Posts Tagged ‘goth’

IST IST / Oliver Marson – The Crescent, York, 3rd May 2025

Posted: 4 May 2025 in Live, Reviews
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Christopher Nosnibor

Is it acceptable to wear the band’s T-shirt to their show? It’s a frequent topic of debate amongst my gig-going friends. As a rule, we tend to agree it’s not cool, although we all have our notable exceptions, and I got mine. But IST IST fans would largely disagree, it would seem – unless this is their exception band.

Usually, with the front bar right next to the auditorium, people sit at the tables supping until the bands start, sometimes until the headliners take to the stage. Not tonight. A large cluster of middle-agers in IST IST T-shirts are queueing and actually blocking access to the bar room half an hour before doors.  There’s a guy with an immense beard wearing a sleeveless black denim jacket with Sisters of Mercy and Fields of the Nephilim patches paired with red tartan trees and he’s standing in the queue too. The queue is practically out of the front door by 7:25, but the bar remains almost empty. These people are keen.

The support is an Ian McCulloch wannabe in a knee-length coat doing sub-mid-80s Psychedelic Furs lifts with a goth tinge. The drum machine is nicely up in the mix and the sound is great, even if the songs are only middling at best, and wince at worst. and it’s mostly backing track. But the Jarvis Cocker moves are overdone, suddenly throwing shapes in the most uncool fashion, sometimes going for a power pose or something a shade more aggressive and all the more incongruous, and the shades are off and back on and off and I again and the cringe only increases as the set progresses. It’s one of the longest half hours of music, and probably the most painful since the band supporting A Flock of Seagulls at The Brudenell a few years ago. It’s a rare talent to be this technically competent and so fucking embarrassingly awful at the same time.

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Oliver Marson

Having clocked a vintage Sisters T in the gents and emerging to find the front of the stage absolutely rammed, I was reminded just how hardcore – not to mention fucking stubborn – older gig-goers can be. It’s no wonder I learned spot-bagging and elbows when I started going to shows as a teen in the early 90s. And, as then, I’m probably a sound 10-15 years younger than the majority of these buggers. Those clustered in the front row in groups are discussing the set lists placed on the stage. Smoke drifts as Interpol’s ‘Roland’ blasts from the PA.

It’s not hard to comprehend why this band enjoys such devotion from this demographic: they present all of the quintessential post-punk elements, delivered with precision and panache. It is, it must be said, post-punk as viewed through the prism of the 21st Century revival. And there are many who are here for that, too, with plenty of under 30s grooving away behind the first five rows of old sods.

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IST IST

There has been no shortage of bands doing precisely this since around 2004, but Superlative drumming elevates their Editors /Interpol / White Lies – etc. – sound. The vocals are a flat, monotone and slightly twangy baritone with all the reverb, which take me a while to place, but they land somewhere between I Like Trains and She Wants Revenge. Credit to the sound guy, too, who’s working hard with the reverb and echo, especially on new song ‘Echo’, which has ‘instant classic’ written all over it and goes down a storm. They’re tight as and the sound is outstanding, with some super-solid bass at the pulsating heart of it all – and unlike Oliver Marson, leather jacketed bassist Andy Keating keeps his shades on – although I can’t help but wonder if they’re prescription and he’s doing a Wayne Hussey.

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IST IST

One of the tracks later in the set – my notes are sketchy as I was a bit engrossed – is pure She Wants Revenge, and it would be easy to shrug that IST IST offer nothing new, and it would be a valid criticism – but the counterpoint to that would be the consistency of the material and sheer quality of the performance, where some nice 12-string action adds some all-essential texture, and there are abundant I Like Trains-style post-rock crescendos along the way – and shshsh, don’t tell the younger fans, but it’s all as goth AF.

The March Violets continue their late-career blooming with hometown show at Leeds Warehouse in July

Posted: 28 April 2025 in Live, Previews and Editorial
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Performing at Warehouse on Tuesday 1st July 2025, the boundary-shredding Yorkshire post/punks continue their epic live comeback with this unmissable gig on home turf.

Following a rapturous reception to what were their first live shows in nearly a decade in 2023, plus high praise for their new studio output including 2024 album Crocodile Promises, which received a double thumbs-up from us at Aural Aggravation, and a reappraisal of their classic works in a series of reissues on the Jungle Records label; the cult band are clearly revelling in their recent revival.

