Electroclash

The term electroclash describes a musical movement that combined synthpop, techno, punk and performance art. The genre was in reaction to the rigid formulations of techno music, putting an emphasis on song writing, showmanship and a sense of humour, and was described by The Guardian as one of "the two most significant upheavals in recent dance music history".[https://www.theguardian.com/theguide/music/story/0,,2281522,00.html "The female techno takeover"], The Guardian, May 24, 2008 The visual aesthetic of electroclash has been associated with the 1982 cult film Liquid Sky.[http://www.phinnweb.org/313ctr0/electroclash/index3.html "The Great Electroclash Swindle"]. Retrieved August 10, 2008. DJ Hell is widely credited as inventor and name giver of the genre,{{cite web| url = http://www.pure-fm.de/dj-hell-rhabarbersaft-schorle-und-champus/| title = The gentleman of electronic music| publisher = Pure FM| date = 11 June 2014| access-date = 11 August 2016| language = de| archive-date = 1 January 2015| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150101012852/http://www.pure-fm.de/dj-hell-rhabarbersaft-schorle-und-champus/| url-status = dead}}{{cite web| url = http://www.fazemag.de/dj-hell-electronic-music-megastar/ | title = DJ Hell – Electronic Music Megastar| date = 6 April 2012| publisher = FAZEmag| access-date=26 August 2016|language=de}}{{cite AV media | people=Pailhe, Dimitri (Director), Marx, Jean-Claude, Alary, Romain, Sève, Thibault | date=2014 | title=Bienvenue au club : 25 ans de musiques électroniques | trans-title=Welcome to the club! 25 years of electronic dance music | medium=Motion picture | language=fr | location=France | publisher=Arte France, Bellota Films | url=https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/074985-000-A/bienvenue-au-club/}} while DJ and promoter Larry Tee later popularized the term in the US by naming the Electroclash 2001 Festival in New York after it.{{cite magazine |last=Paoletta |first=Michael |date=27 July 2002 |title=Nü-Electro Sound Emerges |magazine=Billboard | issue=114| volume=30 | pages=66–68 | issn=0006-2510 |location= New York| publisher=Nielsen Business Media Inc. }}

Electroclash emerged in the late 1990s. The Munich-based label International DeeJay Gigolo Records, founded by DJ Hell, is considered the "germ cell" and "THE home" of the electroclash sound.Sources:

