Post-punk and the use of repetition as a compositional device is something the genre handles with more intention than it usually gets credit for.

Repetition in pop music is usually a formal convention — the chorus repeats because that's how pop song structure works. Repetition in post-punk is often a deliberate compositional argument. The same riff returning is not just following a format; it's saying something about the relationship between the musical material and time.

Joy Division's arrangements are built on repetition in a way that produces a specific emotional effect — the sense of being trapped in a pattern, of returning to the same place despite movement. The repetition is the argument, not just the structure. Wire uses repetition more abstractly, but with similar attention to what it means rather than just what it does.

The revival acts that use post-punk repetition without this intentionality produce music that sounds like post-punk but doesn't have the same weight. The form is there; the argument is missing.