Rolling 2010 Goth / Post-Goth / Darkwave / Dark Neopostpunk / Deathrock etc. etc. Thread!

I've been lurking on/reading these boards for awhile now, only occasionally dropping a comment. This is my first attempt at starting a thread, so here's hoping that all goes well! I've been wanting to start a rolling goth/dark music thread for a while now. Usually when a new album I enjoy comes out, like Faith and the Muse's "Ankoku Butoh" or "The Blood of My Lady" by Unto Ashes, that I feel isn't getting the critical attention it deserves (except for some stand-outs of note, like Ned Raggett at allmusic, who's been exceedingly generous and fair-minded in his reviews of goth material).

In addition, there seems to be a new groundswell of bands that aren't simply mining dark post-punk-ish material, but, to my ears, sound like they've moved the clock forward a bit and could genuinely fit snugly inside the goth/darkwave label (whether they'd want the label is a different question entirely). I'm thinking "Stridulum" by Zola Jesus, "Judged by Twelve, Carried by Six" by Blessure Grave, and the brand new single "Ruins" by O. Children.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmcHPk8_1N8

I'm not the only one noticing the goth-ness of it all.

"The brooding Joy Division meets the Adams Family sthick has been replaced with a bombastic gothic disco number that doesn’t have a discernable chorus, makes you involuntarily furrow your brow, heaps on the ansgt ridden bluster with very little subtlety with Tobi O Kandi’s warm baritone warning that “The ruins are no place for you to play, they’ll kill you if you come back here again”. ‘Ruins’ sounds strangely reminiscent of preposterous 80’s goth rockers The Mission with the shimmering guitar sound of shoegaze legends Ride….these are good things."

So maybe, just maybe, we can have a critical re-evaluation that goes beyond the first-wave goth-post-punk canon (Bauhaus, Siouxsie, Killing Joke, etc) and embraces new stuff coming out inside "the scene", and stuff that takes some obvious stylistic inspiration from goth. I think there's plenty to talk about. Including new stuff from bands like Christ vs. Warhol, Ego Likeness, and the 90s European darkwave act Dark Orange, who are putting out their first new album in 15+ years. So let's talk about new goth, post-goth, ethno-goth, darkwave, dark-post-punk, goth-folk, deathrock, ethereal, and the various indie bands that are taking inspiration from it all!

As someone who loves the first wave of goth but has no fucking idea where to go from there or if there's anything even worthwhile beyond that first wave, I really, really hope this thread takes off.

OffensiveBeard, a lot happened since the first wave, but some new-ish bands that might tickle your fancy include:

HTRK
http://www.myspace.com/htrk
(Australian band that relocated to London, collaborated with Rowland S. Howard of The Birthday Party for their 2009 album "Marry Me Tonight")

Black Ice
http://www.mungaso.com/blackice/index.htm
(Dark art-damaged noise from San Francisco, all their stuff is great, they released an new EP "Block Ice" in 2009.)

Veil Veil Vanish
http://www.myspace.com/veilveilvanish
(Their debut album "Change in the Neon Light", recently released, is killer. Think neopostpunk + The Cure + shoegaze)

Hm that last one has my curiosity piqued *goes to myspace*

Yeah that VVV lot aren't too bad, though they get a little poppy for my tastse at times but yeah, nice. Reminds me of a less-moody Bell Hollow.

Who I miss dreadfully, why oh why did they disband ;_;

I just found both the album and previous ep of Veil Veil Vanish on emusic. Yoink! On first listen I'm really liking the mini-album ("Into a new mausoleum") a LOT.

thanks, skysgoneout!

Bell Hollow were indeed great. Have you been keeping track of Nick Niles' post Bell Hollow work?

http://nickniles.com/

No, I had no idea! Awesome I'll go look/listen.

I used to have Greg on my livejournal friends but he downsized back to personal friends, mores the pity.

Hey thats some good shit too, its weird hearing his lovely voice over music so different to BH tho!

