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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slow. Let it take its time. What pace? | 4 out of 10 | 70% | ×2 |
| The seventies and eighties Does it matter when it was made? | 1981 | 100% | ×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 | 76% | ||
Ranked over all 150 genres in the encyclopedia, on the 4 answers you gave, weighted pace 2, era 1, about 1, melody 1 out of 5. Coldwave / minimal wave leads the next by 2 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
-
Funeral doom 74%
The slowest metal in existence: under 40 bpm, organ, guttural vocals and fifteen-minute songs. Music for a single chord.
On the other branch of the tree entirely, and 7 steps from Coldwave / minimal wave.
The way into Funeral doom -
Shoegaze 74%
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
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
- Slow. Let it take its time. put 22 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Hardcore punk, Black metal, Death metal. Worth 2 of 5.
- The seventies and eighties put 4 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Kawaii metal, New nu metal, Progressive metalcore. Worth 1 of 5.
- 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 5.
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.