Comprising founding members Rosie Garland (performer, poet and author) and Tom Ashton (Guitarist, producer and studio owner), plus Mat Thorpe on bass, the band are intending the shows to be a celebration of The March Violets’ legacy, while also honouring the irreplaceable contribution of friend and founding member Simon Denbigh.
Speaking about their recent reunion shows, The March Violets explain:

“Since the March Violets tour in 2015 we’ve been shocked at how many musical friends have passed over and out. And after Simon Denbigh’s life-changing stroke, it’s no surprise we all thought that was it for the Violets. When, in 2021, Jungle Records released Big Soul Kiss (The BBC Sessions double album) for Record Store Day 2021 it sold out its entire pressing in 24 hours. We were amazed at the response, absolutely amazed. We faced a choice – to fade away quietly or go out with a celebration.

We feel for Simon, and honour his massive artistic contribution & intense vision as one of The March Violets founding members. He’s irreplaceable, so we’re not going to try. We believe the legacy of The March Violets deserves a far better conclusion than sinking into silence, and now is the right time to do it.”

With their first incarnation described by Sounds magazine as “slinky, savage yet warmly delicate [with a] thirst for mystery, magic and brutal darkness”, The March Violets were a post/punk band cut from a different cloth. Founded in Leeds in 1981, from there the band would initiate an impressive career that would see them navigating all corners of the alternative scene and accrue a longstanding cult following. With their debut EP Religious As Hell released by Andrew Eldritch (frontman of fellow Leeds scene band The Sisters of Mercy), TMV would tally a total of seven successful Indie Chart singles including “Grooving in Green”, “Snake Dance”, “Deep”, and “Walk Into The Sun”, plus their ‘Radiant Boys’ EP, at the height of their powers. With an impeccable John Peel Session also under their belts, the band released two compilation albums Natural History (which peaked at No.3 in the Indie Charts) and Electric Shades in the US, before signing a major deal in 1985 with London Records. Releasing the poppier charms of the hit single “Turn to the Sky”, the track would notably feature in the John Hughes movie Some Kind of Wonderful in 1987, before the band eventually split later that year.

Reforming for a one-off hometown gig two decades later, their 2007 reunion would lead to a flurry of activity in the 21st Century including festival headline slots across Europe & the USA, the brand new studio albums Made Glorious (2013) and Mortality (2015), plus a storming Record Store Day release in 2021’s sell-out double album: Big Soul Kiss.

In 2023, The March Violets confirmed the release of their full back catalogue via Jungle Records for the first time, while releasing two new compilations Play Loud Play Purple and The Palace of Infinite Darkness in the run up. Taking their creative spurt into the studio, the band have also been working on new material and released a new record Crocodile Promises in 2024, via the Metropolis Records imprint.

Most recently, the TMV have been taking their gothic majesties stateside and have completed a triumphant tour of the USA, while also impressing UK audiences last summer with major festival appearances at the likes of Rebellion Festival and Bearded Theory.

Returning to the fore in 2025, The March Violets will be back with a vengeance for what promises to be a very special hometown show strewn with classics and new cuts, surprises and so much more.

On the night, the band will also be supported by one post/punk’s brightest new hopes – Vision Video. Following the release of their new album ‘Haunted Hours’, VV will be making the trip from Athens, GA, for a set of their refreshingly honest and dark gothic pop. Following on from their 2021 debut ‘Inked in Red’ (which told the story of lead singer Dusty Gannon (aka TikTok’s “Goth Dad”) and the darkness he saw as a soldier in Afghanistan), their recent work ‘Haunted Hours’ explores Dusty’s experience as a firefighter and paramedic working on the frontlines of the pandemic that followed his return. Vision Video will soon record their next LP Modern Horror at Maze Studios in Atlanta headed by Grammy award winning producer Ben Allen.

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TICKETS / DETAILS

Tickets On General Sale Wednesday 16 April

Doors 7.30pm / Curfew 11.00pm

Age Restriction – All ages, under 14 to accompanied by an adult over the age of 18

Available here:
https://pinkdot.seetickets.com/event/the-march-violets/the-warehouse/3385250

Listen: ‘Ms Rain on my Parade’ by Astari Nite

Posted: 24 April 2025 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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ASTARI NITE has just announced the release of their new single, ‘Miss Rain On My Parade’ courtesy of Negative Gain Productions. The highly-anticipated single follows the recently successful, ‘Unisex Games’.

