Wave: The emotive new genre with its own icy ecosystem

Icy, emotive synths cut through the air as sub-bass rattles through the speakers, mournful melodies draw a largely female contingent closer to the DJ booth as a kaleidoscope of animated visuals are rendered, manually, on to the screen behind the decks. The sound is fresh, the crowd tight-knit and young, and the man selecting the music is widely known as “the OG of wave”, the new movement which is slowly making the transition from online to the real world – or as one savvy character describes it, “From URL to IRL”. Mixmag is in the basement of the Ace Hotel in Shoreditch where Yusoul are holding one of their regular parties, and the main attraction tonight is Klimeks, the aforementioned OG – responsible for the ‘wave’ title and thought by many to be the first to give this disparate online community a name and direction. Wave may well be the first form of music to have transcended the physical realm, with its formative stages firmly rooted in SoundCloud and Tumblr. It’s one of the new sounds of a generation that has no tangible reference point pre-world wide web, utilising the virtual space and the infinite possibilities offered by endless terabytes of memory.

Developing online has given wave its own nuances and its own ecosystem, which still operates outside of the club world. Many of its main proponents are too young to even get into clubs, which means its sensibilities are inspired more by melody, emotion and song than all-out aggression and testosterone. Wave is a genre that isn’t afraid of sensitivity. It mainly operates in the 120 to 140BPM mark, but unlike London-born genres of the same tempo, it works with a dreamy, therapeutic soundscape that invokes wistfulness and melancholy in the listener – it’s not music that demands you to shake out your demons, it encourages a more philosophical, introspective interpretation... dare we call it ‘emo’? While previous bass-heavy movements have had masculine energy at their core, wave celebrates femininity and innocence - it’s OK to be vulnerable; in fact, it’s important. Sensitivity does not equate to a lack of power, though – the tunes are still very much geared towards heavy basslines and the all-important danceability factor. “Grime can be a bit aggressive,” says fan Thea Mallorie, a student from Brighton, “but this has feminine appeal while still being punchy and tough enough for a good old rave.”

Robyn Allan, a marketing manager from Chingford, agrees: “It’s emotive: it’s great for women, and also good or guys. There’s a good spread of genders here tonight.” At Yusoul, a night run by one of wave’s most prominent names, Skit, there’s an almost 50/50 split between men and women in the crowd and for most of the night, it’s the female contingent who are at the front, moving in tandem with the flow of the aquatic rhythms.

Klimeks is making his debut tonight, having kept himself in the shadows as head of Wavemob, a label and collective that is spearheading the movement. Four years ago, the London-based producer first uploaded a tune with the hashtag ‘wave’. “I really wasn’t intending it to become something like a genre, I saw it more as a descriptive word to separate the sound and vibe of something that had no name,” he says.

It’s creating a whole new dynamic, something a lot of club-goers will never have experienced – soft, self-reflective music. Kareful, another scene leader, tells Mixmag he receives countless messages from fans who have opened up to him about their mental health issues, often crediting his music with ‘saving’ them. Because of this, the music has a staunch following: engaged young people who spread the word immediately, collect merchandise and support artists avidly – fans who understand the power of shares and strength in numbers. Could this be the embryonic stages of a musical revolution?

The enigmatic Klimeks takes to the stage after Skit and proceeds to work through a heavy-duty selection of exclusives and dubs, with a few well-known cuts thrown in the mix too. The atmosphere is buoyant yet woozy – the movement of the crowd centred around flow: men and women sway from side to side as though hypnotised by the emotionally driven music. Some bounce gently, occasionally roused into a hype by a big tune being dropped in. Klimeks rarely gives interviews or makes public appearances, so this is a bit of a coup for Yusoul and marks a pivotal moment in wave’s evolution. How it plays out from here is up to the whole movement.

Klimeks is pragmatic about the sound’s evolution. “I would never have imagined the music being played in a club a few years ago, or even on the radio, and it’s been quite surprising watching the progression up to this point. I guess it could go anywhere from here,” he says.

