Dorian Gray - Rajat

Here's the other Dorian Gray album. Already described this Finnish post-punk band last month with their debut album. This '87 album takes a slight change with a stronger incorporation of keys. Otherwise, still notable for the strong bass guitar and everything. Apparently, the bassist also took charge of the keys on this album, as the original keyboardist must've left or something, plus a different drummer... I think.

1. "Aamu"
2. "Hauskaa?"
3. "Valo"
4. "Dorian Gray"
5. "Tuomarit"
6. "Epätoivo"

Oh yeah, and happy holidays, everyone! Ho ho ho! =)

Dorian Gray - 1986 AD

Dorian Gray is a Finnish post-punk goth band, active from '85-87. I'm sure we all know the band name derives from Oscar Wilde's novel. They feature no guitarist... just drums, bass, keys, and vocals. As such, their sound is extremely spacial, and the bass is seemingly the most prominent instrument, played very heavy and thick, and at the same time, taking control of melodies that would normally be meant for guitar.
My Room is White had this and their other EP, Rajat, up for awhile, but the link's been dead and the blog hasn't updated for awhile. I'll put Rajat up too later.

1. "Amuletti"
2. "Aika"
3. "Spiritismi"
4. "Unelma"
5. "Puutarha"
6. "Sudet"

w00t

An Ideal For Living 1 (compilation)

I'm sure you could probably guess what the title of this 1993 German compilation comes from. It was compiled by a Klaus Wiethölter, released on Gothic Arts Records, and apparently, only 1000 copies were printed. There was also a part 2 that I still need to find.

Welle:Erdball are probably the only really popular group on here. You post-punk aficionados might recognize The Caves though. Some of the bands here are just on this compilation or a few other compilations, and that's it. Others I've been trying to get my hands on their one and only album (like Ice Age). There's a few others too with more material out there... somewhere over a rainbow...

Anyway, you'll find some post-punk gothic songs on here (some with vocal pastiches to the likes of Andy, Ian, and Fat Bob), while others are are more synth-driven darkwave, fairly reflective of the distinctive 90's German take of the genre. I think the Permanent Confusion song might have a minimal wave quality to it. There's also a good bunch of pulsating EBM with harsh vocals that may appeal to you Skinny Puppy or Front Line Assembly fans (currently in love with The Orphobia track).

1. Static Threshold - "Five Hours"
2. The Permanent Confusion - "1984"
3. Welle:Erdball - "Sinnlos"
4. The Caves - "Darkness"
5. The Orphobia - "When God Cries"
6. Psycho Surgery - "The World is Black"
7. Flowers Can Burn - "Out of the Deep"
8. Crepusculum Terrae -"50 Years Remain"
9. PP? - "Rostock (An Antifascist Song)"
10. The Hall of Souls - "Leviathan"
11. Rue Du Mort - "Nathaly"
12. LPF 12 - "Darkness"
13. Ice Age - "A Nighttale"
14. The Psychic Force - "Twilight Zone (Mystic Mix)
15. After the Rain - "Zynical Reason"

damn, that was a pain in the buttocks to find some of those Myspace links!
erm, anyway, here you go

Discogs: http://www.discogs.com/Various-An-Ideal-For-Living/release/699145

The Grinning Plowman - Nothing Is Ever What It Is

Here's a goth band from Nashville, Tennessee. Signed on Carlyle Records, The Grinning Plowman had two other releases prior to this one, Days of Deformity and I Play Jupiter, as well as a single of "Radioator" (from I Play Jupiter). Overall, in the general sense of their work, this band really touches on a lot of areas, sometimes brooding and dark ("Cripple" <3), others energetically chaotic, and at times even danceable. Some of their songs are straight up gothic post-punk, some with a deathrock pastiche, and others that lean more on darkwave. Plenty of great tunes here, my personal favorite song on this album is "Orange Room".

