goth

Living Ghosts

admin — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Attention all ye steampunk aficionados, Absinthe Junk accomplishes what their name implies—they’re a fitting band for your gears, gadgets, corsets, and metal-worked jewelry! Their press album, Living Ghosts presents an adequate sampling of their haunting metal sound.

A time-tested combination of steely guitars and an ethereal lead female voice place the band solidly within a genre recognized by metal, rockers, and goth fans alike. The difference, however, is that Blair, the lead singer, dabbles in more than a soft-to-screaming vocal. She has a well-supported range and doesn’t mimic an Evanescence sound. Listeners should appreciate this unique take on the genre and this original entry into the field.

Though the band claims many exotic textures layered within their sound, it is worth noting that the primary layer is metal guitar. Keyboard echoes are the next most recognizable supporting sound, but few tunes deviate as readily from a more traditional metal sound as the band purports. To their credit, the band has a few riffs and turns of musical phrase that remind a listener of Abney Park—a more recognized sound in the steampunk/goth genre. Building on the successful sound of this band isn’t mimicry as much as a gesture that places Absinthe Junk solidly in this genre.

The most commercial song on the album is “Dragonflies in Hurricanes” and it’s also the most off-genre. Displaying a haunting country sound, the Nashville-based band weaves a tale of the end of life, a love, a relationship—or all of it—with a more complete sound than the other songs. Blair’s lead vocals are eerily reminiscent of Natalie Merchant and the band’s support rounds out the song in a very recognizable way. Notably, the song feels very different than the rest of the album—which is quite good in its own right—but it is quite powerful.

Written by: Dr. Julie E. Ferris, July 31st 2010

Between 10 and 2

admin — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 08:00:00 +0000

By TyLean

Bast Records

How do you solve a problem like TyLean? Perhaps it is her pre-occupation with nihilism, an ethos that I give about as much credit to as what Walter does in The Big Lebowski. I mean, seriously? She really believes in the ultimate worthlessness of everything? Why wake up, eat breakfast, or do something creative like write music if you truly believe that there is no worth or purpose to life? TyLean’s obsession with despair, child abuse, and insanity is just about as fun as watching Schindler’s List on repeat.

I’m not trying to imply that music needs to have some redemptive happiness in order for it to be good. For instance, I would be hard-pressed to find a single “joyful” moment in any song by Joy Division, but I don’t know anyone who would argue that their music isn’t completely amazing and worth listening to. However, music needs to have a hook, a carrot at the end of a stick, something that sets it apart and makes it interesting in order for it to be worth listening to—and TyLean's music is just missing something.

TyLean, for her part, seems to be taking the Fiona Apple approach of “I write for me not you,” and appears to be rather proud that some of her songs verge on the unlistenable. “Rosalyn,” for instance, chronicles a dream in which children at an orphanage are tortured, and (ahem!) separated from their skin. TyLean doesn’t seem concerned that some may be unwilling to listen to the song, and states on her own MySpace page that “If ‘Rosalyn’ got to them so much that they had to turn it off, then I have successfully recreated the dream, because I couldn't take any more or [sic] it either. 'Rosalyn' is my proudest accomplishment to date.” (If you are a nihilist who believes there is no purpose to anything, then why try to ascertain purpose from a dream, or even be proud of an accomplishment?)

Frankly, I’m not against music that is creepy, disturbing, sad, depressing, headache inducing, or otherwise nauseating. Peaches? Yes! Jesus Lizard? One of my favorite bands! AIDS Wolf? Bring it ON! The problem here is that TyLean just isn’t interesting enough.

TyLean has the right idea with a lot of great influences. She sounds a lot like a mash-up of Tori Amos and Rasputina—but she’s just not quite there. Her voice is great and she has interesting ideas with both cello and piano, but the ultimate problem is that she spoon-feeds her message to the audience too much of the time. Her video for “Corner of My Eye” is about a descent into insanity complete with images of her flapping about in a straight jacket inside a dark, dungeon-like, London tunnel while dry humping a dusty piano and being strangled by a dude who looks like a cross between Andre the Giant and Robert Plant.

