Rolling 2011 Goth / Post-Goth / Darkwave / Dark Neopostpunk / Deathrock etc. etc. Thread!

Don't you know that Goth is so totally hot right now?

“Hitherto disregarded genres of that decade like Goth and EBM entered the influence-mix this year…” - Simon Reynolds, The Village Voice

“Until Kanye West executed his peerless marketing plan during the final two months of 2010, the music story of the year might have been the Internet’s renewed interest in the occult. After years of serving as a stereotype for social outcasts, Goth wasn’t only good; it was hip.” - Otis Hart, NPR Music

“With any new artist, it is inevitable people want to lump them with the latest music genre. That said, being ‘gothic’ is something we are quite happy to be associated with. We are big fans of gothic architecture and literature. We have a love of the macabre.” - Rachel Davies, Esben and The Witch (Q&A with Independent.ie)

“Everyone’s a goth now. It blows my mind.” - Nika Roza Danilova (Zola Jesus), Interview with The Quietus

So I noticed that there isn't a Esben and the Witch thread at the moment, so why not revive the rolling Goth thread to discuss it? Just about every review drops the "g-word" when talking about the band, so it seems appropriate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP0Nv_ivTaw

Also appropriate: Stereogum heralded Blessure Grave and Soft Moon as making two of the “most overlooked” albums of 2010. Pitchfork listed the Zola Jesus single “Night” as one of the best of the year, calling it a “deliciously creepy goth torch song.” Not to mention that the BBC listed Esben & The Witch in their “Sound of 2011.”

The Esben & the Witch album didn't do much for me I'm afraid. But I'm looking forward to the new Cold Cave if they count.

The judges will allow looking forward to the new Cold Cave album.

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

^ still liking this Austra song

That's nice. I'll have to grab that EP.

Merchandise "Strange Songs In The Dark" LP is super.

I know it came out in November but it's still fresh to me.

not sure if this 100% belongs here, but Demdike Stare has a new release out today

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ZOvWNsSsL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Nice of Merchandise to offer a free download of the entire album, I'm checking it out now. Considering the massive rush to encapsulate the year that happens between November-January, I think a lot of releases get overlooked. So it's nice to play catch up.

As for Demdike Stare, I don't know if they are Goth or not, but they are plenty dark, and I've been very much enjoying what I've heard so far from "Triptych".

Here's one of my favorites from Demdike Stare:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_jhV6f62g8

have noticed my own interests taking a turn towards the gothic over the past few years, largely in response to artists and labels i follow. seemed to me that minimal synth and cold wave started showing up as things people were interested in excavating about six or seven years ago? 2004, let's say? i bought a few of those comps, out of curiosity more than anything else, and wound up liking the sound quite a bit. the vinyl on demand label deserves special mention for services rendered. this during a period when the north american garage-rock scene fell hard for "synth-punk" and "weird-punk," with tons of band citing the likes of chrome and the screamers as influences, some trading guitars for cheap synthesizers. guess the lost sounds kicked this off, followed by the likes of digital leather, the a-frames, the human eye, catatonic youth, etc.

was a second wave of indie rock arcts with a more explicit cold/minimal/goth/industrial bent that started cropping up in 2008 and 2009. cold cave were the most visible of these and one of the first, followed by the likes of silk flowers, zola jesus, the soft moon and salem. for whatever reason, and though the blank dogs were never synth-driven, mike sniper seems like another big influence on this trend. the dogs have been a talking point in garage-punk circles since their emergence in 2007, and he's been crossing the streams between contemporary garage and fringe/goth post-punk for years, both with his own band and with his label (responsible for both the bitter and the soft moon).

other anticipators of 2010, the year that goth broke, direct or indirect: grouper, xiu xiu...

who else?

That's a interesting synopsis contenderizer, in mid-2000s I noticed a lot of art-damaged dark synth stuff, primarily from the West coast that I found complimentary to my trad-Goth interests (The Vanishing, Black Ice, Sixteens, etc). There was also a Deathrock scene revival around that time (Cinema Strange). I think it's very interesting on how garage and punk artists are now "going Goth" for want of a better way of putting it. I'd love to read a more in-depth analysis of that transition/evolution.

One thing I've been wondering is if the Goth scene proper will reach out to these new artists/and their fans. I wrote a short essay about it recently.

Demdike Stare kind of fit the dark vibe but they seem to belong more with those acts that are exploring creepy nostalgic stuff (Mordant Music, the last Broadcast album, Ghostbox etc) and some of the darker/tribal end of dance music (T++, Jaime etc). Maybe the difference is that they're going for the Uncanny rather than the Sublime?

