Stranger Things wanted its music to be “something people talked about”

This will be familiar for many an Ars reader.

Warning: This post contains minor spoilers for Stranger Things' first season.

AUSTIN, Texas—If you close your eyes and think about Netflix's hit, Stranger Things, what immediately comes to mind?

Chances are, it's the 54 seconds of pulsing synthesizer embedded above. That's the handiwork of Austin musicians Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein, half of the all-synth band S U R V I V E and composers for the show.

The Stranger Things sound has become such a phenomenon that the original soundtrack landed on the Village Voice's annual Pazz + Jop poll of music critics for 2016. So when the duo sat down to record a live podcast with Spotify during South by Southwest, the question was simple: how does it feel?

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