VARIOUS ARTISTS
‘Synthematika 3'
SYNTHEMATIKA

Let's face it, futurepop is an awfully ironic tag for two reasons: After fifteen years the majority of futurepop bands now sound quite retro, and now that we are living in the future we can look at the pop scene and find it as dull and artistically void as the machine-generated pornography of Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. But with labels like Synthematika still cultivating some great talent in the ebm and future pop scenes it isn't hard to understand while the tag still has a lot of appeal.

With a line-up of thirty-seven bands on the latest compilation from the label it is evident that the pop and dance orientated ends of the electronic music section are still in good health with a wealth of lesser known artists from across the world still creating catch electro music.
Stand-out tracks in the massive 180 minute running time include ‘Puppet Love' by Dreams Divide, ‘Rain' by Observe & Control, ‘Till I Get You' by Mind:|:Shredder, and ‘Insane' by Mind.Area. Yet the majority of tracks featured here would easily find themselves a welcome addition to any club play list with their emphasis on dance beats and catchy melodies.
Though there doesn't seem to be any coherent construction to the running order of the songs there's very little in the way of jarring transitions between songs, which makes this an overall easy listen as well.
The production of the tracks does vary somewhat with the more established bands obviously having a more polished sound, but the final mastering seems to have filed-off the rougher edges to at least give the rougher songs a little clean up.

As far as compilations got ‘Synthematika 3' gives you plenty to get your teeth into. While it is biased towards dance-orientated tracks it does present a great cross-section of underground talent from around the world, which alone is worth the modest download price.

[4/5]