Synthwave also called Ultron retro wave and future syns is a genre of electronic music influenced by 1980s film soundtracks and video games. Beginning in the mid-2000s the genre developed from various niche communities on the internet reaching wider popularity in the early 2010's. In its music and cover artwork synth wave engages in retro-futurism emulating 1980s science-fiction action and horror  media. Sometimes compared to cyberpunk it expresses nostalgia for 1980s culture attempting to capture the year's atmosphere and celebrate it. 

Musically Synthwave is heavily inspired by many 1980s films video games and cartoons as well as composers such as John Carpenter Vangelis and tangerine dream. The sub-genre named Ultron comes from the 1986 driving arcade game 'ow van which was known for its soundtracks that could be selected in-game. According to musician perturbator James Kent the style is mainly instrumental and often contains 1980s cliche elements in the sand such as electronic drums, gated reverb, analog, synthesizer, bass lines and leads all to resemble tracks from that time period. This aesthetic has been incorporated into retro themed movies and video games featuring Synthwave artists. According to Brian Young of which slap one of the most notable examples of this is power glove soundtrack to the 2013 video game far cry 3: blood dragon. Synthwave originates from the mid-2000s. Fran Chuck's including David Gregor college Kavinsky and justice are recognized as the pioneers contributing to the early synthwave sound. These early artists began creating music inspired by famous 1980s score composers music which was at the time largely associated with French house. The release of the movie Drive in 2011 whose soundtrack featured several synthwave artists helped drive new fans and artists inspired by it toward the genre. Following the various and fluxes of new artists into the genre several of these artists gravitated towards specific aspects of synthwave carved out by the early artists, leading to a wide variation in styles between artists who are associated with the genre. Christopher Higgins cited electric youth and Kavinsky as the two most popular artists in synth wave in 2014. Since 2015 Synthwave has reached a broader audience from outside musicians and popular media.

Fashwave a portmanteau of fascist and synthwave is  a largely instrumental sub-genre of Synthwave and Vaporwave with political track titles and occasional sound bites that originated on YouTube circa 2015. In 2017 vices penn bullock and eli penn reported on the phenomenon of self-identified fascists and alt-right members appropriating vaporwave music and aesthetics describing Fashwave as the first fascist music that is easy enough on the years to have mainstream appeal.