Wave music
Wave is a genre of bass music and a visual art style that emerged in the early 2010s[8] in online communities. It is characterized by atmospheric melodies and harmonies, melodic and heavy bass such as reese, modern trap drums, chopped vocal samples processed with reverb and delay, and arpeggiators.[5] Visually, it incorporates computer-generated imagery and animation,[9] and imagery from video games and cartoons.[7]
This article is about the electronic music genre. For other uses, see Wave (disambiguation).Wave
Early 2010s, Internet
Wave music originated on online music platforms from a small group of DIY[2] artists.[3] Since then, wave music uploaded to streaming platforms such as YouTube has gathered millions of plays, which is partially attributable to the genre's broad influences.[7] Since 2016, the wave scene has experienced an increase in physical events.[1] From 2017 onward, the genre further incorporated elements of trance and hardstyle, leading to the emergence of the hardwave subgenre.[5][10]
Characteristics[edit]
Musical qualities and influences[edit]
Wave conveys feelings and qualities of melancholy similarly to witch house and emo rap, dreaminess, sci-fi akin to grime,[2] femininity,[9] and otherworldliness.[2] Wave emphasizes melodic and harmonic aspects in combination to drawing from styles such as trap[5] and grime for interludes and drum beats.[5] Wave has experimentalism relative to the Los Angeles beat scene,[2] and incorporates elements from many other genres[1] such as hip-hop, dubstep, UK garage,[1][11] drill,[4] vaporwave, cloud rap,[7] video game music and sound design, ambient, house, techno, and jungle.[2]
Production style[edit]
A genre of bass music,[6] wave is typically bass heavy,[9] while using a filtered Reese style bass timbre.[5] The percussion features trap-style drums with fast hi-hats, with other elements like snare and pan-hits further processed using reverb. The percussive styles used can vary owing to the music's broad range of influences and producers' willingness to experiment.[5] The beats per minute typically varies between 120 and 140,[9] but wave DJ sets may range from 100 to 200.[5] Vocals used are generally chopped samples, with the pitch decreased and increased in conjunction with reverb and delay.[5]
Visual aesthetics[edit]
Wave's visual aesthetics incorporates digital art such as computer-generated imagery and animation. In the scene's origins, these art were combined with wave music on Tumblr, and later become used as visuals for physical events.[9] Wave can also display imagery taken from video games and cartoons.[7]
Reception[edit]
In May 2017, Vice published an article by Ezra Marcus arguing that the wave community and bloggers were categorizing a wide range of music within the sonically undefined "constructed microgenre" of wave, in order to strategically influence algorithms on streaming platforms such as YouTube.[7] Plastician responded to Marcus's article, arguing that most wave producers were generally younger people who lack marketing skills and are unfamiliar with YouTube algorithms.[4]