Louis Pattison from The Guardian is on-board for the goth revival meme.

Scene and heard: American gothic
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2010/apr/16/scene-heard-american-gothic

Zola Jesus is the moody harbinger of a new crop of US underground acts updating the gothic-rock aesthetic

Thanks for the recommendations, Jason. I'll def do some digging when I go on my next downloading binge.

I went *right off* goth music when it went all EBM and industrial. That was never my bag to begin with (tho I dont mind a bit of NIN and EN I guess). I grew up with moody synthy rock like the Cure and DM and Siouxsie and the Cocteaus/Dead Can Dance and to me that was always what it was all about. Its good to see a bit of that coming back, because I was tearing my hair out at some of the wank that was around 10 years back. I mean, London after Midnight? Gimme a break.

Maybe I just got sick of hearing "Headhunter" at goth clubs for 76556453 years.

some of the stuff being described in this thread has elements of the music i really love but there's something, i haven't 100% put my finger on it, that i just don't warm to.. i tried to get into both VVV and blessure grave (the latter because i am a captured tracks fanboy ponce) but i wasn't entirely successful...

Huh, I woulve thought VVV were your kinda thing Jim, I mean they had slight hints of For Against about em.

i like bits and pieces about them, but the whole doesn't quite get there - i will persist though, because i feel like i *should* like them

I havent given the newer album a good listen yet. The predeedig mini LP was pretty good.

"I went *right off* goth music when it went all EBM and industrial."

I hear that. Though it should be noted that I do like some EBM/Industrial music.

I think the perception that goth turned into EBM is one partially informed by the fact that the goth scene in the 1990s became ever-reliant on clubs, which steered DJs towards stuff that would make people dance, because if no one is dancing (or drinking) your night might get canned. This slowly shoved rock-based and ethereal stuff to the corners. Naturally it also didn't help that NIN, Marilyn Manson, and the Industrial-rock chart-toppers that came in their wake kept getting equated with "goth" by lazy writers/interviewers. But goth proper, as we would understand it, didn't go away. That decade saw the rise of darkwave in the US and Europe, and it was an goldmine of classic albums if one wants to do the digging.

So it's weird, because lots of non-club/EBM stuff was being put out (Dead Can Dance and the "ethno-gothic"/"Heavenly Voices" stuff for instance), but it was (in America at least) a largely "bedroom" phenomenon. Bands that would only, maybe, get a token play, or a single "club friendly" track in rotation at the clubs.

I wrote about the "lost 90s" a bit at my Tumblr recently:
http://theskysgoneout.tumblr.com/post/482106640/rockism-popism-and-goth
http://theskysgoneout.tumblr.com/post/464250237/is-1990s-darkwave-finally-making-a-comeback

Also interesting is that lots of goths got into the deathrock revival at the beginning of the oughts, partially as a response to a club culture that had become too much about Futurepop/EBM, and not enough about the "goth" tag that was still used to sell the night to patrons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deathrock#Revival

In any case, there's lots to be potentially excavated and re-evaluated.

hmmm - intrigued by this apparent revival.
Jason makes some interesting points wrt the club focus of the music from the early 90s onwards and the resulting move towards industrial-dance. Maybe because of that transition, I always had the impression that the remaining "real goth" music veered more and more towards the other extreme, ie. slightly corny "ethereal" stuff (eg Heavenly Voices) - somehow the badass goth sound of the 80s got lost. Last year's Horrors album was a pleasant surrpise in that respect.

I'm not hella well versed in the roots of this but I like the band Vom from Scotland a bunch - http://www.myspace.com/vommusik

I still need to properly hear the Puerto Rico Flowers EP which is the new thing by John Sharkey ex of Clockcleaner (whose badass goth element can't be expressed enough imo)

Hey DJ Mencap, thanks for the tip re: VOM, I'm checking it out now. So far I like what a I hear.

