Mat Smith

Five synth-driven gems from the 1980s that captured the paranoia and effervescent pop of the nuclear age – tales of tension, technology, hope and fear, as told by the artists themselves

Anna Jordan, aka The Allegorist, conjures brooding synthscapes with cinematic flair. Her new project, a conceptual meditation on “the spectrum of life”, is a thoroughly scintillating tour de force

Mashing up trip hop, drum ’n’ bass, techno, metal and drill, Bristol’s Scaler unleash a pounding sonic brew

Early 1980s synthpop outfit The Mood should have been contenders, but misfortune and mismanagement got in the way.

Having met at an Aphex Twin listening party – as you do – New York’s AM Boys deploy synths, drum machines and vocoders to craft enticingly languid pop and electronic instrumentals, imbued with all-essential “space echo”