New Rave

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New Rave
Stylistic origins	Dance-punk Electronic rock Big Beat Experimental Hip house
Typical instruments	guitar, bass, drums, drum machine, percussion, synthesizers
Mainstream popularity	appeared in the early 00's, high mainstream popularity in the late 00s.
Regional scenes
Manchester Glasgow London Oxford
Other topics
List of dance-punk artists - Punk-funk - Alternative dance

New Rave (sometimes labelled Nu Rave or Neu Rave) is a term applied to several types of music that go from fusing elements of electronic, New Wave, rock, indie^[1], to techno^{[citation needed]}, hip house, electro^{[citation needed]}, breakbeat^{[citation needed]}.

The British music magazine NME is largely responsible for popularising the term throughout 2006 and 2007, despite having claimed in mid-2008 reviews that "New Rave is over". The genre has connotations of being a 'new' version of 'rave' as well as being a corruption of the term 'new wave'.^[2]

Klaxons,^[3][4][5] Trash Fashion,^[6] New Young Pony Club,^{[7][8][9][10]}, Hadouken!, Late of the Pier, Test Icicles, Bono Must Die^[11] and SHITDISCO^[3] are generally accepted as the main exponents of the genre.

The aesthetics of the New Rave scene are largely similar to those of the original rave scene, being mostly centred around psychedelic visual effects. Glowsticks, neon and other lights are common, and followers of the scene often dress in extremely bright and fluorescent colored clothing.^[3][12] Indeed, many consider New Rave to be defined more by the image and aesthetic of its bands and supporters, than by the somewhat vague sonic criteria. Trash Fashion lead singer, Jet Storm has been described as the scenes very own pin up. ^[6][13]. Nevertheless, the usage of electronic instruments, a musical fusion of rock and dance styles, and a particular anarchic, trashy energy are certainly key elements.

Contents 1 Origins 2 New Rave Clubs 3 Criticism 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Origins

The term was coined by Angular Records founder Joe Daniel and was featured on 'An Angular Disco' flyer used to advertise Klaxons first gig. Klaxons later declared they were not "New Rave", describing it as a "joke that’s got out of hand" and that the original use of term was for ironic, not serious purposes.^[14][15][12] In reaction to the media overkill of the "genre", Klaxons banned the use of glowsticks at their gigs in April 2007, saying that "the most nu-rave of nu-rave outfits let rip on all the lazy journalists that won't shut up about the scene that doesn't even exist. We kept getting asked to explain it. . .the whole idea of new rave was to take the piss out of the media by making them talk about something that didn't exist, just for our own amusement. And they'd say, I appreciate that, but can you tell me more about new rave?"^[16]

[edit] New Rave Clubs

One of the things that distinguished New Rave from other movements was the use of ketamine, wearing of fluorescent colours and the emphasis on celebrity. Clubs appeared where people would go to dress up and some of the best young fashion designers, artists and musicians would be sure to make an appearance. One of the most influential clubs, organised by musician K-Tron and Jim Warboy called All You Can Eat became a regular haunt for artist Stuart Semple, fashion designer Rubbish Fairy and performance artist The-O and members of rock group Trash Fashion.

[edit] Criticism

The actual sound of original Rave is barely (if at all) discernible (save some typical analog synth lines) in the majority of bands referred to as 'new rave' . Bands such as The Sunshine Underground,^[17] Cansei de Ser Sexy, Solo Combo, and Hot Chip^[18] are often labeled as New Rave due to their large following by fans of the genre, despite evolving in a different musical culture and, in some cases, a different country. M.I.A. has been described as "a new raver before it was old."^[19] Several have publicly declared they had nothing to do with the genre.

In their review of the Klaxons' new album, Myths of the Near Future, the NME branded all ravers of the traditional rave scene as “twats with baggy trousers”. ^[20]

The New Rave scene can be viewed as a media construct, largely propounded by the NME and TRAX with other publications treating the subject as a joke.^[7] The belief that many of the bands associated with New Rave can more appropriately be associated with the genre of dance-punk has given credence to such suggestions, although differences between both genres are said to be minor and more down to aesthetics. John Harris has stated in The Guardian newspaper that the genre is nothing more than a "piss-poor supposed 'youthquake'" that will soon go out of fashion in the same way as rave.^[7] In season 3 of the BBC comedy The Mighty Boosh, the song 'Eels' made satirical references to Nu-Rave, in an episode titled Eels.

[edit] See also

• Dance-punk

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• 'Rave Dog - a documentary about Trash fashion and New Rave on FourDocs'