Egg punk | |
---|---|
Stylistic origins | |
Cultural origins | Early 2010s, Indiana |
Derivative forms | Devo-core |
Regional scenes | |
United States Midwest, Australia |
Egg punk is a subgenre of punk rock that emerged during the 2010s. It is an internet-based microgenre based upon bands with a lo-fi recording style and satirical tone. The genre is influenced by new wave band Devo and historically referred to as Devo-core. The origins of egg punk are attributed both to a community of DIY midwestern American punk rock artists from the early 2010s, including The Coneheads and Lumpy and the Dumpers, and their subsequent characterization as "egg punk" by a series of internet memes circulated in the late 2010s.
The music of egg punk is influenced by the do-it-yourself ethos of punk subculture, characterized by the use of minimal or lo-fi recording and mixing methods and hand-drawn or collage album covers. [1] Also described as Devo-core, the genre is heavily influenced by the music of new wave band Devo as both an aesthetic and stylistic influence. [2] [1] [3] Pitchfork described the genre as "subversive", "experimental", and typified by "wry lyrics and cheapo keyboards". [2] John Robb wrote that the subgenre consisted of "lo-fi perfectly ‘badly’ recorded fast punk rock songs", featuring "garage melody with jitterbug jittery guitars and even sometimes cheapo synths" and oriented towards "cocking a snoop at punk’s sometimes seriousity instead embracing introvert nerds, alien noise fiends and manic goofy behaviour". [4]
The nomenclature of egg punk was Internet-based and originated from a series of internet memes circulated in 2017 that proposed a spectrum of punk rock music between "egg punk" and "chain punk". [5] [6] The meme was intended to distinguish between the traditionalism and aggression of "chain punk" with the more experimental and satirical approach of "egg punk". [5] [7] [2] The microgenre describes a range of punk rock bands active in the earlier 2010s in the Midwestern United States, centrally the Indiana band The Coneheads, founded in 2013 and led by Mark Winter, [4] and St. Louis band Lumpy and the Dumpers, whose frontman, Martin Meyer, would distribute similar cassette recordings under label Lumpy Records. [3] Other Midwest bands adopting a similar approach included Uranium Club in Minneapolis, and Warm Bodies in Kansas City. [6] The satirical tone and style of these bands have been considered as a response to the traditional "chain punk" bands in the local scene that were viewed as taking their music and message too seriously. [8] [1] [5] The increased visibility of the egg punk scene was attributed to the distribution of rips of cassette tapes to YouTube by mononymous user Jimmy. [5] [3] [9] The onset of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 has been also suggested to have facilitated the adoption of egg punk as musicians had more time and fewer resources to create music, leading to greater openness to a DIY approach. [6] Egg punk has extended outside the Midwest to several regions, including the Australian punk scene, involving bands such as Ausmuteants, Checkpoint, R.M.F.C., Tee Vee Repairmann, and Gee Tee, whose lead Kel Mason has published egg punk records under several side projects including Research Reactor Corp. [3]
Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent record labels, by the 1990s it became more widely associated with the music such bands produced.
Queercore is a cultural/social movement that began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of the punk subculture and a music genre that comes from punk rock. It is distinguished by its discontent with society in general, and specifically society's disapproval of the LGBT community. Queercore expresses itself in a DIY style through magazines, music, writing and film.
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Lo-fi is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate choice. The standards of sound quality (fidelity) and music production have evolved over the decades, meaning that some older examples of lo-fi may not have been originally recognized as such. Lo-fi began to be recognized as a style of popular music in the 1990s, when it became alternately referred to as DIY music. Some subsets of lo-fi music have become popular for their perceived nostalgic and/or relaxing qualities, which originate from the imperfections that define the genre.
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Uranium Club is an American punk rock band based in Minneapolis. The band consists of members Brendan Wells, Harry Wohl, Ian Stemper and Matt Stagner, several being former members of Iowa City bands Solid Attitude and NERV. The band has released four albums on Static Shock Records and other independent labels, and been associated with the egg punk subgenre.
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This article is an overview of the major events and trends in popular music in the 2010s.
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Electronic rock is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s when rock bands began incorporating electronic instrumentation into their music. Electronic rock acts usually fuse elements from other music styles, including punk rock, industrial rock, hip hop, techno and synth-pop, which has helped spur subgenres such as indietronica, dance-punk and electroclash.
A microgenre is a specialized or niche genre. The term has been used since at least the 1970s to describe highly specific subgenres of music, literature, film, and art. In music, examples include the myriad sub-subgenres of heavy metal and electronic music. Some genres are sometimes retroactively created by record dealers and collectors as a way to increase the monetary value of certain records, with early examples including Northern soul, freakbeat, garage punk, and sunshine pop. By the early 2010s, most microgenres were linked and defined through various outlets on the Internet, usually as part of generating popularity and hype for a newly perceived trend. Examples of these include chillwave, witch house, seapunk, shitgaze, and vaporwave.
Sovietwave is a subgenre of synthwave music and accompanying Internet aesthetic which originates from the former Soviet Union, primarily Russia. It is characterized by an emphasis on the technology and culture of the Soviet Union, such as the Soviet space program and retrofuturistic Soviet era architecture and art, and is an expression of nostalgia for the Soviet Union. Linguist Maria Engström described Sovietwave as the post-Soviet counterpart to vaporwave, evoking a similar nostalgic critique of the "contemporary collapse of futurity" and longing for the lost optimism of a bygone era.
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