Music for Goth Kids: Vampires and/or Masquerades

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Favorite dark and brooding mythical creature?
	Depressed Vampire
	Self-hating Werewolf
	Ghost with an Eating Disorder
	Creature from the Black Lagoon with a Killer Heroin Habit

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El Miguel: Oct 30, 2003

Smoking Crow posted:

Welcome to a thread for goth music. This is a thread for goth music as disparate a genre that is. Goth music comes from the late 70s punk boom, and is similar to other genres that came out of there, like new wave and post-punk.

REQUIRED LISTENING
Bauhaus-In the Flat Field
The Cure-Boys Don't Cry
Joy Division-Unknown Pleasures
Sisters of Mercy-First and Last and Always
Siouxsie and the Banshees-JuJu
Fields of Nephilim-The Nephilim
The Birthday Party-The Birthday Party

Links:
Industrial, or goths who don't like rock
White Wolf thread, because if you enjoy goth rock, you probably already play WOD

More recommendations for the OP are highly appreciated!

I think The Nephilim is one of the most perfect records ever made. It's funny, though - I don't really think of most of these bands as "goth"but as post-punk (and I'm one of the obsessive bootleg-collecting TSOM/Neph fans, or at least I was). The Nephilim were always too drat weird to me to be labeled goth. The Birthday Party always seemed too artsy and violent. The Sisters always struck me unrepentantly rock-and-roll, with tongues planted so firmly in cheek that they risked permanent facial disfigurement. When I think "goth" I think about people who wax romantic about vampires, not Cthulhu (Neph), drugs and Old Testament vengeance (Birthday Party), or drugs and politics (the Sisters).

That being said, people who like that stuff might like Jessica's Crime (shameless self-promotion on my part: I'm one of the guitar players).

Nordick posted:

I'm not huge on goth music, but I enjoy me some Sisters of Mercy every now and then. The reason I'm posting here is I just stumbled upon this thread and figured someone here might appreciate this band I was introduced to a few days ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cao-OIzzAgg

Pretty obvious Sisters worship there but I don't mind, they have fun catchy songs.

Hah! The singer is a regular poster over at the TSOM forum.

# ¿ Oct 11, 2014 18:25

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 13:08

El Miguel: Oct 30, 2003

Earwicker posted:

The most recent album is a sort of weird reunion album that they made after having been seperated for like a decade. It's rather far removed from what they used to be.

Like I said earlier I think The Serpent's Egg is the best place to start as it's kind of a meeting point of the various styles they went into over their career, though I guess it misses out on some of the more rockier stuff from the early days. Every one of their albums is fairly different. The first album for example is very guitar heavy but it's still got their distinct sound already and is also great.

Way to let the roleplaying game nerds take over the whole concept. The term as applied to modern music originally just meant music that addressed dark subject matter but also with a certain romantic appeal and I think the first band it was applied to was The Doors because that really does describe Jim Morrison's lyrics and persona quite well. It was then applied to Joy Division, probably at first because of Ian Curtis's similarity to Morrison in both vocal tone and lyrics, and spread from there. Initially it had nothing to do with vampires, though it quickly came to include that sort of thing.

Oh yeah, I'm quite well aware of that. From that point of view Cohen or Cash qualify as well. But looking at the contemporary use of the term, I think it does a disservice to the artistry of people like Cohen, Cave, Joy Division, or even Eldritch, to lump them in with "the roleplaying game nerds." At this point, the term is used chiefly to ghettoize music, and I don't blame Eldritch or Robert Smith for rejecting the label.

I still think the Nephilim are just a little too weird for any label.

# ¿ Oct 11, 2014 18:41

El Miguel: Oct 30, 2003

Earwicker posted:

Well I was joking about roleplaying game nerds, I just mean there's way more to "gothic" than vampires. I would definitely describe much of Cohen's and Cave's work that way. In a way these artists, while they make very different kinds of music, have in common that they are the modern artists who best follow the sort of mood established by composers like Chopin or Rachmaninoff. There's a heavy romantic fixation on death.

These sorts of labels are very often rejected by the artists they apply to, because the labels tend to come from journalists rather than musicians and the musicians involved don't really see themselves as part of any such "movement". I certainly understand where they are coming from and as an artist labels can be maddening. But I still think it's a useful term when not being used dismissively (which I agree it all too often is these days).

Yeah, I think we're in basic agreement; I know that labels are a convenient shorthand for many. For content, here's a pair of links to my (vaguely gothish? I've always liked "chicken-fried death-rock" as a description myself, but I don't that applies to these) band:

1. What Forever Means (from 2011's No Love In This World EP): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obs8gHlOkXs

2. Hridaya (from 2014's Myth That Kills): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ar_VcSqbQI

# ¿ Oct 11, 2014 19:36

El Miguel: Oct 30, 2003

caligulamprey posted:

insists that he still records on a regular basis, he just doesn't have any interest in releasing anything.

Where have I heard that before? :cool:

Those sunglasses really should be aviators. In fairness to TSOM, when Chris says they've actually recorded things, I believe him. I'm pretty confident that there'd be a new album if it was his choice. I just don't think Von has any real desire or need to do another one (which is a shame, as a number of the new, unreleased tracks rank among my favorite Sisters tunes).

# ¿ Oct 30, 2014 03:00

El Miguel: Oct 30, 2003

That Austra track is quite nice.

Here's James Ray's new band, Black Hearted Riders: https://soundcloud.com/black-hearted-riders

It's much more organic then Gangwar or the Performance were (while maintaining his spaghetti-western tendencies), and much more rock than the Longfolk were.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2015 13:00

El Miguel: Oct 30, 2003

polpotpotpotpotpot posted:

Whoa this is rad. Also hot beatz.

Yeah, I just bought the record. Quite nice.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2015 13:52

El Miguel: Oct 30, 2003

Angular Landbury posted:

That Publicist UK album that just came out seems appropriate to discuss here. They're like a slightly more violent sounding Echo and the Bunnymen with some Gun Club and Nephilimy moments.

Anyone else hear it?

Hadn't heard about it. Sounds intriguing.

# ¿ Aug 27, 2015 16:27

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 13:08

El Miguel: Oct 30, 2003

JnnyThndrs posted:

Need that shirt. And another Sisters album, but like that's gonna happen.

He's said there will be another one if Trump wins. Hell, I'd be happy with an EP featuring Summer, Suzanne, Crash & Burn and I Have Slept With All the Girls in Berlin.

# ¿ Aug 14, 2016 22:01

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