Chillwave
Encyclopedia
Chillwave, sometimes also referred to as glo-fi, is a genre of music whose artists are often characterized by their heavy use of effects processing
, synthesizer
s, looping
, sampling
, and heavily filtered vocals with simple melodic lines.
The genre combines the larger 2000s trends towards 80s retro music and (in indie music) use of ambient sound, with modern pop, as in electropop, post-punk revival
, psych-folk, nu gaze
, and witch house.
The New York Times' Jon Pareles
described the music thus: "They're solo acts or minimal bands, often with a laptop at their core, and they trade on memories of electropop from the 1980s, with bouncing, blipping dance-music hooks (and often weaker lead voices). It's recession-era music: low-budget and danceable." Its musical predecessors are diverse and include the synthpop of the 1980s, shoegaze, ambient
, musique concrète
and various types of music outside of the Western World
. The first Chillwave song can be traced back as far as the early 1970s from The Beach Boys
song "All I Wanna Do" (a track from their 1970 album Sunflower
).
The genre is also a prime example of shifting the idea from defining a musical movement's birth in part by a specific geographic location, as is historically done, to focusing instead on how the groups became linked and defined through various outlets on the Internet. The Wall Street Journal quoted Alan Palomo of Neon Indian
on genre, "Whereas musical movements were once determined by a city or venue where the bands congregated, 'now it's just a blogger or some journalist that can find three or four random bands around the country and tie together a few commonalities between them and call it a genre,'." Despite the stylistic similarities listed above, Palomo and other artists have questioned whether chillwave actually constitutes a discrete genre.
, especially his 2007 album Person Pitch
, foreshadowed the movement proper. Ariel Pink
is also a related pioneer with his psychedelic pop
style.
Often noted and associated bands and artists of the genre include Washed Out
, Twintapes, Twin Sister
, Neon Indian
, Toro Y Moi
, Small Black
, Kavinsky
, Memory Tapes
, Warm Ghost
,, Rosemary's Babe and many others. Given that the majority of the chillwave bands are "bedroom acts" without label contracts, they sell, stream, or most usually give away for free their music via Bandcamp
.
Sound effect
For the album by The Jam, see Sound Affects.Sound effects or audio effects are artificially created or enhanced sounds, or sound processes used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media...
, synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
s, looping
Music loop
In electroacoustic music, a loop is a repeating section of sound material. Short sections of material can be repeated to create ostinato patterns...
, sampling
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
, and heavily filtered vocals with simple melodic lines.
The genre combines the larger 2000s trends towards 80s retro music and (in indie music) use of ambient sound, with modern pop, as in electropop, post-punk revival
Post-punk revival
The post-punk revival was a development in alternative rock of the late 20th and early 21st centuries in which bands took inspiration from the original sounds and aesthetics of garage rock of the 1960s and post-punk and New Wave of the late 1970s...
, psych-folk, nu gaze
Nu Gaze
Nu gaze or the new wave of shoegaze is a form of alternative rock originating in the 2000s. According to an article in the Oxford Student, music from the genre features "droning riffs, subdued vocals and walls of distorted, messy guitar or synth"....
, and witch house.
Defining the genre
The term "chillwave" is said to have been originated on the Hipster Runoff blog by Carles (the pseudonym used by the blog's author), on his accompanying 'blog radio' show of the same name.The New York Times
Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of the New York Times. He played jazz flute and piano, and graduated from Yale University with a degree in music. In the 1970s he was an associate editor of Crawdaddy!, and in the 1980s an associate...
described the music thus: "They're solo acts or minimal bands, often with a laptop at their core, and they trade on memories of electropop from the 1980s, with bouncing, blipping dance-music hooks (and often weaker lead voices). It's recession-era music: low-budget and danceable." Its musical predecessors are diverse and include the synthpop of the 1980s, shoegaze, ambient
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
, musique concrète
Musique concrète
Musique concrète is a form of electroacoustic music that utilises acousmatic sound as a compositional resource. The compositional material is not restricted to the inclusion of sounds derived from musical instruments or voices, nor to elements traditionally thought of as "musical"...
and various types of music outside of the Western World
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
. The first Chillwave song can be traced back as far as the early 1970s from The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
song "All I Wanna Do" (a track from their 1970 album Sunflower
Sunflower (album)
Sunflower is the sixteenth studio album by American rock group The Beach Boys, their first on Reprise Records. The album achieved number 151 on the US albums chart during a four week stay, becoming the lowest charting Beach Boys album until 1978's M.I.U. Album equalled it. It reached #29 in the...
