I am no big fan of bands and projects who are just a copy cat of a certain music tradition... instead I prefer bands who know the heritage and play around with it or aim for excellence in performing specific style elements... let's take Passion Play... an UK gothrock band from the late 1990's... I played their 2001 album 'Dreaming Spikes' a lot... even though their sound was rather typical gothrock there was also always a indie side to it... with a hint to Placebo maybe... well after this album nothing was heard from Passion Play untill recently the Berlin based label Aufnahme + Wiedergabe released an cd filled with some old songs and new songs which were never recorded and released before... but as the title of the cd, 'The Final Act', suggests... this is the true end of the band. This cd is a companion to 'Dreaming Spikes' filled with nice melancholy gothic rock with that typical indie touch... but it could also serve as a great introduction to Passion Play for those who missed out on it before...
A bit more arty but still gothrock too is White Hex... there 'Heat' mini LP serves guitar based songs with a raw sound... gothrock influenced by stuff like Velvet Underground and Nick Cave... so the real deal and no fake poser kind of stuff... the tunes sound deep and authentic... and sweaty... excellent stuff which could reach much more people as only the new wave and goth fans...
Same goes for Collateral... a new wave based project which fuses new wave and indie pop guitar stuff with some synth and italo touches... the result is a fresh sounds with a melancholy mood but never really dark... even though the 12" entitled 'Dark EP' could suggest something else... for me this works as a soundtrack for spring... and it goes very well with the 12" by Violence released recently on our beloved Visage Musique label... Violence delivers new wave inspired synth pop with a neo-romantic touch and italo disco elements... and maybe not all songs are equally strong but when at their best Violence shows they are a band with lots of potential for the future... as shows "Dernier Cri"...
More harder to define is the album 'Hearing Colors' by Eyesdress and Skint Eastwood... on the other hand the title says it all... this album serves you a wide spectrum of sounds and influences of various styles... still the album is a excellent cohorent piece. Released on Phantasma Disques it has little to do with witch house... a style the label is best known for... 'Hearing Colors' sounds very indie... the sound is mellow and soothing most of the time... dreamy stuff with warm female vocals... but occasionally the sound gets a little colder... and some moments it is like listening to a relaxed version of Crystal Castles... including clear rhythms and some 8 bit noises and sounds... here is one of the highlights of the album... and one of the most moody pieces 'Triduum'...
Skint Eastwood - Triduum (Three Days Of Darkness) from EYEDRESS on Vimeo.
From the same label comes the new Mater Suspiria Vision album... I liked some of the older stuff but not all as it had the tendency to be very minimal... like repetitive in a not good way... so to speak... BUT 'Serenity' is a very solid album with good songs and a nice flow througout the record... some rhythmic pieces and some more droney noise pieces which pull you inside... or down under to be precise... this one is for the fans of the darker side of synth music... this is stuff for black magic rites and other occult gatherings... here is one piece of the record...
MATER SUSPIRIA VISION - SERENITY [Official Video - Directed by Cosmotropia de Xam, 2013] from Mater Suspiria Vision on Vimeo.
All of the records above are for sale in the Enfant Terrible webshop here...
