David Schuler isn't a big name around here, but he's had a pretty good run so far, working with names like John Legend, Ke$ha and Pink as both producer and songwriter. 2018 marks the year where his independent synthwave project The Bad Dreamers made a splash with this debut record in the final quarter of the year, and as far as contemporary R&B / pop stuff goes it hits you square in the jaw. Nothing too deep in the lyrical deparment, but the arrangements are awesome and the hooks even better.

The variety is worth nothing too: 'Part Time God' has a stellar New Order meets Chemical Brothers industrial flair, but he can still bring in that yummy 80's soundtrack gorgonzola on cuts like 'How To Disappear' and the undulating sax-sampled hook that elevates 'Somewhere In This City' into a serious jam.

Synthwave as a genre is beginning to move past its most blatant 2012 Drive soundtrack roots and become something more varied yet contemporary. You hear hints of it in the mainstream, but this Bad Dreamers debut is one of the first major albums to blur the lines successfully between mainstream pop and synthwave to the point where it disappears completely. Super poppy, but it rules if your in the kinda mood.