Sadcore
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Sadcore is a sub genre of rock and roll that developed from the downbeat melodies and slower tempos of late 1980s indie-rock. It is characterised by the fragililty of its melodies and the bleak themes of its lyrics. Frequently about misery and loss, the songs range from minimal acoustic outings to complex studio numbers with pronounced elements of dissonance in the composition.
Early bands like the Red House Painters, Slowdive and American Music Club drew on nihilist musings found in the lyrics of The Cure, The Smiths, and Cocteau Twins often combined with the hazy overdriven wall of guitar of No Wave bands like Sonic Youth and English shoegazer bands like Ride and Lush. The lyrical territory of loneliness, isolation, and unrequited love are endebted to individualistic mope-rockers such as Nick Drake and Morrissey.
Currently, the leading exponents of Sadcore are female singer-songwriters such as the psycho-stabby Cat Power and the beautifully drowning and poisoned Shannon Wright. While their work is firmly in the dissonant/fragile camp, songmen such as Smog and Elliott Smith take sadcore in a more brooding, country-death-song direction.
Duluth, Minnesota trio Low touch the beautiful, minimalist apotheosis of the current spectrum. Quebec, Canada's Godspeed You Black Emperor! take the strand of dirges and orchestrated chaos into the overlapping realms of Post-rock.