Interestingly they are labeled as "post-goth" by their record label, I wonder what that means in their context.

http://www.atwarwithfalsenoise.com/releases.html

"I always had the impression that the remaining "real goth" music veered more and more towards the other extreme, ie. slightly corny "ethereal" stuff (eg Heavenly Voices)"

There was a lot of that, and being a fan of slightly corny ethereal music, it made me happy. But there were other things going on as well. There was the (mainly) UK-centered Pagan Goth-rock stuff from Inkubus Sukkubus and Die Laughing (an acquired taste, to be sure), plenty of Sisters and Neph clones (of varying degrees of quality), and the occasional album from a first-wave veteran. It could be hard for those who preferred the "post-punk" sound, though, as I mentioned, that was coming back by the late 1990s with bands like Cinema Strange, the Deathrock revivalists, and Bay Area dark art-damaged stuff (The Vanishing, etc). Now dark post-punk is spilling out everywhere!

okay I am totally digging O. Children atm

"Naturally it also didn't help that NIN, Marilyn Manson, and the Industrial-rock chart-toppers that came in their wake kept getting equated with "goth" by lazy writers/interviewers."

come on, they were goth-friendly. they deserve some credit for keeping the, um, goth flame alive. especially marilyn.

i just want more stuff like this. love this album. if anyone knows of new similar stuff, lemme know:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU70JB9hfRw

Scott, have you heard KASMS?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8mkjHyEUdE

okay I am totally digging O. Children atm

They blew me away when I heard that song. I can't wait for the full-length.

New stuff:

Weep - "Worn Thing"
Release date: July 27th
New project from Doc Hammer of Mors Syphilitica/Venture Bros. fame.
http://www.projekt.com/projekt/product.asp?sku=PRO00243

Arcana - "The First Era 1995-2002"
Release date: Late March (out now)
The first four Arcana albums, remastered, with bonus tracks.
http://www.erebusodora.net/arcana/
http://www.projekt.com/projekt/product.asp?sku=CYC00027

Brendan Perry - "Ark"
Release date: June 7th
First new album from the Dead Can Dance co-founder in 11 years.
http://www.brendan-perry.com/
Brendan Perry - Ark

Zola Jesus comments on the neo-goth trend at The Quietus:

For want of a better word, a sort of 'gothiness' seems to have crept back into (especially American) indie-rock - yourself, and stuff like Blessure Grave, some of the Wierd Records stuff, Cold Cave perhaps. Apart from the fact that style goes in cycles, any thoughts on why that aesthetic might have returned?

ZJ: Twilight? Vampire movies, maybe? Everyone’s a goth now. It blows my mind. I don’t like to comment on this whole trend because I’ve come to resent myself being associated with it. If goth is trendy then I’m buying fucking polo shirts. They’ll still be black, though.

Is everyone really a goth now? Have I become ubiquitous?

> Is everyone really a goth now?

Seems like a natural response to the Animal Collective/Vampire Weekend/plinky plink brightness of the last few years of next big things.

I wish Raison d'Etre would do a box set instead of Arcana. I have all the Arcana stuff, but I'm missing a lot of Raison d'Etre and it is so good!

Speaking of Zola Jesus, someone in the comments of that interview recommended this artist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJi26Eo6hgc

Katie Stelmanis/Private Life.

Witches!

I wish Raison d'Etre would do a box set instead of Arcana.

Looking at the size of their discography, that'd be quite a big box set.

I haven't heard much from this band, since you're a fan, where should I start?

Enthralled by the Winds of Loneliness or Requiem for Abandoned Souls are two of my favorites, the former getting the most listens at my house. It's a mix of chants, keyboard drones and industrial noises, but firmly on the ambient end of the ambient/industrial spectrum. If you like the quieter moments on early Chandeen albums or stuff like Steve Roach or Robert Rich, you'll probably dig it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ufcfo9K1yfI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DUcTHlg7DM&feature=related

a mix of chants, keyboard drones and industrial noises

Sounds good to me! I'll check it out.

Thanks for the heads-up on The Soft Moon!