Def. Grouper, you could also argue that the Kate Bush-inspired artists like Bat For Lashes, Florence & The Machine, had a part to play in all of this. It's a rather short hop from Kate Bush to Goth.

Jaime Raime duh xp to self

Also, as forerunners, Fever Ray and The Knife.

xps to contenderizer:

well the Legendary Pink Dots are always hanging around the fringes of this scene.

I've been thinking a lot about the Ventricle label artists lately... Mauve Sideshow, Mistress Of Strands, etc. I wonder where they are now? For me at least they seem like a precursor to all this... do u know those bands? They're mostly from Seattle iirc.

I just finished listening to the excellent Voice Of Eye 2LP that Vinyl On Demand put out... interesting that you perceive them as a key influence here.

(VOD the label not V.O.E. the band)

in mid-2000s I noticed a lot of art-damaged dark synth stuff, primarily from the West coast that I found complimentary to my trad-Goth interests (The Vanishing, Black Ice, Sixteens, etc).

yeah, that's a v good point, and it suggests an early player i neglected to mention: GSL records. i guess they're best known for putting out mars volta records and shrill grindcore like the locust, but around 1999/2000 they started drifting into vaguely gothy (or at least "dark") postpunk weirdness with bands like i am spoonbender, pleasure forever, kill me tomorrow and the the vanishing. i thought when GSL closed down in 2006/2007 that such sounds might fade from the US indie radar, but i guess the gothness just went underground for a couple years.

other anticipators of 2010, the year that goth broke, direct or indirect: grouper, xiu xiu...

who else?

I think the Horrors fit somewhere in that short list, but they don't really seem all that important as an influence on anyone else afaict

I've been thinking a lot about the Ventricle label artists lately... Mauve Sideshow, Mistress Of Strands, etc. I wonder where they are now? For me at least they seem like a precursor to all this... do u know those bands? They're mostly from Seattle iirc.

I just finished listening to the excellent Voice Of Eye 2LP that Vinyl On Demand put out... interesting that you perceive them as a key influence here.

― sleeve, Tuesday, February 1, 2011 2:55 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark

never heard of ventricle or the label artists you mention. can hardly claim to be more than an interested dilettante wr2 these scenes/sounds. listening to tubes now - strange, but nice. guess i need to do some research.

mentioned VOD cuz they've clearly driven/piqued collector interest, and that in turn tends to interest critics, hipsters, bandmates, etc. an antropological call more than anything else.

I remember Mauve Sideshow! whoah, haven't thought about them in ages- they had industrial fans too if I recall correctly

Def. Grouper, you could also argue that the Kate Bush-inspired artists like Bat For Lashes, Florence & The Machine, had a part to play in all of this. It's a rather short hop from Kate Bush to Goth...

Also, as forerunners, Fever Ray and The Knife.

― theskysgoneout (Jason Pitzl-Waters), Tuesday, February 1, 2011 2:53 PM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark

OTM, and i'm sure that acts like these had a bigger influence than the garage & punk identified bands i've mostly been talking about. suppose there's also the likes of rasputina and the dresden dolls, rise of steampunk, but that's all beyond my purview.

mauve sideshow is reminding me of azalia snail for some reason

that makes total sense actually!

the other Ventricle band I was trying to remember was Torn Curtain... this stuff was early 90's and as Mr. Tune Is Space notes there was a lot of industrial scene crossover which is why I know about them.

seemed to me that minimal synth and cold wave started showing up as things people were interested in excavating about six or seven years ago? 2004, let's say? i bought a few of those comps, out of curiosity more than anything else, and wound up liking the sound quite a bit. the vinyl on demand label deserves special mention for services rendered. this during a period when the north american garage-rock scene fell hard for "synth-punk" and "weird-punk," with tons of band citing the likes of chrome and the screamers as influences, some trading guitars for cheap synthesizers. guess the lost sounds kicked this off, followed by the likes of digital leather, the a-frames, the human eye, catatonic youth, etc.

^I'm kind of curious to find out a little more of what you're talking about here, contenderizer...

Was a bit startled the last Prids album was really different to their other stuff, they sound like Silversun Pickups these days. Not bad, but not what I loved about em.

