tropylium:

vzx:

tropylium:

this is not directly related but I sure wish someone some day puts together an etymological-semiotic analysis of the whole synthwave visual identity thing

like here alone, we have at least the following tropes colliding:

• title in this one specific type of script at an angle
• triangle standing on its corner as a “heraldic ordinary”
• for that matter, the practice of including a “heraldic ordinary” in cover art at all
  
• palm tree silhouettes
  
• interlacing as a visual effect
  
• large shiny metal letters, with a mountain range + sky reflecting off them
  
• “virtual” grid in perspective
• purple neon lights

(there are at least some half a dozen others)

and we’d have at least two fronts of attack: 1) who or what created and codified these elements in the first place, back in the 80s; 2) at what point were they fed into the current retro-80s memeplex, and from where?

the 80s parody movie Kung Fury helped fuel synthwave, which was already kicking around as a development out of the french electronic scene with like danger, kavinsky, arguably that one birdy nam nam track

Kung Fury came out in 2015, right? it’s probably been good for popularity, but synthwave has been going on as a solid movement a good while longer than that — I’ve been keeping tabs since 2012, and the earliest people I recall doing the thing in basically its current form with some degree of recognition were probably Rosso Corsa Records, starting 2010-ish

and I also keep wondering why do people think it evolved from just french house — the visuals seem to have gotten a good dose of inspiration from there yeah, but e.g. Com Truise basically started off as experimental chillwave, the italo disco revival from Sally Shapiro has been another obvious influence, and of course a fair number of the actual producers have come along from the synth hobbyist scene’s cottage industry that has been going on there all along (it wouldn’t be too hard to dig up some individual “proto-synthwave” songs from 2005 or 2000, with some imagination maybe even 1995)…

Drive came out in 2011 and Hotline Miami in 2012, if you want to date the neoneonnoir aesthetic by commercial product