For those playing at home:

http://www.myspace.com/thesoftmoon
http://sevennoises.blogspot.com/2010/03/soft-moon-breathe-fire.html

"...we have the first single from The Soft Moon who couldn't have put it out with anybody else as it's 100% Captured Tracks. From California and enlisted to only a member, Luis Vasquez, his music is definitely inspired by post-punk bands like Joy Division / New Order, Bauhaus, The Sound and all the obscure and dark sounds from the beginning of the 80s or more recently Blank Dogs or Blessure Grave: whispering voices, thick bass lines, echoing guitars and repetitive drum sounds."

^dig that soft moon single. the cosmetics 45 on CT is a little gothy too

heard a couple of the o children singles, 'ruins' is great but i wasn't quite as enamoured with 'dead disco dancer'

anyone want to start a deathrock band with me?

i really really like this remix of ruins by o.children. this is my kind of death disco!

http://soundcloud.com/deadlypeople/ruins-jokers-of-the-scene-remix/download

(like the original too! would totally dig an album of the stuff)

Longtime Goth/industrial fan here. But I have to say I have no interest in the current crop of goth rock (O. Children are great, though). Most sounds, at least to my ears, like American indie rock draped in gothic trappings, always buttressed by lame attempts at sounding like Curtis/Eldritch. I'd much rather listen to current darkwave/industrial, some of which steers away from obvious cliches, like Die Form and Das Ich. I guess I'm interested in the stuff that doesn't sound like hard trance with distorted vocals (although that serves a purpose, too, I suppose).

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Oh dear, I messed that up~! : ]

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Just poppin back in to say I am so happy I discovered VVV from this thread :)

Just poppin back in to say I am so happy I discovered VVV from this thread :)

Awesome!

Speaking of Veil Veil Vanish, I've been keeping an eye on the shows they've been playing recently in hopes of discovering other (dark) acts I've never heard of.

So far I've come across:

Hexham Heads
http://www.myspace.com/hexhamheads

Deathday Party
http://www.myspace.com/deathdayparty

Repeater
http://www.myspace.com/repeaterband

and Naked on the Vague, who were recently spotlighted at Raven Sings the Blues

http://ravensingstheblues.blogspot.com/2010/04/naked-on-vague.html

Slicing Up Eyeballs has news on a new album by Alien Sex Fiend, and a new b-sides/rarities compilation from The Mission UK.

I've liked some stuff from each of these bands over the years, but I've never been a huge fan. Is anyone anticipating either release? Any Mission/ASF fans out there in ILM land?

Alex in NYC is the big Mission fan, from memory.

yeah this stuff is pretty much where I draw the line

Guilty as charged. I was a big Mish fun up through MASQUE (although the rot really set in just after CHILDREN).

Mish fan, I should say.

I'm pretty sure I didn't see them on my quick glance at the thread, and they need to be here:

Gnaw Their Tongues tap dances all over this thread. They sound like a sonic sculpture of Dario Argento's most paralyzingly horrific fever dream. Very dark cinematic dreamscape sludge symphonies. I like them. You might too.

I love Gnaw Their Tongues, and so does nearly all the metal thread.

Fwiw, I think ASF provided a very different take on the music of the period and I will rep for a whole pile of the 80s material (especially Ignore The Machine, in a heartbeat) but I have no real desire to listen to them in this day and age.

VVV are growing on me. probably heretical but they remind me of a more gothy marion

I like Alien Sex Fiend. Mainly the early stuff but I like the odd later song e.g. Now I'm Feeling Zombiefied. Not sure how interested I am about a new album though.

The concept of a new ASF album's a bit strange, but y'know.... good luck to'em. I'll stick with Acid Bath.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkn_Zw9URsY

oOoOO are incredible

their EP is constant rotay

I'm liking the oOoOO/White Ring split single. Is there a place where one can legally download the oOoOO EP?

