In February 2017 Metal Hammer's website ran a feature headlined "Resonant evil: how synthwave is taking over the underground". It centred on the artist GosT and tied the genre to 1980s sci-fi and exploitation cinema and to the mood of 2016.[1] That is one outlet's framing, but the archive shows a scene at a turning point. It lists 1,925 releases dated 2017, only 3% more than 2016's 1,878, while synthwave (819) retook the lead from vaporwave (672).
A plateau with a swap underneath
After five years of fast growth, 2017 is the first year the count barely moved. Underneath, the families traded places.
| Family | 2016 | 2017 |
|---|---|---|
| Synthwave | 639 | 819 |
| Vaporwave | 796 | 672 |
| Popwave | 244 | 227 |
| Darksynth | 165 | 165 |
| Dreamwave | 34 | 42 |
Synthwave grew 28% and vaporwave shrank 16%. The tags say the same thing more sharply: the synthwave tag went from 586 releases to 763, the vaporwave tag from 447 to 354. Future funk held at 149 (from 135), darkwave at 152 (from 147). Darksynth sat level at 165, so the dark end stood still while the main road widened. The lead did not last: vaporwave was ahead again in 2018.
SHOW THE NUMBERS
| Family | Releases |
|---|---|
| Synthwave | 819 |
| Vaporwave | 672 |
| Popwave | 227 |
| Darksynth | 165 |
| Dreamwave | 42 |
A scene still widening
Labels rose from 526 to 555 and artists from 1,215 to 1,288, so the crowd kept growing while each act released slightly less. 829 of the artists are new to the archive, and 446 releases are self-released. Formats: 906 LPs, 494 EPs and 300 singles.
Verbatim Consciousness Recordings has 54 releases in 2017, nearly half of its 114 overall. Then come B O G U S // COLLECTIVE with 32 (of 222), Seikomart with 31, Sunset Grid with 24, DMT Tapes FL with 23 and TimeSlaves with 18. The two big synthwave labels are in the table too, but modestly: NewRetroWave has 14 of 203 and RetroSynth Records 13 of 200, about 7% of each catalogue. Those labels spread their work across years, the reverse of the tape labels that publish in bursts. Compare their profiles on NewRetroWave: label profile and where to start and RetroSynth Records: label profile and where to start.
Budapest and a vinyl reissue
In March, a synthwave night in Budapest called the Hungarian Synthwave Allstars Fest ran at the A38 venue on 11 and 12 March, with a line-up that included Quixotic, Lazerpunk and The Neon Droid.[3] We could not find an independent history of the Hungarian scene, so this is evidence that gigs existed, not a map. The Synthwave from Hungary: Budapest's small, busy scene page collects what the archive holds.
On the vaporwave side, Tiny Mix Tapes reported in August that a vinyl edition of Macintosh Plus's Floral Shoppe would appear on 25 September, because the original December 2011 cassette had become expensive on Discogs.[2] The count of vaporwave records dipped, but the older ones were clearly still wanted. See If you like Macintosh Plus: artists to try next for the artist's neighbours.
Country table
Country is known for 60% of the year. The United States has 384 releases, the United Kingdom 107, France 93, Russia 58 and Germany 47. Russia is up from 37 in 2016, and the United Kingdom added 24, the United States 20.
Names, busy and new
The busiest act is "良い乗り物 through the city" with 22 releases. Next come Zadig the Jasp from France and Makeup and Vanity Set from the United States with 13 each, Cleeve Morris from Brazil and the German-listed 空手王 with 11 each, then Wizard of Loneliness from the United States with 10. Makeup and Vanity Set has 133 listed releases, so 2017 is one busy year in a long catalogue. New names include Galaxy 80, Fantom '87 and Le Prince Harry, all tagged synthwave.
Records to start with
Mostly the quieter corners of a nearly 2,000-record year, because the famous names have their own pages.
- Fantom '87 · 2017 · Midnight Pursuit · EPAn EP on Midnight Pursuit by another new synthwave name.
- Le Prince Harry · 2017 · Teenage Menopause Records · LPA debut LP tagged synthwave, on Teenage Menopause Records.
- Roxi Drive · 2017 · RetroSynth Records · EPAn EP from RetroSynth Records, one of the two big synthwave labels of the era.
- Hante. · 2017 · Synth Religion · LPA darkwave-tagged LP on Synth Religion, the older gloomy genre.
- SelloRekT / LA Dreams · 2017 · Mothball Record · EPAn italo disco-tagged EP by SelloRekT / LA Dreams.
- Azzurro 80 · 2017 · Sunlover Records · LPAn italo disco-tagged LP on Sunlover Records.
Sources
- Resonant evil: how synthwave is taking over the underground · Metal Hammer (Louder), 2 Feb 2017
- Macintosh Plus's Floral Shoppe is coming to vinyl · Tiny Mix Tapes, 7 Aug 2017
- Demogorgon x Neonhullam: The Hungarian Synthwave Allstars Fest · We Love Budapest, event listing for 11-12 Mar 2017