Vocalist Mychael states: “Validation is not love, and some people are confused by the two. It’s unfortunate how many live their lives, yearning for that certain approval by others. This world can be very dishonest if you allow it to be and the longer you continue to dive into someone else’s sea of lies, you’ll always be alone, with your telephone, and all four walls of the room.”

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ASTARI NITE is an alternative rock band that has made a significant mark in the dark wave music scene. Originating from Miami, Fl, their music blends elements of alternative, post-punk and new wave, resulting in a distinctive dark glam sound.

ASTARI NITE’s style is reminiscent of classic alternative bands like Clan of Xymox and Placebo, yet their modern production and unique lyrical content give them a contemporary edge. ASTARI NITE have supported notable acts such as Peter Murphy, The Damned, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Cold Cave, Peter Hook and The Light, Psychedelic Furs, Modern English, Midge Ure (UltraVox) as well as newer acts on the scene: Actors, Twin Tribes, Then Comes Silence, Rosegarden Funeral Party and Bestial Mouths.

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The Birthday Massacre – Pathways

Posted: 13 April 2025 in Albums, Reviews
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Metropolis Records – 11th April 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

For some of us, at least, 1999 feels pretty recent still, but the depressing fact of the matter is that the 90s are as far behind us now as the 60s were in the 90s. And I write as someone who, growing up in the 80s, would watch things like The Golden Oldies Picture Show with my parents on an evening. The premise of this particular show was to play 60s hits with naff reimagined contemporary promo videos, many of which were absolutely heinous – a cartoon of a ball bouncing around as an accompaniment to Bobby Vee’s 1960 hit ‘Rubber Ball’ stands out as a particularly excruciating example. Things have – thankfully, when it comes to this – progressed, but the point here is that it’s been twenty-six years since The Birthday Massacre came into the world. At that time, it felt like the interesting in goth was diminishing and both cybergoth and technoindustrial had kinda had their day, too. But as is often the case, and to paraphrase Throbbing Gristle, I think it may have been, if you stick around long enough you’ll come into favour. No doubt someone will correct me on this, and that’s fine: the point remains valid.

That The Birthday Massacre have sustained a career for more than a quarter of a century is impressive, and testament to both their perseverance and their capacity to connect with a niche audience. It’s often the way that a cult act which never really achieves commercial success or comes into fashion will retain the kind of hardcore fanbase trendy acts will only ever be able to dream of, and while there’s much scoffing about so-called ‘one-hit-wonders’, many no-hit acts enjoy far more consistent careers.

And consistency is the word here: The Birthday Massacre have become dependable for the consistency of their output. And if Pathways sounds like a quintessential cut from The Birthday Massacre, well that sounds good to me, and likely will to fans, too. It packs a hard edge, but balances it with some magical melodies. It has poppy, commercial tendencies, but then, the same is true of 2022’s Fascination.

The album careens in on a bluster of feedback before hefty industrial guitar grinds in hard on ‘Sleep Tonight’, a track that bangs with such energy that it guarantees you most certainly won’t sleep tonight or even maybe for a week. It’s a magnificent blend of hypnotic, ethereal electropop and grating industrial metal. KMFDM and PIG immediately spring to mind, particularly in the execution of the hefty, chugging riffs and expansive, discordant mid-sections, but equally, Pathways presents glorious gothic grandeur and, by way of a more commercial reference, the emotive arena rock of Evanescence.

The title track is a contemporary goth-rock stomper, anthemic, with crystalline lead guitar meshing atop a driving bass and pumping percussion. It’s accessible and tuneful, and casting aside genre distinctions for a moment, a cracking rock / pop song delivered with some power, and with ‘Whisper’ they pack another anthem and once again demonstrate their consistency.

‘Wish’ may be a shade lighter, a bit more 80s radio rock / pop, but it’s delivered deftly, and the final song, ‘Cruel Love’, which stretches out for almost five and a half minutes is suitably anthemic, in the most 80s pop way. It’s quite a shift from the opener, but there’s a trajectory which is traceable through Pathways, as The Birthday Massacre lead the listener toward the light – and it works nicely.

