Synth-pop is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic, art rock, disco, and particularly the Krautrock of bands like Kraftwerk. It arose as a distinct genre in Japan and the United Kingdom in the post-punk era as part of the new wave movement of the late 1970s to the mid-1980s.
Tortoise is an American post-rock band formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1990. The band incorporates krautrock, dub, minimal music, electronica and jazz into their music, a combination sometimes termed "post-rock". Tortoise have been consistently credited for the rise of the post-rock movement in the 1990s.
Dance-pop is a subgenre of pop music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a combination of dance and pop with influences of disco, post-disco and synth-pop, it is generally characterised by strong beats with easy, uncomplicated song structures which are generally more similar to pop music than the more free-form dance genre, with an emphasis on melody as well as catchy tunes. The genre, on the whole, tends to be producer-driven, despite some notable exceptions.
Bear in Heaven was an American indie rock band from New York City, formed by Jon Philpot in 2003. The sound of the band incorporates influences from psychedelic music, electronic music and krautrock.
Electropop is the second studio album by pop/ electronic dance/ hip hop music group Jupiter Rising released by Chime Entertainment on September 11, 2007. The album featured the singles Electropop and Go!.
Chillwave is a music microgenre that emerged in the late 2000s. It is characterized for evoking the popular music of the late 1970s and early 1980s while engaging with notions of memory and nostalgia. Common features include a faded or dreamy retro pop sound, escapist lyrics, psychedelic or lo-fi aesthetics, mellow vocals, slow-to-moderate tempos, effects processing, and vintage synthesizers.
Here We Go Magic is an American indie rock band based in Brooklyn, New York. It was formed by core members Luke Temple, Michael Bloch and Peter Hale, in late 2008. The band signed to Western Vinyl in 2008, followed by the five-piece group's signing to Secretly Canadian in 2009.
Mountain Man is an American singing trio of women described as "nestled in the tradition of American folk" with a traditional Appalachian folk sound. They have earned acclaim from a number of music critics. They often sing a cappella, with a "sparse, haunting, hymnal beauty" sometimes accompanied by soft acoustic guitar, but with their voices "virtually unadorned", according to Guardian critic Paul Lester. The group toured with the vocalist Feist in 2011, and New York Times music reviewer Ben Ratliff described their performance as "creating shifting harmonies" which "worked perfectly".
The Caribbean is an American experimental pop group from Washington, D.C., primarily composed of Michael Kentoff, Matthew Byars and Dave Jones. The band has been critically acclaimed for its deconstructionist approach to pop music, its wry, literary lyrics, and its eclectic sound, which incorporates elements of American pop, indie rock and experimental rock, cool jazz, folk music, lounge music, and even Brazilian music.
Dana Countryman is an American electronic music composer, songwriter and performer notable for his sustained presence in the Seattle Pop scene as well as his collaborations with French electropop artist Jean-Jacques Perrey. He is also well known as songwriter and performer for The Amazing Pink Things (1985–1991). as well as the publisher for Cool and Strange Music Magazine (1996–2003). Countryman is currently composing, performing and releasing original albums of retro vocal pop. Reviewer John Borack has described Countryman as "a one-man Brill Building," in reference to the New York-based songwriting and recording scene of the 1960s.
Vinyl Williams is an American neo-psychedelic band led by Los Angeles-based multimedia artist and musician Lionel Williams, active since 2007. Vinyl Williams has released six studio albums: Lemniscate (2012), Into (2015), Brunei (2016), Opal (2018), Azure (2020), and Cosmopolis (2022).
Sex is the second extended play (EP) by English band the 1975. It was released on 19 November 2012 by Dirty Hit. A modified version was released in the US on 1 January 2013 by Dirty Hit and Polydor Records. The band produced the EP alongside Michael Coles, Robert Coles and Mike Crossey. They drew musical inspiration from Sigur Rós, Brian Eno and filmmaker John Hughes while thematically focusing on the passage of time. Prior to the record's debut, a music video for "Sex" was released.
"Red Lips" is a song by American singer Sky Ferreira from her second extended play (EP), Ghost (2012). It was released on July 17, 2012, by Capitol Records. The song was written and produced by Greg Kurstin, with additional songwriting provided by Shirley Manson. "Red Lips" is a pop rock song that describes the emotional deterioration of an individual that Ferreira disliked. It differs from the previous electropop styles displayed in her earlier works; this was deliberately done to prevent Ferreira from being branded in a similar fashion as Britney Spears, which she felt that Capitol Records had intended to do.
Forever is an album by Sleep ∞ Over released on the label Hippos in Tanks in 2011.
Wave 1 is the third extended play released under synthwave musician Seth Haley's pseudonym Com Truise. Haley described his releases as Com Truise as parts of a story about the world's first "Synthetic Astronaut" on his adventure to a planet, and Wave 1 is where he lands on a kind-of replica of Earth. Musically, Haley had to get inspiration from several artists as this part of the story is also where the music starts to change.
Sparks in a Dark Room is the second studio album by Dutch experimental electronic post-punk/ultra band Minny Pops. After signing to Factory Benelux in 1982 following their "noisy" and "goofy" debut album Different Measures, Drastic Movement (1979), the band settled into a new, less aggressive sound featuring influences of industrial music and funk. Recording Sparks in a Dark Room in late 1981, the band headed for a more clinical and clean sound. Considered a high point of the ultra movement, the record features cold, electronic tones and darkly humorous lyrics from lead singer and songwriter Wally van Middendorp.
Hypnagogic pop is pop or psychedelic music that evokes cultural memory and nostalgia for the popular entertainment of the past. It emerged in the mid to late 2000s as American lo-fi and noise musicians began adopting retro aesthetics remembered from their childhood, such as radio rock, new wave pop, light rock, video game music, synth-pop, and R&B. Recordings circulated on cassette or Internet blogs and were typically marked by the use of outmoded analog equipment and DIY experimentation.
If You See Me, Say Yes is the debut album by the Baltimore-based artist, Flock of Dimes, also known as Jenn Wasner of the indie band Wye Oak. The album was released on September 15, 2016 by Partisan Records.
EP is the debut solo release by American singer Beth Ditto. Released on January 10, 2011, through Deconstruction Records, the EP was produced by James Ford and Jas Shaw of Simian Mobile Disco.
A microgenre is a specialized or niche genre. The term has been used since at least the 1970s to describe highly specific subgenres of music, literature, film, and art. In music, examples include the myriad sub-subgenres of heavy metal and electronic music. Some genres are sometimes retroactively created by record dealers and collectors as a way to increase the monetary value of certain records, with early examples including Northern soul, freakbeat, garage punk, and sunshine pop. By the early 2010s, most microgenres were linked and defined through various outlets on the Internet, usually as part of generating popularity and hype for a newly perceived trend. Examples of these include chillwave, witch house, seapunk, shitgaze, vaporwave, and cloud rap.