I love this kind of music but seriously now, why do all these bands have such *terrible* names? :/

Scary Lady Sarah, a goth DJ who's been touring with Faith & The Muse, and playing songs before and between the bands, has posted some of her setlists, which have emphasized newer releases and bands. So I thought I'd post them here and give a snapshot of what someone firmly within today's goth scene is listening to and sharing with others. Note the easy cross-pollination of "dark indie" acts and full-on goth bands.

Monday, 3 May, 2010 / Cafe 331, Jacksonville, FL

Blood Red Shoes- Heartsink
Me You Us Them- Me You Us Them
Lowline- Monitors
Miserylab- About the Now
Indochine- Go, Rimbaud, Go!
Dragons- Here Are the Roses
Blacklist- When Worlds Collide
Cockatoo- Otto's Song
Bleak Track- The Letter
(Entertainme.nt)
Eva- Plastic Passion
Christ vs. Warhol- Transmission
A Lilac- Melt Into Me
Fangs On Fur- Cigarette
Miguel & the Living Dead- Batcave
Eat Your Makeup- Dust in the Cathedral
Sex Chair Provider- Out of My Smile
Sleepmask- Voudou
(Faith & the Muse)
The Rosedales- It's Midnight
O. Children- Dead Disco Dancer
Teenagersintokyo- Isabella
The Big Pink- Dominos
The Mary Onettes- Puzzles
The Snake Corps- Colder Than the Kiss
The Twilight Sad- I Became a Prostitute
Veil Veil Vanish- Anthem for a Doomed Youth
KGC- Made 4 Luv
Siobhan Donaghy- Ghosts
Collide- Inside
- - - - - - - -

Friday, 7 May, 2010 / Howlin' Wolf, New Orleans, LA

Ceremony- Eurotrain
Pic Vicious- LA Dreamer
QEK Junior- Yoshiwara
Din A Tod- Cold Star
The Golden Nowhere- Get Nowhere
Viva Death- Desire Us a Flood
Weep- Lay There & Drown
Pink Turns Blue- Missing You
(Nadjia)
Wild Nothing- Love In Dreams
(((S)))- Addicted to My Dreams
Veil Veil Vanish- Anthem for a Doomed Youth
Blacklist- Blue Shifted
Cruel Black Dove- Offer
Dead Kids- German Heart
Sex Chair Provider- Out Of My Smile
O. Children- Dead Disco Dancer
Washed Out- Olivia
Washed Out- Feel It All Around
Cold Cave- The Trees Grew Emotions & Died
Lowline- Sound of Music
(Voltaire)
Bear In Heaven-Lovesick Teenagers
Dragons- Here Are the Roses
Sleepmask- Voudou
Christ vs. Warhol- The Trigger
Eva- Plastic Passion
Johnny Hollow- This Hollow World-
The Eden House- To Believe In Something
KGC- Made 4 Luv
(Faith & the Muse)
Monica Richards- We Are the One
Pretentious, Moi?- The Haunting
Romance- Paris Is Burning
Il Giardino Violetto- L.iquid D.isplay S.ensations
Christ Vs. Warhol- Cross of Lorraine
Adam & the Ants- Stand & Deliver
Grinderman- No Pussy Blues
TV On the Radio- Wolf Like Me
Siouxsie & the Banshees- Melt!
The Buzzcocks- Ever Fallen In Love
Killing Joke- Complications
Dream Disciples- Babylon
- - - - - - - -