I am still really into the Veil Veil Vanish and Blacklist stuff mentioned in last years thread!

well, lemme ponder a minute (and apologies for derailing thread, as this is peripheral to its core concerns)...

in thinking about the emergence of nu-goth acts like the soft moon and the bitters on captured tracks, zola jesus on sacred bones, and cold cave on heartworm, i notice that all of these artists and labels initially received a great deal of attention in punk/garage circles. in the case of zola jesus, this likely wouldn't have happened if sacred bones hadn't already established a name for themselves with that audience through releases by the likes of blank dogs, hunchback, his electro blue voice, nice face, etc.

this calls to mind the larger recent history of synth- and wierd-punk in a garage context, which i trace back to the lost sounds. jay reatard and alicja trout's memphis-based new wave/black metal hybrid band started putting records out in 1999/2000 and immediately attracted a lot of attention. all of their albums are excellent, but i especially recommend "black wave", "rat's brains and microchips" and their self-titled final LP. the lost sounds seemed to kick off or at least coincide with an ever-increasing wave of interest in dark, leftfield punk with 80s and synth elements. a couple years later, the tiny recorded legacy of the screamers, an obscure LA punk band who played synthesizers instead of guitars, was reissued in both legit and bootleg forms to much acclaim. this renewed interests in other 70s/80s synth-punk forerunners such as nervous gender, the units and voice farm, along with outliers like dow jones and the industrials.

(damien ramsay's internet research probably deserves as much credit as any band in this regard, but i wasn't following him, so i can't really speak to that.)

i suppose there's also the shadow of electroclash to consider, both in terms of its direct influence, and in how it seemed to permit the emergence of darkened, queered dance punk acts like les georges leningrad.

anyway, in the wake and midst of all this, between 2004 and 2008, a bunch of synth- and weird-punk bands crawled out of the woodwork and and began putting out records, both on their own and on tiny labels like fdh, hozac, sacred bones, s-s, and eventually captured tracks. digital leather and the a-frames were among the first of these that i was aware of, the latter dark & angsty post-punk stripped down to a chassis, the former a bedroom punk/minimal synth project later championed by jay reatard. also might mention timmy vulgar's chrome-worshipping human eye and ryan wong's synth abusing destruction unit. see also the likes of wizzard sleeve, dead luke, nothing people and static static. i wouldn't say that many of these bands or labels were "goth" in any meaningful sense, but they did help develop a significant indie-punk following for dark, dramatic post-punk music, frequently played at least in part on synthesizers.

next phase, imo, was the emergence of the blank dogs, with a corresponding clarification of the aesthetics behind the sacred bones label, both distancing themselves from punk and garage, unveiling a palette of sounds and ideas informed by goth, new wave, post-punk, industrial (in some cases) and even minimal/cold predecessors. along with psyche, drone and plain old punk, of course. cold cave and zola jesus upped the ante on this trend and also on its separation from mainstream garage-punk considerably when they showed up in 2008.

i dunno. i can't claim to be a real "expert" on this music, and i'm borderline ignorant when it comes to the 1st gen inspiration these bands are drawing on, but that's been my take on the emergence of synths, nu goth & industrial in the garage-punk scene over the past decade or so.

One of my favorite albums last year was Atoi's Waves of Past Relations, but it was a Denmark-only release (it's coming out on a wider scale later this month). Their first album had some folk/pop touches, but the new one is mostly dark and throbby ("The Fight" isn't the greatest example, but it's the only representation it has on youtube).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5uFjot4lck

Hey this songs not too bad. Has echoes of the EBM bands but is more new-wavey. I like it.

Here are some samples of the full thing: http://www.rough-trade.net/2011/01/28/atoi-waves-of-past-relations/

Ta! I'll check it out after lunch x

thanks loads contenderizer; exactly what I was looking for...

Hah, "Night" by Atoi sounds like Siouxsie, geez.

Hmm I wonder if this is on emusic.

Darn.

It's not. I've had to make due with a shitty stream capture due to it not being for sale anywhere outside of Denmark since it came out. The label told me that it'll be available soon in most other countries, and I've seen listings pop up in the UK and Germany, so hopefully I can get a quality copy soon.

make due? make do.

Make dew.

Hey Mr. Pitzl-Waters, thx for starting this one – the last one helped me find a lot of music that I dig, like O. CHildren.

My pleasure Abbbottt, this year's thread is off to a great start! I've already picked up a few new things!

I'm interested if anyone's doing stuff like Blacklist - that more trad goth-rock kind of sound, like old Mission or whatever.

that demdike stare song in the youtube clip above has a shackleton fabric 55 feel to it.

diggin' it, and this thread.

Pfork jumps on the Demdike Stare train today with a great Mike Powell review (which, frankly, I'm all for if it gets the band more widespread exposure and brings in some new fans):

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15012-tryptych

It's a nice review, though I'd like to hear more about this "deluge" of "self-parodying indie-goth bands", is he talking about Witch House?

