Cyber ​​(youth culture)

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Group of cybers

Cyber is a youth cultural trend that developed after 2000 and is seen as part of the club scene on the black scene .

history

The emergence of the subcultural movement within the black scene is mostly dated to the turn of the millennium. It is generally assumed that the happy rave scene of the 1990s and the black scene overlap , with scene-goers and promoters picking up on the technoid music styles that are emerging in the black scene and the associated styles.

“Technoid styles of music, which were already being heard frequently in the scene at that time, provided the necessary musical parallels. Whether it was ravers who discovered Gothic for themselves or were Gothics who liked techno is an open question. "

- Robert: The whole truth - When the Zillo interviewed me about Cyber-Gothic

With the growing group of cyber in the mid-2000s, there was increasing exclusion of cyber within the black scene. The increasing development of the scene, often referred to as "cybergoth", met with rejection, especially among supporters of sub-scenes of the Gothic movement, as well as with some other splinter cultures of the black scene and provoked numerous discussions.

Position within the black scene

Due to the proximity to the black scene, for which the term Gothic is often used synonymously, the term "cybergoth" is common, although there is usually no cultural reference to the Gothic scene and only a few fashionable elements - comparable to visual kei , for example limited. Outside of the typical meeting points, the elaborately designed fad can only rarely be found.

In contrast to sub-scenes, which gradually developed from the Gothic-Rock and Dark-Wave environment and are thus inextricably linked with Gothic / Wave music, the cybers are often perceived as a patchwork culture close to the techno scene , which is primarily defined by fashion aspects. The actual Gothic share is estimated to be low, both outfit-related and music-cultural.

The use of the term industrial in connection with the preferred music and dance style of the cybers contributed to the further rift, as there is no direct reference to "industrial culture". Industrial is - similar to ambient - an avant-garde, audio-visual concept, not a form of technoid dance music. In contrast to the latter, most of the sub-styles of industrial music are experimental in nature and unsuitable for conventional club use.

Community practice

Fashion elements

A female cyber in black and green; Including case, goggles and net.

Cybers value a futuristic style of clothing. At the same time, elements of many other scenes and fashion styles are reflected in cyber fashion . In particular, style components of the rave and early techno scene are linked with elements of the black scene (black as the main color for most items of clothing). How strongly these individual components are emphasized varies from person to person; fetish clothing (e.g. vinyl pants, tops and corsets) or Asian visual kei fashion have an impact on cyber fashion . The style is described as "futuristic and 'spacey'". Androgyny is often a characteristic of fashion, but not a definitive one.

“The appearance of their followers is an impenetrable mixture of different styles. Typical accessories such as neon-colored glow sticks, modified welding goggles called "goggles" and face masks are borrowed from the early techno scene at the beginning of the 1990s: the same jewelry adorned the first Mayday and Love Parade visitors. Even the radioactivity and biohazard symbols, once permanent insignia of the then emerging "Raving Society", are now emblazoned on the faces or clothing of the cybers. "

- Daniel Dreßler: Cyber-Gothic - Everything is so beautifully colorful here!

Vendors and brands

Firms that specialize in cyber style include Cyberdog and DANE in London, Lip Service in Southern California, Diabolik in Montreal, and Robotic Kitty Fashions in Chicago. In addition to the international companies, there are some German companies that serve the Central European market. In the clothing sector, this is Deecom eK based in Kehl . The company produces and sells the “Amok” brand. Textiles are manufactured and sold by the company Mode Wicht based in Duisburg under the label sector1. In the accessories sector, Cyberloxx, also from Duisburg , has established itself with its brand of the same name. The company, which in addition to wholesaling and mail order also operates a shop in Duisburg, became known for its hair pieces. In Essen there is a cybershop called “Cyber ​​City” in the “Leo Store”. This more than 150 m² cyber shop implements new forms of event shopping in its shop concept . Live acts take place regularly on a large, permanently installed stage. Every Saturday there is music from well-known DJs .

Clothing and color choice

The style sometimes shows strongly contrasting, garish and neon-reactive color schemes, such as red, blue, neon green, chrome or pink, combined with black or white as a contrasting tone, whereby one color usually has the upper hand. Completely neon-colored as well as almost completely black or white Cyber ​​are also common. Matte or glossy black materials such as rubber and bright black PVC can be mixed and matched in an attempt to give a more artificial impression.

