WAVE

 

I've meant to write more about the emerging 'Wave' genre, as it's emerged over the past few years on SoundCloud. After finding a great new mix by Kareful today, I decided to just that.

Wave is a genre label attached to a collective of different artists, but typically has a mix of trap, dubstep and grime influences, but I also hear echoes of Witchhouse, and a lot of influence from gothic dance music, but slower and more chilled out due to the Trap influence.

To my sensabilities, I find this genre very enjoyable, as it channels what I liked about the goth music scene of the mid-2000s, but without any of the pretension or the homage to the 80's aesthetic inherant most dark synthpop or EBM. It's a style of music that's evolved out of a collective of artists spread across the world via SoundCloud, which this article explores really well.

There's a great article discussing the ins and outs of the emerging genre, with some interesting quotes from the artists themselves about the aspirations they have for their music, one that bridges the gap between dance floor and introspective bedroom music:

Kareful has one other ambition that at first seems bizarre, but makes complete sense within the wider context of the times in which we live.“Wouldn’t it be great if our tracks resonated so deeply with people they start breaking down on the dance floor crying?” he grins. “We’re trying to make the most emotional tracks possible. This surely has to be the best result of that?” [...]

“I think emotion plays the most powerful role in any production or piece of music,” agrees Sorsari. “Being able to move a listener with an emotional vibe that you want to exude from a track is probably the coolest thing ever. I want the listener to put themselves into an imaginary environment based on what they’re listening to and to resonate with it… The wave genre has been a gateway for me to do that, and play it in clubs.”

For others listening pleasure, an ongoing WAVE genre playlist I've been curating for a few years: 

etaΛЮƂǪɃb - Russian Witchhouse

Cool Russian Witchhouse with female vocals and a catchy beat. Has elements of Crystal Castles in some songs (angry fem vocals), but overall pretty good.

For the most part, it avoids the "someone shouting across the room at microwaved gameboy" vibe I've seen Crystal Castles accused of in Youtube comments with clearer vocals, and an emphasis on a clear beat.

Slow remix of Zedd - Clarity by HAVEN

I really enjoyed the pitch-shifted, slowed version of Zedd - Clarity produced by HAVEN in their track "White Noise".




Until I Googled the lyrics, I had no idea what the original song was. It felt like a slowed down 80's ballad in the style of Rick Astley. The original source was anything but:



I'd mistaken the female pitch-shifted/slowed vocals for an emotional male singer instead. Interesting.  I might take a crack and mixing the original down myself sometime into an atmospheric witchhouse set.

Sidewalks & Skeletons

More via: Sidewalks & Skeletons SoundCloud

Spooky Black - Ready (Ft. Bobby Raps) and Pearl White - Solstice

Pearl White - White EP

This came across my SoundCloud dashboard this morning, and it's wonderful.

Pearl White difficult to peg what genre it is, and it's all the better for it. I'm hearing some elements of trance, trap, and various other electronic dance genres - but it also has some pitch-shifted vocals and spooky synth happening (mixed with urban-dance vocals? ok!) that remind me of Purity Ring, or random Witchouse bands--minus the "triple-clap" sound.

The general vibe is a multi-genre, futuristic distopian background music. Some of that might come from how the EP is mixed together into a single set:

https://soundcloud.com/pearlywhite/white-ep

Support the artist by buying the EP (no minimum price, currently) via Bandcamp.



Another album with a similar vibe (but far more ambient-dance) was reposted on the Pearl White SoundCloud called Heavy Hearts - Archaic.

Gothgaze / Darkwave Electronica - B R A I D E R

When I recommended this album to a friend, the Australian artist "Empty" came to mind. BRAIDER is certainly more atmospheric, while Empty is more club-oriented. I feel they could easily share a playlist: both share the same dark, futuristic soundscape.

 

BOW CHURCH / b()w(hur(h

I've meant to post about Bow Church, or "b()w ( hur ( h" in that bizarro ascii-style - or a few weeks now. 

Regardless of how you write the name, I'm thoroughly enjoying their mix of predominantly instrumental, Witchhouse-esk, crunchy dark electro tracks.



 
Currently their track 'The Flesh is Weak' is Free/Pay-what-you-want at Bandcamp, while the full self-titled EP is listed at ~5GBP.

There's also a few videos made for Bow Church tracks, viewable here.

Purity Ring

Purity Ring was brought to my attention by Bruce Lord from I Die:You Die, proving to me that his musical taste continues to be pretty excellent.


Puirty Ring - Amenamy



I'd heard of the band's before, but it was typically associated with Wichhouse / indie dark electronica's low-fi crowd - and that carries with it a whole hipster-pagan, Triangles & Unicode crowd. I enjoy alot of that music, but feel pidgeon holing this band misses the point.

Once I had the chance to listen to their album SHRINES, I was humming it for days. Purity Ring's tracks, if I had to assign a category, fall somewhere in the realm of expertly crafted electropop. The dark, surreal lyrical content works really well with the synth. It's hard to define music like by what's come before - and like my thoughts on "Chillwave" artists, it's probably better for that.

Image credit above goes to a Spin article about the band - well worth checking out. While live, the vocals sometimes land a bit flat, the overall performance with their DIY setup looks pretty neat.

I'll certainly be keeping an eye out on Purity Ring's Facebook page to see when they'll next visit Toronto.

 Purity Ring - Shrine


Purity Ring - Crawlersout

Purity Ring - "Crawlersout" from Tom Beal on Vimeo.

Purity Ring - Lofticries

A particularly horrifying remix of "Gangnam Style"

Do yourself a favor today, and play this video of a Krampus dancing on loop, while listening to this Industrial Witchpop remix of Psy - Gangnam Style by HERITICS: