Good evening Hawkies, Wavebabes, and all of our fellow music lovers. Tonight, we return to our nest to address the Internet at a moment unprecedented in the history of wave music; our purpose is to not only alert the Electric Hawk community that this is no ordinary moment, but to document the journey that got us here, to this moment, in 2024.
Most recently, we’ve witnessed the fifth season of the wave music community’s annual ‘wardubs.’
Initially launched during the COVID-19 pandemic by Human Error// founding member Yama as a way to snap his peers out of their collective funk and to get their creative juices flowing, wave’s wardubs have become a beloved time of year for members of the community, even as we continue to face unprecedented times.
In conversation with MendoWerks Magazine, Yama explains the decision:
“Right before COVID hit, our scene was on a massive upward curve and everyone was riding that high, only to get smacked back down to earth with events and tours being cancelled all over. I noticed a trend of my fellow producers sinking into writers’ block and depression. And I felt compelled to do something about it. I was listening to a bunch of grime and dubstep at the time, and decided to tap into their scenes’ wardubs, thinking that the whole ‘call-out’ aspect of things would drive people to hop back into the DAW.
I was 100% right.”
Now an annual occurrence, artists from all across the ever-expanding wave music spectrum continue to use this challenge as a way to demonstrate the unyielding creativity and emotive innovation that unites them–all while having a bit of fun with their friends, of course.
Although the wardubs themselves aren’t the “mellow, emotionally-driven […] fuckjams and love songs” that wave artists have been historically known for, the reality of the genre is that wave music has evolved quite a bit in the decade or so that it’s been around.
Inspired by the most recent edition of our ‘Hawk Eye Watch List,’ we decided to take a dive into this special sub-genre of electronic music and find some cool wave artists to introduce you to. We also checked in with an expert on this subject and put together some thoughts on ‘the state of wave music’ as of 2024 to share.
The State of Wave Music in 2024
Wave music, once defined as “melodic, emotive bass music,” has become a bit of umbrella term in of itself, and now features a few ‘subgenres’ of its own (e.g., phonkwave).
At this point, the uniting theme throughout the wave genre(s) is a focus on the art of evoking emotion through music, as opposed to any singular aesthetic or identifiable production technique (frequent use of Reese bass, reverb, CGI and/or automotive visual motifs notwithstanding).
In other words, wave music continues to be identifiable primarily by the way it makes you feel rather than exclusively how it sounds.
The wave evolution
Furthermore, the wave music scene is overflowing with unusually talented artists, many of which have developed their own unique takes on this ever-evolving genre… or don’t quite fit in anywhere else.
The rise of ‘wave-ish’ music shouldn’t be a surprise; after all, wave is also known to be more of a community than anything else. This is demonstrated by the wide reach of community events, like the wave wardubs: if an artist produces music that feels wavy, they’ll likely be embraced as part of the wave scene and able to find a home somewhere within it.
“It’s only my second year participating in wardubs, and the sense of community, energy, and movement within the scene–and even interconnected scenes, like dubstep and dnb–is so wild. Wardubs season feels like the time of year where the scene is the most active. The Discord servers and the SoundCloud pages are just filled with energy and everybody is pushing/hyping up new uploads and motivating the new nominees to get their ideas going, etc. The movement and engagement in the scene [right now] is incomparable to what’s happening in the rest of the year.”
– Crowit., producer and wave community member
To better understand the sonic expansion that wave underwent, we encourage you to check out vibe.digital‘s annual “Best Of” mix series, curated by Fyoomz, one of the label’s co-founders. While introducing the most recent “Best Of” mix, he comments, “[It’s hard] to incorporate all of the subgenres of wave under the same umbrella… but that won’t stop us from trying.”
As one of wave music’s earliest supporters, and as co-founder of North America’s first-ever wave music label, we reached out to Fyoomz via email to ask for his thoughts on the state of wave music right now, based on that statement.
Here’s what he shared:
“As much as anyone can really pinpoint it, in my opinion, the wave scene started to coalesce when the artists [started] pushing it forward; in particular, wavemob members [and others] started to be more influenced by one another, [rather than] by other genres of music out there.
Today, it feels like the leaders in wave are less influenced by each other as they once were, and, especially since some are playing and touring all year round, they are pushing a different style of music in a lot of cases– not just wave. This ends up bleeding over into their wavy tunes, too, so [wave is] more fractured now than it once was.”
Fyoomz continued to explain the impact of the genre’s first controversial “split” as well as other factors on the genre’s development. He also included a list of a few key artists whose sound shaped wave into what it is today–and whose characteristic wave sound still lingers.