• {{cite news| url = http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/musik/dj-hell-vokuhila-koks-und-schampus-a-274462.html |title=DJ Hell: Vokuhila, Koks und Schampus |trans-title=DJ Hell: Mullet, coke and champers |work=Der Spiegel |author=Ulf Lippitz| date=18 November 2003|language=de}}
• {{cite news| url = https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2009/mar/02/djhell-electroclash-helmut-geier |title = DJ Hell creates dance music heaven at last |newspaper =The Guardian |author=Tony Naylor |date=2 March 2009}}
• {{cite magazine| url=http://www.factmag.com/2014/03/07/save-the-planet-kill-yourself-remembering-electroclash/2/ |title=Save the Planet, Kill Yourself: remembering Electroclash |magazine=FACT Magazine |author=Joe Muggs| date=7 March 2014}}{{cite news |url=https://magazin.spiegel.de/EpubDelivery/spiegel/pdf/26767194 |title=Aufgewärmte Kälte – Das Revival findet doch statt: Ladytron macht aus Klängen der Achtziger Electroclash |trans-title=Warmed up cold – The revival takes place after all: Ladytron turn the sounds of the eighties into electroclash |work=Der Spiegel |author=Von Kraehahn and Christoph Dallach |date=31 March 2003|language=de}}{{cite magazine| url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/a-bullshitters-guide-to-electroclash/| title = A Bullshitter's Guide to Electroclash| magazine = VICE | author = Josh Baines| date =10 February 2016}}{{cite web| url =http://www.skiddle.com/news/all/DJ-Hell-Interview-Power-and-innovation/26712/| title = Dj Hell Interview: Power and Innovation| publisher = Skiddle| date=20 October 2015| access-date=26 August 2016}} Gigolo featured many of the early electroclash songs, such as for example Christopher Just's I'm a Disco Dancer from 1997 or Chris Korda's Save the Planet, Kill Yourself, which originally even had been released as early as 1993.{{cite magazine| url =http://www.factmag.com/2014/03/07/save-the-planet-kill-yourself-remembering-electroclash/2/| title = Save the Planet, Kill Yourself: remembering Electroclash| magazine = FACT Magazine | author = Joe Muggs| date =7 March 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://www.discogs.com/de/Chris-Korda-Save-The-Planet-Kill-Yourself/release/189345|title=Chris Korda – Save The Planet, Kill Yourself|work = Discogs|date=1993 |publisher=Zinc Media, Inc|access-date=20 August 2016}} Then in 1998, Gigolo released the songs "1982" and "Frank Sinatra" by French recording duo Miss Kittin & The Hacker, which were among the most successful early hits of the new genre.{{cite web|url=http://www.discogs.com/Miss-Kittin-And-The-Hacker-Champagne-EP/master/38663|title=Miss Kittin And The Hacker* - Champagne! E.P.|work = Discogs|date=1998 |publisher=Zinc Media, Inc|access-date=11 August 2016}} This was followed by the hit "Emerge" by New York duo Fischerspooner,{{cite web |url=https://www.discogs.com/Fischerspooner-Emerge/release/8348 |title=Fischerspooner – Emerge |work = Discogs|date=30 July 2001 |publisher=Zinc Media, Inc|access-date=29 December 2020}} as well as the remake of Corey Hart's "Sunglasses at Night" by Canadian duo Tiga & Zyntherius, both released on Gigolo in 2001.{{cite web |url=https://www.discogs.com/Tiga-Zyntherius-Sunglasses-EP/release/18500 |title=Tiga & Zyntherius – Sunglasses EP |work = Discogs|date=4 September 2001 |publisher=Zinc Media, Inc|access-date=29 December 2020}}{{cite magazine |last=Kleinfeld |first=Justin |date=3 February 2003 |title=Artist Spotlight:Tiga |magazine=CMJ New Music Report | issue=799| volume=74 | pages=20 | issn=0890-0795 |location= New York| publisher=The CMJ Network Inc. }} DJ Hell brought the artists of the new genre together on the label and acted primarily as their mentor. But also Hell's own releases like the album Munich Machine from 1998 are seen as groundbreaking for the genre Electroclash.{{cite news |url = https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2009/mar/02/djhell-electroclash-helmut-geier |title=DJ Hell creates dance music heaven at last |newspaper=The Guardian |author=Tony Naylor |date=2 March 2009 |access-date=29 December 2020}} In the widely recognized film documentary Welcome to the club! 25 years of electronic dance music by European television network Arte, Miss Kittin describes the origination of the first songs of the new style together with DJ Hell and declares him the inventor of the Electroclash genre. Since DJ Hell gathered the international artists of the new genre at Gigolo in Munich and many of them gave their first performances in the city's nightclubs, Munich is considered the city in which electroclash "was significantly co-invented, if not invented". Soon the new style of music also spread to other cities such as Berlin, London and New York.{{cite news |url=http://www.taz.de/1/archiv/?dig=2003/01/17/a0265 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200225023741/https://taz.de/!822729/ |archive-date=25 February 2020 |title=The Great Gigolo Swindle |newspaper = Die Tageszeitung |author = Andreas Hartmann | date =17 January 2003 |access-date=24 August 2016|language=de}}

