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Synthwave-Retrowave # 80s Neon music thread

retroman

retroman

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Oct 31, 2017
3,056
Kmonk said:
Really a great album with a unique sound. I've had this in constant rotation since October.
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Yeah, there are some incredibly catchy songs on that album! And to think I almost skipped it because I took a glance at the album art and figured it'd be some unremarkable vaporwave release. Glad I decided to give it a listen :)
 
Kmonk

Kmonk

#TeamThierry
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Oct 30, 2017
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retroman said:
Yeah, there are some incredibly catchy songs on that album! And to think I almost skipped it because I took a glance at the album art and figured it'd be some unremarkable vaporwave release. Glad I decided to give it a listen :)
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LMAO Super fair point- the album art is straight up not good. If I didn't already love Duett, I would have assumed it was a generic ambient album.
 
Shane

Shane

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,038
Familiar with a handful of those releases, but will check out what I missed. Thanks retroman

Also, any other releases that evoke a winter feeling? My go-to tends to be Oscillian's Escape from Antarctica.
 
AstralSphere

AstralSphere

Member
Feb 10, 2021
9,518
retroman already did an amazing job with his best of 2023 picks, so I've focused on the darker more Brut-leaning side for the folks like me who are more into that side of the synth/retrowave spectrum.

It's been an off year honestly for dark synthwave with most of the big names being pretty quiet when it comes to new productions, but there has still been some good stuff including great new albums from Acryl Madness, Sierra, Deadlife, and everyone's favourite Occams Laser.

I've collated a short Amazon playlist of tracks that really stood out to me this year (first time I've made a playlist public so bear with me if it doesn't work as intended). I'll also list it below as well for those who don't have Amazon Music. When I've more time I'll also try and find YouTube uploads and link them here. Over the next month or so I also plan to go through all of the 2023 albums and maybe do a quick ranking and review.


Listed are:

Destryur & Strngr - Flight of Fear (Das Mortal remix)
Occams Laser - Flesh & Blood
HEALTH feat. SIERRA - Hateful
SIERRA feat. Carpenter Brut - Power
DreamReaper - Juno Protocol
DEADLIFE - When Everyone Left
Acryl Madness - Unwilling Betrayal
The Crucifix feat. Dav Dralleon - Endless Tower
Kick Puncher - Dark Blood
Vector Seven - The Cult
DEADLIFE - To Be Low
GUNSHIP feat. HEALTH - Blood For The Blood God
 
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CrocM

CrocM

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,902
A friend and I kind of on a whim ended up at a label party here in NYC for a synth label called Synthicide because tickets were cheap. Lots of people dressed up in black leather feeling free to dance and be themselves. Pretty good vibes. There was a synth burlesque show of sorts, a cabaret dancer in leather with her tits out and some younger dancers wearing 80's gym gear. Overall that part was very bizarre but entertaining lol.

The music itself was...OK. We missed the first act "Semantix", the second one "Normal Bias" was just OK and the last act "Klack" was kinda bad. I felt bad for them as it was their album release and very few people were feeling it. I was disappointed by the lack of creative visuals, which I really correlate to this genre. Normal Bias just had what looked like a vaguely fantasy themed screensaver with their name on it for the entire show. As you might expect, sound mixing is extremely difficult for this music in a live environment especially when it comes to vocals. Basically you can hear people singing but can't understand a single word they say, which made me think that unless you have a great sound setup bands like this should just not do live vocals.

Anyways a fun/weird night, I lurk this thread because I like this kind of music and wanted to share.
 
TheWorthyEdge

TheWorthyEdge

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,840
Not necessarily Synthwave but I'm wanting to find out what this song is sampling…I've heard it before.

open.spotify.com

Love

BarbWalters · Song · 2023
open.spotify.com open.spotify.com
 
Kmonk

Kmonk

#TeamThierry
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Oct 30, 2017
3,707
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Boppa

Boppa

Member
Apr 4, 2020
404
So The Midnight are touring Australia atm and I was lucky enough to go to their sold out show in Melbourne last night, it's pretty well known by now that if you get a chance to see them live you should absolutely go, they are amazing normally but in the right venue they are absolutely incredible and last night really was one of the best shows I've ever seen by any artist.
 
AstralSphere

AstralSphere

Member
Feb 10, 2021
9,518
Listened to Dan Terminus's new album a few times now, and I think it's fucking excellent.

I liked Last Call, but I understand some weren't too keen on the style switch, but this is a resounding return to form and I'd put it a very close second behind Wrath of Code. Once Stargazer hits it's just non-stop killers for the rest of the runtime.

Wrath, Automated Refrains, and Gothic Engine is quite a trilogy of synthwave albums.
 
AoM

AoM

Member
Oct 31, 2017
7,362
AstralSphere said:
Listened to Dan Terminus's new album a few times now, and I think it's fucking excellent.

I liked Last Call, but I understand some weren't too keen on the style switch, but this is a resounding return to form and I'd put it a very close second behind Wrath of Code. Once Stargazer hits it's just non-stop killers for the rest of the runtime.

Wrath, Automated Refrains, and Gothic Engine is quite a trilogy of synthwave albums.
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Damn, I didn't realize he put out a new album. And it was in late February? Whoops... lol.

Last Call was such an enormous downgrade for me that it was genuinely inexplicable. Hoping you're right about the return to form.
 
AstralSphere

AstralSphere

Member
Feb 10, 2021
9,518
AoM said:
Damn, I didn't realize he put out a new album. And it was in late February? Whoops... lol.

Last Call was such an enormous downgrade for me that it was genuinely inexplicable. Hoping you're right about the return to form.
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Let us know what you think.

It surprised me too as he has been quiet for so long. Turned out he was cooking!
 
AoM

AoM

Member
Oct 31, 2017
7,362
AstralSphere said:
Let us know what you think.

It surprised me too as he has been quiet for so long. Turned out he was cooking!
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Glad you were right!

I wouldn't put it up there with TWoC and AR, but I never expected it to reach those heights. I liked all the tracks, but one issue I did have is that he overused the vocals a little, especially with just saying the name of the track lol. I think something like "Deus Mecanicus" perfected it, so it kinda felt like he was trying to recapture that magic.

But all in all, definitely a return to form after Last Call.
 
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