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French musician Kavinsky found dead

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Re: French musician Kavinsky found dead

#41
post #40

His Nightcall performance during the 2024 Paris Olympics closing ceremony got me into Synthwave. Really sad to see him go :(

Between letting Kavinsky play at the closing ceremony [0] and Gojira play at the opening ceremony [1], I really can't applaud and thank Thomas Jolly enough for directing the 2024 Olympic ceremonies.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSayp2tArqA

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8Iv5kq93K4

Re: French musician Kavinsky found dead

#42

I ran a fairly popular electronic music blog [1] in France between 2009 and 2014 and met him multiple times. I’m really sad he’s no longer with us. He was an icon of this bloghouse era with the Ed Banger crew. Rest in peace Vinco, you’ll be missed. I can’t say I’m surprised though as most DJs during that era were known to abuse all kinds of substances and had to manage a non existent sleep schedule, long flights all…

Definitely linked to you many times (I ran a blog called ilictronix in high school). Small world! Great posts over the years.

Re: French musician Kavinsky found dead

#43
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s a while sub genre of synthwave named after his album OutRun. Which, by the way, is best experienced while driving on the highway at night. https://www.reddit.com/r/outrun/

Synthwave genre named after the video game Out Run.

Is it possible that both the album and the genre are named after the video game? or it could be some kind of chain (genre->album->video game)

Now i just want to play outrun. I wonder if there's an arcade nearby...

Re: French musician Kavinsky found dead

#44
post #5

He's rightly credited as having participated in the popularization of the musical and visual "Synthwave" aesthetic: https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Synthwave

I'm only just now realizing that Beach House [1] might also have picked up on that synth aesthetic because the lead singer's father is French and she was in Paris for school in the early 2000s before coming back to the states to go to Vassar (she went to school with some of my friends). It probably was percolating around Paris at that time. But also 80s synths were just really cheap around then. I picked up a Juno 60…

Interesting theory, but fwiw synths were quite popular among the Baltimore music scene throughout the 00s. Besides Beach House, there was Dan Deacon, Future Islands, Celebration, among others. Lake Trout was another example, although a few years earlier / different scene. Ditto with Cex.

Re: French musician Kavinsky found dead

#45
post #40

His Nightcall performance during the 2024 Paris Olympics closing ceremony got me into Synthwave. Really sad to see him go :(

Between letting Kavinsky play at the closing ceremony [0] and Gojira play at the opening ceremony [1], I really can't applaud and thank Thomas Jolly enough for directing the 2024 Olympic ceremonies. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSayp2tArqA [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8Iv5kq93K4

That Gojira opening has been the most EPIC ceremony I've seen anywhere.

I remember I got so excited that I started jumping on my couch and accidentally knocked over a stand with my collectibles and food. Five-second rule, so I still ate my nuggets afterward, hehe. My partner complained a lot, but... some of these things... only a few of us get. Gojira is definitely not for everybody. It's an acquired taste that only a select few of us get to enjoy.

Re: French musician Kavinsky found dead

#46

A true loss for synthwave music. His music was amazing and rich and exciting in a way that many artists fail to reach.

Starcardian also died this year - killed in a road accident whilst cycling

Damn didn't know that. I might be the top listener of Interspace on the planet. RIP

Re: French musician Kavinsky found dead

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Synthwave genre named after the video game Out Run.

Is it possible that both the album and the genre are named after the video game? or it could be some kind of chain (genre->album->video game) Now i just want to play outrun. I wonder if there's an arcade nearby...

The videogame is from the '80s; it became iconic partially because it allowed players to choose the music to listen to "in the car", all of them synths (obviously), and one of the songs you could choose was called "Splash Wave".

Folks like Kavinsky later (re)popularized synths and made explicit throwbacks to the game, like the album name. I don't know where the term "Synthwave" came from, but it does look like one of those throwbacks.

Re: French musician Kavinsky found dead

#48

I ran a fairly popular electronic music blog [1] in France between 2009 and 2014 and met him multiple times. I’m really sad he’s no longer with us. He was an icon of this bloghouse era with the Ed Banger crew. Rest in peace Vinco, you’ll be missed. I can’t say I’m surprised though as most DJs during that era were known to abuse all kinds of substances and had to manage a non existent sleep schedule, long flights all…

Mais non ! J'ai toujours été attristé par la fin de Stop The Noise. Aucune intention de rallumer le flambeau ? :)
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