Supposedly, trends repeat each other every 20 years or so. That value changes, though. I remember the wave of rockabilly acts in the 80s. The 90s had on its first half the 60s and 70s resonating heavily in alternative and grunge, then went for a big band revival that I enjoyed quite a bit, since it was my grandmother’s fave music.

The 80s revival in the 00s was expected. What wasn’t expected was it having legs and that it would still last to this very day. Stranger Things made a career of 80s nostalgia, now so far apart that a lot of people don’t realise not many people could afford all the stuff they own on the show. You could have photocopies of Dungeon Master’s guide, but an original? Nah.

Letting up despite great faults had an 80s vibe since early, and it culminates on Postcard, from their 2012 release Untogether, an album I quite loved. I wasn’t a big music fan during the eighties, but I started listening around 2010 to as many bands as I could. Some songs I knew, others were new joyful additions to the collection. Postcard gets the idea of neon lights and padded shoulders, but I can’t single out a band they are taking from. I can conjure memories of videogame arcades with the smell of burnt churros, running inside the Plaza Satélite logo, and walking for hours inside a mall every time I listen to this song.

Just realised that we were as far from the 40s in the 80s as we are from the 80s currently. My grandmother liked the big bands from the 40s. I like the synth bands from the 80s. That’s a curious parallel, I guess. Kids today should find this synth based stuff unrelatable, and some do. I hope they find their own sound, their own proper music scene, which they can reminisce of in 40 years time.

-Sam J. Valdés López