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Mercury’s Antennae – Among the Black Trees

Posted: 19 March 2025 in Albums, Reviews
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20th March 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

And finally, following the single release of ‘The Reflecting Skin’, Mercury’s Antennae deliver their first album in seven years, in the form of Among the Black Trees, the release date set to mark the Spring Equinox. It’s a nice detail which feels pertinent. This last winter has felt particularly grim: not necessary especially cold or even seasonal by historical or conventional standards – but dark, unpleasant, and relentlessly grim – and that’s without even contemplating global events. The Spring Equinox is a specific point of celebration, even elation, perhaps, at which the long, dark nights begin to recede, buds and shoots begin to appear, leaves unfurl, and the first flowers bring colour. The renewal, rebirth, and even a bubbling sense of optimism is palpable, and reminds us that whatever atrocities mankind commit upon the planet and one another, nature has a resilience which transcends all of it.

They describe the album’s nine tracks as ‘existential tales [which] inhabit a ghostly realm of reflection, rebirth and reconciliation, overlaying dense bass, swirling ghostly guitars, and atmospheric electronics, all melding with lustrous and soaring vocal melodies’.

It begins with the glacial synth-led six-minute ‘A Sunless Winter Night’, and it conveys that through the medium of sound as the layers of vocals sweep and soar. It’s vaguely reminiscent of Ultraviolet-era All About Eve, and its slow beats are absorbing and compelling as they clip through the swirling sonic backdrop.

It’s a heavily chorused, reverbed, and otherwise processed guitar which chimes and flutters its way through ‘The Moon Viewing Garden’, a song which is truly beautiful, but also aches with a beautiful sadness, while the six-and-a-half-minute ‘Whispered Among Flowers’ presses the downtempo, atmospheric vibe, with soft washes of chiming, reverb-hazed guitar and wispy synths shaping and shading everything delicately – although it’s the thudding classic goth bass groove that really pins everything together.

As much as the early goth sound emerged from a range of sources, spanning Siouxsie and the Banshees to Bauhaus, and not forgetting The Cure, it’s fair to say that Craig Adam’s bass style and Wayne Hussey’s twelve-string picking on The Sisters of Mercy’s debut album set a definitive template. Among the Black Trees is by no means derivative, but the lineage is evident.

This brings us to the lead single, ‘The Reflecting Skin’: it’s certainly a high mark of the album, but also perfectly representative of its boldly atmospheric intent, and the way it blends the melancholy and the uplifting, perfectly articulating the complexities of emotional and mood-driven highs and lows and the swings that come with what one may describe as ‘seasonal variations’.

While the instrumental ‘PERMIAN’ provides a solid-sounding interlude, ‘As I Lay Hidden (Deer Island)’ offers something quite different, a swashing, dark, Cocteau-Twins influenced slice of dream-pop which also brings with it a folksy twist, and the result is – I’ll say it – epic. And that’s perhaps the ultimate summary of Among the Black Trees as a whole.

As much as many of the songs feel introspective, their expansive nature feel very much outward-looking, as if scanning the horizon for hope, for optimism. It’s something we need to cling to. It can’t all be bad, after all.

To suggest that Among the Black Trees offers light at the end of the tunnel would be misleading. There is no end to the tunnel right now. But Among the Black Trees is a magnificent work, one which is abrim with subtle emotional depth and sound which is truly immense – yes, epic – in scope. It’s an ambitious and expansive album, which offers so much – and delivers on all of it. For the large part, it’s a work that’s understated, but it is, in its own way, quite spectacular.

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Listen: ‘Moonshadow’ by Magic Wands

Posted: 15 March 2025 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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Magic Wands is a dark pop duo originally formed in Nashville by guitarists and vocalists Dexy and Chris Valentine. Now based in Los Angeles, they are known for their shimmering and dreamy sound, which incorporates elements of shoegaze, dream pop, post-punk and goth. Heavily textured guitars, synth drones and ethereal vocals are combined in their songs to conjure an otherworldly atmosphere.

‘Moonshadow’ is the title track of a forthcoming album due out in the early summer on Metropolis Records. “It is a raw and introspective song about travelling at night on an underground train and how you can’t escape yourself or your own shadow,” explains Dexy Valentine.