Speaking of Siouxsie/Creatures influences, the upcoming from Rainbow Arabia seems rife with them.

http://soundcloud.com/kompakt/rainbow-arabia-without-you-1

"Boys and Diamonds" is out March 1st.

most of the posts itt are too long but i really like the raime ep its p goth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GkGrVvbq5Y

Remember hearing some Rainbow Arabia last year when I was looking for someone to scratch my Gang Gang Dance itch. That track definitely sounded like an improvement on what I heard back then, could do with the production sounding a bit less harsh though.

That Raime ep is good, looking forward to what comes next. Blackest Ever Black is an awesome label name btw.

yah the hecker & haswell record its named after is p gd awesome too!!!

wish more of this stuff sounded icier and was more texturally deep & absorbing, more fucked up effects on synths. and more dark

implodes?

havent heard youtube me dog

i like that raime youtube lamp posted

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbRsA1hpf70

ok yeah this is good

i guess kranky are my guys for this

I'm in this new band called Black Lodge and it's me and three girls. I'm drumming. Two of them play basses, and one of them plays Roland synth, and they all sing. It's pretty dope stuff, hopefully we'll get some proper recordings soon.

this is good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMSTg4gStOE

^ yes. whole album's pretty good, if a bit slight on first listen. but hoping it'll sink in.

is it out yet?

Conatus album stream:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2011/sep/22/zola-jesus-conatus-album-stream

I am loving it.

In other news:

New Monica Richards solo in January 2012:
http://www.monicarichards.com/naiades.htm

New Collide "Counting to Zero" out Sept. 27th:
http://www.noiseplusmusic.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=1_30&products_id=433

Exitmusic's "The Sea" EP out in October:
http://www.secretlycanadian.com/artist.php?name=exitmusic

Oh, and this is out in November:

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

I'm also kinda looking forward to SCUM's debut full-length.

Guys can I have some help please?
Ok so I've been offered a job doing some work on stuff like this. However, the out of all the references I've only really bought and listened to a bit of zola. On the female side what are the absolute essentials of this stuff?

loving austra.

I've been offered a job doing some work on stuff like this.

You mean writing about Goth music? Or the indie-goth revival stuff? Could you be a bit more specific?

So I picked up the new Warm Ghosts yesterday, and its pretty strong, better than the EP, which I also liked. I also got the Sleep Over and Big Black Delta albums (currently being offered as a free download this week). All in all its been a pretty good week for arty, dark, experimental synth-pop stuff.

Anyone else pick these up? What do you think?

Chelsea Wolfe covers Nick Cave:
http://www.vmagazine.com/2011/09/v-premiere-chelsea-wolfe-covers-nick-cave/

Excited for the new Lost Tribe LP coming out on Blind Prophet Saturday. Blew me away at the Sacred Bones showcase in Bklyn in June. Like Amebix meets the Chameleons with a great live presence

B-R-A-N-E-S are really...really quite good. Live show is engaging as hell, too. Ivy has a Nina Hagen sort of thing going on. Analog synth worship too.

http://soundcloud.com/branes

I'm liking "Winter," will def. check it out.

http://losttribe.bandcamp.com/album/lost-tribe-s-t-lp

Oh, and I almost forgot. I just discovered this thanks to DJ Martian:

http://wwnbb.bandcamp.com/album/cold

doing some producing for some stuff in this vein rather than writing. On the indie-goth revival synthy/darkwave side of things. I was just being terribly lazy before. Have loved: Cold Cave, Austra and Zola obvs, not quite getting the Ebsen stuff yet although I love the vocals.

owenf,

You should check out:
A Tropic of Cancer
http://tropicofcancer.bandcamp.com/

Chelsea Wolfe
http://chelseawolfe.net/

HTRK
http://www.yourcomicbookfantasy.com/

Tamaryn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anOYvY2eFlI

All good starting points from the female-fronted indie-goth revival stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_L_NN7sS_Y

maybe this?

I would love for the rolling goth crew to do a yearly mixtape. I love this stuff but I'm getting too old to keep track of the new stuff :-/

fall/winter is the time to dust-off this music (and dubstep-ish stuff) again.

thanks for the recommendations guys. I would never have come across those. Going to have a big listening session this afternoon to acquaint myself.

I would love for the rolling goth crew to do a yearly mixtape. I love this stuff but I'm getting too old to keep track of the new stuff :-/

I think that's a great idea. Perhaps I'll make one when its time to write up my picks for 2011, maybe there can also be a more collaborative mixtape project as well?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxVFb9sSARs

love this.

