No Wave

No wave was a revolutionary music genre born in late 1970s New York City, characterized by its avant-garde and experimental approach. Defining features included atonal dissonance, jagged rhythms, and unconventional instrumentation, often incorporating noise, art rock, and punk elements. Emerging from the city's vibrant downtown art scene, no wave drew from the city's rich cultural diversity, rejecting mainstream rock's conventions in favor of a more raw, DIY ethos. The genre's key era, roughly spanning 1977-1982, saw a burst of creative innovation, with artists pushing the boundaries of sound and challenging the notion of what constituted "music." No wave's cultural significance lies in its influence on subsequent genres, such as post-punk, industrial, and indie rock, as well as its nod to the avant-garde traditions of John Cage and Captain Beefheart. Notable for its discordant, often unsettling soundscapes, no wave's bold experimentation set it apart from more polished new wave and punk movements, earning it a lasting reputation as a groundbreaking, genre-bending force in music history.

Latest No Wave Release
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Ataraxia
Album - 8 Tracks - Released March 21, 2025

RecentMusic users are tracking 40 No Wave artists for new releases, and have access to the full timeline of 544 releases .

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Arthur Russell
Arto Lindsay
Bug Facer
CAN
Charm School
Crime & the City Solution
Egrets On Ergot
Einstürzende Neubauten
Essential Logic
Executive Slacks
Flesh Tape
Flipper
Gastr Del Sol
Glenn Branca
Haunted Horses
Hologram Grady
Kid Fourteen
Kim Gordon
Lydia Lunch
Minutemen
Pylon
Pylon'
QUEEF JERKY
Reg Bloor
Rowland S. Howard
Severed Heads
Stereolab
Suicide
Swans
Television
The Cleaners From Venus
The Gun Club
The Infinity Ring
The Modern Lovers
The Slits
These Immortal Souls
This Heat
Tom Tom Club
Tuxedomoon
Wipers
Stereolab
Swans
CAN
Minutemen
Tom Tom Club
Arthur Russell
The Modern Lovers
Suicide
Television
The Cleaners From Venus
Kim Gordon
Wipers
The Gun Club
Einstürzende Neubauten
The Slits
Pylon
QUEEF JERKY
Arto Lindsay
Tuxedomoon
This Heat
Rowland S. Howard
Severed Heads
Flipper
Crime & the City Solution
Essential Logic
Haunted Horses
Lydia Lunch
Gastr Del Sol
These Immortal Souls
Glenn Branca
Flesh Tape
Charm School
Executive Slacks
The Infinity Ring
Kid Fourteen
Pylon'
Egrets On Ergot
Hologram Grady
Bug Facer
Reg Bloor