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FREKVENCI
The archive
Guides built on the archive’s own numbers, and every page the Hub prints. Newest first. No feed, no algorithm — a list, and the chips to cut it down.
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SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
What is synthwave? A plain guide, with the numbers
Electronic music built from the sound of 1980s films, pop and arcade games. Where it came from, what it sounds like, and how big it really is, counted from our own archive.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
VAPORWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
What is vaporwave? A guide to the internet's slowed-down mall music
Slowed-down samples, shopping-centre muzak and a lot of reverb. How vaporwave started, how it splits into branches, and how much of it comes from a few tiny labels.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
BRAZIL · ARCHIVE DATA
Brazil's vaporwave and synthwave scene in data
Brazil is a small slice of the archive but a vaporwave-heavy one, with a dedicated tape label and a peak in 2021. This is what the data can and cannot show about it.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
VAPORTRAP · ARCHIVE DATA
What is vaportrap? When vaporwave met trap drums
The vaporwave branch that added drums. Where it began, why it rose fast and faded, and which labels and records show it best.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
UTOPIAN VIRTUAL · ARCHIVE DATA
What is utopian virtual? Vaporwave's bright, corporate-future side
Squeaky clean instead of woozy. How utopian virtual sounds, why its starting point is a 2011 album built as ringtones, and what the small tag looks like in the data.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthwave vs vaporwave: same neon, different music
Both love the 1980s and both love neon. One writes new songs in the old style, the other bends old recordings out of shape. Here is the difference, with release counts side by side.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthwave sub-genres explained: a map with real counts
One table that puts a number on every synthwave tag, plus an honest note on where the sources disagree about what the names mean.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthwave on vinyl, cassette and CD: formats in the data
About one listed release in six has a physical edition on file. This guide counts vinyl, tape and CD year by year, shows when each peaked, and names the labels that press them.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthwave for night drives: the sound, the stations and 10 records
A listening guide for the road after dark. Why this music fits, what makes a record good for driving, and what the outrun and retrowave tags look like in our data.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
CREATORS · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthwave for YouTube and Twitch: what you can actually use
"Copyright free" is not a licence. Here is what Content ID and Creative Commons actually say, the licence mix in our own radio pool, and a checklist to run before you publish.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
CREATORS · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthwave for game developers: licences, sources and credits
Games are where synthwave found some of its biggest audiences, and where its licences bite hardest. Here is what the Creative Commons terms mean for a build, and how real teams got their music.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthwave labels worth knowing, and which are still active
A label table built from the Frekvenci archive: how many releases each has, when it started, when it last released, and a plain rule for calling it active.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
USA · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthwave in the USA: the biggest scene in the archive
American artists account for the largest share of the archive, and most of it is not synthwave but vaporwave. Here is the split, the cities, the labels and the names.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
UK · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthwave in the UK: vocal synthwave and vaporwave
The UK has Gunship's vocal synthwave and a vaporwave scene that is more than a quarter of its catalogue. Here is what 1,205 listed releases say about it, and where the data runs out.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SWEDEN · ARCHIVE DATA
Swedish synthwave: a small country with a big sound
Sweden gave synthwave Mitch Murder, Lost Years and Sally Shapiro. Our archive shows a scene that leans towards pop, releases a lot by itself, and had a two-artist single-release surge in 2024.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
RUSSIA · ARCHIVE DATA
Russian synthwave and sovietwave: the scene in data
Russian artists in the archive lean towards vaporwave and darker sounds, with a sharp peak in 2018 and 2020. Here is the data, the sovietwave link, and what we can and cannot say.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
ITALY · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthwave in Italy: italo disco's heirs
Italy gave the world italo disco in the early 1980s. Today's Italian electronic scene mixes that heritage with plain synthwave and a surprisingly dark wing. This is the data.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
HUNGARY · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthwave from Hungary: Budapest's small, busy scene
Hungary is a very small slice of the archive, but one that can be counted name by name. Here are all 13 artists, the party series around them and the records to try first.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
FRANCE · ARCHIVE DATA
