December 2011

And so we reach the end of what was a fantastic year for Glasgow. Both the quality and quantity of music coming out of the city was at times truly astonishing and as we look towards 2012 we couldn’t be more excited at what lies ahead. Over the past twelve months we’ve seen new producers find their feet, established names soar and entirely fresh up and comers take us by surprise. Sifting through a year’s worth of music was certainly not easy and inevitably there were tunes we wanted to desperately fit in but couldn’t. We do however feel that the list below represents some of the most important tunes of the year with regards to new sounds, certified club smashes and songs you might have missed. With 2011 literally bursting at the seams with talent we can only assume that 2012 is going to be nothing short of spectacular…

We really are spoiled for choice this New Year’s Eve in Glasgow. With some of your favourite clubs pulling out all the stops to make sure the biggest night of the year is one you’ll never forget there really is no excuse to not venture out into the throng of Hogmanay revellers. With the right DJ and a large group of friends around you, counting down the bells on a packed dancefloor can be one of the best experiences of your life, and, following on from last year’s extremely successful Big Trouble In A Little Warehouse, eclectic club connoisseurs One More Tune promise to give you just that. Returning to SWG3 for what is shaping up to be one hell of a party they have enlisted mysterious Italian duo Tiger & Woods for an exclusive live performance which promises to be truly spell-binding. Quite possibly the freshest, groove-rendering sound in modern disco you’ll find your knees buckling to some of the down-right sexiest basslines going.

In keeping with their exceptional approach to pre-party promotion you will have found an all-star cast of guests featuring on a special Vitamins NYE show on Subcity Radio last night. It’s not every day you find the likes of Number’sJackmaster, Lucky Me’sBamboo Palace and All Caps going back to back on student radio, but as we know Vitamins pull out all the stops when there’s a party to prepare for, and boy, is there a party to prepare for. This New Year’s Eve Numbers and Vitamins are joining forces to bring you a super-hype night of out and out party music at Stereo, enlisting the likes of S-Type, Nok La Rok and All Caps to get your 20-12 bounce on.

If there’s one producer from 2011 that has never failed to capture our imagination it’s Cur$es. Announcing himself with the sit-up-and-take-notice ‘Solar Temple’ LP in July we were instantly captivated by his quite fascinating sound. Bringing together a delicate mixture of swirling ambient synths and shuddering bass, we’ve found ourselves time and time again becoming lost in his quite exceptional vision of modern electronic music. With the release of single ‘Hemisphere’ in October we were officially smitten and now, with Christmas but a few days away we have again found ourselves transfixed in translucent bliss by his latest EP.

Perhaps one of the hardest working men in the business, Martyn Henderson aka Mas# has had an incredible year as both presenter of his own show at Capital FM and producer of some truly exceptional music. Earlier in the year he served up the ghostly-grooving ‘Somebody’s Property’ and this week he turns out something equally ethereal in ‘Horn Of Africa’.

It’s perhaps only right that given the time of year we get some things for free and after hyping up Mia Dora’s remix of Roots Manuva’s ‘Get The Get’ for months it now gives us great pleasure to announce that the fine people over at Ninja Tune are giving it away gratis.

"The last few weeks have been frustrating – I feel like an apology and explanation is in order. Obviously any regular visitors to Synth will have noticed an abrupt halt in content going up on the site over the last month, something which could not be avoided unfortunately. After building the reputation of Synth over the last year, forming contacts, friendships and foundations it was of great anguish that I had to stop without much notification as too why."