Synthwave

Synthwave, also called Retrowave or outrun, 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 and Tangerine Dream are frequently cited as influences. The style is mainly instrumental, and often contain 80s 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 prominentliy 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. In this sense, it can be considered the inverse of vaporwave; while the latter expresses disdain for 80s culture, synthwave expresses nostalgia for it and attempts to capture the era's atmosphere. 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.

Synthwave (1980s)

Synthwave, also called electro-wave, are 1980s terms that describe the electronic, synthesizer-based variant of new wave and dark wave music in contrast to the more guitar-oriented variants of these genres (see cold wave and gothic rock).

Some bands that have been associated with the style were Depeche Mode,Psyche, Invisible Limits, Fortification 55, Wasted Doom, Metronic, The Eternal Afflict, Second Decay,Deine Lakaien and Drown for Resurrection

Caused by the restricted modifiability of early types of synthesizers, synthwave of the late 1970s/early 1980s often uses minimalist sound structures that have been described as minimal wave.

Another term of the style was techno-wave. In the 1980s, the term "techno" was an abbreviation of "technological" and did not describe a specific genre of house music until 1987/88.

References