‘Moonshadow’ follows ‘Hide’ and ‘Armour’ (both issued in 2024) as the third song to be lifted from the new album.

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Magic Wands will be supporting labelmates The Birthday Massacre on a North American tour prior to the release of the ‘Moonshadow’ album. Dates are as follows:

28th March  NEW YORK CITY, NY (le) Poisson Rouge
29th March  PITTSBURGH, PA Crafthouse
30th March  DETROIT, MI Small’s
31st March  CHICAGO, IL Reggies
2nd April  MINNEAPOLIS, MN Fine Line Music Hall
3rd April  KANSAS CITY, MO RecordBar
4th April  DENVER, CO The Oriental Theater
5th April  SALT LAKE CITY, UT Metro Music Hall
7th April  SEATTLE, WA El Corazon
8th April  PORTLAND, OR Dante’s
10th April  SAN FRANCISCO, CA Bottom Of The Hill
11th April  LOS ANGELES, CA EchoPlex
14th April  SAN DIEGO, CA Brick By Brick
15th April  MESA, AZ Nile Theater
17th April  HOUSTON, TX Warehouse Live
18th April  DALLAS, TX Granada Theater
19th April  AUSTIN, TX Come And Take It Live
21st April  TAMPA, FL Orpheum
22nd April  ATLANTA, GA Masquerade
23rd April  ASHEVILLE, NC The Orange Peel
25th April  VIRGINIA BEACH, VA Elevation 27
26th April  BALTIMORE, MD Soundstage
28th April  WASHINGTON, DC Union Stage
29th April  MECHANICSBURG, PA Lovedrafts Brewing
1st May  BOSTON, MA Paradise Rock Club
3rd May  TORINTO, ON Velvet Underground
4th May  MONTREAL, QC Foufounes

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The Funeral March of the Marionettes – It All Falls Apart

Posted: 11 March 2025 in Albums, Reviews
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14th March 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

While the early- to mid-80s is considered by many to be the ‘golden age of goth’, 87-88 were pretty good years, too, and saw some of the first wave of bands breaking through commercially… It was at this time, with the release of Floodland and Children that The Sisters of Mercy and The Mission, respectively, broke big in the charts, and being 12/13 at the time, this was when my eyes – and ears – were opened to a whole new world of music. And so it was, too, that things really started to happen across the pond, too, and it was in 1987 that saw the formation of The Funeral March of the Marionettes, often referred to as The Funeral March.

There may well be a whole thing about how goths are obsessed with death, as even the band’s name suggests, but this release arrives in a genuinely sad context, namely the passing of founder and front man Joe Whiteaker from pancreatic cancer in his mid-fifties. With every year that passes, it becomes apparent that the people who are dying are closer to our own age, are our peers, or close to. But the fact Joe did complete the recording of It All Falls Apart is something to celebrate. Many of us ponder our legacy: what is it that we leave behind?

The Funeral March are drawing the curtain on a thirty-seven year career with what may be their finest work to date.

They started out, like so many gothy / post-punk inspired acts, drawing inspiration from seminal English acts like Bowie, The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus, and Joy Division. The band’s name, meanwhile, was a nod to Charles Gounod’s ‘Funeral March of a Marionette’, best known as the theme music for TV’s Alfred Hitchcock Presents. And truth be told, this is all pretty standard: marionettes seem to be part of textbook goth catalogue: There was The Marionettes, for a start who started life as The Screaming Marionettes in ’86, and when you chuck all the words into a goth band name generator, let’s not forget Screaming Banshee Aircrew… So much goth seems to thrive on derivation.

It All Falls Apart brings with it a certain familiarity by necessity, really. But this release sees them push the boundaries rather more, forging their own identity more strongly than ever before. It’s a sign of artistic growth: many artists – regardless of medium, be it music, writing, visual arts – begin by learning from their precursors, leaning on their influences, and finding one’s own voice takes time and confidence. It’s also an album of two halves – essentially an EP and a remix EP, but again, in context, it feels appropriate.

So if ‘Starts at Night’ brings hints of The Mission’s ‘Sacrilege’ or ‘Amphetamine Logic’ by The Sisters, perhaps even Skeletal Family’s ‘Promised Land’, all of which are killer by virtue of the complex picked lead guitar parts, it’s equally worth noting just how hard it blasts out of the gates. Pow! It’s the drums that really make this one. More Danse Society circa Seduction than anything else than comes to mind, it packs all the power up front, and that impact really lands strongly.

