Crank wave

Crank wave (also known as post-Brexit new wave, wonk and Windmill indie) is a music scene and style of post-punk that emerged in the 2010s. The term "crank wave" was originally coined in September 2019 by writer Mark Beaumont in an article for NME. He had previously coined the term "gristle rock" to describe the South London post-punk scene, which was spearheaded by the band Fat White Family.

In 2021, writer Matthew Perpetua coined the term "Post-Brexit New Wave" in an article for NPR Music to categorize the emerging style. The movement originally developed in the 2010s through several post-punk groups most notably Preoccupations, Protomartyr, Women, Ought and Iceage. The style was later associated with London's Windmill scene which centered around the Brixton music venue the Windmill. The movement entered the mainstream with the success of the English band Idles.

The German term "sprechgesang" which translates to "spoken singing" in English, had also been used by publications due to several bands adopting a style of conscious lyricism and deadpan talk-singing indebted to Mark E. Smith of English post-punk band the Fall. Artists who have been associated with the scene include Black Midi, Black Country, New Road, Squid, Yard Act, Dry Cleaning, English Teacher, Gilla Band, Shame, the Last Dinner Party, Heartworms, Wet Leg, Goat Girl, Fat White Family, Idles, PVA, the Murder Capital and Fontaines D.C. ^{[4] [3]}

In March 2019, NME writer Mark Beaumont coined the term "gristle rock" to describe groups stemming out of the South London music scene such as Fat White Family, who spearheaded the scene.^[5] The band described the movement as an "art-sleaze-punk-freak" scene.^[5] By September, Beaumont coined the term "crank wave" to describe a new proliferation of 2010s revivalist post-punk bands.^{[6] [2]} He cited the song "Match Bet" by Squid along with acts such as Idles and Fontaines D.C. as inspiring the phrase.^[6] He also cited the idea of "ranty singers", and described the sound of crank wave as "smart, modern guitar bands with a singer who sounds like someone having a psychotic episode in a debating society".^{[6] [2]} Other British acts he cited as crank wave included Do Nothing, Life, and Famous.^{[7] [6]} According to Clash magazine, crank wave is distinct to the 2000s post-punk revival due to the scene taking more of an "experimental form".^[8]

In 2021, writer Matthew Perpetua coined the term "Post-Brexit New Wave" in an article for NPR Music to categorize the emerging style as emblematic of a British post-Brexit cultural malaise.^{[9] [10]} Perpetua defined the groups as primarily stemming from the United Kingdom and Ireland, he stated the musicians had "internalized more recent musical and cultural trends" and "disappointment and pessimism about Britain's future".^{[10] [1] [11]} He cited Black Country, New Road's early style as drawing from contemporary media such as "micro-influencers, PR teams, online forum threads, UE Booms and NutriBullets".^[10]

Crank wave has been defined as primarily influenced by Mark E. Smith of English post-punk band the Fall.^{[12] [13] [14]} Fat White Family released the song "I Am Mark E. Smith" in 2014.^{[15] [16] [13]} Tablet described the Post-Brexit New Wave as British groups drawing influence from the "sing-talking" style of David Byrne of Talking Heads.^[9] The style is characterized by the use of deadpan, disaffected and apathetic "talk-singing" also known as sprechgesang in German,^[17] as well as angular guitarwork and large leading basslines.^{[18] [19] [20]} Artists tend to be described as anxious, socially conscious and intellectual.^{[10] [6]}

In the late 2000s and early 2010s, the New York post-punk revival scene declined in popularity.^[21] Soon, a new wave of post-punk groups began to form across America and Canada, such as Women, Preoccupations, Protomartyr, and Ought. In the Nordic countries, acts such as Iceage and Holograms drew influence from these newer bands.^[21] Other notable post-punk groups were Savages, Eagulls, Sleaford Mods, Total Control, Algiers, Priests, Flasher, Viagra Boys and Omni which helped revive interest in the post-punk scene.^[21]