1. "Secret Sugar Frosting"
2. "Nancy's Relish Tray Demonstration"
3. "Hula"
4. "Mainframe"
5. "Pewter Surf"
6. "Functional Design"
7. "Monkey Speed Drome"
8. "Orange Room"
9. "Fool"
10. "The Wonders of Linoleum"
11. "Telemythos"
12. "Synthetic Flux"

"And then your head blows up over and over!"

Myspace fanpage: http://www.myspace.com/thegrinningplowman

Screwtractor - Eye

(oooh feeling big heartache at the moment, gahhhh ;_; )

Erm, anyway, here's another "haaaaayy, this ain't post-punk, ya punk"-post or whatever. Still, call me crazy - but I think you can hear some subtle goth influences around here and there. In like one or two songs. Maybe.

Screwtractor is a Cleveland, Ohio hard rock band. I dunno how to describe 'em... it seems they are usually classified among industrial rock and metal... but eh, I dunno. A bit of a grungy-era production sound too, I think-- it was a '93 record after all (on Gravel Records). I say, at the risk of getting jumped and mauled, the singer sometimes pulls off this whole crooning gothy-ish voice too.

Not really too sure who to compare 'em to. Like, I feel like they have some slight Young Gods approach in "Crusader", but that's probably just me being crazy. Someone on their Myspace also describes 'em to be comparable to Faith No More (hmm, I dunno) and Clay People.
Anyway, I quite like this, so I hope you will too.

1. "Throb"
2. "Cowboy Spit"
3. "Afterlife"
4. "Stupid Humans"
5. "Crusader"
6. "Twitch"

Here, has yourself a listen!

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/screwtractor

Fahrenheit 451 - The Gothic Years and After

More east-side stuff! Fahrenheit 451 is an '84-born New Jersey goth band. They had some gigs at CBGBs and the likes in New York, and opened for acts such as Specimen, Wolfgang Press, Gene Loves Jezebel, White Zombie, and The Ramones. They broke up in '87, but reunited in '96 to record two covers, including one with Christian Death/Super Heroine's Eva O.

These guys are pretty awesome, their songs move with a danceable, almost deathrock-pulse, Athan Maroulis has a pretty nice singing voice. To my knowledge, I think this is pretty much all their songs put on here, actually. The first four tracks can be found on their House of Morals EP. The last four tracks are stuff from the members other bands, which are pretty good stuff too!

Good chances are that they named themselves after that one Ray Bradbury book you read in high school. =P According to the CD's back, only 2000 copies exist. It's not too difficult to fetch though, I got this for like 2 bucks. A portion of that other 1999 is floating around on your favorite online shops.
Had a few requests from some buddies on this. Do enjoy!

1. "Strangers on a Train"
2. "Cathedral in Ice"
3. "Passions"
4. "Flowers Melt Away"
5. "House of Morals"
6. "Children"
7. "Danielle"
8. "Zombies"
9. "Black Dahlia" (original 1985 demo)
10. "Strangers on a Train" (original 1985 demo)
11. "Wasteland" (The Mission UK cover)
12. "The Three Shadows (Part II) w/ Eva O (Bauhaus cover)
13. Executive Slacks - "Salome"
14. Tubalcain - "Carbon Black"
15. The Lucifer Scale - "I Am Nothing"
16. Spahn Ranch - "Antibody" ('96 remix)

Burrn baby burrrn, disco inferrno!

Skinner Box - The Imaginary Heart Of...

Julianna Towns is probably best known for her contribution to Black Tape for a Blue Girl. She was also a member (guitar) of the punk band, Peace Corpse.

This is one of her solo albums... it's a rather magnificent darkwave-ish record, leaning a bit on dark cabaret noir and neo-classical, I think, and includes a pretty cover of "United" by Throbbing Gristle. And "The Long Gun" is, well, a long song! xD
I think it was released in 1990 and recorded in the Sound Factory, Tucson.

