Retrowave/Synthwave

KingGeedorah said:
This songs alright I guess
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There's a difference between vaporwave and synthwave.

Vaporwave is more dreamy and ironic, influenced by shoegazing and usually sample-based. Synthwave is less ironic, based off of original compositions, and influenced by the synth-tastic film scores of the 1980s.

There's, like a million different subgenres of this stuff.
 
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StarvingAutist said:
There's a difference between vaporwave and synthwave.

Vaporwave is more dreamy and ironic, influenced by shoegazing and usually sample-based. Synthwave is less ironic, based off of original compositions, and influenced by the synth-tastic film scores of the 1980s.

There's, like a million different subgenres of this stuff.
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You could also think of them on the musical hardness scale (rock is harder than pop, metal is harder than rock, ect.) Synthwave is a step or two harder than vaporwave. In addition, synthwave is influenced by modern electronic music, cyberpunk science fiction, and new wave. Vaporwave is influenced by disco, funk, and smooth jazz and tends to have much lighter visuals and a definite 80s Japanese influence. There's quite a bit of difference.
 
I just can't not mention Perturbator in a retrowave thread - he's my favourite musician of this genre. He calls his own music "darksynth", though, and it's dark enough to get him invitations to perform at death metal festivals.

https://soundcloud.com/https%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fperturbator%2Fperturbator-angel-dust
https://soundcloud.com/https%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fperturbator%2Fperturbator-perturbators-theme
https://soundcloud.com/https%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fnew-retro-wave-pt-5%2Fperturbator-creature
https://soundcloud.com/https%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fperturbator%2Fperturbator-future-club

His latest album, "The Uncanny Valley" is less synth-y and more (grim)dark compared to his other work.
 
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My favorite, underrated, Synthwave release.

Also, check out The Wrath Of Code.

Both are free to download!
 
Is this too oldschool? Is it synthwave, if it was written before the turn of the millenium? Is irony a requirement of the genre?
 
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We gotta drop the godfather of synth here...

That OST is bomb.

Edit:
Also am throwing in this Kuedo track thats an homage to BR,
 
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glad to see perturbator and miami nights 1984 here.
savant doesn't typically make stuff like this, and it's not necessarily the best example of retrowave/synthwave, but there are heavy influences in there. the whole album is pretty good imo, especially since the guy himself said he's not an experienced singer(i like the vocals quite a bit and think they're pretty good all things considered)
 

This is the best videoclip I've seen this year.

I like this kind of music. However, I don't know much about its subgenres and styles. Absinthe mentioned a scale of hardness, which I think it's interesting. Some of these artists sound pretty different even if they're in the same genre. For example, Mitch Murder (softer) and Carpenter Brut (harder).
 
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Synth/Retrowave is my main shit. I listen to this shit like it's crack. Retrological 2.0 is probably my all time favorite synthwave album. I really dig those beats. Also Synth-rap needs to be more of a thing

Mister Moo said:
Is this too oldschool? Is it synthwave, if it was written before the turn of the millenium? Is irony a requirement of the genre?
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Synthwave is very reminiscent of retro synth, but it usually isn't 100% like it. Some artists strive to get as close to as possible to that retro feel, others like Perturbator and Carpenter Brut have been doing their own thing.
 
Just got like 7 new fucking Synthwave albums, please send help. All of it's worth it though, finally got around to buying Power Glove's 2 EPs instead of going on Youtube for them. So damn good. Also got around to buying Station Nova by Waveshaper who did two of my favorite tracks in the Furi album and it's pretty sex. Also got another JK/47 album and it's absolutely top tier shit.

sharky said:
I love this genre of music sooooooo much. It's like it took my favorite things about new wave and elevated it to an even more refined state.

Does this count? I'm not sure. Sorry if not, but hey, it's groovy.

edit: I said genre like eight times in the original post.

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That's sounds like some synth/chillwave leaning a bit more towards chill. Pretty good shit though either way.
 
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DatBepisTho said:
@GeorgeDaMoose I just bought that Waveshaper album on Friday! It's a good one.

Has anyone peeped Dance with The Dead's shit?
Shit's good and I love this album but it's too short.:'(
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Yeah Waveshaper seems to be really good at channeling the "retro" part of retrowave.
As for Dance with the Dead, I don't own any of their albums, but I listen to Near Dark every once in awhile. I plan on getting it eventually, but I have a few more synthwave albums I'd like to knock off my wishlist before I do that. I was actually introduced to them by this vid which I see get posted around a bunch every now and then.
 
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