TyLean’s kind of what would happen if the kids from “Goth Talk” on SNL formed a band. There is simply too much contrived freak show camp, and not enough true simmering terror. She rings inauthentic because she tells us what we should be thinking and heaps it on in dollops too big to swallow. Leave just a little bit to the imagination, TyLean; you don’t always need to proclaim it from the mountain.

Written by: Emily S. Dunster, March 17th 2010

The New Divine

admin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 09:00:00 +0000

By Lust Murder bOX

Let's just get this one thing out of the way right now, shall we? It's safe to say that if you're not of the goth/industrial/EBM/metal persuasion, then The New Divine, from Austin, TX foursome Lust Murder bOX (LMb), will not be your bag. These twelve tunes are for the seasoned spooky aficionado. But if you're adventurous enough, give it a go. It'll be worth it.

The group, featuring band members Nox, Vaughn, Erik, and Travis, are a mainstay of Austin's Sixth Street music scene. With lyrics like “A perfect model of distress/Paranoia with a bit of bliss” and “Your kiss detonates on my lips/A violent spark between us,” “Emotion To Kill” exemplifies not only the LMb oeuvre but also serves as a fine example of the genre. There's even a loving revved-up cover version of “The Baby Screams,” a Cure song from the 1985 album The Head on the Door.

As with the finest of their ilk, Lust Murder bOX displays a wicked sense of humor. “Crash Black” is a snarky indictment of generic music fans. It's a barrage of zingers fired against those shallow listeners who hop from one bandwagon to another in search of the hot new thing. Personal favorites include “This is the chorus/Sing along like you love us” and “With our white belts/And all our pain/We'll make millions/With more of the same.” It's so bitchy-good, it conjures up Mindless Self-Indulgence.

There is an obvious eschatological fixation here, as well. More than one song speaks—in sometimes graphic detail—to what might happen at the end of the world; “Throttle” and “Artifact” are the finest examples. “Genesis,” growling with all the vengeance of a scorned Old Testament God, references the album title. Yet while cryptic pseudo-metaphysical imagery hints at a Gnostic sensibility, we soon that's not really part of the musical equation.

Overall, this is a band whose music squirms under the atmospheric weight of a neurotic eroticism. Reminiscent of groups like Curve and Garbage, but more grinding, these songs are practically swollen with angry sex, power dynamics, and violent ideations; “Coercion” sums it up best. This blatant BDSM ballad (“He uses my body to feel his flesh/The closer he gets the more I trust”) foists itself upon the listener with a twisted ferocity.

It's not easy listening and it's most definitely not for vanilla ears, but then again, nothing from Lust Murder bOX is.

Written by: M. Brianna Stallings, February 2nd 2010

Lizzie Borden (09/10/2009)

admin — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:25:00 +0000

The Living Theatre

New York, New York

How do you spin a nursery rhyme into a full-length musical? In this case, the uber-creepy poem in question is, thankfully, based in reality: the eponymous Lizzie Borden who reputedly “took an axe” and “gave her father forty whacks” was a real life New England girl accused—and acquitted—of murdering both her parents in the late nineteenth century, so there’s more than enough material to mine. But the rock musical bearing her name, like the nursery rhyme, doesn’t take this grim piece of history so seriously, blending period and punk to create a tongue-in-cheek murderous romp.

In Took An Axe’s production of the tale, our bloodthirsty heroine (and she is treated as such) goes from prim and pale to full-on goth, trading her petticoats for a pair of leather gloves and black lipstick post-patricide. Meanwhile, the Bordens’ housekeeper Bridget (Carrie Cimma) is pure punk from the moment she steps out on stage, from her spiked-up bleach blonde hair to her leather corset. We quickly discover the symbolism of such costuming as Bridget whispers encouragement in the trepidatious Lizzie’s ear, providing a sort of heavy metal devil on her shoulder. By the time the second act begins, the entire cast has completely abandoned their period posturing to wield their mics like modern rock stars.

