Sound Bites

No Matter What You Call it, Goth is Goth

 
 I got in an discussion/argument with someone during last week's CMJ festival about recent Matador signees Cold Cave when I called them goth. "They're not goth," said a friend of mine to which I replied "Have you seen pictures of them? Have you heard them? They're goth." She replied, "Well, they're like 'indie goth.'" 

The distinction isn't missed on me. These days, to just be called "goth" is to damn your band to Cleopatra records, the label that for most of the '90s and early '00s was the only safe harbor for folks who cited Fields of the Nephilim and Sisters of Mercy as major influences. Not that there's anything wrong with Sisters of Mercy at all, but the bands that clung to goth after its heyday were just shadows. And all the subculture hoo ha that goes along with being goth these days.

But ever since Interpol made melodramatic singing and wearing a holster onstage commercially viable again, bands have sought out the darker sides of postpunk as an influence while courting the cool kids. A lot of it is pretty good too. The difference is, I think, if you're looking to Bauhaus and Siouxsie (or P.I.L.) for inspiration, you're going to end up a much better band than those who say "I want to sound like The Bolshoi and Mission UK."

I know there are other terms going around for all this. "Darkwave" to me is just as dumb-sounding as goth, so I still am just gonna use "goth." Or how about "kinda goth"? All these bands on this mix have some gothy elements to them: some are kinda goth (Violens, Crystal Stilts) and others are pretty much full-on goth (Cold Cave, Horrors and their little brother S.C.U.M.) but it's all pretty good. And it's nice to mix up the tunes on Halloween 'cause you can only listen to "This Corrosion" so many times.

DOWNLOAD VAMPIRE BITES II: THE NEW BLOOD 

1. Crystal Stilts - The Dazzled
2. S.C.U.M. - Visions Arise
3. Witch Hats - Hell Hole
4. Violens - Trance-Like Turn
5. TV Ghost - Cold Fish
6. Crocodiles - Soft Skull
7. Cold Cave - The Laurels of Erotomania
8. Fever Ray - Triangle Walks
9. Blank Dogs - Setting Fire to Your House
10. O.Children - Dead Disco Dancer
11. Zaza - Sooner or Later
12. The Horrors - Scarlet Fields
13. A Place to Bury Strangers - In Your Heart
14. Blacklist - Shock in the Hotel Falcon
15. The Mary Onettes - Void
16. Dum Dum Girls - Hey Sis
17. Duchess Says - A Century Old

Speaking of Sisters of Mercy, I thought I'd do another "classic goth" mix as well, as I do really love this stuff a lot. "This Corrosion" rivals "Bela Lagosi's Dead" for Ultimate Goth Song, and I am a bit conflicted about using the four-minute single edit here, but when your opening track is 10 minutes long, it means you have to cut other things. Where the first Vampire Bites mix from last year was All Hits, I delved a little deeper into the fringes (Virgin Prunes, Fad Gadget), included songs from bands who were never fully considered goth but definitely leaned that way at times (The Fall, Wire, The Wolfgang Press, P.I.L.), and even allowed myself to admit that maybe, just maybe, I liked one song each by Gene Loves Jezebel and Fields of the Nephilim.

DOWNLOAD VAMPIRE BITES III: CLASSIC GOTH BITES BACK 

1. Sisters of Mercy - This Corrosion
2. Siouxsie & the Banshees - Cities and Dust
3. Peter Murphy - Cuts You Up
4. Xymox - Obsession
5. The Wolfgang Press - The Holey Man
6. Echo & the Bunnymen - Zimbo
7. Public Image Limited - Careering
8. Wire - Ambitious
9. Bauhaus - She's in Parties
10. Fad Gadget - Back to Nature
11. The Fall - Riddler!
12. Fields of the Nephilim - Preacher Man
13. The Bolshoi - Happy Boy
14. Gene Loves Jezebel - Bruises
15. Killing Joke - Eighties
16. Virgin Prunes - Baby Turns Blue
17. Joy Division - Dead Souls
18. The Cure - A Forrest   

And after many requests for it, I re-upped the first Vampire Bites goth mix -- an essential for any good Halloween party if I do say so myself. Like always, the songs segue together... so no shuffling or face eternal damnation. 

CMJ '09: Dum Dum Girls | Mercury Lounge | 10.24.2009

 

This was the first day of Dum Dum Girls existence as a live band, but clearly they spent a lot of time working out the details, from the look -- bangs, gorgeous Silvertone guitars and bass, extremely short black dresses and stockings -- to the sound, which is somewhere between the Velvet Underground and '60s girl groups. It was an impressive debut, hot and cool at the same time. I kept thinking, "this is what the Velvet Underground might sound like if all the members were Nico."