Popular club equipment for cybers includes either tight black trousers and vests or wide, colored techno / raver trousers and breastplates, shirts, tailored into perforated, whole or net-like textile parts. Bondage accessories are popular. Heavy, large boots (for example "transformer boots" or "combat boots") and platform shoes are used as footwear, sports shoes are often worn when dancing because of their comfort.

Hair and applications

The black-and-monochromatic juxtaposition can take many forms - for example, light hair, make-up, LEDs , circuit boards , body modifications , gas masks , face-to-face masks and goggles , usually on the forehead, arm or around carried around the neck instead of on the eyes. Hazard symbols such as the radioactive or biohazard symbol are often used as a pattern, but logos designed by yourself have become very popular. The most common use of theme colors is in hairstyle or eyeshadow. The hairstyle is usually enhanced with special hair pieces called "falls" to emphasize the "addition effect". With women, two hair pieces are usually used on the side, with men usually one at the back as a braid. “If” can be made from a variety of materials, from thread to fluorescent tubing to electrical wiring; however, the most common components are synthetic dreadlocks, the "Cyberlox" and the "Foamies".

Black and red dreads made of synthetic hair & red wooldreads
Neon green UV Cyberlox, Black-Green Metallic Lox & Lime Green-Silver Mini-Lox
Synthetic dreadlocks Usually just called "dreads". These dreadlocks are usually made of synthetic hair and come in different colors. Usually black dreads are mainly used in combination with individual colored dreads, but there are also two-tone dreads, usually a combination of black and any color that matches the overall outfit. There are also two other dread variants, on the one hand the so-called "Wooldreads", on the other hand the "Flimsies". The first are dreads made of felted wool, while the "Flimsies" are sewn tubes made of fabric that look just like dreads. The advantage of these two variants is that, on the one hand, they are significantly lighter and, on the other hand, much more stable than their synthetic hair variant, but the manufacturing process of these two variants is significantly more time-consuming and complicated. Flimsies also tend to glow under UV light with the right choice of material, which makes them very popular.
Cyberlox

The so-called Cyberlox originally came from the USA. Due to their twisted weave, they can be stretched many times over and spring back into their old shape as soon as they are released. Their advantage over synthetic dreads is their significantly lower weight and their more artificial appearance. They are available in different colors, single-colored or two-tone striped, in metallic, with silver or gold stripes, as well as matt or UV-active. With self-designed hairpieces, the Lox are usually bought by the meter, cut to the desired length and usually attached to a ribbon or a bobby pin. Lox is available in different sizes. The largest are over 2 cm in diameter. Mostly Cyberlox with a diameter of ~ 1.5 cm and Lox with a diameter of ~ 0.8 cm are used. Mini-Lox have a diameter of 4 mm and are often used as a high light.

Foamies

Foamies are layered strips of foam rubber. Usually black and colored foam rubber is used at the same time, the strips have an average width of 1 to 4 cm and a total length of 20 to 40 cm. The material for foams is very cheap and the production is quite simple, so these strips are very popular. Other foam rubber decorations are often glued or painted along the stripes.

music

Cyber ​​culture is predominantly a dance club culture . She prefers techno / trance (and especially hardstyle ) inspired forms of music from the black scene such as future pop , aggrotech ( Hellectro ) and rhythm 'n' noise . It does not have an independent, musical cultural basis. The focus is on danceability and mostly bass drum-emphasized track structures in 4/4 time.

dance

The dance style practiced by Cybers is referred to by the group as Industrial Dance or Cyber ​​Dance . Industrial dance was originally an alternative North American name for electronic body music and electro-industrial in the 1980s. As a name for the dance style practiced by cybers, the name among the cybers did not establish itself until years later and without direct reference to the music style in the reception of the current trend, the name is not used. The dance is mainly danced to the preferred music styles Future Pop, Aggrotech, Hardstyle and Rhythm 'n' Noise.

Clubs of the black scene are referred to as the origin of dance. There are clear differences in the dance style of other groups within the black scene. Cybers particularly value fast, rhythmic arm movements based on the beat (stretching, turning or flapping the arm away from the body or towards the body), sometimes combined with rhythmic leg movements, with footwork only playing a minor role. The Cyber Dance is sometimes, however, also presented in dance groups, mostly in the form of synchronous choreography mostly single in nightclubs.

