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Synthwave music is a fascinating phenomenon that emerged in the late 2000s as a homage to the 80s culture. Explore the origins and evolution of this genre, f...
- Drive – Nicolas Winding Refn
- Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon – Dean Evans and Alexandre Letendre
- Stranger Things – The Duffer Brothers
- Thor: Ragnarok – Taika Waititi
- Wolfenstein: Youngblood – Dinga Bakaba and Jerk Gustafsson
- Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot – MachineGames
The first significant representation of synthwave in mainstream culture comes from Nicolas Winding Refn’s 2011 retro-flavored film, Drive. The movie’s visual aesthetic and score are only very loosely related to synthwave, though it prominently features music from the genre’s early pioneers on its soundtrack. The prevalent use of the songs within th...
Few creations embrace and embody synthwave as fully as Ubisoft’s standalone expansion to its Far Cry 3 game, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. Every aspect of the game and its related material — from its retro-futuristic and over-the-top concept, neon-soaked promo artwork, ’80s throwback cartoon trailer, and soundtrack from synthwave stalwarts Power Glove —...
Though not explicitly part of synthwave, the retro synth soundtrack and throwback illustration style of the promo art for Netflix’s cultural sensation Stranger Thingsare just a shade away from synthwave’s own particular form of ’80s worship. The show’s viral cultural reach fully coincided with synthwave’s emergence as a large-scale music revival an...
The epic trailer for Taika Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarokhas over 73 million YouTube views to date. Hiding behind its action-packed montage is a full-blown synthwave song, Magic Sword’s “In the Face of Evil”. Recalling tracks that preceded it like Kavinsky’s “Protovision” from 2013, “In the Face of Evil” represents one of the most significant instances o...
Set in the 1980s, Bethesda Softworks’ Wolfenstein: Youngblood contains several cultural pieces related to synthwave. Its trailer notably features music from early dark synthwave pioneer Carpenter Brut with the song “Turbo Killer”, and its in-game score is a more subtly retro and not-so-distant cousin to the cinematic side of synthwave. Toss in the ...
Not coincidentally, the same developer and publisher who worked bits of synthwave into Wolfenstein: Youngblood snuck in a not-so-subtle nod to the genre with the cover art of their contemporaneously-released Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot VR game. Like Wolfenstein: Youngblood, the game itself holds little relationship to synthwave, though the cover art wi...
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The Origins of Synthwave Imagine a neon-lit street in the heart of an '80s arcade scene, the air buzzing with the symphonic harmony of electronic beats and synthesized rhythms. This is where our journey begins, in the vibrant cradle of synthwave music—a genre that encapsulates the sound, the aesthetic, and the spirit of the '80s, yet continues to thrive in today's digital era. It's a sonic ...
Jun 21, 2023 · A Youtube channel is even devoted to Carpenter-inspired synthwave (“John Carpenter Style Retro Synth Mix”). Despite a spiritual lineage to the ’80s, synthwave has little to no resemblance to the decade’s more famous genre outputs (new wave, post-punk, etc.).
Jun 20, 2021 · From a historical perspective, it's easy to understand why synthwave isn't synth pop. They are each their own rich genres of music with thousands of contributing artists, and the terms are not simply catch-alls for music made with synthesizers or synth-based music with vocals. With few real exceptions, synthwave ...
Apr 20, 2023 · Synthwave is heavily influenced by 80s synthpop and new wave music, as well as the soundtracks of video games and movies from that era. The Origins of Synthwave. The origins of synthwave can be traced back to the French house scene of the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Dec 28, 2023 · Despite only reaching prominence in the last decade, synthwave has been around significantly longer. Synthwave began on social media in the mid-2000s. Most of the genre’s prominence began to grow on sites like Myspace and YouTube, with SoundCloud somewhat slow to pick up the genre (though that’s certainly changed).