On the night that I attended, the audience ate up such irreverence, cheering openly when Lizzie spattered her parents’ blood all over the white backdrop upstage. As with Rocky Horror, though, Borden isn’t just about the gimmick; the music is fantastic too. The full-on rock numbers, like the joyously hard “Why Are All These Heads Off?,” pull no punches, while the more traditional musical theatre tunes are full of gorgeously executed harmonies. “Burn the Old Thing Up,” which the somewhat wistful Lizzie (Jenny Fellner) sings while setting fire to her bloodstained dress, is a poignant farewell to both her younger, repressed self and the evidence of her adult murder.

The Living Theatre’s tiny space is used commendably well, with a red scrim dividing the stage and separating the actors from the band. This gauzy curtain is pulled aside at times, opening up the upstage area for scenes set on the Bordens’ rooftop, which are beautifully staged with creative, unexpected lighting effects.

As one of very few all-female rock musicals in existence, Lizzie Borden is valuable for any feminist theatergoer, and this production is particularly fun. Admittedly, the tone of the show as a whole is a bit muddled, as certain actors play it almost too straight, but if you make a pact with yourself at the door to just surrender to the mayhem, you’ll be cheering too.

Written by: Caitlin Graham, September 15th 2009

Selfish

admin — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:44:00 +0000

By A is for Accident

Le Garcon Sale Records

A is for Accident, a Portland-based duo of Andrew Klaus and Julie Baird, is driven by Baird’s song writing and reverence for 1980s bands like Joy Division, Depeche Mode, and The Cure. The band considers themselves a “Francophile art band,” and they collaborate frequently with French musicians Yves and Ys dans Paris. The song titles themselves such as “Rx” reveal the band’s gothic tendencies, reinforced by echoing keyboards; sparse, effects laden guitars; electronic drums; and pleading, distorted vocals.

Lyrics on Selfish turn toward the dramatics of selfishness in love and relationships, particularly those with a gay bent. They are peppered with familiar themes and refrains such as, “You were my only love,” on “Sonoma” or “Only time will tell if you were my heaven or will be my hell,” on “Larmoyant.” These sentiments are reflected by Klaus’ literary references to the romantic and southern gothic genres with references in song titles such as “The waiting in hell, looking up for the stars” (Oscar Wilde) and “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” (Carson McCullers). These references also tie Klaus to the community of young, queer artists who take inspiration from these literary expressions, such as Miami-based painter Hernan Bas.

At an ambitious eighteen songs long, the record feels overstuffed and over serious, especially as most songs clock in longer than three minutes. On many tracks, the vocals are mixed loud and the supporting instrumentation too quiet to give the album a consistent, listenable feel. Klaus and Baird have highly trained artistic sensibilities, and the dancier tracks on the record, such as “L’Affair,” show the mix of seriousness and fun that the band is capable of. Perhaps on their next recording, the band can hone their editing skills and distill the latent goth-pop talent lurking behind the songs on this inconsistent record.

Written by: Eleanor Whitney, June 18th 2009

Wannabes, Goths, and Christians: The Boundaries of Sex, Style, and Status

admin — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 10:12:00 +0000

By Amy C. Wilkins

University of Chicago Press

Labels—freak, geek, wigger, poser, prep, to name just a few—are plentiful and ever-expanding, flourishing in the fertile social grounds of high school and college. Often, labels are used against individuals, assigned and branded as tools of marginalization and preservation of social hierarchies. Amy C. Wilkins' Wannabes, Goths, and Christians: The Boundaries of Sex, Style, and Status is a sociological text that explores the ways labels can rather be symbols of resistance, or attempted empowerment, for three distinct subcultures coexisting in an insulated but diverse cross-section of a Northeastern college region.

