were on the show back in 2020. Will was a good guy and he will be missed. You can check out IMMORTAL GIRLFRIEND here: https://soundcloud.com/immortalgirlfriend https://immortalgirlfriend.bandcamp.com/releases https://open.spotify.com/artist/3BRdjtA6y3mQYgGgqNFydC https://www.instagram.com/...

Today on the show we dive deeper into the world of Starcadian with Rob O’Neill, a cool guy who is also the co-director of some of the Starcadian videos and the steward of Starcadian’s future. Rob talks about how he met George, the making of the Freak Night video, the mysterious Starcadian Codex, and much more! Plus, Rob has picked out some of his favourite Starcadian tracks for us to listen to whi...

Today on the show Andy chats with Jess Blaise Ward, author of the book “Making Synthwave: How an Online Music Community Invented a Genre”. Jess talks about her musical upbringing, writing her PHD, and the process of putting the book together. Jess was also in charge of the playlist and picked some of her favourite tracks! If you like what you’re hearing you can support Beyond Synth on Patreon: www...

Today Andy catches up with old friend of the show Droid Bishop! James chats about his album Cinema and his 2025 singles, but for the most part, they just talk about AI for the whole show. If you like what you’re hearing you can support Beyond Synth on Patreon: www.patreon.com/beyondsynth or PayPal: www.paypal.com/paypalme/beyondsynth You can Check out DROID BISHOP here: https://soundcloud.com/droi...

It IS Halloween! This spooky season Andy chats with Killer Klowns movie composer John Massari! John talks about adapting the Klowns score to a live to film concert, music education in the 70s, and his love for vintage synthesizers. John has some juicy behind the scenes stories while working on the music for B-movies like the Snake Eater Trilogy, Retro Puppet Master and Kickboxer 5. They also chat...

Today on the show Andy chats with the very talented Pat, Nick and Aaron from The Motion Epic! We track the band from Pat’s nomadic musical adventures to Nick and Aaron joining up and forming the trio they are today. Nick teaches us the correct pronunciation of Kalimocho, Aaron has crazy allergies, and Pat travels all over the place writing songs wherever he goes. They also chat about their musical...

Today on Beyond Synth we say goodbye to “My Favourite Game” and Hello to Miami Nights 1984 who wants to talk all about Chrono Trigger for the SNES. We also chat about Tetra Paks, Donkey Kong, 90’s kids TV, and Michael’s custom Metal Gear cycling jersey. The blessed listener then get’s a taste of Miami Nights newest album Cosmopolis, as well as Gunblaze Assault and a sprinkling of Sentimental. If y...

Today Andy is joined by The Dream Eaters a.k.a. Jake and Elizabeth! The duo talk about how they met and the evolution of the Dream Eaters from their indie and shoegaze origins to the comedic synthpop style of their newer music. They chat about Gowanis, satan, and cats! But most importantly, we learn about the mysterious Steve! If you like what you’re hearing you can support Beyond Synth on Patreon...

The Beyond Synth Family has reconvened to finish talking about the billboard #1 hits of the 90s. This episode, Andy, Mike, Marko and Florence listen to the hits of 1998! Will Andy dislike it just like all the other 90s billboard hits or has he softened over the past few weeks? Will Mike give everything a 5? Will Florence ever be able to purchase Florence.com? And WHO is the mysterious Marko Maric?...

Today, Andy chats with Alex Lightspeed and a few of his co-conspirators Todd Daggett and The Neon Syndicate! Alex talks about fixing up old Pontiac Fieros, getting one of his tracks in the Forza Horizon soundtrack, and even getting one of his cars into a major Hollywood picture starring Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen. Todd chats about his drum and bass roots and writing novels, Gabriele loves k...

Today Andy is joined by TLF a.k.a Christoph 'Hadl' Hassel. Hadl appeared on the show back in 2020 as half of Siamese Youth, but today he’s flying solo to talk about the origins of the TLF project, 80s music, playing pianos, and collaborating with one of his childhood music influences Chris Huelsbeck. Hadl also chats about top-lining for other artists, Right Said Fred, classical music, and Rondò Ve...

Today on the show, Andy is joined by New Arcades a.k.a. Adam and Dean! They talk about how they met each other while working in animal welfare, rescuing cats and dogs, and their favourite Thai food order. Adam and Dean also talk about making music for the awesome Robo Cop documentary RoboDoc, live performance, and crafting their new sound. Long Live Shreddy! If you like what you’re hearing you can...

Today on the show Andy is joined by They / Live, a.k.a. Whitney, who talks about her genre-hopping musical journey from country ballads to cool synth pop tunes. She also chats about leaving her Mormon past, the joy of making music videos, and bowl cuts. If you like what you’re hearing you can support Beyond Synth on Patreon: www.patreon.com/beyondsynth or PayPal: www.paypal.com/paypalme/beyondsynt...