Synthwave

For the 1980s musical term also known as electro-wave, see Synthwave (1980s).

Synthwave
Stylistic origins	New wave synthpop 1980s soundtrack music French house
Cultural origins	Mid 2000s, U.S.

Synthwave, also called Retrowave, is a musical style that emerged in the mid-2000s, influenced by 1980s soundtrack music.

Style

Musically, synthwave is heavily inspired by new wave and the soundtracks of many 1980s films, videogames, cartoons and television shows. Composers such as John Carpenter, Vangelis, and Tangerine Dream are frequently cited as influences. The style is mainly instrumental, and often contain 1980s cliché elements in the sound such as electronic drums, gated reverb, analog synthesizer bass lines and leads, all to resemble tracks from that time period. However, synthwave incorporates modern production techniques such as sidechained compression and placing the bassline and kick drum prominently in the mix as heard in modern electronic music genres such as electro house.

Aesthetically, synthwave gives a retrofuturistic perspective, emulating 1980s science fiction, action, and horror media, sometimes compared to cyberpunk. Synthwave expresses nostalgia for 1980s culture, attempting to capture the era's atmosphere and celebrate it. Examples of this aesthetic may be viewed in films and video games such as Kung Fury, Turbo Kid, Drive, Hotline Miami, and Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon.

Background

During the second half of the 2000s there was a desire among several artists to revive the sounds of the 1980s and early 1990s, particularly New Wave and synthpop. During this period, several independent record labels emerged where the main focus was releasing artists in retroesque genres similar to synthwave, such as Telefuture Records.

French acts including David Grellier's project College, his collaborative project Valerie Collective, Kavinsky, Lifelike and Anoraak are recognized as the pioneers contributing to the early synthwave sound. These early artists began creating music inspired by famous 1980s score composers, which at the time was largely associated with French house. Anoraak later stated in a 2014 interview: "American pop culture is definitely my background as a kid. I was born in 1980, so I grew up in a world taken by American music and movies". Swedish artist Mitch Murder was an early artist starting in 2009, who helped to pave the way in introducing video game music as a part of the synthwave sound. Com Truise, whose retro synthesizer-based music was first released in 2010, has also described his music as synthwave.

The release of the movie Drive in 2011, whose soundtrack featured several synthwave artists, helped drive new fans and artists inspired by it toward the genre.

Following the various influxes of new artists into the genre, several of these artists gravitated toward specific aspects of synthwave carved out by the early artists, leading to a wide variation in styles between artists who are associated with the genre. The darker sound from Kavinsky has been carried on by artists such as Power Glove, Perturbator, and Waveshaper, and the more relaxing sound brought by College, Lifelike and Anoraak is continued by artists such as Futurecop!, and Robert Parker.

Alex Westaway and Dan Haigh of the post-hardcore band Fightstar started a synthwave side project, Gunship, whose self-titled debut album was released on July 24, 2015.

Artists commonly associated with Synthwave

• Mitch Murder
• Cold Cave
• College
• Com Truise
• Electric Youth
• Futurecop!
• Kavinsky
• Perturbator
• Power Glove
• Valerie collective

Synthwave associated Websites

• NewRetroWave
• DRIVE Radio
• Those Lovely 80s Synthwaves
• Synthetix
• LIKE TOTALLY

See also

• Cyberpunk
• Cyberspace
• Retrofuturism