| Wave | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | Early 2010s,Internet |
| Typical instruments | |
| Subgenres | |
| Hardwave,Phonkwave | |
 2025 in wave music | |
Wave is a genre ofbass music and a visual art style that emerged in the early 2010s[8] in online communities. It is characterized byatmosphericmelodies andharmonies, melodic and heavy bass such asreese, moderntrap drums,chopped vocalsamples processed withreverb anddelay, andarpeggiators.[5] Visually, it incorporatescomputer-generated imagery andanimation,[9] and imagery fromvideo games andcartoons.[7]
Wave music originated on online music platforms from a small group ofDIY[2] artists.[3] Since then, wave music uploaded to streaming platforms such asYouTube 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 oftrance andhardstyle, leading to the emergence of thehardwave subgenre.[5][10]
Wave conveys feelings and qualities ofmelancholy similarly towitch house andemo rap, dreaminess,sci-fi akin togrime,[2]femininity,[9] and otherworldliness.[2] Wave emphasizesmelodic andharmonic aspects in combination to drawing from styles such astrap[5] andgrime for interludes anddrum beats.[5] Wave hasexperimentalism relative to the Los Angeles beat scene,[2] and incorporates elements from many other genres[1] such aship-hop,dubstep,UK garage,[1][11]drill,[4]vaporwave,cloud rap,[7]video game music andsound design,ambient,house,techno, andjungle.[2]
A genre ofbass music,[6] wave is typicallybass heavy,[9] while using afilteredReese style basstimbre.[5] Thepercussion featurestrap-style drums with fasthi-hats, with other elements likesnare and pan-hits further processed usingreverb. The percussive styles used can vary owing to the music's broad range of influences and producers' willingness to experiment.[5] Thebeats per minute typically varies between 120 and 140,[9] but wave DJ sets may range from 100 to 200.[5] Vocals used are generallychoppedsamples, with thepitch decreased and increased in conjunction withreverb anddelay.[5]
Wave'svisualaesthetics incorporatesdigital art such ascomputer-generated imagery andanimation. In the scene's origins, these art were combined with wave music onTumblr, and later become used as visuals for physical events.[9] Wave can also display imagery taken fromvideo games andcartoons.[7]
The development and spread of wave music as an independent genre began in the early 2010s[8] at online music platforms and social media (mainlySoundCloud,Bandcamp,Mixcloud,Reddit, andTumblr), among a smallDIY community[2] of artists—often teenagers[12][4] who were not associated with club culture and the mainstream[12][11]—who were makingelectronic music with different sonic influences but, according to producer Glacci, similar subjective qualities of "feeling".[3]Plastician has said that many of those early producers were either trying to achieverap instrumentation akin toClams Casino, or hadgrime influences but applied differenttempos. As new artists attempted to reproduce the sound of these early tracks, wave producers began to be influenced mainly by each other, which allowed wave to develop distinguishable musical characteristics.[4]
Wave's musical scene direct origins can be dated to at least 2013 whenUK-based producer Steven "Klimeks" Adams[6][9][7] begantagging his tracks onSoundCloud aswave,[3][9] and subsequently founded the prominent label Wavemob, which published its first release in 2016, the compilation albumwave 001 with tracks by producers such as Klimeks, Skit, Spoze, and Nvrmore.[13] Also in 2013,Plastician became an early promoter of the wave scene[3] by featuring wave music during his[14] radio shows onRinse FM, and by releases on his labelTerrorhythm Recordings, for instance Klimeks's remix of "Born in the Cold" on the compilation albumTurquoise.[3][15] In December 2015, Plastician releasedThe Wave Pool MMXV mix featuring a selection of wave music[11] that popularized the termwave within the music press and further promoted its general usage.[3]
In early 2016,UKF Music and Futuremag Music wrote that wave producer Jude "Kareful" Leigh-Kaufman released the first full-length wave album,Deluge.[2][1] Following in 2017, Kareful et al. founded the Liquid Ritual label[16] and collective to promote wave music.[17]
Since 2016, the wave scene—originally an online phenomenon—has experienced an increase in physical events such as inLondon, primarilyDalston.[1] For example, entities that promoted events in London include Plastician who ran theSurvey London wave nightclub in 2016 at Phonox, inBrixton;[18][4]Mixmag featuring wave artists atAce Hotel;[9] and Kareful.[2] In regards to the United States wave scene,[2] in December 2022, Vibe.digital, Human Error//, and Soul Food Music Collective collaborated on a three-day wave festival inSeattle, namedPantheon, the largest in that country as of 2024.[19] The ongoingLos Angeles based wave showcase event Tears In The Club also emerged in 2022 and currently represents the largest recurrent and exclusively wave focused event in the western hemisphere.[20] Further local scenes includePoland,Russia, andCanada.[4]
In 2017,Perth-based producers Skeler and Ytho began incorporating elements fromtrance andhardstyle into wave for appealing to the broaderfestival andclub audiences and thus popularize the genre. This lead the wave scene to evolve into the emergent subgenre known as hardwave.[5][10]
The Asian wave scene includes Japanese musicianDean Fujioka. In 2018, he released the single "Echo" which became the theme song for the Japanese TV seriesThe Count of Monte-Cristo: Great Revenge.[21][22] The music video for the song also won theBest Alternative Video at theMTV Video Music Awards Japan.[23] In 2021, he released the song "Plan B" as the"latest evolution of wave".[24][25]
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" ofwave, in order to strategically influencealgorithms onstreaming platforms such asYouTube.[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]