A Sweeping Curve of Sound

Blogcritics Magazine has a positive review up of new London After Midnight album “Violent Acts of Beauty”. Reviewer ‘Coryluscontorta’ calls the album a “fairly satisfying” release that will please goth “aficionados”.

“Primarily this album is intended to stand as a rousing vehicle for Brennan’s passionately held socio-political views; his lyrics weave a web of commentary about the human condition around the electro-pulse. But lofty aims aside, this is an album for those high-energy, punch-out-the-stars nights; an album for sticky floors and long purple wool falls. This is an album listen to while having fun, even if you allow the message to slip past you.”

Goth journalism legend Mick Mercer is completely impressed with the latest from UK post-punk/goth band And Also the Trees entitled “(Listen For) The Rag and Bone Man”.

“The little buggers have done it again! After the relaxed eerie brilliance of the ‘Further From The Truth’ albums comes something similar in tone, but of a weirder bent …  Another stunner from them then, and enticingly weird, as though Wim Wenders was brought up in the Midlands.”

Hot Indie News (Hot Indie News?) features a (short yet) positive review of goth personality/musician/author Voltaire’s latest album “Ooky Spooky”.

“Is it possible that there is such a thing as “Pretty Goth”? If there is, Voltaire is definitely in that category. But don’t make the same mistake as I did and assume that every song will be the same. Ooky Spooky is easily one of the best CD’s I’ve heard recently … Needless to say, I’m in love with this CD, I strongly recommend going out and buying it.”

Mammoth Press give a mediocre review (and some snotty goth-scorn) to The Birthday Massacre’s  album “Walking With Strangers”.

“There is this underbelly of the rock industry that for a long time has tried to be subversive and different. Instead gothic ‘80s rock has only come off as silly makeup wearing clowns that make some fun, yet dread-filled pop songs that appeal to a large scale of people in the form of one-hit-wonders. The synthesizer base of this music comes ringing through on The Birthday Massacre’s new album that is filled to the brim with heavily programmed music. “

Finally, Pitchfork looks at the new David Bowie box set “David Bowie Box” that collects his uneven recent (post-Tin Machine) work. Predictably, a high score is not forthcoming (it got a 4.6).

“Since the 1990s, David Bowie has been in the worst kind of rut. It’s not that his output has been substandard– each of his recent albums has had its share of pleasures. The problem is that by and large his output has been just good enough. As a result, nearly each of his releases from the past two decades have earned the usual “best album since…” reviews, and Bowie did admittedly sound more engaged than he had for most of the 80s (a decade he himself has since mostly written off). But considering that virtually everything Bowie recorded between 1970 and 1980 became more or less canonized, it’s a bit of a legacy risk to re-release his most recent slate of CDs as a boxed set, with each album expanded to double-disc sets containing a mostly negligible collection of catalog detritus. It calls attention to the very albums that refurbished Bowie’s iconic status, but outside of that big picture context it’s a bit of a rocky ride.”

That is all I have for now, have a good night.

Many longtime fans of goth music (me included) were a bit disappointed with Rhino’s “A Life Less Lived: The Gothic Box”. The set seemed to rely too much on music catalogs they already had rights to, and it included some puzzling “not-goth” artist choices (The Jesus and Mary Chain? AFI?). Now music journalist and goth historian Mick Mercer, who consulted on Rhino’s set, is getting his own 5-disc curated goth music set re-released after several years of being out of circulation.

“Re-released via Jungle Record is the 5CD boxset “Gothic Rock : The Ultimate Collection”. First compiled by Mick Mercer in 1992 together with his book of the same name, this was the first ever Gothic/Dark Wave compilation. The compilation features tracks from Virgin Prunes, Sex Gang Children, Christian Death, The Mission UK, Fields of the Nephilim, Incubus Succubus, London After Midnight, New Model Army, Alien Sex Fiend, Bauhaus, The Cult, Theatre of Hate and many others.”

“Gothic Rock: The Ultimate Collection” served as a musical touchstone for many who came to the goth subculture during the 1990s and missed out on the birth of the genre, shining a light on lesser-known bands like UK Decay,  Bone Orchard, and Skeletal Family. It could certainly be listed as a factor in the deathrock, “trad-goth”, and “Batcave” musical resurgence that emerged in the late-90s (that mirrored the renewed interest in all things post-punk with the emergence of bands like Interpol). It is an important document of an ever-evolving musical scene, and its good to see if available once more. Now if we can only get a truly decent box-set of goth/darkwave/deathrock music that documents the current musical landscape.

The L.A. Times posted a report on Sunday about the wedding of Scarling members Jessicka Fodera and Christian Hejnal. According to the paper is was the goth event of the season:

“A pink-haired drag queen scattered rose petals before the bride as she glided toward the altar, looking every inch the goth princess — vampy eyes, raven bouffant, black lace gown and black Dutch rose nosegay. She swooshed with funereal drama past her guests … Waiting at the altar was her dapper, inky-haired groom. The DJ, lowbrow artist Tim Biskup, faded out the music — a dirge by Sigur Rós — and the wedding officiant cleared his throat. He was wearing, naturally, a giant Easter Bunny head.”

In attendance were a bevy of darkly-inclined superstars, including burlesque star Dita Von Teese, artist Mark Ryden, Bauhaus drummer Kevin Haskins, sculptor Elizabeth McGrath, “Lenore” artist Roman Dirge, and author Clint Catalyst. The couple has taken on the new surname of “Addams” in honor of the ghoulish cartoon family created by Chas Addams. Scarling are currently in the process of recording a new album, slated for a mid-2008 release.

Eminent journalist and goth historian Mick Mercer has posted his top 30 favorite goth singles.

“8. XMAL DEUTSCHLAND Schwarz Welt (1981 7-inch - Zick Zack ZZ31)
We are not alone - that’s what we got from this. In America Christian Death were top dogs, and on the continent Xmal did the girl power thing with a single so noisy it puts virtually every record before or since to absolute shame. Later they went more for vocal drone, with keyboard wash and stony, stormy rhythms, but this record is just vicious. I hear they’re reforming, which is exciting news. “

The list was supposed to appear in this month’s issue of Record Collector Magazine, but was cut due to size constraints.

Since you can’t have two articles concerning all things goth without someone declaring the scene dead, I present an article from the Marquette Tribune (a college paper in Milwaukee), in which a bitter ex-scenester is interviewed concerning the allegedly ex-subculture.

“Halloween used to be the biggest day of the year on the goths’ calendars. But today, the goth scene identified by its fashion, music and attitude is deader now than it ever was, according to one local former goth enthusiast. “It’s been dead for a while,” said Jeff Murrell, a 44-year-old attorney and 1995 Marquette Law graduate who said he quit the scene four years ago. “I just never realized it when it did die.” … Murrell said goth is not a subculture. And it only existed between the early 1980s and late 1990s, he said.”

The paper also interviews Gothsicles member Brain Graupner, who has a somewhat more easygoing attitude towards the speculated end of all things gothy.

“It’s pretty easy to say anything is dead … It’s definitely different, but I’m not going to say it’s dead.”

Perhaps rumors of its demise are greatly exaggerated.