No Wave
| No wave | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | Late 1970s, New York City |
| Derivative forms | |
| Other topics | |
No wave was a short-lived avant-garde scene that emerged in the late 1970s in downtown New York City. In part a reaction against punk rock's recycling of traditionalist rock cliches, no wave musicians instead experimented with noise, dissonance and atonality in addition to a variety of non-rock genres, often reflecting an abrasive, confrontational and nihilistic worldview. In the later years of the scene, it adopted a more playful, danceable aesthetic inspired by disco, early hip hop, and world music sources.
The term "no wave" was a pun based on the rejection of commercial new wave music, and first became used in downtown New York City concurrent with the 1981 show, "New York/New Wave" that had been curated by the artist/curator Diego Cortez. The movement would last a relatively short time but profoundly influenced the development of independent film, fashion and visual art.
No wave is not a clearly definable musical genre with consistent features, although it was generally characterized by a rejection of the recycling of traditional rock aesthetics, such as blues-rock styles and Chuck Berry guitar riffs, in punk and new wave music. Various groups drew on such disparate styles as funk, jazz, blues, punk rock, avant garde and experimental. There were, however, some elements common to most no-wave music, such as abrasive atonal sounds; repetitive, driving rhythms; and a tendency to emphasize musical texture over melody—typical of La Monte Young's early downtown music. The repetitive synthesizer-driven music and confrontational stage act of New York City's Suicide, established in 1970, would become a primary influence to the development of no wave. In the early 1980s, Downtown Manhattan's no wave scene transitioned from its abrasive origins into a more dance-oriented sound, with compilations such as ZE's Mutant Disco (1981) highlighting a newly playful sensibility borne out of the city's clash of hip hop, disco and punk styles, as well as dub reggae and world music influences.
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