).
The genre is also a prime example of shifting the idea from defining a musical movement's birth in part by a specific geographic location, as is historically done, to focusing instead on how the groups became linked and defined through various outlets on the Internet. The Wall Street Journal quoted Alan Palomo of Neon Indian
Neon Indian
Neon Indian is an indie electronic band from Denton, Texas. The music is composed by Mexican-born Alan Palomo , also known for his work with the band Ghosthustler and as the artist VEGA. The band's debut, Psychic Chasms, has received many favorable reviews, including the designation of Best New...
on genre, "Whereas musical movements were once determined by a city or venue where the bands congregated, 'now it's just a blogger or some journalist that can find three or four random bands around the country and tie together a few commonalities between them and call it a genre,'." Despite the stylistic similarities listed above, Palomo and other artists have questioned whether chillwave actually constitutes a discrete genre.
Bands
Observers have noted that Panda BearPanda Bear (musician)
Noah Benjamin Lennox also known as Panda Bear, is an experimental musician and a founding member of Animal Collective.-Early life:...
, especially his 2007 album Person Pitch
Person Pitch
Person Pitch is the third solo album released by Animal Collective member Noah Lennox , released on March 20, 2007. The album was released to high critical acclaim....
, foreshadowed the movement proper. Ariel Pink
Ariel Pink
Ariel Pink is a Los Angeles-based recording artist who is sometimes associated with the freak folk scene.-Biography:...
is also a related pioneer with his psychedelic pop
Psychedelic pop
Psychedelic pop is a psychedelic musical style inspired by the sounds of psychedelic folk and psychedelic rock, but applied to a pop music setting...
style.
Often noted and associated bands and artists of the genre include Washed Out
Washed Out
Washed Out is the stage name of the American chillwave musician Ernest Greene .-Career:In June 2009, Greene graduated with a Master of Library and Information Science degree from the University of South Carolina and was unable to find a job as a librarian...
, Twintapes, Twin Sister
Twin Sister
Twin Sister is an American band from Long Island. Their music has been described as Chillwave, Indie pop Dream Pop and Disco and they have been compared to Cocteau Twins and Portishead...
, Neon Indian
Neon Indian
Neon Indian is an indie electronic band from Denton, Texas. The music is composed by Mexican-born Alan Palomo , also known for his work with the band Ghosthustler and as the artist VEGA. The band's debut, Psychic Chasms, has received many favorable reviews, including the designation of Best New...
, Toro Y Moi
Toro Y Moi
Chazwick Bundick better known by his stage name Toro Y Moi, is an American recording artist and producer. His music has taken on many forms since he began recording, but he is often identified with the chillwave movement of summer 2010...
, Small Black
Small Black
Small Black is an indie band from Brooklyn, New York. Their sound is commonly described as belonging to the chillwave genre, though the band's members don't label themselves as such. They have released an album under Jagjaguwar...
, Kavinsky
Kavinsky
Kavinsky is a French electro house artist, and has released three EPs on the Record Makers label: Teddy Boy in 2006, 1986 a year later and "Nightcall" in 2010. He has been remixed by SebastiAn and others. He toured alongside Daft Punk, The Rapture, Justice, and SebastiAn in 2007...
, Memory Tapes
Memory Tapes
Memory Tapes is a recording alias of New Jersey-based Dayve Hawk, former frontman of Philadelphia-based Hail Social.After initially releasing material under the names Memory Cassette and Weird Tapes., and on signing to Something In Construction to release a Memory Cassette EP , Memory Tapes' first...
, Warm Ghost
Warm Ghost
Warm Ghost is an American alternative music group based on the multi-instrumentalist Paul Duncan who specializes in eclectic sounds from a variety of music genres and who has a background is sound design. Duncan teamed with Oliver Chapoy and records music under the moniker Warm Ghost in 2011...
,, Rosemary's Babe and many others. Given that the majority of the chillwave bands are "bedroom acts" without label contracts, they sell, stream, or most usually give away for free their music via Bandcamp
Bandcamp
Bandcamp is an online music store, as well as a platform for artist promotion, that caters mainly for independent artists. Artists on Bandcamp have a customizable microsite with the albums they upload. All tracks can be played for free on the website and some artists offer free music downloads...
.
External links
- How to invent a music genre, Gawker