Artist description New Waver give voice to life's victims. Electronic soundscapes are overlaid with speech from people who have lost in life: workers, psychiatric patients, playground victims, talkback radio callers and the like, as well as "commentary" voices describing the processes by which losers are made to lose. Emotions and actions frequently labelled as symptoms of mental illness are presented as the normal reactions of properly-functioning brains to the bad situations their owners find themselves in.

Music Style Electronic with voices

Musical Influences Cabaret Voltaire, Snog, Laibach, TISM

Similar Artists Cabaret Voltaire, Snog, Laibach, TISM

Artist History Formed in 1990 and began releasing cassettes in that year. Began playing live around Melbourne in 1992. Releases: 8 cassettes 1990-96, vinyl ep "Darwin Junior High" 1997, cd "The Defeated" 1999.

Group Members People of low status.

Instruments keyboards, sequencer, vocals

Albums Low Self-Opinion, Darwin Junior High, The Defeated

Press Reviews (Stylus) Probably the most depressing cd to hit the shelves in this festive season ... Whether it be the horrifying mix of every junior high student's nightmare in "We're going to get you after school" (yes, it's exactly what you think) with its very danceable and happy techno charm, or the astounding recounting of one mans tragic life (told post mortem) with a gentle ringing riff circling behind it, this album is incomprehensibly appealing. Perhaps it's just morbid fascination but all of these bizarre components meld together to create a rather amazing listening experience. Maybe because it is so constantly and astoundingly affecting, The Defeated wraps itself in and around you and before you know it, morbid fascination has you hooked. The concept behind this release by Melbourne, Australia's New Waver is that "mentally ill or depressed people are actually just responding logically to all the horrible things in their lives" and god knows a damn good case in this favour has been made. (Astronauts) New Waver's first CD release reconfirms those nagging doubts you had about the world. Interviews with mental illness patients and other psychological derailings echo depressingly over music that often sounds like it came from one of those high school science videos that teachers made you watch when they couldn't cope with standing in front of class pretending to teach them about molecular structure because their wife had just attempted suicide again the previous night and it's looking like the school's gonna close down next year and the TV's on the blink and I can't sleep more than 3 hours a night now and I don't think I can cope. I've always felt like this, ever since I was a kid I've felt like everyone else knew something that I didn't and I've never understood it. Our last baby was born stillborn and my wife didn't take it very well, I've been having to try and keep my chin up for her, she's had to quit her job and the bills haven't stopped coming in ... (Calgary Straight) A welcome departure from the familiar sweet pop typically released on Winnipeg's Endearing records (variety is the spice of life, no?), New Waver experiment with gorgeously repetitive electronic loops laid over samples of conversations, confessions, speeches and other spoken-word sound bites of defeated souls. The banality and hopelessness of the voices coupled with the buzz of the music (which ranges from your run-of-the-mill blips and bleeps to bulgingly beautiful bits of melody) creates a weirdly invasive feel, but New Waver never push their noodling past the point of palatability.

Additional Info video and computer game available

Location Melbourne, Victoria - Australia

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