All of the ‘standard’ goth tropes are present and correct, from the loping, dynamic drums, the chiming, chorus-rich guitars, and thumping down-on-the-floor bass, but their execution is exemplary. This is the sound of a band who are intensely honed and striding confidently through all aspects of songwriting and production. It’s the thinking bass that really makes ‘Shadow Games’, but with its chiming guitars and vocal inflections, it ventures into the territory of classic contemporary post-punk, in the way that the likes of Interpol have built on the foundations of Joy Division without being a carbon copy, and the energetic chorus calls to mind White Lies at their best. It’s not that The Funeral March have abandoned their roots here, but that they’ve cut loose and taken flight.

‘Save Us’ is more driving, more hard-hitting, more overtly post -punk than goth, bit it’s also dark, snarly, proper rock ‘n’ roll, the sound of leather jeans and legs akimbo, and a contrast with the more overtly atmospheric but no less punchy ‘Bobblehead’. As for the title track… well. It feels like the finale, and, with the benefit of hindsight, the farewell. Stretching out to six minutes, it’s the perfect blend of guitars, shimmering in waves of treble an reverb, atop the phattest drums and underpinned by a thick bass. It’s goth perfection and would have been at home on the recent album by Pink Turns Blue. It All Falls Apart is appropriately titled, as it turns out.

The quality is consistent throughout, and the remixes are actually nice additions here, making All Falls Apart a superb addition to the band’s catalogue, we can only speculate on what they might have done next, but All Falls Apart feels like the perfect way to finish a career.

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Pink Turns Blue – Black Swan

Posted: 3 March 2025 in Albums, Reviews
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28th February 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

It seems quite remarkable that Pink Turns Blue are still going a full forty years on from their formation in Berlin in 1985. Starting out as a duo consisting of Thomas Elbern (vocals and guitars), Mic Jogwer (vocals, bass and keyboards) and a drum machine, they’re considered a part of Germany’s first wave of gothic rock.

The history of goth is certainly a divergent one: the hotbed of dark post-punk that was Leeds in the early 80s spawned a host of bands approximately simultaneous with the emergence of The Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Germany latched on to them and The Sisters of Mercy early on – so in relative terms 1985 feels like being late to the party. But at the same time, this was a peak year for goth across the continent.

As a personal aside, despite being deep into my goth once I discovered The Sisters and The Mission in 87/88 (late? I was 12/13 and simply too young to be into anything other than Duran Duran and Madness in 84-85) my introduction to Pink Turns Blue was 1994’s Sonic Dust, which was floating around at the second-hand record shop I worked at on weekends. It very much sounded like the indie stuff of the time, but perhaps with a dark edge, but gave no hint of the band’s history.

Since then, they’ve returned to their roots somewhat, and Tainted (2021) was a dark, brooding masterpiece which largely went under the radar, largely like the band’s output as a whole. But while latter-day acts like Editors and Interpol draw the media and commercial attention, Pink Turns Blue just keep on. And Black Swan is a classic addition to their catalogue.

The chiming, picked guitar of ‘Follow Me’, brings an instant pang of melancholy. The rippling synths and crisp drums make everything tight and the sadness begins to permeate. It’s a wistful, reflective sensation: this is where Pink Turns Blue excel. Their songs are drenched with an aching weight.

Jogwer’s clipped vocal delivery sits perfectly with the rolling bass and insistent rhythms, which underpin guitars which wash and chug in neatly-orchestrated duels. And so it is that Pink Turns Blue make music that’s dynamic, exciting, and sad, at the same time.

Single cut ‘Can’t Do Without You’ is simultaneously perfect pop and melancholy indie, and ‘Dancing Wirth Ghosts’, another single, brings the jangle of The Sisters’ First and Last and Always in a style that’s reminiscent of ‘Walk Away’ and ‘No Time to Cry’. Because it’s still possible to be pop and intense and claustrophobic. ‘Fighting for the Right Side’ steps things up and punches hard.