Now technically Dum Dum Girls played before Saturday, at the Woodsist / Captured Festival, and some West Coast dates, each with different line-ups. Which could happen again. But this felt like the first real version. The Woodsist fest Dum Dum Girls featured Crocodiles' Brandon Welchez on guitar, Blank Dogs' Mike Sniper on Bass and Dee Dee (who is Dum Dum Girls on record and is married to Welchez) not donning a guitar. That version, which you can see video of, was much more a post punk / goth sort of sound; here the songs felt like a dream, an ethereal haze of reverbed guitars and pristine harmonies. An impressive debut.

Apart from Dee Dee, the only constant between the two line-ups is drummer Frankie Rose who brought some new beats to the mix, along with her signature driving motorik style she perfected in Vivian Girls and Crystal Stilts. She'll play some East Coast dates where Dum Dum Girls will open for King Kahn and the Shrines. She's old pals with Dee Dee, but Frankie's got her own band now so don't expect her to be a regular member.

Also, if you missed Dum Dum Girls on Saturday, they're playing tonight at Bruar Falls with Girls at Dawn (not bad when the opened for Fresh & Onlys recently) and Reading Rainbow. Now the BF website tries to be sly about it -- "EXTRA SPECIAL SMART SMART GUEST BAND" -- but both Girls at Dawn and Dum Dum Girls' have it on their MySpace pages, so the cat's officially out of the bag.

MP3: Dum Dum Girls - Jail La La

Jail La La

Look for DDG's Sub Pop Debut sometime early 2010. Also at the show: Music Snobbery, Amrit of Stereogum, and the NY Times. A lot of people kept saying this would be hard to get into, but I think there were so many things going on Saturday night it kept attendance down.

One more interesting note. On my way into the city to head in for the Brooklyn Vegan day party on Saturday, I walk right past a Dum Dum Girls photo show under the JMZ. Of course, I snapped a quick pic:

  

Tour dates after the jump...
 

Dum Dum Girls 2009 Tour Dates

Oct 26 BRUAR FALLS w/ Reading Rainbow & Girls At Dawn Brooklyn, New York
Oct 28 PEARL STREET NIGHTCLUB w/ King Khan & BBQ Show Northampton, Massachusetts
Oct 29 MIDDLE EAST DOWNSTAIRS w/ King Khan & BBQ Show Cambridge, Massachusetts
Oct 30 BOWERY BALLROOM w/ King Khan & BBQ Show Manhattan, New York
Oct 31 BELL HOUSE w/ King Khan & BBQ Show Brooklyn, New York
Nov 1 FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH w/ King Khan & BBQ Show Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Nov 12 BELLY UP TAVERN w/ The Raveonettes & Crocodiles Solana Beach, California
Nov 28 SPACELAND

The Funky, Baroque Animals of Zoos of Berlin

Zoos of Berlin are from Detroit and are fronted by Trevor Naud who also spent time (maybe still does) in the notoriously unprolific but occasionally awesome Pas/Cal. Unlike that band's sunshine pop, Zoos of Berlin are more buttoned up and immaculate, like a high society tea... but one that desperately wants to be disco-fest. Naud and turtleneck-wearing bassist Daniel Clark keep it regal, but drummer Colin Dupuis and, especially, keyboardist Will Yates are there to party. The result is like a weird mix of Cardinal and Steely Dan, a combination that is perfected on "Electrical Way" which has Yates laying down a super-funky Clavinet part over most of the song, with a breakdown which is straight out of "Peg." And it just sounds awesome, such good musicianship overcoming the deficiencies of Market Hotel's PA, where they played a few weeks ago.

MP3: Zoos of Berlin - Electrical Way (buy it)

And here's video of said song from their recent Market Hotel show:

And some upcoming shows:
 
Oct 23 Anton Art Center [free costume party] Mt. Clemens, Michigan
Nov 6 Crofoot Ballroom [w/ Black Heart Procession & Thunderbirds Are Now!] Pontiac, Michigan
Nov 19 Detroit Science Center [playing in front of the IMAX!] Detroit, Michigan
Nov 25 The Blind Pig [w/ Great Lakes Myth Society] Ann Arbor, Michigan
Dec 4 The Majestic Cafe [The Recital’s final show, also w/ Thunderbirds Are Now!] Detroit, Michigan