Sorry it ain't all crystal clear, it popped lots. >_>

You can also grab the self-titled at Phoenix Hairpins. I was gonna post that one myself eventually too, but there it is anyway! 8)

1. "She Drapes the Sky"
2. "The Long Gun"
3. "Sweet Release"
4. "Murder in Columbia"
5. "Pictures"
6. "Sibyl Vane"
7. "March for Ezzelin"
8. "The Imaginary Heart Of"
9. "United" (Throbbing Gristle cover)
10. "Mother Fair"

Click for positive reinforcement
(images from eBay finds)

some informative webpage: http://www.empty.de/SkinnerBox.htm

Beautiful Pea Green Boat - Still Life

Beautiful Pea Green Boat is an English (I think) darkwave band, not sure when they formed exactly, but according to Discogs, their first release was in '84.

l think this here is a bit of like a Best Of collection or something, maybe, but it's not entirely a complete collection. Everything from their Obsessions album is on here and more - but a couple of the songs sound way different than their counterparts. Some of the songs have been cut much shorter and remixed, like "The Powerhouse" and "The Screw" (I personally like the Obsessions mix better of this song). Fantod Under Glass has Obsessions, so check it out.

Anyway, highly recommended. I'm not entirely sure who or what to compare them to (though this should appeal to fans of early Dead Can Dance, Cocteau Twins, Clan of Xymox, and the likes), it's a just a very spectacular darkwave album.
Wonderful lyrics with a beautiful blend of tribal drumming and atmospheric, sometimes beat-driven synths guiding you through dreamy melancholies. "Mirror of Souls" is my particular favorite, I just love the way the singer goes on crying "So cold, he shook!" towards the end of the song.

Vocalist Heather Wright formed Doris after leaving BPGB.

1. "The Powerhouse"
2. "Hammers of Islam"
3. "Too Much"
4. "When Dreams Move In"
5. "The Vase"
6. "Among the Ruins"
7. "Paper House"
8. "Danielle"
9. "Mirror of Souls"
10. "The Screw"
11. "Nostalgia"
12. "And She Laughed Too"

So colllld, he shoooook!

Discogs: http://www.discogs.com/artist/Beautiful+Pea+Green+Boat

The Colour - Demo

The Colour was a 2002 indie rock/pop band. At least at this early stage of their career before they made their only full length album (which I personally feel somehow had more of a resemblance to like, Cold War Kids and Hard-Fi in some regards), their earlier material here reminds me of dancy post-punk revival bands like The Strokes, The Rapture, Radio 4, and whatnot. May not appeal to all of you regardless, but still.

Some buddies online had been asking who the artist to "Clapham Junction" was (as we didn't know the song title either), and it took me mooooonths to finally figure it out. It was a catchy song, and the vocalist sounded almost like an incoherently mumbling Robert Smith, which made the lyrics quite difficult to figure out (singer kinda loses that voice later on).
This was really-really hard to find! I think this was up for download on their website in early 2004, which I think is where these files originally came from. "Little Wren" was apparently kind of a popular song for them as well, I think. Anyway, I had some requests for this, so without further ado, enjoy!

1. "Out & About"
2. "Clapham Junction"
3. "Little Wren"

=D

Myspace fan page: www.myspace.com/thecolourfans
Archive of Official: http://web.archive.org/web/*/www.thecolour.tv

Burning Skies of Elysium - Carousel

I was gonna upload their '87 full length album, The Last Revolving Door, but Systems of Romance has it up already, so ehh. Instead, I'll put up their preceding Carousel single, released in '85. "Weeping and Wailing" is the b-side and only track of the two not featured on the full length album.

Anyway, if you haven't listened to the full length album yet, I demand that you do so now! This band is damn incredible. Obscure as they are, I think their LP is up there with my top favorite post-punk albums of all time! It's really-really catchy, their pop approach reminds me of The Cure a little bit, particularly in an overall "A Night Like This" kinda way with their incorporation of the sax. Their sound is atmospheric, highly melodic, and overall bleakly melancholic...I get all completely tripped over on "Out on the Paperchase" myself, haha.

