Your way in
Coldwave / minimal wave 1981
European post-punk on cheap drum machines: cold synths, distant vocals, the atmosphere of a grey housing block in winter.
- Heaviness
- 2
- Speed
- 4
- Melody
- 7
- Where from
- France / Belgium
- Tempo
- 90-130 bpm
- Song length
- 3-5 min
- Written about
- Isolation, European cities, Detachment, Romance, at a distance
- Vocals
- Sung
Why this one
| You said | Coldwave / minimal wave | Match | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light How much weight do you want behind it? | 2 out of 10 | 100% | ×2 |
| A steady walk What pace? | 4 out of 10 | 90% | ×2 |
| The nineties Does it matter when it was made? | 1981 | 64% | ×1 |
| Being young and out late What should the words be about? | Isolation, European cities, Detachment, Romance, at a distance | 50% | ×1 |
| Something to hold on to Do you want a tune you could hum afterwards? | 7 out of 10 | 90% | ×1 |
| Weighted mean | 83% | ||
Ranked over all 150 genres in the encyclopedia, on the 5 answers you gave, weighted heaviness 2, pace 2, era 1, about 1, melody 1 out of 7. Coldwave / minimal wave leads the next by 3 points. Where two genres score the same the broader one wins, because a genre with subgenres under it is somewhere to carry on from and a leaf is a full stop.
Five records, in this order
- 1Start one step outside
Joy Division, Unknown Pleasures 1979
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures. Martin Hannett's production is half the record.
- 2The one to put on first
Trisomie 21, Passions Divisées 1984
Trisomie 21 - Le Repos des Enfants Heureux. Grey-tower-block melancholy in pure form.
The pick names a track. This is the record the encyclopedia holds by them.
- 3Then
- 4Then
- 5Then
The first is the entry point for Post-punk, one step outside, so the second record has something to be heard against. After it come Coldwave / minimal wave's essential records in the order the encyclopedia lists them. Every one of these has a page here with links out to somewhere it can be played.
If that is not it
-
Shoegaze 81%
Walls of cascading guitar effects with the vocals buried in the mix. Named after the habit of staring at the pedalboard on stage.
5 steps from Coldwave / minimal wave, meeting it only at Rock.
The way into Shoegaze -
Garage rock revival 79%
A reaction to nu metal and radio pop: crisp guitars, plain production, narrow suits. It put guitar rock back on festival bills in the 2000s.
6 steps from Coldwave / minimal wave, meeting it only at Rock.
The way into Garage rock revival
Not simply the second and third of the ranking: those are almost always near neighbours of the first, which is three names for one suggestion. An alternate has to sit at least 4 steps through the tree from the headline and from the other alternate, which is the same floor the "sounds like this, but isn't" panel uses.
What your answers ruled out
- Light put 12 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Death metal, Brutal death metal, Sludge metal. Worth 2 of 7.
- The nineties put 23 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Blues rock, Progressive rock, Rock and roll. Worth 1 of 7.
- Being young and out late put 115 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Punk rock, Hardcore punk, Alternative rock. Worth 1 of 7.
Counted as genres scoring 20% or less on that answer alone. A recommendation that only shows what it chose is hiding half of what it did.