Windmill Scene
Isaac Wood ofBlack Country, New Road performing in 2020
Other names	Speedy scene
Stylistic origins	Experimental rock post-punk progressive rock post-rock
Cultural origins	Late 2010s – early 2020s,United Kingdom

TheWindmill scene (also known as theSpeedy scene) is amusical scene that originated around theWindmill pub inBrixton, London, during the late 2010s and early 2020s. The term is usually defined with a blend ofexperimental rock andpost-punk, featuring erratic, spoken vocals as well as inspiration from genres such asprogressive rock andpost-rock.^[1][2][3][4] A key figure on the scene's formation is producerDan Carey, who signed many Windmill bands to his record label, Speedy Wunderground, which has also given it the name Speedy scene.^[5]

Among the bands described as being part of the scene areBlack Midi,Black Country, New Road,Squid,Shame,Maruja,the Last Dinner Party,Fat White Family,Heartworms,Goat Girl,PVA and occasionally,Fontaines D.C.^{[1][2][3][5][6][7][8]}

Described by Dylan Wolf ofRamapo College of New Jersey'sRamapo News in 2025 as "the most significant movement in rock music in the past decade",^[6] the Windmill scene began to be acknowledged by mainstream outlets likeNPR Music andThe Independent in the early 2020s as an emerging force in British guitar music.^[9][5] Another name used to refer to the scene is "post-Brexit" new wave, scene or music. Matthew Perpetua of NPR explained the term, writing "For one thing, there's no getting around how much of this music is a direct response to the social dynamics of post-Brexit England... The politics aren't always foregrounded, but there's an unmistakable feeling of shame, disappointment and pessimism about Britain's future permeating all of this music".^[9] Nonetheless,Black Midi bassist Cameron Picton criticised the term in an article in 2022, saying "I don't think there's actually any bearing of Brexit on any of our music. And if you were going to call anything post-Brexit, it would be the bands that are starting out now, maybe".^[10]

Frontrunners of the movement have achieved commercial success, withBlack Country, New Road'sAnts From Up There album debuting at No. 3 on theUK Albums Chart, and a well received performance by Black Midi of the song "bmbmbm" on theHyundai Mercury Prize in 2019. The scene is widely described as sharing a spoken vocal style as well as a blend ofexperimental rock andpost-punk.^[1][2][3] Nonetheless, some of the scene's biggest exponents, such as Black Midi and its guitaristGeordie Greep, began to incorporate different influences to their work, such asprogressive rock andworld music, as well asindie rock andchamber pop in the case of Black Country, New Road. The Windmill scene has also begun to have an influence in foreign acts, with the United States'Geese^[11][12] andSprain,^[13] and Chile's Hesse Kassel^[14] andAsia Menor [es]^[15] being compared to Windmill bands.^[16]

• Sprechgesang
• Postmodern music
• Brexit

• Post-punk
• Music scenes
• English styles of music
• Rock music genres
• Punk rock scenes
• Counterculture of the 2010s
• Counterculture of the 2020s

• CS1 Spanish-language sources (es)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from July 2025