Futurepop

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Futurepop is an electronic music genre that has been characterized as a blend of synth-pop, EBM and dance beats, based on trance and techno. [1] [2]

Contents

It developed in Western Europe as an outgrowth of both the EBM and electro-industrial music cultures and it began to emerge in the late 1990s with artists like VNV Nation, Covenant, and Apoptygma Berzerk. [2] [1] [5] Other leading genre artists were Assemblage 23, [1] [4] Icon of Coil, [1] Neuroticfish, [6] and Rotersand. [3] [7]

Futurepop is associated with the cybergoth subculture. [3] It has become popular in alternative dance clubs, particularly in Germany. Music festivals that feature futurepop bands include Infest, Amphi festival, Wave Gotik Treffen and M'era Luna. [2]

Characteristics

Futurepop is mainly characterized by its "technoid" [2] and "dance-oriented" [2] pop rock music structures, [1] catchy melodies, [2] the "pervasive use of trance beats" [3] [2] ), and an absence of vocal modification. [1] The genre is distinguished from regular trance music by "retaining the lyrical and vocal structure of synthpop". [3] Its "transparent sounds" [3] and "smooth production" style [3] have been considered as being "chart-compatible" [2] and "designed for music clubs". [2] [8]

Tom Shear of Assemblage 23 described the style ironically as "mostly people who can't sing over '90s era trance patches". [4]

Etymology

Ronan Harris of VNV Nation credited himself with the term "futurepop" during a discussion with Apoptygma Berzerk vocalist Stephan Groth to describe the sounds of their music and similar groups at the time. [3] According to Sorted Magazine writer "Girl the Bourgeois Individualist":

He says he came up with it during a conversation with Apop's Stefan Groth when they were discussing the arrogant attitude the press had towards the scene, dismissing it as simply an '80s revival. There was also the problem with the terms that were around, they regarded electro as encompassing too many things, while EBM is not what it used to be and the idea of the whole dark scene gives the impression that everyone is hanging out in crypts and listening to Sopor Aeternus. [5]

Related Research Articles

Electronic body music (EBM) is a genre of electronic music that combines elements of industrial music and synth-punk with elements of dance music. It developed in the early 1980s in Western Europe, as an outgrowth of both the punk and the industrial music cultures. It combines sequenced repetitive basslines, programmed dance music rhythms, and mostly undistorted vocals and command-like shouts with confrontational or provocative themes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apoptygma Berzerk</span> Norwegian band

Apoptygma Berzerk is a Norwegian musical group. They produce music with a style of synth-pop and ballads backed with electronic rhythms, commonly known within the scene as "futurepop". Apoptygma Berzerk has won awards and top 10 spots in Germany and Scandinavia. Apoptygma Berzerk has toured Europe, North America, South America, Israel and Australia with bands such as VNV Nation, Beborn Beton, Icon of Coil and Unheilig.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VNV Nation</span> Irish electronic music group

VNV Nation is an Irish electronic music group led by Ronan Harris in the roles of singer, songwriter and producer, with live members being keyboardists Mike Wimer and David Gerlach and percussionist Chris Roberts. The acronym in the group's name stands for "Victory Not Vengeance".

Dark wave is a music genre that emerged from the new wave and post-punk movement of the late 1970s. Dark wave compositions are largely based on minor key tonality and introspective lyrics and have been perceived as being dark, romantic and bleak, with an undertone of sorrow. The genre embraces a range of styles including cold wave, ethereal wave, gothic rock, neoclassical dark wave and neofolk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M'era Luna Festival</span> Music festival in Hildesheim, Germany

The M'era Luna is a gothic festival that encompasses a number of different styles such as metal, future pop, aggrotech, synthpop, gothic rock, dark wave, and EBM. It is held annually on the second weekend of every August, in Hildesheim, Germany at Flugplatz Hildesheim-Drispenstedt, a former British Army airbase.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cybergoth</span> Fashion subculture of goth and cyberpunk

Cybergoth is a subculture that derives from elements of goth, raver, rivethead and cyberpunk fashion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Infest (festival)</span>

Infest is an annual three-day music festival held at the University of Bradford Union in the United Kingdom, featuring alternative electronic music acts, from genres including industrial, EBM, futurepop, synth-pop and power noise. The event usually takes place on the August bank holiday weekend.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronan Harris</span> Musical artist

Ronan Harris is the founding member of the electronic music project VNV Nation. He is credited with the songwriting, production, lyrical and vocal aspects of the band's music. In the years preceding VNV Nation's debut album, he worked for Q8 Petroleum in central London as an IT manager and was a journalist and webmaster for dark electro magazine Side-Line.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephan Groth</span> Danish singer

Stephan Groth is a Danish-Norwegian singer. He is the man behind Apoptygma Berzerk, an electronic body music act that plays in styles such as synthpop and futurepop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magenta (Norwegian band)</span> Norwegian rock band

Magenta is an industrial rock/alternative rock band from Norway formed by Vilde Lockert and Anders Odden during the summer of 1995. They released their first EP, Magenta in 1997. The song "Secret Sky" entered the charts in Norway and established their career. Co-founder Anders Odden was already known in musical circles. He has been a member of bands like Cadaver and Celtic Frost. He is currently also the bassplayer for Satyricon, and guitarplayer for ORDER.

