Rolling Synthwave/Retrowave/Outrun 2017 Thread

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

I honestly didn't know about the dance music stuff like this happening in the 90s. It's great!

xp -- the composer on skyroads was a chiptune/demoscene guy iirc (a lot of the old '90s kozmic music archive stuff is in this vein as well)

most synthwave has more in common with big room trancey house, just with 80s synth/drum soundz

― a but (brimstead)

I actually don't see that at all, the structure and feel is completely different. Yes it has a few modern production tricks like compressed kicks etc, but compositionally it's a whole different thing. No mix-friendly intro/outro segments, none of the tension-release buildups for dancefloors and I don't think a lot of the topline melodies would work in club tunes - if anything this stuff specifically harks back to the mood-setting/'soundtracking' function of pre-dj culture electronic music.

i think any attempt to contextualize this stuff w/o putting video games at the center is misguided

I think there's the stuff that orbits around video game music and the stuff that orbits around John Carpenter and The Terminator

this is one of my all-time favorite games and soundtracks--the whole playlist is worth a listen imo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrdorSwShLo&index=1&list=PL8M6xAzX1w_yTSe849rxBQ58sUoGPSe4Z

maybe a little more low key than a lot of the stuff on this thread tho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTE5TmUBAnM

Siegbran, you're much more right than I.. I think I have more to say about electrohouse and plasticity and lasers and stuff but the words aren't there.

Kuedo would probably fit in based on the initial first post description

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wsN9EtzF-o

after another week of the usual suspects i'm still not fed up.

so, todays treat that i have just found on cd

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qApOLaLYZb0&t=1232s

more guitars than the outrun side of things, but definitely part of this groove.

bugger ..

https://dancewiththedead.bandcamp.com/album/the-shape

todays other treat from a couple of years ago :

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0111032182_10.jpg

download only this time, as £20 for 3 eps on 3 seperate cds is a bit mad.
some of this is totally outrun eg "L.A. Venice Bitch 80's"
apparently, carpenter brut was approached by blood music to join the labels synthwave roster as they all know each other and have worked/toured together,
but they could not see eye to eye on various things as the CB bloke can be somewhat awkward to deal with, so it all fell through.
would definitely have made for a label of choice had it happened.
will be interesting to see what blood music do when they come back into action.
label head is on a 6-9 month break after the chaos of last year, hence there is nothing available via the labels website shop.

Hasn't the Hotline Miami soundtrack come up here? It's somewhat more laidback but great top to bottom; I haven't heard any other Outrun release quite that satisfying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAM6mG6BWjw

never knew of it, cant buy it.

but will now check out MOON stuff ..

Just found a new single released by Swimware, "2 Days Til Retirement" -- https://youtu.be/LtYSFo-M5kQ

It's got guitars! And it sounds very much like its from something that would be produced by Michael Mann.

ILM's 2017 Rolling ILM's Rolling Synthwave+Retrowave+Outrun Thread 2017 Thread Spotify Playlist

https://soundcloud.com/mixmag-1/premiere-emma-glace

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