If you could go back in time and tell seventeen-year-old me—a person who thought the height of musical taste and knowledge was getting drunk in the daytime, going to All Ages hardcore shows at night, and hitting the pit like a demon—that he’d be listening to summer-filled pop music with saxophone solos in less than a decade, he’d probably tell you that you’ve got rocks in your head.
He’d also be wrong because synthwave rocks and thirty-something me can’t sing its praises enough. Synthwave as a genre movement is so much more than just shameless 80s nostalgia and a boner for retro aesthetics that ape the look of Top Gun or Terminator or The Breakfast Club. Sure, a lot of it is that, but there are a whole host of spectacular artists who write incredibly catchy tunes brimming with earworm melodies and lush compositions.
So, for your drivetime edification, here are just a few of the prime cuts. Enjoy.
Gunship – “Dark All Day”
I don’t know what I really need to say about this Gunship track. There’s the phenomenal blood-drenched video. There’s that insane, wall-of-sound bass drop. There’s Tim Cappello aka the oiled up, saxophone beefcake wearing chains from The Lost Boys. There’s Indiana herself, in the flesh. (I mean, just look at her.) So yeah, it’s an all-round banger, folks.
The Midnight – “Jason” feat. Nikki Flores
Next to the UK’s Gunship, Atlanta singer Tyler Lyle and British/Dutch producer Tim McEwan are the bonafide power-duo of synthwave. This deep cut from The Midnight’s Endless Summer LP is still my favourite track from them, purely for the monster hook and the sultry vocal performance from guest, Nikki Flores.
W O L F C L U B – “A Sea of Stars” feat. Dora Pereli
As I wrote in one of my weekly roundups, W O L F C L U B deliver “soaring melodies, shimmering synth leads, 80s saxophone, and a sultry chorus line from guest vocalist Dora Pereli” on this glorious track. It’s the “perfect rush of nostalgic impulses,” which is ultimately what synthwave is all about.
The Black Queen – “Secret Scream”
God, I love this track. Dillinger Escape Plan frontman Greg Puciato has a gnarly set of pipes, but in The Black Queen he pulls down his ferocity and leans right into sensuality. “Secret Scream” feels like something The Presets would drop in the mid-00s, after an all-nighter listening to Depeche Mode and NIN. It’s dark, it’s sexy, and yes, it fucks. Hard.
FM-84 – “Running In The Night” feat. Ollie Wride
Ollie Wride is the definitive prince of synthwave and his solo efforts were selling out shows across the Atlantic before the Seemingly Unstoppable Virus of Undisclosed Origin shut down the entire world. This track is a great example of collaboration, as producer and artist FM-84 brings a summer touch to Wride’s powerful vocal performance.
The Night Flight Orchestra – “Divinyls”
Okay, so they’re not strictly synthwave, but I give The Night Flight Orchestra a pass because what they lack in rigid adherence to the genre they more than make up in pure, unadulterated fun. This Soilwork side project is everything you want in an 80s power-pop outfit: a little glam here, a little Phil Collins there; sprinkle in some boisterous synth lines and you’ve yourself a hit.
The Midnight – “Neon Medusa”
With Horror Show, The Midnight set their sights on another staple of 80s cultural iconography: slasher film soundtracks. The spectre of the Godfather of Horror, John Carpenter, looms large over this EP but “Neon Medusa” sets itself apart by being a huge “Thriller”-esque pop juggernaut.
Gunship – “Tech Noir”
Well, here it is—the Holy Grail. Speaking of the Godfather of Horror, Carpenter shows up on the intro speech here, helping Gunship to set their post-apocalyptic mood:
“I'm recording this because this could be the last thing I'll ever say/
The city I once knew as home is teetering on the edge of radioactive oblivion/
A three-hundred thousand degree baptism by nuclear fire/
I’m not sorry, we had it coming/
A surge of white-hot atonement will be our wake-up call/
Hope for our future is now a stillborn dream/
The bombs begin to fall and I'm rushing to meet my love/
Please, remember me/
There is no more.”
Alright, enough talk, just listen. Let synthwave take you on a journey to the inner depths of “Tech Noir.”
Stream the full playlist on Spotify below: