Makeup and Vanity Set - 88:88 - Electric Dream Records 2019
What if you fell upon a music that felt like a recurring dream? Existing in the conflict of déjà vu is a sound that seems so tangible but leaves you subject to conjecture. What if this incomplete conclusion is a gift? A therapeutic tool to simultaneously celebrate the aesthetics of an era while providing the soundtrack to a re-imagining of your youth. Discarding the disappointments of being "brought up" in whatever bizarre and unfortunate way you were as a little kid in the 80's, comes a sound that dismisses that, even if it's just for a few moments.
Musical interpretation is a freedom I have a great respect for. A loyal representative to an endless assignment of moments, meanings and character. The music of Makeup and Vanity Set has given me a unique freedom to conceptualize what an alternative past should sound like. One omnipresent in a tidal wave of synthesizer drenched, fever dream, pop music. A retrofuture created by an artist of the same age and time as an ally to provide a disenfranchised kid a moment of solace as an adult.
Makeup and Vanity Set or MAVS, is the brainchild of Nashville, Tennessee electronic musician Matthew Putsi. I hadn't really listened to much electronic music before except for some 70's synthesizer music like Tangerine Dream and Jean-Michel Jarre. I first heard MAVS by listening to "Zombi Radio" on one of those music streaming services. Zombi is a heavy synthesizer and drums band from Pittsburgh. I will definitely write about their highly recommended debut LP Cosmos soon. In my navigation through this station and further research, I've found all kinds of eclectic synth driven music. It's been a blast unexpectedly discovering this world of electronic music so late in life. I especially love listening to it when I have to be awake super early or when I'm tired. A great synthesizer sound when you're half awake is my ideal meditation. It's like a magic trick for your ears. One genre I've fallen upon is called "Synthwave." MAVS is often categorized and regarded as being one of the early contributors of "Synthwave."
So what the fuck is Synthwave? I like to call it "nerd disco." It's a 2010's and beyond music genre obviously dominated by vintage synthesizers that surfs the wave of 80's kitsch. This kind of kitsch can be super fun for a quick entertainment fix. Wikipedia states it as
"An electronic music microgenre that is based predominantly on the music associated with action, science-fiction, and horror film soundtracks of the 1980s. Other influences are drawn from that decade's art and video games. Synthwave musicians often espouse nostalgia for 1980s culture and attempt to capture the era's atmosphere and celebrate it."
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| Generic "Synthwave" graphic |
Synthwave's identity is intentionally cliche. Pushing nostalgia like a cheap bag of smack onto retro junkies. Pimping out the images of Lamborghinis, palm trees, sunsets and grid patterns like an new wave hooker.
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My favorite "Synthwave" ripper that isn't MAVS is Gunship's Dark all day! This amazing song and video features Tim Cappello on saxophone! The sexy sax man from the movie Lost Boys! Do yourself a favor and check it out below! Also check out MAVS killer remix of the Gunship song "Black Sun On The Horizon!"
88:88 is a soundtrack to the short 14 minute movie directed by Joey Ciccoline. It stars Rachael Kahne as the main character, Val. The movie starts with a visual of a phone going to voicemail sitting next a record player. A clue to subconsciously key you into the soundtrack. The voicemail is from the doctor's office seeing if they can re-schedule all her missing appointments. Medical attention is futile in this plot. As the distant lurking of a plucking synthesizer prods along, Val opens a letter of a test result that finds night terrors and/or sleep paralysis inconclusive. As the day turns to night, we see a beautiful and foreboding sunset. Val then boards up her house prepping for some sort of bizarre impending doom. Val is getting ready to try and sleep by popping some pills then ratchet strapping herself to the bed. Once she falls asleep, you see her digital clock next to her bed read
This is when the real freaky shit starts to happen! Watch the full movie below
88:88 was originally released on May 31st, 2012 on Telefuture
records and re-issued on Electric Dream Records in 2019. From their
social media page, the Telefuture records describes itself and their
motto as follows...
"Decades ago, many of us had a solid vision of what the future would be, but with time it faded from our memories as we moved into the present. Telefuture serves an audio-visual celebration of the ideas and technology born in the 1980s that hopes to keep these visions alive. We aim to release music both reminiscent of a time when a certain amount of magic hid behind sealed packages, and when holding an album in your hands meant more than the clicking of a button. A time that held a certain amount of excitement and anticipation for the moment you discovered your yet-to-be new favorite album. This site serves as an homage to those keeping a distant memory alive by preserving the things we thought would last forever. To both honor relics of the past and push them forward into a modern world."