Saturday, 8 May, 2010 / Numbers, Houston, TX

Dream Disciples- Babylon
Lowline- Sound of Music
O. Children- Dead Eye Lover
The Cure- Underneath the Stars
The Twilight Sad- Reflection of the Television
The Exploding Boy- Heart of Glass
Death In Vegas- Hands Around My Throat
Il Giardino Violetto- L.iquid D.isplay S.ensations
Cockatoo- Otto's Song
(((S)))- Addicted To My Dreams
A Lilac- Melt Into Me
Christ Vs. Warhol- Cross of Lorraine
Fangs On Fur- Fangs On Fur
Jessica's Crime- Who Do You Love
Miguel & the Living Dead- Batcave
Sex Chair Provider- Out of My Smile
O. Children- Dead Disco Dancer
Dr. Steel- Back & Forth
Bear In Heaven- Lovesick Teenagers
Cold Cave- The Trees Grew Emotions & Died
Washed Out- Olivia
Viva Death- Desire Us a Flood
Weep- Lay There & Drown
Cruel Black Dove- Offer
Dragons- Here Are the Roses
(Voltaire)
Tragic Black- Bodies on the Avenue
BlackPool- Kiss Like a Curse
Sleepmask- Voudou
KGC- Made 4 Luv
Eva- Plastic Passion
Clan of Xymox- Emily
The Big Pink- Dominos
(Faith & the Muse)

has anyone managed to dl anything by ///▲▲▲\\\

they're great

20jazzfunkgreats-core

(the blog, not the album)

///▲▲▲\\\

That's the band name? Seems rather un-google-able.

hence the problem

i found it anyway

http://www.dreamdamage.com/2009/09/%E2%96%B2%E2%96%B2%E2%96%B2/

Check this out:
http://absolutelykosher.bandcamp.com/

The sampler is called "I used to be goth"

what exactly is this sampler and why is it mentionned here (besides the title)?

Apparently bands like White House, oOoOO, ///▲▲▲\\\, Tearist, and others are being called "Witch House".

http://www.last.fm/tag/witch%20house
http://drownedinsound.com/community/boards/music/4256639

"The Summer will be dominated by this occult oriented downtempo chopped and screwed italo-house sort-of-extension-of Chillwave."

But the real question if if a Witch House band denies being a Witch House band, does it make them even MORE Witch House?

Oh, and Pfork has an article on it, so it must be true!

http://pitchfork.com/features/articles/7806-ghosts-in-the-machine/

I've long been a big fan of Ice Ages. Never really dug further than them (and Leatherstrip), but any recommendation of bands doing similarly slow, atmospheric industrial?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17v6IGUO6zM

O. Children's full-length is being released on July 12!

Hey I should have given the thread a closer reading earlier - I quite like the Soft Moon stuff. Off to emusic I go again!

Only got the one single, but I do like these 2 tracks.

Am getting some Prids stuff while I'm at it.

I was recommended this band Fjord Rowboat the other day by someone, not bad in a grandiose dark shoegaze kind of way, like a less happy Longwave or something. you guys might dig.

Why did not someone rec the Prids to me before! This is fabulous.

i thought i had, maybe i just imagined it? (not unlikely)

You likely have tbh!

Just upgradeded me emusic account (was about to lose my grandfatered plan in a few days anyway) and scored 100 bonus d/loads, so.

woo

Just gotten into Blacklist as they were recommended on last.fm along with the usual mob here (VVV/BH/Prids)

Theyre like an amalgam of the Church, the Comsats and (of all things) the Cult ("Sactuary" era).

I like them! There's an EP on emusic and a few other tracks for free full d/l on lastfm.

The new O. Children album is now out! I just (legally) downloaded a copy. Has anyone else picked it up yet? What do you think?

I've also picked up the LA Vampires + Zola Jesus EP, which was suitably creepy.

Oh man I saw the Prids in a basement YEARS ago, they are still doing it, huh?

Oh man I saw the Prids in a basement YEARS ago, they are still doing it, huh?

Yes, though their latest album is quite a departure from their previous work. More shoegazey-pop, less dark-ish post-punk.

Aye, the new one sounds almost a bit like a shoegazey Silversun Pickups! A lot less dark. I like it, but I love "until the world is beautiful" much more.

soft metals ep on cap tracks might be a bit too electro for some but i reckon you guys might dig

seems that this is the thread in which o. chldren love is being declared, so here's my vote as well.
picked up the o. children album + remix album today.
really liking what i've heard.
of course the ls6 reference points are easy to spot a mile off, but the results sound very good.