A community divided
While wave music has been in development since the early 2010’s, “wave” wasn’t wholly accepted as a genre name until years after its first use by Klimeks in 2013.
Later, near the end of the decade, the genre then “split” into two parts: wave and hardwave.
- Wave is also known as ‘softwave‘ or ‘OG wave‘; both of these terms refer to the gentler atmosphere of early wave music that was pushed by groups like wavemob and Terrorhythm.
- Hardwave was initially defined by the elements of trance and hardstyle that skeler and Ytho began to weave into their wave music in the mid-late 2010’s, and was pushed by groups like Trap Nation and DEKTORA.
This split was met with resistance at first, but is now generally accepted as canon.
A result of this split, Fyoomz noted, is an uptick in “influences from phonk, from UK garage, from drum & bass, from dubstep, from future bass and trap, the west coast bass scene, etc., and tunes that basically straddle both genres–a leg in each boat, if you will.“
If you want to hear these developments for yourself, we recommend taking a peek at the earliest “best of” episode–and the latest.
You can also explore the key artists cited by Fyoomz:
“The [artists] that have their sound and, in my opinion, are still very much wave, are Sorsari, Noah B., Barnacle Boi, and iSorin, to name a few.
To a certain extent, everyone in the wave scene has been chasing what Sorsari does for a long time. Skeler too, but Sorsari tends to be such a huge influence to this day still.”
Lastly, we want to note that wave music has officially moved “offline” in a huge way as of 2024.
While the wave community may have come together because of the Internet, the rise of live wave music events, especially since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, is simply remarkable.
Between small groups like FUTURA X, internationally-recognized groups like Wave Global, and even individuals like Ravenscoon, who all curate massive, wave-heavy lineups, the opportunities to catch a wave show are growing steadily.
Representation at festivals has also significantly increased. For example, the Amsterdam Music Event has had multiple wave music showcases scheduled each year for the past two years. In the United States, Odyssey Music Festival of St. Petersburg, home of The Wave Stage, announced it will be a two-day festival this year; similarly, Symmetry Music Festival in Iowa will be hosting a vibe.digital stage summer.
We can only imagine how widespread live wave events are going to become in the near future.
Wave Artists to Watch: 2024
Now, it’s time for us to explore five artists that you need to check out ASAP, all of which are coming from somewhere within the wave music community.
6ixsr
Punjabi-Canadian music producer 6ixsr is someone who has been on our radar for quite some time. Immersed in music for all of his life, this producer got his start in the arts as a professional Bhangra dancer. This experience led him to start creating music—first creating mixes for his dance team to perform to, and later, composing original songs as 6ixsr.
Incorporating traditional Punjabi instrumentation into his work, 6ixsr’s “Punjabi wave” is a fresh and gorgeous iteration of the wave genre. There’s something deeply moving about the way 6ixsr combines these two inspirations–and we do mean that literally. It’s nearly impossible to not dance (at least a little bit!) while listening to his music.
This celebration of culture through sound is evident in his original compositions, but also in his remixes of Punjabi folk songs, like that of “Mitran Ne Dhabha” by Mohammad Sadiq & Ranjit Kaur, released on SoundCloud in February.
Check out 6ixsr’s latest song:
2024 is shaping up to be a promising year for 6ixsr. In fact, he just hit a huge milestone: his first-ever label release, “can’t get over you,” dropped on Liquid Ritual last week. We can only imagine what other exciting things he has planned for the rest of the year. Whatever it is… we’re ready.
Cybrfly
San Diego’s Cybrfly (formerly known as ‘Btrfly’) is another artist who quickly soared to the top of our ‘wave artists to watch’ list. After discovering her passion for dark, emotive electronic music in 2019, Cybrfly got to work. Not only has she produced some fabulous original tunes, but she also is a prolific DJ. On SoundCloud, Cybrfly curates several mix series, two of which are rooted in astrology, like ‘Aries Season‘. As far as live events go, she was featured at Tears in the Club IV last summer and has supported a variety of huge artists, including Barnacle Boi and Flosstradamus.
What we love the most about Cybrfly is that she has a strong grasp on making music that’s dark yet deeply enchanting. It’s like she weaves spells into every composition, every mix, creating a vibe similar to that of the original Grimms Brothers fairy tales. While her Horrors from the Haven V contribution and recent collaboration with Izaynagi are both great, we really love “Black Magic” because it takes Cybrfly’s hauntingly wicked vibe to all new heights.
Want to hear cybrfly’s 2024 wardub?