Wannabes, Goths, and Christians is about the ways in which three groups of young adults in the United States test, push, and break the boundaries of an identity that paradoxically remains largely invisible, yet overwhelmingly dominant: "Whiteness." The self-described “freaks” of Goth, the members of a Christian organization at a large university, and the Puerto Rican "wannabes" are each given their due in a book that creates connections between seemingly disparate groups. Even those readers who are not sociologists by study or trade will appreciate the candor and perception with which Wilkins writes about the subjects of the book, as well as her forward-thinking analysis surrounding the important, but often overlooked, intersections of race, class, and gender within these predominantly white communities.

To write it, Wilkins engaged in countless interviews; some were formally conducted and others were casual conversations, not only with the subjects themselves, but also with their more mainstream peers, whose reactions and opinions spoke volumes about the way the strategic separation from the norm of Goths, Christians and wannabes elicits often volatile emotions from those who wish they would "act like what they are."

As much as possible, Wilkins tried to assimilate into these countercultures, whether by sexing up her appearance in black lace and dramatic Goth makeup, or by gelling her hair back and drawing on dark lip-liner to achieve the stereotypically Puerto Rican look of the wannabe. With her transformations complete, she would hit specifically geared club nights with her new tutors, subjects who had agreed, sometimes hesitantly, to take her under their wings and show her the ropes. Unexpectedly, the group that, of the three, prides itself most on kindness and goodwill was the hardest group to penetrate; Wilkins writes that although the University Unity Christians allowed her to attend meetings and agreed to speak with her in interviews, they were reserved, hesitant to open up, and never fully accepted her as an insider.

Wilkins effectively digs to the core of how subcultures are formed and fostered, particularly among young, white, middle-class people. In the United States, where society at large collectively fails to acknowledge the way white youth experience a broad spectrum of race, class, and gender, "whiteness" amounts to a lack of culture, in an environment that equates culture with "cool." In unique ways, the subjects of Wannabes, Goths, and Christians are eschewing what they see as a bland and narrow path of lack, in favor of a performed, chosen identity that may open up new alternatives to the umbrella of white identity. Wilkins insightful, fresh, sociologically focused portraits are much more than character studies, and the text is much more than tired "don’t judge a book by its cover" platitudes about today’s youth.

Written by: Kelly Moritz, April 25th 2009

Reflective Girl Tee

admin — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 17:27:00 +0000

By Furlesque

Boasting funky girl tees, Furlesque certainly delivers with the beautiful "Reflective Girl." Featuring a lovely drawing of a sorrowful (or the obvious "reflective") girl adorned with roses on the front of the shirt, this is one of the most original designs that I've seen to date. And I wasn't the only one to think so—I've never received so many compliments on a t-shirt in my life!

Sheer and lightweight, this tee was a grand slam in comfort. A funky and beautiful mauve color (called "cherry") was something that stood out to me. It looked like an almost heather rose and was completely unusual, which was great. This tee fit true to size, was perfect in length and the amount of attention that was given to the tee (even from perfect strangers) left me congratulating myself on a great outfit choice (and Maggie and Dion from launching such a successful operation).

These one of a kind shirts are great to wear on a casual day and I guarantee that your shirt will catch a lot of attention and be one of a kind. This alone justifies the $49 price tag. Even after a few wears and washes, it still looks brand new and has taken up regular rotation in my closet. Seriously—buy one of these shirts. You won't regret it.

Written by: Megan Blair, October 23rd 2007

Solo Girl Tee

admin — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 03:07:00 +0000

By Furlesque

The face that launched a thousand shirts. Okay, don’t quote me on the numbers. But believe me when I say this Solo Girl tee – the first in a line of edgy tops – rocks. How many positive thoughts can one shirt induce? Let’s see. One: soft. There’s nothing better than a truly touchable tee, and this one delivers. Two: work of art. The shirt’s understated dusty green hue and baby pink trim perfectly complements the Solo Girl centerpiece. Her pensive demeanor, oversized head, and anorexic body evoke compassion, pity, discomfort, and familiarity all in one shot. Three: flattering. With a slight stretch, this 100% cotton tee looks good–and feels good. Best of all, it’s thin, so you can wear it alone or layered for endless options. Why, hello, new favorite tee!

