What a Rossa Corsa Best of 2011 List Says about Synthwave in 2018
Recently when mucking around the Rossa Corsa website, I found this blog post from 2011, where artists and people otherwise related to the label discuss their favorite songs of 2011. And guess what? About half the songs are not even synthwave, but from genres or artists that are related to it, like chillwave, French touch, and synthpop. Here is the list.
What does this tell us about the state of synthwave in 2018? To me, it says that we have grown more insular and inbred as the scene has gotten bigger. I mean, if you ask the same question today, how many artists do you expect to just offer tracks in another style of synthwave, let alone synth music from outside the genre?
In the Monthiversary post, I noticed that many of the top albums I'd reviewed were not just synthwave, but on the border with something else. This Rossa Corsa Best of 2011 list tells me that the people who made the genre 8-10 years ago were not so concerned with setting its boundaries.
This is natural, something that happens to music genres as they age. But it is also perhaps a bit self-defeating. Creativity comes from exchange, not from insular attitudes.
What does this tell us about the state of synthwave in 2018? To me, it says that we have grown more insular and inbred as the scene has gotten bigger. I mean, if you ask the same question today, how many artists do you expect to just offer tracks in another style of synthwave, let alone synth music from outside the genre?
In the Monthiversary post, I noticed that many of the top albums I'd reviewed were not just synthwave, but on the border with something else. This Rossa Corsa Best of 2011 list tells me that the people who made the genre 8-10 years ago were not so concerned with setting its boundaries.
This is natural, something that happens to music genres as they age. But it is also perhaps a bit self-defeating. Creativity comes from exchange, not from insular attitudes.
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