Despite all that, there's little info about the band out there. Sometimes they also go by "The Burning Skies of Elysium" or sometimes simply "Elysium". I think two of the members are brothers. They seem to have a lot of photoshoots though, hrmm (see, some in this video).

But yeah, grab "Weeping and Wailing" here too if you dig 'em.

1. "Carousel"
2. "Weeping and Wailing"

You shall like!

The Ochrana - demo / live@CBGB

Another ol' NY band requested from a friend... The Ochrana was formed in '87, by drummer David Patti (after The Naked & the Dead and The Children's Zoo) and vocalist Guy Richards Smit (Addictive Manifesto). They usually played with Of a Mesh.
Their sound is dark and bleak and danceable. The material here consists of four demos recorded in Oct 23 '87, with "Empty" added in summer '88. The rest are live material from CBGB (and one from Tramps).
Smit now does performance art, video art, and painting, as well as performs as a member of Maxi Geil! & Playcolt.

1. "Empty"
2. "Turnabout"
3. "Eastern Bloc Baby"
4. "Angalique" (sorry for odd cutoff at the end, if I find a way to fix it I will...)
5. "Why"
6. "Streams of Reality" (live at Tramps, Feb '88)
7. "Child of Anger" (live at CBGB, Apr '88)
8. "Turnabout" (live at CBGB, Apr '88)
9. "Trust This" (live at CBGB, Apr '88)
10. "Streams of Reality" (live at CBGB, July '88)
11. "Kill Party" (live at CBGB, July '88)
12. "Empty" (live at CBGB, July '88)
13. "Channel" (live at CBGB, July '88)
14. "Change Your Ways" (live at CBGB, July '88)
15. "Deviation" (live at CBGB, July '88)
16. "Angalique" (live at CBGB, July '88)
17. "Sun on My Face" (live at CBGB, July '88)
18. "Singularity" (live at CBGB, July '88)

Yaaaaaaay, enjoy

Soundclick (source): http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=130207
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/theochrana

Bitter Grace - ...God and the Abyss

Bitter Grace is an '85-born Manhattan goth band. Due to constant line-up changes, the band wasn't really able to release this album until 1997, and it wouldn't be another 7 years until they released their second album in '06, Shimmer (which I hear added more EBM/electronic dance-components to their overall goth sound; haven't listened to it myself yet).
Anyway, I can't help but slightly compare 'em to the Sisters of Mercy (on some songs) with a singer that sometimes sounds a tad like Peter Murphy, but that's just me. Pretty fun stuff overall, very catchy at times! "Ashes in the Rain" and "Precious" are my two personal favorites.

1. "Beneath the Ocean Black"
2. "Special One"
3. "Sane"
4. "Nothing Here"
5. "Ashes in the Rain"
6. "Precious"
7. "The Very Last Goodbye"
8. "God and the Abyss"
9. "Fever"
10. "Burning Kisses"
11. "Requiem"

8-) <--- look, it's Andy Eldritch, hee

Official: http://www.bittergrace.net/
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/bittergrace

The Children's Zoo - demo / live@CBGB

(Sorry this month's been slooow)
Here's another one NY goth band that I dug up from Soundclick.

The Children's Zoo were born in 1986 and broke up in mid '87 for reasons unclear. They were apparently quite interrelated to other NYC goth bands, with members from and/or later forming other groups (The Naked & the Dead, The Ochrana, 99 Stellavista, and others). Bassist Christopher Bollman reformed The Naked and the Dead in 2002, and now plays in Bell Hollow.
The band went through a couple drummers in their early stages before settling down on a drum machine. I'd say their sound is overall bleak and somewhat dreamy (thanks mostly to Bollman's love of chorus/flange, heehee). They recorded some demos around the first half of '87, I think that's what these first six songs are (the rest are some excellent live material).