So who’s responsible for this love-at-first-sight experience? Artistic collaborators Dion Macellari and Maggie Maki. The silkscreen design comes from original watercolor drawings by Dion, the company’s owner. The edgy website was stylist Maggie’s idea. She was inspired by Dion’s most recent body of work, “Pop Culture Victims.” Together, these entrepreneurs are creating fearless fashion styles that make a T-shirt and jeans look runway worthy.

I recently swarmed the Furlesque site and drooled over their newest fall designs. I highly recommend you check it out and experience it for yourself. But act fast—the designs are limited, but I doubt their fans are.

Written by: Adrianne Munkacsy, October 11th 2007

Distressed Goth Girl Tee

admin — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 13:25:00 +0000

By Furlesque

So the Goth phase passed with the nineties, but that doesn’t mean you can't still wear a distressed little Goth girl on your tee to reflect your inner darkness. Furlesque’s tees look handmade, and there is no reason to doubt that they came from a hand-painted watercolor design. Their tees are soft to the touch and a little see through, but not too pleasing on the eye. Either the design of the little Goth girl in the middle is too small or there just isn’t enough to make this tee shirt feel like more than a fashion victim of a Goth trend.

The assortment of different sized rose prints on the front and the tree print on the back are a good way to put more into this design, but it feels like an add on rather than compliment to the shirt’s over all look, and you might get asked if you’d made the tee yourself. I admit that the design didn’t bring my Goth out to the surface, but it did remind me of that stack of Depeche Mode CD’s I’ve stashed in the garage.

Written by: Annie Moss, October 7th 2007

Ginger Brooch

admin — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 17:28:00 +0000

By Damned Dollies

Ugly yet endearing, the Damned Dollies brooches have that freak chic element that appeals to the fourteen-year-old goth girl inside all of us. Approximately two inches tall, the handmade brooches are big enough to make a fashion statement yet small enough not to hinder regular movement and can be secured easily to a bag or jacket. As the Damned Dollies website claims, I received a brooch similar to, but not exactly like, the model shown online. The online version of the Ginger Brooch featured a red-haired doll with a white top and pink patterned skirt. The Ginger Brooch I received had black hair with a pink top and black skirt. Same style, different colors. As promised though, the angry expression painted on the doll’s face was identical to the one online. The website claims that while many of the brooches are similar, no two are alike, making each brooch unique. Perfect if you’re into one-of-a-kind pieces, but if you’re picky about colors, then this probably isn’t the accessory for you. I fastened the brooch to the outside of my purse and was pleased with how well it held up. After a few weeks of being exposed to the elements and bounced around my car, the only visible damage to the doll was some slight mussing of its hair. The Damned Dollies brooches are available online and at various stores in Canada and the United States.

Written by: Victoria Kroeger, June 28th 2007

Skull Star “Pretty In Pink” Sheet Set

admin — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 19:02:00 +0000

Sin in Linen

My approach to interior design is somewhat offbeat. Between my bright purple walls, baby blue sink and curtains made from Halloween-themed fabric, I like my décor to be fun and reflect my tastes. I enjoy working around the house, and it's always neat to find home and garden items with character. Needlesstosay, I was absolutely thrilled about this sheet set. Made by Sin In Linen, the Skull Star "Pretty In Pink” sheet set is not only bedding that features skulls, but it is also PINK. Bright, vivid, awesome pink. As a Goth with a love of pastels, this was right up my alley. Not only are these fabulous sheets fun and different, they're also comfy and high-quality, made out of 100% combed cotton sateen, with a 230 thread count. This item would be a perfect housewarming gift for the punk on your list! I imagine I shall turn to Sin In Linen in the future as an excellent alternative to drab home furnishings.

Written by: Beeb Ashcroft, June 26th 2007