French synthwave: from French touch to darksynth
France is where most histories place the start of synthwave. Our archive shows what the French scene looks like today: its size, its darker half and the labels behind it.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
CANADA · ARCHIVE DATA
Canadian synthwave: Le Matos, Miami Nights 1984 and more
Canada's catalogue in our archive is led by vaporwave, with film-score synthwave out of Montreal and a label from British Columbia. Two artists' output also bends the yearly chart.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
AUSTRALIA · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthwave in Australia: Power Glove, italo and vaporwave
Australia's catalogue in the archive is anchored by one prolific italo-pop act and one famous game soundtrack. Here is what sits around them, and what the numbers can and cannot say.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
2026 · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthwave in 2026 so far: the year in the archive
A rolling page for the current year. The archive has 581 listed releases dated 2026 as of 18 October, which is a part year, so this is a snapshot of who is releasing, not a verdict on the year.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthwave in 2025: the latest full year in the archive, and albums to hear
The latest full year on file: 1,599 listed releases from 773 artists, and two tape labels behind 373 of them.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthwave in 2024: the year in the archive, and the albums to hear
Sixteen years after College's Secret Diary: 1,718 listed releases from 914 artists, and a tag count that put barber beats ahead of synthwave itself.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthwave in 2023: the year in the archive, and the albums to hear
A smaller, steadier scene: 1,746 listed releases on 407 labels, one artist with 43 records, and vaporwave-family releases at nearly double the synthwave count.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthwave in 2022: the year in the archive, and the albums to hear
The biggest tape label cut to a quarter of its 2021 pace, the dark family down 40%, and one small tag more than doubling.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthwave in 2021: the year in the archive, and the albums to hear
The first year after the peak: 2,238 listed releases, self-releases down by nearly a third, and a loud argument about whether synthwave was finished.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthwave in 2020: the year in the archive, and the albums to hear
The archive's busiest year: 2,597 listed releases and 675 labels, a surge in singles, and a pop hit that took synth sounds to No. 1.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthwave in 2019: the year in the archive
The first fall in the archive since 2006: 2,281 listed releases, down 7%, with 610 labels and a dead heat between the two biggest families.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthwave in 2018: the year in the archive
2,448 listed releases from 1,561 artists, and the label count did not move. More records came from the same crowd, and from artists releasing alone.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthwave in 2017: the year in the archive
A flat total hid a swap at the top: synthwave passed vaporwave as the biggest family in the archive, and the metal press noticed.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthwave in 2016: the year in the archive
A Netflix series put a synth band's music in front of a mass audience in July, while the archive counted 526 labels, nearly double the year before.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthwave in 2015: the year in the archive
A film short premiered at Cannes, one tape label supplied an eighth of the archive's year, and vaporwave passed synthwave for the first time.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthwave in 2014: the year in the archive
From 80 labels in 2012 to 112 in 2013 to 173 in 2014: the year the label list got long, and the first year of a UK dream-music label.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthwave in 2013: the year in the archive
One vaporwave label put out 33 of the year's 429 listed records, while Kavinsky's debut and a game score brought the 80s sound to a wider audience.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthwave in 2012: the year in the archive
A Miami-set shooter, a Greek producer with ten releases and 232 listed records: the year the archive more than doubled.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
A short history of synthwave, from French blogs to the charts
Where synthwave came from, who the press credits, and what the release data says happened year by year. Every milestone is either sourced or visible as a jump in our counts.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
How synthwave went mainstream: Drive, Stranger Things and Blinding Lights, against the release numbers
Every history of synthwave names the same hit film, TV show and pop single. We lined those moments up against the archive's release counts to see what each one changed, and what it did not.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthwave for studying and coding: a focus listening guide, with the numbers
Instrumental synth music is a favourite for long work sessions, but the research is more careful than the playlists. Here is what the studies say, which parts of our archive fit, and where to start.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthwave and video games: from Out Run to Hotline Miami
The arcade gave synthwave a name and an image, and indie games gave it an audience. A dated tour, then the game soundtracks we actually list.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
