| Dark Wave | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | New Wave, post-punk, gothic rock, industrial rock, synthpop |
| Cultural origins | late 1970s to early 1980s Europe (most notably England, Germany, France and Italy). |
| Typical instruments | Guitar, bass, synthesizer, drums, drum machine, piano, violin |
| Mainstream popularity | Low to moderate in 1980s United States and Europe, mostly underground since then |
| Subgenres | |
| Coldwave, Ethereal Wave, Neoclassical (complete list) |
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| Fusion genres | |
| Gothic rock | |
| Regional scenes | |
| Coldwave | |
| Other topics | |
| Notable releases | |
Dark Wave or darkwave is a music genre that began in the late 1970s, coinciding with the popularity of New Wave and post-punk. Building on those basic principles,[1] dark wave added dark, introspective lyrics and an undertone of sorrow for some bands. In the 1980s, a subculture developed alongside dark wave music, whose members were called "wavers"[2][3] or "dark wavers".[4][5]
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The term was coined in Europe in the 1980s to describe a dark and melancholy variant of New Wave and post-punk music, such as gothic rock and dark synthpop, and was first applied to musicians such as Bauhaus,[6] Joy Division,[7][8][9] The Cure,[8][10] Siouxsie and the Banshees,[8] and The Chameleons.[8]
The movement spread internationally, spawning such developments as French coldwave. Coldwave described groups such as KaS Product,[11] Martin Dupont, Asylum Party, Norma Loy, Pavillon 7B, Résistance, Clair Obscur, Opera Multi Steel, The Breath of Life, and Trisomie 21. Subsequently, different dark wave genres merged and influenced each other, e.g. electronic New Wave music (also called Electro Wave in Germany) with gothic rock, or used elements of ambient and post-industrial music. Attrition,[12] In The Nursery and Pink Industry (UK), Clan of Xymox (Netherlands), Mittageisen (Switzerland),[13] Die Form (France), and Psyche (Canada) played this music in the 1980s. German dark wave groups of the 1980s were associated with the Neue Deutsche Welle, and included Asmodi Bizarr, II. Invasion, Unlimited Systems, Mask For, Moloko †, Maerchenbraut,[14] and Xmal Deutschland.
After the New Wave and post-punk movements faded in the mid-1980s, dark wave was renewed as an underground movement by German bands such as Deine Lakaien,[14][15] Love Is Colder Than Death, early Love Like Blood,[16] and Diary of Dreams,[17] as well as Project Pitchfork,[14] and Wolfsheim.[18] The Italians The Frozen Autumn, Ataraxia, and Nadezhda,[19] the South African band The Awakening and the French Corpus Delicti, also practiced the style. All of these bands followed a path based on the New Wave and post-punk movements of the 1980s. At the same time, a number of German artists, including Das Ich,[14][17] Relatives Menschsein and Lacrimosa, developed a more theatrical style, interspersed with German poetic and metaphorical lyrics, called Neue Deutsche Todeskunst (New German Death Art). Other bands, such as Silke Bischoff, In My Rosary and Engelsstaub mingled dark synthpop or goth rock with elements of the Neofolk or Neoclassical genres.[17]
After 1993, in the United States, the term dark wave (as the one-word variant darkwave) became associated with the Projekt Records label, because it was the name of their printed catalog, and was used to market German artists like Project Pitchfork in the U.S. Projekt features bands such as Lycia, Black Tape for a Blue Girl, and Love Spirals Downwards, most of these characterized by ethereal female vocals.[20] This style took cues from 1980s bands, like Cocteau Twins. This music is often referred to as Ethereal Darkwave.[21] The label has also had a long association with Attrition, who appeared on the label's earliest compilations. Another American label in this vein was Tess Records, which featured This Ascension and Faith and the Muse.[22] Clan of Xymox, who had returned to their 1980s sound, following almost a decade as the more synthpop Xymox, also signed to Tess in 1997.
Joshua Gunn, a professor of communication studies at Louisiana University, described American darkwave as
| “ | an expansion of the rather limited gothic repertoire into electronica and, in a way, the US answer to the 'ethereal' subgenre that developed in Europe (e.g. Dead Can Dance). Anchored by Sam Rosenthal's now New York-based label, Projekt, Darkwave music is less rock and more roll, supporting bands who tend to emphasize folk songcraft, hushed vocals, ambient experimentation, and synthesized sounds more akin to the brief 'shoegaze' movement in alternative rock than the punk styles of early gothic music. [...] Projekt bands like Love Spirals Downward and Lycia are the most popular of this subgenre.[22] | ” |
A number of other U.S. bands mixed elements of dark wave and ethereal wave with later developments in electronic music. Love Spirals Downwards, Collide, and Switchblade Symphony incorporated elements of trip hop, while The Crüxshadows combined a range of contemporary electronic dance music elements with their synth-based alternative rock style.
Mercer, Mick. Hex Files: The Goth Bible. New York: The Overlook Press, 1997.
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