Also I-F's track "Space Invaders Are Smoking Grass", released in 1998 on Disko B, with its "old-fashioned verse-chorus dynamics to burbling electro in a vocodered homage to Atari-era hi-jinks" is considered one of the pioneering tracks of the electroclash genre.{{Cite journal |last=D. Lynskey |title=Out with the old, in with the older |journal=Guardian.co.uk |date=22 March 2002 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2002/mar/22/shopping.artsfeatures2?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141015225802/http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2002/mar/22/shopping.artsfeatures2 |archive-date=15 October 2014 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=https://www.discogs.com/I-f-Fucking-Consumer/release/13567 |title=I-f – Fucking Consumer |work= Discogs|date=28 March 1998 |publisher=Zinc Media, Inc|access-date=29 December 2020}} Further early artists include Chicks on Speed, Peaches, Electrosexual ADULT. and Toktok vs. Soffy O with their year 2000 hit Missy Queen's Gonna Die.{{cite web| url = http://www.intro.de/popmusik/toktok-vs-soffy-o-1| title = The moment after: Toktok vs. Soffy O.| publisher = Intro Magazine| author = Sonja Eismann| date = 27 September 2002| access-date = 24 August 2016| language = de| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160827161054/http://www.intro.de/popmusik/toktok-vs-soffy-o-1 | archive-date = 27 August 2016| url-status = dead}}{{Cite journal |last=J. Walker |title=Popmatters concert review: ELECTROCLASH 2002 Artists: Peaches, Chicks on Speed, W.I.T., and Tracy and the Plastics |journal=The Boston Globe |date=5 October 2002 |url=http://www.popmatters.com/music/concerts/e/electroclash-2002.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513134503/http://www.popmatters.com/music/concerts/e/electroclash-2002.shtml |archive-date=13 May 2011|url-status=dead }}.

During their early years, Ladytron were sometimes labeled as electroclash, but others stated that they were not entirely electroclash and they also rejected this tag themselves.{{cite web|url=http://nettskinny.com/release/20110214/329-ladytron-best-00-10|title=3/29 - Ladytron - 'Best Of: 00 - 10'|work=nettskinny.com|access-date=18 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224110841/http://nettskinny.com/release/20110214/329-ladytron-best-00-10|archive-date=24 December 2013|url-status=dead}} Goldfrapp's albums Black Cherry (2003) and Supernature (2005) incorporated electroclash influences.{{cite web |last=Phares |first=Heather |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=black-cherry-r629424/review|pure_url=yes}} |title=Black Cherry – Goldfrapp |publisher=AllMusic. Rovi Corporation |access-date=11 October 2011}}{{cite magazine|last=Oculicz |first=Edward |url=http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/goldfrapp/supernature.htm |title=Goldfrapp – Supernature |magazine=Stylus Magazine |date=23 August 2005 |access-date=11 October 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303205056/http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/goldfrapp/supernature.htm |archive-date=3 March 2016 }}

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Around 2022, electroclash experienced a resurgence led by several prominent artists. DJ Hell launched a new electroclash tour, while Konerytmi presented a distinctive electroclash 2022 live act in a steampunk-themed environment. Norbert Thunder contributed to the revival with his "Fembot Actress EP" in 2022, which included the festival hit track "Groove, Style, Lights, Euphoria." The EP was marketed as an effort to reintroduce the electroclash sound to contemporary audiences. Several record labels also began releasing electroclash vinyl records and EPs again, including the Spanish label Veintidós Rec. and the Italian label Rapid Eye Movement Records.

In the U.S., the genre gained media attention when the Electroclash Festival was held in New York in October 2001, aiming to "make a local breakthrough with this scene, presenting a select group of superstar and pioneer artists from Europe and the U.S."{{cite web |url=http://www.freewilliamsburg.com/october_2001/electro.html |title=Electroclash 2001 Festival: Bringing Innovative Music to NYC |publisher=FREEwilliamsburg, Issue 19, 2001 |date=October 2001 |access-date=26 August 2016 }}{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} The Electroclash Festival returned in 2002, followed by live tours across the US and Europe in 2003 and 2004. Notable artists who performed at the festival and subsequent tours include Scissor Sisters, ADULT., Erol Alkan, Princess Superstar, Mignon, Mount Sims, Tiga and Spalding Rockwell.

The electroclash label and the hype around it were fiercely criticized by some of its acclaimed protagonists in the early 2000s. For example, I-F and other artists signed an "Anti-Electroclash-Manifest", where they complained about the sellout of the style by those who would "rule the media waves" and only "sell the old freshly packaged". In 2002, Toktok vs. Soffy O. stated that when they were first asked about electroclash they just thought: "This is nothing else than what we've known for at least five years and what is now reaching the recycling peak for the third or fourth time".

• List of electroclash bands and artists

{{reflist|30em}}

• [https://www.factmag.com/2014/03/07/save-the-planet-kill-yourself-remembering-electroclash/ Profile of Electroclash movement in FACT Magazine]
• [http://www.phinnweb.org/313ctr0/electroclash/index3.html Satirical guide on how to become an Electroclash star]

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Category:Electronic dance music genres