Bruderschaft is an electronic music collective led by New York City-based DJ Rexx Arkana. Conceived as a charity project focused on cancer research and treatment in the wake of Arkana's father's death from the disease, Bruderschaft brought together a large number of artists from the underground electronic music scene for the production of the band's first single, "Forever": the collaboration of Arkana (lyrics), Ronan Harris, Sebastian Komor, Joakim Montelius and Stephan Groth.

<i>Welcome to Earth</i> (album) 2000 studio album by Apoptygma Berzerk

Welcome to Earth is the third studio album by Norwegian futurepop band Apoptygma Berzerk. It was released on February 22, 2000, on Metropolis Records but was earlier released on Tatra Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amphi Festival</span> German music festival

The Amphi Festival is a music festival that has been taking place since 2005 featuring a wide-ranging program for a heterogeneous audience, albeit primarily fans of alternative, electronic music, and dark music. The number of visitors to the event in 2009 was 13,000 per festival day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apoptygma Berzerk discography</span>

Norwegian group Apoptygma Berzerk have released eight studio albums, three live albums, five compilation albums, three DVDs, 13 EPs, and 20 singles.

<i>Harmonizer</i> (Apoptygma Berzerk album) 2002 studio album by Apoptygma Berzerk

Harmonizer is the fourth studio album by Norwegian futurepop band Apoptygma Berzerk. It was released on 25 February 2002 on Metropolis Records and WEA International.

<i>Sonic Seducer</i> Music magazine

Sonic Seducer is a German music magazine that covers gothic rock, new wave, EBM and other kinds of electronic music and culture. The magazine is noted for organizing the annual M'era Luna Festival. Since its inception in 1994, the Sonic Seducer has become one of the major publications of the dark culture in Germany.

Neue Deutsche Todeskunst is a musical genre that developed in Germany in the late 1980s. It is credited with establishing the German language in the dark wave movement, although there were already such German bands as Xmal Deutschland, Geisterfahrer, and Malaria!.

Blume are an Italian electronic music band formed in Milan in 2008. The group consists of Enrico Filisetti (vocals), Ivan Savino, and Daniele De Fabritiis (guitars). Their sound blends EBM-futurepop with synthpop and darkwave.

Rossetti's Compass is a synthpop and EBM music band created in November 2010 by the British musician Mark Warner. It was conceived from a desire to explore different directions in the electro musical sphere, from pure synthpop to dark and menacing electro and EBM. In 2013, the band released three albums, including a limited edition semi-live recording session. True to its self-imposed remit of exploration, the Rossetti's Compass catalogue of works includes track remixes for bands from across the genre, including A.W.o.L. Angst Pop, Kant Kino, HNN, Technomancer, Shatoo, Attrition, and Naked Lunch.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Peter Matzke, Tobias Seeliger: Das Gothic- und Dark-Wave-Lexikon. Schwarzkopf und Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2003, ISBN   3-89602-522-8, p. 230.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Axel Schmidt, Klaus Neumann-Braun: Die Welt der Gothics. Spielräume düster konnotierter Transzendenz. 2004, ISBN   3-531-14353-0. p. 273.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Isabella van Elferen: Gothic Music: The Sounds of the Uncanny, University of Wales Press, 2012, ISBN   0708325130, p. 165.
  4. 1 2 3 S. Alexander Reed: Assimilate. A Critical History of Industrial Music. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2013, ISBN   978-0-19-983260-6, p. 297.
  5. 1 2 Girl the Bourgeois Individualist (2002). "Being a little bit productive". Sorted magAZine.[ better source needed ]
  6. ↑ Froidcoeur, Stéphane (2009). "Assemblage 23 – I've never been fond of the 'future pop' moniker". Side-Line Magazine. Archived from the original on 2013-09-06.
  7. ↑ David Horn, John Shepherd, Paolo Prato: Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World, Volume 11: Genres Europe. Bloomsbury Academic 2017, ISBN   978-1501326103, p. 223.
    "The futurepop genre, as exemplified in the music of Apoptygma Berzerk, Covenant and VNV Nation, saw EBM merging with synthpop while adopting features of trance and contemporary EDM."
  8. ↑ Alexander Nym: Schillerndes Dunkel: Geschichte, Entwicklung und Themen der Gothic-Szene. Plöttner Verlag, 2010, ISBN   978-3-86211-006-3, p. 199.
    "In der Szene ist Neon das neue Schwarz. Der Sound dazu nennt sich Future Pop, Cybergoth oder Hellectro und ist von billigem Techno oft kaum mehr zu unterscheiden. (Stefan Gnad).
    ("Within the dark scene neon is the new black. The sound connected to it is called futurepop, cybergoth or hellectro. The music shows almsost no difference to mediocrely produced techno music.").
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