{{Short description|Music genre}} {{about|the European post-punk music sub-genre|topics related to the American coldwave genre|Industrial metal#Coldwave}} {{Infobox music genre | name = Cold wave | other_names = Coldwave | stylistic_origins = * Dark wave<ref name="Schilz84">Schilz, Andrea: ''Flyer der Schwarzen Szene Deutschlands: Visualisierungen, Strukturen, Mentalitäten.'' Waxmann Verlag, 2010, {{ISBN|978-3-8309-2097-7}}, p. 84.<br />"Dark Wave ist ein ... Oberbegriff für düstere Spielarten des Wave, der auch Gothic darunter subsumiert. Cold Wave bezeichnet eine Untergattung experimenteller, minimalistischer Elektronikmusik aus Frankreich."</ref> * punk rock<ref name="CM"/> * electronic music<ref name="Nixon"/> * new musick | cultural_origins = Late 1970s – early 1980s, Europe<ref name="CM">{{cite web|url=https://crackmagazine.net/article/long-reads/20-definitive-cold-wave-artists/|title = 20 Definitive Cold Wave Artists|last=Watson|first=Tom|date=August 18, 2019|work=Crack|access-date=December 15, 2019}}</ref> | derivatives = * EBM<ref name="CM"/> * electronica<ref name="CM"/> | subgenrelist = | subgenres = | fusiongenres = | regional_scenes = | local_scenes = | other_topics = * Gothic rock * minimal wave * post-punk * new wave }}
'''Cold wave''' (also known as '''coldwave''') is a music genre that emerged during the late 1970s and early 1980s, particularly in France, Poland and Belgium. Originally pioneered by post-punk and dark wave bands who drew influence from German electronic music group Kraftwerk and made use of affordable, portable synthesizers and electronic instruments.
==Etymology== The term "cold wave" was originally coined by Sounds magazine on their 26 November 1977 issue on "New Musick". The label is a loosely defined descriptor, derived from "new wave", that was originally reserved for a collection of punk and electronic styles from the 1970s. The scope of the genre has evolved continuously throughout its history. According to ''The SAGE Handbook of Popular Music'' (2014), "cold wave" is an early synonym for music that was later termed "dark wave", "goth", and "deathrock".<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lNHrAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA283 |title=The SAGE Handbook of Popular Music |publisher=SAGE Publications |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-4739-1099-7 |editor-last1=Bennett |editor-first1=Andy |editor-last2=Waksman |editor-first2=Steve}}</ref> ''Treblezine''<nowiki/>'s Jeff Terich remarked, "cold wave" was ultimately subsumed by retrospective labels such as "minimal wave" or "minimal synth".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Terich |first1=Jeff |date=1 February 2012 |title=Hold On to Your Genre: Coldwave/Minimal Wave |url=http://www.treblezine.com/hold-on-genre-coldwave-minimal-wave/ |website=Treblezine}}</ref>
Veronica Vasicka, who coined "minimal wave", did so with the intent of tying together terms such as "minimal electronics", "new wave", and "cold wave" which had frequently appeared in music magazines of the early 1980s.<ref name="TimeOut">{{cite web|url=http://newyork.timeout.com/music-nightlife/nightlife/57137/a-synth-obsessed-label-turns-four|title=A synth-obsessed label turns four|last=Tantum|first=Bruce|date=1 December 2009|access-date=28 February 2011|publisher=Time Out|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717062909/http://newyork.timeout.com/music-nightlife/nightlife/57137/a-synth-obsessed-label-turns-four}}</ref>
==Characteristics== According to Tom Watson of ''Crack'' magazine, "the collective sound [of cold wave] was controlled yet 'colder' than that of their snotty predecessors – punk, with a depressive groove." Watson also identified "less guitar work, more analogue experimentation, militant rhythm sections and, above all else, a vehemently do-it-yourself attitude" as a part of cold wave's shared ideology.<ref name="CM"/>
