Bad Wave: 80's Pop Vibes from New LA Duo
February 19, 2016
This week’s featured artist is the LA duo Bad Wave, whose music is filled with an overload of synth that gives an 80’s Miami Vice sort of feel. While their streaming numbers are still low (a combined total of less than 200,000 on Spotify), they are starting to get noticed among bloggers and tastemakers. Their talents have also been recognized by The Sunday Times, BBC Radio 1, and Beats 1.
Music:
“Runaway” is the track that landed Bad Wave on the A&R Moneyball chart this week. The verse of the song is very similar to The Killers’ style of music, with vocals sounding like Brandon Flowers and repetitive 80s-like synth rhythms. The cadence of the vocals even reflects that of Flowers’ with full sentences broken up by pauses after each measure. There is a significant difference with the chorus, which has longer sustained synths and heavier processing of the vocals, creating an echoing chorus effect, giving the song's chorus an overall slower feel.
Future:
It’s very early in Bad Wave’s career, with them only have three songs released to date. Their other two tracks actually resemble a party synth vibe more in line with Phoenix than “Runaway’s” reflection of The Killers. Even though their music sounds like these two other bands, Bad Wave still has a sound that is distinctly their own. The dance vibes of their music provides an element that is very promising since that is currently trending in much of the most successful pop music of today. A key to their success will be continuing to develop great fun songs while growing their online presence to cultivate a larger audience.
Audience Gender Breakdown
52%
48%
