Self-releasing was the story of 2018. The Frekvenci archive lists 632 releases from artists with no label, up from 446 in 2017, a rise of 42% against 27% for the whole archive. That total, 2,448, is the biggest yet, and the number of labels did not budge: 555 in 2017 and 555 in 2018. The extra 523 records came from the same labels plus a lot of people releasing on their own.
Same labels, bigger catalogues
With the label count flat, the average label's yearly catalogue rose from about 3.5 releases to about 4.4. The artists rose faster, from 1,288 to 1,561, with 944 of them new to the archive.
SHOW THE NUMBERS
| Label | Releases |
|---|---|
| DMT Tapes FL | 196 |
| B O G U S // COLLECTIVE | 53 |
| RetroSynth Records | 40 |
| Seikomart | 26 |
| power_lunch recording corporation | 22 |
| Gulf Audio Company | 20 |
| Junk Maker Sounds | 20 |
| Tracking Waves | 20 |
DMT Tapes FL released 196 records, roughly 8% of the year, out of 1,192 listed in all. Then come B O G U S // COLLECTIVE with 53, RetroSynth Records with 40, Seikomart with 26 and power_lunch recording corporation with 22. NewRetroWave has 19. The self-release trend is covered in Do it yourself: how much synthwave is self-released?.
The busiest names release alone
Two of the year's three busiest artists put everything out themselves. Beasuce from Canada has 33 releases, all self-released. "from tokyo to honolulu" from Russia has 27, none flagged as self-released. The act known by the single block symbol ▥ has 25, again all self-released. PZA has 19 (18 self-released), Makeup and Vanity Set 18, and then Scandroid and opal東京 have 11 each. Scandroid has 26 listed releases overall, so over 40% of them date from this year.
Not every new name is a bedroom producer. The debut sample includes Clan of Xymox, a well-known darkwave band, which the archive first lists in 2018 with Darkest Hour on Trisol. "First listed" depends on what the databases hold.
Russia is third
Country is known for 61% of the year. The United States leads with 561 releases, then the United Kingdom (140), Russia (108), France (90) and Canada (81). Russia was fourth with 38 releases in 2015 and again in 2017 with 58; now it is third with nearly double the 2017 count. Two of its artists, "from tokyo to honolulu" and the block-symbol act, are the second and third busiest names of the year. The Russian synthwave and sovietwave: the scene in data page has the wider scene.
Families, with a twist
By family, vaporwave retook the lead from synthwave, 995 to 895. Popwave has 261, darksynth 222 and dreamwave 75; these overlap, so they sum to more than the total. The single tags tell a different story: synthwave on 819 releases is far ahead of vaporwave on 460. The vaporwave family is bigger than its tag because it includes sub-genres, and the largest of those in 2018 was future funk, at 233 tagged releases, up from 149. Darksynth grew from 165 to 222, about a third. Other tags: darkwave 208, synth-pop 170 and signalwave 82.
A guest-heavy album and a viral song
In October, GUNSHIP released Dark All Day on 5 October, with Tim Cappello on saxophone, Kat Von D on vocals and Wil Wheaton in a segment built from fan-submitted recordings.[1][2] Vehlinggo's announcement also lists a voice-over by the author Richard K. Morgan and a vinyl box set. The band's neighbours are on If you like GUNSHIP: artists to try next.
The same month, Open Culture wrote about Mariya Takeuchi's "Plastic Love", a 1985 Japanese pop song that had been largely unknown outside Japan until YouTube recommendations spread it, with more than 20 million views at the time.[3] City pop of this kind is a main sample source for future funk, which Bandcamp Daily describes as built from disco, funk, soul and retro Japanese pop.[4] The Future funk: vaporwave's dance floor, explained takes the style apart.
Ten records from 2018
- GUNSHIP · 2018 · self-released · SINGLEThe year's guest-heavy synthwave album, released on 5 October 2018.
- Geovarius · 2018 · RetroSynth Records · LPA synthwave-tagged LP on RetroSynth Records, the year's third busiest label.
- C Z A R I N A · 2018 · RetroSynth Records · LPA synth-pop LP also on RetroSynth Records, from a name new to the archive.
- Chromatics · 2018 · Italians Do It Better · EPAn EP on the label Italians Do It Better, tagged synth-pop.
- Empathy Test · 2018 · Empathy Test · LPA synth-pop LP on a label that carries the band's own name.
- Clan Of Xymox · 2018 · Trisol · LPThe darkwave side: an older genre that the dark tags in the archive pick up.
- a b d e r s t a · 2018 · power_lunch recording corporation · LPA future funk LP on power_lunch recording corporation.
- Hallmark ’87 · 2018 · DMT Tapes FL · LPA vaporwave LP on DMT Tapes FL, the year's biggest label by far.
Browse the future funk releases by year to see the tag's climb, or tune the Night Drive station (92.0 FM).
Sources
- Gunship new album out 5 October 2018 (press release) · Prescription PR, 13 Jul 2018
- Gunship: Dark All Day and The Lost Boys · Vehlinggo, 13 Jul 2018
- How YouTube's Algorithm Turned an Obscure 1980s Japanese Song Into an Enormously Popular Hit · Open Culture, 3 Oct 2018
- Yung Bae: Meet the Introvert Producer Taking Future Funk Mainstream · Bandcamp Daily, 24 Apr 2019