Moods 34: Operative
March 2021 is mixed by Operative (@operativemusic / Jon Sax), a booking agent for Liaison Artists and a Michigan-native now Bay Area-based DJ and budding data scientist. Sax takes us on a synthetic ride of saturated colors built from synthwave classics. Read up below to learn more about the mix.
The Mix
Night Flight Reprise - Franc Moody
Fearless Generation - Sellorekt/LA Dreams
Miami Nice Pt. 1 - Lifelike
Nocturnal - The Midnight
The Algorithm - Droid Bishop
Slow Drip - De Lorra
The Equalizer - The Midnight
Let Us - De Lorra
Night Train - Mitch Murder
Atlantic Drift - admo
Echoes in Time - Lucy in Disguise
Looping State of Mind (Junior Boys Remix) - The Field
It Was Only a Dream - Timecop1983
Light Years - Droid Bishop
New Tomorrow - Miami Nights 1984
Beta Girl Lost in Forever - Sellorekt/LA Dreams
Arcade Summer - FM-84
Stunner - Droid Bishop
Black Ice - Volt Age, Jakob Betke
Electric City - Droid Bishop
Feel It - Power Glove
Astral Projection - Miami Nights 1984
Bleed - George Clanton
Speeder - Cinnamon Chasers
The Crash - Sellorekt/LA Dreams
'86 Turbo Quest - Sellorekt/LA Dreams
Jason - The Midnight
Broken Clouds - Gaussian Curve
The Questions
“Synthwave has been in my periphery for as long as I can remember,” Jon notes, “but I’ve only really leaned into the genre in 2019 and 2020. In the 90s, my family frequented a restaurant/arcade on Detroit’s East Side called Club 500. A lot of the music in this mix, and the synthwave I continue to discover, reminds me of both the arcade games’ original soundtracks, and the various 1980s artwork that lined the walls of that building.
“The mix is split into three chapters, enveloped by four interludes. The first chapter, while having a couple fireworks at the beginning, tapers off into a relaxing stretch of chillwave. The second chapter is mainline synthwave, diving deep into a sea of multi-layered melodies that make the genre so distinctive. The final chapter takes the energy and tempo into turbo drive, with a sprinkle of vaporwave and 90s nostalgia.”
Where geographically, did you grow up?
I was born and raised in suburban Detroit, and attended The University of Michigan for undergrad. I moved to Washington, DC after college, and I’ve been in San Francisco for the last eight years.
Can you pick one song in the mix and explain where you first listened to it?
“Light Years” by Droid Bishop (the first song in the second chapter of the mix). I got a flat tire on Market Street in San Francisco, and was fortunately close to my favorite bike shop, Huckleberry Bikes. While I stopped in to get my bike tube replaced, I heard the song, and immediately shazam’d it. The store clerk grinned and said, “this is a synthwave household.” That was in January of 2020, and that moment ignited a huge era of synthwave crate digging for me. It’s an era I’m still enjoying.
Who “introduced” you to these songs? Was it a person, a radio station, a CD?
My first introduction to synthwave must have either been at Club 500, or any of the various Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, and N64 games I played in the 1990s.
Where and when did you first hear techno? Who did it sound like it was for?
I first heard techno at Movement Festival in Detroit in 2003. Jeff Mills was headlining. My life has never been the same since that weekend. Being in a concrete bowl with thousands of strangers as far as the eye could see, everyone smiling and dancing in unison. I had an overwhelming feeling of unity and inclusion that I had never felt before on a dancefloor. It’s music for everyone!
You’ve got the microphone. What do you want to say to the techno community?
If you enjoy a certain genre of anything (not just music), feed your curiosity, even if it’s challenging to maintain.
The Money
Jon moved his Mix commission to Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio (PPSWO). In Jon’s words, “[t]here’s still tremendous work to be done in the region where Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana meet. There, Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio continues to battle local and federal opponents of Women’s Health. 175 million women live in the United States, and their inalienable rights should not fluctuate by location.” Go ahead and match our $40 contribution here.
The Art
We also paired Jon’s mix with a seminal sci-fi piece Syd Mead, who is arguably one of the most influential visual artists that defined a future asthetic for the film and fashion industry (from Blade Runner to Playboy). Both Mead and Sax have a deep interest in building a future that's somehow grounded in an 80s asethetic; mod, mystic, moving. To read up on Mead’s legacy, head here.