Steve Moore and Zombi are the best first stops after Survive. Both share a label, Relapse Records, with the band in the Frekvenci archive, and both work in the same dark, instrumental corner. After them, the artists on Mannequin, the label behind Survive's 2012 album, make up a small but consistent second group. Few synthwave acts play this slowly or this darkly, so the list is short.
Texture before hooks
Survive are a synth band from Austin, Texas. Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein have been friends since their early teens, and the band also includes Adam Jones and Mark Donica.[1] Only Dixon and Stein worked on the Stranger Things score.[2] Stein calls the band's records "essentially cinematic music", while VICE's phrase is "dimly lit, synthesizer-led instrumentals".[1][2] Dixon likes Giorgio Moroder's scores and Eduard Artemyev's for Tarkovsky; Stein names Tangerine Dream's film work. Neither claims to imitate it.[2]
That fits the sound: not the neon and chrome of most synthwave, but slower, grainier, more about texture than melody. The show's creators found the band when a mock trailer for their pitch used one of its songs, Bandcamp Daily says, and the band had a backlog of material to send.[1] NME dates the first approach to 3 July 2015 and says Dixon and Stein then spent about six weeks making demos after work.[3]
The archive lists 7 Survive releases from 2010 to 2018: one on Light Lodge (2010), the 2012 album on Mannequin, one on To Lose La Track (2012), and four on Relapse Records, a label best known for metal. Their titles are mostly numbers: RR7349, RR7387 and RR7400. With such a small catalogue, the neighbours matter.
The Relapse pair
- Steve Moore (US, 8 releases, 2015–2025) shares Relapse and is tagged synthwave. His latest, Jimmy & Stiggs (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), is a film soundtrack filed as darkwave on The Horror Section.
- Zombi (3 releases, 2006–2021) shares Relapse; the archive lists the 2021 EP Liquid Crystal.
The Mannequin circle
Mannequin is the label of Survive's 2012 album. Its other artists in the archive are tiny catalogues. Martial Canterel (2 releases, 2011–2020) has an EP on Objet Trouvé, Horizon Ltd.. Dame Area (Spain, 3 releases, 2018–2021) has the album Ondas tribales. Le Syndicat Electronique (2 releases, 2021–2024) offers Night Of The Living Dead, and Caroline K (2 releases, 2016–2019) is on Mannequin through a remix, Don't Believe It's Over (Alessandro Adriani Remix).
Bigger catalogues with the right mood
If you want the slow-burn mood without a label link, these are the next best fit by tags, and they are all larger. Wojciech Golczewski (Poland, 36 releases, 2013–2025) offers Ewer City. Compilerbau (Germany, 25 releases, 2000–2022) is an old name in the archive; see RX. cramped skunkman (US, 21 releases, 2015–2019) is self-released: cryptic meathead (besides). Makeup and Vanity Set (US, 133 releases, 2003–2026) is the biggest on the list: Ravefinder.
Vector Hold (US, 24 releases) is filed under outrun and has the EP From The Streets if you want a brighter turn. For songs rather than texture, If you like Scandroid: artists to try next goes the vocal route, though far from Survive's mood.
Where this fits
Survive are one of the few synthwave acts with a metal label behind them, so the Relapse link may matter more to you than any tag. Many artists here have only two or three records in the archive, so a rank is a pointer, not a promise. Our Synthwave and 1980s film scores: Carpenter, Vangelis and the sound of the screen page places the band within the film-score tradition, and If you like Power Glove: artists to try next covers another score-first act that shares a label with Dixon. The wider map is on 25 essential synthwave artists, and where to start with each.
The slow, wide-open end of the archive suits the Space station (93.3 FM), and steadier driving music is on the Night Drive station (92.0 FM). You can also browse all synthwave releases and filter by label to follow the Relapse thread.
Records to start with
- Survive · 2016 · Relapse Records · LPThe 2016 Relapse album, released the year the show arrived.
- Steve Moore · 2025 · The Horror Section · OTHERA Relapse label-mate's film score, 2025.
- A Spanish act from the same label as Survive's 2012 album.
Sources
- S U R V I V E, Synths, and the Music of 'Stranger Things' · Bandcamp Daily, 5 Aug 2016
- S U R V I V E Are Already Onto Even Stranger Things · VICE, 21 Sep 2016
- An Interview With S U R V I V E: The Mysterious Band Behind The Epic Stranger Things Score · NME, 2 Aug 2016