''The Guardian''{{'}}s Louis Pattison has stated that during the 1980s French cold wave bands such as Martin Dupont,<ref name="cr">Minsoo Kim, Joshua. "[https://chicagoreader.com/music/french-coldwave-martin-dupont/ French coldwave legends Martin Dupont embark on their first U.S. tour]". ''Chicago Reader'', 18 May 2023, Retrieved 23 March 2024</ref> Les Provisoires and Asylum Party "started playing gloomy post-punk in their native tongue, inspired by the icy guitars and studio-produced drum sounds pioneered by Factory Records producer Martin Hannett."<ref name="guardian-coldwave">{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2009/jul/13/cold-wave-wierd-records |title= Scene and heard: Cold wave |last=Pattison |first=Louis |date=13 July 2009 |work=The Guardian |access-date=20 March 2020 }}</ref> The style is characterized by its detached lyrical tone, use of early electronic music instruments, as well as a minimalist approach and style. Artists made use of affordable, portable synthesizers such as the Korg MS-20.<ref name="Nixon">{{cite web |last1=Nixon |first1=Dan |date=20 January 2010 |title=The Dummy Guide To Cold Wave |url=http://www.dummymag.com/features/the-dummy-guide-to-cold-wave |website=Dummy Mag}}</ref> ==History==
=== Origins: 1970s–1980s === {{See also|New musick}}[[File:Kraftwerkcoldwave.jpg|thumb|right|175px|The front cover of ''Sounds'' November 1977 issue on "New Musick" with the caption "The cold wave", with a picture of Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider of Kraftwerk]] The term "cold wave" appeared in the 26 November 1977 "New Musick" issue of UK weekly music paper ''Sounds''. The caption of its cover picture, showing Kraftwerk's Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider was "New musick: The cold wave". That year, Kraftwerk released ''Trans-Europe Express''.<ref>{{cite journal |date=26 November 1977 |title=New Muzick The Cold Wave |journal=Sounds}}</ref> The term was repeated the following week in ''Sounds'' by journalist Vivien Goldman, in an article about Siouxsie and the Banshees.<ref name="Sounds">{{cite journal |last=Goldman |first=Vivien |date=3 December 1977 |title=New Music – Siouxsie Sioux Who R U? |journal=Sounds }}</ref> in which she wrote: "the cold, cold wave breaking over your head, and for one second you don't know whether you're going to see daylight again".<ref name="Sounds" /> In 1977, Siouxsie and the Banshees described their music as "cold, machine-like and passionate at the same time", and ''Sounds'' magazine prophecised about the band: "[they] sound like a 21st century industrial plant [...] Listen to the cold wave roar from the '70s into the '80s".<ref name="Sounds"/>
A scene of French, Belgian and Polish musicians, dubbed "cold wave", emerged between the late 1970s and early 1980s.<ref name="CM"/> The French scene was also known as "la vague froide,"<ref name="guardian-coldwave"/> which was a term coined by the French music press to describe the sound of the band Marquis de Sade.<ref name="cw-and-me">{{cite web|url=https://thequietus.com/articles/04529-cold-wave-and-minimal-electronics-feature-pieter-wierd-joe-angular|title= Shiver Into Existence: Cold Waves And Minimal Electronics|work=The Quietus|date=29 June 2010|access-date=20 March 2020|first=Kev|last=Kharas}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Julien|last=Gester|language=fr|url=https://next.liberation.fr/musique/2019/02/04/spatsz-clavier-du-groupe-kas-product-rend-la-meche_1707424?fbclid=IwAR1Kpc76osUpuJzkoPRibGGW_A1c12f6hgFye-I42wLTuO11yNnqFHXuvg0 |title=Spatsz, Clavier du Groupe KaS Product, Rend La Mèche|work=Libération |date=4 February 2019|accessdate= 4 February 2019|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20190205162833/https://next.liberation.fr/musique/2019/02/04/spatsz-clavier-du-groupe-kas-product-rend-la-meche_1707424?fbclid=IwAR1Kpc76osUpuJzkoPRibGGW_A1c12f6hgFye-I42wLTuO11yNnqFHXuvg0 |archivedate=5 February 2019}}<br />{{cite web|first=Pascal |last=Salciarini|language=fr|url=https://www.estrepublicain.fr/edition-de-nancy-ville/2019/02/03/nancy-deces-de-spatsz-le-clavier-de-kas-product |title=Décès de Spatsz, le clavier de Kas Product|work=L'Est Républicain|date=4 February 2019|accessdate= 4 February 2019 |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20190205163319/https://www.estrepublicain.fr/edition-de-nancy-ville/2019/02/03/nancy-deces-de-spatsz-le-clavier-de-kas-product |archivedate=5 February 2019}}</ref> According to ''Vice'', the most notable acts were Marquis de Sade, Asylum Party, and Twilight Ritual.