Synthwave

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Synthwave
Other names
Stylistic origins
Cultural originsMid 2000s–early 2010s[1]
Subgenres
Electronic music
Experimental forms
Popular styles
Other topics

Synthwave is a genre of electronic music[2] influenced by 1980s film soundtracks and video games.[5][6] Beginning in the mid 2000s, the genre developed from various niche communities on the Internet, reaching wider popularity in the early 2010s.[1] Aesthetically, synthwave gives a retrofuturistic perspective, emulating 1980s science fiction, action, and horror media, sometimes compared to cyberpunk.[7] It expresses nostalgia for 1980s culture, attempting to capture the era's atmosphere and celebrate it.[8]

Style

Musically, synthwave is heavily inspired by many 1980s films, video games, and cartoons,[9] as well as composers such as John Carpenter, Vangelis, and Tangerine Dream.[5][10][11][text–source integrity?] The subgenre name "outrun" comes from the 1986 driving arcade game Out Run, which was known for its selectable soundtrack[11] and the 2013 Kavinsky's album inspired by the original game leading to the creation of the subgenre.

According to musician Perturbator (James Kent), 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.[10]

This aesthetic has been incorporated into retro themed movies and video games which have utilized Synthwave artists. According to Bryan Young's Glitchslap, one of the most notable examples of this is Power Glove's soundtrack to the 2013 video game Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon.[4] Movies like Drive (2011) and Blade Runner 2049 (2017) feature synthwave soundtracks as well, helping the genre to spread.

Background

Synthwave originates from the mid 2000s.[1] At the time, there was a desire among several artists to revive the sounds of the 1980s and early 1990s. 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, Blood Music or No Quarter Prod.

French acts including David Grellier's project College, his collaborative project Valerie Collective, Kavinsky, Lifelike[12] 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; music which was, at the time, largely associated with French house.[3] 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".[13] Swedish artist Mitch Murder, who debuted in 2009, is also recognized as an early contributor to the synthwave genre, known for his clean sound reminiscent of 1980s late-night newscast themes.[14][15] Com Truise, whose retro synthesizer-based music was first released in 2010, has also described his music as synthwave.[16][importance of example(s)?]

Popularity

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.[17][18] 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.[original research?] The darker sound from Kavinsky has been carried on by artists such as Power Glove,[19] Perturbator,[10] and Waveshaper,[20] and the more relaxing sound brought by College, Lifelike, and Anoraak is continued by artists such as Futurecop![21] and Robert Parker.[9][22][improper synthesis?]

Nerdglow's Christopher Higgins cited Electric Youth and Kavinsky as the two most popular artists in synthwave in 2014.[9]

Since 2015, synthwave has reached a broader audience from outside musicians and popular media.[23] 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.[24][importance of example(s)?] The Futurecop! track "Into Your Heart" was featured on the Cameron Crowe TV Series Roadies on June 26, 2016. The television series Stranger Things, scored by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein of the synthwave band S U R V I V E, lifted synthwave into further acclaim after positive receptions by the public and critics alike.[25][26]

Fashwave (a portmanteau of "fascist" and "synthwave"),[27] is a largely instrumental subgenre of synthwave and vaporwave, with political track titles and occasional soundbites,[28] that originated on YouTube circa 2015.[29] In 2017, Vice's Penn Bullock and Eli Penn reported on the phenomenon of self-identified fascists and alt-right members appropriating vaporwave music and aesthetics, describing fashwave as "the first fascist music that is easy enough on the ears to have mainstream appeal".[28]

