By NaJade · DJ in Bangkok · Published November 12, 2026
This guide is part of EDM genres explained: the complete guide.
It sounds like a night drive through a city that only existed in 1980s movies.
Synthwave is one of those genres people recognise instantly even if they can’t name it: shimmering analogue pads, big gated drums, arpeggios that feel like neon reflected on wet tarmac. It isn’t music from the 1980s — it’s modern music imagining the 1980s, and over the last fifteen years it’s gone from a niche online scene to film soundtracks and number-one pop hits. Here’s what it is, where it came from and why it’s useful to a house DJ.
Synthwave is electronic music, born in the mid-to-late 2000s, that recreates the sound of 1980s film scores, synth-pop and video games with analogue-style synths, gated-reverb drums and nostalgic melodies. It usually sits between 80 and 118 BPM. Key names include Kavinsky, College, Lazerhawk, Perturbator and S U R V I V E.
Where Synthwave Came From
Synthwave grew out of France and Western Europe in the mid-to-late 2000s, when producers from the French house world — Kavinsky and David Grellier, who records as College — started making tracks that sounded like soundtracks to 1980s films that were never made. Online labels and blogs did the rest. Its inspirations are clear:
- Film composers such as John Carpenter, Vangelis (Blade Runner), Tangerine Dream and Jean-Michel Jarre.
- 80s pop culture — action films, cartoons and arcade games, from neon cityscapes to racing games.
- French house and the filtered, retro production of artists around Daft Punk and Justice — read what is French house for that link.
The breakout moment was the 2011 film Drive, which used Kavinsky’s “Nightcall” and College & Electric Youth’s “A Real Hero”. Then in 2016, S U R V I V E members Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein scored Stranger Things, and in 2020 The Weeknd’s synthwave-influenced “Blinding Lights” went to number one in the US. The Wikipedia entry on synthwave has a thorough timeline.
What Synthwave Sounds Like
| Element | What to listen for |
|---|---|
| Tempo | Usually 80–118 BPM; upbeat tracks can push to 128 and above |
| Synths | Warm analogue-style pads and leads inspired by classic polysynths like the Juno, Jupiter-8 and DX7 |
| Drums | Punchy drum-machine kits with big gated-reverb snares |
| Bass | Driving, arpeggiated sequenced basslines |
| Mood | Nostalgic, cinematic, often melancholy rather than euphoric |
| Vocals | Often instrumental; when there are vocals, they lean towards 80s synth-pop |
The aesthetic matters almost as much as the sound — sunsets over chrome grids, palm trees, sports cars and VHS fuzz. The visual style is often called “outrun”, after the 1986 arcade racing game.
Synthwave Subgenres and Related Terms
- Outrun: the original, driving, sunset-and-sports-car sound. Fast, bright, nostalgic.
- Darksynth: heavier and darker, drawing on horror scores and industrial music. Perturbator and Carpenter Brut are the big names.
- Dreamwave: softer, dreamier and more atmospheric.
- Retrowave: often used as a near-synonym or umbrella term for the whole scene.
- Vaporwave: a different thing. It’s built from slowed, chopped samples with an ironic edge; synthwave is played on synths and is sincere in its nostalgia.
Synthwave’s close cousins on the dance floor are Italo disco and nu disco, which share the same love of analogue synths and 80s melody.
Key Artists and Tracks to Start With
| Artist | Start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Kavinsky | Nightcall | The track that took the genre mainstream via Drive |
| College & Electric Youth | A Real Hero | Dreamy, emotional, also from Drive |
| S U R V I V E | the Stranger Things theme (Dixon & Stein) | Pure analogue mood |
| Lazerhawk | Redline (album) | Classic outrun energy |
| Perturbator | Dangerous Days (album) | The darksynth benchmark |
| The Weeknd | Blinding Lights | The pop crossover everyone knows |
Bandcamp Daily’s interview with S U R V I V E is a great window into how the scene works and why analogue gear matters to it.
How DJs Can Use Synthwave
Most synthwave is too slow for a club peak, but it’s surprisingly useful around the edges of a house set:
- Warm-ups and openings. A synthwave track at 110–118 BPM sets a cinematic mood before you lift into progressive house.
- Bridge through nu disco. Nu disco sits around 110–122 BPM and shares the palette, so it’s a natural stepping stone.
- Use faster tracks to blend. The 118–125 BPM end of synthwave mixes cleanly with melodic house. Keep pitch changes modest and turn on key lock — synth pads sound wrong very quickly when pitched.
- Closings and after-hours. Slower, emotional tracks work beautifully as a last record or in downtempo sets.
A Note From NaJade
I didn’t come to synthwave through clubs — I came to it through film soundtracks and late-night drives across Bangkok’s expressways, which honestly look like a synthwave album cover after midnight. What I love about it is that it treats melody and mood as seriously as I try to in progressive house. I’ll often open a rooftop set with something at around 115 BPM from this world, let the city lights do the work, and build from there. It won’t fill a dance floor at 1am, but in the right moment it makes people look up from their drinks, and that’s half the job.
Related: EDM genres explained, what is Italo disco, what is nu disco, and what is progressive house.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is synthwave music?
What BPM is synthwave?
Who started synthwave?
What is the difference between synthwave and vaporwave?
Is Blinding Lights synthwave?
Can you mix synthwave in a house music DJ set?
About the Author
NaJade is a Bangkok-based DJ playing progressive house, melodic EDM, pop, and Thai music across clubs, rooftops, and weddings in Thailand. He teaches beatmatching and mixing to beginners both in person in Bangkok and online over Zoom. When he’s not behind the decks, he’s documenting the journey on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.