Mall 84!
posted by lagomorphius at 8:55 PM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]

GUNSHIP is what you NEEED
posted by lalochezia at 8:57 PM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]

com truise is what you want
posted by lalochezia at 8:59 PM on June 25, 2018 [8 favorites]

And yet Batdance is what we deserve.
posted by sysinfo at 9:06 PM on June 25, 2018 [4 favorites]

Oh, keeeerist no! Don't make me go through this again...
posted by jim in austin at 9:15 PM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]

It came from the 80s darkwave For when you¡¯re out of John Carpenter music.
posted by supercrayon at 9:26 PM on June 25, 2018 [3 favorites]

Possibly my very favorites are the wonderfully menacing "Sentient" by Perturbator (video is cool but NSFW) and the wonderfully mellow "Moonrunner" by Droid Bishop.

I've also previously mentioned to MetaFilter "Quietly into the Night" by Dance with the Dead, perfect for those occasions when you're driving through a city at night and you're in a Michael Mann movie.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 1:57 AM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]

Wow, that Perturbator track... Ever feel disappointed with reality itself for clashing with the aesthetic of the amazing music you're listening to?
posted by heatvision at 3:23 AM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]

Omg almost everything posted here (I already knew about com truise) is blowing my mind.

This is astoundingly good.
posted by nikaspark at 4:27 AM on June 26, 2018

From the gunship Wiki entry:

Gunship have a large collection of synthesizers and use a combination of genuine vintage synthesizers and modern synths to achieve their sound including the Juno 106, DSI Prophet 12, DSI Prophet 6, MOOG Minimoog, MOOG Mother 32, and various Oberheim units.[16]

/me gets turned on
posted by nikaspark at 4:32 AM on June 26, 2018 [2 favorites]

Oh man, so many recommendations since my post on synthwave four years ago. But I'm only going to say one:

MoTER

Just go listen.
posted by ropeladder at 5:19 AM on June 26, 2018 [5 favorites]

I've been using synthwave as coding music for a while, because it makes me feel like I'm hacking the Gibson. Some faves that haven't been mentioned yet:

Mitch Murder - Interceptor, which has a rad-as-hell video to go with it.

The entirety of Futurecop!'s album "Return of Alvograth", which has a lower-key synth sound than a lot of the others.

When I'm wanting goofy '80s vocals, Timecop1983 is my jam.
posted by sgranade at 5:36 AM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]

Recommended: Lazerhawk - Redline
posted by Foosnark at 5:42 AM on June 26, 2018

If you're looking for a 'spacier', synth-heavy sound:
Makeup and Vanity Set - Crush
Lazerhawk - Mirror Between Worlds
Volkor X - Beacon
posted by Pyry at 5:42 AM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]

Seriously, why were Marty and Doc friends? How did they ever meet?
posted by Beardman at 6:07 AM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]

Seriously, why were Marty and Doc friends? How did they ever meet?

I remember looking for this before, but I don't recall coming across the answer before from Bob Gale:

"Okay, from the horse¡¯s mouth (yes, I¡¯m the horse ¡ª er, co-writer, co-creator): We never explained it in the movie. But the history of the characters that Bob Zemeckis and I created is this¡­

For years, Marty was told that Doc Brown was dangerous, a crackpot, a lunatic. So, being a red-blooded American teenage boy, age 13 or 14, he decided to find out just why this guy was so dangerous. Marty snuck into Doc¡¯s lab, and was fascinated by all the cool stuff that was there. when Doc found him there, he was delighted to find that Marty thought he was cool and accepted him for what he was. Both of them were the black sheep in their respective environments. Doc gave Marty a part-time job to help with experiments, tend to the lab, tend to the dog, etc.

And that¡¯s the origin of their relationship."
posted by solarion at 6:20 AM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]

After enjoying Carpenter Brut's previously mentioned awesome Turbo Killer music video, don't forget to check out his Le Perv music video (NSFW) featuring clips from the 1980s Italian horror film Murder Rock by Lucio Fulci.
posted by jca at 6:28 AM on June 26, 2018

Gale would later expand on that story when he was writing the Back to the Future comic for IDW.

In '82, Needles tried to bully Marty into giving him a guitar amplifier tube because Needles had blown his own out and needed it for a gig. Marty didn't take well to this idea, but in the process of arguing the point, broke his own tube. Needles then steals Marty's guitar and refuses to give it back until Marty gets him a new amp tube. Marty goes to the music store, but they're all sold out. E.L.B. Enterprises just bought the store's whole inventory of them. Marty decides to go see if he can get one, despite warnings that Doc was a nutcase. Shenanigans ensue.
posted by radwolf76 at 6:30 AM on June 26, 2018

You all need to discover the wonders of Void Vision, a Philadelphia-based darkwave/coldwave synth act. If you've watched Wild, Wild Country, you've already heard her stuff (the disco scene in episode 2 or 3)

Here's a few of her gems:
- "Sour"
- "The Source" (Video slightly NSFW)
- "Everything is Fine"

And here's a full live set, proving she's just as awesome live as on the record.
posted by SansPoint at 6:40 AM on June 26, 2018 [2 favorites]

John Carpenter is still doing his thing to this day. He had two albums in recent times: Lost Themes (2015) and Lost Themes II (2016).