List of artists

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Neuman, Julia (July 30, 2015). "The Nostalgic Allure of 'Synthwave'".
  2. ^ a b Robert (23 September 2016). "On The Synthwave Genre and Video Games". Surreal Resolution. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  3. ^ a b Neuman, Julia (July 30, 2015). "The Nostalgic Allure of 'Synthwave'". New York Observer. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
  4. ^ a b c d e Young, Bryan (25 March 2015). "Synthwave: If Tron and Megaman had a music baby". Glitchslap.com. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  5. ^ a b Hunt, Jon (9 April 2014). "We Will Rock You: Welcome To The Future. This is Synthwave". l'etoile. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  6. ^ Neuman, Julia (June 23, 2015). "A Retrowave Primer: 9 Artists Bringing Back the '80s". MTV Iggy. Archived from the original on June 23, 2015. Retrieved June 23, 2015.
  7. ^ "Perturbator - DANGEROUS DAYS". Scene Point Blank. 2014-12-01. Retrieved 2015-05-24.
  8. ^ Calvert, John (13 October 2011). "Xeno and Oaklander - Sets & Lights". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  9. ^ a b c d e Christopher Higgins (2014-07-29). "The 7 Most Essential Synthwave Artists". Nerdglow.com. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
  10. ^ a b c d e McCasker, Toby (2014-06-22). "Riding the Cyber Doom Synthwave With Perturbator | NOISEY". Noisey.vice.com. Retrieved 2015-05-19. Electronic music has lost a lot of its musicality lately. It's all drops and bass lines looped for five minutes non-stop. Back in the '80s, you had classic themes and iconic melodies. I try to take the best of '80s music and the best of what modern electro has. The 80s were the golden age of synths too, with master composers like Vangelis and Tangerine Dream, who are huge inspirations for most of us in this genre. There's this special imagery that comes up in your mind when you think about this decade. There's a lot of '80s cliché that I find to be extremely cool, like gory practical effects or over-saturated neon colours.
  11. ^ a b Lambert, Molly (2016-08-04). "Stranger Things and how Tangerine Dream soundtracked the 80s". MTV.com. Retrieved 2016-08-28. Vintage synthheads like Survive (and digital replicants alike) make music in the genre that has come to be called synthwave — or "outrun," after the 1986 driving arcade game that let players select a soundtrack (a first). Inspired by the early days of electronic music and artists like Giorgio Moroder, Vangelis, John Carpenter, and, of course, Tangerine Dream, synthwave is a postmodern take on the '80s, aiming to capture the way it feels to watch an '80s movie scored by Tangerine Dream late at night on TV more than to actually replicate their sound.
  12. ^ "Lifelike Interview: Killahbeez Exclusive". Killahbeez.com. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  13. ^ "Interview with Anoraak". Whatsonthehifi.com. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  14. ^ "Mitch Murder Profile | Rosso Corsa". Rossocorsarecords.com. 2011-04-01. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
  15. ^ a b "Catching Up with Mitch Murder, King of the 80s Revival". Vehlinggo.com. Retrieved 2016-07-29.
  16. ^ a b "Meet Com Truise: Synthwave Wunderkind". 1 September 2011. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  17. ^ Eric James Lyman (2015-01-11). "Eric James Lyman - Synthwave". Ericlyman.net. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  18. ^ "Drive at Five: Revisiting the Neon-Noir Masterpiece". Vehlinggo.com. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  19. ^ a b "Power Glove Interview: Reviving the 80s (July 2013)". Game-ost.com. 1970-01-01. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  20. ^ a b "Interview w/Waveshaper". The French Shuffle.
  21. ^ a b "Disco Unchained: Saturday Sit-down with Futurecop!". Discounchained.blogspot.se. 2014-07-05. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  22. ^ Caliandro, Christian (8 March 2015). "Dreamwave, synthwave, new retro wave. Appunti sulla nostalgia sintetica". artribune.com. Attribune. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  23. ^ Stranger Things’ score is a gateway into synthwave AV Club
  24. ^ a b Mak, Melody. "Interview: Fightstar "We're going to write new material"". Fortitude Magazine. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  25. ^ Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein Stranger Things OST, Vol. One”, Pitchfork
  26. ^ How the ‘Stranger Things’ Soundtrack Became the Show’s Secret Weapon New York Times
  27. ^ Hann, Michael (December 14, 2016). "'Fashwave': synth music co-opted by the far right". The Guardian.
  28. ^ a b Bullock, Penn; Kerry, Eli (January 30, 2017). "Trumpwave and Fashwave Are Just the Latest Disturbing Examples of the Far-Right Appropriating Electronic Music". Vice. Retrieved February 6, 2017. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  29. ^ Coleman, Jonny (December 19, 2016). ""Fashwave" Is Fascist Synthesizer Music and Yes, It's an Actual Thing". LA Weekly.
  30. ^ Pearis, Bill (22 December 2016). "French synthwave act Carpenter Brut touring North America in 2017". Brooklyn Vegan. Retrieved 2 February 2017. [...] French synthwave act Carpenter Brut touring North America in 2017 [...]
  31. ^ Misir, Timothy (8 November 2013). "Appleseed Cast Gives Memorable Moscow Concert". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 19 May 2015. [...] as the gig calendar in the capital was packed with the likes of American synthwave band Cold Cave [...]
  32. ^ "Interview with David Grellier of College and founder of the Valerie Collective 2009". Whatsonthehifi.com. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
  33. ^ Street, Kai. "7 Synthwave Artists to Soothe the Soul". The French Shuffle. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
  34. ^ Middleton, Ryan (September 1, 2016). "Premiere: Droid Bishop Difuses Glitter Wasteland 'Cold War' With Sugary, Synth-Heavy Remix". Music Times. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
  35. ^ Harrison, Andrew (August 12, 2016). "The sound of the Upside Down: Stranger Things make sinister synths mainstream". The Guardian. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  36. ^ Vehlinggo, Aaron (2016-03-06). "Everything is 'Falling into Place' with HOME". Retrieved 2017-08-28.
  37. ^ Vehlinggo, Aaron (2015-08-11). "Highway Superstar Aims High On Endgame". Retrieved 2017-09-26.
  38. ^ Deeds, Michael (2016-09-22). "'Risky and fun' Boise synthwave band Magic Sword goes on national tour". Idaho Statesman. Retrieved 2017-08-28.
  39. ^ Zistler, Andrew (2017-05-23). "Dana Jean Phoenix - Synth City". NewRetroWave. Retrieved 2017-08-28.
  40. ^ Vehlinggo, Aaron (2017-05-14). "5 Things Vehlinggo Didn't Write About That You Should Hear". Retrieved 2017-08-28.
  41. ^ Edsall, Joey (2016-11-04). "Scandroid - Self-Titled Scandroid". NewRetroWave. Retrieved 2017-09-26.

External links

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