Various

Coloured Vinyl, Limited Edition
All The Young Droids is a compilation that charts the underbelly of the epoch-defining sound of the synthesiser in 1980s popular music. Compiled by Philip King (previously behind All The Young Droogs, Glitterbest, and Boobs – The Junkshop Glam Discotheque), the music connects the dots between DIY synth enthusiasts grappling with cheap new gear at the tail-end of punk and aspiring songwriters inspired by the likes of Gary Numan, Depeche Mode, and Daniel Miller’s Mute Records.

Featuring rare tracks of autodidactic progressive pop, proto-techno punk, chart flops, and underground synth classics, School Daze paints a picture of beautiful failure. Complete with extensive sleeve notes by King and never-before-seen imagery, all 24 tracks were remastered by RPM’s Simon Murphy — many sourced from vinyl due to lost master tapes.

The story told in All The Young Droids is one of opportunity: the arrival of affordable analog synths and the explosion of indie labels post-1976 punk. While some dismissed this music as fake or plastic, much of it was created in bedrooms and makeshift studios with borrowed gear. In an era when major labels chased the next Sex Pistols or Clash, these artists struggled to stand out with little budget or PR. Yet, necessity bred invention.

The synthesiser, once the sound of the future, became a tool for sonic rebellion. Gerry & The Holograms used it as a sardonic weapon. In Hamburg, 16-year-old Andreas Dorau recorded Fred Vom Jupiter with classmates — a global hit later licensed to Mute. The rare English version, Fred From Jupiter, is included here.

Artists like Harry Kakoulli (ex-Squeeze) and Ian North (Neo, Milk ’n’ Cookies) embraced synths for solo projects, producing lost classics like I’m On A Rocket and We’re Not Lonely. The latter appears on a 7” sampler with John Howard’s unreleased You Will See, released April 12, 2025.

Compilation debuts abound: Sole Sister, a mysterious trio from the Scaling Triangles comp; Selwin Image from San Francisco, whose The Unknown fizzes with New Wave energy; Dream Unit’s A Drop In The Ocean, a Joy Division-esque synth wave gem; and Incandescent Luminaire’s Famous Names, a New Romantic-Synth Wave crossover.

Peta Lilly and Michael Chance’s feminist minimal wave track I Am A Time Bomb is a rediscovered revelation. On the flip side, ambitious synth-pop attempts shine: Billy London’s Woman (a Lou Reed-style sleaze anthem), and John Springate’s My Life, a dramatic, multi-part synth epic.

The dancefloor is well represented too: Design’s Premonition and Vision’s Lucifer’s Friend are minimal synth bangers. The Warlord’s The Ultimate Warlord (1978) was a proto-Hi-NRG gem later re-recorded by The Immortals. Disco Volante’s No Motion and The Microbes’ robo-funk Computer Dance add further depth.

Finally, Dee Jay Bert & Eagle’s I Am Your Master delivers Euro-accented synth terror, demanding listeners to “come to paradise!” in a chilling tone.

All The Young Droids is the first compilation to challenge the narrative that minimal synth and cold wave were the only children of early synthpop. King and School Daze Records reveal a more complex world — one where junk and treasure blur, and everything might just be science fiction.