Spacesynth
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Spacesynth, also known as synthdance, spacedance and spacedisco, is a genre of European electronic dance music. Most tracks are completely instrumental and are focused on upbeat futuristic, science fiction and epic battle scene style themes with driving basslines and catchy synthesizer riffs. The genre began in the late 1970s and lasted until the early 1990s. The French electronic rock band Rockets pioneered the genre, releasing some disco hits from 1978 to 1981. Since the genre's decline it has gone underground, with new albums being published by a number of European independent record labels.
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At that time synthesizers and electronic sounds had become an essential part of popular music and were widely used by such artists as Vangelis, Jean Michel Jarre, Kraftwerk, Telex, Yello and Art of Noise. Synthpop hits like Magnetic Fields 2, Pulstar and Magic Fly are well known tracks even today.
In the meantime in Italy a music style called Italo disco was dominating discos. Many of the artists were centered around Italian label Memory Records. Cyber People released successful singles "Polaris" and "Void Vision" for the Memory Records. Koto developed his own Italo-inspired synth music style and the single "Visitors" was a big hit in 1985.
Erik van Vliet from The Netherlands established Laserdance, and together with Michiel van der Kuy, Laserdance became the most successful spacesynth group ever. Their debut album "Future Generation" (1987) sold approximately 150 000 copies and the singles "Powerrun" and "Humanoid Invasion" were big hits in Europe. Koto and Laserdance could be considered the most popular spacesynth groups. They set the standards of the genre and since the golden era of spacesynth many producers have tried to replicate that sound.
In the early 1990s spacesynth started to lose its popularity and almost completely vanished during the 1990s when eurodance, house, techno and their subgenres were dominating electronic music charts. Spacesynth was nearly forgotten until it showed some signs of recovering towards the end of the decade. There has recently been a growing interest in spacesynth again as the 1980s melodic sound is becoming popular again. During the last few years Hypersound and Alpha Centauri have released a numerous of spacesynth albums from many new artists. In the 2001 movie, "Dude, Where's My Car?" during the meeting of the Cult of Zoltar, one of the devotees was playing an old 80s' synth in a way similar to Laserdance, thus implying that spacesynth is for 'nerds'.
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