1. "Trap Door"
2. "Gojira Rising"
3. "The Stick Figure"
4. "Back of the Boat"
5. "Making the Rounds"
6. "Trap Door (version 2)"
7. "Intro" (live at CBGB, Jan '87)
8. "The Ultimate City" (live at CBGB, Jan '87)
9. "Coin Tambourine" (live at CBGB, Jan '87)
10. "Scarecrow Waltz" (live at CBGB, Jan '87)
11. "Vacant Lot" (live at CBGB, Jan '87)
12. "A Residential Delivery" (live at CBGB, Jan '87)
13. "Stained Glass Color" (live at Lismar, Apr '87)
14. untitled 1 (rehearsal July '87)
15. untitled 2 (rehearsal July '87)

Sweeetness here

Soundclick (source): http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=129994
Myspace: www.myspace.com/thechildrenszoonyc

Scarecrow - demo / live@CBGB

A buddy of mine requested some old New York bands some time ago and I went searching like a madman for them. I found a couple of his requests at Soundclick (someone there has a lot of access to these gems!).
I had to download all the songs individually, you can too if you want to (check links in this post). I'm just making it easier for you guys by compiling it myself. ;) Some links there were broken so erm, I just got it from their Myspace instead when I could, but it's lower quality, sorry!

So, among those, I'm starting with Scarecrow, a kinda Siouxsie-ish goth band born in late '83. They were apparently very influential to the NY goth scene in their day. According to their Myspace, they had a 3 song demo (the same first three tracks here; but you can hear more demo/studio songs there). My personal favorite is "Mother's Crawling", I just find it a twistedly dark song! The remaining huge portion of it is the band playing live at Manhattan's CBGB venue (the venue famous for all those punk bands and such), in January and March '84.

1. "Mother's Crawling"
2. "Blood in My Dreams"
3. "Concrete is My Pillow"
4. "Blood in My Dreams" (live at CBGB, Jan '84)
5. "Laughing Effigy" (live at CBGB, Jan '84)
6. "Pan Bang" (live at CBGB, Jan '84)
7. "Down in Flames" (live at CBGB, Jan '84)
8. "Mother's Crawling" (live at CBGB, Jan '84)
9. "Anteroom" (live at CBGB, Jan '84)
10. "Concrete is My Pillow" (live at CBGB, Jan '84)
11. "Temple" (live at CBGB, Mar '84)
12. "Blood in My Dreams" (live at CBGB, Mar '84)
13. untitled (live at CBGB, Mar '84)
14. "Anteroom" (live at CBGB, Mar '84)
15. "Water's Edge" (live at CBGB, Mar '84)
16. "Laughing Effigy" (live at CBGB, Mar '84)
17. "Mother's Crawling" (live at CBGB, Mar '84)
18. "Concrete is Your Pillow" (live at CBGB, Mar '84)

Here it is!

Soundclick (source): http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=130196
Myspace: www.myspace.com/scarecrownyc84

Red Wedding - Up and Down the Aisle

First post for the new year! =D
Red Wedding was an openly gay (save for a few members) Los Angeles post-punk band. They only had two EPs as far as I know; this one in '82 and Nails in '84. The band has played among many other acts, including Killing Joke, Specimen, Gun Club, 45 Grave, Romeo Void, and more.
Vocalist Michael and guitarist Spyder still make music as Michael & Spyder, now as a more ambient music duo ( official site | Myspace ).
Anyway, this is a really awesome EP with a fast, pulsating sound that gives it a deathrock edge, and I also really enjoy the lyrics throughout. Highly recommended!

1. "Drums"
2. "Marsha in Pictures"
3. "Sleeping on the Airplane"
4. "All (Dressed Up)"
5. "Think About It"

Check it out! =D
(images from Google & eBay finds)

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/originalredwedding