Bluenose B-E.P.

No need to be jealous anymore internet friends, I've decided to ditch all of my physical friends. At least the ones in Kansas City. Turns out, none of them can actually understand what it means when I find an Eames chair for $25, or talk about recipes, or clothes, or books, or movies, and certainly not music. I suppose it's my fault for surrounding myself with 20 something girls who treat me like a dad or weirdo and/or gay older brother. I'm good for moving their furniture, cooking them dinner, listen to their complains about the stupid 20 something rapist guys they date but that's about all. So I'm done with the lot. Better it's me and my kid brother and sis on the phone than have a bunch of people use me for bullshit and then get mad that I don"t want to jaunt off to some booty grinding club with them (not that they'd be rubbing their booties on me anyways). And this album is a good example of the type of texts I'm talking about (using texts in a liberal sense here). I can play this for those types and what would they care. And some of you might not either. But this is shit I actually get excited about. Haven't we all had enough of dispassionate people? When will enthusiasm and passion be chic? Hate to sound like an old curmudgeon (well, not really) but what happened to people giving a fuck about the things they love?


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Phaidia-In the Dark

I don't know why, but I cannot find a single decent pic of this album. And I'm definitely too lazy to up one myself. So you'll have to deal with this shitty, undefined blur. Regardless, it's not like you're getting the actual album. Just download it and give it a listen and the cover art won't matter as much. I've already proclaimed my love for Ruins elsewhere, and this is an important historical document as the band is comprosed of drum demi-god Tatsuya Yoshida. But this isn't the spastic, Magma mimicking pummel. Instead this is much more in the goth/death rock style. Just take a look at their picture and you can guess what this is going to sound like. And you'll be correct.

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Christian Death-Sticks a Finger Down its Throat: Rare, Live, and Unreleased

Here's another case of a band that I was sure I would definitely hate just based on the people I knew who liked them. For some reason, all of the people I knew that would yak my ears off about Roz Williams greatness had little else to talk about. So I figured they probably weren't the best people to listen to. But then something made me give them a chance and I quickly regretted having missed this band for so long. Just another example of me blowing it. Don't make the mistakes I've made. Download from me or you can always grab it at mtv's website (really, that's not a joke).

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Bauhaus-The Sky's Gone Out

This is an obvious one if you've ever listen to any goth. And if you haven't, then here's a good starting place since it avoids all the cliches that make that genre so laughable. Sure, there's some super corny, cringe inducing lyrics, but there's also a pretty bad ass cover of Eno's "Third Uncle" and that kinda makes up for it. While most Bauhaus fans go for In the Flat Field, I will always choose this one. It has less of the glam/punk influence of their first album and gets much more experimental by adding folk/classical/etc. sounds. And it's always great to see Peter Murphy sporting his silver foil underwear.

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Antioch Arrow-Gems of Masochism

What a crime. Only tiny pictures could be found of this peach. And such a silly cover really needs more than just this. Punk and Goth cultures have always been intrinsically linked despite whatever the aide-de-camp of each might claim. History has shown that when the mood called for some doomy romanticism, punks picked up on gothic tropes. And, obviously so much of the goth subculture evolved directly from the punks. But goth & hardcore have a different history. Yet there was a time when it seemed like this unholy union might actually lead to some interesting new sounds. Ink & Dagger, Crimson Curse, and Antioch Arrow all instigated this genre exercise. And here's what it led to. The screamo vocals are replaced by whispers & coos. The spasmodic playing typical of the San Diego style is still present, but it's supplemented with organ grinder creaks and dark synth moves. This album might be responsible for a lot of the garbage that is now emo (well, I doubt those kids actually listened to this, so maybe not), but if that's the case, let's cut them some slack. It remains a terribly underrated album.

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Hypothermia-Kaffe & Blod

Well, let's try to get a little more metal in before the month's end. If you heard the Lifelover album posted last month, then this might be of interest as Hypothermia share band members. There's still the element of gloomy gothiness, but there's an added sense of improvisation that gives these 2 lengthy tracks an unexpected sound. Hmm...maybe like the Cure if they decided to become metal hippies with a 90s indie infatuation. Dunno if that makes sense.

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Psi Com

Keeping in tone with the last post, I thought I'd put up another album by a band mostly known for a member who later became famous. In this case it prime idiot Perry Farrell (nee Bernstein) of such clasic bands like The Satellite Party and Porno for Pyros. You can say what you will about Jane's Addiction and I won't hold it against you, but don't expect that sound here. Instead, this is more of the L.A. death rock scene sound. Influenced by Bauhaus, Joy Division, and other pasty Brits, this an enjoyable piece of gloom.

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Lifelover-Pulver

Metal heads get sad too. Sometimes the corpse paint isn't enough to mask the sorrow. Typically, the response comes in some form of buzzy, lo-fi, blackened metal. This album opts instead to draw from The Cure and other Brit goths but it still maintains a metal sound despite what all of my friends say. Judge for yourself. And what a cover.

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