Synthetique: A Compilation Of French Synthwave 1982-2016 CD

This superb compilation from Peripheral Minimal aims to distill 35 years of French synthwave history into one essential package. Predictably, the label has done a superb job, largely by gathering together tracks unknown to all but the most obsessive collectors. Beginning with the pulsating rhythms and ghostly melodies of Philippe Laurent's 1982 jam "Rapsode 2", the album charts the development of the French synth sound in chronological order. There are naturally a handful of killer '80s cuts, alongside a lone cut from the '90s (the alien electronics and clicking drum machine hits of And' Crystall's brilliant "Bubbles of Memories") as well as a string of revivalist cuts from the twenty-teens that bring the story bang up to date.