If you’re local to San Diego, you’re in luck–Cybrfly just announced a ‘special 420 set‘ supporting Mantra Sounds next month.
Falldren
While many artists adopted a ‘never-ending stream of singles’ approach to their release schedule, Falldren seems to not be one of them. Since 2020, this artist has released four mindfully-curated EPs (with a few singles in between, of course). He first grabbed our attention with his 2022 EP, Second Destiny. However, it was his most recent EP, Torn Skies Afterlife, that really blew our minds. These bodies of work are both gorgeously cinematic and worth locking into for a start-to-finish listening sesh. The movement within them has all of the emotional payoff of a great film, but without the need for any visuals. Falldren produces the kind of music where all you need to do is close your eyes and listen—the tunes will do the rest.
Falldren has been hard at work establishing himself as the face of ‘the next generation of wave’ in San Francisco and the Bay Area. His live career began in 2018 at the Brownies & Lemonade ‘End of the School Year Party’. Since then, Falldren played a few festivals, like the wave-centric Pantheon festival in 2022, and Better Than One in 2023. He was also featured during an Alter/Ego showcase in 2022 and supported CloZee during her Microworlds tour in 2023.
Want to hear Falldren’s 2024 wardub?
If you’re curious about what a Falldren live show might be like, you’re in luck: he uploaded his set from the Boombox Cartel Max Energy Tour, recorded earlier this year.
Nick Neutronz
While Nick Neutronz doesn’t often get credited as one of the ‘founding fathers’ of wave music, his unique “Terraform” style is, at the very least, a spiritual predecessor of the genre. However, much like others on this list, Neutronz is not someone you can easily put into a box. With roots in hip-hop (including his work on Eminem’s Grammy-awarded album, The Recovery) and an intense connection to nature and spirituality, Nick Neutronz has developed a one-of-a-kind sound. Their mastery of the art of DJing yields some phenomenal production choices, like the use of live scratching and interesting genre mash-ups within their compositions. Combining all this with his infinite imagination, we get some genuinely inspiring tunes.
There’s a certain otherworldly energy present in this artist’s discography that makes listening to his catalog feel like a spiritual practice of sorts. If you’re looking to transcend, we recommend starting with “North Node” or “The Changes.” If you rather start with his most recent tunes, Neutronz just released two tracks off of his upcoming compilation, This Means War (Wardubs).
Want to hear Nick Neutronz’s 2024 wardub?
Because Nick Neutronz is such a unique artist, it almost feels incorrect to call them “a wave producer,” but because they have been so thoroughly embraced by the wave community, it’s difficult not to. Not only was Neutronz on the line-up for the first-ever North American wave music festival, Pantheon, but he was also featured during Tears in the Club III, alongside Juche and WEVLTH.
Tako Tomago
If you like vocals with your electronic music, then do not sleep on Tako Tomago. Based in Los Angeles, this artist has developed his own unique style combining the best of R&B, trap, and wave techniques. No matter where you start in his catalog, pretty much every song that Tako Tomago has released is an absolute treat.
While his production skills are nothing to sneeze at, it’s his voice that really captivates us. If you were lucky enough to witness his live vocal debut at Pantheon in 2022, then you know what we mean—he’s got such a rich, smoky voice that pairs perfectly with his beats. In fact, you may even recognize Tomago’s sultry intonation as you listen to his music for the first time: he released a vocal pack with Liquid Ritual in 2022.
For long-form listeners, he has released two LPs: Shades of Blue in 2020, and Jonathan in 2021. He also has several interesting singles in his catalog, including a collaboration with another artist on this list: “FUTURE SELF” (with Nick Neutronz).
Check out Tako Tomago’s recent collaboration with wave wardubs founder, Yama: “LUV U”
As far as new songs go, Tako Tomago’s most recent release just came out via Music High Court on March 15: an astounding collaboration with KYLLER and Ivoryghost, titled “Phantoms.”
Now that you’ve got a taste of wave, you might be wondering, ‘Where do I get more of this?!’
If you’ve already listened through vibe.digital’s “Best of 2023” podcast episode (or the newly-released, “A Look Forward at 2024” episode), then it’s time to catch up on all of this year’s wardub carnage.
Thanks to Crowit.’s SoundCloud playlist, you can find all of this year’s wardubs in one place, linked below.
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Looking for new music? Keep up with our weekly Spotify Playlist, Fresh Hunts. Updated every Friday with all the latest releases. Whether it’s the newest drops from all your favorite artists (including those from the wave scene!), some old-school, or underground… we just want you to hear it.
