Darkwave
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| Darkwave | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins: | new wave, gothic rock, synthpop, neofolk, neo-classical, post-industrial, post-punk |
| Cultural origins: | late 1970s / 1980s Europe (most notably, England, Germany, France and Italy). |
| Typical instruments: | guitar, bass, synthesizer, drums, drum machine, piano, violin, flute |
| Mainstream popularity: | Small to medium |
| Derivative forms: | death pop |
| Subgenres | |
| ethereal | |
| Other topics | |
| Notable artists, Notable releases | |
Darkwave, also written as dark wave, is an umbrella term which refers to a movement that began in the late 1970s, coinciding with the popularity of new wave. Building upon the basic principles of new wave, darkwave evolved through the addition of dark, thoughtful lyrics and an undertone of sorrow.
Darkwave is inseparably connected with the stylistic developments of the late 1970s and the 1980s. In the 1980s a versatile subculture developed within the darkwave movement, whose members were called wavers.
Since the early 90s, darkwave has been used in a narrower sense for music that mixes elements of gothic rock with electronic music (such as synthpop and industrial) or folklore (neofolk, medieval).
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[edit] Darkwave as an umbrella term
The first usage of the term appears to have been in the 1980s, to describe the dark variant of new wave music, e.g. dark synthpop (also called electrowave in Germany), gothic rock or the French coldwave, and refers to the dark/moody electronic music of bands like Anne Clark, Fad Gadget, Psyche and Depeche Mode or the early gothic rock bands (in those days they weren't frequently called "gothic" outside of England) such as Bauhaus, Joy Division, The Cure and Cocteau Twins.
After the new wave movement faded at the end of the 1980s, darkwave survived and experienced a fresh impetus with the music of bands such as Deine Lakaien, The Frozen Autumn, Love Is Colder Than Death, the early music of Love Like Blood, The Garden Of Delight, Wolfsheim and others. All of these bands were inspired by the wave music of the 1980s.
At the same time, a number of German artists, including Das Ich, Goethes Erben, Relatives Menschsein and Lacrimosa, developed a more theatrical style, interspersed with german poetic and metaphorical lyrics, called Neue Deutsche Todeskunst (New German Death Art). After a music stylistic turning point, the use of the term "darkwave" as an umbrella term fell out of use in Germany between the middle and the end of the 1990s.
[edit] Darkwave as a genre term
In a more narrow sense, the term darkwave refers to a medley between different music genres, especially between rock music (coldwave, gothic rock) and electronic music (synthpop, ambient and industrial music). This use of the term endures to the current scene. Attrition, Clan of Xymox, Die Form, In The Nursery and Pink Industry were some of the main bands playing this music in the 1980s and, while associated with the gothic, darkwave and industrial scenes, they had previously been something of an ill-fit in the those scenes.
However, in the early 1990s, when German groups like Das Ich, Deine Lakaien and Diary of Dreams, for example, continued the combination of Gothic music with post-industrial sounds, the term darkwave began to be used more as a genre name. Other bands like Silke Bischoff, In My Rosary, Engelsstaub, Annabelle's Garden and Canticum Funebris mingled synthpop or goth rock with elements of the neofolk genre. A curious act is the German artist Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble Of Shadows which combined gothic rock with folklore and medieval sounds.
Shortly after, in the United States, the term darkwave became largely associated with the Projekt Records label because it was used as the name of their printed catalog. The Projekt label featured bands such as Lycia, black tape for a blue girl, Love Spirals Downwards all characterized by slow, moody ethereal female vocals - which had been an element in the music of some of the 80s bands like Attrition. This music is often referred to as ethereal darkwave. The label has also had a long association with Attrition who appeared on the label's earliest compilations. Another label in this vein was Tess Records, which featured This Ascension, Faith and the Muse and, from 1997, Clan of Xymox, who had returned to a sound more like their 80s sound following almost a decade as the more synthpop Xymox.
A number of other US bands mixed elements of darkwave and ethereal with more modern electronic music to a high level of popularity. Switchblade Symphony and Collide, for example, incorporated large elements of trip hop, while the The Crüxshadows, who describe themselves as "one of the most popular Darkwave bands on the planet", have combined a range of contemporary dance music elements with their synth-based gothic sound.
[edit] Criticism
Some within the Gothic scene, including UK scene historian Mick Mercer [1], have criticised this use of darkwave as being nothing more than a way of avoiding using the term gothic. They argue that darkwave and electrogoth are largely the same thing.
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