JAPAN · ARCHIVE DATA
Japan, city pop and vaporwave: the scene in data
Japan is vaporwave's favourite source of samples, but Japanese artists themselves are a small part of the archive. Here is what they release, and what city pop has to do with it.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthwave and 1980s film scores: Carpenter, Vangelis and the sound of the screen
Synthwave remembers the 1980s through the cinema. Which scores it borrows from, what exactly it borrows, and the new soundtracks that synthwave artists have made.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHPOP · ARCHIVE DATA
Synthpop and synthwave: where the 1980s sound meets the revival
Synthpop is the original, with songs, singers and chart hits. Synthwave is the revival, mostly instrumental. The overlap between them is where much of today's vocal music lives.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SPACESYNTH · ARCHIVE DATA
Spacesynth: the cosmic, Italian-rooted corner of synthwave
Space themes, mostly no singers, and a line back to the 1980s dance floors of Europe. Spacesynth is a small, steady strand of new releases.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SOVIETWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
What is sovietwave? Space-age nostalgia from the former USSR
A small scene with a big idea: nostalgia for a future that never arrived. What sovietwave is, where it came from, and what the archive can and cannot say about it.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SLUSHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
What is slushwave? Vaporwave stretched into ambient
The ambient branch of vaporwave. What slowing a sample to a crawl does, which labels carry the style, and the steady climb in our release data.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SIGNALWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
What is signalwave? Vaporwave made from old TV and radio broadcasts
Vaporwave at its most raw: broadcast fragments stacked until they blur. The method, the name, and one tape label that accounts for 45% of the tag.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Do it yourself: how much synthwave is self-released?
Roughly a fifth of the archive is self-released, a share that has held for a decade even as the total grew tenfold. This is the DIY scene counted year by year, with the caveats that matter.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
RETROWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Retrowave: the name, the sound and where it overlaps synthwave
Most people use the word as another name for synthwave. In the data it is a smaller, more specific thing, carried by a few dozen artists and one label family above all.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Outrun vs retrowave vs synthwave: are they the same?
Three names for what sounds like the same music. Here is where each word comes from, and how often people actually use it, counted from the tags on our archive's releases.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
OUTRUN · ARCHIVE DATA
Outrun music: the racing-game sound of synthwave
The name comes from a 1986 arcade game whose music was not synthwave at all. Here is the story of the word, and the 120 releases that carry it in our archive.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
NU-DISCO · ARCHIVE DATA
What is nu-disco? Where synthwave meets the dance floor
Four-on-the-floor grooves, filtered samples and synth melodies. What nu-disco is, how it differs from synthwave, and which labels sit in both.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
MALLSOFT · ARCHIVE DATA
What is mallsoft? The sound of an empty shopping mall
Ambient music about a place that no longer feels real. How mallsoft is made, who made it famous, and the steady line it draws in our release data.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Werkstatt Recordings: label profile and where to start
One Greek label, three catalogues: synthwave, dark electro and italo disco. Here is what the Frekvenci archive shows of Werkstatt Recordings, year by year, and ten records to begin with.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
LABEL-PROFILE · ARCHIVE DATA
Rosso Corsa Records: label profile and where to start
An independent label from British Columbia that gave outrun-leaning synthwave an early home. Here is who runs it, who it released, and what its catalogue looks like in our archive.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
RetroSynth Records: label profile and where to start
RetroSynth Records puts out synthwave at a steady clip: mostly singles, mostly from European producers, with a darker side. Here is what its 200 listed releases look like, and where to begin.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
NewRetroWave: label profile and where to start
NewRetroWave started as a website and a YouTube-era community, then became one of the busiest labels in synthwave. Here is its catalogue in numbers, and nine records to begin with.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
LABEL-PROFILE · ARCHIVE DATA
Italians Do It Better: label profile and where to start
The label of Chromatics, Desire and Johnny Jewel is better known to synthwave fans than its catalogue suggests. In our archive, most of it is synth-pop, not synthwave.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
LABEL-PROFILE · ARCHIVE DATA
Future City Records: label profile and where to start
A label that worked like a collective: 70 listed releases by 52 artists in ten years, with a clear peak in 2014 and nothing listed since 2021. Here is the shape of that run, from our data.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
FiXT Neon: label profile and where to start
