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EPISODE NOTES & HIGHLIGHTS:
December is upon us already, and with it, that jolly red holiday that some of us love, and some of us love to hate. I fall somewhere in the middle, personally, so while this will not be a full-blown Christmas special, you will find some stocking stuffers along the way. And if that's not your cup of egg nog, please enjoy an especially large amount of new music for you to check out this month, because there's a lengthy list.
The show begins with new music from a Belgian group that came to me at random and managed to have just the right sound at just the right time to reach through my veil. Whispering Sons, on their new album Image, manage to make their discomfort alluring for the listener, utilizing familiar influences to create a direct and unsettling approach to post-punk that is both murky and immediate, somber and desperate.
The first full set begins with music from one of many talked-about new post-punk bands that are finally emerging on this episode: Sacramento's Creux Lies wear their love for early Cure material on their sleeve, but add modern, full-bodied post-punk production on their new album The Hearth. Venturing next to Colombia, we catch up with La Procesión de lo Infinito, whose current album La Era Oscura shows a lot of welcome '90s goth influence, which plays nicely into a modern classic from The Machine in the Garden's 2005 Shadow Puppets album.
Germany's highly-praised new export Holygram arrives at the door next, with the standout track (and video) "Signals," from their new Modern Cults album, which no doubt offered some highly-accessible post-punk to fresh ears on their recent tour with VNV Nation. Next up, France's Varsovie return with another collection of driving post-punk/rock attitude on Coups Et Blessures, which is followed by an overdue track from this summer's Offering EP by Oakland's Esses, who have yet to let me down. They already have a new one in the works, too, so look forward to that.
The show begins with new music from a Belgian group that came to me at random and managed to have just the right sound at just the right time to reach through my veil. Whispering Sons, on their new album Image, manage to make their discomfort alluring for the listener, utilizing familiar influences to create a direct and unsettling approach to post-punk that is both murky and immediate, somber and desperate.
The first full set begins with music from one of many talked-about new post-punk bands that are finally emerging on this episode: Sacramento's Creux Lies wear their love for early Cure material on their sleeve, but add modern, full-bodied post-punk production on their new album The Hearth. Venturing next to Colombia, we catch up with La Procesión de lo Infinito, whose current album La Era Oscura shows a lot of welcome '90s goth influence, which plays nicely into a modern classic from The Machine in the Garden's 2005 Shadow Puppets album.
Germany's highly-praised new export Holygram arrives at the door next, with the standout track (and video) "Signals," from their new Modern Cults album, which no doubt offered some highly-accessible post-punk to fresh ears on their recent tour with VNV Nation. Next up, France's Varsovie return with another collection of driving post-punk/rock attitude on Coups Et Blessures, which is followed by an overdue track from this summer's Offering EP by Oakland's Esses, who have yet to let me down. They already have a new one in the works, too, so look forward to that.
Set two starts with a spotlight on two current tours, which will converge in Nashville (where this show is based) this Sunday, December 23rd. Chicago dreampop/darkwavers Wingtips begin the set, with their latest digital single, Relativity, (video here) followed by buzzworthy Texas post-punk/goth duo Twin Tribes, with another track from their best-of list-charming Shadows LP. Nashville's own Night Machine creep in next with another taste of their Themes of the Dead album, the horror-synth sounds of which will kick off the concert that all three bands above are playing at The East Room this weekend.
Not content to end the set there, two more new arrivals round out the set: Italy's Ash Code give you a taste of their latest darkwave collection, Perspektive, followed by new music from North Carolina's Delphine Coma. Their sound at the start of their new album Leaving the Scene reminded me (quite pleasantly), at times, of cult '90s goth band The Wake -- with other influences and modern updates, of course.
Not content to end the set there, two more new arrivals round out the set: Italy's Ash Code give you a taste of their latest darkwave collection, Perspektive, followed by new music from North Carolina's Delphine Coma. Their sound at the start of their new album Leaving the Scene reminded me (quite pleasantly), at times, of cult '90s goth band The Wake -- with other influences and modern updates, of course.
Set three is where we get a little festive, if you will, if not entirely serious. On the most-assuredly serious side of the fence, we start with the brand new holiday single from The Cruxshadows, an updated version of the traditional Coventry Carol entitled Carol of the Innocents. It is available here as a pay-what-you-will single. We then jump to the ridiculous side of the fence with a short-but-plucky song from the 2002 Invader Zim Xmas special, which then yields a new tongue-in-cheek ode to the season from The Legendary Pink Dots. Sliding gently down the tree on the way out of Christmas-ville, we mark this month's 35th anniversary of The Cure's Japanese Whispers collection with the very loosely holiday-themed classic, "Let's Go To Bed."
But don't go to bed yet! New music from Boston darkwavers House of Harm arrives next, taken from their new Coming of Age EP, which turns the airwaves over to a new one from Austin, Texas outfit Temple of Angels, taken from their latest EP, Foiled. Finally, the set settles in for a nice winter's nap with a subdued selection from Lycia's new, and somehow remarkably consistent, LP, In Flickers.
The final full set does not simply crash into dark metal, as usual, but rather, it starts with something that was, I would venture to say, inevitable: The combination of the ever-trending synthwave style (think: the "Stranger Things" score) and the equally popular path of blackgaze (itself a combination of black metal influences and shoegaze). You with me? Maybe/maybe not, but you're curious, so I begin with a track from an anonymous project called Abstract Void, whose new album is entitled Back to Reality. After that, we go a track further into the avant-garde metal of A Forest of Stars's Grave Mounds and Grave Mistakes, and while we're in that mood, a taste of Italy's Selvans, from their Faunalia album, which shows draws its sound from not only folk, doom metal, and prog, but also cult Horror soundtracks. Nice. And since it is that time of the year, I wrap up the metal section with two doses of classic holiday jeer, first from Type O Negative, and then from King Diamond, who gets the final word on the subject, as well he should.
