Synthwave / Retrowave / Vaporwave
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Synthwave / Retrowave / Vaporwave is the retro-futurist branch of electronic music, split between neon 1980s synth fantasy and internet-era nostalgia for consumer media. Synthwave and retrowave favor arpeggiated analog-style leads, gated drums, action-film tension, sports-car momentum, and glossy pop melodrama. Vaporwave slows or reframes muzak, smooth jazz, city pop, commercials, broadcast fragments, and corporate ambience into something uncanny, comic, dreamy, or critical.
History
The family came from several overlapping impulses: French electro and the Valerie Collective, 1980s film/game-score revivalism, John Carpenter and Tangerine Dream worship, online vaporwave collage, Japanese city-pop rediscovery, and Bandcamp/YouTube micro-scenes. Kavinsky, College & Electric Youth, Mitch Murder, Miami Nights 1984, Lazerhawk, Perturbator, Carpenter Brut, The Midnight, and Gunship built the synthwave side, while James Ferraro, Oneohtrix Point Never as Chuck Person, Macintosh Plus, Saint Pepsi, Yung Bae, Blank Banshee, 18 Carat Affair, and 猫 シ Corp. built the vaporwave/future-funk side. By the mid-2010s the family had spread through Drive, Hotline Miami, Stranger Things, NewRetroWave, Business Casual, Artzie Music, Vapor Memory, and countless visual-aesthetic communities.
Defining artists
Essential listening
- Nightcall(2010) — KavinskySpotifyYouTube
- A Real Hero(2010) — College & Electric YouthSpotifyYouTube
- Remember When(2011) — Mitch MurderSpotifyYouTube
- Ocean Drive(2012) — Miami Nights 1984SpotifyYouTube
- Humans Are Such Easy Prey(2014) — PerturbatorSpotifyYouTube
- Turbo Killer(2015) — Carpenter BrutSpotifyYouTube
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Sources
- Bandcamp Daily NewRetroWave profile
- Bandcamp Daily vaporwave family tree
- Pitchfork Kavinsky and Floral Shoppe reviews
- Wired Out Run feature
- Bandcamp Daily Japanese future-funk/city-pop scene report