Egg punk

Last updated

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.

Contents

Characteristics

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. [2] 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. [3] [2] [1] Other influences range from other new wave bands like Suburban Lawns. [4] As well as garage punk artists Jay Reatard, [5] Urinals [6] and the Spits [2] .

Pitchfork described the genre as "subversive", "experimental", and typified by "wry lyrics and cheapo keyboards". [3] 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". [7]

History

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". [8] [9] The meme was intended to distinguish between the traditionalism and aggression of "chain punk" with the more experimental and satirical approach of "egg punk". [8] [10] [3]

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, [7] and St. Louis band Lumpy and the Dumpers, whose frontman, Martin Meyer, would distribute similar cassette recordings under label Lumpy Records. [1] Other Midwest bands adopting a similar approach included Uranium Club in Minneapolis, and Warm Bodies in Kansas City. [9] 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. [11] [2] [8]

The increased visibility of the egg punk scene was attributed to the distribution of rips of cassette tapes to YouTube by mononymous user Jimmy (also known as Harakiri Diat or Coxtonyardx) . [8] [1] [12] 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. [9]

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. [1]

Other notable artists labelled as egg punk include Snõõper, Prison Affair, Powerplant, C.C.T.V. and Landline. [13]

Related Research Articles

New wave is a music genre that encompasses pop-oriented styles from the 1970s through the 1980s. It is considered a lighter and more melodic "broadening of punk culture". It was originally used as a catch-all for the various styles of music that emerged after punk rock. Later, critical consensus favored "new wave" as an umbrella term involving many contemporary popular music styles, including synth-pop, alternative dance and post-punk. The main new wave movement coincided with late 1970s punk and continued into the early 1980s.

Rock is a broad genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles from the mid-1960s, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, a style that drew directly from the genres of blues, rhythm and blues, and from country music. Rock also drew strongly from genres such as electric blues and folk, and incorporated influences from jazz and other musical styles. For instrumentation, rock has centered on the electric guitar, usually as part of a rock group with electric bass guitar, drums, and one or more singers. Usually, rock is song-based music with a 4
4 time signature using a verse–chorus form, but the genre has become extremely diverse. Like pop music, lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political. Rock was the most popular genre of music in the U.S. and much of the Western world from the 1950s to the 2010s.

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.

Alternative rock is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s with the likes of the grunge, shoegaze, and Britpop subgenres in the United States and United Kingdom, respectively. During this period, many record labels were looking for "alternatives", as many corporate rock, hard rock, and glam metal acts from the 1980s were beginning to grow stale throughout the music industry. The emergence of Generation X as a cultural force in the 1990s also contributed greatly to the rise of alternative rock.

Pop-punk is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined by its fast-paced, energetic tempos, and emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti-suburbia themes. It is distinguished from other punk-variant genres by drawing more heavily from 1960s bands such as the Beatles, the Kinks, and the Beach Boys. The genre has evolved throughout its history, absorbing elements from new wave, college rock, ska, rap, emo, boy band pop and even hardcore punk. It is sometimes considered interchangeable with power pop and skate punk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Noise rock</span> Experimental rock music mixed with noise

Noise rock is a noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, artists indulge in extreme levels of distortion through the use of electric guitars and, less frequently, electronic instrumentation, either to provide percussive sounds or to contribute to the overall arrangement.

Post-punk revival is a genre or movement of indie rock that emerged in the early 2000s as musicians started to play a stripped down and back-to-basics version of guitar rock inspired by the original sounds and aesthetics of post-punk, new wave and garage rock. It is closely associated with new wave revival and garage rock revival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lo-fi music</span> Music aesthetic

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the punk subculture</span>

The history of the punk subculture involves the history of punk rock, the history of various punk ideologies, punk fashion, punk visual art, punk literature, dance, and punk film. Since emerging in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia in the mid-1970s, the punk subculture has spread around the globe and evolved into a number of different forms. The history of punk plays an important part in the history of subcultures in the 20th century.

