Dark wave (also typeset as darkwave) is a music genre that emerged from the
new wave and
post-punk
Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...
movement of the late 1970s.
Dark wave compositions are largely based on minor key tonality and introspective lyrics and have been perceived as being dark, romantic and bleak, with an undertone of sorrow.
The genre embraces a range of styles including
cold wave
A cold wave (known in some regions as a cold snap, cold spell or Arctic Snap) is a weather phenomenon that is distinguished by a cooling of the air. Specifically, as used by the U.S. National Weather Service, a cold wave is a rapid fall in tem ...
,
[Schilz, Andrea: ''Flyer der Schwarzen Szene Deutschlands: Visualisierungen, Strukturen, Mentalitäten.'' Waxmann Verlag, 2010, , p. 84.]
ethereal wave
Ethereal wave,Glasnost Wave magazine, issue # 42, p. 32/34, genre classification of the bands Trance to the Sun (''"Ghost Forest"''), This Ascension (''"Light and Shade"''), Soul Whirling Somewhere (''"Eating the Sea"''), Cocteau Tw ...
,
gothic rock,
[Uecker, Susann: ''Mit High-Heels im Stechschritt'', Hirnkost Verlag, 2014, ]
neoclassical dark wave and
neofolk.
In the 1980s, a subculture developed primarily in Europe alongside dark wave music, whose followers were called ''wavers''
or ''dark wavers''. In some countries such as Germany, the movement also included fans of gothic rock
(so-called ''trad-goths'').
1980s: Origins
![Xymox 1989 220px](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Xymox_1989_220px.jpg)
Since the 1980s,
[ SPEX. Musik zur Zeit: ''Classified Ad by German distribution company EFA – Spots 5/85'', issue 5/85, p. 17, May 1985]
online picture
/ref>[New Life Soundmagazine, issue 38, description of the single "Love Will Tear Us Apart“ by Joy Division, p. 10, November 1988] the term has been used in Europe to describe the gloomy and melancholy variant of new wave and post-punk music.[Issitt, Micah: ''Goths: A Guide to an American Subculture'', Greenwood Publishing Group, 2011, , p. 111] At that time, the term "goth" was inseparably connected with gothic rock, whereas "dark wave" acquired a broader meaning, including music artists that were associated with gothic rock and synthesizer-based new wave music.
The movement spread internationally, developing such strands as ethereal wave
Ethereal wave,Glasnost Wave magazine, issue # 42, p. 32/34, genre classification of the bands Trance to the Sun (''"Ghost Forest"''), This Ascension (''"Light and Shade"''), Soul Whirling Somewhere (''"Eating the Sea"''), Cocteau Tw ...
, with bands such as Cocteau Twins, and neoclassical dark wave, initiated by the music of Dead Can Dance
Dead Can Dance are an Australian music duo first established in Melbourne. Currently composed of Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry, the group formed in 1981. They relocated to London the following year. Australian music historian Ian McFarlane des ...
and In the Nursery
In the Nursery are an English neoclassical dark wave and martial industrial band, characterized by their cinematic sound. The duo has provided soundtracks to a variety of TV programmes and films, and is known for its rescoring of silent film ...
.[Matzke, Peter; Seeliger, Tobias: ''Das Gothic- und Dark-Wave-Lexikon'', p. 400, 2003, ] Simultaneously, different substyles associated with the new wave and dark wave movements started to merge and influence each other.
German dark wave bands were partially associated with the Neue Deutsche Welle
Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW, , "New German Wave") is a genre of West German rock music originally derived from post-punk and new wave music with electronic influences. The term was first coined by Dutch radio DJ Frits Spits on the popular nationwid ...
(i.e. German new wave). Other bands, such as Malaria!
Malaria! was an experimental electronic band from West Berlin formed in 1981 by Gudrun Gut and Bettina Köster following the dissolution of Mania D with Karin Luner, Eva Gossling later Die Krupps and Beate Bartel (of Liaisons Dangereuses). ...
and the Vyllies, added elements of chanson and cabaret music, which became known as cabaret noir (or "dark cabaret", a term popularized by U.S. dark wave label Projekt Records
Projekt is a Portland, Oregon-based independent record label started by Sam Rosenthal in 1983. Projekt releases music in the styles of darkwave, ambient, shoegaze, gothic rock, ethereal, dream-pop, and dark cabaret. Projekt artists include S ...
).
1990s: Second generation
After the new wave and post-punk movements faded in the mid-1980s, dark wave was renewed as an underground movement.[Schmidt, Axel; Neumann-Braun, Klaus: ''Die Welt der Gothics. Spielräume düster konnotierter Transzendenz.'', Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften 2004, , pp. 258/259][Kilpatrick, Nancy. ''The Goth Bible: A Compendium for the Darkly Inclined''. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2004, , pp. 84/85.] Ataraxia
''Ataraxia'' (Greek: ἀταραξία, from ("a-", negation) and ''tarachē'' "disturbance, trouble"; hence, "unperturbedness", generally translated as "imperturbability", " equanimity", or "tranquility") is a Greek term first used in Ancient ...
and The Frozen Autumn
The Frozen Autumn is an Italian darkwave band, formed in May 1993, characterized by a blend of melancholic vocals, atmospheric gothic-wave and 1980s-style electropop.