Drawing from the aforementioned wave,^[21] Denmark's Iceage and Canada's Ought developed a post-punk sound based around talk-singing and angular guitar work, pioneering what would become crank wave. Beginning in 2015 a wave of British bands adopted this style, including Gilla Band, Algiers, Shopping and Sexwitch. Bristol band Idles popularised this sound in the mainstream on their debut album Brutalism.^[22] The album led to the band opening for the Maccabees, Foo Fighters and Future Islands.^[21] According to The Mancunion , 2018 marked a "turning point" in the alternative scene, and what would be dubbed by journalists as "crank wave" or "Post-Brexit", with releases such as Idles' Joy as an Act of Resistance (2018), Shame's Songs of Praise and Fontaines D.C.'s single "Chequeless Reckless" backed with "Boys in The Better Land".^[13] According to HeadStuff, Idles' second album, made them figure heads of the movement with sell-out tours along with nominations at the BRIT and Kerrang! awards.^[21]

In 2021, the group Black Country, New Road released their debut album For the First Time, which was described as part of the post-Brexit new wave.^[10] In 2025, groups such as Wet Leg rose to prominence and performed at Glastonbury.^[23] Acts such as Black Midi had previously performed at Coachella in 2022.^[24]

By the late 2010s, the South London post-punk scene, spearheaded by the group Fat White Family,^[25] was labeled "gristle rock" by NME writer Mark Beaumont in March 2019.^[26] The Independent described the style as "gruesome post-punk, torture-chamber Velvets and twisted rock'n'roll".^[27] Subsequently, the Windmill scene emerged as a rock music movement which centered around the Brixton music venue known as the Windmill. Acts included Black Country, New Road, Shame,^[28] and Black Midi.^[29]

In 2025, the publication Idioteq published an article on the Polish underground music scene which involved groups such as Loveworms, who were self-described as crank wave and drawing influence from crank wave groups such as Dry Cleaning.^[30]

Critical pushback on the lack of innovation, and homogeneity, of some of the bands under this umbrella has led to some referring to the bands they deem less interesting as "landfill post-punk".^{[31] [32]} The term was coined by Sam Dynes in 2019, writing for The Mancunion , who stated that "a clear fondness for Mark E Smith runs through most of the lesser bands to the point of parody".^{[32] [13]}

In 2020, Lias Saoudi of Fat White Family criticized Idles for "grandstanding on that woke ticket".^{[33] [34] [35]} According to The Guardian , Sleaford Mods had also accused Idles of "working class appropriation".^[33] Saodi stated in a Facebook post, "the last thing our increasingly puritanical culture needs right now is a bunch of self-neutering middle-class boobs telling us to be nice to immigrants; you might call that art, I call it sententious pedantry".^[33]

According to the New Yorker , in 2021 British group Squid "laughed" at being labeled crank wave by the NME as their music was "not that angry".^[36]

In 2022, writing for The Quietus , Fergal Kinney published an article on "Landfill Sprechgesang",^[37] which criticized Yard Act's The Overload as exhibiting a "reliance on archetypes, their convenient adoption of influences and the undercooked limitations of their sound".^[14] The article cited lead singer James Smith drawing influence from the Fall as "an influence that sounds derivative to the point of parody", adding that "Hand-wringing liberal tokenism was antipathetic to Mark E. Smith".^[14] Kinney stated that Pitchfork had earlier criticized Idles' 2020 single 'Model Village' as "being 'patronising' and trading in class stereotypes".^{[14] [38]} The band later announced that they would no longer be performing the song.^[14]

Later that same year, Black Midi's bassist Cameron Picton criticized the label "post-Brexit" to describe the scene, he stated, "I don't think there's actually any bearing of Brexit on any of our music. And if you were going to call anything post-Brexit, it would be the bands that are starting out now", adding that post-Brexit was a "really poor term to lump these bands together".^[39] Though he acknowledged that the usage of the term was "advantageous".^[39]

Kinney remarks that Smith mentioned in a Louder Than War interview that the band had made post-punk due to Idles, Shame and Fontaines D.C. popularizing the style and scene again, stating: "We definitely Trojan Horsed it, to get a bit of attention [off] the back of some of those groups but knowing we were gonna subvert it and move away from it as soon as we can. Which sounds quite cynical."^{[14] [40]} Kinney concluded in stating "The problem, instead, lies with bands who are talking loud but have little of use to say."^[14]

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