A number of overlapping punk rock subgenres have developed since the emergence of punk rock in the mid-1970s. Even though punk genres at times are difficult to segregate, they usually show differing characteristics in overall structures, instrumental and vocal styles, and tempo. However, sometimes a particular trait is common in several genres, and thus punk genres are normally grouped by a combination of traits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uranium Club</span> American alternative rock band

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.

Chillwave is a music microgenre that emerged in the late 2000s. It is characterized by evoking the popular music of the late 1970s and early 1980s while engaging with notions of memory and nostalgia. Common features include a faded or dreamy retro pop sound, escapist lyrics, psychedelic or lo-fi aesthetics, mellow vocals, slow-to-moderate tempos, effects processing, and vintage synthesizers.

This article is an overview of the major events and trends in popular music in the 2010s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vaporwave</span> Online musical genre and visual aesthetic

Vaporwave is a microgenre of electronic music and a subgenre of hauntology, a visual art style, and an Internet meme that emerged in the early 2010s, and became well-known in 2015. It is defined partly by its slowed-down, chopped and screwed samples of smooth jazz, 1970s elevator music, R&B, and lounge music from the 1980s and 1990s. The surrounding subculture is sometimes associated with an ambiguous or satirical take on consumer capitalism and pop culture, and tends to be characterized by a nostalgic or surrealist engagement with the popular entertainment, technology and advertising of previous decades. Visually, it incorporates early Internet imagery, late 1990s web design, glitch art, anime, stylized Greek sculptures, 3D-rendered objects, and cyberpunk tropes in its cover artwork and music videos.

The emo revival, or fourth wave emo, was an underground emo movement which began in the late 2000s and flourished until the mid-to-late 2010s. The movement began towards the end of the 2000s third-wave emo, with Pennsylvania-based groups such as Tigers Jaw, Algernon Cadwallader and Snowing eschewing that era's mainstream sensibilities in favor of influence from 1990s Midwest emo. Acts like Touché Amoré, La Dispute and Defeater drew from 1990s emo and especially its heavier counterparts, such as screamo and post-hardcore.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sovietwave</span> Subgenre of synthwave

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lofi hip hop</span> Subgenre of hip hop

Lofi hip hop is a form of downtempo music that combines elements of hip hop and chill-out music. It was popularized in the 2010s on YouTube.

Hyperpop is a loosely defined electronic music movement and microgenre that predominantly originated in the United Kingdom during the early 2010s. It is characterised by a maximalist or exaggerated take on popular music, and artists within the microgenre typically integrate pop and avant-garde sensibilities while drawing on elements commonly found in electronic, hip hop, and dance music.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Anthony, David (27 February 2017). "Exploring the weird, lo-fi world of "Devo-core"". A.V. Club. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Egg Punk – A Genre Field Guide". WKNC 88.1. 19 November 2023. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 Snerburne, Phillip (7 October 2021). "25 Microgenres That (Briefly) Defined the Last 25 Years". Pitchfork. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  4. ↑ Breznikar, Klemen (2024-04-18). "Piss Rules". It's Psychedelic Baby Magazine. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
  5. ↑ Hullander, Megan (2023-09-01). "Behind the spirit of Snõõper". Document Journal. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
  6. ↑ "Snooper". MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
  7. 1 2 Robb, John (28 January 2024). "Egg Punk – LTW examines the manic thrills of punk's current new wave plus playlist!". Louder Than War. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Egg Punk vs. Chain Punk". DIY Conspiracy. 25 June 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  9. 1 2 3 Salmon, Ben (4 January 2024). "The Rise of Second-Wave Egg Punk". SPIN. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  10. ↑ Cassis, Vicky (September 2018). "Columns: Women and Butches". Maximum Rocknroll. pp. 23–4.
  11. ↑ "Snõõper Are A Force Of Nature". Clash. 12 April 2023. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  12. ↑ Scott, Tim (8 December 2016). "Meet Jimmy, The Guy Behind the Punkest YouTube Channel of 2016". Vice. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  13. ↑ johnrobb (2024-01-28). "Egg Punk". Louder Than War. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.