History
The Frozen Autumn started life as the solo project of Diego Merlett ...
from Italy, and the French Corpus Delicti
(Latin for "body of the crime"; plural: ), in Western law, is the principle that a crime must be proved to have occurred before a person can be convicted of committing that crime.
For example, a person cannot be tried for larceny unless it ca ...
also evolved from this movement and became the leading artists of the west Romanesque scene. These bands followed a path based on the new wave and post-punk music of the 1980s.
At the same time, a number of German artists developed a more theatrical style, interspersed with German poetic, metaphorical lyrics, called Neue Deutsche Todeskunst
Neue Deutsche Todeskunst (NDT, "New German Death Art") is a musical genre that developed in Germany in the late 1980s. It is credited with establishing the German language in the dark wave movement, although there were already such German bands ...
(literally ''New German Death Art'').[Matzke, Peter; Seeliger, Tobias: ''Das Gothic- und Dark-Wave-Lexikon'', p. 311, 2002, ] Other bands combined synthesizers with elements of neofolk and neoclassical dark wave.
After 1993, in the United States the term dark wave (as the one-word variant 'darkwave') became associated with the Projekt Records
Projekt is a Portland, Oregon-based independent record label started by Sam Rosenthal in 1983. Projekt releases music in the styles of darkwave, ambient, shoegaze, gothic rock, ethereal, dream-pop, and dark cabaret. Projekt artists include S ...
label, because it was adopted by label founder Sam Rosenthal after leafing through the pages of German music magazines such as Zillo
''Zillo'' (or ''Zillostrierte'') was a German alternative music magazine, published monthly, originally edited by Rainer "Easy" Ettler. It was in circulation between 1989 and 2014. The headquarters of ''Zillo'' were in Lübeck.
History
The magaz ...
, and has been used to promote and market artists from German label Hyperium Records
Hyperium Records was a German independent record label specializing in darkwave, neoclassical, ethereal, gothic rock, and ambient music, founded by Oliver Roesch (also known as "Oli" Roesch) and Oliver van Essenberg in 1991. Roesch died on Augu ...
in the U.S. (e.g. Chandeen
Chandeen ( ) is a musical project from Frankfurt am Main, founded in 1990 and popular in the darkwave scene in the first half of the 1990s. The band refers to its own style as "Electronic poetry".Manuela Orth · ''New Life'' Music magazine · Is ...
and Love Is Colder Than Death).
Projekt featured bands such as Lycia
Lycia ( Lycian: 𐊗𐊕𐊐𐊎𐊆𐊖 ''Trm̃mis''; el, Λυκία, ; tr, Likya) was a state or nationality that flourished in Anatolia from 15–14th centuries BC (as Lukka) to 546 BC. It bordered the Mediterranean Sea in what is ...
, Black Tape for a Blue Girl
Black Tape for a Blue Girl (often stylized as black tape for a blue girl) is an American dark wave band formed in 1986 by keyboardist/songwriter Sam Rosenthal, the founder of Projekt Records.
Their music takes on elements of dark wave, ether ...
, and Love Spirals Downwards
Love Spirals Downwards was an American, California-based band, that incorporated ethereal wave, dream pop, drum and bass and electronica.
History
Love Spirals Downwards was begun by multi-instrumentalist Ryan Lum and then-girlfriend Suzann ...
, some of these characterized by atmospheric guitar and synth-sounds and female vocals. This style took cues from 1980s bands like Cocteau Twins
Cocteau Twins was a Scottish rock band active from 1979 to 1997. They were formed in Grangemouth by Robin Guthrie (guitars, drum machine) and Will Heggie (bass), adding Elizabeth Fraser (vocals) in 1981 and replacing Heggie with multi-instrum ...
and is often referred to as ethereal dark wave. Projekt has also had a long association with Attrition
Attrition may refer to
*Attrition warfare, the military strategy of wearing down the enemy by continual losses in personnel and material
**War of Attrition, fought between Egypt and Israel from 1968 to 1970
**War of attrition (game), a model of agg ...
, who appeared on the label's earliest compilations. Joshua Gunn, a professor of communication studies at Louisiana University, described the U.S. type of dark wave music as
2010s Revival
In the 2010s, a new generation of bands has rekindled the darkwave genre for a new generation of fans. The most prominent of these acts is Boy Harsher, but others include Drab Majesty
Drab Majesty is an American musical project founded by Andrew Clinco in Los Angeles, California in 2011. Clinco, the drummer for the band Marriages, adopted the androgynous character of Deb Demure for the project. Keyboardist and vocalist Mona D ...
, Pixel Grip
Pixel Grip is an American electronic music group, formed in Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, and Kontravoid. Substance is annual Darkwave and Industrial music festival occurring in Los Angeles which began in the 2010s.Los Angeles Post-Punk Festival Substance Reveals its 2022 Lineup
/ref>
See also
* Ambient music
Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes tone and atmosphere over traditional musical structure or rhythm. It may lack net composition, beat, or structured melody.The Ambient Century by Mark Prendergast, Bloomsbury, London, 2003. It u ...
* Dungeon synth
Dungeon synth is a genre of electronic music that merges elements of black metal and dark ambient. The style emerged in the early 1990s, predominantly among members of the black metal scene, such as Mortiis, Burzum, Robert Fudali of Lord Win ...
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
New wave music
Dark music genres
Fusion music genres
Goth subculture
Music scenes
British styles of music
British rock music genres