5 INT'L BROS OF JOY DIVISION

Everyone at this point knows Joy Division's career was short lived. It only took two studio albums for the British group to have a huge influence on New Wave (and darkwave and synth-punk and Goth rock and industrial and blah blah blah).
Although New Order was compromised of Joy Division's surviving members after Ian Curtis died, they were a different (and in a lot of ways better) beast. New Order started by completing "Ceremony", an open-ended Joy Division song in the works, but discovered their own sounds and went in a new direction thereafter. New Order was New Order solely, not a Joy Division rip-off band, and New Order spurned their own gang of influenced groups thereafter.


One genre HIGHLY influenced by Joy Division was Dark Wave, mostly made up of bands from France and Germany, just across the way from the UK. In all reality most of these bands didn't come at all close to mirroring the greatness of JD but it's interesting to see the public's appropriation of their sound and the kind of music influenced groups went on to make, especially those in non-English countries. Below are a few '80s "alternatives" to Joy Division not hailing from the British Isles or the US. Sadly this list is only limited to bands in Europe except one (it would have been interesting to hear a Joy Division influenced group from the other continents).

1. FRA LIPPO LIPPI (NORWAY)


The first record by this Norwegian band is called In Silence (which may be a reference to Joy Division's "Atmosphere"). The JD influence is obvious but purely derivative in the best possible way. I love the way its recorded, very warm and slightly lo-fi. I discovered the record sometime in 2009 and fell in love - it's from start to finish lovely. Fra Lippo Lippi apparently named themselves after a Robert Browning poem and had a substantial career after signing to Virgin Records, but I was insanely disappointed by all their records thereafter. Whereas a lot of bands influenced by JD ended up sounding like industrial Goth shit or something of that variety once continuing on throughout the '80s and perhaps into the '90s, Fra Lippo Lippi turned to more yuppie new wave sounds. (Don't let this discourage you from checking out their debut though - do download!)

2. GRAUZONE (SWITZLERLAND)


Grauzone is more dance oriented than JD but there are obvious similarities. Really simple straight forward beats, deep voice with talky talk vocals, except more syncopated prominent synth instead of bass lines. A good example of a band transferring more into the New Wave sound but with JD influence.

3. MINIMAL COMPACT (ISRAEL)


It is a little shameless how similar Minimal Compact's early sound was to JD. But when one considers that they were from Tel-Aviv Israel, probably with only exposure to the most popular things happening in Europe in the late '70s and early '80s, it becomes more understandable. Soon after their formation they moved to Belgium to continue their post-punk relations. After a while they ditched the Ian Curtis vocals and blatant Joy Division-esqe bass lines and moved more towards a more experimental phase, working with Tuxedomoon for a brief period.

4. ASYLUM PARTY (FRANCE)


Asylum Party is a perfect example of a band that had all the similarities of JD but were expanding on the basic idea. They were much more dreamy, more aligned with bands like The Cure and Cocteau Twins in ways, perhaps because they formed a bit later in 1985 with the Goth scene already starting to split into many sounds and sub-genres. Asylum Party was part of the "Touching Pop" scene in France with a few other bands like Little Nemo and Mary Goes Round. However, they are definitely within the Joy Division vein with deep vocals, similar yearning, stark drums, driving bass lines and long drawn out song parts. Their melodies are particularly pronounced in comparison to many other surrounding bands. They also sometimes used acoustic guitar along with bass and synth and somehow made it work REALLY WELL.

Considered "coldwave", a Goth/post-punk genre originating in France, Asylum Part is insanely underrated. There isn't much documentation about this French gem, at least not much I can find in English. ):  The Grey Years: Volume II is epic gothy dream pop sadly overlooked in a sea of The Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees promo.

5. DIE UNBEKANNTEN (GERMANY)


This last band is from Germany but is compromised of British dudes so I guess that's sort of cheating considering, but I had to include them on the list due to very obvious similarities. There is not much information about this band sadly but they are definitely worth including.

ENJOY!!