Rival Consoles

Rival Consoles is a synthesizer musician based in Brooklyn, NY. He composes ambient and minimal techno by layering analogue synths with acoustic instruments, creating atmospheric soundscapes for film, television, and concert halls.

Rival Consoles makes synthesisers sound human and atmospheric, often drafting early ideas on acoustic instruments like guitar or piano before channeling them through his synth rig. His style merges ambient, shoegaze, minimal techno, and cinematic approaches using analogue synths, pedals, and degraded processes. Over a career spanning the late 2000s to now, he's conjured tense melancholia for Black Mirror soundtracks, played for thousands at Drumsheds, and sold out the Barbican Hall. His work has become increasingly conceptual—albums like Howl focus on restricted palettes of sound, while Overflow explored technology and social media. The animating thread is emotional specificity: even when the hardware gets complex, the song lives first.