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It was Sunday night. I was in a crowded music venue in NYC, Bowery Ballroom, surrounded by people from all walks of life. Seriously, we couldn’t have all looked different. Punks, hipsters, emos. Some people our parents’ age, and a ton of people wearing “The Drive Jacket.” And me, head-to-toe in athleisure (duh). So, who was this musical act that brought the biggest ragtag group of people together on a school night? It was The Midnight, a synthwave band.
I’ve been on a crazy outrun/synthwave kick lately, and it’s consuming me.
Outrun. Synthwave. These words meant nothing to me a few months ago. But now, it’s literally all I’m reading about on The Internet.
What is it, you ask? Well, essentially, synthwave is a sub-genre of electronic music influenced by the 1980s (soundtracks, movies, video games) that sort of took off a few years ago, and can actually be attributed in large part to the 2011 Ryan Gosling movie Drive and the soundtrack for it. And now, it’s seeing an increase in popularity as I’ve been told the soundtrack to Stranger Things is similar (I don’t watch).
And outrun is basically the aesthetic surrounding it all. Imagine a beach promenade, palm trees, and a pink and orange sky from the sunset, and then a dark alleyway in which the hero with jeans, a leather jacket, and sunglasses saves the pretty woman from street thugs. And then they drive away in a Ferrari Testarossa.
If you like sax solos, gated reverb drums, analog synthesizers, and anything ’80s, then you’ll be all about synthwave, and personally, I think it’s the perfect music for literally any occasion.
Put on some synthwave and you’ll have a soundtrack for any activity you could imagine. It’s the ultimate driving music. Plug it in when you’re skiing. Blast it when you’re running. If you’re into music when you’re having sex, who wouldn’t want to be serenaded by synths and saxes? I listen to it when I nap. When I shower. Listening to it right now as I write pure heat content. It’s too perfect. It’s literally auditory cocaine. It’s molten hot magma pulsing from speakers and singeing your neurons.
I think, partially, what I’m finding fascinating about this sub-genre of music is it’s so new, and so few bands are doing it, so I can sit back and kind of watch it take off from the beginning. I love the Seattle grunge scene — everyone knows how #Obsessed I am with Pearl Jam — but I didn’t get to watch it take off in the late ’80s with bands like Green River, Mudhoney, Mother Love Bone, etc, that spurned the ones we all know (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden). So, the only way I’ve gotten to understand how that scene took off is through documentaries and interviews and oral history books. But with synthwave, I can watch this thing literally take off in front of me, which I find absolutely fascinating.
The other part I’m enthralled with is the whole aesthetic behind it. Everyone knows the ’80s are back. But what does that really mean? You can’t really bring back the feel of a generation, can you? You could grow a mullet, put on music on an eight-track that sounds like it’s thirty years old, but you’re still left with the fact that it’s 2018. We can never return to those simpler times. We can visit them though, sort of, through the music, the art, and the culture.
But, this synthwave music, the outrun vibe, gives a taste as to what the ’80s were like (having never lived them). It makes me think of the impermanence of a generation, and maybe my my kids will pine for a time that we’re living in now. From The Midnight’s website: “These are the days that we will return to one day in the future only in memories.” How beautiful is that?
Anyway, if you want to join me on my synthwave journey, I’ve compiled the synthwave starter-kit. Listen to the following albums:
- Journeys by Timecop1983
- Endless Summer by The Midnight
- OutRun by Kavinsky
- Turbulence by Miami Nights 1984
Plus, some solid Instagram accounts for the #aesthetic:
See you freaks in 1985..
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Boston Max
Spending my retirement fund at Trader Joe's and trying to remember to check my mailbox semi-regularly
@BostonMaxG
@boston_maxg
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A E S T H E T I C C
Ahh, glad there’s some fellow vapors on here
You guys on the coast are into some weird stuff.
What?
If you’re gonna do Kavinsky, go with Nightcall. Honestly that song is kinda what really set all this off. The Midnight has quickly become a favorite band though.
Cosigned. The Midnight has taken over my playlists in the span of 4 days
I respect this take.
“watch it take off from the beginning”…this shit’s been around for 3 years at least
Longer than that, Kavisnky has been putting out the SW since 2006.
I didn’t like the doubling down on Bachelor content that you were doing BM(though the instagram pic round up was enjoyable). Honestly, I was starting to get close to putting you on the same list as Duda and just never clicking on your articles. Then you go and do something like this…
Thanks for the new jams to get into. I had no clue what I was missing out on. Definitely going into the gym rotation.
I am a huge fan of “Drive” and the soundtrack puts me in a happy place.
I listened to a 45 minute mix last night because of this article, so im pretty much an expert on this now.
The aesthetic is very on brand and I’m all the way here for it. The music varies from Miami 80’s level of awesome to dark and weird. The dark and weird I’m not enjoying, the Miami stuff I’m all in. Tesla Boy – Spirit of the Night is the favorite.
I don’t know how to feel about this. I never liked 80s music, but enjoy the aesthetics.