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Some time ago I discovered the magical music genre of synthwave. It is more or less based on 80’s movie soundtrack music and influenced by other factors such as retrofuturism, chiptunes and 80’s nostalgia. The genre displays a large variety in styles. It can be quite poppy, catchy and accessible, but also very dark and abrasive.

Here are some artists I see as prime examples of this musical genre:

Trevor Something makes use of heavy vocals processing, slow plodding beats and synth sounscapes that extend to the horizon (and further). He likes writing melancholic lyrics about love, summer and use of various narcotics.

Miami Nights 1984 has the ability to immediately transfer you to 80’s Miami, palm trees whizzing by while the radio plays the perfect driving music.

Com Truise takes a more minimalistic and traditional approach, resulting in hypnotic artificialness.

Meteor is another unique artist. The songs are highly complex and clearly influenced by heavy metal, with keyboard and guitar solos and rock-style drum beats.

Dead Astronauts have a definitive darkwave and goth vibe with their cold sounding synths and combination of male and female vocals.

Don’t like soft stuff? Check out the apocalyptic sci-fi sound of Mega Drive!

If you want to listen more of this music, check out the YouTube channel of New Retro Wave, which post songs of numerous artists almost daily.