FiXT Neon is where Scandroid and a small group of vocal and cyberpunk synthwave acts live. Here is its catalogue in numbers, the house sound and ten places to start.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
VAPORWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
DMT Tapes FL: label profile and where to start
One vaporwave label out-releases every synthwave label we list, several times over. Here is DMT Tapes FL in numbers: which years exploded, what the tags say, and where to start.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
VAPORWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
business casual: label profile and where to start
A long-running vaporwave label that leans toward future funk and sometimes touches synthwave. Here is what 167 listed releases look like in the Frekvenci archive, and where to start.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
LABEL-PROFILE · ARCHIVE DATA
Blood Music: label profile and where to start
A Finnish label that started with metal reissues and ended up releasing some of darksynth's best-known records. Here is what its catalogue looks like in our archive.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
VAPORWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
B O G U S // COLLECTIVE: label profile and where to start
A net label that releases a new album twice a week, by its own account. Here is how B O G U S // COLLECTIVE looks in the Frekvenci archive: what it releases, how its pace changed, and where to start.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Aztec Records: label profile and where to start
A London label that treats synthpop and synthwave as one scene. Here is what its catalogue looks like in our archive: how pop-leaning it is, how it grew, and where to start.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
ITALO DISCO · ARCHIVE DATA
Italo disco and synthwave: the 1980s sound that keeps coming back
Synth-led, drum-machine dance music from early-1980s Europe, and the producers still making it. The old story, and what the new releases look like when you count them.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
If you like Timecop1983: artists to try next
Soft, romantic synthwave from Eindhoven. The archive lists 23 Timecop1983 releases, and its label links point to a small circle of like-minded names.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SIMILAR-ARTISTS · ARCHIVE DATA
If you like The Midnight: 10 artists to try next
Saxophone, a real singer and a lot of nostalgia. If The Midnight is your way into synthwave, here are ten acts that share the songs, with a record to start on.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
If you like Survive: artists to try next
Survive made dim, analog, cinematic synth music long before Stranger Things made it famous. If you came for the score and want more, here is where our archive points.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
If you like Scandroid: artists to try next
Scandroid is Klayton's love letter to 1980s new wave, released on FiXT. The artists below share those labels, and each comes with one record to start on.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
If you like Power Glove: artists to try next
Power Glove scored a 1980s sci-fi game that never existed. These are the artists in our archive who share their labels or tags, with a record to start on for each.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
If you like Perturbator: artists to try next
Dark, fast and cyberpunk to the bone. Where the archive's labels and tags lead if Perturbator is your way in.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
FUTURE FUNK · ARCHIVE DATA
If you like Night Tempo: artists to try next
Night Tempo turned 1980s Japanese pop into dance records. Here are the future funk producers in our archive that share his labels and tags, and a starting record for each.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
If you like Mitch Murder: artists to try next
Mitch Murder makes clean, bright, melodic synth music with the feel of 1980s television and film. These are the artists in our archive that sit closest, starting with his label.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
VAPORWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
If you like Macintosh Plus: artists to try next
Floral Shoppe is the record most people mean when they say vaporwave. Where you go next depends on which part you liked, so here is a map with records.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
If you like Lazerhawk: artists to try next
Lazerhawk's Redline arrived before most of the scene had a name. If you want more of that first-wave sound, start with his label and work outward.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
If you like Kavinsky: artists to try next
A club producer whose songs ended up on every night drive. Here is where the archive's tags point if Kavinsky's records are the ones you keep returning to.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
VAPORWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
If you like haircuts for men: artists to try next
haircuts for men has 109 releases in our archive, which makes "what else?" a practical question. The answers are barber-beats neighbours, found through shared labels.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
If you like GUNSHIP: artists to try next
Big choruses, film-poster artwork and a long list of guests. Where the archive's tags point if you like GUNSHIP.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
If you like FM-84: artists to try next
Sung, bright, 1980s-pop synthwave. Four archive releases lead to a long list of neighbours; these are the ones to try first.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
DARKSYNTH · ARCHIVE DATA
If you like Dance With the Dead: artists to try next
