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Electroclash describes a style of fashion, music, and attitude that fuses New Wave, punk, & electronic dance music with somewhat campy and absurdist post-industrial detachment in addition to vampy and/or camp sexuality. The movement combines the 1980s electropop/New Wave/Italo disco sound by means of synthesizers and drum machines. Visuals that are affiliated with electroclash often resemble or directly allude to post-1970's Westwood and Warhol fashion/art scenes, the mid-70's, Kraftwerk-ian German influences and early-80's New York Downtown dystopian avant-garde à la Liquid Sky.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Australia 2 Themes 3 Representative artists and ensembles 4 See also 5 External links

Electroclash, a form of music known predominantly to the underground, spawned in the late 1990s in The Hague, Munich, Berlin, New York City, and Detroit. The first example of electroclash is often cited as the Dutch artist I-F's 1997 track "Space Invaders Are Smoking Grass." The movement emerged in 2000-2002 through Larry Tee's roving, fashion/art/hipster Berliniamsburg, and later at the Mutants club nights, at Club Luxx in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Many deem that Larry Tee coined the term "electroclash", and also began the Electroclash™ Festival which helped him in trademarking the word itself. Tee's early electroclash parties were defined by historically oppressed and/or fringe members of society, including transsexuals, cocaine users. The crowd tended to be dressed in revealing 1980s- sub-culture clothing, while music at such events consisted of obscure New Wave and disco remix records.

The name derives from the early 80's electropop bands who provide the majority of electroclash's musical influence. Lyrics are generally tongue-in-cheek and punk inspired, and often more given to attitude and pose than poetics or theme; while the vocal delivery is typically atonal to the point of caricature. The deadpan style of the band The Flying Lizards could also be considered an influence. In the UK this music was promoted and released by Orange Sync Records, which also promoted The Synth DJ's and New Wave Electro parties in night clubs such as The Stage Door & Beyond (The Gate)in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.

In contrast to the American gay nightclubs, the International DJ Gigolo nights held by DJ Hell in Munich attracted a predominantly heterosexual crowd. Electroclash peaked in Berlin in 2002.

In subsequent years, scenes in other cities and areas, such as in Southern California, spawned loosely affiliated, and generally more "serious" 80s homage projects adopting the electroclash moniker. The lyrical subjects and themes were often taken more seriously and were considerably darker than those of the original East Coast style, toning down the original tongue-in-cheek flavor of the genre.

By the mid-2000s, 'electroclash' had become a popular synonym for "80s retro dance music." The genre has since gone on to be associated more strongly with international rather than U.S. scenes; dominant now in Berlin, Barcelona, Bogotá, Montreal, Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro, with Madamme Nini and Lady Ray's monthly party Fashion Nugget at the nightclub known as Dama de Ferro, rather than New York, Detroit and San Francisco.

In the UK, electroclash has been most popular in both the alternative gay scene and parts of the Goth scene, with nights like Nag Nag Nag, The Cock, Anti-Social, Death Disco, Electrogogo, Fuck The Pain Away and Beyond Club . For a time, the scene was synonymous with the Hoxton area of London.

In Australia, the electroclash scene emerged swiftly during 2002 in a number of venues. The infamous BangGang weekly nights in Kings Cross, fueled by Local Podcasts such as TheNewSoundOfTrash.com, saw a swift growth in ElectroClash fans within a few months during 2004 - going from 50 or so patrons to 2000+ people showing up and being unable to get into the overpacked venue. The social scene around electroclash in Sydney has also quickly merged with Sydney's fashion scene, and has now got to the point where the electroclash scenes fashion sense has quickly become self-mockery. The scene also heavily ridicules/embraces the Sydney rave scene culture of the early 90's with slogans such as "rave to the grave" and "less talk, more rave." Drug culture is also heavily embedded into the scene with drugs such as ketamine, GHB and cocaine being the substances of choice. Influential DJ's include AJAX, Jamie Doom, Gus da Hoodrat, all Bang Gang DJ's, Van She Tech, New Sound Of Trash, Kato, Dan de Cairns, Harris Robotis, Jon Hardy and others. One of the most interesting aspects of the Australian electroclash scene is that the majority of the music & fashion is either locally produced or imported from France and Germany, as opposed to the tradition of taking influence from the UK or USA.

Interestingly, in Australia, the emerging electroclash movement was closely tied with the Ksubi phenomenon, with Dangerous Dan (Dan Single), one of the founding members of the Ksubi clan (formally Tsubi), also behind Bang Gang's night at Moulin Rouge, Kings Cross, which eventually moved to infamous Club 77 (since closed). Bang Gang now guest DJ at various clubs around Sydney and Melbourne, and make appearances at dance music festivals such as We Love Sounds and Field Day.