Kareful, undoubtedly the scene’s most proactive British artist, closes the night after HNRK. His work ethic has gone through the roof over the last 12 months, driven by a desire to unite the disparate artists in the scene and take it to the masses. Last May he played Fabric, and he’s already played Barcelona’s legendary Razzmatazz club twice. He also launched the first 100% wave radio show, with his pal LTHL, on Radar Radio. Called Liquid Ritual, it’s a showcase for a horde of previously unheard wave producers. Kareful’s set is the most dynamic of the night, fusing the spine-tingling, dainty melodies of wave with the odd grime or trap interlude. Standouts include his own ‘H2O’ and Sorsari’s ‘Children Of Gaia’. His selection demonstrates the intrinsic connection between wave, its US cousin, trap, and perhaps its closest relative, grime. There are echoes of Wiley’s glacial atmospherics in wave, spliced with the stuttered trill beats of trap, and it tells a story, as noted by Kareful’s mum, Lucy, who is also at Yusoul for this important night “It’s got a cinematic quality,” she tells us. “I can imagine some of this music on the soundtrack to a film, such is its ability to transmit emotion.”

Wave followers are keen to network, to socialise and to contemplate the genre’s future and development, chatting online via Reddit and SoundCloud, and this is replicated in the clubs. It’s a culture that feeds into itself: those involved know something is happening, so they’re guiding it, contemplating its direction and using the knowledge of the past to push it forward. It really is a case of ‘each one teach one’, as more experienced producers freely pass on tips and software to younger artists and push their music, typically reposting on SoundCloud so others get some shine.

Event organisers place particular emphasis on having the right visuals to accompany the sound, which gives budding digital artists the opportunity to showcase their work to a live audience. This harks back to the scene’s infancy when bedroom producers were making music to accompany naïve digital art created for Tumblr accounts and vice versa. At Yusoul it’s Chris Speed on visuals, a 3D digital artist whose work is often incorporated into their events, giving them a unique aesthetic.

Wearing a range of Speed’s animations on his face, Kareful’s mixing style is precise, delivering the music with a variety of techniques: quick cuts, echoes, reverbs… never the same, but don’t expect a two-minute-long blend, either. This is music that is generally made without the club environment in mind, so the mixing has to be inventive at times. Kareful is an expert with the blends though; you only have to take a listen to the mix he did for Fabric’s blog to appreciate that. As he preps his own Liquid Ritual label, the Romford-based producer is highly optimistic about the future of this emergent genre.

“Tonight is a big one for us, another turning point. We’re pushing it and taking it as far as we can; labels are starting, the audience is increasing weekly,” he says. “There’ll be more of these small ‘moments’ that push everything onwards. My Dutch mate Devdcrow’s done a mix for Annie Nightingale, Toddla T’s been supporting my music on Radio 1… it’s happening.”

A huge amount of support has come from Bristol too, where UK bass music has always had a stronghold. BBC Bristol host Thadeous Matthews is in town for Klimeks’ debut, filming a wave documentary. “I drove three hours down the motorway to be here for this,” the radio presenter and owner of the Pear Drops label tells us. He points to his heart: “because it’s right here.”

It’s not exclusively in the UK that wave has started to materialise in the club world. The genre is also making strong movements in the States. As California-based producer and Wavemob member Foxwedding tells us, “It’s definitely been a huge year for wave in the USA... the scene has been going at a thousand miles per hour and it’s beautiful”. There’s Brothel, Noah B, Sorsari from Canada and many more, plus vocal artists like Lil Peep are employing the scene’s producers to make beats, riding over them with anarchistic, punk-inspired raps.

Whatever happens, those who have experienced this vibe won’t be able to turn their backs on it in a hurry. As Kareful says, “This is finally the sound that sums up how my generation feels, not only physically or spiritually, but also politically. It’s a reaction to the state of the world – it’s dark, but there’s a light at the end of the tunnel”. As the final track of his set is played, you can feel the beginnings of something new and inspiring. A wave of it.