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Comment by candiddevmike | Hacker News Reader

Can anyone recommend some music that has the same vibe as Blade Runner's synth stuff?

Yeah, Isao Tomita and Tangerine Dream come to mind. Contemporaries of Vangelis (the composer of the soundtrack of Blade Runner) from the 70's. Very similar vibe.

Jean Michel Jarre as well, though he had more of a beat. I like Morton Subotnick and the seminal album "Silver Apples of the Moon" it's more out there and experimental but it definitely it had a similar texture.

I was going to suggest jean J.M Jarre, but hard to get the ambience of Bladerunner as its quite curated.

But as an aside, there was these synthesizer compilations in the late 80s / early 90s that introduced to my to a bunch of Synth artists. Most of them have quite a range of styles they do on synth, some quite bladerunnerish (including Vangelis). Anyways, the albums are "Synthesizer Greatest 1,2 and 3". Spotify has them as a playlists, as do most other music providers.

EDIT: also The prime thanatos streaming on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P23oE6ekwQ

I fell in love with Tomita's classical reproductions as a child. His sound textures took about 25 years for anyone else to come close. Crazy to think that he played almost every part on his keyboard. All he had were early analog sequencers, and had to multi-track everything because polyphonic sound had not yet been created. If you haven't heard, listen to his take on Pacific 231 by Honegger. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjxbwZG20Wc

Nothing against Vangelis of course...

I saw Jarre live in the London Docklands in 1988 - I was a poor student that lived within walking distance (Woolwich) The rain gave it an ambiance that worked, and the location was abandoned industrial location - now redeveloped

The difference between London in the mid 80s to now is stark, but it’s not quite fully Bladerunner

I was in that, on stage! :-)

I remember every detail... even the smell of the diesel generators. And the very-wet synthesizers (it was pouring with rain!), and - carefully edited out of the videos - the different tracks that veered out of sync, seemingly heading for disaster...

Actually Blade Runner is actually pretty much it's own music genre. Hop onto Bandcamp, and you'll find a lot of indie electronic artists (mostly German as far as I can tell) making music that sounds like Vangelis' Blade Runner synth stuff (less so for the non synth stuff).

- https://the-rosen-corporation.bandcamp.com/album/neon-lovers

- https://christopheleusiau.bandcamp.com/album/a-tribute-to-bl...

- https://ogresound.bandcamp.com/album/off-world

- https://siddharthabarnhoorn.bandcamp.com/album/tears-in-the-...

- https://breather1.bandcamp.com/album/the-noodle-bar

Same vibe, no. Vangelis was one of a kind. But somewhere in the same galactic neighborhood:

Maurice Jarre (The Witness, Gorillas in the Mist)

Bear McCreary is mostly orchestral, but the "Cult of Baltar" cue, for example, seems to me cut from some of the same corners of the world/ambient universe.

Cliff Martinez has done a ton of great ambient synth stuff (Traffic, The Neon Demon, Drive).

Other synth soundtracks you may already know, but should check out if you haven't: Wendy Carlos's TRON and Daft Punk's TRON: Legacy; Brad Fiedel's Terminator; Tangerine Dream's various soundtracks.

Kuedo's severant album has a very similar DNA. intense, sleek synth driven but still melancholic and familiar

https://open.spotify.com/track/6tjTQ95h4TOHvB1VzhYvKJ?si=anq...

Not sure why you’re being downvoted; this album and the Kuedo alias in general wears the Blade Runner inspirations on the sleeve.

It’s not surprising he was tapped to help score the Blade Runner short film: https://ra.co/news/40000

Thank you. This is excellent.

Take a listen to Perturbator, Carpenter Brut, and Daniel Deluxe. The genre of "Dark Synthwave"[1] in general tends to have BladeRunner/Cyberpunk vibes.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthwave

Second Carpenter Brut, even though i think it is quite different from Vangelis. The album Leather Teeth [0] has some great videos, but they are absolutely NSFW.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Wp95itbiAA&list=PL9e7gmweje...

If "more Blade Runner" would suffice, there's a bootleg soundtrack available in all your favorite piratey places that includes virtually all the music from the movie, most of which never made it onto any official soundtrack.

Things you might look for are "Esper" or "Retirement" edition.

Selected Ambient Works II by Aphex Twin

The Hans Zimmer soundtrack to Blade Runner 2049 is quite good. It plays homage to the original, but is definitely its own creation.

My experience of Blade Runner 2049's music was that the only memorable bit was the explicit use of "Tears in Rain" from the original. Everything else seemed very generic and ephemeral.

I'd give at least the next 10mins of this mix a listen imo. https://youtu.be/5vHRUsP20dQ?t=1830 Its a bloody good mix in its own right anyway!

I dont think you would or could find much with the same vibe as Blade Runner, its kind of unique and stands out on its own, but a DJ who could do a mix which is close to a Blade Runner vibe would be Maceo Plex and it would be this mix imo.

Alot of the German/Berlin industrial vibe would be too extreme or hardcore for a Blade Runner vibe, and whilst it would seem natural to look to a German DJ for a Blade Runner vibe, I think Maceo Plex has pulled a Blade Runner vibe perfectly in this mix.

The album Sanctuary by Infinity Shred evokes similar feelings to the Blade Runner score for me.

The track Jasmine (demo) by Jai Paul has a completely different vibe but a gorgeous Vangelis-like synth tone in the chorus. reply

Great question - lots of good recommendations to look into.

Anything else by Vangelis. He died a few weeks ago but his music will likely live on for a long, long time. Try: Soil Festivities (personal favorite), Spiral, and Jon & Vangelis.

Other artists: Johan Timman, John Kerr (Moon). Brian Eno.

Makeup and Vanity Set

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sOy9VowoLA&list=PL5zdIKeI6k...

Vangelis’ own Chariots of Fire and 1492 are exceptional scores.

Not exactly, but you may like https://youtu.be/QYVmZ0pEPdo.

Arovane's Gestalt (Spotify). Eno's Apollo maybe?

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