‘Why Can’t We Just Move On’ reminds me more of Slow Readers Club, dark-inflected indie / alternative, with a vibe that balances mellowness and melancholy with a certain tension, and this is really where Pink Turns Blue excel. The title track – by far the album’s longest song, clocking in at nearly six minutes – really taps into emotional undercurrents with its downtempo, reflective styling. There’s no one thing that one can identify as the thing – it’s all about the mood, the delivery. It goes beneath the surface, resonates on a level that’s beyond the articulation of cause and effect: it’s simply achingly sad, but at the same time, utterly beautiful.

Pink Turns Blue have a quite unique take on mid-80s post-punk / goth, and unlike many of the bands which emerged from the class of ‘85-’87, they don’t conform to the clichés to the tropes, the template which became predictable and tedious so quickly, and yet has endured, with every other band doing doomy baritone, aping Craig Adams’ bass pinned to a thumping drum machine. And this is integral to their enduring appeal. They don’t carbon copy The Sisters of Mercy, they’re not another Rose of Avalanche. Yes, they do incorporate certain elements, as ‘Please Don’t Ask Me Why’, with its thumping bass groove and chorus-heavy guitars evidences, but at the same time, they do something different and sound uniquely Pink Turns Blue, and it’s not only the German inflection. Again, it’s not easy to pinpoint the difference: the simple fact is that it’s tangible. Black Swan is a great album: it’s consistent, it’s got mood and feeling, and has something that’s just beyond reach, and that is magic.

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Watch: ‘Just a Girl’ by The Bolshoi Brothers

Posted: 26 February 2025 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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It seems like all of the bands of yesteryear are resurfacing in some form or another right now.

Indie rock duo The Bolshoi Brothers present their new single ‘Just a Girl’, previewing their debut eponymous album, set for release on March 21. The accompanying video is an appealing black and white visual vignette, filmed by Matus Foris and Vegas Storm and featuring Nova Clark as ‘The Girl’.

Now based in the USA, The Bolshoi Brothers is made up of Trevor Tanner and Paul Clark, both original members of legendary Beggars Banquet-signed 80s new wave band The Bolshoi. The two hadn’t recorded or played together since the band’s fateful breakup 35 years ago. Due to working on this album during Covid lockdowns, they recorded the tracks remotely from their respective home studios – Trevor in Florida and Paul in Seattle.

“Working with Trevor again after a significant hiatus was akin to find a little gate behind the bushes at the end of the garden that leads into a whole new world. Within days of passing rough musical ideas back and forth, we were making great music again, created at a time when the world was in lockdown, with a pandemic and all that comes with it, creating fear and confusion,” says Paul Clark.

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Mercury’s Antennae – The Reflecting Skin

Posted: 20 February 2025 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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Sett Records – 22th February 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

Just over a decade on from their debut album, and just shy of seven years after their last release, purveyors of ethereal goth, Mercury’s Antennae mark their return with a new single in the form of ‘The Reflecting Skin’. The trio comprises Dru Allen and Cindy Coulter of This Ascension, and Erick R. Scheid of The Palace of Tears, and the fact they’re currently based between Switzerland and the US is a possible factor in their time away (not to mention the fact a lot of musical artists, especially those who are geographically disparate lost a lot of time and progress to a global pandemic).

As their Bandcamp page states, ‘Their sound incorporates influences from shoegaze pop, ethereal darkwave, and unadorned acoustic beauty, while also drawing inspiration from ambient and modern electronica’.

‘The Reflecting Skin’ brings pretty much all of this in a near-perfect three-and-a-half minutes. Starting out with a dense, chorus-soaked bass, loping drums and chilly synths conjure a dark yet dreamy atmosphere that’s quintessentially gothy but without being cliché. Dru Allen’s layered vocals spin evocative and mystical words gracefully through it all, to mesmerising, almost spiritual effect.

B-side, ‘AGALIA MMXXV’, is, as one might expect, a rerecording of the song from their debut album, A Waking Ghost Inside. It’s different enough to justify the effort: it has a more muscular, denser feel, altogether less brittle and cloud-like, with the bass and drums being sturdier and more pronounced, while still retaining the expansive shoegaze magnificence of the original. This, I suppose is telling in terms of reflecting the evolution of their sound.

That this single release is remixed by William Faith, ex-Faith and the Muse, suggests there’s an original version, which is – one would hope – going to feature on the forthcoming album, due for release in the spring.

AA

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