Dance With the Dead is a band with guitars, not one producer and a laptop. Here are the artists in our archive that sit nearest, and where to start with each.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
If you like Com Truise: artists to try next
Com Truise sits between chillwave and synthwave, slower and stranger than most of either. Where the archive's tags lead from there, with a record to start on each.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
If you like Carpenter Brut: artists to try next
Horror, metal and electro in one French project. The archive's tags and labels give three ways out from Carpenter Brut.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
CREATIVE-COMMONS · ARCHIVE DATA
How to credit Creative Commons music, with copy-paste examples
Four things to name, three places to put them, and credit lines you can adapt. Plus the licence letters that decide whether you can use a track at all.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
How synthwave is made: the sounds, the gear, the tricks
Synthwave sounds like a tidy recipe, and it nearly is: five parts, a handful of 1980s machines everyone imitates, and a few mixing habits, with the gear facts checked against manufacturer and studio sources.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
HORRORSYNTH · ARCHIVE DATA
What is horrorsynth? Synthwave for the slasher-movie crowd
Synthwave with the lights off. What the tag means, where the sound comes from, and how small and concentrated horrorsynth turns out to be when you count it.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
HARDVAPOUR · ARCHIVE DATA
What is hardvapour? Vaporwave's loud, fast backlash
A joke that turned into a genre. Where hardvapour came from in late 2015, what it sounds like, and the few dozen records the archive can show.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
FUTURE FUNK · ARCHIVE DATA
Future funk: vaporwave's dance floor, explained
Vaporwave you can dance to. How future funk borrowed from city pop and French house, how its release curve rose and fell, and the few labels that built it.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Free synthwave for videos and streams: the Creative Commons way
Free to listen is not the same as free to use. Here is what each Creative Commons letter allows, what the licences on our radio really look like, and the credit line to copy.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
25 essential synthwave artists, and where to start with each
No ranking, because no honest ranking exists. Twenty-five artists grouped by what they sound like, with catalogue size from our archive and one record to start on.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
ECCOJAMS · ARCHIVE DATA
What are eccojams? The looped, slowed edits that started vaporwave
One simple trick, loop a moment, slow it down, add echo, and the template for a whole genre. The 2010 tape that began it and the people still making eccojams.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
DREAMWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Dreamwave: synthwave's soft, nostalgic side
A mood more than a style. Almost nobody uses the word dreamwave as a tag, yet 833 releases in our archive sit in its family. Here is what that family really contains.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
DREAMPUNK · ARCHIVE DATA
What is dreampunk? Vaporwave's dark, cinematic dream
Ambient, neon-lit, closer to a film than a beat tape. Where the name came from, how the sound is described, and why the label behind it is not the biggest in our data.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
DREAMPOP · ARCHIVE DATA
Dream pop and synthwave: the shoegaze-adjacent overlap
A small, honest page. What dream pop is, where it touches synthwave and dreamwave, and the few dozen records in the Frekvenci archive that carry both worlds.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
DARKWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Darkwave vs darksynth: two dark genres people mix up
One is gloomy 1980s post-punk with synthesizers, the other is 2010s synthwave gone heavy. In our archive, they share almost all their releases, and that is the interesting part.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
DARKSYNTH · ARCHIVE DATA
What is darksynth? The heavy, horror-lit side of synthwave
Synthwave with distortion, dread and metal in its blood. What darksynth borrows, how it differs from darkwave and horrorsynth, and why our archive's darksynth family is mostly filed under another word.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
CHILLWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
Chillwave explained: the hazy 2009 sound and what followed
A joke name from a blog, a hazy sound, and a tag that was still growing a decade later. The archive shows the chillwave tag peaking in 2019, not 2010.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
CHILLSYNTH · ARCHIVE DATA
What is chillsynth? The relaxed, late-night side of synthwave
The tag for synth music with the tempo turned down. What it means, how it differs from 2009 chillwave, and how fast it has grown, counted from our archive.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
SYNTHWAVE · ARCHIVE DATA
The best synthwave albums, and what the lists agree on
We read published best-of lists side by side. They agree on almost nothing, and that is the most useful thing to know before you pick a record.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026
BARBER BEATS · ARCHIVE DATA
What is barber beats? The vaporwave micro-genre named after one prolific artist
A micro-genre that began as an in-joke about one artist's music and now makes up about 18% of the archive's vaporwave family. Where the name came from, and what the numbers say.
BY FREKVENCI EDITORS · 20 OCT 2026