What it is, what to hear first, and what sits next to it.
Coldwave is a style of post-punk music that originated in Europe in the late 1970s and early 1980s and is known for its generally dark, gloomy (thus "cold") atmosphere and heavy reliance on synthesizers. It was popular predominantly in continental Europe (especially in France, Poland, and Belgium) and consisted largely of bands that were heavily influenced by British post-punk acts such as Joy Division and Siouxsie and The Banshees. Whereas Polish coldwave bands such as Siekiera were more directly influenced by guitar-driven post-punk music .