The Brigador OST by Make Up And Vanity Set is definitely one of my favorites. It's a two album soundtrack, that's the first album.

If synths and 80's movie vocal samples are your jam (they are mine), then check out Rewind by Mega Drive.

All links are to full albums on youtube.
posted by yonega at 6:42 AM on June 26, 2018

For some absolute highlights, you cannot miss:

-Perturbator. Solid gold standard of what can be fantastic about the genre without getting derivative. I Am The Night as an end to end album is a masterpiece, and some spectacular videos from other albums have been animated from scratch (She is Young, She is Beautiful, She is Next) or pulled from phenomenal source material (Humans Are Such Easy Prey).

-GosT (not Ghost) has some spectacular standouts as well, leaning in hard on Satanic Panic malevolence and making one of the best electronic music explorations of Dante's Inferno via the album Non Paradesi (also getting a great pixelart vid for Arise)

-Carpenter Brut has been absolutely killing it since their first EP with standout horror-laden tracks like Le Perv, and the new album Leather Teeth covers a much wider range of source genres, including my favorite track Beware the Beast which just drips and pulses with spectacular 80s buttrock metal (and a few brief NSFW flashes of 80s cheesecake). The singalong that track provokes in their live shows is an absolute joy to experience.

-Makeup and Vanity Set... a deeply silly name from a genre laden with very silly names, but their album 88:88 (digital clocks, not double hitlers) is a combination of deep soothing grooves and rolling heavy bass.

-Monomer could have just released the single opening track, Arcana Engine, and then called it a day because it kicks so much synthy ass, but then they went and put out a whole album behind it.

-And I can't forget one of the earliest groups to twig me to the genre, Judge Bitch. Striker features Perturbator, which is where I went from there and the rest is history. (also the track 'Working Out In Jeans' is the best fantastical emotional you-can-do-it montage music ever)
posted by FatherDagon at 7:16 AM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]

Also I just found out that Perturbator released a remix of the Cult of Luna / Julie Christmas track Cygnus, which just makes me go WHAAAAT HOLY SHIT YES

(Mariner is a spectacular post-metal piece of wonderment and should be explored by all lovers of Neurosis / Isis / etc)
posted by FatherDagon at 7:24 AM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]

I like Confused Bi-Product of a Misinformed Culture's "It Came from the 80's..." mixes.
posted by smcameron at 7:55 AM on June 26, 2018

I maintain that Join Us by Le Matos is still the high water mark for modern synthwave (at least that I've heard). Impeccable album.
posted by neckro23 at 8:35 AM on June 26, 2018

My preferred Le Matos album is the Turbo Kid soundtrack. There's a video for No Tomorrow, which also acts as a prequel to the movie.
posted by schoolgirl report at 9:47 AM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]

I think Zeromancer have done a good job of 80s but for "now"
posted by NiteMayr at 10:11 AM on June 26, 2018

On the heavier side of the spectrum, a fav of mine: REZNYCK - Ebolada.
posted by fmoralesc at 10:26 AM on June 26, 2018

OH
MY
GOD

THANK YOU ALL!!!!!!!!
posted by freakazoid at 12:32 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]

Recently enjoying Dana Jean Phoenix as a result of one of these compilations.
posted by RobotHero at 1:14 PM on June 26, 2018

I was just thinking this morning that it's been a while since the big Chillwave mefi post and I need a new genre to get into. So thanks!
posted by suetanvil at 6:30 PM on June 26, 2018

Recommend the soundtrack for The Guest which has a lot of great synthwave on it (and it's a great film too.)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 10:25 AM on June 27, 2018

Any recommendations for some of this with more vocals? Big fan of Gunship, The Midnight, Dana Jean Phoenix, Kristine, and Le Cassette.
posted by msbrauer at 11:06 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]

More vocals:
Carpenter Brut - Cheerleader Effect
Gunship - Tech Noir (Carpenter Brut Remix)
Trevor Something - The Haunting
Body Language - You Can (Keep Shelly in Athens Remix) (not sure if this really fits into the genre, but it's very good)
posted by Pyry at 5:19 AM on June 30, 2018

A+ music guys geez. All of this is amazing to listen to in headphones while you concentrate. Makes the most banal thing feel cinematic as fuck.
posted by supercrayon at 11:45 PM on June 30, 2018