Electroclash, otherwise known as nu-electro, neo-electro, new new wave, neo-Italo, Hi-NRG, and shit disco, refers to a genre of music, fashion, ethos, attitude, and movement that surfaced predominantly in Berlin, London, Detroit and New York in the late '90s and peaked with (almost) mainstream popularity around 2002. A controversial fad that has attracted the derision of even its supposed progenitors, it was official declared "dead" by one of its early proponents, Felix Da Housecat, who in 2005 stated, "I'm closing the door on electroclash."

As is often the case with these declarations, everyone sort of made fun of him for stating the obvious.

The Music:
As the bastardization of punk, new wave and electro, the origin of the electroclash sound depends on how far one is willing to attribute its core to any of these earlier genres. Rock-orientated critics cite the image-orientated Johnny Rotten, who broke up the world's biggest punk band and formed the seminal post-punk band Public Image Ltd. (PiL), as the forefather of electroclash. Other critics refer to the fashion and obvious centrality of '80s romantic synth pop to the genre, and credit the new wave bands of the '80s: Soft Cell, The Human League, OMD, Depeche Mode, and Talk Talk. The two aforementioned elements are also imbued with a Detroit straight or "ghetto electro" that is minimal, harsh, robotic, and repetitive.

Along with sleazy synths and drum machines, the analog (or analog-sounding) bass line is a common feature, as is the underlining minimal electronic experimentalism pioneered by Kraftwerk among others. This electronicism is offered with a sense of sarcasm, however, and part of the creative energy comes from a collective winking at what was "futuristic" 20 years ago. Samples, sexually-charged lyrical clichés and cocaine liberally round out the sound and give it is obnoxiously danceable, dirty edge.

The Essential Albums:
Felix da Housecat
Miss Kitten
Peaches
Fischer Spooner
Tiga
Ladytron
ADULT.
Avenue D
DJ Larry Tee

The Clothes:
It easier to talk about what electroclash groups and DJs wear than to talk about the kind of music they actually play. This speaks to the centrality of the image, attitude and posture of electroclash as a genre of music. Of course, every genre has an associated uniform and a spectrum of garment variations and accessories for its fans and performers. The clothes, however, are perhaps more central to the electroclash "movement" than other genres, as the self-conscious creation of an attitude -- or even just a pose -- through fashion and image comes the generative force of it all.

As the quintessential bastardization of trends, electroclashers concentrate on looking ravaged but showy, gaudy and raunchy, dazzling and drugged, shitty, tasteless, sexy and fabulous. Ironic mustaches, mullets, bleached and feathered hair, trucker and foam caps, glittering ripped shirts, acid wash jeans, white high tops, and legwarmers abound; anything day-glo, anything plastic, anything spandex -- anything that would have been considered futuristic twenty years ago -- and of course, anything that comes across as shit glam is fair game.

For early punks, fashion was something of a weapon with which to assault society, and mohawks, piercings, bondage gear, and, most obviously, swastikas were worn as a way to shock people. For electroclash, fashion is still a weapon but it is mobilized to refer to the scope of fashion itself. Therefore the battlefield isn't really society -- us against them, us in spite of them -- but more so fashion as it relates to its own history and serves as a method of social classification in a group.

The Image:
The jubilant acceptance of greed, celebration of vice and admittance of privilege allows for a self-indulgent vampy, campy humor to dominate as the overarching impulse behind the fashion and music for electroclashers -- think the absurdist gender ambiguity and shlock of the Rocky Horror Picture Show and replace the Goth with faux future '80s electro retro glam.

The roots of the wardrobe and music come from the elements of glam, disco, punk and '80s new wave as a closed set of fashion looks and music hooks to be rediscovered and plundered. This is a self-conscious plundering, however, and a sense of irony or sarcasm is adopted to separate the genre from being simply a tribute to the past.

Electroclash thus is somewhat insular, self-referential, and retrogazing, but, paradoxically, always about being current, hip, cutting edge, and trendy. Dressing progressively then is a matter of more accurately recreating a given dead fashion fad and sending it up through hyperbole. The goal of the perfect outfit or sound is the presentation of a pastiche of base retro elements to come off as uniquely unoriginal.

Think: "Oh you look so punk tonight", "Oh this beat is so disco", "Oh that foam hat is so trashy."

The flippant and playful, but self-congratulatory, attitude of electroclash -- usually just referred to as the "ironic" attitude -- was the point of attack of its debasers, both musically and fashionwize, and ultimately the source of the genre's falling out of favor. More "serious" bands (Ladytron for example) decried the label, and when the joke wore thin and the backlash began, others began to tone back their excessive sound and image to offer more "serious" music fare. Straight electroclash DJs offered more elements of authentic classic ("true") electro, or moved into other genres entirely.

For a time, Electroclash was a fun and (yes) original way to make the stale electro and punk sounds of the mid '90s sound new again. Its death perhaps stands as a testament to Susan Sontag's famous rule regarding camp: you can't do it on purpose.

Shanghai Rocks Electroclash:
Electroclash in Shanghai has a limited following as it depends so intently on a collective understanding of musical references to an earlier genre of '80s New Wave, and electro. This understanding is rarely shared by Europe and America, let alone the East and the West. It relies on a communal acceptance of what a dead and gone music genre was and how the current trend can interact with this dead object. It receives its energy through the recreation of something in the present -- a music, fashion, and attitude -- that shouldn't exist. It presents something that shouldn't be. The punchline of electroclash, however, depends entirely on the setup of the joke.

Although you wouldn't think it given the commercial face of Shanghai, in China's second mega-center is an underground indie scene rife with a sense of earnestness, sincerity, and confidence in creativity. This is antithetical to the creation or performance of electroclash. The elements of jubilant sleaze and narcissism have no foothold in the rock scene and DJ scene (at least not self-consciously), nor do rock bands interact with DJs on a creative ground.

Ladytron came to Shanghai in 2004 playing Fuxing Park, which is probably the biggest electroclash event Shanghai has ever seen. Opening for them was a Beijing-based electro-rock band, Supermarket, which shares their electro base and also their sense of seriousness and earnestness. Supermarket are still together today and, incidentally, playing a show at 4 Live on Friday, April 27. You can check out their sound at their My Space page.

I-Go are a Shanghai-based New Wave duo that cite as their influences both the classic New Wave bands of the 80s and the progenitors of electro. I-Go, however, retro-gazing as they are, communicates seriousness, pessimism, and, moreover, sincerity in their music that is more similar to the later-day manifestations of straight up neo new wave bands. Their recreation of '80s synth pop is more tribute than send-up.

There are also DJs in Shanghai who spin electroclash as part of a larger spectrum of electro music. The most famous is the Antidote DJ collective who hold regular parties, often featuring electroclash music. Often out of town European DJs will play in Shanghai (Vein Cat, Leonard de Leonrad).

-Morgan Short


BACK TO MAIN