Because of its relationship to Telefuture records, MAVS often times finds itself compartmentalized among the artists who gladly embrace "Synthwave" tropes. MAVS however refuses to use that imagery and label itself what so ever. Pusti has cleverly left out any description and genre of his music on his website, Bandcamp and social media pages. I believe over time his refusal to go on record and define MAVS has benefited his music, career and longevity. His Instagram page simply states "Matthew Pusti - film/tv/podcast composer." His ability to be versatile has led him on the path to being a very sought out electronic music composer. However I did love his old tag line, "fantasy arpeggios with drum machines and ski masks."
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| Matthew Pusti - IMDb photo |
It's true, arpeggios are an intrinsic element to
the synthetic landscape that is Makeup and Vanity Set. Arpeggios are a
unique way of playing a musical scale. The difference between a scale and an
arpeggio is that a scale moves from one note to the next while an
arpeggio jumps over notes.
MAVS approach of using synthesizers to create a lush spattering of staccato driven arpeggios, is like the night being lit up by fireflies.
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| Fireflies in a cedar forest in Tamba, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. Photograph: Nori Yuasa/Getty Images |
"Collapse" seems like a setup for what could be considered a new technique in autonomous sensory meridian response? A serene build up of eighth note synth arpeggios and driving tom drums. It sets the tone and perfect moment to drop Val's ethereal whispering voice, "and I still feel you" followed by an unsettling heartbeat sound. The first time I heard this, I had an involuntarily reaction of chills. The ultimate goal in music stimulation achieved!
"Homecoming" is synth pop gold. It exists in my alternate universe of hit songs. It features the vocals of fellow Nashville, Tennessee native, Jasmin Kaset. Her calming vocal timbre is an inviting and approachable alternative to extreme or over sung vocals. Her minimal range seems like a serendipitous compliment to the oneiric composition, while her lyrics are like a poetry reading inside your subconsciousness. One of the stand out pieces of ear candy in this song has to be the quarter note electric tom hits at the end of the verses. Evoking the spirit of a million air drummers to a Phil Collins drum fill. This musical duo has really hit on something special to me. So much so that when they released their own self titled album under the name YOU DRIVE on August 3, 2018, I immediately bought it. I've been listening to it religiously since. This is definitely a record for another post. Stay tuned.
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| You Drive - Self Titled - YK Records |
"Nothing Can Stop Us Now" begins right out of the gate like releasing a pinball from its plunger directly into a multiball! Thrusting you right into the sensory overload of a well deserved triumph! Like a Choose Your Own Adventure Book inside the 80's most ambitious pinball machine of your imagination! When "you're the star of the story," there's no wrong page to turn to and you can't help yourself but to uncover every ending.
Despite my attempts at interpreting this record, there is an interview with Matthew Pusti about 88:88 on the podcast Paradise Arcade. The hosts talk to electronic musicians about their creations. They do a track-by-track breakdown of significant albums with insights directly from the artists. Pusti talks through the origin of the record, the individual track creation, the artwork and all points in between.
The insight I gather from this episode is how eloquently Pusti speaks about the conceptualization behind creating this score and the inspiration behind it. From being exposed as a kid to Vivaldi's Four Seasons by his dad, this gave him an understanding of arpeggios and ostinatos over a bass note. This planted a seed in him as a foundation into understanding melodic diversity.
In relation to the intention of his sound, he believes that he owes a debt to the 80's in its "boundless enthusiasm for fantasy." Drawing from the spirit of movies like Never Ending Story, Flight of the Navigator and Masters of the Universe.
He also has a great admiration for composers like Hans Zimmer and his soundtrack to The Thin Red Line, John Carpenter's "weirdest tracks" on movies like Escape From New York and James Horner's crazy "synth dives" in the ridiculous Schwarzenegger movie, Red Heat.
Pusti's personal vision of the short film 88:88 is one that pays homage to movies like Alien and Evil Dead 2. Movies where characters are hunted but strive to persevere. 88:88 is bound by tension, creating atmospheres where the lulling of tom drums fade in like old metal songs. Vinyl surface noise and crickets hum in the background in alliance with trepidation. Where dominant anxieties find closure in the catharsis of the final moments of the record.
Listen to the full podcast below!
https://www.yewknee.com/blog/audit-refrain-mavs-8888
A few months before Covid 19 impacted all of our lives, I was lucky enough to see MAVS live in Seattle on November 22, 2019 at The Highline. It was part of a Synthwave event called "Neon Rose Fest." I had never been to a full on Synthwave show before. I felt like the odd man out a bit. I usually play or see extreme or brutal underground bands at The Highline. However MAVS went far beyond my expectations! With a black ski mask in tow, MAVS put on a commanding exhibition of synthesizer supremecy! Watch the video I took below!
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