Rolling Synthwave/Retrowave/Outrun 2017 Thread

ahh .. as per the reddit link by calstars upthread !

missed that earlier.

and : https://www.reddit.com/r/outrun/comments/33r5mi/what_is_outrun/

sure but it makes it impossible to take any of it seriously

sorry for the irrelevant post upthread -- I thought this thread was a catch-all for old-school synth revivalism, but it looks like you're after a specific aesthetic. this outrun stuff wasn't on my radar until now, so thanks for that!

This is super thread and is possibly the king of all music to accompany exercise for that Rocky Balboa running up the steps feeling

sure but it makes it impossible to take any of it seriously

lol I mean it's just fun music it's not a thinkpiece

not if every time you listen to it you are conscious that the art makes it seem as if it was conceived as a shitpost

if you present your music as a meme it will be treated as such

also it is quite a feat for not a single person involved in that reddit thread linked upthread to mention the name Giorgio Moroder

surely you mean sergio valente?

yeah i hadn't considered kids making memes and stuff. it does straddle the "are you kidding me" line a lot of the time. i just revel in the neon vibes,

man all subgenres come with non-musical signifiers, some of which are really shitty. yeah you can judge synthwave by the crappy cover art memes just like you can judge disco by the bell-bottoms, and you're not wrong to do so, but sometimes enjoying music involves deliberately turning a blind eye to some of its worse non-musical signifiers.

This stuff deserves no discourse whatsoever. Just listen and enjoy, that's really all there is to it. Popcorn VHS fantasy music.

Trans Am's synthier stuff and aesthetics feel like a precursor to this stuff

This stuff deserves no discourse whatsoever. Just listen and enjoy, that's really all there is to it. Popcorn VHS fantasy music.

this is it for me.

i know i will tire of it, but at the moment, it's pure ear candy.
that said, the releases on blood music are a step away from the outrun material, and often use different visual templates (mainly heavy metal espeically GoST/Perturbator)

Trans Am's synthier stuff and aesthetics feel like a precursor to this stuff

― blonde redheads have more fun (upper mississippi sh@kedown)

I completely agree... Futureworld could easily be called a synthwave album.
And even Kavinsky was doing his thing before the genre really had a name.

yeah the french were on this early i feel.. see also: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41KhJgxEFFL.jpg

I also would agree, there is no discourse needed. It's nostalgia fluff, mainly. It's about your futuristic muscle car and your homemade spaceship that really works and the first love your life that dumped you and that feeling you got when you read Neuromancer for the first time.

You could tie it into late stage capitalism and the crumbling legitimacy of neoliberalism and a desire to return to simpler, more clear-cut geopolitical narratives such as those of the 80s, but I think that's overthinking it!

huh went to spotify and trans am is back with a very synthy single!

http://www.stereogum.com/1927581/trans-am-alles-verboten/music/

"And even Kavinsky was doing his thing before the genre really had a name."

didn't click until this week that the genre name, outrun, was taken from kavinskys album.

that cant be something that happens too often i.e. a genre name lifted from an album name ?

one that does not use arcade video stylings.

i've not seen this before :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCSWzt56CC0

looks like old 80s movie clips, but i dont think they are ??

warning : not for the faint hearted.

Pretty sure "outrun" comes from the old car racing video game

what I assume anyway, I don't really know

ahh, i have never heard of that game.
i guess that's where kavisnsky got the album title from.

yeah i think it's the game

this stuff feels like an outgrowth of chiptune stuff, maybe they grew tired of the limited sonic palette of chiptune stuff

Step back a few more years to '02 and you've got Thomas Bangalter's singles on Roulé and the Irreversible soundtrack, one of the tunes from which is "Outrun," though it fits less on this thread than other tunes like "Night Beats" and "Paris by Night."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhXrjQyT6ho

yeah that works ..
not heard any of TBs material before.
suspect some of the munich machine album by (dj) hell fits this groove now,
but have to be careful that we dont drift into electroclash ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4CHNIfLPd4

I need to make an workout playlist with some of these songs

This stuff gets me pumped

Some precursors to the Synthwave boom

Ural 13 Diktators (2001):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiAIor2knU0

FPU - Crockett's Theme (2003)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSdBTPoS_iU

and the granddaddy, Laserdance - Power Run (1984):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak5P_FVbs9k
"by 2017, the world economy has collapsed..."

why do synthwave people have such horrible taste in vocalists?

This is from 5yrs ago but fits the bill:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMPBXr5td0w

I like that, you don't often hear this sort of stuff in lo-fi, but it works great.

Same sort of time, same ballpark, perhaps not as much Outrun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6FD6t4lKKo

I mean the most immediate precursor is the entirety of italians do it better

I mean the most immediate precursor is the entirety of italians do it better

yup.
well kind of.
the symmetry release is definitely part of this groove.

for those that like the more laid back neon sunset vs vangelis side of this,
then the pre-blood music releases by tommy'86 and dan terminus are very worthy.

https://tommy86.bandcamp.com/ << includes some ILM fave Sally Shapiro collaborations

https://dan-terminus.bandcamp.com/

as someone who bought the neon pink Drive vinyl soundtrack, I think yes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxs6YI4yfvE

Search also: Tangerine Dream Thief soundtrack.