The electroclash scene, although still prominent in Sydney, has moved into the mainstream. Through the Ministry of Sound record label and artists from Tonite Only to Sneaky Sound System, the genre is bigger than ever, although now it is more commonly known as electro. The electroclash faithful still listen to the likes of formally underground locals such as The Presets gaining national and international success, playing at the 2006 Homebake festival and touring nationally with the 2007 Big Day Out festivals. The prominence of electroclash in Sydney's, and of late Melbourne's, night culture is also tied closely with the Modular Recordings record label. Modular is responsible for the Presets and Cut Copy, and has avant-garde art-punk rockers Yeah Yeah Yeahs, as well as other recent commercially successful artists Wolfmother and The Avalanches on their books.

Wolfmother was born out of the electro/indie scene happening in Sydney in 2002-2003, playing at local indie hole Candy's Apartment, Kings Cross to relatively small numbers before releasing their debut EP. The notorious Vice magazine (Australian edition), and street press The Brag, also helped institutionalise the electro/indies scene in Sydney.

In 2006 a new scene emerged out of the early 00's days, dubbed by insiders as New Rave - The music has become harder and featured many early & raw electronic music sounds from acid house, gabba and hard-nrg but still carrying an early 80's avantgarde fashion. Artists associated with the scene may be seen to draw heavy influence on their art from the drugs LSD and ketamine, and often incorporate cartoon imagery. Party nights such as Bandits Fridays (Phoenix Bar, Sydney), Starfuckers (Club 77, Sydney) and Nightclubs such as The Gaff (Sydney) and HonkyTonks (Melbourne) have become New Rave/ Electroclash institutions.

A bleakly ironic, but indulgently hyper-sexual post-feminist/post-9/11 stance is often evident in the themes of many Electroclash outfits. The genre is generally not a musical style as much as a kitsch-ily cold distanced stance - infected by exhibitionist sexuality and a winking fetish-isation of wealth, indulgence, consumption, and glamour culture - directly reflecting back to the trend's roots in gay club culture. Style is definitely the victor over substance, as a point of pride.

But perhaps more exactly, "electroclash" is an aesthetic approach to a certain set of musical ideas and instruments, similar to "art rock" in that it's not so much a style as a way of doing things. This approach to electronic music--some distinguishing features being a proclivity towards aggressive, defiant lyrics (and performance persona) and deceptively simple, "retro" arrangements--is what denotes it as different from synthpop, IDM, or other branches of electronica.

Arguably, the movement has more in common with 'Paris Is Burning' style personal projection and dress-up than it has with any element of a musical genre. Essentially the trend of Electroclash, as fashion and pose, is its own driving force - the stylistic affectation is more important than anything going on in the actual music. The "band" Fischerspooner is an example of this philosophy in action - featuring indulgent, elaborately staged 1980s homage live shows with over-the-top backdrops, dramatic interludes, and costuming - rendering the music itself almost an afterthought to the production and image-making of the project.

Add N to (X) ADULT. Aier Sauft Alice in Videoland Avenue D Bang Gang djs Black Strobe The Black Ghosts Button*Masher Captain Comatose Cherry Bikini Chicks on Speed Client Cobra Killer Coleco Music Console Crossover CTX Dirty Princess Dirty Sanchez Denim & Diamonds DJ Habit DJ Hell DJ Versatile Ebon Electrocute Electrosexual Ellen Allien Fad Gadget Felix da Housecat Fairlight Children

Fischerspooner F.O.K. Freezepop Future Bible Heroes girlsRISEwithHEAT Glass Candy Gravy Train!!!! Green Velvet The Hacker Hungry Wives I-F Infiniti Jay Jay Johanson John B Jordan Dare Ju Ju Babies Justice Kate Wax Ladytron Larry Tee Legowelt Lesbians On Ecstasy Le Tigre Lexy and K-Paul Mark Nicholas Matinée Club Miss Kittin

Motormark My Robot Friend Mount Sims Nicky Click Peaches Phiiliip Ping Pong Bitches The Presets Queen of Japan Sexcopter Rul Simon Soldout Sophia Lamar Stereo Total Stuart Price Swayzak Tiga The Knife The Synth DJ's The Teddybears Tomcraft Tommie Sunshine Tracy + The Plastics Uffie Uncle Outrage VendasNovas Vitalic Vive la Fête Vyncent Flaw Zoot Woman

• Ball culture
• Dance-punk
• Dark Cabaret
• Electro
• Electrocrass
• Electro house
• Italo disco
• List of electronic music genres

• electrofreaks.com - Electroclash Message Board
• electroclash.pl - polish electroclash site
• euroclash - A more comprehensive list of artists.
• thenewsoundoftrash.com - A Sydney electro synth rock clash podcast.
• BangGang - A Sydney electroclash podcast.

Satirizing Electroclash:

• The Great Electroclash Swindle @ pHinnWeb
• How to make electroclash - An Everything2 node

Synthpop
Electropop - Electroclash - Futurepop - Synthpunk
Other electronic music genres
Ambient | Breakbeat | Dance | Drum and bass | Electronica | Electronic Art Music | Hard Dance | Hardcore | House | Industrial | Synthpop | Techno | Trance