The New Thing

The New Thing is term used to describe a current music scene that is based within and around the London metropolitan area.

The term The New Thing is taken from a music journal of the same name [1], which itself reports on the bands associated with the scene, as well as bands that have influenced the scene, or have relations with bands inside the scene. Many of the bands are united through shared musical influences, such as Shoegazing, Garage rock, Post-punk and Indie rock as well as a shared fashion sense. Examples of bands associated with the scene include The Horrors and Neils Children.

Origin of the Phrase and History

The term The New Thing, is, as mentioned above, taken from British music blog and zine called The New Thing, which has been reviewing and writing about music since 2007. The band often credited with starting the scene are Neils Children, who origninally started out as a Freakbeat band, but changed their music style to incorporate a heavy Indie-punk influence, which has lead to their heavy influence on many bands labeled with the scene. By 2007, the scene, and genre, was gaining some mainstream attention, thanks to the first album by The Horrors, and their appearence on the cover of NME in in 2006 [2]. In 2009, the genre was getting even more attention when the second Horrors album, Primary Colours was released, getting a nomination for the Mercury Prize [3]. As well as the first Neils Children studio album, X.Enc finally being released in that year.

Fashion

Typical fashion elements of The New Thing include items such as winklepickers, band t-shirts, waistcoats, vests,neckties, trenchcoats, dress shirts, slim-fit pants and blazers. These elements of fashion are common for both men and women, sometimes creating a somewhat androdgynous appearence. Other elements include eye make up such as mascara and eyeshadow.

Musical style

The New Thing itself can not be pinned down to one sound. Bands have expressed influences ranging from Shoegazing to Gothic rock, Noise music to Garage rock to Post-punk. Common instruments used include the Keyboard, Organ, Drums, Guitar, Bass and Vocals. Guitars will often have various effects used, such as distortion and reverb, glide guitar is becoming more commonly used, notably by Horrors guitarist Joshua Third, who makes use of the technique a lot. Most bands will not use the glide guitar as their guitar's don't have tremolo arms on them.

Notable Bands

• An Experiment on a Bird on an Air Pump
• The Dead
• Crocodiles
• Electricity in Our Homes
• Factory Floor
• The Gaa Gaa's
• The Horrors
• Ipso Facto
• Neils Children
• O Children
• Project:KOMAKINO
• S.C.U.M
• Ulterior
• The Violets

External links

• The New Thing - The official blog for The New Thing
• Last.fm New Thing Group - Another source for more bands associated with The New Thing