<ref name="Vice">{{cite web |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/new-york-beyond-goth/ |title=New York – Beyond Goth|work=vice.com |date=20 March 2007 |access-date=11 March 2013}}</ref> ''Brave Punk World'' author James Greene cited Marquis de Sade's 1979 album ''Dantzig Twist'' as "a classic" of the genre. He also referenced KaS Product as a group that "pushed cold wave to icier places in the early 1980s and ended up one of its preeminent voices."<ref name="Jr.2017">{{cite book|last=Greene|first=James|title=Brave Punk World: The International Rock Underground from Alerta Roja to Z-Off|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e3wzDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA383|year=2017|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=978-1-4422-6985-9|page=383}}</ref>
Benelux cold wave artists and cassette labels communicated through an underground cassette culture; Alain Neffe's Insane Music label in Belgium was heavily active in European cassette culture. Schoolwerth also stated that Al Margolis of New York's Sound of Pig Tapes and Chris Phinney of Tennessee's Harsh Reality Music, who were active in the industrial/experimental music scene, were largely responsible from introducing minimal synth and cold wave artists to the United States.<ref name="cw-and-me"/>
=== 2000s–2010s: Revival === Wierd Records is credited with establishing interest in the style in the US, while The Liberty Snake Club did much to popularize it within the UK.<ref name="guardian-coldwave"/><ref name="Village Voice">{{cite web |url=http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-05-27/music/the-wierd-records-social-club/ |title=The Wierd Records Social Club – Page 1 – Music – New York – ''Village Voice'' |last=Garrett |first=Jonathan |date=27 May 2009 |work=villagevoice.com |access-date=26 October 2012 |archive-date=18 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018144317/http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-05-27/music/the-wierd-records-social-club/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Tigersushi Records compilation ''So Young but So Cold'', compiled by Ivan Smagghe, is one document of the scene.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/so-young-but-so-cold-underground-french-music-1977-1983-mw0000461963 |title=''So Young But So Cold: Underground French Music 1977–1983'' |last=Theakston |first=Rob |work=AllMusic |access-date=26 October 2012}}</ref> ''Crack'' journalist Tom Watson referenced Angular Recordings' ''Cold Waves and Minimal Electronics'' (2010) as a "crucial" compilation.<ref name="CM"/>
Wierd Records' weekly Wednesday night party in New York was described by ''The Guardian'' journalist Louis Pattinson as the locus of the cold wave and minimal synth revival of the early 2000s. Artists who performed at these parties included Blacklist and Xeno & Oaklander.<ref name="guardian-coldwave"/><ref name="led-er-est">{{cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/16568-the-diver/|title=Led Er Est: The Diver|work=Pitchfork|first=Nick|last=Neyland|date=4 May 2012|access-date=20 March 2020}}</ref>
British-Swiss Lebanon Hanover, an influential band in the resurgence, formed in 2010.
== References == {{reflist}}
== Bibliography == {{Portal|Music}} * {{cite book |last=Mercer |first=Mick |title=Hex Files: The Goth Bible |chapter=France", "Belgium |pages=20–23, 25–34 |publisher=Woodstock: The Overlook Press |year=1996}}
{{Post-punk}} {{Goth subculture}}
Category:Cold wave (music) Category:Gothic music genres Category:Dark wave Category:New wave music Category:Goth subculture Category:Cassette culture 1970s–1990s Category:Post-punk
de:Dark Wave#Cold Wave Category:Gothic rock