Synthwave: A Genre I Discovered by Accident.

How did I accidentally discover synthwave? Here’s the story..

Even though I stopped practicing Christianity back in the ’90’s, there are some Christian bands and music from the ’80’s and ’90’s that I still like, or, at least, still remember.

One of them is an extremely heavy industrial group called Under Midnight. I never got into this group much, or industrial music in general, except for a couple tracks by Nine Inch Nails and KMFDM, but still decided to look up this band. I wanted to listen to them for a bit because I was thinking of getting back into creating experimental music on my computer, and wanted some inspiration.

Here is a track by Under Midnight. If you want to damage your brain, give it a listen.  This is NOT synthwave.

Yeah.. well, I never really did get into that band a whole lot, but anyway..

When I went looking for this band on youtube, I found another called The Midnight. And I had a Eureka moment.

Why?

I really really liked the retro synth music in the second season of “Stranger Things.” I don’t remember who composed and recorded that music, but The Midnight captured a similar sound and mood. I looked up the band on wikipedia, and that was where I came across the term “synthwave.” Sort of an ’80’s new wave revival, but more ethereal than a lot of ’80’s synth pop. It’s really beautiful music, I think. Best for late night listening.

I’m going to include a few bands in this post. I shall start with two by The Midnight. There is a genius of a film editor, called Naani, who makes fan videos of this group’s songs, using clips from various films.

Here is my favorite, with images from “Bladerunner 2049.” I’ve having some trouble with youtube, so you might have to click on the link to see and hear the video. I don’t know what is going here..

Here’s another.. the film clips are not from a sci-fi film, which is too bad, but the song is great, and the video is good enough. Scenes from a comedy called “Career Opportunities,” which was released in 1991. Jennifer Connelly was one of the most attractive women on the planet back then..

This video was made by the same person who made the first one.

The singer of The Midnight, Tyler Lyle, has recorded some music as a solo artist. It is not synthwave, but good. This is my favorite of his, so far.. (Audio only).

Ok.. back to the synthwave music..

Before I go any further with more videos, I want to point out that synthwave bands tend to use almost the exact same beats as each other, and the same keyboard sounds in a lot of their music. Some synthwave music I have even found to be boring. But there are definitely some gems.. if this is what you are in the mood for.

Next is a band called Gunship..

(Audio only)..

Here’s one more from Gunship:

There’s one more band I want to include in this post. It doesn’t have the best name, but that is alright..

Timecop 1983.. This song sounds more ’80’s than any other synthwave  I’ve heard.

One more from Timecop 1983. This one is from a youtube channel I just discovered called NewRetroWave. I will put a link to the channel near the bottom of the post.

And here is the last tune for this post..

That ought to get you started on your journey into synthwave, a genre you might not have known existed.  I hope you enjoyed this introduction. If you want more..

https://www.youtube.com/user/NewRetroWave

I have many more music posts planned. Stop by again sometime…