^they have some stuff up on the beko dsl site, worth grabbing..

Looks like they have an album out on October 10th:

http://thekvb.bandcamp.com/album/subjection-subordination

Not so keen on Chelsea Wolfe. Tropic of Cancer is nice and moody.

absolutely love the HTRK stuff, I feel like their kind hinting (but not quite going too hard) at a gothy sade kind of thing which I desperately want to happen.

and wow just listening to that sleep over track. That's exactly the kind of thing I'm digging. Hot and sticky as hell, dark garden, drinking beer and knowing you won't sleep kind of vibe.

So, new Zola Jesus is out in the States today. I think it's great.

I compiled an assortment of "Zola Jesus is Goth" quotes from recent reviews:

http://theskysgoneout.org/post/11025232194/they-obviously-dont-have-an-adjective-count

Also, both Esben and the Witch and Peter Murphy have announced follow-up EPs. Murphy's is out next week, and Esben's is out November 7th, and I'm actually looking forward to both. I know that E&tW have left some people cold, but I think "Violet Cries" is a strong album that rewards repeat listens. I've also grown softer on Murphy's "Ninth", which I initially thought was rather uneven. I don't know if that's the nostalgia talking, or if the tracks have just had time to seep in a bit more.

Oh, also out today: Exitmusic's new EP "From Silence"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX_Y62Z42F8

and SCUM's "Again Into Eyes"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa5zL8Rzlrw

From Simon Reynolds:

the eighties is proving to be to this-time (i.e. 2000s + 2010/2011) what the sixties was to the actual eighties, i.e. near-inexhaustible resource. still a fair few sub-zones of the decade unexplored and unexploited

in the last year or so genre-mining/reactivation-invocation moved decisively into goth / industrial / EBM / Cold Wave

http://blissout.blogspot.com/2011/10/eighties.html

He also links to a profile of Blackest Ever Black (home to the wonderful Tropic of Cancer):

Goth, industrial, the hard-edged experimental fringe of post-punk: it's hard not to be continually amazed at the cavernous drum sounds, strafing synths and insane reverbs to be found on those sorts of records, if only on an occluded B-side instrumental or on one album track from an otherwise terrible album. But the sonic is only part of it—probably the biggest draw to that kind of music, as with the doom stuff, is the presence, sometimes a surfeit, of content, of story. I'm talking about records rich with verbal and visual allusions, a suggestion and maybe even a promise of meaning. Of course there can be presence, and weight, in absence—on first encounter the blank, wordless presentation of, say, an SND record is every bit as seductive and absorbing as a Christian Death lyric sheet—but I suppose I'd become a little bit jaded with that less-is-more approach, with minimalism as a way of life, and I wanted a return to filigree and shadow.

http://www.residentadvisor.net/feature.aspx?1401

Reynolds prophesied return of the bad music era of the 1980s is complete!

I received the new This Mortal Coil box set last week, and I have to say it's a beautiful thing. Re-listening, I'm struck by just how influential this band has been, and continues to be, on moody, atmospheric, music.

Also, this past week we saw new releases from Esben & the Witch and The Soft Moon.

in the absence of a 2012 thread i'm here to rep for 'TRST' by Trust (a couple of singles on Sacred Bones but now on Arts & Crafts) as something that might be up yr collective alleys

Trust album is awesome. album cover is kind of unfortunate.

maybe this is the right place for Puerto Rico Flowers as well? so far my attempts to push this record on others have failed, but it crushes me consistently.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFkjQFpeH9A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zhc3bykiGk

I never know whether it's White Car or Whitecar, but I'm enjoying their new album quite a lot.

PS. that track isn't actually on it.

Vocals make me want to listen to Clock DVA all day.

okay this Trust album... YES

I'm listening to the Trust album now, it's great.

Time to start a 2012 rolling Goth thread?!?

I'd support this

Rolling 2012 Goth / Post-Goth / Darkwave / Dark Neopostpunk / Deathrock etc. etc. Thread!

So, it has come to this.

Trust album is awesome. album cover is kind of unfortunate.

it made me lol!

http://arts-crafts.ca/images/covers/ac068.jpg

The track that turned me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10OKGBg9WVU

can't get over the dude's voice. it sounds like bill hader doing vincent price or well... stefon. and i just laugh.

though it's less of an issue for me on songs like songs like the one above or "bulbform"

FTF is fucking great

Trust is giving me massive Poesie Noire flashbacks