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