Duration: 34:25

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I discovered synthwave in 2013, and it was a genre of music that was so different from what I was mostly listening to at the time. As this channel has shown, video game music is a big interest of mine. There is so much variety given the fact that the games themselves can be spread so far apart. You have tunes from the NES, SNES, N64, PlayStation, Xbox, Wii, PC etc. However, although vgm can be very different in terms of tone, synthwave introduced me to something I had never experienced with music. It has an energy level about it that just gets you pumped up to do anything. The songs keep you engaged and take you on a journey through whatever fictional dystopia the artist has conceived in his mind. Unlike the music in video games, you are given no context for each song. That is what makes music videos with synthwave so interesting to watch (and listen to). See neros77's channel for numerous examples of this.

The first synthwave artist I heard was Lazerhawk. His song 'Overdrive' from the Redline album made me completely obsessed with the genre, which caused me to wonder what else was out there. Thereafter, I found such artists as Miami Nights 1984 (MN84), VHS Glitch, and Perturbator―all of whom I seriously recommend. There was one, however, which stood out for me. The group's title is Dance with the Dead (DWTD). The two artists behind the name, Justin Pointer and Tony Kim, have composed some of my favorite synthwave tracks. Not only is their music inspiring, complex, and constantly high-quality, but they have been consistent when it comes to releasing it. Between October 2013 and December 2014 they released four albums (a total of 39 tracks). The following compilation consists of my top eight tracks from the above discography. I chose my two favorite tracks from each album, which was difficult to do given the number of excellent songs. The order in which the tracks play was randomized.

I know this is a departure from the main focus of the channel, but I hope that you check out DWTD (and the other synthwave artists mentioned) and support them through the following websites:

http://www.youtube.com/jaypeau
http://dancewiththedead.bandcamp.com
http://soundcloud.com/dancewiththedead
http://www.facebook.com/dancewiththedeadmusic

Tracklist:

Zombie Night (Out of Body) (0:00)
Not of This Earth (Send the Signal) (4:27)
Andromeda (Near Dark) (8:45)
Suede (Into the Abyss) (13:47)
Waves (Near Dark) (16:48)
Battle (Into the Abyss) (21:20)
Take Me There (Send the Signal) (25:38)
Robeast (Out of Body) (30:19)