Stefan Lederer describes the cyber dance style as "sporty, aggressive [e] or [...] strenuously lascivious [e]" gymnastics . Often the dance is performed in clubs with the use of accessories such as light sticks and LED rings. The exact place of origin and the time of origin of the dance style is disputed.

Meeting points

Cybers are mainly found at events of the black scene, but also occasionally at various techno events. Cybers meet each other in clubs, at festivals and in online videos - and forums. When an alternative to the Essen Original veranstaltem Essen Original Festival in 2010, the first German found Industrial Dance Battle instead. In the years that followed, cyber-specialized dance events were established whose program occasionally also includes competitions.

Web links

Commons : Cyber ​​culture  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Alexander Nym: Schillerndes Dunkel. Music-independent currents. Plöttner Verlag, 2010, ISBN 3-86211-006-0 , p. 180.
  2. ↑ a b Robert: The Whole Truth - When the Zillo interviewed me about Cyber-Gothic. www.Spontis.de, accessed on March 26, 2015 .
  3. ↑ Alexander Nym: Iridescent Dark . History, development and topics of the Gothic scene. Ed .: Alexander Nym. 1st edition. Plöttner Verlag, Leipzig 2010, ISBN 978-3-86211-006-3 , Where from and where a conversation with Oswald Henke, p. 287-288 .
  4. ↑ Claudio Grui, Klaus Neumann-Braun, Axel Schmidt: Schillerndes Dunkel . History, development and topics of the Gothic scene. Ed .: Alexander Nym. 1st edition. Plöttner Verlag, Leipzig 2010, ISBN 978-3-86211-006-3 , Black Music Today, p. 341-344 .
  5. ^ Rebekka Elisabeth Härtl: Strobelight Records - label report. In: Black -Musikmagazin, issue 36/04, summer 2004, p. 37.
  6. ↑ a b c Stefan Lederer: Iridescent Dark. Industrial. Plöttner Verlag, 2010, ISBN 3-86211-006-0 , p. 244.
  7. ↑ Stefan Lederer: Iridescent Dark. Industrial , p. 245, Plöttner Verlag, 2010, ISBN 3-86211-006-0
  8. ↑ Ronald Hitzler and Arne Niederbacher (eds.): Life in scenes. 3. Edition. VS, 2010, ISBN 978-3-531-15743-6 , pp. 22 .
  9. ^ Nancy Kilpatrick: The Goth Bible: A Compendium for the Darkly Inclined . Plexus, UK 2005, ISBN 0-85965-365-X , pp. 55 .
  10. ↑ Daniel Dreßler: Cyber-Gothic - Everything is so beautifully colorful here! In: Zillo July / August 2012, p. 99.
  11. ↑ Kilpatrick (US edition), pp. 34-35.
  12. ^ Stefan Koberg: Artificial worlds in the cyber shop. The West , February 1, 2011, accessed February 3, 2011 .
  13. ↑ The Age: Dead fashionable . September 13, 2002 (accessed June 12, 2007)
  14. ↑ a b c Valerie Steele: Gothic: Dark Glamor. Yale University Press, 2008, pp. 49-50.
  15. ^ Nancy Kilpatrick: The Goth Bible: A Compendium for the Darkly Inclined. St. Martin's Griffin, New York 2004, ISBN 0-312-30696-2 , pp. 35-36.
  16. ↑ Stefan Gnad: Shimmering Darkness. Plöttner Verlag, 2010, ISBN 3-86211-006-0 , p. 199.
  17. ^ Gail Priest: Experimental Music: Audio Explorations in Australia . University of New South Wales Press, 2009, ISBN 1-921410-07-8 , pp. 48 .
  18. ↑ a b Essen Original 2010. Der westen, accessed on March 27, 2015 .
  19. ↑ a b Stefan Lederer: Industrial . In: Alexander Nym (ed.): Shimmering darkness: history, development and topics of the Gothic scene . 1st edition. Plöttner Verlag, Leipzig 2010, ISBN 978-3-86211-006-3 , p. 242-246 , here p. 244 .
  20. ↑ Stefan Gnad: Gothic Metal . In: Alexander Nym (ed.): Shimmering darkness: history, development and topics of the Gothic scene . 1st edition. Plöttner Verlag, Leipzig 2010, ISBN 978-3-86211-006-3 , p. 190–199 , here p. 199 .