^precursor city

amazed that the Stranger Things soundtrack hasn't been mentioned in this thread yet

*mentions things*

Italians do it better aren't as garish and unapologetically maximalist though.. most synthwave has more in common with big room trancey house, just with 80s synth/drum soundz

(IMO/e)

Or you know the loads of hooky spacesynth instrumental cheez that's been churning out of Europe/Russia uninterrupted through the late 80s/90s/00s...

it's not clear to me that groups like Laserdance, Proxion etc ever went away

now it's the kids' turn!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcXh7SIB76A

not officially in the synthwave realm, but this track fits nicely alongside it I think.

Laserdance did disappear for fifteen years or so, but resurfaced a few months ago. They sound exactly like they did in 1987:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A1agXLbn9c

That Ural 13 Diktators track posted above has sent me down a rabbit hole of dark, dramatic techno from the early 2000s. I would've gladly swapped out EBM for that stuff if I had known it existed.

game precursors:

top gear: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAMvfv6X8xs

skyroads: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjNEtDl0Z4g

wow that Skyroads one is heady

Search also: Tangerine Dream Thief soundtrack.
― andrew m., Friday, March 3, 2017 4:18 PM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I worked with a guy super into this stuff, chiptunes, game soundtracks, also metal but anyway he had never heard of kratwerk or tangerine dream & was blown away when I played out & told him what years it came out

np: Replicant - The Reckoning. pretty good!

also zoned out to a whole afternoon of 'dungeon synth' which is a whole other thing but adjacent maybe?

link ?
and WTF is "dungeon synth".
sounds awful.
in other news.

this is the best proper synthwave album i have heard in a long time :

https://deadlyavenger.bandcamp.com/album/everyday-is-kill

massive budget production levels as this was made while making crap for high profile tv shows etc.

ok the vocals are a little silly on the vampire tip:

https://open.spotify.com/album/3kSCSwWkDmGUQeImiOiNnc?si=-VjUNR39TkimE7ybr-ifXA

here's a whole channel of dungeon synth stuff

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UChmm356a5qe1luUsoatAgjA

as with all things bm-related, i have no idea if these guys are nazis! be careful

another impressive bundle for a few quid :

https://groupees.com/synth12

looking forward to hearing quite a few of these albums (scandroid, occams laser, and facexhugger).

https://open.spotify.com/track/7osXqK8lh9HmSyi9LY6yq3?si=-tYOIgKZTr-AYY6fqCBNDw

Advisory Circle - be seeing you

dont have spotify, but isn't Advisory Circle Jon Brooks (aka King of Woolworths) ?

oh, and that bundle I linked to recently, turns out it has Richard X involvement.
one of the albums is by Nina, and it has the Richard X produced track, Beyond Memory on it, which is very lovely electro-pop vs neon sunsets track.
also, the latest facexhugger album, 'sci-fi violence' is a massive step up in sound/production values, so he clearly has learnt a few tricks over the last year.
in fact, of what I have heard so far, (scandroid, gregorio franco, meteor, facexhugger, nina, cloud battalion), its a bloody cracking bundle, even better than the last one.
and there is more to be unlocked should things go to plan.

Enjoying the Midnight today :
https://open.spotify.com/track/51gfE7P4Ewjwjab4Xe9HmC?si=LDSQ7N2YQGKqF-CKlbirvA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1wKa7TjVV4

Diggin' this one pretty good

Midnight features on a really good track with Timecop1983.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYh4yxDqpqI

Mellow one from FM-84
https://open.spotify.com/track/1znnwRl4cNhCNCfz7NjtAO?si=N0FngnF4RuqcVrwPyaXV6A

https://mindspringmemories.bandcamp.com/track/a-6

The drop at 12:15 kills

facexhugger has made all his stuff for 'name your price' :

https://facexhugger.bandcamp.com/

also, Carpenter Brut and GOST are coming to a town near me later this year.
I may have to get off my sofa to see this show.
however, I suspect I will look like the taxi service for those in the moshpit.

New Midnight album is a little cheesy and upbeat but I like it
https://open.spotify.com/album/49ItLbfOzgYIVOeIdxxrnn?si=hSMwT6pART2Ip5GsPYU2tQ

looking forward to the forthcoming perturbator 2 volume retrospective release before he moves on from synthwave.
that said, his 'new model' ep from last year was still in the same sonic world albeit with extra bass noise in the mix.

America 2 and Kids(Reprise) on The Midnight album are great!

New Futurecop! album is full of collaborations and sounds really good. Very positive vibes, fresh!
https://open.spotify.com/album/4cEg5mb75YugZ9fZn2P5yn?si=9Z_GuadkQayBXIx05ADI5Q

Yes, very nice, if not very ambitious. Thanks for posting

https://youtu.be/xGLbx52KMKs
^
Super cool synthwave mix

https://synthwave.hu/

https://daily.bandcamp.com/big-ups/perturbator-james-kent-big-ups

the new album is very goth vs synths.

being going through and thought i'd add some favourite synthwave stuff I was listening to from 2015-2018ish

Tek.Lun - From above

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzPCGvlyiK8

Evil Needle feat Sivey - Next Gen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njEjBYhGTZw

Hudson Mowhawke - Bluetooth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xD7YfXufBU

Joss Ryan - A dark tale

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w-JkP2asVU

Geotheory - Desiree (Aye)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUruLIHL-4g

J-E-T-S : pyrite blue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_kstFtns8U

Prymdplaza - Dream

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2ous6WXjmg

The Midnight's latest tour sold out a few 2000+ capacity venues, they seem to have surpassed their synthwave peers in commercial success. An interview where they talk about breaking out of the synthwave sandbox