There is this growing subgenre of EDM characterised by 80's nostalgic themes and lots of oldschool synths. The most prominent artists I'm aware of are: Futurecop!, Cinnamon Chasers, Anoraak.
How do you even call that? It's not synth-pop per se, although it's definitely rooted in it, but it sounds more "housy" to me.
Synth Pop is a broad label; almost any act that is stylistically or commercially mainstream enough to be 'pop' and produces music based around synthesizer sounds could be said to fall under the umbrella of 'synth pop'. So while we could say that all these acts are 'synth pop', we can also look for more specific terms.
One term that seems to have evolved for a recent wave of artists who nostalgically reference 80s synth-pop and 80s culture is Synthwave. This seems a good fit for Futurecop! and Anoraak.
Russ Davies' Cinnamon Chasers project (from the few songs I've listened to) seems to have a slightly different range of influences, including 80s and early 90s techno, more recent French House, and mainstream electronic dance artists like Röyksopp. Nu-disco is a label that is used for acts that continue to develop the French House sounds and draw from its influences, but if I had to pick one genre label for them I might just go for 'dance' or 'electronic' to be safe!
Taken from rateyourmusic.com:
(…)synthwave is often instrumental and has a "futuristic" theme, with large, throbbing, retro synths. House influenced heavy drums (often side-chained) are also very popular. It draws inspiration from a variety of genres that originated and/or was most popular during the 1980s, including, but not limited to, Synthpop, Progressive Electronic, Italo-Disco, Electro-Disco and other derivative styles. Synthwave albums are generally arranged in a style that is similar to a Film Soundtrack, Film Score, Television Music or Video Game Music album.