All of that PLUS: Fresh dark ambient/soundscapes from Velvet Dream and Apparition; Selections from the 'Santa Slasher Soundtrack' vault; News, trivia, and more!
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PLAYLIST BEGINS HERE
Format: Band Name - Song Title [Album Title, Year]
(each band name is also a website link)
(sets and talk breaks separated by dashes)
(sets and talk breaks separated by dashes)
"Out ov the Coffin" w/ Ichabod
Show recorded on: December 21st, 2018
Opening Theme:
Elliot Goldenthal - Libera Me [from "Interview with the Vampire" (soundtrack), 1994]
Elliot Goldenthal - Libera Me [from "Interview with the Vampire" (soundtrack), 1994]
Whispering Sons - Waste [Image, 2018]
-
Velvet Dream - Winter im Gebirg [Darkened Mysteria, 2018]
-
Creux Lies - Virginity [The Hearth, 2018]
La Procesión de lo Infinito - La Tumba de los Dioses [La Era Oscura, 2018]
The Machine in the Garden - Suspend [Shadow Puppets, 2005]
Holygram - Signals [Modern Cults, 2018]
Varsovie - Va Dire À Sparte [Coups Et Blessures, 2018]
Esses - Mercury [Offering, 2018]
-
Apparition - The Grave Robbers [The Ravenous Dusk, 2018]
-
Wingtips - Relativity [Relativity (single), 2018]
Twin Tribes - Portal to the Void [Shadows, 2018]
Night Machine - Chapel District (The Ripper) [Themes of the Dead, 2018] [N]
Ash Code - Icy Cold [Perspektive, 2018]
Delphine Coma - We Never Sleep [Leaving the Scene, 2018]
-
The Legendary Pink Dots - I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Decade [Festive (comp.), 2015]
-
The Cruxshadows - Carol of the Innocents [Carol of the Innocents (single) 2018]
Kevin Manthei - Jolly Boots of Doom ["Invader Zim: The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever" (soundtrack) 2002]
The Legendary Pink Dots - Government Heath Warning [The 9th Day of Christmas, 2018]
The Cure - Let's Go To Bed [Japanese Whispers, 1983]
House of Harm - Always [Coming of Age, 2018]
Temple of Angels - Star-Shaped Eyes [Foiled, 2018]
Lycia - Late Night Solitude [In Flickers, 2018]
-
Steven Soles - End Title ["Silent Night Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out" (soundtrack) 1987]
-
Abstract Void - Disconnected [Back to Reality, 2018]
A Forest of Stars - Decomposing Deity Dancehall [Grave Mounds and Grave Mistakes, 2018]
Selvans - Anna Perenna [Faunalia, 2018]
Type O Negative - Red Water (Christmas Mourning) [October Rust, 1996]
-
Carl Zittrer - Silent Night (exc.) ["Black Christmas" (soundtrack) 1974]
-
King Diamond - No Presents for Christmas [No Presents for Christmas, 1985]
KEY:-
Velvet Dream - Winter im Gebirg [Darkened Mysteria, 2018]
-
Creux Lies - Virginity [The Hearth, 2018]
La Procesión de lo Infinito - La Tumba de los Dioses [La Era Oscura, 2018]
The Machine in the Garden - Suspend [Shadow Puppets, 2005]
Holygram - Signals [Modern Cults, 2018]
Varsovie - Va Dire À Sparte [Coups Et Blessures, 2018]
Esses - Mercury [Offering, 2018]
-
Apparition - The Grave Robbers [The Ravenous Dusk, 2018]
-
Wingtips - Relativity [Relativity (single), 2018]
Twin Tribes - Portal to the Void [Shadows, 2018]
Night Machine - Chapel District (The Ripper) [Themes of the Dead, 2018] [N]
Ash Code - Icy Cold [Perspektive, 2018]
Delphine Coma - We Never Sleep [Leaving the Scene, 2018]
-
The Legendary Pink Dots - I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Decade [Festive (comp.), 2015]
-
The Cruxshadows - Carol of the Innocents [Carol of the Innocents (single) 2018]
Kevin Manthei - Jolly Boots of Doom ["Invader Zim: The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever" (soundtrack) 2002]
The Legendary Pink Dots - Government Heath Warning [The 9th Day of Christmas, 2018]
The Cure - Let's Go To Bed [Japanese Whispers, 1983]
House of Harm - Always [Coming of Age, 2018]
Temple of Angels - Star-Shaped Eyes [Foiled, 2018]
Lycia - Late Night Solitude [In Flickers, 2018]
-
Steven Soles - End Title ["Silent Night Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out" (soundtrack) 1987]
-
Abstract Void - Disconnected [Back to Reality, 2018]
A Forest of Stars - Decomposing Deity Dancehall [Grave Mounds and Grave Mistakes, 2018]
Selvans - Anna Perenna [Faunalia, 2018]
Type O Negative - Red Water (Christmas Mourning) [October Rust, 1996]
-
Carl Zittrer - Silent Night (exc.) ["Black Christmas" (soundtrack) 1974]
-
King Diamond - No Presents for Christmas [No Presents for Christmas, 1985]
[N] = Nashville artist
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